DOUBLE FEATURE ! TOMORROWLAND 1967 AND THE PEOPLE MOVER STORY - Photos and videos

Here is a double feature topic for this week-end as we will talk both about the new 1967 Tomorrowland and the People mover story. As always, great videos to go with it.

So, in 1967, WED enterprises did a major re-creation of Disneyland's Tomorrowland, and a big part of the architecture of the land was changed.



Here is a WDI rendering for the 1967 Tomorrowland version.



Mary Blair beautiful mosaic murals appeared at the entrance of the land.



The "elevated" Rocket Jets were there, too.



Here is the Tomorrowland terrace , with its orchestra.



The General Electric carousel of progress was also part of the "new" land.



As well as the great "Adventure through inner space" with its mighty telescope, presented by Monsanto.





And let's not forget the unforgettable "Flight to the moon" and its mission control pre-show room...i, personally, still miss it!



Here is a first great video that will show you the new 1967 tomorrowland, including its opening, and those of you who didn't have the luck to ride "Adventure through inner space" or "Flight to the moon " will be happy to discover them!



And this second video by Kevin Hill is a nostalgic look at this great land.



But one of the major changes was the opening of the People mover. Thanks to it, Disneyland guests could have a unique look to Tomorrowland attractions and landscape , and relax at the same time in the PM vehicles!

As we've seen in the previous 1964 World's fair topic early this week, the Ford Magic Skyway that WED designed for the fair was the real beginning of the people mover technique.

The People mover, so, was taking guests all along the land, from the entrance...



...through the "avenue of flags" and to the Rocket Jets...



where the boarding room was...



then close to the Matterhorn and Submarine voyage...



before getting inside the "Adventure through inner space" building and other shops.



When Tomorrowland was redesigned again at the end of the 90's, the People mover close on August, 21 1995 to make room for the Rocket Rods. But now that Imagineer Tony Baxter is in charge of Disneyland, there is great hope that it will come back soon!



You've seen a glimpse of the People mover in the first video above, but this video tribute to the PM, done with a very clever editing by Martin Smith. will show you everything from the origin until its last ride!



This other video is a People mover ride through filmed between 1991 and 1993 by " HbVideos", including the Tron "super speed tunnel".



Let's end by another video about the story of the Rocket Rods, which include the audio of the preshow and a complete ride-through filmed from the front seat!



Artwork, photos and 1st video: copyright Disney

All my thanks to the different people for the youtube links!

Disney and more Time machine - Back in time to October 27, 1954 : Disneyland, the very first TV show

What about having a look at the very beginning of Disneyland - i mean, the first time that american audience have learned that a "Disneyland" was going to open in California, a loooong time ago?

The Disney and more Time machine takes you back in time in October 27, 1954 , thanks to the youtube videos below, when Walt Disney announced to the world , and more specifically to all the american people who had a television in their home, that the first Disneyland was going to be built at Anaheim, California.

So, sit comfortably, and - if you've never seen it before - watch Walt Disney introduce to you what was at that time "his" revolutionnary entertainment concept!

The Part One video feature a glimpse of the Walt Disney Studios: a Sleeping Beauty Live-Action test scene, make-up/set for 20K Leagues Under The Sea. And of course introduces the audience to Disneyland, Frontierland and the Davy Crockett mini-series.





Part 2 tells us about Adventureland and also feature footage of the the True-Life Adventure series in the Galapagos Islands, Falkland Islands, Lapland, Morocco and Spain. It also introduces us to Tomorrowland and Ward Kimball's Man in Space series.





Part 3 explains Fantasyland, and includes, too, the "Laughing Place" scene from Song of the South, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon "Plane Crazy" and the reading of the famous line "...that it was all started by a mouse."






Now, how was the opening day of this first Magic Kingdom? Art Linkletter, Ronald Reagan, Legendary Imagineer John Hench, and the first child to walk through Disneyland's gates in 1955 remember it on this video below.




Many thanks to freedogshampoo and stationvillage for the youtube links

Photos and videos : copyright Disney

Great Tokyo Disney Sea wallpaper pictures ! Part one

Here is a selection of high-res wallpaper images of the most beautiful theme park in the world: Tokyo Disney Sea. This is the part one, about Mysterious island, Renaissance Fortress and Journey to the center of the earth, which means that other pictures will come in a near future. Don't forget to double-click on the one you like to see it in bigger size.

