Celebrating 20 years at WDW - Bonus features, A few posts from May, Updated 9/11

[franandaj]

Will you let us know when you start a new TR? I like to see pics of the F&G.

Hopefully later today, but we'll have to see. it's almost time to start dinner, and after dinner I get really tired.

Yes please! We will be there May 6th-13th and can't wait!

I can't guarantee that I'll get to the F&G part by then. Have you read my "We took the kids to WDW" TR? That was during Flower and Garden and I found this year's festival to be very similar.

Just checking in to see if there is a new TR started

Not yet. It's ready to go and all I have to do is catch up on replies!

<ticks item off of bucket list>

No, not really.....remember, I don't have a bucket list.

Better than Dopey!

But more like Sleepy.

I am one of those.... sort of.
I haven't been often enough to have dined at my "must do's" yet...

But... some day. It intrigues me.

Longer trips, I tell you!

I'll never know.
Or at least, not for the foreseeable future.

Sorry about that. I feel for you.

Meh. Has to taste good.

I agree. And I prefer my tangy and salty.

I guess we are one of the few who did the sit down place in Morocco, our first trip. I picked it partly for the entertainment (belly dancers!), but partly because it was cuisine that wasn't familiar. I figured I wouldn't be criticizing it for being done wrong if they Americanized it, since I didn't know what it *should* be! (And we can get good Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican food locally)

I still haven't tried the Chinese place as there are lots of good ones in California. However, the Mexican food is rather unique and not the same old Taqueria type food you get at the local Mexican place. The Japanese place was really good, but nothing I can't get at home.

Did you like it? I was not impressed with the one in the back of Morocco. I tried the Spice Table this time. I was even less impressed and I love African/Moroccan food! But was not impressed with their take on it.

i really liked both of them, however, I didn't find them anything like the places we have here, there are some really good ones in So Cal as well.

Alison - please make sure you always mention what Fran likes to eat. I definitely have similar tastes. The strawberry soup and that donut were two of the highlights of this trip!

I usually try to mention and picture what she gets. She is getting very good about reminding me to take pictures.

Waaaaaahoooooooty!!!

Packing commences....

This week! Nails are the last detail, so you know it's close!

I get mine done the day after tomorrow!

 

[franandaj]

Ah. So you're saying You are Fran's "little obsessive item".

Gotcha.

No not really.

Well, she does have a point...

Yeah, but I'm sick of all these brochures scattered around our house.

Uh, huh.

When?

Let's see. I have three days off. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
(Sounds like an Abbott and Costello routine)

Yesterday. Up early to drive out to the country to see Elle's Junior dance team compete.
Home, then over to MIL's house to clean out her garage. Up til 1am on the phone with a buddy who was going through a rough patch.

Today. Work 16 hours from 7am - 11pm.
Tomorrow. Work 7am - 3pm. Pick up Kay on way home. Shop. Cook dinner.

And those are my days off.

Those don't sound like days off.

mmmm.... Can you point it out if we go by?

We pretty much won't go by it unless Kay wants to ride, Mickey and Sulley to the Rescue. It's a cute ride, but nothing special. However, the area where that kiosk is located is quite easy to get to and not far from the "hub" in that park.

Hmmmm... Hawt skinny strangers?

I'm sure that's what it is.

Pretty much.

I gave up. If I wait to catch up before posting an update, I'll never post!

I'll take that as a "go ahead" to start the TR....

I just posted an update, too. Sorry. Please feel free to NOT catch up on my trip report. I know that Norway is not on your list of future destinations. I will not feel less liked just because you are going to be slow with that trip report!

OK, thank you. I will get back to it though!

Yes, that is my current thinking, too. I am sorry that I am losing out on some of the chatter with some of my DIS friends, but I also feel that I need to move my trip reports along because otherwise I will just forget what I wanted to write about.

That's why I try to write mine on the trip itself. While Fran is doing excessive shopping, while she's sleeping, waiting for the busses. I've already forgotten half of what happened on my cruise and I haven't even posted the first chapter!

 

[franandaj]

So I've been busy since we got back which was two weeks ago already! When we got home we had no Internet. No biggie the first night, we had been up for nearly 24 hours, so after unloading the car, we just sat down, caught up on the local news and tried to make up our absence to the kitties.

