The simple refurbishment of Future World turned into a major overhaul, complete with a name that would befit even Walt Disney himself: Project Gemini. This concept would completely revitalize the area of Future World, and bring it back to the original edutainment concept for the park. Guests would immediately notice a change in the signage and the overall theme of the land. The Future World name would be replaced with Discoveryland. Imagineering believed that the name Future World placed immense pressure on them to keep coming up with concepts, attractions and technology that was believed to be futuristic. With a name change, Imagineers thought there would be less pressure on them to continue pushing the envelope.One of the planned changes was to put a roller coaster named Time Racers inside the dome, but there was concern that the structure would not stand up to the physical stresses. The project was not approved, reportedly for financial reasons.
Money became a serious issue. Rumors persist that after the Project Gemini concept was pitched, it was shot down quickly and sent back to the drawing board with the directions to cut costs. It seems the most expensive piece to the project lied in the redesigned Spaceship Earth, and many Imagineers even wondered if the structure could hold the weight and torque of a roller coaster. Also, there was the issue of logistics– it would be difficult to move construction into the geosphere.So, Project Gemini never made it off the drawing board in its original form. The only piece that made it into reality was Soarin' but not in its own pavillion as planned. An interesting bit of information is that Microsoft might have sponsored Spaceship Earth, but that role went to Siemens.
Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, said, "It is very rewarding to be honored by the Themed Entertainment Association, which represents our peers throughout the industry. We are especially proud that all three of these projects represent the best of Disney storytelling and the spirit of innovation we bring to our guests."
Miller fell in September and her death, at home in Napa, CA, was from complications from this injury. She is survived by her seven children and husband of 59 years, Ron W. Miller, former CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
For all table service restaurant reservations, guests will have to provide a credit card hold. If the reservation needs to be cancelled, but isn't done one day in advance, a $10 per person charge will be made to the card. This policy is in place for both Disney owned and operated restaurants, as well as operating participants.
The Walt Disney Company has created a gated community known as Golden Oak - named after the company's California ranch.It isn't cheap, but it does have its amenities:
It’s the only place in the world where homeowners actually live on Disney park property.
The perks include park passes, door-to-park transportation, extended hours for visiting attractions such as the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and a 17,000-square-foot clubhouse with a restaurant and concierge.
Residents also will have access to some of the amenities, including the spa and dining rooms at the $370 million, 444-room Four Seasons resort scheduled to open in Golden Oak next summer.
Disney has sited “acclimation” issues for the animals, deciding that the new home just wasn’t working out. Some insider reports claim that the zebras were troublesome and would constantly block the vehicle path or bite each-other and attack vehicles filled with guests.None of this comes as a surprise to anyone familiar with Zebras. The phrase "don't work well with others" was invented because of Zebras. Although ,to be fair, many Zebras seem to be well adjusted so maybe it's just one or two that are of a different stripe. We once witnessed an unnerving full speed Rhinocerous rampage by 3 of the large animals, coming pretty close to the safari truck. There was speculation that the trucks could withstand a direct hit by one charging Rhino, but not 3. Compared to that incident, a Zebra attack on the truck wouldn't seem very scary unless one of them could jump in the truck
During the past few weeks this has been tested with cast members and a limited number of guests, but from later this week, all guests at Disney's Pop Century Resort will only be issued with MagicBands.
Key to the World Cards can be requested, however, the magnetic strip will not be activated, meaning it cannot be used for traditional FASTPASS, only FastPass+Disney obviously intends to make the Magic Band pretty much mandatory at WDW. I guess if you spend a billion dollars on something you would want to have it used as much as possible.
Star Wars" fans finally have a date for their diary after filmmakers announced a long-awaited new instalment of the iconic sci-fi franchise will be released on December 18, 2015.If I have to make an uneducated guess, I'd say that the new movie will not suck as badly as the 3 prequels. In fact, I'm kinda optimistic that it will actually be good! In any case, we have roughly 2 years of waiting time before we find out. However, I'm guessing that they might start leaking snips and sneak peaks a few months before the actual release date.
The announcement Thursday laid to rest reports suggesting that the film, announced last year for 2015, might be delayed after one of the new movie's screenwriters was replaced last month.
Today, Vinylmation is found at numerous places around the world including Disney Parks, Disney Stores, online and even on Facebook. To commemorate this year’s milestone anniversary, we are holding two special release parties at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts.Vinylmation has its (A) fans and (B) non-fans. When the basic design of the little figures was changed to a "flatter" look a while back, supposedly to improve the quality of painting, some people moved from column A to column B.
George A. Kalogridis, President of Walt Disney World, will now also be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the MyMagic+ program that is set to fully launch at the Resort soon.
Disney said the billion-dollar program has "reached important milestones in terms of testing" and should be rolled out fully in the very near future.The article also states that Disney might expand the program to include different ways to apply it and different locations to apply it in. I know, that is supposed to be "in which to apply it", but nobody talks that way.
