SoCal Disney

Author: That Disney Guy

  • Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln Returns

    Straight from the Disneyland Resort…

    A longtime favorite of Disneyland guests will return as “The Disneyland Story, featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” an enhanced version of the show which appeared, in various forms, in the Main Street Opera House at Disneyland park from 1966 through 2004 . The attraction will reopen later this year in celebration of the 200th anniversary year of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

    The current Opera House presentation, “Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years,” went on hiatus March 16, in preparation for the new “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” show. When the updated “Disneyland Story, featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” opens later this year, “Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years” will be presented as part of the “Disneyland Story” display of art, models and mementoes in the Opera House lobby.

    Also planned for fall 2009 is a prominent new home on Main Street, U.S.A., for The Disney Gallery. Formerly located above Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square, The Disney Gallery houses treasured Disney artwork and collectibles representing creative efforts from throughout The Walt Disney Company. A frequently changing exhibit area often includes never-before-displayed art. The Disney Gallery’s new home will be in the Bank of Main Street building, located next door to the Main Street Opera House and currently serving as the headquarters for Disneyland Resort Annual Passport processing. The Bank will continue to operate as an Annual Passport center until mid-summer 2009. After that, Annual Passport processing will move to the Plaza Pavilion, near the entrance to Adventureland.

    The original “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” was created by Walt Disney and his Imagineers for the State of Illinois Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and featured the world’s first fully animated human Audio-Animatronics figure, built by Walt Disney Imagineering. The show, made its Disneyland debut in the Main Street Opera House on July 18, 1965.

  • Article: Disney magic comes to Hemet museum

    Source: The Press Enterprise

    Disney experts told inside stories about the company’s founder, his Anaheim theme park and the making of “Mary Poppins” at the Western Center for Archeology and Paleontology.

    The occasion was a preview of “The Music Behind the Magic: Disney 1928-Today,” opening today.

    The exhibit features Disney memorabilia from cartoons, live-action films, TV and Broadway, as well as several interactive features.

    Museum officials say hosting a pop culture exhibit will help expose children to its scientific content as well.

    Four Disney fans who became company staffers met with guests and engaged in an hour-long Q&A.

    Panelists at the Thursday event included:

    Disney records producer Randy Thornton

    Disney artist and historian Stacia Martin

    Historian and DVD producer Les Perkins

    Artist and composer Alexander Rannie

    All joined the company after Walt Disney’s death in 1966. But they have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about him and his company.

    Among the tales they shared:

    Walt Disney would rummage through his staff’s trash cans over the weekend to look for discarded ideas. One salvaged idea became “The Ballad of Davey Crockett.”

    Working with Disney could be stressful to his staff.

    “If Walt came into the studio in a bad mood, the security guard would call to the secretary and let people know. ‘He’s wearing the bear suit today,’ ” Thornton said. “Then they would know to kind of give Walt some room and let him go. … a page would run usually through the place going ‘Man is in the forest! Man is in the forest!’ ”

    The Sherman brothers, who created the score for “Mary Poppins,” wrote twice as many songs as made it into the movie.

    The song “A Spoonful of Sugar” was inspired by the Salk vaccine.

    Glynnis Johns, who played Mrs. Banks, was convinced she was hired to play the title role. They had to come up with a number on the fly to compensate.

    There isn’t a network of tunnels under Disneyland. Martin, who is based at the park, said there is one master throughway. She said Florida’s Walt Disney World has a huge underground of “utilidors.”

    Fantasia ice cream is still available in an ice cream shop on the east side of Main Street. The treat had been popular at the now-closed Carnation Plaza Gardens.

    The office building where Thornton works has a kitchenette called Kitch-Annette, in honor of Annette Funicello, who was as big a pop culture icon in the ’60s as Miley Cyrus is today.

    The panelists say the Disney corporation has a growing respect for its heritage, an issue that has been in the news this week with today’s reopening of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World.” The ride features revisions from its original concept, including tie-ins to Disney movies.

    Thornton said the criticism is overblown.

