Disney News

Have you ever dreamed of sleeping in a room themed to Mickey Mouse? Or would you like to drift off at night in beautifully adorned surroundings fit for a Disney Princess? A new option at the Disneyland® Hotel may be your dream come true.

The historic hotel now offers “Character Quarters,” 19 themed Guest rooms that connect to an adjacent standard Guest room. These special rooms – decorated either with a Mickey Mouse or Disney Princess motif – feature two twin beds along with highly-themed furniture, decor, linens, carpets, light fixtures and amenities, and even flat screen televisions. Plus, Guests should be sure to keep their eyes open for some extra special sprinkles of Disney magic!

These “Character Quarters” are available when booked with an adjoining standard Guest room — making them an excellent option for parties of five or more – especially families traveling with younger children.

Anaheim, CA – The interior of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland will open in time for the December holiday season, offering guests a “reawakened” version of its classic walkthrough presentation kissed with vibrant scenes of Aurora, her charming prince, the evil Maleficent and other characters from the beloved fairy tale film.

“It is fitting that we are announcing the return of a classic on the 53rd anniversary of Disneyland,” said Tony Baxter, Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering, who unveiled a model of the castle on July 17, the birthday of Disneyland park.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” and the excitement generated by the anniversary of the motion picture spurred interest in the return of the Disneyland attraction.

Also celebrating the milestone 50th Anniversary of “Sleeping Beauty” is Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, which will release a two-disc Platinum Blu-ray™ Hi-Def disc, making “Sleeping Beauty” the first Walt Disney animated classic title to be released in high definition, as well as on two-disc Platinum DVD. A bonus feature on the new release will be “The Original Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through Attraction With Walt Disney Imagineering,” an immersive experience recreating the original castle walkthrough.

On April 29, 1957, nearly two years before the premiere of Walt Disney’s animated feature “Sleeping Beauty,” the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough opened with an in-park ceremony featuring Walt Disney and actress Shirley Temple who, some 20 years earlier, had presented Disney with his special Academy Award – one Oscar and seven little ones – for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

The crafting of the 1957 walkthrough show fell to Walt Disney Imagineer Ken Anderson and animation art director and color stylist Eyvind Earle, credited with giving the motion picture “Sleeping Beauty” the distinctive and colorful look of storybook illustrations in medieval style. An entirely new look appeared in 1977 when the attraction’s redesign featured miniature dioramas, including moving figurines similar to the window displays in the shops on Main Street, U.S.A.

When the attraction is unveiled later this year, the “show” will differ from the dioramas of the 1980s and ‘90s, returning to the unique style of the original 1957 show and motion picture. Enhanced with new scenes and special effects magic, the re-Imagineered attraction will employ technology not available in the 1950s to represent scenes from the story of Sleeping Beauty, including the magic of good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and the more sinister spells of the evil Maleficent.

For the first time, guests who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle will be able to experience the walkthrough “virtually” in a special room on the ground floor of the Castle.

Walt Disney World® Resort has unveiled a new vision for the Downtown Disney® area, with extraordinary new shopping, dining and other experiences including a completely re-imagined Pleasure Island. Also planned are numerous enhancements to popular Downtown Disney locations, as well as additional theming and storytelling brought to life by Walt Disney Imagineers.

“We are committed to offering Guests new and exciting experiences they can only have at Walt Disney World® Resort,” said Downtown Disney Vice President Kevin Lansberry. “Our bold new vision for Downtown Disney reflects the feedback we receive from our Guests each and every day and will enable us to continue to offer the high-quality entertainment that is our hallmark.”

Over the next year, the 120-acre entertainment-shopping-dining complex will add a number of one-of-a-kind, immersive experiences for you to enjoy. Downtown Disney will even get its own iconic attraction, in the form of a giant, tethered balloon that will take Guests 300 feet into the air to view the amazing vistas of Walt Disney World Resort.

Other new experiences include:

• In fall 2008, you will enter a world of prehistoric creatures at T-Rex: A Prehistoric Family Adventure. The dinosaur-themed family eatery will serve up pizzas, pastas, seafood and more, and will feature life-size animated dinosaurs that dwell among bubbling geysers, waterfalls and a fossil dig site.
• Also this fall, a design-your-own t-shirt store from Hanes will add to the growing collection of merchandise you can personalize.
• E-brands Restaurants, an Orlando-based, multi-concept restaurant group, will premier its newest concept in spring 2009. The high-energy, casual eatery will feature authentic Central and South American cuisine, specialty drinks and live music along the waterfront.

You also will enjoy a brand new mix of shopping and dining experiences at Pleasure Island as it is transformed over the next two years.

“Our Guests tell us they want additional shopping and dining experiences at Downtown Disney,” added Lansberry. “We are currently considering a number of unique concepts from around the globe as we re-imagine Pleasure Island and look forward to sharing our progress over the coming months.”

To make way for the new offerings, all of the clubs currently on Pleasure Island will close on Sept. 27, 2008. Other locations on Pleasure Island, including Raglan Road, Fuego by Sosa Cigars, Curl by Sammy Duval, Orlando Harley-Davidson and outdoor food and beverage locations will remain open during the transition.

To complement the new experiences, many popular Downtown Disney locations will undergo enhancements.

• Beginning this summer, Portobello Yacht Club will be transformed into a Tuscan Country Trattoria, featuring family-style dishes and a re-designed interior and exterior, including additional outdoor seating.
• This fall, Goofy’s Candy Company will add a special new room that will enable families to host one-of-a-kind birthday parties.
• The Marketplace Stage will be completely replaced with a larger, covered stage this fall to welcome even more entertainment to Downtown Disney and serve as a new premier venue for Disney Magic Music Days.
• Fulton’s Crab House will update its interior fixtures and furnishings and exterior in spring 2009.
• Next year, Wolfgang Puck Café will update its interior fixtures and furnishings and enclose its patio with glass to enable guests to enjoy the outdoors year-round.

These efforts come on the heels of recent enhancements at World of Disney, Wolfgang Puck Express, Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, Earl of Sandwich and Cap’n Jack’s Restaurant.