I’m Really Going to Disneyland This Time!

WDWNT on March 25, 2008

Super Bowl XLII MVP Eli Manning may soon make good on his postgame pronouncement: “I’m going to Disneyland.”Disneyland officials are working with representatives of the New York Giants quarterback to finalize plans for a visit to the Anaheim theme park, complete with a day parade. The event is expected to take place in early to mid-May; a firm date will be announced once scheduling conflicts are ironed out.

Disneyland was forced to postpone a hastily arranged parade on the day after the Super Bowl when Manning got stuck for hours at an Arizona airport waiting for the skies to clear of corporate jet getaway traffic.

The abrupt cancellation left disappointed Giants fans along Disneyland’s parade route as a team of forlorn Pop Warner football players rode a float sans the MVP down Main Street U.S.A.

After a ticker-tape parade down New York City’s “Canyon of Heroes” and an appearance on the “Late Show With David Letterman,” Manning opted for a sunny vacation in the Bahamas over a photo op with Mickey Mouse.

Here’s hoping Mickey doesn’t hold a grudge.

— Brady MacDonald / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Adding a Note of Character

WDWNT on March 24, 2008

An interesting, yet blasphemous rumor that’s popping up now is the additon of music from Disney movies to It’s a Small World at Disneyland (for example, Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride playing when you go past Lilo & Stitch). This is most likely going to happen in the new Hong Kong Disneyland version of It’s a Small World, but seeing as we may be getting Disney characters too, this might also be likely for us:

In addition to the four new languages, the team is making this it’s a small world unique by working with master music arranger George Wilkins to add a series of arrangements from classic Disney animated films that will play as “counterpoints” to the new character overlays. For example, as guests pass through the North America scene and see the doll dressed as Pocahontas, they’ll hear a subtle suggestion of “Colors of the Wind.”

“Because ‘small world’ is such a simple song, we couldn’t take some of these grand arrangements and put them on top of it,” said John. “We’re being very sensitive to the existing song because [it’s] so good and so universally loved.”

Shanghai Disneyland

WDWNT on March 23, 2008

SHANGHAI, March, 2008 — US-based Walt Disney Company has decided to build a Disneyland at Chuansha town, Pudong, Shanghai, expected to be announced around the period for the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, according to reliable news. Shanghai mayor Han Zheng once said that the city, having the ability to build a Disneyland, was preparing for the construction and waiting for approval from the State Council, China’s cabinet.

Shanghai Current Economics Research Institute head Wang Liang said that the location of Disney had started to influence the city’s every aspect, such as stock market, real estate, tourism and retail business. For instance, Disney concept stocks, Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600663), Shanghai Jielong Industry Group Corporation Limited (SHSE: 600836), Shanghai Pudong Road & Bridge Construction Company Limited (SHSE: 600284) and Shanghai Construction Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600170) kept rising from middle February when the whole stock market was down.

Moreover, all houses at a building under construction, which nears Disney Shanghai theme park, have been sold out. An insider pointed out that the to-be-built Disneyland, a large tourism project able to accept customers to stay for two nights, would double the Shanghai tourism industry’s current revenue, which was good for China’s domestic tourism in spite of a certain impact on Hong Kong Disneyland.

As early as five years ago, rumors reported that the Walt Disney Company was to build a Disneyland in Shanghai, the nation’s financial hub, with acreage three times that of Disneyland Hong Kong. Until March 9, 2008, an insider told journalists that the Chinese watchdog had in principle agreed the foreign giant to locate the Disneyland in Shanghai. In addition, subways and light rails to the Chuansha town will be available in 2009 and so did the related supporting facilities around.

As a matter of fact, China’s other large cities, like Beijing, Chengdu and Tianjin have also gotten into a fierce struggle in hopes of locating the Disneyland there, which is expected to boost a city’s economy and industry to a new high, said Zhu Lianqing, director at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences research center.

Toy Story Characters Challenge Guests to Ride & Play Toy Story Mania!

WDWNT on March 23, 2008

Disney Parks guests will don 3-D glasses and enter a wild and wooly 4-D world of Woody the Cowboy and Buzz Lightyear when Toy Story Mania! premieres this summer. The attraction will debut on both coasts: at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and along the Paradise Pier midway in Disney’s California Adventure at Disneyland Resort in California.

Celebrating the Disney•Pixar classics “Toy Story” and “Toy Story II,” Toy Story Mania! raises the bar for interactive ride-game attractions. It’s a high energy, immersive adventure that makes guests a key part of the action as their game play triggers special effects that provide a fourth dimension of fun. “Toy Story Mania!” engages guests in a whole new way with the delightful characters of the films.

