OCRegister - Disney plans to build a massive parking lot on the field that it originally bought for a possible third Anaheim theme park.

That means that a new park likely would be at least six to 10 years away when the lot is no longer needed.

Disney wants to add 2,570 new parking spots for guests to the Harbor Boulevard site, eating up the majority of the remaining open space on a former strawberry field that the company bought about 11 years ago in anticipation of building a third theme park.

The new parking lot plan is set to go before the Anaheim Planning Commission at 2:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd. City officials are recommending that the plan be approved, said Sheri Vander Dussen, the city’s planning director.

The extra temporary parking space is needed during the Disney’s California Adventure expansion through 2012, said Suzi Brown, a spokeswoman for the Disneyland Resort.

Already, Disney closed the 2,226-space Timon parking lot where it is building the 12-acre Cars Land as part of the $1-billion California Adventure expansion. See a full map of California Adventure expansion plans.

The proposal would allow Disney to run the parking lot for at least six years with a possible extension for a total of 10 years. The city wants to reserve space for the possible Anaheim Fixed-Guideway system — a transit link, like a monorail, between a planned transportation hub and the tourist area. If the guideway isn’t ready in six years, Disney could keep its parking lot for up to 10 years, under the proposal.
Already, 1,701 parking spaces are on the former strawberry field for overflow parking from Disney and the Anaheim Convention Center, as well as for employees. Disney allowed growers to harvest strawberries on the site until recently, Brown said.

Construction could begin within the next six months, Brown said.

Visitors would take shuttle buses from the lot across from the Anaheim Convention Center north on Harbor Boulevard to the entrance of the theme parks, Brown said. The parking lot would serve as overflow parking on busy days.

An extra left-turn lane would be added from Disney Way to Harbor Boulevard to improve the traffic flow, according to the city report.

Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau, said more parking is needed in the area, especially when major conventions come to town. He said Disney could still develop the property later to bring in more visitors.

“Obviously, we’d rather have a great development there, but for short-term help, parking is OK,” Ahlers said. “But I think Disney is being cautious, as well as they should be cautious.”

Hundreds of residents live in apartments just east of the proposed parking lot. An 8-acre band of land will be around the parking lot as a buffer, Brown said.

Rosie Tapia, the apartment manager for the 152-unit French Quarter Apartments, said she would prefer to have parking there instead of an empty lot, where cats and other critters congregate.

“I think a parking lot is better idea. I think it’s better for Disneyland, because it’s getting bigger,” Tapia said.

Todd Ament, a planning commissioner who is also president of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, declined to say how he would vote. However, from a business perspective, he said he thinks Disney is making a “smart move.” He said Disney is focusing on the expansion of the current park for now, so it should use the land it has for parking needs.

San Francisco Examiner - “Sleeping Beauty,” one of Disney’s most beloved animated features, took nearly a decade to reach the screen, from initial production to its release in 1959.

An almost obsessive attention to detail and quest for quality were among the reasons behind the timetable, which resulted in a visual richness and exquisite sense of style that remain unmatched today.

San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum celebrates the movie’s 50th anniversary with “Once Upon a Dream: The Art of Sleeping Beauty,” an exhibit featuring everything from original model sheets and copies of pencil sketches to behind-the-scenes photos and animation cels.

Disney artist and illustrator Ron Dias, whose personal collection provides the bulk of the material for the show, looks back fondly on time spent on the film and the design of the production, which was handled differently from previous Disney projects. With “Sleeping Beauty,” everything had to adhere to the demands of Eyvind Earle, who created the lush background scenery.

“Walt, being the innovative person that he was, was always looking for something different and new,” Dias says. “He was actually worried, I think, that everything was looking quite moldy-fig and having the sameness to it.”

“Sleeping Beauty” was the first major project Dias worked on. He joined the Disney team in 1956 at 18, helping draw intermediate frames that created the seamless flow that gave life to Princess Aurora and the evil Maleficent.

“It had to be precise and exact, or it would jitter and jump — and we had to make sure that we were looking at the model sheet at
all times, because [Aurora] was designed so differently than any other character,” Dias says.

“We had to make sure that it not only moved smoothly, but did not look awkward. When you look at a character you look at their face, their eyes and a mouth that’s moving, and she moved smoother than almost any other female character.”

The exhibit also features examples of Dias’ later work, including cels and concept art from “The Little Mermaid,” “The Secret of NIMH” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

In addition to movie work, Dias also has done projects for Disney and other companies, providing artwork for books, DVDs, limited-edition lithographs and theme parks.

