Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Disney World is This West Virginia Family's Second Home

Actually, if they are DVC members, it is, technically, their second home. :) This family certainly loves Disney.

I always enjoy reading (and seeing) about other Disney fanatics. I suppose it is the feeling of "comradery". It is also comforting to know that while you think that you have too much Disney memorabilia in your home, there's always someone else who have way more than you do and have carried it to the level that you probably don't want to get to. :)

Zz.

"Tower of Terror" Voted "Best Ride"

This is not a surprise, at least, not to me.

A non-scientific online poll of visitors to the Theme Park Insider website has resulted in Disney's Hollywood Studio's "Tower of Terror" as the Best Ride in North America. It beat, in the final face-off, Island of Adventure's "Spiderman" roller coaster ride.

I've been on Spiderman. It is thrilling, but as with many rides in many theme parks, one does not have any emotional attachment to it. They put you on the ride and off you go. Tower of Terror, on the other hand, is an ATTRACTION in the best sense of the word. The theming and story-teling are impeccably done. It is why it is my most favorite attraction in WDW. It is also why the version at California Adventure is so disappointing.

You can get the details of the voting process in each round of the contest here.

Zz.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A Disney Legend Passes

Ollie Johnston, the last of Disney's "Nine Old Men", passed away at the age of 96. There are numerous things that he was involved in that many of us Disney fans accept as being a part of Disney.

Read John Frost's article (and his links) at the Disney Blog on this Disney Legend to fully appreciate what he has meant to all of us.

Oriential Land Company Expanding into SE Asia?

There are reports indicating that the parent company of Tokyo Disneyland, the Oriental Land Co., is planning on expanding into South East Asia.

Oriental Land Chief Executive Toshio Kagami told reporters following a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland on Tuesday that Southeast Asia would likely be key to the company's overseas strategy in the future.


It doesn't say if this is something the company is doing on its own, or as part of the Disney brand, which of course would require Disney's approval. There were of course rumors circulating that a Disney theme park was in the works in the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia (it was a very weak rumor). Universal is already building its theme park in Singapore. Now, Asia is big, and certainly the eastern/south part of Asia has a dense population. But still, with Hong Kong Disneyland, and the often rumored Disney theme park in Shanghai, another Disney park in SE Asia might be stretching the brand name too thin. So I'm hoping that this isn't a Disney-related park.

Zz.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Taking the High-Definition Plunge Once More

Well, this isn't quite the first plunge for us into the high-def world. We already have a couple of high-def TV for a while. It is just that I think this is the start of getting everything to be able to do most of everything in high-def from now on.

Over the weekend, we've been playing with the new high-def camcorder that we just bought. It took a long time and some careful consideration before we settled on getting the Sony HDR-HC9. We had to consider what we use it for, how we use it, and of course, our ability to edit the movies we took with it. This was the best high-def camcorder for our needs.

We had several criteria, obviously. First, we decided that we much prefer the HDV format, which is basically a Mini DV format for high-def. Yes, we continue to use tapes instead of hard-drive storage, DVD, or even AVCHD format. There's a very good reason for it. We don't like the DVD format because the camcorder tends to be bulkier, and there are issues on having our existing movie editing softwares (Sony Vegas and Final Cut Pro) working smoothly with it. We don't like the hard-drive format because it means that on long trips when we have a lot of footage, we have to dump it off either to a PC/laptop, or another storage device to free up space. AVCHD was a close choice, but how many existing movie editing softwares can accept that format? Nope. HDV was more than sufficient for our purposes, and that's why we stuck by that format.

But why the Sony? We have had Sony camcorders of various versions from the very beginning, with a brief "interruption" with a Canon. From our experience, Sony produces better shots, especially in low lighting/fireworks, and better image stabilization. The model that we bought is their latest model using the HDV format. It is small enough that it is comfortable to carry around, and doesn't weigh any more than the existing camcorder that we currently have. So that's how we ended up with our choice.

