This week marks 100 days until the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, plus there’s all sorts of fun and fascinating things going on as groundbreaking draws closer for Star Wars Land, Brad Pitt signs on for a new Disney film project, and there’s some beautiful history to get a gander at as well!

How to See “SECRETS OF THE FORCE AWAKENS: A CINEMATIC JOURNEY” a Month Early

Go to the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW). I didn’t say it would be cheap or easy, Fabanistas.

 “Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey, ” a feature-length documentary, will have its world premiere during the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), being held in Austin, Texas, March 11-19, 2016. The documentary, a bonus feature on the upcoming Digital HD and Blu-ray Combo Pack release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is an inside look at the making of this epic movierevealed through in-depth footage and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers.

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The documentary will be shown at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin on Monday, March 14, at 12:00 p.m.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ BAFTA Award–winning and Academy Award®–nominated visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett, Academy Award®–nominated supervising sound editor Matthew Wood and co-producer Michelle Rejwan will be on hand for a Q&A following the screening.

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Fab News is sponsored by my Square Squares, my Patreon Patrons and DVCResaleMarket.com

D23 and Disney Love The Walt Disney Birthplace

Chicago’s WCIU morning news interviews Todd Regan, Executive Director of The Walt Disney Birthplace. I’m so proud of my dear friend I could just bust. And what a neat mystery that they discuss in this clip!!!

At the the Annual Meeting of Disney Shareholders on March 4, Bob Iger announced at $250,000 donation towards the restoration of the home where Walt and Roy Disney were born. And there was much rejoicing, because, as you can see, there’s still work to be done. 

But D23 Gold Members (I TOLD you to join!) got a special event – and a super-special surprise! Here’s a link to the RECAP on D23.com Long story short, they got the first tour of the house! Even before the inside was started! But they got one! And who was there to greet them?

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Roy P. Disney (grandson of Walt’s brother Roy O. Disney), with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony!

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Founder Dina Benadon explains the magic of the room to some of the D23 members. You see, THIS is the room where Roy, Walt and Ruth Disney were all born!

There’s still so much work left to be done folks. Please join the Disney Company, Dusty Sage, MiceChat and hundreds of other fans and help us restore the humble home where the Disney magic began!

First There’s Dr. Strange…

Now Variety reports that Brad Pitt has signed with Disney to do a film called Dr. Q, about Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who became the head brain tumor specialist at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Pitt will be producing. I’d love to see Oscar Isaac in the title role.

Disney Magic Kingdoms is Finally Coming!

It seems like forever since Imagineer Tom Morris and Co. announced Disney Magic Kingdoms at last year’s D23 EXPO. I’ve been on pins and needles to see what a theme park design game made by theme park designers would be like – and soon, we’re going to find out. The website is up, and pre-registration is open – and there are PERKS TO PRE-REGISTERING, it’s FREE, GO DO IT! 

Pamela Tom’s “Tyrus” to Open CAAMFEST 2016 March 10

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Pamela Tom’s award-winning documentary “Tyrus”, about legendary Disney artist Tyrus Wong, will open CAAMFEST 2016 on March 10 in San Francisco. It will be playing at the Castro, and will be followed by a party at the Asian Art Museum, which is in the old library building and HAS to be experienced at least once in your life. It’s fantastic. Don Hahn Exec produced with David and Robert Louie, and Linda Barry (the cartoonist? How cool is that?) co-produced along with Producers Tamara Khalaf, Gwen Wynne and Pamela Tom. Have a look:

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Shanghai Disneyland is Looking Pretty!

Shanghai Disney Resort Marks 100-Day Countdown Until Its Grand Opening

Shanghai Disney Resort will welcome its first official guests on June 16, 2016.  To celebrate this exciting milestone, Shanghai Disney Resort has launched a digital countdown clock on the resort’s website, www.shanghaidisneyresort.com.  As the grand opening draws closer, the resort teams are already conducting extensive preparations for the first official guests, including testing and adjusting attractions, conducting rehearsals for entertainment experiences, landscaping across the entire site, and undertaking other prepatory work to prepare an exciting guest experience across Shanghai Disney Resort on opening day.

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The Art Nouveau Shanghai Disneyland Hotel

Beginning March 28, 2016, guests will be able to purchase theme park tickets, tickets to THE LION KING production at Disneytown, and make resort hotel reservations through authorized, official channels, including www.shanghaidisneyresort.com.

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Mulan is one of the classic stories that are part of Voyage to the Crystal Grotto in Fantasyland.
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Adventure Isle, a Shanghai-only land, is easily recognizable due to Roaring Mountain, source of an ancient legend. Boy, that rock on the right sure looks like a skull!
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Some of the entertainment in Treasure Cove.
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This is just beautiful. Who did this sculpt? Guests will experience an all-new story with their favorite pirate characters, such as Davy Jones, aboard Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure.
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Ride testing is taking place for the thrilling, high-speed TRON Lightcycle Power Run, a first of its kind attraction for any Disney theme park around the world. Disney’s first F ticket. No, not really.
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Inspired by Disney’s classic animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this family-friendly coaster – Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – will take guests into a fabulous mine glittering with jewels.
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Look closely at the writing on the pages. It’s Chinese!

Sunset-over-Enchanted-Storybook-Castle-600Sunset over Enchanted Storybook Castle, the biggest, tallest, largest, most interactive Disney Castle ever, which is themed to all of the princesses. (Giselle and Leia?)

I really appreciate all of the comments and notes I’m receiving while I’m still on the mend. They really do mean the world to me. I should be up and about in time for Knott’s Boysenberry Festival on March 19th.

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, Fab News: Of Journeys, Homes and Castles, Fab News: Of Journeys, Homes and Castles If you want to reach me I’m on Twitter, on Facebook, and also available at [email protected] . If you’d like to support Fab News, I’d appreciate it. You can pledge a dollar or more a month through Patreon or you can make a one-time donation of a dollar or more through Square. Just click on the banners below. Thanks!

 
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Shelly Valladolid
Shelly Valladolid, aka Fab, has been writing about Disney and theme parks for about two decades. She has written for various fan and pop culture sites, Disney Magazine and OCRegister.com and participated in several books, including Passporter's Disneyland and Southern California and Disney World Dreams. She was co-founder and president of the Orlando, Florida chapter of the NFFC (now Disneyana Fan Club). She taught a class on theme park history at a Southern California University. She is creator and co-owner of Jim Hill Media, one of the creators of MousePlanet and was a consultant on MSNBC, The Motley Fool and others about Disney and various media matters. She was a Heel wrestling manager on TV and a voice artist on the radio in Honolulu, HI, where she grew up. She has a blog and a podcast with her daughter, Mission:Breakout Obsessive Alice Hill. She and her husband, MiceChat columnist Noe Valladolid, live in Southern California with Alice.