He still gets fan mail, and loves to meet the people who have grown up with his art.

“I’m finally beginning to realize how many people we all have touched, and we’ve put so many smiles on faces,” he says. “That’s really a wonderful thing.”

IF YOU GO

Once Upon a Dream: The Art of Sleeping Beauty

Jam - St. Elmo's Fire has been reignited - TV bosses have signed a deal to adapt the Brat Pack movie classic into a small screen series.

The original 1985 picture followed the lives of seven pals as they prepared for life after university, and kick-started the careers of Demi Moore, Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez.

Now, the film is being remade for TV after executives at America's ABC network agreed a deal to revise the comedy-drama.

The show will focus on the same topics as the film, and will be set in the St. Elmo's Bar & Restaurant, just like the movie.

ABC bosses are hoping the pal-focused plot will fill the gap left by hit sitcom Friends, which ended in 2004 after 10 seasons.

Executive producer Dan Bucatinsky says, "I feel it is time to re-create Friends in the hour-long genre and feel like this is the perfect opportunity."

BuisnessWire - According to just released data from comScore Media Metrix, Disney Online, which produces the No. 1 ranked community-family and parenting destination on the Web (www.Disney.com), broke all-time traffic records in July 2009, reaching nearly 34 million unique visitors and beating the previous all-time record of 32.3 million uniques set in August 2008. Disney Online traffic was up month-over-month across all key measurements in July, including unique visitors (+8%), page views (+17%), time spent (+29%) and average daily visits (21%).

In addition to Web traffic, Disney Online continues to be a leader in the online video and mobile Web sectors. The site serves nearly 130 million videos per month and is ranked No. 13 for total videos served among all Web sites. Among mobile Web sites, Disney.com ranks as the No. 1 entertainment site, with unique visitors increasing 31 percent and page views increasing 26 percent in July (vs. prior month).

Overall Disney Online category growth in July included Games (+16% vs. prior month), TV sites (+11% vs. prior month) Disney Family sites (+11% vs. prior month) and Travel (+18% vs. prior month).

Disney Online (www.Disney.com or text MOBILE to DISNEY), a unit of Disney Interactive Media Group, produces the No. 1 ranked community-family and parenting destination on the World Wide Web. Launched in 1996, Disney.com is the online and now mobile web gateway to all of the company's Disney-branded entertainment initiatives, providing comprehensive access to, and information about Disney movies, travel, television, games, music, shopping and live events.

In addition, Disney Online develops and publishes a range of online products and services including Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Disney's Toontown Online, Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow and Disney Club Penguin.

AP - Following stints as a sitcom star, talk show host and Broadway leading man, Tony Danza is going back to school -- to teach.

Pending approval by city school officials, the actor known for his roles on "Taxi" and "Who's the Boss?" will begin teaching at Northeast High School this fall for a reality TV show. The series, called "Teach," is slated to air on the cable channel A&E.

"I'm so scared. You have no idea," Danza said in a phone interview Thursday. "I can tap-dance, but I don't know if I can make kids learn yet."

Danza, who would be co-teaching a 10th-grade English class, said he has already boned up on the district's curriculum, re-reading "Of Mice and Men," "Julius Caesar," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Animal Farm."

Not everyone is impressed. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky called the show a way "to pimp our kids' education to an unemployed sitcom actor who wants to kick-start his stalled career on the backs of students who'll be distracted by cameras and microphones."

But Mayor Michael Nutter is urging school commissioners to approve the deal. In a letter made public Wednesday, he noted students would be given opportunities they wouldn't normally have -- including production internships on the show -- and the district might see a bump in teacher recruitment.

"There are too many negative images of our city's young people and schools on television," Nutter wrote. "I believe that 'Teach' represents a unique opportunity to highlight many of our city's dedicated teachers and administrators, and the talented students they serve."

Philadelphia has a struggling, low-income school district with about 167,000 students. Although test scores have improved seven straight years, only about half of the students are considered proficient at reading and math.

School officials will vote Aug. 19 on a resolution that would allow at least 13 episodes of "Teach" to be shot. The district would get $3,500 per episode, plus expenses, and the right to object to footage.

Officials believe the entire school community could benefit from the series, which would "put a spotlight on teaching in an urban environment," district spokesman Fernando Gallard said.

