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In This Newsletter
From the
Authors:
PassPorter.com Updates
Travel Today:
Making the Most of Message Boards: Top 5 Tips
Disney
Feature:
Mickey's PhilharMagic
In-Depth Review
Updates:
What's New and Changed
Tips:
Photographer's Vests, Countdown Milestones,
Waterproof Your Gear
Q&A:
Key to the World
cards, Post-La Nouba dinner suggestions, Ft. Wilderness
Cabins, More answers on the message boards!
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Updates:
What's New and Changed
High speed rail access to Walt Disney
World is one step closer! On Monday, Oct. 27, Florida's High
Speed Rail Authority announced that they'd chosen the Orlando
Airport-to-Walt Disney World leg as the first to be built for
the future statewide system. The projected finish time?
2008-2009. Visit
Florida's High Speed Rail web site for more
information.
Tech TV looks at Mickey's Philharmagic, tonight (Oct. 31) at
8:00 pm Eastern. Visit
http://www.techtv.com for more
information.
>Things To Do:
Hear some news? Send it to us at
news@passporter.com .
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Disney Tips:
From Fellow Readers
Our readers are a wealth of information!
Here are the winners in this month's tip contest:
TOTE SMART
"When you have kids, you can potentially become a major pack
mule in the parks (especially if you're the "well-prepared"
mom). After one trip with the 2-ton backpack, I decided to try
something different: a photographer's vest. These are
sometimes referred to as safari vests. They have multiple
pockets all over them (some even have one on the lower back
big enough for the PassPorter!). Some are mesh with solid
pockets, some are solid with mesh vents. The two largest
pockets on the front can even hold windbreakers for the kids.
With the small size of camcorders and cameras these days,
they're easy to drop in a pocket. If you have a larger camera,
epaulets on the shoulders can keep camera straps from falling
down your arm. Wearing one of these vests distributes the
weight much more comfortably than a backpack. They won't
strain your neck or back. Any large items we purchase in the
parks get sent to our hotel rooms and not carried around with
us. Some things I put in my pockets are: camera, film (or
digital cards), first aid items, thin ponchos, PassPorter,
pen, cell phone, Park admission, I.D, money, credit card,
quarters/pennies for penny press machines, sunscreen,
individual wet wipes. One could carry much more things in a
backpack, but one usually doesn't actually use everything in
it. I choose carefully for my specific needs. And I now
purchase snacks in the parks because of their novelty and fun
for the kids. Carrying them around is just more weight. Happy
packing!" -- contributed by Anne R. (annerice@joimail.com)
COUNTDOWN MILESTONES
"We haven't left on our trip yet, but at each countdown
milestone (i.e., 75 days to go, 60 days to go, 45 days to go,
etc.) I give my kids a special Disney gift that will be good
for the trip. The PassPorter PassHolder was the first gift, a
small Mickey key chain with a tube of SPF lip gloss was
second. We haven't reached day 45 yet, but I think it will be
a T-shirt to wear while we are there." -- contributed by Beth
T.
WATERPROOF YOUR GEAR
"The best thing that we did during our April (rainy April)
2004 trip was to ScotchGard our backpack! We did about three
coats/treatments in the week before we left. We had everything
in our backpack -- camera, guidebook, cell phone, gifts, etc.
-- and we also stood in the pouring rain for Illuminations.
Even though we had to wring out our clothes, everything in the
backpack was dry! The fabric treatment also kept our light
blue/white backpack clean as the spray made it stain
resistant. The only other thing to say is that the
waterproofer does not waterproof the actual zipper so there
could be leakage dependng on where your zipper is located on
your backpack, or if there is a flap that does or doesn't
cover the zipper. Make sure if you use a backpack you use a
little clip or even a safety pin to tie the zipper tabs to
each other. It will prevent accidental backpack openings and
that little precaution may prevent someone from trying to open
your backpack while you are wearing it.-- contributed by
Regina A. (wishteller@yahoo.com)
>Notes:
Send us your tips ! You may see them in this newsletter
and win a copy of PassPorter!
