And so it begins anew...

In accordance with the government's wishes over the coronavirus, Disney has pretty much shut down all of the Disney parks, including the Disneyland Resort, until at least the end of this month. Here is the official statement on the matter:

After Disneyland's closure, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort Paris and the Disney Cruise Line all followed suit.

However, if the Tokyo resort's extended closure (it was supposed to reopen on March 15 or so, but now it's been extended to some time in April), I am doubtful of the parks' alleged reopening at the end of the month, just as I am skeptical of all other places of large gatherings (schools included) reopening in about a month or so. Some have speculated that the parks could reopen in time for summer, but I have a feeling that their closures will last for as long as the coronavirus itself lasts. They are currently trying to create a vaccine, but that could take over a year or more from now. I have a feeling that things will only return to normal, more or less, when the vaccine becomes available, however long that takes. Avengers Campus for one is supposed to open on July 18, but I feeling that the closures could extend beyond even that date.

On top of that, it is only now that China, where the virus originated, seems to be getting a handle on the problem, but it will still be a long time (say, June or so) before they can push the number of virus cases down. Meanwhile, the rest of the world's numbers are rising. Since it will have been about six or seven months since the virus started (December 2019), if we take China's timeframe into account, it could very well last into October for the rest of us before we can get the numbers down as well. Hence, my concern for the long closures of the parks.

In any case, even if the parks do reopen at the end of the month, this is unprecedented. Disneyland has never been closed this long before. In the past, there have been closures before, such as for the assassination of President Kennedy (in 1963), the invasion of a group of Vietnam War protesters who threatened to incite a riot at the park (in 1970), and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but the park has always reopened the next day. In the past, too, the park used to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, until about the 1980s or so.

If there is anything good to say about this situation, it's that the Cast Members will still be paid during this closure. I just hope that they keep doing maintenance on the parks for the duration as well. In addition, the College Program has also been suspended for the duration. I hope everyone remains safe.

The Coronavirus - please stay safe!

Sad news for Disney fans: the Coronavirus that originated in China has shut down BOTH Chinese Disney parks. Shanghai Disneyland shut down on January 25, and now Hong Kong Disneyland has followed suit today, with no definitive reopening date:

My condolences go out to those affected, in any way, shape or form, by the Coronavirus that originated in China, especially since it is spreading throughout the world, including to California, where one case has already been revealed in Orange County. Fortunately, this particular case is isolated and in good condition: https://www.ocregister.com/2020/01/25/case-of-coronavirus-confirmed-in-orange-county/. At the moment, there is no emergency, but how long that lasts is unknown. And goodness knows how many more cases will be in the States before they impact the U.S. parks as well.

In any case, stay safe and try to always wash your hands after touching surfaces that have been touched by countless other people.

Disney+ wish list: More anthology series episodes

On November 12, 2019, Disney+ launched, and for the most part, it's great.

What makes it great is that they do in fact tout several Disney movies of old (that is, movies from the days of Walt Disney himself), as well as a handful of classic Disney cartoons with Mickey, Donald and the rest. They even tout some old TV shows, including The Mickey Mouse Club (albeit the first week) and even a few episodes of the anthology series (i.e., Disneyland, Wonderful World of Color).

However, as with many things in life, there is definitely room for improvement. In this case, one thing is that there are all of two episodes of the anthology series available on Disney+ right now.

One is the 1956 Disneyland episode "The Plausible Impossible", in which Walt explains that how drawings and animation have things that are impossible in reality seem plausible, in ancient history and in a handful of classic Disney cartoons. It's a classic episode, and a good one, too. I think what makes this a classic, and the reason it is available, is how it shows an unfinished scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that was cut from the final film (where the dwarfs have dinner).

The second episode available on Disney+ is the 1966 Wonderful World of Color episode "Disneyland Around the Seasons". It actually aired on December 18, three days after Walt's passing. Here, Walt (this was filmed long beforehand, apparently) takes visitors to Disneyland circa 1966 to see several of the latest things there at that time, including It's a Small World, New Orleans Square (but without Pirates of the Caribbean, as it was still under construction at the time), and Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, followed by footage of Christmas goings-on (again, it aired in December), with Fantasy On Parade (featuring Winnie the Pooh an d his friends fresh from their first appearance in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) and the Candlelight Procession.

The Small World footage, interestingly, is derivative of an earlier episode set at that 1964 New York World's Fair where the ride originated. My guess is they used as a cost-cutting measure, but it shows that A) the sequence of events is shuffled around and B) not everything in the actual Disneyland ride is present (Walt does admit that the ride in Disneyland is longer with more to see). As in the World's Fair episode, after Latin America, it goes straight to the finale, even though in the actual Disneyland ride, there's still Oceania and the South Pacific yet to go (the rainforest scene is in South America, rather than the South Seas). My guess is that Oceania and the South Pacific were not used in the World's Fair but created especially for Disneyland (and by extension, all subsequent versions (Florida, Japan, etc.)).