Producers are clearly expecting approval; Danza already rented an apartment in the city's Northern Liberties section and has been attending new-teacher orientation.

Co-executive producer Donny Jackson told school commissioners at a meeting Wednesday that the series would be "responsible television."

"Our goal with 'Teach' is to highlight and celebrate the rarely seen challenges and unsung achievements of one of the greatest resources our nation has to offer: the public school teacher," Jackson said.

The jovial Danza, who is pushing 60, would not divulge his long-ago grade-point average. He graduated from a suburban New York high school in 1968 and received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Dubuque in Iowa in 1972.

It was after one of his most recent acting gigs -- playing Max Bialystock in "The Producers," both on Broadway and in Las Vegas -- that Danza began considering teaching. A producer friend suggested the TV show, he said.

Danza said he understands teaching will be hard work and that "the tremendous responsibility of doing it on TV is very daunting." He noted that a pilot episode shot in a class in Yonkers, N.Y., was so intimidating it gave him "the worst flop sweat I ever had."

"My goal is to really be a good teacher," Danza said. "If we can be really real about it and really honest about it and put the kids first and really show what a teacher goes through, it might be something that is a positive."

AP - Shaquille O'Neal swears he was once a T-ball All-Star and a high school first baseman with the "world's biggest strike zone."

The 7-1, 325-pound O'Neal was introduced as the "king of cross training" at a news conference Wednesday, part of a promotion for his upcoming ABC show that pits him against other superstars in a battle of athletic prowess. He was joined by St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols to discuss their upcoming home run derby on one of the shows.

Pujols may lead the majors in home runs, but Shaq is clearly king of the one-liners.

Baseball nickname? "When I was little, I was known as Shaqqie Robinson." When he pitched: "I was the big black unit."

O'Neal also promised there would be no head games with Pujols, noting: "Usually I try to get into the mind of my opponent, but I don't think it's wise to talk smack to a man who always has a bat in his hands."

Despite a fairly impressive ceremonial first pitch Tuesday night at Busch Stadium with Pujols on the receiving end, O'Neal said that was the first game he's watched from the stands in his life. And after watching O'Neal take batting practice, Pujols noted his opponent "obviously" needs to work on his technique.

Pujols offered a few pointers at the news conference, noting that O'Neal didn't have to overpower the ball to hit a home run. O'Neal responded: "I don't want your tips, Albert. I'm going to beat you fair and square."

Pujols was a point guard on the basketball team in high school and said he used to be able to dunk. No more, not since he's bulked up to 245 pounds.

"I think if I tried I'd probably blow out my hamstrings," Pujols said. "That's why I chose baseball" for the challenge.

The show debuts Aug. 18, with the first episode testing O'Neal's football-throwing prowess against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The date for the Pujols episode has not been determined.

Another key concern for parents headed into the new school year is bullying. Eighty-two percent of parents reported that their children either witnessed bullying or were the victims of bullying in school. Survey data also showed that bullying has increased in recent generations with 33 percent of parents reporting that they were bullied in school, while those same parents reported that 42 percent of their children have been bullied.

Amidst the concerns, parents also reported that family-time is a priority with nearly nine out of ten families still managing to sit
down for dinner together at least two nights during the school week while one in four families has instituted a weekly family game night.

To help make the back-to-school transition as hassle-free as possible and ensure families are able to spend quality time together, Disney Family.com launched a back-to-school resource with tips and advice for parents faced with keeping everything in order during this stressful time.

“From school lunch ideas to back-to-school budgeting tips and a survival guide to help moms manage schedules, Disney
Family.com is a one-stop resource for busy moms,” said Emily Smith, Vice President of the Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio.
“Back to school can be a difficult transition period for everyone in the family and our goal is to provide moms with tools they can
use to
make it as easy and stress-free as possible.”

The results of the survey, underwritten by Disney Family.com and conducted by Usability Sciences, are based on responses of
more than 2,600 Disney Family visitors in the United States. The survey was conducted over a period commencing July 23, 2009 and continuing through July 30, 2009. The margin of error is + or - 1%.

About Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio

The Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio is a leading group of sites that provide inspiration and ideas for parents on a
variety
of topics important to today’s families. Sites include Disney Family.com, Kaboose.com, FamilyFun.com and BabyZone.com.

