We're already April 7th in France and that's the anniversary date of Disney and more. Yes, it's already four years since i did my first post on D&M! Last year, a little bit after the 3rd anniversary i was so tired that i even announced the end of Disney and more but finally D&M is still here, and so am I.
If you're part of the Disney and More faithful readers who were there from the start you know that i generally bring something new each D&M birthday. Last year it was the great Tom Scherman web site and this year i also have something new for you! A new section of D&M is opening today and is all dedicated to an upcoming and highly awaited Disney attraction.
For now, you will find on this new site all the related articles previously posted on D&M but all new articles about this great ride will be posted on this new web site - and don't worry, i'll let you know on D&M when i will do so, so you won't have to check both sites.
I can hear you think "what ride are you talking about, Alain?", so the best is to let you open the door of this new room in the D&M mansion, and it's very easy, all you have to do to discover it is to click HERE.
Thanks again to all of you for your support during these four years!
Two weeks ago WDI unveiled the impressive Ursula audio-animatronic and yesterday they released a video showing the one of Ariel. The Ariel AA is not the same size, of course, than the Ursula Animatronic but it looks really good as you will see in the video below!
The official launch of DLP Disney Magical Moments Festival happened last Saturday and i have for you a full report about what's new in both parks for 2011. No more concept-arts, these are pictures and videos of the real thing!
Main Street station as you can see on the picture above has now new decorations and we will begin the tour by Adventureland where guests can find two new photo locations. The first one is themed on Aladdin and the magic lamp and is located on the right when you exit the Adventureland Bazaar area and walk towards Pirates of the Caribbean. Nice little decor and of course the Aladdin characters are doing regular appearances.
The next new photo location is located near the Hakuna Matata restaurant. A bit behind, in fact. You will find Kaa and Zazu...
...and the African drummers are normally seat there but they were in pause when i came.
Later in the afternoon, strangely, i found them playing in front of the restaurant and not at the new photo location which is may be a bit too much "off the main road".
Undeniably the best novelty this year in Adventureland is the new Peter Pan show. It's a small show located in front of Skull Rock, on the other side of the lagoon. Children and guests from the audience are asked to participate - children play the lost boys - and part of the charm of this show is coming from the fact that everything was done without any pretention. It's a nice, cute little show and quite close finally of the "spirit" of the original movie.
The right title of the show is "Follow the leader with Peter Pan" and they've themed a small pirate decor including parrots and a show poster too.
As for the show itself i have better for you than high-res pictures as here is a high-res video of the full show! Spoiler Warning! If you're planning to come to the park this year it may be better to keep the surprise and don't watch the video, specially considering that this Peter Pan show is one of the best new things at DLP this year! But if you decide to watch it, then watch it in full screen mode!
While we are in Adventureland, remember that i told you last week that they're going to replace the Captain Hook ship as it is in bad condition? Well, here is two pictures of it and the least we can say is that the sooner the new boat will arrive the better it will be. And i didn't cheated on the colors of the pictures, the boat have really lost all its original colors.
Let's move to Fantasyland where an open air photo exhibit is waiting you near the Fantasy Festival Stage. It's all pictures of the park shot by VIP people from many european countries.
Also near Alice's Curious Labyrinth entrance you'll find the Mad Hatter photo location where Alice and the Mad Hatter will do regular appearances.
As you can see when i came last saturday they were not there, but that's because they were inside the labyrinth for a photo shooting with VIPs !
Always in Fantasyland here is a picture of the photo location decor of Raiponce - without her as i was not in luck that morning!
Some few yards from it is a temporary Disney Princess meet and greet. In my previous DLP update i told you about the works on the future Princess Pavilion which was supposed to open this year but obviously they're a little bit late on this one. On the next picture the entrance of the future pavilion will be where the fences are now.
But for now it's only under a "royal tent" that children can meet and greet their favorite Disney Princess.
Let's go back now through the castle to Central Plaza and as you can see the back of the castle is also in "repaint mode".
These big white balls that you can see on Central Plaza will be used later that day for the special event evening show projection effects. Of course they won't be here for your next visit.
There is a new show on Central Plaza stage this year and you'll be happy to learn that it is in my opinion a better one, less hysterical than last year's show. As it is a Disney show there is of course lots of Disney characters and if, just like me, you're a fan of the Sword in the Stone, you'll be pleased to see Merlin, in one of its rare appearances.
Before we move to the Walt Disney Studios, let's stop at the Disney & Co shop for a last goodbye to the band organ. As i've told you last week this beautiful band organ will be send to Florida and placed inside the Story Book Circus area in the new Fantasyland.
On the way to the WDS let's go first to Disney Village to have a look at the works on the new Earl of Sandwich restaurant which will open later this year. Some of you asked me pictures of it so here they are!
