Oz The Great and Powerful Promotional Blitz Begins

The Oz promotional hot air balloon at Disney Studios
A Disney Photo

Over the weekend, the promotional bandwagon blitz for Disney's upcoming movie Oz The Great and Powerful got ramped up on several fronts. An Oz playground opened in WDW. An Oz promotional hot air ballon made publicity appearances at both Disney Studios in Burbank and at the Disneyland Resort. An finally, once again, the Muppets have been kicked out of their own namesake theater in Disney California Adventure to make way for yet another  "4D" preview of the new Oz movie as was done for TRON: Legacy and Frankenweenie. The DCA preview gives about 8 minutes worth of clips from the movie while fans blow wind in your face along with a few lighting effects. The preview will show in the Muppet Theater until the end of March. Oz The Great and Powerful officially opens March 8 though the red carpet premiere at Disney's El Capitan Theater in Hollywood has already taken place.

Interestingly enough MousePlanet's Bryan Pugh in a weekly Disneyland Resort Update (link) felt that the preview might be a little too intense for younger children. You can usually tell this when you are watching one of these shows and children begin to scream and cry and beg parents to get them out (happens often in It's Tough To Be A Bug). I can't blame the kids for wanting to get out. The original Wizard of Oz creeped me out as a kid, gave me nightmares, and I never could enjoy what is considered a film classic. I have zero desire to see Oz The Great and Powerful and Disney only hopes they do not have another potential John Carter bomb on their hands. The other side is nothing about Oz screams Disney and its hard for me at least to pair up the two logically.

MiceChat's Dateline Disneyland Andy Castro in his weekly park update (link) shows off some great photos of the balloon's appearance at the Disneyland Resort. Be sure to check it out even if you are someone like me who hates the movie idea but loves great memorable Disneyland images.

Oz The Great and Powerful Balloon as seen from DCA's Buena Vista Street
A MiceChat Dateline Disneyland Photo (Andy Castro)