Monday, October 8, 2012

Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality Book: All You Need to Know to Order a Collector Copy



NOTE: For those of you who have never seen a copy of the book you'll find below a video presentation of the full book which will show you each of the 320 pages of the book. And, most of all don't miss the comments of those who have already received the book at the end of the book presentation!

For those of you who don't know what is the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality collector's edition here is more details: the collector's edition is printed on a luxury glossy paper, it has a gold printing on the cover and dust jacket, is limited at 2000 copies in english ( and 2000 in french ), each copy has a number, AND each copy include four beautiful "lithographs" of WDI artwork for the Walt Disney Studios. Each of these lithographs can be put under frame. Also, the contents of the book is exactly the same than the first collector's copies printed ten years ago. And only the collector's edition is available, the regular edition is sold out.



Here is how to do to order the book:

So, how to pre-order a copy of this collector's edition? First, send us an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com ( with as subject: "dlp book order" ) to let us know that you want to order a copy, how many copies you want, in which language ( english or french edition? ) , and your shipping address.

How to proceed for your payment: We prefer a Paypal payment. Paypal is a very safe way to pay without giving your credit card number. For a payment with Paypal the total amount must be sent through Paypal at the email adress: neverlandeditions@gmail.com

OR, even more easy, you can now order the book directly from this page and proceed to the payment with Paypal by clicking on the "Buy it Now" Paypal button below! Order two or more copies an enjoy an additional discount!
Also, don't forget to let me know your shipping address and to confirm your order and payment AND to say if you want the book in english or french edition by sending us an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ: Whatever the book quantity you will choose you'll see that in the next page that will open the quantity written in the "quantity box" is "1". I tried everything possible to change this and to have the right quantity appearing but it still doesn't work. SO, when you will do your Paypal payment please don't forget to write in the text box the book quantity that you have ordered, AND also tell it to me by email. No worries, though, as i will also be able to identify instantly how many copies have been ordered when i will see the amount paid. Thanks!


Choose quantity and enjoy an additional discount !

If you don't have a Paypal account: either you know someone who have one and through which you can send the payment, or you can pay by check if you live in france or with a bank wire transfer ( no foreign checks, sorry ). If you want to do a wire transfer please let us know in your email and we will send you the bank infos.

Below you'll find a description of the book as well as visuals of the inside pages ( click on the mosaic pictures to see them in larger scale ). The printer did an incredible job, and the printing and binding is just perfect! I did a video to show you the final product, exactly the same one than you will receive if you order the book, and you can watch the video below!




Although you've probably heard about this beautiful book, many of you may have never seen a copy of it. So we've done a video presentation of the full book which will show you each of the 320 pages of the book! The book includes 750 pictures of the park, including 250 gorgeous renderings of Walt Disney Imagineering and stunning pictures of the park seen from above. The book is so big that it took us seven and a half minutes to show you the full book, and that's without stopping turning each pages! So, if you want to have a closer look at a page don't hesitate to stop the video. Finally, because we didn't had any more a collector edition copy the video is showing the regular edition of the book, not the collector's edition that you will receive if you place your order, but the inside pages are exactly the same.




Description of the book:



The book is a gorgeous "coffee table book" with 320 pages and 750 pictures - of which 500 are park and attractions photos and 250 are Walt Disney Imagineering renderings!

The size is 9 x 12 inches, all pages are in color and it's hardbound with a glossy dust jacket. The text (by Disney historian Didier Ghez), was written after more than 75 interviews he conducted with all the Imagineers who created the park. He goes into just about everything you wanted to know about this unique place that many describe as the best "Magic Kingdom" ever created by WDI.

It took five years to create the book, but it was worth all the time we spent on it, and the book looks just as good as we had hoped for at the beginning - in fact Imagineer Bruce Gordon told us that it was "probably the best book ever done on a Disney theme park". Coming from Bruce who did with David Mumford the great "Disneyland, The Nickel Tour" book, it was more than a compliment.

The first chapter about Main Street has 52 pages and introduces the reader to the "legend" of Main Street, USA. You'll learn all about the Disneyland Paris Railroad, the unique "Discovery" and "Liberty" Arcades; find out about the architecture, the restaurants (like "Walt's," a tribute to Walt Disney, but also inspired by Club 33 in Anaheim) and the shops; with dozens of photos, renderings, models, and reproduced for the first time here, all the "cities of the future" posters located in "Discovery Arcade."



The second chapter on Frontierland discusses the park's western side with extensive sections about its major attractions, "Big Thunder Mountain" and "Phantom Manor." In fact the book has the longest sections ever put together in a book on all the major attractions. The Pirates of Caribbean section in the Adventureland chapter is 26 pages, Phantom Manor has 16 pages devoted to it, as does Space Mountain, it's a small world, etc. The photo material was so great that we kept adding more pages to the book, which was supposed to have only 240 pages when we started... we ended up with 320 upon completion!



