I'm back from D23 and I’d like to say thank you to everyone who made my trip so special—it was one for the books. I got to see things I'd only ever dreamed about and meet people I never thought I'd get to meet. I made a few new friends and saw some familiar faces. It was an unbelievable adventure—thanks again!
In this week’s typography case study we'll look at the fonts used throughout Fantasyland to help brand one of the most beautiful movie properties ever created by Disney, Pinocchio. Within the parks, two main areas focus on this classic tale: Pinocchio's Village Haus and Pinocchio's Daring Journey. Pinocchio's Daring Journey is another classic dark ride located within Disneyland. The attraction takes guests along with Pinocchio on a journey of right and wrong that was lifted straight from the full length animated feature and edited down to a dark ride format. Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris each house their own versions of this dark ride. The Walt Disney World Resort opted out of this attraction and instead chose to use Pinocchio as a setting for a quick service dining experience in Pinocchio's Village Haus. The inside of the restaurant is absolutely beautiful and is one of my favorite quick service locations. If you care to know more about the Village Haus, I suggest jumping over to DisneyShawn's blog, which features an amazing write up about it.
When breaking down the various fonts used for both the attraction and quick service restaurant, we first notice the classic fonts used on some of our other favorite Fantasyland attractions. Once again, the designers at Disney stayed true to the established font palette that was developed to brand all of Fantasyland. It ties the attractions together even if their fantasy origins may be from different times and locations. Throughout this attraction, we see typography from many different classifications: Calligraphic, Blackletter, German, Grotesk, Fraktur and a few odd ones such as Victorian and Western. The fonts used for Pinocchio remind me of the typography from another Disney attraction: The Matterhorn Bobsleds. The parallel makes sense: Disney's version of Pinocchio takes place in what appears to be a quaint German village, and the designers used German-esque fonts for the Matterhorn, even though the real Matterhorn is located in Switzerland.
Well that does it for this week’s case study. Tune in on Monday for a new Retro '71 concept. I'm happy to say I found tons of inspiration while at the Expo. I searched for hours through the collectors’ sections at the Expo to find new ideas inspired by the old. It was tough to see that most of the merchandise was for Disneyland and not Disney World, but I did come back with some treasures. Thanks for tuning in and see you soon.