The next day was resting all we did was watch TV until it was time to go to band. We were so tired that's all we could do. However I did get on the phone to tech support with Frontier to get back online so I could check in with the inter webs.

Wednesday we had to get back to business. We had sold a bunch of stuff on eBay, but I had to reset the internet again that morning. I got about six packages processed and shipped, as I had great difficulty between the internet and PayPal label printing.

Thursday I had to reboot the internet yet again, so I spent almost an hour on the phone with Frontier and this time they agreed that it may be a bigger problem. They wanted me to wait until the following Wednesday for someone to arrive, but I got them to move it up to Monday. After that lovely discourse, I still had another half dozen packages to process and ship, plus I hadn’t been to the grocery store since we got home from the trip. By the time I got home I was so tired, we just ordered Italian delivery.

Friday was the start of the DCA F&W Festival. We had two demos, one at 2PM and another at 5PM, so that pretty much shot that day. The weekend was taken up with Band Rehearsal Saturday and concert Sunday. So a week went by without being able to get online (much), and even less unpacking.

Monday was spent messing around with Internet repair. The first guy came just after 9AM. It took him a couple hours to deduce that the problem was on their end in the line. It needed to be replaced. They would be sending another guy around to fix it. Luckily he had kick started the internet again. We had more eBay items sell over the weekend, so I worked on those. When finally the other guy got there, I ran to the post office. And then to the old house to finish packing up the wine cellar. I started dinner but realized I was missing a key ingredient and had to yet again run out of the house to the store. This is not how my life usually goes, it is mostly nicely planned.

Tuesday we got up before the dawn, drove three hours out to the desert, spent four hours looking at the sights and then drove home about another 5 hours. So we were 12 hours from door to door. I’ll have more on this one later.

Wednesday we moved the wine cabinet from De Soto to the new house. If you don’t know what a wine cabinet looks like here it is. The chair is in the picture to give you perspective on it’s size.



Here it is almost empty.



Here is the wine that I took out. I also brought home 2 cases of wine that are in their drinking prime and put them into my “drink now” stash.



I removed equally as many bottles from the “drink now” which had arrived from my wine clubs, over the years in the new house, and they are waiting to be interned into the cabinet until it’s their time.

After we moved the wine cabinet, Fran decided we should bring the refrigerator to the new house (you know as a back up). This turned out to be a much larger project than we thought. They had to remove the doors and go out and buy and install a shut off valve for the ice machine, as Fran's father tended to take short cuts on his maintenance work. I told the rental truck company that it would be back well before 2PM, but it wasn't until 3PM that we actually brought it back. No biggie, but we were exhausted after that even though we didn't do any of the heavy lifting.

Thursday we had more eBays to catch up with and cat food to stock up on, but Fran insisted we go out to the F&W Festival again, so after we did our errands in the morning, we spent the rest of the day eating, drinking and buying stuff for eBay.

Friday we had demos at noon and 6PM plus we had a DVC room booked for the night. Before we left for the mini weekend, we replaced a light switch in a tenant’s apartment and then we were on our way. We spent about 30 hours out there eating and drinking and watching demos and presentations (minus the 8 hours we were sleeping). By the time we got home Saturday night we were exhausted (more on this one coming later) and went right to bed after feeding the cats.

So that brings us to today. I’ve been trying all day to catch up on everyone’s reports and thanks @pkondz and @Flossbolna for letting me off the hook! Sorry @dolphingirl47 , but I promise I’ll get to yours soon!


Link to new TR!


https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...sy-food-adventure-the-beginning-3-19.3591967/

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sounds like a busy couple of weeks! jumping to the new TR now.

 

[pkondz]

You've mentioned that she is a tidy person who likes very little clutter....and that's two grand in US dollars....

Yup and... YUP!!! That's what... over $100K in CDN?

I've only heard about them.

Funny thing is... Kay had them on Friday. Hair frozen stiff.

Sounds like we dislike quite a few of the same things.

Except for the cilantro. Don't think I have a problem there.
Gimme yours and I'll see.

Depends on the restaurant. I've tasted some Kobe beef that was much better. When I tried it at a Shabu Shabu place I couldn't tell the difference.