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Q & A:
With Jennifer and Dave
In tribute to our way-cool message
boards, our Q&A column in this newsletter offers a sampling of
the kind of questions that get asked on the boards - and our
answers to them!
Member "83katy" asks:
"Can someone tell me if the Key to the World cards on the
Disney Cruise have a hole in them? I'm thinking that it might
be handy to hook them on a lanyard around my neck instead of
keeping them in pockets."
Member "Dave Marx" answers:
"No, they don't have holes. A few people report bringing a
hole punch so they can do this, but I don't recommend it, just
in case it damages the magnetic stripe on the card (or your
ability to insert the card into the door key slot).
The cards are the same size as credit
cards. More than a few people get clear plastic ID badge
holders for their cards, and clip those to their lanyards.
Disney sells these on the cruise (along with a lanyard), and
they come with some pin trading lanyards sold at Walt Disney
World."
---
Member "RocklandRVers" asks:
"We are going to La Nouba (Cirque du Soleil) on Thursday Dec
17 at 6:00. Where is a nice place to have dinner afterward at
about 8:00 pm? Of course there are tons of restaurants all
over 'the world,' but since it will be getting kind of late,
we want something either in DD (or nearby) or closer to our
home away from home FtW. By the way we are already doing
Trails End a couple of times so something else would be
better."
Member "Dave Marx" answers:
"Well, for dinner at 8:00pm you can dine nearly anywhere,
especially if you have wheels. But if you're already at DD,
why dine anywhere else? Make an evening of it! House of Blues
is closest to Cirque, but Puck's would be my first choice at
Downtown Disney West Side. If you do stroll over to Fulton's
(or even if you don't), consider dessert at Ghirardelli's."
(To see the rest of the dinner suggestions, visit
the
Feasting & Snacking forum)
Member "TiggGrrl" asks:
"We're thinking about staying in a Fort Wilderness Cabin next
year and would love to hear all about the experiences anyone
has had there. Also, have you ever gotten one at an AP
discount?"
Member "Jennifer Watson" answers:
"Dave, Allie, and I stayed at a Fort Wilderness Cabin in the
summer of 2001... and just loved it. Besides all the perks you
get from staying at Fort Wilderness (nightly campfires and
movies, lots of recreation options, easy access to Hoop-Dee-Doo,
boats to Magic Kingdom, etc,) we found that the Wilderness
Cabin worked really well for us. We requested one near a bus
stop, which we got -- and that made it easy to get to and from
our Cabin. The Cabin itself feels quite roomy. Allie took the
bunk beds in the bedroom and we used the Murphy bed in the
living room. The Murphy bed is very comfortable, and it's nice
to be able to fold it up into the wall when you're not using
it. The Cabin is furnished very nicely -- it feels more like a
hotel room than a 'cabin' in the woods. And yet one of the
nicest things about it is the fact that it stands alone from
the others and there are windows on three sides. So when
you're lying on the Murphy bed, you've got windows on either
side of you -- I really like that. The kitchen was nice,
though we didn't use it for much besides storing snacks and
drinks (though I think we had microwave popcorn one night).
The bathroom was also nice, and I enjoyed several relaxing
baths in there. And Allie loved her bunk bed. She still talks
about Fort Wilderness. Is there anything bad about the Cabin?
Not much, to be honest. If things like room service and a
handy lounge are important, then you won't like it -- it
doesn't feel pampering as much as comfortable. Transportation
from Ft. Wilderness can be a trickier than at other resorts,
as it may require an extra bus. Getting around the resort is
harder, but not that bad -- you can hop on an Orange, Yellow,
or Purple bus to move around the resort. Or rent a golf cart
-- we didn't feel the need to do this. Regarding price, I
believe we did get an Annual Pass discount on our stay. But it
was over two years ago, so I'm not sure how indicative that
would be of today. I'm sure someone else can offer some more
recent experience with this."
