Warner Bros Abu Dhabi Unveil New Visuals of the Park Iconic Attractions !

Warner Bros Abu Dhabi the 1.65 million-square-foot indoor theme park which will open its gates this summer unveiled visuals of some of its iconic attractions and a look at two of its six themed lands, Metropolis and Cartoon Junction.

Warner Bros Abu Dhabi is located on Yas Island and will offer 29 rides, interactive attractions and live entertainment on six lands including Metropolis, Gotham City, Cartoon Junction, Bedrock, Dynamite Gulch, and Warner Bros. Plaza.

Metropolis will be a Manhattan-like skyscraper city protected from villains by DC superheroes like Superman and members of the Justice League including Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Cyborg and The Flash, in addition to the Teen Titans.

The Daily Planet will be home to "Superman 360: Battle for Metropolis", an attraction that features the Man of Steel in a battle of good versus evil.




Justice League: Warworld Attacks will be a dark ride with immersive media and special effects and "a visually immersive pulse-pounding attraction that features a riveting battle of good versus evil to determine the fate of Metropolis".



Other attractions featured within Metropolis include "Green Lantern: Galactic Odyssey", a 4D “flying theatre” attraction, and the "Teen Titans Training Academy", a multi-level play area featuring a biplane.

Restaurants will include Ace O’ Clubs
Bibbo Bibbowski’s quick service restaurant
 and Park Ridge Market: grab-and-go cafe.

“With the park well on track to open its doors to the public within mere months, we are incredibly excited to share our story with audiences around the world, and will be announcing the exact opening date very soon” said Mark Gsellman, the park’s general manager.

Cartoon Junction will feature characters and animated stories from Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera such as Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, Tasmanian Devil (Taz), Pepé Le Pew, and Elmer Fudd.

The main rides will include "Tom and Jerry Swiss Cheese Spin" which looks to be a spinning coaster...



...and "Scooby-Doo The Museum of Mysteries", a trackless dark ride where "guests will hop in their own Mystery Machine to follow Scooby-Doo and the gang as they try to untangle the silly, spooky secrets of the museum.



Other attractions of Cartoon Junction include:

Ani-Mayhem: "an interactive ride that takes passengers on a rollicking mission to deliver their own cartoon chaos."
Meet Bugs! (and Daffy): a walk-through experience "where guests can join Bugs Bunny on stage."
Cartoon Junction Carousel
ACME Factory will include three kiddie rides: Daffy's Jet-Propelled Pogo Stick, Tweety Wild Wockets, and Ricochet Racin' with Taz

Cartoon Junction restaurants will be:

ACME Commissary: quick service
Huckleberry Hound Pies
Penelope Pitstop Cotton Candy

Cartoon Junction will also include the ACME Company Store; C.J. Mercantile; Hare Salon, which celebrates Bugs Bunny’s disguises; and Fudd Hardware.

The man-made Yas Island is also home to the Ferrari World, the first Ferrari-branded theme park in the world boasting the word’s fastest roller coaster. Plans are also underway for the massive marine life theme park SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, which will be the first SeaWorld outside the U.S., to open on the island in 2022.

Building indoor theme parks is part of Abu Dhabi’s efforts to step up competition with nearby Dubai as a playground and tourist destination. Both these United Arab Emirates cities are enjoying strong tourism growth, though Dubai still leads the way.

Dubai theme parks comprise the recently-opened IMG Worlds of Adventure touted as the world’s largest indoor family entertainment venue, as well as the even larger adjacent Worlds of Legends theme park expected to open in 2019 that will include 12 Nickelodeon-branded rides inspired by properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Already opened in Dubai are Legoland Dubai, Motiongate Dubai, and Bollywood Parks Dubai which are all part of the Dubai Parks & Resorts complex spread across 30.6 million square feet.

Pictures: copyright Warner Bros Abu Dhabi

Space Age and Tomorrowland Spirit Relive as Space X Big Falcon Rocket Lift Off Successfully at Kennedy Space Center !

Tomorrowland spirit was back today a few minutes ago with the launch of Space X huge Falcon rocket at Kennedy Space Center a few minutes ago. It was the launch of the biggest and most powerful rocket on Earth, and the biggest since the Saturn V rocket who sent men to the Moon more than 40 years ago. And, WOW, that was a big WOW, the giant Falcon rocket lift off without any problems and the two side boosters separated and went back to Earth, so everything went flawlessly! Incredibly thrilling moment with all the excitement of the folks at Cape Canaveral. Long time that a space mission hasn’t been that exciting!

