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| MickeyXtreme's News Archive February 18-24 2007 | ||
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Saturday February 24, 2007 |
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Disney's Grey Matter The Motley Fool - It's going to be a tricky operation. Disney (NYSE: DIS) will snap on surgical gloves and brandish a scalpel in a few months, attempting to successfully transplant a spinoff from its hit ABC show Grey's Anatomy. The stakes are high. Popular hour long dramas like CSI and Law & Order have spawned a ridiculous number of related series. If giving Grey's actress Kate Walsh her own show proves popular, one hit series could give ABC two hours of advertising to sell. However, the latest successes have been crime shows. As a medical drama, a Grey's Anatomy offshoot may dilute the audience for its parent series, if the past is any indication. Remember when ER and Chicago Hope battled for ratings in the 1990s? Only one survived. Now that viewers are taking to Grey's Anatomy and News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) House, General Electric's (NYSE: GE) ER is drawing about half of the viewers as its younger competition. It's still worth a shot. This isn't the same Disney that tried to blanket its entire lineup with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? a few years ago. Dragging the quiz show out to four primetime slots a week quickly killed it. ABC has been able to rebuild its portfolio since that failed experiment. A string of hits, including Lost, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and the seasonal smash Dancing with the Stars, should allow the network the luxury of taking a chance with Grey's Anatomy. In short, this is an elective surgical procedure. ABC still trails CBS (NYSE: CBS) in the ratings, with the latter's CSI franchise a major contributor to the Eye Network's blue-ribbon showing. A two-hour Grey's episode that will set the stage for a spin off should draw a commanding audience for ABC during the pivotal month of May. The bigger question is whether viewers will continue to watch both related shows in the fall. If so, can Lost: The Others or Desperate Househusbands be too far away? Let's hope not. Be careful with that scalpel, Disney. In trying to poke the CBS eye out, you may wind up losing one of your own. |
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Is
Disney "Adults Without Kids" Friendly? Orlando Sentinel - One of the draws to Disney World for us back in the 1990s was their promotion of the idea that Disney wasn't just for families with kids, but it was also a great place for adults without kids. And I recall that when Epcot opened in 1982, it definitely was a draw for adults. But I've seen a change over the years that more and more adult activities, attractions, and dining venues at Disney are being replaced with a more kid-friendly focus. And while the Disney Cruise Line has several "adult-only" venues, the article on Disney to Add 2 New Ships to Fleet states, "With fierce competition among cruise lines, Disney is hoping to position itself as the ultimate getaway for families." And while there's some discussion about what the word "family" means - can a couple be a family or must it include kids - it's a no-brainer that Disney focuses their prime marketing efforts on families with kids. Even the city of Orlando's new motto: "Built for Families, Made for Memories" caters to the family unit with kids. They've received a lot of criticism for that motto, comparing it to the cooler and hipper, "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" slogan of their nemesis, Las Vegas. So as Disney and the city of Orlando focus more and more on families with kids, they shouldn't be surprised that they're in fierce competition with Las Vegas - a decidedly more adult without kids venue - for tourist dollars. Although it appears that Disney is trying their best shot at competing with Vegas weddings with the latest announcement of the Princess Wedding Dress collection. I don't think Vegas has anything to worry about. |
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Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros replaces
El Rio Del Tiempo
WDW News - Epcot's Mexico pavilion,
"Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros" debuts
(replacing "El Rio Del Tiempo") with a new storyline and
film featuring Donald Duck, José Carioca (the parrot),
and Panchito (the Mexican charro rooster) from the 1944
Disney film "The Three Caballeros." The new attraction is set to open on April 2nd 2007. |
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Disney chair spearheads luxury goods sector drive Marketing Week - Disney Consumer Products is ramping up its assault on the luxury goods sector with the launch of a designer chair from Brazilian furniture designers Fernando and Humberto Campana. The Disney chair, made of plush toys, is being rolled out as a limited edition of 25. The chair will be unveiled next week at The Cartoon Chair exhibition at Albion Gallery in Battersea, London. The launch of high-end home furnishings and products is an extension of a strategy that has seen Disney launch designer clothes ranges, such as t-shirts, in partnership with the Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. Daniel Ifcher, vice-president of Disney Home, says: "Disney is a company built on innovation and artistic creativity, so we're excited about the collaboration with the Campana brothers - two of the hottest trendsetters in urban design." The limited edition chair is the first wave of Disney Home's long-term strategy to develop trend-driven products sold at high-end retailers. The strategy gained momentum following the global trend sparked by the "vintage Mickey" t-shirts launched in 2002. Disney has collaborated with Dolce & Gabbana for the past three years and Disney Home aims to use the success of such partnerships "to capitalise on the catwalk-to-home trend". The Mickey Chair will be created from plush toys of Disney characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Pluto. Disney Consumer Products has been building new strategies and products aimed at older age groups. The adult and luxury goods sectors in character-led products is perceived to be a growing area. |
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Disney
animation gets Pixar-ization Variety - Walking up the stairs of the Disney Animation Studios building, Ed Catmull talks about change. "We took down as many walls as we could," he says, showing off a bright and open second floor -- a stark contrast to the narrow hallways and separate rooms on other floors. Entering his modest office in a structure that only opened in 1994, he adds: "We are planning to build an entirely new building." There's no hiding that the new president of Walt Disney Feature Animation thinks a radical shift is needed both physically and psychologically at the venerable toon unit, which has been struggling since the late '90s. That attitude is exactly why Bob Iger brought on Catmull, a computer science Ph.D. who started Pixar as a division of LucasFilm in 1979 and led the company from the time Steve Jobs bought it in 1986 until its acquisition a year ago, when he took his new job. Together with chief creative officer John Lasseter, his much better known partner, Catmull is charged with reviving the biggest name in animation while simultaneously keeping up the creatively and commercially unblemished track record of Pixar, which the two continue to head under the combined rubric of WDFA. It's a monumental task, but Disney CEO Iger bet $7.4 billion that Catmull and Lasseter can handle it when he decided to acquire Pixar last year. "More than anything else, the impetus for the Pixar deal was getting two experienced leaders who can give a shot of adrenaline to Disney Animation," says studio topper Dick Cook. "You can't come close to calculating what that means in the long term for the company in terms of new characters, stories, and lands for films and parks and publishing and more." Former Pixar CEO and current Disney board member Steve Jobs is also modestly involved, as he sits on a six-person animation oversight committee for the Mouse that also includes Catmull, Lasseter, Iger, Cook and chief financial officer Tom Staggs. The hope is that the Pixar team will create and maintain properties to flow throughout Disney's many ventures, such as a "Finding Nemo" ride set to open this summer at Disneyland and a new "Cars" section on Disney.com. But their top priority is reviving Disney Animation Studios. From new offices to new talent, a new development process, and an openness to the formerly shunned technique of hand-drawn toons, WDFA is in the midst of its biggest changes since the late '80s, when Jeffrey Katzenberg re-energized the then-ailing unit that was turning out only one film every four years. The problem these days isn't quantity, but quality. In the past six years, WDFA released seven toons, only two of which made more than $100 million domestically and only one of which, 2002's "Lilo and Stitch," was also positively received by most critics and the animation community. Disney artists felt that lack of success acutely, which is why morale was particularly low in 2005. But insiders say that feeling changed almost overnight when Catmull and Lasseter, two of the most respected figures in the industry, took over. Disney animators use words like "euphoria" to describe what they felt at the time. Today, those feelings are more tempered, thanks to an unexpected round of cutbacks in December that saw Disney Animation lay off 160 employees, or about 20% of its staff. "Everybody recognizes the fact that they're trying to change the culture down here for the better, but it's safe to say that the pixie dust that surrounded their arrival has pretty much disappeared," says one source close to Disney Animation. Catmull says the layoffs weren't a result of corporate pressure, but his and Lasseter's decision to move Disney Animation from putting out one pic per year to one every 18 months. "It took Pixar 10 years to get to one movie per year," Catmull notes. "We had to get things back in balance and then grow from there." Such sentiments, while reasonable, underline why many in the animation community say Mouse House artists are struggling with an inferiority complex: Pixar kept its leadership, didn't experience any layoffs, and is putting out one pic per year. In other words, the 72-year-old Disney Animation has to follow the example of its 20-year-old sibling. That doesn't mean that the younger studio feels totally comfortable with its new relationship either. In the two years leading up to the acquisition, Catmull, Lasseter and then-CEO Steve Jobs were psyching their company up for a future without the studio that had distributed all their movies. Due largely to a dismal relationship with Michael Eisner, the three Pixar principals frequently bashed the Mouse at company-wide meetings. "A lot of people felt betrayed when they all suddenly took jobs there," notes one source close to Pixar. The two execs face a balancing act as they try to alleviate concerns and foster creativity in two places at once. To do that, they split time equally between Burbank and Emeryville and endeavor to keep the two studios unique and separate. They're keeping distinct names and while directors from DAS and Pixar sometimes give each other notes, animation work isn't shuffled back and forth between the two. They're also giving each studio ownership of the characters they create. Lasseter recently said that the "greatest part of the merger" was that Disney abandoned its plans to make "Toy Story 3" and that Pixar is now making the film in-house. Similarly, though they don't directly control the unit, Catmull and Lasseter clearly influenced the Mouse to stop direct-to-DVD unit DisneyToon from making sequels to animated theatrical features. It's now focused on spinoffs like "Tinkerbell" and a "Disney Fairies" pic. But there's no denying that many of the changes being instituted at Disney Animation look very Pixar-esque. Execs note repeatedly that they're trying to make the Mouse "a director-driven studio," a mantra that has served Pixar well with