Mousekingdom Blog

For a Disney geek like me it would be a dream to live near Walt Disney World (something that might still happen somewhere in the future, just not right now for multiple reasons). For sure I am not the only one who would love to own a house near the magic so home are getting build around the park. Celebration is the most known Disney-like community, but a new one will be added to this exclusive family as Disney will free some of their land for development. It will not be for all of us because the price will be high for the planned luxury houses.

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Imagine you could own a piece of Disney animated art for only a couple of dollars! This was the case back in the 1960 when fans could buy the art in Disneyland for only a couple of dollars. Today this original art would make more into the region on $20.000 to $30.000.

Nearly 5 decades ago Disney shipped some of its 1959 animated movie Sleeping Beauty artwork to Japan. It was presented to the public at Mitsukoshi Department Store and toured to another16 stores after that. Once the exhibition finished the artwork stayed in Japan, locked away for most of the time, an “almost” forgotten treasure.

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TEA and ERA published their annual report on amusement attendance for year 2007 and to nobodies surprise Disney dominates the list again. The top 25 of the world has 10 places reserved for Disney parks. Even better then that, the first 8 places are Disney park.

1 MAGIC KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA 17,060,000
2 DISNEYLAND, Anaheim, CA, USA 14,870,000
3 TOKYO DISNEYLAND, Tokyo, Japan 13,906,000
4 TOKYO DISNEYSEA, Tokyo, Japan 12,413,000
5 DISNEYLAND PARIS, Marne-La-Vallee, France 12,000,000
6 EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA 10,930,000
7 DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena V 9,510,000
8 DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL 9,490,000

And the other 2 parks also in the top 25 are at place 13 DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, Anaheim, CA, USA 5,680,000 and at place 21 HONG KONG DISNEYLAND, Hong Kong, SAR, China 4,150,000.

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August 1, 2007 The Walt Disney Company proudly announced that it had acquired “Club Penguin” an online virtual world targeting kids, which at that point already had won over700,000 paying subscribers since its launch only in October 2005 (see press release regarding the acquisition). The price tag: $-US 350 million plus another $-US 350 million if certain predefined earning targets would be met.

I had forgotten about that since I really fall not into the target audience of the site (age 6 to 14) … until I found an interesting overview of the development of social networking sites on Mashable. The interesting observation: while Club Penguin managed to increase the number of unique visitors in a comparison of February 2007 to February 2008 by 46% percent (quite good) it had to deal with an impressive reduction of the time each user spent on the side: down 80% (!) from 45:37 min to just 9:04 min. To me that is strange - and if correct shocking. Afterall in February 2007 Club Penguin did not yet have any Disney material to use nor could it use the creative minds of Disney, but by February 2008 it could use Disney content and make use of the creative minds of TWDC. So what did happen here? Anyone with a clue? Anyone who has subscribed to the site for his kids? We’d love to hear from you with a few comments or even a short report!

Already explained how I feel Disney is missing the opportunity to get more European visitors in the previous Dollar vs Euro blog entry I wanted to take the time and take it even a little further, proofing that the Disney Company should really look into getting those Europeans to their parks. The European market is a big one, one that could generate a lot of extra guests and money. Other players on the market will not wait for the European to find out about their offers, they’ll make sure to make themselves noticed on that market. Look at Dubai (again), will they wait and only try to fulfill there goal by only targeting the Arabic world? I don’t think so. The European market will be a big one for them and they will make enough advertisement around the whole of Europe to make sure they will visit their new parks.

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About a month ago rumors popped up on the internet about a possible new Disney experience for Walt Disney World. While I didn’t talk about the “Night Kingdom” on the blog myself yet, I did try to follow and get informed about the possible new project. Rumors , forums and news sites talked about a new gate or experience during night time where a possible encounter with animals would be the central concept. Animal Kingdom quickly became the rumored park that would be a nightly experience where a more adult orientated public, with a little more than your normal average to spend, would be the target audience.

