Mousekingdom Blog

Bringing home memories from a Disney vacation is something we all do. One way of doing this is in form of souvenirs. But it doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money if you’re on a tight budget. Look around Disney World and you might find something really nice that might make you relive the magic for years.

In 2002, when visiting Walt Disney World in October, we walked around EPCOT World Showcase, entering Japan. Here we went to see the art of calligraphy. Everybody who wanted could put their name down. The girls would then write it in Japanese on a piece of rise paper for you to take home.

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Do you like games? I know I do! You like Disney? Again I would have to say yes (and you would not be here if it would be otherwise)! Do you like Pirates of the Caribbean? Another yes! That is three in a row for me, how about you? yes!

Maybe you should become a Beta Tester for the Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer Mobile game that will be released in July by Disney and Floodgate Entertainment, the company that develops the game.

You can sign up here. Once you signed up you will have to wait for a mail from floodgate to see if you’ll be on the testing team. Good luck to you, pirate!

Is it me or the timing on this one is suspicious?
I mean, without wanting to get too much into the numbers, a press release with the first half results for fiscal year 2006 (which, is always best to remind that for Disney runs from September 2005 to septemebr 2006) come out just a few days after the easter holidays.
This timing becomes even more suspicious when you notice that nothing is stated about the way in which the easter season (which one by the way? Oh….the one in town square?) went! Nor does it state anything about the way Buzz has impacted the park in it’s first weeks of Paris life!
Maybe it’s me but this is a little bit strange don’t you think?

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The Nightmare Before Christmas from Tim Burton goes 3-D. If the information is correct we will see this updated version in the theatre around Halloween, October 20, 2006 to be exact.

I got really excited when I saw this news. This is a masterpiece and should be seen in the Theater. It will remain to be seen if the 3-D effects will do it any justice.

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Apple.com has added a High Definition exclusive trailer online of the new Disney Animation “Meet the Robinsons”. The Movie will be in the theaters in Spring 2007

When Lewis meets a mysterious boy from the future named Wilbur Robinson, the two travel forward in time where Lewis discovers the amazing secret of his future family.

And some of the “filming” is done at a famous location as you can see in the scene on the picture

Today I got my issue of First Drop (73) in the postbox. This is a great rollercoaster enthusiasts fan based magazine.

Every month (although this one was a little late) you get, page after page, information on rollercoaster’s.

This time Walt Disney World fans also get some sweet Expedition Everest picture together with a very interesting write up.

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On 10th May Tarzan, the musical will go live on Broadway in the Richard Rodgers Theater. Another big Disney hit becomes a Disney Theatrical production.

I remember going to New York, for business, trying to get tickets for the Lion King. “There will be tickets available in 6 months” was the answer. I guess Tarzan might also sell out for months.

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There used to be a time, in the not-too-recent past, when queuing for an attraction was almost as much fun as the attraction itself. Shows like Muppetvision 3-D, the (original) Backlot Tour (both at Disney-MGM Studios) and the incomparable Star Tours ride made passing the time in the l-o-n-g lines they generated kind of fun. And then came the Walt Disney Studios to put a stop to all that. If anyone can glean the slightest bit of enjoyment standing outside Armageddon, Cinemagique, the Art of Animation or Animagique, they must be performing mental gymnatics of the imagination to keep themselves awake, let alone amused.

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The Epcot Flower & Garden Festival has started at Walt Disney World. The opening ceremony took place on Friday morning. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Lady and the Tramp and of course Mickey and Minnie helped Al Weiss, President of Walt Disney World, during the festivities. The festival runs until June 11, 2006. You can see some pictures of the opening ceremony, the gardens and the postal stamps that will become collectables to both Disney fans and postal stamp collectors, on Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival Opening Ceremony page from WDW.Info.

Want to know what to expect the next couple of days? See the full program here.

When will we get the 5th gate? It is a question many fans ask themselves. We talked about the past and the rumors that have been floating around (Past) and had a look at what plans are going around the world for other amazing non Disney project (Now). The question that we now ask ourselves is what the future will bring us.

Not an easy question to answer and it might even be a question that Disney management themselves have no answer yet. But looking at the rest of the world and all the plans that pop up for new parks I am sure Disney will “jump” on the wagon and will bring us the 5th Gate.

