In a surprising move that came over-night for customers as well as the staff members the ESPN Zone Denver was closed effective June 29, 2009. The ESPN Zone is part of Disney Regional Entertainment and combines a sports bar and restaurant with an ESPN merchandise store as well as an arcade style area featuring in particular games that require physical action as well (more on the official website of the chain).
According to reports by the Denver Post and 9NEWS guests and staff of the ESPN Zone that had opened in December 2001 were greated by a darkened place and closed doors on which the following note had been plastered:
There are a couple of things Belgium is famous for, one of them is their chocolates. Leonidas is possibly the most famous Belgium Chocolates brand known all over the world. It has stores everywhere! To widen their range of chocolates they are now offering a new kind of yummies. Together with Disney they created a new box filled with nice chocolates with a Mickey Head form on top them. I have a feeling Minnie loves these chocolates a lot…
Leonidas is proofing to be a very healthy business with a turnover of $423 million dollars. It had a growth of 3%, even in these difficult times. It is expected the company will grow with another 1 to 2% next fiscal year. They have 350 shops in Belgium, 350 in France, 260 more in the rest of Europe, 86 in Asia and In the US there are about 80 shops. Need to find a shop near you to try the new Disney chocolates? Visit their website and “find a store near you”
Many of you might know that in the 15th century Italy gave birth to the “reneaisance movement”.
Great landlords like De Medici, Pope’s and Kings shaked the world by commissioning Michelengelo, Raffaello, Leonardo and many others great forms of arts.
one of these forms was Music.
For sure in the last 5 centuries music has evolved, but it has always had a certain link to theatres.
In the last century theatres and music had a certain change in the way they where received thanks to Musicals, these wanted to unite dramatic opera’s to easier and lighter plots with less complex music.
Great one’s like Andrew Llyod Webber and Cameron Mckintosh gave us classics like Phantom, Cats, Les Miserable as well as many others.
Any Disney fan would certainly say that Disney came into the game in an important way in the 1990’s, pulling out of their hat a few hits, and a few flops, but the few hits where really REALLY BIG hits!
Lion King and Beauty and the Beast immediately come to mind!
And With these Alan Menken, Disney legend and great composer, is at the center of it all.
Not even a week ago it was revealed that Hong Kong Disneyland would receive a major expansion. Today (June 30) Mrs. Rita Lau, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong, announced the details negotiated in the past six to seven months between the government of Hong Kong and The Walt Disney Company.
According to her statement, the park will receive three mini-lands in phases over five years. The working names of the new mini-lands are “Grizzly Trail”, “Mystic Point” and “Toy Story Land” (working titles). Read the rest of this entry »
I am not talking about the fireworks spectaculars at Disneyland Anaheim and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World – even so the beloved fairy takes flight in both parks during. I am talking about the upcoming projects of Toon Disney, the animation arm of the Walt Disney Company responsible for the 2008 direct to video animated features “Tinker Bell”. Said release was a considerable sucess for the Walt Disney Company and helped further establish the Disney Fairies franchise, that in 2008 also began to invade the Disney Resorts (so far Disneyland Resort Paris is lagging behind btw, having neither featured an attraction nor a special event for the new franchise).
Instrumental music playing through (more or less) hidden speakers placed all over the Disney theme parks and even the areas outside the theme parks accessible to guests in the Disney resorts is one of the key elements in setting the atmosphere and making sure guests are totally immersed in the world of Disney. Frequently guests do not even notice the music except unconsciously as it is (mostly) cleverly selected for the different areas to fit the theme of each area. However, once it is noticed guests frequently fall in love with the music selections and enquire with cast members in the area or (in the Disneyland Park) City Hall whether the music is available for sale in the park. Unfortunately the answer is mostly no – even so in particular at the Disneyland Resort Paris CD releases such as “Frontierland en musique” and “Disneyland Resort Paris en musique” at least include a few selected background / area music tracks.
The problem with the majority of the background / area music however is, that it is not recorded specifically for Disney but is so called “needle drop” material, meaning tracks taken directly from other (in most cases: commercially available) record releases. So one would hope, that the resorts are maybe able, to provide a list which tracks are playing in which area (in other words: in which music loop) and from which sources they are. However, the information cast members have at their disposal is very limited in msot cases. This certainly does apply to the Disneyland Resort Paris. Therefore, one of the frequent questions asked on the web is: “Which music is playing in the background loop at ____? Anyone knowing where I can get it?” Luckily there is an answer as far as where to get the information…
The ocassion of the 50th anniversary of the Matterhorn and the Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction at Disneyland Anaheim earlier this month provided the opportunity for many classic as well as online media to report about the very first tubular steel coaster – but since I used this opportunity here on the Mousekingdom Blog as well I am not going to repeat all of this … instead I want to point you to some great coverage of the Matterhorn which the OC Register just released on its website!
On June 22nd the “Around Disney” Blog on the website of the OC Register posted a great graphic providing an inside look into the interior of the Matterhorn. The drawing “cuts open” the Matterhorn thanks to the great work of their graphic staff thus allowing for the first time to give everyone an understanding where that famouse Basketball half-court is actually located – and also reveals a few more details. And as if this wasn’t enough, they also posted a short video with flyovers of the Matterhorn, some historic still photography and a view from the top of the Matterhorn – which only Tinkerbell, Dumbo and Mickey with his gang of mountain climbers usually are treated too … check it out!
I have the sad obligation to write the second obituary on the Mousekingdom Blog in less than 24 hours as Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died yesterday at the age of 50 in his home at Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, CA. While the cause of his death has not been confirmed and an autopsy is underway, speculations (also fueled by a statement of the families attorney apparently) indicate medication or maybe a misuse of such could have played a role. Michael Jackson was currently preparing for his comeback concerts planned in London but recent rumors had indicated that he had suffered various injuries and attacks of weakness hampering the rehearsals.