(To see more replies to this question, visit
the
Staying in Style forum)
More interesting questions that were
answered on our message boards in the last few days:
wdwlovers: "May travelers.....what's WDW like in May?"
(To find out, visit the
Planning Your Adventure forum)
statelady01: "I'm going to be on a plane for 9 hours. Any long
flight tips?"
(To find out, visit the
General Trip Planning forum)
Laughaholic88: "Who has used the Special Assistance Pass?"
(To find out, visit the
Vacationing Your Way forum)
FanOfMickey: "Is Song really an economy airline?"
(To find out, visit the
Ask the Travel Agents forum)
Princess Charming: "Beyond Dole Whips & Mickey Bars... what
other treats and eats?"
(To find out, visit the
Feasting & Snacking forum)
MindibellCM: "Is priority seating as important at Disneyland
as at Walt Disney World?"
(To find out, visit the
Planning Your Disneyland Adventure forum)
All Ears: "What is your favorite onboard activity?"
(To find out, visit the
Planning Your Disney Cruise Voyage forum)
Janet 46: "Can you help me find a gift for a 15 year old boy?"
(To find out, visit the
The Sunroom forum)
Have a question? Post it at
http://www.passporterboards.com -- and if you're lucky,
you may find that folks have already asked and answered the
same question that's on your mind!
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From the Authors:
Greetings from Walt Disney World!
Hi,
friends!
After our recent travels, we thought it would be good
to spend some time at home... our web site home page, that is. We've had
two significant updates in the last couple of weeks that will interest you:
1. The PassPorter Walt Disney World 2004 Preview Center is open! It
took a while, but we've got all the details, lists, and goodies up for you
to see. The thing most of you have been waiting for is our Sneak Peek PDF
with 30 actual pages from PassPorter Walt Disney World 2004, include a sample
of our new color park maps and a look at our tab/label/sticker page! You
can visit the preview center at http://www.passporter.com/wdw/2004.htm
2. We've upgraded and improved our message boards! More on that later in
our travel article, but if you want to see the new look now visit
http://www.passporterboards.com
This newsletter also contains an excellent article by Dave on Mickey's PhilharMagic,
which includes an interview with George Scribner, Animation Director of Mickey's
PhilharMagic!
Jennifer and Dave
PassPorter
Travel Press
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Did You Know?
PassPorter Walt Disney World 2004 Pre-Orders Now Being
Accepted!
Our sixth edition
of PassPorter Walt Disney World will be released around January 1, 2004 -
pre-order your copy today to be among the first to receive
one! (The earlier you pre-order, the earlier your order
is shipped out!)
Our 2004 edition will sport 40+ photos
(more than three times the number in our 2003 edition),
self-stick, color tabs to mark your chapters, stickers
and labels to personalize your PassPockets, light blue
highlights on the text of all additions and significant
changes at Disney since our previous edition, updated
vegebility ratings, and, most importantly, sneak peeks
and previews of new and upcoming attractions and resorts!
To pre-order your 2004 edition of
PassPorter WDW, visit:
http://www.passporterstore.com/store/2004.aspx
Tip: Want to get started planning
now? Order our deluxe combo deal to get a 2003 deluxe
edition now at 20% off, and the 2004 updated text and
covers in January at 50% off. To order, visit:
http://www.passporterstore.com/store/
deluxecombodeal.aspx
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Travel
Today:
Making the Most of Message Boards
My Top 5 Tips
by Jennifer Watson
The power of the Internet isn't in its glitzy sites
or great deals. Rather, the Internet gives us an astounding ability to communicate
with one another. And no better example of this power is with message boards.
Unlike e-mail, message boards allow you to communicate with huge numbers
of people -- some you may know, most you do not. And when it comes to planning
vacations, this is a big deal. We vacation planners no longer have to rely
on what that glossy brochure claims or what your Aunt Mary encountered. Now
we can read experiences from many other vacationers, ask them our questions,
and share our own ideas and thoughts.
