I saw tonight in Paris the Michael Jackson doumentary "This is it". And it's great, really. You should go see it for two reasons: First, the editing is perfectly done and it's almost like a concert. You don't see Michael's death, they stop the movie before. Michael is in good physical condition - he was almost 50 so he don't have the same energy he had at 35, but you definitely don't have the feeling that he was at "the doors of death".
But there is also one very good reason for you, Disneyland super-fans, to go see it and it's this one: They've filmed for this concert-that-never-was a new video for the "Thriller" sequence which was supposed to be projected on stage, and guess what? a big part of it is totally inspired by the Haunted Mansion! No doubt that it is due to Michael's love of Disneyland.
For instance, do you remember the key-keeper Audio-Animatronic that we see in the attraction shaking at the doors of the cemetary? Of course you do. Well, he is in this video as one of the ghosts. Just like the other ghosts which are sit on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the Haunted Mansion ball room! And guess what? They had envisioned to have people holding ghosts walking in the walkways during the concert, and the ghosts look just like the one flying in the cemetery of the HM!
For all these reasons, beginning by the fact that it is a great documentary and almost a concert, go see it while it is in theatres, i promise you'll enjoy it!
Disney Parks launched this week a series of interactive Youtube videos. They're all about Christmas season and there is 11 different nice little videos, all looking like a Christmas storybook.
What do you have to do? It can't be more simple: just watch the first short video below and at the end they will ask you to make a choice between three options. Click on the one you wish, and a new video will appear. At the end of this new one do another choice, etc...until you've seen them all. Simple but good idea although it was may be not that simple to create, technically speaking. Note that your first choice will send you to Youtube where you'll see the next videos. Don't forget to come back on Disney and more after you've seen them all!
Last August i've let you know about this Walt Disney Animation new animated called "Prep and Landing", directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers. Well, it will be released on ABC next month December 1st, and the ABC website released some interesting videos about it, among them a trailer and a behind the scenes videos.
But first, here is the synopsis of this lovely Christmas tale: "After working tirelessly on Prep and Landing for 227 years, an Elf named Wayne is upset when he doesn't receive an expected promotion to be the "director of naughty list intelligence". Instead Magee the North Pole Christmas Eve command center coordinator partners Wayne with Lanny, an idealistic rookie who has an undying unthusiasm for Christmas. during their Christmas Eve mission, Wayne and Larry encounter unexpected challenges that push them to their limits. Will the elves be able to guide Dasher, Dancer and the rest of the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh through a raging snowstorm to ensure a Merry Christmas for all?"
After watching the videos below, i'm totally positive that Prep and Landing will be a great animated movie, now it's your turn to discover them!
In this next behind the scenes video John Lasseter and Prep and Landing animators tell us more on the making of this great animated movie.
As i've said, Prep and Landing is released December 1st on ABC, so if where you are living you're able to watch it, don't miss it! In the meantime you can watch more short videos on the ABC web site HERE.
Unless you live on another planet, you probably know that last week was another "Michael Jackson week". The "This Is it" documentary and CD album were released and a major Michael Jackson exhibition opened last Tuesday in London. I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce to you one of Michael's most secret - and really fantastic - projects: the Peter Pan's Neverland theme park that never was.
Let's first go back in time to 1997, when Michael Jackson and Prince Al-Waleed - Disneyland Paris' biggest private stock-holder - created a company called Kingdom Entertainment and purchased 50% of Landmark Entertainment, giving the company a huge infusion of cash. Prince Al-Waleed had 45% and Michael had 5% of the shares. I remind you that Landmark is the famous company directed by Gary Goddard which created the Spider-Man ride at IOA and the Jurassic Park and Terminator 3D attractions at Universal Studios.
Above: Michael Jackson and Prince Al Waleed during the press conference announcing the creation of Kingdom Entertainment Co. I've aded the video of this press conference at the end of the article.
So, what had to happen happened, Michael asked Landmark if they could design a theme park, a real one, not only for him but a park where anybody could go, just like Disneyland. And this theme park would have been named Peter Pan's Neverland! Here is a bird's eye view of the park - please double-click on the image below to see it in big size.
This first concept is amazing, isn't it? Fully inspired from Peter Pan's story, the park would have started with a grand London entrance, as you can see on the artwork below.
