If you don't know yet Kevin Kidney's blog , here is why you should rush to it right now !

I've let you know in a previous post all the good things that i think about Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily fantastic work. You know, Kevin and Jody are these two great sculptors who created the Disneyland 50th anniversary collectibles that were on sale on Disney Shopping two years ago. More recently, they've participated to the Tiki Room anniversary collectibles released last month - yes, the beautiful Tiki Fountain was designed by them.

But Kevin have also his own Miehana blog, where he post regularly extremely rare and old Disneyland artwork like this original Tomorrowland pencil sketches "for a 1955 newspaper section presenting some of the "many delights and wonders that are yours to enjoy at Disneyland."

Or this one showing a Bank of America Main Street building "in an authentic, turn-of-the-century setting".



And this great one of Disneyland Red Wagon Inn - one of the "charming eating places in Disneyland".



Many of them are in full colours like this one showing Main Street old lamplighter - in fact you will even see the two versions - first the pencil sketch then the colour version.



And also this great painting of Fantasyland galleon - Chicken to the sea restaurant.



Most of you will discover these Chemitron exhibit which took place in Tomorrowland Monsanto's Hall of Chemistry attraction a loooong time ago!



You see, there is literally dozens of never-seen-before artwork on Kevin's blog. And i don't mention the fantastic piece of art that Kevin just post on his blog yesterday to celebrate Disneyland's 53rd anniversary...For all these good reasons, you should really rush to Kevin's Miehana blog and put it in your bookmarks as there is many more treasures to come!

Artwork: copyright Disney - Many thanks to Kevin, and keep up the great work!

Ratatouille's Remy Audio-Animatronic at WDS Rendez-vous des Stars restaurant best video

The excellent web site Photosmagiques.com was most successful than i was when they went at Walt Disney Studios Rendez-vous des Stars restaurant, as Remy's Audio-animatronic was there. The result? Simply the best video so far of this WDI small audio animatronic.

It seems that Remy have two or three different"shows" with different kind of movements. it's a cute addition to the WDS and once you've seen the video, just go to their excellent web site to discover the latest news and pictures about Paris Walt Disney Studios!

Ratatouille Rémy living character
envoyé par photosmagiques

Video: copyright Photosmagiques.com

Editor's note: On Miceage Al Lutz did a great tribute to this 53rd anniversary with Cinemascope pictures of Disneyland view from above in 1956, it's great and you can see it HERE once you've read the big news below and the Disney and more Disneyland 53rd anniversary tribute below!

Disneyland prepares to re-open Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough !

A GREAT news today for this Disneyland 53rd anniversary as it was officially announced that the Sleeping Beauty castle walk-through will be back in december! And not only it will be back, but it will be rebuild exactly like the original in 1957!

Here is the full Disney press release:

July 17, 2008 - Anaheim, CA - The interior of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland will open in time for the December holiday season, offering guests a “reawakened” version of its classic walkthrough presentation kissed with vibrant scenes of Aurora, her charming prince, the evil Maleficent and other characters from the beloved fairy tale film.

“It is fitting that we are announcing the return of a classic on the 53rd anniversary of Disneyland,” said Tony Baxter, Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering, who unveiled a model of the castle on July 17, the birthday of Disneyland park.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” and the excitement generated by the anniversary of the motion picture spurred interest in the return of the Disneyland attraction.

Also celebrating the milestone 50th Anniversary of “Sleeping Beauty” is Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, which will release a two-disc Platinum Blu-ray™ Hi-Def disc, making “Sleeping Beauty” the first Walt Disney animated classic title to be released in high definition, as well as on two-disc Platinum DVD. A bonus feature on the new release will be “The Original Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through Attraction With Walt Disney Imagineering,” an immersive experience recreating the original castle walkthrough.



On April 29, 1957, nearly two years before the premiere of Walt Disney’s animated feature “Sleeping Beauty,” the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough opened with an in-park ceremony featuring Walt Disney and actress Shirley Temple who, some 20 years earlier, had presented Disney with his special Academy Award – one Oscar and seven little ones – for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

The crafting of the 1957 walkthrough show fell to Walt Disney Imagineer Ken Anderson and animation art director and color stylist Eyvind Earle, credited with giving the motion picture “Sleeping Beauty” the distinctive and colorful look of storybook illustrations in medieval style. An entirely new look appeared in 1977 when the attraction’s redesign featured miniature dioramas, including moving figurines similar to the window displays in the shops on Main Street, U.S.A.



