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 Park News - (6/25/09) More Luxo Jr. videos have been posted to JeffLangeDVD.com.
(6/23/09) All new pictures of Luxo Jr. at the Studios have been posted to MouseSteps this week. You can also catch him in action in a video clip I’ve embedded below that shows off some of this daytime and after-dark routines.
(6/10/09) A photo report from the third Star Wars Weekend event has been posted to MouseSteps.
(6/5/09) New pictures from Star Wars Weekends have been posted to MouseSteps this week.
(6/2/09) Disney has confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that a 6 foot tall animated Luxo Jr. figure will soon appear at the park across from the Toy Story Mania attraction.
(5/29/09) Over 250 new photos have been taken and posted from the opening of this year’s Star Wars Weekends at the park, and posted to MouseSteps.
(5/28/09) According to WDW Magic you can see the outline of the new Luxo figure on site now.
(5/25/09) According to an article posted to WDW Magic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios 20th Birthday event during a Q&A session with a few Imagineers, they left the crowd with the distinct impression that the giant Sorcerer’s Hat may be coming down at some point in the near future.
(5/22/09) According to the Orlando Sentinel, a large animatronic version of Luxo the Lamp icon from the start of every Pixar feature film may currently be under construction across from the entrance to Toy Story Mania. You can see a picture of what they’ve installed so far as WDW Magic.
(5/11/09) This is just the wild rumor at this point, but we heard from one reader that Disney may be considering some kind of plan to reinvent and improve the WDW version of Fantasmic! Like any good show, I’m sure the producers are always looking for ways to improve it and as the lesser of the two shows, there are many spots for the WDW version of the show fails to impress where the original shines. With many new improvements on the way this summer to make the Disneyland version even better (A new Dragon, new Croc, and the new Flotsam/Jetsam characters) I’ve got to wonder if they aren’t looking into ways they can improve the Florida version as well.
Of course a total reboot may not be a bad thing either, with one possible choice that comes to my mind may be to bring up the old original plans for the “Fantasmic Hollywood!” version of the show that would have include a number of elements from Disney’s famous live action films. One such popular element was to have included the sub from 20,000 Leagues cruising through the lagoon, with a live action crew on the deck fighting off a giant animatronic squid. With the success of Disney’s Pirates of the Carribean film series, you can obviously see how they could also include similar action elements into a “Hollywood” version of the show if they chose to do so. As I said, this is all just a wild rumor at this point, as the WDW version of Fantamic! may simply go on, as is, for the next decade or more unchanged. If anyone knows more, please do let me know.
(5/1/09) Four great posters to promote this year’s Star Wars Weekends to Cast Members have been posted to Slashfilm. I think I like the first and last ones best of all, so go on and get a taste of the dark side.
(4/1/09) It’s been awhile since we’ve heard the rumor that Disney may be planning on designing new drop programs for the Tower of Terror, but the rumor came back this week. Unfortunately the rumor is rather lacking in details and really only claims to have heard about a single new 5th drop profile in the works that could be added sometime within the next year or so.
Previously however, when the subject of new profiles came up, I was always told that it wasn’t likely to happen until they upgraded the new Towers in California, Tokyo and Paris to the point where they were running multiple drop profiles as well. The big hold up was always that California management didn’t want to pay for it, and was willing to wait until the Japanese were willing to pay for it, so they could just copy the ride profiles from them. Anyone else heard rumors about new drop programs in development for any of the Towers around the world?
(3/7/09) Pictures from the ESPN: The Weekend event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios have been posted to MouseSteps this week.
(2/24/09) Backing up yesterday’s story that Disney may have offered “i.d.e.a.s.” a good buyout offer for the remainder of their lease is a link to this news article from 2006. Here they clearly say that they had just signed a 5 year deal with Disney to stay at the location at the theme park, which would have kept them there until 2011. So one does have to wonder what plans Disney may have for this space that will be put into action before 2011.
(2/23/09) Disney fans may remember the old original MGM Studios tour layout where after you finished the tram portion, you were dropped off to begin a “walking” portion of the tour that started out right where the current tram tour starts, complete with the water effects tank. From here you entered into the prop house, the special effects soundstage and traveled through corridors built into soundstages before where you could peek in on windows into the post production facilities before ending up in the big finale theater where the Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream film is currently shown as the big ending to the tour. While we know what has become of some of those other former walking tour areas, the actual post production facilty continued to be used as a real functioning area for all these years. As you can read here, what started off as a Disney group was spun off into it’s own private company back in 2001 known as “i.d.e.a.s.”, a division of another company called Integrity Arts & Technology, Inc.
