100 Years of Awesome

Universal is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and I have to admit that their line up of events and new attractions sounds kind of awesome. Of course, they have new attractions to compete with Disney including a nighttime spectacular that is supposed to rival World of Color. But considering the description of the Universal show, it might be better than Disney’s show, at least in content. I honestly don’t think that anything else could be as pretty as World of Color, but the content could definitely use some work. Since, it’s Universal’s 100th anniversary, the water show will display every famous Universal movie. Here’s the description from one of the theme park blogs:


Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories ~ Opening Spring 2012 at Universal Studios Florida
Narrated by award-winning actor and recent Golden Globe - Cecil B. DeMille honoree, Morgan Freeman, Universal Orlando’s brand-new nighttime show, Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular, will celebrate the most powerful and emotional moments from Universal Pictures’ most iconic films – all on cutting-edge waterfall screens within the Universal Studios lagoon and surrounded by colorful fountains and pyrotechnics. The experience will take guests on a journey through epic cinematic moments filled with heroes, horror, laughter, good vs. evil and triumph. The new show opens this spring, runs all summer and then on select nights through the end of the year.

The renderings of what the show could look like are awesome too. Not going to lie, I really want to see this.

Some other attractions Universal is adding this year are as follows:

Blue Man Group ~ Opening February 2012 at Universal CityWalk
Universal Orlando’s Blue Man Group show is taking their unique mash-up of high energy music, comedy, audience participation and collective exhilaration to another level. Featuring a new show environment, new music, new technology and new experiences, the show will allow audiences to join the Blue Men as they discover, engage and explore the world’s obsession with cutting-edge technology.

Signature Blue Man Group moments combine with new pieces for an explosive evening of entertainment. New show elements include the curious Blue Men interacting with enormous “GiPads,” a funny and insightful look at contemporary communication vehicles, and a pulsating new finale with an original Blue Man Group music score. Look closely – you may even see the Blue Men take a spin on one of Universal Orlando's most popular attractions.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ~ Experience March 2012 at Islands of Adventure
Universal Orlando is transforming what is already one of the most amazing attraction experiences ever created into what will feel like an all-new adventure. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man will soon feature all-new, 4K digital high-definition animation, new high tech 3-D glasses and upgrades to the set, audio and lighting systems. The re-animation of the ride film will include an entirely new level of detail for guests to discover, including a cameo by comic book icon and Spider-Man co-creator, Stan Lee.

Universal’s Superstar Parade ~ Opening Spring 2012 at Universal Studios Florida

Some of today’s most beloved characters and stories will bring new adventure to the streets of Universal Studios during Universal’s Superstar Parade – an all-new daily parade that features huge floats, state-of-the-art technology and hundreds of energetic street performers. Guests will sing and dance along with characters like the minions from Despicable Me, E.B. from the hit comedy, Hop, Nickelodeon’s Dora & Diego and SpongeBob SquarePants during the interactive experience. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy performances and character meet and greets prior to the parade at select locations throughout the day.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ~ Opening Summer 2012 at Universal Studios Florida

Universal Orlando’s newest attraction, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, will take guests on an unforgettable 3-D adventure with their favorite characters from the hit film – Gru, Margo, Edith, Agnes and the mischievous minions. The experience begins when guests enter Gru’s home, where they learn that they’re being recruited to become minions and undergo “minion training.” Things don’t go as planned, and guests find themselves on a wildly hysterical journey with Gru and his daughters. Once guests make it through training, they join an interactive, minion-inspired dance party where they can show off their best moves.

Universal’s Creative team is working closely with Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment to bring this all-new adventure to life in the most authentic way possible. In fact, the beloved characters in the attraction will be voiced by the film’s original cast: Steve Carell (Gru), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith) and Elsie Fisher (Agnes). The ride’s experience is being developed by the same creative team that behind the award-winning film, Despicable Me.

