Saturday, July 19, 2014

Walt Disney in Paris !


Quite a while since i've posted pictures of Walt, and as the new DLP WDS attraction is the most "Parisian" ride ever built in a Disney theme park here are rare pictures of Walt... in Paris!

On the top, Walt is probably standing at the Place de la Concorde - near the Tuileries garden and the Louvre Museum - and you can see the Eiffel Tower in the back. On the picture below he is also walking Place de le Concorde - see the egyptian obelisk in the back stolen in Luxor, Egypt, by Napoleon - but this picture was shot many years before as you can see that Walt looks younger.


Walt was back in Paris years later with his family during his famous trip to Europe and the three next pictures were shot at that time. On the first one below, all of them are walking down the Champs Elysées avenue, near the Arc de Triomphe.


On the next photo, they stand at the Trocadero Plaza, in front of the Eiffel Tower.


And on this last shot, all of them are on the bridge over the Seine river, just a few meters from Notre Dame cathedral!


Pictures: copyright Disney

Friday, July 18, 2014

"Let's Dream!" , A Spectacular Nighttime Parade Directed by Taylor Jeffs and Gary Goddard Celebrates Lotte World 25th Anniversary ! HD Video


South Korea's Lotte World theme park is the 14th most visited theme park in the world, with 7.300.000 guests in 2013 and this year it celebrates its 25th Anniversary. The celebrations include a brand new nighttime spectacular parade called "Let's Dream!", written and directed by Taylor Jeffs with Gary Goddard as Executive Show-Producer.


"Let's Dream!" started a few days ago and has been a smash hit success so far. People are even saying it may be the best light parade ever created. In addition to amazing floats there are a couple of really neat “firsts” in the show, including the entertainment world’s largest fleet of drones, the flying lanterns you'll see in the video...


...as well as the first “hologram” float with the flying fairy that you can see on the picture below!


The next pictures shows the moment of the rising castle as well as a procession scene with korean lanterns before the parade with the floats.




I've got for you mosaic pictures of the parade - click on each to see them in big size - as well as a great HD video showing the whole show. By the way, one other cool thing but hard to see in the video is that park guests are actually the stars of the parade. In the pre show, different areas of the audience hear six different “bedtime stories” about dreams, and then they see each of those dreams come true in the parade. Those are actually park guests on the bed on the first float, in the mermaid bowl, on the magic carpet, etc…

Also, the score was written by Benoit Jutras - composer of Cirque du Soleil and Franco Dragone’s biggest hits, including “O”, La Nouba, Quidam, Le Reve, and others.







I think that Taylor, Gary and the whole team did a fantastic job as you'll see on the HD video below showing the entire "Let's Dream!" parade. In the video, the drones start to rise up at 11:22. The hologram comes by around 15:08, but is a bit more hard to see in the video. Hope you'll enjoy this spectacular parade!




Pictures: copyright Gary Goddard - Lotte World

More Infos About Avengers : Age of Ultron ! Warning : Spoilers Ahead !


Thanks to Entertainment Weekly we have more details about Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as a scene description from the film. Spoilers below so make your choice of reading or not!

As reported before, Tony Stark is the one who creates Ultron, and what's interesting is that Stark gives Ultron elements of his own personality, but chooses to display the negative side of it and focuses on Stark’s cynicism. So, Ultron embraces rage instead of compassion. Chris Hemsworth tell us more:
“It’s not the good version that could’ve come from Stark's intellect and personality. It’s the bad son.”

Entertainment Weekly provide additional informations:
"The Avengers sequel begins with Stark’s latest plan to fix the world: Ultron will be an all-seeing, all-knowing captain of a planetary police force known as the Iron Legion, a team of robotic beat cops who resemble blue-and-white versions of the Iron Man suit but have no human core—and less soul than a Carpenters album. If it all works out, the superheroes can rest easy..."


