A Hong Kong Marvel..

The world now has an announcement for the Mouse's first marvel...

I mean Marvel.  There have been many things proposed, many thing cancelled, and many things reworked.  The first thing that could have been announced posssibly earlier this year was a Stark Expo type of experience where Innoventions now resides.  But the late purchase last year of Lucasfilm scuttled those plans in favor of something else (I bet you can guess what with).

Now, via the Wall Street Journal, we find out that China will get the first Marvel attraction: "The Iron Man Experience".  Hong Kong Disneyland precisely/specifically, that is.  The attraction seems to share parts of what was to go in Anaheim, but not all.  There have been rumors of an entire land, but budgetary issues and the economy seem to dictate that's not in the cards near term.

The ride will be built in Tomorrowland with an opening set for 2016.  It'll be a simulator thrill ride akin to Star Tours, but with newer technology.  But in less than three years the Chinese will get to enjoy Iron Man saving the Hong Kong skyline from evil foes bent on conquering the world - Asia first.  Too bad they didn't go with the Baxter Building Experience.

Well that could come later, or elsewhere...

The Spotlight Turns...

Goodbye Carousel of No Progress...

 Now that DCA has finally been rebranded as a Disney Park, questions remain...

 It won't be answered anytime soon, and it won't be announced for quite sometime, but the focus will now turn to the other park across the Esplanade.  That's right, Disneyland.

We won't hear anything about it this year.  The main focus will be on making sure the rest of the year will build upon and add to the success of Disney California Adventure.  But once the new year begins, Team Disney Burbank/Anaheim and WDI's Imagineers will be hard at work focusing on the plans to expand, update, and in some cases redesign part of the original magic kingdom.  Now, it won't be announced next year (at least in the early part of it if at all).  More likely, it will be teased, but held off till later for a more dramatic announcement.

While plans are still evolving, you can expect the majority of it will focus on the planned restructuring of Tomorrowland.  There are plans in the works for an expansion of Frontierland if enough funding is available. No final budget has been given yet since Glendale is in the blue sky phase of the development, but we can expect some interesting surprises planned for the future of the Mouse's land that celebrates the future.  Not everything will make it, but it's fun to dream because dreams don't cost much, if anything.

 But if you could only be in the model room in Glendale come January...

Stagg Party...

Creating a magical moment...



So a big event is being held tonight for the Fantasyland expansion of the Magic Kingdom...

Later this evening (7:00 pm Eastern) there will be a press event that further expands on the details of this expansion. Part of this is a result of leadership change. With Jay Rasulo moving over to the cold, hard numbers department where he belongs, Tom Staggs control of the project has resulted in some alterations. Tom has young boys, not girls and he listens to what they like and one of the things males don't like is princesses. At least not till they reach puberty.

So we can expect a little less focus on that matter. The inclusion of a Seven Dwarf's Mine Coaster which we broke here a long, long time ago and a mixture of some of the projects already approved and a few surprises. I haven't talked to Bothans about this project much, as most I deal with are more focused on West Coast comings and goings. That said, I've heard that the budget (approximately $300 million) has stayed relatively the same while the projects has shifted to be less girl-centric.

Come tonight, we'll get a better view of the road map that Tom has in store for Walt Disney World and the world of Disney Imagineering as well. This is a holdover project that Jay was working on that he's had to tinker with. It'll be interesting to see the next project he announces as it will likely be his own, and likely show the direction he (and Iger) are planning on going. But I trust him far than I do or did Rasulo. In my opinion, having Staggs there is a vast improvement and this is the best management that Disney Parks have had since the late 90's.

Now, if he can just do something about that WDW management...

The Color Of Money...

The world is a carousel of color...


There's a lot of colorful bling on the nighttime scene...

If you've seen Disney California Adventure's "World of Color" night time show, then you've more than likely have seen the many things you can buy to show all those that haven't seen it that you have.

Disney is never one to miss an opportunity to market something to its guests and to milk it for everything it's worth. This isn't an insult by the way, I happen to have several shirts from this thing as well.

I figured we would take this opportunity to show you that haven't seen it, some (but not all) of the items you can spend some green to show some color. Or, show the world that you've seen the world.




Last night, a group of friends and I spent the evening watching the 4th of July fireworks at Disneyland and then went over to DCA for that new swanky, water show. If you were there, you would have seen me. I was wearing this...







It comes in light blue and pink as well. I don't own a pink one, btw.

Not enough info? Well, my lovely date was wearing this...







And a good friend tagging along happened to be wearing this...









And his lady-friend was wearing this...







When she wanted this...







