by Jim Korkis
The car is driven straight into the water in first gear until it floats off the bottom and the propellers take over. First gear is then disengaged. A special two-part land-and-water transmission built by Hermes (makers of the Porsche transmission) allows the wheels and propellers to be operated either independently or simultaneously.
The car was more of a novelty than anything else and did not revolutionize the automotive industry as predicted. The iconic car still generates smiles, waves from those on the shore, a sense of wonder, and more important, a sense of fun.
Disney Miscellany
Characters in Flight
Characters in Flight is one of the world’s largest tethered helium balloons and is operated by the Parisian company Aerophile. Aerophile also operates a number of similar attractions around the world, including one at Disneyland Paris’ Disney Village called PanoraMagique since April 2005.
The one at Disney Springs soars up to 400-feet high and carries up to 29 guests and one pilot. A pulley releases and retracts the tether. It has a19 foot in diameter circular gondola basket with a waist-high wall and then netting above that barrier.
The balloon itself is 72 feet in diameter with a circumference of 240 feet. It is filled with 210,000 cubic feet of helium so it is quieter than a hot-air balloon that must be kept in the air with continued noisy bursts of heated air.
It illuminates at night and with clear skies can be seen from over ten miles away. When it is aloft, the balloon can be seen from the China pavilion at World Showcase.
The flight lasts approximately ten minutes and if the winds exceed 22 miles per hour or there is a storm, it does not lift off at all.
When secured properly to the ground, the balloon would be able to withstand a Category One hurricane. If a stronger level was anticipated, the balloon would be deflated.
It is virtually impossible for the tether to break, but if it ever did, the balloon is equipped with a safety value that kicks in at one thousand feet to release helium until the balloon is in what is called a “floating” state. The operator could then start a controlled descent while in communication with the ground.
Characters in Flight began operation in April 2009 as a huge orange-and-yellow-colored balloon with large solid black silhouettes of flying Disney characters like Peter Pan and the Darling family soaring around the top yellow half along with Mary Poppins, Dumbo, and Aladdin riding his carpet.
It is a standard practice of aerial tethered balloons to replace the balloon every few years to prevent problems that come with age and repeated use.
The next version debuted in October 2012 and resembled the one at Disneyland Paris except for the addition of more characters. It was more ornately designed with actual images of the characters including Peter Pan, Aladdin with Princess Jasmine on a magic carpet, Dumbo, and Buzz Lightyear around the bottom half of the balloon. On the striped top half, Tinker Bell uses her wand to sprinkle pixie dust so everyone can fly thinking happy thoughts.
The third version opened in January 2017 and was re-themed to better align with the story of the new Disney Springs. The balloon has shades of blue with the bottom half featuring an abstract image of the swirling waters of the legendary spring. It no longer features Disney characters.
Matthieu Gobbi, general manager for Aerophile, said that “the new balloon envelope was inspired by the springs and the element of water—it’s very coherent, as the balloon floats in the air, then lands on the water of Lake Buena Vista.”
In terms of the new storyline, the balloon was supposedly introduced as a ride at the fictional 1950 Golden Centennial Expo that took place at Disney Springs.
The balloon rides were briefly suspended in July 2012 for several months after an incident at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Aerophile decided to temporarily suspend operations of the similar balloons at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris to conduct extensive inspections. The balloon rides resumed in October of that year.
Disney Miscellany
Disney Springs Back Story
Inspired by real Florida coastal towns like Coral Gables and St. Augustine, the new Disney Springs shopping and dining development provided the opportunity for Imagineers to create a more pleasing upscale and cohesive design for the hodge-podge of additions made to the location over the decades.
Dave Hoffman, a creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering, explained that the Disney-made “natural” springs are the heart of the town. Lights flickering in the trees at night represent fireflies.
“Each neighborhood reflects its function and its [fictitious] time period when it was developed,” Hoffman noted. Those areas are the Town Center, the Landing, the Marketplace, and the West Side.
According to the back story conceived by Imagineers, a Florida cattle rancher discovered the water source in the mid-1800s and settled there. His story and the story of his family is recounted on artifacts decorating the interior of D-Luxe Burger which was the original ranch house.
Florida has the longest history of cattle ranching of any state in the union. Orange Blossom Trail with its odd curves was originally a cattle trail used to drive the animals to the trains and market.
Before Walt Disney World transformed central Florida into an economic culture devoted to the hospitality industry, it was very much an agricultural region with an emphasis on cattle and citrus fruit.
When the U.S. took possession of Florida in 1821, it was described as a “vast, untamed wilderness, plentifully stocked with wild cattle.” The main concentration of cattle at the time was around Kissimmee.
The Town Center that grew around the springs features architecture reminiscent of the 1920s. There are stucco facades, terra-cotta tile roofs, coral stone, fountains, and other Mediterranean touches typical of the era.
Remnants of the old town remain. Ancient machinery sits unused next to a weathered sign, which indicates that the apparatus was used for a spring water ice-works operation.
The Landing, former site of Pleasure Island, serves as the community’s transportation hub and was designed to have more of an industrial feel.
