Disney News and Information — by fans, for fans

First, if you missed “V” last night, you can now download it as a free video on iTunes. Second, if you did see it, you weren’t alone. Almost 14 million people watched with you. That’s a good sign for ABC which has three successful Sci-Fi shows right now (LOST, FlashForward, and “V”).

The question is can ABC sustain, or even grow, those numbers. There are just three more episodes before the series goes on hiatus until March (to avoid the Winter Olympics and American Idol). During that time, the show will get retooled. This week they added new show runner charged with speeding up the pace of the show.

USA Today talked with Elizabeth Mitchell about the show before last night’s premier.

Mitchell, who plays hero FBI agent Erica Evans, says the resulting changes merely speed the pace of storytelling to pack a bigger wallop, including big cliffhangers in the Nov. 24 episode. Filming on that episode is set to wrap today, giving actors another unexpected 10-week break as the show is retooled. (Mitchell will trek to Hawaii to shoot new Lost episodes.)

“They didn’t do anything different. They heightened it, they took it up,” she says. The changes are meant to recapture the big-event appeal that started V in a different era. “The idea is to make it a movie, something where we are on the edge of our seats, wondering what’s going to happen.”

From what I saw last night, “V” will make sci-fi geeks very happy even as LOST draws to a close.

This week Walt Disney Studios released Walt Disney Treasures DVDs featuring the complete first and second season of Zorro. All 78 episodes of the Disney TV classic are included on two new six-disc sets housed in collectible Zorro black, numbered unique tin cases. Both debut Walt Disney Treasures sets are hosted by noted film historian, author and critic Leonard Maltin. Additionally each limited edition, individually numbered volume includes a Zorro pin, an authenticity certificate, exclusive lithograph and comes in a unique, collectible black tin.

From 1957 to 1959, Disney’s Zorro was one of the most popular series on television starring Guy Williams, Henry Calvin, and Gene Sheldon. The show helped transform the literary character Don Diego de la Vega into the ultimate iconic, beloved swashbuckling masked hero of the time. Even if you weren’t alive when Zorro first aired it’s likely you caught it when it was re-aired on the Disney Channel in 1983 and re-colorizing the episodes in the 1990s or any of the other channels it has appeared on over the years. After the series conclusion, the Zorro adventures lived on from 1960 to 1961 on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color in the form of a four-episode anthology series of hour-long Zorro specials, all of which are also included in Walt Disney Treasures Wave IX.

Bonus Features:

Zorro: The Complete First Season

Zorro: El Bandido – Part 1 of a 2-part story shown as a 1-hour-special on the Disneyland television show (original air date: October 30, 1960)

Zorro: Adios El Cuchillo – Part 2 of a 2-part story shown as a 1-hour-special on the Disneyland television show (original air date: November 6, 1960)

Zorro: The Complete Second Season

Zorro: The Postponed Wedding – A 1-hour special that originally aired on the Disneyland television show (original air date: January 1, 1961)

Zorro: Auld Acquaintance – A 1-hour special that originally aired on the Disneyland television show (original air date: April 2, 1961)

As a lifelong Disney fan, I was weened on a digest of Zorro reruns and still get excited when that theme music comes on. If you are raising your own Disney mouselet, you will certainly want to own both of these Zorro DVD sets and introduce them to the masked bandit.

If you follow below the jump, there are some video clips of what you’ll find on the discs.

[Read more →]

Last night, the stars danced. Then they danced some more. Then Aaron had skeevy facial hair. Tonight, two couples will go home. It’s time for the Dancing with the Stars results show!

Right out of the gate, we get to see an encore of the dance from Team Tango. The band’s version of “You Give Love a Bad Name” is just as terrible as it was last night. Likewise, the team dance is just as fabulous as it was last night. From there, we go into the in-depth recap of last night’s dancing. Michael got good (for him) scores. Donny had the flu. Mark had three partners in one week. Mya still didn’t win over Len. Aaron was a Fury on warp drive. Kelly made Louis wear embarassing trousers, and also made Bruno do a desk dance. Joanna got comments from Bruno that made my husband, passing by the TV, cringe and say “ick”. Then the teams danced.

The results begin right after the jump!   [Read more →]

2011 seems a long time to wait for the debut cruise of Disney’s third cruise liner, the Disney Dream, but guests are already lining up to book packages on its maiden voyage. If you’re not convinced to book your own trip, the Disney Cruise Line has taken cue from it’s film studio cousins and released a couple of videos that are essentially pre-visualization walk-throughs of the Dream.

First, the general overview:

Second, a ride through the AquaDuck:

But to really capture the detail you need an artist eye equivalent to the detail one can find in the ship. In the Disney fan community that means you turn toward the beautiful photography of Tales from the LaughingPlace magazine. Over at their blog, the art of telling tales, they have a multi-part series Detailing The Dream.

To make sure you get all their great coverage, you should subscribe to Tales From the LaughingPlace magazine. It also makes a great Christmas gift for that Disney fan in your life.

Tonight the Disney Parks blog posted the following press release:

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY REACHES ANOTHER MAJOR MILESTONE ON SHANGHAI THEME PARK PROJECT

BURBANK, Calif. – November 3, 2009 – The Walt Disney Company today announced that the Project Application Report (PAR) for a Disney theme park in the Pudong district of Shanghai has received approval from the relevant authorities of the central government of China.

“China is one of the most dynamic, exciting and important countries in the world, and this approval marks a very significant milestone for The Walt Disney Company in mainland China,” said Robert A. Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company.

