Category: Disney News

Minecraft builders often take a lot of personal time and pay a lot of attention to detail when building and creating objects within the confines of the game. Some, though, like to take objects from the real world and recreate them as closely as they can.

One such Minecraft player decided to pay homage to the Disney Cruise Line by recreating one of the company’s ships, the Disney Wonder. However, this isn’t just any old replica, this is probably the most accurate copy of the ship ever made, at least inMinecraft.

Charles Goldburn from Planet Minecraft posted the photos and blueprints of the ship, showing off all the incredible details included in his design.

This Minecraft replica includes every part of the ship, including Disney’s signature Animator’s Palate restaurant, the engine room, Triton’s restaurant, the atrium, the pools, the bridge and even the Walt Disney Theater. Each deck is at 1:1 scale and other Minecraft players can get up close and personal with the ship by wandering around on it and examining each individual element.

“This is a first in the Minecraft community, this Disney Wonder is made with upmost [sic] detail and accuracy!”writes Goldburn. “It has a complete interior for you and your friends to explore and enjoy endlessly! Explore the Atrium, Dining Rooms, Kid’s Clubs and the not so known crew areas such as the Engine Room, Navigational Bridge and so much more!”

“I love to build water structures such as Cruise Ships, Ocean Liners, and much more transportation types,” reads the description on Goldburn’s Planet Minecraft page. Goldburn also has Minecraft versions of other ships, too, including the Celebrity Solstice, Oasis of the Seas, Norwegian Sun and the new Disney Dream.

Goldburn writes that his Minecraft cruise ships are so detailed because he actually goes on board each ship and takes photos of everything on them so that he can get the details as perfectly as possible when he recreates them within the game.

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Shanghai-based tourism stocks jumped after Walt Disney Co. announced ticket prices for its new theme park opening soon in the Chinese metropolis that are cheaper than those at its Hong Kong venue, which may boost visitors numbers and spur development.

Shanghai Jielong Industry Group Corp., which owns land near where the Disney resort is being built, rose by the 10 percent daily limit in morning trading and was up 7.6 percent at 23.17 yuan as of 1:16 p.m. local time. Shanghai Jinjiang International Hotels Co. Development, whose parent company owns a stake in Disney’s local partner, gained as much as 7.5 percent.

“Disney’s pricing announcement yesterday and overall sound market environment today pushed up related concept stocks,” said Shenzhen-based Sealand Securities analyst Zhou Yuhua. While such share reactions could be short-lived, similar speculation may be repeated when Shanghai Disneyland officially opens June 16, Zhou said Thursday.

Tickets for the $5.5 billion Shanghai park will be priced about 20 percent cheaper than for Hong Kong, Disney said Thursday, as the company aims to draw families across income levels to its first theme park in mainland China. Daily tickets go on sale from March 28 and will be priced at 370 yuan ($56), compared with HK$539 ($69) for a one-day adult ticket to Hong Kong Disneyland.

Other gainers include Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co., which rose as much as 6.9 percent, and the operator of the city’s subway Shanghai Shentong Metro Co., which was up by as much as 5.2 percent. Haichang Ocean Park Holdings Ltd., which operates theme parks throughout China, rose as much as 7.8 percent in Hong Kong trading.

Dalian-based Haichang, which has a new park opening in 2017 about an hour away from Shanghai Disney Resort, will benefit from the U.S. company’s entry as it could give mainland China theme parks leeway to raise their own ticket prices, said Macquarie Securities Ltd analyst Timothy Lam.

“International operators will give space to local players to raise their fees to support better services,” Lam said. “When Hong Kong Disneyland opened, Hong Kong Ocean Park saw visitation go up and made investments to upgrade and expand.”

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Though glitzy new commercials are a big part of what attracts some viewers to the Super Bowl, Disney has barely changed its ad spot for nearly three decades.

Since 1987, Disney’s ad has always started at the final whistle, when confetti falls and a Disney camera hunts down the game’s MVP.

The player then is asked something along the lines of, “What are you going to do next?” to which the athlete has always responded “I’m going to Disney World!” or “I’m going to Disneyland!”

And like clockwork, a commercial for Walt Disney World‘s resorts and parks — set to the song “When You Wish Upon a Star” — ensues.

So how did the iconic catchphrase come to be?

It’s actually the brainchild of Jane Eisner, the wife of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, according to Darrell Fry, Disney’s sports media director.

Fry told ABC that in Eisner’s 1998 memoir, “Work In Progress,” the former CEO and his wife were having dinner with “Star Wars” creator, George Lucas, and the first people to fly around the world without stopping, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager.

