Brian Kesinger, an artist for both Walt Disney Animation Studios and Marvel Comics, put together a wonderful mashup of characters from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and Bill Watterson’s “Calvin And Hobbes”! Amazing work!
If you would like to see more of Brian Kesinger’s amazing art work you can follow him on Instagram: @briankesinger
Source: Brian Kesinger via Instagram
Soon guests will be able to become honorary members of the Lion Guard in a brand new Animal Kingdom experience called The Lion Guard Adventure.
This interactive experience, beginning February 7th, will allow young guests to explore the park in search of five main characters from “The Lion Guard” – Kion, Bunga, Fuli, Beshte, and Ono, who are represented as colorful statues that are perfect for photo-ops. The self-guided experience begins at select merchandise locations and culminates at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Like the movie, the experience encourages interest in protecting animals and caring for nature. Once they complete the adventure, each child can take a special pledge to become an honorary member of “The Lion Guard” and receive a special button.
The experience will be offered in Disney’s Animal Kingdom through late March, as one of many activities celebrating the debut of “The Lion Guard” series on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.
While at this year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show), John Snoddy, Disney EVP of Imagineering, may have dropped some hints about the attractions that will be coming to Star Wars Land:
Thanks to the involvement of Industrial Lights and Magic, the legendary special effects firm that Disney acquired in its big 2013 purchase of “Star Wars” studio Lucasfilm, Snoddy says that one of the rides will be “unprecedented, in a way.”
While Snoddy didn’t share any details on which ride, exactly, this was in reference to, the description lines up with the previous announcement of an attraction that takes riders through a battle between the evil First Order and the heroic Resistance, inspired by the record-smashing movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Snoddy hinted that one of the rides that Disney Imagineering is working on with ILM is a “boat ride,” with boats moving alongside a track, kind of like Disney park crowdpleaser “Pirates of the Carribean.”
Where ILM comes in, Snoddy says, is in helping Disney mix super-high-resolution projections with real-life physical sets and characters to create an immersive mix.
Thanks to Disney Imagineering’s robotics and ride know-how, they’ll know where the boats will be at any moment, down to the milimeter, meaning they can predict with almost guaranteed accuracy where a rider’s attention will be.
Indeed, Snoddy says that having ILM’s expertise on tap has made a huge difference in the already-complicated business of building a new Disney park attraction, let alone one that’s this immersive.
“When you build a theme park attraction, you’re building a building, you’re building a massive device,” Snoddy says.
Source: Business Insider
Unfortunately, the Business Insider stepped a bit outside of their area of expertise and likely made a bad call here. It sounds like the Imagineers were describing the new AVATAR and Pirates of the Caribbean boat rides coming to Animal Kingdom and Shanghai Disneyland respectively, not either of the rides for the Star Wars-themed land. The Millennium Falcon attraction is likely simulator based, while the attraction that “puts you in the middle of a battle between the Resistance and the First Order” gives no hints of being a boat ride based on the concept art provided so far. Maybe it is a boat ride and that was what Snoddy was talking about, but to quote Star Wars, “I have a bad feeling about this.” We shall see…
Starting the week of January 11th, all Disney Vacation Club members will begin receiving a direct mail piece containing an overview of the DVC 25th Anniversary Celebration, as well as these brand new membership cards:
Previous membership cards will be accepted for discounts through April 3, 2016. Beginning April 4th, the new membership card will only be accepted for discounts on recreation, merchandise, and food & beverage.
A few months ago, Disney announced Tiffins, a new signature restaurant located adjacent to Pizzafari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Toady, we have a few more details on the new restaurant, as well as a new lounge that will be a part of the experience.
Tiffins will celebrate the art of traveling, featuring a diverse menu drawing from places that inspired the creation of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Open for both lunch and dinner, Tiffins will also include waterfront views from comfortable indoor and outdoor seating areas. And if you’re wondering about the story behind the name, “tiffin” is an Indian English word for a midday meal or a type of container used to carry food while traveling.
Adjacent to Tiffins, Nomad Lounge will feature hand-crafted cocktails using the art of mixology with African, Asian and South American flavors, beers and wines from those regions, and a selection of specialty non-alcoholic beverages in addition to small bites.
Both Tiffns and Nomad Lounge will open Spring 2016.