Since our trip to WDW is barely a couple of weeks away, we are pretty excited to use our new toy. Unfortunately, I realized that we now would want to reshoot ALL of the parades and fireworks that we already have. We probably have to do this gradually, of course. But I'm dying to reshoot Wishes and Illuminations in high-def. Those would be spectacular.

So with the new camcorder, and the fact that I can now blog live using my Blackberry while I'm there, we are all set for our next trip! :)

The next high-def plunge will be a Blu-Ray player....

Zz.

Disney Cruise Line Plans a London Office

I'm not psychic, but even I could see this coming, because it is a logical step. It appears that Disney will open a Disney Cruise Line office in London.

A company spokeswoman said that about 20 employees will be stationed in the United Kingdom office, though not all will be people transferred from Central Florida. The operation there will be led by Tom Wolber, Disney Cruise Line's senior vice president and the company's No. 2 executive.


With the two new ships being built, I can see a plan where one of them is permanently based there to tap into the European market. But what about a trans-Atlantic voyage? That certainly could be a big possibility. Visitors from the UK or Europe could take a Disney Cruise to Port Canaveral and then continue their vacations at WDW!

Zz.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Testing mobile Blogger

This is a test of mobile Blogger. I'm attaching a picture of 2 of the ornaments we bought during our last trip.



Edit: It worked! So we are now all set to report LIVE to this blog whenever we are at WDW, or have something Disney-related to report from where ever we are.

Note: pay attention the two ornaments that is shown in the picture. What's "strange" about them? Look closely. They're made in the USA!! :)

We bought them on our last trip because one is an ornament of our "home", which is Saratoga Springs, while the other is Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we stayed last time and had such a good time. So we didn't buy them because they were USA made. Still, it shows that there ARE merchandises made in the "New World". :)

Zz.

What You Get For Your Money: Walt Disney World

So, did everyone get to see the premier of the Samantha Brown's Disney Favorites? What did you think of it? Did it appear rather "choppy" as it jumped around from WDW to DL? Yeah, we all thought so.

In any case, without much fanfare, there was another premier of another show about Disney. It was on the Fine Living Network. The show was called "What you get for your Money: Walt Disney World". It followed 3 families having their vacation at WDW with the same price point of $1600. 2 of the families were staying at the Value resorts (one at All Star Music, the other at Pop Century), while the other couple with no kids were staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge with a Savanna view room (just like what we did on this past trip).

I'm guessing that the $1600 price point was chosen because the WDW commercial on TV has used this as being "possible" for a family of 4 (it has also been a selling point on their websites). The show didn't have anything earth-shattering or anything unexpected. Still, there were brief appearance by Jim McPhee, the vice president of Epcot, and my favorite Disney executive, thanks to his friendly involvement with the Celebration 25 team last October. I don't see him appearing on TV that much, so it was nice to him in this special.

There are 3 more airings of the special:

. April 17, 2008 5:00 PM EST
• April 20, 2008 11:00 PM EST
• April 21, 2008 3:00 AM EST

Don't miss it if you can.

Zz.

The Iger Difference

This is a great, great, interview Fortune did with Bob Iger. It gives some wonderful insight into the company and his modus operandi, such as

We get together about every six weeks with the heads of the Disney business units. Sometimes we'll even focus on a market - say, what's going on in Japan with Pooh? We've also created financial metrics to track them against each franchise so we can see what's going on financially. If we see a trend that is worrisome - or the opposite - we bring it up at this meeting. We also have creative champions for all of these franchises. Even though "High School Musical" is being made for the studio, the creative champions are the Disney Channel folks Rich Ross and Gary Marsh - and they're working very closely with the studio people. Similarly, the studio is the arbiter of taste when it comes to "Pirates," Pixar is the arbiter for "Toy Story" and "Cars," and so on.


It is interesting to note that he, the CEO of the company, is the arbiter for Mickey Mouse. So Mickey is certainly the Big Cheese of the company! :)

Zz.

Friday, April 11, 2008

3D Glasses With Disney's Blu-Ray Disks?

Whoa! I swear, I'm not psychic! (If I am, don't you think I would already have a TV show and made millions?)