a braintrust of talented helmers that includes Lasseter, Brad Bird ("The Incredibles"), Pete Docter ("Monsters, Inc.") and Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo"). Catmull repeatedly states that the days of studio exec interference are over. "It used to be that there were three levels of executives giving notes," he says of Disney Animation under its former prexy David Stainton. "Now John and the directors give notes to each other, but they're all suggestions and nothing is mandatory. We judge progress based on how well the team is working together." First Disney toon to get at least some of that treatment is "Meet the Robinsons," which comes out next month. Though it was partway through production when Catmull and Lasseter came on, one of their first tasks was a six-hour notes session involving them, Stanton, and the film's director, Steve Anderson, last March that resulted in the pic being delayed by three months to allow for changes. "At the time it felt like one of the hardest days of my entire life," says Anderson. "But what's amazing is that at the end, they put the control back in my hands and said it was up to me to figure out what I wanted to implement and how. John and Ed immediately stressed that the people responsible for the movie, whether it succeeds or fails, are the filmmakers." Though the pic was too far along for radical restructuring, Anderson ended up making major changes to the villain, the Bowler Hat Guy, after the Pixar brain trust told the director that they didn't find the character menacing. The next pic on Disney's slate, "American Dog," which will likely bow in late 2008, shows that even at a director-driven studio, filmmakers aren't sacrosanct. Helmer Chris Sanders, who also directed "Lilo and Stitch," recently left the studio over what insiders say were irresolvable creative differences with Lasseter on the pic's direction. Vet story artist Chris Williams is now directing. Similarly, this summer's Pixar release "Ratatouille" is the first film from that studio to see a director ankle after years of development. Jan Pinkava, who was set to make his feature debut after winning an Oscar for Pixar short "Geri's Game," was replaced in 2005 by Bird. Despite some tumult, Catmull and Lasseter are clearly believers in developing a brain trust of directors they charge with developing and overseeing projects at both studios. At Disney, they're not only relying on existing talent, but bringing on respected directors who left amid the studio's problems in the past year. First to come back were Ron Clements and John Musker, the team who directed "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Hercules" and "Treasure Planet." They're developing "The Frog Princess," which has a very good shot at becoming the first hand-drawn project released by Disney under its new regime. Catmull says there are several other Disney vets he hopes to bring back soon. Whatever combination of vets and new talent end up heading Disney's slate going forward, Catmull says his No. 1 goal, the one that will make him feel he made a difference in his new job, will be seeing them come together. "Ultimately you are judged by your films," he grants, "but the only way I know to make sure you make good films is to create a healthy and vibrant community of filmmakers." |
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ESPN The
Weekend line-up for 2007
WDW News - ESPN The Weekend Presented
by Dick's Sporting Goods -- the fourth annual ESPN
special event at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World
Resort -- will give sports fans the opportunity to see
many of their favorite athletes and ESPN personalities
up-close and personal March 2-4. |
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Disney to sell princess-themed wedding dresses Tampa Bay's 10 - Every little girl who ever dreamed of being a princess on her wedding day might soon have her chance. Walt Disney Company and bridal designer Kirstie Kelly have developed a line of gowns that pay homage to Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty The gowns will be high-fashion and very modern. Solutions Bridal in Winter Park will be the only store in Central Florida to carry the line, which will retail from about $1,000 to $3,000. Disney will initially offer 34 gowns, which will be available in Central Florida and Southern California in June and other bridal shops throughout North America and Japan after than. The line will be expanded to include bridesmaid dresses, flower-girl dresses and jewelry in October. |
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Disney Interactive Studios
Unveils Spectrobes Digital 50 - Disney Interactive Studios today unveiled its eagerly-awaited video game for the Nintendo DS, Spectrobes, during the world premiere at Disneyland's Tomorrowland. Special guest, Jason Dolley from Disney Channel's new hit show, "Cory in the House," and Disney Interactive Studios' producer from Japan, Kentaro Hisai, were joined by 60 local-area fourth graders from Gauer Elementary School during the event, which allowed the students and other park guests to see and play the completed version of Spectrobes for the first time. Spectrobes takes players on a captivating action-filled intergalactic journey and introduces innovative new gameplay features designed specifically for the Nintendo DS(TM) platform. The game features two junior Planetary Patrol officers named Rallen and Jeena who must save the galaxy by awakening, training and collecting prehistoric creatures known as Spectrobes. These creatures hold the key to defeating merciless enemies known as the Krawl.
Spectrobes fully utilizes aspects of the Nintendo DS, such as its revolutionary touch screen and microphone, through creative gameplay that includes excavating and awakening dormant creatures with the stylus and voice commands. The game will include a unique code input card system, local wireless gameplay, Nintendo Wi-Fi downloadable content and a compatible online community. Included with each game is a pack of four trading cards that have a code which is available by placing the card over the Nintendo DS touch screen and tapping numeric holes to unlock special items. Developed by Kyoto, Japan-based Jupiter Corporation, Spectrobes will be available worldwide on March 13, 2007. Spectrobes is rated E for Everyone by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and will have a suggested retail price of $29.99. |
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Prince of Persia Movie Should Be Disney's 2008 Hit
Playfuls - Not a year went by after Ubisoft resurrected
Jordan Mechner's classic Prince of Persia franchise, and
someone in Hollywood already jumped on the prospect of
making a film based on the Sands of Time game. This was
back in 2004, and that "someone" was - and still is -
Jerry Bruckheimer, whose credentials as film producer
are impressive to say the least. Not much has been heard
about the "Prince of Persia" movie since then, other
than it would be released by Disney, and that last year
Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("The Day After Tomorrow") was hired
to write the script. Sounds to me like someone is trying to find a long-term cash-printing replacement to the Pirates of the Carribean "trilogy" that ends this summer. Not that I have a problem with this, no sir! They could even re-cast Johnny Depp as the Prince, for all I care. That should be... interesting. |
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2007 Flower Power
Concerts WDW
News - Retro-hit makers like Petula Clark, Jose
Feliciano, Peter & Gordon and The Box Tops rev up the
Flower Power concert series April 5-June 3 at the 14th
annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival in
Walt Disney World Resort. |
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New media is
inhouse for Disney Variety - Amid all the talk among media moguls about combating piracy on YouTube, forming their own joint video venture, and acquiring new Web sites left and right, Disney has been conspicuously absent. That's no accident. More than any other conglom, the Mouse is focused intensely on its internal efforts, which far outstrip those of its competitors. Rather than buying the next MySpace, it made ABC.com the first network Web site to regularly stream episodes of its shows and has invested heavily in a huge relaunch of the Disney.com site focused on kids. The new site is based almost entirely around animation and video; it features popular Mouse brands like "Cars" and "Hannah Montana," as well as new ones it wants to promote such as "Meet the Robinsons." Disney also has one of the top sports Web sites in ESPN.com and a mobile business that stands out in the still-small cell phone content space. And unlike media congloms that have had to go from zero to 60 in the broadband world in the past couple of years, Disney kept its Internet Group active following the dot-com bust of 2001, when many others were retreating from the space. CEO Bob Iger made his priorities clear when the first major deal he made was to sell ABC and Disney Channel shows on iTunes. Now it's the only studio to sell feature films on iTunes on the same day they hit DVD. Those efforts were helped by the fact that Iger last year was negotiating with Apple topper Steve Jobs to buy Pixar, and now Jobs is the largest individual shareholder of Disney. But partnerships are more of a rarity at the Mouse than its competitors, and Web acquisitions have been almost nonexistent since its disastrous purchase of InfoSeek in the late '90s in order to form the failed Go.com portal. Instead, thanks in part to the strength of its brand names, Disney is putting its digital resources behind efforts to make its brand, from ESPN to "Pirates of the Caribbean" to "High School Musical," as vibrant and well-protected online as they are onscreen or in parks. "We are not on a go-it-alone path, but we have so much to work with in our own backyard and the ability, skills and consumer willingness to create unique branded experiences, which is of real strategic importance," says Paul Yanover, exec VP and managing director of Disney Online. |
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Friday
February 23, 2007 |
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Thursday February 22, 2007 |
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Disney Announces Expansion of Successful Cruise Business WDW News - The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) plans to expand its successful cruise business by adding two new ocean liners, President and CEO Bob Iger announced today. Scheduled to launch in 2011 and 2012, the ships will more than double the passenger capacity for Disney Cruise Line to meet the sustained demand for Disney’s family cruise vacations. The company signed a letter of intent with Meyer Werft shipyard, based in Papenburg, Germany, to negotiate a contract to build the 122,000-ton new cruise liners, which will be two decks taller than the existing 83,000-ton ships, the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder. Each ship will have 1,250 staterooms. Specific design plans and itineraries for the yet-unnamed ships are still in development and will be unveiled at a later date. “Since our maiden voyage in 1998, Disney Cruise Line has been a huge success for our guests and for our shareholders alike,” Iger said. “It has brought our unparalleled family vacation experience to the high seas, and has also generated high margins and double digit returns on invested capital. We’re excited to announce the expansion of our fleet, which is a logical next step in what is a real growth business for us.” Disney Cruise Line established the family market within the cruise industry when the business launched in 1998. The first two ships were purpose built for families to reconnect and recharge while creating vacation memories that will last a lifetime. From a theater featuring live musical spectaculars to a luxurious spa for adults and nearly an entire deck dedicated to children’s activities, the ships offer something for every member of the family. Disney Cruise Line continues to grow by attracting passengers who say they would not have cruised if it hadn’t been for the Disney brand.
