DLP WDS Ratatouille Ride Press Event Celebration

       

The press event for the awaited WDS Ratatouille ride started today at DLP and last until tomorrow - we'll be there tomorrow Sunday. On this first day an opening ceremony happened for invited medias with not only Philippe Gas, DLP CEO, but also Bob Iger and Tom Staggs who came specially from the U.S specially the press event!

Our friends from Disney Central Plaza forum were there and shoot the pictures above and below!

Don't forget to follow our Live Blog tomorrow Sunday, starting 1pm Paris time!

       

       

       

       

                        

       

       

       

Here is the video of the celebration!

Pictures and video: copyright Disney Central Plaza.

Fantastic Diagon Alley Videos Reveal the Stunning Theming of New Harry Potter Land

The press event of Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando is now over and some great videos appeared on Youtube. Always no videos, though, of the Escape to Gringotts ride as it was forbidden to film. That said, The Diz did a fantastic and professional quality video showing the whole land, including the dragon breathing fire at the top of Gringotts bank!

You'll note on all the videos below the amazing theming of Diagon Alley, and honestly, i can't believe they've succeeded to build this whole land as well as the two rides with such stunning theming in a year and a half only...




Next is another great video from Inside the Magic showing Knockturn Alley, the "dark side" of Diagon Alley, always in the dark, day or night!




Last but not least, always from The Diz a video of the "three brothers" show which has some charm as it is done with an ancient style. I'm sure that during Shakespeare days street shows were done like this!




Don't miss too the great Mice Age update HERE with literally dozens of pictures of the land as well as short videos including the one below showing the effect inside Kings Cross station of "going through the wall" to access to platform 9 3/4! A pure "pepper ghost" effect very well done.





Same perfection with the Gringotts bank Audio-Animatronics goblins as you'll see on the video below.




Finally, one more for the road with this new Universal videos showing the trip inside Hogwarts Express between Hogsmeade and London with James and Oliver Phelps, the two actors playing the Weasley  Brothers in the films.




A press event is following another one and i give you appointment tomorrow Sunday for  a Live Blog from the Ratatouille press event at the Walt Disney Studios! Don't miss it!

Picture: copyright Universal Studios

Videos: copyright The Diz, Inside the Magic, Mice Age, Universal Studios

Pixar Animation Studios Announces New Short Animated Film "Lava"

Pixar Animation Studios has announced officially their new short animated film they are developing called "Lava", to be shown in front of the upcoming animated film Inside Out.
The studio released a poster and details and the short will be a musical directed by Pixar’s head of animation, James Ford Murphy.

Here's the official synopsis:
"Inspired by the isolated beauty of tropical islands and the explosive allure of ocean volcanoes, “Lava” is a musical love story that takes place over millions of years."

Collider give us more information saying that it's a “a cute, if slight, tale about a lonely Volcano, prone to lament – via song – how he yearns for another to ‘lava.’ Unbeknownst to him, a female volcano lurks below sea level, listening to his ballad.”

Picture: copyright Pixar

Disney Characters With an X-Ray Treatment !

You know i like to find for you amazing artworks of Disney characters. Well, the ones you'll see in today's update are done by artist Chris Panda and are amazing indeed... and even a bit weird as Chris gave to the characters an "X-Ray" treatment!

Go ahead, i'm sure you will recognize who is who!

Artwork: copyright Chris Panda

Ray Bradbury Talks About His Life, Books, and more!

The great Ray Bradbury died two years ago and we know how inspirational he has been for WDI Imagineers on many projects, starting by Epcot. I've found this great video of Ray, filmed at the end of his life and in which he talk about his life, books, dinosaurs... and give precious advices for YOUR life!

Shanghaî Disneyland Update !

A short Shanghaî Disneyland update to end the week, it shouldn't hurt! First, i've let you know you some weeks ago that Shendi - the joint venture company created to build Shanghai Disney Resort - had announced that Shanghai Disneyland will get an adjacent luxury shopping complex - you have above the rendering of this Shanghai outlet center.

More about this from China Times: "The Shanghai Shendi Group announced a venture with luxury outlet chain Value Retail. ‘Shanghai Village’ will be located next to Shanghai Disneyland, which is set to open its doors at the end of 2015. The company also operates a similar property next to Disneyland Paris.


Located in the city’s Pudong district, the outlet will benefit from the transport links connecting the metropolis to the resort, and will aim to attract luxury bargain hunters.
The 50,000 square meter site will stock a variety of luxury Asian and International lifestyle brands with collections selling at discounted prices. The shopping complex is going to be “the most important tourism outlet shopping location in Asia” as Scott Malkin, the Chairman of Value Retail said.

Value Retail’s existing ‘Chic Outlet Shopping’ concept villages in Europe include boutiques from designer labels such as Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Dior, Gucci and Prada, among others. The shopping complex will be the second Chinese outlet for the chain, which is planning to open its inaugural Asian site, Suzhou Village, in May 2014."

