We have 2 new Trading Cards which will debut today!
At the (sold out) Everything's Just Ducky event, featuring Disney artist Don "Ducky" Williams we debut a special card of Tony's Town Square Restaurant. Ducky did much of the artwork for Tony's!
Our grand finale, is Deb's annual (sold out) IllumiNations Party!
We hope you've enjoyed seeing all our new Trading Cards.
We have 2 new Trading Cards which will debut today!
The first will debut at the "Smile and Say Jambo! meet. Join AllEars® Picture This! Photo Bloggers Scott Thomas and Barrie Brewer for a morning at Animal Kingdom.
Later that afternoon, at our (full-at capacity) meet and greet at an Animal Kingdom Lodge Grand Villa is our next trading card:
Come back tomorrow to see what cards we will release!
Today all meets are at Disney's Hollywood Studios!
We have 3 new Trading Cards which will debut today!
The first will debut at the (SOLD OUT) Toy Story Maniac Eat and Play Meet!
At the AllEars® Meet and Greet at Rosie's All American Cafe on Sunset Blvd 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. we have a special Disney's Hollywood Studios Holiday card debuting:
Later that evening at our (Sold out) Sweet Bites and Street Lights event, our final Trading Card of the day will debut:
Come back tomorrow to see what cards we will release!
As part of our 15 Year Celebration at Walt Disney World this month, we are debuting lots of new AllEars Trading Cards!
We have two debuting each day, plus members of the AllEars® team now have their own trading cards too! Be sure to ask for one when you see us at the meets or in the parks.
Here are a few examples of the individual team trading cards! See if you can collect them all!
To me, one of the most exciting things about the annual Food and Wine Festival at Epcot is the long list of well-known and respected chefs it brings to Walt Disney World to share their expertise with Disneyphiles who happen to be foodies. Over the years, I've had the opportunity to attend demos by a number of chefs I would never have seen in person otherwise. Many have become household names, hosting their own television programs or writing their own cookbooks: Martin Yan, Cat Cora, and Bobby Flay, just to name a few.
Of all the chefs I've seen over the years, though, one of my favorites has to be pastry chef Keegan Gerhard, who has participated in the Epcot Food and Wine Festival every year since its first. His enthusiasm for dessert-making, coupled with his down-to-earth, approachable style make him a delight to watch in the kitchen setting. Widely known as the creator and spiky-haired host-turned-judge of Food Network's live Food Network Challenge Series, Chef Keegan was named one of the nation’s top 10 pastry chefs of 2002 and 2004 by both Chocolatier and Pastry Art & Design magazines. Today, he's also Executive Pastry Chef/owner of his own restaurant, D Bar Desserts in Denver, CO.
I first saw Chef Keegan in person at last year's festival, at both the First Bites Opening Reception, and at a culinary demo, during which he prepared a delicious and whimsically named "Dessert Sandwich Situation." This year, I again caught the busy chef as he co-hosted the First Bites Reception, and at another culinary demonstration, where he presented an enhanced version of last year's dessert sandwich, Faux Foster Bananas Impostor. (Recipe at the end of this post.)
Better than all that, though -- I was lucky enough to have a few minutes with Chef Keegan as he was preparing for the opening of this year's Festival at Epcot. We talked about how the annual event has changed over the years, as well as his thoughts on the state of food and pastry in particular, at Walt Disney World. We also chatted a bit about the impact his Food Network Challenge has had on pastry chefs everywhere, and what's on his horizon.
DMK: You've been coming to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival for 16 years running. What keeps you coming back?
KG: Yes, I've been to all of them. ALLLLLLLL of them! I think only Bob Waggoner [host of the PBS show "U Cook with Chef Bob"] and I have been coming here since the beginning. It's funny, it sounds set up, but Epcot is my favorite Food & Wine Festival, and there's two reasons for this. The very first year I was at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida, I was corporate assistant pastry chef and my boss Norman was asked to go but couldn't, but he sent me. No one thought much about it because it was the first year, and no one knew how it would be. First years of festivals are always sketchy. I liked it, it was great. The next two years were very transitional, and since year three they've made it better every year.
