Mousekingdom Blog

Halloween is my favorite time of the year so going to Walt Disney World during Halloween is something I absolutely love. (To be honest, I would love any time at a Disney park). Halloween at the Hong Kong park looks great too, especially if we can believe the art released by Disney related to this celebration. Have a look at the fantastic Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy concept art. I absolutely love it.

More Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween art work can be found on Screamscape and a couple of videos from the parade made it on youtube. (part 1 and Part 2) Those floats look awesome!

And make sure to visit the Hong Kong Disney site to see the “Dark Side of Hong Kong Disneyland” before it is to late (add evil laughter here!)

Picture copyrights Disney

Today I was thinking about the countries represented in the pavilions at Epcot and while doing some research I tumbled on this site; Lionsgate international. They talk about  new countries to be added at Epcot and how they will be involved choosing and building them, including negotiating with the countries that would be represented as new additions.

They are showing some artwork on Australia, the first new country they would add to the existing, and according to the website, expanding list. Also included in future projects would be Brazil, Greece, Russia, Sweden, New Zealand and Chile. The Disney company already had negotiations with other countries to be added, like Australia, but so far without results. One of the things coming to my mind was; why would Disney ask an outside company to do the negotiation for them and why would they ask another company to build these pavilions while they have the imagineers who do all the magic for them?…

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I have always appreciated the first (and only) feature length movie featuring our favorite trio of cartoon characters;
Mickey, Donald and Goofy star in a little gem called “the three Musketters”.

This movie, which was only released on the home video market and never at cinemas, took the classic Alexandre Dumas novel about the politics and fights at the French court and twisted them in a pure “disney way” by injecting humor, romance, magic and a little bit of “goofy” (which never hurts ) in it.

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There is not going to be a 5th gate at Walt Disney World and there is not going to be a 3rd park for Disneyland Resort, at least not for the foreseeable future as mentioned during the Merrill Lynch Media Fall Conference by Thomas Staggs (CFO of the Walt Disney Company). Sad news of course, although not really surprising, but us Disney Theme Park fans would just love to get into the “new gate” mood. It’s so much fun talking about a new gate or park, but I guess we will not be talking about it very soon.  

We’ve already talked about the fifth gate on several occasions here on the blog. In the past I was always convinced that we will get a fifth gate, only not knowing when to expect it. Now it  really looks like another gate is very far away… way in the future. Obviously for the fans it is a shame but from Disney’s point of view very understandable.

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Andy already talked about the positive news that Bob Iger spread at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference as far as the success of the recent investments into the Disney parks and resorts is concerned - and basically there isn’t much too add to that, besides that the incredible year that Disneyland Resort Paris is having right now (which could become DLRP’s most successful year ever) is another proof  that investments into entertainment and new rides pays off. So with these facts (with excerption of the DLRP point) being discussed throughout the internet and in the classic media, it seems a safe bet, that it was the most exciting thing Bob Iger said about the parks and resorts during his presentations … right? NO!

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If you invest, you’ll make money. Most of the time, it can of course go wrong too. But that is something the Disney Company doesn’t have to worry about. The new attractions at Walt Disney World and Disney California Adventure have proven that the right investment will bring in the green. It is expected that, when Disney will release their next numbers, another growth in Disney Theme Parks attendance will be a fact.

Attendance in fiscal 2007, which ends in two weeks, may exceed the record number of tickets sold in 2006, when all Disney’s parks celebrated the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, the company’s first theme park, Iger told a Goldman, Sachs & Co. conference in New York. (Orlando Sentinel)

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Disney has revealed its plans for the First Disney Vacation Club on the West Coast. The rooms are planned to be ready for 2009.

The lucrative Disney Vacation Club time-share business already has 350,000 members, but 86% of them live on the East Coast. The addition of 50 two-bedroom units in Anaheim marks a push to expand the business in California. (LATimes)

Great news for the DVC members as many have waited for a long time for this. But with only 50 rooms we can expect them to be fully booked for most, if not all, the time once they are completed. I guess it will not be easy to get a room booked but I might be looking into this and see if the possibility is there for me to visit Disneyland in 2009 when those rooms are available. A Disneyland visit is long overdue and while I was looking at a possible 2008 trip, I might now just hang on for one more extra year before I go. While the DVC option helps me in making this decision I still think it will be hard to get one of the rooms, waiting might not be such a good idea. Tuff decisions; No DVC Disneyland visit in 2008 or DVC Disneyland visit 2009? What would you do?

