According to Blue Sky Disney:
Those of you that attend the grand opening of “Toy Story Midway Mania” on June 17th will get to see a great celebration of what could be the beginning of the Second Gate we always wanted.
Watch the skies while you’re there. You may see some real Green Army Men parachuting into the pier…
The new small counter-service/outdoor vending location across the street from Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be called the “Hey Howdy Hey Take-Away” and will offer a number of small food options, most of which will be accepted by the Disney Dining Plan as a snack. The space will continue the Pixar Place theming, much like that of the Toy Story Midway Mania queue and the other toys related items around the Pixar Studios. We should have some pictures of the soon-to-open location later this week, so stay tuned!!!
Laughing Place has a short 3 minute video from the Hi-Seoul Art Troupe who are performing in the Pacific Wharf section of Disney’s California Adventure:
We’ve heard reports of an accident happening over at Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Apparently a woman had somehow cut her leg so bad that bone was visible.
That’s the only detail we have on the accident right now, but we’ll update you with more information as soon as it’s available!
From the Orlando Sentinel:
A second St. Cloud man accused of helping to obtain a pipe bomb detonated in a Downtown Disney trash can last July surrendered Thursday to federal firearms agents. Brandon Woll, 21, was freed on his own recognizance after a bail hearing before U.S. Magistrate Karla Spaulding. His attorney, Jim Taylor, entered a plea of not guilty.
On Wednesday, Woll’s stepfather, David Tagg, 40, of St. Cloud, was arrested on charges he aided in the bomb-making. A third St. Cloud man, Michael Morgan, 21, is being sought.
At Thursday’s hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Wilson asked Spaulding to bar Woll from having contact with other defendants and witnesses in the case, including his live-in girlfriend, Sarah Folsom. But Taylor objected, saying the couple had lived together for a year and that Woll could not move back in with his mother and Tagg. Spaulding ultimately allowed the couple to remain together but ordered them not to discuss the case.
Toy Story Mania takes the dark-ride concept to the next level with an immersive and interactive experience that only Disney can deliver. Call it the theme park ride for the Wii generation.
If Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters represented an evolutionary hyperspace leap forward, Toy Story Mania symbolizes the revolutionary next generation — the dark ride version 2.0.
After a preview ride this week, I only had one problem with Toy Story Mania: the all-consuming game prevents me from sitting back and simply enjoying the scenery. I have to play. For me, the game has already proven so addictive as to cause TSM (a.k.a. Mania Elbow) — a form of repetitive stress injury brought on by repeated tugging on the spring-action shooter. I find myself constantly shaking my sore wrist after each round of play.
Opening June 17 at Disney’s California Adventure, the $80-million D-Ticket Toy Story Mania takes riders through a carnival midway hosted by the movie’s animated characters — Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Rex and Hamm.
Wearing 3-D glasses, riders on the five-minute drive-through video game compete against one another by firing virtual darts, pies and eggs during virtual games of chance.
Is Toy Story Mania the best ride at California Adventure? Absolutely. It plays to Disney’s storytelling strength and surpasses Tower of Terror and Soarin’ Over California on my all-time favorites list.
Are there better rides across the way at Disneyland? Absolutely. I still prefer Indiana Jones Adventure and Haunted Mansion for a completely immersive experience.
But Toy Story Mania is an excellent benchmark for DCA going forward as the planned $1.1-billion expansion unfolds over the next five years. Here’s hoping Disney’s Imagineers keep the bar set high and strive to outdo their Toy Story Mania success.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
MintCrocodile is back with a quick look at the new seating for Award Wieners in Hollywood Pictures Backlot, that replaced the former MuppetVision 3D extended queue:
For more pictures from Mint’s June 12th visit to the resort, click here!
