Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year 2012 !



All my best wishes and a Happy New Year to all of you! I wish you a great New Year's Eve and i'll see you next week with new great updates!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Have some New Year's Eve Magic with 10 Magic Acts in 5 Minutes by Hans Klok & The Divas of Magic



I don't know how it is in your country but not so long ago on French TV there was always a magic show on New Year's Eve. I don't know if there will be one tonight or not but as there shouldn't be a New Year's Eve without a good magic act, i have a good one for you!

And when i mean "one" it's in fact "ten" as a Dutch TV-show challenged magician Hans Klok and the "Divas of Magic" to do as many illusions as possible in 5 minutes. So, Hans Klok came with ten magic acts, all done in less than five minutes, and all the beauty of the performance is not only coming from the magic acts themselves - these are classic but perfectly performed - but from the speed with which Hans Klok is doing them.

Magicians often need to go fast as the speed is part of the beauty of the act and help to hide the trick but it's not as easy as it looks. So, when you have to go really fast on ten magic acts, and that you have less than five minutes, it means a perfect timing and probably quite a lot of prayers that nothing goes wrong! Here, everything worked perfectly and i hope you will enjoy these five minutes of magic!





Want more? What about some magic with a sexy touch - hey, it's New Year's Eve, right? So, here is a bonus video in which Hans Klok "slices"...Pamela Anderson!




Picture and Video: copyright Hans Klok

Disney Planning New Year's Eve Announcement



Apparently, if i can judge by all these clocks ticking in this video, Disney is planning an announcement for today Dec 31. Something big? Probably not, but just like me you'll be curious to know what mean this "one more Disney day". Of course i will let you know, so come back later today!




Video: copyright Disney



Pre-Order now a copy of the Disneyland Paris book collector's edition! All infos to order a copy are HERE, or click on the link at the top of the right column.

Shanghaî Disneyland project moving to the next stage



Good news from Shanghaî Disneyland to end this year as Shanghaî Daily announced today that the SDL project is moving to the next stage:

Disneyland will start taking shape in the spring, with work set to begin on attractions, government officials said yesterday. Preparatory work on the first Disneyland on the Chinese mainland began in April, with the theme park scheduled to open in 2015.

The core facilities of Shanghai Disneyland will be under construction next April, said the Shanghai Construction Commission at a news conference this afternoon. Infrastructural construction of roads and pipelines for the Disneyland began in April this year and will be completed next March, said Jiang Shujie, a commission official.

Jiang Shujie, deputy director with the Shanghai Construction Commission, said nearly 3 billion yuan has been spent on preparatory construction. This includes building roads and drainage systems, as well as sightseeing and traffic structures. Preparatory work should be finished by the spring, after which builders can move on to Disneyland attractions, Jiang said.

Work has begun on a 10-kilometer waterway attraction that will enclose the site. A 5-kilometer stretch is currently being dug at the northwest of the site, Jiang said. He added that two elevated roads connecting the site to the S1 and S2 highways are under construction and could open next April. A Metro link will also be built.

Authorities have already revealed a rough plan indicating how Shanghai Disneyland could look, attracting great interest. The first phase of the park will cost 24.5 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) and an additional 4.5 billion yuan will be spent to build supporting facilities such as hotels, shops, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Shanghai regards the project part of its efforts to become a world-class tourist destination. The first phase of Shanghai Disneyland is expected to attract 7.3 million visitors a year, Jiang said."

It's also interesting to note that Shanghaî Disneyland will be at just 21 kilometers from Shanghaî central People's Square and only 12 kilometers from the Pudong International Airport! SDL will be connected from the airport by highways and a Metro line.


Talking about Asia, i remind you that the Christmas sale on my two iPhone - iPad applications about Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea is ending in two days! Until Sunday evening you can download the apps on the Appstore for $0.99 or 0.79€ only, so don't miss them! The HKDL app is HERE and the TDS app is HERE.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Marvel Super-Heroes Attractions Coming to Disneyland Paris ?



