Mousekingdom Blog

So you are not only looking for one day as a cast member but want to work full time? You are a dancer, singer, actor/actress, musician, stunt artist, acrobat or in any other form predestined to be part of the world of Entertainment?In this case there is a special website just for you: DisneyAuditions.com! It is operated by Walt Disney Entertainment who are responsible for the entertainment offerings on the Disney Cruise Line as well as at four Disney resorts around the globe: Disneyland Anaheim, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland - just not Disneyland Resort Paris, which runs its own entertainment division with their own casting procedure. On DisneyAuditions.com Walt Disney Entertainment keeps interested entertainment professionals informed about its global auditions, which are not only held on-site at the four resorts but wherever a larger number of professionals can be found. Frequent stops on the worldwide audtion tours include Australia, London (UK) as well as Hamburg and Düsseldorf (both in Germany).

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If you visit CommingSoon.net you will see three exclusive artworks (in full size) from the new Meet the Robinsons animations. One poster, that will be used for the bus shelters, and 2 window clings.

The one with the frogs does look fun. I can’t wait to see this movie. I don’t know the reason why I am so drawn to it, but I do hope it will be as fun as I think it is…

Release will be March 30

Whenever I am able to visit Walt Disney World I set at least half a day aside for each of the two water parks Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Not only do I love to ride a good water slide (whether a speed slide or a pure fun tube slide), but it is also a perfect way to relax in a great themed environment. The only downside to riding a slide: you need to get up to the top of the slide in the first place. Sure the mountains at the center of Disney’s two water parks are greatly themed and walking up there is an experience in itself. Also it is fund to ride the cable car lift up to the top in Blizzard Beach. But still more often than not one just has to climb up the hillside, sometimes even with the tube in hand.

But now I found a great new idea thanks to the German theme and amusement park fans over at Freizeitparkweb … at the Wild Wadi Water Park in Dubai guests can float around a lazy river in their tubes and then choose one of three “slides” going UP the central hill. Guets are pushed the slide up the hill thanks to water pressure / canons similar to the system used in the new slide in Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. Just that here the slide goes upward all the time!! The three slides going up the hill meet at the top where guests can choose among several slides to get down the hill again. There is even a link posted on Freizeitparkweb to a video showing guests being pushed up the hill!! Now wouldn’t that be a cool addition to the Disney water parks??

What to do when the Pirates trilogy comes to an end, (although rumors for part 4 and even a second trilogy are out there) and you can’t find any rides to make another movie out off? You go to Computer games and see if there is something there that could be exploited. While most of the games that made it out on film are among the worst movies ever, Disney seems confident when Jerry Bruckheimer is added to the mix they’ll get the job done. Even if most other Games failed on the big screen.

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… not Disney. That might be the best way to sum up what turned out to be a disappointing night for Walt Disney Pictures in the Kodak Theater.
Hopes had been high before the ceremony, after all Disney had netted 13 nominations plus an extra 7 ones for its Miramax label bringing it to a grand total of 20 nominations (for details, check our older post). In 4 categories there were even two Disney nominations competing against each other (Achievement in Art Direction with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and The Prestige; Achievement in Sound Mixing as well as Achievement in Sound Edition both with Apocalypto and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and finally Best Animated Short Film with Disney’s The Little Match Girl and Disney Pixar’s Lifted).

But when Ellen said goodbye and the crowd moved on to the various after-show parties throughout Hollywood and LA Disney had managed to take home only two awards (which admittedly is still a respectable 10% of its nominations). One of the two OSCARS was the Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, which was handed to Helen Mirren for her performance in the title role of the Miramax release THE QUEEN. The other oscar went to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST in the category Visual Effects.

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Well, I gave some little info on the shareholders meeting (without trying to be boring) in the first part, I also said there would be some “not so fun stuff a little later. So here it is… Will there ever be a third gate for Disneyland Resort Paris?

One thing in particular was something I found to be not the best news for us fans. Near the end of the meeting we got to see a slide in the presentation mentioning the land that is under control, under development or for future development by Disney. On this slide it stated that the section reserved for the theme park(s) is almost completely developed. A couple of slides later we get to see a slide with the land that will see development in the future. Disney will take this task on and then have third parties attracted to set up their businesses on the Disney property.

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Here is some good news for those Disney fans (and cast members) counting down the minutes to tonights OSCAR-ceremony … Disney managed to dodge the dreaded RAZZIES last night!

As posted here several weeks ago, Disney had more than enough nominations in the running at the 27th annual awards for the worst entertainment attempts in the movies from the Golden Raspberry Foundation. Especially Tim Allen, who used to be Disney go-to-family-comedy-guy and his two recent Disney features got more than a slight beating from the Razzies with numerous nominations. Luckily for Disney last year also saw the bomb of a sequel “Basic Instinct II” which dominated the Razzies with four wins (a complete list of winners is availble on the official site)

So congratulations for Disney to dodging these bullets - but maybe avoiding the risk but no making the mistakes in the first place might be the wiser move for the next years. Afterall the mainstream press regularly loves to dish the dirt about the RAZZIE winners - just take a look at the swift posting over at CNN.com. And now … let’s wait for the OSCARS tonight … I hear Ellen is going to have some real surprises ready for all of us (besides the list of the winners that is). Curious how the host of the Universe of Energy is planing to surprise us? … well … Deadline Hollywood Daily has the scoop on this and more Oscar related secrets to be found nowhere else!

If you want to know what the “woof” is all about then you should check out the High Definition trailer of the new Disney movie Underdog on Apple.com. Flying dogs, talking dogs and catching cat burglars…

Release date: August 3rd

After years of ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ thinking about new ships for the Disney Cruise Lines fleet, the news of two major new-builds for DCL is very welcome indeed.