No satellites inside the rocket for this test flight but a car (!), a Tesla roadster with a mannequin inside the car dressed as an astronaut and all are on the road now to Mars orbit! Next exciting mission in a year or two when two ( rich ) tourists will travel for a round trip to the Moon ( with no landing ).




Above, short video showing the lift off of the big Falcon rocket and a full video of the launch with multiple cameras and footage of the car at the top is available HERE. Go directly in the video to 27.30 min as the lift off sequence don’t start before. LIVE footage of the car in now available below.




What a historical moment, really, and this idea of sending a Tesla car to Mars and beyond is the publicity stunt of the century! Here are some pictures of the car and the mannequin dressed as an astronaut who are at the top of the big Falcon rocket who lift off a few minutes ago, and all this on the music of David Bowie "Space Oddity". The first four pictures of the car, now floating in space, are real pictures, not CGI shot by the cameras inside the rocket. I like the “Don’t Panic!” on the screen in front of the astronaut mannequin!





















Pictures and videos: copyright Space X

New "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" Trailer, Poster and Fun Jeep Commercial With Jeff Goldblum

A new trailer was also released during the Super Bowl for "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". I remind you that the story is about an erupting volcano on Isla Nublar threatening the lives of the dinosaurs that reside on the island and Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing are on a mission to save as many as possible, and the movie will be released on June 22:

"It’s been four years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles. 

 When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times. 

 With all of the wonder, adventure and thrills synonymous with one of the most popular and successful series in cinema history, this all-new motion-picture event sees the return of favorite characters and dinosaurs—along with new breeds more awe-inspiring and terrifying than ever before. Welcome to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom."




Don't go away as there is more dinosaur fun with this cool JEEP commercial starring Jeff Goldblum remembering when the one in which he was in the first Jurassic Park movie was chased by a T_Rex. Fun, commercial, don't miss it!




Picture and videos: copyright Universal, Jeep

First Trailer, Super Bowl TV Spot and Characters Posters Released for "Solo, A Star Wars Story" !

The first awaited trailer and the expected Super Bowl  TV spot were released for Solo: A Star Wars Story, here they are!

Above, the face of the young Han Solo, i've lighted it a bit as it is voluntarily dark in the "Solo, A Star Wars Story" TV Spot below.




And here the first trailer for "Solo a Star Wars Story", which looks promising so far!




In addition to these trailer and TV Spot four characters posters were also released today by Lucasfilm. You have the one for Han Solo at the top  and below are the posters for Lando, Qi'Ra and Chewbacca!

Pictures and videos: copyright Lucasfilm

Will "Tokyo DisneySky" Be The Third Theme Park of Tokyo Disney Resort With Star Wars and Avatar Lands ?

The big news of the day - which is still a rumor so far - is about a third theme park named Tokyo DisneySky to be build at Tokyo Disney Resort! The news is coming from a Mainichi Shimbun article and this 3rd park is rumored to include a Star Wars land and an Avatar land so the name “Tokyo DisneySky" starts to make more sense… as well as the strange "L" shape of the park - that you can see on the TDR Explorer above - as they could build a Star Wars land in the lower part and an Avatar land in the upper one ( or the contrary ). If they put Star Wars land in the upper part of the "L" shape TDL Tomorrowland and Space Mountain so there will be a kind of continuity in the background and i'm betting on this location for the Star Wars land. Another good news is coming from a TDR official who said that they “want to build a park with only one in the world, like Tokyo DisneySea”, and with this odd shape it surely will be.

Jump to TDR Explorer HERE and to WDWNT HERE to learn more about this exciting news which, by the way, has of course not be confirmed by TDR which just released a statement this Sunday morning saying "that it has made no such announcement". The interesting part of the statement is that they don't deny it, or say that it's wrong, but only that they didn't announced such thing which of course we had noticed already... I have the feeling that you can put your bets on this one, and wait until April or May when it the expected announcement will happen!

Picture by TDR Explorer

All About Disneyland Paris New Annual Passes !

Max is back with a new update of Disneyland Paris and this is an important one for DLP fans as it's about the new prices and advantages of the new Annual Pass that will start March 21 and the Tower of Terror 10th Anniversary event for Annual Pass Holders!

For the FRENCH version fo this article jump to DLP Welcome HERE.