Anyway, there are literally all of two episodes of the classic Walt Disney anthology series available. I would like to see on Disney+ several more episodes. In the interest of time, I would like to see the respective premiere episodes of Disneyland and The Wonderful World of Color, "The Disneyland Story" and "An Adventure In Color/Mathmagicland".

In "The Disneyland Story", premiering in October of 1954, as the title implies, viewers are treated to previews of Disneyland, both the park and the TV show (future episodes are previewed). For a sequence on Frontierland, viewers are introduced to the Davy Crockett miniseries (and by extension, the movies based thereon, which are available on Disney+) and the song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", sung by Fess Parker himself. For Fantasyland, there is footage of various Disney movies, including the Laughing Place scene from Song of the South (which is being soundly kept off of this streaming service). After going through the park, viewers are then treated to a retrospective on Mickey Mouse's career, culminating in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of Fantasia.

My guess is that this series may or may not see the light of day because of the Song of the South segment.

The second request of mine, however, is a lot more exciting and, shall we say, colorful.

The premiere episode of The Wonderful World of Color, "An Adventure In Color/Mathmagicland", premiering in September of 1961 on NBC, is a great episode, which has even been released on home video at one point:

Here, Walt shows off the wonders of color on television (after spending so many years in black-and-white on ABC) and then introduces viewers to a new character, Ludwig Von Drake, who provides an interesting lowdown on color (at one point performing "The Green with Envy Blues" and "The Spectrum Song", all about different colors). At one point also, the NBC peacock, in full cartoon form, makes an appearance:

Then the viewers are treated to beautiful scenes of nature and splashes of color and kaleidoscopic imagery that would be used to introduce the show later on, all set to a song all about color, "The Wonderful World of Color", written by Richard and Robert Sherman.

After that, the viewer is then treated to the 1959 theatrical short Donald In Mathmagicland, the first-ever theatrical short to air on television in color.

I'm told this is actually available on iTunes, so there's no reason not to have this episode on Disney+ as well. They may have to make a deal with Apple to do it, but it's not impossible. I like Ludwig Von Drake, so I really think it should happen here.

Anyway, those are just two requests for episodes of the Walt Disney anthology series to be shown on Disney+, particularly since they have all been shown on the Treasures From the Disney Vault events that TCM would show every few months.

UPDATE: According to the D23 website, on February 28, the 1959 Walt Disney Presents episode, "I Captured the King of the Leprechauns", will be available. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the then-upcoming movie Darby O'Gill and the Little People, with Walt Disney himself visiting Ireland to seek out leprechauns to star in this movie. Incidentally, the aforementioned Donald In Mathmagicland played before this movie on its release.

Does anyone have any episodes they would like to see? Post in the comments below.

Winnie the Pooh on TV then and in the parks now

Some time ago, as part of his long series of videos explaining the evolution of Disney characters in the parks, Disney Dan devoted one such video to Winnie the Pooh:

In this case, however, in addition to the Disney parks, Disney Dan also devotes part of the video to Winnie the Pooh as seen on the old Disney Channel show, Welcome To Pooh Corner:

Pooh looks relatively slimmed down as you can see. As the video also points out, this show foreshadows the usage of articulated designs in costumes, which in recent years has started to be used in the parks more frequently, particularly in stage shows, like those in front of the castle at WDW's Magic Kingdom. Pooh, like all the characters in the show, has the ability to move his eyes and his mouth through mechanical means inside the costume to allow for more interaction.

Back to the parks, the most recent Pooh costume, the one seen in the parks today, which has been seen since 1999, looks like this:

He doesn't look nearly as chubby as he once did, but he is still pretty cuddly and cute.

I kind of thought that his costume was similar, if not necessarily identical, to the costume on Pooh Corner, mainly in the build of his relatively slim physique, which admittedly is a little chubbier than on the show, as well as his larger head, but his head is nowhere near as big as it once was way back when.

Throw in a "live" version of this character, used for traveling shows, with an articulated head allowing him to blink his eyes and talk, and you have even more of a throwback to the Pooh costume of old:

I personally feel that these two Pooh costumes owe a great deal to the Winnie the Pooh that was once seen on Welcome To Pooh Corner. They may not have as small a head as I thought, as he did on Pooh Corner, but the resemblance is relatively uncanny (except for the eyes).