“It was late and the conversation hit a lull as we waited for our food,” Eisner wrote. “So I asked Dick and Jeana, ‘Well, now that you’ve accomplished the pinnacle of your aspirations, what could you possibly do next?’ Rutan responded, without hesitation, ‘I’m going to Disneyland’ And of course I go, ‘Wow, that’s cool! You made the right choice.’ But my wife interjects: ‘You know, that’s a good slogan.'”

Matt Stroshane/Getty Images

Later that month, former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms became the first MVP to say, “I’m going to Disney World!”

Since then, every Super Bowl MVP has had the same post-season vacation plan. And yes, the MVPs who’ve said the line actually do go to Disney World or Disneyland, where they are treated to a celebratory parade.

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Tickets for Walt Disney Co.’s $5.5 billion Shanghai park will be priced at about 20 percent cheaper than for Hong Kong, as the company aims to draw families across income levels to its first theme park in mainland China.

Daily regular tickets go on sale from March 28 and will be priced at 370 yuan ($56), compared with HK$539 ($69) for a one-day adult ticket to Hong Kong Disneyland, while those for children and the elderly will cost 280 yuan. It’ll also charge higher prices during peak periods such as weekends and public holidays, Disney said in a statement.

“Shanghai Disneyland’s two-tiered pricing and date-specific tickets will allow the park to manage the extraordinary anticipated demand,” Disney said Wednesday. The park, scheduled to open June 16, will limit the maximum number of guests and adhere to local capacity regulations, it said, without specifying the allowed numbers.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger has called the China resort Disney’s greatest opportunity since Walt Disney himself bought land in Central Florida in the 1960s. The company is counting on a pool of 330 million Chinese who live within a three-hour train or car trip of Shanghai to buy tickets.

Grand Opening

Tickets will be priced at 499 yuan during the park’s two-week grand opening from June 16 to June 30. Following that, the same price will apply to adult tickets during high-demand periods such as designated Chinese holidays and during summer holidays in July and August, said Disney. Hong Kong doesn’t charge peak period prices.

Similar to practices at its two other parks in Asia, Shanghai Disney’s discount for visitors aged 65 and older is a nod to ageing populations and extended family structures, which could see two sets of grandparents accompanying each child in the world’s most populous nation. Seniors, and children with height above 1 meter and up to 1.4 meter, will also get discounted peak period tickets.

The Shanghai park, Disney’s sixth worldwide, is estimated to attract 25 million visitors annually, less than about 31 million who visit Tokyo Disney Resort annually because of the lack of the “novelty premium” as the park is the third one in Asia, Deutsche Bank AG analysts Tallan Zhou and Karen Tang wrote in a Feb. 1 report.

Still Spending

At 963 acres, the Shanghai resort is three times the size of Hong Kong Disneyland and the company has been allotted enough land in the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone to expand up to 2.5 times in the future.

It will open at a time when the world’s second-biggest economy is slowing, but Disney’s Iger said he’s still confident about betting on the Chinese consumer.

“We’re very bullish on China,” Iger said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in December. “We actually believe that the Chinese consumer is still spending. And the Chinese consumer represents, as far as we’re concerned, a great market for our company.”

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As Walt Disney’s seminal animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), re-awakens today on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download, it brings with it the “lost” Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Hungry Hobos(1928). This marks its worldwide appearance after its screening at the 39th Telluride Film Festival.

The story of how Walt Disney lost the character to distributor Charles Mintz—along with a number of poached studio artists—is a favorite among historians and fans, since it led to the creation of Mickey Mouse and the empire that followed. The character came home when CEO Robert Iger learned of the story and leveraged both the heritage and potential synergy of Oswald by re-acquiring the rights from NBC/Universal in exchange for sportscaster Al Michaels.

Oswald was dormant for decades until that deal took place. Now the character appears at Disney Parks and products from t-shirts to rabbit ear hats– like Mickey hats with longer ears. Oswald also retains the mischievous spark that his mouse-mate had to gradually eschew, resulting in a particular appeal to tweens and teens.

“There’s a lot of public enthusiasm for Oswald,” says author/animation historian David Gerstein, who was among those who unearthed the film. “It’s a nifty trick to make a vintage silent cartoon character popular again after decades of absence. If you go to some casual art sites like deviantart.com, you can see high school kids draw hundreds of pictures of Oswald a week. Clearly this rascally character has struck a chord. Any time we can see a new adventure with him is exciting.”

