Tiana's Showboat Jubilee began October 25th at WDW Magic Kingdom, and the Showboat Jubilee begin as a parade in Frontierland. Then the performers, as well as 30 guests, board on the Liberty Belle Riverboat for the show itself.
Characters and music are of course inspired by those of Princess and the Frog including Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Dr Facilier and even Louis the Alligator playing trumpet!
You'll see the whole show below, with a great Youtube video in four parts, filmed by WDWRadio. The whole show looks good and i wonder if they will do it next year at DLP's Frontierland where we have not one but TWO riverboats - the Mark Twain and the Molly Brown - so they won't have the alibi to don't have riverboats to don't do the show!
If you liked the videos - which i'm sure was the case - have a look at WDWRadio where you can see lot of other great videos!
Disney Parks released an amazing Magic Kingdom Tilt-Shift video. All the beauty of it is coming from the "miniature" effect. Everything and everybody on the video are real but it looks like a model that would have been animated in "stop-motion", the famous 1960's special effects technique. For those of you who wouldn't be familiar with the SFX technique, in stop-motion the object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.
In fact, this great video was created from a series of photos snapped inside the Magic Kingdom Park by David Roark, manager of creative photography for Disney’s Yellow Shoes Creative Group. And if you want to discover how he did this incredible "miniature" effect i suggest you read his interview on the Disney Parks blog.
But first, let's have a look to this amazing video!
Do you remember that Buzz Lightyear was sent to space many months ago? Well, after 15 months in space onboard the International Space Station, Buzz returned to earth Sept. 11, 2009 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery STS-128.
Even better, Buzz Aldrin who was the second man to walk on the moon in July 1969, and the space ranger toy were joined Oct. 2, 2009 by ISS Expedition 18 astronaut Michael Fincke in a celebratory "homecoming" parade in front of thousands of guests at the Walt Disney World theme park!
Disney Parks and NASA sent the Buzz Lightyear toy into space in 2008 as part of an educational initiative to encourage students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Welcome back, Buzz!
Thirty eight years ago, on October 1st, 1971, Walt Disney world - Walt's big dream - was opening. LIFE photographers were there and the magazine did a special issue two weeks later, on October 15. You can read the whole article on Google Books and here is the LIFE memorable cover as well as the original picture from the photo shoot with 1500 WDW cast-members and characters!
Walt Disney World released new high-res files of the four renderings for Dumbo, The Little Mermaid - by WDI artist Chris Smith - and Star Tours 2. I've posted before the high-res new Fantasyland artwork - by WDI artist Greg Pro - but i put it again here so you'll have the four on the same post. Click on each picture to see them in big size.
Note that the high-res file of the Dumbo artwork reveals interesting points about the Circus itself. If you look well, you can see an adult elephant inside the circus tent - will it be a real one or a big AA elephant? Also, the famous "fire in the house" sequence of the movie seems to be part of the circus show.
Here is a new article on all Jay Rasulo presentation saturday. Pictures were allowed during the keynote and Andy did his best to get pictures of everything that Jay Rasulo shown on the D23 Expo arena screen to the audience. I worked all day to enhance them and try to eliminate distortion effect. Although i can't guarantee that no distortion effect remain in the renderings below, i did my best. All my apologies to the WDI artists if it's not totally perfect. That said, let's go and have a closer look at this awaited "Future of Parks and Resorts" presentation.
Jay Rasulo confirmed that WDW Magic Kingdom will have its huge Fantasyland expansion - so big that it will double the size of the current Fantasyland! To have a better idea of how big it will be, click on the top rendering which is a high-res file.
The Little Mermaid is part of the new Fantasyland, and the biggest ride. The exterior theming will recreate Eric's castle, and have waterfalls and its own lagoon. Expect also a highly themed queue decor, before you load in the ride vehicle. The ride itself should be identical to the one currently build at DCA.
WDW guests - and specially little girls - will be able to visit their favorite Disney Princess in her castle, cottage, or chateau. Whether it will be to share a dance with Cinderella...
...or to see her being transformed right before your eyes.
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Right next door, guests will celebrate Sleeping Beauty's birthday with the Good Fairies.
The Beauty and the Beast area will be one of the bigger one with Belle's village...
...where guests will join Belle in an enchanting story performance in the Beast's castle library.
Guests will have the choice to have dinner at the Be Our Guest restaurant in one of three enchanted rooms inside the Beast's castle...
...or at Gaston's Tavern.
The double-Dumbo ride is also confirmed and will be part of the new Fantasyland! Dumbo the Flying Elephant will be completely re-imagined. Guests will fly with Dumbo high above brand new circus grounds, twice the size of the existing attraction with a new interactive, three-ring circus tent.
The last addition will be the new Pixie Hollow area. Located behind the Little Mermaid area, guests will meet Tinker Bell and her friends.
Here is a video from Attractions Magazine of the Fantasyland announcement by Jay Rasulo.
The other big news was of course the official announcement of Star Tours 2 for 2011 at Disneyland and Disney Hollywood Studios. The ride will always use simulators but highly improved. In the ride visitors will board a Starspeeder and join a high-speed pod race through the desert canyons of Tatooine.
Storm Troopers and Darth Vader were there for what was the funniest part of Jay's keynote.
Also shown during the presentation, new renderings of Cars Land scheduled to open in 2012 where guests will literally step into the town of Radiator Springs and its six acres of hand-carved rockwork. The vehicles will use a new generation of Test Track technology.
A short CGI clip of Radiator Springs Racer was also shown. Apparently it shows a scene at the end of the indoor part of the ride, before vehicles go outside for the final race. Here are some pictures by Andy and a video of the clip from Mint Crocodile.
Also, a video from TopChefRemy of the Lighting Mc Queen "Automatronic" that guests can see in the Parks and Resorts area. Actually, it seems that there is no mechanical or hydraulic elements involved in the making of this "Automatronic". The eyes are obviously a rear projection, but even the mouth is a projection effect! The effect works perfectly.
Jay talked also about Hong Kong Disneyland and specially about Toy Story Playland with new renderings, here they are.
Jay did not forgot the Disney Resorts and specially the Ko Olina on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Here is some new artwork.
Finally, Rasulo talked about the Disney Dream, the new ship being built by Disney Cruise Line. The new ship is currently built in Germany, here are some pictures.
