Disney California Adventure Name Change

Earlier this month Disney announced that they have changed the name of "Disney's California Adventure" to "Disney California Adventure."  They have also changed the logos to match the theme changes made inside the park.  Some blogs are saying the name change is due to the fact that Disney is trying to make the park more character driven and not California driven.

So long California Adventure from the past!  We will miss you but are excited for new things to come!

Talking "Meet and Greet" Characters

Disney has introduced some talking "Meet and Greet" characters.  These are just tests but we imagine we will see many more of these in the future.  Check out Mickey Mouse below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6k2xdtU8Wc
And C-3PO and R2-D2...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQZn-ix3UR4&feature=player_embedded

They have been doing some form of talking characters for a while now, but not with main Disney characters.  Check out "Push" who we have seen a few times at the park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw4y6eMsJQs

Or course, "Turtle Talk with Crush" is a great success and uses the same technology. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-HfSSNSnFs

What do you think?  Has Disney gone overboard or would this have been part of Walt Disney's dream?

Changes to Pirates?

Check out this article from Miceage.com.  Seems there are some changes coming to Pirates of the Carribean for the holidays...

"Well, it had to eventually happen. With Christmas becoming the most important season for Disneyland in terms of attendance and sales, it was time to add another holiday attraction makeover to the list in order to have something new to market this year. Add to that project the latest in NexGen technology, and you have enough going on to fuel discussion boards for years.


So open up a can of that eggnog and slice yourself off a piece of that fruitcake and bear witness to what happens when some political capital is spent.

A series of meetings have been taking place in TDA about the upcoming holiday season. While the stale Christmas parade could use a major makeover, what research proves sells more tickets and merchandise best is another attraction holiday makeover. With the two Lucas attractions off-limits (no star tours holiday special I guess) and the coasters not quite providing an ideal environment for the new RFID/NexGen initiative that pretty much leaves only one attraction.

As it stands now Pirates of the Caribbean will be scheduled to close after the July 4 weekend to begin its transformation into Christmas in the Caribbean. The reason for the early closure is simple, besides Steve Davison just draping garland and lights all over the sets, Imagineering has been busy perfecting a new interactive technology that literally makes the traditional shop at the exit obsolete. But more on that later...

As you can probably imagine, any changes to a classic ride are always controversial. While the Christmas efforts tend to be less so due to their temporary nature, in this case the suits in TDA are doing everything they can to defuse the expected criticism, even bringing in former Imagineering head Marty Sklar out of retirement to help their cause. They're going to claim that Walt Disney himself dreamed up Christmas in the Caribbean while he was still alive and Marty will present proof of such, a cocktail napkin sketch recently unearthed from the Walt Disney Company archives. (Of course a limited quantity archive edition framed napkin reproduction will be available via the Disney Store’s online D23 shop for $400.)

Davison used the sketch to inspire his holiday makeover of the ride, commenting to the many people involved how easy this project was compared to his previous efforts. For example it doesn't take much to turn the pirate bedroom scene into Santa checking his list for who is naughty or nice, getting the donkey to sing Christmas carols along with the three wise men, or toss in a few wrapped presents into the treasure room. Throw up some leftover Osborne lights and voilà you have an instant Christmas themed attraction.

Did we mention the treasure room? That's where the most controversial changes in the ride will be made, spearheaded by Kim Irvine, head of the new Character Redeployment Attraction Program for all the Parks. Inspired by her success in placing unrelated Disney characters into the small world attraction a few years ago, she has decided to do the same in the Pirates treasure room. What visitors will see for the first time this year is the second part of what she had planned originally for the attraction which will make its debut in the Christmas Pirates makeover.

First developed for small world holiday as Stop & Shop (to be installed later this year there), Christmas in the Caribbean will debut a variation on it called Spot & Shop. As visitors board their boats they will be handed a toy spyglass with a special red button. As their boats make their way through the attraction riders will be invited to spot merchandise items strategically placed throughout with their spyglass and push the red button when they see something they want to purchase.

With each button push the item will be instantly charged to their credit card, packaged up and then handed to the rider as he exits the attraction. The “point & shop” technology was exhaustively tested on both the Toy Story Mania and Buzz Lightyear attractions and they will also offer shopping opportunities later next year.

For small world Stop & Shop will pull the boat over to the side of the track each time a rider calls out a character name, whereupon a cast member will pop out from behind the scenery, hand over the item and bill their credit card for it immediately. As the suits in TDA see it, visitors will be happier that they don't have to wait in long lines at the shops, and corporate will be pleased to finally make attractions personnel into revenue producers.

There's still a few glitches being worked out, Steve Davison is insisting that in order to get the full effect of the makeover, boats should only have the center three rows loaded for optimal viewing which of course means reduced capacity. Discussions are also ongoing about replacing the redhead in the auction scene with Miley Cyrus, (Tony Baxter is particularly keen on this), and John Lasseter repeatedly keeps asking for Cars characters to be introduced into the attraction. (He turned down a compromise from Imagineering to name all the boats after all the characters in the film.)

