Disney Files 2014
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summer2014 • Volume23 • Number2 What does it really mean to be Happy? If you’re the by-the-book (or Wikipedia) type, it means you’ve achieved “a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.” If you’re an animated Dwarf, it means you live with six friends, you needn’t a mustache to complete your beard and you aren’t afraid to accentuate your belly by fastening a belt over your brightly colored shirt. This sunny summer edition of Disney Files Magazine is fi lled with stuff that makes me Happy, and my eagerness to share it with you has me somewhere between contentment and intense joy. I’m Happy, for example, to see two of my favorite resorts in the neighborhood get interior facelifts that give warm, woodsy themes a cool, contemporary edge (pages 3-6). I’m Happy anytime I get to sit down with one of the most beloved Cast Members in our community – an ageless gentleman whose passion for spreading happiness is nothing short of extraordinary (pages 7-8). I’m Happy to daydream about paradise (page 9), watch an attraction concept become real (page 19) and see an animated fi lm honor heroes who tend to fl y under the radar (page 24). I’m Happy to see faces on repurposed trash (page 14), barbecued meats on my plate (pages 16 and 21) and Marty’s memories on our pages (25-26). And fi nally, I’m Happy to give this issue’s “Last Word” to a cute kid who has the will power to make even the fairest of all Disney princesses plead for affection. (All of us at Disney Files Magazine are impressed with this kid’s intestinal fortitude, as we tend to cave anytime Snow White asks for a hug.) Whatever happiness means to you, I hope you fi nd some of it in the pages ahead and that your happiest vacation is one you’ve yet to take. Welcome home, Ryan March Disney Files Editor Illustration by Keelan Parham VOL. 23 NO. 2 Disney Files Magazine Information contained in this Contact Member Services from For Member Services in Japanese, Disney Vacation Club magazine is subject to change 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Eastern weekdays call 0120-98-4050 Tuesday-Sunday, P.O. Box 10350 without notice 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern weekends 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (Japan Time) Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830 (800) 800-9800 or (407) 566-3800 Email: [email protected] DVC-MBR-65-Z Update your mailing address online at Fax: (407) 938-4151 Please recycle this publication www.dvcmember.com Email: [email protected] facebook.com/disneyvacationclub Membership (bonding) Magic By Ken Potrock, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Disney Vacation Club and Adventures by Disney In introducing the Disney Files Magazine, for example, includes a fun first wave of Membership shot of Gaston posing with three girls (of course) Magic offerings in from two Member families who met while on the spring edition of vacation at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and have Disney Files Magazine, continued to vacation together at the Walt Disney I noted that this new World Resort. range of Membership Another great example came in a letter we enhancements, exclusive received from Dan and Diane Meyr of Illinois, experiences and special offers was not just Members since 2011, who became part of our about the information we deliver, the services we community after visiting with Tom and Karen provide or the experiences we enable, but mostly Hysell of Illinois, Members since 2002. What’s about you. As proud as we are of the flexibility, extraordinary is that they didn’t meet in their value and spectacular accommodations we’re shared hometown of Chicago, but rather on able to deliver, it’s your dreams, your memories, vacation in Italy. The couples became fast friends your families and your friends that drive us to do and later returned to Italy together, posing for what we do, and it’s what Membership Magic is the photo below in Pompeii. Sometimes you have really all about. to travel halfway around the world to meet a My use of the word “drive” here speaks to an neighbor. analogy I use often around the office. Comparing It’s with these and countless other stories in Disney Vacation Club to a car, I find myself talking mind that we continue to look for new ways to to our team about “the road ahead,” cautioning bring Members together, from Member nights against the dangers of spending too much time at Splitsville Luxury Lanes to Culinary Magic at looking in the “rearview mirror” and pointing to Disney restaurants to our ever-evolving slate the special kind of magic that happens when we of special events on land and at sea. Because “fire on all cylinders.” While taking my car analogy whether you make a new friend while bowling too far may reveal how little I actually know about a turkey (that’s three strikes in a row) or eating mechanical engineering (and that I may have a turkey, we believe the connections you make spent a little too much time in Cars Land during represent the true power of Membership Magic. my last visit to Anaheim), I can comfortably say that Members aren’t just passengers in this vehicle. You’re also the fuel. Our company is all about storytelling, and the stories you share propel us to continue raising our game. I’ve become particularly fond of stories about the friendships Members have formed with other Members during their vacations. It’s a dynamic that immediately caught my attention when I began my Disney Vacation Club career aboard a Member Cruise – watching Member families reunite at sea like old classmates – and it’s a phenomenon at the heart of some of my favorite Member letters. The “Photo Finish” spread in this edition of 2 ‘Der’to your heart Re-imagining The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge One of the most beloved fi lms in Disney history has now inspired some of the most charming new details within The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. “When you think of Disney storytelling in a forest setting, you can’t help being drawn to Bambi,” Walt Disney Imagineer Kwannet Keyes told Disney Files Magazine. Artistic details throughout the newly re-imagined villas recall Bambi’s coming-of-age journey, from his earliest days with his mother (depicted in a mural tucked behind a bed that unfolds from a combination TV unit and table in the studio) to his eventful skating lessons from Thumper (sketched on one side of living room sofa pillows) to his friendship with Faline (sketched on the other side of those pillows). Even a painting on a bathroom wall (in the studio and second bedroom) celebrates the cherished fi lm, with a mouse reaching for a “Little April Shower” falling gently from a forest leaf. While these animation-inspired details pull from a fi lm that fi rst captivated audiences in 1942, other design choices have a more contemporary edge, from the vinyl-wood-plank fl ooring that now unites previously carpeted and tiled living spaces to modern interpretations of woodsy themes on linens, draperies, area rugs and more. “Introducing modern design styles to an environment set at the dawn of America’s railroad expansion through the Pacifi c Northwest is a careful balancing act,” Kwannet acknowledged. “It’s all about taking timeless colors, textures and materials inspired by nature and interpreting them in a way that feels fresh without deviating from the story.” New sink and bathtub faucets, for example, blend a modern nickel fi nish with a design inspired by antique water pumps. “From The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa to the newly re-imagined villas both here at this resort and at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort (see pages 5-6), the Disney Vacation Club neighborhood is fi lled with examples of design styles that give nostalgic themes a contemporary twist,” Kwannet said. “As a designer, that’s always a fun challenge.” Look for Bambi and his forest friends during your next visit “home” to The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. 3 4 Hihin tl the Lowcountry Re-imagining the villas at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort Since 1996, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort has welcomed Members “home” to villas sporting a hunting-and-fi shing-lodge aesthetic that has remained largely unchanged…until now. Walt Disney Imagineering has teamed with a group of Atlanta-based designers to boldly re- imagine the villa interiors for the fi rst time in the resort’s history, infusing timeless traditions of the Lowcountry with contemporary sensibilities. Bringing the outdoors in was among the teams’ design principles as they looked to transition away from the spaces’ existing dark reds and greens to a lighter, brighter palette. “We landed on a design concept that we call ‘cabin in the woods,’” Walt Disney Imagineer Kim Brunson told Disney Files Magazine. “It begins with lighter colors that represent the grayish-blue moss you see hanging from the beautiful live oaks throughout the resort. When paired with the warm, rich tones of the wood furnishings, these colors offer a more contemporary take on the nature theme. It’s like a breath of fresh air.” Featuring everything from driftwood-inspired hanging lights to tree-branch-inspired table lamps to a charming vignette of shadowboxed bird sculptures above the master bed, the re-imagined spaces balance modern styles with affectionate nods to the natural wonders that have attracted generations of vacationers to Hilton Head Island.