New Artwork, Logo and Model Revealed for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Attraction, Opening in 2019

Yesterday, during the press event for Toy Story Land opening a new rendering was shared of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the new ride planned to open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2019.

The attraction will totally immerse guests in a cartoon world and will feature a new catchy theme song created especially for the attraction. The fun begins when you see the premiere of a new cartoon short with Mickey and Minnie preparing for a picnic. As they head out, they drive alongside a train and find out that the engineer is Goofy. Then, one magical moment lets you step into the movie and on Goofy’s train for a wacky, wild ride.



The teams helping create the attraction are currently working with partners at Disney Television Animation to keep the characters and storyline authentic – and allow guests to join Mickey and his friends like never before.Senior creative director Charita Carter said the ride "is going to break the laws of physics and put you in the animated world."

In addition to the new artwork was also revealed the attraction logo ( top picture ) and the model of the train locomotive ( above ). The attraction will open in 2019, most probably late Spring or early Summer as Star Wars land will not open before  fall 2019 at Disney's Hollywood Studios.



Pictures; copyright Disney

WDW Disney Hollywood Studios Toy Story Land Open! Land Dedication and TSL Rides Videos

It's the big day for WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios Toy Story Land as the land has its dedication this morning with Bob Chapek and Tim Allen, here is the video -, start at 5.45min as the dedication itself  doesn't start before.

The land include two rides, the big one being the Slinky Dog Dash Roller Coaster which last around 2 minutes.



Attractions Magazine has posted an excellent POV video of it and the queue theming is pretty impressive. The ride itself looks fun, make sure to watch it till the end to don't miss the Audio-Animatronic at the end of the ride! Here is the daylight version and you have the video in the night version HERE.




The other attraction of Toy Story land is the new Alien Swirling Saucers ride and i remind you that the attraction will be added to DLP WDS Toy Story Playland in the soon future.


As D&M reader Scott Queto said in a comment yesterday on the D&M Facebook page the entrance to TSL Alien Swirling Saucers ride "is a great reference to the Fisher Price Imaginext Pizza Planet Playlet" and yes it is indeed, see picture below.

Attractions Magazine has also filmed two videos of Alien Swirling Saucers, looks to me that the ride looks more magical with its night lighting. You have the night version video below and jump HERE to watch the daylight version of the ride and the entrance theming.




DHS guests will be able to access Toy Story Mania directly from Toy Story Land thanks to the new entrance, and the queue had its theming redesigned. Here is a video shot by Inside the Magic.




The land is full of theming details all around, and honestly i think that Imagineers did a good job on this new TSL version. The last video below is a full walk-through of Toy Story Land which was filmed with no guests in it as TSL was not open yet and the rides not active, but it's perfect to discover TSL theming.




Andy's Lunch Box is where TSL guests can find food and have some rest while they lunch, here is a video of it filmed by WEDWAY.




One more thing: Disney has confirmed that Green Army Women are coming to Toy Story Land, in addition to the Green Army Men! Tom Vazzana, show director for the Green Army Patrol said that "both men and women serve in our armed services every day and it was time to add women to the Green Army Patrol". And all of the Green Army Patrol characters that guests will encounter in the new Toy Story Land will be face characters, to give them more freedom to interact with guests.

The Beverly Sunset shop at Disney's Hollywood Studios is now selling all Toy Story Land merchandise items, here is a video tour showing all of them.




So, what do you think of this new Toy Story Land? Let us know in the comments!

Pictures: copyright Ryan Pastorino / Tribune Media

Video: copyright Attractions Magazine, Inside the Magic, WEDWAY

Aerial "Drone" Footage of Disney's Hollywood Studios Toy Story Land Opening This Saturday!

Disney released some aerial footage filmed with a drone allowing to see the new DHS Toy Story Land from above. The footage is okay but not "amazing" as they claim as they've been a bit lazy with this one, there was a better and even more exciting way to film the Slinky Dog Dash coaster in action, but at least it allows to see how long the coaster is. Have a look, the land open this Saturday at Disney's Hollywood Studios!