A replica of Kensington Gardens, where anyone can see the famous Peter Pan statue, as well as Big Ben and the House of Parliaments in the background, not to mention horse guards at the entrance, all of which would have set a stunning replica of the Victorian city.
Here is another artwork showing this entrance by Greg Pro.
From that point guests were supposed to go to Neverland Island, and Landmark designers had designed two different way to go there, both of which were attractions. The first one, which would definitely have been an E-Ticket attraction, was... to fly to Neverland! As you can see on the artwork below, the take-of was over London, with a fly over Big Ben and other famous London landmarks like the Tower Bridge (note that on the artwork Big Ben and the Tower Bridge are close together but two miles separate them in reality) and then, lead by Tinkerbell, they would fly all over Neverland, the Mermaid Lagoon and Skull Rock and finally land near the Lost Boys home and woods.
And how would Landmark have achieved this wonder, you ask? First, no, the ride was not designed like Soarin' over California - which, by the way, was not built at that time. Instead, guests would have sat on a platform which would have turned down on a 50 degrees angle, a bit less than on the "flying" coasters, and the movie would have been projected on a huge Omnimax dome located under the platform, giving to the guests the illusion of flying over London and Neverland! What a great ride it would have been!
The other way to reach Neverland would have been by boat. During this short boat ride the boat would have go through mysterious caves before arriving to Neverland Island with its lush vegetation and waterfalls.
Once at Neverland, guests would have had the choice of six different areas:
"Lost Boys area" would have been a fun play area for young kids with slides, jumping fountains, a tree house but also a great roller-coaster with tracks going all over the land.
In "Mermaid Lagoon" guests would have had the choice between a boat ride going through Neverland Island caves or to enjoy a meal at a beautiful restaurant located underground with a huge window looking towards the lagoon where a Mermaid show was envisioned. Close to Mermaid Lagoon, the "Indian Village" would have been another area of Neverland where a raft ride was envisioned.
On the other side of the huge Neverland rock, guests would have find "Pixie Kingdom", a great area for young children with giant mushrooms playground and re-themed carnival rides.
Another major area - not so far from Pixie Kingdom - would have been the Pirates village with Skull Rock nearby as well as Captain Hook's ship.
It's there where guests could have watch a great live action show, including a flying Peter Pan fighting his eternal ennemy, Captain Hook. And of course the Crocodile was part of the show.
You may also have noticed that in this first concept three hotels were envisioned: a London hotel, a "Pirate's Cove" hotel and a "Lost Boys Tree top" Hotel. As we will see now, the project had significant changes in its final version.
This next document below is another map of the Peter Pan's Neverland park, actually it's the conceptual master plan. Drawn May 24, 1999 at a scale of 1" = 60' it shows a more advanced project with new attractions and also backstage facilities. Let's have a look again at the whole park to see the differences with the first concept.
First, the three hotels are gone, instead we have one big hotel facing the lake of the London Town area. Located near the entrance, a bit like the Disneyland Paris Hotel it would have allowed the hotel guests to have a unique view on the Neverland park.
In the London Town area, always located at the entrance, Big Ben is still there, but a replica of London's famous Tower Bridge was added. Also, a bigger Kensington Gardens at the entrance and a music hall dinner show in one of the main building on the right. Inside the House of Parliament replica, a new show: "Salute to J.M Barrie", the creator of Peter Pan. Right on the other side of the Tower Bridge an indoor coaster as well as a 3D simulator theater were also envisioned.
In Pirate's Cove a Pirates Dinner show, another indoor roller coaster and a Pirates stunt show in front of Skull Rock were added. Also envisioned, a lagoon show, probably in the evening.
In Pixie Kingdom, the main difference with the first concept is a big building for a Pixie World dark ride. On the top of the picture below, what seems to be a inverted roller coaster would have had its entrance in a new land "Future Zone".
Lost Boys area always have its roller coaster running all over the land and even inside Neverland mountain, and as you can see below, Future Zone was located at the top with not only the inverted roller coaster but also a smaller coaster and a simulator ride.
In Mermaid's Lagoon, an underwater simulator was added to the first concept and a new area - Kid's Creek - was designed for young children with playground and water fun including small boats.
Peter Pan's Neverland was not designed to be as big as Disneyland, but it certainly would have been a great theme park where all the "Peter Pans" living on this planet would have rush!
