Just a little plug here for y’all to check out one of our wonderful sister sites, WDWNTube. Over their, John Corigliano & I are now pretty regularly uploading lovely videos from the Disneyland Resort & Walt Disney World.
Some of my latest videos include the Horse Drawn Streetcar, a Christmas Fantasy, Block Party Bash, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, & Storybook Land at Night.
So be sure to check out WDWNTube regularly for the latest videos from Disneyland & Walt Disney World.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., and SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 13, 2008) — The Star Wars adventures continue on Aug. 15 with the theatrical release of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS from Lucasfilm Animation, and this year’s Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort will offer fans an exciting, in-depth look at the making of this big-screen animated epic.
Among the features at this year’s Star Wars Weekends, which run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from June 6 to June 29, 2008, will be “Behind the Force — Experience THE CLONE WARS,” an exploration of the creation of this groundbreaking Star Wars feature film. During “Experience THE CLONE WARS,” fans will get a chance to meet a representative of Lucasfilm Ltd. and, at the culmination of the presentation, see an exclusive clip of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS that can be seen only at Disney’s Hollywood Studios during Star Wars Weekends.
“The Clone Wars is Star Wars as you’ve never seen it before, so it makes sense that we’re offering fans at Star Wars Weekends something completely unique — an early glimpse at a Star Wars movie,” said Kayleen Walters, director of marketing for Lucasfilm Ltd. “We’re working with Disney to create an event no Star Wars fan will want to miss.”
In addition to the excitement surrounding Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars will feature celebrities from the classic, live-action movies, who will be on hand each weekend for photos, Q&A, autograph sessions and Hollywood-style motorcades. All four weekends, Star Wars actor Warwick Davis (who portrayed “Wicket” the Ewok) will serve as celebrity emcee and host of the event.
Among the scheduled celebrities and special guests at this year’s Star Wars Weekends are Dave Filoni, director of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS; and MatthewWood, who performs voices in the movie and the CLONE WARS TV series debuting this fall.
A weekend-by-weekend lineup of celebrities scheduled to appear includes (subject to change):
June 6-8: Jeremy Bulloch (“Boba Fett”) and Daniel Logan (young “Boba Fett”)
June 13-15: Peter Mayhew (“Chewbacca”) and David Prowse (“Darth Vader”)
June 20-22: Amy Allen (“Aayla Secura”) and Matthew Wood (“General Grievous” and voice artist in THE CLONE WARS)
June 27-29: Dave Filoni (director of the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
In addition, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will offer a host of surprises throughout the four weekends, promising to bring an unprecedented level of “sneak preview” excitement and fun to the popular Star Wars Weekends.
Other activities included in the fan-fest fun: the “Padawan Mind Challenge,” allowing kids under 12 to test their wits before the Jedi Council; “Legends of the Force,” a motorcade featuring favorite Star Wars celebrities; and “Jedi Training Academy,” where young Jedi-wannabes can learn lightsaber battle techniques and test theirnewfound skills against Darth Vader or Darth Maul.
It appears Disney has already tested the Wall-E living character that will start appearing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios over in Los Angeles. Here is a video of the amazing character’s short test:
Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.
The latest character in the Living Character Initiative is going to be Wall-E. He should start appearing in Tomorrowland later this year, but a little video from an event in LA has surfaced, & one word sums up this walk-around animatronic… AMAZING!
Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.
I advise y’all to check out the latest Official Disneyland Resort Vidcast. This latest vidcast takes a look at the new Mr. Potato Head audio-animatronic in Toy Story Midway Mania:
In this video podcast we “peel” back the curtain and watch Walt Disney Imagineers “whip up” a 5-foot version of the popular childhood toy, “Mr. Potato Head.” The famous spud will welcome guests into the new attraction, “Toy Story Mania!,” set to open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in May, and at Disney’s California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in June.
You can find this, & many other episodes of the Official DLR Podcast here!
From the Orlando Sentinel:
Looks like Disney may have changed the name of the new time-share tower the company is building next to its Contemporary Resort.
“Bay Lake Tower” has replaced “Kingdom Tower” as the name of the project, at least in filings with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
What’s more, earlier this month Disney filed paperwork to create a “Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Condominium Association,” presumably to manage the resort once it is sold off to individual owners. Disney had created a “Kingdom Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Condominium Association” in January.
Disney still has not publicly announced its plans for the partially-built Contemporary addition, which now stands 14 stories and will be linked to the resort’s main A-frame building by a pedestrian bridge. A spokeswoman said the company had nothing to announce today, either. But Disney has indicated in documents submitted to the state that it intends to use the tower for Disney Vacation Club, the company’s Celebration-based time-share arm.