Picture Copyrights Disney

Originally I thought I’d leave the reporting about Hong Kong Disneyland to Andy till I get something positive to write … but the latest news came as a surprise so I thought I’d publish it anyway, even so it is negative … so here we go … another negative posts about Disney’s latest theme park (which I still look forward to visiting at some not too far off point):

Hong Kong Disneyland slowly but surely turns out to be a nice example for the old saying, that once something goes wrong it goes wrong as spectacular as it can. Adding to the whoes of the theme park (including financial underperformance, guest numbers way below original targets, attacks by environmentalists for serving shark fin soup - then dropped of the menues - and using light bubls not energy efficient enough, spreading word of mouth that the number of attractions is too small, according to the unions unhappy cast members and more) is now a closure of Autopia, one of the few attractions added to the theme park after opening hours and desperately needed.

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October 1st EPCOT - or as it was originally called on opening day: EPCOT Center - will celebrate its silver anniversary aka its 25th anniversary. Earlier this year the official line was that no public events would be staged for the second park of Walt Disney World. After a change of management and the incredible success of fan-organized events (in particular of Celebration 25 spearheaded by Adam Roth, a 16-year-old Dr. Phillips High School junior, that has more than 1,100 fans registered to take part in meetings, historical tours and other activities) WDW deceived not to limit the celebrations to cast members (of which 300 have hung on since opening day at EPCOT, including EPCOT’s new vice president Jim MacPhee) but to offer some public events as well. So far not much was known about the new public element of the celebrations besides the fact that a rededication ceremony would be held, to which participants of Celebration 25 have been invited. Now the Orlando Sentinel reveals further details…

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The Haunted Mansion has reopened at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, refurbishment is finished and those who visited have rave reviews on the new scenes and effects. Especially the Ghost host seem to be a real winner. The effect of the ghost flying around when it speaks adds so much more to the experience and sets a real nice early eerie mood.

I’ll have to wait just over another month before I can see it for myself but if you, like me, can’t wait to see the scenes and hear the new effects head over to Inside the Magic where you can enjoy a great on-ride video as well as a great on-ride sound recording.

Screamscape has a couple of pictures online from the crowds during the first weekend. I guess the “walk-on times” are over and guest will be in for a wait when wanting to visit the updated mansion.

OK, the party is over - time to look at what last night’s EMMY awards yielded for The Walt Disney Company … and it was quite a bit, as ABC together with NBC and HBO topped the list of winners with 6 statues / awards each. While not nominated for any of its programs, ABC had garnered ten nominations for individual achievements in connection with its programs. In this sense the ABC comedy “Ugly Betty” took two awards: “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series” for its star America Ferrera (who did beat Felicity Huffman nominated for her part of Lynette Scavo in ABC’s “Desperate Housewives”) and and “Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series” for the work of Richard Shepard on the pilot of “Ugly Betty”.

In addition James Spader took the award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” for his work in ABC’s “Boston Legal “ - surprisingly beating out James Gandolfini who had been nominated for his part of Tony Soprano in the final season of HBO’s “Sopranos” and now missed winning a fourth EMMY for his work on the show. Alluding to that Spader said, “Oh my goodness, I feel like I just stole a pile of money from the Mob.” But as expected HBO’s “Sopranos” did take home the EMMY for “Outstanding Drama Series”, leaving no chance to “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy”.

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Yep, the award scene really is getting moving again … after the post about the EMMYs it is now time to report about one of the awards with which the best of the theme and amusement park industry are honored: the Golden Ticket Award of Amusement Today. In its 10 year history the annual award has established itself as a regular event that the industry is actually concerned about and are seeing as a honor worth working for. Obviously the question here is: how did the Disney Resorts and Parks fare in the 2007 edition and in particular: how did the Disneyland Resort Paris fare?

