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Behind the Scenes on Jessica Chastain’s Disney Dream Portrait Shoot with Annie Leibovitz

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Earlier this week famed photographer of the stars Annie Leibovitz added Jessica Chastain to the list of celebrities she has featured in her Disney Dream Portraits series. The famous redhead portrayed Pixar’s first princess, also a redhead, Merida from the hit animated feature Brave.

Today we get two exciting videos that take us behind the scenes of the photo shoot and reveal how the magic is made. (Love the fake horse in the shot above. Makes sense though.) Appropriately enough for the Scottish princess, the photo shoot took place in an area of Cold Spring, New York known as the Hudson Highlands.

Turns out Chastain is a fan of a certain activity enjoyed by many guests at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World – Pin Trading. Below she shares her Pin Trading strategy:Read More »Behind the Scenes on Jessica Chastain’s Disney Dream Portrait Shoot with Annie Leibovitz

Picking a Disneyland Character Meal

Last week I talked about the great character interaction you’ll find at Disneyland Resort, but by far the easiest way to meet characters is by going to a character meal where you’ll bypass the lines and have a much more relaxed experience. For research purposes (okay, I had a 5-year old with me), I tried out three of the five breakfasts available on property and I’m happy to report there wasn’t a bad meal in the bunch.

Storyteller’s Breakfast at the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa:

We did this first and I’m glad we didn’t let it scare us off from character dining at Disneyland Resort because it was, especially when compared to character meals at Disney World, pretty quiet and low-key. This is actually a good thing because your kids will probably find it easier to focus on their food without a ton of noise and activity. We met Rafiki, Terk, Meeko, Koda, Pluto and Dale, who came back to the table more than once. Since we went in early February, one of the slowest weeks of the year, the dining room was almost empty and the character interaction was top notch, even if my son didn’t recognize all of the characters.Read More »Picking a Disneyland Character Meal

Rapunzel & Cinderella Visit Fantasy Faire

March 12th has been announced as the official opening date for Fantasy Faire, the princess meet and greet expansion of Disneyland’s Fantasyland. Two of Disney’s princesses just couldn’t wait and stopped by for a visit and a photo shoot.

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Princes Fairytale Hall

New Princess Fairytale Hall Concept Art

In our last Magic Kingdom photo update, we mentioned how we snuck a peek at the construction going on in the old Snow White’s Scary Adventures show building. They’re already building out the little nooks you see in this new concept art released by Disney.… Read More »New Princess Fairytale Hall Concept Art

Magic Kingdom Photo Update – Part 3 – Around the World

It’s time to wrap up this week’s tour of the Magic Kingdom and surrounding area. We’ve so far seen Storybook Circus and New Fantasyland construction, but there’s a ton of other activity going on in the park. Fantasyland is definitely never going to be the… Read More »Magic Kingdom Photo Update – Part 3 – Around the World

Zooming in on Magic Kingdom Construction

One of the features I really like about my camera, a Canon SX30, is its 35x optical zoom. I had an occasion to put it to a test last week when we dined at California Grill. It was nearing dusk and a huge rainstorm had just added significant amounts of water to the area and sending steam into the air. After walking out to the edge of the viewing platforms outside the restaurant on top of the Contemporary Hotel, I was able to get these images.

First is an image of a Magic Kingdom set in a reflection of light upon the water. It looks so beautiful I had to share.

Magic Kingdom Ferry Sunset

On the other side of the water, the Grand Floridian DVC tower is coming together nicely.

Photos of New Fantasyland and more below the jump:

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Halloween Decor Appears Early at the Magic Kingdom

We visited the Magic Kingdom last weekend and were surprised to see how much of the park had been festooned with fall decorations. Specifically, September 2nd, a full two months ahead of time, seemed a bit early for the Halloween decorations to be up. I know they get away with it by claiming it’s a harvest festival, but with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party starting on the September 11th this year, I have to wonder how soon is to soon to celebrate a holiday at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom?

View our gallery with 16 pictures of Halloween decorations below the jump.

Read More »Halloween Decor Appears Early at the Magic Kingdom

EPCOT Update and a Wish

The other day as I strolled around EPCOT, I wondered why is ‘Future World’ stuck in the past. Of all the attractions only Mission: Space could be said to be forward looking. Spaceship Earth tacks a little choose your own adventure video on the end with a look forward, but the bulk of the ride is about the past. The rest of the ‘future attractions’ are really now ‘present day’ attractions. Why hasn’t Disney kept up with some of the latest technologies of the future?

Where are the ec0-friendly buildings, how about podcars (or other rapid transit innovations (Google Self Driving car anyone?)), and a view of what work will be like in the future. Recreate a portion of Masdar City, the first city designed to be energy neutral. Inspire guests with a vision of the future where technology is there to enable us to achieve even more as a planet.

Anyway, enough of that rant. There is change at the center, and I took a few pictures on my stroll. Here are some of the new things I saw in the park:


The cast member greeting position for the Seas with Finding Nemo pavilion has a new shade structure. It looks nice, but unfortunately they didn’t see fit to install a solar power fan for the cast member stationed there.


A close look at the floor reveals this is a future site of Fastpass Plus.

Read More »EPCOT Update and a Wish