" Unhappily Ever After " - What could have been the destiny of Disney characters if their story didn't ended "happily ever after"

What could have been the destiny of Disney characters if their story didn't ended "happily ever after"? Animation storyboard artist Jeff Hong created this depressing Disney photo series called "Unhappily Ever After", featuring the sad lives that Disney characters would be living... if they were in the real world.

Pictures: copyright Jeff Hong, Disney

Bob Iger Confirms Star Wars Spin Off Movies - PLUS: A Great Idea For DLP Star Wars Land Grand Opening

We knew that Disney and Lucasfilm plan to produce Star Wars solo movies and in case you thought it was just a rumor Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed these Star Wars spin-off movies during the Walt Disney Company quarterly earning stockholders call. Iger said that right now there are "at least three" Star Wars spin off films in development, and they will be released alongside the main sequel trilogy. Up to this point, only two of these Star Wars projects have been confirmed.

The solo films they envision to do have previously been described as being origin stories. Although none of these spin off films have been officially announced yet, there have been rumors about movies that would include Han Solo, Yoda, and Boba Fett. Right now all we know about these solo movies is that Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are developing screenplays for whichever characters the studio has chosen to focus on.

Now, while we talk about Star Wars here is an idea that i had yesterday. As you know a Star Wars land is in the plans for Disneyland Paris, and will be located in the back of Discoveryland. No date has been announced yet and chances are that Star Wars 2 : The Adventure Continues will come years before DLP open a Star Wars Land but trust me, they will built it, sooner or later.

Anyway, when this Star Wars land will finally open at DLP no need to say that the park will do a major Grand Opening Celebration... As usual they intend to do Grand Openings in "big" and generally they are pretty good for finding good ideas, like the one they had for the WDS Tower of Terror opening, which was fantastic. But DLP Star Wars Land will be located behind Space Mountain, and for a big part will be hidden by it, meaning that they probably won't have a huge iconic building like they had with Tower of Terror.

Yesterday - don't ask me why - i was thinking again to Tim Delaney 1990's rendering showing a concept of Star Wars Land with Space Mountain dome looking like a "half" Star Wars Death Star, the artwork you can see above. And it's there that i had the "flash". I thought: "Hey, why wouldn't they transform Space Mountain in "Death Star" for the Star Wars Land Grand Opening,  just for that special evening?

And how would they do that, you ask? Well, in fact it could be done more easily than you think. Do you remember these huge canvas with a picture - for instance of a Main Street building - printed on them that the parks use generally to hide the scaffoldings when they repaint the building? Like the one below currently in place at Hong Kong Disneyland...

Now, think about having a canvas like this with a half Death Star printed on it, and the whole thing stretched over and all around Space Mountain dome structure. It would have to be in several parts joined together because of course there is no way to do it in one part, but they could attach them easily and the whole thing to Space Mountain metallic structures the one you can see on the picture below going from the top to the bottom of the dome, leaving just the antennas at the top out of the canvas. ( who could look like Death Star laser cannons... ).

It will give to the Grand Opening guests the illusion that the whole Discoveryland has been transformed in a Star Wars land - and not only part of it - and i'm pretty sure that technically speaking it can be done easily, and shouldn't cost that much in their "Grand Opening" budget. And who knows, they probably could even use the canvas surface to have some projections on it, like rebel / empire fighters flying and chasing one another... you know, this kind of scene below. Except that the Death Star being quite dark they probably would need to do laser projections.

The idea also would request to hide Space Mountain victorian cannon by another canvas just for the time of that special evening, but that's the easy part. The only thing is that it couldn't stay in place for a long time, probably 2-3 days not more, mainly for security reasons ( a strong wind could blow it all ) but just for the time of this special evening this is doable. And as they would need to install the whole thing little by little days before, DLP fans will probably enjoy it too.

A Star Wars Land opening at DLP is certainly not for tomorrow but i give the idea with pleasure to the folks of DLP marketing dept - Martina, if you read me... - hoping they'll keep it in a corner of their mind until this Grand Oepning day will come. And, hey, wouldn't it be great to see Tim Delaney's glorious rendering become reality, even for one night only?