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The travel industry is doing good business. It’s a trend that seems to be a standard all over the world. Even while “normal life” is getting more expensive. Most people with regular jobs are not able to save anymore, so the little extra they have might as well be spend on a couple of weeks holiday. Of course, this doesn’t count for everybody, but it does seems like a trend at the moment.

While the travel industry isn’t doing to bad it’s the Disney parks that are really proofing how people will still spend there little extra they have to enjoy some fun. The numbers have been good for most of the Disney Theme parks (let’s leave the troubled Hong Kong park out of the list for the moment) and it doesn’t look like the trend will stop.

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It’s part of the business - and part of the real world: just as brands are ubiquitous in today’s world (just look around your desk, there is a brand on your monitor, your keyboard and many other items lying around) so are they in the movies. The only difference between the movies and the real world: movie producers in some cases get paid to present certain brands and their products in a favorous position. Sure, not all brands popping up in a movie (or tv series) might actually be paid for product placements as some might just be necessary in a director’s view to present ouor real world corrently, but quite a few are paid for.

Anyway, everytime a brand pops up on the screen (whether paid for or not) influences the image of the brand and how we as viewers recognize it. Therefore it is really interesting to see which brands show up in which movie. BrandChannel.com does a great job with this in its weekly BrandCameo category for the movies ruling the US box office. Right now there are two Disney features in the list…
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This might be old news (really old news, in fact news from 2004) but I came across it only today and just had to share it: in 2004 the (at least) third child born in the USA was named after Disney’s sports network: ESPN - to be pronounced as Espen in the boy’s name. Prior to Rebecca and Michael McCall naming their son ESPN Malachi McCall, a couple had named their son “Espn Curiel” in 2000 in Chorpus Christi and enother boy in Michigan had been named “Espen Blondeel” in the same year. According to a report on the website of ESPN the McCalls actually got they idea to name their son ESPN by hearing about another couple naming their boy after the Disney sports network.

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Can I have Your Credit Card Number Please? How often do you get asked that? And how often do we give it without thinking about the risks attached to it? Especially when you’re at Walt Disney World, do you expect to be conned by a scam artist. (they really should find another name for them as they are NO artist.)

Unfortunately since a couple of weeks people are being scammed while they are at WDW.

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Dubai has been putting itself on the map big time! To become the biggest vacation destination they have already surprised us many time. If it is the islands they build, or the amazing theme parks that are announced, it all sounds awesome. Next on the list; Shamu! (See Previous Entry from Dirk “Where can you find Seaworld and Universal”

On The Palm Jebel Ali on the section known as “the Crown”, 4 new parks will be build in one big resort; “Worlds Of Discovery” including SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens, and Discovery Cove. The resort will be on the tip of the palm and will be in the form of “Shamu”.

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Jan van Morkhoven, Sales Representative of Maurer Söhne, the builders and creators of the Crush’s Coaster track in the Walt Disney Studios in Paris, said in an interview he gave at the Euro Attractions Show 2008 in Nice, France that Disney was very happy with the coaster. (The show took place from 23 to 25 January) He also said something else that is very interesting…

“The where very, very happy with what we made for them. We will be making more for them. They will be back”

While he doesn’t say what they’ll be back for, we can start speculating; Will they make clones of Crush in other parks or are we going to see some of the other spectacular Maurer rides appear in a Disney park.. Visit the Parksmania website to see the interview, including some footage of other Maurer coasters.

Would you like to own a Disney hotel? How about the Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club resort? It is possible!

Well, maybe not the real deal, but you can get your hands on the original 1/32″ Scale Model Prop used to present the resort in full details before building it at Walt Disney World.

The model looks amazing with stunning details and beautifully presented. A unique one of a kind Disney collectible. Starting bid is $49.999 and comes with a trip to Walt Disney world (staying at the big version of the offered resort) to see the model at the Mousesurplus warehouse before it gets shipped to you anywhere in the US.