For the last few days, Disney has been releasing character posters for their upcoming live action movie, “The Jungle Book”. But for some reason, Disney has decided to kill the suspense of who would be next by just releasing the group poster displaying Mowgli, Baloo, King Louie, Kaa and Shere Khan.
Last night, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights finally faded away after an incredible 67-night-long final season. The lights were originally supposed to end on Sunday, January 3rd, but were extended 3 more nights to accommodate the thousands of guests and off-duty cast members who wanted to say goodbye.
The lights turned on around 5:50PM, this was the scene just ten minutes before that. All of the Streets of America were packed with guests who wanted to see the lights turn on one last time. Around this time, the Hollywood Studios parking lot was forced to close and the area surrounding the lights was pretty much gridlocked and stayed this way for quite some time.
The actual end time for the lights was unclear based on the previous two nights, but the lights ran until 10PM. By 8:45PM, the crowd began to calm down and what was left was a sizable crowd of die-hard fans who would remain until the lights were turned off. To close out the Walt Disney World holiday tradition, the new dancing light song for this season performed last, followed by a few heartfelt words from Donnie and Annie on WJBO Radio, the fictional radio station that provided some commentary between music over the last 10 years of the event. When they were done, the lights danced to the Mickey Mouse Club sign-off, and slowly, section by section, the Spectacle of Dancing Lights faded away forever:
A darkened New York Street signified the end of a defining piece of the history of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Not only are we saying goodbye to the Spectacle of Dancing Lights, but also the Hollywood Studios we have known for almost 27 years. The Backlot Tour, the Magic of Disney Animation, the Streets of America, the Premier Theater, and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights are all gone. It seemed as if we had talked about a makeover of Disney’s Hollywood Studios for well over a decade and now we are at the start of what may be the largest undertaking in over three decades for Walt Disney World.
A 14-acre land filled with Star Wars, new shopping, dining, and attractions from the world of Toy Story, and much more await, but first we had say goodbye to so many attractions that we have enjoyed for over 20 years. While Star Wars land and all of the other great projects for the park will surely amaze, it is sad to see so much that we love vanish, but probably no lost Studios offering hurts as much as the lights. The good news is it seems this will be our last loss before construction begins on those new additions, however, the holidays at Walt Disney World may never be quite the same again. Maybe we will see the Spectacle of Lights once more someday, but for now, and possibly forever, we say goodbye to one of the most awe-inspiring and memorable offerings in the history of the Disney theme parks: the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights.
After only 20 days, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has become the highest grossing domestic film of all time. We do not have the official numbers, but as of Tuesday, “The Force Awakens” brought in $8 million bringing its Domestic Total to $758.2 million. “Avatar’s” domestic gross is $760 million and early estimates show that “The Force Awakens” will pass that amount today (Wednesday).
The below chart is provided by Box Office Mojo. It does not reflect Wednesday’s numbers but should give you an idea where “The Force Awakens” stands in the top ten and after Wednesday’s numbers are tallied, it should have an estimated domestic gross of over $760 million.
DOMESTIC GROSSES
| Rank | Title(click to view) | Studio | Lifetime Gross | Year^ |
| 1 | Avatar | Fox | $760,507,625 | 2009^ |
| 2 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | BV | $758,198,252 | 2015 |
| 3 | Titanic | Par. | $658,672,302 | 1997^ |
| 4 | Jurassic World | Uni. | $652,270,625 | 2015 |
| 5 | Marvel’s The Avengers | BV | $623,357,910 | 2012 |
| 6 | The Dark Knight | WB | $534,858,444 | 2008^ |
| 7 | Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | Fox | $474,544,677 | 1999^ |
| 8 | Star Wars | Fox | $460,998,007 | 1977^ |
| 9 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | BV | $459,005,868 | 2015 |
| 10 | The Dark Knight Rises | WB | $448,139,099 | 2012 |
For those interested in the World Wide Highest Grossing Movies Of All Time, the below chart provided by Box Office Mojo will give you some idea. “The Force Awakens” still has not opened in China but it will this Friday. China provided and additional $204 million to “Avatar’s” gross, so we can expect “The Force Awakens” to either match or exceed that amount. Again these numbers do not reflect Wednesday’s final numbers.
Do you think “The Force Awakens” will top “Avatar” worldwide?
WORLDWIDE GROSSES
| Rank | Title | Studio | Worldwide | Domestic / % | Overseas / % | Year^ | ||
| 1 | Avatar | Fox | $2,788.0 | $760.5 | 27.3% | $2,027.5 | 72.7% | 2009^ |
| 2 | Titanic | Par. | $2,186.8 | $658.7 | 30.1% | $1,528.1 | 69.9% | 1997^ |
| 3 | Jurassic World | Uni. | $1,669.0 | $652.3 | 39.1% | $1,016.7 | 60.9% | 2015 |
| 4 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | BV | $1,557.3 | $758.2 | 48.7% | $799.1 | 51.3% | 2015 |
| 5 | Marvel’s The Avengers | BV | $1,519.6 | $623.4 | 41.0% | $896.2 | 59.0% | 2012 |
| 6 | Furious 7 | Uni. | $1,515.0 | $353.0 | 23.3% | $1,162.0 | 76.7% | 2015 |
| 7 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | BV | $1,405.0 | $459.0 | 32.7% | $946.0 | 67.3% | 2015 |
| 8 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 | WB | $1,341.5 | $381.0 | 28.4% | $960.5 | 71.6% | 2011 |
| 9 | Frozen | BV | $1,276.5 | $400.7 | 31.4% | $875.7 | 68.6% | 2013 |
| 10 | Iron Man 3 | BV | $1,215.4 | $409.0 | 33.7% | $806.4 | 66.3% | 2013 |
Source: Box Office Mojo, The Hollywood Reporter
When January 11th brings the close of the Disneyland Railroad, the Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia and the Jungle Cruise (the first three related to Star Wars-themed land construction), the attractions will begin to operate in a new form as limited-time-only special experiences.
The Main Street and New Orleans Square Train Stations will allow guests to get up-close with the historic steam engines that have circled Disneyland park for decades, learn about these amazing machines firsthand from train engineers and take a picture with an engine. Each engine will be accompanied by knowledgeable train engineers, who will share facts, details on how the engines operate, stories from the history of the Disneyland Railroad and more.
While the world-famous Jungle Cruise undergoes refurbishment early this year, the skippers will still share their stories, adventures and humor with Disneyland park guests in front of the attraction. They will recount tales from their travels while the Jungle Navigation Company headquarters readies for reopening later in 2016.
New, limited-time experiences aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat and Sailing Ship Columbia will be offered later in the year, so even though these attractions won’t be running per usual, guests will get the chance to see them in an entirely new way.
Last night, I attended the very first “Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios”, which might be the longest named special event in Disney history. Regardless, the event is very much in the same vein as the FROZEN fireworks dessert party that has been offered in the past, but now themed to Star Wars to match the remastered Symphony in the Stars fireworks show that debuted back on December 18th.
The party is $69.00 for adults and $39.00 for children ages 3-9 and advance reservations are highly recommended. The event is hosted nightly from January 5th through March 19th, 2016.
Check-in starts sometime before 7PM (we checked in at around 6:20PM) and the party actually opened a little before 7PM to those already checked in.
Once entering, we were greeted with the Freeze-fried Nutella Truffle station, which is how I prefer to be greeted anywhere I go. This was really fantastic. The addition of the choice of raspberry or chocolate sauce was a nice touch and I felt like this was unique and a good fit for the theme of the party.
Alcoholic beverages are included with the price, probably why adults cost $69.00 per ticket. Of the 4 drinks, I tried 3: The Force, the First Order Finale, and the Corellian Smuggler’s Coffee.
The First Order Finale was my personal favorite, but I’m also a big fan of coconut rum. It wasn’t too sweet and had just the right amount of alcohol in it for my taste.
I hate to use this, but it’s very true… “The Force is Strong with This One.” The Force was easily the strongest drink I’ve ever had in a Disney theme park. It wasn’t bad, but you could smell this thing from the forest moon of Endor (which is in a galaxy far, far away for those who don’t understand Star Wars).
The coffee was nothing out of this world, but on a cold night it was everything I could I have wanted. It had just the right mix of alcohol and coffee and if I didn’t need to review other “specialty” drinks that aren;t just coffee and Bailey’s, I would have probably just had 4 of these.
