John Lasseter talks about WDS Toy Story Playland - Video

A short video today showing John Lasseter talking about the new WDS Toy Story Playland. The video also include some good shots of the rides and, of course, Lasseter talking about each ride. Have a look!



Video: copyright Disney

All Six Star Wars Films To Be Re-Released In 3D, starting 2012

Editor's Note: George Lucas has decided to give his blessings on a plan to re-release all six Star Wars films in 3D! Part 1, "The Phantom Menace," would be first out of star-dock in the early months of 2012. After that, each of the films would be released in order at the same time each consecutive year, depending on how well the first re-release does.
Each conversion will take at least a year to complete, with Lucas personally overseeing the process to make sure each one is as perfected as possible. Lucas has said that the "Avatar" experience convinced him that "Star Wars" was ready for the state-of-the-art 3D treatment.

With Star Tours 2 in 2011, also in 3D, the future looks bright for Star Wars, and in 3D!

Upcoming new Disney book will celebrate Disney Parks Attraction Posters

My friend Didier Ghez - who is the co-author of our Disneyland Paris "From sketch to reality" book and also one of the best Disney books historian - revealed recently on his Disney History blog that Disney Editions is working with WDI on a new book all dedicated to the beloved Disney parks attraction posters! As a matter of fact Didier learn about it from the Vintage Disneyland Goodies blog. It's not only a very good idea, but also a great news for any Disney fan!

Why? Simply because the book will probably include Disneyland Paris attraction posters which are not available in the park - that's right since the park opening 18 years ago they've never been on sale at DLP stores. Mind you, after i've published my DLP book i tried several times to publish these DLP posters but it didn't worked, we didn't succeed to find an agreement with the park.

So, no need to say that this new book will be highly awaited by all DLP fans. Of course the book will talk and show attraction posters for all Disney theme park around the world but i don't doubt that DLP posters will find their place in it. And of course rare posters of now extinct Disneyland attractions like this one of Tom Sawyer Island...



...or this one of "Adventure through Inner Space".



I suppose we can expect to find also in the book WDW attraction posters of beloved rides, like this one of the WDW 20000 Leagues under the Sea ride...



...but also rare posters from Tokyo Disneyland like this one created for the Mickey Mouse Revue, an attraction not only extinct at WDW but also at TDL!



New posters especially designed for Hong Kong Disneyland should probably be in the book too, like this one for HKDL Space Mountain...



...or this other for the Tomorrowland StarLiner Diner Restaurant.



To come back to Disneyland Paris attraction posters let's hope that some of DLP great posters will be in the book, like this DLP version of the DL Big Thunder Mountain poster...



...not to mention DLP exclusive attraction posters like the one for Phantom Manor...



...or the great "Visionarium" poster, another beautiful one.



With a bit of luck we'll also find in the book some attraction posters concepts like this one for Disneyland Paris "Les Mystères du Nautilus" attraction. The attraction poster was never finalized but this rendering gives a good idea of how it would have looked.



There is just one little problem - for us, not for Disney Editions! Very probably the book size should be as big as The Art of Disneyland/WDW books, which would be logical as it would be ridiculous to do a book about attraction posters in small size. The good point is that each page should be big enough to be "framed" - which means, of course, that you'll have to "cut" the page of the attraction poster that you like particularly. The bad news is that once the page will be cut you'll have a "hole" in the book - not to mention that you may want to frame more than one! Which means that we will probably need to buy TWO copies of the book, one to keep in perfect condition, and one which can be used to frame some of the pages! Aren't they clever at Disney Editions? Anyway, although no official publishing date for this great book is known yet (but my feeling is that we can expect it for probably next year) let's welcome this attraction poster book with great pleasure as it is really a very good idea.

I would like to end this article with a great gift for you, a super high-res scan - the original scan we did for my DLP book - of one of the most wanted Disneyland Paris attraction poster, the gorgeous one created for Discoveryland's Space Mountain. I'm sure you will enjoy it, don't you?



All pictures: copyright Disney - Disney Enterprises Inc

How to create your own " Disney Planets " !

Let's begin the week with something great! In this article you will learn how to create "Disney Planets" from any panoramic pictures you may have shot during your last visit at your favorite Disney theme park! And not only it's fun but also VERY easy to do!

