First "Full Look" Picture of Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Re-Opening on May 24th

Disneyland released today a new picture providing a full look to Sleeping Beauty Castle with its new colors ( picture above ). It's of course a big change with the preious castle colors ( picture below ).



Mmmmh, may be a little bit too much gold, specially on the arch entrance? I don't have anything against the gold color but there is a big rule saying that "If everything is special.....nothing is special”.

If you want to see how it will look without the gold on the arch entrance, this picture from Blog Mickey shot just a few days ago provides a good example as the gold entrance arch is hidden by the fences. Without it, it work not too bad, though i still think that the turrets top blue color is a bit too “electric blue".



In a O.C Register article WDI Kim Irvine who was the lead Imagineer on this renovation tells us more: "“People when they come to Disneyland they expect something that’s different than what they would see on their city streets or in their downtowns, We have to push the color, we have to push the fantasy. People get used to seeing it faded. Even if we painted it the original colors, it would look strikingly different. These are not far off of the original colors at all. The only thing that’s quite a bit different is the roof. The pinks are all very much the same and the trim colors are exactly the same."



"All our other castles keep getting bigger with more towers, even our sister castle in Hong Kong, they’re adding onto it and making it gigantic. We’re never going to do that to our castle. It’s always going to be this little castle. It’s the charm and the centerpiece of Disneyland. But what we can do is push the colors a little bit more and add a little pixie dust.”



In a January video below Kim Irvine was also paying tribute to Herb Ryman original rendering for the castle ( picture above ). Watch Kim telling us more about the new colors. The castle reopen May 24, just in time for Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opening on May 31.




Pictures and video: copyright Disney, Blog Mickey

Tokyo DisneySea Released First Look Inside the New Soaring : Fantastic Flight Attraction !

Tokyo Disney Resort released two videos today, one providing a first look inside the new Soaring : Fantastic Flight attraction opening in July at Tokyo DisneySea, and the other being a promotional video for the new ride. The movie will be for the most the same than Soaring Over the World that we know at SDL, DCA or Epcot, but i think there is a new exclusive sequence.



As usual TDR got the best version of the attraction with a highly impressive theming for the buiding and the queue decor, and even a theming for the ride seats with a "wood" style as well as an extremely brilliant idea in the show room itself with a balcony giving the feeling that you'll fly over it for a trip around the world. Pure Imagineering genius.







Don't miss the videos below!







TDR also released pictures of merchandise and food items linked to the attraction.

This new version of Soaring looks like a fantastic addition to a park which is already considered as the best themed park on Earth and it will open in July!

Pictures: copyright Disney, Oriental Land

New Video Showing Progress Made on the TRON Attraction Coming to WDW Magic Kingdom in 2021

Disney shared a short video showing WDW Imagineers building the TRON Lightcycles Power Run attraction at WDW Magic Kingdom! The steel columns you'll see will serve as the framework that’ll support the coaster’s track in Tomorrowland.

As we know, the TRON attraction is based on the favorite TRON Lightcycle Power Run ride at Shanghai Disneyland. Disney say that "this coaster-style attraction will allow riders to board a train of two-wheeled Lightcycles for a thrilling race through the digital frontier" but in fact there is no race ( at least in the SDL version ) but an illusion of race. The ride will open in 2021 for WDW Magic Kingdom 50th Anniversary. Check the video below!




Picture and video: copyright Disney

First Full Pictures of the Inside of the Millenium Falcon at Disneyland Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

Disney released a cool 360° video of the Millenium Falcon inside that guests will see when they'll enter it at Disneyland Star Wars Galaxy's Edge during the attraction Smuggler's Run. You have the video below and you can explore the main room by pointing your mouse on it, and turning any direction when you click and hold.

I did some screen captures and sticked them as good as possible to get the first full views of the inside of the Falcon, just like if you were placed in the middle of the room, looking in front and then turning to see what was in your back. It's not perfect because it can't be, because the 360° lens distort, which is normal, but it's the best possible considering this problem, and so far the only views of the whole room.







Move your mouse in the video below!




Pictures and video: copyright Disney

Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality eBook UPDATED Edition is a Fantastic Update of the Beloved DLP Book and is NOW Available on Apple And Google Play eBooks Stores!

The acclaimed Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book is now released in ENGLISH eBook edition on Apple iBooks Store and Google Play Books, and you'll be able to have the book all the time with you and read it on your mobile, tablet or computer, and inside the park! This is a fantastic update with all the pages of the original English edition, plus 40 new pages and 116 pictures more! And, yes, just like the French eBook edition, it includes a selection of 60 best videos about the park, Imagineering, hotels, and more! Don’t miss it!

Link Apple iBooks Store:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/disneyland-paris-from-sketch-to-reality-special-updated/id1463385723

Google Play link: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Alain_Littaye_Disneyland_Paris_From_Sketch_to_Real?id=3SyXDwAAQBAJ

There is new pages for all attractions which have been updated in the park recently, or have been added since the book was published 17 years ago, i.e new pages for Pirates of Caribbean, Star Tours 2, Hyperspace Mountain, Buzz Lightyear,  Big Thunder Mountain, Meet Mickey, Mickey's Philarmagic, Hotel New York, and of course Phantom Manor which reopened recently with 16 new pages for Phantom Manor only! And because it is a digital edition i.e we don't have to care about the number of pages, i've put back the full pages on the Visionarium which were cut in half when we did a short update some years ago. The 320 pages book is now a 364 pages book ( not counting the front and back cover ), and, yes, just like the French eBook edition, it includes a selection of 60 best videos about the park, Imagineering, hotels, and more!

