Animation Academy

[livinginthecornfield]

has anyone done this? How long are the classes? What do you draw?? Anyone have pictures?

 

[g8torphan]

About 20 minutes....its great!

You dont know who you are drawing until you get in the class.

I've done Olaf and Minnie....sorry no pics

 

[kayli2299]

This is one of my absolute FAVORITE things to do at Hollywood Studios! Classes are every 30 minutes at the Animation Academy. You go in and everyone gets their own personal center to draw on. The artist usually names a bunch of Disney Characters and asks everyone in the room if they have drawn them before. It's kind of fun not knowing what you are going to draw. I highly request this though. I don't have any pictures at the moment sorry! Maybe try to google it? I'm sure something will come up. Have fun!

 

[lily2521]

Is this kid-friendly, something a 6 year old could do?

 

[kaybird]

6 year old can do it, just depends on their frustration level. The instruction goes quickly, I have any children we are taking practice circles before we go. No erasers, so also explaining the idea of light lines and sketching may make it easier. It is one of our favorite things to do. Lots of mickeys, grumpy, Donald, pluto, ect. Last trip we drew Merida!

 

[Oodalally13]

If yor 6 year old can sit quietly, listen and follow directions both verbally and by following pictures, and most importantly not have a fit about the fact that none of the pencils have an eraser. The time we went there were tons of kids enjoying it. You do not get extra paper or an eraser. If you would like to practice there are official Disney Parks videos on you tube. These aren't just people videoing with their phone but staged for the a Disney Parks website.

 

[subtchr]

One of my favorite things to do at DHS! And I am NOT an artist by any means...I just follow directions, and end up with a fun and free souvenir! Here are a couple pics:

 

[livinginthecornfield]

Do you sign up for it? Fastpass? Just show up? What are the lines like?

 

[subtchr]

No fast pass or anything like that, you just show up. There is a small waiting area outside the room, and when that is full they have people line up along the wall. It seems to be getting more popular, so depending on the crowd, you may have to wait. The CM outside the room usually counts and lets people know at the end of the line if they might not get in the next show.

If you do have to wait, it's 25-30 minutes for each show, so it's a pretty big time commitment.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I personally think that 6 is a bit on the young side, but everything with kids is so independent, your 6 year old might do really well and my 6 year old might be in tears because he isn't able to can't keep up with the instructions being given. The animators who are explaining and drawing with you are moving things along at a steady pace and depending on which character you are drawing it can be a little hard to grasp what you are doing, since you have no experience and can't picture how these lines and shapes will all come together to make Donald Duck.

DD and I love to do this activity over and over again. But, we probably started doing this when she was around 8 or 9. She is 12 now. Over the years we have spent many, many hours in the Animation Academy, and for us it is a must do on every trip.

If you do some searching in the web, I'm sure you can find some samples of characters and how to draw them in a similar way. Try it at home and see how it goes. I have drawn Mickey (straight headshot), Mickey (side profile), Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Jack Skelington, Olaf, Phineas and Ferb, Agent P, Pooh, Tiger, and Piglet. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you will get.

Have fun!

 

[Nicki87]

I've gone three times and have drawn Olaf, Mickey, and Piglet. It is a favorite of mine and a must do every trip!

 

[dkrauss]

has anyone done this? How long are the classes? What do you draw?? Anyone have pictures?

We loved it.............its a short class as others have pointed out. On a hot day (it was in the 90's in Sept 2014 when we did it) it's a great way to cool off..........there's several character M&G's in that same location too!

Doug

 

[AllieBoo]

We love it! My daughter was about 6 the first time we tried it, and we had no issues with it holding her attention. The drawings make such great souvenirs too, it is so fun to look back at them! We make sure to put everyone's name and date on their picture when we do them, roll them up and bring them home with us.

 

[disneyhorselover]

I've done it 3 times, and have drawn Woody, Eeyore, and Dopey. It is a ton of fun! I've found that some of the animators are easier to follow along with than others, so don't be afraid to try it more than once!

 

[hogwartsdropout]

I've drawn Chip, Eeyore and Pascal. It's so much fun and a great souvenir!

 

[Arden01]

Has anyone does this in conjunction with a meet and greet with Sorcerer Mickey? We'd like to do both for our August trip and believe they are in the same building, right? I'm thinking of getting in line for Sorcerer Mickey say around 9:45 and then doing the 10:30 class. Anyone done a similar schedule? We're going at the end of August and our HS day is recommended that day.

 

[nkereina]

We've done this several times and I definitely notice that the popularity of it has grown over the years. We used to be able to walk up shortly before the hour or half hour mark and get in with the next class. Now they have ropes up so people can form a line outside the small waiting area. Last trip, we got in line about 20 minutes before the next class and we were the very last ones to be let into the room and thats only because we were a party of two. They sat us on the bench in the back and gave us portable drawing tables, which was a little disappointing because the lighted table and stools are more fun to sit at. I do think you need to get there to wait as soon as a class is being let in. You'll have to wait 30 minutes to be let in, but you'll be guaranteed a seat in the class and you'll have a bench to wait on.

 

[tcherjen]

Sounds like fun!

 

[FirstTimeDisneyDad]

Yes, love this activity. We did it at least 5 times over the course of our last trip. Makes for a bunch of great souvenirs!



Be sure to bring an empty paper towel roll and large Ziploc bag to put your finished drawings away after the class.

 

[Cando86]

I just wanted to chime in and say that this was one of our favorite things we did all trip! We drew Minnie and Rapunzel. It was a blast!!