Picture and video: copyright Disney

BREAKING NEWS: U.S Justice Department Approves Disney’s Acquisition of 21st Century Fox

BREAKING NEWS: U.S Justice Department Approves Disney’s Acquisition of 21st Century Fox With Divestiture of Regional Sports Networks:

From Variety: Disney has agreed to sell off 21st Century Fox’s 22 regional sports networks to secure Justice Department approval of its acquisition of major 21st Century Fox assets. The DOJ’s sign off on the $71.3 billion transaction on Wednesday gives Disney a big leg up over rival Comcast in the battle to acquire the major portion of Rupert Murdoch’s TV and film empire.

The Justice Department on Wednesday filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block Disney from acquiring 22 regional sports networks but announced a settlement agreement with Disney that calls for the divestitures. Anti-trust chief Makan Delrahim and other DOJ officials argued that Disney’s ownership of the national sports powerhouse ESPN created anti-competitive conflicts if it were to also acquire Fox’s regional channels, which serve some 61 million subscribers around the country.

“American consumers have benefitted from head-to-head competition between Disney and Fox’s cable sports programming that ultimately has prevented cable television subscription prices from rising even higher,” said Delrahim, assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s settlement will ensure that sports programming competition is preserved in the local markets where Disney and Fox compete for cable and satellite distribution.”

The settlement agreement still needs to be approved by a federal judge but that is a pro forma step. Disney now has more ammunition to make its case of Fox shareholders and board members that it’s bid is the better bet, given Comcast’s recent track record in getting big acquisitions through the regulatory review process. At the same time, Fox board members have a fiduciary responsibility to consider competing offers if they are significantly higher or more compelling than Disney’s deal. In the jousting between Disney and Comcast that began last fall when Murdoch surprised the industry by putting most of his empire on the block, the Fox board has consistently favored the offers from Disney.

Disney last week raised its bid to $71.3 billion in cash and stock, topping Comcast’s latest all-cash offer of $65 billion, or $35 a share fielded on June 13. Comcast is expected to respond with yet another offer, amid reports it is reaching out to potential acquisition partners if the bidding should climb as high as $90 billion. Analysts have speculated the Fox assets could fetch as much as $42-$43 a share.

In a statement, Disney said the Justice Department settlement called for the company to have 90 days from the closing of the Fox deal to sell off the RSNs. It’s unclear if Disney will seek a third-party buyer or possibly come to an agreement with the “New Fox” entity that will house the remaining 21st Century Fox assets that are not part of the Disney sale. New Fox will be largely focused on news and sports programming, so keeping the RSNs could make strategic sense.

“The parties have worked diligently since announcing the acquisition last December to provide the DOJ the information that it needed for its investigation of the transaction,” Disney said in its statement. “We are pleased that the DOJ concluded that, with the exception of the proposed acquisition of the Fox Sports Regional Networks, the transaction will not harm competition, and that we were able to resolve the limited potential concerns to position us to move forward with this exciting opportunity that will enable us to create even more compelling consumer experiences. ”

In its complaint, the DOJ asserted: “Disney’s proposed acquisition of Fox’s assets would combine two of the country’s most valuable cable sports properties—Disney’s ESPN franchise of networks and Fox’s portfolio of Regional Sports Networks (“RSNs”)—and thereby likely substantially lessen competition in the multiple Designated Market Areas (“DMAs”) throughout the United States in which these two firms compete.”

Universal Studios Japan : Minions “Freeze Ray Sliders” Ride Now in Test Mode - Video

At Universal Studios Japan the new Minions attraction “Freeze Ray Sliders” is now in test mode and will open soon. Interestingly, contrary to what many were thinking - including me - the attraction won't use the same kind of tech than Luigi's Rollicking Roadster at DCA Cars Land but the more simple one of Mater's Junkyard Jamboree or the new Alien Swirling Saucers at DHS Toy Story Land.



