Garner Holt Donate a Tiki Room Audio-Animatronic Barker Bird To Walt Disney Family Museum

Mice Age did a great article today HERE about the Tiki Room Barker bird which has been recreated by Audio-Animatronics wizard Garner Holt and donated to the Walt Disney Family museum in San Francisco. Guests can move the animated bird thanks to a control joystick and it's a great addition to this fantastic museum!

I've found on youtube two videos for you and here they are!




On this next one you'll see a guest manipulating the control joystick.



Pictures: copyright Garner Holt Productions

New Shanghaî Disneyland Construction Pictures !

Stefan Zwanzger, The Theme Park Guy, is back from Shanghaî with great pictures of Shanghaî Disneyland construction site. You can see plenty of shots on his site HERE and among them these close shots of the TRON motorbike coaster building which confirm the rumor that part of the track will go out and make a loop before getting inside the show building. Whether this will happen at the start - probably because of a catapult launch - or at the end remain to be known.

By the way, Screamscape had posted one year and a half ago a layout drawing of this Tron Light Cycles Power Run, which seems to be accurate with the final reality!

Another interesting shot from Stefan is the one showing Shanghaî Disneyland budget hotel, the one which will have a Toy Story theme, still under construction but you can see the facades with the famous Toy Story's Andy room walls "clouds" theme.

Go ahead, don't miss these rare shots of SDL construction, jump to The Theme Park Guy HERE.

Pictures: copyright The Theme Park Guy

"Atlantis" Underwater theme Park To Open in Dubai !

An underwater theme park? Sounds Incredible, but believe it or not, that's what Dubai intend to open very soon, it will be called the Pearl of Dubai, and this underwater theme park will be designed by the art team behind the 2009 sci-fi "Avatar" movie and the five "Pirates of the Caribbean" films!


More from Travel Weekly:

The five-acre site, located in the shallow waters off the World Islands development, will look like a lost ancient city and will be accessible to scuba divers and snorkelers, according to Los Angeles-based Reef Worlds, an underwater tourism design company that is handling the project.

Dubai tourism officials hope to capture a segment of the $3 billion dive and snorkel market.

"When one considers Dubai and the region, scuba diving and underwater exploration are not on the top 10 list, and yet they are almost everywhere else in the world," said Dave Taylor, director of development for Reef Worlds.

"We will work with carefully selected resort partners on unique underwater habitat projects that directly support our clients' sustainability and revenue goals," he said.

The company also has plan to launch underwater theme parks in other countries, including the Philippines. No timeline has been announced for the Pearl of Dubai.

New WDS Ratatouille Ride Making-Of Video

Want more making-of videos of the WDS Ratatouille ride? Here is a brand new one released by DLP yesterday!





Also, Max POV full ride video had to me removed from Youtube and is now again available, if you've missed it, here it is again.



Ratatouille the ride - on-ride - Disneyland Paris by Disneyland-resort-paris

Video: copyright Disney, DLPWelcome

Shanghaî Disneyland Update : The Mystery of the Sacrificed Land

If you've read my previous SDL article two weeks ago with the new Shanghaî Disneyland Google Earth satellite views, you may have noticed something which looks really odd. Here is what i'm talking about. If you look well at the picture above and below you'll notice on the bottom left of the park what will be the Bus station and on its right the supposedly called "Disney Town", a nighttime dining, shopping and entertaiment area, something a bit similar to DL Downtown Disney or DLP Disney Village.

So far, nothing surprising. Except that if you start thinking you realize that Disney Town and the Bus station are located where, in a similar location, we have normally a full land in all others Disney Magic Kingdom. Whether it is in Disneyland or WDW MK where we have Adventureland...

As well at Tokyo Disneyland Adventureland...

Or Hong Kong Disneyland Adventureland...

And not to forget at Disneyland Paris where we have  Frontierland.

No need to be a genius to understand that they could have build another SDL land - or keep the space for future additions - where is currently being built this bus station and "Disney Town". By building them here the space for a future land at Shanghaî Disneyland has been obviously "sacrificed". So why did they did this, that's all the question. They could have put Disney Town and the Bus Station a bit more down near the lake but instead we will have the top of Disney Town - SDL shopping, dining and entertainment area - just a few meters from SDL "Central Plaza" ( aka: Garden of the Twelve Friends ) and SDL Tomorrowland. That's very very strange indeed, isn't it? I though first that they did this so the park could have a second exit leading directly from SDL "Garden" to the top of Disney Town, what could have been a good idea as two exits would make it easier for SDL guests to exit the park. And at the same time it would force the guests to go through Disney Town shops and restaurants and spend their Chinese Yuans there. But looking at the satellite views it's not sure there won't be an exit leading directly to this dining and shopping area, so this explanation might not work... although this other satellite picture below showing it from a reverse angle put the doubt, and there might be a direct exit to Disney Town. 

But may be it's more simple, perhaps they've envisioned at the start of SDL design to have a land there, then it was finally cancelled and they decided to put the bus station and Disney Town instead to keep the land for the future. In this case, as the decision would have been taken longtime before Disney bought Star Wars and the rights for an Avatar land, it's a choice they might regret when they will need land for future additions. After all, this area being located so near from SDL Tomorrowland it would have been the perfect place for a Star Wars land, right? 

