For two months from March to May, the Epcot theme park at the Disney World Resort was in full bloom during the 18th annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. This year’s festival, hosted by HGTV, celebrated spring with more than 100 topiaries, including 75 Disney character topiaries arranged throughout the park.
Mickey and Pluto topiaries at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, photograph by Samantha McElhaney
2011’s brand-new topiaries: Toy Story 3, Winnie the Pooh, Cars 2, and Rapunzel’s Tower, joined perennial favorites Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Aladdin. The fairies of Pixie Hollow appeared live and in topiary form in the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden to promote Tinker Bell and the Pixie Hollow Games, coming this Fall on the Disney Channel. The festival also featured the brand-new Bambi’s Butterfly House with Bambi character topiaries and hundreds of native butterflies to celebrate the release of the Diamond Edition of Bambi on Blu-ray and DVD.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1011
One of my favorite places to waste time online is Sporcle.com, a trivia quiz website which features more than 180,000 timed trivia games that have been played more than 500 million times. Sporcle’s slogan is “Mentally Stimulating Diversions” and these diversions are categorized by theme: Geography, Entertainment, Science, History, Literature, Sports, Language, Just for Fun, Religion, Movies, Televisions, Music, Gaming, Miscellaneous, and Holiday.
There’s something for everyone at Sporcle, and the majority of the quizzes are user-created and cover a wide range of trivia topics, from the common (U.S. Presidents, Countries of the World, etc), to the obscure (20 Weakest Evolved Pokemon, Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector, etc). Disney fans will be pleased to find hundreds of Disney-themed trivia games at Sporcle.com.
Below are links to a few of my favorite Disney quizzes. Beware of addiction!
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=974
There is a strong gender imbalance in Hollywood these days (and throughout the history of film) that has resulted in most studio films being very male-centric and featuring few (if any) female characters of substance. The Bechdel Test, originated by Alison Bechdel in her 1985 comic “The Rule” from “Dykes to Watch Out For”, is a litmus test for gauging the active presence of female characters in films and how well-rounded and complex those characters are.
Screenshot from Disney's Tangled, image copyright Disney
The Bechdel Test Rules:
1. There are at least two (named/significant) female characters who…
2. Talk to each other about…
3. Something other than a man
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=952
The debut of Pixar’s Cars 2, sequel to the 2006 animated hit, Cars, is a little more than a month away, and State Farm is currently sponsoring an exciting sweepstakes inspired by the film. Enter the sweepstakes between now and July 17th, 2011 for your chance to win one of 18,000 prizes from the “18,000 State Farm agents on a mission for you,” including the grand prize, a 2011 Cadillac SRX.
Screenshot of the Cars 2 Sweepstakes sponsored by State Farm
When you sign up for the sweepstakes, you automatically receive 50 points towards Disney Movie Rewards. The full list of sweepstakes prizes is below:
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=899
The Disney Princess franchise, which features a line-up of Disney’s most beloved heroines, is one of Disney Consumer Products’ most successful campaigns, helping raise product sales from $300 million in 2001 to $3 billion in 2005. The success of the line is far from surprising; after all, what little girl doesn’t fantasize about growing up to be a beautiful princess like Cinderella or a kick-ass warrior like Mulan? Disney Princess merchandise makes the fantasy come alive through costumes, clothes, dolls, tea party sets, sing-along CDs, bedding, accessories, castle play sets, books, figurines, and more.
Seven of the princesses featured in the current Disney Princess line, copyright Disney
Officially, the current line includes nine “princesses”: Snow White, Pocahontas, Aurora, Ariel, Tiana, Cinderella, Jasmine, Belle, and Mulan. In the past decade other characters have made unofficial appearances in the line, and recently Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled has been featured in a number of Disney Princess sets. Given Tangled‘s enormous success at the box office, it is likely that Rapunzel will soon join the ranks as an official Disney Princess.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=814
