Mousekingdom Blog

Jean-Jacques Perrey the composer of the original Baroque Hoedown, that has been masterly re-arranged by Don Dorsey to be used as the music for the most beloved Main Street Electrical Parade, has said in the official Disneyland Podcast that the next location for the parade will be in Hong Kong Disneyland.

Nothing official yet, but this being an official podcast there is a lot of credibility in this, let’s say for now, rumor.

Ok, Ok, I know it is on short notice … but if you are currently anywhere in Germany … drop everything (well, don’t drop it, I don’t want to be responsible for you damaging anything - just put it aside gently) and head to the TV … because today, Sunday 17th September 2006, at 3.45 pm Disney’s smash hit HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL will have its German free tv premiere on pro7!

Yes, you heared right, just two weeks after it had the German premiere on the Disney Channel the movie musical that captivated millions around the globe and surprised its creators with its incredible success now comes to free tv. (more…)

Every Monday it’s the same story, the weekend is over and it’s back to work: the first day of the week, a mountain of work and nothing much to look forwards too. Sounds like a typical Monday to most of us, unless you work the weekend or have irregular shifts.

So, how to improve the Monday? Easy, or at least it is for me. I come to the office, put on the PC and start working… but not before I open the Inside the Magic Podcast site. I check if the new podcast is live, click on the link and start listening under the headset. No Monday feeling anymore, I still have to work but with a little magic on my ears.

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Halloween! It is my favorite time of year, the celebration I enjoy the most. Today Walt Disney World’s Halloween party, “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” kicks of in the Magic Kingdom. I was lucky enough to visit the event in 2002, 2003 and in 2005, but I don’t think I’ll make it over there this year. (I am still looking into it as I do have a free flight with my Continental Airlines points, but the chances are slim)

Here are some of my personal tips when going to the event.

Don’t miss the Parade and make sure to go for a spot early, it is very popular and obviously very pleasantly “not so” spooky. So make sure to look for a good place early enough as many will not want to miss this parade.

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(Lamp in front of Big Thunder Mountain, Disneyland Resort Paris)

The German blog Walt-Arbeiter has pointed out a Japanese web where you can find muck up posters of American movies with a famous Alien figure that has landed in Hawaii. How is that for being international!

Stitch is trying to convince us that he was the big star in many Hollywood movies and he has the posters to proof it.

You’ll find many posters of big hits including, Jaws, ET, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic park, Star Wars and many, many more. My favorites: Star Wars and Face Off. The Harry Potter one is very clever, especially the added villains. Check out the rest, they’re fun!

While Hong Kong Disneyland is celebrating their first year Disney is aware of the fact that people from other parts of the world (In this case China and Hong Kong) have other ideas, needs or motivations to visit a theme park.

Hong Kong Disneyland was a little short on their 5.600.000 guests needed to make the first year a success. The park is to small and not enough ride with long waiting times being the main issue for many of the guest. While new rides, opened already, and a planned 2nd gate might solve this issue in the short term, they will need to get the guests to return on many future visits.

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One year ago and $1.8 billion later, after 6 years in the making, Hong Kong Disneyland officially opened its doors to the public for the very first time.

Happy Birthday Hong Kong Disneyland!

Wishing you a great and amazing future and I hope to visit you too somewhere along that magical trip.

The I-pods technology is growing fast and it doesn’t look like it will end soon. There are a whole collections of I-Goodies in the pipeline. From video iPod (vPod) to iPod/phone (iPhone) or a wireless base station for streaming movies from a computer to the TV via WiFi.

Wired.com has added a collection of Pictures from what could be the next I-Pod Generation. Including widescreen video pod and a Mickey pod (muck up). Some might see the day, some might not and some will stay muck ups, but I do like the widescreen pod Idea and hope that the price is not exaggerating high.

Upcoming Pixar is also dreaming about the new I-pods and the possibilities to get all Pixar movies on them. You can also visit the Apple Collection pages to see more designs that might be out there, somewhere in the future, to buy.

Well friends, time for another 15th anniversary update… sorry to be a bore. Once Upon A Dream Parade information to be precise. As you can see, the above picture illustrates the outlines of all 8 new floats.