As usual something went terribly wrong and doesn't go as planned, so hell is unleashed on earth. Here's a detailed description of  the scene of The Avengers and their first horrific encounter with Ultron:
"In one of the opening scenes, the gang is celebrating with a swank party in the peak of Stark’s New York City skyscraper—formerly Stark Tower, it’s now the headquarters for the Avengers.
Stark sees the soiree as a chance for the Avengers to schmooze with the city’s powerbrokers in a post-S.H.I.E.L.D. environment, showing that they are not merely superpowered vigilantes. Half-filled glasses of wine, bottles of beer, and partially eaten plates of sushi and cookies litter the tables in this three-story marble and steel structure, constructed entirely within the soundstage—complete with a loading dock for the Quinjet and an upstairs laboratory for Stark and Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to blind themselves with science.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has put aside the cape and chest plate for a t-shirt and slacks, while Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow has swapped her leathery catsuit for an empire-waist cocktail dress with a billowing skirt—which helps hide the actress’s real-life pregnancy.
Banner looks a little uptight in his purple button-down and tweedy jacket, while Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is in wallflower mode, lingering on the periphery by himself, ever the loner. Chris Evans’ Captain America is making small talk with former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). Most of the partygoers have left; now it’s just the old friends lingering.
That’s when all hell breaks loose. The Legionnaires have suddenly activated, and are inexplicably trying to kill the heroes. In the chaos, Ultron—in one of his first, metallic forms—announces his new plan to bring peace to the planet—by eradicating the most destructive thing that walks on it: humans.
In the midst of the assault scene, Downey finds himself suspended 50 feet above the set, riding piggyback on an actor in a motion-capture suit who will be digitally replaced with a hovering, hostile Legionnaire.
With no armor at his disposal, Stark grabs the only weapon handy—a fondue fork—and jams it into the robot soldier’s neck as they bang around the ceiling. “The deadliest fondue fork in all the land!” Whedon jokes. “From Odin’s melted cheese, I shall destroy thee!”
Even without their battle gear, the Avengers make short work of the traitorous, mechanical assailants. But Ultron is just getting started. He’s now thinking for himself … and they are not happy thoughts.
“I know you’re ‘good’ people,” he tells them. “I know you mean well… but you just didn’t think it through… There is only one path to peace… your extermination.” In the next shot, focused on the heroes’ reactions, the patronizing snarl of Ultron is delivered off camera by Whedon."


Talking about Stark tower, we also have news also about it thanks to Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President, who talked with IGN:

"Last time we saw Stark Tower, from The Avengers, it had gotten beat up a little bit thanks to Hulk and thanks to Loki and the Chituari, and Pepper and Tony were standing over a table looking at plans. That's where we pulled out and all the letters had fallen away except the 'A' in Stark. So what they were doing was retro-fitting for The Avengers. And that's what we see in this next film.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone – for people who are following along. S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded and brought down at the end of The Winter Soldier because it turned out to not be the best organization ever. So Tony's bank-rolling The Avengers now. And he's bank-rolling their headquarters. So it's now Avengers Tower.
"Tony designed it so in addition to a hanger for a brand-new Quinjet, laboratories, places where he can build and store his Iron Man suits, there are I believe two bars. Beautiful multiple space living rooms which are perfect for parties and social gatherings. But it’s a primary location in the film this time around."

All this sounds great and with a bit of luck the described scene above will be shown at Comic-Con next week!

Pictures: copyright Marvel

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Grand Opening of Harry Potter Wizarding World at Universal Studios Japan


Harry Potter Wizarding World had its Grand Opening at Universal Studios Japan, and D&M has the video of it for you! Universal expect two millions more visitors this year thanks to the new land, and it will be interesting to see if this new Potter land will have an effect of Tokyo Disney Resort attendance, although probably less than in Orlando as there is hundred of miles between Tokyo and Osaka!




Video: copyright NTDTV


Night Vision Video of Harry Potter Escape From Gringotts Reveal All What You Don't Want to Know About The Ride!


The Coaster Views has posted on Youtube a night vision video which reveal all about the new Harry Potter Escape from Gringotts ride... if you really want to know it, as it's difficult to find a video with more spoilers of the ride than this one.

That said, it's a particular interesting video as it shows decor elements along the ride that you can hardly see on the others videos as well as the track "drop" during the first scene.

You're warned, watch it at your own risk!

Edited 7 / 24: If you've not watched yet the video i'm sorry to say that it's too late as Universal has blocked it on youtube and it is no longer available. No big surprise as the video was showing so much of the ride that it was probably "too much" for Universal!




Video: copyright The Coaster Views

Special " 101 " ! Technical Problems on Ratatouille, Transformers, Forbidden Journey, and more


Technical problems happen all the time in all rides around the world, Disney or not and most of the time no one is really to blame except the technology. In the old days, when rides technology was more simple than it is now the ride didn't had to stop because a POTC Audio-Animatronic was not working, for instance. But now, with the trackless vehicles, projection effects and more it seems that having a "101" the code for technical problem on a ride may happen more often.