Interesting.
I'd love a side by side, same preparation, same cooking method taste test.

Looks like a rather interesting place!

It was... I didn't know food could taste like that. Incredible.

 

[pkondz]

No, not really.....remember, I don't have a bucket list.

<ticks not having a bucket list off the buc.... wait....>

But more like Sleepy.

Longer trips, I tell you!

I don't know if I can handle a second job!

No not really.

You too all the fun out of that.

Yeah, but I'm sick of all these brochures scattered around our house.

Put them in her bed.

Those don't sound like days off.

What's a "day off"?

We pretty much won't go by it unless Kay wants to ride, Mickey and Sulley to the Rescue. It's a cute ride, but nothing special. However, the area where that kiosk is located is quite easy to get to and not far from the "hub" in that park.

Pass then.

I'll take that as a "go ahead" to start the TR....

Thank me, folks.

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a busy couple of weeks! jumping to the new TR now.

Thanks! I'll be back on yours once you get things together!

Yup and... YUP!!! That's what... over $100K in CDN?

Something like that!

Funny thing is... Kay had them on Friday. Hair frozen stiff.

Never seen them here, it just doesn't get that cold. I wouldn't know about them if I hadn't read it here on the DISboards!

Except for the cilantro. Don't think I have a problem there.
Gimme yours and I'll see.

I'll be happy to give you all my cilantro, unless Fran gets jealous. Normally I give it to her.

Interesting.
I'd love a side by side, same preparation, same cooking method taste test.

It was interesting. I wasn't sure if I would taste a difference, but I could. Then again when we went to New Zealand, none of the meat tasted right. The only that was the same was Fish and Chips. My friend PIO from Australia said the same thing about coming here.

It was... I didn't know food could taste like that. Incredible.

I've had a couple experiences similar to that.

<ticks not having a bucket list off the buc.... wait....>

Uh huh.

I don't know if I can handle a second job!

Probably not. Make the kids get jobs.

Put them in her bed.

No. That's my bed too and it would just create worse problems. Believe me.

What's a "day off"?

You need a different job.

Pass then.

But if we're hungry at that point we should hit it. Besides we could stop by before we go get drinks the first day and it would be a much cheaper nosh than inside the bar!

Thank me, folks.

Yes thank him that I now have the TR going!

 

[franandaj]

Back in January we gathered together some of our band friends a decided to spend a day touring the parks. It wasn't too busy and we got on a bunch of rides. Indiana Jones, Pirates, (HM was down to remove the NBC overlay), BTTMR and the Matterhorn. By then we worked up quite an appetite. I gave everyone a choice of where to go. I named off a ton of places and got back a bunch of blank stares. “Where do you like?” they asked.

“I'm always up for the Plaza Inn.” I said.

“Is that the place with the Fried Chicken?” Leonard asked.

Everyone agreed that Fried Chicken sounded good, so that where we went. Fran and I split a meal of Fried chicken and a Cobb salad.



She told me to pick a dessert so I went with the chocolate cake. It turns out that we took the cake togo, because Leonard ordered a slice of Carrot cake and he only wanted a sliver, so Fran was the beneficiary of a slice if carrot cake.

We took a group photo after lunch.



We hit Star Tours and Space Mountain.



Then we did It’s a Small World. It still had the Christmas Overlay and we showed up just on the hour when they did the little show.









Then we went over to DCA, I think we did Soarin first, then TSMM, Still I’m a beaver.



I sat it out on CA Screamin, and then we stopped for a picture on the bridge to Paradise Pier. No sooner than we all got in a line, did everyone pull out their cell phones and immediately start taking selfies!



We did get a bona fide picture with the whole group eventually.



We went on one last ride, RSR and I was toast. You know like, “put a fork in me I'm done.”



It was time for a drink and some grub. Fran and I split a flatbread with pepperoni, mushrooms, garlic and spinach.



We also got a couple things from the kids menu. Pigs in a blanket.



And grilled cheese and tomato soup.



We also got the ice cream filled macarons for dessert.



We had a couple hours to kill before we needed to go take our spot for the fireworks. Everyone agreed that we would rather hang out in the relaxing atmosphere than sit outside.





