Tomorrow, 3th September 2009, Michael Jackson will be laid to rest. His final resting place will be at the Freedom Mausoleum at Glendale where he will be buried next to his idols Walt Disney and Larry ‘Stooge’ Fine.
Jackson was supposed to be entombed at the Forest Lawn’s Great Mausoleum but family members ask for the switch so he could be near the legends he idolized since he was a child.
The Disney Cruise Line exclusive island Castaway Cay is looking to expand for the 2010 summer season. More and bigger beaches, more water fun and more restaurants. With the bigger Disney Dream ship starting to sail in 2011 extra spots are needed for the guests. So it’s no surprise Disney is expanding the options at their private island.
Are you ready to visit some real magical history? Time to order your tickets!
The Walt Disney Family Museum’s website is up and you can now order your tickets for the October opening. For those getting a Museum membership, you could get the opportunity to visit the museum in The Presidio of San Fransisco before the general public during a special preview weekend before the official opening.
Here is another preview, straight from the museum…
Ready for another treat coming straight from the Walt Disney Family Museum? Well here it is. The second gallery will again host some amazing Walt Disney treasures, including the telegram send by Roy to Walt which read “Don’t worry everything OK will give details when arrive”.
There is also picture of the marriage license and certificate of Walt and Lillian and a great drawing of Oswald from 1927. Feast your eyes on these gems in this second preview…
The Walt Disney Family Museum will be opening in October as mentioned in one of the previous blog entries. To long to wait? No worries. The museum is sharing some great pictures in online previews first. Together with the preview they’ll share some information on what the expect in each gallery and we are happy to share the information (provided by the museum) and some selected photos in a “Gallery to Gallery” series. So here is the first part with information on the exhibit’s first gallery, the items that will be displayed and the specific period in Walt Disney’s life depicted in the first gallery:
On the 1st October 2009 the new Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio of San Francisco will open its doors to the general public and the many Disney fans. There will be over 1600 drawings, artwork and exhibits, telling Walt’s story starting from his childhood and of his most wonderful accomplished dreams.
You can follow the museum work and find all information related on the official website (Website will open as from 1st August). If you have a facebook account you can also check out the Museum page on Facebook and you can also visit their Twitter account.
This museum will be an amazing tribute to the man we all come to admire so much. This will be a place full of amazing Walt Disney Gems, something that should not be missed by any Disney fan. Read on for the Fact Sheet and more museum pictures…
There are a couple of things Belgium is famous for, one of them is their chocolates. Leonidas is possibly the most famous Belgium Chocolates brand known all over the world. It has stores everywhere! To widen their range of chocolates they are now offering a new kind of yummies. Together with Disney they created a new box filled with nice chocolates with a Mickey Head form on top them. I have a feeling Minnie loves these chocolates a lot…
Leonidas is proofing to be a very healthy business with a turnover of $423 million dollars. It had a growth of 3%, even in these difficult times. It is expected the company will grow with another 1 to 2% next fiscal year. They have 350 shops in Belgium, 350 in France, 260 more in the rest of Europe, 86 in Asia and In the US there are about 80 shops. Need to find a shop near you to try the new Disney chocolates? Visit their website and “find a store near you”
I have the sad obligation to write the second obituary on the Mousekingdom Blog in less than 24 hours as Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died yesterday at the age of 50 in his home at Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, CA. While the cause of his death has not been confirmed and an autopsy is underway, speculations (also fueled by a statement of the families attorney apparently) indicate medication or maybe a misuse of such could have played a role. Michael Jackson was currently preparing for his comeback concerts planned in London but recent rumors had indicated that he had suffered various injuries and attacks of weakness hampering the rehearsals.
Michael Jackson is certainly remember for what most probably will stay forever the best selling pop album of all times, Thriller, but had various worldwide smash hits around the globe in the course of its career before it faltered in the last years. He started performing professional at the young age of five with his brothers as “Jackson 5″ (who had amongst others the hit “ABC”). Michael Jackson was also one of the best known Disney fans worldwide who frequently visited in particular the original Disneyland as well as the Disneyland Resort Paris, where he signed the underside of the couch table in the Sleeping Beauty suite. A visit of his to the Disneyland Resort Paris in 1992 (opening year) can be seen in the you-tube clip embedded below.
It is time to congratulate the Duck, Donald Duck – happy birthday from everyone here at the Mousekingdom Blog … and thanks for 75 years of fun, laughter, love and entertainment! Today 75 year ago (June 9, 1934) Donald Duck had its big debut as he was first seen in a Disney production and squawked his first words (“Wo? Me? Oh, no, I’ve got a bellyache”) when the short “Wise Little Hen” premiered (and just for trivia specialists: yes, he was mentioned before – in the 1931 Disney book “The Adventures of Mickey”, but he did not appear in the story himself). And what a career he made out of that one line … congratulations!