At the Walt Disney Studios we will have a look first at the Moteurs Action stunt show as Lightning McQueen is now appearing in the show. McQueen appears for a 3 minutes scene and it begins by Mater on the giant screen warning McQueen about a spy car. McQueen is coming out of a truck, quite unexpectedly (which is good) and try to find the spy car. Last saturday the McQueen car didn't worked on the first show but worked on the two others. McQueen is definitely not moving at a "lightning" speed but i suppose that the car is too precious to do real stunts. Anyway it's a pleasure to see him and here is the video of its full appearance and - Spoiler Warning again - if you prefer to keep the surprise do NOT watch the video!
At the other end of the WDS the green soldiers appear now regularly inside Toy Story Playland. The best location to see them is near Parachute Drop entrance. Last saturday they were only three but hopefully they will be more on your next visit. Here is the video with, of course, the same spoiler alert.
Before the big evening show every guest of this special event had dinner in the Disneyland park and I with others webmasters had a table reserved at the Agrabah restaurant in Adventureland Bazaar. And we were really lucky as Philippe Gas - DLP CEO - and Jeff Archambaud - Vice President Communications - had dinner with us. Yes, we talked about a lot of things including the future but some things must remain secret for now! Here is our table.
After the dinner the big press event show happened and you can see the full video of it in the next article below. Once the show was over it was time to go back but a last surprise awaited us on Town Square: Lightning McQueen himself! Look well the picture below as you won't see McQueen back on Town square anytime soon!
DLP "normal" guests will probably be pleased with this Disney Magical Moments Festival and there is some good things in it like the Peter Pan show and the new show on Central Plaza but i will understand that Disney fans waiting for new rides might be a bit disappointed. 2011 is clearly an "in between" year and hopefully next year and DLP 20th Anniversary will bring something new in the "attraction" section.
That's the end of this big DLP Magical Moments Festival update, hope you've enjoyed it and see you soon to talk about the future!
Pictures and videos: copyright Disney and more or copyright Disney
Yesterday at Disneyland Paris was the launch of Disney Magical Moments new season and i will comeback about it with pictures and videos tomorrow monday. The guests invited to this special event also had the pleasure to see a fantastic show in the evening and below is the full video of it.
I consider it as the best show since the Tower of Terror grand opening show four years ago. The music was good - specially the "So this is Love" sequence, the dancers were good too, and the fireworks, video projections and laser effects were perfect. As a matter of fact it would make a perfect show for DLP 20th Anniversary!
However, please note that this show will unfortunately not happen during Disney Magical Moments season as it was a show only for DLP April 2 special event. Still, it's was a great show and i hope you will enjoy it. Play it full screen and see you tomorrow for much more!
Apparently, an important announcement about Shanghaî Disneyland will happen on April 8th! This time, my friends, it seems to be the right one, the big final official announcement we're all waiting for! More details below from the very serious New York Times:
Disney Said to Have Cleared Hurdle for Shanghai Park
It appears that the Walt Disney Company has cleared the final hurdle in its decades-long bid to build a theme park on the Chinese mainland.
Invitations were sent late Friday to reporters for “a special event” to be held at a hotel in Shanghai on April 8. The invitation, sent jointly by Disney and a development company called the Shanghai Shendi Group, does not say more than that. A Disney spokeswoman declined to give more information.
A consultant working on the project said the company and Chinese officials would formally announce the beginning of construction on Shanghai Disneyland, which is expected to cost $3.7 billion to build and expected to open by 2016. Disney wants to make Shanghai Disneyland into a megaresort on a par with Walt Disney World in Florida. But the initial phase will be more modest: a “Magic Kingdom-style” park with a castle surrounded by themed areas, like Tomorrow Land, two hotels, a shopping district and a lake.
The park will include replicas of well-known Disney rides, including Space Mountain and It’s a Small World, along with and new attractions based on Chinese history. “It will be the Disney that people know but with a very strong Chinese cultural presence,” “said the consultant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with Disney."
You will find below a POTC 4 Featurette but what is coming now is definitely a NON Disney topic. Don't go away right now as what i will talk about is really serious - and it's also NOT an April fools!
You know me as a Disney specialist and for sure i am one but there is other subjects that i know also extremely well. For instance i'm a big David Lean movies specialist and even filmed documentaries on some of Lean's most famous movies like Lawrence of Arabia or Bridge on the River Kwai. As a matter of fact i'm probably the last person on Earth who knows the exact - and beautiful - locations where these two legendary movies were filmed!
But that's not the point today as this week-end something potentially extremely explosive is going to happen. You see, among all my specialties there is one that i know really well and it's all about Astrology. For most of the people who have never study it astrology is generally a bad joke, and i can't blame them to think that as what is published each week in the magazines Horoscope section IS indeed a bad joke. 98% of them is just bullshit, there is no other way to describe it.
The problem is that astrology has nothing to see with all this and it's an extremely complex science/art (call it whatever you want) which really works - god knows why and how, but it works. And it's someone who have more than 30 years of observation / experiment behind him who is telling you this. The usual big mistake that almost anyone does about astrology is to think that it's going to tell you WHAT will happen. But that's not how it works. Most of the time astrology is telling us WHY things happen at the time they happen but not WHAT is going to happen. It would be too simple, right? In fact it all depends on the planets position in an astral theme and there is as many different astral themes as there is human beings on this planet, so you'll understand the complexity.
