Weekend Update: Honeymoon Island, Universal Japan, a glacier... oh, and some Disney!
We have a fun update for you this week. By popular demand, TDLFAN is bringing you more photos of Universal Studios Japan. Then we spend the day on Honeymoon Island with SummerInFL, we get a WDW update from Denise nbodyhome Preskitt and some "cool" pictures of a New Zealand glacier from Ian Parkinson.
First up this week, our friend Abominable Snowman shares these photos from Anaheim.
Disneyland Resort
Anaheim, California
Abominable Snowman reminds us with these photos that there is more going on at Disney's California Adventure than just construction fences:
Plus a couple of shots from the other side of the esplanade:
We have had several requests for more photos of Universal Studios Japan so TDLFAN submitted these additional shots by popular demand.
Universal Studios Japan
Osaka, Japan
Hard Rock Cafe at CityWalk Osaka.
CityWalk Osaka.
Guests fly above on the "Hollywood Dream" coaster.
USJ Cinema...featuring Sesame Street 4D, and Shrek 4D.
The Brown Derby Bling, a very trendy store for young ladies.
Hollywood Boulevard.
Charlie Brown and the gang greet guests at Snoopy Studios.
Universal Japan sells "ride ponchos" at the entrace to all of it's water rides.. for a fraction of the cost you would pay for a more durable poncho in their gift shops.
Jaws.
Jurassic Park: The Splashdown!
Inside Discovery Restaurant.
The Universal Studios Japan official hotels rise above Hollywood Blvd.
Lombard's Landing Restaurant.
Japanese girls dig a nice flashy car!
New York Street.
New York Street.
The "Macy*s" store is in reality the Spiderman Store, located at the exit of the Spiderman Ride.
Tasty curry dinner and other options are available at the cool art deco Studio Stars Restaurant.
Inside the Studio Stars Restaurant, many legendary Hollywood actors are honored with lovely glass panels that light up in soft colors from below.. This is a very classy eatery in Universal Studios Japan.
One last look at Hollywood Boulevard before departing UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN.
I always love it when SummerInFL shows us around areas of Florida outside of the theme park zone. This week she takes us to Honeymoon Island State Park.
Honeymoon Island State Park
Dunedin, Florida
Quote:
The pioneers called it Hog Island, but it became Honeymoon Isle in 1939 when a New York developer built 50 palm - thatched bungalows for honeymooners. Today, visitors can drive across Dunedin Causeway to enjoy the sun - drenched Gulf beaches, mangrove swamps, and tidal flats.
Quote:
Nature lovers will find osprey nests, a wide variety of shorebirds, and one of the few remaining virgin slash pine forests in South Florida. The park boasts several nature trails and bird observation areas.
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt provides us with another Walt Disney World update.
Remy at Chefs De France. Remy is currently scheduled Monday - Saturday, 4 times during lunch and at 5pm for dinner. I have more photos and links to video I took at my site, mousesteps.com.
From the Flower and Garden Festival, a few of the photos are pre-opening, and others are from opening day.
The Cinderellabration topiary at the front of the park:
A sand sculpture promoting the Disney film Earth:
I liked getting Simba in silhouette:
From the other side:
Canada:
From the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden:
And the butterfly tent:
This trip to a glacier ought to cool us off after a day at the beach with Summer. Ian Parkinson shares photos of the Fox Glacier in New Zealand.
Quote:
The Fox Glacier is a 7.5 mile long glacier located in Westland National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It was named in 1872 after a visit by the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir William Fox.
Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 1.6 miles on its 8 mile journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 1,000 feet above sea level. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it has been advancing since 1985 at an average of about a yard a week.
Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 1.6 miles on its 8 mile journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 1,000 feet above sea level. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it has been advancing since 1985 at an average of about a yard a week.
Quote:
Two Australian tourists, Ashish Miranda and Akshay Miranda, were killed in January 2009 when more than 100 tons of ice fell on them. They had crossed safety barriers and walked approximately 500 yards to the terminal face to take photos.
Wikipedia
Looking for up-to-date reports from Disneyland
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
Visit these MiceChat columns each week:
Andy Castro's Dateline Disneyland
David DarkBeer Michael's In the Parks
POSTCARD JUNKIE WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK!
And that brings us to the end of another week. Our photographers have just enough time to reload their cameras before we see you all again next weekend. Thank you to all of our wonderful readers, and as always, a huge thank you to our amazing team of global photographers, spies, and gossips:
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt (mousesteps.com)
SummerInFl (wdwfanpics.com)
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
BigPigletFan
Abominable Snowman
"Postcard Junkie" darkfairycthulu (postcardjunkie.blogspot.com)
Fishbulb
PhotoMatt
Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
A very special thank you to to our wonderful guest photographer Ian Parkinson for sharing his vision with us.
Your Editor - Rixter
Where have YOU been recently? We invite you to share your photos of theme parks or any other destination that may be of interest to our readers. Please feel free to contact me via MiceChat Private Message (screen name Rixter)
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
It is readers like you who make MiceChat such a special place.
