Wanna know what it's like working attractions for Disney?

Those of us that have had the opportunity to work in one of Disney's theme parks know how interesting and fun it can be. We also know how demanding and tricky it can be, too.

Over the last couple of days, a set of four flash games have been floating around the blogsphere, and with good reason. They're four simulations of Disney attractions which you can control with the aim of running the attraction as efficiently as possible and by getting as many guests through as possible.

Sounds easy? You'd be wrong. The four attractions are the Disney-MGM Studios version of the Tower of Terror, and the Disneyland Paris versions of Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain Mission 2 and Phantom Mannor, and the games are quite tricky to master. You have to control the doors, queue, loading and dispatch of each ride for up to four ride trains as well as attending to breakdowns and the ever growing line of guests forming at the entrance to your attraction.

So, what are you waiting for? Go on and give it a play!

Links:
- Simulations on themagical.nl

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Advanced warning: Planned server maintenance
Tomorrow (Sunday 29 April) evening at around 22:00 GMT the server which hosts the images used on A Kingdom of Dreams will be taken down for maintenance. During this time the blog itself will still be available however none of the images on the pages will work. The maintenance should last no longer than an hour. The aim is to keep downtime to a minimum, however it will be necessary for the server to disapear for a short period of time.

Tree attacks guest at Disneyland Resort

A guest riding the world famous Jungle Cruise at Disneyland Resort this afternoon (Wednesday 18th) was hit by a falling tree branch.

The guest suffered minor injuries when the branch fell from the tree at 12:40pm. It is thought that the branch was blown from the tree in strong winds at the resort this afternoon.

Links:
- Tree Limb Falls on Person Riding Boat at Disneyland - abc7.com Local News

Disney wedding dresses debut

A while back I reported on Disney's Wedding Dress plans. Well today, it seems that more information is available - including pictures of the dresses themselves. (For the curious, the one on the right is Sleeping Beauty.)

The dresses, designed by Kristie Kelly, are showcased on DisneyBridal.com, and includes dresses based around Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Disney's Jasmine, Ariel and Belle.

Many more photos of the dresses can be found on the Disney Consumer Products website, along with a press release.

Links:
- Disney Bridal
- Photo Gallery -Disney Consumer Products
- Further information -Disney Consumer Products

New Pixar floats in Dreamlights parade

Tokyo Disneyland have given their Dreamlights parade (think Main Street Electrical Parade) an update with some new floats based on the Pixar animations.

The new floats include Finding Nemo characters and Monsters Inc. characters, and look (in my opinion) rather good.

DLRP.fr has a few photos of the new floats, and the official website's Dreamlights page also has some details.

Links:
- Tokyo Disney Resort
- Dreamlights Parade Information
- New float photos (DLRP.fr)

Happy 15th Birthday, Disneyland Resort Paris!

"To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Once upon a time... a master storyteller, Walt Disney, inspired by Europe's best loved tales, used his own special gifts to share them with the world. He envisioned a Magic Kingdom where these stories would come to life, and called it Disneyland.

Now his dream returns to the land that inspired it. Euro Disneyland is dedicated to the young and the young at heart... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration for all the world."

- Michael Eisner's dedication of EuroDisney. 1 April, 1992

Walt Disney's Passport up for auction

As spotted by the folks at BoingBoing, Walt Disney's passport is up for auction on eBay. That's right. For $3,600 (at the time of writing this), you could own this rather random, yet unique piece of Disney history.

According to the auction page, the passport is dated just after the release of Mary Poppins, and contains visa stamps from a trip to London.

Check out the auction on eBay here.

(Via BoingBoing)

The Making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As spotted by the folks over at Boing Boing, Modern Mechanix has a very nice look at an article from the January 1938 issue of Popular Science. The article is a look at the pioneering film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The article has scanned pages of the original article as well as a typed transcript. Also available are some very high resolution scans, suitable for those who want to print it out (I'm sure there's someone out there who'll print it and make it into a poster for their wall...)

Links:
- The Making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Modern Mechanix (via Boing Boing)

Once Upon a Dream...

...in a Disneyland not so far away...

Disneyland Resort Paris did a suprise "soft-opening" of its new parade this weekend. Officially supposed to start on April 1st, the Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade made its way through the park despite the wet and rainy weather in its first public outings.

Quick off the mark, Photos Magiques quickly got some photos online, followed by DLRP.fr, who also now have a video of the parade available for those of you who either can't wait to visit the park and see it for yourself, or are unable to visit.

Various rumours had been circling recently that the parade and its floats wouldn't be ready in time, but the parade was performed with all of its brand new floats completed. According to Photos Magiques, the floats are named: The Dream of Imagination, The Dream of Laughter and Fun, Dreams of Friendship, Dreams of Fantasy, Dreams of Power, Dreams of Adventure and Dreams of Romance.

Links:
- Once Upon a Dream Parade - Photos Magiques
- Parade Photos - DLRP.fr
- More parade photos and video - DLRP.fr

Ratatouille (Rat-a-too-ee) trailer released

Disney and Pixar yesterday released a new trailer for the upcoming film Ratatouille. The trailer is currently on the official Ratatouille website.

The new trailer gives us some more hints as to what the story may be (although I'm not going to write it down here, since some of you might want to wait and see!) It also introduces a couple of the characters, and tells us a little more about the main character - a rat.

Currently I've not been able to locate a HD version of the trailer (or indeed anything larger than the one on the Disney website). This'll probably change soon (or maybe already has and I've just not spotted it!)

Anyway. Enjoy!

Links:
- Ratatouille website and trailer - Disney.com

Prepare to be lifted

It's been a kind of tradition with Pixar to release a new short film with each feature film. With The Incredibiles, it was Boundin'; with Cars, it was One Man Band. Ratatouille will be no exception from this, and its short film will be Lifted.

Lifted is a short film about a teenage alien who is taking an exam in abducting humans under the watchful eye of his instructor, Mr. B.

The film has already been previewed at The 42nd Chicago International Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards a few weeks ago.

Pixar's website contains a short introduction to the film, and has a quick peek at the artwork and storyline. The film is directed by Gary Rydstrom and is around five minutes long.

Links:
- Short Films: Lifted - Pixar Animation Studios