Grant, 54, a 29-year veteran of the FBI, will officially step down Sept. 3 to join The Walt Disney Co. as part of its global security team. He said his decision to step down a month after the retirement of former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was a coincidence.
The biggest theme park will come next to the MK parking lot. It appears to have as much acreage as Epcot, maybe a touch more. The two other big zones, near ESPN Wide World of Sports and north of DAK, could each be about the same size as Disney’s Hollywood Studios.Talking about expanding the monorail system...
Adding hotels and DHS would be nice, but the real prize is DAK. It’s so far out there that it gets visited much less frequently. I wonder if they could add a monorail track just to DAK. Surely there would be a way to do this from Epcot, or even from the TTC.
The display grew to millions of lights. There were flashing lights, multi-colored lights, custom-made light sculptures and a 75-foot Christmas tree adorned by lights. This drew onlookers from all over Arkansas. Displeased by the resulting traffic jams, the local residents asked that the Osborne family stop the annual display. Legal intervention was sought, and it appeared that the Osborne's beloved tradition was about to come to an end. When Mickey Mouse got word of this, he offered a venue where the Osborne lights could be shared with visitors from around the globe.
...A 2001 North Korean law prohibits infringement of foreign-owned copyrights, but the law is useless to Disney because there is no international court to hear intellectual property disputes between private parties. Since U.S. courts lack jurisdiction over the Moranbong band—the group whose concert involved the misappropriation Mickey’s likeness—the company would have to sue them inside the hermit kingdom. Disney isn’t going to prosecute such a suit, because the country is notoriously unfriendly to such claims, and trade restrictions prevent the company from hiring or sending attorneys.In a discussion of the technicalities of the copyright law, and why Disney's copyright of Steamboat Willie could have been challenged, the article explains why Disney might well have lost their exclusive rights to the characters in the 1920's. But that probably wouldn't happen today.
Modern judges are reluctant to make sweeping rulings based on such legal technicalities, however, especially when the results would cost one of the world’s largest corporations approximately $3 billion, so it’s probably unwise to challenge the Mickey Mouse copyright.
Disney released a statement about the incident, saying, "The guest was asked to change his attire because it was disruptive to our operations and confusing to our other guests, particularly children who asked to take photos with him. He was not asked to leave, instead, we tried to work with him so that he could continue his visit."For those with a devious streak, you could get someone to dress as a large squirrel and head for the monorail at MK. How far would the squirrel get?
...a new study by researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) shifts the focus to the first few days of an epidemic, determining how likely the 40 largest U.S. airports are to influence the spread of a contagious disease originating in their home cities.The top 2 are LAX and JFK, with O'Hare also in the top 10. Airports such as MCO (Orlando), SNA (John Wayne) and MDW (Midway) are not on the top 10 list. You might think Orlando would rank high based on the number of world travelers that use it, but the MIT model looked at many other factors.
Disney on Tuesday would not say why it is cutting back on the extended hours, which the resort markets to travelers as "Extra Magic Hours." A spokeswoman would say only that "we regularly evaluate and adjust our offerings based on a variety of factors."Now, I don't know whether it is a cost-cutting measure or if there are other reasons behind it. However, after raising the price of tickets to the theme park recently, cutting back on something like this, for whatever the reason, certainly will leave a bad taste in the mouth for theme park fans. It certainly gives the impression of us paying more for less!
The decision, revealed when Disney published early 2013 operational calendars online late last week, has inflamed some of the company's ardent fans, who have labeled it a crass cost-cutting maneuver.
"As new devices become available, public accommodations must consider using or adapting them to help disabled guests have an experience more akin to that of non-disabled," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the court.
Disney must show, based on actual risks, why Segways would be unsafe in the park, the panel said. The case now returns to district court.
With a Taste Your Way Around the World theme and at least 12 dishes new to the Marketplace Booths, this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity!
Word has it that when they have the chip in operation, it enforces the two rules above, as well as a time limit, such as not allowing multiple fills within a 5 or 10 minute window. This is to prevent you from buying one mug for the whole family, then filling the single "unlimited refills" mug, dumping it into another glass for another family member, then immediately refilling it again. The 5- or 10-minute rule is not going to impact anyone using the mugs in a legitimate way.This turns out to have been a big controversy about a year ago, but not much of substance has been seen lately. The issue still generates heated discussion. The new system was tested at All Star Sports last year, using new machines from a company called ValidFill. For more background see this post at disneydispatch.com, or this post at passporterboards.com, or this story from mousesteps.com. Part of the problem Disney is apparently trying to solve is people using their own containers to get drinks. However, solving that problem may be creating new customer relations problems. We'll no doubt be hearing more about this, especially if the new system goes into more resorts.
Donald Duck in Mickey's PhilharMagic, Magic Kingdom: He dominates screen time in the "4-D" presentation, but the story has him surviving giant broomsticks, heartbreak (and electrocution) with Ariel, a harrowing magic-carpet ride, a tumble from London's Big Ben and being cornered by giraffes, all in trying to rescue Mickey Mouse's sorcerer's hat. In the end, Donald becomes a projectile and lands in the back wall and still doesn't get top billing in the attraction.
Starting September 25, the retail outlet will be selling the blockbuster film for $32.99. For that you get both the Blu-ray and DVD edition in one single package.All I can say is they better include the extra tag at the very end of the credits!
But Target is throwing in a bonus disc called "Building a Dream: Assembling the Avengers." The extra 90-minutes of footage will show how the original Iron Man, Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America films were developed, forcing the array of mighty superheroes to eventually assemble into the Avengers.
The bonus disc features interviews and footage of the stars, directors, and other creative talents behind the various films. Different creators of the comic books are also on hand to share their thoughts about the growth of Marvel from comics to movies.
It’s January of 1978 and Disney is desperately trying to sign up governments to sponsor pavilions for World Showcase, which was still in the conceptual phase. EPCOT’s groundbreaking was still almost two years away, its development slowed by uncertain management and the inability to line up sponsorship deals. Later, Disney would give up on recruiting governmental participants entirely and go directly to individual corporations in desired nations for funding. But in 1978 Disney executives continued to wine and dine diplomats and envoys from around the world.
(Disney)
Last weekend, Bob Allen and Carl Bongirno hosted Her Imperial Majesty Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi and her official party for a briefing and update on World Showcase. The Empress of Iran and her party visited the Magic Kingdom early Saturday evening before departing for a formal dinner on the Empress Lilly where she was joined by Governor and Mrs. Askew.
Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World is the world’s top water park with attendance of 2.1 million. Blizzard Beach is third in the world with 1.9 million.
Big Hero 6 is not as well known as The Avengers, but it’s another group of powerful individuals with wildly different histories and powers, united by the Japanese government as a crisis-fighting super-squad.Oooh... I wonder if they will be fighting against Godzilla!
The Standard, an English-language news Web site in Hong Kong, reports that five people were injured when a balloon sprang a leak and plunged to the ground from a height of more than 60 yards on Thursday. None of the injuries was serious.Oh my!
There is no word yet on when — or if — the balloon will resume ferrying passengers into the sky above Downtown Disney.