DMK: Do you do many other Food & Wine festivals?
KG: I do a ton of them. I know some chefs don't like to and only do them because they have to, but I enjoy them. I wish I could do more.
DMK: What is it about the Epcot festival that makes it special?
KG: In particular, the three things I like: First of all, the guest access. You're not terribly far removed, you have a lot of interaction with Disney guests, especially in events like Party for the Senses and Sweet Sundays. Sweet Sundays is an uncommon format. You get to make three desserts for people and you spend two hours with them, and you're eating a meal -- there's a little more camaraderie, a little bit more of a connection you can make with the audience than in a 30-minute demo. The obviousness of what Disney's created with Party for the Senses -- the interaction, the action stations, the cooking, the wine, the food, it's just a big event. There's a buzz in the air about it, so I love that part as well. The demos themselves are my passion, that's what first drew me. I have a big passion to teach people that dessert should not be intimidating. Dessert should be fun, you shouldn't be afraid of things you don't know in baking and pastry. You just have to learn a few tricks to build your confidence. I think the key in food is If you can teach people a few tricks and they build their confidence, then they can start to be creative. If you're afraid, if you're nervous, if you have anxiety in any occasion you can't really unleash your creativity, right? But once you gain some confidence, you make something 10 times, you think, 'Hey, what about this twist? What about that twist?' And then that's when your passion gets included, that's when you have a story about the food you're making. So in a demo, I get to tell stories about why and how I make things. That's probably my most common question I get: What inspires you to create food? I love to tell those stories. I always have stories about my desserts. I like to share those.
DMK: Are there any special challenges to cooking here at Epcot's Food & Wine Festival?
KG: There are a few. In the beginning it was very challenging, because I don't believe that Disney realized how quickly it would grow. If you know the Odyssey, the entire festival happened in that building the first couple years. And there were 30 of us, and one oven. But once they realized what was going on they began to correct that. The Epcot Catering Center, where we work now, didn't even exist back then. So they grew it grew it grew it... But the challenge is always just cooking in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar equipment. But you know, I like that.
DMK: What about that makes it enjoyable? It seems that unfamiliarity would make things really difficult.
KG: My role on TV is kind of an odd one, if I'm being honest. I created the competition that became Food Network Challenge. I'm not a TV guy. I'm just a pastry chef. So to be on TV and get quote-unquote famous as a great pastry chef, but nobody had ever seen me make anything in nine years, it's kinda weird. So I much prefer the format of my restaurant, because at night I make desserts in front of you, like if you would go to sushi, but instead it's dessert, every night -- we can sit there and talk. It's like a live demo all night long. I'm sitting and interacting with people while I'm cooking. I prefer that, but in a situation like this, where you're a guest chef, you don't know anybody, you don't know where anything is, you have a couple of options. You can hide in a corner, or you can get involved. I believe that the oddity of that position on TV -- there's some responsibility there. Whether it's warranted or not, people look up to you. Whether it's warranted or not, our show has changed the industry some. I feel like I'm representing the pastry industry, Food Network, my show, and I'm certainly representing myself. So I try to set an example of how I think culinarians should be. I introduce myself to everybody. It used to be really easy -- there were only four guys. Now it's 70 people. It took me 45 minutes this morning. But you know what? If you just look somebody in the eye and say good morning to the dishwashers, to the stewards, to all the guys who worked really hard before you ever got here to get your ingredients together and they're curious to meet you, and they don't know how you'll be, you can put everybody at ease.
I believe that food is a connection, and when you say that, it's usually about me to the guest or it's me at a demo, and you realize, hey, I'm a normal guy, and so we have a connection. It's the same in the kitchen, there's the same barriers to break down. I have to put them at ease. So I show them and cook with them and I teach them and I let them taste my stuff and I make it myself. There are some chefs that are so busy they just turn in their recipes, they don't have the time to stay here. I've always made the time to come and make my own food. I don't want to bring my own staff to cook, I want to cook with the guys who are already here.