Something different now with the picture above shot on SDR construction site and coming from an article of asia.nikkei.com titled "War of the Walts coming to Disney Tokyo, Shanghai" and talking about an eventual future competition between Shanghaî Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. Nothing really interesting for us in the article except the picture above. Obviously this structure is not located at the entrance of the future park, and my guess is that it will be probably an entry gate/arch set to indicate the entrance point in Shanghaî Disney Resort "domain" when you'll arrive with cars. The best example i could find is this picture below showing the same kind of thing at Walt Disney World.

That's all about SDL for today but i'll have another SDL update for you next week, this time talking about something quite odd that i've noticed in the park design. So, stay tuned on Disney and more!

Pictures: copyright Disney, DR

Who Said That Disneyland Paris Was Only For Kids ?

This is pretty fun and well done Ad for Disneyland Paris. It involves five "bad" english guys ( well, actually four men and a woman ) winning a trip to DLP without knowing it. The goal is to send the message that DLP is not only for kids... Anyway, actors are perfect and the emotions are not faked, so have a look at it!




Picture and Video: copyright Disney

New Ratatouille Ride Making-Of Pictures !

The French magazine Les Echos was invited at WDI and posted an interesting article about Ratatouille, including never seen before pictures of the making of the ride. You can read the article HERE but the text is in french so if you don't read french ask Google Translate to translate the page. Above, an early concept-art for the ride vehicle. Click on each pictures to see them in big size.

Below, inside WDI, an Imagineer showing the model of the Ratatouille area.

On the next picture, Erma Yazzie, a wonderful WDI sculptor, with the model of the fountain located at the center of the land.

Below, a close-shot on the small Remy's head sculpture.

On location at the WDS, the giant fruits and sausages that guests will see in the "cold room" during the ride.

Always inside the show building, the arrival of one of the giant kitchen props installed in the ride.

A "Ratmobile" vehicle, in a scene close to the end of the ride.

Outside the show building, the arrival of the giant Gusteau sign.

The giant Gusteau sign being put in place on the top of a building roof.

I remind you that you have an appointment on Disney and more this Sunday starting around 1pm local time in Paris for a Live Blog all day during the press event of the Ratatouille ride, don't miss it!

Pictures: copyright Disney

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL D&M FACEBOOK PAGE READERS

O-Kay, Thanks to faithful D&M readers i think we know what is happening on the D&M Facebook page. As i told you, since i left a pretty harsh comment about the new layouts i've noticed a decrease of visitors for each Facebook posts. Many people told me that they could still access to the D&M Facebook page BUT NOTICED THAT THEY DON'T RECEIVE ANYMORE NOTIFICATIONS FOR EACH NEW POSTS. I strongly suspect that the Facebook guys decided to have a revenge by canceling notifications to everyone who subscribed and asked to received notifications when a new post is posted on the D&M Facebook page. 

Now, very important: here is what you have to do: on the top of the Facebook page click on the "Like" icon and ask again to "receive notification" as well as "subscribe" on the right if any changes have been done. If you don't do it, chances are that you won't be notified again when there is a new post. Also, please note that i ALWAYS post five different posts each day, except if i say explicitly that i won't be able to do it. So, whether you receive or not notifications, just come and check the new posts as there will be new ones!

If after having asked to receive again notifications you don't receive them, write to Facebook and ask them to do it right NOW! LIFE is a fight, a fight for freedom, and a fight against any kind of fascism, including corporate fascism who don't respect your own choice. 

And by the way, all this reveal the respect that Facebook have for his one billion members as not only they can decide to change the layouts of the page without asking our opinion or give us the choice, BUT also they can decide to delete your OWN preferences on your favorite page. Remember this, folks.

This message will be posted each evening after i've posted the last post of the day until the traffic will be back as it was before this infamy on the D&M Facebook page. 

Universal Studios Orlando Evening Opening Event Unveil Harry Potter Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express !

That's it, the opening evening event for Harry Potter Diagon Alley happened last night and first videos appeared on Youtube. As always Inside the Magic did a great job and filmed both Hogwarts Express trip - from London Kings Cross to Hogsmeade and return, but also all the queue decor and pre-show for the awaited Escape from Gringotts ride. It was forbidden to film the ride itself so i suppose that we may have to wait until the opening on July 10 to have someone who will transgress...

In the meantime here is the video showing the trip from London Kings Cross to Hogsmeade station at IOA and for the return trip and the Escape from Gringotts ride queue video jump to Inside the Magic HERE. One more thing: the Hogwarts Express ride is EXTREMELY well done, there is a lot of clever ideas in it and i even won't be surprised if very young kids would be scared a bit during the London - Hogsmeade ride. Also have a look at how they did for the moment where you have to walk through a wall to access the 9 3/4 platform in Kings Cross.




Picture: copyright Universal Studios

Video: copyright inside the Magic

New Spoilers Informations for Avengers : Age of Ultron and Ant-Man !

Some new SPOILER filled information for the two marvel movies Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron has been leaked by the guys from JoBlo with details on story, villains, costumes, powers, and more. Lot of infos below so if you don't want any spoilers then move to the next post!

