Mousekingdom Blog

As several readers (Thank You!) of the coverage for the return of “Captain EO” to Disneyland Paris on DLP.info have pointed out the official blog for the Disney Parks, operated by The Walt Disney Company, has just provided the  first official, public(!) confirmation for the return of “Captain EO” to both, EPCOT and Disneyland Paris!

The post event releases what at this point should be the official opening dates. Based on the blog guests of EPCOT will be able to visit Mickey Jackson fighting for peace and love as of July 2, while guests at Disneyland Paris only need to wait till June 12 (so even earlier than the prior rumored June 25 date). For Tokyo the opening according to the post is June 30, however, the official press release of Tokyo Disney Resort listed July 1st as opening date. (more…)

The musical space adventure starring Michael Jackson in the 3D movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola featuring two original songs by Michael Jackson and a score by James Horner has been attracting guests at the original Disneyland in Anaheim, USA, in droves since it returned as “Captain EO Tribute” earlier this year to replace (temporarily) the aging “Honey, I Shrunkt the Audience” movie (short: HISTA). Also reports on various websites indicate that the merchandise (even so limited in scope) is flying off the shelves.

Therefore, fans who had wondered about a possible return of the movie to the other Disney parks it originally played in were wondering, whether or when the resorts in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris would follow the lead of Anaheim. The answers are now coming in. Disneyland Paris will close its Imagination Institute showing HISTA according to a leaked internal memo on May 3rd to start the transformation and then open “Captain EO” either in mid-June or July (for details check out our coverage on DLP.info).

On Monday, local time, the Oriental Land Company as operator of the Tokyo Disney Resort also confirmed with a press release that it will close HISTA as of May 10th for the return of” Captain EO”. Note that the press release does only speak of “Captain EO” – the “Tribute” tag-on used by Disneyland Anaheim isn’t mentioned here (btw neither is the leaked internal memo from Disneyland Paris). While Disneyland only stated that the run of the movie would be limited, Tokyo Disney Resort announces exact dates. Apparently the show will only be featured from July 1st, 2010 till June 30th 2010. As the resort expects high guest demand and the 17 minute movie is shown in a theater with just 369 seats they will even offer FastPass service for it! For comparison: the Magic Eye Theater at Disneyland Anaheim (in which the movie plays) has seats for 575 guests, the theaters at Disneyland Paris and EPCOT each about 600 seats.

This only leaves Walt Disney World as the final remaining Disney resort in which “Captain EO” was originally featured… (more…)

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:

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Instrumental music playing through (more or less) hidden speakers placed all over the Disney theme parks and even the areas outside the theme parks accessible to guests in the Disney resorts is one of the key elements in setting the atmosphere and making sure guests are totally immersed in the world of Disney. Frequently guests do not even notice the music except unconsciously as it is (mostly) cleverly selected for the different areas to fit the theme of each area. However, once it is noticed guests frequently fall in love with the music selections and enquire with cast members in the area or (in the Disneyland Park) City Hall whether the music is available for sale in the park. Unfortunately the answer is mostly no – even so in particular at the Disneyland Resort Paris CD releases such as “Frontierland en musique” and “Disneyland Resort Paris en musique” at least include a few selected background / area music tracks.

The problem with the majority of the background / area music however is, that it is not recorded specifically for Disney but is so called “needle drop” material, meaning tracks taken directly from other (in most cases: commercially available) record releases. So one would hope, that the resorts are maybe able, to provide a list which tracks are playing in which area (in other words: in which music loop) and from which sources they are. However, the information cast members have at their disposal is very limited in msot cases. This certainly does apply to the Disneyland Resort Paris. Therefore, one of the frequent questions asked on the web is: “Which music is playing in the background loop at ____? Anyone knowing where I can get it?” Luckily there is an answer as far as where to get the information…

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Remember the Sofia Coppola movie “Lost in Translation”? The one where a beautifull Scarlet Johanson meets Bill Murray in Tokyo? Well, then you might also remember the scene in a Karaoke bar, where Japanese men are  singing Punk Jap songs jumping around while Bill Morray looks on with a face that clearly states ”what am I doing here”? Kind of the same happened to me today!

You see I am touring my Asian partners / offices and am currently in Singapore, ready to head to Hong Kong tommorrow night – guess where I am going to stay - before traveling on to Osaka (with side tour to USJ) and finally Tokyo (with 3 nights in TDR). Anyway, back to the story. My Singapore partner took me for a drink (“tea please”) after work – hic choice: a Karaoke bar … full of Asian guys singing Karaoke songs in Mali, Chinese etc. But where is the Disney connection you are now wondering? Read on after the break for that!

