Disney World revives animation classes
Don Shane was heartbroken when it was over.
For 11 years, he showed tourists step-by-step how to draw their favorite Disney characters at Hollywood Studios’ Animation Academy.
“It was my dream job. I got to go to work, and I got to draw Disney characters all day and teach people how to do this,” Shane said. “And inspire people.” But then, everything ended. Shane learned in 2015 that Disney was shutting down the drawing classes to make way for the Star Wars Launch Bay.
“It was tough,” said his wife, Alejandra Shane. “I tried to encourage him, ‘They took your job,
but they can’t take your talent. We’ll see what happens.’”
Then an unexpected call came about a month ago. The drawing classes are coming back on July 11.
“The clouds parted. A ray of sunshine came through,” said Shane, 44, when he heard the news.
Walt Disney World is relaunching the animation lessons, this time at Animal Kingdom, in honor of the “The Lion King” film reboot released this month.
Disney rehired Shane, some of his former colleagues and new talent for what will be called the Animation Experience at Conservation Station.
The eight attraction artists will take turns teaching visitors how to draw Simba, Pumba and other animals from “The Lion King,” and other Disney movies in the 25-minute class.
“The experience was inspired by Walt Disney’s own passion for wildlife animation and offers guests the opportunity to learn how live animals have inspired iconic characters from ‘The Lion King,’” according to Disney.
The Animal Kingdom’s creatures could offer reallife inspiration in the class, like a hornbill bird made famous from the film’s Zazu character.
‘Temple of Animation’
For years, the original drawing class felt like hallowed ground. In the same building, the great Disney animators before him created “Mulan,” “Lilo and Stitch,” and “Brother Bear” and assisted on “The Lion King,” the movie that inspired Shane to come to Disney in the first place.
“This is the temple of animation,” Shane said.
Disney-goers revered the history, too. They sometimes waited 90 minutes for the 20-minute class that was as popular as any thrill ride. But then again, they did get to keep their drawings — a rare free souvenir.
People who normally drew stick figures walked away, amazed at their work drawing Tinker Bell or the deceptively challenging Mickey Mouse or Elsa from “Frozen.”
Children who wanted their pictures to be perfect sometimes broke down.
“We always joked we wanted to make a T-shirt that says, ‘We make more children cry than the Tower of Terror,’” Shane said.
His last class was an artist’s protest. He taught unsanctioned Disney characters, Maleficent and Hades.
Then he transferred over to the Animal Kingdom and spent the next four years driving a safari truck at another attraction.
The purpose he once felt waned. He was no longer as eager to scoop up overtime shifts as he had been before. But he liked animals and working at Disney, so he stayed.
He drew cartoons on the erase board of the break room. When his wife’s 25 nieces and nephews visited, he gave them sketching lessons.
Life as an artist
Shane, of Windermere, always knew he was meant to be an artist.
As a kid growing up in New York, he drew dinosaurs, the cars on “Dukes of Hazzard.”
He studied graphic design at Florida Atlantic University.
After seeing “The Lion King,” he knew he wanted to work at Disney. “Something just struck a chord,” Shane said.
Eventually, he landed a job selling sweets at Hollywood Studios. The creativity crept through. The caramel apples became his muse. On his own, he took chocolate and coconuts and sprinkles, drawing the faces of Cruella de Ville and Jack Skellington on the treats they sold.
Matt Merlino, a 24-yearold graphic designer from Pennsylvania, snagged one of the first FastPasses this month for the new classes. He still cherishes the Mickey Mouse picture he drew from one of the old animation classes when he was a high school senior in 2013.
“When I saw this was coming back, I was head over heels. I have to do this,” said Merlino, who runs a podcast called “Love of the Mouse.”
Shane said he hopes the new experience has a long run, although Disney didn’t say how long the pilot program is scheduled to last.
“We are back to Disney’s original heritage,” Shane said. “It didn’t start with theme parks. It didn’t start with merchandise. It didn’t start with all this other stuff that we are now. It started with classic handdrawn cartoons.”