Inside The Mouse Castle 09-28-2015 - Season of the Force, Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar and the Death of Duffy

By Tim Callaway

Star Wars Launch Bay

The Season of the Force is coming to Disneyland November 16th and we have all the details in this week's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle.

As excitement builds for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December and the January groundbreaking of Star Wars Land, the Star Wars Launch Bay will open in the old Innoventions building in Tomorrowland. There will be plenty to preview of the upcoming Star Wars films and eventually, we assume, the park expansion. Also in the Launch Bay will be the obligatory Star Wars character meet-and-greets. Next door, a new Space Mountain overlay, Hyperspace Mountain, will rocket guests through an X-wing Figher battle. Star Tours will get an upgrade as well, adding new show elements based on The Force Awakens.

The Force is strong with today's show. Here's what else we have:

• The Star Wars Land expansion at Disneyland means extended ride closures during construction. Everything on the Rivers of America including the Mark Twain, Columbia and Tom Sawyer will be shut down for more than a year beginning January 11, 2016. Likewise Fantasmic! and the Disneyland Railroad. While much of the Internet is speculating on what the new train and river configurations will be when the dust settles and Star Wars emerges, Anthony and I offer our short-term take on what no train, no Big Thunder Trail and no Fantasmic! will do to crowd control. We don't think it will be pretty.
• Disneyland is extending its Diamond Celebration until September 2016, which means the resort will turn 61 while it's still turning 60. 
• Websites that offer dining reservation services at Disney resorts (usually for a fee) are coming under fire by Disney. Disney Dining Buddy is the first site to suspend activity after receiving a "request" by the Mouse to stop.

Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar

• The Indiana Jones-referential Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar has opened at Walt Disney World's Disney Springs (no longer Downtown Disney). We want to go there.
• Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn in Tron: Legacy) says a Tron 3 film may not be dead on the grid after all. Maybe.
• Duffy the Disney Bear is bidding farewell to Epcot. This pleases us. Outside of Japan, he never was a thing.

Enjoy!

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The Mouse Castle Lounge 09-27-2015 - Author, Historian and Disney Animator Tom Sito, Part One

By Tim Callaway

Tom Sito

Tom Sito has devoted his life to creating animation and preserving the animation profession’s rich history. Tom was an animator and story artist at Disney during the studio’s second golden age, contributing his talents to classic films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas. In the years that followed, Tom spent time at both DreamWorks Animation and Warner Bros. His credits at those studios include The Prince of Egypt, Antz, Shrek, Osmosis Jones and The Looney Tunes Movie.

Tom served three terms as president of the Hollywood Animation Guild and his fascination with union history, particularly the 1941 Walt Disney Studios strike, resulted in Tom’s 2006 book Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson. Tom is a former vice president of ASIFA/Hollywood, the International Animated Film Society, and in 2010 he received one of the organization’s highest honors, the June Foray Award, in recognition of his significant lifetime contribution to the animation industry.

Tom is currently professor chair of the School of Animation and Digital Arts at USC and he recently appeared in the PBS American Experience documentary, Walt Disney. Tom is a consummate storyteller and in part one of our two part conversation, he shares with us some of the highlights of his animation career. Tom Sito is my guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Enjoy!

Related: The Mouse Castle Lounge 10-03-2015 - Tom Sito, Part Two, and the CHOC Walk in the Park

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Get a 360-Degree View of Jakku from 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

By Tim Callaway

Take a 360-degree tour of Jakku in this really fun Star Wars: The Force Awakens video. It's one of the first Facebook 360 videos that can now be seen on the social media site. We just like seeing all the wrecked star destroyers.

Click and drag on the video to adjust your point of view. Watching it in full-screen mode is pretty amazing.

Speed across the Jakku desert from Star Wars: The Force Awakens with this immersive 360 experience created exclusively for Facebook.

Posted by Star Wars on Wednesday, September 23, 2015