At the beginning of this year Disney changed "Playhouse Disney" to "Disney Junior" in an effort to make the look more appealing to the younger crowds. With a new logo and the new show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" the channels ratings have soared up 3 times the ratings it had before.
With the recent success of they're morning shows, they've decided to revamp the daytime channel starting in early May. I'm incredible excited about this because the "lets see how loud we can yell" attitude all the kid actors have has definitely run it's course. They will be getting rid of all the shows currently on air, with the exception of the more popular, like Phinias and Ferb. In replace we will hopefully we will get fresh new faces, and maybe, just maybe we will see some great new shows that reflect how good the Disney Channel used to be!
In light of the huge 17 year success at Disney's Hollywood Studios, formerly MGM Studios, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has brought new life, so to speak, to the park. Launching sister attractions around the world, opening in California Adventure in 2004, and again in 2006 at Tokyo DisneySea. Not only has it given the opportunity to ride in variation around the Disney Parks, but it has also been tweaked over the years to add a little thrill to it. In the summer of 2010, the event Summer Nightastic took place, and the imagineers mixed things up a bit within the attraction. It was a love/hate relationship among the guests, but it was only for a short while until it returned to it original state.
Disney Imagineers always like to test out their ideas before making them permanent, and that is exactly what this was. Almost a year ago today, Disney came out with a test interactive queue prop for The Haunted Mansion, and due to the success, they supplied a full scale queue for the guests this past month. What the Imagineers were looking for in the change to ToT was the guests reaction to missing the original concept, and how much they still love it. Well, what they got from it was that we absolutely loved the normal version, and that it would be a shame to change it in any way. Thus making them extremely comfortable in creating the concept of an on property Hollywood Tower Hotel. This would be Disney's 26th owned hotel if your counting the villas, and is due to open the end of 2013, roughly a year after the new Art of Animation Resort.
It will be located in the Epcot Resort area and will house 764 rooms featuring your typical room, to concierge level suites, but will all be set to the theme of the good old 1930's. Although it will not be highly themed towards the darker, scarier side, it will still have that empty feel you'd expect when walking through the front door. It is dated to take place in the early 30's, years before the lightning incident ever happened.
All in all I feel this has GREAT potential, and only time will tell how it will turn out. No other concept art has been released but this small rendering just yet, but when Disney has more to display I'm sure we'll see it soon!
I might have been lying about all this though...april fools;)
The show is a little less then a week away on April 3rd, and the stage has already begun being set up, the trailers around City Walk have been there for a little while but in just the past few days the bleachers and everything have appeared. I wish I had better pictures, but it's been raining pretty hard all day, and with soaked clothes after a long day of trekking though the parks, this is what I snapped on the way out.
The show will be filming twice on April 3rd, the first at 12pm, with musical guests Duran Duran, and the second at 3pm, featuring Kelly Clarkson. Tickets to the show are no longer available, but if you show up very early you can have the chance to be apart of the Riff Raff Street Party(Space is limited!!) which includes watching the Musical Guests perform live!
Disney Theatrical Productions is currently in the middle of multiple "from the screen, to the stage" concept projects.(Dumbo, and Father of the Bride just to name a couple.) They are also in the works to bring to life a musical rendition of the Tim Burton 2010 adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It was very successful as Disney's 3rd highest grossing film, and 5th worldwide! Opinions aside, I don't doubt that the Musical will be a hit. With that being said, Burton will not be directing the Play, but will be overlooking it to make sure it gets the twist it needs. Linda Woolverton is also on board to write up the screenplay, better known for her work for authoring the screenplay for The Lion King. Although no composer nor date has been set for the Musical, more information will pop up as time goes on.
After the D23 Event there were Cast Members out in the lobby with the Second Screen feature to demo for us. It was really nice because there was a very long line to get autographs from the speakers, and it was nice entertainment while waiting.