Something interesting happened during a dinner between DLP fans and DLPI Imagineers. This dinner happened as a contest was organized recently and the big prize was a dinner with two DLP Imagineers. Although no real infos were released about new attractions, the lucky fans had the pleasure to hear some inside stories about the making of DLP parks.

BUT, during this dinner, one of the imagineers asked the fans "By the way, i have a question and i will be interested to have the feeling of fans about this: what do you think of the arrival of the Marvel super-heroes at Disney?". It's important to note that the imagineer did not say "What do you think about Marvel super-heroes attractions coming in the parks?" as the question was more about the arrival of the Marvel "catalog" at Disney, after WDC bought Marvel.

However, why the imagineers would ask such a question to DLP fans if they had no plans at all to develop attractions inspired by Marvel super-heroes? It doesn't mean that a Marvel ride will open soon at DLP, but it probably means that they are thinking about it and if you want my feeling, i think that, yes, they are probably working on Marvel rides concepts for DLP.

Why? Well, first because it's not the first time that we hear about this. Some months ago, DLP CEO Philippe Gas said in a Telegraph interview that DLP's third park "could be a Marvel super-heroes theme park". Recently Philippe Gas also said that DLP is thinking to open this third park in 2020 - so in eight years from now. And, considering that WDI Imagineers always need time to prepare a new project, it would be logical that they begin to design this future park right now...

Now, they could also include a Marvel land at DLP Walt Disney Studios. After all it is supposed to be a park about movies and considering all the movies released with Marvel super-heroes a Marvel land could find perfectly its place at the WDS, and it surely will be successful if the rides are good. Because, to answer the Imagineer question, that's all the problem: if WDI design Marvel attractions as good, for instance, as Universal has done with the Spiderman ride then fans will love them. My only concern, personally, is that they don't put a Marvel attraction inside DLP Magic Kingdom. If they put them at the WDS or in a third park, it's okay for me.

We may have to wait a bit to know the answer but in the meantime, let me know in the comments what is your feeling about Marvel rides coming to DLP?

Picture: copyright Marvel - Disney


Pre-Order now a copy of the Disneyland Paris book collector's edition! All infos to order a copy are HERE, or click on the link at the top of the right column.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Cars Land Update : John Lasseter Tests Luigi's Flying Tires



After the Mater Junkyard Jamboree ride video posted recently, Disney has posted today another video this time showing the Luigi Flying Tires ride with no one else than John Lasseter testing it!

As you know, the ride is inspired by the technology of the famous Disneyland Flying Saucers who had so many problems in the 1960's. I've been confirmed that this time it should work fine, and it looks working fine on the video below!




Picture and video: copyright Disney

Monday, December 26, 2011

Disneyland Paris Update: Return of the Dragon !



The Dragon under DLP Sleeping Beauty Castle is back and the whole place looks more beautiful than ever! DLP Imagineers did major enhancements on the lighting and the timing between each cycle of the Audio-Animatronic is also now shorter. Before, DLP guests had to wait a minute or two to see the dragon "wake up" again, and it seems that now the timing between the moment he goes asleep and the one where he wake up has been reduced.

I have beautiful pictures of the dragon with the new lighting for you and because it's Christmas time i have a little gift as all the pictures above and below shot with a Canon 5D Mark II are in "wallpaper" size and will do great wallpapers for your computer! Enjoy!












I remind you that my Disneyland Paris book is going to be reprint in its collector's edition and you can find all infos to order a copy HERE, or on the article below.



Pictures: copyright Disney and more

Cars Land Update : Mater Junkyard Jamboree Ride Video



Considering that 23.000 Disney fans have already watched this video on Youtube since Disney posted it last week, chances are that you saw it already. But, never mind, i post it on D&M because, hey, this is the very first video showing a Cars Land ride!

Note that the music you'll hear is not the one which will be played during the ride and also that the ride is still in text mode, so the vehicles eventually will go a bit faster when the ride will open next year.





By the way, my Christmas sale on the two iPhone - iPad applications about HKDL and TDS is ending in five days! They are now at $0.99 or 0.79€ only until January 1st , so download them now!




Picture and video: copyright Disney