Tangled Tops $150 Million at Domestic Box Office, Tron Passes $100 Million

Congratulations to the Tangled team. It's worldwide total now stands at over $272 million.

While Tron: Legacy had a tough fall last weekend, it's been consistently grossing ~$6 million a day during the week. But school starts in many parts of the country on Monday. It's looking at $150 million total domestically. That's merely okay.

The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney's Thanksgiving film Tangled has transformed into the gift that won't stop giving, jumping the $150 million mark this week at the domestic box office and keeping up with newer Christmas family offerings.

Tangled grossed $3.6 million on Tuesday from 2,582 theaters for a cume of $150.6 million in its fifth week.

Disney's Tron: Legacy registered its own milestone Tuesday as it became the first Christmas film to cross the $100 million mark domestically. Overseas, the pic has brought in roughly $75 million for a worldwide total of $175 million.

Tron is a solid performer, but it hasn't broken out to the extent Disney might have liked beyond its core fanboy base.

Conversely, Tangled has done far more business than anyone predicted. Most had expected the film to gross $125 million domestically. Now, the movie is expected to reach $175 million.

Laughingplace: A Visit to Tokyo Disneyland's Club 33

Located on Main Street, USA.

Looks much roomier than its California counterpart.

Warner Brothers' Space Jam Website, Untouched Since 1996

Awesome.

Aerial Photos of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland Expansion

You really get a sense of how dramatically the expansion will alter Fantasyland.

Once completed, Fantasyland will more than double in size.

NYTimes: Disney Tackles Major Theme Park Problem - Lines

The New York Times:

And so it has spent the last year outfitting an underground, nerve center to address that most low-tech of problems, the wait. Located under Cinderella Castle, the new center uses video cameras, computer programs, digital park maps and other whiz-bang tools to spot gridlock before it forms and deploy countermeasures in real time.

In one corner, employees watch flat-screen televisions that depict various attractions in green, yellow and red outlines, with the colors representing wait-time gradations.

If Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that sends people on a spirited voyage through the Spanish Main, suddenly blinks from green to yellow, the center might respond by alerting managers to launch more boats.

It's all about getting guests out of the queue and into the shops and restaurants. That's not cynical, it's reality. A happy guest spends more.

Visualize the Year in Box Office

via The Film Stage:

ERC revealed today that the 2010 box office has tallied up to $10.55 billion. This is a .3% drop from 2009′s $10.58 billion box office but due to inflation, a 5% decrease in attendance. Xach has created a neat visualization of this figure in today’s Daily Distraction.

Around Disney: Slideshow of Holiday Crowds

I'll be honest, right now does not sound like a fun time to be at the Disneyland Resort.

MiceAge: Disneyland Resort Year in Review

The crazy thing is that 2011 stands to see significantly more changes.

Tron Drops 54%, Stands at $88 Million

Andre Dellamorte:

Tron collapsed. Part of this could be the holiday weekend, and potential loss of Friday evenings and Saturday morning business, but it's going to have to rebound/not fall next weekend if it's going to have any shot at $150 domestic. Since Disney has suggested that's the production budget, that would be the number that would be a saving throw. But as it was off over 50% from the opening weekend (compared to Avatar's 1.8%), this doesn't get pretty, unless international is strong (which so far it hasn't been). I don't think there's any way to look at these numbers positively, if there was I'd share it.

Not the box office hit Disney was hoping for, but if it sticks for young boys and merchandise sales are strong then we could still see that Disneyland attraction anyways.

Happy Christmas!

I am traveling for the holidays so posting will be limited.

You can follow me on Twitter for breaking updates.

Funny or Die: 1982 Tron Holiday Special

Most of your favorite characters are back!

Detailed Buena Vista Street Construction Timeline

The Orange County Register's Around Disney blog published a detailed timeline of expected construction milestones that will affect guest flow and traffic while Buena Vista Street is constructed:

Jan. 4:

Letter statues: Construction walls will start going up around the “California” letters statues in front of the park’s turnstiles. Crews plan to remove the statues. 

Sunshine Plaza: Inside the park, the walls will come out farther around the Sunshine Plaza, where a sunburst statue and fountain used to sit. The corridors will become narrower. 

June 1:

Corridor closed: The major corridor between Sunshine Plaza and the Grizzly River Run mountain, which veers right after the park entrance, will be closed. Visitors instead can get to “a bug’s land” and Pacific Wharf by going through the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and through “a bug’s land” back entrance by the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride.

July 31:

Shops and restaurants closed: Restaurants and a shop on the right side inside the entrance will be closed, as walls go up for more Buena Vista Street construction. The closures will be at: Baker’s Field Bakery, Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream and Engine-Ears Toys.

Aug. 29:

Entrance changes: Visitors will go through new turnstiles at the entrance. But they will be funneled right into a pathway behind the Soarin’ Over California ride to the Condor Flats area where they will enter the park. Most of the Sunshine Plaza area will be blocked, including the Greetings from California store. The entrance change is slated to stay until summer 2012.

While construction is underway at the entrance, new venues are set to open in the spring in the Paradise Pier area: The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Goofy’s Sky School and a dining-shopping complex. Opening dates have yet to be announced.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information, and most likely the dates will be changed. But it's an interesting look at what is sure to be an involved process.

Tron: Legacy Opens to Disappointing, but Not Disastrous $43 Million

Andre Dellamorte (who, for my money, is the only box office prognosticator that matters):

David Poland mentioned that all films that have opened to over $40 in December have done $200 Million domestically, so there is hope to keep alive, and this is Disney. The question is how much of a franchise picture is the film? Because it's quite possible that - regardless of the holidays - it drops 50% next weekend much like Narnia did. Disney's got $100 Million on lock for domestic at this point. Like a lot of pictures these days, worldwide is that number to satisfy. My bottom line is that I think the number isn't great because we've seen pictures open to this number and struggle to do much more than $100 or so.

I wrote earlier on Twitter that the film could drop 60% next weekend. But with the holidays that would be a disastrous drop. I think Disney can hope for something in the 30% - 40% range.

Tangled continues to perform well, even though it lost the majority of its 3D screens this weekend. But the ceiling is still $150 million.

UPDATE: The film received a "B+" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences. That's not great and doesn't bode well for continued legs.

Executive Overseeing Disney Online to Depart

Announced this morning.

With the head of the video game unit leaving just a few weeks ago, that pretty much completes the makeover of Disney Interactive Media Group.

DIMG hasn't turned a profit for years and I can't imagine that will change anytime soon.

Just Kidding - Tron Tracking at $40 Million?

Like I said yesterday, pre-release tracking is useless.

I think Disney would be okay with anything above $50 million.

The Hollywood Reporter: Family-friendly Films Faltering on DVD

Greenfield's latest analysis also makes the case that Disney/Pixar is seeing "underwhelming" sales of Toy Story 3. Home video sales are "tracking above last year's Up but not by the amount we would have expected," he said.

Anecdotally,  I used to buy a lot of DVDs but since I started Netflix a few years ago I haven't purchased a single one.

What are movie studios that have become dependent on home video revenue going to do now?

Tron Tracking at $60 Million Opening Weekend

ABCNews:

Disney's "Tron: Legacy" has the most going for it, including a great release date, cult appeal and of course the IMAX and 3-D components. So a No. 1 debut approaching an impressive $60 million is virtually assured for this long-awaited followup to the 1982 original.

Tracking can be wildly off, but Disney would be very happy with $60 million.

Walt Disney Died 44 Years Ago Today

A copy of the New York Times' obituary that ran 16 December 1966.

The Disney California Adventure Entrance Murals Are Completely Demolished

via MousePlanet

Progress City, U.S.A.: Neverworlds - Disney's Vacation Club and Resort at Eagle Pines

It’s almost hard to conceive of a time that Michael Eisner elected not to build a Disney Vacation Club resort, but that’s just what happened in 2001 when Disney’s Vacation Club And Resort At Eagle Pines was announced only to slowly vanish into the mists of history afterward.

Confirmed: Jon Favreau Won't Helm Iron Man 3

Deadline.com:

Favreau just wrapped Cowboys & Aliens and is about to embark on Disney's Magic Kingdom and "is excited about the opportunity to go do his own thing" while Kevin Feige as the ultimate custodian of Marvel's Iron Man franchise "sees it as an opportunity to bring some more fire to the franchise". Favreau is still on board to exec produce The Avengers which Joss Whedon is directing.

With Iron Man 3 and Magic Kingdom both planned for a 2013 release, there was no way he could do both. There were rumors that the rushed production of Iron Man 2 really soured his relationship with Marvel. We're seeing the fruits of that now.

It'll be interesting to see who they get to direct. I wonder if Favreau will still reprise his role as Tony Stark's buddy Happy Hogan.

A Second Rate Las Vegas

Rare high-quality photos of Harbor Boulevard from July 1962.

Rob Marshall on Directing Pirates 4

The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog had a chance to interview Rob Marshall yesterday:

The reason I did this movie was to work with Johnny. That’s the real reason and there’s all these wonderful rewards along the way. But that was the main reason. I think he’s a brilliant actor and I came to find what an extraordinary person he is — a genuine, kind, elegant gentlemen; he’s funny and just fantastic. Also, for me, I always wanted to make an adventure. I was a fan of the “Pirates” series as well. I was always in line for them. Maybe because I come from choreography, I’ve always felt that there’s something about action films that made it very natural for me to go that way. It’s story through movement. I felt very at home doing action. So it was thrilling to step into that world.

Rob Marshall is an fascinating choice to helm such an expensive blockbuster action film. Disney is clearly happy with what they have and honestly a fresh set of eyes will probably help the film regain some of freshness the last entry was lacking.

Game On: Playboy Tron Photo Shoot

Clearly NSFW.

Garbage Article from LA Times Funland Blog

Nothing but outdated, ill-informed and incorrect information regarding plans for Phase 2 expansion of Disney California Adventure.

The simple truth is that if the Little Mermaid and Cars Land continue the Park's upward swing in attendance, guest spending and guest satisfaction, there is little impetus for Burbank to approve another billion dollar expansion.

If Phase 1 is deemed successful, future projects can proceed at a more regular pace. If a steady stream of spending guests are visiting the Park, then they must be happy with the offerings. That's the major win Disney is hoping for. If guests are happy with Disney California Adventure, then there's little need to spend exorbitantly on it.

In that case, it's not that the Phase 2 projects will never be built, but that they'll happen one at a time over a decade or so.