About Disney Online

Disney Online (Disney.com or text MOBILE to DISNEY), a unit of Disney Interactive Media Group, produces the No. 1
ranked community-family and parenting destination on the World Wide Web.* Launched in 1996, Disney.com is the online and
now
 mobile web gateway to all of the company's Disney-branded entertainment initiatives, providing comprehensive access to, and information about Disney movies, travel, television, games, music, shopping and live events.

In addition, Disney Online develops and publishes a range of online products and services including Pirates of the Caribbean
Online, Disney's Toontown Online, Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow and Disney Club Penguin.

AP - A 60-year-old man has been convicted of groping a woman in a Minnie Mouse costume at Walt Disney World.

John William Moyer of Cressona, Pa., told the judge he is innocent. His son said before sentencing that his father would never inappropriately touch a woman.

He was convicted Tuesday of misdemeanor battery and sentenced to write the victim an apology, serve 180 days probation and complete 50 hours of community service. Moyer must also pay $1,000 in court costs and possibly undergo a mental evaluation.

AP - Regis Philbin has saved ABC again -- this time from embarrassment.

The first night of a two-week run of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" prime-time specials on Sunday was seen by 7 million people, Nielsen Media Research said. That's very different from summer 1999, when the show had audiences as big as 22 million the first time out.

Yet it was twice what ABC averaged in prime time last week. ABC's average of 3.48 million viewers was the second-lowest in the network's history, Nielsen said. Without Philbin, ABC would no doubt have a lower average than the 3.46 million it had the same week in August 2008, its low-water mark. Philbin was credited by some for "saving" ABC with the original "Millionaire" when the network was in a ratings trough.

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" gave ABC its biggest summer audience on a Sunday for a nonsporting event in two years.

CBS' lineup of reruns helped CBS win the week, but the strength of "America's Got Talent" and a Saturday night National Football League exhibition game led NBC to a solid second-place showing.

In another indication of cable's growing strength, USA network averaged 3.08 million prime-time viewers last week, its best week ever. The season finale of "Burn Notice" had 7.6 million viewers, USA's most-watched original series episode ever.

CBS averaged 6.2 million viewers (4.1 rating, 7 share), NBC had 5.9 million (3.8, 7), Fox 5.3 million (3.2, 6) and ABC a 2.2 rating and 4 audience share. My Network TV had 1.4 million viewers (0.9, 2), the CW 970,000 (0.7, 1) and the ION Network 660,000 (0.4, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision averaged 3 million viewers (1.6 rating, 3 share), Telemundo had 870,000 and TeleFutura 830,000 viewers (both 0.4, 1) and Azteca 210,000 (0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.6 million viewers (5.0, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 6.5 million (4.4, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.1 million viewers (3.6, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,145,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.5 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Aug. 3-9, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 12.96 million; "America's Got Talent," (Wednesday), NBC, 10.67 million; "NCIS," CBS, 9.89 million; "So You Think You Can Dance," (Thursday), Fox, 9.57 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.5 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.46 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 8.39 million; "Wipeout," ABC, 8.02 million; "CSI: NY," CBS, 7.99 million; NFL Exhibition: Buffalo vs. Tennessee, NBC, 7.92 million.

But once the show aired and people got to see Cyrus as she emerged from a trailer scantily clad in short shorts, a tank top and biker
boots and dance around what some suggested was a stripper pole, criticism began to emerge online that perhaps Cyrus' act was too
risqué for a 16-year-old, as well as for her tween fanbase.

Even in the hours leading up to Cyrus' appearance, the Disney Channel, which airs Cyrus' popular TV show "Hannah Montana,"
seemed to want to distance itself from the provocative stage show.

According to Newsday.com, a spokesperson for the network said in a statement: "Disney Channel won't be commenting on that
performance, although parents can rest assured that all content presented on the Disney Channel is age-appropriate for our audience
— kids 6-14 — and consistent with what our brand values are."

Before she took the stage at the show, Cyrus spoke to MTV News about the performance, saying she wanted the whole thing to
be a spoof on growing up in Tennessee, adding that "it's about my roots."

"Blitz Wolf," a short by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, features a big bad wolf (sporting a Hitler mustache) unsuccessfully trying to
vanquish three little (American) pigs. The movie begins with a "Foreword" reading: "The Wolf in this photoplay is NOT fictitious.
Any similarity between this Wolf and that (*!!*//--%) jerk Hitler is purely intentional!" At the end of the film, the defeated "Adolf Wolf" finds himself in hell.
During the war years -- whether it was on the big screen, in comic books, on the side of a tank or on a poster -- Hollywood's message was: "Hang in there! We'll win if you all pitch in. This war is your war!" But once the war was over, these movies disappeared into the studios' back cabinets for decades.