Don't miss a single one of MiceChat's Featured Blogs (including the Weekend Update). Add our feed to your favorite feed software or site:
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*Some factual information sourced from wikipedia.com.
Total Comments 24
Comments
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Great UpdatePosted 03-21-2009 at 07:37 AM by DCAfanatic
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Wonderful update everyone! Love the Remy the Rat at Epcot.Posted 03-21-2009 at 08:45 AM by Dustysage -
In Woody's first picture he seems to live up to his name, and it's not hard to see why in the background. Personally, I feel this character is overrated and overexposed, but now he's gone too far.Posted 03-21-2009 at 08:50 AM by Athlonacon -
OMG, those glaciers, AMAZING!!! I'm sure the pictures don't do them much justice though.Posted 03-21-2009 at 09:36 AM by sir clinksalot -
Thank you, Rixter. I always enjoy my Saturday mornings more when I've started them out with your Weekend Updates!
Btw...does anyone know if Remy is just a stagnant figure or if he moves (i.e. through puppetry or animatorinics)? And if he DOES move, is he accompanied by any sounds (i.e. voice or squeeks)?Posted 03-21-2009 at 10:11 AM by pirate_tim -
Those are beautiful character flower scuplutres...I wish I could have one of those.Posted 03-21-2009 at 10:23 AM by cositaluvsmickey -
great update as alwaysPosted 03-21-2009 at 10:31 AM by Kritter 
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Awesome glaciers shots!!Posted 03-21-2009 at 10:53 AM by TDLFAN -
I need to win the lottery and then I'm going to all these great places for myself. In the meantime thanks to everyone who contributes to my 'around the world weekends' with pictures.Posted 03-21-2009 at 10:54 AM by pratt55 -
Posted 03-21-2009 at 11:00 AM by Rixter -
Remy is so darn cute! Thanks for posting the video.Posted 03-21-2009 at 11:07 AM by disneygirl -
Remmy looks fantastic! That is the kind of Disney magic that Walt was known for. Great! (I hated the giant Remmy that frightened kids and drove people away from restaurants!) This one is cute and fun for kids and adults!Posted 03-21-2009 at 11:35 AM by JiminyCricketFan -
I watched the Remy videos posted. Hmm. That's it huh? He is cute, but that giant cart and his limited motion (I watched all the videos, perhaps he can do more than shake, bend over and sort of peer at you, but if so, I didn't see it.) it might as well be a puppeteer under the table. Yes, his host can spin the serving tray that he is on, but calling him an "advanced animatronic character" seems like a stretch.Posted 03-21-2009 at 12:34 PM by mickeyandme67 - I think Remy is fantastic. It's the small touches that make Disney Magic. Mickeyandme67 feels the movement is limited, how sad. The new character's in IASW have very little to no movement and there huge compared to Remy. Great weekend update!Posted 03-21-2009 at 01:08 PM by whoRU
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That Remy is great.
Is it just me or do the Peanuts characters at Universal Japan look so much better than the low-rent ones at Knott's?Posted 03-21-2009 at 01:12 PM by vfire - First off, I want to say that I check this web page everyday to find out what is new with the parks and I really enjoy it. My question is, does anyone know anything about the underground tunnels at Disneyland or Disneyworld? How far underground are you while on Indy or Haunted Mansion? Is the elevator in the Haunted Mansion really lowering you down underground? I guess my interest is really, what is going on underground at the parks? Thanks
If anyone could help my out you can email me at Abrego13@yahoo thanks again.Posted 03-21-2009 at 01:14 PM by abrego13 -
The man in the 7th glacier photo looks awfully close.
Love the USJ photos, the park looks great.Posted 03-21-2009 at 02:44 PM by Bryce05 - Have you visited our discussion boards at MiceChat.com? If you post your question in the appropriate forum(s), I'll wager that you'll soon have answers to your questions.Quote:Abrego13 posted:
First off, I want to say that I check this web page everyday to find out what is new with the parks and I really enjoy it. My question is, does anyone know anything about the underground tunnels at Disneyland or Disneyworld? How far underground are you while on Indy or Haunted Mansion? Is the elevator in the Haunted Mansion really lowering you down underground? I guess my interest is really, what is going on underground at the parks? ThanksPosted 03-21-2009 at 05:38 PM by Rixter
Updated 03-21-2009 at 05:43 PM by Rixter - The "advanced audioanimatronic" wording was mine. After viewing the video, I thought that Remy looked like one of the latest generation of audio animatronics. Maybe someone who has seen Remy in person could comment on how "advanced" he is.Quote:mickeyandme67 posted:
I watched the Remy videos posted. Hmm. That's it huh? He is cute, but that giant cart and his limited motion (I watched all the videos, perhaps he can do more than shake, bend over and sort of peer at you, but if so, I didn't see it.) it might as well be a puppeteer under the table. Yes, his host can spin the serving tray that he is on, but calling him an "advanced animatronic character" seems like a stretch.Posted 03-21-2009 at 05:42 PM by Rixter - Quote:It is readers like you who make MiceChat such a special place.
Thanks Rixter, it is nice to be appreciated.Posted 03-21-2009 at 09:01 PM by toemblem
