Disneyland Philippines In Clark, Pampanga

Congressman Carmelo "Tarzan" Lazatin of Pampanga has sent a letter to Walt Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger, containing his proposition of a Disneyland park in the Philippines to be built in Clark, Pampanga.

The legislature said in his letter that Clark has a 4,400 hectare main zone and 27,600-hectare subzone that will be a perfect location for the new Walt Disney adventure park. He added that "the Clark Freeport Zone can be an attractive destination for Disneyland theme park because of the tax-free privileges given to locators."

The lawmaker also cited the world-class Clark International Airport that it will make it easier for tourists "to enjoy the amenities and entertainment Disneyland is famous for without the hassles of long travels"

Lazatin continued: "Together with our population of more than 90 million Filipinos, a Disneyland theme park in the Philippines could be a major income generating site for your company."

Clark, according to Pampanga representative, has "the best hotels in its roster where visitors can enjoy the hospitality Filipinos are known for" and that the Philippines is a "favorite tourist destination in Southeast Asia, with an average arrival of four million foreign visitors a year and for 2012, the government is eyeing to hit the 5-million mark."

Disneyland theme parks are among the most visited and the best-earning parks in the world. There are so far 3 Disneyland parks in Asia located in Hong Kong; Tokyo, Japan and Shanghai, China.

Shanghai Disneyland Update : New Artwork, Latest News, and more

Here is a new Shanghaî Disneyland update and those who are desperately waiting for new SDL artwork are going to be happy today as i've found new SDL artwork for you! This artwork was shown in a special tribute to Bob Iger organized by the National Committee of U.S - China relations and the video was posted on Youtube last October. Although these images are six months old - it means that it happened after the D23 Expo where Disney didn't show a lot about the SDL project - my guess is that the artwork shown in the video presented to the committee is the good one - i mean that Shanghaî Disneyland will probably look like this.

I did my best to enhance the screen captures, but the images are still not perfectly sharp due to the low definition in the original video. That said, on the first artwork above, a new bird-eye view of the park, we can see a bit more clearly and you'll notice instantly the Skull Rock on the right, in Adventureland. It seems - but not 100% sure - that a boat is falling from it, which in this case would confirm that the Pirates of Caribbean version envisioned for HKDL by Imagineers Tim Delaney and Tom Morris would be built at SDL. On the left, the huge futuristic building in Tomorrowland is supposed to be the one for the TRON motor-bike coaster attraction that we've talked about previously, and even if Fantasyland located behind SDL castle is not sharp enough to see clearly what-is-what you'll note on the right of the castle the expected maze.

One of the most interesting thing is SDL entrance which will have a spectacular architecture and apparently the part between the entrance and SDL "central plaza" will be totally indoor. By the way, the big dome on the top of it reminds me the one on the top of Paris Grand Palais where you have also a very famous stained glass dome. it seems there is some reminiscences of art nouveau style, too, but again, it's hard to be sure because of the medium-res of the rendering.

That said, when SDL guests will exit they will arrive on SDL "central plaza" as i've said (even if it might be called differently) and in front of the castle. On this next rendering we can see on the left and the right of the indoor building exit different kind of building architectures, perhaps paying tribute to different countries architectures from all over the world - it looks like. In the garden we find back the expected Dumbo ride, Carousels and small chinese pavilions, but you'll note also that the water parts should probably allow SDL to have a fountain show in the future if they wish - at least they have more water in front of the castle than we have at DLP!

Strangely the artwork below related to the WDS Ratatouille attraction was also shown in the video. Would it mean that the Ratatouille ride will come at SDL - or may be only a "Gusteau" restaurant? We'll have to wait to know the answer!

Today was also the day for fresh - and good - news from Shanghaî Disneyland as works on the SDL site are apparently "speeding ahead". A SDL press conference apparently just happened and you'll have more details below coming from CriEnglish.com as well as a video. Also, Bob Weis, SDL Main show producer revealed on his site that Bob Iger was in China very recently - apparently in the last days - to meet chinese officials. You can see Iger on a video HERE discussing with a chinese official whom i don't know the name, but apparently an important one if i can judge by the attitude of Iger towards the official , and the reception room was pure classic chinese nomenklatura decor! As i don't understand chinese i can't tell you what they were talking about (but if one of my reader do please let us know) or why Iger was there but obviously it seems that it was for something important.