Gerstein wrote another new adventure for Oswald’s recent appearance in a Disney comic book: Walt Disney Comics and Stories #726, drawn by Mark Kausler. “There were already some Oswald comics that were spinoffs from the Epic Mickey videogame that take place in the game’s world, but this was more of a classic Disney comics story set in Oswald’s world, with characters from the vintage ’20s cartoons.”

In addition to Hungry Hobos, at least two other Oswald shorts have been found: Poor Papa and Africa Before Dark, both from 1928. That brings the tote board of recovered original Disney-produced Oswald cartoons to 16, out of the total of 26. (13 shorts appeared on a 2007 Walt Disney Treasures DVD set).

“Last summer, at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert, Walt Disney Animation Studios re-premiered Poor Papa and Africa Before Dark,” said Gerstein. “They were given fully orchestrated scores composed by Mark Watters, who also composed the magnificent score you’ll hear on Hungry Hobos. The fact that Disney would go to such great lengths to create elaborate post scoring is very satisfying to me. Disney is going the extra mile to make these cartoons look and sound as good as they can be.”

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Hungry Hobos is available with the purchase of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD set, or for download at disneymoviesanywhere.com.

Hungry Hobos is not on the discs themselves, but is accessible using the code inside the package. Here’s how to access the features by visiting disneymoviesanywhere.com:

1.    Enter the digital code.

2.    Locate Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

3.    Locate the Bonus Features section called “Archives”

4.    Use the arrow to scroll across the features to find ”Hungry Hobos.”

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Company reveals its plan to fill sales gap.

Mattel is kicking off 2016 with a clear disadvantage: the maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels will lose 7% of the company’s annual sales, roughly $440 million, after ceding a key license to a top rival.

That’s the tough position the toy maker finds itself in after it gave up Walt Disney’s DIS 2.17% Princess license to rival Hasbro HAS 0.89% , which officially takes over the business in 2016. The princess line, Mattel explained on Monday, was worth 7% of the company’s $6.28 billion in annual sales for 2015.

But Mattel’s MAT 4.27% top executives told analysts that they could deliver revenue that equaled 2015’s total, news that sent the company’s shares higher in after-hours trading. Results for the fourth quarter, the most critical period for the toy industry, were also better than expected.

Mattel is entering 2016 at a critical point. Barbie’s gross sales have now slid for four consecutive years, while sales are also slowing for another key fashion doll line, Monster High, and for the traditionally resilient American Girl doll brand. Danish-based Lego has performed well in the U.S. and markets abroad, while Hasbro has been busy building up its entertainment licensed brands to piggyback off Hollywood’s biggest releases.

Recent deals to acquire construction building toy company MEGA Brands and Hit Entertainment, known for preschool brands including Thomas & Friends and Barney, haven’t been enough to offset the challenges for Mattel’s bigger brands.

So how will Mattel do it? It’ll be a mixed bag of well, almost everything already in the company’s toy box.

Investing in digital

Digital toys will play a role in innovation, and ideally, sales growth. Some recent examples of this space include partnerships that led to the development of a talking doll called “Hello Barbie” and a tech upgraded View-Master. A turnaround for Barbie will also be critical. The company last week generated a ton of media buzz when it announced Barbie would come in new shapes for the first time, as well as a second year to make the doll more racially inclusive.

Licensing

Mattel is also betting bigger on licensed pacts. In future years, the toy maker will make toys for the upcoming “Toy Story” and “Cars” sequels. Another potential opportunity? Investments in entertainment to ideally boost the retail presence of Bob the Builder, Polly Pocket, American Girl, and other Mattel-owned brands.

Small hits

But essentially, Mattel is looking to replace the revenue derived from a home-run hit – Disney Princess – and replace it with a mix of smaller, lesser known and not as popular brands.

Will it work? Investors seem hopeful, at least as of today, that the toy maker is building a solid foundation to eventually correct course and dominate the toy aisle again.

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A former top police officer from Scotland Yard has joined the investigation into the disappearance of Disney cruise ship worker Rebecca Coriam.

The Liverpool student went missing while employed as a youth activity worker on board the Disney Wonder as the vessel sailed into Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico, in March 2011.

After nine months, the investigating Bahamas police department declared the 24-year-old’s disappearance as “not suspicious”.

Disney insist Rebecca, who studied childhood studies, psychology and philosophy atLiverpool Hope University , was swept overboard.

But Rebecca’s family think she may have been killed , and in November private investigators disclosed their belief that “criminal activity” was behind her disappearance.

