#4: Animated Ideas

Published: 05 December 2006

Animation is a cruel business. You can’t just grab a movie camera and start shooting actors and locations, everything - down to the tiniest detail – has to be designed, created and drawn from scratch. The same goes for a Disney theme park – from blue sky to blueprints to physical construction, it’s a long and costly process which, in almost every case, sees more than just a few ideas land on the cutting room floor. In the case of Animation Courtyard, the journey from sketch to reality was not pleasant...

An original WDS concept versus the 2002 reality.

MGM and the Magic of Animation

As unfortunate as the 2002 result was, the original plans for Disney-MGM Studios Europe called for a far more limited animation presence, similar to that of the Florida studio. A small courtyard was to have been placed along the path to the studio’s backlot, with a near replica of Florida’s Magic of Disney Animation tour facing an Animation Commissary directly opposite. The animation area would have therefore been simply a thoroughfare to the rest of the park – busy and congested, not in the slightest a separated, themed area.

Animation attractions on an early MGM map.
Inset: Magic of Disney Animation at Disney-MGM Studios Florida.

Creating (and then Cutting) a Courtyard

Fast-forward to 1999, and, in search of a more conventional and balanced park layout, the Imagineers instead placed the animation tour to the right of Studio 1, where previously the land was empty. The Disney-MGM Studios plans had sought to direct guests as much as possible away from the original Disneyland park, yet now the layout attempted to disperse guests more evenly and separate attractions into more developed theme areas, creating the Backlot, Production Courtyard and finally Animation Courtyard.

An early model for Disney Studios Paris.

Much of the original exterior design of the MGM animation tour was still intact, save for the Sorcerer’s Hat now placed next to the entrance rather than by the Commissary and the Sorcerer Mickey statue becoming a centrepiece to the courtyard rather than a part of the attraction’s entrance signage. The new Magic of Disney Animation was to be separated from the hub of the park, placed further into the courtyard than today’s finished attraction. The early model above also shows an extension to the building, enclosing the courtyard and allowing extra space for Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris’ new home and/or the Animation Commissary (both of which were later cancelled).

The key Animation Courtyard concept art.

Thick with greenery, the courtyard also had a brand new addition – Animania. A mirrored version of Studio 2 across the park, the new addition of Studio 3 reflects Disney’s advance towards live entertainment in the years after the MGM plans. Just one year before Euro Disney SCA resurrected the plans for a Studio park, the Imagineers had completed Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a park with very few attractions and instead, amongst its live animal exhibits, a focus on large-scale entertainment productions. In planning the new Parisian Studios, the Imagineers knew that not only were these live productions cheaper than large attractions and already a hit at Disneyland next door, but that they kept guests entertained for far longer than a 3 to 4 minute ride.

A close-up on an early Studio 3.

Original plans for the theatre housing Animania – later renamed Animagique – are almost identical to the finished product, but you might notice a few missing details. No, not the bizarre extended queue lines snaking around the front of the building, but those towering paint brushes framing the entrance.

The canopy, signage and curved pillars made it through, but the brushes never made the leap from concept to reality. And so, our animation tale turns sour. The Art of Disney Animation was shifted further towards the park’s hub to give this area some kind of focus and free more space for expansion, but in doing so the courtyard itself was lost. The Sorcerer statue disappears, trees become empty flower beds and brightly coloured flooring is replaced with vast asphalt expanses for the future parade route...

Finished Courtyard views.

The First of Three Wishes

With the addition of the parade route came a shake-up in the focus of the land. Suddenly realising the total lack of rides for children in the park, an extra attraction was Imagineered at the last minute and thrown into the back corner of the land. Despite elongating the courtyard further, exaggerating its lack of animation imagination (or rather budget), great worship from fans of the park should be bestowed to ‘Les Tapis Volantes – Flying Carpets Over Agrabah’ for many years to come. Why? Well, if it weren’t for this daring little addition to the land, we’d never have got the Toon Studio expansion we see today.

The original Flying Carpets Over Agrabah concept.

And why is this Dumbo-style ride so daring? For a start, it’s unlikely anything ever seen or even planned for either Disney studio park before. Most shockingly, it risks trampling over Fantasyland’s territory. In actual fact, this is probably what lends it - and its future Finding Nemo and Cars friends – the most satisfaction. Since Disneyland California’s 1955 opening, Fantasyland has been the heart and soul of ever Magic Kingdom. It has the park’s icon and the families arriving in droves, yet Disney has never been able to duplicate the formula to its second gates. Infact, any attempt up to this point has been a car crash of Imagineering woes. You only need to ask a Disney fan for a few words on Paradise Pier at California Adventure or Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama at Animal Kingdom to know why. And so, with Flying Carpets Over Agrabah and more to come, our dear little Walt Disney Studios could have finally cracked the formula for a successful, fun and imaginative family land.

Flying Carpets detail and a glimpse of the future – new planting frames the lamp as part of Animation Courtyard’s place-making project.

Finding the Art

And, when we take a step back and look at the courtyard in its 2002 state, there was still a lot of magic to be found. Take, for example, the giant Sorcerer Hat, the bronze character statues surrounding it, and the Partners Statue of Disney Bros. Plaza, itself a loving tribute to Walt’s often overlooked brother, business guru Roy. The land may have been squeezed of budget before opening, but it stands as a tribute to the man behind the mouse unique in Disney theme park history, a fitting theme for a park named Walt Disney Studios.

The Art of Disney – from sketch to reality.

In addition, like most of the Studios, the magic only really begins when you step inside the soundstages. The fantastic puppetry of Animagique, the beautiful animation timeline at Art of Disney – the magic is there, it just needs a little help from the Imagineering equivalent of the animation clean-up artist. And luckily, as you’re reading this right now, they’re hard at work.

The Partners Statue – the only version to not be placed in a Magic Kingdom park.

What Walt Disney is constantly quoted as enjoying most about Disneyland is the opportunities it gave for improvement and innovation, “plus-ing” the experience, as he called it. The original Tomorrowland was little more than a few product displays for sponsors – only in the years that followed the 1955 opening would the land become the optimistic haven for some of the park's most popular historic attractions. Unlike his animated films, which, once released, were cut and finalised, Disneyland was never complete and could be added to at any time. So, whilst Animation Courtyard may have faced the same budgetary and pre-production nightmares as many an animated Disney feature, it will ultimately have the benefit of time, money and imagination that allowed Disneyland to become the achievement it is today.

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© WDS Fans 2006