Officials say an Orange County deputy is under administrative review following reports that he gave his Taser stun gun to a Walt Disney World employee, who then shocked a co-worker.
The sheriff’s office reported Friday that Deputy Eric Jaros was working off duty Sept. 3 at one of the park’s security offices when he let another person handle the device.
Officials are still trying to figure out exactly what happened, but at some point, a 53-year-old man was hit in the chest with the stun gun. The man was not seriously injured, but paramedics had been called to the office.
No criminal charges have been filed, and the deputy remains on duty.
The TTA was closed because work is being done on Space Mountain. Space Mountain will be closed until November 22, 2009. They did freshen up the TTA cars with a fresh coat of paint. They have also installed different colored lights around the track.
Former James Bond star Timothy Dalton is to voice a character in Toy Story 3 – a hedgehog toy named Mr Pricklepants.
There will also be a Bond-style secret agent character in the upcoming Cars 2 – an Aston Martin named Finn McMissile.
The announcements were made by Disney/Pixar chief John Lasseter at a central London presentation outlining the joint studios’ forthcoming animated slate.
It was also revealed that singer Mandy Moore will voice the lead in a cartoon based on the fairy tale Rapunzel.
Clad in one of his trademark Hawaiian shirts, Lasseter told an invited audience “there should be a red carpet outside” due to the amount of premieres he had in store.
These included a first-look glimpse of the new 3D version of Toy Story 2, due in cinemas early next year ahead of Toy Story 3’s release in summer 2010.
Clips from the latter revealed familiar characters Woody the Cowboy and Buzz Lightyear coping with new owners after being mistakenly discarded.
Other newcomers to the popular franchise include Ken, a male Barbie doll voiced by Batman star Michael Keaton.
Excerpts from Toy Story 3 were also shown, alongside the first 30 minutes of Disney’s next feature animation, The Princess and the Frog.
Plans for a new feature-length Winnie the Pooh film, due in cinemas in spring 2011, were also announced.
For the rest of the story with more details and news click the picture above.
All-new episodes of Disney Pixar’s “Cars Toons,” an animated short series directed by Academy Award-winner John Lasseter with Rob Gibbs co-directing and starring Lightning McQueen’s rusty friend Mater, will debut beginning FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 on Disney Channel, Disney XD and ABC Family. They are titled “Unidentified Flying Mater,” “Monster Truck Mater,” “Heavy Metal Mater” and “Tokyo Mater.”
In “Unidentified Flying Mater,” premiering Friday, November 20 on Disney Channel, Mater meets a cute little bucktoothed UFO named Mator, takes him out for a night of fun and they quickly become best friends. But when Mator is captured by the military, Mater and Lightning McQueen come to the rescue.
“Monster Truck Mater”
Mater is a professional wrestler who works his way up the ranks from amateur to World Champion Monster Truck Wrestler, wrestling all kinds of characters along the way. When faced with his biggest opponent yet, Mater tags in his “tag team partner,” Frightening McMean.
“
Heavy Metal Mater” Mater is a rock star in a
heavy metal band. He starts out in a garage band and rises to the top with his hit song, “Dad Gum.”
Lightning McQueen joins him on stage in the middle of a huge concert and they rock into history.
“Tokyo Mater” A routine towing assignment lands Mater in Tokyo, where he is challenged to a drift-style race against a nefarious gang leader and his posse of ninjas. With the help of his friend, “Dragon”
Lightning McQueen, and some special modifications, Mater attempts to drift to victory and become “Tow-ke-O Mater, King of all Drifters.”
Disney has struck a deal with Viz Media to bring the anime series “Naruto Shippuden” to the Disney XD network beginning next month.
“Shippuden” is the sequel to the popular Japanese import and picks up with the ninja lead characters now in their teens. The original “Naruto” series has been airing on Cartoon Network since 2005.
Disney announced today that it has begun production on the first Pooh feature film in decades, due for release in spring 2011. Writers have gone back to the original AA Milne books and, specifically, five unfilmed Pooh stories to be knitted together for the new film.
John Lasseter, Disney-Pixar’s chief creative officer, said: “Winnie the Pooh has already been one of my favourite characters. Everyone always thinks Winnie the Pooh is for little kids but I screened original prints of the two Disney films and what’s interesting was how they made a theatre full of adults laugh so hysterically.”
The Disneyland Half Marathon is the Happiest Race on Earth. Thousands of runners took part in a three-day celebration of health and fitness at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
Click the picture for the jump to their facebook page and more information.
From 1984 to 1994, a perfect storm of people and circumstances changed the face of animation forever.
By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. The conditions produced a series of box office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn’t care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It’s the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits—“The Little Mermaid,†“Beauty and the Beast,†“Aladdin,†“The Lion King†and more—over a 10-year period.
You can read the Slash Film Review here or watch their video blog below from Telluride Film Festival.
Telluride Video Blog: Waking Sleeping Beauty and The Road from /Film on Vimeo.
D23 is underway but I wanted to share with you a video from Stitch Kingdom about the preparations of the D23 expo.
Brought to you by http://www.stitchkingdom.com
Join Mickey Mouse as he checks out The Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives and all sorts of things going up for the Expo like the 5’3″ Buzz Lightyear made entirely of LEGO bricks and the fully interactive Storytellers’ Sandbox from Walt Disney Imagineering. Footage courtesy of Disney.
30 in-room TV spot featuring Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World® Resort. Visit the ultimate trick-or-treat neighborhood and see Disney characters in their Halloween best. Plus, experience a special parade, spook-tacular fireworks and enjoy some of your favorite Magic Kingdom attractions. Select nights Sept. 4 – Nov. 1.
Visit Orlando Fun Tickets for Discount Disney Tickets and info.
Ive heard the same refrain for the last week or so: How will Disney ever incorporate the dark and edgy Marvel comic book characters into its family-friendly fairy tale theme parks?
While at first glance the task seems daunting, upon further reflection the opportunities appear endless. Its certainly not a question of if but rather when, where and how.
Its been fun to imagine the juxtaposition of Marvels assassins, terrorists, serial killers and vigilantes mixing on Main Street USA with Disney’s princesses, fairies and army of anthropomorphic animals. But Marvel also has a deep bench of heroes and villains in its 5,000-character catalog that would blend seamlessly into Disney’s theme parks.
