Posted by Ashley McChesney on Sat, Sep 12, 2009 @ 03:43 PM
When Star Tours first opened in 1987 it took fans by storm, remaking the classic is getting the same response.
A new Star Tours ride has been rumored to be in the works for a few years now. On September 12th at the D23 convention it was announced that the Disney Hollywood Studios ride would be redone, and ensuring that those who have been anticipating the change wont be disappointed, the new version will be following suite of the biggest trend in entertainment technology: 3D. A section of video from the new ride was released today as well.
It was rumored that the long delay was due to the high budget for this production, but I am sure all the investors are feeling much better after seeing the near pandemonium that swept the internet after the announcement was made today.
George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars is helping Disney Imagineers in the creation of Star Tours II. The original ride will be closed in 2010 and reopened at some point in 2011 with the new experience full installed.
The new ride will also be opening at Disneyland in California.
Posted by Ashley McChesney on Sat, Sep 12, 2009 @ 01:25 PM
**Updated at 4pm 9/12/09**
We reported earlier about blueprints for an expansion of Fantasyland at Disney World Orlando being leaked. At the D23 Expo it has just been announced that the plans were real and there will indeed be an expansion, it is just much larger than we all thought. Disney has released an official full color concept art that very closely mimics what we saw in the blueprints.
More details coming soon but it has been announced so far that Fantasyland will double is size by 2013 and it will be the largest expansion in the history of Magic Kingdom. Additionally the Dumbo ride will be completely reworked and will replace ToonTown during the expansion. The train depot that is there now will stay and be rethemed to match fantasyland, no official closing date has been announced.
There will be a new Little Mermaid Ride, take a look at the concept rendering below. It looks beautiful!
You will be able to meet the Disney Princesses in their own worlds. Share a dance with Cinderella; celebrate Sleeping Beauty's birthday with the Good Fairies; or join Belle in an enchanting story performance in the Beast's castle library. Not to mention meet Tinkerbell and her fairy friends in Pixie Hollow.Disney has said that they would like to make these places boy friendly, still waiting to hear how they plan on doing that. Will they find a way for them to be able to save a princess from a dragon or evil step mother?
There will also be a Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant were you will be able to dine in one of three enchanted rooms in Beast's castle!
Book your vacation to Disney now! Reserve a spot for the unveiling or take your last look at the old Fantasyland.
Take a look at the current Disney Magic Kingdom attractions.
See our discount disney passes and our low cost disney trips packages starting at $99.
Posted by Ashley McChesney on Sat, Sep 12, 2009 @ 12:44 PM
This year is the first of a hopefully annual Disney fan convention. The event started on September 10th and taking place at the Anahiem Convention Center in California. Since the doors of the convention opened my twitter account has been in overdrive and even though the event still has a day and a half left, there have already been some big movie announcements made that have Disney fans in a frenzy.
The Yellow Submarine- ImageMovers Digital Studio officially announced at the D23 Expo that a deal has been struck to "develop a new 3D performance capture adaptation of the 1968 hit animated film Yellow Submarine". The film will incorporate 16 of the Beatles' original recordings, including classic songs like "All You Need Is Love", "Eleanor Rigby", and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". No target release year or date was mentioned.
Pirates of the Caribbean- Johnny Depp will be back in a fourth edition of the popular movie based on the Disneyland pirates attraction. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" will come out in 2011. He even dropped into the convention to add to the excitement of the stunned fans!
Fankenweenie- Tim Burton also announced he is making a feature length version of his "Frankenweenie" short film. It seems that Tim Burton has managed to redeem himself in Disney's eyes seeing that they fired him after the first Frankenweenie short film was completed in 1984; the studio claimed that he had wasted company resources and felt the film was too scary for young audiences, they didn't release it until 1994 and even then it was only released on home video.
Maybe the biggest of all the news is Disney's plans to go dark...
New production label: Double Dare You- Dick Cook, the chairman of Walt Disney announced that Guillermo del Toro (who is responsible for such movies as Blad II, the Hellboy movies, Pan's Labrinth, and the Orphanage to name just a few) will be leading Disney's new label "Disney Double Dare You" which will be animated films that are "meant to scare" yet still be family appropriate. The filmmaker also said there will be a shared trait among all the Double Dare projects, which will include books, merchandise, and films. The first movie from the line will be titled Trollhunters though no real details about it have been released yet.
Hopefully more big news is on the way in the remaining day of the expo! What do you hope they announce next?