NDA Convention: The Basic Materials Behind the Magic

Rising 199 feet from Central Florida’s flat landscape, Disney’s Expedition Everest thrill ride has been put in place to earn entertainment and retail dollars from vacationers from around the world.

But before any service economy dollars were earned, Frank Addeman and others in the Walt Disney Imagineering department were overseeing an effort that involved large amounts of steel and concrete and the management of a sprawling, active job site.

Addeman offered attendees of a session at the 2009 National Demolition Association (NDA) Convention an overview of several major building projects in Florida and California that Walt Disney Imagineering has undertaken.

The Expedition Everest ride was built using 10,000 tons of concrete, 5,000 tons of structural steel and enough rebar steel to stretch out 38 miles in length. The 2004 project often involved some 500 workers employed on the site each day who built the basic structure as well as putting in place a plumbing system to create “mountain mist” and a wiring system involving more than 200 speakers to provide accompanying sound effects.

Moving earth and planting trees were the major components of the construction of Central Florida’s Animal Kingdom in the mid-1990s. According to Addeman, that project entailed planting 24,000 trees and some 2 million shrubs and plants.

Additionally, some 90 miles of irrigation pipe had to be laid and 30 miles of retaining walls were built to keep some animal species apart from others (and from visitors). The Animal Kingdom’s signature “Tree of Life” was built using considerable amounts of structural steel and concrete.

At Disney’s Anaheim, Calif., property, a recent demolition effort was the reconstruction of the indoor roller coaster Space Mountain. That work was largely performed overnight, said Addeman, and involved the use of telescopic handlers and smaller loaders in part because the confined conditions and lack of a large bay or door precluded the use of larger cranes.

The 2009 NDA Convention took place April 5-8 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Fla.