But what if, for some reason, the current expansion is deemed a failure?

At that point, you can't expect Disney to pump more money into the Park either. If expensive, high quality additions aren't enough to turn around California Adventure's fortunes, why would they throw more money at it and hope that will solve the problem?

I do think after 2012 there will be changes to Hollywood Pictures Backlot. And if attendance at the Park strains operations, there may be a push to add a few more attractions in one swoop. But another expansion plan as aggressive as Phase 1?

No way.

First Trailer - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

I hated At World's End, but I have to admit this looks fun.

Yesterland: The Casablanca Plane Myth - Not A Myth After All?

Impressive detective work by Werner Weiss.

I don't think we'll ever have a definitive answer, but this makes sense.

First Thor Trailer

What an odd duck of a movie.

The trailer isn't very good, but I'm still enthusiastic about the finished film.

The 3D conversion is worrisome, though. The early work shown at Comic-Con San Diego back in July was pretty terrible.

Disney's Tangled Passes $100 Million in Domestic Box Office Receipts

Tangled's performance so far has been good, but it will be tested this weekend when the new Chronicles of Narnia film opens and jockeys for 3D screens.

Tangled has a listed production budget of $260 million, which is pretty ridiculous. That means it has to make about $500 million dollars to break even.

Gummi Bear 25th Anniversary Web Reuinion

Tomorrow, 11 December 2010, from 5-7 PM PST.

Jymn Magon:

As part of my “Restless Nights and Disney Afternoons” category, I am presenting my first live interview webinar – and this one is a doozy. It’s a reunion of the talented folks who helped create “Disney’s Adventures of THE GUMMI BEARS.” A 2-hour LIVE web event, featuring interviews plus unseen Gummi materials (photos, sketches, etc.)

Registration is $20 and limited to 50 participants.

I can't believe it's been 25 years.

Mickey's Toontown Fair Closes 11 Feb

To be honest, I wasn't sure they were ever going to close Mickey's Toontown Fair.

The area will become almost like a Dumbo mini-land, so it will be interesting to see how much of the tent structures are demolished or changed. My hope is that it will all be torn down, but it will not surprise me to see some remain.

Thor One-Sheet

First teaser poster for next year's Thor.

CALIFORNIA Letters to be Removed Starting 04 Jan, Buena Vista Street Construction to Begin in Earnest

I have heard the letters will be used somewhere in Southern California, outside of the Disneyland Resort.

Twilight Producer Signs Overall TV Deal at ABC

Deadline.com:

Temple Hill, producer of the hugely successful Twilight movie series, is making a big move in television, signing a two-year overall deal with ABC Studios. This is the first TV pact for Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen's Temple Hill, which will mark its fifth anniversary in February. Under the deal, Temple Hill will be developing and producing series projects for ABC Studios. First off is a contemporary re-imagening of Alexandre Dumas, pere's The Count of Monte Cristo.

ABC Reaches $200 Million, One-Year Agreement With Netflix

The Los Angeles Times' Company Town blog:

The Disney licensing arrangement would significantly broaden the entertainment options available to Netflix subscribers, allowing them for the first time to watch previous seasons of a number of ABC shows including "Grey's Anatomy," "Brothers & Sisters," and "Ugly Betty." In addition, Netflix will add the final season of "Lost," for which it previously streamed the first six seasons.

The video service will also have shows from the ABC Family and Disney Channel networks, including some shows that initially aired as recently as 15 days prior.

Cable and satellite companies must be clutching their hearts.

Jon Favreau Talks Magic Kingdom

I don’t think it’s going to be mixing all the other movies. I think it’s going to be its own thing; I don’t think it will be like Night at the Museum. I want to make it a little bit spookier like the old Disney movies were and try to really capture that tone...

Both this and Iron Man 3 are scheduled for 2013. Favreau isn't under contract for a third Iron Man film and, obviously, he can't do both.

Disneyland Paris in the Snow

Beautiful photos of Disneyland Paris covered in snow, plus some construction and news updates if you can read French.

The Original Disneyland Carousel of Progress Ending

From the video description:

The original ending to the Carousel of Progress as it was at Disneyland from 1967-1973. It was nearly identical to the 1964-1965 World's Fair ending.

Disney Moves New Muppet Film From Christmas to Thanksgiving

Press release via Deadline.com:

BURBANK, Calif. – December 8, 2010 – The Walt Disney Studios announced today that it has moved the release date for its upcoming The Muppets Movie to November 23, 2011. Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear, Gonzo, Animal and the rest of the gang will reunite in theaters just in time for the 2011 Thanksgiving holiday weekend. "Disney has had incredible success opening films over the Thanksgiving weekend, and thanks to Tangled, we have the top three Thanksgiving openers of all time,” said Chuck Viane, president of global distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. “I have spoken with The Muppets, and we all agreed this comedy is a great fit for the holiday 2011 time frame.”

Pre-Visualization Work for Rapunzel Unbraided

A pre-visualization reel from 2005 from what was then called Rapunzel Unbraided. Work by Tony Hudson under the direction of Glen Keane.

You can see that the original version of the film shared a lot in common with Enchanted, released by Disney in 2007.

Earlier in 2007, Keane's film was scrapped and the film we now know as Tangled began to take shape.

AVClub: ABC News Names New President, The Guy Who Wrote Charlie St. Cloud

Ben Sherwood, former producer of Good Morning America, author of Charlie St. Cloud and total douche bag.

AV Club:

For those unfamiliar with Sherwood, over the summer The Awl had a comprehensive overview of all the reasons that people hate him, following the “child of privilege deeply disliked by his classmates” who earned the enmity of his entire Harvard class for his relentless résumé-building and “cynical social-climbing,” then moved on to exploiting his family connections to land jobs at the Los Angeles Times and CBS (“where he added Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather to his résumé as references”), and finally ended up writing novels about how life is just a game of catch with your dead ghost bro that became Zac Efron movies.

Disneyland Paris' First Christmas

Video from the official Disneyland Paris YouTube channel highlighting the Park's first Christmas in 1992.

Little Box of Treasures

Imagineering Disney:

Humor me as I share what might look like a pile of garbage. For me, this garbage represents a whole lot of theme park ingenuity and memories of getting my hands dirty early, early in the morning...

Tangled Drops 56%, Still Manages #1 For The Weekend

Decent, but not great.

$200 million is out of the question, but $150 is doable.

What is Oriental Land Company's Role in Shanghai Disneyland?

It was rumored a while back, but Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun is confirming that Oriental Land Company will "help manage" Shanghai Disneyland. Does this mean they will be acting as a management company, in charge of the day-to-day operations?

Neither OLC nor Disney have commented on the story. If true, this would be OLC's first project outside of Japan.

This is good news for the guest experience at the new Park, but given the strained and sometimes hostile relationship between the Chinese and Japanese I wonder how this will be perceived in Shanghai and Beijing.

Frankly, I'm skeptical the Chinese government will allow such a deal. Hopefully we will get official comment soon.

Miramax Sale Closes

Deadline.com:

All in all, $660 million is a very good price for Disney because film library values have taken a hit as DVD/video has flattened. True, Disney once placed a sky-high $1.2 billion pricetag on the Miramax library. Then the company hoped to get around $800 million, then $700 million, for Miramax, and this number comes awfully close to that.

The Miramax chapter was an interesting one for the Walt Disney Studios, but it was never a very good fit for the company.

HitFix: Disney Planning to Film Pirates 5 & 6 Back to Back

Drew McWeeny:

Because HitFix can now exclusively report that Disney has begun quietly telling cast and crew to set aside a major block of time in the very near future so they can shoot "Pirates 5" and "Pirates 6." And, yes, once again, they will be shooting them back-to-back as one giant film, and then they'll release them as two films.

They must be incredibly happy with how the new one is shaping up. I wonder if Rob Marshall will direct.

I hated At World's End. Hopefully if these go into production they will do so with a clearer vision than 2 and 3 did.

Screamscape: Disney Ready to Buy Out Universal's Marvel Option?

Screamscape:

It’s just a rumor at this point, but more than one industry source has mentioned to me that Disney’s board may have been kicking around some options to quietly “buy out Universal” to get the theme park rights to the Marvel characters back and completely under Disney’s control, allowing them to get the most out of their new purchase...

That would be something, but why spend the money now unless they have a Marvel project that is ready to go?

UPDATE: There are rumors that Shanghai Disneyland might incorporate Marvel characters, perhaps even a Marvel-themed land. Maybe, but Disney already controls those rights.

The Los Angeles Times reported back when Disney's acquisition of Marvel was announced:

Universal’s intellectual property rights are limited geographically to the use of the Marvel brand in Orlando and the Spider-Man brand in Japan.

So, again, why would Disney pony up for the exclusive rights now?

Tangled Shines Lights on Disney Animation Rivalry

Hollywood Reporter (via ABCNews):

For though undeniably strong, the $68.7 million rung up by the Disney-branded movie during its first five days also serves to underscore some internecine rivalry among the studio's movie animators. And unless "Tangled" continues to outpace expectations during the length of its theatrical run, its Burbank animators will continue to struggle with the knotty problem of competing with their corporate kin at Pixar.

What differentiates a Pixar film from a Disney film? I'm not sure that anyone knows.

Disney Animation is in the midst of an identity crisis. Where does it fit in anymore?

Santa Paws at Walt Disney World

If I have one weakness, it's PUPPIES!

Disney and More: The Disneyland Paris Frontierland Stunt Show That Never Was

A former Imagineer chimes in:

As to the stunt show, this was developed under the Entertainment department on their own rather than Imagineering which was probably why it was not well known. An outside consultant was brought in and I seem to remember a model might also have been done. It was essentially a comic gun fight with exploding buildings and such but, as Jeff said, it was cancelled because of the clash with the Buffalo Bill show.

I always like reading about theme park attractions that never were.

Disney Announces Stock Dividend of $0.40 Per Share, Annual Shareholder Meeting to be Held in Salt Lake City

That's $0.05 more per share than last year.

The annual shareholders' meeting will be held Wednesday, 23 March 2011 in Salt Lake City, UT.

Anyone planning on attending?

Hollywood Reporter: Tron: Legacy Tracking Weak?

The 3D sci-fi film has been marketed heavily for months en route to its Dec. 17 bow, and many have been suggesting a big opening and leggy theatrical run based on built-in interest from the cult base of its 1982 predecessor. But at this point, tracking suggests Tron: Legacy with as little as $35 million.

