Snow White Drawings

I was supposed to art direct the Snow White ride, revise the ride track, and design new vehicles. Someone else would do all of the drafting. The problem was that the two people hired for the job didn’t work out – and along with them went the time and budget. The task of drafting the entire ride fell to me – in addition to my responsibilities to Peter Pan and other attractions.

Normally for drafting we estimate one draftsperson, per sheet, per week. (If the drawing package needs 52 drawings that’s 52 weeks – if you want it done sooner you add drafters.) Now, it doesn’t take that long just to draw the information on most sheets. Some take less, but some sheets will actually take longer because they are so complex – one week is just the average. Next, no one simply drafts a sheet straight through from beginning to end – there are meetings, and approvals, and study sketches, and research, and all of that takes time. In the end the average is always one sheet a week.

I had six-weeks to finish an entire ride. There was not a single sheet usable from the other drafters. A dark ride drawing package is usually around 70 sheets. In eight-weeks I produced 60 drawings single-handed, while continuing with my other duties. Management still wondered what took me so long and why I was late.

The package was so well planned that construction bids for Snow White continually came back at very low prices – in fact, lower than the company estimators had expected. There was no missing information, just clear concise information in an easy to understand format.

Pictured here is a typical drawing from the package. The plan is placed at the bottom and, in this case, an elevation of the mural is at the top. There are about six sheets in this scene with most other drawings simple illustrating the painting line work guides and profile cuts. I designed the mural and executed the artwork myself.