Cars Land Concept Painting

Cars Land Concept Painting by Barry Wallis

The Disney Villains Designer Collection

"Designed and crafted to capture the essence of evil at its best, the Villains Designer Collection re-imagines the stylish wickedness of classic Disney Villains." 

Introducing the Disney Villains Designer Collection dolls…

  

Maleficent                                                         Cruella de Vil

  

Evil Queen                                                     Queen of Hearts

  

Ursula                                                           Mother Gothel

There are 13,000 of each of the six dolls, and every villain doll will come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Beginning in September, the dolls will be available in select stores in North America and Europe. These original “bad girls” of Disney will also be available online on http://disneystore.com, http://disneystore.co.uk, http://disneystore.fr and http://disneystore.de. Each doll will be available for $79.50 US/$87.50 CAN/£50/€65.

An online-exclusive set including all six dolls will be available for pre-order on Monday, August 20th. This will be the only opportunity to guarantee a purchase of all six dolls. The entire set will be delivered on or shortly after Monday, October 15.

And there's more! Here is a glimpse of the complete Disney Villains Designer Collection coming soon, featuring delightfully chic beauty, apparel, and home products.

Inside the Disney Villains Designer Collection Artwork

Designer Steve Thompson is one of the main creative masterminds behind the designs of the six villains in the new Designer Collection..

Steve Thompson’s career with The Walt Disney Company began at age 19. While attending CalArts, Disney Consumer Products offered him a job as a Senior Character Artist. He jumped at the opportunity and moved up in the company, eventually spending 10 years working for Disney Feature Animation and Disney Toon Studios as a Clean-up Artist and Character Designer. He currently works as a Principal Designer for Disney Store North America, where he has been since 2005.

Steve Thompson at Disney Store's Fahion Night Out Event in 2011 with the Disney Princess Designer Collection.

This is an excerpt about the Disney Villains Designer Collection from Steve’s personal blog, where he posts awesome examples of his work and inspiration.

So excited about finally being able to talk about these! It’s the second outing for myself and fellow designer Sang Plumlee for the Disney Store’s “Designer Collection” series, whom I was lucky enough to work with on the princess designer series as well.   

Six dolls in all, the villains were a whole different challenge than the princesses. The princesses were inspired by fashion illustrations from the 50’s and 60’s. The villains were inspired by something all together different. I wanted them to be more modern. So, I looked at art, architecture, texture, theatrical costumes and of course fashion by some of today’s more avant-garde designers. These villains are “inspired” by the film characters through a designer’s eye. We didn’t want to just take a doll and put it in a fancy dress. We wanted them to look like a fashion sketch come to life. I wanted to capture the essence and attitude of each character, but represent them in an unexpected way. For example, Maleficent in the film is very angular in design. So, I keep that same feeling with the structure of her dress. Also, since in the story she becomes a dragon, so we used a leather-like fabric and the lower half of her bodice looks like scales. Even the dresses are storytelling! There will be much more info to come, but for now I hope you like our new girls.

May 12, 1932 - Goofy was First Introduced to the World

Did you know that the world was first introduced to the lovable Disney character, Goofy, on this day, May 12, back in 1932?

This silly Disney character made his film debut in the animated short, “Mickey’s Revue,” in which he played an audience member with a distinguished laugh. He later appeared in newspaper comic strips under the name “Dippy Dawg.” His name officially became “Goofy” in 1939, with the release of the film, “Goofy & Wilbur.” 

Since the opening of our first park, Disneyland park in 1955, Goofy has welcomed millions of guests in a myriad of ways.

For example, Walt Disney World Resort guests can currently enjoy Goofy-themed attractions Barnstormer Starring the Great Goofini at Magic Kingdom Park and Goofy’s Sky School at Disney California Adventure park. Families can enjoy a meet-and-greet with him, dine at Goofy’s Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel, make a sweet treat at Goofy’s Candy Company at Downtown Disney, or get a photo taken with Santa Goofy during the holidays!

Leave your “Goofiest” memory in the Comments section below, and enjoy this photo gallery of Goofy at Disney Parks!

