Disney Falls For Salma During Blind Date...

Disney has been getting in bed with Salma Hayek quite a bit lately. Business-wise, I mean... of course.

The lovely actress of Lebanese descent will star in as well as produce an untitled romantic comedy that Walt Disney Pictures bought from scribes Ed Decter and John Strauss. Hayek's partner at Ventanarosa, Jose Tamez is a producer on the project.

The script tells the story of a conservative doctor whose life is turned upside down when the ex-boyfriend of his fiancee (Hayek) a international Latin superstar comes to Los Angeles to woo her back. Lou Anne Brickhouse will be the Suit in charge for Disney.

The lovely and talented Hayek has been busy for the Mouse of late. She's one of the Executive Producers on ABC's "Ugly Betty" as well as a voice of one of the characters in WDP's "South of the Border". I bet she'd look cute in a pair of Mouse Ears, don't you?

Hey, I'm a guy... whatayouexpect?

Theming Is Believing...

Walt Disney had it right when he created Disneyland.

We all want a world that's themed. A world that has a history... a sense of permanence. A world that's fun, yet safe.

That's what you get when you buy a ticket to the park.

That's what is being sold to you and that's what you get. It really is that simple.

And Disney understood that. We all want to experience the world, but we don't all want to face it's dangers. If we have kids then that's doubly so...

By creating the park, Walt created a place we can all go and experience these things. Believe in them... without having to fear a danger from them.

The world is a dangerous place. Sometimes it can be an unhappy place. That's why the park is so successful. It's like a parent welcoming you into their arms as they tell you a tale and transport you to some magical place while still feeling the warmth of their arms around you...

Protecting you.

All the other parks succeed or fail based on the theming that comes from Disneyland. Others have tried and most have fallen short at attempting to mimic the theming of the Anaheim original. Even Vegas has taking on the idea of theming itself ever since the late 80's. It used to jokingly be called a "Disneyland for adults"... now, it literally is that statement.

When we go to any park now, it's the standard by which we all measure the others. Every park now offers what theme it thinks people will like. Not just a bunch of rides, but a story... a narrative, if you will. Human beings have a short attention span. We have the need to constantly be presented with new things because we bore so easily. Disneyland is so filled with new things and new experiences it demands constant returns. And we know each time something new will come our way. We all want to believe it. To believe in it.

Because, Walt was right.

Theming is believing...

The Beginning Of The End... Or The End Of The Beginning?

Well, it's finally official...

Disney-MGM Studios is no more.


Disney's Hollywood Studios is now the new name.

Long live Disney-MGM.

The name change has been expected for some time now. Most thought that it would be the "Disney-Pixar" name, others thought it would be Disney Studios.

Both were wrong.

I remember a couple e-mails exuding happiness when it was announced that there was going to be no name change, a couple months ago. I remarked that sooner or later a name change was coming and most likely to be announced by October. Well, Disney beat that announcement by a couple months.

Come January 2008 the park will have a new name.

But this isn't the only change... and I'm not talking about the additions that Meg Crofton mentioned today. Most of what she mentioned was already known by most everyone anyway.

Over the next few years the MGM... errr, got to get used to the new acronym. Over the next few years DHS will be getting a re-branding, not just in name but appearance. Now, this won't be on a level with DCA, but there will be more focus on giving the park a unique identity.

A Hollywood identity that's been sorely lacking for most of the past decade.

Haunting Disneyland For 38 Years...

In 1969 "The Haunted Mansion opened up in New Orleans Square. One of Walt Disney's last creations, it opens a couple years after his passing to many stunned park guest. For the first time ever, Disneyland fans get to ride the "Doombuggies" with real ghost sitting right next to them.

The ride becomes one of the staples of a "Disneyland" themed park along with Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean. Once these rides join HKDL in a few years all the main gate parks will have one of each of these rides. The Jungle Cruise would join this trio as well except for the fact that Disneyland Paris doesn't have this one ride. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future...

Turns Out France Has Great Taste...

Pixar's "Ratatouille" opened big in France this week.

Says Variety: "In Gaul, "Ratatouille" enjoyed a phenomenal bow, gobbling up a very impressive $11.4 million on 721 in its first five days. The Paris-set pic benefited from excellent reviews.".

But I'm sure people around the web will find something bad to say about this. "The glass is half-empty" crowd will nit-pick the story to death. Go right ahead ya bunch of Eeyores... I'm sticking to the sunny side of the street. If you would like to read the rest of the article you can judge for yourself.