Eventually we made our way back to Disneyland and watched the fireworks. I was too tired to take any pictures. After that Fran and I went home while others in our party continued on until midnight.


Two days later a special limited edition pin was being released. There would be one released every day on the 15th throughout the year. While waiting for our pins we got a surprise meet and Greet with Mickey and Minnie.



Once we procured our pins we decided to get some lunch at the Corn Dog Castle.



As usual we got a regular Corn Dog and a Cheese Dog.



See all that ooey gooey cheese!



Then we scooted on over to Ghiradelli and got a Salted Caramel Brownie Sundae. Deeeelish!



Ever since we came home from my parents we had been on a sourdough kick, so we stopped and got a loaf of Mader shaped bread. We have decided since then we prefer the regular loaves that you can get at the Pacific Wharf Cafe, but the line there was so long that day we didn’t want to wait.



Then we stopped to see Francisco before heading back home.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yum! Love the look of that sundae.

I'm glad to see Francisco is still around.

 

[pkondz]

Read the "wine cabinet" update with interest, but won't quote it all.
I'm glad you got it done, looked like a big job! And then the fridge too!

You ladies have been buuuuusy!

I'll be happy to give you all my cilantro, unless Fran gets jealous. Normally I give it to her.

Spouses first. Rule.

It was interesting. I wasn't sure if I would taste a difference, but I could. Then again when we went to New Zealand, none of the meat tasted right. The only that was the same was Fish and Chips. My friend PIO from Australia said the same thing about coming here.

Very interesting. Now I have one more reason to want to travel down under.

Probably not. Make the kids get jobs.

Ingrates.

No. That's my bed too and it would just create worse problems. Believe me.

Ah yes. There is that.

You need a different job.

Or a lotto win.


Except... I don't play the lotto.

But if we're hungry at that point we should hit it. Besides we could stop by before we go get drinks the first day and it would be a much cheaper nosh than inside the bar!

I'm not gonna sweat the small stuff.

I don't have time!

Yes thank him that I now have the TR going!

 

[pkondz]

Back in January we gathered together some of our band friends a decided to spend a day touring the parks. It wasn't too busy and we got on a bunch of rides. Indiana Jones, Pirates, (HM was down to remove the NBC overlay), BTTMR and the Matterhorn. By then we worked up quite an appetite. I gave everyone a choice of where to go. I named off a ton of places and got back a bunch of blank stares. “Where do you like?” they asked.

“I'm always up for the Plaza Inn.” I said.

“Is that the place with the Fried Chicken?” Leonard asked.

Everyone agreed that Fried Chicken sounded good, so that where we went. Fran and I split a meal of Fried chicken and a Cobb salad.

mmmm.... fried chicken.
You can have my share of the Cobb salad, I'll take your chicken. Deal?

It turns out that we took the cake togo, because Leonard ordered a slice of Carrot cake and he only wanted a sliver, so Fran was the beneficiary of a slice if carrot cake.

Score for Fran!

We took a group photo after lunch.

Good looking group.

Then we did It’s a Small World. It still had the Christmas Overlay and we showed up just on the hour when they did the little show.

They do a show?
Please tell me it's a silent show.

Then we went over to DCA, I think we did Soarin first, then TSMM, Still I’m a beaver.

I have no idea what I am. What's.... I don't know how to say "What's below a beaver" without it sounding dirty.

No sooner than we all got in a line, did everyone pull out their cell phones and immediately start taking selfies!

Fran and I split a flatbread with pepperoni, mushrooms, garlic and spinach.

Not bad... I'll take mine sans pepperoni and spinach, thanks.

We also got the ice cream filled macarons for dessert.

Kay is going to die if/when she sees those.

Everyone agreed that we would rather hang out in the relaxing atmosphere than sit outside.

Well... yeah!

Two days later a special limited edition pin was being released. There would be one released every day on the 15th throughout the year. While waiting for our pins we got a surprise meet and Greet with Mickey and Minnie.

What's the pin look like?

Once we procured our pins we decided to get some lunch at the Corn Dog Castle.

I have to do the cart first.
Pretty sure that's a rule.

See all that ooey gooey cheese!