Similar to the original Disney Cruise Line ships, the new ships will be a modern interpretation of classic ocean liners of the 1930s. Disney Imagineers drew their inspiration from the original trans-Atlantic ships that featured a dramatic black hull with two funnels and porthole windows. The profile of the ships, with its gentle curves at the stern combined with sleek angles at the bow, are reminiscent of the art deco designs of the era. To add whimsy to the classic design, the Disney ships have the same exterior color palette as Mickey Mouse with black, white, red and yellow. The new ships will feature elegant, detailed Disney scrollwork at the bow and will evoke images of the glamour of the golden age of cruising. Tom McAlpin, the President of Disney Cruise Line, said, “This is an exciting time for Disney Cruise Line, and we are looking forward to working with Meyer Werft to blend our innovation and creativity with their fine craftsmanship. Meyer Werft has a long tradition of building magnificent ships. We are confident that the result will be ships that take the immersive Disney family-focused cruise experience to an entirely new level.” New itineraries Disney Cruise Line, which traditionally offers 3-, 4- and 7-night Caribbean cruises, has also enjoyed strong demand for new itineraries. Trips to the Mediterranean and to the West Coast have recently set booking records within the company and booked 30-50 percent faster than the existing itineraries at higher prices. “With a larger fleet, we’ll have greater flexibility to offer a variety of itineraries,” Rasulo said. “This is a business that our guests love, and we’re pleased to give them more options to explore the world with Disney with two new ships.” To learn more about Disney Cruise Line or to book a vacation, guests can contact their travel agent, visit www.disneycruise.com or call Disney Cruise Line at (888) DCL-2500. Travel agents can call Disney Cruise Line at (888) 325-2500 or visit www.disneytravelagents.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are made on the basis of our views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of the time the statements are made and we do not undertake any obligation to update these statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Such differences may result from actions taken by the Company as well as from developments beyond the Company’s control; including adverse weather conditions or natural disasters; health concerns; international, political or military developments; and changes in domestic and global economic conditions, competitive conditions and consumer preferences. Additional factors are set forth in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2006 Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” |
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Sierra Boggess Cast as Ariel in Disney's The Little
Mermaid Broadway.com
- Denver native Sierra Boggess has won the coveted role
of Ariel in the upcoming stage production of The Little
Mermaid, based on the Disney film and Hans Christian
Andersen fairy tale. The new show will begin a
seven-week engagement at Denver's Ellie Caulkins Opera
House beginning July 26, and officially open on August
23, directed by Francesca Zambello. Additional casting
will be announced shortly.
"We are delighted to announce Sierra Boggess is our Ariel," Thomas Schumacher, head of Disney Theatrical Productions, said in a statement. "She is a thrilling young talent and I am certain audiences will discover that she was destined to play the beautiful young mermaid." |
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Bucs to
return to Disney in 2007 Orlando Sentinel - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be back at Disney's Wide World of Sports this summer, according to a statement released by Disney World. The Bucs announced Thursday that they have signed a contract to return to Disney for their 2007 training camp and to stay at the Celebration Hotel. It will be the sixth consecutive year that the Bucs will train at Disney. They were the first NFL team to do so. Admission to Disney's Wide World of Sports complex will be free to all fans coming out to see the Bucs at camp and will be open to the public. |
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M-I-Sea at Disney The Motley Fool - There will soon be four different ways to bid "bon voyage" on the high seas through Disney (NYSE: DIS). The family entertainment leader has placed an order for two new cruise ships, doubling its fleet in the fast-growing cruising industry. It's about time, really. "Bob Iger's main objective should be to plant new exclamation points in all of Disney's operating divisions," I wrote two years ago. "Even though the theme parks will get a boost from the chainwide Disneyland anniversary celebration this year, he needs to sprinkle around some pixie dust like it's brown sugar at a churro cart. Offer more e-tickets. Create more quality family attractions. Flesh out the two newest Disney domestic theme parks into full-day locations. Double the fleet of Disney's two cruise ships -- which are pure class -- and take advantage of the growing number of available ports." I nailed it? Well, not exactly. Everyone knows that Disney was itching to add to its cruising business. It was already stretching its Disney Magic and Disney Wonder thin by keeping one in Florida while the other went off on West Coast and European itineraries. Earlier this month, Disney noted that it was simply waiting for it to become economical to order the boats. However, with the perpetually tanking dollar making that an unlikely near-term possibility with European shipbuilders, it's great to see Disney finally smarten up and take the plunge. Don't be waiting with a bottle of champagne to christen the new boats anytime soon. They won't be ready to set sail until 2011 and 2012. That will give Disney plenty of time to figure out where to position itself. Despite industry-thumping load factors, Disney doesn't really need more than two ships out of its Port Canaveral home port. One of the older ships will probably be sent to California, with the other heading off to serve the Mediterranean and Asian markets before heading south for the winter. Disney's in a sweet spot here. Carnival's (NYSE: CCL) namesake line caters to thrifty travelers. NCL and Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) target older families with their rock walls and retirees with their upscale ships. Disney is able to command a market premium because it's Disney and it just knows what it's doing in this space. This morning's press release claims that its cruises generate a 95% "excellent or very good" satisfaction rating, and I believe it. I try to take the family on a Disney cruise every other year and the prospect of even larger ships has me counting the days until 2011. Yes, these new boats will be 47% larger than the original ships. With two more decks, one has to believe that Disney will start nibbling away at some of the latest features offered on RCL and NCL boats, like bowling alleys, skating rinks, and waterpark areas. We'll see what Disney does with a bigger easel. Even if you're a landlubber, there must be some way to get you out there. |
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The Walt Disney Company to Webcast Its Annual Meeting of
Shareholders WDW News - The annual meeting of shareholders of The Walt Disney Company, including remarks by management regarding the Company, will be available live via audio webcast at www.disney.com/investors beginning at 8:00 a.m. PST / 11:00 a.m. EST on March 8, 2007. A re-play will be provided through March 22, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. PDT. |
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Business
classes embark to Disney YourHub.com - Students from business classes recently signed up for a trip to Florida. There they will explore Epcot, Universal Studios and Disney World. Only 36 students were chosen, but all business classes were allowed to apply in a first come, first serve sign up. "This is an entertainment case study," said Renee Orwig, business teacher. "It's a culmination of several pre-trip meetings which prepares the kids to look at the theme park industry from a business perspective." Orwig will chaperone along with fellow business teacher Randi Sims and yearbook advisor and English teacher Amy McTague. Students had to prove they were worthy and could be trusted to be on time in Florida. Students meet with chaperones at 7 a.m. during STAR, and they were assigned a project to make an Epcot pavilion model. The Epcot project required teams of six students to create a scale model and present it to three judges at the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs. "The project took a lot of time," said junior Kara Graves. "We had to have props and it was a lot of writing. It was tough because the models had to be to scale." The project portrayed the student's devotion and reliability. If students did not show up on time for the STAR meetings or the Broadmoor day, they received a mark against them, a strike. After multiple strikes, the student was taken off the list of travelers. "If a student misses a meeting, a project, or is late, they won't be allowed to go," said Orwig. "We're trying to weed out the people who will slow us down out there (in Florida)." The cost of the trip was around $795, which included airfare, food and their hotel room. They will reside in the All Star Movies Resort on Disney property. The travelers will be in Florida from March 22-26. Students will tour Disney's underground and workings behind the parks. Also, they are allowed to explore and ride the rides. "More than half the trip we'll be in groups touring and being ordered around," said Graves. Each student will be in a group of six, and earn points competing against each other. Presentations and projects are solely for credit on the trip and will not be added to class grades. "The groups will gather information on the themes involved with the rides, their design, and the customer service involved," said Orwig. "They'll create a project and presentation. We're trying to focus on improving group presentation skills because those aren't addressed as often as they should be. It is work, but we're having fun in the process." |
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Seven Walt Disney World Resort area renovation projects