What is a message board? Think of it as a big bulletin board you may have
up on a wall at school or work. People pin up notices, announcements, and
questions, and everyone can see them as they view it. Now multiply this bulletin
board by a magnitude of at least 100,000, add a sophisticated management
system to store, sort, and display the messages in an easy-to-use format,
and throw in thousands of people like yourself... now you've got an online
message board. And access to an enormous amount of feedback from fellow vacationers!
Everyone can use message boards. Some are smaller, some are bigger, some
are simpler, some are fancier, but virtually all are accessible. Most are
free, and offer simple registration to allow you to participate. Considering
their value, you'll find it no surprise that PassPorter.com has its own message
boards. In fact, our message boards have become so popular that just last
week we improved it with an upgrade to more powerful software.
Rather than fill this newsletter with technical information on using the
message boards, which differ from board to board anyway, I want to share
my top 5 tips for getting most out of a message board.
1. When you first find a message board, poke around a bit. Read some messages
-- do the folks seem friendly and willing to answer questions? Try a search
or sort -- do the message boards seem fast enough to use? Finding a message
board that fits you isn't so different than choosing a new house -- you want
to be sure the pipes work and the neighbors are nice.
2. Don't hesitate to join a message board community that looks promising.
It's simple and free, and you shouldn't worry that someone will harass you
with spam -- most travel message boards wouldn't survive without decent 'Net
behavior. If you just "lurk" (read only and not participate) you won't be
getting anything near the full value out of the message board.
3. Post a greeting. Make your first post simple -- just say hello! Most boards
will have either a place for general chat or even a beginner's forum. This
is the perfect place for your first post. You'll want to become familiar
with how to make posts before you get deep into the discussions.
4. Find a forum that focuses on your specific interests. For example, if
you're trying to choose between the many Walt Disney World resort hotels,
PassPorter's "Staying in Style" forum is the place to be. The more specific
you get, the more likely you are to find quality information.
5. Search, search, search! Look for your answer before you post your question
by searching the message board -- most boards offer a search option. And
if you don't find an answer, post a question in an appropriate forum! I can't
tell you how valuable this has been for me as a guidebook author; if it works
for me, you can bet your boots it works for you, too!
There's so much more I could tell you, but it'd really just be easier to
show you. I invite you over to our upgraded message boards at
http://www.passporterboards.com.
The first page will give you an introduction to our community and a great
overview of what you'll find. Joining is simple, the folks are very friendly,
and we try to keep things easy.
The new
PassPorter Boards Entrance screen
And for those of you who're already familiar with our message board, you're
going to love our new look! It's faster, more organized, and more powerful...
making it easier for you to do what you like best. Check out the new Entrance
page with our PassPorter Patter box (a sort of mini-chat), news features,
recent threads, the day's hot topic, and member spotlights. Then login and
take a look at your very own "My Home" page where you can store favorite
posts, add members to your address book, and modify your preferences. The
forums themselves have new features like file attachments, the ability to
expand threads, more pixies (smileys), a count of the number of times a thread
has been viewed, easier post previewing and editing, ability to use colors
in your posts, and much more!
And if you've already joined our community but need to look up your login
name or password, just visit
http://www.passporterboards.com/ubb/login.php, scroll down to the bottom half of the screen, and fill out the form to
get your information via e-mail!
See you at the message boards!
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Disney Feature:
Mickey's PhilharMagic In-Depth Report
by
Dave Marx
Amid all the hoopla of October's grand media and
travel industry event at Walt Disney World, the opening of Mickey's PhilharMagic
was nearly a footnote to the festivities (at least, from our vantage point).
Lost somewhere between the technological gee-whiz of Mission: Space and the
explosive wonder of the Wishes nighttime fireworks spectacular, our introduction
to Mickey's PhilharMagic was a good bit more sedate. Only a handful of select,
"A list" media were present for the 3-D attraction's star-studded, red carpet
premiere/photo op. We, on the other hand, were invited to a later, after-dinner
viewing during the big Magic Kingdom press party on October 8. But we did
land a 15-minute, personal interview with George Scribner, Animation Director
of Mickey's Philharmagic the following day. Here is our in-depth review,
sprinkled with interview quotes from George Scribner. (Warning: This article
contains spoilers on the show!)