In one of my posts recently on Disney's decision to also release all of their future animation movies in 3D version, I made this comment at the end of it:

This is certainly very good news to me because, so far, the DD 3D movies have been fantastic visually. So with the strong storyline that Pixar is known for, the combination of the two should make for quite an experience at the movies.

Too bad they don't make them available for home viewing.


Now along comes this rather sketchy report that Disney will start including 3D glasses with the release of the Blu-Ray version of Hannah Montana movie concert! Holy Cow! I hope this is true. It means that the 3D versions of all the previous and future movies can be released for home viewing! Think "Nightmare Before Christmas"!

Now, I don't know if the technology and the optics are similar enough, but it would have been convenient to be able to use the same 3D glasses that we used in the movie theaters to view the 3D Blu-Ray version. What? You didn't keep those 3D glasses? Tough! :) Well, the reason here being that those glasses were quite comfortable to use, and if they use the same or similar 3D technology, it didn't strain the eyes at all to view it. I'm guessing that they aren't going to use some old technology to project the 3D effects, that would only destroy the advantage of the Disney Digital 3D.

I would love to see Meet The Robinsons in 3D again, AND the 3D animated short they showed with the 3D version of the movie, which was Donald Duck with Chip 'N Dale in .... er... was it "Working for Peanuts"? This short was not included in the DVD release of Meet the Robinsons.

Zz.

Mickey Mouse-Shaped MPlayer MP3

I already have an iPod, so it's not as if I need or want to buy another MP3 player, but these Mickey Mouse-Shaped players from iRiver is so darn cool!



And why aren't these things being sold here in the US? You have to go online and buy it, which presumably by importing them into the country.

Zz.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Disney Announces "Magic Your Way" With Free Disney Dining Plan For Fall 2008

"Magic Your Way" with free Disney Dining Plan is back for Fall 2008!

Now through June 22, guests can buy one of these five-night/six-day packages for stays most nights Aug. 24-Sept. 20, 2008, and receive the Disney Dining Plan at no additional charge.

Packages for families of four start at $57 a day per person in a standard room at select Disney Value Resorts, $73 a day per person in a standard room at select Disney Moderate Resorts and $104 a day per person in a studio at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. These prices are based on two adults, one junior and one child. The number of rooms allocated for these offers is limited. No group rates or other discounts apply. Other packages are available for larger and smaller families, as well as other lengths of stay.


If you can swing it, this is a terrific time of the year to go, and certainly one of, if not the, cheapest.

Zz.

Disney's VIP Passes for Bigwigs Raise Ethical Questions

Hum... It appears that Disney has a special fast pass that works all day long and being offered to ".... elected officials or other "high-profile guests" who don't want to worry about logistical or security problems they might face while waiting in long lines, but who don't want a tour guide." Where do I sign up? :)

I guess I don't mind if these people are not in line with the rest of us if their party and security detail might be a bit disruptive. But still, if they are that important, why can't they sign up and pay for the tour guide service? That gets them to all the rides without having to stand in line, and that service is offered to everyone who is willing to pay for it. Besides, it might even look better than being seen by your constituents (if you're a politician) as cutting in line.

Wilcox suggested that, even without any legal problems, the idea of unlimited line-cutting in plain view of the public might prompt many officials to think twice before using such passes.

"If you're standing in line and you see your senator moving up to the head of the line, I don't know if that's going to look very good," he said.


.. and not only that, remember that most of these people in line are on vacation and either have camcorders and/or cameras. Your act of cutting in line may end up on YouTube or someone's blog. Do you want to risk it?

Zz.

Disney Unveils Animation Slate

This is a more detailed report by Variety on yesterday's news announcement of Disney/Pixar slate of movies for the next 4 years.

Lineup includes a Pixar film every summer and a Disney Animation Studios toon every holiday season, save for 2011, when Pixar is releasing two films and Disney Animation Studios will take a breather. All of the films starting with this November's "Bolt" will be released in digital 3-D, except for 2009 Disney toon "The Princess and the Frog," the only pic being made in traditional 2-D.


