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By Michael - April 16th, 2009 
Things might be slightly quieter around here than last week, as I’m busy with couple of upcoming projects that, as always, tend to grow exponentially in scope. As a tasty preview I thought I’d share this rendering, from circa 1976, depicting a concept for the entrance to the Mexico pavilion in World Showcase.
By this point, the World Showcase and Future World Theme Center concepts had been combined into one gated attraction, and EPCOT Center began to slowly resemble the park we know today.
Pretty swanky, eh?
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By Michael - April 15th, 2009  Concept art for California Adventure’s upcoming Little Mermaid dark ride I have heard the faintest whispery whispers – the scarcest whiff of rumor – that the dark ride based on The Little Mermaid might once again have been given the go-ahead for Florida’s Magic Kingdom. The attraction, already planned and designed for Fantasyland, was allegedly on its way to the greenlight last year before the economy started to crumble. Management then became timid and froze all expansion plans indefinitely, putting Ariel on ice for the time being. Since then, we’ve seen attendance go through the roof at the parks and multiple gate closures due to record crowds. So, whisper says that Mermaid is a go once more.
Now, I might be a world-renowned bloggist but I don’t actually have any real information due to the fact that I don’t know “people” who know “things.” Actually knowing “facts” would be very useful in this instance. So if anyone cares to drop me an email and elaborate on what is or isn’t going on in Florida, you know where to find me…
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By Michael - April 14th, 2009 
The story so far: Walt Disney Pictures is making John Carter of Mars, based on the series of pulp novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film, rumored to be targeted for a 2012 release and based on the novel A Princess of Mars, is being directed by Pixar impresario Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E). It will be Stanton’s live-action feature debut. All this is very, very exciting. In fact, I did not think it could become more exciting. Now it has.
Author Michael Chabon, he of Wonder Boys and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay has disclosed that he has come on board to do some rewrites on the existing script by Stanton and Mark Andrews. Chabon, a champion of pulp of genre fiction, describes the opportunity as “a dream come true.”
Such good news. If tomorrow they announce that Brad Bird and Neil Gaiman are doing an adaptation of Sandman, my work on this planet will be done.
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By Michael - April 12th, 2009  Walt Disney and family – wife Lillian and daughters Diane and Sharon – arrive in Los Angeles from Europe on August 1st, 1949 (AP Photo) The outbreak of World War II had an enormous effect on Walt Disney Productions. Overseas film markets, which had contributed greatly to Walt’s profits on earlier films, were completely shut off and a critical source of revenue was thus eliminated. The decreased chances of recouping production costs on the very expensive animated features combined with the animators’ strike of 1941 to effectively end the first golden age of Disney animation.
Even with the end of the war, Walt’s problems weren’t over. War-ravaged European nations adopted protectionist policies to save their economies; while Disney films continued to bring in profits in Britain, Walt couldn’t take his money out of the country. Forced to spend his British film revenues in the U.K. or not at all, Walt began producing a series of live-action films shot in England. The first of these, Treasure Island, would premiere in 1950. It would be Walt’s first completely live-action film.
Walt spent a great deal of time in Britain during this period, and it appears that he was nice enough to bring along the family! The original caption of this photo read:
Walt Disney and his family arrive from a three-month trip abroad via TWA Constellation at Los Angeles, Ca., on Aug. 1949. He is posing with his wife, Lillian, left, and their daughters Diane, 16, and Sharon, 13, right. Disney was supervising filming of the movie “Treasure Island” in London.
A couple of notes – first, it must be kinda breezy out there on the tarmac. Second, how awesome are Diane’s gloves? I think the ladies must have all shopped at the moire effect boutique. And wow – how tall was Sharon? She was 13 in this? I doubt Walt would have let her wear stilettos, so either she was quite a tall drink of water or she was standing on someone. Also, I’m jealous about the ride on the TWA Constellation.
Diane Disney Miller still lives in California, and is busy at work on preparations for the upcoming Walt Disney Family Museum. More on that soon…
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By Michael - April 11th, 2009  And here I left all my ha’pennies at home… Spotted last month on the menu of the Cantina de San Angel at EPCOT…
I’m not sure how to interpret this – either they’ve gotten really generous and decided not to round up, or the accountaneers have gotten extremely meticulous.
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