An old billboard advertises the passenger train that used to stop in the town, and was also used to ship cattle to market. There are some stray rails still embedded in the pathways. The former train station now serves as an upscale steak house, STK. Other elements of transportation contain a small, now long-gone, airstrip that was used by Indiana Jones’ pilot friend Jock Lindsay.
Both Paddlefish and the BOATHOUSE reference the water transportation used for the area.
The resort’s original shopping area is now known simply as the Marketplace. According to the new storyline, it was developed in the 1930s and displays the American Craftsman style of architecture that was in vogue then.
According to Hoffman, the leaders of Disney Springs developed the West Side as a town expo in the 1950s. A poster in D-Luxe Burger promotes the fictional 1950 Golden Centennial Expo, reminiscent of a world’s fair. Most fairs had a distinctive structural icon and that was the building that now houses the Cirque du Soleil since many significant icons of world’s fairs like the Eiffel Tower and the Seattle Space Needle remained decades after their original introduction.
In addition, the poster shows a popular hot-air balloon ride that continues to exist today as Characters in Flight. The other expo buildings now house Splitsville bowling lanes, an AMC movie theater, and a House of Blues, among other venues.
Overhead are the remains of the elevated train track that once provided transportation around the event.
Disney Miscellany
Crossroads
If something is not physically in the theme parks or the resorts, it can be invisible to millions of Disney guests. For almost twenty years, there was a Disney-owned location that some guests avoided because they didn’t realize it was Disney.
The Crossroads shopping center at Lake Buena Vista where State Road 535 intersects with Hotel Plaza Boulevard was developed by the Disney company in 1988 and then later sold in 2005.<
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The 155,000-square-foot plaza’s more than twenty tenants include multiple restaurants like Red Lobster, Pirate’s Cove mini-golf almost hidden in the back of the complex, and the region’s last Gooding’s supermarket.
When it opened, the McDonalds had a colorful interior decorated with authentic Disney memorabilia ranging from comic books to toys and lithographs. Unfortunately, they were displayed without any protection from light, heat, and humidity, so when the location was updated, those items were discarded.
Jungle Jim’s was a popular family restaurant filled with unusual, amusing items, including a helicopter prop from the movie M*A*S*H(1970), amidst the jungle décor.
Unfortunately, by 2006, the quality of service and food had dropped drastically and the restaurant had become a hangout on Monday nights for young gang members from Kissimmee. It escalated that same year with a stabbing of a young man named Cory Swift in the neck by John Feliciano over gang colors. The restaurant closed shortly thereafter and remained vacant for along while.
Originally there were a handful of small gift shops, but today the complex is restaurant oriented and includes Buffalo Wild Wings, Quizno’s, Fuddruckers, Flippers Pizza, Dakshin Indian Cuisine, Tom and Chee, T.G.I Fridays, Sweet Tomatoes, Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant, McDonald’s, Uno Pizzeria & Grill, Taco Bell, Red Lobster, Noodles & Company, Moe’s, Johnnies Hideaway, and Perkins.
The location provided quick and inexpensive meals for WDW cast members on their way to and from work. It also provided a nearby twenty-four hour grocery within walking distance for vacationers staying in nearby hotels.
In January 2017, it was announced that the entire area will be demolished in the next few years to make way for a reconfiguration of the area to improve the flow of traffic that often gets congested.
Traffic gets clogged on the I-4 as people try to exit onto 535. Studies show only about twenty percent of this traffic is headed toward the Disney property. Commuter traffic heading up 535 to the new residential developments north of Disney and south toward Kissimmee and Poinciana are causing much of the problem.
The project is set to begin sometime between 2018 and 2020. The interchange is not part of the I-4 expansion already under way, but would be part of the next phase.
Disney and Reedy Creek met several times with Florida Department of Transportation officials to discuss the project and associated I-4 improvements since 2014 and several different plans were proposed.
In January 2017, Tom Biggs of Walt Disney Imagineering met with transportation planners to discuss changes and was reportedly pleased with the proposal.
The project’s current design includes a feature that will take some traffic on a loop ramp that connects with Hotel Plaza Boulevard, the road leading into Disney. That ramp, an exit, and drainage ponds would go on the Crossroads land.
Ultimately, the area provides a service of affordable restaurants near Disney World property that Disney doesn’t want.
Retail consultant David Marks, president of Marketplace Advisors, said some restaurants might be able to find another place nearby to relocate, even though it would be more expensive for them, but the plaza’s shutdown could also generate more business for Disney Springs.
Disney Miscellany
Wedding Pavilion
A dream of many Disney fans is to be married at a Disney theme park which resulted in small guerilla-style unauthorized ceremonies happening occasionally. One couple tied the knot while plunging on Tower of Terror.
Recognizing a need and hoping to control these incidents that could impact the regular guest experience as well as leverage another financial opportunity, Disney instituted a division to offer weddings and receptions on Disney property.
Wedding ceremonies and receptions have been held in many of the pavilions of the World Showcase at Epcot as well as in attraction spaces in the Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones Stunt Show, and Living Seas with Nemo and Friends, among others, as well as on Disney cruise ships and at Castaway Cay.
