When I came back to the blog world, I said I was out of the rumor business, and was pretty much convinced that no one was interested in it anymore, anyway. Then last Tuesday’s Fab News happened. I was shocked by the great reaction from all of you. Not shocked to be wrong; I’m wrong an awful lot. Things change, sources dry up; that’s only a small part of why I got out of the rumor biz. The other is that no scoop is worth putting somebody’s job at risk. That’s the huge part. Everything I put on Tuesday Newsday is mostly something that you could track down yourself in a day or two. It’s out there. I’m just making it easier for you to find. Right here, every week. And if you like it, please leave a comment below, and support the other writers and podcasters here at MiceChat and MicePod. I’m proud to be part of a fantastic team, and so thankful for great readers!
Today, I offer you a mix of news, events, and gossip:
A Rare Event for a Rare Legend
The Disneyana Fan Club is naming the late Jim Henson a Disneyana Legend, and his daughter Lisa will be accepting for him at a special Legends luncheon at the Jim Henson Studios, the former Charlie Chaplin Studios, on October 3 of this year. The event will also be a fund raiser for the Walt Disney Birthplace Restoration, with a silent auction to benefit the cause (a favorite of mine). Tickets are $95 and you do not have to be a DFC member to join in on the fun. For more details, please go to http://disneyanafanclub.org/Henson.
Payments can be made via PayPal or Credit Card at http://DisneyanaFanClub.org/store/Henson (a $3.25 service fee will be added) or by downloading a registration form here. If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Perrone at [email protected]
…and a Muppet Encore!
Jungle Boogie, a great Kool and the Gang song, was made greater by Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem in the Kirk Thatcher-directed music video “Jungle Boogie” The video celebrates their recent collaboration with YouTube Space LA, great music, and, apparently, All Nations but Mostly America because Sam the Eagle is rocking out pretty hard.
Bands at Disneyland Coming
When Bob Chapek (Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts) finally finishes his work at Shanghai Disneyland, he’ll have yet another “impossible” task in front of him: figuring out how to shoehorn a West Coast version of MyMagic+ into Anaheim. It’s going to happen. Unless it doesn’t, but it is. They’ve invested way too much money and have gotten way too many guests evangelizing about the experience to not try some version of the system out this way. With over 5,000 touchpoints at Walt Disney World, guests use their Magic Bands for pretty much everything, and when they don’t physically pull out a card or cash, they’ve learned that guests tend to spend more. So, yes, a version of it is coming here, one that is far more Annual Passholder friendly, whatever that entails. Probably special collector bands or something. Unlike pins, the bands are actually pretty useful, especially now that they’re starting to create things like watch and pedometer sliders for them. Make an Apple Watch slider for that puppy, I’ll have my Mouseaddict on there with MyMagic+ and my vacation will be perfect, and the Disneyland Resort will be, within 20 years, a full-on Disney Destination. But don’t hold your breath for a water park – they’ll have that more than covered down the street and the soon to open Great Wolf Lodge.
Bands at Disneyland Going Away
The Tomorrowland Terrace was a futuristic wonder, what with its rising out of the ground and its ferns and its futuristic shapes. It’s retro cool now, but we’ve been hearing that its days are numbered, and that the bands that play there on a regular basis have been given their walking papers. Could this be part of knocking down all of Tomorrowland for a Star Wars Marvel orgy of fantasticalness? No, sorry. But, hey, they did take out the Innoventions House of the Future (IHOF) and are replacing it with a Marvel store. I actually really love the Marvel meet and greets, but, like Dick Nunis, I wish they’d bring back a carousel show to the revolving theater. I don’t think there’s any dearth of imagination at Walt Disney Imagineering. So, whither Star Wars? Probably backstage. Or, rather, Big Thunder Ranch, Festival Arena and what is now backstage. I’m just supposing here.
So Let’s Go to the Movies, Instead
Kirk ‘Timekeeper’ Van De Walker clued me in to this: Disney and Cinemark are doing something really, really cool this summer. Like, Disney movies on a big screen in an air-conditioned theater cool. Classic ones. If you have kids, this might be your only chance to show them some of these in an actual movie theater, and get this: it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of Disney goodness, with endless viewings of four movies and a short! Well, depending upon the ticket you get.
Get the info here: http://movies.disney.com/disney-screen
Right now, it’s Music Week, so they’re showing a Silly Symphony short, and these four movies at the times on the left side, all seven days this week. Five bucks gets you a day, ten bucks gets you a week, twenty bucks gets you a month and fifty gets you the whole quarter. And it’s not the rifle range dollar theater, either. For me, it’s the one at Bella Terra, quite the swanky establishment. This is a cool thing and I hope you have a chance to check it out, especially if you have kids and a tight budget.
Another Way to Save a Buck or Three
Savvy reader Alan Cohen discovered this one: IF you’re attending the D23 EXPO, that is, and you want to pick up tickets, there are actually discounted tickets available online for attendees! Just go to this link: In some cases, you literally save three bucks, but, hey, it’s three bucks. The Twilight Ticket, at 60.00, lets you in after 4pm or 4 hours before closing, whichever is earlier, and seems like a great deal if you’re a Disneyland lover in town for a convention for one day and can’t get away until evening.
Miyazaki Bluray Set #10 in Pre-Release
Disney announced a deluxe, Amazon-exclusive Bluray set of the films (and other cool stuff) of Hayao Miyazaki. Within days it was in the top ten, even though it’s only a few days into pre-order. I have a feeling this one’s going to go fast. For some reason, Amazon is doing a special deal where they bundle it with a Harry Potter set for a discount. I have no idea why. If you pre-order the Miyazaki set, you save 10% off the full price, so it’s $225 instead of $250. Not bad.
The set includes (thank you Oniros!)
- Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- Castle in the Sky
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Porco Rosso
- Princess Mononoke
- Spirited Away
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Ponyo
- The Wind Rises
Bonuses include:
- Yuki no Taiyo (Yuki’s Sun), a 1972 television pilot based on a manga by Tetsuya Chiba that was directed, storyboarded and animated by Hayao Miyazaki
- Episodes 26, 27, and 41 of the 1972 anime series Akado Suzunosuk (Little Samurai), featuring storyboards by the filmmaker
- Uncut version of Miyazaki’s Retirement Press Conference
- The Great Dichotomy: Looking at the Works of Hayao Miyazaki by Tomohiro Machiyama (book)
Is It Getting Weird Around Here?
Oh, it’s Friends of the Magic Weekend! A bunch of Disney nuts and weirdos, aka “My People”, gather from all over to have fun together, eat, drink, and smoke the occasional Very Good Cigar. Paul Barrie from Window to the Magic Podcast hosts everyone as it’s his birthday weekend, and I crash his party because it’s mine too, to the exact day: we were both born August 7th. This year, it falls on a Friday, so he’ll be having his usual Kungaloosh! meet at Trader Sam’s at 5PM and then some. I’ll be there, and I hope you will, too!
