Saturday, October 25, 2008

Want to know where to find each day the best Disney theme parks articles ? Discover Disney Report !



I know, each day all of you are desperately searching for great Disney related articles on the web, going from site to site...

Now, there is a great web site who's doing most of the work for you, and it's called: Disney Report at www.disneyreport.com/

Disney Report do just what you can do every day, looking at all unofficial Disney web sites, finding and choosing the most interesting articles, and provide the links to each of them. All you have to do is to click on the links that interest you, and, boom, there you are on the web site you're looking for!

And i must say that the daily "scan" of Disney Report is pretty well done. Not because Disney and more articles regularly appear in their daily choice - but simply because the guys of Disney Report really find each day the not-to-be-missed articles.

So, put the Disney Report web site in your bookmarks as it will surely save you plenty of time next day, and each day to come!

More Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween pictures



Hong Kong Disneyland released more Halloween official pictures, specially of the Halloween parade, and here they are. As usual, double-click on each one to see them in big size, and enjoy them all!









This last picture is about the Halloween merchandise products, and those of you who love "Nightmare before Christmas" should be interested by some of them...... unfortunately only on sale at Hong Kong Disneyland!



All pictures: copyright Hong Kong Disneyland

Friday, October 24, 2008

Tokyo Disneyland Monsters Inc Ride and Go seek - Exclusive pictures by Paul Hsu



Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek is the next major Disney attraction, and it will open officially April 15, 2009 at Tokyo Disneyland Tomorrowland. A real E-Ticket with new WDI technological wonders, and more than 75 Audio-Animatronics inside. In fact, since Pirates of Caribbean at DLP or Sinbad Voyages at TDL, no other attraction had been built with so many Audio-Animatronics... No need to say that Disney and more is waiting for its opening...

I'll come back in details next week to tell you more about the ride itself and what you can expect from Monsters Inc Hide and seek, but in the meantime, let's have a look at the exterior of the building, now totally finished, the palisades were removed recently.

Once again, let's thanks Paul Hsu, Disney and more contributor in Japan for his great pictures.




Some closer shots of the Building...





On the right of the entrance is the attraction shop called "Monsters Inc Company Store"



On the entrance facade is written "It's laughter we're after" - and not "We Scare Because We Care!" as it is written in the movie. We'll see why next week in my next article.



These white "M" are obviously waiting for more details to come, including the name of the sponsor - Panasonic corporation.




This picture, shoot from the other side of the monorail track is interesting as it gives you an idea of the huge size of the Monsters Inc building.



Let's end with others interesting pictures shoot from a different angle...




All pictures: copyright Paul Hsu - Disney and more

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Discover the Old Faithful Inn, the inspiration for WDW Wilderness Lodge



As i always say, i defy anybody who enter Walt Disney World Wilderness Lodge stunning lobby to don't stop and say: " Wow! ". And it's true that the gorgeous work on this spectacular lobby leaves everybody breathless.

But where the imagineers did found their inspiration for the Wilderness Lodge? This is what we will see today, but first, i want to say a big thanks to Eddie Sotto for his pictures and his exceptional contribution today at Disney and more. Eddie was the show producer of Disneyland Paris Main Street - simply the best Main Street ever built for a Magic Kingdom - and, among many other projects he worked on when he was a WDI imagineer, Eddie was also the creator of the Sci-Fi City project, a new and fantastic vision for Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland.

Recently, Eddie went at Yellowstone Park, Wyoming, at the Old Faithful Inn. And, as we will see, it seems that this Old Faithful Inn was the source material in many ways for WDW's Wilderness Lodge. Note that the Yellowstone Park also inspired many years ago Disneyland now extinct attraction "Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland".



The pictures below - a mix of Eddie's photos of the Old Faithful Inn and official pictures of the Wilderness Lodge will show you how the Old Faithful Inn was inspirational for WDI Imagineers. But as usual, they didn't made a simple "copy" of the original. Although the Old Faithful Inn is beautiful, i think it's fair to say that the imagineers transcend it to give us an even more spectacular version of this 100 years old hotel.

