Asia Theme Parks battle part 2 : Universal Studios in India, Paramount Park in Osaka, and more

In a previous article, last July, i told you about the theme parks battle about to begin in Asia. You even had a list of these upcoming theme parks projects. And you know what? It seems that the battle is going to be even worse!

In another previous article called "After Singapore, where will be built the next Universal Studios?" i told you what a good idea it would be for Universal - strategically speaking - to open a theme park in India while Disney can't do it as Disney will obviously wait for Shanghaî Disneyland opening before going anywhere else, specially in India. I was also saying that "Mumbaî (Bombay) could be the right place...as Mumbai is the home of the famous Bollywood movies studios, the largest film producer in India and one of the largest in the world if not the largest. What place could be better for a theme park movie studio? Young Indians are aware of all major American blockbusters..."

And guess what i've read recently in the Wall Street Journal ? This:
"The Wall Street Journal reports that Reliance ADA Group is negotiating with Universal Studios to replicate its movie-themed amusement parks in India. The result would be a $1.5 billion new park that covers 400 acres --in either New Delhi or Mumbai--and would combine Universal park attractions with others devoted to Bollywood films.

Universal would take a licensing fee for its branded attractions that include themed attractions involving such Marvel Comics characters as Spider-Man, The Hulk and Doctor Doom--deals made well before theme park rival Disney bought Marvel--as well as Dr. Seuss attractions. There are also the venerable rides based on the films of Reliance's DreamWorks partner Steven Spielberg--who gets a cut of theme park receipts--with Jaws, E.T. and Jurassic Park...

WSJ qualifies that the deal is in the talking stage, but it would mark Reliance's latest foray into Hollywood. Besides its partnership with DreamWorks, Reliance made first look deals with the production companies of Brad Pitt, Chris Columbus, Jay Roach, George Clooney, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, Nicolas Cage and Brett Ratner. Reliance intends to co-finance the films developed under those deals. Reliance also acquired a majority stake of Stuart Ford's foreign sales and financing company IM Global, which will be expanding its reach".

As i don't think Universal execs get ideas for new theme parks from Disney and more we'll say that my intuition was not too bad... But there is another important news about Asia and this one i didn't saw it coming: Paramount Parks is looking to open a new theme park in 2014 in Japan. And where in Japan, you ask? Well, they're planning to open it in Osaka! That's right, the same Osaka where Universal Studios Japan reigns...until now. Mmmh...I have the feeling they're not gonna like this at Universal...

Actually it seems that Paramount will only design the park and not be an investor in it as you'll learn from this Bloomberg news article:

"Sun Capital Management Corp., a Japanese property fund operator, is seeking to secure 145 billion yen ($1.5 billion) for its bid to open a Paramount Pictures entertainment complex in Osaka as early as 2014.

“We are approaching more than 10 financial institutions, including Japanese megabanks and investment banks in the U.S., Europe and Asia,” President Kenji Maeda said yesterday in an interview. “So far, reactions have been very positive.”

Sun Capital said in July it was negotiating with Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Licensing to develop the theme park on a 40- hectare (99-acre) site that was developed for Osaka’s 1970 World Exposition. The government-owned site has been idle since last year, when the company that operated an amusement facility there went bankrupt.

Sun Capital will propose its plan to the prefectural government by May, Maeda said. The park, which he said may open in 2014 or 2015, would compete with Universal Studios Japan, a theme park opened on Osaka Bay in 2001 and sold last year to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Maeda, 45, declined to say which banks Osaka-based Sun Capital had approached.

Osaka Prefecture aims to select a plan for the site, jointly owned by the regional and central governments, by this summer, spokesman Yuzuru Yamamoto said by telephone.

Paramount Licensing has said it would not be an investor in the project. It may license film rights and take a role in designing the theme park".

So, it seems that we have to add two more theme parks in the list of Asia future theme parks... However it's one thing to open a park and another one to have all the rides working every day... Universal Singapore which is still waiting for its Grand Opening celebration (even if the park opened six months ago!) have currently many "E-Ticket" problems.



