Disneyland costume designer dresses 300 Small World dolls

Celina Lung has hundreds of children around the world. Outwardly, all are identical to the others: same age, height and facial expression. And each one is impeccably dressed. But a few of them naughty, even the occasional problem child. Not that Lung holds it against them.

“I love them all. It’s true, I do,” said Lung, a Walt Disney Imagineering costume designer. “Each one of them is unique.”

And today, Lung will add to her growing brood with the addition of several dozen new characters to the It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland.

After a yearlong rehab, all of the 300-plus existing audio-animatronic figures in the beloved boat ride at the Anaheim theme park will don new costumes thanks to Lung and her team. Among the controversial new additions: about two-dozen Disney characters and an American scene complete with cowboys and Indians.

Cast your vote: Should Disneyland change It’s a Small World or keep it the same?

Sensitive to criticism that the changes amount to a desecration of the classic Small World ride, Disney Imagineers labored to blend the new additions into the existing attraction.

The new characters — including Lilo, Mulan and Cinderella — will be traditional Small World dolls that “dress up” as their favorite Disney characters.

“It has to be a part of Small World. We don’t want it to jump out,” said Lung. “There is a fine line that we have to make sure we don’t cross so it still works seamlessly with the rest of the show.”

Having designed costumes for Small World attractions in Tokyo and Hong Kong, Lung consulted reference books by Small World creator Mary Blair before tackling the changes to the Anaheim ride.

And she turned to original Small World costume designer Alice Davis for creative inspiration and direction.

“Talking to her gave me a sense of how it was done originally,” Lung said of Davis.

Before designing any of the costumes, Lung and her crew studied the function of all the animatronic dolls, which can move more than 1 million times per month.

Armed with costume dimensions, designers drew up sketches for each doll, developing a color palette to match the surrounding scene and taking into account the national heritage of each figure.

“Part of the research is to make sure that we are culturally sensitive,” Lung said. “We want to make sure we don’t offend any particular group.”

Fabrics in bright, eye-catching (but not clownish) colors were imported from Africa, Europe, Central and South America.

In a costume workshop filled with bolts of fabric and a bulletin board brimming with accessories, Lung’s team sewed a muslin pattern for every doll and fit the outfits on a mannequin before testing the designs in the attraction. After a year of preparation, the dolls only received their final costumes in the last week.

It’s important to Lung that each doll wears a complete costume, right down to the socks, petticoat (or undershirt) and bloomers (or underwear).

“A lot of the stuff we add nobody will ever know,” Lung said. “Whether the guest sees it or not, we know it’s there.”

Most dolls start life with two or three complete costumes. The naughty dolls — the ones Lung calls her “problem children” — go through costumes every month or two. Crews check each doll’s costume daily for wear and tear before the park opens.

A complicated character like Mulan wears a 13-piece costume. It can take a team of three employees up to an hour to dress her.

A troublemaker like Aladdin, who lies on a magic carpet with his arms and legs crossed, presents an especially difficult challenge.

“It’s very hard for me to put the costume on,” Lung said. “The doll doesn’t move. When you change them, they don’t stretch their arms. They’re like a baby. Actually, dressing a doll is harder than dressing a baby.”

But Lung, who has no birth children of her own, holds no grudges against any of the dolls in her ever-growing family.

“It’s beyond words how much I love the dolls and how much I love to dress the dolls,” Lung said. “They are like my children. I’m not kidding. It’s true.”

Complete Small World coverage:
> Whoops! Disney inadvertently reveals new Small World characters
> Disneyland to add ‘Alice’ to Small World ride
> Save Small World, ride creator’s family begs Disneyland
> Disney, Pixar artists rally to preserve Small World ride
> Disney fires back at Small World ‘rumors’
> Disney fires another salvo at ‘complaining’ Small World fans

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: latimes.com/funland.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photo: Disney

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 9:01 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Disneyland, Family & Kids, Orange County, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.