From DLP press release: "In April 2017 we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris with our new Annual Passes. These new Passes were met with great success, as they better respond to your expectations, and allow you to fully enjoy our Parks and their latest additions at the best price. These passes are becoming more and more popular: 2017 saw record numbers of Annual Pass holders!

Since the latest Annual Passes launched in March 2017, we have been listening to your feedback. We have collected comments and suggestions from guests and fans, in order to offer an even more unforgettable experience. Using this information, we defined 3 major priorities for the Annual Pass programme for the next two years:

Programme communication, with a redesign of our e-mail communication and an even more personnalised experience; Digitalisation, in order to make reservations and renewal even easier; New VIP experience, with new exclusivities and even more advantageous conditions for Annual Pass holders.

Here are the latest additions and advantages for the Annual Pass programme in 2018:
New VIP areas:
In late March, the private VIP areas for Infinity Annual Pass holders will be expanded so that they can fully enjoy Disney Stars on Parade and Disney Illuminations in a special way.

From 10 June 2018, a new zone will be reserved for Infinity Annual Pass holders for the new show Stark Expo presents: Energy for Tomorrow! which will be performed during Marvel Summer of Super Heroes at Walt Disney Studios Park, at the foot of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

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Discounts and preferential pricing: Annual Pass holders enjoy preferential pricing in our hotels, with our partners, and in our restaurants. Holders can also take advantage of discounts on special Disneyland Paris events open to the public, like Electroland, the Halloween Party, or the New Year’s Eve Party.


And, of course: Special ticket prices remain the lowest prices of the year, so that Pass holders can share the magic of Disneyland Paris with family and friends. These ticket prices have not changed: €39 for Magic Plus Annual Passes (max. 10 tickets), and €35 for Infinity Annual Passes (max. 20 tickets).

Price updates:

From 21 March, the prices of certain Annual Passes will change, in accordance with changing general admission tickets for the Disney Parks.

Slight price increase for the first 3 Annual Passes:
The first three Annual Passes will see a slight price increase (€1-€2/month):
Discovery Pass: €9/month* or €149
Magic Flex Pass: €15/month* or €219
Magic Plus Pass: €19/month* or €259
 * After a one-time payment of €55

Beginning at just €9/month, the Annual Pass pays for itself in only two visits, and is thus the most advantageous way to fully enjoy Disneyland Paris. 
No change in price for the Infinity Annual Pass: Biggest fans and Infinity Annual Pass holders will enjoy new advantages, with no change in price. €399 or 32€/month* for 365 days/year in the 2 Parks and special privileges.
No change in special prices and usual special offers Special offers that come with the Annual Passes such as 4 free months with renewal, or the referral programme, remain unchanged.


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More exclusivities for Annual Pass holders:
New merchandise: In response to multiple requests, we are delighted to share the brand new inaugural range of exclusive Annual Pass products.
There will be a general Annual Pass range, and a special Infinity collection. There will be a permanent collection featuring a pin and a lanyard, as well as a mug and holographic t-shirt in limited edition.
These products will be available only at Flora’s Boutique from 12 April 2018, for the first anniversary of the new Annual Passes and the anniversary of Disneyland Park.

A new programme of events:

In 2018, the programme of Annual Pass events will be jam-packed with special soirées and new Annual Pass Rendez-Vous*: attraction and show premiers, movie screenings, special shopping days. Lots of new reasons to make the most of Disney magic!

Special evening events for Annual Pass holders (All Event for the Infinity and some Event for the Magic Plus Pass)

Join us on 30 March 2018 for the first of these special events: The Hollywood Tower Hotel 10th Anniversary Places to this exclusive soirée are extremely limited, and available only to Infinity Annual Pass holders. The first of this new series of evening events will be to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Hollywood Tower Hotel on Friday 30 March 2018. An unforgettable costume party, with a special 1930s Hollywood theme!

Available for €39, tickets will go on sale on Monday 5 February at 11 AM, in the Annual Pass Office, at City Hall and Studio Services, at Park entrances, and via the Infinity Annual Pass phone line.

A new pictorial update about everything happening in the park will come tomorrow, and in the meantime if you don't own it yet order your copy of the acclaimed Disneyland Paris book which is still available in its English edition. The French edition is now out of stock but if you're French, and wish to purchase the book in its english edition a PDF file of the full French text of the French edition will be sent to you.

