No More Pooh...

It appears that the Disney Channel show: "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" will not be getting another season and will end its run after season two. Good luck to all those animators in finding new gigs. Hopefully things will start to look up for Disney Animation(TV and Film) later this year as we are really in a transitional period right now at the Mouse...


Hat Tip to the Animation Guild Blog.

A Battle Between A Wizard, A Mouse And The World (Part One)...

There was an article in the Orlando Sentinel the other day about Universal that was interesting...

It was something I'm sure WDI and some people inside the Team Disney Building took note of. It was about something they could have had and let get away... deliberately. When Universal got the rights to J.K. Rowling's famous character and Disney's competition announced "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" many people who follow the Mouse were stunned. How could they let a project like this get away? Is Disney loosing it when it comes to creativity?

Competition is a wonderful thing. It's been one of the great motivations that has propelled America since it's birth to the most prosperous, powerful country in the world. I welcome the attractions that Universal and others build all throughout the world, because it will make WDI have to work harder to create better attractions. We all benefit from that.

There are a great deal of people designing for Universal right now that used to work for the Mouse and that alone is one of the reasons their rides are becoming close to the quality of an attraction you find in a Disney theme park. They aren't the only ones doing this.

Disney will have a great deal of competition over the next decade and the Potter attraction is only the tip of the iceberg. The East is where most of Disney's future growth lies and it also is where it's greatest creative challenges will be(expect a few articles on this in the near future). The biggest threat to the Walt Disney Company's dominance of entertainment will come from a small country in the Middle East... the United Arab Emirates. And the main focus of entertainment there is in Dubai. This area within a decade will be the greatest challenge for Disney's expansion in Asia and the eastern part of the world. And I welcome it. I encourage it. It will only make for a better Mouse.

So let the Wizard begin his battle for the world...

Celebrating Thunder...

Twenty-nine years ago today, The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction opened in Frontierland at Disneyland. This wild ride that took guests thundering through dark caverns and abandoned mine shafts of a haunted town where treasured gold was supposed to still be waiting to be found. The theming and design of thwas inspired by the scenery in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

BTMRR has become a fixture at many "Magic Kingdom" style parks across the world... thrilling riders at the original Disneyland in Anaheim, the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan, and Disneyland Paris in France... could we seee a variation of it headed elsewhere in the future? Possibly Asia?

The next decade holds many wonders to be built. Let's hope they ALL get built...

Another Opening For Disney...

Sad Blessings can happen...

It appears Matt Ouimet, former head of the Disneyland Resort, is leaving the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. immediately. If you're a frequent reader of Blue Sky Disney, you know of my opinions of both Ouimet and Rasulo. I have championed for some time now for Matt to take the position that Jay now occupies... The way Matt handled Disneyland shows what one can do even with limited capabilities. I imagine what he would do were he in charge of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts with help of Lasseter and others now in place inside TeamDisney Burbank.

I wish Matt Ouimet well where ever he lands. I only hope that it turns out to be a place where he looks comfortable wearing Mouse Ears...

Eight Years In The Hundred Acre Woods...

Eight years ago today, Tokyo Disneyland opened up "Pooh's Honey Hut" and became the most popular ride in the park.

It still is, I might add...

Many of you have heard me talk about this ride and yes, it is as amazing as I say it is. While Disneyland got "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" a few years later... the 30 million they spent on ours really does become painfully evident when you get a look at the Japanese version. Even worse when you ride it, considering the concepts for this were from the original blue sky phase for the ride we were supposed to get state-side.

Anyways, enough crying over spilt milk. The ride in Tokyo is a much more layered ride of what we have here where you ride his large trackless honey pots that are guided by GPS as you go through the story of Pooh and become immersed in the world A.A. Milne created. If you ever go to the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, this is the attraction to see.

Don't miss it...

Once you leave the ride, you'll dislike Michael Eisner even more knowing what we were robbed of.

The Lord Of the Jungle's Father Is Welcomed Into The World Today...

Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan the Ape Man, John Carter, Warlord of Mars and many others was born today in Chicago, a hundred and thirty three years ago. He lived for three quarters of a century and contributed volumes to American literature about what twentieth century adventure would be perceived as...

Along with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, Burroughs has been used by Disney in the parks and films(both past and future) enough to have carved out quite a bit of Disney history...

Happy Birthday, Mr. Burroughs.

Happy Labor Day...

For all those who work for a living and work to make our country the great place that it is...

Happy Labor Day.