Your thoughts?

Pictures: copyright Disney, Lucasfilm

First Poster and Teaser For Christopher Nolan "Interstellar"

A first poster for the new and highly awaited movie "Interstellar" from Christopher Nolan ( Inception, Batman Dark Knight Trilogy ) has been released. As always with Nolan almost no infos have leaked about the movie but here is the short synopsis available, and the teaser. A first trailer should come soon and, personally, i can't wait to see thois movie which is scheduled to be released in IMAX and 35mm theaters on November 7th, 2014..

"Interstellar chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage."

The movie stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, David Gyasi, Wes Bentley, Mackenzie Foy, Timothée Chalamet, Topher Grace, David Oyelowo, Ellen Burstyn, and Michael Caine.

Disneyland Paris Announces First Half of 2014 Fiscal Year Financial Results

Disneyland Paris announced today its financial results for the first six months of the 2014 Fiscal Year... and no surprise, they're not good! You'll find below excerpts of the corporate release and if you like numbers you can read the whole thing on the DLP corporate page in english right HERE.

Now, although it's indeed bad financial news sometime a bad news can hide a good one. I can't tell you more for now but don't worry too much, excellent news for DLP should come anytime soon! And tomorrow you'll have here on D&M a new pictorial DLP update!


EURO DISNEY S.C.A. Fiscal Year 2014
Reports First Half Results
Six Months Ended March 31, 2014
• Resort revenues decreased 5% reflecting lower theme parks attendance and hotel occupancy linked to the continued economic softness in Europe and the shift of the Easter holiday period into April
• Average spending per guest increased 2% in theme parks as the Group continues its strategy of improving the quality of the resort and the guest experience
• Net loss increased by €18 million reflecting lower revenues, partially offset by a decrease in volume- related expenses and other costs
• Launched the Swing into Spring festival in April and will open the new Ratatouille-themed attraction in July


Resort operating segment revenues decreased 5% to €530.8 million from €561.1 million in the prior-year period.
Theme parks revenues decreased 4% to €298.3 million from €311.4 million in the prior-year period due to a 6% decrease in attendance to 6.3 million, partly offset by a 2% increase in average spending per guest to €46.83. The decrease in attendance primarily reflected fewer guests visiting from France, the United Kingdom and Spain. The increase in average spending per guest was due to higher spending on admissions and merchandise.
Hotels and Disney Village® revenues decreased 6% to €214.5 million from €228.2 million in the prior-year period, resulting from a 5.7 percentage point decrease in hotel occupancy to 72.3% and a 3% decrease in Disney Village revenues. The decrease in hotel occupancy was due to 59,000 fewer room nights sold compared to the prior-year period, driven by lower business group activity as well as fewer guests visiting from Spain and the Netherlands. Average spending per room remained stable, reflecting higher daily room rates offset by lower spending on food and beverage, and merchandise.
Other revenues decreased by €3.5 million to €18.0 million from €21.5 million in the prior-year period, mainly due to lower sponsorship revenues.

Real estate development operating segment revenues decreased by €4.1 million to €2.5 million, from €6.6 million in the prior-year period. This decrease was due to a larger land sale closed in the prior-year period than the land sale closed in the First Half. Given the nature of the Group's real estate development activity, the number and size of transactions vary from one year to the next.

Direct operating costs decreased 2% compared to the prior-year period due to reduced costs associated with lower resort volumes and real estate development activity, as well as a higher tax credit recorded as a reduction of labor costs (Crédit d'Impôt pour la Compétitivité et l'Emploi, "CICE"). These decreases are partially offset by labor rate inflation.

Marketing and sales expenses decreased 8% compared to the prior-year period driven by a change in the timing of marketing and sales activities.
General and administrative expenses increased 5% compared to the prior-year period, primarily driven by the costs of a multi-year program to improve employee facilities.

