![]() Like I said, this list only scratches the surface.īelow is some information that will help as you plan your visit. I had a wonderful time at the Walt Disney Archives exhibit and highly recommend any Disney fan make the trip to Memphis to see it in person. It was that attention to detail that still radiates through Disney parks, films and other properties. Animators, layout artists, background painters and others all had desks that were uniquely designed to support their styles of work. I learned that Walt Disney commissioned a designer to craft desks tailored to different roles within the Animation Building in Burbank. The exhibit features an original Disney animation desk, chair and bookcase, staged to represent an artist working on the 1940 film, Fantasia. I was a little “starstruck” when I saw RX-24 (also known as “Captain Rex”) from Star Tours at Disneyland.įun fact: you’ll see RX-24 as a DJ at Oga’s Cantina inside Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios parks.Īfter Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2020, the Walt Disney Archives collection has grown to include props and other items from Fox movies, such as “Wilson,” the bloodied volleyball from Tom Hanks in Cast Away. This life-size Light Cycle bike from the Tron: Legacy is as close to Tron as you can get in the United States until the Tron Lightcycle Power Run coaster opens at Magic Kingdom next year. Side note: Why is there not an entire Disney park land themed to Lion King? The devout Lion King fan in me was thrilled to see this model of the iconic Pride Rock. Lincoln at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The (now) mildly unsettling animatronic appeared at the Great Moments with Mr. Members of the media invited to Disneyland for its dedication in July of 1955 were given one of these paper passes:Īnimatronics have come a long way since the 1960s, as demonstrated in the below head from a 1960s-era audio-animatronic. I won’t name them all, but you’ll find a handful of props from other famous Disneyland attractions. The show helped promote the still very new Disneyland park.įans of Pirates of the Caribbean will be treated to a recreation of one of the famous ride’s animatronics. The model was used in “A Trip Through Adventureland/Water Birds” episode of the Disneyland TV show in 1956. The exhibit featured both a painting and a model of the “Congo Queen,” one of the Jungle Cruise boats.Ī model of the same “Congo Queen” boat was also on display. The collection included various measures, measuring tape and brass survey markers. Never did I think I’d see the tools used to survey the land Disneyland was built on. You can tell which names made it to the final cut of the park’s design. ![]() One thing I found interesting were the names of the lands in the smaller overview in the lower right corner. The second “map” was more of a schematic aerial illustration of the then 45-acre park. Those lots are now occupied largely by Downtown Disney and Disney California Adventure. The map also illustrated the massive parking lots surrounding the southern half of the park. The first was a bird’s eye view of the park with each land highlighted in a different color. There were two Disneyland maps in particular that I could have analyzed for an hour. It’s worth the trip to Memphis (and the city’s delicious barbecue doesn’t hurt, either). The exhibit is set up inside the Graceland Exhibition Center, a beautiful new facility across the street from the mansion.īelow are 11 of the coolest artifacts I saw in the exhibit, but there are so many more to admire. That said, you won’t be strolling through Elvis’ world-famous Graceland Mansion admiring Mary Poppins’ wardrobe. The exhibit includes items such as Jack Sparrow’s compass from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl costumes from Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmatians, Pretty Woman, and more Mary Poppins’ original carpet bag Wilson from Cast Away and a prop storybook from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”īorn and raised in Memphis, I never thought my first trip to Graceland would be to see a Walt Disney Archives exhibit. The exhibit originally debuted at the D23 Expo Japan in 2018 and is on loan to Graceland before moving to its next (to-be-determined) location. The 10,000-square-foot exhibit is packed with more than 450 objects, including never-before-scene original artwork, costumes and props from the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, California. I recently visited the Inside the Walt Disney Archives exhibit, which is open at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, now through January 2, 2022.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |