VIDEO, PHOTOS: Disney Pins Celebrate Attraction Anniversaries & More in 2017

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

If you are like me and love Pin Trading around the Walt Disney World Resort (or like to just collect),  you will be excited to see what Disney has up their sleeves for 2017.

Steven Miller, the Disney Parks Merchandise Communications Manager, gives us another ‘Unboxed’ look at some new merchandise; in this case some new pins.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M9YThbwPxs]

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There will be a limited edition 1500 “Piece of Disney History” pin series that will be resort specific to WDW.

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Two series will be shared between Disneyland and Walt Disney World, which are the “Essence of Evil” and the “Doorways to Disney” series.

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The Disneyland exclusive series will be the “Pin Trading Tales” and the “Charming Characters” series.

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In spring, there will be a series released called the “Digital Disney Mystery Collection” which features 8 pins which have classic Disney characters inspired by retro and classic video games. Each box will contain 2 pins.

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From the fun and adorable Emoji Blitz game series, there are unique open edition pins coming soon.

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Coolest to all of readers tom this site will be the Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean 50th anniversary collection, being released in mid-March…

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And a 45th anniversary collection for the Jungle Cruise at Walt Disney World, coming out in May.

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New pins are typically released on Thursdays at Disney Parks.

Tokyo Disney Resort – New Additions Coming in 2017

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

On February 1st, 2017, Oriental Land Co. released more information on the many events and entertainment coming to the Tokyo Disney Resort in the year of 2017. Many of the events announced are regular seasonal events.  “Disney’s Easter”, “Tanabata Days”, “Disney Natsu Matsuri”, “Disney’s Halloween” being a few.

Some exciting new additions have been made to the many things that go on in Tokyo Disney Resort. These include “Disney Pirates Summer” and a Pixar themed event, a new show,  and additions to the Electrical Parade will premiere this year.

Here is some additional information on the brand new fun coming to Tokyo Disney Resort in 2017!

Disney Pirates Summer

Jack Sparrow and other pirates on a ship for "Disney Pirates Summer" at Tokyo Disney Resort in 2017

Promotional image for “Disney Pirates Summer” at Tokyo Disney Resort

During summer of 2017, this exciting new Pirates of the Caribean event will be making its debut at Tokyo DisneySea. Captain Jack Sparrow himself, along with many other pirates, will be in their very own show on Mediterranean Harbour. Following a recent trend in the Tokyo Disney Parks, and will have tons of water spraying and splashing, letting the guests get wet and cool off during the hot Japanese summer. There will also be a crew of pirates providing atmospheric entertainment. Along with this summertime event comes new merchandise, food, and decor that will revamp Tokyo DisneySea into the world of Pirates of the Caribean. This event will also be making their way into Tokyo Disneyland as well, where there will be extra decor and atmospheric performances close by the Pirates of the Caribean attraction. With the next movie, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, premiering on July 1st, 2017, this event is perfectly timed.

Pixar Event

There hasn’t been much information released about this event yet, but we do know that it’ll be a brand new Pixar-themed event at Tokyo DisneySea starring oodles of the most popular Pixar characters we know and love. This event will consist of shows, meet and greets, along with lots of special merchandise and food!

Additions to “Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: Dreamlights” 

A renewed version of the “Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: Dreamlights” will be hitting the hub on July 11th, 2017. This renewed version is set to include 5 new floats. The first being Anna and Elsa’s Ice Castle, which will presumably be very similar, if not the same as the one in Paint the Night. Cinderella will also be getting a little more love with two new floats which will be Cinderella’s Pumpkin Coach as well as the grand ballroom with Prince Charming by her side. The much missed Beauty and the Beast float will be making a comeback after it’s departure after the 2011 renovation of the parade. The existing floats will be getting upgraded LED lights, so the whole parade will be getting a little bit of added oomph.

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New and returning floats in the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade for 2017

New Show

There will be a brand new show debuting on July 11th, 2017 starring the one and only Mickey Mouse and all his pals. The show will be taking place at the Dockside Stage in American Waterfront and will be replacing “A Table is Waiting” which is scheduled to take its final bow on March 17th, 2017.