Check the video below showing the attraction in test mode but not yet with the canon projecting snow that you can see on the above rendering.




Picture: copyright Universal Japan

Video: copyright BJFan

Every Dinosaur In 'Jurassic Park' Series Explained !

Fans of Jurassic Park movies here is a great video for you! Nathan Smith, associate curator in the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, tells you all about EVERY dinosaur that appears in the Jurassic Park films. How realistically were the dinosaurs in the films portrayed? Is the T-Rex actually the king of the dinosaurs? Is the real life Dilophosaurus actually SCARIER than its film counterpart? Nathan uses his dino-expertise to highlight the similarities and differences between what we know now, and how the movies depicted them.




Video: copyright Wired, Universal

Great Interview of WDI Imagineer Tim Delaney

Defunctland has posted on Youtube a fantastic audio-only interview of Imagineer Tim Delaney, talking about his life as an Imagineer, the projects he worked on, the making of Disneyland Paris and with many insider stories you've never heard! Don't miss this great interview with Tim!

On the pictures above and below, Tim Delaney who was show producer of DLP Discoveryland, Epcot Living Seas, HKDL Tomorrowland, DCA Paradise Pier, and more, stands with a "naked" WDI Audio-Animatronic during a special shooting that we did with Eric Sander, a good friend of mine photographer, 20 years ago at WDI!



Enjoy Tim interview in the audio-only Youtube video below!






Pictures: copyright Disney and more - Eric Sander

The Incredibles 2 Short Review - And: Michael Giacchino's Tribute to John Barry's Goldfinger Score

So, i've seen in theatre this week-end The Incredibles 2 and i think i can say i quite liked it a lot. I'll give him, though, 4 stars and not five and the reason why is mostly because of the scenes with Mr Incredible who, for story reasons has to stay at home to take care of Jack Jack while Elastigirl do the job. The reasons are perfectly valid in the script, that's not the problem, but i thought that the repetitive situation didn't worked or still was funny after a while.

The script, though, is brilliantly written as usual by Brad Bird and action scenes perfectly edited so for a big part, i would say 90% The Incredibles 2 "works" really well, except for these 10% remaining with Mr Incredibles, but that's my opinion. The "new" super heroes are fun but my favorite sequence is not one of the action scenes - which are all very enjoyable - but a scene between Jack Jack and a raccoon during which we discover Jack Jack powers. The scene is incredibly, very purely cartoonish in the grand tradition, don't miss it!

Talking about don't miss it, don't arrive late as you don't want to miss the new Pixar short "Bao" which is really charming - there is no way to talk about it without spoilers so i let you discover it.

Back to The Incredibles 2 and about the score written by Michael Giacchino, always excellent. Since the first Incredibles Michael Giacchino has written a score which sounds like the ones of a James Bond or Mission Impossible movies, without of course copying them. He's enough talented to succeed but in this Incredibles 2 there is some music which instantly reminded me a short musical segment written by the great John Barry for James Bond Goldfinger movie.

In Goldfinger it's the first scene after the opening scene when action goes to Miami and an aerial shot introduce the famous Fontainebleau Hotel where Bond will see Goldfinger for the first time. Now, in Incredibles 2 the music you'll hear below was written for the scene when The Incredibles arrive and discover the new house where they're going to live. 

In both sequences, Goldfinger and The Incredibles 2 the score is written for a scene where spectators discover a new and luxury place and as you'll hear Michael Giacchino gives an obvious tribute to John Barry's Goldfinger score, without copying it.

Here is the Goldfinger scene, just listen to the great music of John Barry. 

And here is Michael Giacchino music for the Incredibles 2 scene, audio only.

Sounds familiar, huh? :-)

Video: copyright Disney - Pixar, MGM