Disneyland turns 55

The Happiest Place on Earth will be of age to be considered a Senior Citizen this Saturday, July 17!

To celebrate, Disneyland will be distributing these special retro park maps all week long. And on the 17th, the park will be doing special things throughout the day.

At noon, a dedication ceremony will take place in Town Square, and at 4:15 p.m. cast members will sing Happy Birthday.

From 9-11 a.m. the Disney Gallery (now located on Main Street) will hold a signing for their 55th anniversary merchandise with artists Kevin Kidney, Jody Daily, and Noah.

The merchandise was inspired by original items found throughout the park when it first opened, such as the popcorn boxes and cups. Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily re-created said items out of ceramic. There's also a nice little tea cup set designed after the Mad Hatter's Tea Party attraction.






[all photos courtesy of Disney Park Blog & Kevin Kidney]

Happy Birthday, Ducktales!

On this very day in 1987, Disney's Ducktales made its television debut.

They don't make 'em like this anymore. ::sigh::

June 18, 2010

Save the date!

Curiouser and curiouser . . .

[photo courtesy of Disney, as seen in D23]

During this year's ShoWest, which took place March 30 - April 2,  Disney announced that Tim Burton's live action/CGI adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will be released next year on March 5 in Disney 3D and IMAX. 

Alice in Wonderland done by Tim Burton + 3D + IMAX = a friggin' E P I C movie. 

Here's the working synopsis for the film (from IMDB):

Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice) attempts to work his gothic magic over one of the best loved stories of all time... Lewis Carroll's 'Alice In Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There,' which first told the story of a young girl, who after following a rabbit down a hole, is transported to a strange world. Whilst the Disney version of the tale relied on sweetness and light to delight the audience, Burton fans can be sure to look out for the same cartoon traits as earlier masterpiece 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. 

The Princess and the Frog

[video courtesy of Disney]

When I heard Disney was shutting down their 2D animation stations back in 2004, I was like, "Noooooooooo!" Much to my joy, not too long after (2006-ish, I think) they announced they'd be returning back to their 2D (and musical) roots with The Princess and the Frog. As many of you know, this is also their first animated feature to have a black princess (Princess Tiana, voiced by Anika Nani Rose).

Here's the official plot synopsis:

A musical set in the legendary birthplace of jazz -- New Orleans -- "The Princess and the Frog" will introduce the newest Disney princess, Maddy, a young African-American girl living amid the charming elegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. From the heart of Louisiana's mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and Cajun charm at every turn.

While skimming through /Film I came across this photo of character art they found from the movie . . . 

[photo taken from /Film]

The Princess and the Frog is set to hit theaters with an early November 25 release to New York and LA, and statewide on December 11.

Oh my gawd, the 5-year old in me is bursting with excitement!

Mary-who? in Wonderland

[photo courtesy of SLG Comics/Disney]

In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the White Rabbit mistook Alice for someone named Maryann. Eighty-six years later, Disney posed the same misunderstanding in it's animated 1951 film adaptation. 

Here's the bit from the movie with the Maryann shenanigans . . .

So who the hell is this Maryann person?

Tommy Kovac unveiled the mystery girl as the White Rabbit's house maid in SLG Publishing & Disney's 6 issue Wonderland comic series, illustrated by Sonny Leiw.

Wonderland takes off where the Disney movie ended -- a Wonderland post Alice in which all it's citizens are obsessed with the "Alice Monster" who's turned their world into an even more topsy-turvy place. The Queen of Hearts is still as pissed as a Jabberwocky and believes the White Rabbit was in cahoots with Alice to take her down. With the Queen's army of cards out to get the Rabbit for treason, Maryann must help save her fluffy-bottomed master for she knows he's innocent. Along the way, more mayhem and curiousities* occur. Wee!

The series finished up last year, but Disney Press recently compiled them into a hardcover graphic novel. Callooh! Callay! How convenient. 

Your's to covet on March 17 (pre-order on Amazon, it's only $13.59).

* I know that's not a real word, nor does it make sense. That's how they roll in Wonderland anyway.

Special sneak peek of UP

[photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar]

Director Pete Docter will be on hand to give fans a peek into Pixar's 10th Disney film "UP" at this year's WonderCon on Saturday, Feb. 28. 

And at 7:30 over at the Metreon (which is near WonderCon's Moscone Center South location), a special screening of the first 45 minutes of "UP" will be shown. Sorry to the public, but this is for WonderCon attendees only. Seating is limited to 250, so be there early if you want in! And make sure you have your badge. Otherwise, you're S.O.L.

For more info, be sure to check out WonderCon's official site.

Mickey gone Tron

[photo courtesy of Medicom]

While watching "Chuck" on DVR a few nights ago, Chuck's sister bashed him for having posters from the 8th grade still up on his wall. The questionable poster was that of Disney's 1982 sci-fi flick "Tron." Upon the reference, it sparked this bit of dialog amongst some of the Goob Tube team . . .

Me: Hmm. I don't think I've ever seen "Tron." 

Carmel: It's stupid.

Ryan: (in the kitchen getting corndogs) WHAT?!

Apparently it's a guy thing. However, I do recall the lightbike scene. 

Regardless on whether you've never seen the movie (like me), don't care for it (like Carmel), or love it (like Ryan), there is no denying how awesome Medicom's Mickey Mouse/Kevin Flynn vinyl figure looks.

Since Medicom's site isn't in English, I can't make out when the toy will be released. But I'm pretty sure some booth at Comic Con will have it on display. And so we wait until July . . .

Until then, here's that aforementioned lightbike scene:

Where's Simba?

I did a bit more snooping about the It's a Small World renovations and came across this video that includes all the Disney characters inside the ride. I'm still not cool with it, but I suppose Disney had a slight clue as to what they were doing.

Like I said in the last post, people either really love or really hate this ride. By adding characters from Disney films, it creates a Where's Waldo kind of experience --  like how many characters can you find? It might even have people wanting to go back on the ride to see if they missed anything. 

Can you stand to watch the video and see who you can find?

[video courtesy of ThemeParkInsider.com]

If ya can't hack the 10 minutes and 50 seconds of saccharine goodness, you can take a look here.

PS: I managed to get through it (I like this ride though) and noticed that no other Disney songs were woven into the ride like I had originally heard. ::phew:: 

It's a Small World gets a (unneeded) facelift

When it comes to Disneyland's It's a Small World attraction, there are no inbetweens . . . you either love it or you hate it. I am not the latter. Sure the song is repetitive, but everything about the attraction is so "feel good." Plus you can never go wrong with anything Mary Blair has input in -- she designed the ride and has done concept art for many Disney films and shorts such as "Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan," and "Cinderella" to name a few.

Next Saturday, Feb. 28, Disneyland will be celebrating the re-opening of It's a Small World, which has been renovated to include characters and music from other Disney films like "Aladdin," "Mulan," and "The Little Mermaid." I am sooo not okay with the latest additions. The ride was fine the way it was, but I digress. 

Artist Dave Avanzino and Small World costume designer Alice Davis will be at the Disneyena shop on Main Street USA inside of Disneyland from 10 a.m. - 12 noon for a special signing of the new product releases that coincide with the re-opening.

Here's a peek at some of the items . . .

Mixed media paper structure by Dave Avanzino, edition of 10 ($800)

India costume based on sketches by Alice Davis ($4,800)

painting by Jimmy Pickering, edition of 50 ($475) or deluxe print ($35)

And of course there's also pins. 

[All photos courtesy of Disney]

Each one is an edition of 1000 and features how the latest additions will be featured in the ride. 

They're cute, but it's just not the same!!! ::sigh::