under way Hotel & Motel Management Magazine - The Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels a consortium of seven hotels in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., have millions of new reasons to visit in 2007, as all of the properties have completed or are in the process of completing major renovations. When finished, the properties' combined renovations will total more than $100 million in upgrades, ranging from new restaurants and additional meeting space to flat panel televisions and spa-quality amenities in guest rooms. “With major renovation projects recently completed or soon to take place, each of the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels has millions of new reasons for guests to visit in 2007,” said Bill Green, chairman of the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels’ marketing committee. “In addition to the new amenities and upgrades, our location inside the gates of the Walt Disney World Resort makes each of these unique hotels ideal for families and business travelers alike.” The following includes a complete list of property upgrades at the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels: The Doubletree Guest Suites, the only all-suite hotel inside the Walt Disney World Resort, has recently completed a $4 million renovation project. As part of the project, all guest suites have been upgraded with new high-end amenities including granite countertops in bathrooms, bedding from Sweet Dreams£ by Doubletree sleep experience, sofa beds, lighting and artwork, case goods and new tile, carpet and paint. The hotel also has a completely new fitness center featuring PRECOR USA equipment. The Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa recently wrapped up a $45 million renovation project, which included complete upgrades to their 1,012 rooms and 124 suites. Highlighting the project, each guest room and suite has been outfitted with numerous plush amenities, including an LG 32" flat-panel LCD television, Herman Miller Ergonomic chair, wired and wireless Wayport Internet access, Pacific Coast pillows and duvets, spa quality robes and new carpet, case goods and wall coverings. Beyond the individual room and suite upgrades, the resort added the Kook Sports Bar. The restaurant offers a full menu and bar and features 40 flat screen televisions for guests to enjoy their favorite sporting events. The Hilton located in the Walt Disney World Resort, which has completed more than $25 million in total renovations during the past three years, recently improved all 814 rooms and suites as well as common areas. Included in these upgrades are flat screen televisions in all rooms and suites, MP3 clock radios, Hilton Serenity Collection bedding and amenities and wired and wireless Internet access throughout the resort. Additionally, the 18,000 square foot Palm ballroom debuted in 2005, increasing the total meeting space at the resort to more than 74,000 square feet. Apart from the room and suite renovations, the Hilton significantly enhanced its dining options in late 2006 with the addition of Andiamo Italian Bistro & Grille as the property’s signature restaurant. In 2007, the hotel will debut a new, state-of-the-art health club, Hilton Fitness by PRECOR USA. Additionally, the Hilton reopened John T’s Lounge complete with an elegant, sleek bar and lounge offering a full menu and bar, featuring flat screen televisions for guests to enjoy their favorite events. The Royal Plaza completed a multi-million dollar renovation project in 2006 after sustaining damage from 2004’s Hurricane Charley. As part of the renovation project, all of the Royal Plaza’s 394 oversized guest rooms have been outfitted with new carpeting and drapes, over-stuffed pillow-top “Royal Beds” and premium linens. In addition, all rooms have been upgraded to include granite countertops and Bath & Body Works amenities, plus pull-out sleeper sofas and an in-room media package (featuring first-run movies, video games, high-speed Internet and more). Many of the hotel’s guest rooms have oversized tubs and will soon feature plasma televisions. Beyond guest room renovations, all public areas (including restaurants, lounges and ballrooms) now feature wireless Internet access, new artwork, carpeting, tile, wall coverings and furniture. New landscaping and repainting the exterior of the hotel from pink to warm honeysuckle was also part of the makeover. The Grosvenor Resort will begin a $20 million facelift in the second quarter of 2007. The project will touch nearly every inch of the hotel from new linens and pillows to new heating and air-conditioning systems. The Best Western Lake Buena Vista has recently added a garden gazebo adjacent to the pool area for special events and weddings. During 2007, the Best Western will also upgrade its guest rooms with new flat panel televisions, case goods and ceramic bathroom tile. Additionally, the property has added wireless Internet through the hotel. Other amenities include three onsite restaurants and lounges, two convenience/gift shops, guest service desk, children’s play area, a heated swimming pool and video game room. ABOUT THE DOWNTOWN DISNEY RESORT AREA HOTELS The Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels consist of the Best Western, Holiday Inn, Doubletree Guest Suites, Grosvenor Resort, The Hilton Resort, Royal Plaza and the Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa. With a total of 27 restaurants, more than 3,600 rooms and scores of amenities, the hotels offer a rate, space and menu to please every guest. Located on Disney property, the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels are within walking distance of some of the area's best shopping, dining and entertainment. Plus, guests staying at these “Official Walt Disney World” hotels receive special perks not available at hotels outside of the Disney Resort – such as the ability to purchase Disney tickets on the DowntownDisneyHotels.com Web site and at their hotel; complimentary transportation and guaranteed admission to all four Disney Theme Parks, both Disney water parks, Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island; advance tee times and discounts at all five Disney golf courses; priority seating arrangements for Disney dinner shows and theme park restaurants, and discounts at selected area restaurants, attractions and stores. |
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Get Pepped Up with "High School Musical" Spirit Disney Insider - Just like its spunky online couple, who keep following their dreams past all obstacles, "High School Musical" just won't quit. The Disney Channel original movie has become a genuine pop-culture phenomenon, with a chart-topping soundtrack album, legions of devoted fans, and even productions in genuine high schools with casts of genuine high-school students. A sequel is in the works, and "High School Musical" fever shows no signs of abating. But there was no way for a devoted fan to step into East High and "Getcha Head in the Game" -- until now. At Disney MGM Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, and Disney's California Adventure Theme Park in Anaheim, you can join the Pep Rally and show your Wildcats spirit. Everyone's invited to join in! We talked to Ray Coble, the entertainment producer responsible for bringing the Pep Rally to life. "We immerse our Guests in the look and feel of East High, except we're on the parade route," explains Ray. But although High School Musical Pep Rally parades through the Parks, it's far more than a spectator event. Guests can shoot hoops with the Wildcats (with lightweight inflatable basketballs, to keep bystanders from getting caught in the cross fire) and show their best dance-floor moves, just like those in the film, he tells us. "Our show is fully interactive --we invite our Guests to 'get their heads in the game' and take their best shot during one of our production numbers. We also encourage family and friends of all ages to join us on the parade route and learn some Wildcat moves during the all-out dance finale. Because, as everyone knows, we're all in this together!" And Ray stresses that-- although the show has been a hit with devoted "High School Musical" fans, anyone can catch the Wildcats spirit. "We see a lot of Guests who already know the choreography and the music, so it's clear that a lot of them have seen the film on Disney Channel or DVD and love it. But Park Guests who aren't aware of the movie also get pulled in and inspired by coming out on the parade route to learn the moves and join in the fun." And that's exactly what the Pep Rally's creators had hoped for: "We encourage everyone who wants to come out and join us for the grand finale! Moms, dads, boys, girls, friends -- come on out. It makes everyone want to show their team spirit. I know that sounds corny, but it's so true!" It's not just the Guests who are getting into the spirit. Ray says that the cast of 16 performers was chosen after an exacting search -- the men had to have basketball skills in addition to singing and dancing, and attended intensive training sessions to make dancing while dribbling look natural! But the payoff has been huge in terms of fun. "The cast is having a fantastic time," he tells us. "They have a wonderful time on the parade route, and they're thrilled to be part of an event that has been so popular with our Guests, as well as being a part of a new show." Ray's tips for getting the most out of the show are simple -- show up with plenty of time to spare to beat the crowds, and keep in mind that there are no "bad seats." And check the schedule online before you plan your visit -- the High School Musical Pep Rally plays only on selected days at both Parks. This is the Year of a Million Dreams at the Disney Resorts, and if your dream is to enter the high-energy world of "High School Musical," don't miss your chance to make it come true. |
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Rob Evan to
Join Disney's Tarzan Playbill.com - Broadway regular Rob Evan will step into the role of Kerchak in the Broadway production of Tarzan this spring. Playbill.com has learned that Evan will temporarily replace Tony winner Shuler Hensley, who created the role in the Disney musical, while Hensley appears in the Westport Country Playhouse's production of Kander and Ebb's All About Us. The latter will run April 10-28.
