A new documentary that delves into filmmakers and their associated theme-park projects is streaming now on Disney+. “Disney Worldbuilders” goes behind the scenes and into the childhoods of a set of storytellers with interviews and file footage.
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The 60-minute film, directed by Leslie Iwerks, is naturally an upbeat production from. But they manage to get a full arc out of it, starting with former Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger strolling up Main Street at Disneyland and then wrapping up with Iger on the beach at Abu Dhabi, site of the company’s next major park.
There’s a global emphasis in “Worldbuilders,” so it’s a little light on Walt Disney World, though certain attractions such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Pirates of the Caribbean translate well across properties. It may spend more time in Paris and Shanghai than Florida, but there’s enough WDW material to keep the Why Can’t We Have Nice Things throng at bay.
One door opens
Like many of the filmmakers, Pete Docter made childhood sojourns to Disneyland, and they were big influences.
“To this day, I think Pirates [of the Caribbean] is the best ride. I just remember feeling as though I had gone into a dream.” he said. “It’s just such great storytelling. You go in, you fall asleep, you’ve experienced this whole thing and you come up and you wake up out of it and you’re just ‘What just happened?’ It’s magic.”
Docter is now chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios and one of the forces behind “Toy Story,” “Inside Out,” and “Monster’s Inc.,” which is getting the park treatment at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
In the documentary, he recalls conceptualizing the door factory concept for the film.
“It literally was like 30 seconds until we were like ‘That would make a great theme park attraction,’” Docter said. “And for one reason or another – whether the technology wasn’t there or the budget wasn’t quite right – it kept getting postponed. So it’s very exciting now that they’re finally building it.”
Sister act
Nostalgia and sentimentality are peppered through “Worldbuilders,” but it gets especially emotional as cameras follow Jennifer Lee, director of “Frozen” and “Frozen 2,” into the World of Frozen at Disneyland Paris for the first time. (The land opened in March.)
“I can’t believe this,” she cries. “This is real. This is Arrendelle,” She gets one-on-one time with the robotic Olaf, and then her sister comes (“She’s my Elsa”). They take a trip on the Frozen Ever After ride, and they do that trademark Elsa arm movement during the backwards launch.
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“For all of us who grew up with Disney and got to see what Walt created, you just wanted to touch it. That’s all.” Lee said. You didn’t even think about it, getting to contribute to it in any way that’s going to be a part of something he started.”
‘Staggering and surreal’
Jared Bush, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animations Studios, recalled his first reaction to the Zootopia land at Shanghai Disneyland.
“I literally bawled my eyes out,” Bush told Iger in the documentary.
He was a writer on “Moana,” which now has a presence in Epcot, and he was the director of “Encanto,” which is getting an attraction in the under-construction Tropical Americas section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
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“For me seeing all those come to life is incredible and staggering and surreal,” Bush said.
(Side note: Studio execs have different lives. Bush said he texted Bob Iger to see if he wanted to give voice to Bob Tiger, a “weathermanimal” in “Zootopia 2.” He did.)
Space down to earth
When Disney first acquired Lucasfilm, there was immediate speculation about “Star Wars” in theme parks, said Dave Filoni, president of Lucasfilm.
“I think the difficult thing was narrowing it down to what could you actually do,” he said.
Filoni and moviemaker Jon Favreau were asked to help update the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction.
“I love what the Imagineers do and what they build and how they build it. It’s just this awesome process of creating this adventure,” Filoni said. “It’s such an impressive machine, the way that ride functions.”
Filoni said that when he’s in the park, it’s usually with Favreau.
“We ride stuff together. We always come out of it excited, especially if we’re shooting,” Filoni said. “Because we see the love the people have. We’re like ‘Alrightm we need to get back to work now. We need to give them something great.’”
Marvel ‘scratched the surface’
A segment features Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios. Viewers will see run-throughs of an attraction for Avengers Campus.
“This attraction will take people on a tour throughout the universe. We are going to move from environment to environment, from screen to screen,” Feige said. “
The Imagineers who mock this up in Glendale, [California], they sit you in a rolling chair and will push you around a version of the track and you’ve got your 3-D glasses and you look at the screen, and what’s astounding is the point of view of the screen moves with you depending on where you’re looking.
“Even on my rolling chair in Glendale, it looked amazing.” he said.
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“I do believe we have only scratched the surface of what can be done with our characters and with our worlds in the parks,” Feige said, as the film images show Epcot’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Iron Max Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland and Marvel attractions at Disneyland Paris.
“There’s so many details within a land,” he said. “My favorite detail in a land is a construction wall because a construction wall means more in coming … the adventure continues.”
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