January, 2013

Huffington Post -- The online premiere of Disney's "Paperman" So what do you know about " Paperman ," that new Walt Disney Animation Studios production which was recently nominated for a Best Animated Short Oscar ? Well, you may have heard that this mostly black-and-white film uses a new technology, which Disney senior software engineer Brian Whited created to merge CG and hand-drawn animation. Or that this 7 minute-long film (which was helmed by John Kahrs , a first-time...

It's been quite a while since I last posted a piece about the various domain names The Walt Disney Company has recently registered . Which sometimes offers up a clue or two about the Mouse has in the works for the weeks, months & years ahead. Mind you, a lot of the news that I've uncovered this time around won't be all that startling. I mean, given that production just began last week in Iceland on " The Fifth State ," (i.e. a movie about the controversial website WikiLeaks...

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Which is why Walt Disney World's initial roll-out / in-park testing of the MagicBands component of MyMagic+ -- which was supposed to begin being offered to Guests staying at Disney's Boardwalk Resort next month -- has quietly been pushed back for a few weeks. "Pushed back?," you ask. "For how long? And for what reason?" To be blunt, the My Disney Experience program isn't quite ready for prime time. Not yet, anyway...

So how is Limited Time Magic being received by visitors to Walt Disney World ? Well, if the long lines in Town Square yesterday afternoon are any indication, this special series of entertainment events & experiences are being embraced in a big way by WDW Guests. People stood in the hot sun at Magic Kingdom Park sometimes for a half hour or more just to get their pictures with Long Lost Friends like the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf ... Photo by Nancy Stadler Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, the...

sk anyone who's ever worked in themed entertainment about what the tougher job is: building a brand-new ride, show or attraction from the ground up OR finding a way to shoehorn a brand-new ride into a pre-existing show building. And to a man, they will tell you that the retrofit is always the tougher, more challenging project. And no one in the themed entertainment would know this better than Mike West, the former Imagineer who is now an Executive Producer with Universal Creative. West was one...

Will two too many birthdays spoil the Danny Kaye centennial celebration? For weeks now all around the country, there have been events honoring that king of jesters and jester of kings, Danny Kaye . In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of this legendary entertainer and humanitarian, cultural institutions as varied as the Paley Center of Media in Beverly Hills and NYC's Lincoln Center have been putting together high-profile panels and concerts which then paid tribute to Kaye's creative...

You've heard about Fast Pass Plus , right? Well, this Saturday morning, the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood will be home to Peter Pan Plus. Which will (in theory, anyway) be able to give all you J.M. Barrie fans out there a new appreciation for the many & varied ways that The Walt Disney Company celebrates the boy who never grew up. The festivities actually get started right next door at Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store . Where -- starting at 8:30 a.m. -- Jake from Disney Junior...

Let's face facts, folks. Though Dr. Seuss gets most of the credit, it's Stan Lee who actually taught a lot of us how to read. That's how Cort Lane, the vice president in charge of animation development & production at Marvel Television , remembers it anyway. It wasn't "The Cat in the Hat" or "Hop on Pop" that got him excited about reading. But -- rather -- Avengers No. 161. TM & Copyright 2012 Marvel & Subs "I remember how this Marvel comic used...

Disney's novel approach to testing "Sofia the First" 's storybook world When it came to finding out if there actually was an audience out there for "Sofia the First ," Disney Junior decided to go by the book. Literally. "When you're developing a new animated series, you typically do a pilot," explained Nancy Kanter, the senior vice president of Original programming and General Manager at Disney Junior Worldwide. "But in this case, given that we were...

Thanks to a WDW-Cast-Members-Only document that got leaked to the Web over the weekend and today's New York Times story , a lot more people suddenly know a whole lot more about FastPass+, My Disney Experience and MagicBand. Mind you, there are a few questions that have yet to be answered. Like when will The Walt Disney World Resort reportedly turn the key on this $1.5 billion project. More to the point, which on-property hotel will supposedly serve as the starting point for this program which...

Go ahead. Ask a Disneyana fan who Marc Davis was. Better yet: Find yourself a comfy chair, sit down, and THEN ask a Disneyana fan who Marc Davis was. Marc Davis shows Walt one of the Audio Animatronic figures that were built based on his designs for Disneyland's "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Because you're about to get an earful. First you'll probably hear about how Davis was this legendary animator at Walt Disney...