On Broadway Rob Evan has been seen in Little Shop of Horrors, Dance of the Vampires, Jekyll & Hyde and Les Misérables and Off-Broadway in Johnny Guitar and The Prince and the Pauper. Evans' tour credits include Les Miz, Jekyll & Hyde and Hello, Dolly! A former UGA football player, Evan has appeared on ABC-TV's "All My Children," and his recordings include "Jekyll & Hyde," "The Civil War," "Cyrano," "The Broadway Musicals of 1940," "The Prince and the Pauper" and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's third Christmas album. Tarzan — directed by Bob Crowley — plays Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it opened May, 10, 2006. The musical features a score by Phil Collins. Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang wrote the musical's book based on both the Disney film and the original Edgar Rice Burroughs story "Tarzan of the Apes." The creative team also includes Meryl Tankard (choreography), Pichón Baldinu (aerial design), Natasha Katz (lighting design), John Shivers (sound design), Paul Bogaev (music producer/vocal arrangements) and Doug Besterman (orchestrations). Tarzan, according to press notes, begins as "a shipwreck leaves an infant orphaned on the West African shore. The helpless baby is taken under the protection of a gorilla tribe and becomes part of their family. When he eventually encounters his first human — Jane Porter, a curious young explorer — both their worlds are transformed forever." The Richard Rodgers Theatre is located in Manhattan at 226 West 46th Street. Tickets are available by calling (212) 307-4100 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com. |
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Local bridal studio gets dress deal with Disney Gainesville Sun - Disney chose a bridal shop with roots in Gainesville to be the first to offer a line of bridal gowns based on Disney characters. Solutions Bridal Designer House in Winter Park will be the first store to carry 35 gown designs based on characters like Cinderella and Snow White as Disney enters the bridal market. Newell Fox opened the first Solutions Bridal in Gainesville at 6450 Archer Road in 2002 and opened the shop in Winter Park 14 months later. Fox quoted Disney officials as saying they get 83,000 requests a year for some type of fairy-tale wedding - "everything from pulling up in Cinderella's horse-drawn carriage to the low-end." Winter Park customers often buy a gown and "go right over to Disney and get married," he said. Disney officials declined to comment Wednesday, citing an exclusive news arrangement they have with the Wall Street Journal. But Fox said Disney contacted him after visiting the Winter Park shop. Solutions Bridal's Web site describes the shops as having "a New York loft feel with a Miami vibe and Southern hospitality." "It's very clean, very open, very modern and we carry the best names as far as bridal labels and bridal designers in the country," Fox said. Another store will also carry the new line near Disneyland in California. The Disney line will be introduced during the annual New York Bridal Market Week on April 15, Fox said. Disney will then host a "trunk show" staffed by Solutions Bridal at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort before the line is offered through the store in late April or early May. "I think it's a great opportunity for us," Fox said. "We're very honored to be selected by such an illustrious company like Disney." |
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Oscars Advertising AP - According to Nielsen Media Research, more than $83 million has been spent on domestic advertising for films nominated for the Academy Awards' Best Motion Picture category. The spending figures, compiled by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, a unit of Nielsen Media Research, tally the January 2006 through November 2006 period. The 79th Annual Academy Awards ceremony airs Feb. 25 on Walt Disney Corp.'s ABC network. Last year, the program enticed 39 million viewers. Films named to the coveted category were the beneficiaries of millions of advertising dollars, with Warner Bros.' bloody gang tale "The Departed" leading the way with about $40.3 million spent promoting that film alone. Warner Bros. is a division of Time Warner Inc. Viacom's Paramount unit spent about $16.4 million to promote multicultural epic "Babel," which also was nominated to the Best Motion Picture category. "The Queen," from Walt Disney Corp.'s Miramax Films, is a contender as well. The film, starring Helen Mirren, received about $14.6 million in promotional spending. Indie favorite "Little Miss Sunshine," which features a fictional family on a road trip to a kids' beauty pageant, garnered a Best Picture nod for News Corp., which spent about $11.9 million in ad dollars on the film. |
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Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Appear on Same
Stage University of Central Florida - During a rare appearance together, Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Orlando offered students at UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management the opportunity to ask questions related to the theme park industry during a forum Tuesday. Disney, SeaWorld and Universal highlighted a variety of careers within the theme parks, including lodging, catering, human resources, marketing and entertainment. Industry leaders shared information on part-time jobs and internship opportunities with their companies. Students and alumni who work at each of the three companies shared their success stories. The three companies appeared together because representatives from each park serve on the Rosen College Advisory Board. The board meets frequently to discuss curriculum and internship opportunities. The presentation started with a video that provided an overview of the theme park industry. SeaWorld took the stage first, as Gary Larsen, training coordinator for Park Operations and Internships, and John Mikolajczyk, Human Resources manager, described SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and the Busch Entertainment Corp. and outlined the program offerings for students. Rosen Universal Orlando Resort representatives Jenny Bordeaux, Park Operations training and internship supervisor; John Hallenbeck, general manager for Attraction Operations; and Jeff Polk, senior director of Park Operations, gave an overview of Universal and the internship and career paths that students could take. Polk said “internships are about getting your foot in the door, and they provide you with experiences that can provide satisfaction in the work you do each day. It gives you the opportunity to figure out what you really want to do.” Walt Disney World representatives Sandie Burr-Williams and Bonnie Clark, Human Resources recruiters, and Roger Stevens, Theme Park Operations manager, shared information on Disney’s history, internship offerings and hourly opportunities. Rosen The event ended with a panel of leaders from the
three theme parks, The forum helped |
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Wednesday February 21, 2007 |
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Cinderella and Me: A night in the castle
AP - A few days ago we told you about the The Associated Press paying $587 for one of it's reporters to stay at the Cinderella Castle Suite for one night. Here is the story from the man himself. I am in hundreds of strangers' vacation pictures — the bewildered guy in the sputtering truck at the front of the Walt Disney World parade. I'm sitting next to Daisy Duck and wearing mouse ears embroidered with my name, waving like an idiot and smiling like I just won a toaster.
That's the first place they put you when you've won an
overnight stay in the three-room suite inside the
Cinderella Castle. It's the crown jewel in Walt Disney
Co.'s "Year of a Million Dreams" sweepstakes, the
squeal-inducing fantasy of millions of little girls —
and my home for the next 17 hours.