Other New Experiences Opening this Year

• Hollywood Drive-In Golf, a unique 36-hole miniature golf experience inspired by the classic drive-in movie era, will open in February at Universal CityWalk.
• A great, new immersive retail entertainment experience that will become home to SpongeBob SquarePants and other characters from the number one kids animated TV series, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. It will open inside Universal Studios this year.
• Minutes away from Universal Orlando, the popular Wet ‘n Wild water park will open its first interactive family water play area, this summer – allowing everyone in the family to splash and swim together. Amidst lush, tropical landscaping, the new area will feature 15 water slides and more than 100 soakers, jets, waterfalls and water cannons - making it the largest interactive water play experience in Florida.

I guess it’s time to go to Florida and see some of these things for myself. I hear that Universal in Orlando is much better than Universal in LA because it’s an actual theme park. Although, I do love going through the back lot in LA.

Magical Year

Sorry for abandoning my blog for a few weeks. There were some insane deadlines at work leaving no time to look at what was happening in the world other than presidential events, but that's not what this blog is about. This is about the fun things that take us away from the cruel world and into the awesome, fantastical world.

So let's move on to the happiest place on Earth. California Adventure has a lot going on and I can't wait until the end of this year when it's all complete. I want to run around like a child! Cars Land is nearing completion and I keep seeing amazing images and videos and it just looks fantastic. The front entrance area is going to look like old Burbank when Walt first arrived to California. I'm most excited about the statue of Walt and Mickey that will be placed in the middle of the square.

Not sure why I love the statue so much. It's just Walt and Mickey with suit cases. What's really cool about it is that the statue of Walt and Mickey in Disneyland is supposed to be the two of them looking at all their accomplishments, while the new one at DCA is the two of them just starting out. Good job with story telling Disney folks.

Anyway, going back to the changes. The area where ElecTRONica is currently, is going away and becoming an Alice in Wonderland/Mad T Party themed bar area instead.

I'm not sure the motivation behind making this area a bar after dark. Seems kind of weird to me, but at least Alice in Wonderland is more Disney than ElecTRONica... Although, this Alice in Wonderland is going to be more like the Tim Burton version and less like the cartoon we all know and love from Disney. So I guess nothing is really changing except the decor. The change is going to take place this summer.

No matter what, I think this is what the Disney folks should have done with DCA in the first place. The changes that are being made are very awesome and I definitely think it will draw more people to the park once it's finished. I guess it took the Imagineers going through a little bit of failure with the park before realizing what the park should actually look like.

Scary Mickey

It's almost Halloween and I'm so excited. I can't wait! I've been actively holding myself back from putting up the Halloween decorations so they don't get boring by the time Halloween rolls around. I'll wait until at least Oct 1, which is just around the corner. Everyone gets into the spirit making the month of October the best month ever. All the theme parks get super into themeing. Even SeaWorld is going to do a Halloween theme this year. I know because my company built it. Anyway, I was on the Disney blog the other day and saw all their new Halloween merch and I'm kid of disappointed. When I think of Disneyland Halloween, I think of cute things that would look cute on a mantel or counter, but for some reason this year they're taking the scarier route. Instead of cute Mickey faces on pumpkins, they have scary Mickey faces on pumpkins. Dislike! I mean there are still some cute things, but for the most part it's all scary Mickey faces. See for yourself.

The Ears

I will try to make this the last Disney blog for the week. I just can’t help it. I love Disney. This is cute and simple and I had to share. Disney consumer products released a new line of Mickey ears. I want the Woody ears! Anyway, that’s all.

