DisKingdom

Disney Parks posted a “POV” video today, showing off the news Magic of Disney Animation attraction. The area opens to the public on September 14, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but has just entered cast member previews. I appreciate the fact that I can recognize parts of the interior architecture, from my last tour of the original animation studios tour, back in 1996. This despite the extreme makeover, with fantastic new areas to explore. No sense in me saying anything more, here’s the video:

According to a sports betting news website, Jimmy Kimmel Show sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez is seemingly safe in initial weeks. A new story from actionnetwork.com pegs celebrity chef and entrepreneur Giada De Laurentiis as the most likely, with 50% implied probability of saying so long on week one.

Disney Store Asia, a website serving Malaysia and Singapore, as well as Disney Store Australia and Disney Store New Zealand will all close just before midnight local time, September 30. Websites for Disney Store in the US, Japan, UK & EU, China, Korea, Philippines, and Middle East are not impacted, according to the announcement. As DisKingdom.com reported at the time, Disney Store opened its Australian and New Zealand websites in June 2022.

Toys”R”Us Canada’s slow death continues. In the last few days, Winnipeg’s Polo Park location closed on August 31, bringing the total to four locations. Remaining stores are located in Hamilton, Sarnia, and next to Sherway Gardens in Toronto’s Etobicoke neighbourhood. The Polo Park location, at 1445 St. Matthews Avenue opened in late September 1989, with it and a location in Winnipeg’s Kildonan, at 1560 Regent Avenue West, holding their official opening on October 7.

If you’ve been to a fandom convention, and attended a panel, you’re no doubt aware that the public Q&A portion can be fit or miss. Often, attendees will ask a question an actor can’t answer, ramble without asking a question, or expound on how much an actor or their character means to them personally. Given how rare the opportunity is to be face-to-face, it’s a waste of a lovely opportunity. I attended two panels on two days at Fan Expo Canada, amid the record crowds.

My first stop in the sprawling large Fan Expo Canada every year are the show partners, in the South Hall. Each taking up a sizeable footprint, they generally feature new television series or movies, and new products. As is only natural, many of these exhibitors had Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars on display. DisKingdom has separate coverage of the Star Wars and Marvel offerings from LEGO. Hasbro’s lineup will be shared in a separate post.

This year at Fan Expo Canada, you can mount an AT-RT walker used in the Clone Wars, or make a model of Grogu to take home with you. These two experiences anchor the LEGO booth in the South Hall of the four-day event, a long with statues of popular characters, and cases featuring new releases. Amid other booths directing people online to make a purchase, kudos to LEGO for continuing to make product available on-site for those who want it.

Greg Weisman, the creator of Gargoyles, will be broadcasting tonight on eBay Live from 7 to 7:30 pm ET. The stream is part of a larger live push at Fan Expo Canada, which continues daily until Sunday, in Toronto. Other livestreams from the event include Sean Astin today at 11:30 am.

Within the last week, the Regina, Saskatchewan location of Toys “R” Us closed, and the location has been entirely removed from the retailer’s website. An Instagram comment claims that the location closed August 23, with Winnipeg, Manitoba’s final store at Polo Park set to close August 31. DisKingdom has not been able to verify either date, as Toys “R” Us Canada locations typically refers media questions to head office, and head office typically does not reply.

Today is day two of Canada’s largest pop culture convention, the thirty-year-old Fan Expo Canada. RSVLTS has brought four exclusive designs to the convention, including three with Disney connections. Yesterday’s exclusive, “Blades and Blossoms,” features Fa Mulan from Disney’s contemporary classic, Mulan (1998).