Disney Announcement!!! Limited Time MAGIC in 2013

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Oct. 17, 2012) – Guests will find an extra sprinkle of pixie dust each week when they visit Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts next year, Disney officials announced today.

While 2013 is already a momentous year for Disney Parks – with New Fantasyland as the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history at Walt Disney World Resort and the first full year of a reimagined Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort – Disney today unveiled Limited Time Magic: 52 weeks of magical experiences big and small that appear, then disappear as the next special surprise debuts.

Imagine an Independence Day celebration – only it lasts an entire week….Main Street mainstays the Dapper Dans rocking out with boy band hits in barbershop style….a Friday the 13th dance party with Disney villains that lasts to the 13^th hour….a Valentine’s Day in 2013 that becomes Valentine’s Week with Disney castles blushing pink, surprise meet-and-greets with Disney princes and princesses, and candlelit dinners for couples in love.

These and many more special experiences to surprise and delight Disney Parks guests will roll out each week in 2013. Unique, magical, memory-filled – and each for a limited time only.

Disney officials noted that Limited Time Magic was inspired by the reality that many of life’s most cherished memories are made during those special, but fleeting moments when families spend time together with shared experiences.

As part of today’s announcement, Disney Parks illustrated the whimsical and short-lived nature of Limited Time Magic by unveiling a glistening, three-story fairytale castle in the heart of Times Square.  Made of 45,000 pounds of ice, the castle was available only for a limited time, thanks to Mother Nature and warming autumn temperatures.

Here’s a sampling of Limited Time Magic in store for guests in 2013 — for a limited time only:

• True Love: Celebrate romance and enchantment throughout Valentine’s Week with special moments and entertainment geared to lovebirds. Guests can celebrate their Valentine as Magic Kingdom and Disneyland turn up the romance, complete with their iconic castles bathed in hues of red and pink. Disney Princes join their Princesses to meet park guests in special settings, prix fixe menus turn up at select restaurants and Valentine collectibles will be offered for the week.
• Independence Week: It’s red, white and blue as Disney Parks salutes America with a 4^th of July Fireworks Party — for an entire week, with patriotic lighting bathing the Disney castles on both coasts. Mickey Mouse appears in his patriotic finest and guests will find special USA shirts, Ear Hats and other limited-edition souvenirs.

• During “Long Lost Friends Week,” lesser-known Disney characters will move from the shadows to the spotlight with meet-and-greets on both coasts. Photo opps with characters that could include Flik, Clarabelle Cow, Remy, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum will surprise and delight guests. And Disney guests will even have the chance to vote online for which characters they want to see.
• Pirate Week:  Why talk like a pirate one day when you could celebrate these scalawags all week long? The adventures of Jack Sparrow come to life like never before during a bicoastal buccaneer bash in which Disneyland and Walt Disney World become pirate-palooza: pirate bands, pirate meet-and-greets and more.
• Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands: Dapper Dans, the iconic quartet from Main Street, U.S.A., will add a special finale to their show, claiming the title of the “Original Boy Band” and delivering a medley of hits from One Direction, *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.
• Unleash the Villains: A Friday the 13th in 2013 is a special day, so Disneyland and Disney Hollywood Studios are staying open until the 13th Hour (1 a.m.). Maleficent, Capt. Hook, Jafar and other Disney villains host a dance party, complete with limited-edition collectibles and nighttime mischief on Sept. 13.
• Golden Horseshoe Revue: The fabled Frontierland show returns to Disneyland for one month only, bringing back the corny jokes and enduring songs that were often enjoyed by Walt Disney himself.

Disney dream makers are crafting more surprises and magical offers that will be rolled out weekly during the magical year. The experience of the week will be announced in a variety of ways including in-park, Disneyworld.com, Disneyland.com, Facebook, Twitter, the Disney Parks Blog – adding to the element of surprise.

Tips for Mickeys Halloween Party. Don’t miss it!

We started the night off at one of our new favorite places to visit; Trader Sams which is poolside at the Disneyland Hotel.  Order a ‘Shipwreck’ and see what happens. It’s hilarious.

Of course Disney Resort is the only place where you can walk around with a giant spider on your head and no one even notices. What can I say…I was excited to go to Disneys Halloween Party and had fun getting in the spirit.

 

I get asked frequently about Mickeys Halloween Party …so here are my answers:

Can you wear costumes? YES! You can. No weapons or otherwise super inappropriate things…but yes you can. And you will see some AMAZING costumes too. From movie ready zombies to Princesses you would swear are royalty. But please- make sure you and the kids are comfortable AND can fit into the rides!

Is it a kid thing? Yep. There are stations through-out the park, for the littles to trick or treat and get some goodies.

What else is there? There is a FUN dance club (Piratepalooza), face painting, music through out the park and more. The whole park is a little more ‘Halloweeny’ from giant spiders on the castle, to beautiful ‘fog’ on the pond…it is just a great themed atmosphere! And we watched the Halloween Parade while sitting on MainStreet (eating icecream for dinner). It was really cute.

