Endor Express Evolves! (Double Feature: Fantasyland's Fantastic Expansion)

"Star Tours?!? What are you doing here? This is a combat zone, it's restricted! Ease off on your main thrusters."

At long last Disney Hollywood Studios has confirmed a revamp of Star Tours (their motion simulator based off the Star Wars movies-though if you're actually interested in my blog you probably already knew that). While I do love Star Tours, it's out of date. It's been out of date for a while. In fact (in large part due to my age) I don't really remember a time when it didn't feel a bit out of date. Not much as been confirmed about the upcoming Star Tours II 3D other than that it will open (or re-open I suppose) in 2011 and feature 3-D effects. I'm sure we'll be enjoying some high def goodness as well. Also judging by the trailer there will be pod racing involved (a quick shout out to all my fellow Episode I fans out there! All three of you are reading this I'm sure).

Rumors of an updated Star Tours have been out there pretty much ever since "The Phantom Menace" came out, but didn't go far past mere rumors. That is until word got out over the past year or so that Lucas was filming for the new incarnation of the beloved Studios attraction. Judging by how increasingly popular Star Wars Weekends are at the Studios every year, I've been anticipating this announcement for some time now. I am very excited to hear more.

Questions that come to mind: Will Rex the Pee-Wee Herman droid still (poorly) pilot the StarSpeeder? Will it take place in any sort of continuity (or just span the entire Star Wars series)? Will Cast Members keep saying stale lines like "May the force be with you, because I sure won't!" (probably)?

I guess we'll have to wait and see!

EVEN BIGGER NEWS:

Check these pictures out! (click here and here!)

It's official! Fantasyland in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is to be expanded and completely refurbished by 2013. This is going to be the largest expansion to occur in the Magic Kingdom to date. From what I hear Mickey's Toontown Fair (besides Goofy's Barnstormer) will be taken out entirely to make room (you know that area you forgot was even in MK). Fantasyland itself will be cut up into sections. Here's a map you can look at to visualize it with me: Fantasyland Blueprint.

WOAH! Where did all that land come from? Well 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was a pretty huge ride. After it closed back in '94 only a fraction of its land had been used since.

Now back to the blueprint. The bottom left corner is pretty much all Fantasyland is as of now. You can see Pinochio's eating area (next to It's a Small World, not shown). The Carousel behind the castle. Where it says Castle wall, that's where Dumbo is now. So where is Dumbo going? To the upper right of the map you can see a huge area dedicated to Dumbo's circus. That seems to be what is replacing much of Toontown. According to Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Jay Rasulo guests will be able to "Fly with Dumbo high above brand new circus grounds, twice the size of the existing attraction with a new interactive, three-ring circus tent."

Another large chunk of Toontown will be taken over by Tinkerbelle and her Pixie Hollow. To the left of Dumbo shows the area for the Little Mermaid attraction (which was actually almost made at one point). This is going to be a very impressive dark ride that will send guests traveling above and below the sea. It's hard to describe, you should just watch the digitally rendered version that was included on the special edition Little Mermaid DVD released a few years back. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBUMRk-nkdA

Disneyland will be getting the Little Mermaid ride in 2011. Lucky jerks.

"Guests will visit their favorite Disney Princess in her castle, cottage, or chateau to share a dance with Cinderella; celebrate Sleeping Beauty's birthday with the Good Fairies; or join Belle in an enchanting story performance in the Beast's castle library."

You can clearly see on the map where the princesses will be spending their time. The addition I am most excited about is the entire Beauty and the Beast area. Belle's cottage should be pleasant enough visually, as well as the Be Our Guest restaurant in which guests can "dine in one of three enchanted rooms inside the Beast's castle." Also notice to the side of the restaurant is "Gaston's Tavern." Seeing as MK is an alcohol free park I'm assuming it's going to be another quick service dining area.