More than two weeks out, tracking is near meaningless.

DCA Closes at 8 PM Tomorrow 01 Dec, But Guests Can Experience ElecTRONica Until 10 PM

Confirmed in the comments:

The full ElecTRONica experience will be available until 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 1. The rest of the park will close at 8 p.m., but anyone already in the Park for ElecTRONica can enjoy the party until 10 p.m. 

ElecTRONica =  so much $$$

MousePlanet: No "2Fer" Deal for Disneyland Resort in 2011

Team Disney Anaheim is very worried about what might happen if crowds continue to descend on Disney California Adventure next year when the entire front portion of the Park is torn up and under construction.

They are, however, aware that they need to offer some incentive for guests to visit in early 2011 before The Little Mermaid attraction opens. It sounds like ElecTRONica has been extended through Spring 2011.

Tangled Is Disney's Biggest Animated Opening Ever

I'm happy to eat crow.

Cartoon Brew:

Disney’s Tangled bulldozed its way past analysts’ expectations earning an estimated $49.1 million over the weekend, and boosting its five-day Thanksgiving holiday total to a towering $69 million. Disney’s first CG princess cartoon was one million dollars shy of Harry Potter’s first place box office finish, however, its three-day total still ranks as the biggest opening ever for a feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation.

Even the studio was only expecting ~$35 million for the five-day weekend. But when Wednesday's figures started rolling in, they were way above early estimates. The numbers kept building through the weekend.

No doubt Tangled benefitted from Warner Brothers abandoning plans to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in 3D, allowing theaters to devote more 3D screens to the Disney release.
But credit has to go to Disney marketing chief MT Carney. While I wasn't impressed by the film's marketing, there's no question that it connected. And the controversial decision to rename the film Tangled now looks like genius.

Can the film keep up the momentum? Audiences gave the film an "A+" CinemaScore which bodes well for word of mouth. $200 million is not out of the question. We'll know more next weekend.

With Tron: Legacy tracking strong, it looks like a good holiday for the Walt Disney Studios.

Australia Coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom?

The Disney Blog is running a rumor that Walt Disney World is getting ready to move ahead with a land based on the Australian continent for Disney's Animal Kingdom.

There are a number of projects in various stages of development for Walt Disney World vying for go-ahead funding, but the truth is that nothing major is moving forward until after the new Fantasyland opens in 2012.

Years away, it's too early to say what will ultimately go forward. In my estimation, Disney Hollywood Studios has Star Tours 2 on tap for 2011, leaving either Epcot and Animal Kingdom in contention for the next big addition.

My guess is that TDO doesn't have the stomach, or the budget, for another massive capital outlay so soon after reworking Fantasyland. Perhaps something more modest like a new Imagination pavilion at Epcot.

At this point we're pushing 2015, which may be just about the right time for another spending spree...

Happy Thanksgiving

The Archimedes Report is taking a brief respite and will return Monday.

LATimes: Disney Animation is Closing the Book on Fairy Tales

This article published in the Los Angeles Times has the Disney fan community buzzing, with an appreciable number rending their clothing in anguish.

Ed Catmull took to Facebook in response:

A headline in today’s LA Times erroneously reported that the Disney fairy tale is a thing of the past, but I feel it is important to set the record straight that they are alive and well at Disney and continue this week with Tangled, a contemporary retelling of a much loved story. We have a number of projects in development with new twists that audiences will be able to enjoy for many years to come.

It is true that none of the projects currently in the works at Feature Animation are fairy tales.

But this is really not the story Disney wants to be making news the week Tangled opens.

Chinese Theme Park Operators Hope Shanghai Disneyland Means Boom Times

China Daily:

Disney has been fortunate in not only capturing the hearts of many young Chinese Mickey Mouse fans but also being surprisingly welcomed by its Chinese competitors.

In the eyes of Liu Pingchun, chief executive officer of China's top theme park developer, Shenzhen OCT Holding Company, the cartoon mouse may help Chinese theme park operators to cultivate a much bigger market.

A few years ago, Liu visited 12 theme parks in Japan within nine days to make a survey of the influence that Tokyo Disneyland had on the local industry. He found the Disney resort promoted the development of other local parks.

"In the theme park field, the market is always created by park builders," Liu told China Daily.

Will the rising tide lift all boats?

At present, China has around 2,500 theme parks with a total investment of 300 billion yuan, but only a quarter make a profit, according to Chinese media reports.

Wow. I wonder what they're counting as "theme parks," though.

Beijing Review: Mickey Finds a New Home

Beijing Review, China's English weekly news magazine, has details on the planned infrastructure for Shanghai Disneyland:

The whole project, which is to cover 1.16 square km, will be the largest Disneyland in the world, said He Jianmin, Director of the Tourism Department of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, which participated in the appraisal of the project.

The construction will be divided into three phases. The first phase, including a nearly 1-square-km theme park area, is to involve an investment about 25 billion yuan ($3.68 billion) and is planned for completion around 2014. After it opens, the number of tourists is expected to add up to 10 million every year, while the total tourists visiting the whole park will be 30 million annually, He said.

Water will be one of the main features of the first phase of the Shanghai Disneyland. A 0.39-square-km lake will be built in the first phase, which will take up a sizeable proportion of the entire park. It will be used as a base for water recreation activities and transportation.

In the northeast of the lake, a 7,000-square-meter artificial island will be built. On the north side of the lake are spaces for the construction of a public transportation hub, entertainment facilities and hotels. A river which will surround the park has been under construction since October. As a whole, the park will present to tourists an impression of a water world.

The section to be built in the first phase will focus on the theme of a magic kingdom. It will include five different theme areas.

A 20-square-km Shanghai International Tourism Resort will be built to surround the theme park. A joint venture set up in August by Disney and the SSG will be in charge of operating the Shanghai theme park.

A special Disneyland subway line is to be built to link the fun park with the urban area of Shanghai.

So far, Disney has been very mum on their plans but that hasn't stopped details from leaking.

New Queue Open at Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

What a drastic improvement over what was there before.

The "interactive" elements haven't been activated yet, but are supposed to being rolling sometime this week.

UPDATE: Here's a more complete look at the changes, including the interactive elements in operation.

50 Disney Spoilers in 3 Minutes

The Fine Brothers spoil all 50 Disney animated films in 3 minutes.

Limited Posting

I am traveling out of the country and currently with limited internet connectivity.

Regular posting will resume Monday. Thanks for your patience.

Disney Teams Up With Gowalla

Does anyone use Gowalla? Is this enough to get you involved?

Mashable:

Disney has decided to partner with location service Gowalla — rather than Facebook or Foursquare — for an immersive location-based campaign to help people explore its flagship Disneyworld and Disneyland parks.

The Gowalla/Disney partnership focuses around custom Passport pages that not only show off Disney-branded stamps (Gowalla’s version of Badges), but also a photo and check-in stream. Gowalla’s Disney page also offers Disney-branded pins that users can earn by completing specific trips within Disneyworld and Disneyland.

This isn’t just a few stamps and a check-in stream, though; Gowalla and Disney have created literally hundreds of stamps for rides and locales within the two parks. Everything from the fireworks show to “Finding Nemo-The Music” offers a stamp or pin that can be earned by checking in.

What's the benefit for Disney? I wonder if they get cash money.

Disney Announces Conversion of Pleasure Island to Hyperion Wharf

Disney fans are complaining that it's not Pleasure Island. Do people not remember how terrible Pleasure Island was in it's last five painful years of life?

It'll be interesting to see what restaurant operators they get involved. Hopefully it's not more Landry restaurants, but don't be surprised.

UPDATE: Can we all agree that the most exciting part of the upgrades are an improved movie theater? My local megaplex offers a nicer experience than the Downtown Disney AMC.

WSJ: Disney Junior and Nick Jr. Square Off in the Fight for Preschoolers' TV Viewing

From the article (subscription required):

Executives at Walt Disney Co., preparing their latest push for this audience, say that some TV for tots favors curriculum over storytelling. They argue that it's sometimes too much work, not enough play.

They're offering themselves as an alternative to Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. channel, which emphasizes learning. Disney says that today's parents are ready for a change. In an age of video games and iPads, kids can learn their ABCs anywhere. What's missing are good, old-fashioned stories that kids can repeat to others, pretend to be the characters, and watch again and again.

Disney Junior replaces Playhouse Disney on the Disney Channel and in the theme parks in February and gets its own 24-hour channel in 2012 replacing SOAPnet.

As the article states, this is serious business for Disney. Last year advertisers spent more than $276 million during children's TV shows and merchandise sales can equal billions more.

But this is what really caught my eye:

Following the death of the broadcast networks' Saturday morning cartoon tradition, preschoolers have been watching at all hours. Forty percent more of them now watch Nick Jr. from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. than during the rest of the day, according to the network.

Making Mickey Mouse Act For the Talkies

via Cartoon Brew:

The article, by Gordon S. Mitchell of Universal’s sound department – who includes ample references to Lantz’s Oswald Rabbit – is a pretty poorly written explanation of how cartoons are produced. However, it does feature several unique behind-the-scenes photos and drawings, and well worth a look for how animation production was explained to the public in those long ago days before DVD bonus features.

Pyongyang Fun Fairs

The Theme Park Guy had a rare opportunity to visit the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and visit the local fun fairs.

North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world. Incredible photographs.

Photo Updates From the IAAPA 2010 Trade Show

The Theme Park Review forum has updates from the 2010 International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions expo happening now in Orlando, Florida.

Every year ride manufacturers, designers and vendors show off their new designs and try to solicit sales. It's an exciting place to be for a theme park enthusiast.

UPDATE: All of TPR's day one coverage in one place. If you want to follow along as the updates go live, the forum is the place.

Filming 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

A 1954 photo report from Life magazine, via Disney and More.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of my favorite Disney films of all time.

Cars 2 Teaser Trailer

Looks uninspired, but the Cars franchise is big business and I have no doubt this will do well at the box office.

World of Color Receives Thea Award

World of Color received the Thea award for Outstanding Achievement - Nighttime Spectacular.

Disney Imagineer Kim Irvine was also recognized with the Buzz Price Award, Thea's lifetime achievement honor.

