The gift of the day is this great picture of the United States Steamship Company billboard located on Town Square, near the entrance of Liberty Arcade at Disneyland Paris. It don't looks like but a picture of it is not that easy to shoot as it is often half in the shadow - half in the sun... Click on it to get it in big size!
Walt Disney Archives founder Dave Smith passed away in Burbank, California, on February 15, 2019. He was 78. Dave dedicated his four-decade career at The Walt Disney Company to preserving Disney’s precious treasures from film, television, theme parks, and beyond. Named a Disney Legend in 2007, Dave was beloved by fans around the world for his wide knowledge of the Company’s rich history, which he shared in books and through his popular magazine column “Ask Dave.”
“I’m deeply saddened to learn of Dave Smith’s passing,” said Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “He was the unsung hero of Disney’s history who, as our first archivist, spent 40 years rescuing countless documents and artifacts from obscurity, investing endless hours restoring and preserving these priceless pieces of our legacy, and putting them in context to tell our story. Dave was a true Disney Legend, and we are indebted to him for building such an enduring, tangible connection to our past that continues to inspire our future.”
Dave was hired in 1970 by Walt’s brother—and The Walt Disney Company co-founder—Roy O. Disney, and his first responsibility was cataloguing every item inside Walt’s office suite, which had been left untouched after Walt’s passing four years prior. Thanks to Dave’s meticulously detailed notes and records, the Archives was able to restore the suite in 2015, and today Disney employees are able to visit and draw inspiration from this remarkable space. During his time as Disney’s Chief Archivist, Dave grew the Archives from a simple one-person department to a model among corporate archives. He was regarded by fans and historians as the final authority on matters of Disney history, and was an active member of the Society of California Archivists. He served from 1980 to 2001 as Executive Director of the Manuscript Society, an international association of collectors, dealers, librarians, archivists, and others interested in manuscript material.
Born and raised in Pasadena, California, the child of librarians and educators, Dave earned a B.A. in history and a Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley. Before coming to Disney, he gained library and archives experience working in the Manuscript Department of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, interning at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and serving on the staff of the Research Library at U.C.L.A.
Dave wrote extensively about Disney history, with regular columns in Disney fan publications and websites, as well as authoring, co-authoring, and editing numerous articles and books on Disney history, including the official Disney encyclopedia Disney A to Z, Disney: The First 100 Years, The Quotable Walt Disney, Disney Trivia from the Vault, and The Ultimate Disney Trivia Books 1, 2, 3, and 4.
In October 2007, Dave was honored with the prestigious Disney Legend Award. A resident of Burbank, California, Dave retired in 2010 after his 40th anniversary with The Walt Disney Company and continued working for the next nine years as a consultant for the Company, with the title of Chief Archivist Emeritus.
D&M condolences and thoughts go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.
I've found this early Animal Kingdom map and, as it shows the Beastly Kingdom land that never was built as well as other differences with Animal Kingdom as it was at opening, i asked Joe Rohde if he knew when this map was done. He kindly answered, saying that it was a super early map, may be done in 1993. In fact if you blow up the map you can see the date of October 20, 1992, so i think it was done in 1992. Click on it to see it in big size.
Today, Disney and more pay tribute to the soon to be extinct DLP Walt Disney Studios Armageddon attraction with exclusive pictures and videos shot by Max, D&M contributor and DLP Welcome webmaster.
Presented in Studio 7 and designed on one of the scenes of the hit film Armageddon, this special effects attraction which brings visitors to the Mir space Station will close March 31, 2019. The attraction will be replaced by a brand new attraction supposedly designed with a Spiderman theme in the new WDS Marvel Land from 2020/21.
The concept of the attraction designed by WDI Imagineer show-producer Rick Rothschild and his team was identical to the one of the "Backlot" land since the opening of the park on March 16, 2002: The filming of a new scene of the film with visitors for actors, i.e you! So after a quick pre-show lasting almost 10 minutes, « the assistant director » of the new scene was telling you what will follow and motivates you to be the stars of this scene from Armageddon.
Let's get inside the pre-show area would we?
Moving to the show room...
Max succeeded to have access to the show room with guests inside and shot great pictures of the decor on every angle as well as two videos - that you will see below - one with guests and one with nobody inside the show room. That will be precious to keep memory of the attraction when it will be extinct, something by the way that Disney should do each time they close permanently an attraction to allow to keep the memory of it forever. If they were doing this we would have decent videos of beloved attraction like Epcot Horizons or World of Motion, for instance...
The show room is a faithful reproduction of the central module of the space station that you can see in the Armageddon Movie. Once the attraction is in motion, the effects start crescendo before the meteor arrives and hit the space station. After seeing the film, you can imagine that the atmosphere is becoming more and more catastrophic in the Mir station, plagued at the end by an impressive deadly rain.
What made the success of the attraction was the multitude of effects and moving elements activated in a meticulous choreography. After access to the main plateau, the 180 crew members ( guests ) would undergo the meteor attack for almost 5 minutes.
This walkthrough type attraction was unique in the park as it lasted - pre-show included - almost 17 minutes! It was the longest attraction of the park and among the longest of Disneyland Paris Resort.
Discover the attraction as you have never seen it, alone, facing the disaster!
