April 2005
Behind the Scenes at WDI, "Donald's Apprentice," Send Your Kid to DCA day, Anaheim's Conquest by Eminent Domain, Cruise on Disney Magic

This month we take a look at the events happening behind the scenes at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) in Glendale, CA. WDI is the place where all of Disneyland's rides and attractions are born, making it a fascinating place to snoop around in.

Eisner is pushing hard to get as many older attractions rehabilitated and repurposed as new attractions for the 50th anniversary celebration. The InsidEar was able to finagle special access to witness the development of some of these new attractions.

In one small room a simple leather harness hangs from the ceiling, it is the type that a paratrooper would use. It has been specially modified to allow a quick release so that a guest can be harnessed and unharnessed quickly. This harness will be the core of two great adventures that will fill the gap left by the long-ago removal of the old skyway buckets: Tinkerbell's Flight to the Future and Buzz Lightyear's Flight to Fantasyland. By using these harnesses, Imagineers will eliminate the problem of skyway buckets occasionally coming off the cable and plummeting to the ground, which was the reason the attraction was closed on November 9, 1994.

Imagineers have also been busy on another secret project Great Moments with Michael Eisner. However, work on this project has not gone very smoothly. It seems that no matter what they try, Michael Eisner's Audioanimatronic character appears dull, lifeless, and without any noticeable personality. Imagineers are on the verge of a strike "It's not our fault!" said Imagineer Jim Morrison who has asked to remain anonymous "We simply have no lifelike footage to go by." At a preliminary test of the figure, Eisner expressed his opinion that the character makes him look like "sort of a passionless ogre." Said Morrison, "We didn't get this kind of argument from the Tiki birds." Things are definitely not going well in this department.

On the back lot, several Imagineers have been busy modifying a diesel engine to run on used cooking oil. This oil is a recycled waste product from park restaurants, and making it usable as a fuel costs just pennies per gallon.  If the prototype is successful, engines of this type will be used for to power the Mark Twain, the Trams, and the restored subs for Finding Captain Nemo. The best news is that this improvement will keep Disneyland in full compliance with the A.Q.M.D., and the exhaust from these engines smells exactly like popcorn.

There are eight pages today, click here for page two.