2011 is a big year for the Disney Parks! On October 1st, Walt Disney World celebrates its 40th anniversary, and earlier this year on May 28th, it’s a small world at Disneyland celebrated its 45th anniversary. Originally conceived as an attraction at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York and based on concept art by color stylist and designer Mary Blair, the ride was later taken apart and reassembled at the Disneyland Resort with a brand new Rube Goldberg-style façade. Five years later, it’s a small world was one of the first attractions at the Magic Kingdom theme park on its opening day in 1971.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1990
Every September 19th, good-humored people around the world celebrate a very special holiday: International Talk Like a Pirate Day (TLAP Day). The holiday is straight-forward enough; all you have to do is brush up on your pirate lingo, dress for the occasion, and spend the day talking like a buccaneer to everyone you know. Your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors are sure to love it, and they definitely won’t think you’re weird at all!
Jake and the Never Land Pirates on Disney Junior, image copyright Disney
Last year, this blog recommended Ten Ways to Celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day at the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts, including riding Pirates of the Caribbean (as many times as you can!), exploring Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer’s Island, and getting a pirate makeover at the Pirate’s League. See the full list of recommendations below.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2012
When I went to Disney World last September, one of the hottest rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios was Toy Story Mania! (also known as Toy Story Midway Mania!), an interactive 4-D ride through a midway of classic carnival games hosted by Toy Story characters.
In Toy Story Mania!, riders are given special 3-D glasses and are challenged to play a series of five midway games, earning points by tossing virtual eggs, darts, baseballs, rings, and suction cups at a series of virtual targets. The attraction is similar to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, but with huge technological advancements that allow for more sophisticated targeting and gameplay.
| Midway Games in the Toy Story Mania! Attraction |
- Pie Throw Practice Booth (pie toss target practice game, a no points introduction)
- Hamm ‘n Eggs (egg throw game now featuring Buttercup from Toy Story 3)
- Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts (dart throw game; once Bo Peep’s Baa-loon Pop)
- Green Army Men Shoot Camp (baseball throw / plate breaking game)
- Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers (ring toss game)
- Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery (suction cup shooting game)
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Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1952
Thanks to glamorous movie premieres, red carpet events, and tabloid magazines, movie stars always get a lot of attention, and everyone knows a star’s drawing power can make or break a film at the box office. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (and subsequent franchise sequels) wouldn’t have made as big of a splash in theaters without the hugely talented Johnny Depp, and it is unlikely Disney’s Bedtime Stories would have surpassed $100 million at the box office without likable star Adam Sandler.
Disney DVD Sequels, image copyright Disney
The success of animated films is less dependent on its stars than live action films, but that hasn’t kept Disney and Pixar from filling their such famous talents as Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Eddie Murphy, John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Whoopi Goldberg, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Glenn Close, Alfre Woodard, Paul Newman, Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, Jeremy Irons, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Minnie Driver, and Angela Lansbury.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1925
Disney animated sequels are generally considered to be inferior to the originals (some substantially so), and most go straight to home video instead of receiving theatrical releases. In the past fifteen years, Disney has produced sequels to Pocahontas (1995), The Lion King (1994), Fantasia (1940), The Little Mermaid (1989), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Cinderella (1950), 101 Dalmatians (1961), Peter Pan (1953), The Jungle Book (1967), Mulan (1998), The Fox and the Hound (1981), Bambi (1942), and even a planned sequel to Dumbo (1941) that was later scraped.
Screenshot from Bambi II, image copyright Disney
Bambi II was first released on home video in the United States in February, 2006, 64 years after the original Bambi (1942) premiered in theaters. The film is actually a midquel, meaning that the events of the story take place within the timeline of the original film, in this case when the young, newly motherless Bambi is getting to know his father, the Great Prince of the Forest.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1902
