Walt Disney Animation and Pixar Panel Amazes Including Announcements of 'Gigantic' and 'Coco'

The Walt Disney Animation and Pixar Panel was hosted by John Lasseter started off with a bang as he began firing Hawaiian shirts out of a canon into the audience. This was just the beginning as Walt Disney Animation and Pixar previewed their upcoming films.

Zootopia:

Walt Disney Animation began with their preview of their next animated film, "Zootopia." Directors Byron Howard and Richard Moore along with producer Clark Spencer arrived on stage with Ginnifer Goodwin who voices Judy Hopps. Goodwin greeted fans with saying, "I'm not a Disney fan, I'm a Disney addict." Some casting notes singer, Shakira, will voice the role of Gazelle. Other notes included about the film include that sloths will run the DMV (Department of Mammal Vehicles) in the film. "Zootopia" opens up in theaters March 4, 2016.

Gigantic:

Clearly the breaking news of this part of the presentation was Lasseter announcing that Disney would be making its own version of the fairytale classic Jack and the Beanstalk with a film called "Gigantic." The film will take place in Spain during the 'age of discovery.' The film is set to debut in theaters in 2018. At the Animation pavilion they even hinted at the film with a giant beanstalk model. 

Songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Oscar-winning writers from "Frozen," will also give a hand in writing songs for the film.

Moana:

"Moana" was the next film to be previewed. Directors John Muskar and Ron Clements as well as producer Osnat Shurer took the stage. The surprise guest however was Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson who will be lending his voice for the demigod Maui in the film. He greeted fans inside the panel by saying, "We're All Family." "Moana" will be about wayfinder in the South Pacific searching for a long-lost island. Footage was shown as well as a song from the film performed by Te Vaka as Johnson the led the audience in an ancient Samoan call. The film is due out in theaters on November 23, 2016.

Next up in the panel was the Pixar preview of the presentation. Some notes included for the first time ever two Pixar animated originals will be released this year with recently "Inside Out" being the first and "The Good Dinosaur" set to be released on Thanksgiving.

Fans were treated first with Joy, Sadness, Pete Docter, and Jonas Rivera took to the stage. They started off with a premier of their new animated short, "Riley's First Date." The short features our favorite "Inside Out" emotions as it ventures into the minds of Riley's parents when a boy shows up on their front door to see Riley. The short will be part of the bonus features when "Inside Out" is released digitally on October 13 and on Blu-Ray on November 3. 

The Good Dinosaur:

"The Good Dinosaur" is due out in theaters this Thanksgiving and Director Pete Sohn and Producer Denise Ream were there on stage previewing the film. Ream said, "In our story, nature is a character itself." Arlo, an apatosaurus, must face his fears and 3 t-rexes in the upcoming film. The three t-rexes will be voiced by AJ Buckley, Anna Paquin, and Sam Elliot. "The Good Dinosaur" premieres November 25, 2015.

Finding Dory:

Tons of news for "Finding Dory" with so much casting news. Director Andrew Stanton and Producer Lindsey Collins were welcomed to the stage by Lasseter. "On a deeper level, I felt Dory needed more development," Andrew Stanton said on what brought on the sequel. A hilarious montage of Ellen DeGeneres (Dory) complaining that their needed to be a sequel to "Finding Nemo" and to the crowds surprise Ellen shows up to the expo. In casting news, Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy will voice Dory's parents in the sequel. Ed O'Neill (Modern Family) will voice Hank, a grumpy septopus. Ty Burrell (Modern Family) will also voice a character in the movie as a beluga whale. Also joining the cast will be Kaitlin Olson. "Finding Dory" will be released in theaters in the Summer of 2016. 