O-Kay, here are the latest news about SDL from the press conference:

"Builders will soon start constructing the infrastructure of the much-anticipated Shanghai Disney Resort, after preparations on the ground formation work were completed, attendees of a ceremony held at the site on Thursday were told.

Bill Ernest, president and managing director of Disney Parks and Resort Asia, praised the ground work by the project's Chinese partner -- Shanghai Shendi Group -- and the support from the Shanghai municipal government, at the build site hand-over event.

"We are incredibly excited to begin building the resort and to develop a world-class family vacation destination in Shanghai," he said.

Ernest promised construction of hotels will start later this year, with developers studying Chinese culture in order to add local elements to Disney's latest attraction.

"We are talking a lot about 'authentic Disney, unique Chinese.' We are really working hard to incorporate it in the overall design story," he said.

The Disney chief disclosed that Shanghai Disneyland is likely to celebrate local events like Mid-Autumn Festival. Visitors will also see food, snacks and souvenirs with local elements in the park.

Intended to open at the end of 2015, the resort will initially be comprised of Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic-Kingdom-style park as well as two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and parking and transportation hubs.

Covering an area of 1.16 square km, the theme park inside the 3.9-sq-km Shanghai Disney Resort will be the world's sixth Disney amusement park and the first on the Chinese mainland. It will also be the third of its kind in Asia, after the company's theme parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

During preparation work over the past year, the Shendi Group adopted cutting-edge vacuum preloading technology to level and consolidate the ground formation to prevent from it subsiding in the coastal site.

Howard Brown, senior vice president overseeing development of the Shanghai Disney Resort, said the soil formation project is the largest ever undertaken anywhere.

Builders are now working on road network construction, as well as the site's central lake and perimeter canal.

The ground-breaking of the Shanghai Disney Resort project started on April 8 last year. Robert Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, has promised the park's signature castle will be the biggest and tallest of all those in the world's Disney theme parks.

The resort is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Co. and Shanghai Shendi Group, with Shendi holding 57 percent of the shares and Disney the remaining 43 percent."

And, as there is nothing better than the real thing, here is the video of this SDL press conference, part in english, part in chinese. If the video don't appear below please go on the new Theme Park Guy board

Universal Studios Indoor Park in Moscow in 2018

After a Universal Studios in Japan and one in Singapore - and probably one in South Korea - it seems that a new Universal Studios park will come in Moscow with works expected to start in 2014 and an opening date scheduled (for now) in 2018. And it's not apparently a rumor as Universal has confirmed the project. Like they did in Singapore it will be probably a licensed park, i.e that Universal won't rule the park directly but that's not the problem. And because it will be built in Moscow the whole park would be an "indoor" theme park, which, considering Moscow's winter temperatures might be a good idea.

The whole project will be located in the south of Moscow and is in fact called Galactic Park. It will include much more than the Universal Studios as an aquatic park is also planned as well as an area for sports activities, shows, a musical theatre, a cinema, exhibition halls, restaurants and a shopping centre. In addition to that are also planned two hotels, a congress hall and a huge parking space. The project leaders said that the project will cost 2.8 billion US dollars with the theme park alone costing $500 million. It’s the first Universal Studios park which will be built indoor, in a closed space.

According to minyanville.com: "Experts, however, say that the real cost of construction will actually be $11 billion, as the transport infrastructure around the proposed 22 hectare site in south Moscow requires a massive upgrade. Universal doesn’t have to worry though as the universal is reportedly not putting any of its money into the project."

"The man behind the project, Gutsiriev, is a big fan of theme parks and in 2010, at the same time he launched discussions with Universal, Gutsiriev also entered talks with Disney to set up a Russian Disneyland, which ultimately did not materialize. It’s not surprising that Disney declined Gutsiriev’s offer as Moscow is a tricky market. Though it is the most populous city in Europe with 10 million people, it is also 1,500 miles away from Western Europe. Paris has a smaller population, but the Disneyland there can draw on the tens of millions more Europeans from nearby cities and countries.

