“The Magic, the Memories, and You!” New Images

WDWNT on July 16, 2012

From Shawn Slater of Disney Parks Blog:

They say, “Time flies when you’re having fun!”

Well, I can tell you that working with the Creative Entertainment team at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is an absolute blast! I can hardly believe it’s Memorial Day weekend already. That means summer is here, and it’s time for another update to our award-winning projection show, “The Magic, The Memories and You!”

“The Magic, The Memories and You!” was introduced early last year as part of our “Let the Memories Begin” campaign. It takes place nightly, magically transforming the facades of “it’s a small world” at Disneyland park andCinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom Park and incorporating Disney PhotoPass images of our guests that day making memories. Throughout the year, the creative team has introduced various seasonal enhancements to the show, and for the sequence being added to the show this summer, they’ve really outdone themselves!

“Producers storyboarded the show as if it were a short animated film,” explains Disneyland Resort Creative Director Alan Bruun. “They weaved music, story, photography, video and animation into a new kind of nighttime entertainment.”

During the new sequence, “it’s a small world” becomes everything from a sandcastle to an ancient, vine-covered ruin. Cinderella Castle undergoes similar transformations, “dancing” along to the beat at one point in the show and becoming finger-painted in the style of artist Peter Max during another.

Popular Disney characters show up along the way, too. Look for Goofy surfing and water-skiing across the facades, Timon and Pumbaa singing “Hakuna Matata,” and Ariel and Sebastian’s “hot crustacean band” jamming under the sea. There’s even a cameo appearance by the ultimate boys of summer, Phineas and Ferb.

The new sequence becomes part of “The Magic, The Memories and You!” on May 25, along with many of the most popular, continuing segments of the show. In fact, fans of the “romance” enhancement added in February will be pleased to know it’s slated to continue running throughout the summer, as well.

Romance Blooms in “The Magic, The Memories, and You!”, Summer Overlay Teased

WDWNT on June 11, 2012

From Shawn Slater on the Disney Parks Blog:

One of the true delights of the recent holiday season at Disney Parks was a special segment during our evening projection show, “The Magic, The Memories and You!” The faces of Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom Park and “it’s a small world” at Disneyland park were transformed into gingerbread masterpieces, brightly colored packages and palaces of ice.

Well if you enjoyed that, our Creative Entertainment team has another treat in store, just in time for Valentine’s Day! A new show segment is set to debut Feb. 1, inspired by some of the most romantic moments in Disney animation. Cinderella Castle and “it’s a small world” will be covered in red roses for one sequence and turned into a beautiful, star-filled sky for another. During part of the show, spectacular stained glass windows will grace the façades, depicting the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and Belle.

One of my favorite moments comes when the king and queen from “Tangled” appear on a balcony, lifting a single lantern to the sky for their missing daughter. It’s soon joined by hundreds of others, creating a magical sight sure to draw “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! Of course, the most heart-warming part of any segment of “The Magic, The Memories and You!” is the images of our guests, captured by Disney PhotoPass photographers during the day and incorporated into the show each night.

The romance segment is planned to run as part of “The Magic, The Memories and You!” through mid-April but we’re not stopping there. Wait until you see “it’s a small world” as a sand castle in a segment we’re working on for summer. It’s chock full of detail… right up to the point where Goofy rides a wave across the façade, washing it all away to reveal… well, I don’t want to spoil all the surprises!

Concept Art For The Holiday Addition to The Magic, The Memories, and You

WDWNT on November 8, 2011

From Shawn Slater on the Disney Parks Blog:

This is my favorite time of year in the Disney Parks. The air is cool, holiday decorations are going up and all the fantastic, seasonal entertainment is ready to debut. And this year, our Creative Entertainment team has something new to unwrap!

Since its premiere last January, our projection show “The Magic, The Memories and You!” has been wowing guests. Each night the show is presented, the faces of Cinderella Castle at the Walt Disney World Resort and “it’s a small world” at the Disneyland Resort have been transformed with magical special effects, animation and images of our guests captured by Disney PhotoPass photographers during the day.

