Something's UP on the Backlot

I love that after more than 30 years of visiting the Disney Parks and spending 20 of those working in them, I am still surprised and delighted to be able to discover new details. Sometimes, those are little things that have been there all along. In other instances, they are wonderful new touches added "just because."

The other day, as I was strolling along the Streets of America backlot at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I stopped in my tracks, my face widening into a huge grin at what I saw.

The impressive, forced-perspective view of San Francisco (above) had been added to the backlot streets in 2005, when the area was upgraded in anticipation of the opening of Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. I had always appreciated some of the fun details present in the mural, particularly in the headlines visible on the newsstand, down left. Among them, a New York paper touting a revival screening of "Steamboat Willie." On the right side of the mural, at the corner of the building with the pink siding, was an image of a newspaper vending machine with the headline, "Blockbuster Weekend!" The movie being featured was the then-current Disney-Pixar hit The Incredibles.

Recently, the San Francisco mural was replaced in a routine refurbishment effort. When it returned, it looked the same as before... or did it? On that day, I just happened to glance down at the image of the newspaper in the machine. Same headline, but what's that?! The movie featured had been changed to UP, the latest blockbuster from Pixar.

I couldn't believe it. Such a tiny detail, it didn't have to change at all. Most people probably never even notice it's there. Certainly, a replacement job for normal fading or wear and tear could have been accomplished by simply sending the original digital file off to a vendor and calling it a day. But that wasn't good enough. There was a chance to do something new, something surprising.

It's what Walt would have done, and it thrilled me to no end to discover it.

Oh, in case you're wondering, "Why feature Pixar movies?" The Pixar Animation Studios campus is located in Emeryville, California, just across the bay from San Francisco.