Saturday, August 17, 2013

" In The Way, Guy " : When a Ruined WDW Shot Becomes Viral


Here is a true funny story for the week-end. It all started at Walt Disney World with a a man who intended to ask his girl friend if she will agree to marry him. A friend of the couple was there to take a picture to immortalize  the scene in the middle of Main Street U.S.A with Cinderella castle in the background. So far, just a cute declaration of love.

But something will happen that happened to each of us when we shoot pictures: a guy coming out of nowhere walk in the way right at the moment we shoot the picture... and ruin the shot inadvertently. It could have stayed like this, one more ruined picture, but it didn't. Later, the guy doing his marriage proposal posted on Reddit what should have been the picture of the most important moment in his life, and suddenly everything became viral. 

370000 people saw the pic and someone had the idea to create a "meme" and to have the "in the way guy" being responsible of ruining all the important pictures in photo history! I have to say that the walking guy is just perfect as you can see that he suddenly realizes that he is in the  way and try to feel sorry at the same time - it's almost as we can hear him saying "ooops, deeply sorry, folks..." 

So plenty of people began to create "meme" pictures including the guy in famous shots that we all know, like the one with the marines raising the U.S flag at Iwo Jima...


...or in the famous picture of the Yalta conference with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, at the end of WW II...


...or at the historical moment of Neil Armstrong shooting a picture of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon...


...or during the famous shot of a Mohammed Ali victory by knock-out...


...and even during the shooting of The Beatles Abbey Road LP cover photo...


...or early last century in this famous shot of workers building a skyscraper...


...but also in a movie scene like this one from Star Wars Episode 4...


...and even recently when William and Kate presented their baby to the world!


The one who is now known as the "in the way guy" is now "responsible" to have ruined every famous shot and even the Bat signal!


But, because they were at Walt Disney World the story had a happy ending for the couple as their friend did another try and finally succeeded to have the perfect shot of the wedding proposal!



Thursday, August 15, 2013

Kung Fu Panda Ride Coming at Universal Studios Singapore ?


According to Stefan Zwanzger's excellent Themeparx site the new "family ride" coming to Universal Studios Singapore will be a Kung Fu Panda ride, and, as the infos of Themeparx are generally pretty reliable, it might be the real thing.

Although they didn't say what it will be it has been announced officially by Universal Singapore and Luke, from Luke and the temple of fun site has posted pictures of the announcement HERE.

The ride will be built on the piece of land between the Shrek Far Far Away land and the Waterworld stunt show - close to Jurassic Park " Lost World " land - and Themeparx has posted some pictures of the land and early works that you can see HERE.

Good idea to have chosen a Kung Fu Panda theme for a park located in Asia though i'm still wondering how will fit a Kung Fu Panda theming between Shrek castle and Jurassic Park...

Pictures: copyright Dreamworks, Luke and the temple of fun


Editor's Note: I remind you that i post daily cool additional posts on the Disney and more Facebook page, that you can access even if you DON'T have a Facebook account. Have a look each day, it's right HERE.

Really Cool Disneyland Time Lapse Video



It's called "Welcome to the Magic" and it's a really cool time lapse video shot at Disneyland and DCA by  by Matt Givot and Dan Douglas with over 20,000 images shot to show the one and only Disneyland Anaheim. More explanations from the authors:

"In our latest time-lapse showcasing Disneyland and California Adventure, we combined artistry with technology to capture the magic Walt Disney has created. In one afternoon, we used timelapse photography to show some of the enchanting experiences guests from all over the world come to Disneyland to enjoy. The film gives a unique perspective of the colorful lights, moving crowds and entertaining rides.

Our goal was to showcase the magic experienced only at Disneyland Anaheim, showing how Walt Disney’s theme park vision from the 1930’s has become the world’s most popular theme park. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into his magical world.

And now the gear - over 75% of this was shot using the Carl Zeiss 21m f2.8 Distagon T*. It is almost hard to put anything else on the camera after shooting with this glass. Not only is this the sharpest lens we have shot on, It also has some of the best color rendering we have ever seen. In addition to the that glass, another important element was the Formatt Hitech 3.0 Prostop IRND filter. This would allow us to stop the camera 10 stops so we could get natural looking motion blur in the middle of the day."


