"Saving Mr. Banks" Featurettes

Some of Disney's promotional material for the wonderful film:













And a special moment to end on:



Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

A Classic Disney Store

There is a Disney Store with the style they had from opening into the '90s and beyond. In the city of Santa Rosa, California in the Santa Rosa Plaza mall, for the time being. These pictures were taken mid December 2013. Enjoy the vintage and nostalgic look of these stores.

The only thing missing is the fanciful carpet they used to have!

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

Disneyland Hotel Christmas Trees

Each tower at the Disneyland Hotel has its own Christmas tree in the lobby area. They are decorated to match the tower's theme: Fantasy, Frontier, and Adventure.

The Fantasy Tower Christmas Tree.

The Frontier Tower Christmas Tree.

The Adventure Tower Christmas Tree.

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

Disneyland's Gingerbread House

Many Disney fans have heard about all the fancy Gingerbread Houses that dot the resorts of Walt Disney World. Not many have mentioned that the Disneyland Hotel gets its own bit of Gingerbread in the lobby as well! It is a Gingerbread representation of Sleeping Beauty Castle with Mickey and Minnie.

Here are some pictures:

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

The Disney Parks Blog

The Disney Parks have a blog.

Screen shot of the Disney Parks Blog Home Page.

They use it to promote and discuss various topics related to the Theme Parks. With news coming in from Tokyo, Paris, Florida, California, and beyond it sure does have some great posts. They occasionally host meet ups and special events in the Parks. You have to keep an eye out for them, they often quickly run out of space. They've been posting since September 2009, and it is fully accessible online, so if you really need a good long Disney fix their blog just might be the place for you.

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

Saving Mr. Banks

This is one of those movies that upon hearing about, you stop and wonder why did they choose to make this into a movie. Seeing that 2014 is the 50th anniversary of Mary Poppins, it does seem a bit appropriate to have a film on the inner workings it took to make Mary Poppins.

Overall, Saving Mr. Banks is rather funny, there are a lot of moments and lines that leave the audience laughing. Though there is still an edge of seriousness to it. It is a dramedy of the best sort. You learn to care and feel for the characters in the film.

Any fan of Disney should go and see Saving Mr. Banks for a peek into what it takes to make the films full of magic we love. Seeing Walt deal with a complicated person and not always getting it right is pure magic.

Seeing "Saving Mr. Banks"

Going to the special preview at the Walt Disney Studios tonight! Will write a follow up blog/review shortly. :)

Happy Imaginings. 

imaginear tony 

Walt's Birthday

Today, 112 years ago, Walt Disney was born in Chicago. I'm sure the people around him couldn't imagine all that he would come to accomplish in his life.

I saw "Saving Mr. Banks" last night. It actually had a decent portrait of Walt Disney as a human being, and not a perfect fantasy version of him. He was a man who was able to do many wonderful things for the world but he was simply just doing his best. I wish we all could.

Frozen

Seeing Frozen at the El Capitan Theatre is an event!

There is ice carving, dancing by Anna & Elsa, picture taking spots, snowfall, and beautiful decorations. Then the wonderful short Get A Horse! (which seems to interact with the theater itself!) and the film Frozen.

Frozen is, well, it is good. I wouldn't say it is as good as The Lion King, or the best Disney movies from that era, but it continues an uphill climb from Home on the Range. To me, some of the songs seem forced, and it can be confusing at times, but there is still mystery and beautiful scenes through out. Frozen does pass as a decent Disney movie, so see it if you like those.

Some pictures from seeing Frozen at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood:

The El Capitan Theatre before the show.

Elsa & Anna.

Olaf display in the lobby.

Frozen at the El Capitan until January 5, 2014

You can visit the Ghirardelli Ice Cream shop and Disney Store next door too!

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

Disney Insider

Disney has a peek inside the large company through the Disney Insider set up. There are stories of guests at the parks, information on new projects coming through the company, and an e-mail newsletter. Check it out if you want to know more about the "Insider"-side of Disney!

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

On Diane Disney Miller

I was fortunate to hear her talk about Walt once or twice when at The Walt Disney Family Museum for a special presentation. It is truly a shock she's passed away. Here's to hoping we remember the work she did to commemorate her father.