Michael Jackson is certainly remember for what most probably will stay forever the best selling pop album of all times, Thriller, but had various worldwide smash hits around the globe in the course of its career before it faltered in the last years. He started performing professional at the young age of five with his brothers as “Jackson 5″ (who had amongst others the hit “ABC”). Michael Jackson was also one of the best known Disney fans worldwide who frequently visited in particular the original Disneyland as well as the Disneyland Resort Paris, where he signed the underside of the couch table in the Sleeping Beauty suite. A visit of his to the Disneyland Resort Paris in 1992 (opening year) can be seen in the you-tube clip embedded below.
Yesterday Farrah Fawcett died at the age of 62 after a long widely in the media covered battle with cancer. The actress might be best known as Jill Munroe – one of the original “Charlie’s Angels” in the world smash hit tv-series as of 1976. After that series came to an end she starred (as before) in various TV projects but also added several big screen movies to her cv. Among those big screen productions there was also the 1995 Walt Disney Pictures movie “Man of the House” in which he played Sandy Archer, the mother of Ben Archer (played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, best known for is part of Randy Taylor in the tv series “Home Improvement” from 1991 till 1998 in) who puts Jack Sturgess (played by Chevy Chase) through various trials and tribulations trying to scare him off becoming his new stepfather. However, her tree Emmy-nominations were awarded to her neither for her part in “Charlie’s Angels” nor for any Disney productions, but grittier material (such as her part of a battered wife in “Burning Bed”) showcasing that she was a much more complete actress than the picture parts of the audience and it seems parts of Hollywood had of her after her earlier breakthrough.
The whole team of the Mousekingdom Blog wants to say thank you for entertaining us through the years and further extend its heart felt condolences to the friends and families that Farrah Fawcett had to leave behind.
It has been a rocky roller coaster ride for the 5th Disneyland park located in Hong Kong. Since opening May 22, 2005 it has brought joy to many Disney fans, but also had to fight against criticism, bad results and an uncertain future. From overcrowded days in a park that was to small, up to an empty park on other days, missing the 5.6 million visitors first year target by 400.000. Visitor numbers fell with 20% in the second year and only gained 8% in year three.
New attractions and experiences like High School Musical: LIVE!, the Muppet Mobile Lab, Turtle Talk with Crush and the classical attraction “it’s a small world” have been added during the first four year but Hong Kong Disneyland is now ready for another big expansion to make sure guest will return again and again.
The Hong Kong government and Disney have reach a deal to expand the Disneyland park. The full deal is said to be worth HK$7 Billion ($903.3 million) of which HK$4 billion will be used to expand the Disneyland park. It is expected that the agreement will be officially announced on June 30?
The expansion is needed to make sure the Hong Kong park will be able to compete against the Shanghai park that could draw a lot of the mainland guests.
“At this stage, we have to support the expansion otherwise it will be very difficult to compete with Shanghai in five to six years time,” said legislator Fred Li of the Democratic Party, who said his party backed the expansion as long as Disney boosted its financial transparency in future on attendance figures. (Reuters)
Disney has released some amazing pictures of the new Tim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland. If the movie will look anything near as good as the pictures do, we will be in for a real treat. Johnny Depp is playing the Mad Hatter, but he is not the only one looking great in a “crazy” character. Anne Hathaway looks awesome as the White Queen.
There is also a picture of the Red queen played by Helene Bonham Carter and a sweet Alice picture.
The 3 big artwork widescreen pictures are beautiful and very promising too. You’ll get a first look at the White Rabbit, The Tweedles and Alice in the gardens. Click on the pictures to see the full galleries. (Via USA Today)
This looks like it will be a great movie, one to look forwards too…
Walt Disney World guest can book their restaurants using the new online Disney ADR (advance Dinning Reservation) booking system. The system has been online for about one week. It should help people to plan their dining experience and make bookings from the comfort of their own home, without the long waiting times when calling Disney direct for reservations.
Sounds good! And it does, for those living in the USA. Unfortunately it isn’t that easy if you’re from abroad. After getting to know the tool and fighting to find a restaurant that still have some tables free you can go and “check out”. (That’s if you don’t get an error message that the system is not available, something that happened to me 4 times). It is now that the real problem start for those guest coming from abroad. Some restaurants need credit card verification. For example, if you want to dine at the Californian Grill you will need a credit card, otherwise a reservation will not be possible. But after trying multiple times to enter a card, with three different credit cards, the error kept popping up that the card cannot be authorized.
There have been some rumors on the web about this but now it looks as it is official; Stitch’s Supersonic Celebration in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is closing down on June 27.
That’s only about 2 months after the opening of the new show. The first show took place on May 5th.
Although Disney officials would not give specifics on why the attraction that debuted just six weeks ago will close, they did say the theme park “regularly evaluates and adjusts” its attractions and sometimes eliminates them. (Bizjournals)
… well a bit more than 50 years ago that was, when he was still the Vice President of the United States and had been invited by Walt Disney for the ocassion of the grand re-opening of Tomorrowland in 1959. Just yesterday I posted about the triple 50th anniversary to be celebrated at Disneyland this past Sunday and now the LA Times posted a fitting excerpt of its reporting from 1959 in its blog “The Daily Mirror – Larry Harnisch reflects on Los Angeles history“. While the photo of Vice President Nixon and Walt Disney on the Monorail is a classic photo reprinted in countless reports and books about the history of Disneyland as well as stories about Walt Disney, the newspaper report about the event reports about additional parts of the visit, that are not so common knowledge – even among fans!
