Continuing with our incredible tour of the Disney tours – as begun here:
Following our walking tour of Dave’s work area, we continued along our interweaving path through the Disney buildings. We next came upon the building in which models are crafted for film and animatronic characters. There was one lone worker in there, toiling away at some project, sawdust flying every which way. Dave asked if it would be okay if we looked around and he said “Sure. No problem.” So we spent the next fifteen minutes or so gaping at the marvels of the Disney imagineers. Above left is me posing with some head models for the animatronics in The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. You may recognize the one I am imitating as the pirate that comes up out of the well and spits water. Below is the miniature model for the Will Rogers animatronic used in Epcot’s American Adventure attraction.
Next it was on to the prop warehouse, which was just as it sounds – a warehouse full of props that can be loaned to the set of any film or television production. I saw a few items that were marked for Criminal Minds – a series from the Disney-owned ABC Network. Since we were uninvited guests snooping around, we didn’t spend too terribly long browsing, so I didn’t see a lot of instantly recognizable props. But we did spot an inordinate amount of caskets! (at right)
We then made our way to the Disney Archives via the “Short Subjects” building where Jimmy and I posed with a neatly hung photo of Laurel and Hardy with Walt Disney taken at the 1932 Academy Awards ceremony.
Exiting to the outdoors, we saw the exterior of Walt Disney’s former office and then looked down to see James Garner entering an automobile. Since he seemed to be having some difficulty getting into it, we chose not to bother him with a photo-op. When we got to the Disney Archive room, I was a bit surprised to see well-known archivist Dave Smith casually giving a tour of the area to some friends. Although Dave is not necessarily a celebrity, he is quite well-known among Disney afficianados for his writings and articles in Disney books and magazines. Unfortunately, he was a little too tied up for us to bother him. Since my friend Dave was kind enough to take us on this tour, the last thing we wanted to do was make a spectacle of ourselves.
After perusing the amazing Disney artifacts, we headed out via the underground catacombs that were originally built under the buildings so artists could transfer the sketches quicker (and without the danger of getting wet or damaged outside) from one building to the next (ie. from the Inking building to the Coloring building). Today they are seldom used and we didn’t cross anyone’s path inside them.
At this point, we had taken up enough of Dave’s time, so decided we better head out. We sent Dave back to work and then after snapping pictures of the ABC building, the hosptial across the street where Walt Disney died, and the Disney water tower, I changed clothes in the commissary restroom. We were pressed for time – we had to get to the NBC building across the street for a taping of The Tonight Show.
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