From the press release:

To date, Walt Disney Imagineering has received a total of 34 awards throughout the Thea Awards’ 17-year history. Some of Disney’s past recipients of Awards for Outstanding Achievement include Toy Story Midway Mania! at Disney California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, “Finding Nemo- The Musical” and Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Soarin’ Over California at Disney California Adventure, Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland Park, Space Mountain, From the Earth to the Moon at Disneyland Paris, CineMagique at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris and ‘The Legend of Mythica’ at Tokyo DisneySea.

Guillermo Del Toro and David Eick to Create ABC's New Hulk

Deadline.com:

Del Toro and Eick will break the story for the pilot script together, sharing story and created by credit. Eick will write the script, with del Toro attached to direct subject to his availability. Del Toro will also oversee the designing of the Hulk character...

Seriously cool news for fans of the Hulk.

Only Three Animated Features to Receive Oscar Nominations

Cartoon Brew:

Under Academy rules, “in any year when 8 to 15 animated features are released in Los Angeles County, a maximum of 3 motion pictures may be nominated.” Had one more feature qualified, the number of nominees would have expanded to five features.

The biggest losers in this scenario are the indies like Bill Plympton’s Idiots and Angels, Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist and Paul and Sandra Fierlinger’s My Dog Tulip, as well as the sleeper anime hit, Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars. A field of five nominees would virtually guarantee one or two of them a nomination, but they face an uphill battle now.

Disney is pushing hard for a Best Picture nomination for Toy Story 3. With the Academy expanding the Best Picture nominations to ten films beginning last year, there's a good chance they'll get it.

But they'll have to settle for, at most, a Best Animated Feature win. The Academy would be loathe to deliver Best Picture to an animated film.

Growing Backlash Against TSA Body Scanners, Pat-Downs

"We certainly understand the challenges that DHS confronts, but the question remains, 'where do we draw the line'? Our country desperately needs a long-term vision for aviation security screening, rather than an endless reaction to yesterday's threat," the statement said. "At the same time, fundamental American values must be protected."

If you're planning on flying this holiday, might I direct you here.

UPDATE: Also, here.

Disneyland Fantasmic! Dragon Returns

"Murphy" returned to the show last Friday.

Glad to see him back.

Bob Iger on the Health and Future of the Disney Store

I promised highlights from the Fourth Quarter Earnings Call that happened yesterday, but truth be told nothing new came out of it.

What I found most interesting was CEO Bob Iger's take on the Disney Store:

Well we're pretty excited about the new design. We just opened the new store which you should see in Times Square, but we'll proceed with real caution. We're using the design as a platform to greatly improve the quality of the merchandise and the presentation and we're also using it to improve location which we've done quite well. Times Square, I think, is a good example of that. But we look at specialty retail as a relatively challenging business and with that in mind we're going to be really careful and watch these results quite carefully. We've redesigned in the 18-19 store range, I think maybe it was around 20, and we don't see going significantly higher fast. We're going to wait and see how these stores do before we make any decisions about rollout. It cost us slightly above a million dollars a store for this new design. We think it's closer to probably $1.4 for the initial stores, and that will trend down as we bring this design to more, but we're going to be careful about this.

Emphasis added.

The Disney Store was hugely successful when introduced but was completely decimated by over-expansion. The truth is, there's no need for a Disney Store in every mall in America.

Iger has talked about modeling the segment after the Apple Stores. There's a lot of Apple Stores, but they aren't over exposed. The location for each one is carefully selected and the stores are individually designed. They work equally well as brand showcases and retail outlets.

It will be interesting to see how they proceed.

Disney Character Voices International

Terrific interview with French Creative Director Boualem Lamhene.

The division is charged with creating parity between the voice acting for Disney characters worldwide.

Disney Profits Down 7% in Fourth Quarter

Dramatic gains at Walt Disney Studios hampered by poor theme park and media network performance.

Highlights from the earnings call coming later tonight or tomorrow.

Sally Corporation Factory Tour

Theme Park Review member moinab recently toured the Jacksonville, FL headquarters of Sally Corporation and was able to document her experience.

Sally Corp designs and constructs dark rides, including animatronic figures, for various theme park companies including Legoland, Six Flags and many regional amusement parks.

I always like seeing the behind-the-scenes aspect of attraction creation.

First Trailer for New Winnie the Pooh Film

I've never really sparked to Winnie the Pooh, so I'll probably sit this one out.

D23 Armchair Archivist

The first episode of D23's new video series Armchair Archivist.

It's nice, but the highlight is definitely seeing the last footage Walt shot before his death.

Losses Narrow at Disneyland Paris

Improved guest spending offset lower attendance and hotel occupancy.

The Independent:

The company booked a net loss of €45.2m for the 12 months to the end of September, compared to €63m a year ago.

Disneyland Paris visitor numbers, on the other hand, stood at 15 million, down from 15.4 million in 2009. Visitors spent more, however, with the average guest doling out €45.3 this year, up from €44.22 in 2009.

Demolition of the Sunshine Plaza Begins

You can clearly see the It's Tough To Be A Bug show building now with all the missing trees.

Private Tour of Walt's Disneyland Apartment

MiceChat user CMHusband recently had the opportunity to tour Walt's famed Disneyland apartment located above the fire station on Main Street.

Lots of great pictures taken inside the exclusive location.

Jon Favreau Interested in Disney's Magic Kingdom Film

Didn't know they were planning of moving ahead with this so quickly. It also sounds like he's planning on directing Iron Man 3 as well.

Deadline.com:

Jon Favreau is in talks to direct Magic Kingdom, the Disney film with the premise that the attractions at the venerable theme park come to life. The studio set the project up nearly two years ago and got a draft by Battlestar Galactica's Ron Moore, but a new writer will be set and work on a new draft under Favreau.

As the article mentions, Disney has picked up a lot of A-list directors in the past few months. Kind of a change of strategy under Rich Ross.

Disney Developing Film Based on Enchanted Tiki Room, Hubris

The A.V. Club:

As the LAT acknowledges, “there’s not much known mythology behind the Tiki Room,” but such things don't matter when it comes to corporate synergy, as Zappa’s script isn’t so much a straight adaptation of the attraction, but rather “an action-adventure that mixes in Polynesian mythology.”

Perhaps it will disappear into the labyrinths of development hell, as Jungle Cruise did.

Al Lutz: Pyro & Parades? Pay Up!

To be read with extreme prejudice.

I don't know if they'll move forward with a hard ticket Christmas party to mirror the success at Halloween. It's true that a rough proposal has been drawn up, but it hasn't moved any further than that.

However, unlike others (mostly Annual Passholders) with an unfounded sense of entitlement, I'm not opposed to it.

Can anyone deny Halloween Time was significantly more manageable this year?

New Disney Store Opens in Times Square

The Associated Press (via the Washington Post):

The Times Square store, two years in the making, is expected to produce 5 percent of the chain's North American revenue. Disney's first Manhattan store opened in 1997 on Fifth Avenue and closed in January.

The new store debuted informally on Thursday and was to be open from 9 a.m. to midnight daily. But managers are testing a 1 a.m. store closing to accommodate the crowds showing up.

5% of the chain's North American revenue is an impressive figure.

They plan to refurbish the remaining stores over the next 5-7 years.

First Reviews of Tangled

The first reviews of Tangled are beginning to appear. Early critics are mixed.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter writes:

It would have been nice if Disney's self-touted 50th animated feature were one of its best, a film that could stand with the studio's classics, but the world will have to make do with "Tangled," a passably entertaining hodgepodge of old and new animation techniques, mixed sensibilities and hedged commercial calculations.

And Justin Change for Variety (subscription required) agrees, saying:

After last year's "The Princess and the Frog" grossed an underwhelming $104 million domestically, Disney execs opted to change the title of the new film from "Rapunzel" to the more gender-neutral "Tangled." If that suggests a vote of no confidence in traditional princess fare (imagine if "The Little Mermaid" had been called "Beached"), the hipper moniker does underscore the film's odd, somewhat perplexing mix of sensibilities -- pitched somewhere between Disney classicism and the self-conscious storybook quality of DreamWorks' "Shrek" movies or, at best, Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods."

Even more biased, self-proclaimed Disney fans, like those writing for The Disney Blog, conclude:

...while Tangled is not perfect, it is definitely entertaining and proof that Disney Animation is slowly returning to the right track creatively.

Color me less than enthused.

If tracking remains soft and Tangled underperforms, matching The Princess and the Frog's grosses or worse yet grossing less than that film's disappointing figures, where does Disney go from there?

Photos of the Disney Dream

A gallery of photos from USA Today of the almost finished ship.

The Disney Dream makes its maiden voyage 26 January 2011 out of Port Canaveral, FL.

It looks incredible.

ABC Wins Terrible Sounding 'Man Up', Possibly Starring Tim Allen

Deadline.com:

Word is new ABC programming chief Paul Lee was personally involved in the network's efforts to get the comedy that would bring Allen back to ABC where he toplined one of the network's biggest comedies, Home Improvement. Man Up, from 20th TV and studio-based 21 Laps/Adelstein, is a multi-camera family comedy about a guy fighting for his manhood in a world of women.

A sitcom based on misogyny. No doubt it'll be a big hit.

WSJ: Disney's Iger Uses Downturn as Investment Springboard

The Wall Street Journal interviews Disney CEO Bob Iger about the Company's investments during the recession.

If you follow Disney news it's light on interesting developments, but I did like this:

WSJ: You're spending $1 billion to overhaul Disney California Adventure, Disneyland's less-famous neighbor. Why?

Mr. Iger: [Apple CEO] Steve Jobs is fond of talking about brand deposits and brand withdrawals. Any time you do something mediocre with your brand, that's a withdrawal. California Adventure was a brand withdrawal.

We debated, "Should we make it one park?" Raise the price at Disneyland, and suddenly one ticket buys you the whole thing. I even had Imagineers design that.

[But] we would have had to put in transportation systems. It would have cost us so much money to put the monorail in. And to do other things to create one park. That didn't make sense.

We all concluded that the only way we would improve returns on that park is if we made it better and we made it bigger. And we decided to put what is now [around] $1 billion into that.

WSJ: What are you adding?

Mr. Iger: We opened up the first attraction, [the animation-inspired] "World of Color." "Little Mermaid" [is] next summer, and then the big kahuna of them all, "Cars Land," which is a 12-acre land [based on the Pixar animated film.]

[Cars Land] will open in the middle of 2012. "World of Color" has increased attendance since it opened at California Adventure by 20%.

Emphasis mine.

That's a pretty impressive return.

Walt Disney Studios Restructures PR Department

Can Marketing be far behind?

