In this Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019 photo, Magic Kingdom Entertainment proprietor Carmen Kee looks over parade floats in a warehouse at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – With excitement building over a new “Star Wars” land opening later this year at Walt Disney World, as well as at its California cousin, it’s easy to forget a slew of new entertainment shows also are debuting in the biggest year for the Florida theme park resort in two decades.
If the famous Disney Imagineers provide the “wow” factor with their fantastical feats of engineering on rides and attractions, it’s the entertainment division that provides Disney World’s heart.
Disney World recently invited The Associated Press for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at how it puts the shows together. The AP saw dancers rehearsing in a studio, rows of seamstresses stitching together costumes, a warehouse full of parade floats and a room where virtual-reality technology is used to help build a new animatronic show.
The results of those labors took the stage days later when Disney World unveiled a new Magic Kingdom parade, a Hollywood Studios street showing off the characters from “The Incredibles” franchise, a Caribbean-style street band in Animal Kingdom and the start of an arts festival at Epcot. In a few months, the resort opens a new animatronics show based on the “Cars” character Lightning McQueen.
Here’s a look at the behind-the-scenes people who produce the pixie dust. Many of them started out as performers and have been at Disney World for decades.