Rope Drop
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LM: So why not use the flooded show building approach from Disneyland Paris?

TM: We spent a lot of time thinking about the canal versus flooded options. Ultimately you need to analyze the effect of all that water. The problem is that it pushes everything away from the boats which disconnects from the immersion and immediacy of the scenes. It is also technically difficult to light when the positions are further away. It also makes the acoustics a nightmare to deal with as everything sounds like a tiled bathroom � all hollow. We have been able to mitigate it over the years but never really dealt with it. When the show [at Disneyland] came back up from rehab a few years ago it had been fine-tuned. It really made a difference. We used a combination of lighting from above and below for our show. At Walt Disney World the majority of the lighting is from below and it doesn�t always lend the most angelic of lighting�

JM: It isn�t as warm.

TM: Accenting from below is better. It is sweeter to have the main lighting above. Cuter and more storybook-like. This time we have completed everything down to the ground though to create a completely immersive environment but with the intimacy of Disneyland.

JM: We have made some lighting changes too - particularly in the finale.

TM: Actually that is the scene we took the most liberty with.

JM: It is probably the only scene that is closer to Florida�s version than the original. Our layout is similar but Katie has changed the color palette.

KO: I remember sitting down with Tom and Tom Fitzgerald and looking at the layout for Florida. We all asked why it is so cool � all those blues and silvers � when you are supposed to be feeling joy. We found a moon tucked away in the scene and realized that it was supposed to be moonlit. It still didn�t feel overly happy to me so we looked for what the locals would find to be the happiest color � and it was gold. So you will see a lot of gold accented with pink, lavender and some ivories. We also replaced the moon with the sun.

TM: We needed to do it. I am not happy with any of the it�s a small world finales. Disneyland has tried a couple of different looks but they have the unavoidable problem that all of the scenery is so high. Florida�s is superior as it is more at eye-level. The new lighting is going to be great. We are using this pelage material that is a type of Mylar that when it is hit with light that has a polarized filter in front of it causes a particular rainbow. It is very psychedelic! As the lens spins around the light changes and it can go through the whole spectrum. Kinda Yellow Submarine!

JM: It is very groovy.