In addition to the new pages - and there is new oness for each land chapters - i also did an update of the whole layouts. Just slightly increase the size of pictures when i thought there was too much “white’ on a page, and on some pages, even changed the position of pictures. You might not even notice it if you already own the book, but the layouts are better than ever.

One of the others best reasons to order this eBook edition is that the pictures have never looked so beautiful, and there is a reason for that. It's because the eBook reproduces the original pictures files exactly as they were, meaning that the pictures look 100% like the original files as you don't have the usual loss or slightly change of colors that usually happen during a printing, as good as the printer can be.

If you don't own the book yet, this is definitely the not-to-be-missed "ultimate" edition. And if you do own the book already - and proabbly love it like everyone - then i strongly recommend this eBook updated edition because not only you'll be able to have the book with you at all time and read it on your mobile, tablet or computer, and even inside the park when you will visit Disneyland Paris!

If you've never seen the book watch the video at the link below showing each pages of the book ( not yet updated at the time the video was shot ).

First Official Teaser for Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil !

Disney just released the first official teaser for Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil released this October! Check it out below!




Picture and video: copyright Disney

BREAKING: Shanghai Disneyland to Get Marvel Land Expansion! ( and WHERE Will They Build It )

Shanghai Disneyland will get a new expansion with a big Marvel Land! I'm not the one saying it, Bob Iger did. To be perfectly honest, although Bob Iger did not announced it specifically during Disney’s quarterly earnings call but said this:
"Marvel has gotten extremely popular in China, and I think [Avengers: Endgame] has already done somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 million at the box office in China. So the idea of bringing the Marvel television shows to China as part of a direct-to-consumer platform ... is something that we're very, very interested in. As it relates specifically to [our park in] Shanghai, we think we have a huge opportunity for Marvel there. That's a hint to our parks and resorts group." And Iger added that WDI imagineers "...should be hard at work already designing and developing some Marvel presence in Shanghaî”. Last but not least, as the conference call was ending he added: “…in China, we don’t have any restrictions. So I imagine we’re, at some point, going to get very ambitious about what we do with Marvel at Shanghai Disneyland.” Couldn’t be more clear, right?

Building a Marvel land at SDL is almost a no-surprise as Marvel super heroes movies are very popular and make a lot of money in China, but even if a Marvel land won't open before years in Shanghaî, the first question to answer is: where in the park will they build it? A look at the land available thanks to Google Earth quickly reveal that there is not a lot of choice, specially if Disney wants to build a big Marvel land at Shanghaî Disneyland.

There is some land available near Adventure Isle but it was rumored that they keep it for a Pandora land, probably waiting to see if the new Avatar movies will be highly successful when they will be released in China. But that land is probably not big enough and anyway the transition from Adventure Isle to a Marvel land would not be the best.

The best place would be in front or near Tomorrowland but they won't build a Marvel land in the front or on the right because they don't have enough room and they won't build it right on the left either because they did the big mistake to build Toy Story Land there. I say "big mistake" because obviously the transition from a Tomorowland to a Marvel land would be more natural than a transition from Tomorrowland then to a Toy Story land then to a Marvel land. But nowthat  a direct transition from Tomorowland to a Marvel land is not possible anymore we'll have to do with Toy Story land in between.

As you can see on the screen capture below ( click to enlarge the picture ) the best place, by far, to build a Marvel land at Shanghaî Disneyland is on the big land available in the back of the park, behind Toy Story land, Fantasyland and Treasure Cove.

A zoom in the image allows to see better the land available and the polygon i did using Google Earth tells us that this land is as big as 102.326 square meters! No need to say that they have more room than needed to build a Marvel land there, even the big one that Bob Iger seems to envision.



Yes, but, wait, wasn't it there that SDL Imagineers envisioned to build an Expedition Everest as some blueprints revealed?

That's righ,t but i was never convinced that Disney would build Expedition Everest at Shanghaî Disneyland. Why? because of sensitive political reasons. When you say "Everest" it also means "Tibet" ( Mount Everest has one side in Tibet ) and although the Chinese are saying that Tibet is a province of China since centuries the question is much more complicated than the official statement so building an Expedition Everest at SDL might be a bit risky. I know we're talking only about an attraction, but the question of symbolism in China is important, so...

Anyway, this Expedition Everest was supposed to be build behind Treasure Cove and if - and that's a big "IF" Disney decide to build it anyway, they might have enough room to build both a big Marvel land and Expedition Everest. Although i don't put my bets on Everest, i put them on a Marvel Land , specifically using the left part of the land as shown in the above polygon, and time will say if i was right or not!

Pictures: copyright Google, Disney

VIDEO: Watch For the First Time in 2D Remy's Ratatouille Adventure Coming in 2020 at Epcot!

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure is the name of the ride that will open in Epcot in April / May 2020. The ride opened at DLP WDS years ago and you've probably already seen a video of it but, as usual when you're filming a ride with plenty of 3D projections the image is not perfectly clear because of the 3D effect which double the projected image.

But a miracle happened this week-end at DLP WDS: for whatever reasons the ride projections were not anymore in 3D but in 2D! So, Max, D&M contributor, went back quickly at the WDS to film the ride in 2D, and give to all of you in the U.S who are awaiting it in Epcot the unique chance to see at last the projections as sharp as possible. Don't miss the 4K video below!

Picture: copyright Disney

Video: copyright DLP Welcome