Are the rides open? All the rides are open. And don’t forget to visit Space Mountain. It is ‘re-themed’ to Ghost Galaxy. It is as wonderful (and spooookie) as ever!

  

Any special merchandise? All kinds of great Halloween items available. And we bought tons! But in the end I fell in love for this Stormtrooper holding a Mickey ice cream bar. So cute huh?

 

The real amazing grand-finale of the night is the Halloween firework show. Watch Zero the dog FLY across the sky before being enthralled with music and fireballs and glorious fireworks.

And even though I grew up listening the fireworks each night at bedtime (and still do) there power and energy just amaze me!

And here is more info for you:

Ticket Includes: Admission to the Disneyland Park up to 3 hours prior to the event's start time. Complimentary parking for one vehicle. Larger vehicles may require an additional fee.

Entertainment: Special trick-or-treat stations with candy and healthy goodies. Halloween Screams fireworks spectacular, exclusively for Party Guests. Dance parties, and the chance to eat, drink and be (not so) scary throughout the park.

Attractions: Access to nearly all attractions, including all the Halloween-themed Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy and Haunted Mansion Holiday attractions.

Costumed Disney Characters: Photo ops with popular Disney and Pixar Pals, and Disney Villains.  Mickey's Costume Party Cavalcade, a Halloween parade presented for Party Guests.

Save on Tickets: Save when you buy tickets in advance! On select nights, Annual Passholders save $18. No ticket is required for Guests 2 and under.

And YES. This SELLS OUT. So buy your tix and get those costumes ready!

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Thank you Disneyland PR for giving this wonderful night of fun to me and my family.

We do so few things as a family anymore (I know. Pathetic huh?) that this night was simply MAGICAL.

The Art of Frankenweenie at Disney California Adventure

Once my Baby Jack had a goldfish that I brought back to life.

Three times.

Well, not really- but after goldfish #1 floated to the top of the bowl one day, The Husband would bring home a new goldfish after work and when Baby Jack was distracted I would plop Goldfish #2 (and later #3 and #4) into the bowl. Explaining a pet dying is never easy- and surely many kids have fantasized about bringing their beloved pet back to life.

Enter Tim Robbins and his story Frankenweenie.

                

Disney gave me a great opportunity this week; to chat with Don Hahn and Allison Abbate - the producers of the new Tim Burton creation “Frankenweenie”. This full length 3D stop animation film is an expansion of a story Tim told in a 1984 short by the same title. In conjunction with the movies release, Disney has installed an exhibit (The Art of Frankenweenie)  in Disney’s California Adventure (in the Animation building) that included ACTUAL sets and characters from the production.

I realize how difficult it is to understand the scale of these sets- and the photos look more like movie stills – but the mom at the counter is a little bigger than a Barbie. And all that teeny tiny stuff? All of it hand made by 50+ artisans. And even though I am a miniature freak, and spent many many months as a child creating ‘sets’ and miniatures for my Barbies’ homes as a child…I was simply just BLOWN AWAY at the immersive creative result of these sets before me.

If that teacher character looks familiar it was deliberately patterned after Vincent Price by Tim Burton. Actually ALL the characters and sets are based on total replication of sketches and designs by Tim himself. Not approximations. Not estimations. But completely bringing the characters to life in miniature, poseable form. This movie- perhaps more than any other is the direct creative vision of Tim. And everyone who worked on it (at times up to 150 individuals) had an intense passion to help Tim bring his vision to life. Even if that meant producing only about 5 seconds of footage A WEEK in some cases.

This little classroom science counter? About 2” high. TWO INCHES HIGH PEOPLE. Oh fun fact- Allison explained to me that the paper on the bulletin boards was all backed in foil, so that they could be manipulated fame by frame to show movement when needed.

After touring the exhibition a few of us were able to  sit down with these award winning producers, and ask a few questions. I have decided to leave the video unedited…which means you need to turn it up when they are talking (no mics)… so it is pretty poor quality video but as you will see- these are really nice folks. Passionate. Creative and pretty darn normal  : )

 

Marcy’s Side thought(s) : Yes, the movie is in black and white 3D and you can see by the sets 99% of the creations were all manufactured in black and white as well. 99% of the film is ‘real’ (not computer generated) and the other 1% is a sky or a lawn or something they need to, as Allison said ‘let the movie soar’. The sets were the most elaborate and some of the largest ever made for a stop-action film.

The movie is a technical marvel,

all to tell the story of a boy and the dog he loved.

[Appropriate for the most of the family. opens oct 5th. ]

Mad T Party: Kid appropriate?