When it got a little chillier, I put on this...







Because this would have been too spot on for me...








And after watching the show from the shower that is the front section, I dried off with this...





Of course, they offer several items exclusively for Annual Passholders as well, like this pin...






I don't know why anyone, even a kid would one of these goofy, useless things...





I mean, one of those rainbow lightsabers would've been better.

Then there were the people I saw walking around wearing bracelets like these...



I was hungry, but we decided to wait until later. Flavored popcorn is not my thing...




But those drinks were tasty, once alcohol was added, I mean...



And this glass was magical. Literally, because it changes colors depending on what you put in it. If you put orange juice, it turns orange. If you put grape juice it turns purple. If you put water in it, it miraculously turns transparent...



And those balloons that glow are interesting, but I'd hate to be the kid that wakes up the next day to find it flat. I swear it was glowing and floating last night, dad...






And that's only some of the things you can buy while there. But I think Disney has done a great job of creating interest in the show and watching these things fly off the shelves shows that guest really like it. It's nice to see people coming into the resorts sister park for something only it has. Instead of people coming simply because they have one more day on their pass and they haven't checked out the other park yet.

Change is coming and this is only the beginning and it's good to see some fruit of the TLC that this part of the Disney Empire is getting. It's slow, but it is happening.

I can't wait till they start working on that new front entrance that is going to give the park it's own version of what Main Street is to Disneyland. It now has it's own version of "Fantasmic!" to get guests into the park.

It's going to be interesting to see what becomes this park's "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction as we move into the second decade of this second gate...

Four For The Fifth...

Today, Disney's first, but not last, park in China celebrates its fourth anniversary.

Hong Kong Disneyland was opened on this day on Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. While the smallest "Magic Kingdom" style park, HKDL is richly layered in great detail(unlike DCA), Disney paid close attention to Chinese culture, customs, and traditions when building the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and followed the rules of Feng Shui in much of the park's construction so as to give the park good luck.

It didn't work, unfortunately. More so because of the lack of many E-Ticket rides than anything to do with Feng Shui. Three rides every traditional Disney theme parks has were left for future expansion... Pirates of the Caribbean (which was rejected by the Hong Kong Government), Haunted Mansion (Now known as Mystic Manor with it's own unique variation on the original) and It's A Small World which opened a year or so ago. The park is slowly making progress, but an impatient world doesn't want to wait for it to happen...

If you get the chance to go to the D23 Expo, you'll see some amazing models of the Mystic Manor and Grizzly Trail attractions (check out Disney and More's post on the HKDL Expansion). And this will expand the options that guest have at the park. This and several other things which could be announced by next year should make the park a worthy addition by the 2014/2015 timeline.

Anyway, happy birthday Hong Kong Disneyland! Here's to a great, positive future.

Progressively progressing...

Port Disney's Call...

The Disney Cruise Line's expansion chugs right along...

Those of you that don't know, the cruise line owned by Disney will more than double in size by 2012 when the second of two new ships are delivered. The first one, the "Disney Dream" comes into service a little less than two year from now, in 2011, and the other, the "Disney Fantasy" approximately one year later, in 2012. Both ships are much larger than the Wonder or Magic; about 150% of their size and that's going to require some changes to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay (pronounced Castaway Key). For one, since the ships will be much bigger, they're having to dig a deeper docking area. Also, with the ships being able to hold a larger amount of guest, there will be more on the island. So many new attractions/construction are planned.

If you'd like to take a look at some of the new features this place will hold, click here.

And should you like to see the Disney Dream's keel being laid in a ceremony, click here.

Of course, once the Dream comes on line, the Wonder will head out here and finally provide the West Coast with a permanent base in Los Angeles harbor. When stationed in California, it'll go on vacations to Alaska in warm months and the Mexican ports in cooler months. As for the Fantasy, no plans have been made as to where it's home base will be, but a possible location could be Europe, if the economy comes out of its nose dive.

Dream on...

Bored Meetings...

For all of you that are interesting in the going ons surrounding Hong Kong Disneyland...

Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, John Tsang will be having a meeting a few hours from right now with the Walt Disney Company executives over in Burbank. Whatever could they be discussing?

Now wouldn't it be interesting to be a fly on that wall...

A Bridge Never Built...

I kind of have mixed feelings about this...