Welcome to The Magic - A Disneyland Timelapse from Givot on Vimeo.


Picture and video: copyright Matt Givot and Dan Douglas



Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Map of Disneyland Rides in 1955


You've seen last week the great LIFE pictures shot on Disneyland opening day, and i found on the web an interesting Disneyland map showing the rides that existed at Disneyland, precisely in 1955. Enlarge the pic to have a closer look at this!

Picture: copyright Simbaspot.com

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Important Info About your Comments on Disney and more

Something pretty unbelievable happened. Since a few months i was surprised to don't see any new comments posted on D&M. Generally, Blogger send me an email when there is a new comment waiting for my approval - to avoid the scam - and since months i was surprised to don't receive any emails  from them. A few weeks ago i checked and didn't saw any "waiting for approval" comments, so i began to think that no one was posting comment anymore!
And today a friend Imagineer sent me an email telling me that he just left a comment which don't appear. So, i checked again and now there was dozens and dozens of comments "waiting for approval", some posted from last January if not November 2012!!!
I thought "what the hell is going on here ?!?" and of course approved ALL the previous comments that have been posted - when they were not scam.

In two words: comments are now working again, and in fact have always worked, except that Blogger stopped to warn me when new comments were posted and awaiting my approval. So, you can go and post new comments again, as now i know what i have to do to resolve the problem if there is one. Deeply sorry for all this mess, and happy to read your future comments!

Editing: Okay, i've discovered what really happened: in fact, it's not that Blogger stopped to send me emails when you post a comment, it's that Gmail started to consider the Blogger emails as spam. Hundred of them were in the spam box of my Gmail account... where i usually never go as i receive the emails through the "Mail" application of my Mac.
Goddamn'it, they are so bad at Google that they now consider their own emails ( Blogger IS Google ) as spams! Jeeesus.....

Leslie Iwerks Documentary About Walt Disney Imagineering Trailer


It was announced officially at the D23 Expo and the trailer of the awaited documentary by filmmaker Leslie Iwerks is now released. The upcoming movie will explore the past, present and future of Walt Disney Imagineering , and it looks great!

Leslie Iwerks previous work includes profiles of Pixar Animation Studios and visual effects house at Industrial Light & Magic, and the movie won't be released... before 2016.




Picture and video: copyright Disney

Monday, August 12, 2013

Editor's Note: Disney and more is covering D23 Expo, specially everything of D23 related to Imagineering and you'll find great pictorial reports and videos on this page below as well as the two next pages! For articles about others events at D23 Expo have a look on Mice Age HERE.

Please also note that the two articles about the Disney parks Journey into Imagineering pavilion have been updated with many new images, so you might want to have a look at them again HERE and HERE.

D23 Expo Special Video Tour : Full Journey into Imagineering Pavilion, Marty Sklar, Richard Sherman, Alan Menkel, Tony Baxter, and more...


Here is a selection of great D23 Expo videos and we will start by the video you were waiting for! Filmed by Thomas the Imagineer it will show you the full Journey into Imagineering exhibit, including the great pre-show!





Next is a video filmed by Andy Castro, a closer look at the Hat Box Ghost audio-animatronic at the Walt Disney Parks and Resort's "Journey Into Imagineering" Pavilion.





Let's stay in Imagineering with this video by Andy Castro of Imagineers Marty Sklar and Bruce Vaughn discussing in the "Leading a Legacy" panel.





On Day 1 of the D23 Expo Disney Legend Tony Baxter presented a look back on some of the history of Disneyland and everything that isn't there now. Video by Thomas the Imagineer.





In this next video from Andy Castro Imagineers Jeanette Lomboy and Joe Rohde discuss aspects of the art and artistry of Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa in Ko' Olina, Hawaii. This video is excerpts from the presentation, but not the full show.





A bit of great Disney music now with this video of the Disney Songbook concert featuring Richard Sherman and Alan Menken. This part one show Richard Sherman's entire performance at this event.





And on this next video from Andy Castro you will see Alan Menken performing favorites from Disney's "Aladdin" and "Pocahontas" at D23 Expo's "The Disney Songbook" concert.