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Is Disney looking to expand in Sydney? It could be! Disney might be interested in a piece of Sydney’s Harbor. Could the working port near the Anzac Bridge called White Bay be one of Disney’s next ventures? There seem to have been talks between the government and Disney not to long ago but nothing more is known at this time.

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After a good night rest it was time for the General Shareholders Meeting. Now, there where a lot of numbers they talked about. Especially those that gone up; more visitors, more rooms booked, more spending per person, more cash flow, and so on. Only during the Questions and Answer session did we get to hear some other things and issue that some shareholders had. Will shareholders ever get dividends, what will happen when Euro Disney S.C.A. Has to start paying back its Hughes depths in 2011 but Karl Holz always had an answer ready, even if this answer was always the same, that they made a big positive result, that they are on the right track and that this is the track Disney management is going to follow for the future.

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On my last Walt Disney World trip I could see the Disney Tree house villas when I floated on the transportation boat from Old Key West to the Downtown Disney. It looked like a fun place to stay, but at that time it looked like it was something that was going to be lost to the Disney fans. The villas are closed since 2001 (after 09/11) and have only been used as private residences for Disney’s International and College Program Cast Members after that. Although Disney has been looking in re-opening the villas as from 2002, it could not be done without following some tight rules regarding the “Warren S. Henderson Wetlands Protection Act” legislation of 1984. The Villas are located on protected wetlands where any additional construction is prohibited.

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Empire Film Group, Inc. has planned a movie about the life from the Muppet creator Jim Henson. Production of the new movie might start late summer with a budget of $30 million.

“Jim Henson is one of the best known and most beloved entertainers of all time,” said Parkinson. “His story is inspiring, tragic, heartwarming and epic, and will make for an important and entertaining motion picture. This is the sort of movie that Empire will be pursuing as we build the company into a leading independent studio.” (ComingSoon.net)

Although a biographical movie about Jim Henson will be very interesting, as a Disney fan it will be interesting to see how much of the Henson/Disney deal we will get to see in the movie. In 1990 Jim Henson did talk to the Disney company about selling the rights but he died the week before the deal was going to be closed. The Henson family kept the rights in the family until 2000 when the children of Jim decided to sell the rights to a German company “EM.TV.”. After EM.TV.’s financial problems the rights where bought back by the Henson children in 2003, but only a year later they sold the rights of the Muppets (and Bear in the Big Blue House) characters to the Disney Company.

After the success of The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy it doesn’t come to a surprise that Disney is trying to turn more of their attractions into a new and future movie concepts.

We know about the Jungle Cruise project (planned for a 2007 release but after different delays and changes being prosponed for a later date) being one of them, but now Disney has registered some new domain names that are very interesting (or not, depending how you like the idea of Disney attractions turning into movies)

BIGTHUNDERMOUNTAIN-MOVIE.COM
BIGTHUNDERMOUNTAINMOVIE.COM
THUNDERMOUNTAIN-MOVIE.COM
THUNDERMOUNTAINMOVIE.COM

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One of my favorite characters you’ll find in my personal top three is Tigger. Not only do I love Tigger, I am very fond of Pooh himself too. Can you imagine the faces of the people visiting us when they saw 4 pooh bears sitting in our sofa but no children in the house? Pooh is still there, but now, with my son running around in the house, people see it as normal. With pooh being close to my heart it hurts too see him being used abusively on a cover from a Belgium magazine. The magazine Humo is using him for an article related to “near death experiences”. Unfortunately Pooh is being portrait with a hammer in his hand pounding on Piglet. Including in the cartoon you see the blood flowing because of the impact of the blows given to piglet by his “friend”.

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Here is your chance to be part of the next High School Musical movie; send your resume with a good picture to the following address. Good luck to everybody!

Jason LaPadura
LaPadura/Hart Casting
100 Universal City Plaza
MT 6149
Universal City CA 91608

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