So what happened? Why this Peter Pan's Neverland theme park was never built? Well, some years later, Michael Jackson and Prince Al-Waleed ended their association, and considering the cost of a concept like this one, it was very unfortunately the end of the Peter Pan's Neverland project. Although Michael lived in his Neverland Ranch, he never got to walk in this "real" Neverland. However, years later, Landmark designed for Michael a great statue showing Michael as Peter Pan!
Does this mean that we will never see this great park concept become real one day? Who knows, with all the different Michael Jackson celebrations that will happen in years to come - not to mention that Neverland Ranch could become for Michael Jackson's fans what Graceland is to Presley's fans - maybe somebody who has enough money will find, just like we do, that it would be great to build this Peter Pan's Neverland for real? And, hey, there is plenty of land available inside Neverland Ranch. Who could imagine a better place to build Michael's dearest dream?
Artwork: copyright Landmark Entertainment Group, and Gary Goddard
Please do NOT post these artworks on other web sites or forums without asking permission, thanks.
Many thanks to Gary Goddard for the park's description and to Eric Wong for the pictures. Thanks to Nate Walz for the editing of this article.
Also, I've already let you know about it in a previous article, but i would like to remind you that most of the Landmark Entertainment old artwork is actually put on sale on two sites - but NOT the Neverland park artwork you saw in this article. The first site is the Landmark Selections site and the other one is on EBay.com where they have their own Landmark artwork store.
Edited Nov 7: Here is a rare video of the 1996 press conference where Michael Jackson and Prince Al Waleed announced the creation of their Kingdom Entertainment Co.
The day we were waiting for has come! Yes, it's now official, Beijing Central government has officially approved the Shanghaî Disneyland project!
An excellent New York Times article will give you more details about it, but first, the WDC official press release:
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY REACHES ANOTHER MAJOR MILESTONE ON SHANGHAI THEME PARK PROJECT
BURBANK, Calif. – November 3, 2009 – The Walt Disney Company today announced that the Project Application Report (PAR) for a Disney theme park in the Pudong district of Shanghai has received approval from the relevant authorities of the central government of China.
"China is one of the most dynamic, exciting and important countries in the world, and this approval marks a very significant milestone for The Walt Disney Company in mainland China," said Robert A. Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company.
The PAR approval will enable Disney and its Shanghai partners to move forward toward a final agreement to build and operate the park and begin preliminary development work. Upon completion of the final agreement, the project's initial phase would include a Magic Kingdom-style theme park with characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region and other amenities consistent with Disney's destination resorts worldwide.
About The Walt Disney Company China
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a diversified international family entertainment enterprise with five business segments and is a Dow 30 company with revenues of nearly $38 billion in its most recently reported fiscal year. Our first animation screened in China in the 1930s and today our long association continues with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with over 600 employees."
And today, the Shanghai municipal government confirmed that the Chinese government officially approved the Shanghai Disneyland Project, so it is now confirmed from both sides.
Now, i'm not sure we can expect the first Shanghaî Disneyland artwork tomorrow as it seems that the park concept still may have some changes, but the NYT article confirms some points i have been told like the fact that Shanghaî Disneyland Magic Kingdom will of course have WDI classic rides but also new rides that will "incorporate Chinese stories and history".
Always from the NYT: "The initial resort, with a mix of shopping areas, hotels and a Magic Kingdom-style theme park, will sprawl across 1,000 acres of the city’s Pudong district — with the theme park occupying about 100 of those acres. It would be a little bigger than Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and on par with the parks in Paris and Tokyo. It is expected to open in five or six years".
A park as big as the one we have in Paris or in Tokyo, that's what i call a real theme park, and obviously WDI Imagineers will have plenty of land to create a park that will amaze the guests. All we have to do now is to be a little bit more patient for the details which hopefully will be revealed soon.
And what Hong Kong Disneyland think about all this today? As you'll see, the announcement was received with mixed feelings:
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Managing Director Andrew Kam said the announcement marked "another significant step for Disney" in China, an important and dynamic market. "We at Hong Kong Disneyland are focused on getting our exciting project underway as soon as possible," he said, referring to an expansion project on Hong Kong Disneyland.
Margaret Fong, commissioner for tourism, said she was confident that the Hong Kong Disneyland will remain attractive and competitive, adding that the Hong Kong park attracts visitors from not only mainland but also southeast Asia and other places. Local business people and visitors said they expected the desire for the Chinese mainland visitors to visit Hong Kong Disneyland to be reduced but the Hong Kong park, with some unique attractions, should remain attractive to visitors from nearby."
