News From the Front : New Version of 20000 Leagues Cancelled, Tomorrowland Actress Announced, Iger Stay WDC CEO Until June 2016...

Some short news from the front, beginning by a bad one as the new version of 20000 Leagues Under The Sea directed by David Fincher has been cancelled by the WDC. 
I think we can call this a Lone Ranger "collateral damage" as it was another movie with a $200 million + budget and apparently Disney don't want to take the risk. Personally, and although as a big 20K fan i would have been curious to see this new version, i'm not depressed by this decision as i always thought that it would have been difficult to do better than the original 1950's version. But we will never know, may be this new version would have been great, too. 

Walt Disney Pictures also announced the name of the actress who will be the lead female role in Brad Bird's mysterious "Tomorrowland" movie, and it is Brittany Robertson who previously played in teens movies like "The First Time" and in the Under the Dome series.

Also, "At the request" of the WDC board of directors Bob Iger will stay as Disney's CEO until June 2016 instead than leaving on March 2015. There is probably a lot of reasons for that but among them one which is important to Iger, i.e to be there as Disney CEO for the grand opening of Shanghaî Disneyland. Mickey can be happy, but for us it is also a precious indication that, even if there is some delay, SDL will not open later... than June 2016.

Pictures: copyright Disney, Hollywood Reporter

D&M Exclusive : One Night Inside Disneyland Paris Parks

Today's Disneyland Paris update is pretty exceptional. You may have wondered what's happening in the parks at night when the doors are closed and guests back at home or in the hotels and this is what you will see thanks to DLP who invited Disney and more and Max Fan, D&M contributor, and DlrpWelcome webmaster, for an exclusive look at the many activities happening in both parks between sunset and sunrise, after the parks are closed.

Not only we have plenty of pictures to show you what's happening but Max also filmed a video and i suggest that we begin with it.




This second part of the article will show you other works not appearing in the video as well as great night shots of the parks without any guests, like these Main Street shots below.

Let's start with something about the Disney Dreams show which requires a team of 10 technicians, 5 firemen and 5 other people for the fireworks. Below, pictures of the Disney Dreams control room and of the recalibrating of the projectors on the castle, an operation happening each week.

2 am: We're learning from Alexandre Theophile, DLP Duty Manager that between 200 and 300 cast members are in the parks each night to clean everything after dozens of thousand guests coming in the parks each day. There is also three duty managers to control the activities at both parks and Disney Village. For instance at WDS Toy Story Playland from the top of Toy Soldier Parachute Drop the maintenance guys are checking every night that all cables and pulleys are working fine, all this with a great night view of the park.

Below some pictures of Toy Story Playland at night as well as night views of the park shot from the top of the Parachute Drop.

Same at Tower of Terror where everything is double checked. The TOT sign is located at 41 meters from the ground - fantastic view from up there as you will see. The Tower elevators are falling from this height and also go down 12 meters in the ground. 

3.45 a.m: The show decor team are refurbishing the stands for the Moteurs, Action! stunt show market scene. During the show, these are hiding the airbag mattress used when the red car is falling.

Then, another team check the lighting on the town decor - inspired from the french town of Villefranche sur Mer.

Without the lighting:

With the lighting:

5 a.m: the carpenters team of Laurent Picard are here to anticipate risks and are here in Adventureland on the Hakuna Matata bridge after they did some try backstage on different kind of antiskid during one year. Some fiberglass will serve as skeleton on which the product will mold before the addition of sand. All this to avoid that the antiskid get out of its place. It requires 24 hours to dry and in one month all the works at this location will be finished.

Same problem on the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril where are installed special steps previously prepared backstage. You need to know that the products used for the antiskid are the less toxics for environment, as well as for the wood. In the case of the Hakuna Matata bridge it is important as although the bridge is 20 years old its wood is still of excellent quality.

6 a.m : It's sunrise and eight gardeners are entering Central Plaza to take care of the lawns around the castle, with three of them on the little hill on the left. For security reasons gardeners must be attached to a "stop fall" cable. The lawnmowers work on air cushion which help to have a better maneuverability.
The lawns are cut each week, and when the lawnmowers have finished to cut, the cut grass is aspirated.
For the cypress trees - the one with a square cut - some of them will be replaced next year with the addition of two new ones.