That said, sometime there is what is called a "conjunction" of planets which creates such a potentially explosive situation that it can affect really a lot of people. For instance since the last three months we have a conjunction between Uranus and what is called the "Black Moon" and this is what has created the revolutions in the Middle East. Don't get me wrong, the reason why it happened is mainly because the people were living under autocratic regimes but the reason WHY it happened NOW - and not 2 years before or after - is because of this Uranus - Black Moon conjunction.
Uranus is in essence the revolution (whether it's people revolution or a technological revolution, anything which breaks the rules) and the Black Moon (which also has to see with our part of animality) is, her, in the "all or nothing at all" logic. When both are allied it creates what we can see in arab countries, i.e people who no only stands for a revolution (in this case asking for democracy or a change of regime) but also who are ready to fight to the end, if necessary (and generally it is necessary).
Another example which will lead us to what i want to tell you: the same Uranus who was since six years in the sign of Pisces entered the sign of Aries last month. By doing so he is now doing what is called a "quadrature" with Pluto which is at the beginning of the Capricorn (because both are at a 90 degrees angle). Uranus, as i said, creates the revolutions but is also the master of the unpredictable (and generally, most of the time, it brings unpredictable bad news!). Pluto, in the mythology is the lord of the underworld, the keeper of hidden treasures and powers and, as his name indicates, Pluto is also in relation with nuclear power. When you have a quadrature between Uranus and Pluto it's a very explosive situation. Now, Uranus entered the sign of Aries on March 11, will stay in the sign many years, and the least we can say is that he did a spectacular entrance as on March 11 we had: a major 9.0 earthquake, a devastating tsunami AND the beginning of a major nuclear catastrophe. The sign of Aries is ruled by Mars, which is the "master" of the sign and, as we know the lord of war. One week after Uranus entered in Aries and the dramatic events in Japan, Europe and the U.S entered in war with Lybia. Okay, it's a half-war, but it's a war anyway.
And now, here comes the important warning. Additionally to the entrance of Uranus in Aries we have, also in the same sign, Jupiter - quite a protective planet normally when it doesn't have bad aspects with others planets, which unfortunately is the case here as Jupiter is also in a quadrature with Pluto in Capricorn. We have also the Black Moon which entered in Aries at the end of March. BUT, in addition to this (which is already explosive) Mars, master of the sign, will enter this saturday in Aries AND the Moon will also be in Aries for 2-3 days starting saturday evening. As we are early April this means that the Sun is naturally in Aries.
In two words we're going to have the next four days a conjunction Sun - Moon - Mars - Uranus - Black Moon - Jupiter all together in Aries. All of them will be in quadrature with Pluto in Capricorn and also opposite with Saturn, now in Libra, during all next week. But the "epicenter" (if i can say) of the conjunction, the most dangerous time will be between this saturday and next tuesday. You have to understand that such a conjunction is extremely rare and i warn all of you who are born in the first week of Capricorn (last ten days of December), or at the beginning of Libra (last ten days of September) or the beginning of Cancer (last ten days of June) to be extremely cautious in the next days and week because of the quadrature/opposite aspects these planets will do with these astrological signs.
As usual it's impossible to say from where the knock will come but beware of any agressive situation (and you might also be the one who can be agressive) or violent conflicts or any kind of accident (Mars is often responsible of car accidents but also with anything related with fire) and also be careful with electricity (because of Uranus which has to see with problems with electricity). No need to say that the warning is even more important for those of you who are born in Aries (last ten days of March) and SPECIALLY those of you born between the 20 and the 24 of March.
To be perfectly clear it's what we call "the perfect storm" and if you want to know if this conjunction of planets can have an effect on the rest of the world, yes it does. There is everything in place for anything explosive and destructive in this world whether it's riots and carnage or in the true meaning of the terms. And i really pray that our Japanese friends will not have a second service of another major catastrophe. Keep an eye also on Fukhushima nuclear plant as the quadrature Uranus-Pluto is unfortunately here to stay and not only for one month but for many years - which means that explosive revolutions (in all meaning of the terms) are here to stay for quite a while...
Some of you who have read this topic until this last paragraph might think that i'm totally insane, but believe me i'm not. And i wouldn't have take the hour it took to me to write all this if there was nothing really serious, would I? Whether you believe me or not, just give me the "benefit of the doubt" for the next days or weeks. Who knows, it might save your life.
Walt Disney Studios France released this POTC 4 featurette. Called "the inspirtion of the POTC saga" it begins by few images of Walt and the POTC attraction. But you will also see shots of the making-of of "On Stranger Tides"!
And a last good news aboujavascript:void(0)t Penelope Cruz as since yesterday she has her own "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, right in front of the El Capitan Theatre!
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