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The Dockside Stage where this new show will be performed

VIDEO: Emma Watson Talks Of How Belle Has Been Reinvented For “Beauty And The Beast”

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

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In this week’s Entertainment Weekly, Emma Watson reveals  how she had some influence and input with reinventing the character of Belle. Definitely a big change that will make some fans of the original “Beauty And The Beast” very happy…. and some, not so much.

From Entertainment Weekly:

“I was like, ‘I have to tell this story. Oh my god if I don’t do this, nothing else makes sense,’” she recalls. “[It] made me feel that I had something else to give and offer.”

That’s how her version of Belle approaches the world, too. It may be a fairy tale, but it’s still a place where girls have to fight against impossible resistance for their own happily ever afters.

For instance, amid the chorus of villagers and shopkeepers in that opening song, you see a line of boys being led to school, while a group of little girls are left to do the laundry. Learning is not women’s work, and Belle’s neighbors no longer regard her simply as a quirky bookworm.

Her ideas and independence are considered worse than unladylike – they’re dangerous. Subversive. Beastly, even.

“They see her as a threat,” says director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Gods and Monsters). “It’s that thing that remains under the surface. But when there’s a real threat that unifies everybody, they start to look for other people who make them uncomfortable. That’s a pretty common pattern.”

This new danger: progress. This Belle is a tinker who invents a washing machine that frees the little girls from their chores, allowing her time to teach them how to read. The townsfolk respond first by marveling at her device – then by smashing it.

“They don’t think women should read and it goes further than that,” Watson says. “They are deeply suspicious of intelligence. Breaking the washing machine is symbolic of not just them breaking something she spent hours working on, but them really trying to break her spirit and trying to push her and mold her into a more ‘acceptable’ version of herself.”

In that way, Belle has already clashed with plenty of close-minded, brusque, bullies by the time she ends up in the clutches of the cursed Beast, (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens,) a prince who is living out anguished penance as a giant, hairy fiend in his castle full of living candelabras, clocks, and tea sets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW_sivlg5HY

 

Source: Entertainment Weekly

VIDEO, CONCEPT ART: Reservations Now Open for The Disney Explorers Lodge at Hong Kong Disneyland

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

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Beginning April 30th, 2017, guests looking for adventure will be checking into the all new Disney Explorers Lodge at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. This new hotel will have 750 rooms and features 4 different wings, each having their own themed garden named after a beloved Disney character and celebrating a unique locale; The ‘Kevin Garden’ themed to South America and named after the bird in “Up”, ‘The Little Squirt Garden of Oceania’ named after Crush’s son Squirt from “Finding Nemo”, The ‘Hathi Jr. Garden’ with an Asian theme and named for the baby elephant in “The Jungle Book”, and lastly, the ‘Rafiki Garden’ on the African Savannah.

Throughout the property, there will be 1920’s-style memorabillia and artifacts displayed. Three unique restaurants with a world of flavors will also bee offered.

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Reservations to stay at the Explorers Lodge can be made now online.

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Donald Glover To Voice “Simba” And James Earl Jones Will Voice “Mufasa” In Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King”

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

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Acclaimed actors James Earl Jones and Donald Glover have joined the voice cast of Disney and director Jon Favreau’s live-action reimagining of The Lion King. Donald Glover will voice adult Simba, while James Earl Jones will reprise the role of Mufasa, which he made famous in the 1994 animated film.  

The Lion King follows in the footsteps of Disney’s contemporary re-envisioning of some of its most beloved classics with films like Maleficent, Cinderella, and the upcoming Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and debuting in theaters on March 17. In addition, Disney recently collaborated with Favreau on the Oscar-nominated smash hit The Jungle Book. 

For The Lion King, Disney and Favreau will build on the groundbreaking technology used in The Jungle Book to bring the story of Simba to photorealistic life. The film’s release date has not been announced.

