The final day at Disneyland Resort Paris, but I’ll be back and Walt Disney World trip is planned (and booked), so no reason to be sad. It was also another full day at the park so there was no reason at all to start the day sad… Here some of the highlights of the day…
Guess what we did today. Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster. My son is hooked on Roller coasters… Me happy 
Me very happy
You are waiting for the Robinsons to pop up on the big screen of your local movie theater? Hmmm, now, I hate to break the news but … it seems this is not what Disney wants you to do. I can already hear you say that I’m now totally insane - after all hasn’t Disney started to promote Meet the Robinsons several months ago and is already running trailers ahead of family movies on the big screen?
Sure they are - but are they really using the marketing and promotion machine at their disposal at full power? At least not yet - or, say, did you catch a preview of Meet the Robinsons at the Art of Disney Animation attraction at the Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Resort Paris yet? Last time I checked they were still busy promoting Chicken Little as final segment of that tour. But I am not even talking about that - afterall this might still change and there is still plenty of time before the opening day. Strangely a different marketing department is already rolling ahead … Buena Vista Home Entertainment, responsible for the future DVD release!
It doesn’t happen a lot you get to see Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld in the same advertisement like the new Orlando “Built for families. Made for memories.” advertisement videos that are shown on TV right now…
I must admit that I like the “turning young” story they use in the videos. This describes what many of us fans feel when we visit the theme parks…
You can see the ads on Orlando Sentinel’s Tourism Central Florida Blog
Michael Eisner spoke to a group of Toronto businessmen about his 21 years at Disney and how he changes a $7 billion revenue into a $20 billion one.
He had a couple of “Disney” lessons to spill: Here his lesson on Failure
DISNEY LESSON #4: Encourage failure
“Failure is not a corporate death sentence,” he says, “and punishing failure leads to mediocrity. If people are afraid to take risks, you risk being bland and mediocre.”
Well, another major press event has come and gone at Walt Disney World and, after all the hype and hoopla (notably over the David Beckham/Beyonce/Scarlet Johansson ad campaign), all we are left to look forward to for the next 18 months is one ride - Toy Story Mania.
While DLP and HKDL seem to be getting the lion’s share of new investment through 2008, WDW looks like it is being somewhat short-changed in the great Disney empire, expected to grow their business with the Year of a Million Dreams, a lot of froth over the new Cinderella Suite and the arrival “sometime in 2008″ of the new Toy Story ride (simultaneously in Orlando and Anaheim).
Or to be more specific the title of this post could have been: Porn goes to Disney’s California Adventure? Take a close look at the (for obvious reasons partly obscured and cut) DVD-cover on the right. Notice it?
This looks an awful lot like a photo of DCA’s Paradies Pier at night with the Sun Wheel on the right and part of the track of Claifornia Screamin’ on the left. One wonders whether the producers of the DVD are aware of the fact that this photo must have been taken on the property of Disney’s California Adventure … after all exploiting photos taken on property for commercial reasons is something Disney is not readily willing to accept. It is safe to assume that this will be especially true if a photo ends up on the cover of a hard-core porn DVD.
So the question here is: does the company responsible really think that the use of a photo taken on Disney property will help them sell more DVDs - especially so many more that it is worth the extra legal hassle if Disney is made aware of it? Or are they not aware of the location the photo was taken and never wanted to pick a fight with Disney?? Afterall the choice of the photo for the cover seems totally unnecessary, since according to online information the movie was produced in 1983 and thus long before DCA opened. In other words: besides the cover the movie will have no connection to the DCA / Paradies Pier in any way! So the movie is obviously not shot inside DCA - and, besides the cover, there seems to be NO connection being made to DCA.
For legal reasons: the DVD is released by Bijou, which we must assume are the copyright holders for the cover as well.
Yes I’ve been away a while, but I haven’t had any exciting news for you all. Now I have 
It seems Disney’s “Year Of A Million Years” campaign has moved up a notch and the company is tackling the promotion from a new perspective. Hiring such celebrities as Scarlett Johansson to portray Cinderella, David Beckham as a dragon-slaying prince and Beyoncé to… spin in a teacup, The Walt Disney Comapany is now taking the power of print advertising very seriously!
In these special printed advert spreads to be published primarily in magazines and newspapers, celebrity endorsement of the Disney brand seems to be the way forward. Visit thedisneyfamily.com for the full David Beckham pic or visit Laughing Place to see Scarlett Johansson or Beyoncé
Acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz is in charge of these special shoots and Disney Parks have now commissioned more images to depict even more celebrities in classic, Disney fairytale settings. This is Beckham’s first endorsement signing since his recently football/soccer transfer to the States.