Disney Animated Films Fun Facts

What does Scuttle call a fork in The Little Mermaid?
Scuttle also tells Ariel that a fork is used to straighten hair out- advice that makes for a hilarious scene when Ariel combs her hair using a fork while at dinner with Prince Eric! 




In the original Fantasia, what is the name of the ballerina hippo?
In the original Fantasia, the gentle ballet dancing Hyacinth Hippo is pursued by the equally graceful and nimble-footed Ben Ali Gator. 




In 101 Dalmatians, how many spots does Pongo have?
Disney animators drew Pongo with 72 spots, Perdita with 68 spots, and each of the 99 puppies with exactly 32 spots. 




hich two animators from Disney's Nine Old Men appeared in The Incredibles?
"Frank and Ollie" were the inseparable Disney duo who were part of the Nine Old Men. In the film, Frank says, "That's the way to do it. That's old school." Ollie nods agreeably, noting there's "No school like the old school."




Which Disney Princess declared, "Then maybe I don't want to be a princess anymore!"
Jasmine is the sixteen year old daughter of the wealthy Sultan of Agrabah. Unwilling to marry any of the snobbish and self-centered princes her father suggests, she runs away from home.




What does the shiny badge that the Blue Fairy gives Jiminy Crickett say on it?
The name of Disney's beloved character is a play on the exclamation "Jiminy Cricket!"– which itself was uttered in Pinocchio's immediate Disney film predecessor, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The Disney’s Horse History

The children’s area in the Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort lobby is decorated with artwork of famous Disney horse characters, which caught me off guard at first.

Sure Disney has tons of popular animal characters – mice, ducks, bears and so on – but Disney horses? 

After a bit more research, it turns out we have a whole stable of horses in the Disney family. In fact, horse characters have been really important to some of Disney’s most popular animated films. Who didn’t smile when Woody reunited with his trusty sidekick, Bullseye, in “Toy Story 2”? Other horse characters have bravely ridden into battle with princes, helped princesses flee from danger or simply hung around to provide comic relief (like the horse featured above with Goofy in the 1950 short “How to Ride A Horse”).

I just L-O-V-E Maximus, the horse from Tangled!!! How not to love him???

In honor of the resort’s special day, let’s have some fun and name as many Disney horses as we can – especially those that can be seen around the Walt Disney World Resort. See if you can add to the list below.

1. Horace Horsecollar (Disney shorts) – What may be Disney’s first horse character, Horace (pictured above/left in the 1931 short, “Barnyard Broadcast”), made his debut in the 1929 animated short, “The Plow Boy.” Guests currently can catch him “hoofing it” in the Frontierland Hoedown Happening that takes place at Magic Kingdom Park.

2. Horse Major, mice Gus and Jaq (“Cinderella”) – Cinderella’s mice friends, Gus and Jaq, are temporarily transformed into horses to pull her pumpkin coach to the ball while the existing horse, Major, is changed into the driver of the coach. Gus and Jaq currently can be spotted giving an illuminating performance in the Main Street Electrical Parade at Magic Kingdom Park.

3. Samson (“Sleeping Beauty”) – Prince Phillip’s trusty steed accompanies him on all sorts of adventures in this 1959-flick, including meeting Briar Rose in the woods and joining him in the final battle against Maleficent. Guests can spot Prince Phillip, Samson and Maleficent in a new LEGO sculpture that decorates the LEGO Imagination Center at Downtown Disney Marketplace at the Walt Disney World Resort.

4. Prince Charming Regal Carrousel (Magic Kingdom Park) – This carrousel, originally built by the Philadelphia Tobaggan Company in 1917, was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in the late 1960s. The carrousel and it’s 90 horses debuted at Magic Kingdom Park on opening day in 1971.

5. Bullseye (“Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story 3”) – Bullseye arrived on the scene in “Toy Story 2,” when Woody ventures into Al’s collectible toy showroom. Guests can play games with Bullseye (and other “Toy Story” characters) at Toy Story Mania! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or spot him in the park’s Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade.

6. Khan (“Mulan”) – This horse appeared in “Mulan,” which was the first of three feature films produced inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in the same building that currently houses The Magic of Disney Animation attraction.