Simply put, Mickey's PhilharMagic is an utter delight. And judging by the
reactions of those around us (including several Disney executives, and audiences
full of regular guests at subsequent viewings), we're not the only ones to
feel that way. Of course, audience reaction has always been part of 3-D attractions.
Startle a person, and he/she will certainly respond. This time, though, the
reaction didn't come as screams, gasps, or bawling infants. What we heard
was laughter, wonder, and delight. Not bad, eh?
"The Fantasyland Concert Hall" is the former home of "Legend of the Lion
King" and from the outside, little besides the signs seems to have changed.
The façade is still the familiar Fantasyland "stonework," and the
queues seem unchanged, except for the addition of FASTPASS machines and a
FASTPASS Return queue. To the right of the entrance is a large new merchandise
shop, chock-full of PhilharMagical stuff. Lines in this outdoor, only partially-covered
queue area can still be very long, and barely move most of the time, but
about every 12 minutes the line moves dramatically, when a new group enters
the theater.
Once you've passed the turnstiles at the front door you step into the familiar
outer lobby. The décor here hasn't changed much, but the former, open-plan
lobby where folks used to simply jostle and press towards the pre-show entrance
has been turned into a zig-zaggy crowd control queue. While it's quite tedious
to make your way through the queue, ultimately I think it beats the former
"trampling herd" environment. While you're weaving your way through the queue,
look at the framed posters that line the walls, commemorating great moments
in the concert hall's history. As always, the wit of Disney's Imgineers shines
in these little gems. From there, guests pass into a new, inner lobby that
replaces the former pre-show area. Decorated in rich blues and gold with
dramatic mood lighting, this inner lobby sets the perfect mood for the "classical"
concert to come. Unfortunately, crowd control here is a good bit more chaotic
than in the outer lobby. Guests make their way down a long ramp at the left-hand
side of the wide lobby area, and tend to stop at the bottom of the ramp,
near the left-most theater doors. There are plenty of additional theater
doors and lots of empty space to the right, but cast members have to work
hard to encourage folks to move along and make room for those behind them.
Let's hope Disney comes up with a solution to this mayhem, as it's one of
the few sour notes in the entire attraction. Eventually, though, the automatic
doors open, and the crowd streams into the theater.
Once inside the theater, though, we learn just what Disney could (and should)
have done in the inner lobby. Instead of a forlorn cast member with a microphone
urging folks to move all the way to the right and to leave no empty seats,
we hear Goofy's familiar voice moving about behind the wide curtain, cracking
jokes and coaxing folks to move along. As a result, the entertainment begins
as soon as folks enter the theater, and the crowd settles down quickly -
a big improvement over 3D shows of the past. "We really wanted that to avoid
having operations break the story that you're entering Mickey's concert hall,
that this is his place," noted George. Mickey's concert hall is "like Seiji
Ozawa at the Boston Symphony, it's Bernstein's, it's Barenboim's place."
George
speaks passionately about PhilharMagic
What's the best seat in the house? "We really try to design it for every
seat," said George. "The center tends to be a little better. But as we tested
it we sat all over and we would adjust some of the mix levels just to make
sure some of the dialogue got out to the back seats."
Finally, the lights dim, and the curtain goes up on an empty concert stage.
Mickey's voice floats in from backstage, to ask Donald if he can set up the
orchestra. Donald opens a trunk, and a cascade of animated musical instruments
pours out to take their places on stage. Then our ducky friend spies Mickey's
sorcerer hat, perched on the conductor's podium. He can't resist temptation,
of course, any more than Mickey could back when he was the apprentice. In
a flash the hat is on Donald's head, the instruments are in rebellion, and
a magical whirlpool tries to suck Donald, hat, and all into its swirling
depths. We feel the air around us being pulled into the abyss as Donald tries
to "swim" right at us against the current, but eventually he loses the battle,
and everything goes dark.