And among the 10 million people, it’s likely that a majority will be unable to afford the entrance fees. After all, Russia is ranked 70th in terms of GDP per capita, according to the CIA World Factbook. Accounting for the low median spending power of Russians, Galactic Park plans to charge an admission fee of about $34, which would be the lowest in the world. Universal’s parks in Orlando and Singapore charge $85 and $54 respectively.

Universal’s entry into Moscow reflects the growing significance of Russia and other emerging markets to Hollywood’s balance sheet. In 2011, the burgeoning Russian box office grew by 20% from 2010 and topped $1 billion for the time ever."

Shanghai Disneyland Update ! New Artwork, Latest News, and more

Here is a new Shanghaî Disneyland update and those who are desperately waiting for new SDL artwork are going to be happy today as i've found new SDL artwork for you! This artwork was shown in a special tribute to Bob Iger organized by the National Committee of U.S - China relations and the video was posted on Youtube last October. Although these images are six months old - it means that it happened after the D23 Expo where Disney didn't show a lot about the SDL project - my guess is that the artwork shown in the video presented to the committee is the good one - i mean that Shanghaî Disneyland will probably look like this.

I did my best to enhance the screen captures, but the images are still not perfectly sharp due to the low definition in the original video. That said, on the first artwork above, a new bird-eye view of the park, we can see a bit more clearly and you'll notice instantly the Skull Rock on the right, in Adventureland. It seems - but not 100% sure - that a boat is falling from it, which in this case would confirm that the Pirates of Caribbean version envisioned for HKDL by Imagineers Tim Delaney and Tom Morris would be built at SDL. On the left, the huge futuristic building in Tomorrowland is supposed to be the one for the TRON motor-bike coaster attraction that we've talked about previously, and even if Fantasyland located behind SDL castle is not sharp enough to see clearly what-is-what you'll note on the right of the castle the expected maze.

One of the most interesting thing is SDL entrance which will have a spectacular architecture and apparently the part between the entrance and SDL "central plaza" will be totally indoor. By the way, the big dome on the top of it reminds me the one on the top of Paris Grand Palais where you have also a very famous stained glass dome. it seems there is some reminiscences of art nouveau style, too, but again, it's hard to be sure because of the medium-res of the rendering.

That said, when SDL guests will exit they will arrive on SDL "central plaza" as i've said (even if it might be called differently) and in front of the castle. On this next rendering we can see on the left and the right of the indoor building exit different kind of building architectures, perhaps paying tribute to different countries architectures from all over the world - it looks like. In the garden we find back the expected Dumbo ride, Carousels and small chinese pavilions, but you'll note also that the water parts should probably allow SDL to have a fountain show in the future if they wish - at least they have more water in front of the castle than we have at DLP!

Strangely the artwork below related to the WDS Ratatouille attraction was also shown in the video. Would it mean that the Ratatouille ride will come at SDL - or may be only a "Gusteau" restaurant? We'll have to wait to know the answer!

Today was also the day for fresh - and good - news from Shanghaî Disneyland as works on the SDL site are apparently "speeding ahead". A SDL press conference apparently just happened and you'll have more details below coming from CriEnglish.com as well as a video. Also, Bob Weis, SDL Main show producer revealed on his site that Bob Iger was in China very recently - apparently in the last days - to meet chinese officials. You can see Iger on a video HERE discussing with a chinese official whom i don't know the name, but apparently an important one if i can judge by the attitude of Iger towards the official , and the reception room was pure classic chinese nomenklatura decor! As i don't understand chinese i can't tell you what they were talking about (but if one of my reader do please let us know) or why Iger was there but obviously it seems that it was for something important.

O-Kay, here are the latest news about SDL from the press conference:

"Builders will soon start constructing the infrastructure of the much-anticipated Shanghai Disney Resort, after preparations on the ground formation work were completed, attendees of a ceremony held at the site on Thursday were told.

Bill Ernest, president and managing director of Disney Parks and Resort Asia, praised the ground work by the project's Chinese partner -- Shanghai Shendi Group -- and the support from the Shanghai municipal government, at the build site hand-over event.

"We are incredibly excited to begin building the resort and to develop a world-class family vacation destination in Shanghai," he said.

Ernest promised construction of hotels will start later this year, with developers studying Chinese culture in order to add local elements to Disney's latest attraction.