Check out the bottom right of the map. Those pesky Indy Race Cars are so intrusive. Oh well. Most of the information for this blog I got from WDWMAGIC. You probably could have glanced through their site and find all this out much quicker than reading this long winded blog, so I appreciate you spending this time with me today. I am very excited about the next few years. Disney World has been suffering a bit of a drought as far as new and exciting attractions go. Don't get me wrong, Toy Story Midway Mania is incredible, but it wasn't originally intended to be the E-Ticket level attraction it has become (Disney fans know what the term e-ticket stands for, for the rest of you, why are you reading this blog? well I'll explain what it means to you sometime soon). There hasn't been many huge additions in the past few years. Darn pesky recessions.

That's all I have to say this time! See you folks around the parks!

Disney Hits the Bullseye with Marvel

GET IT!?!?!

Because both characters are named Bullseye, see... And Marvel and Disney...
Well maybe it isn't as clever as That's so Kraven, but dag nabbit, we tried our best.

Anyways, I should probably clarify things. That last blog was a joke in every way. Disney is not reviving Beauty and the Beast on Broadway in the near future, there's no word on an X-Men 4, and I most certainly do not have a girlfriend.

Though I am not entirely against the idea. Well, ladies?

Is anyone still there?


Seriously though, on Monday, 8/31/09, Disney bought Marvel comics. Trust me, this is a big deal. I'll explain as both companies had a big part in shaping who I am. Both companies have a history built upon creativity and strong character development. That being said, they are both very different companies. Marvel has a universe of super-heroes and villains that are known as the darker and edgier caped crusaders (as opposed to the wholesome DC characters like Superman and Wonder Woman. And Batman in the 50s I guess). Meanwhile Disney introduced children to wholesome cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy (as opposed to the darker and edgier Warner Bros. characters such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck). By the way Warner Bros. has owned DC comics for years. It's kind of funny to see how mismatched these things worked out.

Reading the comments on various message boards related to all sorts of geekery that I browse, I've come to realize that the internet has a lot of idiots making comments about things they know nothing about. That's right, the guy who just made up the word "geekery" is calling other people idiots. Now that's bad.

For instance, one message board commenter had this to say "If they stop making films based on the characters, I will be very disappointed >.>" Seriously? Have you no understanding on business practices? Disney bought Marvel because they are pleased with what Marvel has been doing so far, especially with their movies based on their Super Heroes. They want to profit off of this success. They aren't going to jump in and say "Okay nice work Marvel now we are canceling your movie line up. We just plain don't want any more money."

Oh here's another beauty: "I'm ••••ed off because this is the way I see it
Disney=The New 4Kids
Disney is a "kid friendly" company
and will do whatever they need to Marvel Super Heroes to keep that Rep"

I know exactly what this guy means! Like remember when Disney bought Miramax in 1993? Ever since then Miramax has been forced to make such "kid friendly" movies like Pulp Fiction, Gangs of New York, and No Country for Old Men. Oh and I can't forget the Kill Bill movies. That one brings such joy to the children when they watch it.

I could go on this rant for hours. The morons plaguing the internet give me plenty of material (and I them, I'm sure). But let me tell you why this is great. Marvel needs this. For one, comic books are kind of a dying thing. There is little money in it, so it's hard to maintain a company founded and based upon it. The success over movies based on their characters have been a huge source of profit for Marvel over the past decade, and that's what Disney sees. The problem is Marvel's relatively new production studios bit off a little more then they could chew financially with their upcoming Avengers movie. You see they have these great movies like Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk with these big name actors as their leads. With the infamous Samuel Jackson scene at the end of Iron Man fans realized what Marvel was planning to do. They wanted to make a movie in which all of these characters meet and make a super team- The Avengers. The trouble with such a plan is that bringing all these big name actors together in a huge, action packed blockbuster is going to cost some serious cash. Cash Marvel doesn't have. Or didn't, I should say. Disney may prove to back some much needed financing for Marvel to see their dream come true.

