Enchanted Forest for Sale

The Enchanted Forest attraction in British Columbia is officially looking for a new caretaker.

From The Huffington Post:

That magical place in southeastern B.C. known as The Enchanted Forest is up for sale. 

The 38 acres of fairy tales come to life — the Three Little Pigs' houses, a castle with a dungeon (and prisoners!), and the shoe where the old woman lived with so many children she didn't know what to do — has been listed for $2.7 million. 

The "turnkey business," as it's advertised, has grown through the years to include B.C.'s tallest treehouse as well as the SkyTrek Adventure Park, which boasts zip lines, climbing walls, and bridges suspended in the wilderness. 

...It attracts 85,000 visitors each year.

Can you imagine owning - and caring for - this place?

I really hope they find a buyer who loves it and wants to continue the magic for generations to come.

(Anyone have $3M spare I can, ahem, "borrow"?)

Event: Monash Fairy Tale Salon to Explore Fairy Tale Migrations

On Monday, June 9th, Belinda Calderone, chief organizer of the Monash Fairy Tale Salon (an academic-based fairy tale salon in Australia, inspired by the old French gatherings such as were frequented by fairy tale luminaries Charles Perrault & Countess d'Aulnoy), will be speaking at the Inaugural AFTS Conference, on the subject of how fairy tales have migrated across lands, with particular attention to those that made the journey to Australia.

The talk, titled Strange Lands: The transportation of European Fairy Tales in to the Australian Landscape, will essentially be a condensed consideration of the subject that will be explored in a special half-day event, later in June with the rest of the Monash Fairy Tale Salon.

When: Sunday June 29, 2014
Where: Caulfield, VIC, Australia

Since the poster is a little small, I'll transcribe the print for you here:

As part of the Glen Elra Storytelling Festival, the Monash Fairy Tale Salon, a staff and postgraduate reading group at Monash University, will be hosting a day exploring fairy tale migrations, with a special focus on Australian tales. The four-hour event will include academic papers as well as fairy tale readings and performances. For the bold at heart, come dressed as your favorite fairy tale character and be in the running to win a prize! This free event is open to anyone who has a love of fairy tales.

Registration for Transporting Tales, is now open. To register, just RSVP to arts-fairytale AT monash DOT edu and they will put you on the list.

In case you missed it, the event is open to ANYONE who loves fairy tales and is FREE! (It would also help if you lived in Victoria, Australia.)

I sincerely wish I could be there and will watch for any reports of the event that I can share with you.

(I need to find an LA-based fairy tale salon stat!)

The 'Frozen' Hotel You Can Stay In + 'Frozen' Released On Blu-ray & DVD this Week (But No 3D Yet)

I've been meaning for a while now to do a post on the "sudden increasing popularity" of ice castles and particularly of the Hotel de Glace (aka The Ice Hotel) in Quebec City* that created a special Frozen themed suite. This was THE 'livable' structure created from snow and ice that the Frozen team visited but didn't stay the night in as originally planned. (??!! Wha..? Never mind..)

Although I don't have time to write the article I originally planned...

... there's a whole company who, though they've been building ice castles for a while, has now developed a technique very similar to what Elsa does in Frozen, albeit it at a much slower rate, but it can accurately now be described as ice castle growing....

“We’re technically farmers,” Livingood said. “We grow icicles, we handpick them, harvest them, take them out and hand place them around sprinklers, and then we turn on those sprinklers and they grow more.” ...

... it turns out that the Directors of Frozen, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, recently returned to The Ice Hotel to visit the amazing Frozen themed work done there (and to promote the DVD/Bu-ray release this week - make sure you know what the options are before you buy - not all deals out there are the same content-wise and I haven't seen it in 3D anywhere, so you know that's still coming).

It's this real life application (done in cooperation with Disney but by the local specialists) that I find interesting in terms of people exploring the idea of the story specifically because it's due to this manifestation (The Frozen Suite, The Ice Hotel itself and similar projects) that people have gone back to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale and thought more about the Snow Queen character, her castle and how Kai might have fared there.

If Disney are going to insist on referring to Hans Christian Andersen's tale as the inspiration in the bold print below-title blurb, it can happen that the marketing will go both ways: the familiarity of The Snow Queen title (kept intact in many foreign interpretations, rather than colloquial-izing it to Frozen like in English) and name-dropping Hans Christian Andersen to make it 'sound' like a real fairy tale to draw in audiences, sometimes means that people will go back to find out what started all the fuss. In this case, the HCA tale, printed variations, theatrical adaptations and art is picking up in popularity again (something that didn't seem to happen anywhere near as much with Tangled and Rapunzel).

Needless to say (but I will anyway) we LIKE this development! *thumbs up*

Here are the two interviews with the movie's directors worth watching for glimpses of the Frozen Suite and a little reality check on the cold factor (yes they're different, despite the similar looking screens here):

For all the work and paper/computer research done, nothing quite compares to experiencing it person - and they STILL didn't stay the night! *eyeroll*

Since researching earlier in the year and seeing the creativity (and engineering expertise) used in snowy areas in Winter every year, I am incomplete awe of what people can create out of snow and ice. We all know about ice sculptures (and how they inconveniently melt at weddings in movies) but there are festivals of ice carving, snow structure building and much, much more that are held and celebrated every year in the coldest countries in the world and many of these things are worthy of any magical Snow Queen. The only difference a real Snow Queen might make is a way to stop them melting in fluctuating weather. It's when you discover these things that you begin to understand more about where those original stories came from, what their real core is, and how much of a triumph of the human heart those tales are. It's interesting watching the filmmakers, who did their best to translate some of those ideas to animation and film (and succeeded) being faced with that large, cold reality of their own imaginations.

