Mousekingdom Blog

According to a rumor on Screamscape Disney might be looking at leveling the former River Country to make room for a new Disney Resort Hotel. This is the first rumor we hear about it. With the current situation and the recession I wonder if Disney would set this step at this time. On the other hand Disney isn’t doing to bad in these times and a new hotel on this wonderful location could well be a great addition.

Personally I would rather see River Country being brought back to live. I never had the chance to see it. It looks like it was a real nice place to relax. Check out these nice pictures and stories about the water park here!

So I go away for a week on a non Disney holiday and didn’t find the time to add any Disney magic on the blog during the trip. I did get to visit the comic shop in Hasselt (Belgium), Magische Poort (The Magic Gate) to get my Disney fix. If you’re ever in Belgium, make sure to visit them. (Molenpoort 5 bus 2 – 3500 Hasselt)

So, now I’m back it’s time to get back on the Disney train with the Disney news and fun. So what did I miss on this week? Disney tickets getting more expensive again. I’m sure you all know about this already so I wont bore anybody with my thoughts on this, but I do ask myself how they can higher them way above average index growth every year. I guess we Disney addicts can’t help ourself and will keep on paying the price. If we keep on going in this pace we will hit the $100 for a day ticket very soon though…

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It’s almost that time of the year again; The San Diego Comic Con. As usual there is a big list of exclusives that will only be sold at the convention (until they start to pop up on eBay). Here you’ll find a full list of everything exclusive Disney related.

Let’s start with Boom Studios. They are the people who bring you Pixar and Disney comics on a montly basis. Especially for the convention they added some real gems to their collection. They will have 3 blank cover comic books. These books can be used to have artist at the convention drawn something on it. Those books and the art on it makes them one of a kind. There will be a Toy Story #5 Get-A-Sketch, Cars #7 Get-A-Sketch and a The Muppet Show #7 Get-A-Sketch comic book. These three books will have a limited production run of only 500 copies each and will be sold for $20 a piece. This is without the artists drawings on it. Those that would like a drawing will need to queue with one of the artist and might have to pay another premium to get the art on the book.

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As reported by the iPhoneBlog.de (in German) and confirmed on the (English language) company blog of Tapulous The Walt Disney Company has bought Tapulous, the developer studio of Bart Decrem, located in Palo Alto. Tapulous is responsible for the popular series of Tap-Tap games for the iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices and has – according to their own statement – reported 35 million downloads of “Tap Tap Revenge Classic” its flagship title. (more…)

This could be interesting news, the Oriental Land company is thinking about working together with Disney on the Shanghai park. The oriental Land company has been very successful operating the Tokyo Disney Resort. For example; they got the amazing DisneySea park out there and they are making a good profit on the Tokyo park! Disney on itself isn’t doing so good on their other non US parks, so bringing in the Oriental Land company in the mix might be a good idea.

The Oriental Land company is now talking with Disney about the planned Shanghai park. This would give the Oriental Land Company new growth possibilities.

Logo picture copyrights OLC group

Are you ready to move and live inside the boundaries of Walt Disney World? This is your chance as Disney unveiled Golden Oak, a place where they will build private homes for those that would want to live in the middle of the magic. The magic comes with a hefty price tag of a minimum of $1.5 million and goes up to $8 million for one of the thirty homes that will go on sale this year. The homes are designed by the Disney Imagineers and will be build in a gated community.

Over the years a total of approximately 450 homes are planned to be build at the Golden Oak project. Living inside the boundaries of Walt Disney World… it doesn’t get any more magical. Time to play the lottery.

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You can’t say Oscars without thinking about the Razzie Awards. While Disney/Pixar with UP is going for the big one at the Oscars, the Jonas brothers will have to defend their honors at the Razzies. Although they might be less happy with the nominations. The Razzies celebrate the worst of 2009 movie year and the Jonas Brothers are nominated in two of the categories. All three Jonas brothers are nominated for Worst Actor of 2009 and “Any Two (or More)” are also nominated for Worst Screen Couple of 2009. Both nominations are for The Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Experience. In the second category they are up against Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox OR Any Transformer. Talking about major competition…

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The OSCAR nominations have been made public and “UP” is going for the big one. “UP” has been, as was rumored before, nominated for the Best Picture award. This time the competition is even more fierce as the years before as for the first time since 1943 10 movies will have to battle it out to win the prestigious movie award. The other nominees are “Avatar”, “The Blind Side”, “District 9″, “An Education”, “The Hurt Locker”, “Inglourious Bastards”, “Precious”, “A Serious Man” and “Up in the Air”. It will not be an easy task for “UP” with a powerful list like this.

The more obvious nomination for “UP” is in the “Best Animated Feature” category. Here it is up against “Caroline”, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Secret of Kells”.

