sUMMER2012 • Volume21 • Number2 TWENTY YEARS OF DISNEY VACATION CLUB® To say I know a lot about cars would be like saying the Kardashians know a lot about privacy. I’m not ashamed to admit that if the imaginary “man card” wasn’t imaginary, the checklist of male stereotypes on the back of mine would include at least one empty box. Football? Check. Ignoring written instructions? Check. Affinity for standing around a grill? Emphatic check. Knowledge of cars? Not so much. Whereas a card-carrying gear head may ask a salesman about gaskets, manifolds and flywheels (words I just pulled off the Internet), I’m more likely to ask about cup holders, floor mats and those fun little retractable storage compartments for sunglasses. So imagine my surprise when, in 2006, the good people at Pixar captivated me with a movie about – and titled – Cars. Mater and McQueen connected me to motor vehicles in a way I haven’t felt since “The Dukes of Hazzard” left the airwaves, and the film added a Route 66 road trip to my bucket list. Whetting my appetite for that trip will be Cars Land, scheduled to welcome Disney California Adventure Guests to Radiator Springs on June 15. I sat down with two of the project’s lead Imagineers to get the inside scoop about this 12-acre paradise of motors and magic (pages 3-6). And that’s not the only story boosting the strength of my man card in this edition. Page 8, for example, examines the growing trend of Members gathering around fire pits at Disney Vacation Club Resorts. (Just typing the words “fire pits” makes me want to stop shaving.) Our Disney Dish feature (page 12) serves up Walt Disney’s favorite recipe for chili, which has to be the manliest meal since filet of mammoth. Pages 15-16 include mention of a place that’ll use antlers in all of its decorating, and page 18 travels to Hong Kong to explore a rugged new land called Grizzly Gulch. Add planned enhancements to Test Track (page 19) and a new movie that arms its heroine with a bow and arrow (page 24), and you have a reading experience that’ll make you grunt like Tim Taylor. There’s plenty more to this issue, of course, but highlighting page 7’s interior-decorating feature or page 19’s note about Princess Fairytale Hall would needlessly interrupt my masculine shtick. Instead, let’s just add the word “Talking” before “Cars” on the back of my imaginary man card and consider the checklist complete. Welcome home, Ryan March Disney Files Editor Cover mosaic comprised of Member family photos Illustration of Ryan by Keelan Parham VOL. 21 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.-5:30 p.m. Eastern daily call 0120-98-4050 Tuesday-Sunday, P.O. Box 10350 without notice Toll Free: (800) 800-9800 noon-8 p.m. (Japan Time) Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830 Local: (407) 566-3800 DVC-MBR-65-S DVC-MBR-65-S Update your mailing address online at Fax: (407) 938-4151 Follow us on Facebook at Please recycle this publication www.dvcmember.com Email: [email protected] facebook.com/disneyvacationclub The power of connection By Claire Bilby, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Disney Vacation Club Disney Vacation Club’s mission is to “Continuously I knew you,’ and ‘Because I knew inspire a proud Cast family to deliver unparalleled you, I have been changed vacation experiences that connect Members to the places for good.’ It got me to and people they love while introducing them to a world of thinking who in my life I vacations they never dreamed possible.” would say those words While every word in that statement is important, I’ve to – friends, teachers, italicized one for a reason. Whether I’m reading Member bosses, colleagues, etc. I letters or visiting with Member families at our resorts wrote down a dozen or and events, “connection” emerges as a common theme. so names that occurred Members speak of enduring relationships with their to me. They were in no Vacation Club Guides, family bonds strengthened through particular order, but there decades of vacations, friendships formed with fellow at the top was Richard Members and impactful interactions with our Cast. Bilby … Let me say how A recent Member letter from Mike Truschinger delighted I am that the daughter illustrated the immeasurable impact of personal of a man I respect so much is now connection. A proud father of three, Mike spoke of the running an operation that gives me and my family such role Cast Members played in the life of his son Brandon, great pleasure and joy.” born with cerebral palsy and confined to a wheelchair. Well let me say how delighted I am to receive these Brandon passed away last year at the age of 16. letters and countless others illustrating the power of “You should be very proud of the work you do and connection. That Members