A Disney Park Classic Heading for Infinity

When it's used in-game as a vehicle, it had better play the music we're expecting it to play. I have a feeling the game designers won't let us down.

I'm a huge fan of the original Disney Infinity, but I love the game for the classic Disney elements, not the upcoming 2.0 Marvel infusion. Besides the impressive improvements to 2.0's Toybox mode, this float is the first announced new game feature to really make me smile.

Well...this and Donald Duck as a playable character.

Snow White on Ice on iTunes

For the Disney music completist, here's a fun little recording that recently resurfaced on iTunes and Amazon MP3. The title's quite a mouthful:

Tom Arnold Presents an Adaptation on Ice of of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

No, it's not the American Tom Arnold, it's the British theatrical producer Tom Arnold. The four songs on this 1960 $3.99 souvenir record are pleasant covers--exactly what you might expect to hear at an ice show. Give it a sample listen: You might like what you hear.

I'd love to see more of these unusual "Disney By-Product" recordings appear on the digital marketplace. If only Disney would open up more of their own vault...

How MagicBands Unlock Disney Infinity's Hidden Dragon

Attention Walt Disney World vacationers: Don't throw away those MagicBands! You or a game-loving friend can use them to unlock a world of Dragons hidden within Disney's popular videogame universe.

Disney Infinity remains one of the most creative and joyful games my family and I have ever played. It's made Disney's accountants happy, too.

When the game debuted, featuring such park icons as Spaceship Earth, the Matterhorn, Parking Lot Trams and flying Dumbos, many fans wondered if the actual, physical parks would ever play a role in providing exclusive content. It didn't take long to find out: WDW's MagicBands unlock Infinity's hidden world--one based around the New Fantasyland Dragon that graced Orlando skies for a press event a while back.

With no Florida trip in my immediate future, this West-Coaster faced a Dragon-less Infinity until Melissa Sue at Mouse on the Mind came to my rescue by sending me a MagicBand! It can't be said enough: Disney fans are the nicest people on the planet. Thanks, Melissa!!!!

If you're still wondering what the heck Disney Infinity actually is, please check out our review. In a nutshell, however, it's amazing. It excels at three particular things: 1) Encouraging creativity 2) Pouring on the Disney charm 3) Emptying your wallet, but giving you your money's worth -- much like a Disney vacation.

So, if you have a MagicBand, the game and a figure ready to go (today's guest star: Sorcerer Mickey!) here's how you go about finding that elusive dragon:

Classic Epcot Takes Center Stage in Park Piano Collection

Musician Tom Ameen is quietly becoming a bit of a hero to theme park fans. He has a knack for turning Disney attraction tunes into beautiful, relaxing piano performances. His album, Piano and Pixie Dust, is a must-own for any park music collector, and especially for Epcot fans.

Take a look at this track list:

Tapestry of Nations
One Little Spark
Main Street Electrical Parade
Magic Journeys
Epcot Medley: Beneath the Waterfall/The Land/Canada
Illuminations
It's a Small World
There's a Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow
Universe of Energy
Horizons
Tomorrow's Child

Now, combine that with his three earlier tracks from the EP Solo Piano Moments...

Golden Dream
Fantasmic
The Wonderful World of Color

...and you've got an amazing collection of quality piano tunes to play while relaxing, reading, working, dreaming or dining. All tracks are available to purchase online from iTunes and Amazon MP3. Highly Recommended!

Steampunk Maleficent Dragon!

Today The Disney Parks Blog unveiled what may be the best parade float in human history.

Steampunk is cool. Maleficent in dragon form is cool. Steampunk Maleficent Dragon is a whole new reason to plan a vacation to Walt Disney World. I can't stop smiling when I look at these shots. This amazing float will be part of this Spring's Festival of Fantasy parade at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

Now, if Disney's really smart, they'll make a clockwork toy out of this to sell in the parks...

Photos from Disney Parks Blog

Could Dumbo Drones Deliver Disney Doodads?

Amazon's recently-announced push to offer drone-delivered packages within the next several years had me grinning. If they can pull it off, we'll be one step closer to The Jetsons...and Tomorrowland...and hopefully not an Orwellian nightmare.

What if Disney follows their example and adapts drone technology? Can you imagine ordering your vacation package or latest Disney Store collectible online...and thirty minutes later a little Dumbo drone lands in your driveway with your Magic Bands...or Sven Reindeer mini plush?