Buena Vista Street

I lived 4.9 miles away from the Walt Disney Studios for 22 years. Buena Vista Street was a main street that I traveled on every single day multiple times a day. And therefore the Buena Vista Street being built at California Adventure is very exciting to me. It will literally be like going home. To think that Walt Disney came to this very street in 1923 to fulfill his dreams is kind of awesome to me. I lived 4.9 miles away from his dream studio! That’s so cool, but I’m a huge fan so I might be alone here. Either way, I wanted to share a few images and a fly through video of the new street. It’s very cool and I can’t wait for this to be finished. I believe the opening will be sometime in 2012. Very soon! Also, the statue above will be the main statue of the street similar to the one in front of the castle where Walt is holding Mickey's hand. The Buena Vista Street statue depicts Mickey and Walt with their luggage coming to Burbank for the first time. Many people don't know that Walt was a real person, which baffles me and the goal behind this street to show that he was a real man with a dream. Love it!

Weekend of Disney

This weekend was very Disney filled and I’m not complaining in the least. Saturday, I headed down to the Anaheim Convention Center for the D23 Expo. It wasn’t what I expected, but I still had fun. I got to see John Lasseter and that’s really all I cared about. He and his creative team had a panel discussion and I waited in line for 3 hours to see it. There were a lot of nerdy people, which I didn’t expect at all. I guess when I think of Disney, I don’t think of a nerdy following, but this weekend kind of taught me a lesson. There were quite a few people dressed in bad costumes. I felt very out of place in some instances, but I saw some old co-workers and felt a little better about being there. I had fun, but I don’t think I will be going again. I was looking forward to the Carousel of Projects, which was a room showing all of the new projects coming up like the expansion of Fantasyland at Disney World, Cars Land, Buena Vista Street, etc but I follow so many Disney blogs that nothing was really new. I got to see a model of Buena Vista Street, which was cool, but for the most part, I already knew about everything they were showing. So again, it was fun, but I’ll skip it next time.

Then, I ran back to LA for a night at the Hollywood Bowl with Mickey and his magical brooms for Fantasia with the LA Phil. See, I told you it was a Disney filled weekend. I hadn’t seen the movie since I was a kid and I realized there were a lot of things I didn’t remember. They only showed clips of the movie, which was kind of sad because I wanted to see the whole thing, but it was still awesome. Of course, I was stuck sitting next to crazy people. The lady next to me was dancing and being obnoxious and the girl behind me kept humming every song. Then the dancing lady got annoyed by the humming chick and instead of turning around and telling her to be quiet, she kept shhing her. It was obnoxious. Either way, the Hollywood Bowl is always fun and enjoying something Disney related is even better!

The Hill

Back at work. Sad day. I hope everyone has an awesome 4th! Since it's been so hot, I thought I would talk about something cold....

Another Disney ride to turn into a movie? First, was The Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy, which didn’t do very well. They’re going to try again soon and I hope it does well because that ride is awesome. Then, I mentioned not too long ago that Disney is making a movie based on The Jungle Cruise, which sounds like it might work. It will star Tom Hanks and Tim Allen and they’re a great pair. The new movie on the list will be based on the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is a fun ride, but the plot sounds too obvious and dumb. It’s going to be an action adventure movie centered on 5 climbers who climb to the top of the mountain and encounter a yeti on the way down. That sounds so lame! Why Disney why?!?! The working title right now is “The Hill” and they’ve chosen Jason Dean Hall to write the script.

Looks like Disney’s main objective right now is to write movies based on their rides. There are many more in the works and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Kind of makes me sad. What do you think?

Good Friday

Another 3 day weekend ahead of us. Sounds very delightful and I can’t wait. I hope everyone has an awesome time. Please don’t kill yourself with illegal fireworks. Watch them from a distance and hang with your friends. Or go to Disneyland where they have special fireworks. Happy 4th everyone! See you back here on Tuesday.

Land of Cars

Every time I go to Disneyland, I see the construction and I recall artwork in my head of what the new California Adventure will look like. I can see the rock mountains they're building behind the Tower of Terror where Cars Land will be and the construction where the main entrance is. It's all very exciting. Disney recently posted a video of a walk through of the new Cars Land. It's a pretty minimal walk through, but it gives us all a really good idea of what's in store. I'm definitely looking forward to this.

