Mouse Extra

As announced by the Orlando Sentinental, Disney has announced a new addition to Mickey’s Toontown Fair. Pixie Hollow will be a walk-thru attraction for children to meet and greet the residents of Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell and her faerie friends, Iridessa, Rosetta, Silvermist and Fawn. The attraction is to open October 24th, four days before the release of the direct-to-DVD movie featuring these characters. This is a notable change from the release of the recent Prince Caspian attraction that opened several months after the release of the movie. But, of course, Disney has seemingly abandoned the Narnia franchise.

In contrast, Disney has high hopes that the faerie concept will grow into another princess franchise. Merchandise is being launched for the Christmas season. Plus, they have already stated intentions of producing 4 direct-to-DVD movies. As stated by a Disney official “this is a franchise that is soon to be like our princesses franchise.” We shall see. The faeries have a lot of ground to make up to catch the Princess craze. But it appears that Disney is preparing a full blown Pixie Hollow assault on the public

Late last week word came out that Captain Jack Sparrow will indeed make his way back to the big screen.  And at the same time, word came that Johnny Depp will diversify himself for the studio as well, playing more than just the swashbuckling hero.  Here is the report from Variety…

Depp has agreed to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” pic and play Tonto in a big screen adaptation of “The Lone Ranger,” both produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. He will also star as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s version of “Alice in Wonderland.”

These all seem very interesting.  Using Depp in the Lone Ranger means it is probably not a cheesy Haunted Mansion-quality script, or he wouldn’t do it.  And Tim Burton doing “Alice in Wonderland” is certainly one of those ideas that can either be brilliant or unwatchably weird.

But it is Pirates 4 that is causing Disney fans to look at their computer screens and cheer in their chairs.  Considering the plot was all but revealed at the end of “At World’s End” there isn’t much to report.  All I can say is that I hope they return the franchise to its funnier and more appealing roots found in the first film.

We told you a few weeks back about an upcoming article in the Star Wars Insider magazine regarding the Star Tours attraction as it celebrates its 21st anniversary. One teaser to the article was possible information on the future of the attractions. Unfortunately, and predictably, there is nothing new about any Star Tours 2.0. In fact, it just rehashes some of the information we already new such as George Lucas stating at Celebration III in 2005 that there was a desire by Disney to update the attraction or his quote about using a more open venue for the next attraction which comes from a 2007 interview.

But thats the bad news. The good news is the article itself is a real whopper occupying 15 pages and going into incredible detail on the process that made Star Tours. There are early conceptual drawings and lots of fun photos. The article goes in depth into the process that brought Michael Eisner and Lucas together. There are some details on the early ideas such as a time-traveling romp through Lucas’ galaxy or an underwater high speed adventure in the Dagobah swamps. Did you know the orginal captain of your ship was going to be “Crazy Harry” a gung-ho vet from the (then undetailed) Clone Wars. There are lots of fun details on the construction of the animatronics, the launch of the attraction and the merchandising from the ride itself.

There are also lots of sidebars that add considerable flavor to the article. These include blurbs on the Orlando, Paris and Tokyo versions of the attraction. There are short interviews on some of the people involved like Dennis Muren from ILM, Tom Fitzgerald a writer and director for the attraction and Timothy Zahn an author of many popular Star Wars novels, among others. There also myths that are dispelled such as the urban legend that George Lucas actually appears in the ride’s film.

So for you Star Tours fans, I would definatley pluck down the $7.99 and grab this magazine.

“What will you celebrate?”  That is the big question that Disney hopes people will answer at the theme parks.  As I am sure you know by now, the “major announcement” made last week was Disney’s new marketing promotion, essentially an invitation to come and celebrate something, birthdays, anniversaries, etc., at Disney’s parks.

There is good and bad in this plan, as with most things Disney’s does in the marketing realm.  The good thing is that at least it is not a sweepstakes.  People who have been reading this blog know that I have truly disliked this “Year of a Million Dreams” nonsense from the get go.  At least in this promotion everyone has the chance to participate.  Anyone can schedule their vacation so that they can get something for their celebration.  Not everyone will, but at least it is not a random Ed McMahon-style thing where the vast majority of those who visit will get nothing under any circumstances.

