Editor's Note: After all the amazing news of today, there is more and this time it's about Disneyland Resort with the new Mice Age update. And as you will read unfortunately money is not gonna fall from the sky on DL like it will on Shanghaî Disneyland or Tokyo Disneyland ( see articles below ). And one of the reason apparently ( apart the huge extra cost that Disney has spent of My Magic + ) is that all the money added for Shanghaî will be less money for others parks. The result is that everything is on hold for all parks in the U.S, including the Star Wars land project, and more. But Mice Age also reports good news for DL 60th Anniversary with all dark rides being updated with the new AA technology and others projection effects so after you've read the incredible news for Shanghaî and Tokyo below, jump to Mice Age to read the whole update!

Tokyo Disneyland Announces $4.8 Billion in Spending During the Next Ten Years !

Right when i thought that the announcement by Disney and Shendi of an additional investment of $800M for Shanghaî Disneyland to add more rides and shows on opening day would be the biggest news of the day ( see article below or HERE ) the Oriental Land company also announced - are you seated? - that they promise an additional 
$4.8 Billion in spending during the next ten years! 

With an addition of $800M Shanghaî Disneyland will add for sure many great attractions but i can't imagine what Tokyo Disney Resort will do with $4.8 Billion during the next decade! That makes $480 M per YEAR and although they didn't announced what will be created with this huge amount we can expect new wonders at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea!

Oriental Land also announced recently that Tokyo Disney Resort welcomed 31.3 million visitors during the fiscal year ending March 31, a record attendance due in large part by TDR 30th anniversary. Also, Oriental Land revealed that they're looking at adding new investments outside the Maihama district where Tokyo Disney Resort is located. But they didn't released any specific details, including if they plan to open a new theme park outside Tokyo. But with $4.8 Billion they surely have enough money to build a new theme park wherever it will be...

Picture: copyright Disney

Disney and Shendi to Invest $800 Million More in Shanghai Disneyland for Additional Attractions and Shows at Opening Day !

Major news today about Shanghaî Disneyland as Disney announced that they have reached an agreement with Shanghai Shendi Group, its joint venture partner in China, to accelerate the expansion of Shanghai Disney Resort and they will invest the equivalent of 800 millions additional dollars! Even better,  this $800M will be used primarily for additional attractions, entertainment and other offerings to increase capacity at the theme park, with the majority targeted to be completed for opening day.

According to a N.Y Times article, "the additional $800 million – with Disney contributing about 43 percent and Shanghai Shendi shouldering the balance – will be used to increase the number of rides operating on opening day. Disney did not specify what rides and entertainment offerings the additional funds would allow it to add. A spokeswoman said the $800 million would flow entirely toward new offerings and that the deal in no way reflected budget overruns".

May be for the first time in Disney theme parks history they announce the expansion of a park which is not yet open and not even finished to be built, but it's a smart decision as they probably realize that there won't be enough rides for opening day and want to avoid poor capacity, long waiting time at each ride and at the end potentially devastative mouth-to-ear reports from the first guests, something that a park always takes a long time to recover. As the old quote say "if you build it right, they will come".

Now, what will be these new rides or shows that will be added thanks to these $800M, we don't know yet. They can do pretty lot of things with this huge amount, from building a Star Wars or Marvel or Avatar lands or a mix of E, D, C and B - Ticket rides in different lands. So far, from the list of rides and shows that we know, SDL was supposed to have on opening day around 21 attractions and 8 shows - instead, for instance, to 31 rides and shows for Disneyland Paris on its opening day in 1992 - so any addition will be welcome.  It'll be interesting to learn what they have in their plans and if they can use a part of these $800M to cancel some wrong decisions that seems to have been done like the cancellation of a lot of the Audio-Animatronics dinosaurs in the Roaring Rapids ride at Aventure Isle, this would be even better!

Editing: Shanghaî Daily is saying in an article about the new investment that "it is expected to bring 30 percent more visitors than originally planned to the first Disneyland on the Chinese mainland", of course for added park capacity.

Below, more about all this with the press release. The N.Y Times article is HERE.



