CHAPTER 10 DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE PARK “We always default to the great Walt Disney quote: ‘Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.’ Disney California Adventure, just like Disneyland and the other Disney parks, will continue to develop and evolve with its audience, but at its core it’s going to remain a place that inspires us to dream and then follow those dreams.” —Bob Weis In the early 2010s, Disney California Adventure went through a major reimagining and expansion. Under the supervision of executive producer Kathy Mangum and art directors Ray Spencer (Buena Vista Street), Larry Nikolai (Paradise Pier), and Greg Wilzbach (Cars Land), the Disney California Adventure posters were created to capture the enhanced Disney magic of the park. “We wanted to invigorate these new attractions with posters,” says Spencer. “Posters provide identity to the Disney parks.” Nikolai adds, “Our goal was to create simple images for a quick read but capture the spirit and excitement of the new attractions, so we knew to turn to the classic screen printed posters as inspiration.” Graphics designer Greg Maletic, who illustrated several opening day posters for Hong Kong Disneyland, was approached to develop twelve Disney California Adventure posters for already-existing attractions and new park additions: Red Car Trolley, The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror, Soarin’ Over California, Grizzly River Run, The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Goofy’s Sky School, Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Silly Symphony Swings, California Screamin’, Radiator Springs Racers, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, and Luigi’s Flying Tires.
Since each land represented a different decade in California’s history, Maletic looked to graphics and posters of the periods as inspiration for the designs. “We knew where we were going with Grizzly River Run right from the start. It was going to be inspired by 1930s-era National Park Service posters, which had a very distinct silk-screened style and [a] limited palette of four or five colors,” says Maletic. “With Goofy’s Sky School, the obvious stylistic choice seemed to be making it like movie posters of the Goofy animated shorts from the 1940s.
“The Cars Land posters were straight 1950s-era styling—very primitive, very simple,” Maletic adds. Imagineers continue the tradition of adding new Disney California Adventure posters to this day. In 2017 a limited color Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! attraction poster, inspired by Maletic’s style, adorned the ticket booths in the Esplanade on opening day of the attraction. In the shadow of the Collector and his fortress, the Guardians break out of the poster as the Abilisk holds Star-Lord’s mixtape, a major musical component in the experience, in its tentacles. Not even set in the original plans, this poster was done on the side as a labor of love from the project team!
CHAPTER 11 EPCOT “EPCOT is a park about humanity—our dreams, our diversity, and those things that inspire us to look forward, to keep reaching and keep imagining what our future holds.” —Zach Riddley It's respected that EPCOT has a long history of bold and unique design, plus a visual legacy that’s completely its own. As far back at 2015, Imagineers were secretly developing what would become one of the largest transformations of any Disney park. As Zach Riddley, portfolio creative lead for EPCOT recalls, “We wanted to ensure that our transformation connected the rich past of EPCOT with its exciting future.” And they found the perfect moment to unveil this vision, at D23 Expo in 2019. The question was: how?
Riddley and executive producer Michael Hundgen were passionate Disney poster collectors. EPCOT had a handful of posters in the past, but not a full collection like in a typical castle park. That’s when they knew they were onto something special. “By creating a series of posters, we were able to seal the identity of EPCOT moving forward,” says Hundgen. It was a mad dash to make the D23 Expo. The first step was choosing a look. Riddley and Hundgen brought in artists from across Disney Parks, Experiences and Products to get a diversity of ideas and art styles. However, the mix of stylistic choices and genres clashed with the ideals of a unified EPCOT. They realized the true strength of a poster program came from a holistic vision.
Enter Eric Tan and Stacey Aoyama, both talented graphic designers and poster enthusiasts. Between the two of them, they designed the forty EPCOT attraction posters adorning the D23 Expo exhibit space. Inspired by mid-century minimalist posters and space-age graphics, Tan and Aoyama created a rich and bright color story that evokes feelings of nostalgia and excitement.
Explaining their design process, Tan says, “It begins with researching the attractions, reading about its history and collecting as many photos as we can find.” Aoyama adds, “I love the initial phase of the design process, when we get to dive into research and distill down the essential storytelling elements of each attraction. The next step was to sketch various composition and color ideas, trying to capture the right balance of character and environment within the minimalist aesthetic.”
Once the sketches were approved, Tan and Aoyama moved into final designs digitally. “This was truly a collaborative project between Eric, myself, and the EPCOT team. The final posters are reflective of the great ideas and teamwork that flowed throughout the process,” says Aoyama. Tan adds, “The time line Stacey [Aoyama] and I were given to complete the series was a lot tighter than we’re used to, so there was always this underlying nervousness that we would never get them all done. Fortunately, we got into a good groove towards the homestretch and were able to finish the series on time!”
Each design is anchored with the updated EPCOT logo—itself a past-meets-future bit of graphic design—in a prominent location at the base of each poster. This move gave the set a consistency that unified the collection. “Walt Disney said that EPCOT would ‘always be in a state of becoming,’ an idea that is captured beautifully through Eric and Stacey’s designs," says Riddley. "You can take a stroll through time, see some of your favorite bygone details, and be introduced to new stories that will create new memories for generations of EPCOT fans to come.”
“Some posters came together quite quickly, while others required three to five iterations. For myself, I always did about five very rough comps just to work through different design ideas and to problem solve before moving to a tighter rendition.” —Stacey Aoyama, graphic designer, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Global Product Creation “I want guests to be drawn in by the unique design direction and bright color palette. Hopefully that’s followed by the feeling of nostalgia and excitement as they’re taken back to the memories they have of the attractions themselves.” —Eric Tan, graphic designer, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Global Product Creation “The posters for Illuminations and Harmonious are meant to be viewed as a pair. Together they create a circle; another representation of the past, present, and future of EPCOT.” —Michael Hundgen, executive producer, Walt Disney Imagineering
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