In a few moments we see Donald's frightened eyes glowing in the dark, and
the lights come up to reveal that the narrow concert stage has disappeared,
and it its place is a huge, curving screen that extends to the limits of
our peripheral vision. From now on, Mickey's hat leads Donald on a merry
chase from one animated scene to another. We're splashed with water when
the Fantasia brooms empty their buckets, our mouths water at the scent of
cinnamon-heavy apple pie when Lumiere invites us to be his guest; and we
splash about some more with Ariel as she sings, "Part of Your World." Simba
just can't wait to be king, we swoop over London with Peter Pan and Tink
in a breathtakingly enhanced recreation of the original flyover (when PhilharMagic's
over, visit Peter Pan's Flight right next door), and we just keep flying,
right into a whole new world where Jasmine's perfume wafts on the air and
Donald's flying carpet takes us on a Star Wars-style chase through the alleys
of Agrabah. Finally, Donald does catch up with the elusive hat and (naturally),
all's well that ends well, at least for everyone but naughty Donald.
As a side note, that alley chase is a favorite scene of ours. When Jennifer
asked George about it he revealed, "Even I get sorta queasy (on roller coasters),
and I was hoping this would work okay. One of the animators turned to me
and said, 'Hey, you storyboarded it. Get over it!'"
One goal of 3D films has always been to break down the barriers between the
flat action on the movie screen and the guests out in the audience. Originally,
that was a matter of creating in-your-face objects that seemed to pop off
the screen. Naturally, these startling effects are still the bread-and-butter
of 3D, and the quality of those images keeps improving. But over the years
innovators have gone on to engage all the senses, with enhanced surround
sound, lasers, strobes, theatrical lighting, evocative scents, smoke and
mist, rumbling floors, flight simulator-based ride vehicles, "bug infested"
seats, under-seat air jets to simulate stampeding mice, explosions, and sprays
of water droplets that suggest everything from frothing floods to spattering
human guts. And when the movie screen became too limiting, Disney added Audio-Animatronics
figures throughout the theater.
Now, purists will note that not every effect that I've listed has been used
as part of a 3D attraction, but the theater technologies (except the vibrating
chairs) that provide these effects are all present at Mickey's PhilharMagic.
What's more, they're used with greater subtlety and expertise than ever before.
Objects still do pop off the screen, but their movement is less startling,
and the effect more humorous. Fortunately, bugs and mice are nowhere to be
felt, and when water is sprayed in our direction we know that it's water
- it's not masquerading as something a lot more creepy. Some of the most
dynamic effects come from strobes and other lights, placed throughout the
theater to supplement the lighting effects that occur on screen. You probably
won't even know they're there, but they really help pull us into the action.
In our interview, George Scribner pointed out that "one of the biggest goals
right from the start was to make something that you could bring anybody to
without scaring them. It was a huge, huge push and it was probably one of
the original ideas, 'Look, we've really got to create a 3D movie that just
would appeal to everybody,' and one of the ways of doing this was less of
the what we call flinch moments (things that startle you) and more of 'reach'
where elements come out further in space and linger so kids have a chance
to try to reach for them."
The 165-degree wide screen (nearly three times the width of a normal screen)
helps immerse us completely in the action. Disney boasts that this is the
widest (150 foot) seamless movie screen in the world (not a Stitch to be
found?). According to George Scribner, "Four projectors, two in the center
in stereo, and two on each side" are required - the middle two to create
the central 3D effects, and one each for the extreme left and right of the
screen. These outer images aren't in pop-off-the-screen 3D, as our eyes can't
perceive depth at the outer edges of our vision, but the computer-generated
scenes are still "modeled" in 3D, just as they are in Pixar's computer-animated
features. George revealed that they tested stereo-3D images on the outer
screens "early on, but we were not successful. In terms of the story, it
starts to get pretty distracting. (It's) better to focus. We're dealing with
a range of audiences. It has to be clear and simple and to the point."