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And so the work begins again. After a near-18 month break from the Paris version of The Mouse, we were back in Marne La Vallee recently to start the process of updating the Brit Guide to Disneyland Paris for 2010.

It’s probably not a moment too soon, as well. With Mickey’s Magical Party about to start – the latest in the seemingly never-ending array of marketing promotions geared around making the resort somehow ‘new’ or ‘relevant’ – it is highly appropriate to look at just what lies in store in the world’s second-largest Disney resort.
With it not being as familiar to us as Walt Disney World in Orlando, it is a valuable exercise to evaluate it in ‘big picture’ terms. In many ways, it is the same – but not the same.

Disney with a French accent has always been an unusual proposition and, even 17 years later, there are still things that just don’t ‘translate’ from the American to the European. Standards of cleanliness are one of them. Which is not to say ‘EuroDisney’ is dirty (although Susan would raise a big question mark to that statement over the ladies toilets in the Hotel Santa Fe!), just that there is not the same sense of scrupulous attention to detail around the parks, restaurants and hotels.

Then there is the fact the Disneyland Park bears a lot of similarities to Orlando’s Magic Kingdom, but many of those similarities are largely superficial. Yes, the ‘lands’ are basically the same, but it is easy to take a wrong turn in DLP on the assumption it is the same as in the Sunshine State.

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Last year’s visit of the Disney Cruise Line to the Mediterranean wasn’t much of an event for the European markets. Sure DLRP did do a small event in Spain but due to the selection of invited press the event pretty much turned into a non-event. What could have been the big entry of the Disney Cruise Line into Europe’s booming cruise market (especially Germans are more and more turning to this type of vacations) and could also have opened a new market for DLRP of guests combining a Disney cruise with a visit to DLRP just didn’t do anything.

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I was keen to check out the new Crush’s Coaster ride at the Walt Disney Studios recently as I had heard a lot of positive feedback about this imaginative (and much-needed) addition to the park’s attractions.

But I wasn’t at all prepared for the huge scrum that developed as soon as the Studio 1 doors opened and virtually everyone headed straight for the new ride.

Andy de Maertelaere had warned me that I needed to head here first if I didn’t want to wait in long lines later in the day. It is nothing new for the latest ride to become ‘the’ big draw at any park.

Yet no previous park experience compared with that first mad dash into the new-look Toon Studios area, and the crush (no pun intended) that built up around the entrance was truly appalling.

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CNN Money reports about an article of Bahrain’s al-Waqt newspaper which based on un-identified sources states that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is supposed to be in talks with potential investors to build an $8 billion Disneyland theme park in Bahrain based on existing Disney theme park concepts and to be called tentatively “Disney Bahrain”. While the report does give no indications wether The Walt Disney Company is directly involved in the talks it names Kuwait Finance House, the Gulf’s second-largest Islamic bank by market value, and Bahraini institutions as being among the potential investors targeted in the talks. According to CNN Money Kuwait Finance House in Bahrain declined to either confirm or deny the report, while the spokeswoman for the prince could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Bahrain’s Economic Development Board and a spokesman for the state-owned Mumtalakat Holding Company said they had not heard of the deal.

According to a report of Reuters on the other hand The Walt Disney Company denied any involvment in such talks. A spokesperson is cited as explicitely stating the company “is not in talks to build a theme park in Bahrain.”

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Considering Finding Nemo is Disney/Pixar’s biggest animated hit to date (and is second only to Shrek in animation terms on the all-time worldwide box office list), it is only natural the film should provide the inspiration for a new generation of Disney attractions, of which The Seas with Nemo and Friends at the Epcot park is the latest example.

Glossing over for a minute the subject of whether The Living Seas pavilion deserved to be renamed after a film, this latest use of the Nemo brand to enliven Disney attractions – following on from Turtle Talk with Crush, also in the same pavilion last year, the soon-to-open Finding Nemo: The Musical show at the Animal Kingdom, and the under-construction Crush’s Turtle Twister at Disneyland Paris – is a fascinating development.

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[Studio Tram Tour at Walt Disney Studios, Disneyland Resort Paris]

(Moon over Mainstreet U.S.A, Disneyland Parc Paris)

(Dumbo at Disneyland Resort Paris)