Disney Signs Agreement for Shanghai Theme Park

Reuters:

"For quite some time, we have been involved in discussions with the Shanghai government about building a Disney theme park. We can confirm the statement from the Shanghai government that we have taken another step forward in the approval process," a Disney spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Shanghai Government to Sign Agreement with Disney Tomorrow

I guess technically it's Friday right now in Shanghai.

People Daily Online:

The Shanghai municipal government plans to sign an agreement with the Walt Disney Company on Friday to lay out the specific structure of the joint venture for the planned Disneyland Park in Shanghai, in line with market speculations. 

The municipal government's spokesperson and Walt Disney could not be immediately reached for comment. The Shanghai Disneyland, which will take up 116 hectares and will be co-invested by Chinese and US companies, was approved by the State Council in November 2009 and is expected to be completed by 2014.

Disney Plans Tron: Uprising Animated Show for Disney XD

A spin-off of Tron: Legacy, launching Summer 2012.

Wired:

Tron: Uprising’s voice cast will include Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, Emmanuelle Chriqui (who plays Sloan on Entourage), Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman) and Lance Henriksen, the publication reported, with Bruce Boxleitner reprising his role as Tron.

The show will spin out of Tron: Legacy, the highly anticipated sequel to 1982 sci-fi movie Tron. Gary Marsh, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, called the animated series “a culmination of an extraordinary collaboration between Disney Television Animation and our feature film studio.”

Disney sees Tron as their chance at a homegrown franchise for boys to rival the Princesses in popularity. If its as successful as they hope, expect things to move pretty fast in the theme parks.

Disney Introduces Princess Line to Compete With American Girl Dolls

Orlando Sentinel's Daily Disney:

The Walt Disney Co. aims to give Mattel’s American Girl doll franchise a run for its money this holiday season. Disney has introduced Princess & Me dolls into the popular 18-inch doll market, and it’s doing so at a lower price point.

Princess & Me dolls sell for $49.99, compared with American Girl dolls, which start at $95. Girls can choose from Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, Tiana and Belle. After each doll is registered, its owner will receive a letter on her birthday from her favorite princess.

Can they really be considered competitors, though? The Disney Princess dolls don't even seem to be in the same class.

Disneyland Circa 1971

MiceChat user FREQDUDE posted some photos from his family trip to Disneyland in 1971, including a stay at the Disneyland Hotel.

Love the marina.

Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival Cancelled for 2011/2012

Announced on the official Disney Parks Blog.

I know guests will be sad to see it gone but Disney will too. It was a great revenue generator. But it's not surprising given the already complicated logistics of rebuilding the Park entrance.

I guess this means Buena Vista Street won't be completed until 2012.

Comparing Theme Park Ride Show Building Sizes

Attractions Magazine:

A friend of mine asserted that the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride in Universal’s Islands of Adventure is in the largest show building in the world. That didn’t seem right, so I pulled out my phone and Google mapped to prove what I thought – that the Revenge of the Mummy building at Universal Studios is bigger. Later at home, I decided to compare some other theme park buildings at the same scale. I hope you find this collage as interesting as I do. 

See Tron: Legacy in Your Overpriced Boutique Lightcycle Cufflinks

LATimes.com Hero Blog:

With the opening of “Tron: Legacy” a little more than a month away, the marketing for one of the holiday season’s most anticipated films is in overdrive. As part of the bullish campaign leading to the sci-fi epic’s release, Disney has announced the opening of a “Tron” pop-up shop inside of Culver City’s Royal T Café and gallery.

The shop, which opens Nov. 19 through Dec. 23, is the only one of its kind and will feature a long list of specialty items inspired by the film. But don’t expect flimsy toy Lightcycles or goofy glow-in-the-dark body suits: This pop-up shop is high-end. Just like the aspirations of the new film.

Boo.

Walk Through Frontierland, Walk Through Disneyland's Past

Shawn Slater:

The Big Thunder Trail that wanders between Fantasyland andFrontierland is not only the place to find Big Thunder Ranch, it's a bit of a walk through Disneyland history.

Backstage With the Original Mickey Mouse Club

NPR interview with Why? Because We Still Like You author Jennifer Armstrong on the history and legacy of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Terrorific Night 2

For the second year, Walt Disney Studios Paris hosted a not-for-the-faint-of-heart Halloween party, Terrorific Night.

Halloween at the Paris Resort is much more macabre than anything Disney would allow in the States.

Tron: Legacy Encore for World of Color

Premiered over the weekend.

They moved the never-used projector from the California Screamin' lift hill to the roof of the Toy Story Midway Mania! building. 

Looks impressive.

Disney's Believe

A new show being produced for the Disney Dream cruise ship.

MousePlanet:

Headlining at Walt Disney Theatre, an elegant, 1,340-seat entertainment palace, is “Disney’s Believe,” an original stage spectacular that combines a heartfelt story with a captivating musical score. It tells the story of a workaholic father who, through the power of Disney magic, reconnects with his daughter.

Sounds horrifying.

Details, Details, Details

The "Out of Order" signs in Flynn's Arcade during ElecTRONica are printed using a classic dot matrix printer.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all! Don't miss the big giveaway at 9. Wear your masks, and watch the magic pumpkin!

Cars Land Topping Off Ceremony

Some photos taken from inside the construction zone.

Actor James MacArthur Dies at 72

Disney fans will remember him as Fritz in Swiss Family Robinson.

He also made Kidnapped, The Light in the Forest, and Third Man on the Mountain for Disney.

Chris Evans is Captain America: The First Avenger

Entertainment Weekly has the first official photos of Chris Evans in costume.

Looks great.

Mary Poppins to End Broadway Run? Alice in Wonderland Waiting in the Wings?

Laughingplace.com:

We have heard that Mary Poppins will close at the New Amsterdam Theater in 2011 due to continuing soft sales. Disney Theatrical Productions are currently assessing replacement shows and the division's president Tom Schumacher is keen to bring Alice in Wonderland to the stage. Tim Burton has already agreed to participate in the production. No word as of yet on composers but many of the original creative team behind the Beauty and the Beast musical have been approached. It was originally envisaged that Newsies would be destined for the Great White Way but that project no longer has momentum for a residency run.

Consider it a rumor, but Laughingplace is well connected and usually gets their information straight before running with it.

Remember when I said that Mary Poppins was a qualified success? Even I didn't realize how lousy sales had become.

How does Tom Schumacher still have a job?

UPDATE: Disney contacted Laughingplace to emphatically state that Mary Poppins will not be closing in 2011. Still, it would not surprise me if it happens sooner rather than later. But they need a project ready to use the vacant theater and they're not there yet.

What are Ron & John Working on?

Progress City, U.S.A.:

Animation gossips have claimed for a while now that directors Ron Clements and John Musker were at work preparing a new traditionally animated project to pitch. I’m started hearing rumors that are truly unexpected – that the project they’re boarding is an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s 1987 novel Mort. The book is the fourth in Pratchett’s beloved Discworld series of comedic fantasies, and follows a young man looking for a job who gets an apprenticeship working for Death.

My first thought: Treasure Planet. Now let us never speak of it again.

The Harry Potter Effect

The Orlando Sentinel:

Traffic on Disney's buses fell 3.8 percent during the first nine months of the year. From January to September, Disney transported about 1.6 million arriving passengers at OIA to its hotels — about 64,000 fewer guests than it carried during the same period last year.

Disney's Magical Express carries fewer guests as more travelers funnel through Orlando International Airport.

They're not coming for Disney.

Al Lutz on the Washington, DC DVC Project at National Harbor

I forgot this was ever announced.

Who's Flying This Thing?

Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald confirms the Star Tours 2 rumors in his new post for the Disney Parks Blog.

I'm genuinely excited for the new Star Tours.

First Song From Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy Score Debuts With Footage From the Film

Today Walt Disney Pictures released a video for "Derezzed," a song from Daft Punk's original score for Tron: Legacy.

Walt Disney Studios has a quality line-up this holiday season. They're obviously excited about what they have in Tron and advanced word has been promising.

Tangled, however, has not been tracking as promisingly as they hoped. I'm probably one of the few commentators who think changing the name from Rapunzel was a good move. Disney Animation doesn't have the same cultural cache it had in the 90's and the films just aren't event moviegoing anymore.

We'll see in a few weeks what happens, and I don't think it'll be a disaster, but The Princess and the Frog-type numbers seem reasonable.

VP of Global Communications at Disney Studios Exits, Moves Back to Parks & Resorts

Deadline.com:

John J. Nicoletti is exiting as VP of Global Communications for The Walt Disney Studios and returning to flack for the Walt Disney Parks And Resorts. He'll be replaced by Paul Roeder, a Walt Disney Studios publicist and disciple of chief Disney PR woman Zenia Mucha.

An insider tells Deadline that Nicoletti was out of his league at the Studios. He seems like a genuinely nice person, but was never a good fit for the job.

ABC Gives Two New Series Full Season Pick-Up, Orders More Scripts For Two More Series

Deadline.com:

ABC today became the latest broadcast network to make its full-season pickups, handing out back-nine orders to freshman comedy Better With You and drama No Ordinary Family. Additionally, the network has picked up 5 additional episodes from freshman cop drama Detroit 1-8-7 and 4 from veteran family drama Brothers & Sisters.

ABC has had a weak Fall, with No Ordinary Family the only new series showing any kind of promise. But their midseason entries look just as weak, so ABC had to order something.

Barron's: Apple Could Bid For Disney

Market Watch:

Barron's on Saturday said it's possible that Apple could make a bid to buyout Disney after CEO Steve Jobs becomes the legendary entertainment firm's largest shareholder.

Complete lunacy.

Design & History of the Disneyland Hotel 1955-1965

Designing Disney with a detailed look at the first ten years of the Disneyland Hotel.

Marvel Studios Pumps the Brakes on The Runaways

Deadline.com:

Marvel simply has too much going on at the moment and will take its time on the live action adaptation of the comic hatched by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan... Director Peter Sollett, who signed up with the idea this would be his followup to Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, is still attached but has been invited to take another film first.

The film was scheduled to go into production early next year.

John Lasseter Officially Director of Cars 2, Brad Lewis Now Co-Director

Co-Director was the title bestowed on Jan Pinkava after he was removed from Ratatouille.

It's basically a "thanks for your hard work, but we'll take it from here" sort of thing.

First Cars 2 Teaser

Can't be worse than the first.

