Skipper

Hi there, Great pics of the gold carpet arrivals to the 50th anniversary celebrations now up at www.gettyimages.com - they are updating the section continually so there will be more pics of the event added over the next 24hrs. Lots of cool Parade of Dreams pics as well! oh yeah - you have to go to the entertainement section under editorial to find them.

I'm going at the beginning of next month and cannot wait!! - so excited to be there while the celebrations are on! And your right about the parade - It looks so amazing!, I love all the cool features on the massive floats like the real running waterfalls on the lion King Pride rock one, the built in Trampolines on the mad hatter's tea party table and the marionette bungy cords for the Pinnochio float! Just awesome!! Just brought a new 5 megapixel camera as well to capture it all, Hopefully they will make for some great galleries here.

The castle at Disneyworld had an apartment, which wouldnt have made a difference anyway because I dont think walt was alive by the time it opened I think it was going to be for the use of his family. You can now have character meals in it's dining room. On another note I think Walt was one of the first people to get chryogenically frozen- not sure if it was his whole body, maybe just his head or brain, I highly doubt though that its kept on site at disneyland!, on the other hand maybe it is there - could make a cool tommorrowland attraction one day.

They also showed some footage of him on California Screamin at DCA

Its quite good, they have the desk set up right in front of the castle, better than any webcam!!, I'm quite surprised how quiet the park looks though for an early sunday afternoon. Maybe people are holding off going until the 50th celebrations officially begin.

Well if they are going to offer test phase rides to randomly picked out park patrons lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, why not offer it in a not so random manner to the people who support and talk up the parks here and who would truly appreciate the experience - not unlike AP previews at Disney-speaking of which does Movieworld offer ride previews/special events to annual pass holders?

I think R-C.com members should be offered test phase rides anyway

Disneyland employs local character April 28, 2005 Hong Kong: When building the new entrance to Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney executives decided to shift the angle of the front gate by 12 degrees. They did so after consulting a feng shui specialist, who said the change would ensure prosperity for the park. Disney also put a bend in the walkway from the train station to the gate, to make sure the flow of positive energy, or chi, did not slip past the entrance and out to the South China Sea. Heeding the advice of a feng shui consultant is one of many steps executives have taken at the park to reflect the local culture - and make sure they do not repeat some mistakes of the past. The financial stakes are high: international growth is a critical part of Disney's expansion efforts. The World Tourism Organisation expects mainland China to become one of the world's largest tourist destinations in the next 15 years. Plans for Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney's 11th theme park and a replica of the original Disneyland, began in 1999 for the undeveloped island of Lantau, a 30-minute train ride from downtown Hong Kong. Built on Penny's Bay and flanked by mountains, the park is a venture with the Hong Kong Government and the first of the parks that Disney wants to build in China, including one in Shanghai. There are various nods to cultural differences at Hong Kong Disneyland. One of the park's main ballrooms measures 888 square metres, because eight is thought to be a number of fortune, said Wing Chao, the master planner of architecture and design at Walt Disney Imagineering. In Chinese, the number four is considered bad luck, so there are no fourth-floor buttons in the lifts at the Hollywood Hotel or other hotels in the park. Cash registers are close to corners or along walls, where such placement is believed to increase prosperity. It is easy to understand why the company would take such pains. Disneyland Paris got off to a bad start by not offering wine when it opened and offering French food when guests wanted American fare. Though its finances have been restructured it is still $US2 billion ($2.5 billion) in debt. The New York Times

For Anyone who is interested Channel Seven's morning program "Sunrise" will be broadcastling live from Disneyland Anaheim all next week to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the park - they will be showing lots of ride's archival footage and other cool stuff from inside the park.

He didnt charge ANYTHING for those tours!!! Disneyland were being asses!