One exception was last year. Lisa, my wife, and I both were guest chefs, so we shut our restaurant down for three days and put a sign up that said, "Gone to Disney World." We brought our whole staff as a kind of reward for having been open two years. Oddly, 75 percent of our staff had never been here before, so they were wearing their 'First-Time' buttons -- It was life-changing for them!
All my passion for what I do, whether it's a food festival or TV or my restaurant whatever, I believe that food is a connection and I believe that the possibilities are limitless. I've been doing this for 16 years and I do at least two events, sometimes four. I like it that way, I like to work, and play at the end. It's special. People are already excited to be in Disney, and now Disney has made Epcot Food and Wine Festival an added attraction that some people plan their vacations around.
DMK: Having said that, have you had a chance to walk around the Food Booths around World Showcase?
KG: Not yet this year, but yes, I'm always intrigued to see how people react. I don't think that everybody understands that Epcot Food & Wine is going on. There's some people that come for it, and there's some people that don't. The people that just randomly come during festival are like, "Wow! Epcot really IS cool!" I always think, what about the people who come back in the summer and it's not the same?
DMK: Since you've been coming to Walt Disney World a while, you've probably had the chance to try a lot of the different restaurants. What are your favorite desserts here? And where do you like to eat when you come here?
KG: Oh, that's a good question. I can't be impartial because I know a lot of the chefs behind the scenes and a lot of time the personality is a draw for me to the restaurant itself.
I think Disney is extremely fortunate because they have a couple of really great pastry chefs. For example, if I look to dessert first, Erich [Herbitschek] at the Grand Floridian is amazing. When you go to Victoria and Albert's, it's over-the-top, crazy, amazing dessert, but everything that he makes is great. Another guy I think is a complete genius, and I actually just admire to no end, is Stefan Riemer. He's gotten promoted now into a corporate position in development with Disney's cruise line, but he turned the food and beverage situation and that buffet and pastry area at the Yacht and Beach Club around, and Boardwalk as well. So it's really exciting to see the food come up, because I was here when there wasn't really much of a food scene here, and when they really started to get serious about it, with California Grill and Spoodles and Flying Fish. It's evolved, and the emphasis has always stayed on great food. I consistently eat at Flying Fish, every time I come. (Chef) Tim Keating is a friend of mine -- my wife worked as a pastry cook for him at the Four Seasons Houston. I love Jiko. I think Jiko is so unexpected and uncommon for Disney. Who would think you could take a really cool, almost fine dining South African restaurant and put it at Disney? And if I'm being super-duper honest I always race my wife or my sous chef or my pastry cook on the [Kitchen] Sink at Beaches and Cream. Our plan of attack is Party for the Senses, sneak out and watch IllumiNations, and then run over and try to get to Beaches and Cream before it closes.
DMK: Is the winner whoever feels sicker from eating so much ice cream?
KG: (laughs) It's hard to determine who wins, but it's just the fun of it all... You know, I like corny. I don't ever tell anybody this, but you know when I finally get to play in the park, after I've done everything? I always eat at Prime Time Café for lunch, always. And I never believe that they'll correct me, and they do. I didn't finish my peas last time and the server airplaned them to me before my dessert. Oh, and I love to eat at that weird little drive-in in the Studios [Sci-Fi Dine In Theater], where you watch movies. I mean, come on, even if you're grumpy and you sit in there, you're going to feel like a little kid, so I think it's cool.
DMK: So overall you enjoy dining at Disney World?
KG: A lot of the higher-end outlet chefs, from places like the [Yachtsman] Steakhouse, are chefs now in the Epcot Catering Center, so inevitably the level of the food that's put out -- even in the kiosks -- just kind of increases in quality. It's got a very symbiotic relationship, I think, because you have these great chefs from all over the country, and all over the world, coming to the Festival. Fortunately, Disney doesn't ignore that. They see what these guys do at Party for the Senses and they adapt that, and try to make that possible in the park for guests all the time. Disney has a big advantage because they're seeing some of the best culinary talent in the world come here. It would be easy to ignore and just stay on the same track. I'm proud of Disney that they kind of push the envelope a little bit. They don't do what's been done for 20 years, they're always doing new stuff.
DMK: So after Epcot's Food and Wine Festival, what's next for you? More Food Network Challenge?
