Sunday, September 20, 2009

Rumor confirmed

You can tell this isn't one of those blogs where people go for up-to-the-minute updates on fan topics. Last week (which is a horrible delay for someone who makes his living as a newsman), the president of Disney Parks confirmed several rumors, including a major princess-themed addition to Fantasyland at Walt Disney World. This is really good news for my readers who might be raising princesses-in-training. You know who you are.

At the same time, they confirmed that Star Tours II will be opening in 2011. It will include 3D technology, which I can attest that Disney rocks at. The promotion they did for the announcement naturally included a garrison from the 501st (who are becoming a bit too ubiquitous for my tastes), and an appearance from Darth Vader. The footage they showed included a first-person view of a podrace in 3D, which, I have to admit, would be incredibly awesome.

So, with a new Star Tours opening in 2011, and an expansion to Fantasyland in 2012, I think another trip to the Magic Kingdom is definitely going to fit into my travel plans within the next few years. As if it wasn't already...

Thursday, September 3, 2009

ASWC — Actual Star Wars Content

As I try to wake up this morning, I am going to do something unprecedented for a blog called "The Padawan Pause" — I am going to put in a little Star Wars content. I am also going to be brief, which is something else I'm not too good at. I hope to do more of both in the future.

So, here we go — this just in! Our friends over at The Force.Net have a post stating that Celebration V has been confirmed for 2010. Why this is good news for anyone other than Star Wars collectors is, I believe, this — George tends to have the Celebrations around times when fan interest is the highest. In the past, this has meant right before the release of all three Prequel movies.

There has been very little coming down the Star Wars pipeline lately, so what this is about — other than an opportunity for GentleGiant to sell minibusts of characters whose names you don't know — is open to question. My current theory is that it will be part of the buildup for the new live-action television series, which I have heard from other sources (which I lack the time to document now) is gearing up in Australia at the moment. This may also explain the rumors of an upcoming announcement of a StarTours refresh that a lot of Disney geeks have been speculating about lately.

More news as I hear it.