This past week they announced that they would be departing their long-time home at the Disney Studios to move into a new facility in downtown Orlando in April. Now according to some industry insiders, they still actually had a couple of years left on their latest contract with Disney which has caused some to wonder why they have suddenly decided to move. According to one source Disney actually may have been the one to approach them, offering some kind of buyout offer for the early termination of the lease because Disney has a need to take over this space in the near future. The question is… what for?
(2/13/09) A British woman is attempting to file a lawsuit against Disney, claiming that a day spent riding the Tower of Terror was the trigger to a heart attack and stroke back in 2005. They claim that shortly after the ride was over her heart had stopped and she suffered a brain hemorrhage.
(2/11/09) I’ve been told that Toy Story Mania has removed the old singer rider line and all of the old signs for it. Apparently it seems that Disney doesn’t plan on using it anymore, though the idea of a single riders line for an attraction that seats 2-across isn’t the most ideal anyway.
(2/5/09) Disney’s official calendar of events lists this year’s Star Wars Weekends as taking place Fridays through Sundays from May 22 through June 14th.
(1/30/09) A Screamscape source has sent in a little more information about that woman who has filed the lawsuit against Disney after getting banned from the parks. While I can’t confirm any of this as fact, the word going around the park is that the woman was making access demands beyond what the Guest Assistance Card allows. While the card allowed her the same kind of access as a FastPass guest, apparently she was demanding that she not have to wait at all. Apparently this escalated on the day in question to the point where she became belligerent and the CM took away the pass. The guest then became “abusive” and at this point management and security were called out to the ride where they revoked her Annual Pass, banned her from property and had security escort her out of the park. Ouch! It’s this kind of abusive behavior that gives the guests who truly need Guest Assistance Cards a bad reputation, so if even half of this is true, Disney did the right thing here.
One other quick note, Disney has updated their online rehab schedules and is now listing the Studio Backlot Tour as being closed now through March 28th along with the AFI Showcase.
(1/29/09) In a very strange news piece, Disney is being sued by a guest over being banned from the Walt Disney World parks. According to the article a local woman by the name of Denise Mooty used to frequently visit the Studios for the sole purpose of riding Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror over and over. She claims to suffer from something called abdominal adhesions which has something to do with growing internal scar tissue around certain organs that are quite painful and often require repeated surgery to break apart. Apparently the only thing that helped with the pain, and even cut back on the number of surgeries needed, was riding the Tower of Terror over and over. It seems the airtime and negative-G’s from the ride were a great way to ‘break up the scar tissue”.
Now that is all fine and great, but it seems that she somehow got someone at Disney to issue her a “Guest Assistance Card” allowing her to cut to the front of the line. While the article doesn’t mention it the video version of the report mentions that she would ride the Tower “up to 50 times a day” with this pass until a CM decided to revoke her pass. From here she jumps to the fact that she was then banned from Disney property, but I think there has got to be a bit more to the story that we’re not being told.
Obviously the CM felt that she was abusing the Guest Assistance Card, and I’ve got to admit jumping to the front of the line to ride Tower of Terror 50 times a day would certainly give them just cause to do so. But I feel certain that there must have been some kind of altercation following this that led to her being banned from all of the Disney parks that we haven’t been told about yet, as Disney doesn’t usually make it a habit of banning people from the parks without a well documented reason to do so. So far Disney has yet to officially respond to this story. In the meantime I can only dream about what it must be like to be able to ride the Tower of Terror 50 times in a day…
Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as things are always subject to change at the last second.
Sounds Dangerous – NOW CLOSED through to at least 10/31/09
Early 2009 -  The American Idol Experience - (2/16/09) MouseSteps has posted a gigantic photo update from the media day opening of the American Idol Experience.
(2/9/09) Today we have a description of what it’s like to be part of the new American Idol show experience from one of our readers. Apparently you don’t always have to seek out a chance to audition for the show as the park has CMs roaming the park approaching certain guests to try out. Since the show is still only in soft-open mode, this may not always be the case. In any case our reader was given a card with a time to return for their audition. At this point they did a quick audition for one lady and if they give you the thumbs up you are given a number to wear and paperwork with the rules of the show as well as a list  of songs to choose from.
