unKNOWN Actors: David Ogden Stiers

For our featured actor this week, we have a relatively well known actor, David Ogden Stiers.  He was born on October 31, 1942 in Peoria, Illinois and has had cameos in many different television shows throughout his career.  His most known television appearance is in the show M*A*S*H, playing Major Charles Winchester from 1977 to 1983.  His first Disney appearance was several years after this and, you will see throughout his Disney appearances what a unique voice David has, being able have many different accents and tones throughout his career.

David was used first in a Disney film in 1991.  In Beauty and the Beast, we get his first set of contrasting voices, providing the low, smooth voice of the narrator at the beginning and the high strung high pitched voice of Cogsworth.  He is the only one who has ever done the voice for Cogsworth, making voice appearances for supplemental movies including Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) and Belle’s Magical World (1998) and appearances in television shows, such as The House of Mouse (2001). He was even the voice for Cogsworth in the 2005 Playstation video game, Kingdom Hearts II.

After his first appearance, he next appeared in Pocahontas (1995), providing two opposite type of voices once again; the dark, stern voice of Governor Ratcliffe and the light, airy voice of Ratcliffe’s assistant, Wiggins.  He would voice Ratcliffe once more in 1998’s Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World.

In 1996, David leant his voice to the Archdeacon in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) had him voicing Fenton Q. Harcourt for the film.

In the American version of the 2001 Studio Ghibli Film presented by Walt Disney Studios, Spirited Away, David provided the English voice for the character Kamajii.

After doing some of these minor voices for a few years, David’s next huge character came to be: Mr. Jumba Jookiba from 2002’s Lilo and Stitch.  Jumba, like Cogsworth, would be a repeating character for David.  You can hear him voicing Jumba in the Experiment 626 video game (2002), Stitch! The Movie (2003), Lilo and Stitch II: Stitch has a Glitch (2005), the TV movie Leroy and Stitch (2006) and he was occasionally featured in Lilo and Stitch the Series (2003-2007) on television.

There are two other small movies that he has done a voice for, and those are Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004) and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005) where he voiced the Narrator for both.

David has even done a couple of Disney voices this year! For the Kingdom Hearts: Birth to Sleep video game, he provided the voices for Jumba and, surprisingly, Doc, one of the dwarfs from Snow White.

It seems as though David Ogden Stiers is hooked on Disney.  Since his first appearance, he has made dozens more and doesn’t seem to be slowing down.  I know I will look forward to hearing his voice in future Disney creations.

Fantasyland Overhaul!

I have seen way to much information on this and news like this is not what I usually put up on my blog, but this is just waaaay too huge and interesting to ignore!

It looks as though Disney is looking at doing a major overhaul of the Fantasyland area of Magic Kingdom. The supposed plans expands the size of Fantasyland to about 3 times its current size, including taking over the majority of Mickey's Toontown Fair.

The plans include rides themed around several princesses, including Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella as well as a play area and meet-and-greet associated with Pixie Hollow. New food areas are also being added; one that seems to be much talked about is a Gaston related Table Service.

Some of the current rides will be staying, including the Carousel, Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. Dumbo will also be staying, but moving from its current location behind the Carousel to around the current location of Mickey's House. Dumbo will also be getting major additions to it, including a second ride area and an interactive queue.

Several small mercantiles also look to be in the plans, one including a book store that could possibly be themed around the book seller in Beauty and the Beast.

Below is what is believed to be blueprints for the new overhaul:
I would like to state, once again, that these plans are only supposed!! There has been no official announcement about this complete overhaul!

Why the buzz about it then? Well there have been a few "unofficial" leaks about work being done in the area, including some whispers from cast members that mention construction work being done behind the scenes of the park, where cast members used to be able to go but have since been blocked off. Could this be the beginning of a new Fantasyland???

Image provided by http://www.magicchatlive.com/showthread.php?tid=680. Visit this site for further discussion on this topic along with a very interesting picture of the overlay of the park, showing an aerial view of the current areas and then the proposed blueprints on top.

Final Notice: This Has Not Been Confirmed Officially By Disney! This Is Merely A Rumor!

(Though, word around is that official word on this overhaul will be coinciding with the D23 Expo!!)