Disneyland
Hollywood Pictures Backlot (soon to be Hollywoodland)
Though there are many distinct "Disneylands" worldwide, they all have one thing in common: rides based off Disney movies. In the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California, rides based on the classic features include Snow White's Scary Adventures, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan's Flight. Most of the "movie rides" can be found in the versions of Fantasyland in each individual park.
Hollywood Pictures Backlot (soon to be Hollywoodland)
These posters are “plastered” all along the construction walls at Dsney’s California Adventure, along with other classic replicas.
The land which they are set in is known as Hollywood Pictures Backlot – soon to be Hollywoodland – meant to resemble a simpler time of the 1930’s and 40’s when Hollywood was at its peak success. This relates to my theme for it shows virtually an original advertisement for the film and what it would have appeared to be; it has that classic Disney charm that people would come to know and love. Written across the top of the poster even states that it is “His First Full Length Feature Production.” Overall, the artifact manages to display the wonder of what people would’ve felt when originally viewing such a poster.
Disney takes their atmosphere very seriously when in the parks. In the store Off the Page, in Disney’s California Adventure, Disney has artists ready to take sketch orders on Disney characters. This isn’t the special thing, though; the artist’s desk is the sight. The two desks in the store are identical and appear fairly simple from a mere glance, but it’s the details that make it wonderful. The wooden desk has sketch papers stacked on the shelves, but with the help of some Disney magic, those stacked papers are flying up towards the ceiling. From there, the papers end up meshing with the sketch designs on the ceiling, creating a beautiful effect.
The Animation Building at Disney's California Adventure is an "enchanted world of Disney Animation with interactive adventures that celebrate this fun-filled, fantastic art form. Take a rare behind-the-scenes peek into how artists magically transform simple lines and shapes into your favorite Disney Characters."
Animation Academy
Ever wanted to learn how to draw a Disney character? The Animation Academy teaches you just that. In each quick show, your artist will teach you how to draw one of the classic Disney characters in plain language, step-by-step.
Sorcerer's Workshop
The Animation Building at Disney’s California Adventure includes many interactive activities, making animation a fun and fascinating thing. Included is the short but sweet zoetrope of the loveable characters of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.” Little models of the characters are on a spinning exhibit, each model being slightly different. The exhibit begins to spin, getting increasingly faster, and then a strobe light begins go on and off. As the strobe light does what it’s made to do, we take a mental image of the show before us, giving the characters the illusion of movement. It’s an interesting show to watch, and showing how simple zoetropes are, but more specifically how the idea of the zoetrope is related to stop animation.
In the video above, you can see a variety of zoetropes in the Sorcerer's Workshop as well. An entire room is dedicated to such zoetropes, and even includes sections you create your own.