They were taken to a lounge area next and given an iPOD to use that had the complete list of songs loaded onto it where you can listen and get comfortable with your song choice. Once you were ready (30 minutes later for our reader) they went on to audition once again for one of the show’s producers. Once given the thumbs up to be in the actual show our reader was given a “Vote For Me” lanyard to wear around the park for the day which is also your backstage pass to get in for your particular showtime.
In this case our reader arrived an hour before the schedule show to allow for time to go through hair and makeup as well as get some real rehersal time on the actual big stage before the live audience is allowed into the theater which apparently looks much larger when your on the actual stage looking back the other way. While our reader came in second place for their show, they described the experience as “the thrill of a lifetime! This was like a dream come true!” They also send in scans of their call back card, lanyard and number (I blurred the number itself however) for everyone to enjoy.
(1/23/09) A new collection of American Idol Experience pictures have been posted to Orlando United this week.
(1/20/09) If you scroll down to just before the bottom of the page you can see another extensive set of pictures from the American Idol Experience show posted to Theme Park Review.
(1/16/09) While our last reader review of the American Idol Experience was about one of the normal day shows today’s reader review is about the very first “Finale” show performed for the public. Unlike the day shows that only feature 3 singers and focus more on the spectacle of the Idol concept itself, the finale show was very focused on the performers… all seven of them who won each of the day’s previous shows. Almost the entire 45 minute show was dedicated to the show’s performers before they begin to eliminate the performers one at a time, taking it down to the final two before making the big announcement. According to our reader, “I found the finale show much more entertaining than the shows during the day”. Asking a few questions about participation rules, if you make it into one of the shows you have to wait 90 days before you can try out again. If you win the day’s finale and get a Dream Ticket, you’ve got to wait a year before you can try out again.
(1/15/09) MouseSteps has posted a huge update of pictures from the American Idol Experience in their latest update. The photos were taken at two different shows, showing off different hosts and judges used, as well as a good look at the great looking set they’ve built for the show.
(1/12/09) According to one of our readers, the scuttlebutt from the CM previews of American Idol labeled the show as 30 minutes of your life you wont get back. Apparently the breakdown is that you only have 3 contestants who sing, deal with three odd judges that look like they are supposed to be knock-offs of the real show’s judges, then there are a lot of video segments to sit through. These include footage of past Idol winners, including a 4+ minute segment of Jordan Sparks singing what is really just a commercial for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The general thought is that the show would be improved if they used less video packages and added a forth contestant. Of course this exactly why Disney does soft openings and preview performances, so they can tweak and change a show before the official grand opening.
(1/7/09) While the LA Times has done their own write up about the American Idol Experience an insider has tipped us off to some other rules of the competition. First off, if you’re a Disney Cast Member, a Fox employee or the immediate family of one, you are not even allowed to audition for the show once the previews are over and it officially opens. So not only can’t you win, you can’t even try out. As I recall, there were similar rules in place for Millionare as well.
Soft preview shows have already started at random, but are expected to begin on a more regular schedule starting tomorrow. During these preview shows, they wont be giving out any of the Dream Tickets which allow the winners to jump to the front of the line at a true Idol audition. From the sound of things the show will officially open on January 26th, though the official grand opening event is set for February 14th.
Once it opens, the final show each day will feature all the winners from the day’s previous shows chosen from audience votes. In the final show the winner with the most audience votes will get a Dream Ticket. From what I’ve been told, the first Dream Ticket will be given out in the final show on January 26th.
(2/8/08) Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but Disney just confirmed yesterday afternoon that a live American Idol branded show would be added to the former ABC Theater building by the end of 2008. Bypassing Fox entirely, Disney signed a deal with the shows creators: 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia Licensing. Guests to Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be able to get a taste of the real American Idol experience that will include auditioning, some backstage coaching and some hair and makeup work, performing in front of a live audience and finally feedback from a panel of judges. As previously rumored, the winners of each show throughout the day will be invited back to a Grand Finale showdown at the end of the day where the winner will receive a cut to the front of the line pass good for a real American Idol audition if they choose to use it.