You will find below the full tutorial but basically all what you need is: 1) a panoramic shot - whether it's a "one shot" panoramic done with the panoramic feature of your digital camera or a panoramic created through Photoshop with several shots put together - and 2) any Photoshop version - and you don't need the latest CS5 version, the first Photoshop CS will work perfectly. Before i show you some examples keep in mind that each of them were done in less than five minutes - and i mean really not more than five minutes including the time to launch the Photoshop program!

There we go. For each "planet" you'll see first the panoramic shot i've used to create them. The first "planet" above was done from this official DLP panoramic picture.



But this next one below was created from my own panoramic picture shot at DLP Fantasyland.





This next one was created from this Town Square panoramic shot...





...and this one from a panoramic of the Disney Village entrance.





Of course you can try with panoramic pictures from any Disney theme park and the next pictures were not shot by me but by Bernie webmaster of the excellent disney.rocket9.net web site where you will find great panoramic shots as well as many desktop pictures. The first one below was done from a panoramic of Disneyland Central Plaza.





Always from Bernie's pictures here is two "planets" created from two Toon Town panoramic shots.









But you can also have great results with night panoramics, as you can see with this night picture of Disneyland's Main Street...





...or this official night shot of Paradise Pier.





As i'm sure you must be curious to know how works the "transformation" here is the tutorial and if it's not enough clear go on this link HERE where this tutorial is coming from:

1) Choose a panoramic picture, any one but if possible one which have on the top part of the image only "sky" - with no trees or decor "touching" the top of the image. Once you've found one, it's going to be very easy.

2) Open the picture with Photoshop (any Photoshop version from the first "CS") and resize the image to a square width size (for example: from 2000 x 650 to 2000 x 2000). To do this, go in the top menu to the "Image" menu then to "Image size".

3) Your original panoramic shot is now a square. Now, always in the "Image" menu, rotate the picture: choose "Rotate 180 degrees".

4) Step 4 is "Polaring": use the polar coordinates filter. Go to the "Filter" menu, then choose "Distort" then "Polar Coordinates", and select "Rectangular to polar".

If you're french: allez au menu "filtre" puis choisir "déformation" puis "coordonnées polaires".

That's it, you've created a Disney Planet!

As i've told you the best is to have a panoramic with sky only all along the top of the image. If you don't you may have some strange effects at the end but sometime it can be "artistically" interesting. Examples with these three shots below. In this case it don't looks anymore like planets but the result is still fun. The first one is from a DLP Frontierland's shooting gallery panoramic.





This next one was done from a panoramic of Alice's Curious Labyrinth...





...and this last one from a panoramic of Main Street Liberty Arcade.





If you want to try by yourself and don't have any panoramic shot you can use some of mine previously posted HERE. Also, you can send to me - at: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr - the "planets" you will create and in the future i will do a special article with the creations of my D&M readers!

Pictures: copyright Alain Littaye, Rocket9, or Disney - All my thanks to Bernie of the disney.rocket9.net web site for his great Disneyland panoramic pictures.

You will never believe the real origin of Phantom Canyon's inhabitants !

All of you, Disneyland Paris fans, who ride Phantom Manor again and again might think - thanks to excellent "Phantom Manor" websites - that you know all about this DLP beloved attraction. But, today, you will learn amazing secrets you've never heard before.

In Phantom Manor "Phantom Canyon" is the last scene of the ride, after the doom buggy went through the graveyard and skeletons section. In a way, it's the grand finale of the ride. It's a totally different finale than the one you generally experience in the others Haunted Mansions. In Phantom Manor WDI Imagineers designed a surreal ghost town, and this ghost town have some rather unique Audio-Animatronics inhabitants. It is their story that I will tell you now.

In the early 1990's, while WDI Imagineers were building Phantom Manor's structure the Audio-Animatronics figures were made in WDI workshop, at Walt Disney World. At that time, Jeff Burke, DLP Frontierland's show producer, had to choose the "faces and bodies" of Phantom Canyon's future inhabitants. For the skeletons that guests meet in the previous scene, WDI purchased plastic skeletons from a company that normally supplies these "bony creations" to medical schools and colleges. For the "underworld" of Phantom Manor the skeletons were purchased in bulk and in different dimensions - larger for the men "crypt characters", smaller for the women.