The Frontierland chapter also covers the Mark Twain, the River Rogue Keelboats, Fort Comstock, all the restaurants, the shops and Cottonwood Creek Ranch.and featuring stunning photos of Disneyland Paris from the air by Yann Arthus Bertrand, author of The Earth from Above that make spectacular "double-pages," and allow the reader to discover the park from a whole different angle.



The Adventureland chapter is even more interesting, as many elements of the land exist only in Paris - such as the Bazaar and Aladdin to Africa and the ex-"Explorer's Club." Plus there's a long section about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril," "Adventure Isle" and "The Swiss Robinson Treehouse" and, of course, "Pirates of Caribbean" the land's major attraction and featuring its amazing Audio-Animatronics! All in all there are 56 full pages about Adventureland, and as in the previous chapters, there are dozens of photos, lots of concept art, and many shots of Imagineers at work. There's even a great bonus here, with the Marc Davis artwork for "Pirates" also included.



56 full pages are also dedicated to Fantasyland. There's an extensive look at Sleeping Beauty Castle, sections on all the dark rides (Snow White, Peter Pan and Pinocchio), as well as a look at "Alice's Curious Labyrinth," the "Mad Hatter's Tea Cups," "Storybookland," and "Casey Jr." There are even 14 pages about "it's a small world" with stunning photos of nearly all the scenes in it. Here the reader can discover a new attraction that exists only at Disneyland Paris, with a great view from above of Alice's Labyrinth.

Discoveryland also gets 52 pages of special treatment, with sections on the Visionarium, the Nautilus, Star Tours, Space Mountain, and everything you wanted to know about the other attractions in this land – Autopia and Orbitron. In fact the Nautilus chapter takes you on a visit with photos of every room of this detailed walk-through and two double page photo spreads, one which makes you feel you're inside Captain Nemo's grand salon, and the other showing you a unique view of Discoveyland featuring the Nautilus and Space Mountain in a kind of "CinemaScope" view.



When the book was released in early 2002, the Walt Disney Studios didn't exist, so you won't see them in the book. But there's still one last chapter about the hotels of the park, and Disney Village too, with the great Buffalo Bill Wild West show that entertains hundreds each evening.

And because every day in a Magic Kingdom should end with a parade and fireworks, we have the Main Street Electrical Parade that close the book, with also an Herb Ryman gorgeous painting in the very last pages!



Order the book directly from this page and proceed to the payment with Paypal by clicking on the "Buy it Now" Paypal button below! Order two or more copies an enjoy an additional discount!
Also, don't forget to let me know your shipping address and to confirm your order and payment AND to say if you want the book in english or french edition by sending us an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ: Whatever the book quantity you will choose you'll see that in the next page that will open the quantity written in the "quantity box" is "1". I tried everything possible to change this and to have the right quantity appearing but it still doesn't work. SO, when you will do your Paypal payment please don't forget to write in the text box the book quantity that you have ordered, AND also tell it to me by email. No worries, though, as i will also be able to identify instantly how many copies have been ordered when i will see the amount paid. Thanks!


Choose quantity and enjoy an additional discount !

Pictures: copyright Disney

Video: copyright Alain Littaye 2012

Saturday, October 6, 2012

New Universal Singapore Sesame Street Ride is Called "Spaghetti Space Chase" , Opening Soon !



Universal Singapore revealed the marquee of the awaited Sesame Street ride, and it's called  "Spaghetti Space Race" as you can see on the picture below. 


Although still not official it is now confirmed that it will be a suspended dark ride - like E.T Adventure or Peter Pan's Flight - and it's interesting to note that, previously, when USS was still in construction they envisioned to put the E.T ride in the building where this Sesame Street ride will open.

Also, one of my USS sources saw recently one of the ride vehicles (but unfortunately didn't had his camera with him that day) and apparently it looks definitely like a E.T vehicle, a bit smaller and may be with bicycles on it, but not 100% sure. In addition to the marquee photo USS also released a "Breaking News" video which will tell you more about the ride story line, an all new Sesame Street story. 




As you probably already understood, it's all about missing spaghettis which all disappeared from Earth, stolen by Macaroni the Mercyless and his sidekicks Shredder and Zester. Guests are invited to join Grover and Elmo to help them to rescue all the spaghettis from the hands of Macaroni the Mercyless! Gee, what a story!




Now, when the ride will open? Well, you may remember my previous article posted August 17 showing you the giant mural which was hiding the works and the entrance...

