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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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By Michael - April 11th, 2009 Feel the flow, here we go…
What better way to clear out my bookmarks than to start out with a nearly year-old post from Passport to Dreams Old & New? When Foxx originally posted this piece about the new souvenir guidebooks at Walt Disney World, I was excited to hear about the possibility of a return to the classy park guides of old. Sure as the world, I was able to pick these up in March and they’re a vast improvement over recent guides. And, as Foxx says, the fact that they’re not hardcover or printed on high-quality paper is offset buy their shockingly reasonable price. Big applause to author Jody Revenson, designer Steven Rosen and editor Wendy Lefkon.
Disney & Siemens team up to keep us safe.
Disney fans have long bemoaned the lack of merchandise for characters outside of the company’s mainstream. Thankfully, the folks at Electric Tiki have stepped up and obtained a license to produce figures, maquettes and statues of fan-favorite Disney properties. Early releases will include Darkwing Duck, Roger & Jessica Rabbit, maquettes based on Mary Blair’s Alice in Wonderland designs, the Rescue Rangers and – yay – the Rocketeer.
At last – a nice explanation of what, exactly, the deal is with the mysterious Bonnet Creek Resort.
The Financial Times has lunch with John Lasseter, featuring some interesting discussion of his 1983 firing from Disney. Why don’t I ever have lunch with John Lasseter?
Here’s a photo update from last month with some news regarding expansion at Disneyland Paris.
Word leaked last month that, considering Detroit’s current woes, General Motors might be unable to come to suitable terms to extend their sponsorship of Test Track. Their most recent ten-year sponsorship contract was set to expire at the end of March. A spokesperson for GM admitted in March that talks were still underway, and that the company very much wanted to continue the deal, but with the company’s financial future imperiled it might be difficult to explain the roughly $5 million annual fee to Congress.
Sources from Toyota admitted to the Orlando Sentinel that they have had internal discussions on whether to enter into sponsorship talks for the attraction, but as of March further speculation would be premature. It’s assumed that if a new company took over the attraction that, much like Siemens did with Spaceship Earth, they would want to put their own stamp on the pavilion. As I’m not much of a Test Track fan, I’m pretty much of the opinion that anything they’d want to do would be an improvement. Nothing against GM, but this is one rumor that I hope has legs.
You must read this. I wish it was mandatory reading at Team Disney.
Mickey’s Philharmagic will open at Tokyo Disneyland in 2011. While this is understandable, I will mourn their loss of the Mickey Mouse Revue. That and Meet the World were two treats that I was always excited about someday seeing in Tokyo.
More from Passport to Dreams – this time about Tomorrowland. There are interesting ideas here, and this is something I’ve written about myself. WDI needs to decide what Tomorrowland is going to be.
A great resource: Theme Park Paper.
What the?!
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The Progress City Primer
 From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats. |
Concept art for California Adventure’s upcoming Little Mermaid dark ride
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