Every now and then, a theme park attraction comes along that illustrates the warning that one can have too much of a good thing.
Consider Disney’s announcement last week about its plans for a new animation class experience at Walt Disney World. Disney stages Animation Academy attractions at many of its theme parks around the world, including at Disney California Adventure. In each, a cast member leads a step-by-step drawing class where guests learn how to sketch a Disney character.
Guests get to keep their drawings, and those have become beloved free souvenirs for countless Disney fans around the world. Now, Disney is planning to bring animation classes back to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida this summer, in the form of a new production called “Olaf Draws!”
As that name implies, the new show will star the talking snowman from Disney’s “Frozen” franchise. Olaf will appear as an animatronic at the front of the class. That means Walt Disney World’s animation class will not have a live instructor. Instead, big-name Disney animators such as Eric Goldberg will provide pre-recorded instruction on-screen.
Disney fans love Olaf. I also love the idea of Disney showing fans more of the creative geniuses who help bring their favorite characters to life on screen. But putting them into an Animation Academy show runs the risk of over-producing what has been a brilliantly simple concept.
The whole point of Disney’s animation class is to show guests that, in a place of multi-million dollar wonders, the art at the heart of it all is simple. It starts with just a pencil, and piece of paper … and you. With the right instruction, each of us can create a character that delights all of us.
That might be the most empowering message in any Disney theme park, which is why Animation Academy has become a cult favorite among Disney fans. But wrapping this lesson with an expensive animatronic and a pre-recorded show with a Hollywood insider distracts from that message.
The star of Disney’s animation classes should be the character that appears from your own hand — not a talking Olaf at the front of the room. If Disney wants to bring an animated Olaf to its U.S. theme parks — and it should — let it bring the walking, talking, size-appropriate Olaf from Paris and Hong Kong to EPCOT’s Norway pavilion and maybe even to a future Frozen-themed land a Disneyland. Don’t miscast Olaf in an animation class that is not part Frozen’s world.
Anyone can watch a pre-recorded drawing class online. But having a live instructor helps Disney’s theme park animation classes feel like a special and unique experience. It promotes the idea that art starts with something personal and handcrafted, to borrow the title of the recent making-of-Disneyland documentary.
Animation Academy does not need plussing with animatronics or fancy videos. Its simplicity makes it magical. Here’s hoping that the Disneyland Resort will leave its animation classes alone and never send its live instructors packing.