Just a few days ago some "101" happened on WDS Ratatouille ride and Universal Orlando Transformers and D&M has videos about them for you,  always interesting as it allows to show the rides with the lights on. Let's start by the one of Ratatouille which happened when Max, D&M collaborator, and DLP Welcome webmaster was precisely riding... and filming "when suddenly something went terribly wrong" as they say (!) No one was hurt of course and WDS cast-members did a perfect job by escorting the riders back to the loading room where they've waited to ride again a few minutes later.


Ratatouille 1.0.1. from DLP Welcome on Vimeo.

Next one happened on Transformers last Tuesday and was a bit more serious. Fire rescuers were called to rescued guests from the ride as guests were stuck in one of the worst places on the ride - about 40 feet down from the ground and far enough from the top that fire rescuers had to rappel down with ladders to reach the car.  The 12 passengers were rescued by the firemen and everyone is safe.


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101 can happen of course on any rides and the two next videos will show you another "101" which happened during Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal Orlando, showing all the mechanism of the famous Kuka robot arms upon which the guests are seated.




This next one, although filmed vertically, shows clearly decor elements placed all along the ride.




One more for the road with this great video showing Disneyland Space Mountain all lights on due to another "101"!




Finally, talking about Ratatouille you can see how the night lighting is stunning thanks to the great picture on the top showing Remy Plaza at night. I wonder if it's Michael Valentino, the great WDI Imagineer specialist in lighting - who did the one of Space Mountain - who did it... The picture is excellent too, so good that i thought it was a DLP official picture, but no, it was shot by a talented fan and apparently he might have more great shots to come!

Photo: copyright Disney Central Plaza

Avengers : Age Of Ultron Leaked Footage Description



The text below include a description of some footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron, which mean potential spoilers. So, if you want to avoid any spoilers, jump to D&M next article!

A reel from Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron was screened in the UK recently when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was holding a preview and Q&A for Guardians of the Galaxy. The good folks of Radio Times were there, and thanks to them we have a description of the footage, which Kevin Feige said will probably never be shown again. Here's the description provided by Radio Times, which includes a scene with the Hulkbuster!

"Known as the ‘Hulkbuster’ in the comics, it looks like Stark’s normal red and gold armour after hitting the gym, and is almost the size of the Hulk himself. Where his normal suit is sleek as a missile, this is bruising like a tank. It’s the iPad to the original’s iPhone, Frasier to the original’s Niles. There’s no word on why the two heroes are fighting, but the Hulk doesn’t need much reason to get in a scrap. You can see some concept art of the fight above: it actually looks better here than the very unfinished footage we saw."

"Also sighted were new brother sister duo Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Scarlet has mysterious reality warping powers (in the footage this mostly involved making some blocks float around) while Quicksilver can run really, really fast (although without the special effects, it was more of a light jog). Scarlet Witch was shown fighting alongside Hawkeye on a ruined Italian street, but earlier in the reel both she and her brother were locked in fancy Perspex prison cells. Designed by Stark out of the ruins of his New York penthouse, this has all mod cons: floor to ceiling windows, twin laboratories for Stark and Bruce Banner, and parking for supersonic jets. It’s reminiscent of the SHIELD helicarrier in terms of construction, with lots of shiny metal pillars."

With a bit of luck may be they'll show this footage again at San Diego's Comic Con next week! In the meantime you can discover a first set of official pictures from Age of Ultron just released officially today by Marvel on D&M Facebook page HERE.

Picture: copyright Marvel

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Surprise! Japanese Trailer Reveal a Different Big Hero 6 !


Yesterday you've seen the first full trailer for Big Hero 6 and here is the one released in Japan. Surprise! , it's two different trailers, and this japanese one has a much more somber feel in the beginning. As you'll see, Hiro will apparently have to face some very difficult times before his adventure begins...




Picture and video: copyright Disney

HKDL Disney Paint the Night Will Debut October 1 - Plus : News From Tokyo Disneyland


Disney Paint the Night, the interactive night parade for HKDL will debut officially on October 1st. All the floats have arrived at HKDL and the first show is scheduled in September, but it will open for "all" HKDL guests not before October 1st because HKDL helds private parties in September as they usually do during the Halloween Season.