It is a brand new interactive concept that Disney has created with the Bambi Diamond Edition to be released March 1st. This is a completely free application with purchase of the BluRay. Since it is internet based, it only works with Blu-Ray and is compatible for the iPad or computer.(Mac & PC)
They've brought the bonus features to life and linked them perfectly while you watch the movie. Little facts, pictures and different angle videos that pop up threw-out the film. I was only able to see some of the perks that come with it, but one thing I did see was a section where the very early drawing stages of a scene are turned into a flipbook on the screen, so you can see the original concept sketches along with the finished product at the same time. It is very neat. If it is a success, Disney plans to bring it to other Blu-Ray/DVD releases in the future. The Lion King is next in line for a Diamond Edition release, and from what I've seen, this will be nothing but great! So hopefully we will see it there next!
When I was a kid I was completely amazed by hand drawn animation, my thoughts haven't changed today. I've been very lucky to work at Hollywood Studios, and it's also taught me a lot about Disney's film industry, which brings me to how great the One Man's Dream attraction is. Inside they show different animation techniques the Disney Studios used to get the look they wanted, but I've been in and out of there a ton of times in the past few years. So when I heard we would get the chance to talk with Disney animator Andreas Deja who has worked on characters like Scar, King Triton, Mama Odie, and Bambi in Bambi II, I was extremely excited! On top of that Donnie Dunagan, voice talent of young Bambi. (also starred in 1939's Son of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Tower of London.)
This was basically the first time watching it for me, the last time I saw it I was too young to remember. I couldn't believe how funny and artistic it was. Over the years I built up a stereotypic view that the movie was sad and long, but I was wrong. Why would I think that? We were dealing with a Disney movie, they combine beauty, emotion, and humor all in one. That is why they have been so successful for so long. I also couldn't help but feel like I was experiencing something not very many people get to do in there life. Which was watch the film in the same room with the man that voiced Bambi roughly 70 years ago, I mean whao!
Dunagan seen in red, Deja in black
After the film we were introduced to both of the men, and absolutely loved how a simple question would be asked, but they had so much to answer with. As I was leaving, I got the chance to tell Mr. Dunagan that I could listen to his stories for hours...I wasn't lying. I filmed everything which can be watched (here).
Something I want to point out quick, in the movie, the word Twitterpation is used, and obviously the first thing I tought of was twitter, but their definition of twitterpation is falling in love. I thought that was pretty neat.
Next to Deja was a drawing easel, and what all of us hoped came true. He drew for us Bambi, and it amazed us all because he did it in less then a minute. I think it only took him that long because he was explaining it to us. Incredible to see that.
Mr. Dunagan talked about what it was like to work on a film such as this at the age of 6, and how even to this day he has never met the person who voiced young Thumper. It was great getting the chance to meet and talk with them, even if it was brief. Hearing someone talk about their experience working with Walt is always very interesting. Check out the whole session on my YouTube page found here!
To see what the Bambi Second Screen Feature will be like, found on the Blu-Ray, click here!
While at the Bambi Event I was lucky enough to win the complete set of Epcot Center patches, I originally got the Horizons patch (3rd from the end in the picture above) in one of my quarterly D23 Books. When I looked on the back (seen below) I saw that there were nine patches in total, and I wanted them all! Well, I got them...
The back reads:
"This family of official Future World Pavilion symbols that adorned EPCOT Center Pamphlets memorabilia, directional signage, and attractions evokes both a sense of futurism and nostalgia for park fans, Representing the core themes of each pavilion, they formed a sense of consistency that linked the the pavilions together while granting each a character of its own.
Disney Legends and EPCOT Center champions John Hench and Marty Sklar reviewed scores of concepts and colors for each symbol, and the winners, pictured here, became park icons that remain both simple and sophisticated.
To celebrate the 21st Century that began on October 1st, 1982, you have received one of nine custom-made patches exclusively created for D23 Members, each featuring a park symbol. We hope you enjoy this Walt Disney Archives collectable and always remember that we've just begun to dream."
