TDL Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek : Giant photo report by Paul Hsu and Yumiko Murata

Last week, on April 15, it was the official opening of Tokyo Disneyland Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek. Today, i have a "monstrous" photo report for you, thanks to Paul Hsu and Yumiko Murata, Disney and more contributors. You will see everything, just like if you were there!

Let's begin by the beginning, and at Tokyo Disneyland when there is a new attraction the beginning is always a looong line. Even if you arrive early in the morning, it is the rush to be the first one in the line. What kind of rush? Well, THAT kind of rush!
(Photos by Yumiko Murata)







You got the idea? Of course, if you can get a "priority admission ticket", that's the best.
(Photo by Yumiko Murata)



Well, now that you are in line with hundreds of others TDL guests, the good point in all this is that you'll have plenty of time to look at the queue decor... and it's exactly what we are going to do now.



Outside, you'll find the specially designed attraction posters...
(Photos by Yumiko Murata)




But also the last news from Monsters Inc, on the Monster Vision LCD screen.
(Photos by Yumiko Murata)





When you enter Monsters Inc attraction building you arrive in the famous rotunda, where the reception is.
(Photo by Yumiko Murata)



Great murals reproduce the one you can see in the movie.
(Photos by Paul Hsu)






Let's have a closer look to this reception desk...
(Photos by Paul Hsu)




Line goes on in the back of the reception, with another Monster Vision screen displaying messages to the guest.
(Photos by Paul Hsu)









The line moves inside Monsters Inc Company decor until you arrive to the "security department" where the boarding room is.
(Photos by Paul Hsu)




And here we go for the ride! As you know, each guest have a flashlight to "find" the monsters hidden in the decor of Monstropolis. Some of them do react when they're "hit" by the light. I didn't do the ride myself, but i've tried to put the pictures of each scene in chronological order, let's hope i'm right - if not, forgive me. Also, it's pretty dark in there, and Paul and Yumiko did a great job but some pictures may not be totally sharp. I count on your understanding. Because of the darkness it was also impossible to get a picture showing the whole Monstropolis street. All pictures of the ride are by Yumiko Murata.

As for the story line, here is what Mark, WDI Imagineer was saying about it in Lee MacDonald's article previously published in "Tales from the Laughing Place" and also on Disney and more recently: "The guests have been invited back to the Monsters, Inc. factory and Monstropolis along with Boo to play flashlight tag with the monsters.
After the load/unload area we meet Boo and Sulley in the simulation room. We see that Boo is anxious to get started but Sulley cautions that we aren’t quite ready to play as it is still daytime."




"However in the next scene we see Mike at the main power switch for the entire city. We discover it is now time to play and with a flick of the switch both the factory and the city turn to darkness. One of our secondary monsters is hiding in a toolbox and as the city powers down he zaps Mike in the eyeball as the first tag.”



“Our first big scene is the locker room and our flashlights are engaged as we enter the room. Lockers are on both side of the room and we can hear monsters rattling behind the locker doors saying things like “We can’t catch me!” Guests will be able to engage the monsters by pointing their flashlights on the activated lockers which will cause the doors to open and reveal the monster to tag.”



"Next the ride vehicles enter the Laugh Floor. Mike is in a pickle as he is being stretched between two moving doors with Smitty and Needleman trying to help out. Again Randall will be attempting to interfere with the harmless game but Sulley is there is protect his playmate...Following the Laugh Floor the vehicles transport guests on to the streets of the city."






"Imagineers have also recreated the Harryhausen’s restaurant where guests can see the sushi chef..."





“Up until now Sulley has always known where Boo was but as we arrive in the basement of Monsters, Inc. he loses her and you will see the sense of panic that overcomes him,” Mark explains. “However we will know that Boo is still playing hide and seek but she doesn’t realize that Randall is directly behind her. Mike will pop up and zap her with his flashlight exclaiming “Got you! Game over!” and he accidentally pushes Randall down the garbage chute..."




"...The flashlights are switched off but we need to complete the storytelling. We will see a live-action Randall getting trashed, thrashed and crunched in the compactor and we have the funny gag of a cube of Randall garbage popping off the end.”








At the end of the ride, guess who's here? That's right, Roz in person - well, actually, in "audio-animatronic".





Two last posters before you unload...
(Photos by Paul Hsu and Yumiko Murata)






When Paul and Yumiko exited the attraction - they did it twice - it was the night, but the crowds were still there!
(Photo by Yumiko Murata)



So, i suppose it is time to have a look at the brand new Monsters Inc Company Store, the decor and the merchandise items...
(Photo by Yumiko Murata)









More pictures of the Monsters Inc Company Store, by Paul Hsu.















On the TV screen over the counter guests can see Monsters Inc ads, and Paul had the good idea to take a picture of each of them. Please click on the two mosaic pictures below to discover all of them!




Let's end with Paul pictures of more merchandise items, including some really cool bags for women.





Well, i think we can send some big thanks to Paul Hsu and Yumiko Murata for their great report, feel free as always to leave some kind comments for them!

I remember you that you can see videos of the ride on a previous post HERE.

All pictures: copyright Paul Hsu and Yumiko Murata whom i thanks a lot!
WDI imagineer interview: copyright Tales from the Laughing Place

Three new lands for Hong Kong Disneyland ?

Let's talk a bit about Hong Kong Disneyland's future today. On April 2nd, an article was published in the South China Morning Post, talking about the current situation between HKDL and the government, and what is supposed to be the theme of 3 new lands. Here it is:

"The government and The Walt Disney Company appear to have agreed to include new "lands" and rides based on wilderness, arctic and adventure themes as part of a planned expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland, informed sources have said.