I remind you that a rumor says that a similar parade will also debut at Disneyland Anaheim for DL 60th Anniversary next year - we'll see if it's true or not!



Always in Asia, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel which is already great will have soon even more greatness in 2015 with a total of 182 additional four different themed suites on the theme of Pixie Hollow, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella ! Concept-arts below of the Alice in Wonderland and Pixie Hollow suites.


Pictures: copyright Disney - Oriental Land Co

Dawn Of the Planet of the Apes Review


Just come back from theater to watch Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which is absolutely great! It's still an in-between sequel, i.e the next one will be probably the "final battle" during which the apes will conquer the Earth but we're not in a lab anymore like during the first one and everything happen in a post-epidemic devastated San Francisco and forests nearby. Actors and script are great - and the great Gary Oldman is part of the cast!

But what will stun you is the unbelievably amazing realistic quality of the CGI creation of the apes. We all know that the technology now allows CGI wizards to create absolutely everything, but here it's not only the physical look of the apes which is stunning, it's how they've succeeded to give them emotions. Really exceptional, and some of the apes are definitely chilling. I mean, you really pray that this will never happen for real! Go out and watch it, you shouldn't be disappointed!

Below, the final trailer for those who've not seen it yet!





Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Leaked Jurassic World Visitors Guide Prop !



In the next Jurassic Park movie "Jurassic World" - happening 20 or 30 years after the first one - it's a real Jurassic theme park which is supposed to now exist at Isla Nublar. And like all theme parks this one will have a visitors guide. They did a real/fake visitors guide for the shooting which was handed out to several extras on the set of the film... and it happened what had to happen: one of them decided to take pictures of it and uploaded the pics on the web! This guide provides lots of interesting new details about Jurassic World , including what kind of dinos we can expect to see in the movie, which means that some of them can be spoilers! So, read it at your own risk!

Among the fun infos revealed is that Jimmy Fallon, host of the Tonight Show, will have a cameo in the film. Visitors will be greeted with an instructional video hosted by the comedian when they go through the Gyrosphere, which is an on-site instructional video. You'll find also a few other details on the types of attractions that visitors will find at Jurassic World theme park - in the movie, not in real.
Last but not least, the visitors will have a "bracelet scanband" - a reminiscence of Disney's Magic Band idea?






Pictures: copyright Universal

Big Hero 6 First Full Trailer !


Disney released the first full trailer for Big Hero 6, and here it is. The movie is released in 3D in theaters on November 7!




Picture and video: copyright Disney

Watch Sea World Orlando New Night Show "Light up the Night" in Ultra HD 4K !


Sea World Orlando started a new show since June 21, it's called "Light up the Night" and thanks to D&M reader Salvatore you'll be able to watch it with an amazing definition as it's available in HD 1080P or even 4K!




"Light up the Night" is Sea World Orlando's new night show in Shamu stadium. It started on June 2& when Sea World began the "summer nights" until August 10. The show is an enhanced version of the "Shamu Rocks" show with new effects and new original music. It includes too several "Shamu", colored fountains and a finale fireworks!



Hope you'll enjoy the video, of course watch it full screen and in the best definition!




Video: copyright Matty Occhipinti

That's it, It's War Between The MPAA and Popcorn Time !



That's it, folks, it's war! The war between who, you ask? Between the MPAA, the Motion Pictures American Association and Popcorn Time. What, you've never heard about Popcorn Time? Popcorn Time is a software created by young guys from Argentina early this year which  was a hit from day one. And why was it a hit? Because it allows you to find and watch in streaming for free almost any movies in less time than it takes me to write it. If we're honest, PopcornTime is a mix of a geniously simple interface and ( directly or indirectly ) a declaration of war to the movie industry. Basically, all the movies released since at least 90 days are available, and of course all others released before are available too, including all Disney movies, animated or not. And even very old classics, like for instance Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia. You choose the movie, you choose the language and eventually the subtitles, you click to play and that's it, one minute later the movie starts.


No need to say that the movie industry reacted quickly and strongly when it was released lat February and the boys from Argentina decided to stop to make Popcorn Time available as they were afraid to be sued by Hollywood lawyers. But it was not the end of the story as the software was in "open source" and another team has decided to improve the Popcorn Time and re-release it. And since then it's a "cat and mouse" game between the new team and the MPAA. Until some days ago as the MPAA finally succeeded in their request to GitHub to have them removing the code from their servers.