Walt Disney World is recognized as a top-ranked honeymoon and wedding destination, so Disney created the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding experience with the opening of Disney’s Wedding Pavilion on the shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon near the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
The non-denominational pavilion can accommodate up to almost three hundred people and can be booked six months to a year in advance. On average, the pavilion hosts close to two thousand ceremonies a year, meaning on average four to six ceremonies a day. However, up to a dozen ceremonies a day can take place on WDW property.
These ceremonies include not just an actual wedding but rehearsals, vow renewals, and commitment celebrations. The ceremonies run from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.
The pavilion officially opened on June 15, but the first wedding at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion was televised live on June 18, 1995, on Lifetime Television as part of its Weddings of a Lifetime series. The building was designed to look like a Victorian summer house on its own private island accessible by a wooden footbridge in order to theme in with the nearby Grand Floridian.
Walt Disney Imagineers designed the site so that Cinderella Castle can be clearly seen through a window behind the indoor altar where the ceremonies are held as well as through a hedge arch outside the chapel.
The unfortunate temporary redesign of the castle as a pink birthday cake in 1997 as part of the 25th WDW anniversary celebration resulted in the loss of thousands of dollars in cancellations. Imagineers created a faux castle image that could be used in the offending window during the celebration.
The wedding pavilion is equipped with three built-in video cameras, as well as a control booth that allows the camera operators to capture everything that is going on during the ceremony.
Disney offers several different basic wedding packages that have required minimum expenditures as well as various restrictions. However, each can be added onto with extras like the bride arriving in Cinderella’s coach or a vintage automobile, the appearance of Disney characters (although they cannot be in the wedding, only the reception), and Major Domo, an elegant gentleman in an elaborate Renaissance-style costume ,who will bring the rings down the aisle in a glass slipper.
Couples can also hire “tacky tourists” or “uninvited wedding guests” to provide entertainment at their reception in the tradition of Disney’s Streetmosphere performers.
In addition to the chapel, the venue also includes Franck’s Studio, a seperate planning facility inspired by Martin Short’s eccentric character in Disney’s 1991 film Father of the Bride.
In 2017, the pavilion will undergo major enhancements including a new interior décor showcasing an elegant, neutral color palette and shimmering crystal chandeliers. Brand-new furnishings, wall coverings, and carpeting will also be added.
PART FOUR
The Rest of the Story
Bud Lake, jury chairman of the Urban Land Institute, said in his presentation to the Disney company of an award of excellence:
Walt Disney World is one of the finest mixed-use developments that has ever been created in terms of its relevance to contemporary and future issues and the needs of society. It is a Master Planning effort unmatched in its scale, which will have great impact for the development industry as an influential research tool and project model.
Walt Disney World has been exceeding expectations for over forty-five years. Within its first twenty-five years of existence, it had already shown that it was impossible to over-estimate the impact the new vacation destination would have on the central Florida area. In fact, by 1995, more than 500 million guests had visited Walt Disney World.
Some comparative statistics about central Florida:
Hotel Rooms: 5,000 (1970), 83,000 (1995)
Area Jobs: 348,000 (1970), 1,100,000 (1995)
Disney Cast Members: 5,000 (1970), 56,000 (1995)
Population: 922,000 (1970), 2,224,000 (1995)
Restaurants: 978 (1970), 3,497 (1995)
Golf C
ourses: 57 (1970), 123 (1995)
Yearly Total Airplane Passengers: 1,050,000 (1970) 22,000,000 (1995)
In 1970, only 19% of visitors came by airplane. In 1995, over 50% came by airplane. In 1970, most people journeyed to central Florida by car and there were 656 gas stations. With changes in petroleum marketing, the number of gas stations declined to 546 by 1995.
Sales tax derived from out-of-state visitors rose from $400,000 in 1970 to $1.5 billion in 1995.
Walt Disney World paid more than $2.5 billion in taxes from 1971–1995. That broke down into $820 million in property taxes, $144 million in resort tax, and $1.6 billion in sales taxes collected from guests.
Contributions and donations by Walt Disney World and its cast members in 1995 was more than $22 million in cash and in-kind services to charitable, educational, and environmental causes in central Florida.
During the next twenty years, all of those numbers continued to rise steadily to even more incredible levels.
Every president of the United States since 1971 has visited Walt Disney World in addition to foreign royalty, entertainment and sports celebrities, and other notable figures.
“I’m Going to Disney World” was a phrase from a popular advertising campaign that began in 1987. A celebrity, who in the initial spots was usually a sports star after a big game, answers the question about what he or she is going to do next after their magnificent triumph.
The origin of the phrase as an advertising sound bite is credited to former CEO Michael Eisner’s wife Jane who at a dinner asked pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager what they were going to do next after piloting the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. The couple mentioned they were planning to go to Disneyland.
Even a visionary like Walt Disney may have had difficulty envisioning how Walt Disney World unfolded in the swamps and forests of central Florida or how quickly it would expand. Before his death, Imagineer John Hench stated about Disney World: “It seems to have taken on a life of its own, continually growing and evolving.”