KG: Well, we have done all of our holiday shows, so there's seven new episodes for Challenge to come that have not come on yet. I don't know yet if we're going to get re-signed. You find out every year. Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? But at the end of the day we've shot over 300 shows so they're going to be on for... EVER! Probably. I've done a couple other fun little things, made a couple of appearances on some other Food Network shows... I did an episode of Chopped All Stars, which will come on next year. I just shot two fun little random things for DIY Network for a show called Disaster House... And then a big focus for us will be to keep D Bar in Denver great and to get D Bar in the Hillcrest open in April.
DMK: You're opening a second restaurant?
KG: Yes, we're about to open in San Diego, in Hillcrest. Our favorite people in San Diego are these two brothers, Jon and Adam Schlegel, who own a restaurant called Snooze -- a cool breakfast place. They're like the breakfast version of D Bar. We're opening up side-by-side with them, on 5th and University Avenues. I'm known for pastry, but I was a chef for seven years before I was a pastry chef. D Bar is a restaurant, we do lunch and dinner, but we're very dessert-focused at night. In San Diego, at Hillcrest we'll be even more so. It will have 120 seats, it's a much bigger space. But we don't want to do a bunch of restaurants. We just want to do Denver and San Diego and --
DMK: And Disney World?
KG: Listen, I would do Disney -- but you gotta be a hotshot to do that, and I don't know if I'm big enough yet! But then we're looking for Austin (Texas) and that's all I really want to do. That will be enough, right?
For more excerpts from my interview with Chef Keegan, see the video below:
******** Recipe for Faux Foster Banana Impostor
Nutella Panini
your favorite egg bread, such as Brioche
Nutella spread
unsalted butter, melted
vanilla bean
Method:
1. Cut crust off of bread to end up with a perfectly square shape.
2. Spread Nutella to make a sandwich.
3. Scrape vanilla bean and whisk seeds into the butter.
4. Brush vanilla butter on both sides of sandwich.
5. Use a Panini grill or toaster oven to toast the sandwich to golden brown crispiness.
Caramel Sauce
1.5 ounces water
8 ounces granulated sugar
1/2 ounce light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream, hot
1/4 ounce vanilla paste
pinch of salt
Method:
1. Cook water, corn syrup and sugar to a deep amber.
2. Combine cream, vanilla paste and salt. Bring to just a simmer or light boil.
3. Stop the cooking process of the caramel by adding the hot cream mixture.
4. Whisk until the mixture is smooth.
Banana Sorbet
10 ounces water
4 ounces granulated sugar
1.5 ounces Trimoline (which is inverted sugar, or use honey)
18 ounces roasted bananas
1/2 each lemon juice
rum to taste
Method:
1. Peel and slice bananas lengthwise. Lay on a sheet tray with a silpats and roast in overn 300F until the sugars begin to caramelize.
2. Combine all other ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Put the syrup and bananas in a blender and blend until smooth.
4. Strain, cool, chill, then process in ice cream machine.
Plantain Chips
Plantains
Granulated sugar
Method:
1. Slice the plantains lengthwise to about 1/4-inch thickness.
2. Place each slice individually into the deep fryer at about 350F.
3. Once golden brown and crispy, remove and toss in granulated sugar.
Homemade Crème Fraiche
1/2 ounce buttermilk
2 cups heavy cream
Method:
1. Mix ingredients together thoroughly and place into a sealed container.
2. Keep contained out at room temperature for about 24 hours or until mixture has thickened to the point where it seems to resemble jelly.
3. Keep refrigerated after this point.
NOTE: In the photo above Chef Gerhard substituted cocoa nibs for the plantain chips.
As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations today in the Magic Kingdom, we had the opportunity to speak with Chris Beatty, creative director for the new Fantasyland expansion construction project currently under way in the Magic Kingdom
A few of the highlights that Beatty discussed:
-- While we see the Beast Castle taking shape over the construction walls, it will probably not be the first thing to open in the new Fantasyland. That distinction will probably go to the "circus elements" -- the areas surrounding the upgraded "double Dumbo" attraction. That will be followed by the Beast Castle restaurants, Enchanted Tales with Belle and the new Little Mermaid attraction, and then lastly the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
-- The restaurant in the Beast Castle will be serving lunch and dinner, with no characters, and will be the signature restaurant for the Magic Kingdom.