That's a story right there. :)

What do you think? Would you stay the night?

*There are Ice Hotels in other chilly places in the world, including Sweden and Switzerland.

Autumn at Oz

The Land of Oz exists!

But it's abandoned.

Except for one day every year... on October 5.

I only found out this theme park existed this last year (past tense, as it's no longer active and open to the public) and discovered only this week that there's an annual "reunion/get together" for past employees and guests! That reunion day is next weekend and is called Autumn at Oz. 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of this special - almost secret - event.

This weekend, October 5th and 6th, the park is open for the 20th anniversary of "Autumn at Oz". It's only open once a year for a reunion of former employees and past guests. In 2009, over 8,000 people attended. Every year more characters return and more vendors show up. All proceeds go to upkeep and preservation. So, if you're in the area, drop by for a stroll through the poppy field. [Emerald Mtn]

The park is currently used as a setting for (lucky people's) weddings, parties and photoshoots and - get this - vacations! (Yes you can stay in Dorothy's house and walk the yellow brick road after breakfast!)
 
I'm sure it's just a coincidence I can suddenly think of some very important reasons to visit North Carolina...

(Don't you love this house? The interior is all at a slant as well, complete with furniture and curtains stuck at permanently odd angles and a certain set of striped stockinged legs poking out somewhere close by.)

Most people, however, have forgotten this even exists, possibly due to it's unfortunate history and timing of events when it was getting going.

The Land of Oz theme park was open from 1970 to 1980 and it's opening day saw over 20,000 visitors. Guests enjoyed strolling down the Yellow Brick Road, and hanging out with the Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Wicked Witch of the West. Afterwards, there was a show at the Emerald City, complete with a balloon ride, which was actually a modified ski lift. Visitors could enjoy a breathtaking view of the park amidst Beech Mountain's gorgeous scenery. Unfortunately the death of the original owner before the park opened and a mysterious fire in 1975 marred the initial success of the park and it closed suddenly in 1980. Now, the Yellow Brick Road is missing a few of its bricks, but most of the park is still there, albeit in various states of disrepair. (Source)

Part of the reason for Autumn at Oz is not only to keep the memories alive but to help support and fund the upkeep of the park's unique structures. (Check HERE for some amazing photos from the park's development.) Everyone is now welcome to attend and stroll through poppy fields and munchkin lands with other Oz-philes for one special day.

There's a lovely book of black and white photos of this "abandoned" theme park for purchase HERE (see cover above).

You can find out more about the location, the history and options to visit and stay HERE.

Visiting here has just gone on my bucket list. (I might need a new pair of silver - or perhaps ruby - slippers for the trip... )

Fairy Tale Chambers by Ontwerpduo

I really like this take on a fairy tale themed room; something practical and functional without feeling like you've stepped into someone's outdated (and too young for the occupant) princess bedroom. 

The design was a private client commission by a company called "Ontwerpduo" and, looking at their portfolio it's clear they like playing with design and taking some out-of-the-box risks without over saturating people in the concepts.  I really like the simple sophistication and nod to the natural as well as the magical.

Here's how it developed (from the website):

Once upon a time we were asked to design a room in an extraordinary house. A 16th century mansion in a beautiful garden with a long history made us feel like we stepped into a fairy tale. No wonder this became the theme for the design. 

For this room we designed 10 pieces all based on different fairy tales, or themes from fairy tales, such as: the secret room, genie in a bottle, princess on the pea, sleeping beauty, etc.

(You must admit, the photo shoot for this is gorgeous!)

Using some of the same ideas but transplanted to a public place, here are some images from their Room 407 design for the Dutch Lloyd hotel in Amsterdam:

Room 407, a monumental room, which we organized with our newest designs. All designs are based on different fairy tales. The ceiling light and the curtains are overgrowing the room, like the roses overgrew the castle in ‘Sleeping Beauty’. You can also find ‘The princess and the pea’, The ghost in the glass’, Little red riding hood’ and ‘The twelve brothers’ in the room.

From the "What It Is, What It Isn't" design set, inspired by Alice in Wonderland (the website even quotes Carroll's text to set the scene). I do believe that the "viewer" actually makes the furniture look "normal". Although this isn't the first set of melted/ warped through-the-looking-glass furniture I've seen it is the first trying to incorporate the back and forth of traveling through the glass and back again. Very interesting ideas:

Objects are how we perceive them to be. Our minds make things what they are and for us this is reality. Think of a branch hanging in the water. We see, with the refraction of light, the branch under the waterline in a different angle. But we know that in reality the shape of this branch is different. We learned how to see the world. 

What if there was an instrument which would change the world into something that we find strange? And better, what if this instrument can also change it back?

I really like the way these people think. They love to play and also have a lot of child-focused designs, meaning the designs are fun for kids but functional and practical (and chic looking) for adults. combining their sense of play with enchantment they dreamed up a lighting system called Light Forest, which you can make grow over walls and ceilings in any way you desire.

Light forest is a wall and ceiling lighting system. The possibilities are unlimited. The design consists out of different parts, which can de connected to the wall and ceiling. Step by step the lighting system will "grow" across the space.

While the photos look slightly industrial you can see how just a little adaption makes for a fantastic addition to a fairy tale chamber. (See bedroom photo above.)

I have to include this tallow candle set for the instant story feel. Such a great combination (and remind me of a number of fairy tales for some reason...)

I recommend also looking through the Garden of Eden indoor/outdoor furniture set photos too.

Original source: HERE and official Ontwerpduo website HERE.