For those adverse to alcohol (and for younger padawans), there are specialty non-alcoholic drinks as well, Padawan Punch Blood Orange Lemonade and Ewok Juice Green Apple Lemonade. Water, coffee, and soft drinks are also readily available.
The desserts were spectacular. If you’re a fan of the larger Star Wars cupcakes in the park, you’ll find mini-versions of the BB-8 and Darth Vader cupcakes here and you can have your fill of them. There is also a bite-size portion of the Blue Milk Panna Cotta. You’ll find a smattering of unique desserts not offered in the parks as well.
Darth Maul eclairs anyone?
I have a weakness for crispy rice treats myself…
My personal favorite was the Galactic Size Warm Space Debris Bread Pudding, which is as big as it’s name. This was really great, tasty bread pudding with a galaxy of special toppings such as M&M’s, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, and some things I couldn’t even identify in the wreckage. You could even get a big scoop of ice cream to go with it at the next station.
The ubiquitous generic Disney ice cream snacks are also here in case you have a rebellious picky-eater in your group. Although, sometimes in life you just need a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar, right?
I was most surprised to see some items I would not classify as desserts among the available spreads, including scorched pesto crisps and the smoked sea-salted “quarter ration” biscuit. The soggy crisps weren’t great, but I probably could have eaten an entire tray of the biscuits which were soft and had a great flavor.
There were also fruit-sabers for those who enjoy a healthier option.
With the food and drinks out of the way, let’s talk about the viewing area. It’s located on the left side of what is now called “Center Stage” in the hub of the park. This is not a bad viewing area by any means… as long as you are not behind trees.
Honestly, our spot was the best one I’ve had for fireworks in the park, though typically I stand far enough back that my video camera can pick up the full view of all of the launch points, so I don’t necessarily always try to stand this close to the show. I can’t imagine the people a few table in towards the tree had as good a view as we did though. My main problem with this is that there are just too many tables in a rather confined space. I don’t think the event is overcrowded, the the amount of tables and the layout doesn’t function. You could see every guest toward the rope line having a really hard time getting to the food and drinks on the opposite side, just because the tables (which now had people around them) were so close together. Not having to fight through people to get to the tables and bars would have improved my experience. Maybe sell 5-10 less tickets and pull 3-4 tables out to make aisles?
My biggest issue, and this might be kind of silly, but it’s the tablecloths. Not only are these the icy blue cloths they used for the FROZEN dessert parties, but they are too long. With the tables pushed so close together and the table cloths dragging on the floor, I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I either almost tripped on a table cloth or saw someone almost pull everything off of a table. Please Disney, use the profits of the first few parties to buy Star Wars themed tablecloths that are actually the proper length. Maybe get the Star Wars centerpieces from last year’s Rebel Hangar lounge and spruce up the tabletops a little too…
In the end though, we had a great view of what is a really phenomenal fireworks show (and one that will be getting better in the coming months, but that’s a story for another post).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrdJrOOExqU?rel=0&showinfo=0]
As a parting gift, guests were given a souvenir Chewbacca stein as they exited (the same ones you can buy around the park for $8, but a nice gesture).
So, was it worth $69.00? Maybe. I’m definitely on the fence about this one. I’m a pretty hardcore Star Wars fan, so it’s hard for me to not have a good time surrounded by Star Wars-themed desserts and fireworks. During the busier weeks like President’s Day or Spring Break, I definitely see the value here. A reserved fireworks spot with a nice, clear view and not having to fight crowds is really great. If you will have 3-4 alcoholic beverages and eat plenty of the snacks, you will probably find your value here. If it was priced at $49.00, I would say it was a no-brainer, but $69.00 a person is a lot of money for 1 hour of unlimited food and drinks. I definitely don’t see a $39.00 value for children though. Again, I don’t think I can clearly define if it is worth the price I paid, but I think the crowd will be split between those who enjoyed it and those who felt it wasn’t worth the price point. If you have Star Wars fans in your group, they’re going to have a good time, but otherwise, there are probably better ways to eat and drink for $69.00 a person at Walt Disney World on a night where the park isn’t crowded anyway. If seeing these fireworks the right way is a priority to th you and you’re coming during a busy week, book this. If not, it’s just going to depend how strongly The Force is calling to you.