Next, a video of Thomas the Imagineer showing the full Disney Legends ceremony. This year's honorees include: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Jobs, Tony Baxter, Collin Campbell, Glen Keane, Dick Clark, and Ed Wynn.






Next, an Andy Castro video showing excerpts of the "Broadcasts from Buena Vista Street" presentation.





And for the part of you which is a Disney collector we will end by this video from Thomas the Imagineer, a walk through the Collectors Forum of the D23 Expo 2013!




Videos: copyright Andy Castro - Dateline Disneyland , Thomas the Imagineer


First Clip of Disney's Frozen Released


A first and long clip of Disney's Frozen has been released, and here it is!


La Reine des Neiges - Extrait 01 [VO HQ] by Mister3ZE Picture and video: copyright Disney

Sunday, August 11, 2013

D23 Expo : Imagineer Tony Baxter Disney Legend Award Ceremony !


Last Saturday was surely one of the big day of his life for WDI Imagineer Tony Baxter as Tony became at the D23 Expo a Disney Legend!



On the picture below, Tony is waiting for his Disney Legend Award with Billy Crystal and John Goodman who also became Disney Legends.


The Disney Legend Award was introduced to Tony by Bob Iger and Dreamfinder, Figment and Darth Vador were there too -  Journey into Imagination and Star Tours being two attractions created by Tony among many others like Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and of course Disneyland Paris Magic Kingdom Park.





Tony did then a wonderful Disney Legend Award acceptance speech...



...and then left his hands print and write his name in the cement as every Disney Legend does!



It is well known that Tony love the fans and the fans love Tony and not only they applauded him when he received his Disney Legend award but were also able to get close to him when Tony went at the Journey into Imagineering pavilion. Tony is here in front of an early concept model of Epcot's The Land pavilion with Mary Costa who was Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and became a Disney Legend in 1999.





Inside the Magic filmed a great video of Tony Baxter Disney Legend ceremony and you have it below. Tony's speech begin at around 5.30 min. Have also a look at others D23 videos filmed by Inside the Magic HERE.



Pictures: copyright D23 Expo - Disney, Andy Castro - Dateline Disneyland

Video: copyright inside the Magic

D23 Expo Parks and Resorts Pavilion "Journey Into Imagineering " - Part Two


There we go for the part two of Andy Castro and Nicholas Miranda's pictorial report on the Journey into Imagineering pavilion, and we'll continue the visit by the "Architecture Imagineering" section which as its title say it is about the exterior and interior architectural design of an attraction, in this case a big part of the displayed documents are related to HKDL Mystic Manor. As always click on each pic to see them in big size and if you missed the part one you will find it HERE.












The Experience Development Lab introduces new technologies and among them  the upcoming My Magic + magic band.









WDI Imagineers didn't disclose a lot about the Avatar land but show only an area with elements that Imagineers brought back from Pandora - no kidding. Elements which help them to design the Avatar land rides but even if there is some hints you won't get a lot of infos out of this about this Avatar land which will open at Animal Kingdom in 2017.












But there is also some partly hidden very interesting renderings...







Next in the visit, the Show Production section and Show Animation sections of the exhibit.












Also display, some renderings for the new Disney Magic Marvel Avengers Academy kids area.








Let's have a look at the "Dimensional Design" room.


Some models or sculptures of the Astro Orbiter, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and many more....












Let's enter the Research and development room!


A never seen before early concept model for Spaceship Earth!















Here are the precious programming console thanks to which WDI programmers bring to life the Audio-Animatronics like the new one of the Hat Box Ghost below.









And here is two great videos showing the new Hat Box Ghost Audio-Animatronic in action!







As you've seen WDI Imagineers did a great work and we will end this report on the Disney Parks pavilion by a great video filmed by Thomas the Imagineer which will show you the full exhibit including the great pre-show!




Find more Andy Castro reports on the D23 Expo on Mice Age starting tomorrow monday!

Pictures by Andy Castro and Nicholas Miranda - Dateline Disneyland

Videos: copyright Thomas the Imagineer or Dateline Disneyland