The short answer is: Disney did fare better than last year if you look at the bottom line (two first places instead of one). But the Disneyland Resort Paris once again is a no-show in - neither did it win an award, nor did it get into the group top contenders for any of the as listed in the extensive (and free) 48 page full color documentation of this years awards available from Amusement Today.

The dominance of the US parks and rides is a logical result of the fact that Amusement Today is US-based and the majority of voters chosen for the award are US-based too. However, in light of the fact that parks in 13 countries outside the US were recognized by the voters (including European classics such as Efteling, Europa Park, Aalton Towers or Blackpool Pleasure Beach), the performance of DLRP is disappointing as it does not reflect the quality of offerings at DLRP. It can only be assumed that too many park enthusiasts visiting from the US bypass DLRP if they are no “die hard”-Disney fans assuming that a visit is not worth, having two Magic Kingdom type parks in the US already and instead prefer to visit “unique” European parks. As Amusement Today is actively encouraging international theme and amusement park enthusiasts to sign up for the 2008 edition of the awards the look-out might change for 2008 and reflect the realy position of DLRP on the international market better (at least there is hope). I wouldn’t expect DLRP to win an award, but showing up in the also-runs should clearly be possible …

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On September 11, 2007 HP announced that it had appointed Michael Mendenhall as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, effective October 1, 2007. In his new position Michael Mendenhall will be responsible for all aspects of HP’s corporate marketing operations globally, including brand marketing, customer intelligence and corporate communications.

Michael Mendenhall (45 years old) has spent the past 17 years with The Walt Disney Company. Most recently he was based in the headquarters in Burbank, California, as Disney Parks and Resorts’ executive vice president for global marketing. In this position he reported directly to Jay Rasulo (as chairman Walt Disney Parks and Resorts) and directed all marketing and publicity activity for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in North America, Europe and Asia. This included responsibility for the global brand image, marketing strategy, planning, publicity, advertising, media, new media/online, interactive TV, strategic alliance marketing, special events and promotions, as well as customer managed activities.

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Today Roald Dahl would have turned 91 (9/13/1916 - 11/23/1990) - if Google wouldn’t have come up with a special overlay for the logo on its website to honor the author, I would have missed this anniversary … but the logo immediately reminded me that Roald Dahl is not only the author behind such all time favorite stories as “Matilda” (the capital “G” of Google shows Matilda Wormwood enjoying her passion of reading books) or “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (twice a very successful moviebut not for Disney; the “l” in Google is depicted by a chocolare bar with the golden ticket from the story in the packaging) and penned the story for the movie-musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (for which the Disney veterans Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman penned the songs and music) - no he is also the author of “James and the Giant Peach” which is represented by the giant peach featuring the tiny James as the second “o” in the Google-logo. And that story is actually what reminded me of the connection between Roald Dahl and Disney…

After all the 1961 story of Roald Dahl was made into a motion picture of the same name by Walt Disney Pictures in 1996, featuring a mix of live action and stop motion. Produced by Tim Burton the movie was in a way the “follow up” to the cult-hit “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas” but never reached its predecessor’s success and status - even so Randy Newman (who later penned the scores and songs amongst others for the Disney Pixar movies “Toy Story” and ”Toy Story 2″) with an entertaining score and songs fitting the pleasantly strange story by Roald Dahl. But wouldn’t this anniversary be a great day to watch the movie for the first time (or rewatch it)?? If you do so, take a close look at the skeletons in the pirate ship scene - there is one looking like Jack Skellington from “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas”, while another skeleton features the bill, cap, jacket and voice of Donald Duck!!

And before I get too man e-mails complaining: yes, there is also an earlier connection between Roald Dahl and Disney! Roald Dahl wrote the story “The Gremlins” about little mischievous creatures who later on help the Royal Airforce during the 2nd world war. The story was published in 1943 and optioned by Walt Disney for a movie which was never produced. But the original print run of the book featured beautiful drawings by the artists of the Walt Disney Studios. Being long out of print a year ago a re-print with the original illustrations was issued that is still available from the major retailers such as Amazon (for a look at same of the drawings head over to Jim Hill who did a story about the re-release).

First of all happy Birthday to Hong Kong Disneyland. 2 years young and ready for many more magical years. But Hong Kong Disneyland did have a rocky start and has been negatively in the news on many occasions. From missing key Disney rides to employee issues.