Lecteurs Français: Etant donné que l'édition française est épuisée, un fichier du texte complet original en Français sera envoyé aux acheteurs Français ne comprenant pas l'anglais.
Egalement, Il me reste trois exemplaires de l'édition collector française, état neufs, 250€ pièce, si intéressé me contacter à l'adresse email ci-dessous.

Also, each order will receive two surprise gifts - actually there is more than two - and these are GREAT gifts that each DLP fan love!

Here is all you need to know to order a copy of the "Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality" book for those who have never seen the book. First, it's a gorgeous 320 pages coffee table book with 750 pictures of the park including 250 WDI artworks, all DLP attraction posters, and dozens more of sumptuous artworks! The text by Disney historian Didier Ghez tell the story of the creation of the park from dozens of interviews of WDI Imagineers who built the park. It's also probably the best gift you can find for a Disney Parks fan - and it is true! Have a look below to the mosaic pictures showing a selection of pages of the book.







To place your order for the DLP book, please send me an email at: amplittaye@gmail.com with your shipping address. The price during the  special offer is 75€ ( instead of 100€ ) and shipping worldwide is 22€ ( except Belgium and Italy for which it is 29€ ).

You can pay with Paypal, credit card or bank transfer. For Paypal payments please send directly the full amount  including shipping ( 97€ worldwide, except for Belgium and Italy for which it is 104€ ) at: nme4@wanadoo.fr  If you wish to pay by credit card and bank transfer, let me know in your email and i'll tell you how to do.

If you've never seen the book before, don't miss the video below showing the full 320 pages of the book!




Pictures: copyright Disney, DLP Welcome

On Sale: FIVE AMAZING ORIGINAL ARTWORKS by the Great Former Imagineer Tom Thordarson Showing Concept of “Jungle Cruise with Dinosaurs”

Original attractions artworks are rare but can generally be found in auctions, but artworks of "never realized concepts" are more rare to find and i am selling FIVE AMAZING ORIGINAL ARTWORKS - so, these are NOT reproductions or prints - drawn by the great former WDI Imagineer Tom Thordarson who was the WDI Imagineer who designed the legendary “Journey to the Center of the Earth” attraction for Tokyo Disney Sea, one of WDI greatest ride and achievement of the last 20 years.

These original artworks show an awesome concept of “Jungle Cruise with Dinosaurs” - a version that finally "never was", as we know - and all artworks are drawn on "opaque paper”. Again, these are ORIGINAL artworks, each one is "one-of-a-kind", and they are the FINAL artworks, NOT sketches before the final ones. Three of the five artworks are signed by Tom Thordarson.

The size of each artwork is also pretty big: 24.6” x 19.2” ( 61,5 cm x 48 cm ). They are in perfect condition except one which has a small hole, 2” high ( which was already existing when i bought the artworks ten years ago ) that you can see on the first artwork below. The artworks were kept meticulously rolled in a sealed ube, in a non-smoking area, during the last ten years.

Now, because these are ORIGINALS artworks the price for the five may look a bit pricey but actually it is below the price that Tom Thordarson is selling others of his own artworks for the same size. I'm asking $7500 ( 6200€ ) for the FIVE artworks, which is equivalent to $1500 for each ( i don't sell each artwork separately ). Shipping is FREE worldwide and the artworks will be sent by Fedex, DHL or similar, rolled in a hard tube, and insured for the amount paid. Payment can be done by Paypal, credit card or bank transfer.

The price can be negotiate a bit and i will consider offers on this sale, so feel free to make a price offer if you wish. Those interested must send me an email at: amplittaye@gmail.com

Now, let's talk a bit more about the scenes shown on the artworks: each artwork shows a different dinosaurs scene for the ride. On one artwork the boat goes through a jungle with plenty of Brontosaurus...


On another artwork guests in the boat would have encounter Velociraptors...


On a different scene the boat with guests would come close to three T-Rex...


Another artwork scene shows a swamp scene with Triceratops and again Brontosaurus in the background...


And the last artwork is a very interesting one as Tom shows the movement that the Audio-Animatronic dinosaur would have done during the ride when the boat was coming closer.



Have a look at the pictures of each artwork, and please note that the coins that you see placed at each corner of the artworks were placed on them only to keep them flat during the photo shooting.

These are unique pieces of attraction development, and theme parks fans for whom the price is not a problem shouldn't miss them! Again, these are original artworks, each one "one of a kind" and if you're interested please send me an email at: amplittaye@gmail.com  Thanks!

Artworks: copyright Tom Thordarsson