I’ll keep an eye out for pictures of the other stars too, but what is the obsession with flipping Le Chateau De La Belle Au Bois Dormant around in images?
In a survey done by Careerbuilder.com 57% of the people said “it would be fun to work in Walt Disney World”. To give these people a chance they added a little “Disney Dream Job” contest.
If you would like to have a dream job as “Disney Pirate, Princess-in-Waiting, Jungle Cruise Skipper, Haunted Mansion Butler or Maid, or a Parade Performer” then you should visit the Careerbuilder website and send in your application.
Good luck, future Cast Members!
The first Guests of the Cinderella Castle Suite at Walt Disney World have been welcomed by the host Cinderella herself. The family was picked randomly by a computer program. Brad, the son of the winning family, was lucky enough to be seated in row 2, seat 8, simulator number 4 in the Star Tours Attraction
While the family might have been picked randomly the rest looks all to staged (again). Put on your Disney clothes and your Disney ears and let’s shoot some pictures. Non the less I am sure they had a great time. I know I would (and I wear Disney Clothing all the time – just not the Disney ears).
“We were all just shocked,” said Jim Fouch, an IBM information technology support specialist in Lansing. “You never expect anything like this.”
They were staying at Disney’s All Star Resort and Thursday night was to be their last, until they were offered a chance to make Disney World history. (Orlando Sentinel)
Eric Jacobson and Cathy Carver, two Walt Disney World Imagineers, are giving a tour of the Cinderella Castle Suite over at the Orlando Sentinel Website.
They explain how this is not just a room to stay but will be an experience to remember. Some nice things are shown like the glass slipper, the “towel” slipper and some nice view of some of the other decorations.
I so would love to stay there myself one day…
Over at Hong Kong Disneyland Michelle Kwan has revealed the new It’s a Small World logo together with two penguin dolls that will be part of a full Small World “dolls” cast. The new attraction is scheduled to open in 2008
Check out the Hong Kong Disneyland Source website for more pictures and information on the new attraction.
In recent years the time window between a movie’s premier on the big screen and the release of the DVD has been continuously shrinking. Right now in Germany the gentleman’s agreement between theaters and the studios is already down to roughly a 6 month period between the movie premiere and the DVD release. But at least some of the studios deem this too loong. While it is everybody’s guess earlier reports indicate that they see the delay of the DVD release more and more as a problem. If the movie is not a real blockbuster ticket sales will be down during most of the 6 months period not generating any significant income or none at all. At the same time some studios are assuming that an earlier DVD release will allow them to make use of the (hopefully) positive interest in the movie generated by its big screen debut and thus increase sales numbers. Seems downright logical - after all when was the last time you saw a movie running in your local theater 5 months after its premiere? Just right now nobody has the numbers to proof whether the assumption is really correct, at least not for the German market. So maybe it is time for a trial?
If you’ve made a successful movie this year you can be pretty sure of it that it has been included in the spoof “EPIC Movie”. IESB.net has a collection of posters and press pictures online. Can you recognize all the Disney movies that are being spoofed?
The Trailer can be found here
This time around I planned to buy myself something for the house again. I wanted something related to the park, if possible related to one of the rides I love or related to the Castle. But for some reason there was nothing to be found. The big difference with Walt Disney World (and the other Disney parks around the globe) is that you hardly find anything collectible of Paris like you do with the other parks. No, not that the shops are empty, but I think they are missing to much specific merchandise. Just look at the shops in WDW for example. You go to the Tower of Terror, exit true the shop and what do you find… Tower of Terror collectibles! You find shops like that all around the Walt Disney World resort, with specific items, while in Disneyland Resort Paris most shops just carry the same…
The Oscar Nominees have been announced and Disney and Pixar have several chances to win the prestige award in several categories (…and for sure Disney is happier whit these nominees then the one of the RAZZIES).
Cars has the chance to win Best Animated Feature of the year. Just as at the Golden Globes the Pixar animation is up against “Happy Feet” and “Monster House”. My predictions are that Cars will be taking the Oscar home… In addition the song “Our Town” written by Randy Newman for Cars and performed on the soundtrack by James Taylor is in the running for Best Original Song (side note: it was the only song rerecorded German for the release in Germany), but is up against three songs from Dreamgirls which might stand a very good chance after that movie, even so dubbed a “sure bet” has been left out of the race for “Best Picture”.
Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest could qualify for the Achievement for Art Direction Oscar. It is up against Pan’s Labyrinth, Dreamgirls, The Good Shepherd and The Prestige (which nets thereby another nomination for Disney). I think Pirates has a good chance to sail home with the statue.
The award season in Hollywood is in full swing … we already mentioned the Golden Globes and the Rotten Tomatoes and right now, just as I write these lines the nominations for the OSCAR are announced. But not all awards are connected to such a positive image. There are also the, in the meantime already infamous RAZZIES for the worst performances of the year, awarded on the day before the OSCAR-ceremony. Unfortunately this year Walt Disney Pictures is rather well represented in the field of nominations for the Razzies.
Two movies Walt Disney Pictures announced with big fanfare as representatives of its classical core-product, entertainment for the full family, have both managed to garner multiple nominations - not to mention the nominations for two big leading young ladies of Disney, Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff, in the categorie Worst Actress. First of all there is the third installment of the ppular Santa Clause series - “Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” - which garnered a grand total of 5 nominations in the categories “Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment”, “Worst Actor”, “Worst Supporting Actor” for Martin Short, “Wortst Sequel” and “Worst Screen Couple”.
When “The Legend of the Lion King” premiered at the Disneyland Resort Paris one major step ahead was nearly lost among all the jubilations for the outstanding production: Timon, the show’s only “rubber-head” character was able to open and close its mouth and blink with its eyes thanks to new technology controlled by the character itself. The effect was a “rubber-head” character as life-like as never before on any live stage show in the Disney theme parks.
Well, now - nearly three years after the premiere at DLRP - the “talking heads” or, as they are now referred to frequently, the “articulated heads / characters” have finally made their way to Walt Disney World! Rumors have been circulating on the web for a few months already, but now Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy in the show “Dream Along with Mickey” presented on the castle stage in the Magic Kingdom have finally premiered the articulated heads. This is sure to make the already popular show even more popular … especially with fans. Want to take a look? Well, just hop on a plane. To difficult? We would have an alternative: a fan’s video on Google Video which shows some excerpts of the show concentrating on the new articulate characters!
Goes to show that the Disneyland Resort Paris is still up their with its international Disney counter parts at the forefront of innovations and new experiences for its guests - even so in Paris these new steps might be on a smaller scale in the recent years. But then small details are the special touch of Disney magic, aren’t they?
The American Film Institute is celebrating their 10th anniversary of its “100 Years … 100 Movies” series by listing the 100 “Greatest Movie of All Time.”. The jury will pick up to 100 movies they consider to be among the best 100 from a list of 400 movies. Some of the Disney movies on the list are:
Bambi from 1942
Beauty and the Beast from 1991
Cinderella from 1950
Fantasia, the 1940 version
The Lion King from 1994
Mary Poppins from 1964
Pinocchio from 1940
Pirates of the Caribbean; the Curse of the Black Pearl
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937
Toy Story from 1995
Guess what? Rock’n’Roller coaster is now a daily must… making my son my official Roller Coaster Buddy. He is asking to go and ride The Hulk in Islands of Adventure, all to the horror of the Mama/Wife of the house. And me, I can’t say no to that so I’ll have to plan that into one of our next Walt Disney World trips, a quick hope over to IoA.
Buzz is now bugging me as I cannot get a better score anymore. Now I know where the big scores are hidden, I just can’t seem to shoot them.
This post might seem odd, but I just watched Chicken Little on DVD last night and, well, I was really surprised. See, I had the incredible luck to be in Disneyland right after the movie originally premiered and such took a little tour over to Annaheim to watch it on the big screen in style: at Disney’ El Capitan theater. A great experience - to some length. I loved the ornate, classic theater. I really enjoyed the live organ mini-concert before the movie. I could also to some length have fun during the pre-show, featuring some dancers and characters shaking their tail-feathers. But then the movie started. And well, yes it was projected in digital 3D (which got me cool Chicken-Little-glasses as keepsakes). And yes, it was fun to watch a whole movie in 3D. It worked. Nevertheless I came out of the movie feeling that somehow the movie hadn’t clicked for me. There were some fun moments, some nice jokes, a good score, some great songs (especially One Little Slip by the Barenaked Ladies), but overall something was missing. So I just filed it under “not so great Disney features”. Later on, back in Germany, I saw the movie again…
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