Let’s take a look at some various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from the latest Disneyland Update on DisneyGeek:
The 2008 Hi Seoul Korea Performing Arts Showcase
On either side of the stage were monitors that showed the name of what the group was performing, & between shows played a video
Check out the DisneyGeek DLR Update (linked above) for more pictures from 3 of the performances on June 9th
For some reason, this section of Paradise Pier is blocked off
More scaffolding is up on the Grizzly River Run waterwheel
Here are a few pictures from inside Toy Story Midway Mania
Again, more pictures from TSMM are in the DisneyGeek DLR Update
A New York Times article talks with Bob Iger about planned changes to Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland, among other things:
Mr. Iger talks about the need to balance “heritage and innovation.” For Mickey and other Disney characters, one method is to keep the core attributes of the characters the same, but to update the world in which they live. For instance, Disney is updating Toontown, the section of Disneyland that Mickey calls home. One plan features an old-fashioned trolley, but Mr. Iger is not sure that is a smart idea. Will modern children know what an old-fashioned trolley is?”
Finally Toontown is getting some needed attention and that probably explains the construction walls around Donald’s Boat, the gas station and the planned refurb for Gadget Go’s Coaster starting in September.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Wave, the new restaurant just opened at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, is all about bold ideas, featuring modern American cooking with a dash of world flavors. And an unusual wine program with more than 50 choices by the glass matches the forward-thinking cuisine.
“The Wave suggests a surge of new ideas,” said Master Sommelier John Blazon, manager of wine sales and standards, Walt Disney World Resort. “It’s a chance to have some fun with a wine list that balances New World flavors and a variety of price points.”
Blazon put together a taste of the best New World wines with 95 cutting-edge choices that are all screw cap. The approachable list supports sustainable agriculture, he says, with a majority of the wines originating from vineyards where grapes are organically grown, or farmers are using sustainable methods.
“And the recyclable screw caps are nothing short of a revolution in wine packaging,” said Blazon. Industry experts say that the screw cap is the most significant technical evolution in the wine industry since the glass bottle was introduced 250 years ago.
“In the forward-thinking wine industry, screw caps are gaining rapid acceptance,” said Blazon. Research shows that the screw cap consistently provides the most reliable wine quality (spoilage is as high as 9 percent for corked bottles). The New Zealand wine industry, for instance, has set high standards for quality and bottles more than 90 percent of its wines with screw caps.
The options for screw cap wine are growing, said Blazon. The Wave serves no California wines (California Grill on the resort’s 15th floor has a corner on that market), but instead focuses on bright-style New World wines from the Southern Hemisphere, including Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Prices range from $37 for a bottle of pinot gris from Mendoza, Argentina, to $160 for a syrah from Eden Valley, Ore. By-the-glass prices range from $8 to $20.
With 45 whites and 40 reds on the list, the biggest challenge was finding Bordeaux-style grapes, said Blazon, because the industry still is hesitant to put expensive reds into screw cap bottles. But when Blazon visited one of New Zealand’s top estates, Craggy Range Winery, he worked with the winery to bottle half bottles of merlot from the Gimblett Gravels region in Hawkes Bay, “arguably some of the finest merlot out of New Zealand,” said Blazon. Exclusively at The Wave guests can unscrew a half bottle of Craggy Range Te Kahu, Gimblett Gravels, and Craggy Range Sophia, Gimblett Gravels.
Pinot noir standouts on the list from New Zealand include Craggy Range Te Muna, Martinborough; Pegasus Bay, Wairarapa, and Peregrine Wines, Central Otago.
Because of its range of styles, Australian shiraz (the Australians call it syrah) comprise the biggest collection of The Wave’s wines, said Blazon. “It’s flavorful, satisfying, and superb with food,” said Blazon.
Among other interesting choices are sparkling wines from Tasmania, Rieslings from South Australia and floral New Wave whites from Argentina.
The Wave offers flights of three 3-ounce samplings, including syrahs, sauvignon blancs, pinot noirs and crisp whites. The sauvignon blanc flight, for instance, includes sips from three continents: New Zealand, Chile and South Africa, so that guests can compare and contrast the similarities and subtle differences of each, selected from top wineries in their class. “You never stop learning with wine,” said Blazon. “Just around the corner is the next great glass.”
The 220-seat Wave is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and features one of the largest lounges at Walt Disney World Resort. For reservations, call 407/WDW-DINE.
The restaurant is part of a revitalization at Disney’s Contemporary Resort that includes a makeover of the hotel’s fourth floor with a new game arcade and new quick-service eatery for salads and sandwiches (replacing Concourse Steakhouse). The popular Chef Mickey’s restaurant and the monorail station anchor that family-friendly area.
