Celebrate Tokyo Disney Sea 10th Anniversary !

Ten years ago, a theme park now considered as one of the most beautiful theme park in the world - if not THE most beautiful - was opening its gates. Yes, today it's Tokyo Disney Sea 10th Anniversary and to celebrate it here is a video tribute to this stunning park, with videos of its making-of as well as new full ride HD videos of four great TDS rides. But before i remind you that you can also find a great collection of TDS original artwork on the artwork section of Disney and more HERE,

We'll begin this TDS celebration with a great special report filmed by Travel Channel ten years ago, a kind of making-of of TDS, in five parts below.















And now, what about an Indiana Jones ride? Here is a pretty good video filmed by Theme Park Review of TDS Temple of the Crystal Skull full ride.




Another TDS ride have a totally different story line than the U.S versions, and it's the Tower of Terror, as you will see in this next video showing both the pre-show and scenes of the show itself.




Near Lost River Delta TDS guests can explore Arabian Coast where they will find the Sindbad ride, here is the video of it, showing the new version.




But one of the best ride - and unique to Tokyo Disney Sea - is certainly the fantastic Journey to the Center of the Earth ride, designed by Tom Thordarson - don't miss the great article i did with Tom HERE. Here is a great HD video of the full ride.




If you're living in Tokyo i hope you will be able to join today's celebration. And if you can't, a great way to share the beauty of TDS for those of you having an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is to discover my TDS Wallpapers HD application that you can download on the iTunes Appstore! I repost below in the second part of this article the app sneak preview article and you can also click HERE for a direct access to the TDS Wallpapers HD iTunes Appstore page



Since i've done the Disneyland Paris "From sketch to Reality" book i don't count all the people who asked me to do the same kind of book about Tokyo Disney Sea. I would love to do it and may be it will happen someday, but for now i've designed this great application which is a tribute to TDS which is largely considered as "the most beautiful theme park in the world".

The application works great on all iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, it includes hundreds of gorgeous high-res pictures of TDS and and is available now on the iTunes Appstore for the very low price of $1.99 or 1.59€, which should be an affordable price for everyone.

The app is called in the Appstore "TDS Wallpapers HD" and the app features include:
1. NEW user interface. Categorized Wallpapers. Ability to sort the wallpapers by land.
2. Optimized wallpapers for each iOS devices. Fast wallpaper download.
3. HD Pictures designed to take full advantage of the new iPhone 4 and iPod Touch retina screen! Looks gorgeous on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch screens!
4. Ability to save each picture to enjoy them offline
5. Save your favorite pictures in the favorite section
6. Caption for each picture and Wikipedia link for each land or attraction for full infos about each site
7. Ability to zoom in each picture. Simple swipe to advance / revisit the pictures
8. Share with your friends on Facebook!



You will find in the app fantastic pictures of each land and here are some examples: First, on the menu page - picture above - you'll have the choice between ten buttons designed as scrolls and depending of your choice you'll access to "all pictures" or pictures of each land. If you choose this last option then the first land will be Mediterranean Harbor with either pictures of the Renaissance Fortress and Galleon (picture at the top of this article)...or the great Venitian area, and many more...



The app includes day and night pictures and the night pictures are awesome! Here is two night shots of Mysterious Island, one with Mysterious Island volcano in the background...



...and the other one, a close shot of the Nautilus.



Approximately half of the photos were shot by me when i was invited at the press event, one week before the park opened, which means that the park was absolutely brand new, and the other half by a good friend of mine who is a brilliant photographer and a big TDS fan, too. Next examples pics are about the Arabian Coast with great view of the land...



...or closer shot on the Arabian decor. I remind you that these are just examples and that there is many pics for each land.



Considering that it is a wallpaper app we did the best possible picture choice so whatever the picture you'll choose to put on your device front page they will look great. Next land is Lost River Delta and you'll find many outside pictures of the land but also great pics of the unique Indiana Jones ride queue decor.



Some examples of the pictures you'll find in the Port Discovery section with this large view of the land...



...or the TDS elevated tramway arriving at Port Discovery station.



The Cape Cod part of the park is also present in the app with day or night pictures like the one below.



No need to say that American Waterfront and its gorgeous decor have dozens of pictures in the app whether it is the S.S Columbia...



...the amazing architecture of TDS Tower of Terror...



...or the great American Waterfront elevated tramway.



In addition to the day pictures the section also include fantastic pics of the land at night like this one...



...or this one of the S.S Columbia.



Depending of your computer screen the pictures above will look probably good but i can assure you that it's nothing in comparison of how they look on an iPhone or an iPad screen thanks to the screen devices technology. And for each picture you'll find a Wikipedia link for more details on each land or attractions, not to mention the other features listed above.

TDS Wallpapers HD is also a GREAT app for those of you who are planning to visit the park and there is links to the TDS site for your reservations, if needed.

TDS Wallpapers HD is now available on the iTunes Appstore for $1.99 or 1.59€ and you will find it HERE. One last important thing: after you've downloaded the app thanks to leave a comment on iTunes, as we know good comments are always needed and welcome. Thanks by advance, and enjoy the app!

TDS App Pictures: copyright Park Lane Editions

Videos' copyright Disney or Theme Park Review

The second life of the Jungle Cruise Gorillas

A looong time ago - more precisely 31 years ago - guests who ride the Disneyland Jungle Cruise could watch two not-so-threatening but massive audio-animatronics gorillas standing and observing you, from the banks of the "rivers of Africa".