With the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder now almost 10 years old, it was something of a surprise to the rest of the cruise industry that DCL were not investing in new vessels, despite continued claims to have very high occupancy on all their sailings. The big question was, could Disney really support a cruise line into the future, when the future (in cruise terms) is all about having new ships?

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With two more Disney ships coming, my chances on sailing with one of them have doubled.

“With a larger fleet, we’ll have greater flexibility to offer a variety of itineraries,” Rasulo said. “This is a business that our guests love, and we’re pleased to give them more options to explore the world with Disney with two new ships.” (Disney Corporate)

I do hope to get on one of those in the future. For now I’ll have to do with a visit to the webcam of Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany once they start building them. (Via The Disney Blog)

While most of us look on the internet for spoilers Mouse Extra has found some in a boat magazine called Latitudes & Attitudes.

The writer, who witnessed some of the filming in California, has some of the plot spilled in the March issue.

If you would like to know what happens before you watch the movie; read on for the spoilers. If you don’t like spoilers go and read our next story on the blog
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Well, I didn’t really finish my last trip report (I promised some final thoughts) but I’ll make it up with some babbling about the Shareholders meeting at Disneyland Resort Paris that I attended on the 21st of February. For obvious reasons most shareholders are there to see how the company is doing, for me it is yet another reason to go to a Disney theme Park (in this case Disneyland Resort Paris). It’s not that I am not interested in the financial park, I am interested in it. I want to know and I want the park to make a profit so we get more magic in the future. While still not making profit (yet) the road is being set into the good direction. The management team is giving a %110 in turning this company around into a profitable one. While they did come up with some good numbers (revenue up, hotel occupancy up, 500.000 more visitors this year and a first quarter showing a %6 growth already) the question remains when they will be able to do so… (and at what cost)

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The truth is out there” some would say!

Following all the commotion which happened last year due to the bid by a Swiss company on EuroDisney (which misserably failed through in the wingspam of a butterfly) the German stock market regulator BaFin said today it had opened an inquiry into the purported bid for Disneyland Paris operator Euro Disney.

BaFin spokeswoman Anja Neukoetter said: “There is suspicion of market manipulation. This is what we will be looking into,”.

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Yes! We did it. One year later: the Mousekingdom Blog can celebrate its very first year of operation!

What a ride it has been so far (and there is no intention at all stopping this ride now). We can celebrate this blog and I will do so with a little pat on the back as we have worked hard to make it what it is today.

Of course there are many people I would like to thank after this first year of blogging…

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A hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland is sending one of its staff members to Orlando for a “smile” course in the Disney Institute.

The first thing which springs to mind when you think about Disneyland is people smiling and, although Edinburgh is a long way from Florida, it would be great if we could be as cheerful…

(Notice the Disneyland and Florida in the same sentence It’s that “little” mistakes you see sometimes)

…The Americans have a reputation for service with a smile and The Disney Institute is renowned for its hospitality expertise. They have thousands of staff and motivating them all is a major task. I look after 20 to 30 staff but want them all to be happy and positive. (Edinburgh News Scotsman)

Disney might be walking away with some more film and TV prices as they have been given some nominations for the 33rd Annual Saturn Award Nominees (The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror films).

Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest has been nominated for best fantasy film. The one movie I think might be walking away with it could be Superman Returns. Personally I see a close call between these two great movies

Cars could walk away with yet another best animation price if it wins in this category. This time however there are more then three movies on the list (Flushed Away, Happy Feet, Monster House, Over the Edge and A Scanner Darkly). Even with more competition then on other shows there is a good chance Cars will bag this one to.

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What do you do when you’re a reported and the AP picks up the tab of $587 to get and sleep in the Cinderella Castle suite at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World… You go and enjoy a day most people can only dream of. While the stay in the suite is the real price I must say that the fact that you can have a wander around the closed park sounds awesome…

I do literally have the park to myself, but there’s not much to do in it because the rides are closed. Everything remains lit up as if it were packed, and piped-in Disney music fills the air. (Sun-Sentinel)

Well, I guess he is no “real” Disney fanatic. I would not need anything to do when I would be given the chance to walk in the park by myself. I would enjoy the sights of the park and would feel amazing at such opportunity. Wandering the park, alone, with all the lights on and with the Disney Music keeping you company… Sounds great! Read the whole article for some other fun things that was part of this “magical moment”

John from “The Disney Blog” makes a good point when he says that this could backfire as there is no information on how this was possible or done by Disney, giving the wrong impression people are able to buy themselves into being a winner…

As most of us expected Tigger is not the bad boy! No charges are pressed against him and he will be free to bounce again.

But prosecutors decided not to pursue the case after reviewing some home video of the incident. (Central Florida News 13)

On the video it was so obvious and proof that Tigger did no harm.

Fedelem was suspended after the incident. No word yet on whether he’s been reinstated, or if the boy’s family will pursue its lawsuit. (Central Florida News 13)

He should be reinstated though, with full back pay! This part I always hated to most. He was getting punished for something he didn’t do. I hope this will be solved soon and that he can continue with his life, leaving this incident behind him.

[It's a Small World at Fantasyland / Disneyland Parc, Disneyland Resort Paris]

When I hear “Jakks Pacific” I think about the World Wrestling Entertainment Toys they make. When you check their website you can also find toys for Dragon Ball Z and the new Rocky action figures; Toys for boys (or action figure geeks like me). So it was a surprise when I read the article that they signed a deal with Disney to create Hannah Montana and the Cheetah Girls toys.

Among the products that will be offered in the line will be fashion dolls, play sets, role play and dress up items. The line will play up the fashion and music themes inherent to the characters and their programs. (Washington Bizjournal)