There are so many highlights in Donald’s career that they can not be mentioned all … so let’s just skip that part and talk about Donald himself. Afterall we all love him for his unique character and especially his (short) temper … as Walt Disney once said “Donald is a duck of distinction” or at another time “an outrageous fellow fellow with bad manners and a worse temper. And everyone is very fond of him, including me” … or as a 1939 character analysis of the Disney story department had it in a bit more detail:
While the countdown to Donal Duck’s 75th Anniversary continues, today it is time to celebrate his eternal love – Daisy Duck! While she made her first step onto the big screen already in 1937 in “Don Donnald” (where she was still billed as “Donna”), her first performance as Daisy Duck was actually in “Mr. Duck Steps Out” that premiered on June 7, 1940 – which would make today her 69th birthday … and as with every lady we certainly chose the birthday which makes her younger
So from everyone here at the Mousekingdom Blog: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAISY!
On May 18th the Disney legend Wayne Allwine passed away. Wayne provided the voice of Disney’s most beloved character Mickey Mouse. He started voicing the character back in 1977 on “The New Mickey Mouse Club” and spoke the “Mickey Mouse” language up to “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-2008).
His career at the Disney Company started even earlier when he started in the Mail room in 1966. After a small stay in the wardrobe department he moved over to the Audio Post Production where he worked for about 7 ½ years. He worked on project like Splash (1984) and Three Men and a Baby (1987) as well as many other project. For his work he received an Emmy Award and the 2 Golden Reef awards.
He married Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse. Both of them where named Disney Legends in 2008.
Wayne was fighting Diabetes and needed a kidney transplant. On May 18th Wayne died as a result of his illness.
Everybody at the Mouskingdom.blog sends their condolences out to the Wayne family.
Thank you for your devoted time you gave to our beloved character.
OK, so before reading this entry make sure to read what Dirk thinks about the D23 club so far in D23 … Step by Step… Done? Good! Now here is what I think about D23…
I became member on day 1, mainly because I am a Disney geek and whatever Disney does I’ll go for it. I love Disney, especially the parks, and when Disney put something on the market they can be sure that my money will leave my pocket and end up in their account. It was no different with D23 and once the site got live (I gazed at the white screen for a couple of times before it did) I got myself the charter membership… Living in Europe it set me back the $120 Dirk already talks about, but I had big hope and wanted to get my hand on some of the exclusive merchandise. Once I got my login information I visited the D23 shop. As a collector of Disney things I wanted to make sure to get the special D23 Tinker Bell Pin. It was the first in a series of ten, a series I was going to collect myself. So I went to the site, clicked on the pin and started to go to the checkout procedure…
The welcome letter to D23 charter members and the charter members' membership card
Following a first of what might become a series of “step by step” reports about Disney’s Official Fan Community “D23″, which was subject of various posts in the past. Even so the pricing without question must be considered as “overpricing” for interested members outside the US (more than 120 $ including postage in Europe) I made – certainly just for the sake of reporting here on the Mousekingdom Blog – the decision to spend the money and bought a membership right away. Afterall I assume as an interested person living outside North America Disney would expect me to be grateful that they are selling me the membership in the first place, since they always turned international buyers down for their (funnily failed) attempt of the Disney yearbook … but back to our D23-topic … so what happened next?
Disney… It’s a passion! We love all things Disney, otherwise we would not have this blog. But this hobby has totally gone of track and pretty much taken over a big chunk of our lives. I am sure I can say that of everybody working on this team.
But we are not alone, and I am sure you all know that, so we finally started a blogroll on Mousekingdom. A blog without a blogroll?… we have been for way to long. But now it’s live and ready to be used and filled up. Something we will do over time, adding all our Disney friends that are all over the web…
For the fans of the Disneyland Resort Paris parks, we have also renewed our News and Rumor site on our DLP.Info website. For news, rumors and other fun things related to the park, make sure to visit the new and updated DLP.Info News blog…
You can also find me on twitter. I have been there for a couple of months and welcomed follower 250 a couple of days ago. If you’re on twitter, come over and visit me on Twitter.
Disney Interactive Studios announced a new game exclusively for the Wii; Toy Story Mania! The game will be based on the theme park attraction “Toy Story Mania”. The Wii adaption will include the quick firing shooting galleries from the rides and will have new scenes too. Also a series of mini games and 3D bonus features will be part of the new game. The game will have a multiplayer option that can invite up to 4 people for “the ride”…
The Wii is a fun console, actually it’s the most fun one I have ever played on. And I am not alone thinking this, even people who seems to react allergic to any console seem to have found something that convert them to game players. I have witnessed some of these “non-believers” myself who can’t see the fun in playing on a console for hours, but are being changed to Wii lovers once they tried it.
Combine this console with a great Disney attreactions equels garantied fun for every one. Can’t wait to see the final result… Now, if you’ll excuss me, I think I’ll go do some Wii bowling now…
Tomorrow, 3th September 2009, Michael Jackson will be laid to rest. His final resting place will be at the Freedom Mausoleum at Glendale where he will be buried next to his idols Walt Disney and Larry ‘Stooge’ Fine.