The PAR approval will enable Disney and its Shanghai partners to move forward toward a final agreement to build and operate the park and begin preliminary development work. Upon completion of the final agreement, the project’s initial phase would include a Magic Kingdom-style theme park with characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region and other amenities consistent with Disney’s destination resorts worldwide.

That’s definitely a good sign if you think the company’s foray into the China mainland is the right direction. Also interesting to me is that this is the first time they’ve mentioned the development would include a Magic Kingdom-style theme park. I had heard this would be something completely new. I wonder if that was part of the negotiations.

If you’re heading out to Disneyland or Walt Disney World this fall, make sure you mosey on down to the Rivers of America and catch “Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee.” Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis, and the evil Dr. Facilier are all featured with their own songs from the movie and it’s sure to get you excited about seeing The Princess and the Frog in the theaters.

I’ve put together a few clips from the show to give you an idea on what to expect.

The show is currently scheduled to run through January 3rd, 2010 as a tie-in to the movie’s launch on December 11th.

It’s difficult for me to think of a theme park company that goes farther than the Walt Disney Company to accommodate guests with disabilities. That said, there is always room for improvement. Disneyland has now added ‘Audio Description’ to many of its attractions, a service Walt Disney World has been offering for a bit more than a year now.

Disneyland Resort Guests with visual disabilities can now be more fully immersed into Disney attractions and storytelling through a new Audio Description service created by Disney engineers. The service, which launched Nov. 1, is enabled through wireless technology via a handheld device available to Guests visiting the Resort.

“The Disneyland Resort welcomes millions of diverse visitors each year, and we are committed to making the Disney tradition of rich storytelling available to everyone,” said Betty Appleton, who oversees the Resort’s Guests with Disabilities program. “Audio Description supports our longstanding commitment to providing outstanding services to all Guests as it enables our visitors who are blind or have low vision to more fully enjoy our attractions.”

Audio Description provides narrated audio for Guests with visual disabilities by describing visual attraction elements such as actions, settings and scene changes. It works seamlessly with existing show audio, enhancing each attraction with rich detail and immediately involving Guests into the experience. This service is available at nearly 20 attractions at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure, including favorites such as Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s Tough to be a Bug and Haunted Mansion.

A Guest experiencing Haunted Mansion would hear the following after boarding a ride vehicle: “Our doom buggy rotates and we face backward. To our left, a knight’s armor guards an endless hallway. On our right, wilted flower arrangements surround a coffin. An eerie light escapes as bony hands push up the lid.”

CastABLE and Diversity Resource Groups

As part of the testing process, Audio Description service was evaluated by members of CastABLE, a Diversity Resource Group (DRG) composed of Resort Cast Members with disabilities.

“Experiencing the Audio Description service almost brought me to tears,” said Brenda Woodrum, a reservation sales agent at the Walt Disney Travel Company in Anaheim and CastABLE member who has been visually impaired since 1996. “For me it was an emotional experience, especially when I got onto Pirates of the Caribbean. It brought back memories of all the rich detail that I could see when I was younger. There was so much magic that I was missing, but this new technology it brings it all to you.”

As part of its ongoing commitment to fostering an inclusive work environment, the Disneyland Resort supports six DRGs, which have combined memberships of approximately 1,500 Cast Members. The DRGs exist to make Cast feel welcomed, appreciated and valued while providing enrichment, awareness and education. DRGs also serve as thought partners, providing valuable feedback and insight to business leaders on products and services currently in development.

Services For Guests with Hearing Disabilities

Audio Description joins two existing services available on Disney’s Handheld Device, a palm-sized wireless device originally developed in 2002 by Disney engineers. In addition to Audio Description, the device offers services to Guests with hearing disabilities, including Assistive Listening, which was added in August and provides amplified audio at several attractions, and Handheld Captioning, which displays text in specific attractions and areas.

Disney’s Handheld Device is available at no cost for daily Guest use by visiting Guest Relations at Disneyland or Disney’s California Adventure on a first-come, first-served basis. A fully refundable deposit is required.

Available Attractions

The following attractions offer Audio Description: Enchanted Tiki Room, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, ‘it’s a small world’, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Disneyland Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience”, It’s Tough to be a Bug!, Turtle Talk with Crush, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! and Muppet*Vision 3D.

It’s one of the realities of Disney Animated Features, they’re just plain expensive to produce. So much that sometimes even a $400 million box office earning film, like Cars, just breaks even for the company after marketing and production are accounted for. So how does Disney make money off these animated beauties? One word, merchandise.

That makes Dara Trujillo a very important person at Walt Disney World. She’s the Manager of Merchandise Synergy and is in charge of coordinating the theme park’s line of products with the animator’s vision for the film.

I got to speak with Trujillo at the premier of Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee, the Magic Kingdom’s tie-in to the launch of “The Princess and the Frog”. She was presiding over a very full and very beautiful table of merchandise to be sold in the parks. Much of it already available and flying off the shelves even with the film’s debut more than a month away.

Tiana is the Walt Disney Company’s newest princess in 12 years and the first princess under Trujillo’s watch. So she was excited about the possibility of making dreams come true for a whole new generation of theme park guests.

Central to those dreams is the Princess Tiana costume. It’s a theme park exclusive and very similar to the dress that Tiana wears in the film and the park. There were already a number of little princesses wearing this dress at the Magic Kingdom, anxious to spot the ‘real’ Princess Tiana as she made her way through the park. It was very cute.

Another item that I think will be a bit hit are the Kissing Frogs. These are a pair of frogs from the film representing Tiana and Naveen in amphibian form. A magnet in their heads keeps them together in the kissing pose.

All this merchandise is currently available in every park in at least two locations, said Trujillo. And they’ll roll out to more locations as the film’s premier draws closer.

See anything you like?