2009 - Jack’s Halloween Party / Twilight Zone 5 - Rumor - (11/21/07) I’ve talked on and off for the past couple of years about a possible new Halloween event in the works for Disney-MGM Studios that would be themed to Jack Skellington, which was originally looking to happen in 2007 but put off due to all the fuss over the park’s upcoming name change to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. According to a recent update over at Jim Hill Media, the event is back on schedule but wont appear until October 2009. But his sources say that the event isn’t trying to be scary or even come close to what happens at Universal, but will likely be more “eerie and silly” and is being done mostly because they sell out Mickey’s Not So Scary so often, that obviously there is a market for an additional event to meet the demand. Of course they also mention something about a new “5th Dimension drop sequence” on Twilight Zone that may happen during this event that does sound very interesting.
2010/2011 - Star Tours 2 - Rumor - (3/21/09) What a difference six months makes as it looks like the Star Tours 2 project has been delayed until 2011 according to an update at MiceAge from a few weeks ago. However, shortly after that article was posted, I was contacted by one of my sources who reported that the story about the delay was old news leftover from last summer. With everyone in fear of losing their jobs these days, I’m told that the Star Tours 2 project was brought back out of the closet and is being worked on once again to prove that the department staff is needed because they are still in the middle of a major project.
While there is no solid timeline set for it yet, there are some issues going on between Disneyland and Disney World management over this new attraction. Disneyland wants the full fledged, crank the knob up to 11, full of new in-cabin special effects version of Star Tours 2. Orlando on the other hand, always ready to snip away at attraction budgets, is asking for a more bare-bones, no-frills version, and to reuse as much of what’s already installed as possible version. The funny part is that in an effort to push this thing along, both may get their wish, with Orlando being willing to put in the low-budget version while Disneyland installs a version of many cool new effects. What could help or hurt the scheduling here however is just how willing the Oriental Land Company is to get involved in the project as well, providing additional cost-sharing capital to the project which would help them all move into production more quickly.
(3/2/09) The latest buzz from our sources about the Star Tours 2 project is that installation could begin now in early to mid 2010 and shooting for a late 2010 or early 2011 grand opening. This is all very early and not set in stone, so expect this schedule to shift quite a bit before it is locked down. This is also only the current proposed schedule for the WDW version… there no telling if the Disneyland version will follow the same timetable, go early or go late.
(4/25/08) Screamscape sources tell us that we should finally expect to see Star Tours shut down by the end of this year or in early 2009 in order to begin work on the massive overhaul it will receive for the Star Tours 2 concept rebirth. While this is said to be a complete overhaul that will keep the ride closed for months, the WDW version may actually reopen before the Disneyland version. Expectations are high right now as they are simply not just dropping in a new movie to the old ride, but this makeover is said to change everything.
(6/7/07) The latest buzz over Star Tours 2 is that Disney is now ready to push more cash and time into the project which will likely be marketed heavily for the 2009 season as their main weapon to combat the new Harry Potter area going into Islands of Adventure.
(6/6/07) A new big piece of the Star Tours 2 puzzle came in today and claims that Anthony Daniels was about a year off… as the current plans to remodel Star Tours wont be complete until the end of 2008. Our source claims that the Star Tours 2 plans are likely connected to the Disney-Pixar name rebranding of the park which is also likely to happen in 2008. As for the ride itself, our sources tell us that WDI is still finalizing all the details right now but that it seems a good bet that Captian Rex will be retired from action this time around. It also seems a sure bet that the new version of Star Tours will go into Disneyland and Walt Disney World, though the window of time left to do the work may stretch the reopening into 2009.
(6/5/07) Any information leaked out about a possible Star Tours 2 project is always hard to find and often has to be taken under great scrutiny. The latest information however comes right out of the mouth of Anthony Daniels (C-3P0) himself. According to a Screamscape reader who attended the Adventure Con comic book convention in Knoxville last Saturday, someone from the crowd asked him if he had ridden Star Tours during the Q&A session. “He responded by saying yes and he just got finished filming the new digitalized upgrade for the ride. He said this update will start up around the end of the year and from what he has seen it looks very, very exciting.” That was all they could get out of him apparently. So there you have it, right from the mouth of 3-CP0 via the internet. Though somehow I have to question “the end of the year” part of it, unless this is simply just new material going into the queue videos. Anyone else heard more?
