Mousekingdom Blog

It looks like it that May 25th will be a very tight fit for the Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End premiere. The movie isn’t ready yet as some special effects still need to be put in place.

“It’s a race to the wire for all the special effects. But, in its current state, it’s quite spectacular,” a source explained… (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

The production already costs $300 million and Disney is even saying that it will top this amount with at least another $50 million before the final cut is ready. A final cut that might run up to a close 3 hours once finished and will bring closure to the (let us hope) first Pirates trilogy.

While I normally avoid opening weekends and big crowds I don’t think I’ll be able to wait this time and might be among the first too see it. (Although saying “first” might be naming it wrong as we will be thousands and thousands and thousands…)

There have been several rumors about the Contemporary Resort new wing; A new Disney Vacation Club location for Walt Disney World, not a Disney Vacation Club location, artwork found, not the artwork that will be used, etc… Disney didn’t put any official words out so far and even if most believe it is going to be the new DVC location we will only be 100% sure when Disney says so. Until then we can enjoy the rumors and artwork that pops up on the web.

The above artwork was send to screamscape.

With this first intro edition towards my trip report I wanted to let you all know that we have returned from our special Disneyland Resort Paris 15th Anniversary Celebration trip. I promise you some great stories (I do hope you will enjoy them) and a nice set of pictures and other information from the trip. I just needed to catch up with things on the home front, but I am sure I’ll be fully blogging again within a couple of days. (I think this was the longest period of time for me without being here on the blog)

So make sure to come back for the trip report and all the other Disney News, info and babbling from around the Disney globe. (I’ll have to catch up on a week of Disney News myself)

If you want to know more about Disneyland Resort Paris make sure to check the news pages of www.dlp.info too in the next couple of days as we brought back some resort news too…

Next: Disneyland Resort Paris 15th Anniversary Celebration trip report: Newport Bay Club

Another Disney Trip is starting very soon. Tomorrow we are leaving for a big celebration! The 15th anniversary (12 April) of Disneyland Resort Paris.

This means I’ll be gone from the blog for a couple of days having fun at the park and (hopefully) sharing some cake, with 15 candles on it, together with other fans…

Expect a trip report, info from the park and a couple of pictures when I return.

The new Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros has opened its gates at Epcot in the Mexican Pavilion. I’ve never been a big fan of this boat trip, but with Donald (and Panchito and Jose Carioca) added in the mix I am really looking forwards to ride again it and see how it turned out.

Of course I could not wait that long and visited Laughingplace.com where you can find a video of the full ride. It looks really fun!

Can you believe this? One year already!

Expedition Everest officially opened one year ago at Animal Kingdom. (Making me realize it has been over a year since my last visit – But at least I know I’ll be there before the Yeti turns 2)

There not many who can put such a successful résumé out there like the Yeti does after one year. You can see what it did to Animal Kingdom and what the impact might be for other parks in Orlando.

Happy First Birthday to the Yeti!

Picture from The Magic in Pixels

This is a real gem for Walt Disney memorabilia collectors. Ebay is selling one of Disney’s Passports from 1965.

Walt Disney Passport. Disney autographs are rare and hugely desirable, and this one comes in truly amazing form. This United States passport is dated August 19, 1965, and was issued to the legendary animator shortly after the giant success of Mary Poppins (1964) and 16 months before his death (December 15, 1966). Disney signed the passport twice in blue ink (as “Walter E. Disney”), including once along the edge of his smiling photo. It bears only one set of visa stamps, for a trip to and from London… (From Ebay)

Be aware that this is a live auction, bidding will take place on 14 April 11:00 PDT and start at $3,600. However I expect his to go way over this. (Estimate US $14,400.00 - US $21,600.00) Good luck to all the collectors out there.

Pictures copyright Ebay Seller heritageauctiongalleries.

If you want more visitors in your park only one thing will help; build a one of a kind new experience! Just look at Expedition Everest and what it did for Animal Kingdom. This park was considered to be not even a day filler by many and for some not there would not even be a reason to visit it at all. It would not have been the first time I read a forum or even talk to somebody who has been to Walt Disney World without adding a visit to Animal Kingdom. (I’ll never understand as I think this park is an Imagineering masterpiece – but that is a story for another time). Since Expedition Everest opened this has changed!

Animal Kingdom attendance rose 8.6 percent to 8.91 million paid visitors in 2006, according to estimates contained in a theme park attendance report released Wednesday by TEA (formerly called the Themed Entertainment Association) and Economics Research Associates. That was the biggest gain among the 20 most popular North American theme parks. (Florida Today)

I’ve always said it, build something new, never seen before and make sure it is something amazing and the visitors will come to your park. (But who listens to me). Universal Studios is surely listening (not to me, but to the numbers). They see what Expedition Everest did and now they want to build their own “Everest” so to say.