BURBANK, Calif. The Walt Disney Company today announced that it has reached an agreement with Shanghai Shendi Group, its joint venture partner in China, to accelerate the expansion of Shanghai Disney Resort. The increased investment of approximately 5 billion yuan (US$0.8 billion) will be used primarily for additional attractions, entertainment and other offerings to increase capacity at the theme park, with the majority targeted to be completed for opening day.

“Since we first broke ground in Shanghai we’ve been very impressed with the growth of China’s economy, especially the rapid expansion of the middle class and the significant increase in travel and tourism,” said Robert A. Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Our accelerated expansion, including additional attractions and entertainment, will allow us to welcome more guests for a spectacular Disney experience on opening day.”

“Like all of our parks, Shanghai Disney Resort was designed to expand over time, and this investment allows us to bring some of those additions online earlier,” said Thomas O. Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “The expansion underscores the tremendous opportunity we see in Shanghai and demonstrates our long-term commitment to and confidence in China.”

The announcement of this accelerated expansion comes during a boom in China’s travel and tourism market, which is expected to continue its rapid growth. An income qualified population of 330 million people are within a three-hour travel radius of Shanghai Disney Resort. From 2012 to 2015, the Chinese travel market is projected to grow 34 percent, according to PhoCusWright. The number of upper-middle class and affluent households in China is expected to grow 18 percent annually between 2012 and 2022, according to McKinsey.

Shanghai Shendi Group will continue to hold 57 percent of the shares of the owner companies while Disney will hold the remaining 43 percent. Financing of the additional investment will be proportionate to ownership and, as with the original shareholder investment, it is not anticipated that third-party debt will be incurred to finance the expansion. In addition, Disney is the majority shareholder in the management company responsible for creating, developing and operating the Resort.

Picture: copyright Disney


Don't know yet Disney News Central? What are you waiting for, click below!

Disney Launches New Maleficent Site "Evil is the New Black" with Beautiful Artwork

Disney launched a new Tumblr site for "Maleficent" which include a set of beautiful artworks that you can see below. "Evil is the new Black" is the title of the fashion-oriented site which you can access HERE. I remind you that Maleficent is released in the U.S on May 30.


"Maleficent explores the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the classic Sleeping Beauty and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king’s newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever".

Pictures: copyright Disney

Will France Futuroscope Open a Soarin' Attraction Before Disneyland Paris ?

If you're a faithful Disney and more reader you probably know the Futuroscope as i did previously many articles about this french successful theme park, the 3rd in number of guests after Disneyland Paris and the Parc Asterix. Sure, with 1.46 M visitors in 2013 the Futuroscope is not a big threat for DLP and its 14.9M guests, still, with one new attraction each year and often inventive rides the capacity of the Futuroscope to attract new visitors must not be underestimated.

And recently, Dominique Hummel, Futuroscope board president revealed that from now till 2018 the park will invest 50M € to create new attractions and shows. At WDI you can't have a lot with 50M€, but at the Futuroscope with a budget for each new attraction around 12M€, you can create 3 or 4 new attractions with this amount, and generally good ones.

Now, what are their plans up to 2018? Well, two new pavilions as well as a Live show are currently in the creation process. The first thing, in 2015,  will be a "futuristic circus" a Live show in the spirit of those of Le Cirque du Soleil and this fun park animation will also approach the theme of technology and science fiction.

In 2018 in an attraction called "Darwin 4" guests will be invited to a space voyage thanks to the famous door of Einstein-Rosen ( as seen in the Stargate movie ). Guests aboard 4 wheels drive vehicles - equipped with plenty of on-ride effects - will move through a long tunnel  with 3D projections on each side, up to an attack from extra terrestrial creatures. Sounds to me like something close to the technology used in Universal King Kong 360 3D, but i may be wrong... Anyway, once arrived on the exoplanet guests will be able to have a drink in a space bar, and more...

