Disney Fantasy Arrives In New York

After crossing the Atlantic, the Disney Fantasy arrived in New York City for its christening.




Zz.

Leap Day

It's Leap Day where the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland are open for 24 hours! Are you there?

It is 5:44 am Central now, which means that it is 6:44 am Eastern. MK should be opened already now, and in a few hours, Disneyland will follow suit.

Zz.

Where in Walt Disney World?

This one shouldn't be as difficult as the last one.

Where in Walt Disney World can you find this?

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Random WDW Picture

Dinoland USA

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Random WDW Picture

An "old" photo during a Flower and Garden Festival. You can see the Epcot wand in the background.

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New "Brave" Trailer

Disney has just released another trailer for Pixar's "Brave", and Holy Scotland! I am so going to see this movie!




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Fantasyland Update

Kevin Yee has a photo update of the construction around Fantasyland.




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Drunk Loser at Tower of Terror Attraction, DCA

Not only should you not be this stupid to be totally drunk while on Disney property, but you DO know that nowadays, almost everything that happens stays on YouTube.

A belligerent and drunken man (always a good combination) had to be pepper-sprayed a few times outside of the Tower of Terror attraction at Disney's California Adventure. Of course, someone was there to preserve this stupidity for eternity and uploaded it on YouTube.




Hum... a lifetime ban from entering any Disney theme parks? Yeah, that sounds about right.

Zz.

Random WDW Picture

If you park your car at the Transportation and Ticket Center, and you decide to walk from your car to the monorail/ferry instead of taking the tram, you will pass through this. (hopefully without a kid trying to climb up on the wall).

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Disney's Annual Pin Celebration Is Now Disney Trade Celebration

A lot of unconfirmed rumors (is there any other kind?) are certainly going around that the annual Disney Pin Celebration at Epcot has now taken on a whole new dimension. It has now been called Disney Trade Celebration.

For the past 2 years, the annual Pin Celebration has been cut back from 3 full days to only 2 full days. The last day of the event (Sunday) has been turned into a vinylmation event, and a separate ticketed event from the regular pin trading event. For us pin traders who are not into these scary vinylmation, it is a major disappointment. You pay for the SAME amount for registration, but you are one day short in enjoying the event.

I don't know if they've heard complaints from pin traders, but this year, there are rumors that they will turn the whole 3 full-day event into a pin/vinylmation event. Thus, the name of the event being changed to Disney Trade Celebration event is consistent with such a rumor.

Yours truly, as I've done since 2005, is planning on attending this event, which has the theme "Mickey's Circus". I hope the pins are better than last year.

Zz.

Random WDW Picture

Italy Pavilion at World Showcase.

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Preview of Pixar's Short "La Luna"

Disney released a preview of Pixar's short film "La Luna".



But what I'm a bit miffed is the info accompanying this preview:

This is a short preview of La Luna, Pixar's next short film which can be seen in Irish cinemas from August 3, 2012 before Brave.

WHAT? Only in Irish cinemas? What gives??!!!

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Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom To Open Next Week

The new interactive "scavenger hunt" at the Magic Kingdom, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, will officially open on Feb. 22. It sounds very much like a Kim Possible pursuit.

Guests are recruited at the Fire Station on Main St. by Merlin the wizard to help defeat classic Disney villains, led by Hades, who are trying to take over the Magic Kingdom.

While similar in some ways to the "Kim Possible" adventure in Epcot's World Showcase, the new game relies on collectible cards with "spells" printed on them instead of cell phones.

Guests use the spells to fight the villains, who appear on screens hidden throughout the land. Initially you are given a map and five cards.

Hum... maybe this might be fun enough to try, especially if it makes a lot of noise! :)

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"Where's My Water?" Continues To Be A Hit

I'm looking at the top iPad and iPhone apps, both free and paid, listed for the week ending Feb. 13, 2012, and I continue to be amazed how well "Where's My Water?" is doing. It is THE top paid app on the iPhone and the iPad, and in the top 10 for free apps on both devices.

So Disney certainly has a bona fide hit on their hands. No wonder they're trying to make a franchise out of it!

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Random WDW Picture

On Thunder Mountain Railroad.

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Addressing The Myth Of Walt Disney

We had earlier an interview with Diane Disney Miller. Now along comes more news coverage with her, and her attempts at dismissing some of the myths about Walt Disney.

"There are a lot of ugly myths out there," his grandson, Walt Disney Miller, told me recently. Another is that Disney was a fascist and anti-Semite. There is no evidence whatsoever that this was true, although Disney was an arch conservative and Republican who waged a bitter battle with unions at his studio in the 1940s. Disney also testified during the U.S. Congress' infamous Communist witchhunt run by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

"There are a lot of myths out there and I don't think you hear that about a lot of other people," says Diane Disney Miller, Disney's only surviving daughter. "I've never heard that Bing Crosby was frozen."

It also includes the accusation that Walt was antisemitic, which I've already mentioned quite a while back.

As for accusations of fascism and anti-Semitism, Disney Miller says that began during the labour dispute which crippled Walt Disney Studios in 1941.