Premieres

So this past weekend, Disneyland and California Adventure premiered 2 big attractions. I talked about them both last week: The Little Mermaid ride and Mickey's Soundsational Parade. Of course, people filmed every moment of both. If you have a few minutes, you should definitely take a look.

Little Mermaid


Soundsational Parade

Good Friday

Yes! 3 days weekends are always welcome around here. I mean who doesn't love a longer weekend? Crazy people, that's who. There are so many things to be done over long weekends, including visiting Disneyland where new things are popping up everywhere! “Mickey’s Soundsational Parade” makes its debut today. The parade will kick off Disney Soundsational Summer, which will also include the openings of The Little Mermaid Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and Star Tours, along with new experiences at the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier. Awesome! Here is the description of the new parade:

“Mickey’s Soundsational Parade” will feature Aladdin, Ariel, Peter Pan and more, all led by Mickey Mouse.

With unique rhythms and instruments, they will tell the story of Disney music as drumlines, percussion teams and jazz horns bring a new energy to each storyline. Nine newly designed float units, each telling its own musical story, will travel from Main Street, U.S.A., to “it’s a small world.” Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Chip ‘n’ Dale and Goofy get the party started with a six-member drumline, followed by characters from Disney’s classic film, “Aladdin,” including Genie as Drum Major and six cymbal dancers. From there, the parade goes “Under the Sea” with a distinctly Caribbean-style sound including steel drums and marimbas, and on to the spicy sounds of Latin America with The Three Caballeros. Next, a grand procession of Disney Princesses, including Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White, is followed by Rapunzel’s tower rising overhead. Then, jungle drums sound the arrival of Simba, who is perched majestically atop Pride Rock.

Princess Tiana glides past next on a classic riverboat surrounded by Mardi Gras dancers beating tambourines in time to a New Orleans jazz beat. Adventure is waiting in Neverland as Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee are joined by Tinker Bell, who is playing a rhythm on mushrooms instead of drums. Finally, Mary Poppins and Bert bring “Mickey’s Soundsational Parade” to a close, along with chimney sweeps performing a broom dance amid the rooftops of London.

Sounds awesome. I'm never one to stop and watch the parades, but this one sounds really fun! Check it out! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Things Are A Changin’!

California Adventure is changing and I can’t wait to see the finished product! When I was at the Pirates premiere, I could see the changes they’ve made already to the front entrance and I think it’s going to look amazing. It’s going to look something like this; minus all the cars and lights of course:

When it’s all done, I might need to spend some good quality time there looking at every little thing. The first thing to kick off the new park is the Little Mermaid ride opening in June. Here are some awesome stills from the ride as well as a video interview with the Imagineers. Get your tickets, cause we’re going!

Weekend Movie - Pirates of the Caribbean on Strangers Tides at Disneyland

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend! I had the good fortune of getting to attend the world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides at Disneyland. It was kind of amazing. I got to walk the black carpet in front of all the paparazzi, which was very intimidating. I don't know how people do it. All the rides in Frontier Land and New Orleans Square were open so we got to ride those over and over. All the food at the kiosks was free. There was a full buffet for dinner as well. So that part was awesome all in itself. I've never walked on to so many rides in my life.

Then, the best part comes. Disneyland set up movie theatre seats stadium style in the Tom Sawyer lagoon, which was very impressive. The movie screen was on an island that they built right in front of Tom Sawyer Island. We got free pop corn and drinks, but wait for it: Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz were there too along with the rest of the cast. This I was not expecting. I just thought that we were going to see the movie and go home. The producer, Jerry Bruckheimer walked out on stage and I was very excited and then when the rest of the cast came out I was speechless. It was definitely a pleasure to see them.