Trumpeting "When You Wish Upon a Star"?

Seize the future, Disney! Make it so!

New Disney Collection Arrives With Great Park Tracks

That enormous 4-album Disney Music set we previewed earlier is now available for purchase and download on iTunes. The best news for park fans is the happy confirmation that all but one of Disneyland/Walt Disney World Tracks on disc 4 are available for individual purchase (Disneyland's Splash Mountain is the only album-only park track). Collectors can now pick out any tracks they need without having to pay $39.99 for a massive set of tunes they probably already own.

I'm very happy to finally have a great recording of "The Best Time of Your Life." Happy music browsing!

Huge Disney Music Collection on the Horizon

Disney Classics, a four-disc overview of the company's vast, eclectic musical landscape arrives on iTunes and CD November 12th.

Each disc features a different theme:

Disney Timeless Classics
Disney Modern Classics
Disney Television Classics
Disney Theme Park Classics

The set boasts an interesting lineup of tracks, ranging from "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" to the theme from "Wizards of Waverly Place". Some picks are obvious standards while some are surprisingly (in a good way) out of left field. In many ways, this set seems to be the spiritual successor to the Randy Thornton-produced collection, The Music of Disney: A Legacy In Song from 1992, as it aims at covering the entire spectrum of Disney's music catalog while picking no more than one song from any particular film or show...with a couple of exceptions this time around.

For die-hard Disney fans, quite a few tracks will evoke smiles. Whether never-before-released or haven't-been-available-in-ages, here are a few of the tracks for the Disneymaniacs:

The Triple R Song
Darkwing Duck Theme
Scarecrow
Minnie's Yoo Hoo (The Mouse Factory version)
Aloha, E Komo Mai (the only good thing about the Lilo and Stitch TV series)

For readers of this site, here's what you're really interested in: The theme park tracks on Disc 4

The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
Swisskapolka
Yo Ho
Splash Mountain Medley (Disneyland version)
Bear Band Serenade
Grim Grinning Ghosts
It's a Small World
There's a Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow (Rex Allen)
The Great Outdoors
Space Mountain (Dick Dale)
Soarin'
It's Tough To Be a Bug
California Screamin'
The Best Time of Your Life
Space Mountain (Michael Giacchino)
Universe of Energy
Kitchen Kabaret Medley
One Little Spark (the original)
Canada
Golden Dream
Finale (Fantasmic exit music)

I'm mainly pleased to see Dick Dale's 1996 surfer-guitar "Space Mountain" score and "The Best Time of Your Life" landing on iTunes for the first time.

Check out this link for the complete track list. Overall, it looks like a solid collection. There are too many current-era Disney Channel tunes for my tastes, but many younger fans will feel as nostalgic for those tracks as I am for "Scarecrow" and The Mouse Factory. It truly does seem to be a set aimed at the entire fan base.

There's one fly in the ointment: In preview mode, the set is listed as being an album-only collection, meaning single track purchases (except for a single new pop medley) are not offered. I certainly hope that changes by November 12th, as--like many fans--I've already bought 95% of these.

Disney Infinity: A Park Fan's Review

Disney Infinity will delight you, inspire you, challenge you and cheerfully empty your wallet. Its methods for coaxing you to buy more and more of its world could be considered ruthless, except for one important factor: Like a Disney park, it gives you more than your money's worth.

In that respect, you could easily think of Infinity, the company's toys-come-to-life-in-a-video-game juggernaut, as Disney Parks: The Home Edition. If you laid it out in theme park terms, the experience would look something like this:

The game is stuffed with elements geared specifically toward park fans, from actual park music and vintage sound effects to an impressive Matterhorn complete with a working bobsled rail slide. Epcot fans will love the inclusion of Spaceship Earth, plus the game's introductory sequence that casts you in the role of One Little Spark of inspiration.

Mrs. Incredible parks her Tron Recognizer in Tulgey Wood.

The clever design sends you into a vast, anything-goes "toybox" world where you can combine themes and characters in any way you wish, selecting from hundreds and hundreds of parts to build your own games with your own rules--anything from racetracks and shootouts to pinball machines, obstacle courses and soccer fields. You don't have many parts available at the start, however. To get them, you have to venture from the toybox "hub" into the Playset worlds, which are large, scripted film-specific adventures (Infinity's version of E-Ticket attractions).

