Thursday, August 18, 2011

D23 Expo: Aulani Resort and Spa will open August 29 in Hawaii



D23 Expo guests will see this week-end a special area dedicated to the new Aulani resort inside the Disney Parks Carousel of Projects. But my good friend and former WDI Imagineer Mark Hickson is living in Hawaii, and so he's at the right place at the right time to shot some great pictures and videos of the new Aulani Resort, opening soon. On the video below, Mark filmed the Aulani lobby which was still "a buzz of activity with final installation of furnishing and fixtures at two weeks from grand opening". Mark has also uploaded some great pictures as well as another video on his blog Disney by Mark, don't miss them!



And the Aulani's water park, you ask? Well, this new Disney Parks video will show you the "many ways to get wet" when the Aulani will open on August 29!



Videos: copyright Disney or Mark Hickson
Editor's Note: The awaited D23 Expo will begin tomorrow and normally we should have plenty of infos about Disney Parks future! It's now officially confirmed that the Carousel of Projects will have a Shanghai Disneyland area as i told you in one of my previous post and hopefully we will know more about Disney's first park on China main land. In the meantime have a look at Honor Hunter article on Blue Sky Disney in which Honor reveals interesting infos about SDL attractions.
Today, we'll also have a look at the past with this video of WDW Splash Mountain grand opening in 1992, at a time where innocence was still floating in the air.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Loss of Innocence



This video of WDW Splash Mountain1992 Grand Opening was uploaded on Youtube in 2010 but Mice Chat member Evanator posted it some days ago on the Mice Chat forum with this title "Did this actually happen?" and he added: "this video seems a little over the top...". Frankly, when you look at this grand opening from our present time i can understand that someone asks this question, but in the meantime the question itself reveals what has changed between 1992 and 2011.

After all, all the enthusiasm of this ceremony, even the fact they put dancers up to the top of Splash Mountain is fun and sympathetic, isn't it? So what has changed and make this grand opening looking "over the top"? Well, it's the innocence that you can feel when you look - i should say "feel" - at the cast, and even the whole thing. Back in 1992 they were not afraid to be over the top or even a bit cheesy, the quality of energy with which it was done was more important than anything else. Sure, the whole ceremony looks a bit "over the top" but in our pessimistic days so much innocence seems to come almost from another century, if not from another planet.

Since 1992, Sept 11, two wars, the increase of corporate cynicism, politicians irresponsibility and the big trouble that we all know in the economy transformed radically our society. So, for sure, our time have less innocence and the reality is more violent. That's the price to pay for greed and foolishness: the loss of innocence. It's a tragedy, really.

Back in 1969 the U.S.A were stuck in another war, the Vietnam war. At that time legendary John Lennon and Yoko Ono did a famous "bed-in" during a week against the Vietnam war. During that week they've stay in bed and received anyone who wanted to discuss with them. It became one of the most famous 1960's events/happenings and today Yoko Ono decided to put online the rare documentary directed by Nick Knowland, only released a long time ago in VHS. It will be online only until August 21 and Yoko Ono said that "There are things in that movie who can be useful to today's activist". She added "We were so naive John and I at that time that we thought that we could change the world only by giving interviews while we were in a bed in front of cameras! Remember that a war can be over if we want it, it all depends of us. John would have been happy to say this". I've embedded it below, and for those of you who would like to download this piece of history, i remind you that you can do it thanks to the latest version of Real Player.

These videos also give me a chance to repeat what i've said before, i.e that the Time Machine already exist, so no need to look for it in the future, it's already there, and it is movies. The great thing with cinema, when you look at any film at least twenty years old is that you can go back at the time it was shot. Of course it's even more obvious when you look at early last century movies but just take a 1960's movie and look at it without any ego to be able to get "inside" the film, in "fusion" with it if i can say, and you have no idea how you will travel back in time. So, it's time for you to travel back to 1992 at this Splash Mountain grand opening and in the 1960's with John Lennon and Yoko Ono!







Video: copyright Disney and Lennon-Ono

Hong Kong Disneyland Update - Part Two



When you are at Hong Kong Disneyland, if you want to have a look at the works going on on Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point and Toy Story Land there is no hundred of choices. Either you climb to the top of Adventureland's magnificent Tarzan Treehouse - but there you'll be able to see only the works on a small part of them...



...or, much better, you go on a ride on the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad. This the choice done by michael20183 who wonderfully provide us each two weeks with a new video shot from the train. Yesterday he uploaded his latest update on Youtube and here it is.






As i told you in my HKDL update last week Toy Story Playland is now almost ready and all attractions are now in test mode. From the train you can see the entrance of the land with the giant Woody and from Fantasyland, if you look on the right angle, you can see the tests going on on the RC Racer, and michael20183 shot a short video of it.




See you soon for a new HKDL update!

Tarzan Treehouse pictures: copyright Disney and more

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Editor's Note: Don't miss Al Lutz new update on Mice Age, as usual Al have tons on infos on Disneyland and DCA's future you won't read anywhere else!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Will the new Apple "mothership" campus be Steve Jobs' Epcot? - Part Two



Some weeks ago in my first article about the new Apple campus which will be build in Cupertino i asked the question if it will be Steve Jobs' Epcot. Just like Walt disney did 45 years ago Steve seems to have been inspired by the wheel - in Epcot's presentation film Walt told the audience that the design of Epcot (the original vision) found its inspiration in the shape of a wheel.



New great renderings show more of the future magnificent Apple campus, almost all in glass. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying that he believes this new campus could be, “the best office building in the world”.



Apple promises that the new campus will be a “distinctive and inspiring 21st Century workplace.” The campus with its 2.8 million square feet in size will have space for up to 13,000 employees and will feature a Corporate Auditorium that seats 1,000 people. Apple will be able to hold media events and announcements on campus. Besides the auditorium, Apple’s new mothership will offer 300,000 square feet for R&D, a Corporate Fitness Center, and a cafeteria that seats 3,000 people. Wow, the next pictures certainly prove that it should be a great place for work. My only question is: will they have a transportation system - a new kind of People Mover with an Apple design? - to move inside this huge buillding?









And for those of you Apple fans, let's end with the new official cover of Steve Jobs highly awaited authorized biography, written by bios specialist Walter Isaacson, based on 40 interviews, and which will be released on November 21, 2011 in the U.S. You can expect the book to be translated in other languages and the french version is already scheduled. Great cover, as simple and pure as an Apple device!



Pictures: copyright Apple Inc

Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room



The Tiki Room returns at WDW Magic Kingdom, in its original version, and WDI just released this short video with Imagineers talking about the renovation. The show doesn't have anymore the Offenbach sequence (thanks God! but other songs also have been cut. Great short WDI video, and you can check the new show as well as the pre-show on the Inside the Magic web site HERE.






Pictures and video: copyright Disney

 
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