THE BALLOON MAN

 

'Cars' coming to life - how the new 'Disney On Ice' vehicles were designed

 

It took about 2,000 man hours to make each of the Disney On Ice vehicles inspired by the animated movie 'Cars.' (Contributed photo)From:  al.com
By Matt Wake, The Huntsville Times
September 18, 2012
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- All Rick Papineau had to do was design a few 2,000-pound vehicles that could drive on ice, move their front bumpers like lips, blink headlights like eyes and otherwise look identical to the animated characters in Pixar's 2006 hit "Cars."

"It certainly was a big challenge," Papineau says. He's vice president of scenic elements at Hagenbeck-Wallace, a division of Feld Entertainment. "And not only did the cars need to be animated, they needed to have the personality of the movie characters."
You can experience the results of Papineau's labor in "Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy." The ice show also finds Mickey and Minnie Mouse transporting audiences to the worlds of "Toy Story 3," "Little Mermaid" and Tinker Bell.

Papineau's vehicles, which include "Cars" main characters Lightning McQueen and Mater, were outfitted with custom animatronics and hydraulic lifts that bounce to the show's music. Each of the six vehicles took about 2,000 man hours to create, but began as a pencil drawing in a sketch pad. As production moved to its physical stage, Papineau's team chose a golf cart chassis as their foundation and built upwards - but then had to rebuild the engine and frame because "you can't buy a golf cart that's strong enough."

Asked how much each Disney On Ice car cost to produce, Papineau declines to give an exact figure, only saying, “You probably couldn’t spend more at a luxury automobile dealership.” Even a Lamborghini dealership? “It’s in that neighborhood.”

Working closing with the sculptor who created the original vehicles for "Cars," Papineau also spent a lot of time pausing a DVD of the film to study details. "We can make anything look like it should. That's the easy part," he says.

Papineau has been with Feld for 33 years, and started off as a painter. In addition to Disney On Ice, the company also works extensively with Ringling Bros. Circus, and recently built a 25-foot long dragon that can "fly," flap its wings and breathe fire. Papineau builds his creations in a massive warehouse in Palmetto, Fla.

"When we built McQueen, it had a little motor we'd jazzed up and the first day I took it on a test drive it could do 40 mph," Papineau says. "But that's not going to do on a 100-foot rink of ice, so we limited the thrust control."

In addition, Papineau helped train the young Disney On Ice drivers -- most are around 18 years old -- who operate the cars, for five weeks in Lakeland, Fla., where the show opened.

"On opening night, I was scared to death," he says. "These things are huge and moving quite fast and intertwining, missing each other literally by a foot. I watched the show from the middle of the audience, just regular seats, and although it's a kid's show, you know who was yelling and pointing at the cars the most? All the fathers."

"Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy"
When: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday;
1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Von Braun Center (700 Monroe St.)
How much: $40, $32, $24, $18 and $12
Details: 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com, disneyonice.com