Upon entering the attraction, guests will be welcomed by Mr. Potato Head, more than five feet tall and looking like he stepped right down from the movie screen. The state-of-the-art Audio-Animatronics Mr. Potato Head makes a perfect carnival barker for the immersive Toy Story Mania! experience, since he is the first attraction-based Audio-Animatronics figure who can engage guests in a two-way conversation.

Everyone gets a front row seat when guests put on their 3-D glasses, “shrink” to the size of a toy, and board the Toy Story Mania! carnival tram ride vehicles, whose fast travel and spinning add a huge amount of fun to the interactive experience. The exciting and colorful route takes guests through “Andy’s Bedroom” filled with oversized murals and toys. The vehicles spin to face Toy Story Mania! game booths – high-tech yet rooted in classic midway games of skill – and guests aim for 3-D animated targets using their own on-board “spring-action shooters.” Players pair up and sit side-by-side for a friendly competition that delivers an ever-changing variety of targets and surprises.

As they play, guests can actually see the “virtual” objects they’ve launched leave their “spring-action shooters” and hit the targets (or not). And thanks to 4-D special effects technology, they may sense objects whirring past them as they pop out of the 3-D scenes.

The Toy Story Mania! games – five of them, plus an introductory practice round – are designed to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and skills, from beginners to serious gamers. Play is energized by the spirit of the “Toy Story” characters cast in games that best suit their very animated personalities.

First comes the “Pie Throw Practice” round in which guests can try splattering targets with “virtual” pies.

Next Hamm the pig hosts a “Hamm & Eggs” booth in which players launch “plastic virtual eggs” at various barnyard targets.

“Bo Peep’s Baaa-loon Pop” presents a landscape full of balloon sheep, trees and other objects at which guests can launch virtual darts. But players had better be careful! A popped virtual water balloon might add an additional 4-D wet dimension to the game.

From there it’s on to “Green Army Men Shoot Camp” where the challenge is to break plates with baseballs.
Next up is “Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers,” a ring-toss game hosted by everyone’s favorite space ranger, with Little Green Aliens as the targets.

For the grand finale game, Toy Story Mania! players will ride through Wild West  scenes launching virtual suction-cup darts at targets in  “Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery.” A final “Woody’s Bonus Roundup” encourages guests to fire their “spring-action shooters” as rapidly as possible at one last super-target for extra points. When scores are tallied, players’ skill levels are identified with the reward of an onscreen “virtual plush.”

The game play of Toy Story Mania! is accompanied by ingenious musical variations of Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend in Me,” arranged by veteran music editor Bruno Coon, a frequent Newman collaborator, to compliment the games – for example, a military brass band version for “Green Army Man Shoot Camp.” No matter how many times guests return to ride and play, they can be sure every ride-through will be different.

Very Interesting New Disneyland Resort Official Podcast

WDWNT on March 23, 2008

Go “backstage” in this video podcast as we show you the making of the new Pixar Play Parade from start to finish. You’ll also get a sneak-peek of the new “Playhouse Disney Live on Stage!” Taking center stage are Disney Channel favorites from the “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” those lovable “Little Einsteins,” the cast from “Handy Manny” and more. Both of these new entertainment experiences open at Disney’s California March 14, during the Year of a Million Dreams.

www.Disneyland.com/Podcast

Pixar Play Parade Canceled

WDWNT on March 22, 2008

On Wed March 19 during the Pixar Play Parade, at Disney’s California Adventure, an incident occurred on the Bugs Life Unit. One of the swings came undone from its rigging. It fell vertically down to the unit. The performer on the unit heard a loud crack and was able to jump off. The units have to be re-inspected to be sure they are show safe for continuing performances ASAP. Brady McDonald from LA Times contacted Disney’s Media Relations Dept and received this official information:

During the March 19 performance of the Pixar Play Parade at Disney’s California Adventure, one of the pendulum swings onboard a float vehicle came unhooked from its post. No Cast Members or Guests were injured. In an abundance of caution, we temporarily suspended performances of the Pixar Play Parade on March 20 and 21 to allow for further inspection and evaluation.

The parade is also canceled for Sat, March 22, and Sun, March 23. If you would like to be notified when the parade is back up an running you can stay tuned here or call Disneyland Guest Relations at (714)781-7290.

Information received from a Parade Support source and from MiceChat

Ears To You

WDWNT on March 21, 2008

As part of the refurbishment of The Chapeau on Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom, they now provide you with the opportunity to create your own ear hats. The process is quite simple as guests select their cap, ears, ear emblems, and then their special embroidery. To see picture of the new system, head over to coverage at Laughingplace.com by going HERE.

Even More Toy Story Mania Details

WDWNT on March 20, 2008

In case you have missed any of our reports, here are all the aspects we have been able to confirm of the upcoming Toy Story Mania attraction:

-The attraction will open in late May at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and in late June at Disney’s California Adventure.

