It’s been a while since we checked in with Club Penguin, Disney’s $350 million acquisition aimed at youth around the world. While staying mostly out of the headlines, ClubPenguin.com has continued chugging along with a new group of kids signing on every school year. A… Read More »Club Penguin Spreads to iOS devices with first game
Kinect Disneyland Adventures (pre-order on Amazon now) was announced at E3, a popular computer and video game trade show. The premise of the game is that players can roam around Walt’s original park in an effort to ride various rides and complete challenges. Gameplay also lets players high five Mickey, hug Snow White and create souvenirs for Kinect Share. While this game has some appeal, I worry that it won’t compare to Epic Mickey or even Disney Universe, another recently announced title from Disney.
Players get to interact with over 40 popular Disney faces including The Queen of Hearts, Cinderella, Captain Hook, Winnie the Pooh and many others. Avatars explore the park and enter various levels within certain attractions. Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain and many other beloved rides are featured. Players earn coins along the way, and rewards for challenges include a few other experiences familiar to any visitor of Disney parks.
I probably won’t buy this title, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many parents buy it for their younger children. The paid actors that Disney hired to be the “kids having fun on stage” clearly enjoyed the game. If I were younger, I’d probably love the game. It allows children who are mesmerized by the parks to be able to experience a little bit of that at home. That is what I view as the strongest selling point of the game.
On the flip side, that’s also probably my least favorite thing about the game. It cheapens the experience of actually going to the park. Epic Mickey involved a similar notion of exploring a Disney park. However, that was a variation of the living, breathing parks. This is as close to the real park experience as current technology allows for. That all being said, I think the game also functions as a great way to teach your children how to behave in Disneyland or Walt Disney World. There should be bonus points for walking from ride to ride, and you should be forced to wait in line for a FastPass.
See two amazing videos featuring actual game play below the jump:
Yearning to play the D23 Scavenger Hunt game but didn’t want to plop down the $100+ registration fee per team? Not to worry. We’ve got an alternative! In fact, it’s coming to you as a grassroots push from three different Disney bloggers: myself, Shane Lindsay… Read More »Announcing Magic Pursuit – May 22nd – Compete for Free
Back in February we posted a review of the Diamond Edition Bambi 2-Disc Disney Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD). With Easter right around the corner, Disney is making another push to spread the news about the Bambi release. So what better way to celebrate than with an Easter Basket themed to the original Disney animated classic Bambi! That’s what we call synergy, right?
I’m happy to announce that Disney has provided me with one of this terrific prize packages to giveaway. This cool Easter-themed basket contains
A $75 value.
To enter: First, make sure you’re a fan of The Disney Blog on Facebook by ‘liking’ the fan page. Then, leave a comment sharing the name of your favorite Disney forest friend on this Facebook post on The Disney Blog fan page linking to this post on the blog. Only one entry per person via this method. Finally, you must have a US postal address to ship the prize package to. That’s it. I’ll pick one winner from among all the valid entries.
For a second chance to win, follow @TheDisneyBlog on twitter then tweet the message below up to once per day between now and the end of the contest. Please do not leave an additional comment with a link to your tweet. I’m tracking it another way. One additional winner will be randomly drawn from all qualifying tweets made by those who satisfied the conditions above.
The message to be tweeted is:
Enter to win a Disney Bambi DVD/Blu-Ray Easter Basket on @TheDisneyBlog http://bit.ly/bambidvd then learn to draw Bambi & Thumper
The contest begins now and all entries must be received by 11:59PM EST on Saturday April 16st. Not valid where prohibited by law.
Good luck!
Check below the jump for more details on the Bambi Diamond Edition DVD and links to lessons on how to draw Bambi and Thumper from Disney animator Andreas Deja:
If you’re one of those people who isn’t afraid to trust their iPad to their children, then Disney Publishing has a new app for you. They’ve just launched the original Princess Dress-Up: My Sticker Book App on the App Store. Children will enter the magical… Read More »Disney adds Princess Dress-Up App to Apple iPad App Store
Went to EPCOT this weekend to check out the latest version of the IBM play center at Innoventions. It was quite good and my six year old went back to play it a couple more times later in the day. I was actually, a bit surprised that it was just being officially debuted this weekend as I played a version of the game online about six months ago.
The game itself is a bit of a trip through the history of computing, which IBM and you as the star, of course. Across from the game is a learning center where guess discover the possibilities of building a smarter planet. The exhibit is powered by a news Smarter Data Center, providing a real-life demonstration of optimized computing that reduces energy costs by up to 25 percent.
SmarterPlanet presented by IBM offers visitors to the park a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse of how technology is helping solve the world’s most complex problems – from reducing road traffic and city crime to improving food safety and local water supplies.
Disney has opened to beta play the Pixie Hollow MMORPG based on the Disney Fairies properties. If you previously created a fairy on the site, you can now log in and play that fairy. You can also start a new fairy and join in. I… Read More »Pixie Hollow Game now in Beta, World of Cars opening in Beta Soon.
I have a long review for Toy Story Midway Mania going up later today. But first I thought you might like to see some of the fun facts behind Disney’s newest attraction. Each ride vehicle weighs as much as 8,580 Woody dolls. It would take… Read More »Toy Story Midway Mania Fun Facts