Pixar collaborates closely with the Disney Parks teams often, whether a new Pixar ride is being built or a new show utilizing the studio’s characters is being developed. Obviously, for a task as enormous as building Cars Land at Disney California Adventure (DCA), many Pixar employees contributed to bring Radiator Springs to life. Disney Parks has recently been working on a new holiday-themed edition of its World of Color show, a nightly show at DCA that projects images on massive water effects. A Toy Story segment is being developed, for which Pixar created new animation. Learn more and go behind-the-scenes at Pixar in a new video after the break!
Dubbed World of Color: Winter Dreams, the show will feature sophisticated water effects and projections of various Disney and Pixar properties celebrating the holidays. Pixar’s contribution will be a Toy Story-themed version of the classic ballet, The Nutcracker. Similar to the ballet’s story, Toy Story Nutcracker will have a Christmas tree grow to a massive size before revealing Woody, who is directing his own version of The Nutcracker starring some of the toys, such as Rex and the green aliens.
Roger Gould, creative director of Pixar’s Theme Parks Group, and Liz Gazzno, the team’s Executive Producer, spoke to the Disney Parks Blog in a new video about how the massive size of the water show provided them with new opportunities. Gould comments on how the water effects gave them three times more space than they normally get on a cinema or television screen, a significant amount of space which Pixar could likely be creative with. It adds a new level of immersion that is not possible on a much smaller screen, according to the creative director. Additionally, Pixar animator Catherine Hicks gives us a preview of “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” suite from the segment, which will feature Rex in a tutu.
Watch the video below:
It is great to see Pixar working so closely with Disney Parks. While viewers of nighttime shows at the theme parks may get caught up in the story and the effects (that is what the point is), they may look past the incredible amount of work necessary for a project such as World of Color. The video above barely scratches the surface of the production process, from both the Pixar and Disney teams. Toy Story Nutcracker, along with the rest of the show will surely be a wonder to behold!
World of Color: Winter Dreams officially debuts at the Disneyland Resort’s Disney California Adventure park on November 15th and will play through the holidays. Those of you who have the opportunity to view it, count yourself amongst the lucky ones!