Review: Disney's Official Park Albums Hit iTunes

Today, for the first time ever, Disney's new Official Albums for Disneyland and Walt Disney World are available for digital download on iTunes, Amazon and Disney's own online music store.

The Good News: Most of the tracks are available for individual purchase, so great new selections from both coasts such as "Radiator Springs Racers," "Test Track," "A Suitcase and a Dream" and "Be Our Guest" can be added to fans' playlists without purchasing both entire albums ($19.99 each). This is a great plus for buyers who already own most of the tracks from previous editions of the park CDs.

The Bad News (but we knew this was coming): Longer tracks (and a couple of short ones, such as Pooh) are only available if the entire album is purchased. There's no way iTunes would offer the nearly 20-minute long Fantasyland Dark Ride Suite for $1.29, after all.

Whether you call Disneyland or Walt Disney World your "home" resort, both of these albums are terrific collections of some of the best music ever produced under the Disney banner. There's actually very little duplication between the two albums. Toy Story Midway Mania, for instance, is represented by two completely different tracks on each set.

What follows is a quick overview of the collections. I'm going to assume most of you already own most of the classic tracks. If not, you can't go wrong buying both albums in their entirety.

Park Soundtracks in the Digital Age

As many of you already know, Disney recently announced an August 20th release date for new park soundtrack CDs. Disneyland and Walt Disney World will each have their own updated 2-disc collection, with several new tracks. Of course, this is terrific news, but--for me--the best thing about this announcement is....wait...okay, before we continue...

Let's pause here a second to look at the covers. Raise your hand if you think the cost-cutting "One Disney" merchandising concept needs to stop.

Okay, moving forward to the best part of this news: These titles will be available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Disney's own online digital music shop!

Fifty-Eight Years Ago...

Geeking Out Over the Saving Mr. Banks Trailer

I didn't expect to shift into Disney Geek Overload mode at the debut of the trailer for the upcoming film Saving Mr. Banks, but...wow. Let's run down the checklist of fun, here...

1: First and foremost, we've got two great performances by Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson as Walt Disney and Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers.

2. We've got Disneyland portraying itself as a young park. With attraction posters front and center.

3. We've got scenes portraying the songwriting Sherman Brothers caught in a cultural crossfire with very funny results. "Responstable is not a word!"

4. We've got a re-creation of one of Walt Disney's most playful appearances on television, when Tinkerbell sprinkled him with pixie dust in his office, levitating him off the floor--much to his annoyance.

Two Park Classics Parade Onto iTunes

In another big marching step for fans seeking digital park music, Disney's Electrical Parade and SpectroMagic have become available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon MP3.

The price points are reasonable, considering the track lengths ($2.99 for the 9:57 Electrical Parade and $3.99 for the 14:16 SpectroMagic). The sound quality is excellent on both releases.

SpectroMagic's release is a bit bittersweet, considering this week's news about the uncheerful fate of the retired parade floats, but the high quality of this recording should rekindle happy memories in fans and introduce newcomers to the timeless fun of this Walt Disney World exclusive.

The Electrical Parade's release might strike a pang of nostalgia in many Disneyland regulars who are coming to grips with the increasingly unlikely prospect of ever getting that show back to California (Elliott, we miss you!). This is the terrific Randy Thornton mix created for The Musical History of Disneyland (complete with Alice and Pete dialogue with the crowd) but with the DCA-era alternate opening and closing announcements hailing it awkwardly as "Disney's Electrical Parade." It just sounds odd not hearing "Main Street" in that fanfare.

Still, any Electrical Parade on iTunes is better than none!

I encourage all Disney park fans to purchase both of these releases: If we want more park music released digitally, we need to vote with our wallets!

As always, I'm hoping there's more to come!

For a complete list of currently available digital Disney park music, please click here.

Life Falls From Tiki Room's Tangaroa

I'm a day late for The Enchanted Tiki Room's 50th birthday, but there's no time like the present for celebrating with a tribute to a Disneyland character you don't want to tick off.

Walt Disney's willingness to stretch the boundaries of what the public would accept as popular entertainment was a lot bolder than most people assume. Exhibit A: Tangaroa, Father of All Gods and Goddesses, standing guard at the Tiki Room.