Financial income decreased by €0.2 million compared to the prior-year period.
Financial expense decreased by €1.0 million compared to the prior-year period mainly due to higher interest expense capitalized as part of the construction cost of the new attraction based on the Disney•Pixar movie Ratatouille

Free cash flow used for the First Half was €123.7 million compared to €72.0 million used in the prior-year period.
Cash flow used in operating activities for the First Half totaled €56.7 million compared to €19.8 million used in the prior-year period. This decrease resulted from higher working capital requirements as well as decreased operating performance during the First Half.
Cash flow used in investing activities for the First Half totaled €67.0 million compared to €52.2 million used in the prior-year period. This increase included investments related to the new attraction themed after the Disney•Pixar movie Ratatouille, which is scheduled to open in July.
Cash flow generated by financing activities totaled €99.8 million for the First Half compared to €26.4 million generated in the prior-year period. During the First Half, the Group drew an amount of €100.0 million from the €250.0 million standby revolving credit facility granted by The Walt Disney Company ("TWDC")1. This amount can be repaid at any time. In the prior-year period, the Group drew €30.0 million from this standby revolving credit facility.
In addition, the Group is required to repay €11.4 million of its long-term loans from TWDC at the end of fiscal year 2014, in accordance with the scheduled maturities.

Commenting on the results, Philippe Gas, Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.A.S, said:
“Our first semester results were again marked by the continued economic softness in Europe, as well as a shift of the Easter vacation period into the third quarter. These elements drove lower resort volumes, which impacted our results. However, we continue to deliver on our strategic priorities with growth in average guest spending and a 6% increase in overall guest satisfaction rate compared with the first semester last year. This demonstrates the relevancy and consistency of our strategy of investing in the guest experience.
Our development efforts continue with a brand new spring celebration and the opening of our unique new family attraction inspired by the hit Disney•Pixar movie, Ratatouille: l'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy. This new content reflects our commitment to invest in our business and the guest experience to drive long-term growth of Disneyland Paris.”

Text: copyright EuroDisney SCA

Picture: copyright DLPWelcome

Five "Characters Posters" for Maleficent !

Five "characters posters" have been released for Maleficent, and here they are!

Pictures: copyright Disney

Film Your Own Circle-Vision Movies With This New Amazing 360° Video Camera Which Holds in the Palm of Your Hand !

I've got something pretty amazing for you in this Monday morning! Do you remember the beloved Disney attractions filmed in Circle-Vision? Disneyland Paris fans surely remember with nostalgia the great Visionarium movie in which Jules Verne meet H.G Wells. Not to mention the great ones at Disneyland whether it was "America the Beautiful" or "America Journeys", now extinct attractions since a long time... But at Epcot World Showcase visitors can still enjoy two Circle-Vision movies: Reflections of China at the China pavilion and O Canada! at the Canada pavilion. I think that the new 2007 version of O Canada! - an update of the original film with 50% new footage - was probably the last Circle-Vision movie filmed by WDI Imagineers.

What you also probably know is that Circle-Vision movies needed a huge and heavy camera to film at 360 degrees. Above, you have a picture of it and below, the camera was fixed on a bobsleigh for the bobsleigh sequence of the Visionarium, known as "From time to Time" at WDW.

Now, the great news is that you won't need anymore a huge camera to film  your own 360° movies as a company named CENTR has developed a 360° video camera which is so small and light that you can hold it in the palm of your hand!

It was designed by people who worked previously on the iPhone camera at Apple. And it works pretty easy: you film, the software stick together the four parts - as there is four lens all around it - and you can even edit your movie with Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or iMovie! Include with the camera is a Tripod mount which is "reversible" and include a GoPro adapter which means that those of you who already have the GoPro accessories will be able to use them to fix the camera!

The CENTR Camera stitches videos together from four independent HD image sensors. CENTR footage can be viewed through your desktop, smartphone, or tablet in real-time via Wi-Fi through the CENTR interactive player. And you can create everything from "Circle-Vision" movies, amazing panoramic time lapses to the ultimate 360° selfie. As you can see on the picture below it is really unbelievably tiny.