I must remind you as it is written on the "terms of use" page that, in the event you download any material from The Disney and more blog, the download of the material, including any files or images must be for your personal, noncommercial home use only. You may not and cannot sell, print or reproduce in any way any material downloaded from The Disney and more blog, and specifically any material copyright Disney , Walt Disney company, Oriental Land co, or any other companies.

All photos: copyright Disney and Oriental Land co

Why "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" could very well be the title of the Indy 4 movie

A movie web site report recently that , on the latest Motion Pictures Association of America Title Registration Report, Lucasfilm, Ltd has filed for six different titles for Indiana Jones 4.

The proposed titles include:

Indiana Jones and the City of Gods
Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds
Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold
Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant

The web site also say that "City of Gods has been long rumored to be the working title of the production. It also seems to be the best candidate of the bunch Destroyer of Worlds, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Fourth Corner of the Earth are way to corny for me."

Corny, may be, but at least one of those six titles sounds familiar to the Disney theme park fans, as "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is close to the title of the Tokyo Disney Sea's Indiana Jones adventure attraction : The "Temple of the crystal skull".

Some may think it's a coincidence. But all this remember me one of my recent topic about the San Diego Comic Con where i show you THIS picture:



With this text above it: "Hasbro who have the license for some of the coming Indiana Jones 4 products revealed their future action figures. They did a special Indy decor for the display, with Egyptian statues and a real-size Ark of the Covenant. But what intrigued me is this model of a Mayan pyramid, also part of their decor. As we know, the previous Indy expeditions didn't lead him to old Mayan civilisation. So, is this the first proof to the rumours that the "treasure" location of the fourth movie will be in Mexico?"

Now, what is important to remember is that the outside decor of TDS Temple of the crystal skull is also a mayan pyramid as you can see on the photo below.



With of course a crystal skull inside...



The TDS attraction have a lot of similar scenes with the Disneyland "Temple of the forbidden eye" version, but with a different story line and a major change in the big scene of the ride as japanese laws forbidden to have some fire effects in the "bubbling death" sequence. So, at TDS it has been replaced by a giant threatening "twister". But all this doesn't mean, of course, that this particular scene will appear in the movie.



To come back to the movie, i have to add that we know now for sure that part of the action of Indy 4 will be located in Mexico - Spielberg is now shooting in Hawai instead of Mexico for production reasons. Let's not forget, too, Lucas gift for marketing - what can be better for the Asian market , and specially the japanese, to have a movie based on an already famous attraction ? - and god knows that the Disney parks are popular in the empire of the rising sun!

Not to mention that the "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" title is not that corny...for me it sounds more like a perfect Indiana Jones title. And not because the imagineers choose a pretty similar title for the TDS attraction - with the agreement of Georges Lucas, let's not forget it - but simply because after "Raiders of the lost ark", "Indiana Jones and the temple of doom" and "Indiana Jones and the last crusade" , "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" sounds like a perfect "Indy" title with a mix of archeological adventure and creepy feeling in it.

So, for all these reasons, and just for the fun, i will bet on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" for the title of the highly awaited Indiana Jones 4 movie.

Your thoughts?

Photos: copyright Disney-Oriental Land co

Disney and more Time machine - Back in time to 1964 : Walt Disney and the New York World Fair attractions

The 1964 World Fair gave a lot of work to WED Enterprises - now " Walt Disney Imagineering " - as the Imagineers were designing four different attractions for it. But thanks to them, the future of Disney theme parks will be changed forever.



One of them is known now as "Great moments with Mr Lincoln" , and here below we see a photo and video of Walt with WDI sculptor Blaine Gibson and Lincoln's head sculpture.





The second one was a flume ride full of little audio-animatronics - " It's a small world " - and here is Walt standing with Mary Blair.



And here is a video of Walt presenting the model with Mary Blair.



This next picture was shot inside the World's fair pavillion and is coming from a special report issued in the National Geographic magazine.



The third one was the great " Carousel of Progress " , who stunned at that time the audience with its great audio-animatronics figures and i will comeback on this one later.