Each day, Disney randomly chooses one family to spend the night in its new Cinderella Suite, but I got to stay there thanks to an exclusive invitation from Disney to The Associated Press. (Families stay there for free, and the suite cannot be rented, but The AP paid $587 for my stay, which was the estimated value for the overnight.) Staying in the suite also means I'm also grand marshal of the parade, the honorary guest in an event called the "Dreams Come True Dinner," created by Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, and the front-of-the-line guy at anything I want to ride. I am a tattooed 27-year-old guy with Buddy Holly glasses and no children. But I'm just not that into princesses. So to enhance my appreciation, I've adopted a family with two little girls (ages 5 and 2) to stay with me. I am tired of smiling and waving when the parade ends, and I wonder how the full-grown adults dressed up like Goofy and Minnie do it every single day. Besides that, what will become of all those pictures when they make it back to Iowa or Idaho or Kalamazoo? The Magic Kingdom is designed so you can see the castle from just about anywhere, and the walk to our suite seems longer than it should. We are led up a far pathway, past a side door and into a small room with stone walls. Our guide, dressed as a 17th century castle guy, swipes a card to call our elevator and takes us four stories up. The suite is brand new. The elevator is not, and moves eerily a few inches up and down when it's boarded or stopping. Each of us is given a swipe key with our name and "Cinderella Suite" written on it, and before long there are bite marks all over 2-year-old Emily's. Her sister Hannah has the honor of opening our door the first time. There are golden flecks in the floor and ornate squares on the ceiling, making the whole room feel gilded. The desk in the corner is a 17th century Dutch antique with velvet-lined shelves that Disney has retrofitted with a high-speed Internet hookup. There are two queen beds with headboards and a canopy and a fireplace that can't burn anything, but holds a fiberoptic display of flame and pixie dust. The television in the sitting room is a mirror that converts at the touch of a button, while the "royal bedchamber" TV changes from a framed electronic portrait of Cinderella. There is a television with at least five channels in foreign languages, an array of DVDs (all Disney, of course) and free calls to anywhere on an antique-looking phone. I get wild ideas about that last part until I remember I don't know anyone in Paris or Tokyo anyway. Perhaps most impressive is the bathroom, which features a 4-foot square Jacuzzi jet tub with a waterfall faucet, a separate shower that could comfortably fit three and a square toilet. Over the tub are three sparkling mosaics made of hand-cut Italian glass. All of these things I like — especially the mirror that turns into a TV. But I am disappointed in the minibar. It has juice boxes but no Jack Daniels. Much of the royal family's day — like the parade and dinner reservations — is preset, so there isn't a lot of time for rides. Emily isn't tall enough for the roller coasters, which basically leaves the other category — the ones where you sit in a car, ride along a track and watch animatronic pirates or fish or jungle people sing and dance. But because we're staying inside the park and Disney provides us a front-of-the-line escort, we've got to ride something. We end up on Peter Pan's Flight and then the ride whose name Disney refuses to capitalize, it's a small world. When it's over, the girls' father and I are yawning. It's only 5:30 p.m. but we've been on the go nonstop since the parade at 2 p.m. We have dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table, a place where the Fairy Godmother and other Disney characters weave between diners performing songs. It is expensive, but we aren't paying because it's included in our stay. Before dinner we finally meet Cinderella. In blond wig, powdered cheeks and lilting voice, she is convincing, and poses for pictures with us. She embraces my arm; I do not tell her I will later be naked in her bathtub. The restaurant serves everything from hot dogs to prime rib, but they also do not have booze. I found out the hard way after asking for a Sam Adams when I thought our waiter said they have "great beer." Root beer, it turns out, but there is no alcohol at the Magic Kingdom. I guess that explains our minibar. Godmother identifies our table as the lucky suite winners during dinner, and the rest of the restaurant offers rousing applause. Later, a woman stops by to ask us where we were when we found out when we won. I feel like a jerk telling her we didn't win anything, it's just that I'm a reporter. Our Disney escort is waiting sharply when we're done with dinner, which is starting to become a pattern. It almost feels like we're being watched. The pretty girl dressed like a stewardess who guides us around reports into a hand radio whenever "The Royal Family" is on the move. Who is she talking to? I have no idea but it's kind of creepy. Disney has left princess wands, crowns and Minnie Mouse dolls for the girls back at the suite. They have also turned back the covers on our beds, put out a tray of cookies and traded our barely used bathroom soap for an unopened bar. All of those are hotel luxuries I have never before experienced. We watch the fireworks show that closes the park through the suite's stained-glass windows, and everyone tries out the Jacuzzi. Separately. I haven't taken a bath since my mother was holding the wash rag, but I can't resist this thing. I turn on the jets for 20 minutes, thinking there's no way I'll be there longer than 10. They have all kinds of fancy soaps lining the side, and I use some shampoo that smells like weird plants and expensive salons. I finally pry myself out after 16 minutes, feeling like I'm hogging the bathroom. At about 9:30 p.m. I press 0 for the concierge and ask for an after-hours look outside the castle. You can't really leave the suite without asking, but it somehow doesn't feel like you're trapped. Someone is posted round-the-clock just to handle our requests. I do literally have the park to myself, but there's not much to do in it because the rides are closed. Everything remains lit up as if it were packed, and piped-in Disney music fills the air. Most striking is the number of trash cans I see — dozens within a few feet of one another — that I never recognized before. They blend in seamlessly when the whole place is cluttered with people. Back at the suite, Hannah has fallen asleep clutching her Minnie doll but little Emily somehow outlasts her usual 8 p.m. bedtime. She's wearing her tiara upside-down, spinning and banging her wand on the ground in between pleas for more cookies. She finally crashes at 10:30 in her parents' bed, and the grown-ups follow shortly thereafter. The bed and comforter are soft and thick, and I don't stay up long. I'm awakened by a 7:35 a.m. call I didn't ask for, to prepare for 9 a.m. breakfast reservations Disney made for us. I spend the next hour trying futilely to go back to sleep as dad plays with the girls in the sitting room. They don't want to leave the suite, and frankly neither do I. It's foggy outside when we emerge from the castle, and the park is already full of families just starting their day. I feel strangely like I don't belong — like I've stayed out all night and am watching people go to work the next morning. I already dread the lines I'll be waiting in. The mouse ears I can do without. |
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AP - While Western pirates are a familiar feature of Hollywood movies, Disney is introducing a Chinese sea bandit in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Capt. Sao Feng — played by Chow Yun-fat — is a key
figure in saving Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the
world of the dead in the third installment of the
megahit movie series, due out May 25.