-- There will be an animatronic Lumiere (the candlestick from Beauty and the Beast), that will be sort of a next-generation Mr. Potato Head (as seen in Toy Story Mania).
-- The previously announced Pixie Hollow area is no longer being considered as part of this expansion.
Well, it's happened again this year. I fly into Orlando for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, and hit the ground running... I love this event so much, I always try to cram too much into too short a time.
Even though I've only been here about 36 hours so far, I already feel like I've lived a whole other lifetime... and food-wise, I really have. I've had the chance to sample so many savory and sweet delights, I thought I might give you a quick update. I plan to do more in-depth reviews of most of these experience over the next week or so, so be sure to look for those in the AllEars Newsletter and, of course, on the AllEars.Net website. But until I'm done feasting at the fest, here are my quick impressions via some photos that will hopefully speak a thousand or so words on my behalf.
I started out yesterday by interviewing pastry chef and Food Network star Keegan Gerhard. Chef Gerhard is just as down-to-earth and charming in person as he is on television, and we spent quite a while talking about the work he's done at Epcot's festival over the past 16 years, as well as what's next on his own agenda. (I'll share some video from the interview later this week.)
I followed that interview with a quick trip around Epcot's World Showcase, where the Food and Wine Festival's International Marketplaces (aka Food Booths) were open in "preview" mode before Friday's official opening. I sampled a few items but wanted to make sure I didn't overdo it, since I knew I would be attending the Festival opening event, the First Bites Reception.
The Chicken Chipotle Sausage with Polenta from the Canada booth, a winner I remembered from last year -- It's a winner again, in my opinion, even if it's not the most photogenic dish:
The feijoada (bean and pork stew) in Brazil -- definitely rated a "meh" from me:
But the rice pudding with berries -- YUM! So creamy, so good!
The First Bites Reception in the Festival Center was a nice preview of ALL the different sorts of activities you can experience during the festival's 45 days -- the food booths' offerings, culinary demos, wine tastings, HGTV personalities, and live entertainment. I found it ran a lot more smoothly this year, but still, I'm still contemplating whether it's worth the hefty price tag. I haven't quite made up my mind. (You can read my review of the 2010 eventHERE.)
My first Food & Wine Festival event today was "Kitchen Memories" featuring Victoria and Albert's chef Scott Hunnell, and pastry chef Erich Herbitschek. The three course they prepared for us were, in a word, fantastic.
I followed that with a culinary demo hosted by Keegan Gerhard -- I *know*, more desserts! But someone has to do it. And so I muddled through, as Gerhard presented his take on the classic Bananas Foster -- a "dessert sandwich situation" that featured the chocolate-hazelnut spread known as Nutella, that he called "Faux Foster Banana Impostor"
And all of that doesn't include the various wines that were paired with all of these delightful dishes!
As you can see, it's been an intense 36 hours of eating and drinking! Tomorrow, Saturday, I'll be taking the morning off from festing to head over to the Magic Kingdom to help it celebrate its 40th anniversary! But I'll be right back to Epcot later in the day, trying out some more food booths, and attending one of the new Mixology demonstrations -- I understand that they'll be featuring the pear cognac called Xante, and that they'll be showing us how to make three different cocktails! Sounds like fun!
I'll be posting updates all through the weekend on Twitter (follow me @dcdeb_allears) and on my Facebook page: facebook.com/DebraMartinKoma. If you have anything in particular you'd like to know, leave me a message here or tweet me and I'll do my best to come up with an answer for you.
OK, better get ready for tomorrow... I think the next 36 hours may be as whirlwind as the first were!
You have probably seen them a hundred times. Walked right past them without paying any mind. I know. I'm guilty of doing it, too. Every resort lobby in the Value and Moderate categories has one. Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, too. I'm talking about that little fold-up stand by the door where the caricature artist sits.