Jon Favreau was also very happy to announce the news on Twitter:

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Source: Jon Favreau

VIDEO: Behind the Scenes Look at Making the Music for “Rivers of Light”

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

To celebrate the opening of Rivers of Light, Disney has been releasing short behind-the-scenes videos about the show. This one is about the amazing musical score in the show that guest can’t seem to stop talking about.  The Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Team has said that to create this beautiful score to accompany the show, they needed to create this thing called a “soundscape.” The ‘Soundscape’ would tell the animals’ journey they take throughout Rivers of Light. The score was composed in the Abbey Road Studios in England and had many unique instruments, including some not heard of before in Disney Parks nighttime spectacular, such as a duduk, bansuri flute, erhu, Chinese opera drums, and Taiko drums. Here is the video from the Disney Parks Blog:

Rivers of Light officially debuted last week, so be sure to check your times guide or the My Disney Experience app for nights with showtimes.

WDWNT: Nerd Alert – Season Three Episode 2 Is Now Available For Download

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

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In this week’s episode, the gang talk about:

  • We play Jeopardy! The Nerd Alert Edition!
  • Harrison Ford has another airplane incident.
  • We discuss “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”.
  • Is Pierce Brosnan playing Cable in “Deadpool 2”?
  • Is Ben Affleck getting cold feet about playing “The Batman”?
  • We review “Batman: The Lego Movie”
  • We answer the latest listener emails.

Join hosts Joe Hogarty, Ron D’Anna, Jack McCarthy, Taylor Katcher and our newest member of the group, Eric Lancy!

WDWNT: Nerd Alert – Season Three Episode 2 is now available for download through WDW News Today: Original Programing  and iTunes!

Angela Lansbury Joins The Cast Of “Mary Poppins Returns”; Lansbury To Play “The Balloon Lady”

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

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LEGENDARY PERFORMER ANGELA LANSBURY JOINS CAST OF

“MARY POPPINS RETURNS”  

The Sequel to the Studio’s 1964 Film

Stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda

And is Directed by Rob Marshall 

Angela Lansbury has joined the cast of “Mary Poppins Returns,” the all-new sequel to Disney’s 1964 film “Mary Poppins” currently filming at Shepperton Studios. She will feature as the Balloon Lady, a treasured character from PL Travers’ series of Mary Poppins children’s books. The film is scheduled for release December 25, 2018. 

A five-time Tony Award® winner and the recipient of an honorary Academy Award®, three Academy Award nominations and bestowed with numerous other accolades, Angela Lansbury’s career encompasses more than 70 years. She is a beloved member of the Disney family and starred in “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and voiced Mrs. Potts in the animated classic “Beauty and the Beast.” Her roles in film, television and theater range from “Gaslight,” “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Death on the Nile” to “Murder, She Wrote,” “Mame,” “Blithe Spirit,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Gypsy.”  

Directed and produced by Rob Marshall (“Into the Woods,” “Chicago”), “Mary Poppins Returns” stars Emily Blunt (“The Girl on the Train,” “Into the Woods”), Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “Moana”), Ben Whishaw (“Spectre”), Emily Mortimer (“Hugo”) and Julie Walters (“Harry Potter” films) with Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) and Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”). The film, which introduces three new Banks children, played by Pixie Davies (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”), Nathanael Saleh (“Game of Thrones”) and newcomer Joel Dawson, also features Dick Van Dyke.  

The film is set in 1930s depression-era London (the time period of the original novels) and is drawn from the wealth of material in PL Travers’ additional seven books. In the story, Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Streep). 

The film is produced by Marshall, John DeLuca (“Chicago”) and Marc Platt (“La La Land”). The screenplay is by David Magee (“Life of Pi”) based on The Mary Poppins Stories by PL Travers with Marc Shaiman (“Hairspray”) and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray”) writing all new songs and Shaiman composing an original score.

Jedi, Hero & Princess Podcast – Ep. #22 “Peace Out Trolls”

WDWNT on February 23, 2017

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Zoe just got back from Walt Disney World and has a slew of tales to tell. Frozen, MagicBands and Food are all topics of discussion. Gondolas at WDW? Star Wars Celebration, 40th anniversary and Force Friday all give us plenty of new merchandise to talk about. And Disneyland celebrates the Summer of Heroes this year, Brendt tells us all about that and other Marvel headlines. All this, Most Embarrassing Moments and more on JHP this week.

Download the episode, Listen online, subscribe on iTunes and visit JediHeroPrincess.com