There have been discussions to have the Johnny Depp figures discuss the wonders of 3-D television and Blu-Ray discs, but those negotiations are ongoing with his management. Meanwhile the PR machine is already in full gear to deal with the expected online backlash, Heather Buick Rivera from the Disney parks blog is planning to deny everything as she gets in place a viral DoM campaign, DoM being short for Defenders of Magic.

Christmas in the Caribbean opens November 5, 2010." -AL (Miceage.com)

Happy April Fool's Day!!!

Star Tours

Since 1986, Star Tours has taken you on an unforgettable aventure thru outer space going at light speed.  Disney has announced plans to take Star Tours into the 21st Century with new affects and outstanding imagery.  Here is a look at the current Star Tours and a little idea what to expect in the next few years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agw3f3ZfoC8

Below is the announcement at the D23 Convention in 2009 of the new Star Tours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VliPqCf4Z0w

Here is the first look at Star Tours II which will be opening in 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jQaHgsKhQ4

Our Concerns:

- The scenes used for the new Star Tours attraction are from Star Wars episodes 1-3.  Didn't those movies take place before episodes 4-6 (the current Star Tours)?  Why are we going back in time?  

- The ride will not be the same without this character...

or this scene...

Alright, here is the whole pre-board video.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCNWnkNRkg

Changes to California Adventure, Part 3

With a 1.2 Billion dollar budget, California Adventure is getting a large renovation. The park has proven less successful than its Disneyland counterpart next door. Disneyland ranks second in the world in theme-park attendance with 14.7 million visitors last year, compared with about 6 million to Disney's California Adventure, according to an Economics Research Associates report. So here are some of the major changes happening now, or scheduled to happen in the future.

Say goodbye to the CALIFORNIA letters outside the park entrance.  The whole entrance will be changed as they near the completion of the project.

The Golden Gate Bridge and the amazing tile murals along the entrance to Sunshine Plaza will be taken down. On our last trip to the park we took the following pictures to remember them.

Cable Cars will be added to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot (which will be re-named Hollywoodland) and they will run through the main plaza.  Work has already started on this project.

Below is what the new entrance to California Adventure will look like.  What are your thoughts?

We will show you additional changes as they happen and keep you up to date on additional changes.  It will be very sad to see a lot of these things leave. 

Walt Disney once said, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."

To track the progress of the changes at California Adventure click here to access a great California Adventure Project Tracker.  To track projects at Disneyland click here.

Changes to California Adventure, Part 2

2010 will bring a new nighttime show to Disney's California Adventure. World of Color will combine fountains, movie projections and lighting effects to produce the highly anticipated show. Fountains will create the world's largest projected water screen measuring 380 feet by 50 feet allowing for 19,000 square feet of viewing. Popular Disney characters will be brought to life to the original Sherman Brothers score from the 1960s TV show "World of Color." A new 9,000 seat theater has been built to provide the best viewing opportunity for the show. World of Color is the first part of a 1.1 billion dollar makeover of California Adventure to be completed by 2012. 

Here is a video posted on Disney Parks Blog that shows what's coming with World of Color!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/01/world-of-color-abbey-road/

To view The Disney Parks Blog click here.  The Disney Parks Blog is the official blog of all Disney Parks in the United States.  Check it out for new videos and information about each park.

Changes to California Adventure, Part 1

This attraction has since been canceled

Since 2003 the Hyperion Theater at California Adventure has been the home of "Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular." This broadway style play tells the story of Aladdin with many classic scenes and songs from the movie re-created on stage and spilling out into the aisles. Life sized elephants, flying carpets, magic lamps, wise-cracking genies, princesses, and evil wizards - are all a part of this musical production.

This 45 minute production takes place in the 2,000 seat Hyperion Theater, located at the end of Hollywood Blvd.  The show has been quite popular because while much of it is scripted, the dialog of the Genie constantly changes to reflect popular culture.

This show will be replace by “Toy Story - The Musical,” currently showing only on the Disney Wonder cruise ship.  The final curtain falls on “Aladdin” on Aug. 15, 2010, with “Toy Story” taking over the theater in early 2011.

On the cruise ship, the Broadway-style song-and-dance “Toy Story” follows the original movie’s storyline, replicating the toy-sized perspective inside Andy’s room with 10 larger-than-life sets.

The musical score features six original pop, rock and folk songs plus Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”  In addition to Buzz Lightyear and Woody the cowboy, costumed characters include a 9-foot-tall inflatable version of Rex the dinosaur, an animated Mr. Potato Head with moving parts and a 4-foot-round Hamm the piggy bank.

Be sure to see this show before the final curtain call.  It is well worth the time waiting in line and seeing the show.  Plus the theater is nice and cool on a hot Southern California day.  If you would like to purchase a copy of "Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular" order a DVD from RU42.