Goofy at the parks needs an update

At the Disney parks, Goofy has gone without a major update since 1978. He has remained largely the same for over forty years! This video shows a brief history of the Goofy costume in the parks through the years:

Anyway, the costume has largely remained the same since 1978. The only changes made to the Goofy costume since then came in 1999, to remove his eyelashes and shrink his pupils slightly. Here are some comparison shots:

Anyway, since Mickey and Donald's costumes have radically changed at least twice since then, I feel it's time for Goofy's costume to evolve as well.

The main alteration is mainly to his face, which is to look more in line with the old cartoons from whence he originated, although the rest of his body looks the same as before. Here's an image of the cartoon Goofy to give you an idea:

As you can see, the eyes are much larger than in the parks. And here's the basic design of what I was thinking (sorry for how bad it is; it was made with MS Paint):

In the meantime, after I had shared the idea on discussion boards and chat spaces of the Disney Wiki site, someone else refined the proposed look. And here's what that looks like:

Just so you know, that's not my original concept, so credit goes out to whoever it was that did think of it. I commend that person for refining the look a lot more accurately. I like that a lot better.

Anyway, it's time for the costume to evolve. I hope they do it someday.

My 2019 D23 cosplay gallery, part two

Here now is the gallery of Disney cosplays I got from my second and last day at D23. You can look at the day one gallery here. Once again, that's me as Willie the Giant. I did end up seeing a few characters from the package films. Enjoy!

 1980s Minnie and Daisy, as seen on the cover of the Disney album "Totally Minnie"

Christopher Robin? 

 This man decked out his electric cart to look like not just a pirate ship, but one decked out in lights, like that float in the Electrical Parade!

Ichabod Crane and Katrina Von Tassel, from the Sleepy Hollow scene of one package film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Carl and Ellie Fredricksen selling balloons to Snow White and Dopey 

Jose Carioca, who also originated from a package film and would appear in at least two

Aqua and Kairi from the Kingdom Hearts games

 Mick Vader?

 The Prosecutor from the "Wind In the Willows" segment of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The back half of that one electric cart-turned-light-up pirate ship float. That skull on the back actually talks, just like in the Pirates ride!

There you have it, my galleries of cosplayers from D23 2019. Once more, I will once again try to make the trip in 2021, and once again, I have an idea for who it should be. It was actually supposed to be something for this trip, but I decided on Willie the Giant instead. Incidentally, my sister was going to dress as the chief weasel, Smarty (or sometimes Wise Guy) from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but at the last second, she dressed as a character from the Haunted Mansion instead. She plans to dress as Smarty in 2021, and I will dress as what I was thinking of for a while: one of the other weasels, presumably the one in the blue and white-striped shirt and propeller cap and wields a club with a nail in it. I believe his name is Stupid. One of these times, we should try and go for all three days, not just two.

Anyway, see you next time!

My 2019 D23 cosplay gallery, part one

Once again, I attended D23 for 2019, for which I have dressed up as Willie the Giant from the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of Fun and Fancy Free (luckily, I was not the only one to dress as a character from a package film). My mother dressed as Mad Madam Mim (as she did in 2017) and my father was Merlin, and my sister was another character from the Haunted Mansion, this time the singing Brunhilde-type ghost in the graveyard scene toward the end of the ride.

Once again also, I went for only two days instead of three. Seeing people dressed up, as we were, is always a highlight for my trips to conventions, D23 or otherwise, and I have taken so many pictures of such that, once again, I could not fit them into one page. Thus, I will be putting up two posts, one for each of the two days I went. I will include myself and my father, but this is mostly for other cosplayers that I saw. This post here is for the first day. Enjoy!

The Haunted Mansion was the "full attraction" costume of this event. 

 The Walt and Mickey statue at Disneyland, known as "Partners".

 Mickey Mouse as a hipster

 Some of the dolls in Small World

 Donald, Minnie and Goofy on those glowing balls of light from the closing of Disneyland's Paint the Night parade

Sully and Boo as Jedi Knights and BB-8 as Mike Wazowski 

Tramp and Peg

A comparison shot between me and the character I'm dressed as. This man on the left is J.B. Kaufman, who wrote a book on Fun and Fancy Free, which I bought (that image of Willie is taken from the book). He also wrote other Disney books, some of which I own, including a great one on Pinocchio, which I own because Pinocchio is one of my most favorite Disney movies ever, and another on Snow White, which I don't own, but have checked out from the library.

That's my father dressed as Merlin in this ride vehicle, taken from Epcot's former Living Seas pavilion, which has since been overhauled and given a Nemo theme some time ago. 

 Peter Pan, Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse all as Boba Fett

 Sully and Boo done up in balloons!

That's the first day. Go here for day two!