The “Kingdom Tower” name was criticized by some Disney fans when it first surfaced in those documents. Some posters on Internet forums said it evoked religious overtones, noting that “Kingdom Hall” is a term for a place where Jehovah’s Witnesses worship.
“I think a lot of people were drawing comparisons to Kingdom Hall,” said Tim Krasniewski, publisher of DVCNews.com, a website devoted to Disney Vacation Club.
Krasniewski said he was personally fond of “Kingdom Tower,” which most assumed referred to the Magic Kingdom theme park that sits next door to the Contemporary. But he said he likes “Bay Lake Tower” — which refers to one of the lakes that the Contemporary and its addition overlook — even better.
“I think it’s a wonderful name,” he said. “I think everybody’s familiar with Bay Lake, with the fact that Bay Lake is right there. It has a Disney feel to it.”
Scott Joseph | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
When The Wave, a new full-service restaurant at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, opens next month, it will boast an unusual wine cellar. Besides stocking no California labels — those wines are available upstairs at the California Grill — the ground-floor restaurant will feature wines of the Southern Hemisphere, including vintages from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and Argentina.
But that’s not the most unusual aspect. The Wave will offer only wines that have screw caps; no wines with corks will be available. One exception will be sparkling wines, which are not yet available with screw caps. John Blazon, master sommelier and manager of wine sales and standards for Walt Disney World Resort, said he wants “to show middle America that you can enjoy a great bottle of wine despite how it’s sealed.”
Blazon said he has collected 80 wines of various varietals and price points to present at the restaurant’s opening, which is scheduled for June 7. Once considered an indicator of low quality, screw caps, also known as Stelvin closures, have been gaining popularity among premium wine producers for several years as a more reliable means of sealing a bottle of wine.
In the new Future Choice Stations in Innovention’s Project Tomorrow, your picture is taken, you answer some questions about your lifestyle, & then you’re future life is made, with you embedded into it… Literally!
You can then send your picture to your email. This is mine:
We’re hearing that the new Disney Vacation Club add on to the Grand Californian will be called the Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Resort & Spa.
Of course, this name could change at any time, so stay tuned!
NEW YORK (May 13, 2008) — Aligning the world’s No. 1 family vacation destination with the worldwide leader in sports, Walt Disney World Resort and ESPN are joining forces to re-brand Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex with the ESPN brand, creating an entertaining and immersive experience for the nearly 2 million athletes, coaches and spectators who come through the Disney sports complex each year.
Plans for the re-branding initiative — which was announced today during the ESPN upfront presentation to advertisers and sponsors — are still in the development stage, but initial concepts involve renaming the sports complex and incorporating the signature elements of ESPN throughout the 220-acre facility, which is a leading venue for amateur and professional sports in the country. The project aims to enhance the experience of both athletes and spectators by connecting them to their favorite ESPN programs, personalities and elements. It also will provide advertisers new sponsorship opportunities at the grass roots level.
“This is a natural and exciting pairing of two powerful brands to create a one-of-a-kind, immersive sports venue that will enable athletes, coaches and guests to experience sports in a whole new way,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts. “This project builds on our collaborative successes and positions us to explore more opportunities with ESPN to create new experiences for guests at Walt Disney World Resort.”
“Our involvement in the Disney sports complex will provide greater opportunities for us to connect directly with athletes, coaches and fans in a highly immersive way,” said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN Inc. and ABC Sports, and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks. “Our involvement also provides us with a unique and exciting new media platform that will enable our advertisers and sponsors to reach new customers and bring their products and services to life.”
The re-branding of the Disney sports complex is the latest initiative in the growing sports business at Walt Disney World Resort. In December, the sports complex debuted additional outdoor playing fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey competitions. And this summer the sports complex will open Jostens Center, a new state-of-the-art field house that will allow Disney to accommodate twice as many indoor sports events each year. Additional expansion plans are being explored.
The Disney sports complex annually hosts more than 180 events in 50 different sports involving athletes from more than 70 countries. Among those events are the Atlanta Braves spring training season, a Tampa Bay Rays regular-season series, the Major League Baseball Draft, the NBA Pre-Draft Camp, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp, Chelsea Football Club events, the Pop Warner Super Bowl, AAU National Championships, Varsity All-Star Cheerleading competitions, USSSA events and the Walt Disney World Marathon, one of the top marathons in the nation. ESPN televised 20 sporting events from the complex in the last year. Walt Disney World Resort and ESPN also annually work together to host the popular ESPN The Weekend event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