Disney has been known as a nighttime dancing destination since the say it opened. My mother talks about going after a certain hour in the 60’s for mere pocket change, to listen to the latest band and of course DANCE. Well the tradition continues this year at Disney’s California Adventure with the addition of Mad T Party. Similar to last  years Electronica- although consuming a more defined space and what appears to be much higher investment in the live themed band, DJ’s, elaborate sets, dance troops and so much more.

Before you ask- yes there are bars with alcoholic drinks available- but the kids and the adults mix seamlessly. It is loads of fun and I absolutely recommend checking it out. My thirteen year old Jack says it is his favorite part of the park…and he has asked to go back and ‘stay till close’ next time. So if you have a pre-teen or teen, this party is sure to put a smile on their face.

Of course while my boys love a good nightclub atmosphere,

they still love a good hug with their old pal Mickey.

John Lasseter clearly doesn’t know who I am.

I had a wonderful time recently working the red carpet for Disney California Adventure Cars Land opening event. I interviewed tons of amazing people including Bob Iger, Tom Staggs, Andy Garcia, John Ratzenberger and many many others. Those interviews are coming soon…

But meanwhile, see how I interviewed (or didn’t) John Lasseter from Pixar.

It was ‘memorable.’

See? I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t want to talk to me. Clearly I am totally normal and was taking the whole thing seriously. But really John- You were the ONLY A-lister who didn’t stop by and chat…. so, I think this deserves you to hire me to do voice work on your next movie.

Seems totally fair.

The worst #DisneySMmoms post ever.

Last weekend I was one of 175 invited guests to attend the Disney Social Media conference in Walt Disney World. It is a great event each year that always leaves me brushing off the pixie dust the following week. If you are interested in my business-y analysis of the event, I wrote this fancy article for the Weber Shandwick site (my employer), but if you want the usual stupid Marcy musing- see below ; )

As usual, my standard take-photo-of-outfit-in-mirror-before-walking-out-the-door photo. When I returned, I found out that my brush must have been cold-since it put on a brush-kimono while I was out. Here I am on the balcony of my room- which over looked tennis courts. Yeah, come to Disney World and you play tennis for fun? Unless you are Venus Williams- you better not. I waited to heckle the first person I saw- but none came.

  

Best centerpiece ever- was this Rayovac plug in thing. So smart and awesome. Best swag? This wonderful travel mouse (get it? MOUSE) with a retractable cord. Most disturbing? Small World branded body cream.

As this pic from Italy (Epcot) shows- it was hot. Don’t worry- Mai Tai to the rescue. Oh and remind me to talk to my gardener- clearly he is not performing up to his potential.

Eating lunch in France? Watch out for animatronic Remy coming by. I may have screamed in delight. Next it was off to see the new Animation Resort with it’s James Bond kinda check in area, fun wall of animation, and DAAAAMN-its-big Nemo themed pool complete with giant character sculptures.

 

   

The biggest thrills for me at Disney World are to see and do things that we no longer have at Disneyland. So naturally we went to Carousal of Progress, rode the People Mover and caught the Electric Parade. But mostly I was happy to hang out with my best friends Lisa and Suz. Flying 3000 miles to get to have a weekend alone with your friends who live 20 miles away? Now that is insane magical.

WOW D23 begins Twitter Sweepstakes Giveaway

I have been head down into the latest D23 Magazine. What an amazing publication.

Here are a few shots- but it doesn’t do it justice. The vintage marketing reproductions and the never before seen transcriptions from Walts creative meetings. Amazing.

     

But I wanted to let you know about a very cool thing happening later this week. Here are the details:

As D23: The Official Disney Fan Club gets ready to celebrate its third anniversary in the midst of its most exciting year ever, D23 Members and Disney fans are invited to get in on the fun with a special, 23-day Twitter sweepstakes that combines the fun of Disney fandom, history and trivia with the thrill of a scavenger hunt.

Starting Feb. 17, D23's "23 Days of Celebration" invites all Disney fans to help mark the third anniversary of the first and only official Disney fan club.  Each day at approximately 10 a.m. Pacific time, D23 will provide a different challenge for the day – and the first person to submit a valid photo that matches the challenge will win a special D23 prize.

For instance, D23 Members and Disney fans may need to raid their photo albums for a picture of themselves in front of a certain Disney Parks attraction, or might be asked to take a digital snapshot with a D23 pin, or wearing a specific item of Disney apparel.  Each day will offer a new challenge – and each day will present a new opportunity to win! Fans will submit photos via Twitter by “@ replying” @DisneyD23, including the hashtag #D23Sweeps.

Prizes will include exclusive D23 pins and patches, D23 collectible merchandise, and, on March 10 – D23’s third anniversary – a special prize package.

The task and the prize will change on a daily basis, so be sure to follow “@DisneyD23” on Twitter to keep up with every challenge – and every winner – in D23’s “23 Days of Celebration” anniversary sweepstakes! (Full rules are available at D23’s website, http://www.disney.com/D23.)