For the holiday season, we’re updating one of the segments of the show with a musical score filled with favorite holiday tunes and pictures of guests celebrating in the parks. Starting tomorrow in Magic Kingdom Park, Cinderella Castle will appear to be wrapped in gift paper and bows, covered in candy stripes and more!

Cinderella Castle Decorated for the Holidays at Magic Kingdom Park

These photos give you an idea of the fun in store. They’re of some of the actual mattes that will be projected on the surface of Cinderella Castle. “The Magic, The Memories and You!” art director, Tom Zofrea, created these images in such a way that, when projected from various points around the park’s Central Plaza, they produce the effect that the Castle is built from gingerbread.

'it's a small world' Holiday at Disneyland Park

At Disneyland park, the holiday segment of “The Magic, The Memories and You!” begins Nov. 18, turning the façade of “it’s a small world” Holiday into a giant snow globe and an icy winter wonderland, among other surprises. The attraction will even get its own gingerbread treatment. Looks delicious!

Gingerbread Treatment at 'it's a small world' at Disneyland Park

 

New Holiday Entertainment and Returning Favorites Coming To The Disneyland Resort

WDWNT on November 1, 2011

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Nov. 1, 2011) – Mickey Mouse celebrates the holidays with a cartoon-style Christmas tree this season as new décor adds merriment to Mickey’s Toontown for the 2011 holidays at Disneyland Resort. The holidays shine brightly throughout the resort from Nov. 14, 2011, through Jan. 8, 2012, as guests create memoriesfor a lifetime.

Those holiday memories might even appear in the nightly “The Magic, The Memories, and You!” show on the façade of “it’s a small world” in Disneyland park. A new segment of the show, specially added for the season, features a musical score filled with favorite holiday tunes and images of resort guests celebrating their holiday visits. As the presentation unfolds, the façade of “it’s a small world” Holiday is frozen in ice, decorated with wreaths and candy canes, wrapped in Christmas paper, and even turned into a giant snow globe. This new segment appears in “The Magic, The Memories and You!” beginning Friday, Nov. 18.

Nearby, in Mickey’s Toontown, the centerpiece of the new holiday décor is an 18-foot cartoon-style Christmas tree in front of Toontown City Hall. Sculpted garlands and wreaths adorn the Toontown gazebo and add holiday cheer to the Gag Warehouse. The personal  Christmas trees in the front yards of Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses also carry the “toon” theme. On Main Street, U.S.A., Disneyland welcomes back the traditional, 60-foot-tall Christmas tree that is a popular guest photo location.

In Disney California Adventure park, guests are treated to a jolly seasonal addition to the “World of Color” nighttime water spectacular. This holiday season, Lanny and Wayne, Santa’s techno-savvy elves from the “Prep & Landing” holiday specials, appear in a “World of Color” sequence.

Disneyland Resort also welcomes back all the guest favorites for the holidays. Among the popular offerings are “A Christmas Fantasy” parade, the nightly snowfall on Main Street, U.S.A, and special holiday versions of “it’s a small world” and Haunted Mansion. In Fantasyland, holiday guests will find the traditional snowdrifts and icicles adorning Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle.  After dark, a sensational holiday lighting and special-effects show carries the magic of the holidays from the castle all the way to the Christmas tree in Town Square.  The 60-foot-tall Disneyland Christmas tree is specially designed to present a nightly holiday light show like no other with more than 62,000 energy-efficient LED lights.

The Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle presentation unfolds throughout the evening in three acts, each of them featuring a touch of winter snow on Main Street, U.S.A.  The finale of the show includes the legendary “Believe … in Holiday Magic” fireworks show, which takes guests on a journey of sights and sounds of the season and ends with a touching rendition of “White Christmas,” along with a climactic snowfall swirling down on Main Street, U.S.A., “it’s a small world” Mall and New Orleans Square.

