The Archive Series: Story

Santa paid me a visit.

I received the latest coffee table book from Disney Editions. It's very thin on text - there's only an introduction from John Lasseter, but it's jam-packed - 224 pages - full of storyboard art from Steamboat Willie 1928 to Lilo and Stitch 2002.

As I've stated before, I'm a sucker for any type of concept art. Whether it's early designs for theme park attractions or character development sketches from the latest animated film. Animation fans will truly enjoy flipping thru this book. There's an amazing amount of detail in some of these drawings.

I only have one or two small nitpicks. I would have liked to have seen more sketches that occurred early in the development process. The pictures that are included in the book are almost identical from the scenes that made it into the movie. Although, the Alice In Wonderland sketches are completely different from the final product. Also, all the films details (animator, director, etc.) are listed in the back of the book. I realize this allows for a cleaner layout, but I found myself flipping back and forth to find out more about each film.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to the entire Disney online community!

Vacationland 1959

As I noted in the previous post, I've started hunting down copies of Vacationland. These magazines often appeared in the hotels surrounding Disneyland. Today, we have the Fall 1959 issue featuring the brand new Monorail, Matterhorn and Motor Boat Cruise on the front cover.
And, we have the Spring 1959 issue with a shot of Town Square on the cover. This view is practically unchanged today. A lot of the Main Street tenants have changed, but the buildings have remained virtually the same.
I also included a scan of one of the interior pages. We get some great shots of the World Clock, Frontierland Mine Train, Rivers of America (with the original mill before the huge Fantasmic stage was built) and some cool shots of The Viewliner and the Tomorrowland lagoon.
You might also notice that the covers of these issues were stamped Jack & Jill Motel. The woman who sold me these issues commented that the motel was owned by her parents. That's them in the above postcard. The Budget Inn currently sits on this site today.