Universal Studios Japan teases 'Super Nintendo World' with a music video !

Universal Studios Japan teases 'Super Nintendo World' with a music video! The new land will open before Tokyo Olympic games this Summer. Super Nintendo World theme park is a 'life-size, living video game'and it seems that a 'Power Up Band' wearable will track visitors' progress collecting coins and fighting bosses all along their visit of the new land.

The music video is brillantly done - exactly the one that Japanese love, and although it's still all CGI and not real shots of the land not yet ready it gives a good idea of the land elements that guess will find once the land open, with the two castles, except that of course it won't be as wide as what you'll see in the video, and that the Super Mario Kart ride will be indoor and not outdoor..

Have a look at the video and screen shots below!

Pictures and video: copyright Universal Studios Japan

Fantastic Disneyana Auction at Potter & Potter on February 8 - Part One: Theme Parks Maps Lots

A fantastic Disneyana auction featuring Disney collectibles gathered from the famed theme parks around the globe will happen at Potter and Potter Auctions on February 8. The auction includes hundred of lots including rare attraction posters, costumes & cast-members uniforms, parks signage, original drawings, blueprints, animation art, park maps & memorabilia, and much more. Previews will be held in Potter and Potter gallery in Chicago February 6—7, 10—5pm, and Disney and more will do a series of articles to preview for you the not-to-be missed lots! You can see the full items of the auction on line on the Potter & Potter website HERE.

Today's article is about the lots related to rare and beloved Disney parks maps, and the ones below are just a selection, there is more in the auction on line catalogue. Here we go, and all descriptions come from the auction catalogue. As usual, click on each picture to see them in larger size!


Above: Lot 29: Disneyland 1961 Souvenir Map. Color park map. Inset detail of monorail service to Disneyland Hotel at lower left, Tinkerbell within the compass rose. First appearance of the Flying Saucers attraction. 30 x 44 ¾”. Minor discoloration along central fold, small creases. Estimate: $700 - $900.


Above: Lot 32: Disneyland 1964 Souvenir Map. Color park map. This is the rare “B” version as it was the second issued for the year, marked by the first appearance of “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” on Main Street. 30 x 44 ¾”. Folded as issued. Light creases and edgewear, minor soiling. Estimate: $400 - $600.


Above: Disneyland 1966 Souvenir Map. Color park map. Detail at lower left showing tram service to Disneyland Hotel, heliport to Los Angeles, as well as several new or altered attractions from this year. 30 x 44”. Folded as issued. Light wear to edges, minor creases and soiling. Estimate: $400 - $600.


Above: Lot 35: Disneyland 1974 Souvenir Map. Color park map, lower left featuring a patriotic “America Sings” illustration. 30 x 45”. Folded as issued. Minor edgewear, light creases and wear along folds. Estimate: $150 - $250.


Above: Lot 37: Disneyland 1979 Souvenir Map. Color park map, lower left featuring an illustration of new attraction Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. 30 x 45”. Folded as issued. Minor marginal wear, slight creases and rubbing at folds. Estimate: $150 - $250.


Above: Lot 39: Disneyland 1983 Souvenir Map. Color park map. Lower left advertises the new attraction Fantasyland. 30 x 44”. Folded as issued. Scattered soiling and foxing, abrasions and small tears. Estimate: $100 - $200.


Above: Lot 144: Walt Disney Imagineering Exclusive Disneyland 50th anniversary map. Created by Nina Rae Vaughn and extremely rare. Not sold to the public. Printed on heavy paper stock. Estimate: $100 - $300.



Above: Lot 41: Disneyland 2001 Souvenir Map. Color park map, copyrighted 1999 but actually published in 2001, as identified by the swirling border and other points. 27 x 39”. Folded as issued. Minor wear at edges. Estimate: $100 - $200


Above: Lot 90: Tokyo Disneyland Park map printer’s proof pre-opening 1980. Extremely rare, printed 3 years prior to park opening. Printer’s Proof, untrimmed with color bars. Flat, never folded. Shows a route for the Skyway buckets that was eventually cut in half. 38 x 49”. Estimate: $250 - $500



Above: Lot 175: Pre-Opening Tokyo Disneyland Map. Extremely rare piece given away to commemorate the opening of the Tokyo Disneyland Ticket Center in 1983. Two-sided with color map on front and black and white map and park facilities on the back. Folded in quarters at one time, leaving creases. 16 ½ x 23 ½”. Estimate: $200 - $400


Above: Lot 174: Tokyo Disneyland Map lithograph from the Tokyo Disney Gallery. Created by Collin Campbell, this beautiful piece is dated 1993. The original art hangs in Guest Services at Tokyo Disneyland. Slight scuffing lower left corner; two tiny tears in white edge lower right corner. Would mat and frame perfectly. 23 ½ x 33”. Estimate: $100 - $300.


Above: Lot 109: Euro Disneyland pre-opening rolled map. Executed by Sam McKim, this beautiful map created in 1992 has never been folded (a rarity). Done years in advance of opening, it shows many attractions which were never built. Slight crinkle to part of upper edge. Estimate: $250 - $500.