Is the clearing of the land as mentioned in the first part related to the fifth gate? If so we can’t be far away from an announcement, but with no rumors to be found this clearance might be for some whole other project.

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The Times published an interesting article found by a member of the DLP.Info Community about Disney buying land in Spain; “Spanish resorts building up to a Costa del Disney”. The land is bought in Manilva in Spain, about 1200 miles (1934km) away from Disneyland Resort Paris.

For sure Disney will not build a new park but we might be looking at a new Disney Vacation Club location or maybe a tie in with a permanent Disney Cruise.

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Imagineers are giving us Disney fans the magic we love so much when visiting one of the parks in the world. Walt Disney World has many Imagineering stories to share and lucky enough for us some of these Imagineering magic is shared on websites, DVD or books. The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is one of those books.

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If you go over to the Coaster Radio.com you can check a Special Expedition Everest podcast show that you can download. It is over an hour long and is filled with goodies, including:

An interview with Disney Imagineer and Expedition Everest Project Manager Mike Lentz
An interview with Walt Disney World’s Vice President of Operations, Lee Cockrell
An interview with Disney World Creative Writer and Trivia Master Greg Ehrbar
Reviews of Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show, Soarin’ and Mission: Space
Behind the scenes stories about what it’s like attending a Disney media event.

Choose show nr 150 to listen to this special

Check out the Screenwriting Life blog to find some great pictures of the PIXAR Company’s headquarters. You will not get to see the office of PIXAR (taking pictures there is prohibited), but you’ll get to see the main building, the entrance hall, the reception desk (covered in toys, including a very nice CARS display), among some other nice shots.

The Lagoon at Disneyland was filled with water a couple of days ago. Now the Submarines have arrived too.

f you would like to see the submarines from the new Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride that will open in may 2007 at Disneyland check out the great update on the Mousetimes website. You can see the Submarines, partly wrapped, in the lagoon.

Check out the picture on the wikipedia to compare the subs from 1995 with the once of today.

So in this second part I want to talk a little about the “why” a 5th gate will be on the “to do” list of Disney. Remember, these are personal views? I could be completely wrong.

As a Disney fanatic (I am sure many of you know how it feels) I’m always looking at the future of the Theme Parks. Like I mentioned in my previous rant (5th Gate PAST), I dream about it, and even Imagine how it might look like. But as a Coaster and Dark ride enthusiast I can’t help myself looking at other parks around the world.

The travel and Theme Park industry is recovering of a hard time. 9/11 didn’t help the industry a lot, and could be considered the cause of many changes when it comes to traveling, including going to Walt Disney World. But I think we see a positive change at the moment. Growth is taking place at the World, Parks are getting fuller again, but when looking at the rest of the world we can see that the amusement industry is taking new form.

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Guys,

I know I will get flamed for this., ik know I might be stereotyping etc but honestly, today I had the (bad) luck of being for the afternoon after a work day in Paris in Disneyland Paris and what did I see?

Well;

I entered the park at 15:45 and found a spot for the 16pm parade, as any good Disney fans would do, I placed myself on the hub and my view was perfect….
…only that on the other side of the hub, on those beautiful hills towards adventureland and frontierland I could see hundreds of people stepping on flowers, overriding fences, and un caring of private property just placing themselves on lawns, hills and flowers beds in order to see the parade.

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The ride Mission Space in EPCOT has been on the news for the last couple of days. After the death of a 49 year old woman websites, blogs and forums where filled with news, entries and thoughts related to the incident, as mentioned in the Orlande Sentinel blog entry “Bloggers go bonkers over Disney death”. Also the Disney Blog has kept everybody up to date on this unfortunate event. “Mission: Space – some thoughts and sympathies”, one of the entries related to the issue, provided us with an interesting personal view on the way press and people handle the situation.

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For some reason I have the 5th gate at Walt Disney World in my head, so I thought it would be a good idea to share this with all the Disney friends around the globe. The rumors for another gate have been of and on during the last couple of years, but I guess at the moment is not one that has high priority with the Disney management.

The main reason I cannot get this out of my head is the fact that I seen a map on Ebay for sale a good year ago that had the location already market for this gate. I followed the bidding but missed out at the end. Until today I have not seen any offering on another one of these maps on Ebay.

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