"That was the strike," she says. "That was a smear thing and that was a tactic of Herbert Sorrell and that element."

Sorrel was a leading union organizer at Hollywood studios during that era. He was instrumental in getting the new Screen Cartoonist Guild to rally against Disney and his paternalism.

The accusations have stuck for decades, much to Disney Miller's chagrin. "People want to believe the worst."

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Random WDW Picture

The "bridge" over the Animal Kingdom Lodge's Jambo House lobby.

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Where In Walt Disney World?

OK, this one might be a bit tough. But then again, I've posted ones that I thought might be tricky, and you people got it within a day, so what do I know?

Where in Walt Disney World can you find this light fixtures?

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Earl of Sandwich To Open At Disneyland's Downtown Disney

The Earl of Sandwich restaurant in WDW's Downtown Disney is one of the most popular quick service spot. I suppose that is an encouragement enough for the company who owns the restaurant to open a similar place in Disneyland's Downtown Disney, and that's what they will do.

Earl of Sandwich, which reportedly has a strong following, is set to open this summer at a location currently occupied by Compass Books and Cafe. There are 17 Earl locations worldwide, including at Walt Disney World.

Earl of Sandwich shops have ties to the creator of the sandwich — John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who made the first food item in 1762. The 11th Earl is involved in the creation of the current restaurants. Robert Earl, chairman of Earl of Sandwich, joined with Disney to open the first location at Downtown Disney in Orlando in 2004.

Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express are two of my regular places for quick service meals in WDW's Downtown Disney. I wonder if they'll have the same menu for the one in Disneyland Resort.

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Disney Profit Rises 12%

In case you missed it, it is a good time to owne Disney stocks right now after the First Quarter financial reports.

Net income grew to $1.46 billion, or 80 cents a share, from $1.3 billion, or 68 cents, a year earlier, Burbank, California- based Disney said yesterday in a statement. Profit beat the 71- cent average of 27 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales gained 0.6 percent to $10.8 billion in the period ended Dec. 31, missing estimates of $11.2 billion.

Again, I keep thinking back to during the height of the financial crisis, Disney stocks tumbled to less than $20/share. I remember that we were buying several shares at that time, or as much as we can muster, because we have great confidence in the company and knew that the stock prices will go up. And voila! It is now above $40/share!

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Diane Disney Miller Remembers Her Dad

And of course, her dad is Walter Elias Disney, or Walt Disney to you and me.

This is a rather insightful interview with Diane Disney Miller. It covers topics such as the private apartment that Walt has in Disneyland, to the reason why she started the Disney Family Museum. She obviously still despises Neil Gabler's biography of Walt (and that book continues to be sold at Disney's theme parks).

What made you want to start the museum? Why did you think it was important to get the message about his life out there?

I don't think anybody really knows him. His name is so familiar and the brand is everywhere and the company gets larger and larger, but there were a couple of really terrible books written about him. There was one that was a total invention. And I thought, what can I do? And the best way, I realized, we did a little film on him, and then we had a website done by the authors who made the film, Richard and Katherine Greene, and it would get lots of comments. It was presented like a virtual museum of Walt's life, and it would get comments like, where's the real museum?

And then I encountered enough people who said "I love you father" and enough of the negative comments, other little kids would say to my kids, "My mother said your grandfather was anti-Semitic" or "Your grandfather is frozen, isn't he?" And I couldn't let that stand. And I thought, I have a really good life because of him and the one thing I can do is establish this place, and I wasn't doing it just for him, I was doing it for all those millions of people that kind of love him.

Fascinating interview!

Zz.

Extended John Carter Trailer

Disney showed an extended John Carter trailer during the Superbowl last night. If you missed it, here it is again.




Y'know, I was ambivalent before, but I think I want to see this movie now. At least, it will probably be a fun, popcorn movie. BTW, anywhere else thinks that the music they used in this trailer sounded very much like a Led Zeppelin tune? :)

Zz.

Random WDW Picture

On the Great Movie Ride.

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Jack Sparrow Got Pepper-Sprayed!

OK, this is too hysterical to pass up!

Police say several people dressed as movie characters on Hollywood Boulevard got into a brawl that ended with a man dressed as "Pirates of the Caribbean" character Capt. Jack Sparrow being pepper-sprayed.

Officer Rosario Herrera says it's unclear why the Sparrow character, made famous in the movies by Johnny Depp, got into a fight with people dressed as Catwoman and an alien in front of the Kodak Theatre Thursday evening.

OK, you can't make this up! Only in LA, I tell ya!

Now I have to go clean up the milk from my cereal that I coughed up when I read this news article.

Zz.

The Magic, The Memories and You with Romance Additions

Hum... I'm beginning to see a pattern.

They had the holiday additions to the Magic, the Memories, and You. Now they've come up with the Valentine's Day addition to this show, just in time for Valentine's Day.




I see this being a pattern where an addition enters the show at different times of a year. Good idea. It keeps it fresh for those of us who visit it multiple times a year.

Zz.