Production photos show him with a bald head, long nails and long, thin mustache. He's wearing several layers of dark green armor and a jade ring on his pinky finger. Sao Feng is fictional, of course. But what were real Chinese pirates like? They wore bright silk costumes and ate the hearts of their enemies to strike fear in their subjects, historians say. In some parts of China, they overwhelmed the navy and served as a de facto government, regulating trade and collecting taxes. Much of the heritage of Chinese pirates traces back to Hong Kong. Lantau island, where modern jetliners take off today at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport, was the site of a major battle between pirates and the imperial Chinese navy in 1809. The city was such a pirate stronghold that navigational charts of that era referred to the Hong Kong group of islands as "Ladrones" — Portuguese for robbers. The outlying island of Cheung Chau has an idyllic fishing village — and a famous legend, the great pirate Zhang Baozai. While Zhang is believed to have operated in Hong Kong waters, no evidence suggests he was ever based in Cheung Chau. But that hasn't stopped the legend from growing. Tucked under a pile of large rocks along the southern coastline of Cheung Chau is a narrow passageway mythically believed to be one of Zhang's lairs. It's one of the island's major tourist attractions. Zhang's legend is enhanced by his colorful personal life. As a youngster, he was adopted by the pirate Zheng Yi and his wife Zheng Yisao and became his stepfather's boy lover. After Zheng Yi's death, Zhang married his stepmother and had a child with her. Zhang was said to have been tall and charismatic, according to research by the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. The museum's director, Stephen Davies, said Zhang was known to wear flamboyant purple or red silk gowns. Rank-and-file pirates dressed in duller colors faded by sunlight and washing and stained with tar, blood and waterproofing tung oil, according to Davies. A 19th century scroll depicting the 1809 battle off Lantau island shows pirates wearing loose blue frocks and white pants with blue socks pulled up to knee level. Zhang was religious, always worshipping the gods before taking action, and was keenly interested in Western weaponry. Pirates from Zhang's era fought with swords, pole guns and pike heads. The average Chinese pirate ship was smaller and not as well armed as its Western counterparts, historians say. They were mainly seized junks averaging about 40 feet long, with smaller junks deployed to navigate inland creeks. The junks carried fewer cannons than in the West because less-sophisticated Chinese ship building technology limited the vessels' ability to handle ammunition recoil. But battleships from the imperial government — often converted rice transport ships — were even smaller and more poorly armed. Zhang's fleet crushed the Chinese navy, more than halving its fleet from 165 ships to 72 in two battles in 1808 and 1809. |
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ABC may squeeze more from Grey's Anatomy with
spinoff
MarketWatch - Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS.N) television network ABC has decided to pursue a spinoff of its popular medical drama "Grey's Anatomy", the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. It will star Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, the sexy neonatal surgeon played by Kate Walsh, the paper said. A two-hour pilot of the show, which could add millions in additional advertising revenue, is likely to air in May, the paper said. An ABC spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment. |
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Disney
carefully cultivating 'HSM 2'
AP - Adults crowded the waiting room one recent winter day at Disney Channel's headquarters. Some paced nervously around the couches and chairs; a few checked watches. There was little talk. They were ready to audition for roles in this summer's TV movie "High School Musical 2," jobs that would make them instantly recognizable to millions of preteens. Behind a wooden doorway, Disney Channel executives were working to keep the magic after launching one of the biggest entertainment phenomena of 2006. "We have seen clearly what our audience responds to," said Gary Marsh, Disney Channel's entertainment president. "The challenge is not to fall into the trap of taking the easy way out and making the same kind of thing." It's not that people aren't watching closely. When Disney posted 10 questions on its Web site last month asking fans to influence what was in the "High School Musical" sequel - things like choosing which dessert Zeke buys for Sharpay and which "Hannah Montana" star should appear in the movie - more than 27 million votes were cast in 20 days. The success of "High School Musical" vaulted the Disney Channel into a tie with USA for top-rated cable channel in primetime last year. The movie's soundtrack sold nearly 4 million copies in the U.S. and was the year's top-selling compact disc, even though you probably never heard songs like "We're All in This Together" unless you were a kid around 12 years old or a parent. The 8.2 million people who watched the premiere of "Jump In!" in January - starring "High School Musical" heartthrob Corbin Bleu as an aspiring jump-rope champion - made it the top-rated TV movie premiere in the channel's history. No wonder a framed picture of Marsh leaping gleefully into the air with the "High School Musical" cast is hung outside his office. The Disney Channel's success wasn't sudden. It decided a decade ago to target 'tweens, realizing TV offered little to them. It was like the musical gulf between Barney and Eminem, said Rich Ross, the network's president. Girls came first. Disney recognized that competitors Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network had stronger appeal to boys, and the snarky tone of some of their hits could be countered with something parents and their children were more comfortable with. Through trial and error, including a failed mystery series, Disney determined that its audience preferred comedies to dramas. "Kids are going through a lot today, maybe more than ever," Ross said. "They want to smile and relax and laugh. Laughter is the antidote to a crazy world." Marsh believes there are five ingredients to successful Disney Channel productions. They should contain humor, optimism and depict kids in real-life situations. They should tell an age-appropriate emotional story with situations preteens can relate to. And they should have navigational tools for life that kids can learn from, such as how to deal with a bully. |
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Mills, Laila Ali to Test Dancing Skills
AP - Here's a bet there won't be any Beatles songs on the next "Dancing With the Stars." ABC announced Wednesday that Paul McCartney's estranged wife, Heather Mills, will be among the competitors. Mills will be the first contestant with an artificial limb to compete on the series, which returns for its fourth season March 19. She lost the leg in a motorcycle accident in 1993. Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno, boxer Laila Ali, former basketball star Clyde Drexler and actor Vincent Pastore, who played gangster Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos," are also in the cast. Jerry Springer, one of last season's competitors, teased ABC's "Good Morning America" audience before tossing out Mills' name. "She may be a sentimental favorite," said Springer, even though Mills has Yoko Ono-like favorability ratings among many Beatles fans. Her selection delivers a message that whatever challenges people face in life, they can dance, he said. Mills is an activist for animal rights and elimination of the use of land mines. "Dancing With the Stars" has proved to be a substantial hit for ABC, although this is the first time it will air when a season of Fox's "American Idol" is under way. ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., will air its dancing competition on Monday and Tuesday nights to avoid going head-to-head with "American Idol." Actor and former country star Billy Ray Cyrus, former 'N Sync member Joey Fatone, Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey, former "Entertainment Tonight" host Leeza Gibbons, model Paulina Porizkova and former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Ian Ziering round out the cast. |
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Orphans sue
Disney/ABC
Long Beach Press-Telegram - Five orphaned siblings whose "adoption" by a Santa Fe Springs family was featured on television are suing Disney/ABC International Television Inc. Charles, Michael, Charis, Joshua and Jeremiah Higgins are claiming they were cheated out of a home, gifts, cars and other items given to them by the producers of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and private donors. At a hearing on the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles County Court, attorneys for both sides argued over the diary entries of one of the children and whether the entries should be allowed as evidence in the suit. The five Higgins siblings lost both of their parents suddenly within 3 months of each other in 2004, leaving them orphaned and homeless. They were taken in by the Leomiti family of Santa Fe Springs, who attended the same church, the Norwalk Assembly of God Church. When "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" learned about their story, the show's producers built a home for the children and the Leomiti family. The siblings also were given gifts, cars, and a Disneyland vacation in February 2005, according to their lawsuit. But the rags-to-riches fairytale didn't last long. According to their suit, the Leomiti family evicted the siblings from the newly built home in April, after they had received thousands of dollars in donated items meant for the children, along with gifts from the show's producers. The siblings were left with nothing, according to their suit, and as a result were forced to separate, their attorneys said. The Leomiti family retained the house, cars, and at least $50,000 in cash donations given to the Higgins children independently of the show, according to court documents. The youngest sibling, Jeremiah, left behind his diary at the Leomiti house. Defense attorneys argued Tuesday that portions of it should be entered into evidence. "The questions are: Why did the Higgins' leave the house? Was it voluntarily, or were they kicked out?" said attorney Mark Block, who represents the defendants. The diary "explains issues between the brothers," he added. The diary might show that the Higgins children left voluntarily because of arguments, defense attorneys said. But Patrick Mesisca, an attorney for the siblings, said the diary should be kept private. Judge Paul Gutman ordered both sides to "meet and confer" about the issue and return to court on Feb. 27. A trial date in the suit has been set for May 14. The siblings, who were between the ages 14 and 21 at the time the show was taped, filed suit against Disney/ABC International Television Inc. and other companies who produced, distributed and marketed the show. Their court complaint states that the siblings were given a fraudulent contract and promised things they never received. The show's contract was made between the producers and the Leomiti family, even though the Higgins' traumatic story is what prompted producers to build the house, said Mesisca. "Within a few days after their father died - their mom had died just a couple months earlier - ABC contacted the Higgins," said Mesisca. "The memos in-house reflect that the decision was made to provide assistance to the kids, even before their father's funeral service." But the show's producers argue that, since their contract was solely with the Leomitis family, not the siblings, there was no fraud or obligation to the Higgins siblings. |