He isn't just a talking tree. He isn't just a talking tree with a unique nose. Voiced by the incomparable Thurl Ravenscroft, he's a male tree who gives birth in front of the waiting crowd!

"Oh, Mystic Powers, hear my call! From my limbs, let new life fall!"

"BOO-YAH!"

He doesn't actually say, "Boo-yah." But he has every right to. This happy blooming has been taking place many times a day, nearly every day for fifty years. That's a lot of offspring, and just one of the many ways in which Disneyland takes guests further off the beaten path of everyday expectations than most people would ever guess.

The Gullywhumper Keelboat and Fink's Place

There she is, the best-named watercraft in the history of humankind, Mike Fink's notorious Gullywhumper from Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. The days of braving Disneyland's Rivers of America aboard spunky keelboats are long past, but it's great to see this tribute to the disreputable vessel that inspired the old ride.

She's moored, of course, at the "estate" of Mike Fink himself. Fink's your one-stop frontier markeplace for furs, gunpowder and antlers. And he won't try to cheat you, no sirree!

This was once the famous "burning settler's cabin" that startled many a youngster riding the Mark Twain Riverboat beyond the protection of Fort Wilderness. There are good and bad ways to remove a controversial and costly show element, and I can't think of a better solution than the one seen here: Replace it with a classic Disney scalawag and his trusty boat!

A Pair of Rolly Crump Tikis

I enjoy the Tiki Room's outdoor pre-show nearly as much as the main event. Pele's a big attention-getter as she spouts real fire. Until recently, I hadn't realized that these wonderful tikis had been designed and sculpted by Rolly Crump, one of Disney's most imaginative and innovative artists.

Ngendei is one of my favorite characters in the entire park. Even though he sounds frazzled as he reveals the sad truth about his job, there's something incredibly jolly about the way he rocks to and fro.

Did you know Rolly Crump sculpted these tikis in the Imagineering parking lot--using a plastic cafeteria fork? Book mini-review time!

I'm certainly not the first Disney blogger to recommend this book, but--seriously--Rolly Crump's It's Kind of a Cute Story is one of the most delightful, eye-opening and entertaining behind-the-scenes books I've ever read. His blunt, good-natured, down-to-earth recollections of his work on some of Disneyland's most famous attractions make this a must-read for all Disney fans.

It's available right now on Kindle and iBooks, and it's a gem.

Main Street Magic Shop

At some point in many children's lives, the mysterious world of stage magic becomes the most fascinating subject on Earth. I wonder what percentage of today's adult park fans bought their very first magic item long ago on Main Street at Disneyland or Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

My first magic purchase was the famous "Linking Rings" illusion. Cold reality smacked me in the face when I found just how much hard work and practice most tricks require to pull off properly. I realized "gags" were easier to pull off than illusions, so I ended up gravitating toward snakes-in-a-can, ice cube bugs and Haunted Mansion Portraits.

Oh, yes, the Haunted Mansion portraits! Who else here remembers those great souvenirs from the 70's? Each had two faces--a normal daytime face and a hidden "scary" glow-in-the-dark transformation that could only be seen with the lights out! Now, that's an item in need of a comeback!

Memories HD Review: Best Free Disney App Ever

Memories HD, a free App now available for iPhone and Android, creates a brilliant win-win situation: The Disney Parks get free publicity and fans get to have a blast.

The Reluctant Dragon Hits Netflix

I have to admit I didn't see this one coming: Netflix just added The Reluctant Dragon to its growing Disney lineup. This isn't merely the short film that's appeared on home video; this is the entire, unedited (and extremely unusual) 1941 feature film starring comedian Robert Benchley with appearances by Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, Norm Ferguson, Fred Moore and Clarence Nash as themselves.

A combination of live action and animation, the film is a wild hodgepodge of fact and fantasy as it presents a very Willy Wonka-like tour of various departments of the Walt Disney Studios, climaxing with the debut of the offbeat and very funny title story. Along the road to Walt's screening room, you'll laugh, groan, and say "What the --" a lot. And --a warning here -- you'll wince at a couple of unfortunate culturally insensitive moments. Speaking for myself, there are two specific seconds of film I wouldn't mind seeing removed.

Most of the movie, however, is a fascinating trip back through time to see how Walt Disney publicly presented his studio to the American public in June of 1941. It's not one of Disney's greatest films, but it contains many terrific moments, and the Dragon short is a mini-classic.