Walt Disney World Resort (WDWR) in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near Orlando is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth in 2002 with a spectacular year-long celebration called "100 Years of Magic." The celebration extends to all four Disney theme parks, where a number of new attractions and shows honor Walt's legacy of imagination, innovation and family entertainment, including a 12-story icon in the shape of Sorcerer Mickey's hat from the Disney animated classic, "Fantasia."
Located in Disney-MGM Studios and rising 122 ft tall, the Sorcerer Mickey Hat was a lighting and electrical engineering feat for the team, lead by overall project manager Walt Disney Imagineering, in collaboration with electrical engineering subcontractors ERMCO, Inc. (Orlando branch) and PCL Construction Services, Inc. of Toronto. WDI is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, project management, and research and development subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. WDI's Imagineers are responsible for the creation of all Disney resorts, theme parks and attractions, real estate developments, regional entertainment venues and new media projects.
"Our goal was to create a contemporary version of that magical company icon, making it fun and mischievous, while taking it a step beyond what we accomplished with the Millennium icon at Epcot," says Michael Ostendorf, project manager for WDI. "The hat's unusual shape, combined with the aesthetic goal that it should look like it was floating, created all kinds of engineering and material challenges for us," he continues. "We wanted to see clean lines, and yet meet all of the engineering requirements. We also had to meet budgetary and timeline concerns."
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