I wouldnt hold my breath guys, I just found this article on the always reliable www.jimhillmedia.com . I dont think we can compete against the $$$ appeal of super cheap construction and a population of 1.1 billion people!!. Looks too easy for Disney here and the fact that Eisner & co are actually visiting the place puts India way ahead of us where nobody has heard anything apart from the fact that Disney MAY be looking at property here. In addition disney probably think that they can do a really cheap park as most people there have not travelled overseas and wont know any better when it comes to comparisons of the other parks. How do you follow up Hong Kong Disneyland? Would you believe building a new Disneyland in New Delhi? Looking for one last hurrah before he exits the Walt Disney Company in September, out-going CEO Michael Eisner is meeting with Indian officials to discuss building a new theme park in Asia. by Jim Hill -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's t-minus 10 days 'til the official kick-off of Disneyland's 50th anniversary. So you'd think that Michael Eisner -- the company's out-going CEO -- would be sticking close to home. Making sure that everything was in readiness for next week's start of that 18-month-long celebration in honor of the company's first theme park. Well, as it turns out, Eisner isn't all that interested in Disney's first theme park right now. He's more concerned with where the corporation is going to build its next theme park. Which is why -- as you're reading this -- Uncle Mike and Disney's CEO-to-be Bob Iger are in India. Oh, sure. Press reports will tell you that the real reason that Eisner & Iger made this special trip to Asia was that they wished to inspect the broadcast facilities of Disney Channel India & Toon Disney India. Two new cable channels (which only began broadcasting back on December 27th) that will help introduce India's more-than-100-million children under the age of 10 to Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the rest of the Disney gang. But ... If that's really the case ... Then why are Michael & Bob also meeting with Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam? Not to mention the country's prime minister, Manmohan Singh as well the country's chief financial minister, P. Chidambaram? Surely Eisner & Iger aren't going to waste all of that valuable face time with India's top officials by talking up "Jo Jo's Circus"? No, the smart money is on Uncle Michael trying to set up one last large business deal before he exits the Walt Disney Company in September 30th. So Eisner can then go out on top, go out in style. And what bigger (or better) business deal could there be then making preliminary arrangements to place a new Disney theme park inside a country that has a population of 1.1 billion people? Mind you, nothing's in writing yet. Nor will it be for quite some time to come. This trip is basically what's known as a "get acquainted" session. As Eisner & Iger meet with the country's top officials to show that they are sincere & serious American businessmen, eager to learn how business is actually done in India. But -- from the WDI side of things -- I can tell you that the Imagineers are absolutely itching for Michael & Bob to close this deal as quickly as possible. You see, now that the Disneyland Shanghai project is on hold 'til Hong Kong Disneyland proves itself to be a financial success, WDI has no other projects of size in the production pipeline right now. Which is why (in an effort of cut down on overhead costs) the company will begin laying off members of Imagineering's management team starting in the second week of May. However, were Eisner & Iger to at least get a handshake deal with senior Indian officials ... Well, that would allow the Imagineers to begin preliminary concept & design work on this new Asian theme park. And that would go an awfully long way toward providing some job security to those people at WDI who are just weeks away from being let go. "Soooooo .... What's the tentative timeline for the construction of Disneyland India?," you ask. Well ... According to folks that I've spoken with, Disney officials really want to fast-track this project. They'd like to have this new theme park up & running by 2009. 2010 at the absolute latest. Why For? Well, due to mounting pressure from the Hong Kong government, it could be 2012 before the Mouse is finally allowed to begin construction of the Shanghai theme park. Which is why Imagineering reps are now pinning their hopes on Eisner. Hoping against hope that Uncle Michael is actually be able to persuade those senior government officials to allow the Walt Disney Company to begin preliminary development of Disneyland India. "This deal is Eisner's baby, right?" you query. "So how's Bob feel about all this?" Well, given that Iger told investment analysts back in January that " ... international expansion is one area, particularly in emerging markets like China and India ... ” that the Walt Disney Company really wants to get serious about ... I would imagine that Bob's thrilled that Michael's pushing so hard to get this deal done so quickly. "So when can we expect this project to officially be announced?," you continue. Well, that depends on how well this trip's meetings with senior Indian officials go. If all goes according to plan, Eisner & Iger should be able to sign a letter of intent with the government of India just before Uncle Mike officially exits the Disney corporation on September 30th. Mind you, if Disney's out-going CEO and its in-coming CEO were to be quizzed by the media about this matter ... I can virtually guarantee you that Michael & Bob would deny that they spoke with any Indian officials about the Walt Disney Company possibly building another theme park in Asia. To hear Eisner & Iger tell it, this whole trip was just about getting the chance to see Disney Channel India & Toon Disney India's new broadcast facilities. Well, if you believe that ... Then I know a guy who can get you a really good deal on the Chenab Bridge. Your thoughts?

I think he's asking since when have we been sure that Superman is going to have inversions?? - Where did you hear this? My understanding of it was that it will be just a tophat and some camel backs. we are dealing with a ride of just 12 million AUD here and now with the dark ride aspect it will be very interesting to see what kind of attraction we get for that much - I'm hoping that im going to be pleasantly surprised.

http://www.rcdb.com/id2953.htm - There are some Construction pics of The Demon going into its new home.

Check out Xcelerator at Knotts berry farm - it's going to be the same style - an intamin rocket coaster with tophat but on a smaller scale http://www.rcdb.com/qs.htm?quicksearch=xcelerator

I dont think it will be too bad in terms of being "short"- it starts of with some dark ride scenes before the launch which is much more than you get with any of the other Intimin rocket's around the world. Is there any Construction happening yet? .

Islands Of adventure Orlando .

Wow - thanks for posting that!!

It doesnt bother me how long it takes - because you know disney will give us something amazing - as long as they dont follow the trend of Hong Kong Disneyland with starting the park with only 1 E ticket attraction, people here are way too familiar with the disney parks overseas and they will be pissed off to turn up to find that all the "good rides" are missing! It will be amazing just to know one is getting built here and we will have an endless amout of stuff to speculate about on the boards while it being constructed.

How Boring - sure it will be great for the kiddies though Movieworld Here I come!!!

it was some time ago that it was announced that construction was about to start - how come we dont know anything yet - Superman was announced what feels like an eternity ago and they are still in pre construction mode. C'mon Dreamworld -get your **** together!!!!

There are heaps of pic and pricing info on the coaster dynamix site www.coasterdynamix.com there are some really cool user submitted pics of layouts that users have designed themselves on there as well

Lucky you - I want to go to Disneyland Paris soooo bad! I would be waiting till the 16th though so I could go to this!!!.... http://www.tiestoatdisney.com/ Something I'm sure the DJ's on the board would appreciate! Very cool!!

Yes Totally agree on the B&M Dive coaster!! I had posted this in another thread but seeing that from the highway you would have no other option to make that turn off into dreamworld! I know B&M signed a contract with busch gardens FL. that they would not build another Dive coaster within the united states for 3 years but that doesnt stop them from building something to the likes of Sheikra in good ol' Australia!! Plus it is totally different from any other attraction and would re-affirm dreamworld as the place to go for cutting edge thrills!! a Giga coaster would be awesome as well!! By the way - has anyone seen the latest Sheikra construction pics - there is a link to them at Screamscape.com - That is one coaster I wanna ride!!!

Just wanted to find out if Anyone here has brought one and how much did it cost for shipping to Australia? They look like alot of fun to play with and I'm giving some serious consideration to placing an order for the dragon - anyones reviews or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I'd be curious to know if anyone who has got one has tried to re-create Lethal Weapon?? Thanks www.coasterdynamix.com