Mickey Mouse's house and his Toon Town world will make way next year for a vastly larger Fantasyland, in the biggest-ever expansion of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, Walt Disney Co said on Saturday.
The Fantasyland expansion, whose price tag was not disclosed, will open in two stages in 2012 and 2013 and builds on the popularity of the Disney Princess and Fairies franchises, which have topped $4 billion in global retail sales.
Disney theme parks Chairman Jay Rasulo said the Fantasyland project, which breaks ground next year, will be paid for from funds designated for the theme park division's annual capital expenditures.
Plans call for four Disney Princess characters -- Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" and Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" -- to be featured in "fantasy lands" where park visitors engage in dancing, storytelling or a birthday party with costumed characters from the films.
The expansion includes two new dining spots -- Gascon's Tavern and the 552-seat Beast's Castle. A new underwater ride based on "The Little Mermaid, will be built both in the Florida Fantasyland and at the ongoing expansion of California Adventure in Disneyland.
The second phase of the Fantasyland expansion will be an oversized world based on the fairy world of Pixie Hollow from "Peter Pan," but no other details were available because the attraction was still in early development stages, Rasulo said.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Disney to expand Fantasyland at Walt Disney World |
Monday, October 26, 2009
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Disney is aiming for a fairytale start in Russia |
With a heritage in film and television that is as American as apple pie, Walt Disney is, at first glance, an unusual candidate to make a Russian language movie aimed at Russian cinema-goers.
Yet Disney releases Book of Masters , its first Russian film, this week as it ramps up its interest in one of the world's fastest growing cinema markets.
Based on a Russian fairy tale and produced in Russia using local talent, the film is the latest step in Disney's broad push into local language production.
Bob Iger, Disney's chief executive, says local production strengthens Disney's bond with international audiences, which crave stories that are relevant to them. "There is great interest and pride in local culture," he says. "We are convinced that even though technology is breaking down borders between countries and cultures, we're not seeing homogeneity of cultures."
Hollywood studios used to view the international market differently. They could generate substantial takings internationally from their US-made movies merely by adding a local language track.
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