"We are talking a lot about 'authentic Disney, unique Chinese.' We are really working hard to incorporate it in the overall design story," he said.

The Disney chief disclosed that Shanghai Disneyland is likely to celebrate local events like Mid-Autumn Festival. Visitors will also see food, snacks and souvenirs with local elements in the park.

Intended to open at the end of 2015, the resort will initially be comprised of Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic-Kingdom-style park as well as two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and parking and transportation hubs.

Covering an area of 1.16 square km, the theme park inside the 3.9-sq-km Shanghai Disney Resort will be the world's sixth Disney amusement park and the first on the Chinese mainland. It will also be the third of its kind in Asia, after the company's theme parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

During preparation work over the past year, the Shendi Group adopted cutting-edge vacuum preloading technology to level and consolidate the ground formation to prevent from it subsiding in the coastal site.

Howard Brown, senior vice president overseeing development of the Shanghai Disney Resort, said the soil formation project is the largest ever undertaken anywhere.

Builders are now working on road network construction, as well as the site's central lake and perimeter canal.

The ground-breaking of the Shanghai Disney Resort project started on April 8 last year. Robert Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, has promised the park's signature castle will be the biggest and tallest of all those in the world's Disney theme parks.

The resort is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Co. and Shanghai Shendi Group, with Shendi holding 57 percent of the shares and Disney the remaining 43 percent."

Disneyland (California, USA)

The idea for Disneyland began the manufacture of Walter E. Disney and his brother, Roy, when carrying children - their children, Diane and Sharon, walked the road to see the carnival or circus.
They want to create a playground for the family of a permanent absence of negative elements (the carnival and circus at that time often move to move and has attractions that are not recommended to watch the children). They realized that the place for parents and children to enjoy activities together has never existed.

At the same time, many people wrote to Walt Disney and requested that the studio allowed to visit their favorite DisneyDisney studio. Walt realized that the studio is being used for work can not offer much to visitors who come. and meet with leaders

Walt's original idea was to build a place near the studio where the tourists who come to take a photo with the statue of his favorite Disney character, then the idea was developed into a small playground with a pool and a boat that can be ridden. Own garden was to be named Garden Mickey Mouse, then the idea evolved into a bigger until now known as Disneyland. At the suggestion of researchers, from Stanford Research Institute, which justifies the view of the potential development of Walt Disney Disneyland is great, Disney bought 730,000 m2 area full of orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim, Calif., south of Los Angeles. Construction began July 18, 1954 and was built in conjunction with Route 101 road construction in anticipation of the increase traffic flow to come to Disneyland, then two other roads are also added to the toll road even before Disneyland was completed. On July 18, 1955, the second day Disneyland opened, visitors have lined up since 2 am. The first of three visitor Disneyland, David MacPherson, Christine Vess and Michael Schwartner awarded lifetime passes to Disneyland all around the world.

Disneyland, U.S.A. 1957

While the rest of you battle it out with Monorail photos, I am going to do a little counter programming and show 2 bw publicity stills for the 1957 CinemaScope film, “Disneyland, U.S.A.” The first shot could almost be mistaken for a scene from “The Music Man,” however, it’s the Disneyland Band marching down Main Street. Amazing lack of crowds! Shot 2 is a nice one from Frontierland showing the Conestoga Wagon and Stagecoach. Be sure to check out the Major’s blog today (Gorillas Don’t Blog, listed to the right)—killer Monorail shot!

La Mano del Desierto, Chile

Hey everyone! I apologize for not having written a blog post in SO long, my junior year so far has been extremely crazy!

Last week was our recruitment week for Kappa Kappa Gamma then on Sunday was Bid Day! My chapter welcomed 15 beautiful new members and I’m so excited to have them!

Anywho, moving on to the main subject of this post…

Several weeks ago, I went to see “The Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and it was surprisingly very good! I was extremely impressed with all of the special effects not to mention the whole movie in general was really intense. Anyway, I’m not here to talk movie reviews but I do have a reason for bringing this up.

The place I want to adventure to today actually looks like it’s straight out of the original movie “Planet of the Apes.” I’m not kidding either, take a look!