There were reasons for this. A new era had begun, and Disney didn't want to burden his new friends -- and business opportunities
-- with ancient history in the newly won markets of Europe.

The Bay Lake Tower lithographs replace Warhol's favored themes--ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Campbell's soup cans--with the Walt Disney World monorail, Space Mountain, Cinderella Castle, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and more.

The Disney lithographs are not the only modern art on display at Bay Lake Tower. Each chandelier is a work of art in itself. The ground floor lobby features a chandelier with Hidden Mickeys, and the 15th-floor Disney Vacation Club Members Lounge has a massive chandelier that would give Lumiere from Disney's Beauty and the Beast a case of candle envy.

The furniture in the downstairs lobby includes a chair that appears to be hand carved froom wood; elongated chairs that
complement the tall interior beams of the Bay Lake Tower lobby; and desks that are lighted creatively from within. The lobby
makes use of ample natural light.

The two companies are debuting a new kind of netbook called a Netpal. Geared toward users aged 6 to 12, the $349 Netpal resembles Asus' popular Eee PC netbooks, but runs software designed specifically for children. The gadget, which will go on sale at the end of July in 21 countries across Asia, Europe and North America, is meant to be safe, fun and easy, says Asus spokeswoman Debby Lee.

The Netpal runs Windows XP operating system and Asus' uncomplicated Eee PC software, but it features a Disney ( DIS - news - people )-customized "skin" on top.

Some of the refinements focus on security. To guard against undesirable Internet content, parents will be able to limit Web use to accepted ("whitelist") Web sites. Other parental control programs for the Web work the opposite way, by banning or blacklisting certain sites. Lee says whitelisting offers parents greater authority.

Guardians will also be able to apply whitelists to their childrens' e-mail activity, restricting both incoming and outgoing messages to people they have approved.

Disney isn't pushing the Netpal as an educational device. "Kids can use the Netpal as a learning tool, but it's basically a general purpose laptop," says Chris Heatherly, Disney's vice president of global toys and technology.

Most of the Disney content on the Netpal is entertainment-oriented. It comes preloaded with kid-friendly multimedia programs, such as photo-editing software that lets users decorate digital pictures and video software that allows them to insert their likeness into animated sequences. Users can also make playlists of Disney music using a program called Disney Mix, and stream songs from Disney's Internet radio station, Radio Disney. The Netpal's Webcam is in the familiar shape of Mickey's head.

In a nod to parents, the companies have lined up distribution at Toys "R" Us, along with Asus' usual retailers, like Amazon. The price is about mid-range for Eee PCs, which sell for as little as $200 and as much as $600.

The suits at Disney clearly took notice, as the current teen-pop boom is populated by acts still signed to the entertainment giant.
With Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers now firmly established, Disney's next breakthrough could well be 16-year-old Texan
Demi Lovato, who headlined the Target Center on Saturday night.

Thanks to her starring role in last year's "Camp Rock" alongside the aforementioned Jonas Brothers, Lovato is already a household name — in households that watch the Disney Channel, anyway. She has also toured with the JoBros, but the 5,000 screaming
tweens in attendance Saturday night were a far cry from the 18,000 who saw the boys last month in the same venue.

Still, if Lovato proved anything Saturday, it's that she's got terrific potential. For one thing, she actually sang her vocals live. And Lovato doesn't need to dress like Britney Spears to turn heads. (Her tremendous mane of hair had the moms in the audience turning green with envy, too.)

It helps that Lovato has worked with many of the same folks who make the Jonas Brothers' albums, including former Minnesotan John Fields. The result is a clutch of peppy, instantly likable tunes with huge choruses and nods to both late-'60s pop and mid-'80s new wave.

Lovato, for her part, sold every last song, despite nursing a hoarse voice she said came from meeting a thousand or so fans earlier in the day at a Mall of America appearance. For the "Camp Rock" number "This Is Me," she even pulled one of those fans up onstage to sing along with her.

Given Lovato's raw talent — which often gets swapped out for raw ambition in the teen-pop set — it'll be interesting to see if
she can develop it and mature into an even more engaging entertainer.

Fellow pop starlet Jordan Pruitt opened with a brief set that included "Jump to the Rhythm," the theme song to a Disney Channel movie about, uh, jumping rope.