by Jim Korkis
Politically sensitive issues like Japan’s participation in World War II were sidestepped as they were in the show at the American Adventure. That time was alluded to in the show as the “dark days.”
As a cost-saving measure, since the attraction was already built, it was sent to Tokyo Disneyland along with the Magic Kingdom’s Mickey Mouse Revue and the new Dumbo attraction built for Walt Disney World. In so doing, it helped lower the budget and the time necessary to open Tokyo Disneyland.
Meet the World opened at Tokyo Disneyland as one of that park’s initial attractions on April 15, 1983, and closed on June 30, 2002. It was advertised as “Explore Japan’s heritage on an incredible time-travel adventure!”
Matsushita Electric subsidized the attraction, so it was one of the few free ones when the park still used attraction tickets. Japan Airlines later took over sponsorship.
It was only one of two attractions that focused on Japan since the Oriental Land Company wanted to present an American version of a Disney theme park and had cherry-picked attractions from both Disneyland and Walt Disney World to create the ultimate American experience.
Meet the World was a roughly eighteen-minute four-act show that showcased Japan’s history of trade and interaction with other countries. The island nation’s volcanic beginnings were discussed along with early trading with other nations, isolationism, the reopening of the country, and its promising future.
The theater was similar to the Carousel of Progress, where the audience rotated around the various stages.
In Meet the World, after each scene, the seating area would slowly rotate 90 degrees to point the audience in the direction of the next stage. The rotating inner core with the stages in the outer ring allowed for larger stages but limited the overall capacity. In addition, each stage had a large movie screen in the background to help tell the story with the figures interacting with the images.
An audio-animatronics talking crane led a young boy and girl from Yokohama on a time-travel journey that featured audio-animatronic representations of prominent Japanese and Western figures to re-create a particular event. The dialog was in Japanese with characters from other countries speaking their native languages. Headphones were available in the back row for translated dialog.
The attraction had over thirty audio-animatronic figures. The figures were sculpted by Blaine Gibson except for three Meiji figures that were done by a Japanese sculptor from Tokyo’s Toho Studios.
The “Meet the World” song was written by the Sherman Brothers and played as the theater rotated each time to its new position.
Things That Never Were
New Fantasyland 2009
On September 12, 2009, at the D23 Expo held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo revealed detailed plans for a massive expansion of WDW’s Fantasyland that would open in 2012 and be completed by 2013:
There have been a lot of rumors online, and I don’t know where they come from, and I don’t even know where they get started, but it’s about a big expansion of Fantasyland at Walt Disney World.
Well, these rumors are absolutely—true. We are doubling the size of Fantasyland to include more of your favorite princesses. Meeting a Disney princess is always a very special highlight of any visit to the Magic Kingdom.
Now those visits are going to be more entertaining than ever. You’ll meet Disney princesses in their own fairy tale worlds. You’ll be immersed in the sights, the sounds, and the magic that make every princess story so memorable.
With the continuing success of the Disney princess franchise, the expansion would emphasize these Disney characters in order to synergize with merchandise sales.
Cinderella’s country chateau would be where she lives with her stepmother and stepsisters in a forest setting. At the chateau, guests would have observed the Fairy Godmother magically prepare Cinderella for the royal ball and then guests would be able to share a dance to prepare for the ball.
At the Sleeping Beauty cottage, participants would have helped celebrate Briar Rose’s surprise sweet sixteen birthday party with the help of the good fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Among other things guests would make birthday cards for the princess and then greet her with a big surprise.
Belle would host a “comical retelling” performance of her story in her father’s cottage.
In addition, Dumbo would be moved to brand-new circus grounds and expand into two spinning attractions. Be Our Guest would be an elaborate dining facility with multiple rooms in Beast’s castle. Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid would be similar to the one being built for Disney California Adventure that would open in 2011 and also feature a meet-and-greet location with Ariel.
Tinker Bell and her fairy friends would reside in Pixie Hollow where guests would shrink to the size of pixies and play among towering blades of grass and flowers. When the plans were significantly changed for the area, there was discussion to move Pixie Hollow over to Epcot as part of the Flower and Garden Festival or to find a more permanent home at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to tie-in to the Tinker Bell animated films.
Concerns from fans that the additions were too girl-centric resulted in Disney making some changes while retaining some of the originally announced items when Tom Staggs, who had three young sons, replaced Rasulo.
Staggs told the Orlando Sentinel in 2010:
One of the things that I thought the early design did fantastically was deliver on that princess experience. And that does tend to skew toward girls. We’ve kept that intact—not exactly necessarily the way it was presented—but that appeal is there. I think we’ve added some things that aren’t just princess-focused, and that’s a good positive.
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train took the place of the princess cottages and Storybook Circus took over the area for Pixie Hollow. The concept of princess meet-and-greets was retained with the creation of Princess Fairytale Hall.