Above:  Lot 145: Walt Disney Imagineering Exclusive Tokyo DisneySea 5th Anniversary Map. Extremely rare, not sold to the public. This is the first map to show the Tower of Terror. A few slight ripples. 27 x 36”. Estimate: $100 - $300.



Above: Lot 154: Disneyland: 45 years of Magic 3 Disneyland maps signed lithograph. Three different iconic maps of Disneyland by Peter Ellenshaw, Sam McKim, and Nina Rae Vaughan are reproduced on this spectacular lithograph. Produced in 2000 and signed by Peter Ellenshaw, John Hench, Sam McKim, Blaine Gibson, Nina Rae Vaughan, and Tony Baxter. No. 127/250. Pinholes in the extreme corners. 12 ½ x 39”. Estimate: $300 - $600.


Above: Lot 208: Disney’s California Adventure signed opening day lithograph/map. Executed and signed by artist Renie Marquez. 14/250. Heavy Stock. Blind stamped “California Adventure.” 34 x 27”. Estimate: $200 - $400



And two different kind of maps to end this first article: Above: Lot 176: Six Hong Kong Disneyland Imagineering Opening Day Maps. Given or sold only to members of WDI. This lot contains six identical copies of the map. 22 x 30 ½”. Estimate: $100 - $300.


Above: Lot 142: 1967 Pirates of the Caribbean concept art map reprint. Created by Sam McKim at the Pirate event at Disneyland in 2000 and given to registrants. 18 x 30” (full bleed; no border). Estimate: $100 - $300


Above: Lot 24: Peter Pan Map of Neverland. 1953. Offset lithographed map “based on the original drawings by Walt Disney,” issued as a premium to buyers of the Peter Pan Beauty Bar. Animation stills in border. 18 x 24”. Unmounted. Rolled. Creases and chipping in margins, image area very good. Estimate: $100 - $200.

See you soon for another article about this fantastic Disneyana auction, again you can see the full items of the auction on line on the Potter & Potter website HERE.

Pictures: copyright Disney

Frozen Season Debuts at Disneyland Paris - Photos, Videos

The Frozen season started yesterday at DLP and runs until May 3 and thanks to Max, D&M contributor and DLPWelcome webmaster we have the first pictures and video of the new float and little show on Central Plaza.

The Frozen season includes four Frozen shows :
- the show in Central Plaza
- the Animation Celebration Studios show created last November
- the day parade
- Disney Illuminations

According to Max, this is a bit light if not clearly insufficient: "The central Plaza show is 1 float coming from It's A Small World, going around Central Plaza, then stops on Central Plaza next to the entrance to Discoveryland. The dancers and characters go to Central Plaza to dance and hello for 5 minutes and then leave. This is the new show that sells a season: 2 songs, 1 float, 3 characters, 20 dancers, a central Plaza privatized and badly exploited. It’s a good little animation but not much more”

And here is the vidoe of the whole show filmed by Max yesterday afternoon!








Back in 2016, Tokyo Disneyland also did a Frozen parade, here is the video of it filmed by TDR Explorer. As usual with TDR, the budget was not the same than for DLP, so there is a big difference...




Pictures: copyright DLP Welcome

Did the Star Trek Experience Concept Inspired WDI Imagineers for Star Wars : Rise of the Resistance Attraction ?

When Star Trek Experience opened in January 1998 at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, this attraction based on the Star Trek entertainment franchise and created by Landmark Entertainment was not only successful but had something unique at that time. Instead to have the regular queue decor and pre-show, guests were going from a themed museum that included numerous items from Star Trek history to a pre-show experience with a teleportation to the Enterprise transporter room.


Guests were then moved to the legendary bridge of the Enterprise, then to another scene, a red alert which hurry the guests in the hallways of the Enterprise which was leading to the main attraction, a simulation ride, for a battle against the Klingons.



At the exit, after Captain Picard thanked the crew, a custodian led the group to an elevator and then out to the Deep Space Nine Promenade and Quark's Bar.  More about this experience with more Eric Heschong artworks on D&M HERE.


The whole experience lasted at least 20 minutes, just like Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Rise of the Resistance, which also take the guests in several pre-shows and legendary setting this time from Star Wars, and although Rise of the Resistance is a state-of-the-art trackless ride instead than a large simulator like on STar Trek Experience, the principle of the "experience" which immerses guests in a world, Star Trek at Las Vegas Hilton, Star Wars at DL or WDW DHS Galaxy's Edge, is somewhat the same. So, did the Star Trek Experience concept inspired Galaxy's Edge Imagineers for Rise of the Resistance? Hmmm, i think we can put some bets on it, ot at least that Imagineers reminded the now extinct Las Vegas attraction.

Now, expedition Theme Park did a great video about the history of Star Trek Experience - and also talks about the first concept developed by Landmark Entertainment which was a full size Enterprise in the middle of Las Vegas. Here are some spectaculer artworks of this first concept, like for the others artworks above click on each to see them in big size.











And now, on with the show, as the video include footage of almost everything that guests were going through in this great Star Trek Experience.




Artwork: copyright Landmark Entertainment