Sleeping Beauty Castle to Reawaken

Just in time for the release of Sleeping Beauty as a two-disc Platinum Edition DVD and Blu-ray(ah, that infamous Disney synergy at work), Disneyland will reopen one of its lower-key attractions, the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough.

Longtime Disneyphiles will remember this A-ticket as a self-guided walking tour up inside the park's central icon, where they could view nifty little dioramas of Barbie-esque dolls depicting scenes from the 1959 animated fairy tale (here's a video retrospective). It was definitely low-tech stuff, mostly appealing to little girls and window display designers. (I remember as a kid we would always do this one last because if we missed it, no big loss; why we waited to do the one attraction that required a lot of walking -- up flights of stairs, no less -- after a full day at the park, I don't know.)

However, for the 2008 version (planned to open sometime this fall), Imagineers are promising a little more bells and whistles, including a virtual walkthrough for park guests who aren't able to walk up all those stairs.

UPDATE: The attraction has re-opened to guests, and LaughingPlace.com has a full report, including pictures and video.

The Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition DVD and Blu-ray will be available October 7. Click hereto pre-order it from Amazon.com.

Vegas Trek to End

Star Trek: The Experience, the Federation themed attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton, will cease beaming guests aboard as of September 1.

It is curious that such a move would be made so close to the arrival of another Trek movie, but apparently the powers that be (namely: Hilton) feels that the space could be put to better (read: profitable) use. (Maybe they're Ferengis.)

At least all the Trekkies, Trekkers, et all that will be attending Creation Entertainment's Star Trek Convention in August will have a chance to stock up on Starfleet gear, Vulcan ears and Romulan Ale that will surely be at sell-out prices.

The Empire Struts Back

Live from the Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios, it's "Dancing With the Star Wars Stars"!

Stan Winston: 1946-2008

Stan Winston, the Academy Award winning special effects artist and makeup designer, died yesterday at the age of 62.

Winston won four Oscars for his work on the blockbuster hits Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. He also received Academy nominations for Heartbeeps, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

His first film was the classic TV movie Gargoyles. Other notable credits include The Wiz, The Thing, Starman, Interview with a Vampire, Galaxy Quest, Big Fish and the recent Iron Man. He also directed the creature feature Pumpkinhead and the Terminator 2 3-D movie for Universal Studios theme parks worldwide.

Funny Gill

This may be the oddest screen to stage transfer since, well, last month's announcement of an operatic Inconvenient Truth: Universal Studios Hollywood is prepping Creature from the Black Lagoon -- The Musical.

The live stage show, scheduled to open next year at the theme park in conjunction with the upcoming remake of the monster movie classic, will transform the story of the famous gill-man into a romantic musical comedy complete with "state-of-the-art stagecraft, acrobatic choreography and hilarious, toe-tapping music", plus: piped-in, Amazonian jungle odors!

Hey, why not; it worked with Little Shop of Horrors.

Film Art: Ellen Slips a Mickey

As Walt Disney World becomes the "Gayest Place on Earth" this week with this year's Gay Days, we take a look back at Ellen DeGeneres' whimsical entry in the "Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" art project from a few years back. Appropriately titled "Ellenland" (note the t-shirt logo), the piece also features Dory, Ellen's Finding Nemo character.

When You Wish Upon a Death Star

Starting tomorrow and continuing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in June, the stars of Star Wars will descend upon Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida for this year's Star Wars Weekends.

In addition to roving bands of characters from the Star Wars universe, the event will host such cast members as Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok), Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and David Prowse (Darth Vader).

Trivia games (called the "Padawan Mind Challenge") and a behind the scenes look at the upcoming Clone Wars movie, as well as the regular Jedi Training Academy and Star Tours attractions, will also be featured.

UPDATE: As expected, LaughingPlace.com has complete coverage of this year's Star Wars Weekends, including tons of pictures, videos and more.

Indiana Jones and the Imposing Chin

While it is not surprising that Disneyland would cash in on the phenomonal success of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with a slew of quickie "enhancements" to its Adventureland area, what is surprising is that they hired Bruce Campbell to play the intrepid adventurer ...? (Click on image for a closer look.)

Visit LaughingPlace.com for full coverage, including videos and pictures.

Crazy for Toy Story Mania!

Toy Story Mania!, a new interactive ride-through attraction based on the classic Toy Story movies, is gearing up to officially open in Disney parks on both coasts within the next month.

As usual, LaughingPlace.com has been on the scene at Disney's Hollywood Studios for the advance previews, and you can see their extensive video and picture coverage here ... and here and here.

Toy Story Mania! will officially open later this month at Walt Disney World, while the Disneyland version will debut next month at Disney's California Adventure.

Meet the Prince

Just in time for the debut of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian this Friday, this prince charming will begin making meet and greet appearances at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World beginning the same day.

Also, "Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian", a behind the scenes attraction based on the movie, is also planned for later this summer.

Meanwhile on the west coast, the prince is already making parade stops at Disneyland.

Oh, Hey! Simpsons!

The Simpsons Ride is now open in the former Back to the Future location at Universal Studios Florida, and LaughingPlace.com has extensive photo coverage of the new attraction. Over twenty familiar yellow faces (all with the original voices from the long-running TV show) appear in the ride, which finds Homer and his family (and you) on an out-of-control roller coaster at Krustyland, the "Krustiest Place on Earth".

The official grand opening will be later this month, as will the opening of the west coast version in Universal Studios Hollywood.

UPDATE: IOA Central has a video preview of the new ride.

It's a Disney World After All

The beloved Disney institution "it's a small world" officially opens today in Hong Kong Disneyland, with a twist. Joining the over 200 familiar Audio-Animatronic dolls are 38 Disney characters, such as Stitch, pictured above in the Hawaiian scene. Each of the new characters, who will reside in their "native lands" in the attraction (for example, Aladdin and Jasmine in the Middle Eastern section), is designed in the classic Mary Blair style to match the surrounding figures.

Word has also leaked that the Disney characters will be added to the original ride, which debuted at the New York World's Fair in 1964 before permanently relocating to Disneyland shortly afterwards. This has, of course, sent serious Disneyphiles into a tizzy all over the internet, prompting impassioned letters from both sides of the issue, first from the Blair family, and then from (quite unprecedented) Disney itself, by way of studio historian Dave Smith.

Personally, I'm not against the idea in theory (I love seeing the characters in "their countries" at Epcot), but the purist in me wishes they would leave the true "original" ride as is, and maybe just add on a "Disney character section". Or better yet, just add the characters in at the other American park, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, which pales in comparison to the original any way. However, at present, there appears to be no plans to change the ride at either its Florida location or in Paris and Tokyo.

Film Art: Fish Tales

Photographer Annie Leibovitz has released the latest stunning image from her "Disney Dream Portrait Series": Julianne Moore as Ariel, the Little Mermaid herself. Joining her in the foreground is world champion swimmer Michael Phelps.