When the attraction is unveiled later this year, the “show” will differ from the dioramas of the 1980s and ‘90s, returning to the unique style of the original 1957 show and motion picture. Enhanced with new scenes and special effects magic, the re-Imagineered attraction will employ technology not available in the 1950s to represent scenes from the story of Sleeping Beauty, including the magic of good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and the more sinister spells of the evil Maleficent.

For the first time, guests who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle will be able to experience the walkthrough “virtually” in a special room on the ground floor of the Castle.

Artwork: copyright Disney

Disneyland 53rd Anniversary Special ! The very first renderings and Disneyland souvenir book pictorial high-res pictures

It's Disneyland 53th Anniversary today! And to celebrate it, here is a pictorial and artwork article that you should like - well, i hope!

When the park opened its gates on July,17 1955 guests could already find a souvenir book. But because the park was not finished yet when they printed the book, instead of photos, the reader could find inside renderings - the very first Disneyland renderings ever print inside a book. Some were in colour, others only black and white sketches. Here they are, beginning by the one for Main Street.




These are the one for Adventureland




And those were on the Frontierland pages.




For Fantasyland, the main rendering was showing of course the castle, but also sketches for some Fantasyland attractions.





The main rendering for Tomorrowland was showing the entrance of the land with the "Clock of the Future" and sketches of the Tomorrowland rocket.




Along the years - each year in fact - the popular souvenir books changed, and of course these had pictures of the park.

Here below are pictures of the 1957, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1978 souvenir books covers. All of them are in high-res, and should look fine on your computer desktop if you wish to use it as "wallpaper". Double-click on each cover to see them in big size.








For all of you who will be in the park today, enjoy the 53th anniversary, and bring us back some video of the celebration!

Artwork and Disneyland Souvenir books Photos: copyright Disney

Editor's note: Want to know what kind of new attractions WDI Imagineers are planning to build at WDW Magic Kingdom's Fantayland in a near future ? Then, do-not-miss the Blue Sky Buzz Orlando article of Honor Hunter on his excellent Blue Sky Disney blog HERE.

And did you ever wish to be invited into Pixar Animation Studios at Emeryville, California and have a tour inside the secret headquarter? Well, the lucky guys of Rotten Tomatoes did it, and they bring back a photo tour that you can see HERE

Hong Kong Disneyland Main Street Haunted Hotel - Photos and Videos

I would like to take a minute or two - well, a whole post, actually! - to come back to one of the most interesting elements of Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween season last year. I did a long post about it last september with pictures and videos, but all the videos shown only the new - and great - Halloween parade.

The other new element for Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween was in fact totally unique to the park. I mean, it was something that had never been built before by WDI Imagineers in any Disney theme park: the Main Street Haunted Hotel. Although you can see on the publicity shot above Jack Skellington, no characters of Nightmare before Christmas were involved in the Haunted hotel.



The Main Street Haunted Hotel was the first ever walk-through haunted house in a Disney theme park. You probably know that the first concept of the Haunted mansion was supposed to be a walk-through. Finally, it ended to be the ride we know, but Hong Kong Disneyland guests could really walk-through in a Haunted house - probably because the Haunted mansion didn't exist yet in the park - it will in the future.

Also, and quite surprising for a Magic Kingdom attraction was the "macabre" theming of this Haunted Hotel - look at the pictures below to see what i mean!





The synopsis in the press release was pretty clear about the mood: "As the edgiest walk-through Haunted Hotel experience ever presented by a Disney theme park, living haunts and specters will appear around ever corner of this hotel. A Hollywood class production team created this thrilling attraction filled with eye-opening scene settings, audio and theatrical effects and spooky show direction. With multiple heart pounding scenarios, Guests will creep fearfully through this once graceful and elegant hotel that has not seen the light of day for a century!"

The park did two short promotional videos , here is the first one



And here is the other one, with no young actors and a different editing



But the one which is really interesting is this one below who goes from present to past, tell the "legend" behind this haunted hotel, and show what kind of dreadful events happened there a long time ago. It's exactly the kind of video that we've seen at the opening of the Tower of Terror different versions, but here, it is about the story "behind" the Hong Kong Disneyland Main Street Haunted Hotel. Have a look!



It will be interesting to see if in two months on the next HKD Halloween season, this Main Street Haunted Hotel will "re-open" again...I'll let you know!

Photos and videos: copyright Hong Kong Disneyland