Cory Doctorow at 11:00 am • 
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Starting May 17, Disney World is running a "D-Tech" event at Disney Hollywood Studios wherein you can get your head scanned and 3D printed on a Stormtrooper figurine, or trapped in carbonite:
The 10-minute experience uses the world’s highest-resolution, single-shot 3D face scanner created by our Imagineering scientists with Disney Research labs. That captured image is later sent to a high resolution 3D printer to create the figurine. The completed figurine will arrive within 7-8 weeks after the experience if shipping domestically (it takes a little longer if shipping internationally). Guests will also receive either a Carbon-Freeze Me light-up band or a collector button depending upon which option they choose.
The Star Wars – D-Tech Me experience is $99.95, plus shipping and applicable sales tax.
Star Wars – D-Tech Me Experience Returns to Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Starting May 17, 2013
(via CNet)
Rob Beschizza at 6:42 am • •
Gone are the wild tight curls, relaxed now into auburn waves. Her waist is cinched, her bust inflated: skinnier and sexier is the new Merida, star of Brave. And gone, in some of the new art, is that troublesome weapon: no fit thing for a Disney princess, after all. Fans and websites lamenting the changes, chief among them A Mighty Girl, have spearheaded a change.org petition seeking to convince Disney to change its mind.
The redesign of Merida in advance of her official induction to the Disney Princess collection does a tremendous disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model ... In an interview with Pixar Portal, "Brave" writer and co-director Brenda Chapman stated, "Because of marketing, little girls gravitate toward princess products, so my goal was to offer up a different kind of princess — a stronger princess that both mothers and daughters could relate to, so mothers wouldn't be pulling their hair out when their little girls were trying to dress or act like this princess. Instead they'd be like, ‘Yeah, you go girl!’”
There seems a deliciously vile bait-and-switch element to it all: design a character that will attract parents resistant to the traditional messaging, then recast it in same old mold once they've sold it to their daughters for you.
But you can see the problem in that Chapman quote, which is never really about the character. When "marketing" is the first principle of your art, even something opposing its dictates is doomed to gravitate around it in fast-decaying orbit.
Cory Doctorow at 10:58 am • •
I've just had a deep trawl through Etsy's selection of weird, handmade Haunted Mansion (and hauntedmansionesque) gewgaws and gimcracks, and I herewith present my picks of the lot:
Master Gracey Haunted Mansion Miniature Halloween Dollhouse Decoration
Read the rest
Disney has
filed for trademarks on "Dia de Los Muertos" in a wide variety of goods and services -- candy, snacks, cosmetics, toiletries, perfumes, gadgets, jewelry and jewelry boxes, and more. This would be a good time for people to tell the USPTO that there are innumerable products in those categories that already use the term, and that no exclusive association exists (or should exist) between the Disney company and the traditional Mexican holiday. Not even if the next Pixar movie is called "Dia de Los Muertos."
(
Thanks, Chryss!)
— Cory
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David Pescovitz at 12:57 pm • •
Opening at San Francisco's Walt Disney Family Museum on Thursday is "Down the Rabbit Hole," a show of Camille Rose Garcia's magnificent, dark, and dreamy paintings created for her illustrated edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Forty of Garcia's paintings will hang alongside ten Alice in Wonderland concept paintings from 1951 by legendary Disney artist Mary Blair. Garcia will be at the museum this Saturday giving a painting workshop and also an artist's talk. This major exhibit will run until November 3.
Camille Rose Garcia: Down the Rabbit Hole
Cory Doctorow at 8:06 pm • •
DeviantArt's TwinFools snapped these photos of a pair of amazing "Wreck it Ralph" cosplayers at Sakura Con 8D. They are absolutely perfect!
The Ballad of Calhoun and Felix
(via The Mary Sue)
Cory Doctorow at 10:23 am • •
After a Walt Disney World family holiday, Dr. James Martin was sent an online poll by Disney asking if he'd be interested in returning and staying in a hotel room themed after one of the park's iconic rides, including the Haunted Mansion or Pirate of the Caribbean, or a princess room. The Haunted Mansion room mockups are pretty exciting, and remind me of my lifelong ambition to open a 12-room boutique haunted hotel someday.
Come spend the night with a few of the happy haunts who play in an enchanted bedroom inspired by the Haunted Mansion. Rest atop the floating Doom Buggy beds with a couple of friendly spooks and watch glow-in-the-dark, cartoon-like footsteps mysteriously appear as the evening sets in. A sliding bookcase creates a hidden passage to the bathroom and is the perfect hiding place for a hitch-hiking ghost. Oversized furnishings with curvy lines and bright colors add to the whimsy in the room. Guests will delight in finding the hidden special effects that play up the merry, rather than scary, room ambiance.
Would you stay in a Haunted Mansion themed hotel room? [Matt Roseboom/Attractions Magazine]
(via Mouse in Mansion)
Cory Doctorow at 5:45 am • •
Here's a sweet mini-doc on the creation of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, the last ride that Walt Disney supervised to completion. Pirates, like the Haunted Mansion, was originally intended as a walk-through museum of old-timey stuff, but the advent of robotic props ("audio-animatronics," whose R&D was funded commissions for the NY World's Fair in 1964) was a breakthrough that changed the way Disney's designers thought about ride possibilities.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN THE RIDE PART1
(via Vintage Parks Disney)
Cory Doctorow at 5:08 pm • •
Oh hell YES. DeviantArtist ArtistAbe has crossed Batman with the stretching portraits at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. His substitutions are extremely well-thought-through and well-wrought. The fact that these are DC comics mixed into the Disney/Marvelverse gives it all a rogerrabbitesque mind-bend, too:
Harley Quinn and Killer Croc-
This was the last one I did because I was still unsure what I wanted to do with Harley Quinn's outfit. Sure I could have made it easier on myself just to put her in her standard costume, but I'd miss the opportunity to put her in a dress. I'm not that great at fashion, but this was one of the ideas I had for her outfit that I finally settled on. Pretty happy with how it turned out. :) I thought about giving her the umbrella for a split second, but then it's Harley! So I gave her a croquet mallet.