Things That Never Were
Lake Buena Vista Monorail
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, the newest version of the monorail was popular with guests not just as an attraction as it was at Disneyland but as a viable form of transportation.
A monorail system had always been in Walt Disney’s original plans for the Florida Project and even after his death the Disney company intended to expand the operating system.
A few years after opening, the Imagineers seriously discussed expanding the monorail system to the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village (now Disney Springs) and had done some preliminary work including setting some foundations for pylons.
Former Disney executive Tom Nabbe stated:
Yes, but it wasn’t just the monorail; there was going to be a PeopleMover going up and down what is now Hotel Plaza Boulevard. I was in meetings and one of the concerns was how to justify the cost in the “off hours” when there would be little usage.
I suggested that they redesign the cars so that they were more modular and then could be used to also deliver product as well as people. Of course, they weren’t interested in listening to me.
Imagineer Tom K. Morris added:
That PeopleMover plan that Nabbe told you about was part of the “satellite community” idea in the early 70s that would have eventually linked up with Epcot [the real community].
World Showcase was originally going to be the next satellite community after Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village. As the idea for Epcot morphed into a showplace, they still had plans to link it to LBV by PeopleMover until the idea for satellite communities went away. There is a booklet they published on the idea, and I’ve seen that booklet online but can’t remember where. Wing Chao was in the middle of all this back in the day.
Morris is right that Disney’s plans included expanding the village to over three hundred percent of its initial size and create a community. However, it was so remote when it was first built in 1975 that in the ticket books sold at Magic Kingdom, there was a ticket that was good for compliment
ary round-trip bus transport to the village to get guests to visit it.
There would have been a transportation hub roughly where the Team Disney building exists today and that is where the monorail station would have been. That would also have been the location of the main PeopleMover station so guests could have taken that transportation method to hook up with the monorail and then go to the parks and the resorts near the parks.
Plans at Disney constantly change, though this particular plan was still in serious discussion until 1982. However, the cost overruns connected to the building of Epcot as well as the uncertainly of the Disney company’s future at the time with the threats of hostile takeovers that eventually led to the installation of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells doomed this whole idea.
Things That Never Were
Rolly Crump Epcot Projects
Imagineer Rolly Crump had a decades-long career both as an animator with Walt Disney Studios and as one of the original Imagineers at WED Enterprises. He contributed to many of the iconic attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World including the Haunted Mansion and the Enchanted Tiki Room.
In 1971, he left the company but returned in 1976 to work on projects for Epcot including The Land and Wonders of Life pavilions. Not everything that Crump proposed and designed was used, but his ideas influenced things that were eventually built.
Crump, who was also responsible for creating Food Rocks to replace Kitchen Kabaret when Nestle took over sponsorship of The Land pavilion from Kraft, recalled:
I thought it was a cute little show but a lot of guests didn’t want Kitchen Kabaret replaced. Part of the stage is still there just behind the walls of the queue for Soarin’.
Before Horizons, my team and I came up with an idea for a General Electric pavilion that would feature an audio-animatronics Thomas Edison figure as the master of ceremonies.
The pre-show would have had these cavemen doing some funny trial-and-error things and eventually inventing the umbrella which we called the “parasol of progress.” but the executives in charge wouldn’t allow us to show it to GE. We worked with writer and comedian Stan Freberg on it. He thought the pavilion should look like a box that lightbulbs come in.
Crump left again in 1981 to work on other things but returned in 1992 as executive designer at Imagineering concentrating on Epcot. He retired in 1996.
He also designed the Electric Umbrella restaurant. A vendor had come in and asked if Disney was interested in purchasing some electric umbrellas that had glowing lights on top of them. Crump loved the name but not the product. According to Crump, CEO Michael Eisner also liked the sound of it and wanted to name the entire building by that name but eventually settled on Innoventions.
Crump said:
While working on Epcot, we began to realize that there just wasn’t much for young kids to do there. We worked with a young Imagineer named Scott Hennesy on an idea for a pavilion to be called EpTot that would be a play area for children. It would feature little interactive areas based on the adult pavilions of The Land and The Living Seas.
Imagineers John Hench and Marty Sklar rejected it because they felt that Epcot should focus on adults. Years later, CEO Michael Eisner saw the work that Crump and Hennesy had done and renamed the concept Kidcot. However, as the project developed, it moved away from the original concept.
Crump recalled also working on the never-built Denmark pavilion for World Showcase.
It was going to have a miniature Tivoli Gardens, a boat ride, and a Ferris wheel. We made models of the pavilion and LEGO was going to sponsor the thing. It would have been a fun addition to Epcot.
Imagineer Tony Baxter said:
We were influenced by the work of Hans Christian Andersen. It would have featured an ice skating rink, but once Legal became involved, it was clear that such an attraction had the potential for possible lawsuits.
In 2004, Crump was inducted as an official Disney Legend. He also worked outside of Disney on many projects including for Jacques Cousteau, Steve Wynn, Circus World, Knott’s Berry Farm, the Sultan of Oman, and Wet ’n Wild.
