Anyone done Magic of Disney Animation lately?

[lovetoscrap]

We did this several years ago. It was kind of lame. They were working on Brother Bear and did a few things with it. We saw the empty offices where animators would work (if they didn't fire most of them!) and I don't remember much else.

What are they doing with it now? What movie do they use to demonstrate animation? Is there anything in this that makes it worth doing? I have 2 dd ages 6 and 10 and they really want to do this so they can see how they "make the movies". Will they be disappointed?

 

[cleo]

We went about a year ago and the animation character was Mushu from Mulan. There were several new hands-on attractions (drawing, sounds, etc), as well as the ever-popular animation experience, where you learn how to draw a character.

I'm guessing a 6 and 10 would enjoy it. Our then-7 and 9 really got a kick out of learning to draw a character.

 

[DVCLiz]

We did the Animation tour a few weeks ago. It is TOTALLY different than it was when we first saw it years ago. Now there is a presentation by one cast member. He does an interactive bit with the Mushu character from Mulan. It is scripted and the cast member responds to Mushu, who is speaking from the screen. It's really pretty lame, but if you've never seen any animation from start to finish, I suppose you might enjoy it.

Then you move to the next phase - there are NO animators left any more. We always move very quickly to the area where you can go and draw a Disney character with an animator, so we usually miss the other part, but you can visit with characters from The Incredibles too. The animation class has always been really fun for us - a cast member shows you, step by step, how to draw a basic Disney character - we've drawn Piglet, Goofy, etc. You don't have a choice - it's whatever character the cast member has chosen. I think your kids are a good age for this. You don't have to have any artistic talent - it's a basic "first draw a large circle that looks a little like a peanut".

There's also a nice gift shop with a lot of Disney art kits, etc. DD12 enjoyed shopping there.

All in all, we try to do this each trip, but it's NOTHING like it used to be when Robin Williams narrated the movie and there were real animators working.

 

[LoriLea]

We just did this on Wednesday. We've seen the Mushu movie before but we still enjoyed it. The kids really liked drawing Goofy. They are 9 and 11. DH and myself enjoyed this as well. If you'd like to draw another character, you just have to go out of that room and back into the entrance again. (You don't have to do the whole thing.)

 

[makinorlando]

You may see one animator....

I thought the movie with Mushu was cute.. but then I like Mushu -

and also if you are into character "hunting' the Incredibles have been seen there lately.

DD loves going into the Animation Studio and learning to draw the characters! we did it 5 times one sunday when there was no long line waiting to get in!

 

[rlovew]

If you don't want to watch the movie with Mushu you can always go in the back enterance for the characters or drawing through the animation shop.

 

[lovetoscrap]

So I guess the changes have been since we were there

I don't remember much, but we didn't get to draw anything. We sat on the floor while a CM showed us on his desk (and it was projected on a TV screen) how he drew an animation from Brother Bear and we watched a clip (commercial!) from the movie. I think this was in the area where you could see the animators office--I think I spent my time looking at that rather than what he was doing.

I think we had a movie with Robin Williams, and I vaguely remember Mushu, like he came in at the end of the movie and then may have been there when the guy was showing us how he drew the Bears?

I sure don't remember ANYTHING hand's on--I am pretty sure my kids would have remembered that!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Thanks! This looks like we will enjoy it! I will add it to the list.

 

[miss missy]

Love the show with Mushu! Eddie Murphy is VERY funny is this film! We love it. Love drawing too!

Hint, if you want to draw but dont want to carry the pics around or worried they will get ruined, take pics of the drawings like this!

 

[Robo]

We did this several years ago. It was kind of lame. They were working on Brother Bear and did a few things with it. We saw the empty offices where animators would work (if they didn't fire most of them!) and I don't remember much else.

They DID all work at those desks.
But the animators kept "regular office hours" (it was a "real job") but the attraction was open "park hours."
So that meant that if you wanted to see a lot of animators at WORK, you had to make sure it was not during a holiday, a weekend, or during lunch.

They ultimately laid-off ALL of the Florida animation staff at once (sad, very sad) and closed the Animation Tour to fully re-design the attraction.
Its closer now to the Animation Attraction at Disney's California Advernture park, which never HAD any animators as part of it.