Like I said before, I am really looking forward to this. It seems that every time there's a Disney or Pixar movie being released, we over here used it as an excuse to get together with friends and go see the movie and make a day out of it. It's becoming an event in itself. And if it involved either Pirates or Nightmare Before Christmas, we wear the appropriate Mickey ears hat to the movies! It's a hoot!

Zz.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

'High School Musical 4' Coming to Disney Channel

Show of hands on who is surprised by such an announcement? Even before the release of High School Musical 3, is there any doubt that they are planning on making High School Musical 4? The only minor surprise here is that they are still thinking that it might be released as a Disney Channel original movie, even when HSM3 is being released in movie theaters.

Still, HSM4 might get a fresh new cast and, hopefully, a new storyline. This thing is a Disney cash cow, and I don't see it ending anytime soon.

Zz.

Disney's Pixar Commits To 3-D Format

Disney/Pixar's John Lasseter has announced that starting with "Up" next year, all Disney-Pixar movies will be released in both the traditional 2D format, and the Disney Digital 3D format.

Meanwhile, Pixar movies will be released in 3-D and the traditional two-dimensional format, beginning in May 2009 with "Up," about an elderly widower who embarks on a South American adventure.

Lasseter said he has been inspired by three-dimensional photography for decades.


This is certainly very good news to me because, so far, the DD 3D movies have been fantastic visually. So with the strong storyline that Pixar is known for, the combination of the two should make for quite an experience at the movies.

Too bad they don't make them available for home viewing.

Zz.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Kermit The Frog Video Blog

Don't miss this series of video blog by Kermit the Frog. They are hysterical! :)

Zz.

Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom Closing May 21

It was fun while it lasted.

Netcot.com is reporting that Disney will be shutting down the Virtual Magic Kingdom site on May 21, 2008. I haven't logged in to VMK for months now (or maybe even close to a year). It was quite popular in the beginning, especially when there were park tie-ins. Initially, you could actually go to the Magic Kingdom and sign up for a tour of the Magic Kingdom while playing trivia games to earn virtual prices that you can redeem on VMK. That went away rather quickly. Of course, you can do a park quest by answering a series of questions to get more virtual VMK prices. That went away last year, I think, which probably ended any park tie-ins (similar tie-in also occurred at Disneyland). I don't know when they stopped issuing virtual prices when you bought hats or other merchandise at certain stores in the theme parks.

As far as I can tell, they had done a lot of development with the online VMK activities and events. They had certainly added a lot of online quests, special events, and games. They've even opened more "lands", to keep the whole experience new for long-time players.

Still, after a while, it got to be a bit boring, especially for adults. I have no numbers, but I'm guessing there are more kids playing the game routinely than there are adults. And you kinda get tired after being hit on a few times by someone who's only 12! :)

In any case, so long, VMK. I had quite a lot of fun with you.

Zz.

US Tax Rebates To Fund Disney Vacation?

I read this blog on what US taxpayers might do with their tax rebates, and it is suggested that the biggest beneficiaries might be Disney theme parks, especially WDW. It is certainly conceivable that some might do that (i.e. plan to use the money for a vacation, not necessarily just to go to WDW), but with the uncertainty in the economy and rising cost of travel (both gas and airline tickets prices), how many would opt to just stay home and either save the money, or pay down their debt? In other words, the money may not create any "stimulus" to the US economy in terms of increase consumer spending.

I know that I am certainly not going to change my pattern of spending with or without the tax rebates. I am certainly not going to increase my trip to WDW based on it - I'm already planning on going there 4 times this year!

So, if you are expecting a tax rebate, what do you plan to do with it? Will you consider using it to go to WDW, or if you are already planning on going there, will it make you spend more?

Zz.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Is Orlando Bloom A "Prince" Or Not?

It appears that the report that Orlando Bloom has been selected to star in the Prince of Persia trilogy is highly premature. There has been no official confirmation from Disney on this, and some are questioning the origin of the rumor in the first place.

I was guilty of reporting this earlier myself. So that should teach me a lesson for believing in everything I read!

:)

Zz.