In 3D animation, characters actually become computer-controlled actors. Unlike
hand-drawn animation, where nearly no drawing can be reused, these computer
programs can be reused and improved indefinitely. In short, by computerizing
all these classic characters, Disney has laid the groundwork for films and
attractions yet to come. Animation purists will be quite satisfied with some
characters, and disappointed by others. Disney has made a virtue of how master
animators Nik Ranieri (Lumiere) and Glen Keane (Ariel) were brought in to
help translate their creations into 3D computer "models." The rumor mill
suggested that they were only brought in to help the animation crew out of
a jam, but George Scribner made it clear that these animators were an integral
part of the process from the beginning. Nik Ranieri, who animated the Lumiere
segment, "was amazing," says George, "When that first scene first came up
we had no notes on it. What you saw was (Nik's) first iteration to us."
Even with the masters' help, we can see that 3D animators still haven't solved
the problem of modeling realistic human characters. This is not only true
on this project, but on every 3D film produced by Pixar and other studios.
But humans have always been the hardest to animate. This was as true in the
days of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as it is today. Our brains are "hard
wired" to recognize our own species above all others, so it's very hard to
fool us. So, Aladdin and Jasmine (and to a lesser extent, Ariel) don't move
or look quite as good as we'd hope. Neither, of course, did Snow White and
Prince Charming. Fortunately, this shortcoming is not enough to tear our
minds from the film's fantasy world, and that's what's most important.
I have one other quibble, one that comes from my past life in the music-for-movies
business. My eyes have become very sensitive to lip-sync, and both Ariel
and Aladdin's lips don't quite move as they should. When animating to an
existing piece of music, animators often use a "click track" (metronome)
to help them match the musical beat. Indeed, the rest of the film matches
the music beautifully. Why, then, is there a problem with the singers lips?
A good singer is always singing either ahead of, or behind the instrumental
beat, rarely right on it. What we're seeing is probably a result of the animators
using a click track that follows the orchestra's beat, rather than the singer's.
I have to apologize to George Scribner, who led the story development and
animation process for PhilharMagic. During the interview, I told him I thought
the story seemed more like a musical revue rather than a formal plot, with
a relatively thin story line. I wasn't fair at all. The story is very carefully
developed, moving Donald from one misadventure to the next. George mentioned
that "the story evolved concurrently with the development of the music. We
were searching for something a little bit more, so there was a through line
that was pretty clear, with (Donald) searching for the hat... without being
too complicated. I'm a big believer in very simple stories and great characters.
I think we're at our best when we know who we're talking to. We don't make
long movies so we don't have a lot of exposition time." Unlike Disney's classic
3Ds like Honey I Shrunk the Audience, MuppetVision 3D and It's Tough to be
a Bug, Mickey's PhilharMagic has very little dialog. Sometimes we writers
confuse "words" with "story." My bad!
The vast majority of the communication in Mickey's PhilharMagic is visual
and musical, like a silent movie, ballet, or that animation masterpiece,
Fantasia. Mickey's PhilharMagic may "say" very little, but it tells a full
and rich story. We see Donald overstepping his bounds (as Mickey himself
did in the Sorcerer's Apprentice), unleashing unintended mayhem, trying desperately
to correct his error, and finally paying the price for his misdeeds. According
to George, "The whole idea is to get you in the middle of the movie. To really
fold you in... as if you and Donald were in those movies (together)."
Donald's tale is told in a language that can be understood no matter what
your age or heritage. All the right emotional strings are plucked by the
beloved songs and even more-beloved characters, and this fantasy in Fantasyland
leaves us all happier and more beguiled than we have any reason to expect.
So, four thumbs up for Mickey's PhilharMagic! This attraction will be on
my "must see" list for many years to come.
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