Today the new attraction ‘Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage’ opened in Disneyland, California. It’s a drastic remake of the old ‘Submarine Voyage’ that wasn’t in use any more since 1998. In this new version you will get fantastic view on the world of Finding Nemo. You’ll make a journey in a submarine through colourful reefs, old ruins and an exploding volcano. You’ll come eye to eye with Bruce the shark, Dory, Marlin, Nemo and the other characters of the Oscar winning movie.

A nice video about the ride you’ll find here (OCRegister). If you’re more interested in what the stars that were present today (like Courtney Cox, Rosanna Arquette and Brooke Shields) thought about it, click here.

Bolt is the title of a new Disney Animation movie directed by Chris Williams, the man behind The Emperor’s New Groove and Mulan.

Bolt is a famous television dog who’s got everything he wants in Hollywood. He lives on the set of his television show “American Dog” in which he plays the role of a superdog. Together with the twelve year old Penny he fights criminality. With his superpowers Bolt can for example freeze the criminals with one bark.

However Bolt has got one big problem: nobody has ever told him that he is not really a superdog. The walls where he jumps through on the set are made of cardboard and Penny is just an actress who gets paid to be his best friend. When everyone goes home in the evening, Bolt stays in his known world on the set.

Until one day the dog, by a clumsy mistake, finds himself in a UPS box with destination New York. That far away from home Bolt decides to find his way back using his superpowers. The superhero clearly needs some help to reach his destination. Luckily he meets Mr. Kittens and the hamster Rino, a big fan of his tv-show ”American Dog”. On the road Bolt soon realises his superpowers aren’t that super after all…(Source: Jim Hill)

John Travolta, Thomas Haden Church, Woody Harrelson and Bernie Mac are some of the voice actors. On wikipedia there is a rumour about the cooperation of Nicole Kidman, however this is not yet confirmed. The movie will be released in the United States on November 26th 2008.

 Update 07/06/14: The movie is renamed from ‘American Dog’ to ‘Bolt’ and the releasedate is postponed to November 26th 2008.

The Disney Blog brings us a satellite picture of an enormous ‘hidden Mickey’ somewhere on the countryside of Florida. With a diameter of half a kilometre, this is an impressive work of gardening. Considering the location it’s probably a construction of orange trees. The hidden Mickey consists of the three famous circles in the shape of the head of Mickey Mouse. These are often hidden as easter eggs in various Disney movies. I think this is the first time a hidden Mickey is transmitted into enormous landscape architecture.

Wall-E is the ninth Pixar animation movie, planned for release in June 2008. The movie will be directed by Andrew Stanton, the man behind Finding Nemo.

The story of Wall-E takes place in the far future, when mankind has left the earth because of the enormous pollution. The planet has been declared uninhabitable and the only creature living there is a small robot called Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifters – Earth Class). He is the last of his kind and programmed to clean up the large pile of junk that is scattered around the world.

But in his long stay on earth, Wall-E has become more than just a robot. He has gotten feelings and he starts to feel lonely. The world he knows is composed out of memories of mankind that are left in the garbage he sorts every day. His favourite hobby is watching the classic VCR of ‘Hello Dolly’. But all will change when he meets Eve. Eve is a probe sent to earth to measure the progress. Wall-E immediately falls in love and with this a great adventure starts.

So Wall-E is not a science fiction, but more a love story. During the first part of the movie there are hardly any dialogues, however the images speak for themselves. The only actor that is already known for this movie is Fred Willard. However, he doesn’t record his voice, but he plays himself (as a real person) in the movie. Because of these innovative aspects and the content of the movie, Wall-E could well be a break-through in the animation scene.

In Walt Disney World Florida you can go see the musical of Finding Nemo. It’s the first time ever Disney made a musical from a non-musical movie. Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson Lopez wrote the songs. “Just keep swimming”, the sentence Dory often hummed, is of course the most obvious choice for a hit song.

In a video report from Broadwayworld.com you get a pretty good idea of this production. It’s surprising to see how those fish in the sea can be portrayed on a theater stage. The most difficult part of the job for the actors was the combination of singing and controlling the puppets. The spectacle lasts a mere 30 minutes. Click for the behind the scenes look.

After our Tunnel-‘look behind the scenes’ at Walt Disney World Florida, a couple of days ago, First Coast News now takes you to the center of the park: The castle of Cinderella.

The highest tower of this fairytale castle isn’t a mere storage room anymore like it used to be. Since january this year, it’s been transformed into one of the most exclusive hotelrooms in all of Disney history. In Cinderella’s suite you can take a bath underneath the stars, fit your private glass slipper or watch all Disney dvds on your flatscreen tv/painting on the wall. At the end of the day you can see the fireworks around your own castletower where the clock never hits midnight.

This will probably cost you a lot of dollars you may think … but how wrong can you be: it is completely free! The chances of you sleeping there are however very, very small. Every day one family is the lucky winner of this hotel sleepover. If you are on the right seat somewhere in the Disney parks, on the right time, on the right day, you could be so lucky. Also included are: your own private park guide and fast VIP entrance to all the attractions. There’s a maximum of 6 people per night that can enjoy this unique experience.

Click here for the report. (You have to watch 10 seconds of ads, but it’s worth the wait)

In the 60-year old history of the amusement parks of Walt Disney, hardly anything has been revealed about what is happening behind the scenes. First Coast News, a regional television channel from Florida, now gives us a sneak peak. We get an exclusive look at the impressive underground corridor network of Walt Disney World in Florida.

If you make a stroll on Main Street, you are really on the second level of the Magic Kingdom. All facilities are undergound in a 2 mile long circular tunnel, invented by Walt Disney. He found it extremely important that everything that happened behind the scenes would never be visible to the public. It would be a bit strange if you would see a pirate in Tomorrowland, so this will never happen.

Throughout the whole park, there are hidden doors that lead to the underground section of the park. To make sure nobody gets lost in this tunnelconstruction, you will find maps everywhere and some color coding standards have been used. Every ‘part of the world’ has its own color, this way you have to follow the pink doors or arrows to get to Fantasyland. Walt Disney called this underground facility the Utilidor: an abbreviation for Utility Corridor.

In videoreport 1 on the site of First Coast News you will find the described tunnel and you will get a better view of the enormous organisation of this entertainment park. (You will have to watch 10 seconds advertisement before the report will begin, but it’s worth the wait.)

Videoreport 2  gives an insight in the costume department of the park. Every day about 40,000 people have to get dressed and this will not go smoothly if things aren’t extremely organised.

Ratatouille is the new Pixar/Disney coproduction about Remy the mouse from Paris. The movie will be released in the US on June 29th 2007 and in the UK on October 5th 2007. You probably recognise the voice of dorky Spence from ‘The King of Queens’ as Remy.

The story is based in Paris. Remy, a culinary rat dreams about becoming a chef. He loves food, especially making it. Unfortunately in real life a rat isn’t supposed to have such a daring careerchoice. But one day he meets Linguini, a servant in the kitchen from his favorite restaurant. Linguini can’t cook, but desperately tries to keep his job. Quickly it becomes clear that together these two could well be the best chef of France. There is only the small detail about the very nosy colleagues and the head chef who can’t stand rats…

If you look at the trailer, you’ll see the advanced animation used in the movie. Paris is beautifully displayed with the nicest details. I can’t wait to see the movie!.

If you click on more, you’ll find a nice behind the scenes movie.

(Read more…)