(4/25/05) I think one of the oldest rumors that I had when I started this website years ago was that Star Tours would someday be updated to have a new ride film. This rumor evolved over the years to the Pod Racer concept from Episode I when the multiple ending idea and at Disney World they even went so far as to retheme the outside of their gift shop to an Episode I themed Tatooine building. But still no new ride... and after years of delays and rumors that Lucas and Eisner had just had it out with each other and the ride would never happen, I gave up on it. Now with Episode III looming on the horizon, that damn madman George Lucas himself made a statement at the Star Wars Celebration III event this past weekend, reported on ComingSoon.net, that Star Tours “will be getting an overhaul soon”. I doubt George concerns himself with the mechanical status of the ride, so I can only assume he may be talking about creating the footage needed for an all new ride film. Stay tuned!
2011- Monsters Inc. Coaster - Rumor - (1/5/09) According to a Screamscape source the big push to get started on the Monsters Inc. coaster was suddenly put on hold for the time being, even though they were previously so hot to get it started. According to today’s update over at Jim Hill Media, they claim that Disney has put the project on hold until they can find a sponsor for the attraction to help fund part of it, rather that just fund the entire thing by themselves.
(11/24/08) Sources tell us that the remaining empty soundstage next to Midway Mania has been “cleaned out” recently to make way for the pending new thrill ride. While Monsters Inc. is still the popular choice in the rumor mill for this rumored indoor coaster ride, we’ve rumors that an Incredibles themed concept has also made the rounds. More on this when I find out.
(9/11/08) According to one of our readers, that rumored new Monsters themed coaster is still in development and may end up with name along the lines of, “Monsters Inc. Door Vaulter”. I’m going to hope they put some polish on that name and work on it a bit more before they make any kind of announcement. The site is still the same, with the suspended coaster project going into the soundstage area to the left of Toy Story Mania building, which means that they may have to take the roof off that building to accommodate the height of the coaster system most likely. Of course until Disney is ready to pull the trigger and drop the budget payload into the right accounts, nothing is going to happen just yet.
(7/22/08) According to the latest report from Jim Hill Media the Pixar themed coaster project is back on again for 2011 now. The good news this time is that it may be a much bigger and better ride than the old idea of cloning Crush’s Coaster with a new theme. According to the article, the winning concept is actually a new inverted coaster concept that will recreate the “hanging doors” theme from Monsters Inc. The idea is that the coaster will run through the huge door storage area as seen in the film, which has been installed with numerous large yellow scream/laugh energy storage canisters. Other fun ideas also mentioned include retheming the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area to have a new A Bugs Life theme in the near future as well.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard about a Monsters Inc inverted or suspended coaster idea, but the last time around it seemed like management was more interested in the more family friendly spinning coaster design used for Crush’s Coaster in Paris. Of course it was also a cheaper and smaller alterative to what was pitched for the Monster’s Inc themed coaster which was aimed at being quite a bit more thrilling. Of course the idea of a Monsters Inc ride to capture coaster ride’s screams also goes back to a proposed dark ride concept that I believe was first pitched for Disney’s California Adventure in Paradise Pier. The idea was to place an inverted dark ride system (similar to Peter Pan) in a building under and behind the park’s California Screamin’ coaster (right where Toy Story Mania is now) that would serve as a giant energy collector for the Monster world by harvesting all those screams from the coaster above. Right now I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that this latest Monsters Inc. ride concept gets the green light.
The Future - Special Night Events - (5/28/08) While we’ve heard about Disney’s plans to create a more spooky and teen friendly Jack’s Halloween Party event (see below) at the Studios for years, it seems this is just one aspect of the new direction the studios is heading. Previously Disney had already announced that the annual Night of Joy concert events would be moving to the Studios this fall. More recently it was announced that starting in 2009 the famous Grad Night tradition that has always been a staple of the Magic Kingdom will be moving to Disney’s Hollywood Studios instead. According to my sources this is not a one-time test either, but just another piece of a grander plan that will see the Studios become home to all manner of teen friendly events. Now the latest rumors claim that Disney has yet another Holiday themed event in the pipeline, this one hoping to create some kind of teen friendly Christmas holiday themed event. Just think of it as a Teen friendly version of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party… though I’m not sure just what that would involve.
Beyond the plans for the Studios, I’ve been told that the grand plan is to focus the after-hour special events at each of the parks to specific demographics. The Magic Kingdom will focus on events for families with small children (Very Merry Christmas, Not-So-Scary Halloween, Pirate & Princess and apparently a new concept still in development). Meanwhile Epcot has already long been focused on the more sophisticated Adult market with events like the Flower & Garden Festival and the ever-popular Food & Wine Festival. The overall goal is to essentially try to fill the calendar year with special events outside of the normal busy seasons to keep things busy all year round.
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