But how the new attractions will be paid for and by whom, and the impact on the existing shareholding structure of the theme park, have yet to be resolved.

The expansion plan would see the largest area in the site become a nature wonderland. Passengers on a roller-coaster ride would pass through mine shafts, tunnels and a wilderness area complete with audio effects and animatronic (robotic) animals, the sources said.

The arctic environment would allow visitors to enjoy real snow slopes in enclosed, temperature-controlled areas. A train ride was also planned.

A third land was based on the "unexpected" theme. Inspired by the adventures of early explorers, the area will see visitors transported on computer-controlled rides. The different environments would incorporate supernatural elements and animatronic figures, but the sequence of the rides would vary to let passengers enjoy a different experience each time, the sources said.

Each of the three new lands would have a specific storyline to immerse visitors in the ride.

Disney representatives presented a scale model of the expansion site to the government in Hong Kong in March last year.

In November, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan reviewed the expansion plans with Disney management while in Los Angeles.

It is understood that the government found previous designs ordinary and uninspiring and demanded changes, but was unable to explain to Disney what it wanted.

The current plans were not final and could still be changed, but there did not seem to be any major disagreements about the themes and designs of the lands, the sources said.

Both joint-venture partners agree that expansion is necessary to help Hong Kong Disneyland grow in attendance and business. But given that the multibillion-dollar price tag attached to such an expansion will attract intense scrutiny by the public and lawmakers, it is understood that the government wants to ensure that it negotiates the best possible deal.

The government owns 57 per cent of the theme park with Disney holding the rest.

Visitor numbers had grown by a double-digit rate in the past six months, compared with the same period a year earlier, managing director Andrew Kam Min-ho said. But merchandise sales had risen more slowly than expected because some visitors were reining in their spending due to the financial downturn."

Okay, let's say this is all true. So, what's going on really in Hong Kong? The last time we've heard about it the WDC, apparently in anger because of the impossibility to find a financial deal with the Hong Kong Government - or, more exactly, the refusal of the HK government to pay his share - was removing most of his WDI imagineers working on HKDL's future.

In these three lands, the first one is obviously a "Frontierland" and the described coaster is the "Grizzly Mine Show" we talked about previously. The "arctic" land is hard to believe. I can understand that an experience with snow could interest Hong Kong people as the last time it was snowing in Hong Kong was probably 20000 years ago, but a skiing experience inside a Disney theme park? C'mon, we're not in Dubai...i simply can't believe that.

As for the third land, the article is not clear about it, so we can expect anything including this awaited Pirates of Caribbean land. Anyway, until we have a real official announcement, let's take all this with caution and let's hope that all this will have very soon a happy ending .

Text: copyright South China Morning Post

Hayao Miyazaki's new animated movie " Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea " is a wonder !

"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is the title of Hayao Miyazaki - the genius Japanese animated movie director - last movie. It was released last year in Japan where Miyazaki is almost a god, and as usual the movie had a tremendous success. "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" will be released in the U.S in August, but it was released this week in France! In two words - well, three, actually - it's a wonder, and let me tell you why.

"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is somehow inspired by the story of the Little Mermaid. Yes, that's right, the same story that inspired Disney's classic animated. But Miyazaki transform all of it in a Japanese tale, so i think we can say that the Little Mermaid inspiration is not that obvious. Which is not the problem, as Miyazaki's tale is wonderful.



Please note that from now on, as i am going to tell you more about the story, there will be some spoilers. If you want to avoid them, just look at the pictures and the trailer at the end of the article.

"Ponyo" is a 2D animated movie, just like in the good old days of animation. The very beginning of the movie is a gorgeous scene showing life under sea.




"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" tells the story of a 5 years old boy - called Suzuke - living with his mother on a house located at the top of a cliff. One morning, as he goes down on the beach to play with his little boat...



...he find - stuck in a bottle - a fish, half fish-half human who will be called "Ponyo", who also have magical gifts.



Ponyo - in fact a girl - is the daughter of Fujimoto - a kind of "sorcerer" living in the deep ocean who left the world of humans, disgusted by how humans keep destroying the sea's ecological system.



Her mother is a kind of Goddess of the sea.



Ponyo also have dozens of "little" sisters...



...all excited to see Ponyo's transgression of the undersea world rules.



Suzuke, the young boy, will try to keep Ponyo, feeding her - she loves ham! or playing with her...





Suzuke's mother watch all this closely...



...but Fujimoto the sorcerer will try to get Ponyo back undersea...

This is only the first twenty minutes of the movie, and from that point lot of great scenes awaits you, like a stunning typhoon-tsunami sequence, an animation wonder, and many other scenes that transform the movie in a waking dream, sublimated by the gorgeous score of Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki's regular composer.



The whole movie is full of poetry and at first sight it seems to be an animated film for young children. But as always with Miyazaki it's more complicated than that. The ecological message is obvious and grown-ups will be amazed by the inside beauty of the movie, precisely coming from its incredible childhood's purity.

In a recent interview, Miyazaki explained why Suzuke, the young boy, is 5 years old: "It's a personal theory, i think that at 5 years old a young child is still at the border between human and god. When a baby is born he's godlike and then become ordinary, mortal, but individual..."




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Hayao Miyazaki, now 68 years old, keep saying that Ponyo is his last movie, let's hope not. How could we live without a new Miyazaki's masterpiece?



All pictures and french trailer video: copyright Studio Ghibli