La Mano del Desierto, meaning “Hand of the Desert,” is a giant hand merging out of the ground in the Atacama Desert in Chile. This stone hand is about 36 feet tall and has a base made of iron and cement. The Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world (bet you didn’t know that!). The sculpture was finished in 1992 by the Chilean artist Mario Irarrazabal, which was meant to symbolize the emphasis on human vulnerability and helplessness.

Irarrazabal has built other sculptures around the world featuring giant body parts but this one will certainly last a long, long time because of the lack of precipitation and deterring weather.

Although very simple, this huge sculpture draws a huge amount of attraction by tourists and is very popular in Chile. What do you think about La Mano del Desierto?

Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic

I don’t have real cable television at home so I haven’t been able to watch my favorite channel all summer: Travel Channel (I guess it’s fitting, isn’t it? Haha). Anyway, I finally got a little snippet while at the hotel in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago and something really caught my eye. Although this place isn’t a whole city or town or region, it will most definitely spark your interest, whether it be intrigued or creeped out.

The Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora in Czech Republic is a small Roman Catholic chapel. The most interesting and unique part of this chapel is that it is decorated and furnished with the skeletons of around 40,000 to 70,000 people! How freaky is that!

The exterior of the chapel looks pretty normal, like any other church that you’ll cross by. However, in front of the church, there is a mosaic of skull and crossbones that almost seems like a warning.

In the 13^th century, Henry, the abbot of Sedlec, was sent to Palestine (then called the Holy Land) by King Otakar II of Bohemia. When Henry returned, he brought back a small amount of soil from Golgotha and sprinkled it around the cemetery in front of the abbey. The word was spread about this act and therefore the cemetery became an extremely desirable site for burial all over Central Europe. After the Black Death in the 14^th century and the Hussite Wars in the 15^th, thousands were buried there and thus the cemetery had to be greatly enlarged in size.

Around 1400, a Gothic church was built in the center of the cemetery, by which many skeletons had to be unearthed for the construction. Therefore, the upper level was used as a chapel while the lower level served as an ossuary (for those of you who don’t know what an ossuary is, check out the Wikipedia page here). Since then, the chapel and ossuary has been renovated and redesigned to its current look.

In 1870, Frantisek Rint was employed by the Schwarzenburg family to create the current design that you can see today. There are four enormous bell-shaped mounds of bones that make up the four corners of the chapel and a huge chandelier of bones that contains at least one of every bone that makes up the human body. A large coat of arms of the Schwarzenburg family is also displayed as well as the signature of Rint, which was executed with bones on the wall near the entrance of the chapel.

This morbidly fascinating place has been the influence to many films and music. I’m not sure I’ll have the courage to step in to this place, but if you’re up for the adventure I’m sure it will be thrilling!

Baltistan, Pakistan

I’m finally on the verge of a new school year at Babson…4 days until I’m back to be exact! I was thinking really hard about today’s post and came across a memory of reading this book called Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin for my freshman orientation. I had dreaded reading it since I thought I was so done with summer reading when I left high school, but this book ended up being swell. (To check out this book, visit http://www.threecupsoftea.com/.)

In this nonfiction novel, Greg Mortenson describes his adventures and philanthropy in the mountains of northern Pakistan. He is attempting to climb Mountain K2 in honor of his sister Christa and on his way down after failing, he runs into a village called Korphe where the story takes place. I specifically remember his descriptions of this part of Pakistan and how heavenly everything was and thus, I decided to do today’s post on Baltistan, Pakistan.

Situated in the Karakoram Mountains just south of K2, the second highest mountain in the world (after Mount Everest), Baltistan is the main focus of Mortenson’s book. The area is often grouped together with Gilgit, a city in the area; hence the northern region can also be referred as Gilgit-Baltistan. Although very remote and little is known about this place by the rest of the world, Baltistan is no sight to be ignored.

According to the novel and internet sources, this region is not heavily populated. Villages and small towns stay in tight communities often with no small government, education, or businesses. It won’t be hard to travel to though, Skardu and Gilgit, the largest city and the region’s capital, are easily accessible.

I think pictures will do the magic in this post for you to get the full effect of Baltistan’s beauty, so here you go!

Captivating, isn't it?? I'd love to visit someday when I get the chance because I know that not only will the trip be relaxing to the eye, it will be a life-changing experience to meet the villagers. What do you think of Baltistan?