When I went in August during business hours, there was no one in the animation studios either. All the cubicles were dark, although one computer had a Disney screen saver on it!
I am certain that they can still do the animation tour, but just say this is where they DID Mulan or DID Lilo and Stitch... or they sort of "gut" the cubicle area and put maybe larger size animation cels up mounted or something, and say something like " These cels were like the ones they did in production of (insert movie title in_) or they could have still photos from the movies or even more cheaply, the actual movie posters....
I also personally think that the "animator" on the tour, wasn't really a true animator... they of course would know how to draw a certain character or style but thats really it. I remember my son asking the "animator" what features that they have worked on , and he got a very generic, cagey answer. I remember everyone with guest contact is "onstage" per se, so what you see or led to believe may not actually be true... you assume that the person is an animator... but is that CM truly an animator? Or is it an overly amibitious art student or a CM that knows *enough* about animation, to talk about it, and give some generic answers.
I am certain that they can still do the animation tour, but just say this is where they DID Mulan or DID Lilo and Stitch... or they sort of "gut" the cubicle area and put maybe larger size animation cels up mounted or something, and say something like " These cels were like the ones they did in production of (insert movie title in_) or they could have still photos from the movies or even more cheaply, the actual movie posters....
I also personally think that the "animator" on the tour, wasn't really a true animator... they of course would know how to draw a certain character or style but thats really it. I remember my son asking the "animator" what features that they have worked on , and he got a very generic, cagey answer. I remember everyone with guest contact is "onstage" per se, so what you see or led to believe may not actually be true... you assume that the person is an animator... but is that CM truly an animator? Or is it an overly amibitious art student or a CM that knows *enough* about animation, to talk about it, and give some generic answers.