Here is a little list of the last two years of struggles for the park

The park didn’t draw the numbers it needed. The first year it was 400,000 visitors short of the expected 5.6 million. While that might not be to bad Disney already revealed in their quarterly reports that earnings for the second year are disappointing. Low attendance and low spending per guest being the main reasons for the bad numbers. The numbers, if local news media is indeed correct are somewhere near the 4.8 million for the second year. That is another 400,000 les than the year before.

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Remember that 1982 Computer game, special effects, Science Fiction, movie called “Tron”. I sure do, I loved that movie (and still do). Many fans have been waiting for a worthy follow up and it might be that Disney finally decided to give this classic what it disserves; A sequel!

…director Joseph Kosinski is in final negotiations to develop and direct “Tron.” Sean Bailey is producing via the Live Planet banner, as is Steven Lisberger, who co-wrote and directed the original film. Kosinski, who last month signed on to helm the remake of “Logan’s Run” for Warner Bros. Pictures, will oversee the visual development of the project and have input on the script, which is being written by “Lost” scribes Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Story details are being kept secret. (Screenhead)

The news it not new as Disney already announced a Tron movie back in January 2003. Even earlier, on 11 September 2002, fans who picket up de Anniversary DVD could already catch a hint on a possible new move while watching a new documentary especially made for this DVD. Today it looks like we are closer than ever to get a new TRON movie. I cannot wait to see this one!

Picture Copyrights; Disney

All Old Key West Disney Vacation Club members will already recieved their 15 years celebration letter where they are informed that an extension from the 2042 end date can be made to an 2057 end date at an extra cost of $25 per point. (there is talk about certain discounts though). Many forums already talk about the possibility and asks the question what would you do? Extend for longer time in your home resort, or use the amount to get some extra points…

Now, if I would extend I would be… like very old. Sure, I can pass it on to my son, but wouldn’t it be nicer to get some extra points to enjoy now…

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The long awaited Indiana Jones sequel has a name; “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Now all we have to do is wait for it to appear in the theaters. However, as there is still a little while to go before we will get to see it one could wonder if the title is related to a Disney ride, more specifically a ride at DisneySea in Japan. The Crystal Skull has already been used for the Indiana Jones attractions; “Indiana Jones Adventure; Temple of the Crystal Skull“.

So is this a movie… based on a ride… based on a movie?

Will we get to see some sort of a temple of the Crystal Skull in the movie?

Time will tell but I am sure Disney might well be taking advantage of this for some sort of promotional campaign around the ride in Japan… and, as nothing really happen by coincident (not when it is related to such big companies and productions), I am sure this will be done with the agreement of George Lucas.

Picture copyrights LucasFilm

… my god … finally … I couldn’t have waited much longer … the Daytime EMMYs past June didn’t even work as a quick fix for me … I just need my regular awards … big scale awards … worth clogging up this blog together with Andy with endless posts about who won and how well or bad the Walt Disney Company with its various outlets did fare in a particular award season … and now the ball is finally rolling again.

Coming Sunday the 59th Primetime EMMY Awards will be presented in the Shrine Auditorium - and fans have a chance to watch the ceremony on FOX in the US (in Germany the telecast is relayed live on Pro7). So how is Disney poised to do in the 59th Primetime EMMY Awards?

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After the successes of “High School Musical“, “High School Musical 2” and “Jump In” Disney is already looking for their next musical hit. According to TV Guide production has already begun. The new musical is stated to debut in the summer of 2008 and is called Camp Rock. The Jonas Brothers (aka Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas) will star in the movie written by the team of Julie Brown (of Earth Girls Are Easy), Karen Gist (of Disney Channel’s Jump In!), Paul Brown and Regina Hicks. Matthew Diamond (Desperate Housewives) will direct the new movie…

Camp Rock tells the story of Mitchie Lopez, a teenager who dreams of spending her summer enrolled at a prestigious camp for aspiring musicians. Alas, her family can’t afford it, so she takes a job in the camp kitchen just to be close to the action. When she’s overheard singing — but not seen — by teen pop star and camp guest Shane Gray (Joe Jonas), he is completely taken with her and sets out to find the girl behind the beautiful voice. (TV Guide)