Saturday, December 22, 2007

Disneyland Paris send you its Best Wishes 2008 !



Thanks to the magic of internet, many people send their " Best Wishes" for the new year through an e-mail. I know, a Happy new year postcard is most of the time better, but Disneyland Paris did something cute this year.

Specially designed for happy few or media people this short animated " Happy new year " movie with Tinkerbell and fireworks, although short, is cool. So, as all of you, dear Disney and more readers, are Disney theme parks fans, and for most of you Disneyland Paris fans, i decided to share it with you .

Don't click on the image above or the one below to access to the movie but click HERE .

And enjoy it!



Images and Video: copyright Disneyland Resort Paris

Friday, December 21, 2007

Walt Disney Studios Tower of Terror : The Video



This is probably the best video i have seen so far of the new Walt Disney Studio Tower of Terror. It don't show so much of the ride itself, but it will give you a very good idea of the pre-ride and post-ride beautiful theming. However please note that the video is a montage from different element, including some promotional video of the ride.

It was filmed by the dlrpfans.be web site, so it's them that you must congratulate, not me!




Video: copyright dlrpfans.be

Photo by Alexandre Rosa

Thursday, December 20, 2007

A Twilight Zone - Rod Serling tribute



The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is now open at the WDS, and i thought it was the perfect time to give a tribute to a man and his genius: Rod Serling, the creator of the beloved TV series.

So, below, here is a rare tv interview of him, in 1959, when the Twilight Zone series began. He is not only talking about it, but, too, about the script writer job, how he must fight censors, etc...

And as you will see, how a great human being he was!

If you wish, you can find on you tube another great documentary about him called "Rod Serling Documentary" , in 10 parts of 8 minutes each. Just click here to access to part one.



And now a special note for my french readers: Universal just released a 3 DVD set of the whole season 1 of the original Twilight Zone series. It includes great special features, like the rare " Time Element " film who is at the origin of the series, and also an audio recording of a confrerence of Rod Serling , talking with script writing students about the first "pilot" episode.
The good news is that the other seasons of the Twilight Zone series will be released in France, too , with season 2 coming in april or may 2008. If you've not bought it yet, go right away to the nearest store to do it! It's a treasure, and it's hard to live without the whole Twilight Zone series!





Wednesday, December 19, 2007

New WALL-E trailer now released



A new WALL-E trailer has been released, and this one shows much more than the first one. As we know, WALL-E is supposed to be the last robot that remain on earth.....well, apparently, he is going to travel a little bit...

Watch it below, and, oh, the opening sequence of the trailer is a delight, too.




Want to know more about the story ? Here is what Pixar is telling us :

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? Academy Award-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) and the inventive storytellers and technical geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios (“The Incredibles,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille”) transport moviegoers to a galaxy not so very far away for a new computer-animated cosmic comedy about a determined robot named WALL*E. After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL*E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL*E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. Joining WALL*E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

...and if you want to know more about WALL-E himself, here is a presentation from BuyNLarge.com, his manufacturer.



Photo and videos : copyright Disney - Pixar

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD - Full photographic report



Hello everyone, Here is the part two article about the new “land” at the Walt Disney Studios, and this time, more specifically about the new Hollywood Boulevard. The photos are in high-resolution, so double-click on each to see them in big size and explore the details of this beautiful theming.

It is undoubtedly a strong visal improvement for the WDS , or to say it shortly : “at last, some theming! “. The imagineers did a great job with these new decors and there is no doubt that it will help the park to be more successful, which mean more visitors, and so, more money to built future new attractions.

Everything is not perfect, though, as we wii see. But let’s begin by the good part: when the visitors exit the Studio 1 they now have in front of them all the new decors you can see below, including fake coconut trees, and real palm trees.










And now that it is finally open, i can show you this Hollywood Boulevard on the other angle, facing the Studio 1




The windows on each building have been wonderfully themed, like the one of the “Franklin departement store”....







The last one on the left , under the “Fashion” sign is in fact a small Pin shop, still closed last sunday




This article was also published on the miceage website today, and Al Lutz , the webmaster, very intelligently noticed that one of the mannequin in the windows could be a tribute to one of the Twilight Zone episode , the 1960 season one. To know more about it, here is the link

UPDATE 19/12 : After checking with DLP Imagineering, it seems that "Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is coincidental. The mannequins were purchased solely on their coherence to the style of the 1950's; no other criteria were used in their selection."
So, we will say that it is happy coincidental and a non-voluntary tribute!

Other building in the front, like the “Travel agency” or “Gower books and music” also have themed windows - sorry for the reflections in the windows...




Also , another themed window outside the Tower of terror gifts shop.



The imagineers put quite a lot of different props in the street, like an old phone booth, a parking meter, etc...





At the end of the boulevard, the entrance for the Tram tour and the “Cruella” car is display again.




Visitors are supposed to access it through the hole under the Hollywood hill, but in fact you can reach the Tram tour station through the left ot the right of the backdrop.



Now, all this gives really a different look to the park, and is visually impressive




Here is a photo of the TOT at sunset



However there is two things that i really don’t like - i even consider it like an incredible esthetic mistake - it is, first , the back of the “La Terasse” building, I still don’t understand why they didn’t “open” the arcades instead to leave a flat and unthemed wall like it is...i understood that it is supposed to be there where people can leave their trolleys, but when you think that it is right in front of the TOT main entrance , at ten meters from the beautiful TOT lobby.....( the picture below is shoot from the TOT entrance, with the hotel lobby in the back )



And the second one is that small building you can see on the left of the photo below.
What the hell is THAT?!? It’s ugly, and i doubt that these wooden doors will ever open one day for anything good . These 10 meters long buildins are probably the worst themed element in both parks! And it’s also right in front of the entrance “side” of the TOT! Very very bad, really. Visually speaking, it is litterally spoiling that zone....

UPDATE 19/12 : Somebody gave me the info that this building will in fact hiding electric equipment. If it's true , then it's better than nothing...



But how is this Hollywood Boulevard looking at night, what kind of lighting did the imagineers? On the photos below shoot by Alexandre Rosa - among some others above - , the previous - and very rainy - week-end, you can have a better idea of the great lighting.









The soft opening of the Tower of terror for the annual passholders is still going on, and until now, everybody seems very happy with the ride, always too short, but those who did it at DCA know what i am talking about.
Although the TOT was a half-success at DCA, i am absolutely sure that it will be a tremendous one here, no doubt about that.
So, what’s next , now for the WDS? Well, first the “Stitch encounter” will open in march, a bit before the grand opening - press event of the TOT, scheduled for April 5-6 2008 - note that the TOT will be open to everybody from december 22.
It may seem surprising to wait 4 months to do the grand opening, but it’s all about marketing and the fact that april is the beginning of the high season for theme parks. And also that the park decided that the 200715th anniversary event will last until march....2009! In fact, this anniversary year have been incredibly popular with 2 millions more visitors than 2006 season, and so they’ve decided that the 15th anniversary event will last until the 17th anniversary! It may looks a bit exagerated, but as long as it brings more visitors in the park, it’s good for everybody, as, as i have said before, it will give them the money to build new rides. Which one? This, we will talk in a future article....

In the meantime, if you want to see more photos and details about the new placemaking, you will find more on Alexandre Rosa web site.

Photos: copyright Alain Littaye and Alexandre Rosa