But the other new ride which interest us particularly is the one scheduled for 2016 as it is a ride which looks very much like one using the same technology than Soarin'.  The theme will be a teleportation in the world of Jules Verne, guests up in the air, facing a huge and immersive hemispherical screen, just like in Soarin'. The name of the new pavilion should be "Sky World". Now, as revealed last week by Geoffrey, we know that DLP might have in its plans to open a Soarin' ride at DLP Adventureland in a near future. Sounds strange to have a Soarin' ride in Adventureand but as explained in another article last week the 1940's "Indy" travels storyline could work well in Adventureland. Although Geoffrey didn't had any dates for the opening we also know that Star Tours 2 : The Adventure Continues should come finally at DLP Discoveryland in 2016. As there is no way that DLP also open a Soarin' ride the same year, and as it won't open too in 2015, chances are that the Futuroscope will be the first one to introduce in France a ride using more or less the same technology than Soarin'.

And it's not that DLP hadn't been lucky during the last ten years that no one else in France introduced a "Soarin'" ride... As a matter of fact a "Soarin'" ride concept was proposed to the Futuroscope ten years ago and at that time they could have had it for not more than 10M€, including the filming of the ride movie but with one theater only instead of two like at DCA. No need to say that there is no way to have a Soarin' ride from WDI for 10M€, but at that time it was possible to do it for this price for the Futuroscope. Strangely, the Futuroscope didn't jumped on the idea - and i say "strangely" because a Soarin' ride is exactly something made for the Futuroscope which, since its opening in 1987, has always been the theme park of all kind of projection technologies.

Anyway, ten years ago they didn't did it and thanks to this DLP was not overtake and still can be the first one to introduce a Soarin' ride in France. Which is important as one of the big "wow" in Soarin' is this unique feeling that you're flying like a bird over the scenes. But now, if the Futuroscope open their "Soarin' " ride in 2016 chances are that DLP won't be anymore the first to introduce to french and european guests this wonderful technology.
I suppose this is the risk that can happen when you wait too long...

Top Picture: copyright Futurocope

Last Call For Disneyland Paris Book Special Offer !

Folks, the special offer on the Disneyland Paris book, the one with which you can order the book for 60€ instead of 100€ ( + 15€ shipping worldwide ) with an additional GREAT surprise gift ends in TWO days from now on April 30, so if you don't own yet this great book bout Disneyland Paris with 320 pages and 750 pictures including 250 WDI renderings, that's the right time to place your order! You can pay directly with Paypal with the Paypal button below and if you don't have a Paypal account and wish to pay with your credit card or by bank transfer please send me an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com

Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality - Include shipping

1 Copy English NORMAL Edition Disneyland Paris book inc shipping €75.00 EUR 1 Copy English COLLECTOR Ed Disneyland Paris book inc shipping €115.00 EUR 1 Ex Signé Collector Français Livre Disneyland Paris + envoi €100.00 EUR 1 Ex Collector Français Livre Disneyland Paris + envoi €75.00 EUR

 

Don't know yet the Disneyland Paris book? Have a look at the video below or on the book website HERE.

" Trevor ", Charming Short Animated by Matt Cyrus Saghezchi

I'm always pleased to discover new talents in animation and Matthieu, who is also a faithful Disney and more reader, is surely talented as you'll see below with his short animated film called "Trevor" - a young boy who can't sleep - that he did in 2010. Below, Matthieu kindly introduces his film and you'll find also color scripts and concept-arts of "Trevor" on his blog HERE.

Hi everyone! I'm Matthieu Saghezchi and I'm an artist working in animation. I'd like to share my graduation short film here on Disney and More. Like any other Disney fan around the world, I have a special connection to the company. 

Back in 1991, when I was a kid, my parents took me to the EuroDisney preview center and it made a lasting impression on me. I must have stared at this huge model for hours, and this experience changed my life: I knew I wanted to become an artist! I was obsessed and I spent countless hours drawing park maps and attraction plans. My interest in theme parks opened me up to animation, and here I am today! 

Many sources of inspiration helped shape this very personal project, among them are Tim Burton, Mary Blair, all things Disney and Pixar... You might even notice a couple of Disneyland references if you look closely ;)

I hope you'll enjoy it, and if you do, feel free to share it!

Trevor - English Subtitles from MATT CYRUS Saghezchi on Vimeo.

Picture and video: copyright : Matt Cyrus Saghezchi