I've been hearing some rumors for a few weeks now about the property at Katella and Harbor having been bought and being developed for a new hotel. Now the news comes that it's true. So gone forever is the chance for Disney to bridge the gap between the original resorts and the area that is planned for a Third Gate someday in the distant future. I'm sure the idea of waiting close to a decade for that land to become another theme park wasn't the most comforting to Disney Geeks/Fans, but the dream of having it connect to the resort was a very nice thought. That is, presuming Disney believed some of the hotels, shops and 7-Eleven would eventually sell their land so that Disney could build out DCA and the Resort to the curb. Not a given of course, but now, were that to happen there is no chance of seeing the new park across the way... It will forever be broken and split into. Like two separate siblings.

Unless some sort of people-mover, or better yet a Monorail is built for that gate then it's not only a dream not realized, but a very uncomfortable transportation problem for future development...

Read the story here at the OC Register.

Sanctuary, Phase Two...

Pixar's campus in Emeryville is moving forward with a second phase of construction...

Steve Jobs, John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and their Suits have been working on plans for pushing out the current building for some years now. They planned ahead when they bought the plot of land years ago(Obviously the people that built DCA weren't working for them). If you want to see more of the plans submitted to the city then click over to The Pixar Blog and see all the blueprints they've gotten hold of. If you want to see just how cool the campus is already, then click over to Blue Sky's "The Sanctuary" article from last year. This phase(not the last, btw) is scheduled to be completed in 2011. There goes that year again.

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

A High Stakes Case Of Chicken For The Mouse...

I know some of you have seen this in the news...

The abrubt end of negotiation over Hong Kong Disneyland. It was to be expected as the negotiations that have dragged on haven't came to a satisfying conclusion for TeamDisney Burbank. I can understand the Hong Kong Governments frustration as the park hasn't turned out to be the success it wanted. I can understand Disney's desire to expand the park and have the city government help foot the bill. But this impasse is both Disney's fault and not its fault.

What you are seeing on display here is a high stakes game of chicken. To see who will blink first. The Hong Kong government feels(rightly so, I believe) that they put forth a great deal of money for a disappointing return and right now they don't want to invest more without a proper guarantee of results. Very little money was put down on the project by Disney under Eisner's regime, but they got a great deal. The park they built is a very beautiful theme park and the resort is nothing if not picturesque. Eisner didn't skimp on the theming when it came to China's first park, but he did skimp on the attractions. Several key attractions that would have drawn more guest through the turnstiles were left for a second phase. Pirates, Haunted Mansion and IASW would have to wait. A big mistake that the Mouse is now having to deal with. They opened Small World last year and got an immediate attendance boost that shows if you build what guest want, they come. Well duh...

Small world is a nicely themed, very needed addition to worlds smallest Disney park, but it was built because the will of the company to fork over the cash for a major attraction like POTC or HM wasn't there. Still isn't there. Not yet, anyway...

Make no mistake about my argument here. HKDL is a very nice park, but it's one that absolutely should have opened with two or three more iconic Disney E-Tickets and the company and the local government are now in a fight because of it. Will they build the much ballyhooed Second Phase that will cost over a half billion dollars? They want to, they intend to and they should. But right now, the HK officials are having a fit and expecting Disney to pony up more than Iger and company feel is feasible. I think that as disappointing as this news is, Disney is the one with the bigger cards... or card I should say.

Shanghai.

That is a card that will make government officials in Hong Kong think twice. They're trying to expand the tourist trade in their area and the Mouse plays a bigger role than they're going to admit. I think they expected Disney to just give in and fund the project themselves. As the time gets closer to an announcement of a mainland Disney theme park the government will come around. If they don't they're going to have some serious explaining to do in five or six years. As much as a bad decision it was for them to build that resort and expect a dramatic debut for the park, it'll be an even more dramatic ending were they to let the park fail. Which, I believe they aren't about to do.

Interesting times are ahead for the Mouse and the Middle Kingdom this year...

Buzz In Toyland...

Alain over at Disney and More has some more info about the new Toy Storyland that is being build at Walt Disney Studios in Paris for a tentative 2010 opening...

Go over and read about it and pray that the economy starts to get better, because even better things are planned than this.

But that's not a Toy Story, that's another story...

Something Grand...

Twenty years ago today Disney's Grand Floridian Resort opened in Walt Disney World. It would mark the beginning of a huge hotel expansion over the next decade and a half... The luxury hotel is themed after a turn-of-the-century coastal Victorian resort. Although WDW has no moniker hotel(read:Disneyland Hotel) like all the other Disneylands, the Floridian is essentially the "Walt Disney World Hotel" without having that name.

Let's Put A Plan Together...

Those of you wanting to know more about the Grand California's 2009 Expansion and DVC units might want to head over to DVCNews... the guys over there have put up several detailed plans showing what the rooms offered will look like and some more interesting bits. Check it out here.