As far as a promotion goes, it is not terrible.  But these “celebrations” usually mean Disney offers some improvement to the parks to tie-in with it.  The bad thing here is that Disney is basically doing nothing to really improve the parks during this time frame.  I turn to Mouse Planet’s Walt Disney World Park Update from Monday.  They put it best…

The big marketing push at U.S. Disney parks for 2009 (with emphasis on “marketing”) is “What Will You Celebrate?” No new attractions, no new shows, no new parks, just a “come and celebrate.” Or, as a cast member snarked to MousePlanet’s Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix back in July, “We got nothing, you think of a reason to visit.” For Walt Disney World visitors, it’s a bit of deja vu, harking back to the “Magical Gatherings” promotion, where the promotional focus for the resort for all of 2004 was based on convincing people to bring their large family groups to Walt Disney World.

So in the end Disney disappoints again.  But with all of the budget cuts taking place, did we really think anything else would happen?  They can’t even afford the silly sweepstakes anymore???

So here it is, the big announcement.  Here is what the press gathered in New York to hear…

NEW YORK (Sept. 18, 2008) – Everyone who visits a Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort theme park on their birthday in 2009 can get in free, as Disney Parks embraces a newly identified family travel trend called “celebration vacations.”

In this new national trend, American families are hitting the road to mark life’s special occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, reunions and more – with a “celebration vacation.” In 2009, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts will lead this growing trend with new entertainment and services that allow guests to turn their personal milestones into magical Disney experiences.

And to kick it all off – a first-ever opportunity for guests to receive a free ticket to one of the Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme parks on their birthday in 2009.

“Birthdays are the one occasion that we all share every year,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, at an announcement event today in New York. “We thought a free birthday ticket would be the icing on the cake as we extend this new ‘celebration vacation’ trend to Disney Parks.”

Disney parks provide the perfect setting for this new style of vacation that celebrates the special occasions in life, Rasulo added.

Whether a guest is celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, Quinceañera or any special occasion, Disney parks already are filled with favorite characters, world-class attractions and entertainment, and legendary guest service – exactly the “something for everyone” that trend-watchers say families look for in a “celebration vacation.”

“The special moments in your life become truly magical when you celebrate at a Disney park,” Rasulo said. “Sharing a milestone at Disney connects families, friends and generations.”

Yet again, Disney has disappointed. New parades and buttons. A new slogan. Big Deal. Where is the new attraction?

Today’s posting is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.  We will have more on this annoucement this week.

A few weeks ago, I went crazy over the news that Disney was cutting back Fantasmic to only two nights per week.  This cost cutting measure came right at the same time Bob Iger was spewing over how well the parks division was doing, and right after another hike in ticket prices.  Despite the good news about the parks financials, and the increased revenue from higher ticket prices, it seems the cutting goes a lot further than just one show.

According to Lou Mongello at DisneyWorldTrivia.com, there are many smaller programs that will be, or already have been, given the axe…

I mentioned a few weeks ago the fact that, due to apparent cutbacks, the Four for a Dollar pre-show performers from the Beauty and the Beast stage show were going to leave permanently as of September 20th. I have also come to hear that they may not be the only group who will be retired. From what I understand, Inkas Wasi and The Karuka Acrobats in Africa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom have been retired as of September 1, 2008. Also, The Main Street Family Fun Day Parade will end its run on September 27th. OrisiRisi, the African performers in World Showcase, have been retired effective August 30, 2008; and also in World Showcase, Spelmanns Gledje, the Norwegian folk group, was retired on that date as well. Even Wes Palm, the walking and talking palm tree at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, may have been retired as of September first. And as I mentioned previously, Woody’s Cowboy Camp will have its last hoedown in Frontierland on September 27.

Now, I can’t get all worked-up over this because none of these things are really all that important to me.  If they are to you, please feel free to post any rant you wish in the comments section.  (Providing, of course, that you keep it clean!) 

But as hard as this may be to swallow, if Disney feels the need to cut costs this is the way to do it.  These are the types of shows that can be scaled back, replaced, or even lost during rough times.  Not something as universally popular as Fantasmic.  I am still hoping Disney pulls their heads out of the collective you-know-what’s and corrects that monumentally stupid decision.

But having said all that, I still don’t believe Disney’s theme parks are in such financial woes that these things need to be done.  The economy may be slowing down, but there in no evidence that it is severely hurting Walt Disney World.  Until there is, making people pay more to get less is unacceptable in my book.