If you remember it well the mural included many clues, and on most of them a date was printed "Sunday, October 21 2012" (see picture below). October 21 is in two weeks from now and you may doubt that they will be ready for an opening on that date, or, if it really opens on the 21, that they didn't announced it yet officially. But Universal Singapore always announced the opening date almost at the last minute, i.e generally just one week before. Anyway, Oct 21 is just in 14 days and we should know very quickly the truth about this date, but what i can tell you is that my USS sources told me that they are working at "full steam" on the ride and it's pretty sure that "Spaghetti Space Race" should have its soft openings very soon... and of course i will let you know. 



Edited: Luke, webmaster of Luke and the Temple of Fun, saw the ride vehicle recently and shot this picture. You can't see how the seats are but the pic confirmed that it is for sure a suspended dark ride. Also, note around the "eyes" the large circles which might be lights that eventually will be used during the ride to light some of the scenes...



Picture and video: copyright Universal Studio Singapore, Disney and more

Friday, October 5, 2012

Story Book Circus Opens at WDW Fantasyland !


Story Book Circus at WDW Magic Kingdom Fantasyland is now completed and open since this morning! Among what was not yet open is Pete's Silly Sideshow and Big Top Souvenirs, both under circus tents.


At Pete’s Silly Sideshow, basically a character meet and greet location guests can 
choose to meet either Donald Duck as The Astounding Donaldo "the most charming of snake charmers", Goofy as The Great Goofini "circus stuntman extraordinaire", Daisy Duck as Madame Daisy Fortuna "a mysterious gypsy fortuneteller", or Minnie Mouse as the Siren of the Seine "Parisian poodle trainer Minnie Magnifique". Sure, it's just meet and greet characters locations, but detailed props and settings help to fully immerse the guests "in the world of the circus sideshow".



The always excellent Jeff Lange was there this morning and filmed a great video of Pete's Silly Sideshow that you can see below. I remind you that Jeff is also doing the best DVDs i know about WDW, and more, so i strongly recommend you to have a look at the JeffLangeDvd.com web site HERE.



Pictures: copyright Disney

Video: copyright Jeff Lange

Disney France Christmas Press Kit


A short post to tell you that the Walt Disney Company France released today their press kit for the 2012 Christmas season. It gives news of the Disney events that will happen in France this Christmas ( shows, movies, videos ) as well as merchandise items, but not about Disneyland Paris events as DLP and the WDC France are two different entities. It's all in french and pure communication marketing but those of you who are interested can download it at this link HERE.

Picture: copyright Disney

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Editor's Note: TWO great topics today: below a long pictorial report on DLP Halloween and the new deco, and right after, the first trailer of the awaited Lone Ranger - an it looks good!

Disneyland Paris Update : Halloween 2012



After a whole week at Epcot we're back today in Europe, at Disneyland Paris for a great pictorial update of DLP Halloween season!




Good news - very good news in fact - the pumpkin men which appeared each Halloween season since almost ten years are not back this year, and DLP Halloween team came with a new concept which i think is a really good one. This year, some friendly ghosts appeared all along Main Street U.S.A. Their look is not-too-scary and even not scary at all but the genius idea is that the look of each of them is linked to Main Street buildings/shops as the ghosts are supposed to be the one of previous inhabitants/owners of Main Street shops, restaurants, etc... 


For instance you'll find a ghost that looks like a mayor over the City Hall, another one which looks like a cook over Walt's restaurant, others ghosts are those of a marching band orchestra, while another one ( picture below ) looks like a patient just coming out from the dentist office, etc... 




Real good idea, and i think it works well with Main Street theme. So,congrats to those at DLP who came with the idea. What i like too is that, for once, DLP obviously didn't choose the cheap concept. Considering that each ghost is different it means that there have done as many sculptures as there is different ghosts. May be not for all the parts of them but, still, it was done intelligently, just like it should be done. 

Thanks to Max Fan of DLRP Welcome, D&M contributor, i have plenty of great pictures to show you, and in fact this DLP halloween update will be in three parts, this first one being only about Main Street, more coming soon. There we go, an dew begin by the ghosts on Town Square.











Always on Town Square , a new photo location with Goofy and his amazing machine...









Let's have a look at all the others ghosts of Main Street inhabitants, and if you know
DLP i let you find which "ghost" is going with which "shop".
























Next stop: Halloween on Central Plaza, and more! Don't miss next article coming soon! In the meantime i have  a good news for you: the special offer on my DLP book is supposed to be over since three days but as i didn't had the time to change the prices on the Paypal direct link the special offer price is still available until i change it! Go ahead and order your copy of the acclaimed Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book as you can still save $45 including Free Shipping! You'll find all infos to order an ENGLISH edition HERE and for the FRENCH edition it's HERE. Watch below the video showing the whole book!










Choose quantity and enjoy an additional discount !








Pictures and videos: copyright Max Fan - DRLP Welcome