Every night from 6 to 11 pm and an occasional mid-day, too, you will find one of these artists ready to perform right in front of you. Most of their subjects are children but they do all ages. They can do face only or they can put your face on one of many body poses you can choose from a notebook they have. You can even specify one that isn't there and they will tell you whether they can do it or not.
The artists themselves are not Disney cast members. They work for an outside firm that Disney contracts with. There are currently about 40 artists who alternate between 11 locations. Some work once or twice a week. A few work a little more and a few are vacation/illness fill-ins. There are four different art companies that handle the various caricature and portrait business throughout Walt Disney World.
The artist that I spoke to on a recent Sunday night was named Michael. As I was asking him some questions, a young lady named Lily, all of 4 years old, came up to the booth with her mother and asked to have her caricature done. She was wearing the cutest Little mermaid dress. When Michael asked what she wanted her body to look like, she didn't hesitate: "Mermaid!" Shocker, huh?
So Lily was seated and Michael took out a fresh piece of paper to begin. The first step is to put the name in the upper left corner. Then it's on to the rough sketching of the shape and features of the head using a pencil.
The beginning:
Pencil sketching:
Michael drawing:
Once satisfied with the pencil drawing, Michael uses a thin-tipped permanent marker to outline the features.
Adding marker:
Soon the mermaid's tail is added and other "under the sea" friends start to appear.
Tail fin appears:
Sebastian and Flounder appear:
If you want the black and white sketch, this would be your finished product. Total time from start to this point was about 8 minutes.
Finished black and white head and body picture:
But Lily is going to be in full color so here goes:
The coloring begins:
Sebastian comes to life:
Flounder is colored and work on the tail begins:
Almost done:
Finally, Michael adds the sea and the finished product appears. Total time: about 15 minutes.
Putting the finishing touches on the sea:
The finished product: Lily the Mermaid
The cost for these caricatures is currently $15 for face only black and white, $20 for face only color; $20 for face and body black and white; $30 for face and body color. But note that the price is PER PERSON.
If you are worrying that your child would never sit still for long enough, here's a secret. The child only needs to be looking at the artist during the pencil sketching. Once that's done (and it only takes about two minutes), the child can do pretty much whatever they want.
The artists can also work from photographs as long as they are of a decent size. Postage stamp size photos don't work well, but they can use most photos from cell phones.
I asked Michael about mistakes. "Do you ever do an oops when you're drawing?" He said absolutely. Just the other day he spelled a name wrong and redid the entire caricature. Yes, mistakes do happen.
So next time you come upon one of these artists seated at their booth, stop and think about it. Ten years from now you will wish you had. My wife had one of these done of my daughter about 12 years ago and it's still one of my most treasured things from her childhood. Fifteen minutes now will mean a lifetime of memories.
Wow, I can't believe the D23 Expo was three weeks ago already! There's still so much I wanted to share with you all -- for example, what I learned at the Making of Star Tours - The Adventures Continue program, presented byTom Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President & Senior Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering.
Honestly, with all the hype that surrounded the opening of this updated attraction earlier this year, I thought I had heard it all and knew everything there was to know about the new Star Tours. I'm so glad I decided to attend this presentation anyway -- I actually found out a lot of little details to satisfy my inner Star Wars geek.
SPOILER ALERT!
If you haven't yet ridden or read about the revamped Star Tours attraction at either Walt Disney World or Disneyland, and you want to be surprised, foolish you will be to read further! Revealed will details be!
Fitzgerald began his talk with a short video of a bearded and much younger version of himself discussing the first incarnation of Star Tours, circa 1980s. Very cool that he is still the lead Imagineer in charge of this attraction, beloved by Disney and Star Wars geeks alike.
Fitzgerald explained how the revamping of Star Tours had actually been in the works for years, as far back as 1998, in fact. (The ride originally opened in January 1987 in Disneyland and in December 1989 in Walt Disney World.) It was in '98 that Star Wars director George Lucas was working on the prequel to the original trilogy, and he suggested to Disney that a scene from that film would be perfect for updating the attraction: an action sequence known as the pod race. Fitzgerald and his team of Disney Imagineers agreed, and even went ahead and created a whole new storyline for the ride. (And now I know where those rumors came from that were circulating for years about the ride being updated to include the pod race!)
