Freak Snow Storm Blankets Central Florida Attractions

 

A freak snow storm swept over night through Central Florida covering most popular tourist attractions like Walt Disney World. The early morning Florida sun melted away most of the snow leaving large puddles of water just before 9a.m. this morning. Scientist and Meteorologist are baffled by the surprise storm and would only come to one conclusion...April Fools!

Oriental Land ordered to pay 470 mil. yen in tax penalties

 

Oriental Land Co., operator of both Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea, has been ordered to pay 470 million yen in penalties for failing to declare income and concealing about 370 million yen in taxable income for the seven years beginning in 1998, according to sources.

The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau discovered the unpaid taxes during an audit of the theme park operator, the sources said.

The bureau concluded that OLC had provided illegal financial advantages to a former crime boss in the guise of contracts to Chuo Kohatsu--a real estate agency based in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, connected to his criminal organization--OLC's headquarters. The bureau imposed penalties on OLC after it ruled that all of the profits Chuo Kohatsu earned through the trading must be treated as highly taxable entertainment expenses incurred by the theme park operator, the sources said.

In addition, the bureau discovered that OLC failed to declare more than 900 million yen in income connected to accounting irregularities when dealing with complementary park tickets given to customers and the media.

The penalty tax on OLC amounted to 470 million yen, according to the sources.

Chuo Kohatsu paid about 42 million yen over seven years to 2004 to Saburo Shiga, 80, and his wife as payment for their positions as advisers. Shiga was a former top adviser to the Matsuba-kai--designated a crime syndicate by the National Police Agency--and is an honorary chairman of Zen Nippon Aikokusha Dantai Kaigi, a nationwide organization of rightist groups. Shiga's brother and eldest son acted as executives at Chuo Kohatsu.

OLC paid about 860 million yen over seven years to Chuo Kohatsu as payment for the cleaning services. But Chuo Kohatsu subcontracted the work to a building maintenance company in Tokyo for about 490 million yen and earned a profit of about 370 million.

When Tokyo Disneyland opened in February 1983, OLC consigned the nighttime cleaning of the park and the cleaning services at its headquarters to a different building maintenance company. But six months later, OLC transferred cleaning duties to a company linked to a former gang member, again moving the cleaning business one year later to Chuo Kohatsu at the recommendation of the company linked to the former gang member, according to the sources.

WDW Calendar Released for October 2006

The Walt Disney World Resort has released it's Operating and Event schedules, and Extra Magic Hours  for October 2006. For guests visiting during this time, make sure to visit the Park Hours and Events pages to aid in planning your trip. Remember, all times and schedules are subject to change.

Disneyland Paris - Staying with a French Touch

 

When the Walt Disney Company launched its idea of creating a resort in 1987 in France, Europe, expectations were high and critics denounced it to be a useless try. However, figures show that Disneyland Paris attracts more people than ever since its opening in April, 1992 and that the resort recovered completely from a short slump in 2003.

Restructuring plans have been implemented and new attractions have been installed in order to provide the magical character of Micky Mouse and his friends. Today, the whole resort consists of 14 hotels, more than 12,000 employees, 600,000m² for all the attractions and parks, and it counts yearly more than 12,5 million tourists. Additionally, special campaigns such as the current one called "Believe in Your Dreams" are organized steadily in order to allure visitors from all over the world.

The park itself offers a huge variety of attractions and there was even built a new area called the Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002. This novelty appeals to both adults and "older" children (~10 years) and it features various objects such as the Space Mountain Mission2, which simulates a travel through the universe. Furthermore, there are different reconstructed movie sets (like e.g. the Armageddon set), stuntshows, parades with all the Disney-Stars, discotheques and manifold restaurants. The original park with its characteristic Sleeping Beauty Castle in the center combines attractions for the young and the young at heart. On the one hand it amazes children with human-like puppets such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or Goofy, several carousels and parades during the day. Moreover, kids can even choose whether they want to have breakfast, lunch or dinner with one of their favorite characters. On the other hand it offers concerts, Wild West Shows and different decorated restaurants for adults at night. For leisure amusements, there is also a golf course nearby where visitors can improve their skills while their kids enjoy themselves in one of the five parks named Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, Discoveryland or USA Main Street. All this is supposed to ensure the joy of the tourists and to spread the image of Walt Disney's main idea: The fact that dreams can become true if you strongly believe in them. The development of his company shows clearly the truth of this statement as nearly a century has passed since his first animated pictures in the 1920s and the different modern parks in the U.S. and in Europe.