Confirmed: Brenda Chapman No Longer Director Pixar's Brave

The New York Times confirms, but they report that she remains on staff at Pixar.

I wonder if it's another situation like Jan Pinkava; after being replaced as the director of Ratatouille he took on lesser responsibilities at Pixar and shortly left the company.

I don't have any inside information but it wouldn't surprise me if Ms. Chapman moved on shortly.

Disney and More: Walt Disney, Wernher von Braun and the Space Program

Alain from Disney and More with another fascinating article on a relatively unexplored moment in Disney history.

Carousel of Progress Like You've Never Seen It

More behind-the-scenes pictures from Imagineering Disney, this time from the Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

Some pretty great pictures of animatronics up close. Cat nip for geeks like me.

One of my favorite bits:

The printed paper props (newspapers, calendar, etc.) are made up of stacks of the exact same print. If the top print wares out or goes missing, the subsequent layers of paper are identical.

Al Lutz: Horsing Around

A new update from the grandfather of internet Disneyland rumormongering.

Neither the Tomorrowland nor the Frontierland expansions are anywhere near moving forward. Mr. Lutz focuses on some of the developments being explored for Frontierland but it wouldn't surprise me if there's some action in Tomorrowland first.

There is a Tron attraction being developed for Disneyland that some folks are quite bullish on. If the film is a big hit this December, the project is guaranteed to gather more steam.

The problem with all of this is that TDA isn't looking to move forward on any major projects in Disneyland Park until after Cars Land is completed in 2012. A lot can change in eighteen months. There are no solid plans right now and many options are being developed and explored.

Cartoon Brew: Brenda Chapman No Longer Directing Pixar's Brave?

Brave has had a somewhat troubled development, so this isn't that surprising.

Cartoon Brew:

Crazy rumors floating into our offices this afternoon from reliable sources. We hear that Brenda Chapman, the first woman director at Pixar, has left the studio and is no longer directing Brave (previously titled The Bear and the Bow). We hear that she was pushed aside from full directing duties a while back, and that story artist Mark Andrews (who also co-directed the Pixar short One Man Band) has taken over directorial duties. We understand that the change officially happened last week, although it had been inevitable for some time.

As mentioned in the article, directors being replaced on animated films is a fairly common occurrence. But this is particularly noteworthy because Brave was to be the first Pixar film directed by a woman.

Iron Man 3 To Be Released 03 May 2013

Speaking of Iron Man 3, Marvel just announced the film will be released 03 May 2013.

No word on a director.

Shanghai Disneyland Construction to Begin in November?

Translated from Cantonese. Take it with a grain of salt.

Disney Buys-Out Paramount's Marvel Contract, Will Release Avengers & Iron Man 3

Disney will pay $115 million to Paramount but avoids having to work with a rival studio to launch major tentpoles. Paramount is still promoting and releasing Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger next summer.

Deadline.com

Paramount had been earning an 8% distribution fee on the Marvel titles like Iron Man. Paramount also put up P&A and got reimbursed over time. The $115 million will be paid in two installments--half when Iron Man 3 is released and the other half when The Avengers is released. One will be released May, 2012 and the other a year later. If those movies perform more strongly than expected, Paramount will earn more than $115 million. I'm told that the studio is actually getting 9% on that third Iron Man movie, a reward for launching one of Hollywood's most valuable franchises.

WDW Cast Members Vote Down Proposed Contract

Orlando Sentinel:

The proposed contract would have guaranteed a one-time $550 bonus plus three 3 percent raises during the course of the 42-month contract for full-time workers not already at the top of their pay scale.

If you are a full-time Cast Member in a front-lines job like merchandise or attractions, and you are at the top of your pay scale, you are bringing in at most ~$25,000 a year. You would not be eligible for the proposed raises.

Lost Disney Laugh-O-Grams at Museum of Modern Art

Cartoon Brew:

Cole Johnson located Goldie Locks and The Three Bears at MoMA under a 1929 sound reissue title “The Peroxide Kid” and Gerstein recently identified the lost Jack The Giant Killer, which the Museum had under the name “The K-O Kid”.

In addition to the two new discoveries, newly preserved and restored prints of Little Red Riding Hood, Puss In Boots and The Four Musicians Of Bremen will be screened at MoMA along with Disney’s original 1921 Laugh-O-Gram sample reel and several Ub Iwerks cartoons – Flip the Frog in Techno-Cracked (1933) and the ComicColor Don Quixote (1934).

For Disney enthusiasts, this is a huge find.

This means that all seven 1922 Disney Laugh-O-Grams fairy tales – Holy Grails to Disney historians – are now known to exist.

The Telegraph Interviews Euro Disney Chief Philippe Gas

Some highlights:

“We still have 26 years of payments, but I don’t think it matters to have everything paid off. I think you want to be able to look at the sustained profitability – for me, this is the goal.”

Euro Disney plans to be debt free in 2036 but they will pay down 25% of the current debt by 2013.

High on Mr Gas’s agenda are the development of the Disney Studios, where he plans more attractions and restaurants with the intention of turning it into a “one-day experience”. New Disney characters he is keen to feature at the park include Disney’s Cars and Ratatouille.

“Ratatouille is perfect, as it is set in Paris,” he said, pointing to a large wall poster of the film in his office.

Wink.

Pirates of the Caribbean Video Game Scheduled for 2011 Cancelled; Developer Hit With Layoffs

Bold moves by the new management team at Disney Interactive.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned was in development at Propaganda Games. The entire team working on the game has been laid off.

You can watch a trailer released last June for the now-cancelled game here.

WDWMagic.com: Panoramic Photo of Fantasyland Construction Work

Massive.

That's the Little Mermaid show building rising back on the right by the indestructible Toontown Fair tents. The Beast's castle and the Be Our Guest restaurant are rising on the left.

The plans have been significantly improved since the original "color with the Princesses" announcement, but it's still no Harry Potter-killer.

(56k internet connections will weep.)

Disney and More: Disneyland Paris - The 20th Anniversary Projects

Updated effects for Big Thunder Mountain, finally adding the movie tie-in to Pirates of the Caribbean and updated effects (and story changes?) for Phantom Manor.

And if I were a betting man, I'd put money on Star Tours 2.

On the Set of Star Tours 2 With C-3PO

New post from Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald on the official Disney Parks Blog.

Al Lutz on Cars Land Master Planning

Over at MiceAge, Al Lutz gives a detailed rundown of the shops and restaurants coming to Cars Land. A few of the finer points are still in flux, but for the most part you can count on what he details.

But what I found the most informative was what he has to say about master planning the mix of offerings in the new land:

The huge mistake that DCA's original planners and executives made (most of whom have since left Disney and are not on the invite list for any of the DCA grand opening ceremonies in 2011 and 2012) back when the park was in final design and construction in 1998-2001 are still fresh in people's minds. After TDA took a second look at the plans, WDI purposely scaled back the dining and merchandise from Phase One of Cars Land. Sarge's Surplus Hut, for instance, will sit empty on opening day, and the walkways leading in and out of Cars Land are designed to lead to future park expansion pads.

There's a lot more and it's well worth reading.

Meet the People Behind the Pixels

Not your typical behind-the-scenes look at the making of Tangled. Made by the animation department for the animation department.

Seems like a fun place to work.

Michael Giacchino Scoring Cars 2

Variety (Subscription required):

He's already begun work on "Cars 2" for Pixar founder John Lasseter; he will finish in the spring. Abrams' "Super 8," "Mission: Impossible IV" and the sci-fi epic "John Carter of Mars" (directed by another Pixar vet, Andrew Stanton) will follow.

In the meantime, he is adapting John Williams' themes for the refreshed "Star Tours" ride at Disneyland and has a commission for an original piece for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for next fall.

He's the new Randy Newman!

I Come To Bury Mulholland Madness, Not To Praise It

Today is the last day to ride Mulholland Madness. Tomorrow the ride will be shuttered and await its transformation into Goofy's Flight School.

Goofy's Flight School is not going to be highly themed or immersive. But it will be considerably more attractive than Mulholland Madness.

Tim Delaney was the lead Imagineer overseeing the design of Paradise Pier. An immensely talented designer responsible for Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris among others, his expertise was completely wasted on the California Adventure project.

The Imagineers working on Paradise Pier pulled no punches. They knew what a disappointment it was. But they did the best they could with the extremely limited resources available to them and a creative mandate that stifled their best work.

Disney Announces Tron Night, Revs Up Marketing Machine

NYTimes.com:

Borrowing a marketing ploy from 20th Century Fox and “Avatar,” the Walt Disney Company said it would preview more than 20 minutes of its forthcoming “Tron: Legacy”free at Imax theaters around the world. Fox and Imax created this model by showing about 15 minutes of “Avatar” a few months before that movie’s release.

The screenings will take place Thursday, 28 October. Tickets will be available on a first-come basis starting tomorrow. You can find more information at facebook.com/tron.

Secretariat Opens #3 For the Weekend

Why can't Disney get a film to open?

Deadline.com:

All weekend, rival studio execs snarked to me about how the Secretariat marketing campaign was "horrid," in the words of one. "The only audience interested was old females, but the print and the spots made it look like an action movie. Where was The Blind Side's spunky female empowerment, the comedy, the romance?" Criticized another, "I think when you take the beautiful Diane Lane and turn her into a frumpy aged-up woman, you're flirting with danger. Then there's the whole horse thing, which is probably second only to boxing in moviegoing 'who cares?'.

Another miss for the Studios' embattled marketing department.

TheWrap has an interview with marketing chief MT Carney. She's candid, but what happens if Tangled underperforms?

Disney's California Adventure - Pun Central

Outsourcing various creative elements in theme park design is not a new development, but the extent to which it was utilized in creating Disney's California Adventure was unprecedented in Disney history.

Yesterland.com:

The captions and the names of most of the games were outsourced by Disney to Karma Creative (now World Creative Supply), a company whose business is to “name products, create slogans, write tag lines, and proofread text.” Karma Creative was responsible for many the original attraction, restaurant, and shop names at Disney’s California Adventure—their specialty was puns.

MaliBOOMer, Malibu-Ritos, Baker's Field Bakery, Taste Pilot's Grill and on and on.

Of course, Shanghai Disneyland is being designed almost wholly by outside creative companies. Their work is being overseen by WDI. It's similar to the way Universal Creative operates and, if successful in Shanghai, will be the new operating procedure at Imagineering moving forward.

