This Is Halloween - Lego Stop Motion Movie

I know this is almost a year late, and I know that it is only the beginning of July, but hey, if the Hallmark channel can start showing Christmas movies already, I can definitely highlight this video that I've only recently found.

It is a good one.



Zz.

Play Disney Park App

On June 30, 2018, Disney will debut the Play Disney Park app on Android and iOS platform.

Disney theme parks like never before with the Play Disney Parks mobile app, a transformative new digital entertainment offering that will make its official debut on June 30 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California.

The Play Disney Parks app will bring to life unique interactive experiences that enable guests of all ages to access a wide range of activities including themed games, Disney trivia, digital achievements, music and so much more – whether they are playing on Main Street, U.S.A. or waiting in line at beloved attractions.

Let's see if this new app is as slow and sluggish as the MyDisneyExperience app!

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Why "Bao" Is More Profound Than You May Think

The Pixar short, "Bao", that was shown before "Incredibles 2" has elicited quite a reaction, especially among Asian immigrants.

During the pivotal moment of “Bao,” I started to sob in the theater. 

I’m not the only one who was deeply touched by this short. Before I even saw “Bao,” I had a Chinese friend message me from the theater about the emotional punch. Other friends tweeted about how they teared up in the movie theatre. People across social media shared their own experiences and how the short resonated with them. 

Of course, there are those who don't get it, based on the Twitter reaction that was described in the article.  But the writer makes a very good point here:

Just as a pocket of the internet can summon ire over the supposed homogeneity of animation, another can implicitly fear the diversification of characters and traditions brought to life by the medium. Not understanding media — be it literature, film, art, or music — is not a bad thing. But the employment of a white, mostly male perspective throughout most of American movie history means audiences have been weaned to expect one set of values for years. When something outside that demographic crosses moviegoers’ paths, so often people react like a mistake’s been made, like they’ve been provoked. Then they bypass Google for Twitter.

Pixar's shorts have always had a lot more "life" and story in it than many people realize or give them credit. This is another one such example.

Zz.

Incredicoaster At Pixar Pier

This is the new Incredicoaster at Pixar Pier in Disney's California Adventure. It is, of course, the old California Screamin', with The Incredibles embellishments.



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Why Are There No Mosquitoes At Disney World?

A very good question indeed, considering that if you look all around the Orlando area, most houses have outdoor areas that are covered with screens. And if you've been out and about, you'll realize that you can get eaten alive by these mosquitoes. So how come we get very little mosquitoes attack while we're on the Walt Disney World grounds?

As usual, if you have a question, you'll eventually find someone who offers you the possible answer, as in this video.



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Incredibles 2 - A Review

***SPOILER ALERT*** This review contains crucial parts of the story. If you do not wish to know, stop reading now.

Let's get this out of the way, you should go see Disney/Pixar's latest "Incredibles 2". It is a load of fun, and Jack-Jack certainly stole the movie. The best part about the entire movie is the dynamics between the Parr family members, especially in how Bob has to be the "Mr. Mom" of the family.

As fun and exciting the movie is, I can't help feel a bit disappointed in the tired, old, familiar storyline. First of all, I correctly guessed who the villain (or the brain of the operations) was almost at the very beginning. To me, it was way too obvious.

But here lies my major complaint: this is a familiar storyline as not only with many other movies, but also with the first "Incredibles" movie! In that first movie, the antagonist was Buddy Pine, who turned into a bad guy because he was dismissed by Bob to be his sidekick. So he was a spurned fan.

In "Incredibles 2", it was a sister who somehow blamed the superheroes for the death of her father. And even that isn't convincing either. The father tried calling his superheroes when someone broke into his house. But the superheroes couldn't answer because, by then, they have already been outlawed. So it wasn't their fault in the first place that they didn't come to the rescue of the father. So not only is the premise a recycle of the first movie, it was also rather weak!

We have seen way too many movies in which one disgruntled person somehow managed to cause mayhem of such magnitude. It is a tired story. That is why I was disappointed that "Incredibles 2" dipped into this well once more, especially considering that they went there with the first movie.

It should not diminish your enjoyment of it. But considering that this was from Pixar, I was expecting a lot more.

2 1/2 out of 4 stars.

Zz.

Squirrel Caught Stealing At MK Store

A squirrel was caught on video stealing peanuts M&M at a store in the Magic Kingdom.

Where was Disney security? I'd say they ban that squirrel ("SQUIRREL!!!!") for life from the theme park.

Zz.

Location of New Star Wars Hotel

Orlando Sentinel has reported the location of the Star Wars hotel that will be built at WDW, to open in late 2019.

Where will the Star Wars hotel be located at Walt Disney World? The company now says it’s “under development” just east of World Drive, on the south side of Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park.

“This location will allow the experience to be seamlessly connected to the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, enabling guests to fully immerse themselves in the story of “Star Wars,” a new post on the official Disney Parks Blog states.