And the largest skeleton acquired, used for the infamous Phantom character, was 6' 3" tall.



But for the "human" characters of Phantom Canyon it was a totally different challenge.
It's not well known but sometime - to avoid the expense of sculpting new heads and bodies for new kind of Audio-Animatronics characters - Imagineers can do a selection from masks and molds designed for AA characters of previous attractions. Then, with the magic of WDI designers and new costumes a whole new cast appear. For instance,some of the ghosts of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion previously showed up in Pirates of the Caribbean. Not only it's easier and less expensive, but the budget savings can be used to enhance lighting, special effects and other production values of the attraction.

Now, let's get back to Jeff Burke, WDW workshop, and the folks of Phantom Canyon. If you did the ride at DLP, you probably remember the bank robber and his donkey. Well, his face and body are from a mask and mold previously used for a character of EPCOT's World of Motion... as well as the donkey!



And the face and body of the scared sheriff hiding behind the lampost, is also featured as a skinny pirate in the auction scene of WDW Pirates of the Caribbean.



Mind you, Jeff's first choice was to used the terrified groundskeeper standing at the cemetary gates in Haunted Mansion's final scene. By the way, from that same scene, a howling dog among the tombstones has been turned into a snarling "hound from hell" lunging toward your doom buggy when you exit the Bride's bedroom.

Edited 10/1: Richard, a faithful D&M reader sent to me the pictures below of the DL Haunted Mansion organist. As i mention in my text that the scared sheriff's head was used previously for a Pirates of Caribbean character, Richard thought that it might be instead the head used for the organist in the Haunted Mansion, and looking at these pictures i must admit that the scared sheriff and the organist faces looks very similar.

The best was to ask my good friend Jeff Burke who was DLP's Frontierland show-producer and Jeff answered to me that "the AA head used for the organist and the scared sheriff in Phantom Manor is indeed from the same sculpture with some distinctive makeup variations. However, he was not sculpted originally with Phantom Manor in mind but rather was fashioned as one of the extra figures for "Pirates of the Caribbean"."

In two words, the same sculpted head was sculpted first for a Disneyland POTC character first, then used for the HM organist at Disneyland and then for the scared sheriff at DLP's Phantom Manor! Amazing, isn't it?





Other Phantom Canyon inhabitants includes the piano player...



...the bartender, the saloon girl...



...and the druggist. All of them began their AA "career" in various scenes of the now extinct World of Motion attraction.



But the biggest surprise probably comes from the Mayor character who welcomes us to Phantom Canyon. He's the one who greets you not only by removing his hat, but his head as well! You're not going to believe who he is really or should i say who "he" was in a previous "life": Believe it or not, but the mayor of Phantom Canyon is DREAMFINDER, the main character from the beloved Journey into Imagination attraction!



Quite frankly, I've ride Phantom Manor dozens of time and never noticed it before but indeed Phantom Canyon's mayor is/was the Dreamfinder character of EPCOT's Journey into Imagination! And the voice of this macabre mayor wishing you a "Welcome, foolish mortals..." is none less than the talented Paul Frees, who is the voice of the "Ghost Host" in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

So, next time you will ride through Phantom Manor and when your doom buggy will go down to enter Phantom Canyon, don't forget to say a warm "Hello!" to the "Dreamfinder" mayor and all the other characters who are versatile enough to scare you at DLP after they entertained guests in a previous "life" at others Disney theme parks.







If you're looking for a great gift to offer to anyone you love - including yourself - the "Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality" book with its 320 pages and 750 pictures - including 250 renderings from Walt Disney Imagineering - would be a GREAT gift for any Disney fan! I still have some copies of this hard to find book and, as i am one of the two authors of the book, each copy will be sign specially for you or anyone you wish. Of course, don't forget to tell me the name to whom you wish he dedicates the book.

Price for one copy of the english updated edition (with the text in english) is 87 Euros + 15 euros shipping to any country. Payment can be done with Paypal.

You can see some inside pages of the book on this D&M page HERE and to order the book please email me at: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

Paypal payment can be sent to: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

Attraction poster: copyright Disney Enterprises Inc

Photos: Alain Littaye