Uptown Disney

Location : Anaheim Convention Center
Agency : MKG
Client : Disney Consumer Products
Role : Associate Designer
Design Team : Stacey Rigley, Sheida Madanipour, Sabrina Roberts, Tara Nielsen, Lauren Fujishima
Photographer : Tory Stolper

For the 2019 D23 Conference, the Disney Consumer Products team came to MKG with a big task - to create an immersive, shoppable, experience showcasing products from six of their favorite franchises : Star Wars, Marvel, the Little Mermaid, Mickey the True Original, the Lion King, and Toy Story (4, to be precise). The displays had to be fun, interactive, memorable, and eye-catching enough that shoppers would want to snap a photo and share to the world. By far the longest and largest project I worked on, over the six months from pitch to production I assisted in design concept for all six zones, modeling them in sketchup, coordinating with the build team on the Star Wars, Lion King, and Mickey zones, as well as being in charge of the on-site build for those three over the four days it took to install.

Main Street

Main Street at Uptown Disney was what we considered to be the main spine of the booth, and we wanted it to be distinctly different from the insides of the zones. After many iterations and rounds, we eventually came to this concept, of a 2D, all white, drawn cartoon-world turned real. Subtle variations in dimensionality of the exteriors of the zones added a bit of visual interest, while easter eggs - like King Triton’s crown completing the window frames on the Little Mermaid zone - kept the disney-goers entertained as they posed and snapped pics. Each facade was also meant to be different than the next, with foliage and additional accessories catered to each ones identity.

Star Wars

The Star Wars zone was designed to have a dark and more sinister feel than the others in the booth, leaning more into Kylo Ren vibes than Luke Skywalker. The “hero product” was a Hasbro red Stormtrooper, showcased on the back wall in signature hexagon frames that had a backlit red glow that was programmed to almost breath - dimming and pulsing on a loop. A life-size lego Stormtrooper served as the photo moment inside of the zone, and iconic patterns, such as the striping on the walls and pill shape that covered the pedestals, helped complete the galactic vibes.

Marvel

The Marvel zone brought the colorful world of the comic books and the move franchises to life, with comic-inspired wall paper and floor graphics that enveloped the space. The hero product - pun intended, this time - was a 12” Iron Man personalized robot from Ubtech. In order to display this, we created its very own Hall of Armor where guests could demo the robot, and the wall of mini Iron Mans performed a choreographed dance every hour, delighting and surprising convention-goers.

The Little Mermaid

An underwater princess dream turned reality, the Little Mermaid zone was an immersive blue, textural, glittery wonder world. There was no specific hero product, with multiple eye-catching displays used to showcase product - be it the real life bubbles, successfully protecting the more expensive jewelry and bags, or the treasure trove wall where different clothing pieces were meticulously placed amongst the gadgets and gizmos galore. A pearl seat with a neon crown that read “Make waves” served as the official photo moment inside of the zone, but an interactive “shell phone” wall, where guests could pick up shells in order to hear key lines from the Little Mermaid, was an equally successful hit.

Mickey the True Original

To celebrate 90 years of the world’s most famous mice, the Mickey the True Original zone was greatly inspired by the bold graphics of the campaign. We took the zany shapes and patterns, and classic colors of black, white, red, yellow, and blue in order to create an extremely insta-worthy space. This zone also had no distinct hero product, but bright displays like back-lit clothing circles, and funky zig zag shelves made each product pop in their own way.

The Lion King

With the newly released live action Lion King in mind, we created a sunset cloaked space for the Lion King zone in the booth. A hand painted gradient took the guests from sunset to nighttime as they moved throughout the space, with a layered Pride Rock serving as both the central display for this zone’s hero product - a Hasbro Furreal Friends Simba cub - and a natural photo moment.

Toy Story 4

To celebrate the release of Toy Story 4 earlier on in the summer of 2019, we created a carnival themed homage to the franchise in the booth. Bright colors, a textural turf floor, and displays modeled after carnival games and rides made for a fun and vibrant space. An illuminated ferris wheel display showcased a troupe of figurines, as there was no distinct hero product in this zone, and served as a natural photo moment. Trivia disguised behind marquee shapes made for fun easter egg moments for guests to find as they shopped around.