Do you think that Disney World has grown into something that Disney himself wouldn't necessarily approve of?

Oh, yeah. You know, a lot of people say they don't like Epcot, but Epcot was always my favorite part as a kid. I was into all the technology and space. I liked the futurism of it. I really liked Epcot, and that was why even though we could have done the movie completely in Anaheim, I decided to film in Florida. I wanted Epcot to play a part in the movie, so that's why we went to Orlando for 11 days first and then went to Anaheim.

Was there ever a time when you almost got caught?

Yes. So we scheduled the shots that were the most difficult to get first in order to get them out of the way. There was one shot that we thought would be pretty easy to do: It's a shot that's not in the final version of the film, where the family enters the park through the turnstiles. We had to get multiple angles of them entering, so they'd enter and exit, and enter and exit. They did that three times. At one point, a security guard walked over to them and asked them why they had entered and exited three times. The lead actor said he forgot his sunscreen, and then they said, "Well, are you celebrities?" They said, "No. Why?" [The guard] continued by saying, "Because you have paparazzi following you right now." And so the family said, "No. We have no idea who those people are." But [the guards] didn't really believe them. They pulled them aside to this area on Main Street and said, "Well, wait here while we check on something." When that happened either the little boy or the little girl in the movie said they needed to go to the bathroom, and then the other one said they also did. So security said, "Alright. Take your kids to the bathroom, but when you’re done come right back." They went to the bathroom, they removed their sound equipment, and when they came out, a parade was coming by. That sort of separated them from security on the other side. We had a P.A. whisper to them, "Go out. There's a van waiting for you by the entrance." They went back out through the turnstiles, got into our production van, and we sped off. That was the last day we shot with cast inside the park.

What were some of the most difficult scenes to film? You have scenes where the park is pretty much empty. Were those scenes harder to film than the ones where you were dealing with thousands and thousands of unknowing extras?

I think the hardest scenes to film were just the ones with the actors inside the park, especially when they were having an argument — and not because we were drawing attention, but because it's hard to direct when there's so much chaos going on around you. The scenes where the parks were empty, those were difficult because we had to wake up early and get to the park first. But to work with the actors when it's loud and noisy and hot, that was the most difficult aspect of shooting.