Visitors can choose between various options how to go to Disneyland Paris. Among these options they can use the plane, busses, their own car or the popular French high-speed train TGV which has a stopover directly at the resort. However, due to the close capital Paris, it is also recommendable to stay outside of the park. Thus, visitors can enjoy the fascinating Parisian atmosphere after having spent an exciting day in the park or even spending a day off. Apartments vary from luxury ones to basic ones and will give the sojourn a slight French touch as one can live nearby famous districts such as the Champs Elysées. Providers like for instance all-paris-apartments.com will ease the search and visitors can concentrate on the main aim: enjoying some time within the family and getting touched by Disney's imaginative flair.

"Underdog" followed the adventures of a humble dog named Shoeshine Boy who became the superheroic, rhyming Underdog. Simon Bar Sinister was one of the show's recurring villains and, unbeknown to the tykes watching the show, his last name slyly translated to "Evil Bastard."

Dinklage, whose credits include "The Station Agent" and "Elf," is the first actor to sign on. Frederik Du Chau ("Racing Stripes") is directing.

Shooting is scheduled to begin April 10 in Rhode Island.

'Commander In Chief' Gets New Home

ABC has moved its freshman drama "Commander In Chief" out of the way of FOX's powerhouse Tuesday-night lineup, but the show won't exactly have an easy go of it when it returns next month.

The network says "Chief," which stars Golden Globe winner Geena Davis as the first female president, will make its return to the schedule Thursday, April 13. It will air at 10 p.m. ET Thursdays for the remainder of the season, with the thus-far successful "American Inventor" as its lead-in.

The move of "Commander In Chief" to Thursday also makes way for the somewhat surprising return of "Less Than Perfect" to the network. ABC picked up the show for a fourth season last spring but has said hardly a thing about it since then.

"Less Than Perfect," which stars Sara Rue as an assistant at a news network, will air at 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays starting April 18. It will be preceded by episodes of "Hope & Faith" at both 8:30 and 9 p.m.; "According to Jim" will keep its 8 o'clock berth. (Current 9 p.m. occupant "Sons & Daughters" will wrap its season on April 11.)

Additionally, newsmagazine "Primetime" will slide from Thursday to Friday for a few weeks starting April 14.

The move of "Commander In Chief" takes it out of the path of FOX's "House" and CBS' "The Unit" on Tuesday nights. But it's a good news-bad news situation, as the show will now air opposite CBS' "Without a Trace" and NBC's "ER."

It could at least have the benefit of a decent lead-in -- "American Inventor" has averaged 13.8 million viewers over its first two weeks. It should be noted, though, that those ratings came on Thursdays in which CBS didn't air its top-rated regular lineup because of its NCAA tournament coverage. "Inventor" will go head-to-head with "CSI" for the first time this week.

ABC Suspends Producer Over Bush-Bashing E-Mail

ABC News suspended the executive producer of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America" yesterday over a pair of leaked e-mails in which he used inflammatory language to slam President Bush and Madeleine Albright.

John Green, whose unpaid suspension will last one month, apologized to the White House in a call to communications director Nicolle Wallace, while two ABC executives called the former secretary of state to apologize.

"No one is sorrier than John for the embarrassment that these albeit private e-mails caused to his colleagues and to the people who were the subjects of those comments," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "John would be the first to say this has been a real lesson to him. John is abjectly sorry for all the comments that have come to light, and that's appropriate."

In one of the e-mails, written during the first presidential debate in 2004 and leaked to the Drudge Report, Green wrote to a colleague on his BlackBerry: "Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke."

Green, who was not made available for comment yesterday, wrote his colleagues after that leak to say "how much I regret the embarrassment that this story causes ABC. It was an inappropriate thing to say, and I'm deeply sorry."

Wallace said yesterday that she "appreciated the call and the apology."

The second leaked e-mail surfaced Thursday on the New York Post's gossipy Page Six. In that note, Green wrote that Albright should not be booked on the show because "Albright has Jew shame."

Albright, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, acknowledged her Jewish heritage in 1997 after it was discovered by Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs in the course of researching a book.