The movie was pretty good too. I feel like the last 3 were a little confusing for some reason, but this one seemed straight forward. I also don't feel like it needed the other 3 movies to exist. This one kind of stands on its own. I think the mermaids were my favorite. They were sweet and cute and then they turned evil and I kind of liked that about them. People always think of Ariel when they hear someone talking about mermaids so this was a nice change of pace. Their fins were super cool too. The CG was really well done. Definitely see this movie when it comes out.

Toy Story 4 Live Action

I’m kind of super excited about this. I’m not a fan of the ride itself, but this sounds like it’s going to be awesome. Disney has announced that they’re going to make a Jungle Cruise movie. At first I was a little skeptical because they totally killed The Haunted Mansion by casting Eddie Murphy, but the cast for the Jungle Cruise movie is just amazing. There’s no way this movie could be ruined:

The Walt Disney Studios is excited to be in development with Mandeville Films and writer Roger S.H. Schulman on a feature film based on the Jungle Cruise, one of the most iconic attractions in Disney theme park history. The film will pair up Tim Allen and Tom Hanks in their first live-action project, after their previous collaborations in the Toy Story trilogy.‬

So not only is the essence of Toy Story coming together here, but it’s live action! That just sounds awesome. So Disney, please make this one good. Please!

Themed Birthday

Wow. Can you believe that California Adventure celebrates its 10 year anniversary today? Part of me feels like it's been there longer than 10 years. I guess this would be the perfect time to revamp. Just like Disneyland, it's opening was not a success in the least. You had to pay extra money to get into a park that was definitely not as cool as Disneyland. Plus, it had everything Walt didn't want, such as an area that looked like a carnival. Walt hated carnivals and never wanted anything even remotely similar anywhere near his precious park. Eisner made a huge mistake with this park. It's only recently started gaining its footing because of World of Color. Not many people care about the park otherwise. Soon, that will all change. Come 2012, this park is supposed to be awesome with their new Buena Vista Street entrance, which is already under construction and Cars Land and the Little Mermaid ride. Cars Land alone makes me a little gaga. I'm sure it will be cool. So I guess a Happy Birthday is in order for California Adventure. I want to go to there!

California Is Adventurous

Since I was talking about the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure yesterday, I figured I would touch upon some other changes that will be made to California Adventure. Some of you may know that the park is getting a major over haul. The park was never that great and it surprised me because it’s freaking Disneyland. Everything is supposed to be amazing! Well, they finally realized the error of their ways and the Imagineers are creating something completely new. I’m so very excited.

This is a list of what will take the place of the existing park. This is all scheduled to be completely by 2013. I will refer to each ride as what their ticket names once were. E ticket rides are the big roller coasters and then it goes down form there in case anyone gets confused. I was able to find some concept art as well.

Buena Vista Street

This will be an idealized vision of a 1920s Southern California street scape when Walt Disney first arrived in Los Angeles. I'm so excited to see how they do this because I grew up 5 minutes from his studio. My understanding is that the entrance to the park will completely change to mimic Buena Vista Street as well.

* Original plans for the Carthay Theater, this is the theatre where Whoopi Goldberg has her movie showing, called for the screening of a "Walt Disney Story" biographical film, but the latest plans have the Blue Sky Cellar preview center moving into the space. The Blue Sky Cellar is currently located next to the one wine restaurant. It shows all the plans of the rides and what not. If you have never walked through there, I highly recommend it. Or maybe it's just for nerds like me. Either way, the Blue Sky Cellar is now located in a really small space so moving it to the theatre could open up amazing things.

* An exclusive Carthay Circle Club on the upper floor of the Carthay Theater. Disney has quietly put out feelers to Club 33 members and those on the long waiting list for the private Disneyland club. The Interior of the Disney California Adventure Club would replicate an idealized version of an early Disney animation studio on Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood. So freaking cool!

Paradise Pier
The pier will be changed to replicate a 1920s and 30s seaside amusement park-themed land with Victorian architecture. Yes, please!