WDW History
I’m Going to Walt Disney World!
Disney calls this famous marketing campaign “What’s Next?”
After a series of game highlights set to the tune “When You Wish Upon a Star,” the camera cuts to a player in the immediate aftermath of a Super Bowl win and an unseen narrator poses the famous question, “(Blank), you’ve just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do next?”
The player looks gleefully into the camera and answers that he is going to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. The commercial ends with an image of fireworks exploding over Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World or Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.
The narrator is Mark Champion, a veteran radio play-by-play announcer for such football teams as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Detroit Pistons, and the Detroit Lions. He got the job because a college classmate was a marketing director at Disney.
Typically, the celebrity records two different versions, one mentioning Disneyland and the other Walt Disney World. Disney gives them an “MVP” all-expenses paid trip, flying them on a private jet to Disneyland or Walt Disney World, and then puts their family up in a suite for the duration of their vacation. They also are made the grand marshall of a parade and take part in various events for Disney during their stay.
As former Disney CEO Michael Eisner recalled:
In January 1987, we were launching Disneyland’s Star Tours, an attraction based on Star Wars. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, my wife Jane and I had dinner with George Lucas, as well as Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who had just become the first people to fly around the world without stopping.
It was late and the conversation hit a lull as we waited for our food. So I asked Dick and Jeana, “Well, now that you’ve accomplished the pinnacle of your aspirations, what could you possibly do next?” Rutan responded, without hesitation, “I’m going to Disneyland.” And of course I go, “Wow, that’s cool! You made the right choice.” But my wife interjects: “You know, that’s a good slogan.” And so that is how it all began.
Just weeks later, Disney launched the series of commercials following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987. That first commercial was done by reluctant quarterback Phil Simms who was paid $75,000 (later the price was dropped for others to around $30,000) and was the MVP for the game.
Simms played for the New York Giants who beat the Denver Broncos 39–20. Disney hedged its bets by offering Broncos quarterback John Elway a similar amount of money whether his team won or lost.
Disney had produced half-time shows for the NFL so had a good relationship with the organization and paid them for having access on the field after the game.
Disney made three more such commercials in 1987, following other major sporting championships. These included hiring yachtsman Dennis Conner, after winning the America’s Cup; NBA star Magic Johnson, after the Lakers won the NBA Finals; and MLB player Frank Viola, after the Twins won the World Series that year.
Other commercials featured non-Super Bowl participants including Bruce Springsteen, Gretchen Carlson (Miss America 1989), Santa Claus (1997), Michael Jordan, Nancy Kerrigan and even American Idol winners like Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, and Scotty McCreery.
However, it is the NFL Super Bowl games that most people remember. The commercial has aired after every Super Bowl since 1987, except for one game, in 2005. The reason for this omission has never been made clear.
WDW History
The Ducks of Walt Disney World
Donald Duck is not the only duck that delights visitors to Walt Disney World. Since the park’s opening in 1971, guests have been enthralled by the many wild ducks that inhabit the waterways of the park and who are bold enough to waddle down the walkways with baby ducklings following obediently after their mothers.
These fowl fellows are so popular that there is even an Instagram account devoted to them so that guests can document their appearances in
different locations. The ducks patiently pose in hopes that their patience will be rewarded with an edible treat.
In 1956, Disney’s The Complete Guide to Disneyland stated:
Wild life of North America have “discovered” Disneyland. Flocks of wild geese, mallards, and other birds have found Frontierland’s river a safe retreat in their pilgrimages south. The birds pause to rest here, and in some cases stay on for several months.
The cast magazine Backstage Disneyland (Summer 1966) stated:
Shortly after the Rivers of America area of Frontierland was completed, wild ducks flocked in to make it their home. These ducks soon came to be a big part of the show. One day, the duck population started to thin out dramatically and it wasn’t long before a memo appeared dated sometime in 1956.
It was directed to all maintenance and construction workers and read: “Any employee caught leaving Disneyland with a duck in his lunch pail will be immediately dismissed.” Needless to say, the duck population was soon on the increase again.
The opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 proved to be an even more enticing location for migrating flocks. Every spring, the air is filled with the quacking sounds of newborn ducklings.
With a fearlessness not found in the wild, these offspring and their parents wander the park, especially through the chairs and tables of the outdoor food areas, in hopes of scavenging a special treat of popcorn.
Some guests specifically buy a bag of popcorn to feed to the ducks and the ducks know it and will waddle up dangerously close while quacking away in hopes of getting a handout.
However, life is dangerous for these feathered friends. Feral cats patrol the park at night looking for baby ducks or duck eggs. In addition, local alligators find them a tasty and easily obtainable snack as well. Often, bigger birds like herons or hawks will sit patiently and then swoop down to grab a baby duckling that has strayed a bit too far from its flock.