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Once Disney bought Marvel it was to be expected Universal would be used in the same article more than once. It’s even possible to open it with the three names in the first sentence. They will be linked with each other from now one, something not everybody might like, but unavoidable. Unsurprisingly the three names in one article will refer to the difficulties the new deal of Disney buying Marvel will be for the Universal theme Park. The question of what will happen to Marvel Super Hero Island was one of the first to pop up on many forums. No worries there, as most people already know, Marvel and Universal had signed a contract about 15 years ago where Universal had the sole right to use the characters in a theme Park. This contract has now been inherited by Disney when they bought Marvel and can’t be change. And if it could be change, would they want to? (at this time). The royalties that need to be paid for the use of the licensed characters is a nice bonus for the Walt Disney Company.

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Disney’s love for Hawaii is no big secret. They just announced the name of their latest Disney Resort; Aulani a Disney Resort and Spa. The resort will include hotel rooms, Disney Vacation Club Villas, meeting rooms and wedding facilities. Aulani translates as “the place that speaks for the great ones” or “the place that speaks with deep messages.”

Captain Jack Sparrow might not be staying at the resort, but he will be in Hawaii where the fourth movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean will be shot.

“We’ve always sought out the most extraordinary and exotic locations … Hawaii provides an amazing range of both land and seascapes, and we’re delighted to return for ‘On Stranger Tides,’” Bruckheimer said in a statement.  (Seattle Times)

Will the Hawaiian scenery will have something to do with it and will provide beautiful backgrounds there is another reason why to location has been picked.

… what made the difference was the combination of Hawaii’s tax incentive, as well as support from the film and travel industries. (Seattle Times)

Picture Copyrights Disney

Jay Rasulo has been the big man for Disney’s park and resort business for the last seven years and can look back on a successful run. He has been leading the park devision into boosting sales with the new Magic you Way tickets and the Magical Express, expanding the Cruise Line with two more ships and can end his span in a high note with the Shanghai park deal. Not everything when as smooth as he might have hoped for, Hong Kong Disneyland for instance could not get the guests in Disney wanted, but overall Rasulo can look back and pass the torch to his successor with pride.

Rasulo said his approach was “based on making our existing destinations the strong ambassadors of the parks-and-resorts brand that they could be, whether through investment, pricing strategy, marketing strategy.” (Orlando Sentinel, the Daily Disney)

Disney’s $4.2 billion bet to take over Marvel is coming to its completion. The acquisition should be finalized this week. Disney will have access to 5000 Marvel character they’ll be able to use in movies and other project. Unfortunately some famous Marvel character have already long term deals with other movie companies, Disney is a master in turning the unknown in a success giving those “lesser” know characters the chance to shine in their spotlight.

As a long time Marvel and comic fanatic I looked at the top 10 character or team possibilities to be turned into a Disney Marvel project. I tried to avoid those characters already having a movie or that have been announced, but that was more difficult as I thought. There is a big list to choose from and it’s not been easy to pick my personal 10, but have a look and see what you think or let us know what you would put in the list.

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Disney has show interest in the TV subscription plan from apple. If rumors are correct apple wants to reinvent the television as we know it with offering TV subscription via their iTunes platform. It’s no surprise Disney has shown interest in this as they where the first to come on board when iTunes offered movie and TV content.

Apple would like to offer a $30 per month iTunes TV subscription where costumers would get the chance to see a collection of TV channels. Others interested in the online TV serve is CBS. This would be a new step for iTunes who normally offers individual shows for a flat fee.

The big problem for Apple would be convincing other companies to join in on this new venture. Mayor networks might have difficulties setting up another platform for their programs without angering the traditional cable providers. Those might not want to give away some of their costumers through this new platform.

Roy Edward Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney, has died after loosing his battle against cancer. He died this morning. Roy has been a protector of the Disney brand, first helping his brother Walt to build the company and later in revolting against the powers  of two of the company’s chief executives from the Disney company. Roy has fought hard for the Disney values set by his brother over the years. Some of these battles brought great and wonderful results for the Disney company and himself. He has been the driving force to convince the company to invest in new technology for their animation department. He work on the new Fantasia movie and devoted 20 years of his life on making nature movies.

He will be truly missed, but remembered by many. Thank you Roy, for looking after the Disney magic.

Tron: Evolution is the new Tron game  in the making from Disney and will act as a prequel to the upcoming 3D movie Tron: Legacy. The game was revealed during the Spike Video Game Awards this weekend. It’s developed by Propaganda Games and will be released in the 2010. The game will be available on PC, PS3 and the Xbox 360.

GameTrailers has a fantastic preview trailer online where you can see 2 Tron Characters battling with the discs and a short light cycle sweetener. I predict my PS3 to run hot on this game for months! While I can easily put my controller to the side on any game I am not so sure if I will be able to do the same once I get my hands on this game.

I’ve always been a fan of the old Tron arcade game and left lots of change in the machine! I hope this new game will do the old one justice. Of course I am not talking about the graphic as they already look incredible on the preview.