Conference koolit::disney

    
    RE .-1
    
     I'm leaving for the park tomorrow morning, and I'll try to get
    a new copy of their "Cast Member's Atlas" since mine is almost 
    two years old.  I really can't make copies of it since I am still
    considered an employee (Casual Temp.) and the map is considered
    company classified.  I will, however, give a discription of the
    map.  
    
     Be advised, it may be impossible for me to get one of these due
    to all the new construction in the World, and these maps are usually
    scarce due to demand from the other cast members and due to all
    the new hires. 
    
    Rich

    RE: 
    
  >>  Note 78.5 mentioned the former CRO building located behind the Magic
  >>  Kingdom.  I'm kind of curious about this and other backstage areas
  >>  in WDW.  Where are they, and what are they for?
    
    
   	As far as the CRO building is concerned, they have moved 
    	to Republic Dr. which is off International Drive in Orlando.
    	The building they USED to be in is now housing reservations
    	for DisneyLand.  (from what I can remember my friend saying;
    	she works in CRO). 
    
	If, for whatever reason, someone would want to drive past 
    	the building where CRO is located (you'd never know from 
    	the outside), it's easy.
    
    	If you're coming from Sea World on International Drive, take
    	a right at the intersection of Int'l and Sand Lake.  If
    	you're coming from the famous round Quality Inn Hotel, take
    	a left at the intersection of Int'l and Sand Lake.  Follow
    	the road down to Republic Dr.  
    
    	Or if it's easier, Republic Drive is right next to Wet'n'Wild.
    
    Tigga~~
        
    	
    

    
    
    	The rest of the buildings (except for Casting) are located
    	behind Disney and are easy to find if you know the backroads
    	of Florida.
    
    	The road is VERY twisty and curvy, and believe me!  it doesn't
    	take much to get lost!  I used to work at a 7-11 that was on
	the corner of SR 535, and we would CONSTANTLY have tourists
    	coming into the store asking how they missed Disney.
    
    	Anyways.  From I-4, take the exit (not sure of the number)
    	that goes to the Disney Village, the Grand Cypress, and 
    	SR (state road; they have the map of Florida around them, I
    	believe) 535.
    
    	From I-4 heading West, take a right at the ramp, from I-4
    	heading East, take a left.  Go past the Disney Village, and
    	you'll see the sign to get to 535.
    
    	Follow 535 all the way past the Grand Cypress Hotel, and 
    	to a set of lights.  At the lights, go left and follow it
    	all the way to Disney.
    
    	Ciao!
    	Tigga~~

    Did anyone know that inside the incredibley beautiful Cinderella
    Castle is actually an apartment built for the Disney family and
    also a broadcast facility???

    I have heard the story about the apartment in Cinderella Castle
    before, and that it has never been used, but I have never seen it
    confirmed in writing.
    
    I did see an official Disney something, (it could have been an article
    in the Disney News or a piece on the Disney Channel), that Walt
    often DID use an apartment built for him over the fire station in
    Disneyland.
    
    I also read, in Birnbaum I think, that the music for individual
    floats in the parades is broadcast from the castle.  This is how
    they keep the background music from the PA and the theme music from
    each float in sync.

    I have not been into the area in question in Cinderella's Castle,
    but I was told that for a while the space was used for storage.
    But, a few years ago (<1986) they remodeled it and it is now used
    for the dressing room for the Kids of the Kingdom, the group of
    young singers and dancers that perform in the castle forecourt.
    
    As for the PA systems, they have entertainment supervisors and leads
    that walk the route with the floats.  They have walkie-talkies and
    they are in constant contact with DACS so sychronize exactly when
    lights go down, announcements are made, music is played, faded out,
    etc.  As far as I know there are no speakers in the castle itself,
    but  all around it.

    Re: last 3
    
    According  to the Birnbaum guide ('89 edition) on  page  83,  (as  Joel
    states in .6 it may be a dressing room now)
    
    'In the Castle's upper reaches there are broadcast facilities, security
    rooms, and the like;  toward the  top, there's the apartment originally
    meant for members of the Disney Famiily (but never occupied).  '
    
    Also I remember reading somewhere  that  Walt also had an apartment set
    up in Disneyland as well, along Main Street I believe.
    
    Claude

    Along Main Street USA you can look at the second floor and see all
    the windows.  At night they light up and you can see rooms with
    the lamps lit, plates and picutres on the walls, etc.  This is actually
    an illusion.  The rooms are just slivers of space as compared to
    what is up there.
    
    Many of Disney's MOs are located there.  MO means Management Office.
    MOs 4-7 are located in respective order, over the Emporium, Camera
    Shop, Coke Corner, and the Plaza Cafe.  The offices belong to
    Merchandise, Security, Entertainment, and Magic Kingdom Operations,
    again in respecitive order (I hope I correclty stated the orders)
    Actually, the size would be from Town Square to Center Street for
    MOs 4 & 5 and Center Street to the Bridge for MOs 6 & 7.
    
    I don't know what is located over the Hospitality House (big golden
    colored building on the right of Town Square as you enter the park),
    but over the Sun Bank is the main location for Public Relations.
    So you can see that some enigneering magic is put into place when
    Disney does their designing.

    Joel

    
    As to Floats + music, the Disney channel did a special a few years
    ago on the "making" of the Electric Parade and the emphasis was
    at WDW. On Main street (and the reset of the route) there are speakers
    cleverly hidden at strategic locations. Usually "painted over to
    match the decor and/or built into the architect design. Look closely
    at the buildings (usually 2md story levels) the next time you're
    there. Also there are sense wires under the streets. Again, look
    closely and you can see the "trail" or make a fairly good guess
    as to "what looks slightly unique" about the street markings (up
    close).
    