What Would Walt Think?

You've all seen those hats and shirts with the WWJD on them. The "What Would Jesus Do?" statement that some people make to ask what the moral ramifications of peoples actions should be.

Well, we Disney fans/geeks are always hearing stuff like "Walt would never do that" or "Walt would hate that". So it made me wonder...

What would Walt Think?

About what, you ask?

Well, I wondered what he would think about how Walt Disney Productions became the behemoth Walt Disney Company.

And also what he'd think about his beloved EPCOT and the realization/bastardization of it that finally came to be.

And then there's what he'd of thought of the original Disneyland. The expansion of it. DCA. The general Anaheim area around the park and how it's different today than when he drove down daily from Burbank.

Now granted, this is pure speculation. Other than looking into a crystal ball, hiring a physic to contact his ghost or pulling his head out of the mythical cryogenic freezer there is really no way of knowing truly what he'd of thought of these questions. We can only base it on our general understanding of who he was and relate it to the context of where he was and the time in which he lived.

With that out of the way, let's go...

Walt Disney Productions went from a small company that made Oswald the Rabbit cartoons to Mickey Mouse cartoons... slowly he worked up to features with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Within a decade he would start prepping WDP for it's entry into live-action with "Treasure Island", "20,000 Leagues" and several others. Then came television which was really just to fund his construction of Disneyland. All this time Walt had licensed out the Disney characters to merchandising companies. By the time he passed away, Walt and Roy Disney had turned WDP into a very large entertainment company. When Michael Eisner came to power in 1984 he knew the potential the corporation had and turned it into an even larger empire, finally changing the name to the Walt Disney Company. Bob Iger is now in charge of a global behemoth that's only entertainment rival is Time-Warner.

Walt would be surprised at how large his company had gotten. From the movies made for families(Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar) or adults(Touchstone, Hollywood, Miramax) to Disney no longer letting others handle it's properties(Disney Consumer Products), the company is an amazingly diverse collection of every facet of entertainment. I think Walt would be happy with most of what the company does... he'd especially would like the Disney Cruise Line I think. Having seen pictures of him traveling to Europe aboard luxury liners of the past I think he would have been pleasantly surprised at the cruise line.

I think Walt would take a look at the Disneyland Resort, as it's called now, with a bit of wonder. He'd be amazed at how it's grown. The park would definitely be something he would be proud of. I can't say that he'd be totally happy with Tom Sawyer Island, but the spirit of Disneyland changing continually reflects on the timeless nature of the park.

To say that he wouldn't like DCA is unfair because the park is still evolving and by the time it's ten it will be a much rather different place... as will be the Resort, with new hotels under construction, the original hotel rethemed(and now actually owned by Disney) and an expanded Downtown Disney. I'd say he'd even be surprised at the surrounding area which doesn't look near as tacky and cheap as it did when Walt made the decision to build a Disneyland on the East Coast.

Walt Disney World would be a mixed bag as well. The sheer size of it with it's four theme parks, two water parks and voluminous hotels would surprise and astound him. The fact that one of these parks would be called Epcot and bear little resemblance to his dream would probably be heartbreaking. EPCOT was Walt's dying dream and I believe he knew no one could pull it off but him. Still the fact that it's not a working city would be the most disappointing thing for him.

The expansion across the world would most likely give him a reflection on how much of an affect he's been on the world in addition to America. Having parks in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong are an example of the American dream extended internationally, Disney being the perfect representation of this. The deal that Walt Disney Productions made with the Oriental Land Company would most likely anger him. Walt was about control and letting another company handle the parks and characters would have never been an option. The deal that created Tokyo Disneyland would more than likely never have happened had he still been running the company.

As I said in the beginning of this article, this is all just speculation based on what we know about the Old Maestro and what we believe he would think about the life his company took on after he passed on... there's a great deal to be proud of. There's a good deal to be embarrassed by. There's even a small amount to be ashamed of. But of the totality of it all... it's a great gift he gave the world. It continues to delight fans all across the world so many, many years after his death.

And we should all remember, it's Disney's world after-all...

Deer Disney...

Walt Disney Productions "Bambi" premiered on this date in 1942 in London, England. The following week it would open in America, distributed by RKO Pictures. The classic motion picture was Walt's fifth animated feature. It was the last full feature until Cinderella in 1950(the other features were collections of shorts or combination live-action).