Some links to other remembrances:

http://www.waltdisney.org/DianeDisneyMiller

http://blogs.disney.com/insider/articles/2013/11/19/remembering-diane-disney-miller/

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/11/remembering-diane-disney-miller/

https://d23.com/remembering-diane-disney-miller/

http://www.mouseplanet.com/10546/Remembering_Diane_Disney_Miller

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-diane-disney-miller-20131120,0,778420.story?page=1#axzz2lJQ2TBUe

http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-pictorial-tribute-to-diane-disney.html

http://briansibleysblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/diane-disney-miller.html

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/20/diane-disney-miller

And a conversation with Diane Disney Miller:

http://blogs.disney.com/insider/articles/2012/02/13/a-conversation-with-diane-disney-miller/

imaginear tony

"Saving Mr. Banks" at the Walt Disney Studios

If you've never been to the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, CA and want to see Saving Mr. Banks, there is a great opportunity to see both in one shot. As this December Disney will be showing Saving Mr. Banks on the Studio lot and giving tours of the Studios!

From Disney's Press Release:

-- Disney announced that for one week only, guests will have the opportunity to see Disney’s upcoming “Saving Mr. Banks,” starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, in a state-of-the-art movie theater on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California, and then walk in Walt Disney’s footsteps on a special tour of the famous lot. This limited engagement features one show daily at 7 p.m. from December 13th through December 19th.

Tickets are $50 each and include a reserved seat to watch “Saving Mr. Banks” in the Studio Main Theatre as well as the “Walk in Walt’s Footsteps” tour immediately following the screening, which showcases key locations that were featured in the film. On the tour guests will have photo opportunities with Mickey Mouse as well as Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep characters from “Mary Poppins” and will get a chance to see sets from the film, such as Walt Disney’s office and “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers’ home. Guests will also visit the Walt Disney Animation building, where they will get a sense of the art of animation and the history of the Walt Disney Company. Included in the tour is a visit to the Legends Plaza to see the statue of Walt Disney and view the many historical plaques, including Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews, and more. Guests will also receive a commemorative 50^th Anniversary “Mary Poppins” DVD, a value of $17.99.

To purchase tickets to this limited and exclusive engagement, call 1 (800)DISNEY6 or go to http://movies.disney.com/saving-mr-banks and click on the link on the homepage. --

If you go I hope you enjoy it.

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

Walt Disney Imagineering Headquaters

Where the magic gets designed. I was lucky enough to attend the D23 Member shopping day at Mickey's of Glendale. They don't allow pictures on site, but I got these from the street outside.

1401 Flower Street

Me and 1401 Flower

View from the corner.

It's part of Glendale's Grand Central Business Centre

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

A Few Pictures From Cars Land

 All decorated for the holiday season, which starts soon after Halloween at the Disneyland Resort.

Welcome to Cars Land

View down the main drag

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree

Cozy Cone Motel

Stanley's statute

DJ in front of Ramones

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

A Few Pictures From Magic Kingdom...

The WDW Railroad Main Street Train Station.

Cinderella's Castle.

Inside Dumbo's play area.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad from the Riverboat.

The Haunted Mansion from the Riverboat.

New Generation of Mickey Shorts

Disney is starting to make more use of the infamous Mouse. A quirky collections of modern shorts starring the Mouse, his Girl, with friends Donald, and Goofy.



Click here to watch the rest.

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

"Let It Go" From Frozen

The new music video of Demi Lovato's version of the song "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen.



Hope you enjoy it!

Olaf at a movie theater.

Happy Imaginings,

imaginear tony

The Small Worlds of Walt

Many Walt Disney fans know that he had great appreciation of miniatures. Perhaps the pinnacle of his appreciation came when Storybookland Canal Boats opened at Disneyland in 1956. Set between the Canal Boats and Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybookland is a magical place where the world of Disney stories come to life in miniature form.

All these years later, some of the original building from 1956 need restoration before they are lost forever. Buildings from the French village beneath Cinderella's Castle had been saved, but due to ravishes of natural elements they are in a sad state. Enter the Carolwood Foundation which has received these remarkable buildings and is going to preserve them for future generations with some help from Disney fans like us. They have an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to restore these buildings before they can be displayed at Walt's Barn in Griffith Park.

Please check out their website and Indiegogo campaign and help out if you can. the website has lots of wonderful information about the restoration process and what has been done so far, one of the buildings is currently on display at Walt's Barn. There are also various perk for those helping to fund this important restoration.

Yesterland

There's one site you have to visit if you love Disneyland history: Yesterland! It is full of accounts and pictures of long gone attractions that used to live and breathe in Disneyland. My own love of Disney would not have been watered and grown as it has, if not for this website where I've spent countless hours looking at pictures, reading about how Disneyland used to be, and imagining how it all was.

Thank you, Werner Weiss, Curator of Yesterland for all of the hard work you've put into Yesterland, a place many wish they could visit.