Coco:

Pixar's version of the Mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) now has a name in "Coco" this was the breaking news from Pixar along with "Gigantic" from Walt Disney Animation. Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) will direct and Darla K. Anderson will produce the film. The story line will be about 12-year old Miguel (a spirited boy) growing up in rural Mexico with a big family. A clip was shown with people lighting candles in a cemetery, when suddenly dancing and singing skeletons appear to begin a party. A skeleton mask falls off of Miguel and the other skeletons gasp. No release date has been set but Pixar has slots for November 2017 and November 2018.

Toy Story 4:

It is the 20th Anniversary of "Toy Story" and what would the expo be without news about "Toy Story 4." Lasseter introduced himself as the director of the film. Galyn Susman will be the producer and she said, "It's going to take Toy Story in a very new and exciting direction." Co-writer Rashida Jones said it was a dream come true to be writing this film. It was then revealed that "Toy Story 4" will be a love story between Woody and Bo Peep. Music will be written by Randy Newman (You've Got a Friend in Me). Newman was then joined on stage by Toy Story characters as he performed the song "You've Got a Friend in Me" to end the presentation. 

OH Wait there's more, Pixar revealed it is working on sequels to these Pixar films, FINALLY:

Posters in the Pixar pavilion show Pixar is working on sequels with "Cars" and "The Incredibles" in "Cars 3" and "Incredibles 2" both coming soon.

Review of Stay at Disney's Art of Animation May 24-30, 2015

Over the last week, my family and I were in Walt Disney World where we got the chance to stay at Disney's Art of Animation for the second time since it opened just a few years ago. Previously, we had stayed in the Nemo family suites, this time we had a room in the Lion King section of the hotel. We really enjoy staying there considering all the space in the family suites even though there is only 4 of us it works out great for us. My father is handicapped so that does help the situation of all the space so here it goes for the review of our stay.

On Sunday, we arrived at Disney's Art of Animation just a little after 11 in the morning. I had previously used the online check-in, so when we got there our room was already ready despite us being there early. We had a quick lunch at the quick service restaurant Landscape of Flavors and headed to our room in building number 6 in the Lion King section, our room number was 6517. In Disney's Art of Animation family suites consist of 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchenette. Here are some views of inside the room.

It definitely felt like we were in the pride lands, the Disney Imagineers really did a great job with this resort. My parents took the main room with the walk-in shower, my sister took the murphy bed, and finally I took the couch that turns into a double-size bed. 

The stay in the room was quite wonderful except for one thing. On Thursday night while my father was taking a shower, the shower backed up and flooded the bathroom and part of the main room with water. We called the front desk where they sent two wonderful cast members from room cleaning stepped in one brought a shop vac and got rid of the water almost 2 gallons and the other discovered hair clogging the drainer. The only complaint I had was if we couldn't stay in the room there were no other rooms available that would be accessible to my dad. We only had 2 nights left so it would have been pointless to switch hotels and hard to move everything with my father. Anyways, the cast member, Richard, who had vacuumed up all the water brought a fan to dry out the rest of the dampness in the room. He said we should have no problem staying the room for the remaining two nights of our stay.

There are three pools at Disney's Art of Animation: the main pool "The Big Blue Pool" in the Nemo section, The Cozy Cone Pool in the Cars section, and the Flippin' Fins Pool in the Mermaid section. There is no pool in the Lion King section of the resort. The "Big Blue Pool" is the largest hotel pool on Walt Disney World Resort property. It contains over 308,527 gallons of water. We went to the pool twice on our stay and it is one of my favorite pools on property and ranks right up there with the pool at the Polynesian. This pool is a zero-entry pool that when you go underwater you hear music from your favorite Disney classics. Here are some views of the pools at Disney's Art of Animation:

Now to finish up the review here are some of my favorite photos from around the resort. It was a great week overall and went by so fast. Tune in the week and next week where I will review what went on in the parks during my stay. I sure hope I can get back to Disney World real soon.

Disney's Art of Animation Resort is a beautiful Value Resort at Walt Disney World with all the feels of a deluxe resort. That's it for today, back to normal tomorrow with news from around Disney.