“A Christmas Fantasy” parade has become a holiday tradition in Disneyland. Guests enjoy watching as Disney characters celebrate the magic of the season, wrapping gifts, baking  holiday treats and preparing for the arrival of Santa Claus, who shouts a jolly greeting to spectators along the parade route.  Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse even take to the ice for some skating fun.

At The Disney Gallery on Main Street, U.S.A., in Disneyland, a display of vintage and new art celebrating Walt Disney’s love of railroading will premiere during the holiday season. “All Aboard for A Grand Circle Tour of the Trains of Disney!” will survey Disney trains from the classic Disneyland Railroad to such historic routes as Nature’s Wonderland and the Carolwood-Pacific circuit that operated in Disney’s backyard in Holmby Hills, California.

Themed entertainment, sparkling decorations and tasty treats add festive warmth to holiday fun at both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.  Also, guests may book guided holiday tours that provide entry into “it’s a small world” Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday, reserved seating for the Disneyland “A Christmas Fantasy” parade, a keepsake remembrance and entertaining information about the history behind Disneyland holiday traditions.  For information and reservations guests may visit Disneyland City Hall or call (714) 781-4565.

Returning holiday favorites at Disneyland park include:

  • “it’s a small world” Holiday becomes  a worldwide celebration of the season, boasting more than 300,000 glittering lights on its facade. Also nightly on the façade is “The Magic, The Memories and You!” show with its new holiday sequence.
  • Haunted Mansion Holiday presents a madcap celebration as the traditions of Halloween and Christmas collide.  The ghoulish but well-meaning Jack Skellington from the film “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” has come to Haunted Mansion to transform it with his skewed vision of the holidays.
  • Santa Claus and his reindeer return to greet Disneyland guests at Santa’s Reindeer Round-up in Big Thunder Ranch, Frontierland.  Kids and their families chat with St. Nick and see real reindeer grazing in a corral.

Disney California Adventure celebrates the season with fanciful park-wide decorations and lively entertainment.

  • The park’s newest attraction, The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, is specially decorated for the holidays, along with its Paradise Pier neighbors, the Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta and Paradise Garden Grill restaurants.
  •  “a bug’s land” transforms as Flik and his bug buddies spread giant Christmas lights and oversized ornaments throughout their realm.
  • The holiday scene along the Paradise Bay boardwalk includes a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and lampposts decorated with seasonal wreaths.
  • Santa Claus greets guests in a specially decorated gazebo on the boardwalk near Ariel’s Grotto on Paradise Pier.

Guests in Disney California Adventure won’t want to miss the park entertainment. In addition to “World of Color,” with special holiday guests Lanny and Wayne from “Prep & Landing,” the “ElecTRONica” nighttime street party in Hollywood Pictures Backlot transports guests of all ages “on the grid” and into the environment of the Walt Disney Pictures feature, “TRON: Legacy.”

Also part of the regular Disney California Adventure lineup:

  • A new Disney California Adventure street show, “Phineas and Ferb’s Rockin’ Rollin’ Dance Party” invites guests of all ages to “seize the day,” dancing and singing on Paradise Pier with the Disney Channel’s inventive animated boy geniuses. Also on tap are the energetic “dance-off” competition of “Disney Dance Crew” on the Backlot Stage in Hollywood Pictures Backlot, and the rock concert-style “Disney Channel Rocks,” featuring music from Disney Channel movies and series, performed on the Palisades Stage in Paradise Park, alongside Paradise Bay lagoon.
  • In Blue Sky Cellar at Golden Vine Winery, the Imagineers’ workshop offers guests a preview of what’s coming to Disney California Adventure, including Buena Vista Street and Cars Land in 2012.
  • Guests along Paradise Pier in Disney California Adventure also may enjoy the new Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventures and Goofy’s Sky School attractions, along with such favorite as Toy Story Mania!, Silly Symphony Swings, California Screamin’ and Mickey’s Fun Wheel.