Hmmm.... It does look pretty good... hmmmm...... I'd like to at least try one.

Then we scooted on over to Ghiradelli and got a Salted Caramel Brownie Sundae. Deeeelish!

Dang! Yumm!

Then we stopped to see Francisco before heading back home.

I knew about the cats... didn't know they had names.

 

[Pinkocto]

Ice cream filled macaroons!!!!


That was a VERY busy couple weeks since your trip, wow!


Fun day at DL with your friends! I'm so excited to be going back this year!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Sorry @dolphingirl47 , but I promise I’ll get to yours soon!

Don't worry about me. I am only just keeping my head above the water as well. The trip report will still be there whenever you get some time and want to check in.

You really have been busy. I am glad that you managed to mix in some fun, too.

The day you had in the parks with people from the band looked like a lot of fun. I am not surprised that you were tired. You covered a lot ground.

I will go and check in on the new trip report.

Corinna

 

[dhorner233]

What a fun day in the park with your friends from band!

Does Fran prefer the regular corn dog or the cheese dog?

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow... you sure had a heck of a week when you got home. That wine cabinet is impressive, but it looks like you'll fill it up quickly!

Always appreciate and am jealous of your day trips to Disneyland. I totally didn't realize they made a "corn dog' that was just melted cheese inside the breading. I guess I assumed it was a hotdog wrapped in cheese and breaded.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Wow your feet don't touch the ground! Sorry about your internet issues. Last thing you need.

Love your wine cabinet. Great to sort wines out. We bought wine tags for Jo once. Marking dates to drink them etc.

Lovely photos of meeting your friends! Cute kitty! I love that colour.

Thanks for new link! All over that like a rash.

 

[franandaj]

Yum! Love the look of that sundae.

I'm glad to see Francisco is still around.

Yup! And more funny stories coming on this TR!

Read the "wine cabinet" update with interest, but won't quote it all.
I'm glad you got it done, looked like a big job! And then the fridge too!

You ladies have been buuuuusy!

Yes we have been! And then you came to town and we were busy.....having fun!

Very interesting. Now I have one more reason to want to travel down under.

I still have it on that non existent bucket list.

Ingrates.

This last week makes me laugh even more now.

Or a lotto win.


Except... I don't play the lotto.

Either do I.

I'm not gonna sweat the small stuff.

I don't have time!

And we didn't have the time, we barely made it through the few days.

mmmm.... fried chicken.
You can have my share of the Cobb salad, I'll take your chicken. Deal?

I think we worked this one out equitably!

Score for Fran!

And you got a similar one!

Good looking group.

Thanks!

They do a show?
Please tell me it's a silent show.

Well they don't play "the song"

I have no idea what I am. What's.... I don't know how to say "What's below a beaver" without it sounding dirty.

Actually you did better than us, I think you got the Pus........errrr cat.

Not bad... I'll take mine sans pepperoni and spinach, thanks.

Unfortunately it was already changed. Don't really remember what we got.

Kay is going to die if/when she sees those.

Unfortunately we never got that far, too much savory, no sweet.

I have to do the cart first.
Pretty sure that's a rule.

Sorry you ate too much.....

Hmmm.... It does look pretty good... hmmmm...... I'd like to at least try one.

You can also go to "Hot Dog on a Stick" and try one. Not sure if they have them in malls in Canada, but then again that means you have to go to a ma.

I knew about the cats... didn't know they had names.

They even have their own website.

Ice cream filled macaroons!!!!

We'll have to get some when you're here! I think we need to plan for several days!

That was a VERY busy couple weeks since your trip, wow!

Yes it was. And it hasn't stopped!

Fun day at DL with your friends! I'm so excited to be going back this year!!!

We did have a fun day, and I've had several since then which I plan on reporting on here.

Don't worry about me. I am only just keeping my head above the water as well. The trip report will still be there whenever you get some time and want to check in.

You really have been busy. I am glad that you managed to mix in some fun, too.

Yes, and I think I'm a couple updates behind on your TRs again, but after this next update I'm determined to catch up where I am behind.

The day you had in the parks with people from the band looked like a lot of fun. I am not surprised that you were tired. You covered a lot ground.

I will go and check in on the new trip report.