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A 5 day visit comes to an end and as a Disney fan it is never nice to know you’re going to leave your happy place. Sure, I’ll be back, but wouldn’t it be nice to have “another” day…

Although this was to be my last day in Disneyland Resort Paris, I did make the decision that I will leave at 6pm and no later. I could have stayed and driven home late at night but there are things to do in the “real world”. But you’re not gone before you really left and I had another couple of hours of Disney fun in front of me. Because of the long travel home I did sleep in this morning. I didn’t want to be too sleepy for the trip home so no early entry this day. I packed, left the Holiday Inn, and drove over to the New York Hotel to park the car. Went for some breakfast and a drink at the shareholders club and after that I was ready for my last day in the parks.

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The new Nemo ride at EPCOT “The Seas with Nemo & Friends” will (or should) open in October. Disney Online has a picture added with the Clamshell ride vehicles on it.

Thank you to Screamscape for pointing this out together with the rumor that the opening might be postponed until November as they are behind schedule.

Looking forwards to this experience on my next Walt Disney World Trip.

“The nightmare before Christmas 3-D” will open October 20th in selected cinemas. I sure hope I can see this masterpiece in this form, it is an amazing picture and I am having big hopes for the 3-D version.

You can check out the trailer for the updated Digital 3-D version on Movies Online. “Open the doors and step into… Disney Digital 3-D”. (A non 3-D trailer of course)

The also have the poster online and it is looking great.

Disney fans and “The Little Mermaid” fans in Denver will be the first to see the new Ariel show. The new show will premiere at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the summer of 2007.

All eyes will be on Denver to see how well the show will be received by the public before it will be playing at other locations.

Many eyes will be on Denver to see how Mermaid fares. Out-of- town tryouts, frequent in cities such as Chicago and Boston, typically draw critics and reporters from New York and around the nation. (Rocky Mountain News)

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If there is only one Disney book you could own it has to be “From Sketch to Reality” by Didier Ghez and Alain Littaye. This book is amazing, over 300 pages filled with pictures and stories about the beautiful Disneyland Park in Paris. It has all the artwork and Imagineering secrets collected in a masterpiece. There is up to today no other book created for any of the other parks as this one for the Paris Park. I was very lucky to meet Didier Ghez when the book’s first edition was produced, had a real nice chat and had my book personalized. (Thank you Didier)…

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Susan and I have spent pretty much all of the last 6 weeks or so on a major travelling adventure (as goes with the job) around parts of the USA, looking at new writing projects and coming across some unique insights and attractions along the way, some of them Disney-related and some not.

We’ve been in theme parks (notably Cedar Point, Ohio, Hershey Park, Pennsylvania, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Virginia), along the coast, to historic sites (notably Gettysburg, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the Shenandoah Valley), scenic sites (The Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive and Natural Bridge, all in Virginia) and even on a Caribbean cruise (with Carnival, not DCL, but still with positive results). And it has to be said, Disney and Co have a LOT of competition nowadays, especially from the likes of the cruise lines.

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Well it seems like an eternity since I last wrote about my beloved up-coming 15th Anniversary in 2007… probably because it was!

Finally we have some news to tell. Firstly, it seems confirmed that the birthday celebrations will run from April 1st 2007 for sure, but the Magic Unlimited and Kids Carnival seasons will be skipped. Note that some of the Kids Carnival creatures will later appear in the Once Upon A Dream Parade of course. This parade is only advertised as running until September 30th however, so perhaps this is when Disney’s Halloween Festival will begin next year? Only time will tell.

Now with 8 months until the event, a new version of the celebration and resort logo has been published. The swish and shiny GOLD variation does look rather chic, as well as adding a sense of “grandness” to the occasion. Over the original 2D design with a pastel-shade castle illustration, I must say I prefer this one. Finally it’s not a clone of the Happiest Celebration On Earth designs, but something classy and new. Or is it the old Disneyland Paris logo with an added “15”? I’ll let you decide.

On the 4th day of the trip I opted for yet another early entry. This time with another visit to Peter Pan, but once regular opening hours kicked in I went to Frontierland so I could ride my favorite attractions; Phantom Manor. Lucky enough numbers where not to high on this day, and would not be for most of the day because of the very wet weather, so I could ride it a couple of times. It was funny to see that, being so early in the morning, some people thought the attraction was closed when the stood at the top in front of the queue line. I had to convince several people to follow me into the house.

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Pirates 2 and 3 where filmed back to back… partly! So at this time more filming is done for the third part of this trilogy in the making. Over at Ain’t it Cool News they have some pictures of the Black Pearl in Redondo Beach.

It also says points out how Johnny Depp makes time to meet his fans for autographs and pictures. This is something I appreciate a lot, even if I can’t be there to meet him myself it is nice to hear that there are big celebrities like Johnny Depp that are so close to their fans.