    The whole float scheme is synchronized to make the "sound/music"
    follow the floats down the street and give you the impression that
    it's actually moving and emitting from each of the floats. As a
    float moves, it's corresponding music is faded from speaker to 
    speaker "down the street". All of this with the help of those
    walkie-talkie carriers, broadcasting control technicians, and
    computers. 
    
    Quite high-tech I would say. The "special lasted" about an hour
    and also showed background on the "building" and "preparations"
    of the floats. I recorded that special but ............
    ......
    .......... darned if it didn't get "erased" somehow ??  8^(
    
    
    Been kicking myself since !
    

    Mark (61 days)
        
    

    The Summer 1989 Disney News has a feature article about what goes
    into making a Disney parade, ("We Love a Parade", p29).  Regarding
    music synchronization it says:
    
         Music is critical to any parade, and the Disney people
         have developed a computer-controlled sound system that
         is revolutionary.  Each float transmits a digital code
         that is unique to that specific float.  This float ID
         code is received by hidden sensors located under the
         parade route. As a float passes over a sensor, pre-
         written sound cues are activated for that float at
         that specific location. 
         
         A master computer keeps track of every single parade
         float.  As one float leaves a sensor zone and a new
         float enters that same zone, the computer automatically
         cross-fades the music. 
         
         For night parades, the parade computer even controls the
         lighting as floats pass through different zones. 

    High-tech indeed!
    
    Combining this information with what Birnbaum explains in his
    description of the Main St. Electrical parade, I surmise that each
    "zone" along the parade route receives music from the castle on
    a different frequency, and the DACS computer sends the appropriate
    sound track to the correct transmitter based on information from the
    sensors. 

    As I couldn't find a separate topic for power & electricity at WDW, this
    seemed as good a place as any to ask this:
    
    I was in Florida over Christmas (Sebring, in central Florida; didn't make
    it to WDW, alas).  As you probably know, there were record low
    temperatures in Florida at the time.  Because of the huge demand for
    electricty (for heating), for a couple of days the Florida power company
    (companies?) tried to conserve power by rotating shutting off electricity
    in various parts of the state.  (We were not hugely inconvenienced in
    Sebring, but according to news reports from Tampa, quite a few people were
    without power for many hours - on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  What a
    great holiday they had...)

    Anyway, the situation made me wonder how WDW copes with power outages.
    I believe I've heard/read they have their own power supply, so possibly
    they were completely unaffected.  We got news from Tampa TV stations,
    which didn't report anything on WDW.  Can WDW keep everything running
    at full capacity/power during power outages?

							-- Nina

    Disney produces about 10% of its own power needs.  Electrical power
    comes under the Reedy Creek Utility Company.  They have an experimental
    power generator that uses decomposing water hyathyinth (sp?) to produce
    methane gas.  The gas is then burned to heat water to produce steam to
    turn turbines etc.  During classes at the Disney University, they said
    that this is enough to shut down the parks in a safe and orderly
    manner.  They didn't mention the resorts and assorted other
    attractions.
    
    Joel 

    re .11
    
    Nina,
    
    See 31.6 for  the pointer to an article which discusses the Reedy Creek
    District Tom mentions in .12
    
    Claude

    I believe the special mentioned in .9 is going to be shown on
    the Disney Channel again.  I think the play dates are in June
    and possibly May.  I got my info from the newest copy of the
    Disney Channel Magazine (or whatever the publication they send
    to subscribers is called).

    Well, I watched (and taped) the backstage special on
    Tuesday (June 12).  It was great!  The one thing I just
    had to mention here happened when they were showing how
    they play/record the music on a synthesizer.  Next to
    the synthesizer was a familiar looking keyboard - whitish
    colored case, black keys, kind of thick.  Then they turned
    the camera to the monitor and displayed the "sheet" music.
    I recognized the shape of the monitor's case immediately
    and with some effort was able to make out the orange
    letters on the black background that spelled out "digital"!!!!
    
    Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the VT100 series of
    terminals to determine the exact model used but I can tell
    you it had graphics and the display was green characters on a
    black background.

    I watched and taped the show as well.  For those who didn't see it it
    was about the Main Street Electrical Parade.  The terminal in question
    was a VT125.  It seemed to be part of an OEM music system.

    The show also answered (sort of) the questions that were raised
    somewhere in this conference about how the sound moves along with the
    parade, and had lots of other information about TMSEP.

    Re: last 2
    
    Was this show on the Disney channel?
    
    If so, do you know if and when it will be re-broadcast?
    
    John

    It was on the Disney channel.  It's called something like
    "Backstage Disney: The Main Street Electrical Parade".  I
    believe it's going to be shown again at least twice this
    month - I recall times like 1:00AM EST but not dates.  I'll
    try to check the guide for times and dates.

    The special about the parade is called "Backstage Disney: The
    Main Street Electrical Parade".  "The Disney Channel Magazine"
    lists the following play dates (all times are Eastern/Pacific):
    
    	June 22  6:00PM
    	June 26  1:30AM
    	July  4 10:00AM
    	July 12 11:00AM
    	July 20  1:00PM
    	July 21  5:00AM
    
    Check your TV listings to verify these times (I may have missed
    others).  

    Thanks for the info.
    
    John