And then, one day, the gorillas disappeared, vanished! Though, that was not without any reason. For the Imagineers, back in 1977-78, it was time for a major refurbishment of the attraction and legendary imagineer Mark Davis worked on the upgrading of this Disneyland Jungle Cruise - that was after WDW had opened with their improved show. Part of Mark's new show for Disneyland included the Gorilla Camp with the tents, overturned jeep and the family of gorillas unpacking and turning the camp inside out. That's when these older previous tenant Gorillas vacated the Disneyland Jungle Cruise.

But as they say at WDI, "good ideas never die", and as we will see, audio-animatronics too. Reemploying animation figures is common at Walt Disney imagineering, some of the AA from Natures Wonderland are now part of Big Thunder, and almost all America Sings audio-animatronics are in Splash Mountain.

Approximately at the same time, in 1978, the imagineers were also working on another major refurbishment of another Disneyland attraction: the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn was coming down to be reinforced with steel, as it was a wood framed structure since the beginning. The new Bobsleds were being added along with new track, and better brakes too for the splash down. It was also decided to put some show in the interior mostly for the Skyway buckets that passed through the Matterhorn more slowly. The Bobsleds of course at speed could see the new icy interiors and crystals as well as what is now a very famous Disneyland figure: the abominable snowman.



Steve Kirk, imagineer extraordinaire who will be later the show producer in chief for Tokyo Disney Sea worked on the design of it - i should say them as there is three "abominable snowmen" in the ride. The design of these Snow Men was based on Steve's artwork - the one above - which was a composite of several different contemporary depictions and his own warped imagination.



Sculptor Blaine Gibson will then sculpt the snowman mask, and the imagineers team with Legend and Matterhorn creator Fred Joerger added the interior with the new Ice Crystals. Now, and as i suppose you've already guessed the end of the story, yes, the old Jungle Cruise audio-animatronic gorilla put on a new suit in 1978, and is now living a second life in the role of the Matterhorn's abominable snowman!



Transforming ex gorillas into Snow Men had to have been purely for economic reasons and probably dictated also the proportions of the final generation of the simian snow men.

As there is three Abominable snow men figures in the ride, i couldn't tell you which ones exactly are the former Jungle Cruise gorillas, but next time you will ride the Matterhorn bobsleds and see the abominable snow man, have a little thought for these old Jungle Cruise gorillas, who were some of the first Disneyland audio-animatronics. I'm sure they will be sensitive to this attention, and watch out for that third abominable snowman as he may be the real one.

Many thanks to Davelandweb for the Jungle Cruise gorilla picture. Dave have an unbelievably good web site about the Jungle Cruise, with more pictures you can ever dreamed of. Be sure to have a look at it, it's HERE.

Steve Kirk's artwork and abominable snowman pictures: copyright Disney.

Some of the pictures are coming from Jason Surrell fantastic book "The Disney Mountains", full of WDI artwork. You can find it on Amazon.com from only $8.90!

The second life of the Jungle Cruise Gorilla

A looong time ago - more precisely 32 years ago - guests who ride the Disneyland Jungle Cruise could watch this not-so-threatening but massive audio-animatronic gorilla standing on the banks of the "rivers of Africa".



And then, one day, the gorilla disappeared, vanished! Though, that was not without any reason. For the Imagineers, back in 1977-78, it was time for a major refurbishment of the attraction and legendary imagineer Mark Davis worked on the upgrading of this Disneyland Jungle Cruise - that was after WDW had opened with their improved show. Part of Mark's new show for Disneyland included the Gorilla Camp with the tents, overturned jeep and the family of gorillas unpacking and turning the camp inside out. That's when this older previous tenant Gorilla vacated the Disneyland Jungle Cruise.

But as they say at WDI, "good ideas never die", and as we will see, audio-animatronics too. Reemploying animation figures is common at Walt Disney imagineering, some of the AA from Natures Wonderland are now part of Big Thunder, and almost all America Sings audio-animatronics are in Splash Mountain.

Approximately at the same time, in 1978, the imagineers were also working on another major refurbishment of another Disneyland attraction: the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The Matterhorn was coming down to be reinforced with steel, as it was a wood framed structure since its opening. The new Bobsleds were being added along with new track, and better brakes too for the splash down. It was also decided to put some show in the interior mostly for the Skyway buckets that passed through the Matterhorn more slowly. The Bobsleds of course at speed could see the new icy interiors and crystals as well as what is now a very famous Disneyland figure: the abominable snowman.



Steve Kirk, imagineer extraordinaire who will be later the show producer in chief for Tokyo Disney Sea worked on the design of it - i should say them as there is three "abominable snowmen" in the ride. The design of these Snow Men was based on Steve's artwork - the one above - which was a composite of several different contemporary depictions and his own warped imagination.



Sculptor Blaine Gibson will then create the snowman mask, and the imagineers team with Legend and Matterhorn creator Fred Joerger added the interior with the new Ice Crystals. Now, and as i suppose you've already guessed the end of the story, yes, the old Jungle Cruise audio-animatronic gorilla put on a new suit in 1978, and is now living a second life in the role of the Matterhorn's abominable snowman!



Transforming ex gorillas into Snow Men had to have been purely for economic reasons and probably dictated the proportions of the final generation of the simian snow men.

As there is three snow men figures in the ride, i couldn't tell you which one exactly was the former Jungle Cruise gorilla, but next time you will ride the Matterhorn bobsleds and see the abominable snow man, have a little thought for this old Jungle Cruise gorilla who was one of the first Disneyland audio-animatronics. I'm sure he will be sensitive to this attention.

Many thanks to Davelandweb for the Jungle Cruise gorilla picture. Dave have an unbelievably good web site about the Jungle Cruise, with more pictures you can ever dreamed of. Be sure to have a look at it, it's HERE.

Steve Kirk's artwork and abominable snowman pictures: copyright Disney.