take the time to share such how you impact more lives than you probably realize,” personal stories with us says more to me about Disney Mike wrote to our Cast. “I am crying right now (tears of Vacation Club than any mission statement. I’m deeply joy) as I think of all the hard work and dedication you proud to lead this business, and I simply can’t imagine a show to everyone … Brandon truly was treated just like community of people to whom I’d rather be connected. everyone else. Well, maybe a little better than most. We are saddened by his passing but grateful to have such warm memories … I just want to say thank you for giving him dignity, honor and respect. I hope you know the value of your work and how it makes a difference in the lives of many. With much love, I thank you again.” I’d like to thank Mike again for sharing Brandon’s story, which continues to inspire our Cast. Another letter spoke of a Member’s connection to me personally and demonstrated that it really is a small world after all. It came from Bob Willard, who, as it turns out, had a professional relationship with my late father. “We had a wonderful professional relationship, but it’s also fair to say, I loved your dad,” Bob wrote. “Whenever I had to meet with him for business, we also would go to dinner and have wonderful conversations … Earlier this month, my wife and I went to see the musical Wicked here in L.A. I was struck by the song, ‘For Good,’ especially the lines, ‘I know I’m who I am today, because Brandon Truschinger 2 2 opening june 15, 2012 Disneyland Resort: Few historical events Lasseter and his fellow filmmakers during a have shaped California like the advent of the five-year effort to bring “the cutest little town in automobile. From the pioneering of drive-thru Carburetor County” to Anaheim. The result is a restaurants (several California eateries claim to fully immersive and extraordinarily detailed 12- have been America’s first drive-thru restaurant) acre land (11 acres of which expand the Park’s to the attraction of drivers to roadside businesses original footprint) featuring three high-octane with whimsical “California Crazy” architectural attractions, three roadside eateries and three styles, the Golden State has a long history of unique merchandise shops (just to make sure catering to motorists. Guests don’t “drive away” empty-handed). So when Walt Disney Imagineers traveled in At the heart of Cars Land is Radiator search of ideas for the most ambitious element Springs Racers, a sprawling attraction that of their Disney California Adventure expansion infuses the Disney Parks concept of an “E-Ticket project, they didn’t catch a flight. They hopped ride” with a new spirit of competition. Equipped in their cars and headed for Route 66. with Disney’s Fastpass service and employing Disney∙Pixar’s hit 2006 filmCars ride technology similar to that of Test Track at reintroduced tourists to the historic highway and Epcot, the indoor/outdoor attraction begins gave Imagineers the perfect bridge between with a leisurely drive through Ornament Valley, Disney’s storytelling legacy and California’s car with favorite personalities from the Cars films culture. A road trip in the footsteps (or treads) brought to life through a colorful cast Audio- of the filmmakers and a firsthand look at Animatronics characters. With Mater along for the movie’s Route 66 source material the ride, the scenic drive even includes a little continued an ongoing love affair tractor-tipping. between the famed “Mother Road” Of course, that leisurely pace won’t last and the celebrated film franchise. long (it’s not called Radiator Springs Idlers, after “You realize what an all) as drivers soon take a pit stop in one of two appreciation people on Route garages for some final preparations for “the 66 have for Cars and for how big race!” Once outside, Guests take on other that movie brought American Guests in an exhilarating, side-by-side race tourists back to the road to do through the monument-filled Ornament Valley. some more exploration,” said “You never know who will win,” Kathy said. Imagineer Kathy Mangum. “So “It gives this attraction a uniquely unpredictable it’s come full circle in terms of finish.” who’s helping who. That made Even those who choose not to ride may soak me really appreciate the film up the sights and sounds of the valley, admiring even more.” the towering landscape (which ranks as Disney’s Driven to further largest rock-work project outside of Tokyo strengthen that connection DisneySea Park) from a number of vistas and between the real world of enjoying the attraction’s original (and orchestral) Route 66 and the imagined musical score, blissfully unimpeded by visual world of Radiator intrusions from the world beyond the ridge.