Anyway, if anyone knows the answer, i'll be happy to know it!

Pictures: copyright Google Earth

Six New Characters Posters For Big Hero 6 !

Disney released six new characters posters for Big Hero 6, and here they are, as well as the synopsis below:

With all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Big Hero 6 is an action-packed comedy-adventure about robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who learns to harness his genius—thanks to his brilliant brother Tadashi and their like-minded friends: adrenaline junkie Go Go Tamago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. When a devastating turn of events catapults them into the midst of a dangerous plot unfolding in the streets of San Fransokyo, Hiro turns to his closest companion—a robot named Baymax—and transforms the group into a band of high-tech heroes determined to solve the mystery. Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring comic-book style action, Big Hero 6 is directed by Don Hall (Winnie the Pooh) and Chris Williams (Bolt), and produced by Roy Conli (Tangled). 

Pictures: copyright Disney

What's Next For The Future ?

So, Ratatouille and Diagon Alley will open officially in the next two weeks, and then, what's next coming soon at Disney or Universal theme parks? Well, nothing. No new ride really great will come soon and not before a long time so Disney fans better be patient. Okay, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will open this summer at Universal Studios Japan ( but not before 2016 at Universal Hollywood ) and the new Disney Paint the Night night parade will debut at HKDL this fall but in terms of new attractions you can't expect anything before the opening of Shanghaî Disneyland at the very end of 2015 and not before 2016 in the U.S when they will introduce the new Soarin' movie at DCA and Epcot.

Sure, there will be new parades and new shows here and there but for the most it will be "business as usual" with Halloween Season, Christmas Holiday season, Spring or Summer season at DLP, etc... Disney fans in SoCal will be more lucky with Disneyland 60th Anniversary and the upgrades of Peter Pan's Flight, Mr Toad Wild Ride and Alice in Wonderland in which the new faces projection system used in Seven Dwarfs Mine Train audio-Animatronics will be introduced - you can expect a Queen of Heart in the Alice ride looking more angry than ever - and may be a new interactive night parade similar to the one coming at HKDL. But except if WDI Imagineers succeed to transform Epcot Maelstrom in a Frozen ride before 2016 i'm afraid we might have to wait at least 18 months to see new exciting rides. And this will be for the lucky ones who will go to Shanghaî Disneyland...

In the meantime the creatives guys of Universal Orlando who succeed to build new rides in less time than it takes me to write it should have in stock new surprises for us, starting by the rumored King Kong Skull Island at Islands of Adventure. But here too it should be a ride similar to the one that guests can currently enjoy at Universal Hollywood, so nothing really really new.

SO, in terms of timing here is what we can expect in Disney Parks:

Fall 2014: HKDL: Disney Paint the Night Parade
2015: Disneyland California: Peter Pan, Mr Toad and Alice in Wonderland Dark Rides Upgrades
2015: Tokyo Disney Sea Mermaid Lagoon Theater: New Mermaid show
End 2015: Shanghai Disneyland Park Opening
2016: DCA - Epcot: Soarin' over the World
2016: HKDL: Iron Man Experience
2017: Disney's Animal kingdom: Pandora, the Land of Avatar

To this you can add the rumor of Star Wars : The Adventure Continues for DLP Discoveryland in 2016 ( but it definitely need to be confirmed ) and another rumored small addition for HKDL Fantasyland in 2015, also to be confirmed. Basically it means that you'll have to wait until 2016 to enjoy attractions that you've never seen before, or to purchase a return flight ticket to Shanghaî to be "wowed" by rides you won't see anywhere else.

And Star Wars land, you ask? Well, as Mice Age announced months ago Star Wars land is for now in stand-by. The development cost of My Magic + was supposed to be the reason why but from what i've been told it seems that there is another reason. Apparently Disney suddenly realized that the first Star Wars trilogy, the one which founded the SW mythology was released 30 years ago, meaning that the fans are now in their 40's or 50's and Disney prefer to wait for the release of the new trilogy to see how today's new generations react. And then they will choose the rides to be include in Star Wars land. It means that you might have attractions that would be related to the upcoming trilogy instead than the old ones. Which also might mean to say goodbye to the rumored SW speeder bikes ride.

But may be there is another reason in the delay of Star Wars land - previously scheduled in the 2013 WDC 10 years plan to open in 2017 and 2018 at DL and WDW DHS - and this could be that they keep it for the long rumored third park at Anaheim. We'll see what happen but it would be a good idea if they could remember that it's not young kids who pay for the park tickets but their parents, and these are the ones of the first SW fans generations who grew up with the first trilogy. So a mix of rides inspired by both the old and new trilogies might be a good idea to satisfy everyone, if you see what i mean...

As for a Marvel land, you've got plenty of time to grow up, as in the same 2013 WDC 10 years plan it was scheduled for 2020 and so far, at the exception of HKDL Iron Man Experience it seems that no changes were done for the opening date.

That's all for today's look at the future, and tomorrow we'll talk about Shanghaî Disneyland and something that looks strange to me, so don't miss it!

Note: The picture at the top is of course coming from the beloved and now extinct Horizons attraction and is here only to illustrate this article about the "future". Meaning that no ride looking like this or a Horizons resurrection can be expected.

Picture: copyright Disney