Disney Research Developing TeslaTouch

CNN:

"It's kind of like a buzzing or a vibration. It has the same effect as a buzz," said Chris Harrison, one of the Disney researchers and a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University. "But if you carefully tune the frequency and the vibration of the panel you can actually create things that feel like sandpaper or rubber or a wall."

In the case of a touch screen keyboard -- like those on the Apple iPhone, for example -- users would be able to feel the location of the keys, and could learn to "touch type" without looking at their hands, he said. 

Sounds interesting, but what's the application for Disney? Another patent that reaps large licensing fees.

1956 Guide to Disneyland, Compliments of Bank of America

Via Twitter user otisney.

A 56k connection will weep.

Lost Disneylandia

Art and commentary from last month's Destination D event, presented by Progress City, U.S.A.

Some amazing art for never-realized attractions like a Fantasyland boat ride for The Black Cauldron or an interactive dark ride for The Black Hole.

The Life of Walt Disney

BBC Radio 4 program "Great Lives" discusses the life of Walt Disney.

Guests include cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and Richard Williams, creator of Roger Rabbit.

Major Restructuring at Disney Theatrical Group

How does Group head Thomas Schumacher still have a job?

Deadline.com:

The Disney Theatrical Group has always and still does report to the Walt Disney Studios chairman who is Rich Ross of course. Yet Schumacher likes to think he's running a boutique business that's not under Ross's direction. (Hmm.) So here is what's really going on: Word is that Schumacher's contract is up for renewal. And [David] Schrader, a former finance manager for American Airlines whose rapid ascension at Disney has caused some raised eyebrows, is positioning himself as the new executive leader with studio brass. Meanwhile, Schumacher recently had his personal deal to produce live-action features for Walt Disney Studios, with a focus on movie musicals, cancelled by Ross.

Mary Poppins is a steady performer but DTG has failed to replicate its early success. The division relies almost entirely on the ridiculous amounts of cash generated by The Lion King.

Sam Raimi Commits to Disney Oz Take

Deadline.com:

The studio has received a commitment from director Sam Raimi to Oz: The Great And Powerful as his next film. Raimi had become attached to Oz in June, with the hope of landing Robert Downey Jr to play the title character.

Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire is rewriting the script. He previously worked with Raimi on the now-canned Spider Man 4.

Interactive Graveyard Coming to WDW Haunted Mansion

Inside The Magic:

Though Disney has not officially announced what is coming to the graveyard, reports suggest that the recent interactive play-test that took place in April is a sign of what’s in the works for this location. In addition to rerouting the attraction’s queue to better accommodate handicapped/wheelchair access (guests needing assistance currently enter via the exit), a new graveyard is reportedly being installed that will replace the former (at least in part), adding a level of interactivity to the area.

The entire queue is being reworked and will wind its way closer to the waterfront. The graveyard is going to be a much more central part of it.

The entire attraction is going down for refurbishment in January. I've heard rumors that they are looking to add more of a New Orleans flair to the mansion (and a hatbox ghost?). It doesn't make any sense but they've done weirder things.

Beautiful New Silly Symphony Swings Attraction Poster

Via Twitter user Fiyero88.

"It Was Actually, Frankly Too Crowded"

The Orange County Register:

Some Disney fans, especially annual passholders, were angered by the company’s decision to limit the Halloween fireworks show to after-hours parties. But Disney officials said they had a good reason: The viewing areas were too packed.

Is anyone buying that?

Former Yahoo! VP & John Pleasants Named Disney Interactive Co-Presidents

Deadline.com:

Yahoo VP of Media Jimmy Pitaro will Co-President the Disney Interactive Media Group with John Pleasants who also continues as CEO of Playdom, the fast-growing social games publishing company recently acquired by Disney earlier this year for up to $763 million. 

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck

Via Roger Ebert.

Goofy Trooper

Former Disney animator Michael Peraza writes about his time developing the series that would eventually be known as Goof Troop.

Oriental Land Company Set to Continue Spending Spree Until 2016

Tokyo Disneyland is set to receive 200 billion yen ($2.4 billion) worth of new additions between now and 2016. That's an astounding amount of infrastructure investment.

Theme Park Tourist:

2011 will see the opening of Mickey's Philharmagic, and Cinderella's Fairytale Hall at Tokyo Disneyland, along with the addition of the $22 million Jasmine's Flying Carpets and a version of the Fantasmic show at Tokyo DisneySea. This will be followed in 2012 by the opening of Toy Story Mania at Tokyo DisneySea. Further new attractions are likely to be installed in the next few years, if the company's spending plans are carried out as stated.

Walt Disney Explains His Plans for EPCOT

"The most exciting, by far the most important part of our Florida project - in fact the heart of everything we'll be doing at Disney World is our experimental prototype community of tomorrow. We call it EPCOT."

Disney Considering Just Making a Film About the Whole Damn Magic Kingdom

Sean O'Neal writing for the AV Club:

But to the studio’s credit, it seems to be taking that possible exploitation of its own properties very seriously, with executives reportedly very mindful of the fact that it could end up damaging the entire Disney brand if the film—which is being described as Disney’s own Justice League or The Avengers—ends up feeling like a feature-length commercial that trades entirely on past successes. (Of course, the fact that even studio executives are thinking in those terms pretty much confirms that it would be, right?)

Construction Crews Begin Dismantling Maliboomer

I have heard that the ride has been sold to another, not Disney amusement park.

Fake Tickets, Scorching Heat

Marty Sklar and Dick Nunis reminisce on Disneyland's disastrous opening day.

Disneyland Mandates That Muslim Employees Look Ridiculous

Favorite quote:

Cruel. Would they make Christians wear that? Yes? Wow.

Interview With Black Cauldron Producer Joe Hale

The Black Cauldron is not one of my favorite Disney films, but its development is fascinating to read about.

1998 CGI Test Footage for Abandoned Roger Rabbit 2

Every once and a while there is new interest in developing a sequel to Roger Rabbit.

Who knows, now that Steven Spielberg is on better terms with Disney maybe something will eventually come of it.

Artwork Released Illustrating Hijab Costume Compromise

Seems reasonable.

Gore Verbinski in Talks to Re-team With Johnny Depp on Lone Ranger

Deadline.com:

Verbinski, whose last live action film was 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, is getting serious about making his next directing outing The Lone Ranger, the Disney pic that has Jerry Bruckheimer producing with Depp playing Tonto.

Huh.

Disney Agrees to Allow Hijab for Intern

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) announced today that a Chicago Muslim woman employed as an intern at Disneyland in Anaheim will be allowed to wear an Islamic head scarf, or hijab, at work.

Interesting. But we don't know what the accommodation entails.

Is it similar to the option given to the Grand Californian employee, only the intern accepted?

Bloomberg: Disney, Sony, Warner Planning $30 Home Film-Viewing Option

Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co. are in talks with the largest cable TV systems to offer films for as much as $30 per showing soon after they run in theaters.

The studios are talking with In Demand, a partnership of Cox Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc., Bob Benya, chief executive officer of In Demand, said in an interview. Disney is also discussing streaming films on Web- linked devices such as Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox console and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3, people with knowledge of the talks said.

Okay, but how do they convince the already nervous exhibitors that this isn't going to destroy their business?

Disney and More: Goodbye Disneyland Paris Epcot

Disney and More has found the mythical artwork created at Walt Disney Imagineering showcasing a monorail system and an Epcot-style park for Disneyland Paris.

Meet Ace

Tom Fitzgerald, EVP & Senior Creative Executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, has started a series of posts for the official Disney Parks Blog on the development of the new Star Tours.

Today, after his presentation at the Destination D event, he posted an entry showcasing two new droids created for the redesigned Star Tours: a "spokesbot" voiced by actress Allison Janney and new tour pilot Ace.

Destination D Live Coverage

MiceChat is constantly updating with live coverage from today and tomorrow's Destination D event at the Disneyland Resort.

They're only updating with interesting things, like the Hatbox Ghost coming back.

Disney Interactive Chief Resigns

A tenure marked by a litany of tepid strategies in quick succession.

The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required):

[Disney Interactive Media Group]'s difficulty defining its mission had been a source of frustration for senior Disney executives, including Mr. Iger, who has frequently cited the need for media companies like his to embrace new technologies wholeheartedly. While some of Disney's efforts in new media have been robust, others have been fragmented.

One potential replacement being floated is John Pleasants, current EVP at Disney and prior CEO of recently acquired Playdom. Pleasants previously worked for gaming giant EA.

But...

he’s not the only possibility if Iger wants to promote from within a group that includes entrepreneurs and Disney execs. The EVP level includes Lane Merrifield, Disney Online Studios and Co-Founder and GM of Club Penguin; Disney vets Larry Shapiro, EVP-Business Development and Operations, and Paul Yanover, Disney Online. Bart Decrem and Andrew Lacey, who came along with the summer acquisition of Tapulous, have exec gigs; Decrem is SVP-GM of Disney Mobile, while Lacy is SVP & Head of Studios. 

But Iger also has shown a willingness to move execs from group to group—Rich Ross from Disney to head the studio, for instance—and going outside completely isn’t out of the realm if he really wants to shake things up.

Behind-the-Scenes Photos From Pirates of the Caribbean

Imagineering Disney with another set of behind-the-scenes photos, this time from the Magic Kingdom's Pirates of the Caribbean.

Up close and personal with several audio-animatronics.

Paradise Pier Ice Cream Co.

New period appropriate name and logo for the ice cream location formerly known as Catch-A-Flav.

Too bad nothing can be done about the building itself, a sqaure, stucco storefront.

(Via Magic Eye)

Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy, Disney Among New Creditors

It's been known to be happening for months, but Blockbuster made it official today and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plan calls for more than $1 billion in debt to be written off and brought down to a much more manageable $100 million.

Blockbuster's new line of creditors include its movie studio suppliers, including Warner Brothers, Universal, Fox, Sony and Disney.

The movie studios have always had a cozy relationship with Blockbuster, dating back to the 1990's when Blockbuster was the premiere movie rental location. Even as the company's fortunes have waned, the studios have remained close. Hollywood believes it is in their interest to keep Blockbuster around, where the average rental costs more than four times those from competitors like Redbox.

But how long can Blockbuster hang around? The movie studios have seen what happened when the music industry was caught unprepared for the digital revolution, but Disney seems one of the few willing to put its content where it's mouth is.

Let The Memories Begin

Check out the comments.

