Disfans

I’m not sure how I feel about this: LA Times story Customizable Mouse Ears Coming to Disneyland

On one hand, its kind of cute… I can see that little girls would have a blast picking out little sequins and princess things to stick on the ears, or that little boys would like putting pirate stuff on their ears, and getting your name on the back is still the same. On the other hand, why are we messing with a classic?

Mouseketeers made the Mickey Ear hat popular, from the old Mickey Mouse Club Show. Black for boys, and black with a Minnie Mouse polka dot bow for girls. Yellow script letters on the back with your name on it. Cute pink ears with sequins are not Mouseketeer Ears.

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The Toy Story Midway Mania ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in WDW was open for a Preview last week. Why do I care? Because a similar ride will be opening this summer, at California Adventure. When we visited DCA last summer there were walls up all around the midway, from King Triton’s Carousel all the way down the boardwalk and in front of the Ferris Wheel.

Here is a link to some photos of the WDW preview of the ride: Midway Mania

I don’t know about you, Disney fans… but Toy Story is one of my all time favorite movies. I withstood thousands of viewings of the Toy Story Movies when my kids were little. It was their absolute favorite, and we can all recite lines from the movies. So, I can’t wait to see the new Midway Mania ride… its sure to be full of clever and entertaining features.

There are some great video previews of Mr. Potatohead outside the Midway Mania ride at DCA, on You Tube. Here are a couple.

You Tube has a ton of videos of Hong Kong Disneyland’s soft open of It’s a Small World last week. There is some speculation that this is what the refurbished It’s a Small World at Disneyland California will look like when it is finished.

Here’s a video of the OLD version, for comparison.

Started a Google Group, so we can have a forum of sorts…

Disfans Forums

I didn’t even know there was a Hong Kong Disneyland, but apparently, Mickey and Minnie got some new duds to celebrate Chinese New Year. Designed by Vivienne Tam, no less.

The whole park is decorated for Chinese New Year with firecrackers, Chinese-language scrolls bearing messages of good luck and orange tangerines. Mainland China is the biggest market for the Hong Kong Disneyland park, and HKD is trying to stay connected with the local culture to attract more customers.

Hong Kong Disneyland is apparently one of the worst performing Disney Theme parks, falling very short of the mark as far as visitor turnout.

Orlando Sentinel

Ouch. Was my reaction to the NY Times’ review of the Little Mermaid on Broadway. The reviewer is very harshly critical of the costuming and staging. “Loved the shoes. Loathed the show. OK, I exaggerate. I didn’t like the shoes all that much.” That’s the opening line of the review, and it goes downhill from there. The reviewer goes on to be very specific about how horrible the costumes are, and the difficulties of presenting a show onstage that is supposed to be underwater. NYT Review

I commented yesterday on the harshness of all the reviews I have been reading about the production, but the New York Times is the harshest of all of them. They did soften the blows just a little by putting this audio slideshow in the sidebar.

NY Times Slideshow

I’ve been reading all kinds of terrible reviews for Disney’s Little Mermaid, Broadway show. I’m a musical theater fan, and I would dearly love to see The Lion King Broadway show someday. I was kicking myself when they came to Dallas this summer, and I missed it! I had hoped that Little Mermaid would be as good, so I could see one of my favorite Disney movies come to life. Who knows? Maybe the appeal to children will save the show.

The critical reviews of the show are that the set and costumes are basically a disaster. Not good news, since The Lion King is known for its stunning sets and costuming.

“Underneath all this baroque ornamentation was a tiny, tinny little musical struggling for life,” wrote the New York Post’s Clive Barnes. It was “plastic, plastic everywhere, enough to lead you to drink.” Review

I, for one, would go see the show, and take my kids, so maybe others will think so too. According to one article the show has been sold out since November. npr review

Mike and our little brother made a holiday visit to Disneyland and CA and these are some of the photos they took. I thought y’all would enjoy seeing some of the holiday decorations. Which reminds me of what I should be doing this weekend, putting my stuff back in the attic until December 2008. I wonder how many Rubbermaid containers they have in the Disneyland attic?

Mike forwarded me a link to the OC Register with photos of the new Mark VII monorail train which has arrived backstage at Disneyland. Its pretty cool looking, red and futuristic. Apparently this is the first new monorail car in 2 decades, the last new one having been installed in 1987. The coolest thing I read about the car is the new look, blue glass and red stripes on the exterior that change color in sunlight. The new cars are also electric powered and feature bench seats that face the windows, as opposed to the current seating arrangements that have passengers facing either the front or back of the train.

Check out the OC Register article here:

I treated myself to a little present, and picked up this puzzle at Target. I thought it would be fun to do a little slide show of putting it together. Of course it features all the Disney Characters… which makes it perfect for Disfans, and its a sphere! I enjoyed putting it together, it wasn’t too hard, except for that last piece.