It’s Tough to Be a Bug! was put into development well before Pixar released A Bug’s Life in theaters.
Image: Jeremy Thompson, Flickr (license)
By the time Pixar’s second feature-length computer-animated film, A Bug’s Life, crawled into theaters on November 25, 1998, It’s Tough to Be a Bug! was already seven months old. In fact, the theater show was one of Animal Kingdom’s opening day attractions, right up there with Countdown to Extinction, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Flights of Wonder, and the now-defunct Discovery River Boats. But how did Imagineers settle on the idea of a bug-themed 3-D experience in the first place? Was it installed as an early promotional tool for Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, or was there something more complicated going on behind the scenes?
Maybe it was a little of both. After all, the focus of most attractions within Animal Kingdom intentionally skewed toward “edutainment”—a winning combination of education and entertainment—with a special focus on sustaining the animal and plant life that naturally flourishes on Earth. With this in mind, Imagineer Kevin Rafferty got in front of Eisner and pitched the idea of an educational lecture about the animal kingdom. The idea died before it even reached the early stages of development. Rafferty’s big original for Disney’s newest and most unique park to date.
Rafferty went back to the drawing board and struck gold—or, in this case, beetle dung. On a recommendation from Eisner, he began talking to Pixar animators about their upcoming flick, A Bug’s Life, and gleaned further inspiration from a 20+ year-old Ward Kimball cartoon called “It’s Tough to Be a Bird!” While the live-action/animated short didn’t provide an exact blueprint for It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, it gave Imagineers an interesting framework to work with: What if bugs were portrayed as helpful rather than harmful? What did the world need to know about the importance and life-enriching impact of spiders, flies, ants, and grasshoppers?
Image: Ken Lund, Flickr (license)
Still, there were several problems to work through. Not only did Rafferty feel squeamish around bugs and insects, but Pixar’s team hadn’t yet rounded out their cast of lovable circus bugs. If Eisner intended to install his creepy-crawly show in the Tree of Life Theater by spring 1998 (several years after these initial conversations were held), he would only be able to showcase Flik and Hopper, the respective protagonist and antagonist of the film.
It was enough of a concession to fuel the rest of the project. Whatever Pixar couldn’t give Rafferty and his team, they found a way to invent, from original characters like Chili the tarantula and the Dung (Beetle) Brothers to the particular smell of a stinkbug and the squirm-inducing effects that were installed in each seat to give the audience a true 4-D experience. Rafferty, meanwhile, learned to squelch his distaste for the insect world as the team pieced together an eight-minute presentation, replete with special effects, incredibly complex “super-sized” insect animatronics, and as many film and Broadway puns as they could conjure up. And seven months later, when Flik and Hopper stepped onto other screens in front of other audiences, they proved just as big a hit as ever.
A key cast member became the face of Dr. Jackie Ogden in Pandora – The World of Avatar.
It’s no secret that the Disney Parks contain multitudes of hidden references, inside jokes, gags, and Hidden Mickeys. At this point, it’s practically expected that every new land, building, and attraction will be chock-full of tidbits and treasures just waiting for an observant guest to uncover.
Pandora – The World of Avatar is no exception to this trend. Under the majestic floating mountains and sparkling waterfalls, tucked into the dilapidated research facility that Alpha Centauri Expeditions now calls home, Dr. Jackie Ogden preps guests for their first experience in the avatar program—the main event in Pandora’s E ticket attraction, Flight of Passage.
Like the rest of Disney’s original attraction-based characters, you won’t find Dr. Ogden anywhere else in the park (or, in this case, within the source material for Pandora: James Cameron’s Avatar). But she isn’t fully fictional, either. In keeping with Disney’s goal of honoring pioneers in conservation efforts, they created the character of Dr. Ogden as a tribute to the real Dr. Jackie Ogden, an experimental psychologist and former curator of the Conservation Station and Vice President of Animals, Science and Environment at the park.
The real Dr. Ogden left a lasting impact on the design and purpose of Animal Kingdom. She was instrumental in the construction of the Conversation Station, since renamed Rafiki’s Planet Watch, where she helped create displays to highlight endangered species, installed exhibits designed to change public perception of animals like bats (as Rafferty did for insects, she also made the case that the bats are helpful rather than harmful or frightening), and allowed guests to both observe veterinarians in action and do some basic animal research of their own via interactive Animal Cams.
By the time she retired in 2015, Dr. Ogden had piloted numerous other programs and efforts under Disney’s umbrella, from coordinating with local wildlife rescue organizations to rehabilitate injured sea turtles to recognizing key members of conservation nonprofits. She embodied the very spirit of Animal Kingdom, described by Imagineer Diego Parras as a park “based on nature and all of its unpredictability”—and one that, unlike its three sister parks, still requires an extra measure of care as Disney continues to grow and nurture the animals it calls its “fascinating families” and “real live […] storytellers.”
The 30-second homage may seem like a rather insignificant Easter egg to those who enter the Flight of Passage queue unaware of Dr. Ogden’s legacy, but it had a much deeper impact when Imagineers unveiled it for the first time.
“When they took Jackie to Flight of Passage and walked her through the queue and she heard her name,” Dr. Terrell said during a press event in 2017, “she actually broke down and cried.”
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