* An E-Ticket ride next to California Screamin', with an entrance in the helix of the roller coaster track leading to a new backstage attraction.

* A D- or E-Ticket attraction in the other helix where Maliboomer once stood. The area is currently being turned into a character meet-and-greet location. The tacky strip mall-themed Man Hat n' Beach souvenir shop façade likely remains unchanged in anticipation of this forthcoming attraction.

* An E-Ticket ride in place of Goofy's Sky School, itself a rethemed version of the Mulholland Madness wild mouse roller coaster. Current proposals for the location include an original thrill ride or a character-based attraction. An early concept called for a Ratatouille coaster to occupy the space. That sounds kind of cool actually.

* Disney's original plans called for the since-removed Maliboomer drop tower to become a Green Army Men parachute drop ride. The same "Toy Story" theme could replace the nearby Jumpin' Jellyfish ride, which was originally scheduled for removal in Disney's initial plan.

* Early plans called for the Fun Wheel Ferris wheel and the California Screamin' queue to get entrance facades to match the Paradise Pier area's new Victorian seaside theme.

* Imagineers have previously discussed Halloween and Christmas holiday overlays for the Toy Story Midway Mania dark ride, which is an indoor ride in case no one has ever heard that term before.

Hollywoodland

The existing Hollywood Studios Backlot becomes Hollywoodland, representing the 1930s Golden Age of Hollywood. I will more than likely never leave this land just because I can imagine the scenery will be amazing.

* Transform the space around the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride into the Golden Era of Hollywood (expanding the footprint of the area into the Timon parking lot).

* Add an enclosed lobby to the Hyperion Theater and a street façade to close off the view of the outdoor queue area. Disney announced and then rescinded plans to replace the current "Aladdin" stage show with a "Toy Story" musical. They should bring this idea back. The "Aladdin" show was kind of weird and long. I can imagine a Toy Story show would be more appealing.

* An E-Ticket attraction in the former "Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It" sound stage. I didn't even know "Who Want to be a Millionaire" was there...

* Several replacements have been floated for the "MuppetVision 3D" movie, including "Mickey's PhilharMagic" from the Magic Kingdom (which apparently won't fit in the Disney California Adventure theater) and a 3-D story based on the "Chronicles of Narnia" (a film franchise recently dumped by Disney). So now what?

* Removal of the modern pop-culture signage above the shops along Disney California Adventure's Hollywood Boulevard.

* The unused Hollywood & Dine food court in Stage 12 remains empty for future expansion.

Yosemite
The former Condor Flats and Golden State lands combine to form a single land themed to a 1950s-era Yosemite-like national park.

* Grizzly River Rapids receives animatronic bears, condors and other creatures once envisioned for the raft ride.

* An E-Ticket ride in place of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Proposals for the location include an outdoor adventure attraction or a mine-train ride.

* A circuitous train ride around Grizzly Peak as envisioned in concept art featured in the "Disney Mountains: Imagineering at its Peak" book.

* The Soarin' Over California hang-gliding tour makes way for the long-awaited Soarin' Over the World replacement. This is probably one of the coolest changes Disney will make. I love this ride, but to have it go around the world would be awesome!

* Convert the Cannery Row-themed Pacific Wharf food court to a San Francisco motif and combine the eatery area with the already-existing but unrealized San Francisco block.

Cars Land

A faithful re-creation of the isolated Route 66 town in the Pixar movie “Cars” designed to evoke the automobile culture of the 1950s and 60s. This should be very exciting.

* A drive-in theater-themed sit-down restaurant where diners eat in vintage cars while watching a movie on the big screen. The concept was part of the initial pitch for Cars Land that has since been postponed.

* A C- or D-Ticket ride on an unused corner of the new themed land is scheduled to open in 2012.

I want to go to there!!!!!! Seems to me like a lot of this park will be dedicated to Pixar movies and I'm ok with that. What do you think?