It’s almost here! We’re just a few days away from the premiere of “Mickey and the Magical Map” in the newly refurbished Fantasyland Theatre at Disneyland park. Mickey Mouse and his friends have been rehearsing their ears off (see what I did?), and we’ve got the first photos of the star of the show along with some of his friends onstage.

 
In these first shots, Mickey Mouse and King Louie pose on the Fantasyland Theatre stage with the Mapmakers.

Here we see Mickey Mouse interacting with a giant-sized Yen Sid, thanks to the sorcerer’s magical map.

Pocahontas leads Mulan and Rapunzel, along with Flynn Rider, in one of the show’s musical numbers.

King Louie joins the Mapmakers in a new take on “I Wanna be Like You” from “The Jungle Book.”

“Mickey and the Magical Map” opens this Saturday, May 25, at Disneyland park – so join us at the Fantasyland Theatre for a journey to imagination with Mickey Mouse, King Louie and more of your Disney friends.


Find out more about “Mickey and the Magical Map” in these posts:

• King Louie Joins Rehearsal for ‘Mickey and the Magical Map’ at Disneyland Park
• First Look: Setting the Stage for ‘Mickey and the Magical Map’ at Disneyland Park
• Making Music for ‘Mickey and the Magical Map’ at Disneyland Park

Tagged: DL, DLR

Filed: Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort

I love staying at a Disney Resort hotel. I’ve stayed at nearly all of them in Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts. The first Disney hotel my family stayed at was Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in summer 1992. There is something magical about staying at a Disney Resort (I love that blast of cool air when entering a hotel lobby). My favorite place is Disney’s Polynesian Resort as I like pretending I’m on a tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific (and they have a Dole Whip machine!). New merchandise featuring a few favorite Disney Resort hotels is arriving this summer. I recently gave you a sneak preview of these new items in an article about summer merchandise. This time, I caught up with Disney Design Group artist Tim Whalen who created the artwork for this new resort logo program.

“We wanted a different point of view from the character artwork we introduced in spring 2012,” explained Tim. “Some time has passed since we had non-character resort themed merchandise for some of our most popular hotels. For this new program, I chose symbols or architectural details that represented each resort. In a way, the details are like characters that guests may immediately recognize when staying at those specific hotels.”

Those iconic details include a lighthouse representing Disney’s Old Key West Resort, a turtle for Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, a beach chair for Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and racing horses for Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Tim told me that he added a Hidden Mickey to each of the designs.

The completed artwork was then applied to a variety of new items including apparel, drinkware, magnets, key chains and window decals.

I asked Tim about his favorite design.

“I think I like the clean look of the design for Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort,” answered Tim. “I have stayed at the resort in South Carolina. It’s such a relaxing place to get away from it all.”

Which is your favorite Disney Resort to stay at during a Disney vacation?

Tagged: DLR, WDW

Filed: Disneyland Resort, Hotels & Resorts, Walt Disney World Resort

This week’s “Caption This” photo comes from inside the Enchanted Tiki Room here at Magic Kingdom Park.

Taken in 1978, this shot shows some of the chanting tikis at the attraction. The one at the top looks very mischievous. What are these guys talking about? What are they up to?

You tell us. Go ahead and “Caption This!”

Read on for more chances to “Caption This”:

• Caption This: Arriving in Style at Magic Kingdom Park
• Caption This: Dalmatian Dreams at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort at Walt Disney World Resort
• Caption This: Jungle Friends at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Tagged: MK, WDW

Filed: Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort