Mousekingdom Blog

The Orlando Sentinel  just reported that Walt Disney World will finally announce its new head and replacement for Al Weiss. The announcement is just hours away as it is scheduled for the afternoon of today (August 17), local time. Al Weiss had been promoted to oversee the Disney resorts worldwide last November after running WDW since 1994. While a search for his sucessor went on he continued to run WDW provisionally.

Anyway, fans of DLRP should be especially interested in the announcement, since the Orlando Sentinel points out that the rumor mill currently mentions two front runner for the job:

• Jim Lewis, senior vice president and general manager of Disney Vacation Club timeshares

and (drum-roll, please)

• DLRP’s very own Karl Holz, who happens to be a former senior vice president of operations at WDW.

While the job obviously would be a step up on the company ladder for Karl Holz it must be questioned whether another change of guard at the top of the Disneyland Resort Paris wouldn’t be extremly counter productive, as the policies of Karl Holz only recently after some major upheavals on the management levels finally show their first results. Well, we need to wait and see…

Apple.com has put a High Definition Santa Clause III trailer online. Get ready for the holidays with Jack Frost who wants to become the new Santa in what should be the final episode of the Walt Disney Santa “trilogy”. The movie stars Tim Allen as Santa and Martin Short as Jack Frost.

How does the Yeti move? Where does the track appear from when switching to go backwards? What kind of technology did they us on the attraction?

Are these the questions you ask yourself when watching or riding the new “Expedition Everest” attraction at Animal Kingdom? If the answer is yes you might like to have a look at some technical explanations of the animatronics and the ride system on MachineDesign.com (Engineering Expedition Everest, complete with a yeti). It is an interesting read on how they use technology developed in the 60’s with the technology of today.

The yeti relies on Disney’s Audio-Animatronics technology, which was first developed in the 1960s to animate 3D robots of characters from Disney movies.

The rumor that Disney MGM studios would loose its MGM name has been around for a while now but according to the current rumors and the new MGM project in Korea this could become reality very soon. A new name could be Disney Studios, which would make sense, but one rumor floating around is that the new name could be Disney/PIXAR Studios. (Source: Mousetunes). Remember, it is only a rumor, nothing is finalized.

Personally I would not like the PIXAR in the new title and I am making my predictions that it will not happen. It just doesn’t sound catchy enough and unfitting. I would think that Disney Studios will become the new name and that the PIXAR title will stay out of it. I am sure they could give enough reasons for putting the name in it but to me it sounds wrong. Most people will know and understand that PIXAR has become part of the Disney family and even with enough PIXAR inside the Studios park, no PIXAR title is needed to explain this to the guest. Then again, I could be wrong and the rumor could turn out right.

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The Disneyland Resort Paris trip is over, I have returned home after 5 days of magic. I am ready for some serious blogging as I brought many personal and Disneyland Resort Paris related stories back home with me. Of course we will be talking about all other Disney Magic in between too.

I just have to settle a little (unpack and check out all the goodies I brought back) and then it will be “on with the show”.

Until then enjoy the very first picture I took in the resort of a statue from Walt Disney at the shareholders Club “Salon Mickey”.

Finally…. It has been way to long ago (for me) but when you see this entry we (Me and my fellow bloggers; Dirk and Stefan) will be in Disneyland Resort Paris.

We will bring some nice pictures and hopefully (I’m sure we will) some great stories. For me it will be a 5 day visit full of Disney Magic and we will be celebrating Dirk’s Birthday.

Going to Disneyland Resort Paris too, when you see us, say HI!

The African continent has been the site for the smash hit and modern classic The Lion King that has become one of the great examples of the second, now already bygone, golden age of Disney animation. But it surely wasn’t the first or last time that Africa was the source for the stories told by Disney. The True Life Adventure series, Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom theme parks, Disney’s Animal Kingdom,… Africa has given a lot to Disney over the years.

Since the end of the apartheid South Africa also has become a more and more important market for Disney it being a stable democracy, offering a reliable infrastructure and being home to a relatively affluent populace in comparison to other countries on the African continent. For several years now Disney is trying to push its products in the market by various means. (more…)

Disney Vacation Club is always growing and a rumored new wing at the Walt Disney World’s Contemporary hotel, on the monorail route next to the Magic Kingdom, could be the next addition.

While Disney likes to keep secrets as long as possible an architect firm had a couple of pictures posted on their website (before they where removed again). Screamscape.com posted them on their website giving the rumor extra credibility.

Robert Zemeckis is leaving Dreamworks and might strengthen the Disney/PIXAR team. It looks like he will take his ImageMovers production company to Disney and sign a multi-year deal with The Walt Disney Company’s Disney Pixar Animation department. Robert Zemeckis is not new to animation. He made Polar Express, where they used the Motion Capture technique to bring live actors in to do the movements which then are transformed into the animation. Robert is rumored saying not to be too happy with Dreamworks who has not been involved in his Motion Caption movies. (Polar Express was released with the Warner Label and his latest project, Monster House, was released by Sony)

So badly did the lack of deal-making at DreamWorks strain his relationship with DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, that Zemeckis tried to decamp four years ago for Warner Bros. At the last minute, Spielberg himself called Zemeckis, beseeching him not to leave, and promising that things would be different. (TMZ.com)

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With the McDonalds contract at its end Disney now starts to get the healthy industry to promote their new projects. One of them is Fizzy Fruit who will be promoting the new animation Meet the Robinson.