Yes we were tired at the end of the day. Thanks for checking in on the new TR!

What a fun day in the park with your friends from band!

Does Fran prefer the regular corn dog or the cheese dog?

She likes the regular corn dog better and splits the cheese dog to humor me.

Wow... you sure had a heck of a week when you got home. That wine cabinet is impressive, but it looks like you'll fill it up quickly!

Well I had 160 something bottles that I took out of it to move it. I'm not sure that I will end up filling it back up as I'm not so sure how many wines I will lay down for 20 years that I will still be enjoying when I'm in my 70s.

Always appreciate and am jealous of your day trips to Disneyland. I totally didn't realize they made a "corn dog' that was just melted cheese inside the breading. I guess I assumed it was a hotdog wrapped in cheese and breaded.

It's the vegetarian option, but even so I like it! @Steppesister thought the same thing that it had a hot dog, but no, just cheese. In my opinion you need one of each, cheese and hot dog.

Wow your feet don't touch the ground! Sorry about your internet issues. Last thing you need.

And by this point, I had forgotten that it happened, just because so much as gone on since then!

Love your wine cabinet. Great to sort wines out. We bought wine tags for Jo once. Marking dates to drink them etc.

When I first got the wine cabinet, I put tags on the wines in addition to cataloging them in the database. It was way too much work so now I just consult my map or run a query in my database.

Lovely photos of meeting your friends! Cute kitty! I love that colour.

I have some even better photos coming soon in more updates.

Thanks for new link! All over that like a rash.

 

[franandaj]

The day after our excursion for pins, corn dogs and a sundae, we were treated to yet another fun and special event. It took place over MLK weekend and was a 25th anniversary event for the Animated Feature Beauty and the Beast.





Present were Don Hahn, Glen Keane and Andreas Deja, and a special performance from Paige O'Hara.





After introducing the guests they talked about early concepts of the characters. Because they wanted the film to have a European flair, Hahn (far right) rented them flats in London where Disney had a studio and they spent a fair amount of time working and learning there. Perhaps as long as six months or more. They talked about how everything had such an ornate and much more elaborate quality (with respect to the house staff as objects).



Keane (second from the left) also did not have a good handle on what the Beast should look like at this time. He knew that he should be animal based and of “this” world. Not some “other worldly creature”, and these were some early sketches. He talked about walking past the London zoo every day on his was to their office and how he saw these wolves on his walk. He liked the way that they walked on all fours, but it gave him a perplexing problem of how to incorporate that when ultimately the Beast would become a man again.



When they had some good solid drawings Hahn took the concepts back to Jeffrey Katzenberg in the states and he hated every bit of it.

When he got back to London, good news or bad news. Deja asked for the bad news, obviously it was that they hated it. The good news was they were in London with nothing to do. So they took a plane to Tours, France and spent some time in the Loire Valley drinking lots of wine and getting a fresh perspective on the reboot of the animation.



They talked about the “process”. Andreas (who animated the Gaston) had been working on King Triton in The Little Mermaid. Keane brought Ariel to life. This was their first project with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Keane mentioned that when he thought about musicals, his mind went back to Cinderella and the lofty and classical style melodies. When they heard sounds down the hall <sings opening melody from Under the Sea> he realized that it was a whole different ball game going on here. It also ushered in a new era of collaboration between the songwriters and the animators. Here are some pictures of Menken and Ashman from way back when.



So when it came time to work on B&B they were already expecting great things from the musical score and knew that their characters would have a lot of development based on the music. Here is Howard Ashman with Paige O’Hara.



We saw some clips of Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach (Lumiere) recording some of their takes.







The discussion moved to Andreas Deja, animator for Gaston, his biggest challenge was the duplicity of the character. While he is a villain, there was also a desire for him to remain stunningly handsome, and know it. Don Hahn even purchased a year long subscription to Muscle and Fitness for Deja so that he had plenty of material for Gaston.



We were treated to many “studies” that were animated during the testing process.







One of the big “chuckle moments” only took up about a second of screen time, but evidently a lot of time during production. There is a line in the song “Gaston” where he claims that his body is covered with hair. At one point all the animators wanted to put in their 5 cents about just what that hair should look like. Then they showed us the song from the movie where you see the hairy chest. And it is literally less than 2 seconds long, but the amount of thought and time that went into it sounded like a lot!



