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Real-World Recruiting

Since we’ve seen my home-made attempt at a Disney recruitment brochure, why not a peek at the real thing? Courtesy of John Donaldson, here’s the cover of a Disney recruiting flier from the 1970s:

Why does this feel like some kind of awkward “health and hygiene” literature that would be distributed to teenagers?

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Arts And Crafts: Now Hiring Animators!

I was one of “those” kids.

I suppose that some are born into Disney fandom, some achieve fandom, and others have fandom thrust upon them; I’m not sure which of these categories I fall into, but my Disney predilection certainly manifested itself early. Perhaps it was the smuggled copies of Disney News in my elementary school knapsack, or the scribbles of Spaceship Earth and monorails in the margins of my notebooks, but my personal obsession was well-known and acknowledged by all. People signed my yearbook “See you at EPCOT!”, and I recently found a document from my 8th grade graduation that predicted what the denizens of Shelby Middle School would be doing in the distant year of 2010. Whoever put together those prognostications suggested that I would be working as Mickey Mouse at Walt Disney World; I recall being incensed by the suggestion at the time – nothing against the Character Zoo, but I was convinced that by 2010 I would be well on my way to replacing Eisner as Chairman.

But the full weight of my early fandom – and the realization of how truly unbearable I must have been – didn’t hit me until I was at home over the holidays and came across several boxes of old papers and school things from elementary and middle school. To even my surprise, it appears that hardly any assignment crossed my desk without me finding some backwards way of working Walt Disney World into the mix. There seems to have been a general tone of resentment that I was being asked to do busy work when I could be in Orlando or, at the very least, thinking about Epcot Center and reading about water hyacinths purifying waste water.

I could probably put together a whole book of my bizarre attempts to insert Disney into my schoolwork, from doodles of Epcot pavilion logos to vocabulary assignments where I managed to come up with a sentence about wanting to be at Walt Disney World for every single vocabulary word. Naturally, I also worked my tendencies into various school projects – sadly, I have never been artistic, or I would have been one of those genius kids who builds scale models of theme parks. Instead, I mostly wrote (surprise). I remember doing a biography of Walt very early on in school, but what inspired me to post today was this hilarious brochure for Disney Animation that I whipped up for some long-forgotten assignment.

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To GYRO And GERO In The Wabe

When Epcot Center opened in 1982, Disney characters were famously kept out of the new park. There were the big-headed World Showcase dolls and, of course, Dreamfinder, but no Mickey and Minnie. But with its vast, open areas, Epcot Center needed something happening to enliven the sprawling plazas between the pavilions.

Someone, apparently, also through that it needed robots. Lots and lots of robots.

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Muppets!!!

Long have Muppet fans waited with bated breath to see when our furry, demented pals would make a return to theaters and – more importantly – if they could manage to re-harness the anarchic feeling they’d seemingly lost. For several years news about the project has come and gone, with slacker comedian and Muppet fan Jason Segel eventually taking on scripting duties. We’re finally starting to see the end result of all that effort as the film’s November release approaches, and at last we have some real footage – a teaser trailer that was released today.

The great news is that it looks really fun and in the right Muppet “spirit” – I only wish that I could have seen this without knowing what it was, so the gag could have really played out as intended. But rejoice! It’s a trailer for a Disney film with nary a single embarrassing moment, “record-scratch” gag, or flatulence hilarity. Perhaps the world did end this last weekend.

So enjoy the trailer and remember – everything is funnier with puppets!

 

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Examining Epcot – The Germany Showcase

Germany, at a distance

When planners at WED Enterprises were selecting the initial lineup of pavilions for Epcot Center’s World Showcase, they knew that Germany would be included. This decision might seem obvious, considering the nation’s prominence on the world stage, as well as its familiarity to American audiences. Disney’s key reasons for including Germany, however, were far more pragmatic.

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