Unfortunately today, six weeks before its permanent closure, the attraction don't have any more maintenance on some important effects. Since more than 5 years many rumors about its replacement were discussed on social networks, and since the last 3 years some show effects like the smoke effect were no longer active, or some effects like parts of the suspended structure only work at 30% of their capacities. Disney acted to maintain the attraction but without putting it forward or promoting it in its programs. At the end they kept only one of the two debriefs (pre-show) and a minimum staff of 7 cast-members in the show building.
Last but not least, some informations about the attraction: the attraction had a capacity of up to 1205 visitors per hour, the giant fan brews 10 775 cubic meter of air per second
The large fan duct is large and wide enough for a person to enter and stand naturally.
We will end by the second video filmed by Max, this time showing the attraction with regular guests inside it, and by reminding you that those of you visiting the Walt Disney Studios have until March 31 to enjoy it!
More DLP updates will come soon, in the meantime for those desperately looking to put the hands on a printed copy of the 320 pages Disneyland Paris book "From Sketch to Reality" at a reasonable price i want to let you know that i still ahve five copies only of the ENGLISH edition, and taht i will NOT be reprinted!
Price is 150 euros for one copy + 19€ shipping and it won't last long at this price and it's probably your last chance to get a printed copy of this gorgeous book at a reasonable price, no kidding, as the book is now sold on Amazon by others sellers at $2000 or more - check this HERE !
Note to French readers - Lecteurs Français: Etant donné que l'édition française est épuisée, tout acheteur de l'édition anglaise recevra gratuitement l'édition française eBook du livre! Et l'édition eBook contient plus de 60 liens vidéos d'une délection des meilelures vidéos du parc! Note Importante: cette offre avec l'eBook est réservée à ceux possédant du matériel Apple ( iPhone, Ipad ou iMac ) nécessaire pour pouvoir liire l'eBook.
The "Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality" book is a 320 pages book with 750 pictures of the park including 250 WDI artworks! It's also probably the best gift you can find for a Disneyland Paris or Disney Parks fan - and it is true! Have a look below to the mosaic pictures showing a selection of pages of the book.
To place your order for the DLP book, please send me an email at: amplittaye@gmail.com with your shipping address. The price for one copy is 150€ and shipping worldwide is 19€ ( except Belgium and Italy for which it is 29€ ).
Also, each order will receive GREAT surprise gifts! ( and believe me they are really great! )
You can pay with Paypal, credit card or bank transfer. For Paypal payments please send directly the full amount including worlwide shipping, i.e 169€ ( except for Belgium and Italy for which it is 179€ ) by Paypal at: nme4@wanadoo.fr
If you wish to pay by credit card and bank transfer, send me an email at: amplittaye@gmail.com and i'll tell you how to do.
If you've never seen the book before, don't miss the video below or on Youtube HERE showing the full 320 pages of the book!
Article pictures and videos : copyright DLP Welcome
From the Academy Award-winning team—directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, and producer Peter Del Vecho—and featuring the voices of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad, and the music of Oscar-winning songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Frozen 2” opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22, 2019.
The second Pixar SparkShorts in already on line! Titled "Smash and Grab", directed by Brian Larsen and produced by David Lally, the story is about two antiquated robots who risk everything for freedom and for each other after years of toiling away inside the engine room of a towering locomotive.
It's a wonderful short which will rmeind you the great Pixar animated movie Wall-E. Boy, do i miss a new Wall-E, instead to do all these Toy Story sequels why the Pixar folks don't do a Wall-E sequel, or if not possible a new Sci-Fi animated film?
And now go behind the scenes of Smash and Grab with director Brian Larsen and producer David Lally.
If you missed it, last week was released the first Pixar SparkShort, "Purl", directed by Kristen Lester and produced by Gillian Libbert-Duncan. Itfeatures an earnest ball of yarn named Purl who gets a job in a fast-paced, high energy, bro-tastic start-up. Yarny hijinks ensue as she tries to fit in, but how far is she willing to go to get the acceptance she yearns for, and in the end, is it worth it?
A new "special look" video for Disney's live action Aladdin brings us a closer look to the main characters, including the Genie played by Will Smith!
First, check the "special look" trailer below!
Let's have a look at the most interesting shots with screen captures, lighted a bit by yours truly so you can see better. First, the opening shot shows Iago the parrot flying briefly over Agrabah...
The next shot shows a caravan in the desert and i bet you that the footage of the mountains in the background was filmed in Jordan Wadi Rum, a place that i know very well and a favourite place of folmmakers since David Lean filmed there Lawrence of Arabia in 1961.
With the following shot we have a first look at the entrance of the Cave of Wonders...
Then we have our first look at Jafar, the evil vizir who don't look evil enough to me here but that's not the question...
The next shot is a closer one of Aladdin, with Abu the monkey on his shoulder...
Cut to a sunrise scene over Agrabah with Iago flying again in the sky...
Next shot shows a parade in Agrabah with elephants and dancers, probably a parade for the "Prince Ali" sequence...
Talking about Jasmine the next shot gives a closer look to her...
Back inside the Cave of Wonders crumbling all around Aladdin after he stole the magic lamp, with falling rocks and fire...
Next shot shows the Genie escaping from the maguc lamp and also the flying carpet near Aladdin...
And the last shot shows at last Will Smith as the Genie escaped from the lamp, and in that scene he is actually very good, better than i expected!
I have a good feeling about this Aladdin live adaptation which will be released on May 24!