Next they showed us a video created from the rough sketches. These are often used to sell the executives on the progress of the film before proceeding to the more costly Ink and Paint stages.

Don Hahn invited Andreas to take a seat at an animation desk that had been set up on the stage. He began to draw Gaston.











He completed this drawing in about 5 minutes.

Then we talked to Paige O’Hara. She talked about her auditions for the role of Belle. Evidently she had seven different auditions and each one had more and more high ranking Disney executives. The thing that threw her off was at the last audition no one would make eye contact with her. Don Hahn explained that it wasn't that they were disrespecting her, but they were trying to keep Belle in their heads and and see if her voice matched their expectations of the character.
We then switched to one of her favorite numbers in the show. Those of you who have seen the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast will have heard the song Human Again. Late in production of the movie this song was cut from the movie because it was deemed too long and ambitious, and it took the focus away from Belle. Menken and Ashman rushed to the drawing board to write the song Something There.


Lyrics


There's something sweet and almost kind
But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
And now he's dear and so I'm sure
I wonder why I didn't see it there before
She glanced this way, I thought I saw
And when we touched she didn't shudder at my paw
No, it can't be, I'll just ignore
But then she's never looked at me that way before
New and a bit alarming
Who'd have ever thought that this could be
True, that he's no Prince Charming
But there's something in him that I simply didn't see
Well, who'd have thought?
Well, bless my soul
Well, who'd have known?
Well, who indeed?
And who'd have guessed They'd come together on their own?
It's so peculiar
We'll wait and see
A few days more
There may be something there that wasn't there before
You know perhaps there is something there that wasn't there before
There may be something there that wasn't there before


Glen Keane said that until there was this song, he couldn't understand how the story was going to work. Belle was not going to just suddenly fall for this Beast, but once this song came into being it was clear to him.

Page talked about the song and how Ashman helped to coach her over the phone from his hospital bed while they were recording. She was having trouble with one particular lyric “and it's quite alarming…” and gave her one word, “Streisand” and that worked, she sang it for us several times, (before she told us the coached word in a manner that didn't quite click) and then afterwards she sang the verse with the proper inflection. Not being a singer myself, I forget that diction really can make or break a performance, especially if the singer executes it so poorly that the audience notices it.

There was a lot of small talk where she commented that she was much like Belle, and she would fall in love with the Beast if he gave her a library too. But you had to be there.

Then she stood up and sang the song for us. It was fantastic, but we were not allowed to videotape the performance.





Then we moved on to talk about Glen Keane and the Beast.



As was mentioned before he really wanted it to be earthly animal based, at first he liked the Idea of a Wild Boar. So Don Hahn went to the local Taxidermy shop in Burbank and bought him a head of a wild boar. Then he mentioned parts of a buffalo, so Hahn went back to the shop and found a buffalo. Glen Keane said that that buffalo head was above his fireplace in his cabin up at Lake Arrowhead.



Another aspect of the Beast was his relative size compared to Belle, he needed to tower over her so he did a lot of drawing studies to make the hands large, the body wide and especially that he was tall.



Another aspect of the Beast was how he moved. Hahn arranged for Keane to visit the LA zoo (which is rather near the Disney studios in Burbank) and he got to visit with a particular gorilla. The gorilla had evidently been a bad boy as he was down in a solitary confinement kind of cage in the basement area. Originally Keane had asked to be in the cage with the gorilla, but everyone else thought better of that and he was not allowed inside the cage. So when Keane came in the room, sat down and began sketching the gorilla sat at the back of the cage eyeing him, but didn’t really do much of anything. Then without warning, the gorilla shot to the font of the cage in an instant and began shaking the bars. It was at that point, Keane realized he was glad NOT to be in the cage.

The gorilla went back to the corner, and Keane kept sketching. Again with no warning whatsoever, the gorilla flung to the front of the cage. Keane kept sketching. So the gorilla meandered about halfway back through the cage, reached down and picked up a handful of poop, and swung his arm back. Keane grabbed his sketchpad and everything else and ran!

After that story, he went to the Animator’s desk and picked up a pencil.