Of course we should look at what Disney's gaining from all this as well. Money, of course. Marvel is rich with properties that people absolutely love (Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Howard the Duck to name a few). Disney isn't going to change the image we have in our minds of Marvel today.

"The intention is not to rebrand Marvel [as] Disney, in fact the opposite - to really emphasize the Marvel brand and to use Marvel where we can on Disney platforms and in Disney places to grow both businesses."-Bob Iger (http://comics.ign.com/articles/101/1019830p1.html)

There is one thing I really hope comes from this. For years (possibly even decades) Disney has had little success in the comic book industry. They've tried and tried. Characters like Donald and Mickey and Uncle Scrooge used to pop up in comic strips all the time, but for some reason Disney can't break back into that realm. Hopefully with Marvel's help they can fix this problem (mainly because I really want to see a successful Gargoyles comic, to tell the truth).

On a side note: Was anyone as surprised as I was to find out Disney actually had $4 billion to spend? I mean I know they're huge and all, but it was news to me.

Big News for Disney Today (8/31/09)

That's right folks. I'm sure you've all heard the buzz that's taken over Disney news as well as all fan related media....

Kelsey Grammer is joining the cast of the recently brought back Broadway hit "Beauty and The Beast." Originally premiering in 1994 this stage show, based on the Disney animated feature has touched the hearts of millions. A few years ago its run on Broadway had ended, but a recent business decision by Disney made this reimagining of the stage classic a no brainer.

Here's a pic of Grammer in his new role:
http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv246/spechtjeff/?action=view&current=beautyandbeast.jpg

Now I am going to stray from Disney related news for a second and talk about Marvel as the two companies are apparently inter mingled as of late. I know, this is a Disney blog, but bare with me as this is important. Screenshots of the upcoming X-Men 4 have been released. I have to say if you weren't a fan of X-Men 3, you might be pleasantly surprised to see this:

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv246/spechtjeff/?action=view&current=xmen4.jpg

Well that's all the exciting news I have for you today. I figure I should end this blog on a personal note for once. Me and my girlfriend had a really fun time at the parks this past weekend. Here are some pics :)

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv246/spechtjeff/8-28-08.jpg

That's all for today. Now I have to figure out what to do with this tossed salad and scrambled eggs.

They're calling again.

Good night everyone.

What Ever Happened To The Community Of Tomorrow?

Well I know of at least 4 people who read my last blog here. I guess that merits another one. (I'm shooting for 5 with this one... maybe my expectations are a bit too high?). I was just at Epcot with my brother and sister-in-law the other night. Good times. There is a very neat set up at Innoventions by IBM now in which they put you in a video game. Here's one of me and my bro (for as long as they keep these online, I guess):

www.thinkingofyoupostcards.com/runtime/play/?Guestcode=KQAQKEE1FTPT4Q
there's a nice little bit of dancing by yours truly if you beat it!

This is the type of thing we need more of at Innoventions. It's fun, it gets people interested in technology and it gets the sponsors name out there (not that anyone hasn't heard of IBM). I say this because over the past few years Innoventions has become, well, disappointing. The whole idea of the Innoventions pavilions is to showcase the wonderful advancements in technology being made today. What has been showcased over the past few years? Playstation 2, velcro, a big garbage truck, etc. Even the segway exibit is getting old as people are generally starting to realize Segways aren't all that practical (I'm still a pretty big fan of walking, how old fashioned). The key rule Disney should have learned when they completely remodeled Tommorrowland back in '98 is that the future is constantly changing, and if not constantly upkept, showcasing the future soon becomes showcasing the past.

Speaking of upkeep, Epcot needs some serious work in other areas as well.

Exhibit A: The Imagination Pavilion

It's hard to tell in this picture (as well as any I've found online), but it's just dirty. This is something you'd probably understand my meaning more when you see it in person at Epcot. When I was a kid i remember it being a magnificent beacon of intrigue. The windows shimmered in the sun and at night lights were shot out from the inside. Now it just looks kind of gross. I mean it looks like one of those attractions from a World's Fair that hasn't been used in decades. It looks like it may have been impressive at one time but everyone just lost interest. Granted I would say washing those windows must be extremely difficult work, but come on this is Disney we're talking about. Good show is so important.

