Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something... Flew?

Nope, nobody is getting married, I just found that with a few little gentle shoves the contents of the next Issue of Tales can fall into the above familiar saying:

SOMETHING OLD:
In The Kid in the Candy Store we take you back in time to the opening of the Disney/MGM Studios with Jerry Rees, the director of the film Back to Neverland that introduced guests to the process of animation with Robin Williams and Walter Kronkite.

SOMETHING NEW:

In Beyond these Castle Walls we take a first look at the expansion of Fantasyland coming to the Magic Kingdom - and you don’t get much newer than that!

SOMETHING BORROWED:

Okay, technically borrowed isn’t the right term - but cloned or duplicated certainly doesn’t apply to the ONLY attraction to have ever been a part of the opening day line-up of two parks (on two different continents no less) -  when only one version of the attraction has ever existed - The Mickey Mouse Revue.

SOMETHING... FLEW?

More than just something, many... aerial artists fly in Poetry in Motion as we take you behind-the-scenes of ZED, the resident Cirque Du Soleil show at the Tokyo Disney Resort. We take you up quite high too.

Wishing Sayonara! to The Mickey Mouse Revue in Issue 15

In With a little help* from his friends (* and a lot of hinderance from a certain Duck!) Issue 15 of Tales from the Laughing Place magazine wishes Sayonara! to the long running Mickey Mouse Revue and talks to Walt Disney Imagineering Senior Show Writer Kevin Rafferty about the original development of the attraction that will replace it at Tokyo Disneyland: Mickey’s PhilharMagic! As I couldn’t fit in all the photographs from the show further images will feature on the Tales website soon...

Tales Issue 15 Cover artwork

Here is the cover for the upcoming Issue 15 of Tales from the Laughing Place magazine - featuring Greg Pro’s bird’s - eye view illustration for the Fantasyland expansion at the Magic Kingdom.

The Tales website will be updated shortly with full details of the contents of issue 15.

I’m supposed to ask - are you afraid of heights?

That was the question asked AFTER I had taken these photographs.

I was given access to the Cirque Du Soleil theatre at the Tokyo Disney Resort so I could photograph the stage/ arena, training room and costuming for a tale about bringing the second permanent Cirque show ZED to a Disney resort.

I was taken straight up to the top of the building where my first glimpse of the arena was from the roof down amid lighting gantries, elaborate costuming hoists (there are 42 harnesses for aerial performers), rigging and control panels. The entire area was set to show conditions - that is - pitch black - as run-throughs were taking place for the “clowns”, ever popular with Cirque shows. This is some 21 meters above the stage.

As we headed back down the host paused and said - “I’m sorry - we are meant to ask - are you afraid of heights?”

It turned out that my occasional fear of heights didn’t bother me one bit, perhaps because of how amazing it felt to be viewing a Cirque stage from that perspective and seeing the complexity involved in the show.

The tale “Poetry in Motion” - Cirque Du Soleil at the Tokyo Disney Resort features in Issue 15 of Tales from the Laughing Place.