BUT "News that Shanghai is to have its own Disneyland theme park was greeted Wednesday with mixed feelings in Hong Kong. Tourism chiefs felt the Shanghai park would not adversely affect Hong Kong Disneyland while others felt it was bad news for the park, which has been dogged by controversy since it opened in September 2005.
However, Democratic Party vice chairwoman Emily Lau said the Shanghai park was bad news for Hong Kong. Speaking on government radio RTHK, Lau said: "This will deal a very devastating blow to the Hong Kong theme park. I have said so in Legco [the Legislative Council] for some time".
"The original decision to put the theme park here was a big mistake,' she added. 'We have committed tens of billions of dollars, and now I just don't know how we will recoup that money". The Hong Kong government has encountered strong criticism for shouldering most of the cost of the park.
China's huge market is capable of supporting two Disneyland theme parks, Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Rita Lau says, adding Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai could cooperate for mutual benefits. In response to Walt Disney's plan to build a theme park in Shanghai, Mrs Lau today said the theme parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong could complement each other, creating more benefits for the two cities.
Noting Hong Kong Disneyland's expansion plan has been finalised, she said the work will start by the end of the year and the new theme areas will come on stream in phases in the next few years. The secretary said Hong Kong will continue to develop new tourist attractions, citing the Hong Kong National Geopark as an example. Mrs Lau said Hong Kong's geographic location allows it to cooperate with other places to develop more diversified tourism products, including cruise tourism services and multi-destination itineraries. The Government will work on this with concerned parties.
In the meantime, let me know what you think of this awaited announcement in the comments or on the D&M english forum on Mice Chat
Picture: copyright Disney
Editor's Note: Two great topics today with the third part of my tribute to Tim Delaney and all the pictures of tonight "A Christmas Carol" world premiere in London! Important Note: Remember this "scoop" article i was supposed to post last week? Well, i finally received the pictures i was waiting for and - except if there is a Shanghaî announcement tomorrow morning - i will post it tomorrow wednesday! I keep the surprise but i can tell you that what i will tell and show you is never seen before.....and no, it's not a Disney project!...although the theme is somewhat closely related with the Disney universe... Enough talk for now, see you tomorrow!
Tonight, the World Premiere of A Christmas Carol happened in London. As a matter of fact, at the time i'm writing this article the Premiere is still going on, but D&M have already all the pictures for you - and they're all in high-res size!
The event was located at the Odeon Leicester square, London's legendary theatre and it loks like London's Leicester Square was back to the Victorian era. Children and performers of all ages were dressed in victorian costumes...
As you can see the Victorian "theming" of the evening was great. On stage, carol singers performed along with Andrea Bocelli, the famous blind singer.
On the red carpet, the cast of A Christmas Carol was there: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Director Robert Zemeckis - all with their lovely wives - and Disney CEO Bob Iger was there, too!
Well, it looks that it was a nice evening, wasn't it?
Tomorrow, you'll see why, we will be back in London!
LAST COPIES of the acclaimed Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality 320 pages book in its ENGLISH edition. Only TWO copies are left, in perfect “new” condition and price for each is 250€ ( + 28€ shipping worldwide ). To place your order, send me an email at: amplittaye@gmail.com with your name and shipping address and i'll tell you how to proceed to the payment. Paypal or credit card payments are accepted. Click on the book cover above for more infos. Le livre Disneyland Paris, De l’Esquisse à la Création n'est plus disponible en édition Française. Si vous ètes Français et souhaitez commander un exemplaire du livre en version imprimée anglaise je joindrais un PDF du texte original en Français. Il reste deux ex en anglais, en état neuf, et le prix est de 250€ ( +26€ de frais d'envois ). Pour placer votre commande il faut m'envoyer un email à amplittaye@gmail.com avec le nom et l’adresse d’expédition. Les paiements par Paypal ou carte bancaire sont acceptés. Cliquez sur la couverture du livre ci-dessus pour plus d’infos.
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The placemaking of Disney California Adventure comes to an end June 15 with the opening of Buena vista Blvd, the Carthay Circle Theater, Cars Land, and much more!
HKDL new land includes the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars ride and the town of Grizzly Gulch and it's the first new land with a Frontierland style built by WDI Imagineers since 20 years!
