VIDEO: Cars Land Features Talking Mater and Lightning Meet and Greets
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When Cars Land opens its garage doors to the public on June 15, 2012, a whole new land inspired by the Disney/Pixar films will immerse Guests in an environment unique to the Disney California Adventure theme park. Even the most familiar of faces will have something to talk about as the meet & greet characters of Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen, who have been a staple at the parks for years, will now communicate with guests.
They will trade off at their meet and greet spot, located at the Cozy Cone Hotel, where they will parade down Route 66 of Radiator Springs, chattering away for the first time in a Disney theme park. Voice talents Larry the Cable Guy and Keith Ferguson recorded all new dialogue for the vehicles, who will actively respond to guests based on their appearances. For example, in our video below, Mater comments on the flat ‘tires’ being worn by a passerby. As another example, guests sporting sunglasses may be complimented on their ‘tinted windshield.
Be sure to view our extensive photo gallery from Cars Land and Buena Vista Street here.
Cars Land opens at the Disneyland Resort on June 15, 2012 as part of the park’s expansion which includes Buena Vista Street. A media preview for the event is scheduled on June 14.
Video by Kelly Noble for Stitch Kingdom
Categories: California Adventure, Disneyland Resort, Theme Parks Tags: Cars Land, CarsLand, DCA, Disney California Adventure, Disneyland, Mater, Tow Mater
REPORT: Cars Land and Buena Vista Street Preview; Hundreds of Photos and Video
Just a few days before its grand opening on June 15, 2012, Cars Land and Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort opened its doors for previews for Annual Passholders, Disney D23 and Club 33 Members. Guests — along with Disney Parks brass such as Robert Iger, Tom Staggs, George Kalogridis and Mary Niven — enjoyed dining, shopping and the attractions in both areas: Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi’s Flying Tires, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and the Red Car Trolley.
New entertainment also kept guests amused as Mater and Lightning McQueen (who now ‘converse’ with guests) traded off at the Cozy Cone Hotel and Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale — all dressed in dapper 1930s garb — greeted guests in the Carthay Circle plaza area. Also making appearances throughout the day were the crowd-favorite Citizens of Buena Vista Street: Donna the Dog Lady, Calvin the Cop, Molly the Messenger and Phiphi the Photographer.
From Oswald’s to the Loz Feloz Five and Dime to Elias and Co., guests time travel along Buena Vista Street as the area ties itself to the other end of the Red Car Trolley line, the Hollywood Tower Hotel (a.k.a. the Tower of Terror) from hints of the hotel’s arrival to posters advertising who’s appearing at the Tip Top Club this week.
Below is our gallery of hundreds of photos from the preview along with video of the Cars Land attractions. Highlights include touring the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Cafe (Starbucks), Cars Land and Red Car Trolley merchandise, the attractions and their queues (including a clever Rust-eze tribute to the old Burma Shave roadside sign campaigns and a nod to Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull) and much, much more.
Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the images.
Photos and video © Jim and Kelly Noble for Stitch Kingdom. All rights reserved.
Categories: California Adventure, Disneyland Resort, Theme Parks Tags: Buena Vista Street, BVS, Cars Land, CarsLand, DCA, Disney California Adventure
Sneak Peek: ‘Phineas and Ferb’ Featuring Seth Macfarlane and Kevin Smith
Disney XD has provided us with a couple of clips from its upcoming episode of Phineas and Ferb, ‘Nerds of a Feather Parts I & II,’ which is set to premiere August 16 on the network.
In the episode, which we first told you about here, Phineas and Ferb head to the Tri-State area’s annual sci-fi/comic book convention to meet their hero, special effects guru Clive Addison. Their plan gets sidetracked when they’re swept into a duel between fantasy fans and sci-fi geeks. Meanwhile, Candace tries to keep secret that she’s a fan of Ducky Mo-Mo, another convention staple. Across the convention hall, Dr. Doofenshmirtz has taken television executive Jeff McGarland hostage so he can pitch him a show he’s developed, “Doof ‘N’ Puss.”
In this first clip, we see Dr. Doofenshmirtz pitching the show to Jeff McGarland (voiced by Seth Macfarlane) while holding him and Perry/Agent P hostage at the convention. This clip is similar to that shown during the panel at San Diego Comic-con in 2010.
[Sorry, video removed as per agreement with Disney XD]
In the following clip, Phineas and Ferb end their visit with special effects legend Clive Addison (voiced by Kevin Smith). The clip shown at the Comic-con panel was actually when the boys first encounter Addison at his autograph session.
[Sorry, video removed as per agreement with Disney XD]
Categories: Television Tags: Disney California Adventure, Disney XD, Kevin Smith, PAF, Phineas and Ferb, Seth Macfarlane
New Logo for California Adventure Theme Park Has Some Scratching Their Heads
Yesterday, Disney Parks revealed the new logo for its California Adventure theme park at the Disneyland Resort, which is famously undergoing some physical transformations as well.
Guests probably didn’t need it, but Disney helped point out a ‘name change’ as well. What once read as Disney’s (possessive), now reads as Disney. According to the comments on the blog as well as other places, guests are crying foul.
The only problem with this is that Disney Parks is simply playing by the rules of the game. Who defines the rules is somewhat unclear but what is apparent is that in recent years, particularly under the reign of Iger in which Disney is touted (to the dismay of many) as a brand, California Adventure is simply the latest to receive the non-possessive treatment, but it’s far from being the first and isn’t likely to be the last.
A prime example of this transformation can be seen in the recent re-releases of Disney classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Did Snow really experience a name change since she first debuted in 1937? If you consider the California Adventure logo to be evidence of a name change, then yes, the Snow White you know may not be the same Snow White your children know. Pictured to the right is a side-by-side comparison of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs DVD release in 2001 and the blu-ray release in 2009. Note that the movie’s title had transformed from Walt Disney’s (possessive) to Walt Disney (non-possessive). This is despite the fact that there actually is an existing specific trademark for Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
This is no happy accident. One would be hard-pressed to find a practical example today in which the Disney logo is portrayed as possessive while it was quite commonplace several years ago. Reaching out to our readers when we pondered the change before, the most likely cause for the change suggested was that it had become a trademark issue. Trademark usage guidelines are very strict and while we couldn’t explicitly find anything about possessive use in the laws we looked at, a quick google search indicates that many companies make it clear that trademarks should never be modified from their registered form. And as an example, Walt Disney has been registered, but Walt Disney’s appears to have never been registered.
Going back to the new park logo, however, there’s another difference. And that is whereas the original logo uses the federally registered trademark symbol (®), the new logo uses the more generic trademark symbol. That is because Disney’s California Adventure is in fact a registered trademark, but Disney California Adventure is not.
UPDATE: 06/01/10 - We have learned that Disney Parks has formally applied for trademarks for Disney California Adventure on May 27. But please hold on to your hats and glasses, because we also learned that on May 24, Disney applied for a trademark for Disney It’s A Small World so the trend continues.
Categories: Business, California Adventure, Disneyland Resort, Legal, Theme Parks Tags: DCA, Disney California Adventure, Legal, Trademark
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