The Battlestar Galactica dueling coaster closed a few weeks after March opening and apparently it will not re-open before the end of the year. According to the official press release "On 25 March 2010, during its morning test cycle, BSG experienced a component failure of a ride seat post support that resulted in the detachment of a seat assembly. No one was on the ride and no one was injured. The ride was immediately shut down for investigative inspection and testing." And since then Vekoma, the ride manufacturer, is struggling to resolve the problem... "After months of cycling the ride with load-test and strain measurement equipment, Vekoma Rides has concluded that higher than anticipated stress and vibration levels caused fatigue cracks to develop in a welded component on the ride’s seat-post support. Vekoma Rides and Universal Studios Singapore have agreed that a new machined seat-post component will replace the original welded component (eliminating the weld entirely) and that additional strength-reinforcement parts will also be added".



Also, the awaited Madagascar flume ride - supposed to open in June is always not ready and will not open, too, before next winter and the Jurassic Park raft ride have regularly problems and is going down almost every day. Considering that these three rides are E-Ticket rides (the fourth E-Ticket is the Revenge of the Mummy coaster which, thanks God, is still working) you'll understand that Universal Singapore is right now seriously lacking of major rides. Universal is of course unhappy and from what i've been told has sent a "Swat team" over to Singapore to fix the problems, but it will take time.

But for Universal Singapore officially everything is going fine as they keep saying that the park is sold out on week-ends. As the excellent Sentosa blog notes: "that's a joke, due to the fact that USS only lets in about 4,000 to 5,000 people into a park meant for about 13,000..." One of my sources even told me that Singaporeans don't really care about the rides anyway, they come for the Casino which is making lots of money!

Next year the Transformers attraction - another E-Ticket ride - will open and my feeling is that we'll have to wait for this new ride to open to get the Universal Singapore Grand Opening celebration...

Anyway, good news or bad news, lot of things are happening in Asia and that's only the beginning!

Pictures: copyright Universal Studios Singapore

Toy Story Playland, first week-end after opening

Toy Story Playland opened officially last Tuesday and because the weather was incredibly good last Saturday - with a totally clear blue sky - i went back to DLP to shot pictures and have a look at TSP in its first week-end after opening. No surprise, there was long lines for each attraction. At Parachute Drop the wait, at 3.30pm, was 80 minutes which admittedly is a bit too long for such a 90 seconds ride.





Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spin had a 45 minutes wait and as you can see on the pictures below there was really a lot of guests waiting in line for this 90 seconds ride.





But there is a reason why these two TSP rides had long lines last saturday as unfortunately RC Racer had a big problem almost all day long and since morning the ride was not working. People on the picture below don't demonstrate, they're simply waiting for the ride re-opening and 10 minutes after i shot this picture, around 4.30pm, the ride re-opened!



Of course children of all colors are now playing with Rex, located at the exit of Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spin!





Toy Story 3 is a huge success all over the world - soon its box office will be over one billion dollars - and i have to admit that the idea to open three Toy Story themed attractions this summer was a good move from DLP. For sure Toy Story Playland is going to be successful and for sure the three rides will have long lines, but i suppose it's what we call the price of popularity.

All pictures: copyright Disney and more

A real Time Machine

Are you curious to see what was Disney and more's design in its early beginning - and how i improved it over the years? Or are you looking for an Al Lutz or Jim Hill's article posted on Mice Age or Jim Hill Media some years ago? There is a great web site for that, a real time machine - well, at least a internet time machine and it's called Wayback Machine.

It seems unbelievable, but waybackmachine.org contains "56 BILLION captures of over 10 billion web pages from as far back as 1994"! Of course if you ask a search for famous web sites like Cnn.com you'll be able to go more far back in time but it's an amazing tool when you're looking for an old web article that you can't find in other ways - as far as you know more or less the date of it, of course.