7 a.m: Eric Peigne, glazier at Disneyland Paris since 15 years, is doing some cleaning and restoration works on the stained glass of Sleeping Beauty Castle. When one talk about stained glass in the park we instantly think of the ones inside the castle but there is plenty of others in Main Street U.S.A for instance and also in Frontierland, that's why a special department was created for this kind of work. 

It's now 8 a.m, and  it's time for us to leave as the park will open its gates to the guests anytime soon!

Disney and more wants to thanks a lot Elisabetta MARIGLIANO, Sébastien FRANK, and Mathias DUGOUJON from Disneyland Paris for their precious help in the making of this report as well, as always, Max Fan for his pictures and video. See you soon for a new DLP Update!

One more thing about the Disneyland Paris book as i remind you that there is now less than FIFTEEN copies of the Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality book available in its english collector's edition, and if you don't own the book yet, it's really now or never! Don't miss the $45 Discount on the Disneyland Paris book! Order in one click with the Paypal button below ! 

 
Don't miss the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book, in which you have the whole park in 320 pages with 750 photos including 250 WDI renderings. Last english collector's edition copies, french collector signed copies are also always available. And i do a special price right now on it with a $45 / 40€ discount on the normal price, so order your collector copy while there is still copies available as it's really the last english collector copies. You'll find below a one click Paypal button as well as a video showing the whole book. And you can have more infos about this gorgeous 320 pages book HERE.

Choose between french or english edition -Price include shipping

1 copy ENGLISH edition Disneyland Paris book, include shipping €100.00 EUR 1 SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book, inc shipping €115.00 EUR 1 NON SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book +shipping €90.00 EUR

Pictures and videos: copyright Max Fan - Dlrp Welcome

Woody's Roundup Coming to Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree at Disneyland's Frontierland... and in 2015 at Shanghaî Disneyland Toy Story Land ?

This summer, Woody's All-American Roundup, a flag-wavin' patriotic celebration of the Old West, has come to Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree in Frontierland. You have a Disney Parks video below, but there might be another good reason to look at this new Woody's Roundup and especially for our friends in China. 

Why, you ask? Well, as you might know Shanghaî Disneyland will have a Toy Story Land ( which, by the way, will be considered as a "land" of the park even if TSL is in fact a mini land ) but, contrary to the two others TSL versions at DLP WDS and HKDL the land at SDL will NOT have the Parachute Drop ride. At Shanghaî Disneyland Toy Story Land will have the RC Racer ride and the Slinky ride and also something which don't exist in the previous TSL versions, named so far... "Round Up attraction". 

Obviously this has been added in the land to replace the deleted Parachute Drop ride and so far i can't tell if it will be a "real" attraction... or simply the same thing that you will see on the video, probably with the addition of little games or what also exist at DLP Frontierland's Woody's Roundup. Have a look anyway!

Picture and video: copyright Disney

Disneyland 58th Anniversary Tribute !

It's Disneyland 58th Anniversary today and Disney's first Magic Kingdom has gone a looong way since its opening in 1955. But how did it all began? Sure, it began with Walt showing to the world these famous renderings - picture above - but we will also have a look today at the building of Disneyland with great construction pictures.

The first picture below shows Walt on site probably in early construction days.



Below,  a series of pictures showing the construction of Disneyland's City Hall and Main Street U.S.A.










Hey, some celebrities came on the construction site, too. Below Fess Parker - aka Davy Crockett himself!

Walt supervising the building of  Frontierland Fort to make sure everything is done well.



Imagineer and horticulturist Bill Evans is the one who created the lush jungle of the Jungle Cruise...

...While at Burbank Chris Mueler did some huge clay models that will serve for the final creation of the Jungle Cruise african elephants.

A few weeks before opening day it was time to install the Jungle Cruise hippos! ( Picture above and below thanks to Davelandblog )

Here is a series of pictures showing the construction of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

In Fantasyland, the construction of the carousel just start...



...while Walt is having a last look at Peter Pan's Flight vehicle.

Here comes the Tomorrowland "TWA" rocket!




Almost ready for opening day...




And then, when everything was set for grand opening it was time to shot what became probably the most famous picture of Walt!




All photos: copyright Disney.