About Avengers: Age of Ultron:

"According to Kevin Feige, the new Avengers Tower is the largest ever for a Marvel film, featuring a large landing platform and garage for the new Quinjet within a large space that is full of windows, screens, and 'techno stuff' but 'really chic' with a lab directly in the middle where Stark and Banner work together.
"The Quinjet redesign features more chairs to accommodate all Avengers, much like the X-Men's Blackbird. The overall design is less military and more sleek with a bigger array of weaponry.
"Black Widow's costume update will feature not only the previously reported batons, but her suit is said to be more 'Tron-style' in nature with blue lights and electricity around the suit. Her enemies will now receive electric shocks or a 'widow's sting' when she hits them, giving her more of a 'superhero' edge amongst her super-powered counterparts.
"As reported before, Ultron will be more than just a helmet, with his full face being articulated, including the mouth. All movements from James Spader's face are used to bring more personality to the villain. The suit mock-up is reminiscent of the weapon that Agent Coulson used to shoot Loki in The Avengers, which was made from the parts of the defeated Destroyer in Thor. The suit is said to have a red firelight underneath, giving him a kind of 'Balrog' effect from LOTR.
"Ultron will have an army of drones that are similar in appearance to himself, minus the glowing red 'energy' effect.
"Similar to other reports, The Vision will be 100 percent Paul Bettany with his face and body all in metallic form, very shiny with gold, red, and green (as well as the yellow cape)."

About Ant-Man:

"Story begins with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) being a thief and single dad who has fallen on hard times and one day breaks into Hank Pym's apartment and steals the Ant-Man suit.
"The main villain's name is Darren Cross who, in the comics, runs Cross Technological Enterprises, a competitor company for Stark Industries and Oscorp. His cousin is the villain known as Crossfire. It's unknown if this role will be played by Patrick Wilson or Corey Stoll. He will have a suit with a similar feel to Ant-man's but more miltary style, yellow and black in color, and with a tendril-looking apparatus coming off it's back (like with Agent Venom). It's to note that in the comics Cross looks more like a pink Hulk, so there may well be some merging of attributes from other characters for this role or multiple villains at that.
"The Ant-Man suit will be much more elaborate than we've seen so far with the helmet being able to open and close much like Iron Man and an assortment of red lights all over the suit, again in Tron fashion. The helmet eyes will also glow red when closed. It's said to be a much more complex and futuristic suit than we've seen so far.
"Ants (the actual insect) are the main ally and superpower for Ant-Man in the film. Lang will speak to the ants via his helmet, just as in the comics, which is said to be a special element to the overall story."

Text: copyright JobLo

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Stunning Final Trailer !

The final trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ( in theaters April 10 ) has been released and it's the best one! It even shows a bit too much of the movie which looks great!




Picture : copyright Matt Ferguson

Video: copyright 20th Century Fox

Star Wars Reimagined as a Disney Musical !

Here is something fun to start the day. Silly and fun. The guys from gsmaestro had the idea to reimagine Star Wars as a Disney musical. It's very well done, and it's not even a cheap production. Watch it, you'll have fun!




Video: copyright gsmaestro

Two Great Updates Today, and One Question For You !

Editor's Note: I've got two great updates today for you! The first one is about Universal Orlando Diagon Alley and the second is the last pictorial update about the WDS Ratatouille ride before the official press event next Sunday! Go ahead, scroll down!

Also, I have an important question for those of you going each day on the  D&M Facebook page: did you had any problem to access it since the last 24 hours? The reason why i ask you this is because i've noted a decrease of the number of visitors for each post since yesterday. And this happened since i've let a pretty harsh comment on the official Facebook page where one can leave comments about the new layouts ( that i hate, as you know ). They obviously didn't liked the comment as they've deleted it. But as they have the possibility to know from who it was coming from i'm wondering if they're trying to have a revenge in a way or another or if the decrease of visitors is simply because yesterday's posts were less interesting for you. Don't get me wrong, i'm not running after having as many visitors as possible on the D&M Facebook page, i'm just trying to find the truth in all this. So, thanks to let me know if you've noticed any problem to access the Facebook page, or not!

Official: Universal Orlando Harry Potter Diagon Alley Opens on July 8 ! Plus: Press Event HD Pictures !

The Diagon Alley press event is currently happening at Universal Orlando and it's now official, Diagon Alley will open officially on July 8! Universal also released brand new HD pictures of Diagon Alley!

The Hogwarts Express at London Kings Cross station

Inside Wiseacres shop

Inside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop

The Leaky Cauldron

Knockturn Alley

A non-official picture of a close-up shot on the Dragon.

iThemePark has posted an incredible video showing Diagon Alley filmed by helicopter. You'll see great views of the Dragon as well as Hogwarts Express and even IOA Wizarding World. Definitely watch it full screen mode!




 I did some screen captures from this great video, here are three of them showing the dragon on different angles, you can see many more showing the whole land on the D&M Facebook page HERE.

Thursday and Friday are the press event special days for Diagon Alley. The awaited Escape from Gringotts ride will be unveiled and videos of it should appear on Youtube very soon! You can also follow Live the main events from the Universal Orlando website HERE.

Pictures: copyright Universal Orlando, iThemePark