It's also interesting when you want to see how web sites design were improved over the years. Or, like i did some days ago, when you're looking for infos on previous electronic products. For instance, if you're an Apple fan and ask wayback machine a search for Apple.com you'll be able to see not only what was the design of Apple's site back in 2000 but also what were Apple's electronics products at that time, etc...

Frankly, you should bookmark this site, it may be helpful one day, and, hey, it's not every day that you discover a real time machine, right?

How it works? Very simple, just copy and paste the url of any web site, for instance: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/ and click on "go wayback!". You can try any of your favorite Disney web sites and when the back-in-time page will open, if you want to go further back in time you can change month day or year on the top of the page. Just try, it's fun!

Epic Mickey Wii Game 4 min 1/2 intro is a nice piece of animation !

Two days ago, four and a half minutes intro from the awaited Wii game "Epic Mickey" were released and i strongly suggest you to have a look at it.

But first, for those of you who don't know exactly what "Epic Mickey" i about, more details, thanks to Wikipedia, about this upcoming Wii game: "Epic Mickey (also known as Super Secret Warren Spector Game Project or Junction Point Studios Project 2) is an upcoming Mickey Mouse video game designed by Warren Spector, with 2D cinemas by Powerhouse Animation Studios and developed by Junction Point Studios for the Wii console, using Emergent Game Technologies' Gamebryo Engine. Epic Mickey is part of an effort by The Walt Disney Company to re-brand the Mickey Mouse character by moving away from his current squeaky clean image and reintroducing the mischievous side of his personality. Spector has been collaborating with Walt Disney Feature Animation and Pixar in conjunction with the project.

And what about the plot, you ask? Well, as you'll see it begins by a variation on the "Apprentice sorcerer": A long time ago, the sorcerer Yen Sid, created a Disney theme park themed pen-and-paper world (Ndr: which looks exactly like Disneyland) for his forgotten and rejected creations, held in an intricate model on a table, and his study accessible through a mirror...



Mickey, who steps through a mirror from his home and finds himself inside Yen Sid's study, sees the model, and waits until Yen Sid is gone before going back to take another look at it. Fiddling with it, Mickey tries to create a model of himself...



...but creates instead a being that becomes the Phantom Blot (Ndr: which looks a bit like Chernabog in that scene), Mickey tries to erase it and accidentally spills paint and paint thinner onto the model.



Hearing Yen Sid approaching, Mickey quickly tries to clean up with hurry and flees back to his home. However, it's too late and the world Yen Sid created turns into a wasteland...



And then? Well, you'll have to watch these 4 and 1/2 minutes intro below to know what is happening to Mickey and Yen Sid creation... - Okay, i'll put the end of the synopsis after the video... But, really, have a look at it, you'll be surprised, it's a nice piece of animation!




Here is the end of the synopsis: "The Phantom Blot who takes control of the Wasteland from its first resident, Mickey's older half-brother - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald and the other residents of the Cartoon Wasteland fight against the Phantom Blot, but he eventually overwhelms them and twists their world into a dark and sinister version of itself, forcing Oswald into hiding.

Years later, Mickey has forgotten his past transgression until the Phantom Blot enters his home through the mirror and pulls him into the Cartoon Wasteland. Oswald, his will lost and twisted by his jealousy of Mickey's rise to fame, has formulated a plan to destroy Mickey. The Mad Doctor works closely with the Blot, creating robotic "Beetleworx", which are strange creatures that consist of combinations of various Disney cartoon characters. He also creates animatronic "buddies" for Oswald, looking like decrepit robotic versions of Mickey's friends, as Oswald wants Mickey's life and popularity for himself. Armed with a magical paintbrush that he managed to pull into the world with him, Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot, gain Oswald's trust and save the Cartoon Wasteland".

Pictures and video: copyright Disney

Toy Story Playland : The road leading to the Ratatouille dark ride

In my Toy Story Playland pictorial report posted last week-end there is an important addition that i didn't talked about. By the way those who had problem with their browsers because the pictures were too high-res can now see them on Mice Chat in lower-res HERE and HERE. But let's come back to this TSP important addition which is actually a path designed like a Parisian street with cobblestones in the ground and typical Parisian benches and lampposts.