Ad Age: Why Disney Pictures Could Soon Look A Lot Like Procter & Gamble

She's also trying to bring a more agency-like approach to marketing at Disney, which will soon release the first slate of films from new studio Chairman Rich Ross, who joined last October from the Disney Channel. She has appointed "brand leads" for each of the studio's releases across its Disney, Touchstone Pictures, Pixar and DreamWorks divisions. 

Disney Parks Press Conference Tomorrow

Disney Parks is holding a press conference in New York City tomorrow.

Don't get too excited, though. Pretty sure it's just to announce the new marketing campaign for 2011, "Let The Memories Begin."

But if you want to board the hype train anyway, they'll be live streaming it at 12:45 PM EDT on the Disney Parks Blog.

Imagineer John Mauro on the Disneyland Hotel Rebuild

"You have to understand that the Disneyland Hotel was built in bits and pieces over the past 50 years. Which is why - while this Resort has some great individual elements - it doesn't have great flow-thru. The Disneyland Hotel doesn't tell one cohesive story," Mauro explained. "That's why Imagineering is abandoning the piecemeal approach that we typically took when dealing with the Disneyland Hotel and are now facing all of these issues head on."

Back in the WestCOT days, the plan was to build The New Disneyland Hotel over by Harbor Blvd on the land now used as shuttle bus loading/unloading. When the Resort expansion plans were halved in the lead up to California Adventure, The New Disneyland Hotel was left on the drawing board.

When plans were being drawn up more recently for the current rebuild, one of the initial proposals was to level the existing Hotel and start from scratch.

I understand why they opted against it. Logistically, it wasn't feasible to keep portions of the old Hotel operating while trying to construct a new and very different hotel at the same time. But compare the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland or Tokyo Disneyland to Anaheim's relic and you can see how razing the towers would allow the land to be transformed.

But the Disneyland Hotel has needed a major rethink for over twenty years. It's nice to see it finally being tackled at large. Hopefully once completed it will be worth staying there again.

And maybe the dreadful Paradise Pier Hotel will get similar treatment next.

Disney Parks - Big Revenue, Even Bigger Expenses

Walt Disney Company stock analysis by Trefis.

A Trefis cash-flow analysis finds that the parks and resorts segment contributes about 30% of Disney’s revenues but only 10% to its estimated stock value, making it the company’s fourth-most important division.

Bob Iger: At Times We Feel Under-Appreciated

Highlights from Bob Iger's discussion at today's Goldman Sachs Communacopia.

If you missed it but wanted to listen in, there will be a replay 05 October 2010 at 4 PM PDT here.

WDI Testing in California Adventure This Week

MousePlanet:

If you're in DCA this week and run across some people running around with props and costumes, I may know what they're doing. WDI is apparently testing a new interactive experience at DCA this week: it was described to me as a Kim Possible-type scavenger hunt, but themed to the California Gold Rush. You might spot them on the West side of the park. I have no idea what the final iteration of this test might be (or if they'll even develop it into anything). 

There was a rumor this was going to be themed to Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb series.

Trailer For Gnomeo and Juliet

At one point a Walt Disney Feature Animation production, a Mirimax production and finally a Touchstone production, Gnomeo and Juliet has spent the last six years in development hell.

Anyone remember Disney's short lived brush with outsourced animation five years ago? You can't tell me Valiant  and The Wild aren't in constant rotation in your Blu-ray player...

Thomas the Tank Engine For Sale? Disney's Not Interested This Time

In 2005, Disney and Apax Partners were in negotiations for Disney to purchase the rights to Thomas the Tank Engine. Disney walked away from those talks when the two parties couldn't agree on a price.

Now Deadline.com is reporting that Apax is hoping to offload Thomas early next year and is eyeing Disney as a possible buyer. They've even cut the asking price by more than $300 million.

But my understanding is that right now Disney's just not interested. As Deadline's report notes, Disney's invested in the upstart Chuggington series and many in the industry view Thomas the Tank Engine as a dying brand.

Never say never but don't expect Disney to do more then due diligence.

Bob Iger Speaks Tuesday at Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference

He's scheduled to speak 21 September 2010 at 12:50 PM EDT. You can listen live here.

What to expect: a discussion on emerging medias.

What not to expect: any new products or initiatives.

Disneyland AP 20% Merchandise Discount Extended Through Holidays

I hear Walt Disney World will be announcing something similar soon.

Current merchandise sell-through must be weak and if they're extending it through the holiday season Disney must not be expect it to improve anytime soon.

Every earnings call, you get executives saying they're going to start weening visitors off of discounts. But the discounts remain and, in some cases, deepen.

But you can't blame them.

Paul Lee Making Aggressive Deals at ABC

Deadline:

In his development picks so far, new ABC chief Paul Lee has gone mostly for noisy, light/genre projects from proven auspices with premium deals for True Lies, Darren Star's dramedy adaptation of the book Good Christian Bitches and a horror thriller from Paranormal Activity writer-director Oren Peli.

That's three high profile deals in a very short amount of time.

Disney and More: Dubai Marvel Theme Park

That's an amazing looking park.

However, as this park concept was obviously done some years ago in agreement or at the request of Marvel Inc AND considering that Disney now owns Marvel chances are that this park concept was in the "the pack" of the Disney-Marvel deal. In this case it would mean that what you saw today in this article might be, with a bit of luck, the concept which will serve as inspiration - or at least part of it - for DLP third park!

No. All creative development on the proposed theme park still belongs to the developer Tatweer, not Marvel or Disney. And while the park in Dubai is currently on hold, it could still be built some day.

Why Does That Dragon Look So Familiar?

That's quite the hub decoration at Hong Kong Disneyland.

More Parks and Resorts Executive Shuffling to Give More Attention to Next Gen Project

The Orlando Sentinel:

Doug McGuire has been promoted to senior vice president in charge of global development, which is currently at work on plans for a new Disney theme park in Shanghai, China. McGuire had been senior vice president of global marketing operations.

McGuire succeeds Parks and Resorts executive vice president Nick Franklin, freeing Franklin up to focus more of his attention on Disney’s closely guarded “Next Generation Experience” project. 

They really are putting a lot of eggs into the "Next Gen" basket.

Orlando Sentinel: Plus-Sized Customers at Orlando Theme Parks

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American weighed about 25 pounds more in 2002 than he or she did in 1960. Meanwhile, obesity rates have skyrocketed: Last year, for example, 33 states — including Florida — reported that at least a quarter of their populations were grosslyoverweight.

Horrifying.

Allears.net, a Disney fan site, has a specific section called "Walt Disney World at Large" that details amenities such as the oversized robes available in the resort's spas. Fans on Disboards.com who refer to themselves as "Pooh-sized"...

HORRIFYING!

Disney and More: Looking Back at Disney's America

Some concept art I don't remember seeing before.

Bob Weiss, the creative director for the project, is now the Imagineer in charge of California Adventure.

UPDATE: Looks like most of the art and information came from this Progress City, U.S.A article.

Telegraph: Euro Disney Ponders Marvel Superheroes Theme Park

Philippe Gas, the chief executive of Euro Disney, said one idea for a third park is "a superheroes park" following the acquisition of Marvel by Disney - although the construction of a third park is a long-term vision. Mr Gas said there is a possibility that a decision to build a third park could come as late as 2020, although it may come earlier if planned work on the Disney Studios park is completed.

That is one idea...

Michael Eisner: ESPN Acquisition "One of the Best Acquisitions Maybe of That Whole Century"

Forbes:

In hindsight, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner calls his decision in 1995 to buy CapCities/ABC, and with it, its crown jewel ESPN, "one of the best acquisitions maybe of that whole century."

It probably was, if not the best, one of the best.

There are lots of rumors that Disney is looking to divest itself of ABC (rumors that Bob Iger denies every time he is asked). But would ESPN be included in that sale? Would anyone be interested in ABC if ESPN wasn't included?

Euro Disney Has Not Officially Announced They Are Building A Third Theme Park

With Euro Disney SCA and the French authorities signing a new agreement today, there has been a deluge of stories popping up on Disney fan sites that the company has "officially announced it will build a third theme park" at the Resort.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The original agreement required Euro Disney to open a third theme park at the Resort by 2017 in order to receive the permanent land rights from the French government.

The new agreement allows Euro Disney to wait until 2030 to open a third theme park BUT they are no longer required to. If the company finds it is not financially viable, they can opt out of building a new park. Under the new agreement, Euro Disney is not penalized for this and the permanent land rights revert to them in 2030.

So, unlike Walt Disney Studios Paris, there is no incentive for Disney to build a third park unless the market actually merits it.

Will Euro Disney end up building a third park at Disneyland Paris? Very possibly. Have they said they are committed to doing it? Not in the slightest.

Family Entertainment You Can Trust

A short Disney Channel promo from its first broadcast year, 1983.

Hard to believe Mousercise is no longer around.

Bullshit Alert: Disney in Talks To Build So. Africa Theme Park?

Oh lord.

Here's what Bloomberg is reporting:

South Africa’s Mpumalanga province is in talks with Walt Disney Co. about building a theme park near Loskop Dam and four game reserves in the vicinity to boost tourism, Business Day said, citing Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency Chief Executive Officer Charles Ndabeni.

The African-style theme park could generate investment into the area of about 25 billion rand ($3.5 billion), the Johannesburg-based newspaper quoted Ndabeni as saying.

My bullshit sense is tingling.

Here is the actual quote from the Business Day story:

He said the agency is in talks with Disney World about a possible theme park near Loskop Dam, with four game reserves in the vicinity.

“We believe that a theme park could be a major draw card for both domestic and international tourism,” [Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency CEO Charles Ndabeni] said.

The African-style theme park would represent an investment of about R25bn.

The agency is in talks with Disney World? I am baffled.

Disney has no plans for a theme park in South Africa. Shut it down, folks. Shut it all down.

More on Euro Disney's New Contract With French Government

...the agreement will give it the right to build a third theme park within 20 years, 'depending on market conditions,' the company said in a press statement.

Euro Disney's current concession runs until the year 2017 and covers an area of 1,943 hectares just outside Paris. The new agreement will extend the agreement until 2030 and expands the area to 2,230 hectares.

Well there you go.

The original agreement signed in 1987 stipulated that by 2017 the Resort would feature three parks. In meeting that requirement, the government would then turn all land rights over to Euro Disney.

The new agreement gives Euro Disney until 2030 to build a third park but does not penalize them if they fail to do so.

UPDATE: Euro Disney's press release concerning the new agreement. (PDF file)