A bit of history, first: The Old Faithful Inn, located in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, was built by architect Robert Reamer, an architect for the Great Northern Railway. The structure is the largest log hotel in the world - possibly even the largest log building in the world.

With its spectacular log and limb lobby and massive (500-ton, 85-foot) stone fireplace, the inn is a prime example of the "Golden Age" of rustic resort architecture, a style which is also known as National Park Service Rustic. It is also unique in that it is one of the few log hotels still standing in the United States.

Initial construction was carried out over the winter of 1903-1904, largely using locally-obtained materials including lodgepole pine (the bark was later removed in 1940) and rhyolite stone. When the Old Faithful Inn first opened in the spring of 1904, it boasted electric lights and steam heat.

The Inn has been expanded and modified several times. In 1913 the East Wing was added to the 120-room original structure, and in 1922 the dining room was enlarged. In 1927-1928 the West Wing was built, and the front of the main building extended.

The facility was closed for the duration of the Second World War and on August 17, 1959 the Old Faithful Inn was shaken by the Hebgen Lake earthquake which collapsed the dining room fireplace chimney and damaged the huge lobby fireplace. The Old Faithful Inn was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The first pictures below show the Old Faithful Inn exterior...





...and the Wilderness Lodge building.



Here is some views of the Old Faithful Inn lobby, with its huge fireplace chimney...




And here is the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge, also with a huge chimney.




A close-up on the chimney of the Old Faithful Inn...



...and the one of the Wilderness Lodge.




Another view from another angle of the Old Faithful Inn...



...And one of the Wilderness lodge.



When we look at the ceiling, it's amazing how all these logs were assemble together one hundred years ago.



A view from almost the same angle, shoot at Christmas at the Wilderness Lodge.



One of the restaurants of the Old Faithful Inn...




...And the Whispering Canyon Cafe and the Artist Point Restaurant at the Wilderness Lodge.




But there is something else that the Old Faithful Inn and the Wilderness Lodge share together: geysers! the Old Faithful Inn got his name, precisely, from the "Old Faithful" geyser which erupt regularly nearby...





The Wilderness Lodge also have a geyser, but it's an "imagineering-made" geyser!



As you saw, it's quite obvious that the Old Faithful Inn was the inspiration for WDI imagineers when they've designed the Wilderness Lodge. But as i've said at the beginning, it's also true that Imagineering did with the Wilderness Lodge a new version of unbelievable grandeur. This last picture, a beautiful sunset shot of the Wilderness Lodge, is a perfect example of what i mean.



Old Faithful Inn pictures: copyright Eddie Sotto ( except pictures 3 and 8 from the top )

Wilderness Lodge pictures: copyright Disney

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Don't know yet if you want to see " Bolt " ? Have a look at these movie clips below !



Another new movie clip from the awaited Bolt animated was released yesterday, and here is a collection of the different Bolt movie clips . If you don't know yet if you will go to see this new Disney animated next month, this should help you. But warning! these videos below are great, but of course full of spoilers...

Okay, if you're still reading,here is first the official trailer to have a basic idea of the story-line. I remember you that Bolt is the story of a dog
who plays a heroic dog in a hit TV show and has some trouble recognizing that he doesn't really have superpowers in the real world.



The movie clip below is the last one released yesterday, where Bolt meets pigeons in New York City. in this funny sequence, the pigeons swear they know him from somewhere, but cannot figure it out...



If you want to watch only one of these movie clips, watch this next one! Called "the chase", it's a sequence from one of bolt's TV episodes and it's just as spectacular as an action sequence from a good summer blockbuster movie!



In this last video, you'll see another sequence from Bolt's TV episodes as well as another clip of Bolt and his friends in the "real life", trying to rescue the cat character.



Picture and all videos: copyright Disney