Here is a screen capture of the specifications of this CENTR camera.

The project is currently on Kickstarter HERE and the camera will cost you $399 but only $299 is you order one during the Kickstarter crowd funding until May 31. You can see short clips as example of how it looks and i have to say that having a 360° video camera for $299 ( 215 Euros ) sound like a pretty good deal to me... Have a look at the video below for more infos!





Now, guess what, there is ANOTHER 360° camera which is launched -actually it was even launched a few months before the CENTR camera - and it's the Geonaute 360 camera. It's a bit bigger than the one above but is looks very good too, and was the winner of "Best of Innovations" 2014 award, so you might want to have a look at it too, right HERE.

This one will cost you a bit more during the pre-order period - $399 - and you also have sample movies on the website HERE.

It's always amazing to see how the technology now offer things unthinkable just ten years ago. That's the good side of technology, i suppose... As to know which one is the best between the two 360° cameras above, both looks good and interesting so don't ask me to make a choice, though if i have to order one myself, i'll probably take the CENTR camera.

Pictures: copyright CENTR, Geonaute

Folks, We Need Your Help - and Quickly - to Save the Disney's Polynesian Resort Waterfall !

Folks, we need your help, and the time is running against us! You may have heard that during the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train press event WDW also announced that Disney's Polynesian Resort Lobby will have a brand new decor ( see rendering below ). What they DIDN'T tell you is that they intend to simply remove forever the gorgeous Polynesian waterfall and Polynesian garden which is currently in the Ceremonial House lobby - the one they intend to change completely.

Not only this Polynesian waterfall and garden was there since the hotel opening in 1971 but it's also what gives to the hotel its soul for the guests as soon as they arrive for check-in. If you've ever stayed at the Polynesian Resort you know how much this lush tropical garden and its waterfall right at the center of the lobby could transport your mind instantly and make you feel you are in Polynesia. If you've never been at the Polynesian resort look at the pictures and video above and below to see how great this waterfall is.

George Kalogridis is currently President of WDW Resort. He was at the Disneyland Resort before and did a real good job over there so, do we have here the first BIG mistake from George? Not only i think it is, but it's also a really stupid one because anyone who can agree to remove the waterfall and lush garden of the Polynesian Resort lobby is obviously someone who didn't understood anything at all to what really was this gorgeous piece of scenery right in the middle of the Ceremonial House. And a waterfall, by the way, which was the pride and joy of Disney Legend Fred Joerger who painstakingly created it.

Sure, Disney as always have some good alibi to destroy the waterfall and apparently the main reason is that there is more and more guests coming at the resort and they need more space in the lobby. Is it right? Probably, but as usual there is often a unsaid reason hidden behind the official one, something like "we could have resolve the problem in another way but it would have cost us more money" or "the maintenance of the waterfall is too expensive and we'd like to save that money"  or "the waterfall needed to be rebuilt and we want to save the money" etc... plenty of bad reasons of this kind, that we will never know.

On the rendering below here is how the lobby will look instead of this gorgeous lush garden and waterfall that you've seen above if we don't stop them. What do you prefer, this:

...or this, as it is right now:

Now, here is where you can help, and it won't take you long. The good folks of the Disney Avenue website have created a petition and we have to act QUICKLY as they should start the destruction of the waterfall anytime soon!!! One can only hope that this petition will open the eyes of Disney management so that they will reconsider this change. If you feel the same way like we do - i.e that removing the waterfall and Polynesian garden is pure insanity, then jump RIGHT NOW to Disney Avenue and please sign and share this petition and let's save Disney's Polynesian Resort waterfall together!

Please sign NOW the petition HERE. Or go on Disney Avenue HERE.

Not yet convinced how great the Polynesian Resort waterfall is? Have a look at the video below from Mouse Steps showing the real thing!




Video: copyright Mouse Steps