And there is a good reason why DLP Imagineers themed this path like a Parisian street: this path certainly leads to the other entrance of Toy Story Playland - where guests can enter the land going through the blue monkey barrel - but in two years from now it will also be the street leading to the Ratatouille dark ride and the "Paris" area. Actually, we can even say that what you will see below are the first pictures of the future "Ratatouille" area.

I know you like to see proofs and i will bring them to you but let's have a look first to this Parisian street with its cobblestones in the ground and typical Parisian benches and lampposts. The first picture below is a panoramic, click on it to see it in larger scale.















Now, if you remind a previous D&M article i told you that a sculpture of Gusteau - Ratatouille's chef - was sculpted on the arch stick to the blue barrel. And as you can see on the picture below it's really the case and it's really a sculpture of Gusteau.



The picture above was shot by Alexandre Rosa, a former Disney and more contributor, during the cast member preview days. Two days later, when the land opened for annual passholders soft-openings last saturday, Gusteau's sculpture was hidden as you will see on the pictures below.





There is a good reason for that - there is always a good reason for anything done by Imagineers! - and it's probably that DLP execs would prefer to keep secret at least for a while the future land which will open during DLP 2013 fiscal year (which begins October 1st, 2012) and the year of the 20th Anniversary. No more Gusteau's sculpture means no questions from the guests, etc...

Unfortunately, all signs related to Ratatouille couldn't be hidden beginning by the face of Remy, Ratatouille's main character. And where is Remy's face, you ask? Well, actually he is on EACH bench of this Parisian street. Have a look at the picture below...



Don't see Remy? Okay, let's have a closer look. Do you see him now?



May be you'd like to see where this awaited dark ride will be build? The next panoramic, shot from the Parachute Drop attraction, will show you this. The building you see on the right is actually located backstage and is the "costuming" where cast-members come each morning to pick their costume - a Paris backdrop is supposed to hide the building when the Ratatouille ride will open. And on the left of this building, behind the blue barrel, is the land reserved for the Ratatouille ride and Paris area.



Edited: Christian, from www.eap-magazin.de just sent me this picture showing the land where the Ratatouille ride will be build. Note that there is on the left more land that you don't see on the picture. As you can see it's a pretty big area and I wonder if they will keep the big trees located at the center of the land... my feeling is that they will keep them and it will be a good idea.



I don't want to be provocative, but with the Parachute Drop ride DLP Imagineers provided to us the perfect observation point to have a look at the upcoming works and shoot pictures of the future Ratatouille area... Works, by the way, should begin this fall or early next year as it will be a major ride - with a budget estimated around 130-150M$ and, as i told you before, with trackless ride vehicles and 3D projection effects along the ride. Those of you who complain that Toy Story Playland only have re-themed carnival rides only have to wait two more years to be happy and get the E-Ticket ride they're asking for.


If you enjoyed this Disney and more special report, thanks for your support!

You can see great pictures of Toy Story Playland, shot with a wide angle by Alexandre Rosa on his web site HERE


Pictures: copyright Alain Littaye - Disney and more

Arch with Gusteau's sculpture picture: copyright Alexandre Rosa

Toy Story Playland Opening Video

Toy Story Playland opened officially yesterday August 17th and DLP did a small ceremony for its opening with DLP Ambassadors and guess who? that's right, Mickey Mouse who cut the ribbon. Then WDS guests rushed into the new land following the green soldiers. You'll see all of it in this Youtube video filmed by filaroli.




Youtube video: copyright filaroli

Editor's Note: Toy Story Playland is now officially open at the Walt Disney Studios and you'll find a full pictorial report below, including HD video! Note: Due to the heavy weight of the TSP high-res pictures the article might take a long time to load. As i've also posted the pictures in the DLP forum of Mice Chat where the pictures size have been reduced you can choose to look at it there if your browser can't load the D&M page.