    “You hear people talk about, ‘I don’t think Walt would like this,’ or ‘I don’t think Walt would like that.’ You have no idea what Walt would want! No clue whatsoever! Because the people that worked with him day in and day out didn’t know what Walt wanted. Walt didn’t know what he wanted ’til he wanted it.”

  • Another Demi Lovato Concert in LA (Part 1)

    On Monday December 8th, The talented Demi Lovato had an hour long concert at the Wiltern theater in Los Angeles, California. I was there, just like I was when she preformed at the Roxy back in July.

    For starters, this theater was a LOT bigger. On a one to ten scale, I’s say the Wiltern is about a four, where the Roxy and any of the House of Blues are what I consider a 1 (small venues). Sports arenas are good examples of a 10 (Large venues). I don’t believe we had a sell out, but it was a rather full house.

    She had two short opening acts, KSM and Honor Society. I hadn’t heard of either, but then again I’m not a teenage girl either. It took me almost an hour before I realized that all the messages txt-ed to the screen about “Edward” where about that vampire guy from Twilight. And I was funny when everyone booed at the pro-Miley, anit-Twilight, etc. messages.

    Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera. I hadn’t been to this theater before, and I didn’t want to risk losing my place in line. As it turns out, I would have been fine but by the time I found out it was too late. So if any one else who was there would be kind enough to send me some of your photos I will love you forever and put them up on the site. You can email me at greg@dcfans.tv thanks!

    The show, as I said, was about an hour long. Demi did every song off her album except “On the Line.” This included “Believe In Me” which Demi said was a first for her at a concert. She also did “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted, “This is me” from Camp Rock and “Daydream” (a cover). All of which she did the last time I saw her. She also did a cover of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” and John Mayer’s “Daughters.” the one song I expected that she didn’t do was “Who Will I be” from Camp Rock.

    Credit to timeiswastingus for the following YouTube Video.

  • Demi Lovato Concert (and Selena) in LA (Part 5)

    Selena WAS there! Along with her mom and cousin Brandon

    Selena Gomez leaving the Roxy

    And even crazier, they actually parked across the street where I’ve parked before! It’s hard to tell for sure, but it looks like she just waited for most of the crowd to exit and then just left out the front door. Had I known, I would have hung around. Oh well.

  • Demi Lovato Concert in LA (Part 4)

    This is likely my last post about Demi’s concert last week.

    I’ve finished screencapping the videos I took at the concert. By that process I created more than 3000 images. However, most of these where badly blurred, and others quite repetitive. I went through the mass of images and hand picked 200 to share with all of you. These images have been added to the gallery I mentioned in “Demi Lovato Concert in LA (Part 2).”

    Sexy Demi Lovato Concert Photo

  • Demi Lovato Concert in LA (Part 3)

    The Demi concert videos are up!

    My camera takes ridiculously high quality videos (20MB per minute) which makes YouTube uploads take forever – especially when there are eight videos!

    Demi Lovato Concert Videos

    I only recorded her new songs, because I’m sure anyone who cares to can find footage of “This is me.” And I used the “old” songs to take still photos.

    I’m going to try screencapping my original video files over the next couple days. If I can get some good pics, I’ll add them to the existing gallery and announce it here. 😀

  • Demi Lovato Concert in LA (Part 2)

    I saw on The Roxy’s Website that the Jonas Brothers where at the concert. I never actually saw them, or any of the other people that I’ve heard where there. And if any one has a pic that can confirm Selena was there, please send it to greg [at] dcfans.tv. Nevermind, she was there.

    Anyway, I’ve gone through and picked out my best still photos for the gallery. Every photo in this gallery is mine, if you repost them please link back.

    Demi at the Roxy

    I also wanted to share this great photo from the Roxy’s in house photographer, Erik Voake.

    Videos will be coming soon! I do have a day job, and it’ll take a while to get them all onto YouTube.

  • Demi Lovato Concert in LA (Part 1)

    Demi had a small concert in LA this evening at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, and I was there.

    I took quite a few photos, and a lot of video. So much in fact, that it’s gonna take a few days to sort through it all.

    But in the meantime, here’s an exclusive photo. 😀

    Demi Lovato Concert at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles 07/18/08
    Demi Lovato Concert at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles 07/18/08