Downloading the Popcorn Time software, though, is not illegal as it's only a tool which don't include any movie. All what the software is doing, brillianty, it to go and find on Torrent sites the best definition available Torrent files for each movie. and it's these which are watched in streaming ( no download possible ). But these Torrent files as we know are uploaded illegally on Torrent sites like Pirate Bay, etc... and it's where the legal question starts. In two words, downloading and using the software is not illegal, but watching movies in streaming is, and depending the laws of the country you live in the risk can be pretty serious.

Of course, this doesn't stop any teen or even older to use Popcorn Time and it's so easy to use that i can understand it's hard to resist. But no need to say that it's a total nightmare for the movie industry as, if anyone have now the possibility to watch movies in high definition for free just a few weeks after their release, the industry is losing millions of dollars ( and probably more ) each month. That is why the MPAA is determined to have the "skin" of Popcorn Time. That said, Popcorn Time would have been useful at least on one point: with its brilliantly simple interface anyone started to ask why this doesn't exist "legally". And most of the users even said they'll be pleased to pay $10 or $15 per month to use any legal site which would allow the same thing, with an interface as easy as the one of Popcorn Time. This probably will finally happen in a near future but for now, it's war between the MPAA and Popcorn Time and the story is not ended yet!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Fresh News About The New Haunted Mansion Movie !



At Comic-Con in 2010 director Guillermo del Toro announced that he will developed a new live-action adaptation movie of the Haunted Mansion. And then, no more news really but it's still in the scriptwriting phase of development. Recently Del Toro offered an update on the project:

"Two weeks ago, I went back to Disneyland with the executives with whom I am developing the screenplay," says del Toro. "It's a hard screenplay to crack. We've done it a few times. We are on our third or fourth draft, with 2 different writing teams, and I think the main thing is to try to combine everything that is great about the ride into the movie, and to make it a really intense but with a sense of fun - just like the ride."

Right now Del Toro is in the project as the writer and producer, but he's not ruling out the possibility of directing.

"It is a movie I would love to direct, but I would be happy to just produce it if the timing is not right."


The story is supposed to be built around the Hatbox Ghost and it seems like frequent collaborator Doug Jones is the frontrunner for the part.

"We have developed 50-60 pieces of art. We've developed maquettes of the Hat Box Ghost, over the body and face of Doug Jones, but we have not succeeded yet in cracking the screenplay. I have to believe that Disney will map this movie as soon as we crack the screenplay, but until then we cannot tackle it... We always feel like we are very close, but not yet."

Pictures: copyright Disney

All Aboard Diagon Alley "Escape From Gringotts" As We Have Finally A Decent Video Of The Ride !



I was waiting for it since last month press event and thanks to Ryan Newman we have finally a quite decent video of Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride! It couldn't be better to start the week !

Now, before you watch the ride video it might be a good idea to walk inside Gringotts and to see the pre-show, right? Just to enjoy the attraction as a regular guest of USF Diagon Alley does... Good news, i've found a perfect video of it filmed by The DIS, and here it is.




Before watching the video of the ride itself, you must also watch this short other video filmed by Attractions Magazine in the queue before boarding as it shows the movements that the vehicle is doing during some scenes of the ride, it'll help you to understand what happen during the ride when you'll see Ryan video.




And now, here is Ryan video which starts with the first scene of the ride, happening shortly after the vehicle left the boarding room. The video is the best available so far and one could say it would have been better a little bit more sharp but remember that the projections are in 3D and that it's pretty dark all along the ride, so i think Ryan did a good job. Definitely watch the video full screen, but before you'll launch it here is some additional details about the ride provided by Ryan that you must keep in mind while you'll watch the video:

First scene - The ride vehicle moves forward until the track ends at the first scene ( Ndr: the one with Bellatrix Lestrange throwing thunderbolts ). As the 3D projections are happening, the track begins to tilt down. The vehicle then goes into a drop and a few small twists until you reach the second scene.

Finale - During the finale in the volcano scene, the screen actually opens up and the car is launched forward in the dark.

The ride vehicle goes through a few twists and the cars move 360 degrees.




Picture: copyright Universal Studios

Videos: copyright Ryan Newman, Attractions Magazine, The DIS