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It will be no surprise to anybody that the Disney parks are doing very well and are well present in the top 25 Theme Park Attendance Report. The list is from all parks in the world.

1 Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World - 16,640,000 - up 3.0%
2 Disneyland - 14,730,000 - up 1.2%
3 Tokyo Disneyland – 12,900,000
4 Tokyo DisneySea – 12,100,000
5 Disneyland Paris – 10,600,000
6 Epcot – 10,460,000 - up 5.5%
7 Disney-MGM Studios – 9,100,000 - up 5.0%
8 Disney’s Animal Kingdom – 8,910,000 up 8.6%
13 Disney’s California Adventure – 5,950,000 – up 2.1%
18 Hong Kong Disneyland – 5,200,000

The Walt Disney Studios in Paris didn’t make it on the list with 2,200,000 visitors. I wonder if this will change once the Toon Studios and Tower of Terror will open.

The Disney Water Parks are doing well too. Typhoon Lagoon is on the first place (yeah) with 2,050,000 visitors, up 6.6% and Blizzard beach comes in second with 1,880,000 visitors, up 5.4%

For the full report see the Theme Park Attendance Report (big pdf file)

Adam Sandler is going to work with Disney to create a family orientated comedy “Bedtime Stories,”. This is not the first time Adam will work for the mouse, however back in 1998 the movie “Waterboy” was released under the Touchstone Pictures label

“Bedtime” features Sandler as a harried real estate developer whose life is turned upside down when the lavish bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew begin to come true. (Hollywood Reporter)

And the reason for this cooperation…

…one reason Sandler signed on was “the fact that he is a new father, and the idea of making a beautiful Disney brand fantasy is something that is in his heart right now. (Hollywood Reporter)

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Certainly not …. Walt Disney Pictures fantasy epos is still titles ”The Chronicles of Narnia”. The filming for the second film of the series (the follow up to “The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”), titled “The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian” has moved back to Europe, where extensive parts of the first movie were shot.

Shooting already started in early February in New Zealand but according to press reports the team is currently shooting in Prague and will continue to do so in several locations in the Czech Republic till August. As was the case in New Zealand in February no exact locations are disclosed in advance but the Germany daily “BusinessNews” cites an employee of the Barrandow Movie Studios in Prague stating that some of the locations will be close to the German Czech border. So far the shooting took place in the city center of Prague part of which had to be closed off. To be exact initial shooting took place close to the Philharmony Hall where several typical British telephone boots were errected and a fake version of the underground station “Strand” from London, as shooting in Prague is just plain cheaper and easier to organize than in London.

The release of the second movie of the fantasy epos is currently scheduled for May 16, 2008 - so fans of CS Lewis’ work will have to wait a bit longer … till then we will try to keep you up-to-date about interesting news here on the blog - or check out NarniaWeb which is dedicated to cover the whole Narnia movie world. They were even able to score a casting call for male riders (age 30-50) for the shooting around Prague and some set pictures from New Zealand.

Somebody slipped a little secret during a talk show on TV about who is going to die before the end of this season’s “Lost“. It happened on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

If you want to know who said who would die read on. If you want to stay surprised go and read some other articles on this blog.

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My son wanted to watch a movie he hadn’t seen before. I checked in my movie collection and came across a video (yes, video, not DVD… it is that old) of a Disney production from 1981 called “Condorman”. While it has been a while since I last seen it I thought it would be a good idea to share this one with my son.

A comic book writer turning his creation, “Condorman” into a real life spy trying to win the heart of a beautiful Soviet spy (played by Barbara Carrera). Sounds cheesy? That’s because it is.

I had forgotten how bad this production was. It should be avoided at all cost. We only get to see 1 car chase and one boat chase with Condorman “gear” and one failed and one successful flying attempt of Condorman. The rest of the movie is filled with silly and bad jokes and way too much talking.

I looked at the movie and I am a little ashamed admitting that, when a kid, I was looking forwards to see this movie, but I am even more ashamed that I own the video now… (For those that might like the movie; I’m only Goofing around)

Mondays is podcast day for me and the Monday is getting fuller and fuller. I can only say it’s a good thing that I can listen to podcasts while at work. Since Mousetunes stopped we knew that we would get 2 for 1. This time it’s Nathan M Rose turn to proof that there is life after Mousetunes. He got re-enforcement in by asking Tim Devine to be the other half of the new “Magical Definition Podcast”. I missed their debut a couple of weeks ago, but with four shows so far it wasn’t to bad catching up.

Well, I can say that the team of Nathan and Tim works very well. It is real fun listening to both of them talking about all Disney things. You’ll get all your Disney news and rumors when listening to the podcast but that is not all of course.

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