But even though the story was outlined -- they had even gone so far as to decide to do the attraction in 3D back then -- they opted to wait to see what the next two movies in the new trilogy brought. In October 2003, as Lucas was filming the third new movie (Revenge of the Sith), Fitzgerald said that technology had progressed to a point where they realized they might be able to keep the Star Tours attraction fresh for years by using a sort of a "pick and mix" approach. With that in mind, they developed a matrix, listing different elements of the movies that could be combined in numerous ways to create many unique experiences.
Obviously, though, Star Tours isn't the only project that Fitzgerald and his Imagineers had on their plates. It wasn't until late 2005 that they were able to return to the concept and refine it further, coming up with a more streamlined matrix that contained elements that were realistically "do-able."
This version of the matrix is very similar to what became the final concept for the ride: there are two different opening scenes or "launches", three different "detours", and three different final scenes, which can combine in dozens of unique ways.
By early 2007, Disney was ready to take their ideas to Lucas, and they showed him another matrix, which had added a few additional elements. They had determined that the story for the new attraction would take place sometime between the first and second Star Wars trilogies -- in other words, after Revenge of the Sith, but before the original 1977 Star Wars movie (aka "A New Hope"). They dubbed this Star Tours 3.5 to indicate that timeframe.
In October 2007 they took actual storyboards to Lucas for his approval... and didn't get it! (Fitzgerald described the process sort of like Dorothy having to go back again and again to the Wizard of Oz -- you know, "We have the witch's broomstick, can I go home now?") Since Lucas had told them that he didn't "do" storyboards any more, they instead created what are known as "animatics" to give him an idea of what the ride would be like. (Animatics are animated mock-ups of a scene using images edited together with dialogue or a soundtrack.) Fitzgerald shared one of these animatic scenes that they developed for the new attraction in early 2008:
If you've ridden the new version of the attraction, you'll realize that the animatic is very close to what you'll experience today on Star Tours.
At this point (about May 2008), the ride was ready for production with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), and Fitzgerald related lots of little anecdotes about how George Lucas's input shaped the story and the finer points of the ride. He also shared some interesting little trivia about the attraction that I had had no clue about. Some of the more interesting tidbits I learned:
-- When it came time to film the pre-show, they searched high and low for the woman who had done the safety spiel (she of the unique, sideswept hairdo). But they couldn't find her! Time constraints forced them to instead create the new "spokesbot" Aly Jan Jan, who is voiced by actress Allison Janney (famous for her role in the TV show West Wing, as well as the voice of Peach the starfish in the film Finding Nemo.)
-- Seat belt use is demonstrated by the same woman in the safety videos for ALL versions of Star Tours, throughout the world.
-- In the attraction queue, the droid performing the scan on humans is voiced by actor Patrick Warburton (who also does the pre-show spiel for the Soarin' attraction). Warburton was originally slated to provide the voice of the new Star Tours pilot, Ace, but when the Imagineers decided instead to make C-3PO the pilot (in an effort to inject more comedy into the show), Ace was relegated to a minor role. Still, they loved Warburton so much, they asked if he would instead voice the droid, which he does with much hilarity.
-- Also in the queue, there's a droid scanning luggage, who lets some unusual items slip past him. Some that Fitzgerald pointed out I'd seen already, but I'll certainly be looking for some of the others, especially Wall-E's belongings and Madame Leota!
-- In the scene at the beginning of the film, where either Darth or a droid is looking for the rebel spy in the StarSpeeder, one of the images that flashes on the screen is that of George Lucas. Fitzgerald said other Imagineers and people who worked on the show are hidden in files as well.
-- In one of the live action sequences filmed for the show, several of the actors were actually members of the ILM and Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) teams, including show writer Steven Spiegel.
Even though I'd been impatient to see an updated Star Tours over the years, I have to agree with Fitzgerald, who pointed out several times that by waiting for technology to progress, the new Star Tours has a much stronger concept than if it had been done years earlier. And this behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the attraction was just the sort of insider program that makes the D23 Expo worthwhile for avid Disney fans.
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