I did a Google Map to look at the sight, and this is what I found:

I circled the location mentioned in the new article. This looks like it might have a direct access to Galaxy Edge, since the location butted against the new land being built at Studios. But will the guests of the hotel, who will be allowed to dress in Star Wars costumes, be allowed into the park wearing their costumes? Hum?

Zz.

Maleficent Dragon Caught Fire

The fire-breathing dragon caught fire during the afternoon parade at the Magic Kingdom. So that's the biggest news out of Disney yesterday.



Ouch! I hope they will repair or rebuild it, because this was the highlight of that parade!

Zz.

Donald's Dino-Bash

Donald's Dino-Bash coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom near you.



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Disney's Animal Kingdom 20th Anniversary Celebration

Happy 20th Birthday, Disney's Animal Kingdom!



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Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade Trivia

So here is a fun Disney trivia. Which current US Congressman designed and built the parade controller for the Main Street Electrical Parade?

Check out minute 5:50 in the video below for the answer:



And in case you are not aware of this, he is the only physicist in the US congress right now.

Zz.

Paint The Night Parade Opening Night

Opening night of Paint the Night parade at Disney's California Adventure.



Is it me, or does this reminds me of Spectromagic parade at MK that I miss so much?

Zz.

Pandora Conservation Initiative Utility Suit

What the hey.......?





They are taking this waaaaay too seriously! 😂

Zz.

Millennium Falcon Simulator Ride Will Have 8 GPUs To Run

It appears that the new Millennium Falcon Simulator ride being planned at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studies will have a beast of a processing unit.

Each and every implementation of the sim will be powered by a Boxx workstation running eight Nvidia Quadro P6000 GPUs connected via Quadro SLI, so this definitely won’t be something available to consumers. Disney had to build multi-GPU workflows, which they helped Epic Games integrate into the company’s Unreal Engine which will continue to use that code moving forward.

I know that something like this can be quite thrilling. I've seen how popular the new Flight of Passage at the Pandora land can get. But I can't help hoping that there would be an E-ticket PHYSICAL ride, rather than a simulator. There seems to be a reliance on too many of those lately.

Zz.

WDW Resorts To Charge For Parking

This came out of nowhere.

Disney resorts at WDW will start charging guests to park their vehicles at the resorts.

The amount will vary, depending on the level of accommodations. At what Disney refers to as a value resort, which includes the All-Star hotels and Pop Century, the charge will be $13 per night. For the moderate resorts (such as Port Orleans or Coronado Springs), it will be $19 a night. On the deluxe end of the scale – including Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Yacht and Beach resorts and the monorail hotels – it’s $24 per night.

The report does not say whether this applies to DVC resorts, DVC members, and passholders. I'm guessing that it will not, since DVC members and passholders can already park for free even at the theme parks.

Zz.

Mobile Food Ordering Adds Dining Plan

I reviewed the MyDisney Experience park app's mobile food ordering service at WDW a couple of months ago after we tried it during our December 2017 trip. We loved it, and can't think of any reason anyone would not want to use it for ordering at many of the counter services at the parks and at a couple of places in Disney Springs. The only significant part that was missing from this ability is the use Disney Dining Plan with the mobile service.

Well now, with the recent update of the app this past week, it appears that they have included the ability to use the Dining Plan to order food via the mobile app. I fully expected this because they tend to roll out the app in stages as they figure out its capabilities, etc. So it is not surprising that the Dining Plan is now included. Not that we will use this feature since we seldom get the Dining Plan, but I know that this was a common question and feature request.

So folks, if you have a smart phone, there really is no reason to not download the app, and if you're planning on eating at one of the quick service places at a WDW theme park, you'll be out of your mind to not use the mobile food ordering feature.

Zz.

"Christopher Robin" Trailer

Disney has released the new "Christopher Robin" trailer. Oh, the nostalgia!



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"Coco" Was Almost A Full-Blown Musical

Lee Unkrich revealed that "Coco" almost became Pixar's first full-blown musical.

Although those half-dozen tunes didn’t make the film, you can hear several of them as bonus features on the DVD/Blu-Ray release of “Coco” that arrived Tuesday. Hearing those artful songs might prompt the question: Why didn’t they make the movie?

“I pivoted for a few reasons, the main one being that the film felt like it was trying to be something different than what we were trying to force it to be,” says Unkrich, who worked on “Coco” for about six years after his Oscar-winning direction of “Toy Story 3.”

And as he has stated, it will be a bit ironic to have musical numbers from the very beginning, considering that any form of music was banned from the Rivera family.

Definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of the tunes that didn't make it into the film. Still, with all the music already written, who is going to bet against Disney bringing "Coco" to Broadway?

Zz.

Wreck It Ralph 2 - Official Teaser Trailer

Disney has released a teaser trailer for Wreck It Ralph 2, which will be released Thanksgiving this year. The trailer is histerical!



Zz.