Of course, the AA of Mr Lincoln and Carousel of Progress were opening the door for the future Pirates audio-animatronics, but Walt was so happy with the small world boat system that this last attraction lead to the development of a Pirates of Caribbean flume ride - instead of a "walk-through" as it was envisioned at the beginning.

And, of course, there was the Magic Skyway attraction that WED created for the Ford pavillion using Ford cars to move the audience through scenes featuring life-sized audio-animatronic dinosaurs and cavemen. The dinosaurs scenes that the visitors watched in their trip back in time are now part of the primeval world at Disneyland - and then were recreated at Epcot's Universe of Energy .



But the vehicle system - at the world's fair guests were seated in Ford vehicles lead to another transportation system well known by Disneyland and WDW guests : the People mover.



LKet's have a closer look to it, now, with these two youtube videos.
On the first video below, Walt presents the Magic Skyway project, directly from the imagineering workshop.




This second one is a clever editing of pictures of the Magic Skyway attraction at the world's fair, with the original audio commentary by Walt himself.




Always at the 1964 world fair, visitors could ride another amazing attraction, but the General Motors "Futurama 2" was not designed by WED enterprises. Ironically, Disney had earlier been asked by General Motors to produce their exhibit, but he declined.
Futurama 2 depicted life 60 years into the future, this time 2024. Scenes showed a lunar base of operation, an Antarctic "Weather Central" climate forecasting center, underseas exploration and "Hotel Atlantis" for underseas vacationing, desert irrigation, and land reclamation, building roads in the jungle and a City of the Future. Visitors rode through the dioramas in 3-abreast chairs on a ride train. The Futurama exhibit was sponsored by General Motors and proved to be, too, one of the most popular exhibit at the World's Fair with more than 26 million persons attending the show in the two 6-month seasons the Fair was open.




So, i added for the pleasure a third youtube video about this Futurama 2 attraction , Enjoy all of them!




Photos: copyright Disney and National Geographic
Videos: copyright Disney for the two first videos

All my thanks to the different people for the youtube links

Hello, all. Disney and more is back after this short summer break.
Since the beginning of the blog four months ago, you may have noticed that there was no advertising on the site. Now there is some, mainly on the right column or at the end of the topics.If you don't have your own website, you may don't know it, but it really takes a loooong time to find the best documents for each topic, or scan them, etc...and any support from you will really be welcome. I've tried to insert the ads as subtle as possible - and it will be improved later on.
At the end of each new topic you will find an Amazon link, and the product is generally in relation with what the article talks about, when available. I personally know each of the books or dvds that i choose for these Amazon links, and they are really great !
Last but not least, you also have now the possibility to do a Paypal donation if you wish, you'll find the Paypal button right after the "Have a look at the new articles " on the right column. To all of you, Disney and more fans, thanks for your support!
And now, on with the show with Walt Disney's Mars and beyond!

Walt Disney's Mars and beyond - Photos and videos

At the end of the 50's , the conquest of space was in the air, and Walt Disney produced for his tv show his famous "Man in Space" animated series.




Always visionary, Walt asked Wernher Von Braun - who will designed later the Saturn 5 rocket for the Apollo missions - what could be his vision of the future space travels. Von Braun is the first on the left on the picture below.



Von Braun - who was a man who knew what the word rocket means as he worked on the german V2 project during world war 2 - designed some amazing spaceship, as you will see on the videos below.



Here is Walt and Wernher Von Braun again with models used for the show.



Ward Kimball, Disney's famous animator and imagineer worked on the project - here he is with Walt and one of the model of the spaceship to Mars.



The good thing in all this is that president Eisenhower, after seeing Walt's series became more interested in the conquest of space, obviously it helped to launch the space program.....and finally to go on the moon!



As always, Walt introduced the show, but this time with a special guest , a giant robot!



Thanks to the youtube links below you'll be able to see the whole show, but if you don't have a lot of time, jump to the last two parts, the most interesting one.




















Photos and videos: copyright Disney

You can find the complete series of the three Man in space 1950's tv shows which includes "Man in Space" , "Man and the Moon" and "Mars and Beyond" on the Disney treasures dvd set "Tomorrowland" at amazon.com.