And don't get me started as to what the pavilion houses. Journey into Imagination with Figment, a once great ride that, upon being renovated, taught us the meaning of the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" And Honey I shrunk the audience: a 3-d show twice as out of date now as Captain Eo was back when they decided to kick out Michael Jackson for Rick Moranis.

Exhibit B: The Poopy Smell

Thanks to Epcot I now understand that the future stinks. Seriously. In the Coca-Cola cool station one detects the the faint aroma among the carbonated, sugary beverages of sewage. When they exit this building out the back and decide to cut through the adjoined building to the right (perhaps taking a shortcut to that run down Imagination place) it gets worse. Much worse. It smells like 20 fat dudes had diarhea and all decided to use the same bathroom. The first few times I walked through here I figured "oh it's just a sewage problem, this is Disney they'll take care of it right away." 2 years later and everytime I stop by it smells like the wrong end of an elaphant after thanksgiving dinner. Granted I could avoid this area all together. But I shouldn't have to! This is Disney we're talking about! They should find the source problem and fix it! Besides, it's also pretty fun to lead unsuspecting victems into the dump gauntlet.

I ask you, Epcot, is this really what the future holds? An ever present dump smell? After all the acheivements mankind will make could we never find adequite waste management techniques? Have we evolved to a state in which our sense of smell is no longer mandatory so our bodies get rid of it?

I know I'm probably being harsh. Epcot can, and probably should be, the best of all 4 parks at Walt Disney World. Maybe it's time for some fresh blood in management to get the ball rolling and reach that potential. Clean up some of those buildings, fix the sewars, and for goodness sake do SOMETHING with the Odyssey. Until then I guess I'll just keep a nose plug handy and squint my eyes often while I'm there.

The Princess and the Frog

I was writing this up on the review section of Facebook's "Flixter" application and realized it seemed more like a blog entry. With that I realized with all my ties to the Walt Disney Company, I should really start to blog about my opinions. Everyone wants to read about what I think, right? If not then you probably aren't reading this now anyways. Anyways, here's my thoughts on Disney's highly anticipated upcoming feature "The Princess and the Frog."



I just finished watching some rough shoots of the animation in this film (www.dailymotion.com/video/xa4jo7_the-princess-and-the-frog-roughshoo_shortfilms). My goodness, Disney is really pulling out all the stops on this one. The animation is just beautiful. This is the most important thing the Disney company has done in years. Let me explain...

Like pretty much everyone else alive in America at this point, I grew up with Disney. For decades they were known for their overall quality. Walt Disney created the Animated Motion picture and the company just kept on going with innovation after innovation. But then something happened. Computer animation began taking over and everyone, including the suits running the Disney Company, lost faith and/or interest in traditional animation. To add insult to injury, at a time when 2-D animation was almost dead and Disney needed something to really wow audiences to keep alive the very art form that began the company... They released "Home on the Range."




Home on the Freaking Range.

Seriously think about this. The life of the "Disney Animated Feature Film" series up until this year began with arguably their most impressive "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," grew up and peaked during the "Disney Renaissance" (that's the term most Disney geeks are familiar with that refers to animated features from 1989-1999- that is Little Mermaid to Tarzan, Lion King being the crowning achievement in my opinion) and ended with... *sigh*... Home on the Range. A family movie featuring silly talking and singing animals that was so cliche in nature, I'm not sure if even Dreamworks would have produced it (they definitely would have, but I'm trying to make a point here).

Talk about dying not with a bang, but a whimper. But things are looking good. "The Princess and the Frog" looks to be the saving grace of our once beloved art form. Hopefully by the end of this year I'll be able to say "Disney's traditional animation didn't die. It was just resting."