Now, Roy Ramm, who spent 27 years with the Metropolitan Police, has joined the team trying to figure out what happened on the cruise ship almost five years ago.

He is a former Commander of Specialist Operations at Scotland Yard and has worked on homicide and missing person investigations,

Mr Ramm volunteered to help with the case after reading media coverage last year.

Chester MP Mr Matheson, who is co-ordinating the investigation, believes there is a “real possibility” that 24-year-old Rebecca was murdered.

He said: “We are really grateful that Commander Ramm has offered to assist us with this investigation. He was one of the most senior police officers in the country and is a hugely experienced detective. His expertise and knowledge will be invaluable.

“Bringing Roy into the team feels like we are now moving the big guns on to the field of play.”

Rebecca, who originally came from Guilder Sutton, but also lived near Penny Lane inWavertree, was last spotted in the crew lounge of the Disney ship where a CCTV camera showed her on the phone , during which she appeared to get upset.

Her credit card, which was not found among her personal belongings, was used two months after she went missing.

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One Ohio State student is proving that dreams do come true, as he got the opportunity to design and present a park idea to Disney.

Giacomo Savardi, a mechanical engineering graduate student at OSU was a finalist for the 25th Imaginations Design Competition hosted by Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California.

Savardi was at the Imagineering campus the last week of January to present his design for “Ducktales: Camp Quack,” a portable park that is designed to move across the country.

The proposed design would serve as an interactive learning experience with different stations including trivia questions, seek and find hunts and more for people of all ages. Savardi said he wanted to make sure the park would be able to fit inside a high school football stadium because “every city in America has a high school football field.”

However, this design is merely hypothetical and will not be created, according to a press release from Disney.

His design partner, Andrew Laitnen, a student at the Columbus College of Art, accompanied Savardi to the competition.

“Andrew brought the ideas I had to life with his artwork,” Savardi said. “I was able to cover the technical aspects on the engineering side.”

The duo competed against 18 other finalists on five other teams from major universities across the country.

“One of the classes I took at Ohio State was a design class with Professor (Blaine) Lilly, which helped me on the design aspect,” Savardi said.

Savardi said his lifelong interest in Disney attracted him to this competition.

“I grew up in Northern Italy, and my family and I would basically go to Florida on vacation every so often,” he said. “Every time we would go to Florida, specifically Epcot, really left a lasting impression on me when it came to engineering. It is one of the reasons I got into engineering.”

Savardi said he and Laitnen felt in good company at the competition.

“It’s very respectful, we all sort of feel like winners because we made it this far,” Laitnen said of the competition’s atmosphere.

It was announced Friday that the team consisting of members from Ohio University and the University of Washington took home first place.

Although the duo did not win, they said they see value in the experience, and still have a chance to get an internship with Disney.

“The experiences we’ve seen today, and like being able to interact with people that have worked on legendary attractions, has been a prize in itself,” Savardi said.

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The release of the latest Star Wars film has pushed Disney to be named the world’s most powerful brand, according to the Brand Finance Global 500 report.

Star Wars Episode VII ‘The Force Awakens’ was released last year and took the record of being the fastest film to reach US$1 billion. Merchandise for the film has exceeded US$700 million.

Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the production house of the Star Wars franchise, in 2012.

Brand Finance awarded Disney the most powerful brand in its annual report, noting it is founded on its rich history, original creations and strategic acquisitions.

“Disney is managing to exploit the Star Wars concept both rapidly and sensitively, a difficult feat to pull off,” the report says.

“Disney styles itself as ‘the happiest place on Earth’. That has proved true not just for its customers but for investors too.“

Closer to home, Telstra has taken the top brand value ranking out of Australian brands, taking the title from Woolworths, which had been named the most powerful local brand since 2009. Telstra was number two in the 2015 rankings.

“As flagged in last year’s result, Telstra is now Australia’s number one brand despite increasing competition especially in the mobile division,” Brand Finance Australia MD Mark Crowe says.

“It is testimony to Telstra’s continued brand strength which has driven a 23% increase in value despite only a 3.6% increase in revenue.”

Woolworths moved down to number two while Coles also slipped down a space to number seven.

“With sales expecting to slow at faster rates than rivals, the biggest challenge to Woolworths and other supermarket operators is coming from the German discount chain Aldi,” Crowe says.

“This threat is exacerbated by weak brand perceptions that has resulted in a downgrade in Woolworths brand rating to AA.”

However Crowe says the rankings show the strength of Australia’s banking sector. The big four banks occupy the third to seventh places in the rankings, with ANZ taking the top placed Australian bank.

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