He started on this whole spiel about how the Animators really don't have any talent, it's all in the pencil. He held up the pencil in his hand and said, this is a Beast pencil, Andreas used a Gaston pencil. And he put tell pencil to the paper and began to draw.





Then he looked up and said, “Darn, I grabbed the wrong one! This is an Ariel pencil!”

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

He put it down and said, “OK, now I have a Beast pencil.” He got another piece of paper and started to draw again.



As he drew he explained all the different features and the animals that he took them from. I'm doing my best to remember here, but I think the Buffalo inspired the overall shape of the head





the jaw was inspired by the wild boar





as were the horns, I think.



He needed to give the Beast a soft side so that it could be feasible for Belle to fall in love so he gave him long wispy locks. As he was finishing up he added that he gave him “cow ears” because “who doesn't love cow ears?”



The last thing he drew was the eyes and he said that when the transformation took place the one thing that remained the same was the eyes, as they were the window to the soul. They showed all the pain that the Beast felt being held captive in that body.



After he finished drawing the Beast he returned to his seat on the panel and they started to talk about the Beast’s transformation and how that would work. Keane had been putting this off for quite some time and when he finally realized that he had to make it work, he had no idea how he was going to do it. Plus there was a deadline rapidly approaching. Hahn told him to take all the time that he needed and without the pressure he was able to think a little more clearly.

He looked at sculpture to give him inspiration and that’s where the idea of the transformation taking place in the air and spinning came from. Also he made a trip to the Norton Simon museum in Pasadena hoping to find additional inspiration and he saw this statue outside. He used the texture and robes from this statue as inspiration for the transformation. The statue was outside the museum and he ended up not even going inside.





Once he had the overall picture of how the animation would be accomplished he needed to take care of the details.



He said that he came home and got in the shower and carefully examined his hands, how the fingers curved and what they looked like. The he looked at his feet and realized that the Beasts feet would need to look like a wild animal. His Beagle came to him at that moment and he looked at the paws (I don’t quite get this part) because he said he started sketching the dog’s paws, but how do you sketch in the shower?) He said that he used up all the hot water and his wife called to him to see if he was OK. They showed us a clip of the transformation scene and sure enough, a paw sticks out and turns into a foot.

After the clip he told us one last story. As an animator you really feel and affinity with your character, and can get possessive about them. However, he said that as he has evolved and become more mature, he has learned that it’s even better when you can let them go and live on their own. He gave us an example of a day when he had taken some friends to Disney. He had forgotten his “silverpass” (which I assume is a pass that allows you to sign in yourself and guests). He tried to get the gate operators to let him in based on his “name” and they refused, so he ended up having to buy tickets for everyone. While they were inside the park, he was sitting on a bench being grumpy about having to pay and not having been recognized enough to be let in the park. While the rest of his party were on a ride or something, all of a sudden the Beast came and sat down near him. Immediately a little girl came running to the Beast, grabbed the Beast by the legs, threw herself at him, and cried, “I love you Beast!” The fact that he had created something, and that thing he created had come to life in the real world and that this little girl believed in and loved this character made his day.

Andreas Dejas also had a story that he wanted to share with us. He was at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, France and he was planning on purchasing a book, when he noticed that there was discount available for artists. You had to inquire with the Guest Services desk for this, so he went to the desk, got out his Disney ID and showed it to the clerk. She burst out laughing, and then leaned over to the other clerk there, pointing at the Mickey Mouse on the card, and he burst out laughing. They must have thought that he was ride operator at Disneyland Paris or something!

They ended the evening by summarizing what projects they are working on now, and one more time Page O’Hara sang for us, not one of her songs, but still a favorite, Be Our Guest.







All and all it was a fun and informative evening. We were given popcorn, hot tamales and M&M’s as well as bottled water and soda. We didn’t get any dinner in the park, I think we ordered delivery online on our way home so that it would arrive soon after we got home.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

What a great evening! So many interesting facts. Thanks for sharing. I love the details Disney goes to just to create one second of filming. The way the animators live in different cultures to get ideas and imspiration.

What is strange is that song human again had always been in the movie I have seen. Do we have a differernt version here? Inlove that song.

You were def treated that night!