The Fizzy Fruit Company will execute a variety of promotions and marketing, including a national sweepstakes in conjunction with the theatrical film release of “Meet the Robinsons” scheduled for March 30, 2007. (Fizzy Fruit press release)

“Disney continues to be committed to providing innovative products and programs to bring healthy options to moms and kids,” said Brett Dicker, executive vice president, Buena Vista Pictures Marketing. “Fizzy Fruit is a delicious product that will inspire children and adults to enjoy fruit in an entirely new way.” (Fizzy Fruit press release)

McDonalds might be out of the picture for now but their relationship with Disney doesn’t necessarily end because the long term exclusive contract between the two did. Future individual projects might find their way back to McDonalds. Although I am not so sure if they will in the near future as Disney is opting for the more “healthy” image at this time. With this company, Fizzy Fruit, another step is set in that direction.

Disney has put their day ticket prices up for a second time in 1 year. Since this Sunday Walt Disney World tickets will cost you a staggering $67 per person.

“We’re doing this to meet the production needs of the travel industry,” Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said today. (Chron.com)

Since 2004 ticket prices have been sky rocketing to a new high. From 2004 up to now Disney tickets have gone up with 22%

When buying DVC via a timeshare store Disney has a right to refuse the sale and buy the points back themselves. I am still puzzled about this right that they have and why they would want to use it when they can have potential new costumers. As Disney cannot sell outside the US (and I think UK and Canada) potential new DVC owner can only buy via other channels. Once a DVC contract found, like I did, it has to go through Disney for their RoFR. I didn’t expect them to use it on my contract, but they did… So now I’ll have to start the process over again and hope that the next time they will let me become a DVC member…

If you would like to know what the people at LucasFilm Ltd do during there free time visit JimHillMedia to see “Jedi Elizabeth”, Krispy Kreame Donuts”, computers doing some clothing ‘mess up’ (where a pirate looses his pants) and a Pirates crew doing the Chorus Line. Unfortunately these are only stills from what must have been a very funny presentation at SIGGRAPH 2006 but let’s hope this stuff makes it to the DVD.

There is also a great picture of the Kraken compared to the Black Pearl

For many Disney collectors no introduction is needed when talking about Mousesurplus; a company, based in Orlando, specialized in buying and selling Disney World memorabilia. They even have a Mark IV Red monorail for sale.

Dreamfinder Forever has visited the new Mousesurplus location and brought back a collection of pictures of all the goodies that will make the Disney collector’s heart skip a beat. You’ll see the Monorail car, Mr Toad Vehicles, Snow White Scary Adventure vehicles, AstroJet, Pinatas from the Mexico pavilion at Epcot, Show props, Hotel Items, the life size Walt Disney Statue, and a whole lot more.

As a collector myself I would love to walk around that place one day…

If you’re the Ultimate Narnia fan this is your chance to win a trip to the set of the second movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and on top of that you’ll be covering this event on the Narnia.com Production Blog… good Luck

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 will not be out until May 25, 2007 (if they keep this release date) but with the Pirates 2 and 3 filmed at the same time pictures are already floating around the web. One of the pictures was pointed out by Inside the Magic (Podcast Show 69 – A really good Disney podcast). The picture comes from the site Cache Online but seems to be the one distributed on the web the most. On the Inside the Magic Forum they are discussing if this picture is genuine or a fake. If this would be a fake, whoever did the photoshop is very good as it does look very good and very real.

The second picture (linked in the same forum) gives us a clearer look of what Jack (Johnny Depp) would be wearing in the third Pirates movie. It seems he likes to dress to the occasion. When looking around the web I found another similar picture on www.jacksparrow.jp, a Japanese website (so I have no idea what they are talking about). Here you can see Jack Sparrow drawing his sword. The pictures seem to be in sequence of each other.

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When people ask me what not to miss when they visit Disneyland Resort Paris they expect to hear me name one of the rides or show. Most people look surprised when I say they should not miss the Dragon that is being kept in the dungeons underneath the Sleeping Beauty Castle (Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant). It is one of my favorite places and so often forgotten by many of the visitors. This amazing Animatronics is beautiful and should not be missed on a Disneyland Resort Paris trip. Remember, it is not all about the rides when going to a Disney Park. If you plan to go to Disneyland Resort Paris make sure to visit this Imagineering masterpiece.

You might wonder if gold is still a good investment with the price it is going for at the moment. In 2001 you would pay about $275 an ounce, today that will be around $600. (If I only knew 5 years ago). Who says $600 it the top price? I have no idea what will happen in the next 5 years with the gold prices. (I guess for that you’ll have to find some specialist analysts).

If you decide to invest in gold and you’re a Disney fan maybe you want to buy 1,500 troy ounces of 24-karat gold (0.9999 fine).

If 1,500 troy ounces is what you’re looking for then why not get it in a form of our beloved Mouse?

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