-The story of the attraction is that Andy has purchased a new Midway Games play-set and is now out of the house with his mom at Pizza Planet. While Andy is gone, all of your Toy Story pals have invited you to be shrunken to their size and play the games along with them.

-The interactive Mr. Potato Head Barker will stand at the entrance, urging guests to come in and play all of the games. The figure will be interactive with guests and is the latest figure to be part of the “Living Character Initiative”. He will even be able to remove various body parts at moments, something never before done by an audio animatronics figure.

-Each “Toy Story Tram” seats eight people and each individual row features two “Spring Action Shooters”. Each row will also feature an on-board LCD screen that will give players scores for each round, a cumulative score, and even a score for accuracy.

-The “Spring Action Shooters” come in 4 different colors: red, blue, green, and yellow. The importance of this is that all of the items you fire from your shooter will be of a corresponding color to the color of your shooter.

-The very first scene in the attraction will be the practice booth, where you will be introduced to how your “spring action shooter” works. This is a change from the original plan that had guests practicing as they were in the queue for the attraction.

-The first game you will play is Ham ‘N’ Eggs and is hosted by Hamm and Rex. In this game, guests will shoot eggs at knock-down targets in a barnyard setting.

-The second game is Bo Peep’s Baaaaa-Looza. This game has guests shooting darts at balloons. If you hit an air or water balloon in the game, you will be hit with an actual gust of air or burst of water.

-The next game has you joining the Green Army Men for a game that has guests throwing baseballs at plates. Hmmm, might be setting a bad example for kids here.

-After that, you move on to a Space Ring Toss game with Buzz Lightyear and the Little Green Men. Disney is already warning that this will be the most difficult game in the attraction.

-In the final scene of Toy Story Mania, guests join Woody, Jesse, Bullseye, and the Prospector for “Woody’s Round-Up”. In this game, guests will fire rubber-tipped darts at targets and then be led into a lightning round where you will have to fire as much as you can, as quickly as you can in a last effort to improve your score.

-After the final game scene, you come into a room where all the Toy Story pals review your score. Be sure to remember it, because it will disappear before the last show scene. Based on your score, you will be able to pick out a “virtual plush critter” as your prize. In the very last scene, you will see your score compared to everyone who has ever played Toy Story Mania, or your all-time rank for the hour, day, week, month, and all-time.

Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today for more coverage of Toy Story Mania as we come closer to the attraction’s opening to guests.

Save Small World, ride creator’s family begs Disneyland

WDWNT on March 20, 2008

An “idiotic plan” to add Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters as well as an American tribute scene to Disneyland’s It’s a Small World represents a “gross desecration” that would “bastardize” the stylized artwork and “marginalize” the original theme of the boat ride, wrote the family of the classic attraction’s creator in an open letter to Disney executives.

Disney Imagineers are considering changes to Small World that include adding Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan, Belle, Simba, Nemo, Lilo and Stitch to locations throughout the ride while replacing the Papua, New Guinea, rain forest scene with an American tribute, reported MiceAge’s Al Lutz.

“Ripping out a rain forest (imaginary or otherwise) and replacing it with misplaced patriotism is a public relations blunder so big you could run a Monorail through it,” wrote Kevin Blair, son of Small World creator Mary Blair, on behalf of the family.

Disney officials said some additions — known as “plussing” in Imagineering parlance — will be made to Small World but that no decision had been made on specific creative changes to the 14-minute ride despite the speculation.

“No one approaches our classic attractions with more reverence than Disney Imagineers who take great care when refreshing beloved attractions,” said Marilyn Waters, a Disney Imagineering spokeswoman. “As with all our classics, any enhancements made to It’s a Small World will be in the original spirit of celebrating the children of the world.”

Re-Imagineering, an unofficial online forum for past and present Disney Imagineers to catalog missteps and debate solutions, called the “egregious and downright disgusting” proposed Small World changes a “brutal dismissal” of Mary Blair’s “profound and enduring influence on the Disney aesthetic.”

“This is not a change at Disneyland to take lightly,” the Re-Imagineering editorial stated. “Letters should go out to all corners of the company pleading for a halt to the desecration of Small World once and for all.”

MiceAge’s Dateline Disneyland columnist Andy Castro has championed an online campaign to “Save the Rainforest,” urging Small World fans to call, write or e-mail Disneyland, Walt Disney Imagineering or Disney’s corporate headquarters to put a halt to the proposed changes.

Kevin Blair sent snail-mail versions of his protest letter to Disneyland President Ed Grier, Disney Imagineering’s Marty Sklar and Tony Baxter and Pixar chief John Lasseter.

Small World went down for a 10-month rehab in January to replace the original flume and fleet of boats used at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, where the ride debuted.

The Mouse still insists the Small World overhaul has absolutely nothing to do with the ever-increasing waistlines of Americans.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer