Reveries of Florida's Past

Volume 1, Issue 7, 2018 Reveries of Florida’s Past: event. At the time of the ceremony, Documenting Historic & Imagined signs on I-4 already marked the way Florida to the new community with a dedicated off-ramp opening the F. Evan Nooe, UNC-Charlotte following month (Bevil 2015). The community’s historic roots parallel the development of numerous others At a September 2015 waterfront spread across the state as it grew celebration along Village Lake, from modest hamlet to bustling city. Floridians gathered to christen a new Just before the Civil War, South township founded in 1850. The Carolina settlers happened upon an naming ceremony was complete with Edenic natural spring and the Sinclair an emcee, magician, media, and family established a homestead along business leaders coming together at the water. As throughout the state, Waterview Park to commemorate the the industries that define Florida’s past found a footing. The Sinclair’s Downtown Disney. Though narrated established a successful cattle ranch. by the company as a historic Florida In 1868 a timber company set up town, the location dates to 1975 and shop. Later, a bottling company began has always been a retail, dining, and packaging and distributing the fresh, entertainment complex accompanying natural spring water. At the start of the Walt Disney World Resort theme the twentieth century, the township parks and hotels (Kurti 1996, 68). welcomed municipal facilities. In 1901 The current iteration of Disney’s a new power plant electrified the commercial complex looks to Florida’s town. By 1908, the first fire past as a means to culturally anchor department was watching over the the development in Central Florida residents. When the town celebrated and inspire the space’s fictional their centennial in 1950, residents narrative. When initially announcing could look back and admire their the project, Disney Chief Operating idyllic community with its Officer Tom Staggs described the core Mediterranean inspired fountains and of Disney Spring’s storyline as plazas, craftsmen style bungalows, representing “a timeless and vibrant expanding industrial diversification, place that celebrates turn-of-the- and bustling transportation hub century lakeside towns that dotted the complete with marina, airport, and Florida landscape” (Staggs 2013). To train station. achieve such a goal, Disney designers, The establishment of a town with or “imagineers,” constructed the more than 150 years of history in façade of a historic Florida town 2015 isn’t the result of a repurposed as a retail space. Upon chronologically challenged citizenry or completion, The Walt Disney Company some recently discovered oversight in describes Disney Springs as “a the municipal incorporation process. bustling metropolis of shopping, Known as “Disney Springs,” the site is dining, and entertainment locations” the product of The Walt Disney (Disney Springs: Fast Facts, Fun Company’s themed design and Facts) with four distinct storytelling at its redesigned retail neighborhoods representing various complex along I-4 formerly known as eras of the town’s historic progression. During the construction of Disney architectural features to artificially Springs and since its completion, aged graphics as a method to visibly spokespeople for The Walt Disney and tangibly illustrate the fabricated Company and marketing content historic narrative of the retail emphasize producing an accurate complex. The resulting visual plane portrayal of Florida. For example, engages visitors by placing them in a Theron Skees, Executive Creative fictionalized and coordinated physical Director, focused on how the company space known as a “hyperreality,” was “committed to deliver something inspired by the reveries, or fanciful as authentic as possible” (qtd. in manifestations of “daydream Jones 2016). Similarly, Editorial demands” (Eco 1986, 44), of real and Content Manager Jennifer Fickley- historic places from across the state of Baker of the Disney Parks Blog Florida. What follows is an effort to described Disney Springs as a creation document the borders and blurring of that “immerses guests into the rich the real and the hyperreal reveries of cultural heritage and natural beauty of Florida’s past at Disney Springs. Florida through unique architecture, color, schemes, horticulture, and Method and Sources: more” (Fickley-Baker, 2016). Again, The following fourteen Creative Director, Dave Hoffman photographic displays document the emphasized how Disney Springs various manifestations of historic reflects Florida’s past over the last Florida places and their hyperreal 150 years “and all the details reflect counterparts at Disney Springs. The authenticity” (qtd. in Dowling, 2016). displays make use of archival historic In the emphasis on recreated photographs of Florida dating back authenticity and accuracy, Jean more than a century and modern Baudrillard theorizes such an effort photographs of Disney Springs over “threatens the difference between true the last two years. The resulting and false, the real and the imaginary” collages seek to draw attention to the (1994, 3). Throughout Disney Springs’ real and historic places of Florida that neighborhoods, visitors encounter a have become representative of the plethora of immersive details from state’s true past alongside their touristic counterparts as constructed Cyber-Shot DSC-HX5V with a 10.2- by The Walt Disney Company. Side by megapixel resolution and fixed 10x side, we can contemplate how Florida wide-angle optical zoom lens. continues to be packaged and Photographs from 2018 were taken romanticized in popular culture and using a Canon PowerShot G7 Mark II what is selectively providing the with 20.1-megapixel resolution and a fodder for such perceptions. The result fixed 4.2x optical wide-angle zoom is a photographic exploration of what lens. The Walt Disney Company is The manipulation of digital constructing and presenting to photographs was kept to a minimum thousands of consumers and how such where possible. Digital alterations a presentation is shaping what is include cropping images to focus on recognizably Florida. specific design features. Other forms of digital manipulation included On Photography & Historic reducing or stretching an image’s size Photographs to aesthetically fit within displays. Historic photographs are sourced Digital files, both modern and from the digital collections of the historical, were JPEGs when Florida Memory, Florida Photographic incorporated into displays and the Collection at the State Library and collective collages are produced as Archives of Florida and the Library of JPEGs as well. Congress Prints and Photographs Locating images in the Florida Division Washington, D.C. The Photographic Collection and the selected historic photographs are Library of Congress consisted of digital duplications incorporated into utilizing archival terminology single displays organized by subject categorized through the Catalogue of and topic. Modern digital images used Subject Terms, Geographic Terms, in this project come from photographs and Personal Subjects and keyword taken by the author in the summers of searches and phrases relevant to the 2017 and 2018 using two consumer project. In researching various grade digital cameras. Photographs elements of Disney Springs, the from 2017 were taken using a Sony current project used more than fifty distinct search terms. Search terms based on their associated focused on the function of structures neighborhood in Disney Springs. such as “Fishing Camps,” specific locations like “Church Street Station,” Historic & Imagined Spaces or prominent Florida developers such as “Rudolph, Paul.” Some terms generated overlapping results such as “Mizner, Addison, 1872-1933” and “Worth Avenue,” however most searches produced unique results. Consequently, more than 5,000 historic photographs were examined for the project. The Springs The photographic arrangements The cool, fresh water springs of are organized by subject pertaining to Florida have drawn explorers, architectural styles, specific places, migrants, and tourists for centuries. and building functions. In total, fifty- The fabricated, chemically treated seven images make up the fourteen springs at the center of Disney assemblages. Thirty-six images come Springs provides the impetus for the from the historic photograph origin of the town’s fictional narrative. collections at the Florida Memory As mentioned, the discovery of the Collection and the Library of Congress. springs in Central Florida inspired The remaining twenty-two included settlers to establish a homestead in images are modern photographs. The 1850. Afterwards, businesses displays all maintain the original color prospered, new entrepreneurs came scheme of incorporated photographs. to town, and Disney Springs evolved In most displays, the modern with the state of Florida over time. It photographs of Disney Springs will be is unlikely a modern-day visitor will evident to viewers due to disparities in miss the namesake of the retail color and image clarity. The displays complex. are arranged throughout the essay The spring at the center of Disney Springs makes a functional distinction as purely for visual appreciation. It to dissolve the distinction between has multiple pedestrian bridges reality and hyperreality. Disney crossing the waterway and walking designers describe the construction of paths around its perimeter but no the spring as using “various shades of direct interaction between tourist and bright glass

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