Croc was the obvious choice to replace the crocodile.
Joker and Scarface-
The original portrait had his pants down, so who better to pull that off than the Joker! He's doing the drinking water while still having the puppet talk trick, just fyi. I didn't intend to have at least two Batman characters in each portrait, but it kind of happened that way. I've always liked the Scarface character so I jumped at the chance to draw him in this piece...
Haunted Arkham Asylum
(via IO9)
Cory Doctorow at 1:56 pm • •
Hong Kong Disneyland is finally going to get its own Haunted Mansion. Called "Mystic Manor," it opens in mid-May, and is a radical departure from the existing Mansions and Manor -- they've gone bananas with the old electroluminscent paint, in a very good way indeed. Here's a video of one of the preview ride-throughs.
The first area is Acquisitions and Cataloging Room, where Lord Mystic's collections are temporary placed and awaited to placed on shelves. The music box Lord Mystic mentioned is now in front of guests. Albert suddenly pops out and unlocks the box. The escaping magic dust floats in the air and brings life to all artifacts.
The first show case is the Music Room, in which weird and exotic music instruments are stored. A piano is placed in the centre of the room. The magic dust gives life to instrument and music plays. The music will follow the carriage and play the background music for the journey. Albert is excited and amazed. He follows the carriage, curious to visit all rooms.
The next stop is Mediterranean Antiquities. Paintings, ceramics, and Audio-Animatronic® statues start to move under the influence of the dust. An amphora with Hercules fighting with Nemean Lion to conquer Zeus’s quest spins and rocks when the carriage passes. The above description is taken from the Greek myths, the story of Hercules. As what the story told, Hercules only battled once with a lion, which is known as the Nemean Lion.
The carriages move into to a Solarium Room. Albert tries to toy around with the Venus fly traps as he is holding a piece of banana to them, then all of a sudden a large Venus fly trap open it's jaw as it tries to bite the guests, the room then becomes pitch black.
Soon afterward, the carriage enters the Slavic-Nordic Chamber. There is a painting of a Nordic God. He comes to life and blows freezing wind towards guests. Guests are able to feel cooling effect and see the special-effect smoke in this scene.
Mystic Manor
Cory Doctorow at 8:06 am • •
Etsy seller MigotoChou created a lovely perler bead necklace-charm that depicts an 8-bit pixel-art version of the iconic Disney Haunted Mansion wallpaper motif. $25.
Disney World Haunted Mansion Wallpaper Inspired Beaded Necklace Walt Disney World Disneyland
(via A Swinging Wake)
Cory Doctorow at 7:43 pm • •
A monster photo-post from Imagineering Disney compares vintage shots of the Disney parks with contemporary shots. The only thing more remarkable than the dramatic shifts in some of these shots is the total lack of change in others. I'm particularly relieved by the restraint showed in modding the Tiki Room, which was born in a state of near-total grace and has remained thus ever since.
THEN AND NOW Photo Collection
(via The Disney Collector)
Cory Doctorow at 9:18 pm • •
California Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) has served notice on Disneyland over three attractions, which led to their shut-down yesterday. In 2006, Disney agreed to make changes to the staff areas at the park, and the OSHA notice apparently related to lack of progress on these promises.
The citations were related a 2006 agreement to make improvements and to inspections following recent accidents such as the man who was seriously injured while cleaning the outside of Space Mountain. The findings include simple failures like not having a charged fire extinguisher and more serious ones like failure to protect employees from unsafe ladders or lack of railings preventing a fall hazard. Serious fines of up to $70,000 for each infraction could be levied if Disneyland does not comply immediately with the requests (although appeal is also an option). Total penalties for just the Space Mountain citations could reach over $230,000.
These are the same sort of hazards that forced Disneyland to close Alice in Wonderland until temporary scaffolding could be erected with guardrails. The park still hasn’t made permanent fixes there.
There were a lot of violations listed in the citation, here are a few of those listed as Willful Serious:
“Disneyland Resort failed to correct the unsafe work practice of employees of both Disneyland Resort and HSG Inc. accessing upper exterior platform of a building (Space Mountain) to change lights, and perform other maintenance tasks without the protection of guardrails or personal fall protection...”
Disneyland forced to close attractions by OSHA [The Disney Blog/John Frost]
Cory Doctorow at 8:46 pm • •
I'm at LAX as I type this, heading home from a great family spring break in LA that culminated with a trip to Disneyland. While I was at the Mouse, I happened upon this killer Haunted Mansion t-shirt, which wasn't available in my size at first, but later got re-stocked. I'm wearing it now. it is awesome Alas, it appears to be a park-only item (neener-neener), though you can always try Disneyland Deliv-EARS (and yes, it glows in the dark).
PS: I also met a Haunted Mansion cast-member whose no-foolin' hometown was Purgatory.
Cory Doctorow at 11:59 am • •
Designer Kevin Kidney's posted more of the awesome Tiki Room stuff he and Jody Daily designed for the Disneyland Tiki Room 50th Anniversary event this summer (he posted his Luau Bowl earlier). This time around, it's a pair of lidded mugs paying homage to two of the idols of the tiki garden outside the Tiki Room in Disneyland: Pele and Tangaroa-Ru.
New Tiki Room Collectibles Coming to Disneyland This Summer (Part 1)