Green wrote in that note that "she hates us anyway because she says we promised her five minutes and only gave her two . . . I do not like her." An ABC insider said Green was reacting to a heated dispute between Albright and a network producer.

The Albright Group, a global strategy firm founded by the former Clinton cabinet member, took the diplomatic route. "Secretary Albright has always had an excellent relationship with 'GMA' and with ABC and she still does," her office said in a statement. "In fact, she looks forward to appearing on 'GMA' on May 2 in connection with the release of her book on U.S. foreign policy and the importance of religious tolerance."

Both e-mails were disclosed at a time when public distrust of news organizations and their ability to be fair are at or near an all-time high.

The suspension was ordered by Kerry Marash, senior vice president for editorial standards, and approved by ABC News President David Westin.

Green, who got his job in 2004 as the Saturday and Sunday editions of the morning show were being launched, has worked for ABC for 12 years. He is highly regarded by many of his colleagues, and the show is in second place on Saturdays, trailing NBC's "Weekend Today," but is in third place on Sundays, when "CBS Sunday Morning" is No. 1.

It is widely believed at ABC News that the e-mails were leaked by a former employee who has a vendetta against Green.

"Everyone who works at ABC News is unhappy with the situation because it reflects on all of us," Schneider said. But, he said, "I don't think the e-mails tell us anything about the show John Green was putting on the air every Saturday and Sunday, which is fair and balanced and down the middle."

Chivas USA opens its second campaign in Major League Soccer this Sunday, April 2 at 4:00 p.m. PT at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California (TV: FSN WEST 2; Radio: KTNQ 1020 AM). Tickets, starting at just $10 per game, are available by calling 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or online via www.cdchivasusa.com.

Off-site and off-the-wall photographs have become a Chivas hallmark in recent years. Last year, Chivas USA's first in MLS, the team took its official photograph in front of the fa³ˆe of the Palacio de Gobierno de Jalisco at Plaza Mð²co outdoor mall in Lynwood, California. Sister team Chivas Guadalajara, Mexico's most popular soccer club, has taken its official photos in such unconventional locales as a cultural center, an airport, an outdoor market and the team's swimming pool.

Lake Tahoe fifth-graders win Disney award for bat restoration

Thirty-two fifth-graders will enjoy a free trip to Disneyland for their award-winning effort to restore bat populations in a meadow south of Lake Tahoe.

The students at the Lake Tahoe Environmental Magnet School were recognized by the Walt Disney Company on Thursday as the state winners of the 2006 Jiminy Cricket's Environmental Challenge.

Bob Comlossy's fifth-grade class produced the science project entitled, "Build it and They Will Come: Bat Houses for the Cookhouse Meadow Restoration." It is designed to help restore and replenish the bat population at the meadow just off State Highway 89.

"This is really, really, cool. We won," said Austin Sharon, an 11-year-old fifth grader at the environmental school.

The students helped build eight bat houses capable of holding up to 300 of the winged mammals. The Tahoe Area Sierra Club contributed $700 to the effort and others donated time, labor and building materials.

"This is an outstanding group of students. We couldn't be more pleased with the project," said Kate Diranna, manager environmental relations for the Walt Disney Company.

Comlossy's classes entered the Disney contest twice before, finishing in second place each time.

"I knew it was a good and sustained project. The kids had to stay with it, from the beginning until the end," he told the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

"They were highly motivated and impressed by what they learned. It was more than learning about bats and the environment. They also learned how to initiate a project and bring it to fruition, learning what it takes to work on a deadline," he said.

More than 1,000 schools from around the state entered their projects into various Disney environmental stewardship contests. this year

The Tahoe students' work began in December, with presenters explaining to the class how a lack of habitats decreased the number of bat species from 10 to seven, Comlossy said.

Students learned how bats are vital to the ecosystems allowing plants to grow and feeding on pests like mosquitos.

The project involved attaching four boxes to trees along the rim of the meadow. They were placed at least 12 feet above the ground and facing the sun.

Recorders to track the usage and temperature will be placed in each box, U.S. Forest Service Biologist Mollie Hurt said.

At least one student, Cassandra Marin, said she is no longer afraid of bats.

"I used to believe when I was little that vampire bats draw blood and kill you," the 10-year-old fifth grader said. "They really don't. They're good for the ecosystem because they eat insects."