Andrew Stanton Wall-e Interview

I was very lucky to come across a link over at Blue Sky Disney to an interview that Capone at the Ain't It Cool News Blog had with Andrew Stanton the writer and director of Wall-e. This is a great interview as he comes across as a regular guy who has a great love of the sci-fi shows and movies of the 70’s and 80’s. The interview is great and makes me want to get out and see Wall-E as soon as possible. Here’s a link to the interview. The other bit of interesting information to come out of this interview is verification that Pixar has indeed picked up the rights to John Carter on Mars and Stanton will be directing it. Here’s a quote from the interview:

I have been a fan of those books since I was 10, and I've watched vicariously from the sidelines as it has gone from studio to studio since I was in college in the '80s. And just as fan, wanting to see it be made, and praying to God it would be done right. I thought it was truly going to get done by Jon Favreau, and the minute it fell apart, I couldn't believe it. And the timing was just right with my schedule, and I said, "I don't know, this is crazy but I'm going to see if we can get it." And here we are. Believe me, if it doesn't fall apart for other reasons, I'm going to do it right, because I have been a huge fan of those books.

Here is a link to a previous post on John Carter of Mars

The Walt Disney World Rope-Drop

I always assume that the terms I use when discussing the Disney parks are known by all but was reminded this past weekend about a term that might not be widely know. The term is Rope-Drop. This refers to the ceremony that occurs in all parks at the beginning of the day. Each park’s ceremony might be a little different but they are all mainly the same idea. Before the park opens, you are allowed to go into the park to a certain point. In the Magic Kingdom; right at the tunnels under the Train Station. At Epcot; after you get past Innoventions to across from Mousegears. In the Disney Studios; near the Sunset Blvd intersection and in the Animal Kingdom; right at the bridge as you first view the Tree of Life. Only the Magic Kingdom and the Animal kingdom have real shows at the Rope Drop. Epcot and DHS really did not have a planned show as far as I can tell. The Disney Studios link is a link to a DisBoards post by Robo. This is a very detailed description of what to expect. Thanks Robo!
I have seen a couple of different versions of the MK show. Sometimes with the family of the day sometimes without. Sometimes with the train pulling up, sometimes not. Either way, right as the time for the park to open arrives you hear the music volume turn up and the Welcome song begins. One of the podcasts I listen to, Character Breakfast uses this song for their opening. The characters sing and dance with the family of the day and then they would open the park and then the Mad Dash would start. Look for more on that in another post. In the Animal Kingdom, as you are waiting for the ‘Rope-Drop’ an old and rickety Jungle truck drives in from the direction of Dino-land and has some of the Fab 5 on board. Mickey is missing but shows up later. They go through a nice script to welcome you to the park and then the Rope-Drop and the Mad Dash begins. Epcot was a little more relaxed in that I could not tell if there was a planned show. The Fab 5 come out dressed in shiny tuxedos and do a quick dance and then that rope-Drops and the Epcot Mad Dash begins. Similar at DHS. Although there were times where the Streetmasphere people do there shticks and then that Rope-Drops and the DHS Mad Dash Begins.
Here’s a couple of words about the Mad Dash I mention above. As soon as the rope drops people take off toward the attractions in what can best be described as a Mad Dash. Everyone is trying to get to those E ticket attractions that get crowded fast. Each park has two or three of these attractions. In DHS, most people make the Mad Dash to the Tower of Terror and the Rockin Roller Coaster. In Epcot, it’s Soarin, Test Track and Mission Space. This is a picture of the line for the Soarin' FASTPASS right after Rope Drop. Something to look forward to. In the Animal Kingdom it’s Everest and the Safari. The Magic Kingdom actually has two routes. The first for the kids is the mds-Dash to Fantasyland and Dumbo or Peter Pan. For the older crowd, the Mad-Dash is to the mountain of your choice. I would think Splash Mtn . and Big Thunder get the biggest share.

Does NASA have a Corporate Sponsor in Disney?

Coming back from the store this afternoon I was listening to the local news radio station and heard a report on how the NASA Space Shuttle crew were awakened this morning by the theme from the Mickey Mouse Club. Here's a LINK to the official NASA site, click on the correct format for Day 9. This follows hearing last week that Buzz Lightyear had indeed made it into space on this latest Space Shuttle flight also. And, as I read in this article there was a microphone stand from ESPN also going up in this flight. Pilot Ken Hamm is going to be on the Mike and Mike show, if he has not already. The flight also took a couple of other items into orbit including jerseys from Lance Armstrong and Eli Manning. So there is an ESPN tie in also. One other item that I knew about but did not put any importance on a the time was the NASA Space Day at WDW in Sept. of 2007. They are both in Florida so a little inter-state friendship is never a bad thing, but I wonder if the always $$$ strapped agency might be making a couple of bucks on this.

YouTube Gold:Looking Back through WDW TV Commercials

Here is another example of how Youtube is a Disney Geeks best friend. I was playing around the other day and came across some past Walt Disney World Commercials. There are a lot of them out there ranging from the early 1970's to David Cook, from American Idol, and his promise of going to WDW. As I watched these again I could remember most of them. Each from some different time as I grew up. It is also an incredible snapshot of a particular time. The way people are dressed shows a lot in how America looked at the time. Seeing the promise of new attractions that are now retired or old but true favorites is certainly a great nostalgic thrill also. How about Capt. Eo as a main attraction and the tease of a brand new Park Named Disney's MGM Studios? The other side is noting how these 30-60 second ADVERTISING spots are just that, advertising. You must keep that in mind while viewing. The full range of emotions are conveyed through various methods. Very effective. In fact, I want to go right now. See ya! ...I wish. Below are some links to the better of the commercials that I saw out there on the Youtube. If you want to see more, do a search on Walt Disney World Commercial, there are a ton.
This first embedded Video is a perfect example of how someone 'Gets it'. By 'Gets It' I mean the time when a person instead of saying, "Why are you going to Disney World again this year?" fianlly Gets It and is the person that now says, "We're going back to WDW again this year, wanna go?" I give the Disney advertising team a Big Gold star on picking up on this theme and making such a good commercial around it.

This is one of the first TV commercials for WDW. It's a little scary and odd, but I remembered it as soon as I saw the dwarfs. WDW 1971
This commercial from Delta has a lot of great flash-backs.
Here are a couple that can only be termed as before and after. We did both the before and the after...no complaints. Before=No Kids After=It's all about the Kids and again, After
As for emotional, if you have a little girl, this one will make you cry...just a little. Princess

Don't forget Disney Fans Yotube is your Friend. See you next time.