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Ex-captive’s mind turns from dark world to Disney
World
Kansas City Star - He worked a year in a war zone, spent two weeks in Dubai jails, was freed in the middle of an Arabian night and kicked out of the country. So, Danny Talbert, what’s next? “I’m going to Disney World,” he said with a grin. “In two weeks.” That was his goal two weeks ago: to take his mother and his sister and her family to Orlando, Fla., for their first family vacation. That was before his world shrunk into a bad movie plot complete with Iranian thugs who glowered at him, prison guards who snarled that he should learn Arabic, and strange food that made him fantasize about Taco Bell. “I was so lost,” he said Tuesday. “I couldn’t understand anything. Everything was in Arabic. Some Iranian dudes really didn’t like me. … There were guys ready to fight me over stupid stuff like your place in line. “I know I would have lost my mind if I had to stay there for months.” Two weeks ago, the 26-year-old Harrisonville man was walking through a scanner at the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai International Airport, on the second leg of his trip from Afghanistan to Kansas City, when an airport security guard noticed an object on his screen. There, sewn into Talbert’s carry-on, was an open pocket knife and a tiny amount of hashish. Talbert told the guards gathered around him that the contraband wasn’t his. He asked to be tested. They handed him a cup to urinate in. He thought the test would clear things up and he could catch the next flight home. Instead, authorities took him first to a detainment facility and then to a larger jail with 188 other men crowded into two rooms with bunk beds crowed together. He was ordered to change into a white jumpsuit. His head ached as he tried to understand the blur of Arabic phrases around him. He kept asking for the results of his urine test, thinking that once it showed he didn’t do drugs, he’d be freed. Six days passed before anyone from the U.S. Embassy visited him. Their five-minute visit did little to ease his fears. “They were bugged that I wanted to sign that privacy waiver (agreeing to release the results of his drug test), but I knew I had nothing to hide. I wanted it out there,” he said. “They kept telling me, ‘But then the media will know.’ I wanted them to know.” Finally, he said, authorities told him his urine had tested clean, but it didn’t seem to matter to them. In the detainment facility he found two Saudi men who spoke broken English. In the larger jail, only one man spoke English — a British citizen whose urine also tested negative for drugs. The two talked for hours, Talbert said, mostly about their views of the U.A.E. government. “We slept head to feet to get a little privacy,” Talbert said. “But I can tell you, (being in) the top bunk doesn’t block the heat … or the smell.” Food was a piece of flat bread for breakfast and one hard-boiled egg. Lunch was a piece of flat bread and a watery stew. Supper was the same. The water tasted really bad. “I kept wishing I could test it,” said Talbert, whose job in Afghanistan for Halliburton subsidiary KBR was purifying water. “Man, I just watched the paint peel on the walls,” he said. “I had no idea what was going on here.” Talbert’s sister, Tami Caldwell, and his best friend, Andrew Rives, worked nonstop for days and nights, calling authorities in Dubai and Washington, setting up fundraisers and talking to the media. Rives’ wife, Audrey, created pages on Facebook.com and MySpace .com to rally supporters. A duty officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dubai said it would probably be seven to eight weeks before Talbert would even face charges. His family contacted a lawyer who asked for $11,500 to fly to Dubai and connect with an Arabic attorney, who would need at least $8,000. Meanwhile, back in Dubai, Talbert was taken before the prosecutor for questioning. “They were hammering me, raking me through the coals like I was a drug addict. I really thought I was going to be in prison for a long time. And then something happened.” The next night, guards awakened Talbert. They yelled at him in Arabic and motioned for him to gather his things. “One guard could speak a little English and he was actually pretty cool,” Talbert said. “He told me, ‘You’re bouncing outta here.’ ” Talbert didn’t believe them at first. But then they produced his laptop and cameras, and put him in a car to the airport. “They kept asking me, ‘You can tell us now … You do hashish, don’t you … It was yours, wasn’t it?’ ” Talbert kept telling them no. One guard allowed him to call Caldwell back in Harrisonville. The call saved the family a lot of money — the attorney was two hours from boarding a plane to Dubai. At the Dubai airport, the guard who spoke English told Talbert he was being deported. Usually, prisoners are handcuffed all the way to the plane, the guard said. But for Talbert they would make an exception. Talbert wanted to carry as little as possible onto the plane, so he gave his old clothes to the guards, asking that they be given to some of the Indians and Pakistanis who seemed to be the poorest of the inmates. The guard who spoke English warned him about ever returning to Dubai. “I told him, ‘You can keep your country. I’ll never be back.’ ” He said he had no idea what led to his release. Talbert flew to Germany, Chicago and then Kansas City. Each time he passed through a security screening he felt nauseated, despite checking and rechecking his bag for any surprises. One surprise came from United Airlines, which put him in a first-class seat for the flight from Chicago. But it was the reception at Kansas City that surprised him the most, he said. He wasn’t expecting a throng of television camera crews and reporters, along with his family holding signs and balloons, and crying. For 30 minutes he told and retold his story to anyone who asked. And finally, it was time for some family time — at Taco Bell. On the ride there, Rives told him about the people in Harrisonville, the Sonic restaurant where Talbert had once worked that put up a sign for him, all the fundraising activities that had been planned. “It’s crazy this thing took off so much,” he said. “This is shocking to me.” Talbert took a bite from a taco and teased his mom, Jean, just as he had before. He was already joking with Caldwell, lamenting how she was going to rub it in, how much he owed her. “Yeah, I’m really looking forward to a Budweiser tonight,” he grinned. “… Disney World, too. “But man, I need to sleep first.” |
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Disney's Couture Wedding Collection by David Tutera
 WDW
News - Award-winning lifestyle expert and trendsetter
David Tutera has created Disney’s Couture Wedding
Collection by David Tutera -- a line of
celebrity-style weddings available exclusively at Walt
Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Offered
by Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings, each of four tailored
looks creates the perfect atmosphere for
the special day.Pictured is Cocktail Soiree, where chocolate browns and ice blues come together with chic lounge-style furniture and an illuminated bar to create a hip and contemporary party environment.  Pictured
is Simply Chic, featuring clean contemporary lines,
suspended white lanterns and the use of Lucite and
glass in a pure white party space with green accents
to create a fresh take on a modern look. |
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Annual
Passholder Discounts Announced
WDW News - Disney has released room-only discounts, at select resorts, for Annual Passholders vacationing between April 15 - June 2, 2007. Discounts include select Value Resorts for $74+, Moderate Resorts from $129+ and Deluxe Resorts from $164+ per night. The number of rooms offered at these rates is limited. Ask for code FDA. |
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NBC was almost
sold to Disney
LA Observed - Outgoing NBC head Bob Wright lays out the particulars in an interview with Fortune's Tim Arango. It was 1994 and as Wright explains it, he thought the deal was pretty much done. But then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner slept on the proposed sale and changed his mind the next morning. (Disney eventually got ABC.) On another occasion NBC was almost sold to Paramount Pictures, but Paramount head Martin Davis wound up selling the studio to Viacom instead. As for NBC parent GE deciding not to go after DreamWorks - much to the chagrin of DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen - Wright said "it was a disappointment to me." There was investor pushback at GE, because they just saw rich guys getting richer who were going to sell us poor guys in suits a very expensive property that probably wouldn't work. But having said that, we went ahead and tried to do it. We reached an agreement relatively quickly with the DreamWorks principals, with Geffen being the principal person in the negotiating. The problem was, there was still hesitation here at GE. We had to hold off on entering into an agreement. I think David Geffen thought this was some sort of scheme to wear them down. So I gave them the right to go and negotiate freely with other parties. By the way, Wright said he wouldn't be surprised if NBC Universal is sold off in the next three to five years, possibly to Time Warner. |
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ABC Keeps
'Housewives' Honcho
Variety - In what figures to be one of the biggest TV deals of the year, "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry has inked a four-year, eight-figure overall pact with ABC Television Studio. Deal, which keeps Cherry under wraps until May 2011, ensures creative continuity on "DH" through the skein's seventh season. Studio has also quietly negotiated deals with all key members of the cast that will keep them on the hit skein for at least as long as Cherry is attached. Neither the studio nor Cherry's reps would comment on financial particulars. Still, it's believed the pact exceeds the rich $15 million, 3½-year deal "Nip/Tuck" creator Ryan Murphy inked with three News Corp. units last week. Cherry said he has no plans to develop projects beyond "DH," though if he does, it'll be for ABC Television Studio (ATS). Instead, the scribe wants to focus on his current show. "The studio and the network and I all feel it's best for me to stay glued to the set," he told Daily Variety. "I've got my ship, and I'm gonna run it." And, if Cherry gets his way, the S.S. Wisteria Lane will complete its voyage in 2011 -- the same time his new deal wraps. "I think that, at the end of my deal, and after seven seasons, it will be a good time to call it quits," he said. "I don't want anyone else to run the show, and I don't want us to fade away." Cherry joked that ATS execs "smile and nod" when he mentions his plan, which echoes recent end-date scenarios set out by the brain trust behind another ATS skein, "Lost." "But I'm serious in my intent to end it after seven years," Cherry said. "I don't want to overstay my welcome." ATS prexy Mark Pedowitz said Cherry's plans for "Desperate Housewives" don't come as a surprise to him. "He has always said he sees this as a seven-year show," Pedowitz said. "But nobody's made any determinations that it will end after seven years. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Pedowitz said reupping Cherry was an easy deal to make. "Desperate Housewives" is an "enormous asset for this company," he said. "And it's his creation and vision. It would be silly to do something without Marc Cherry involved." Pedowitz also praised Cherry for steering "Desperate Housewives" back on track after some creative hurdles during the show's second season. "He's shown himself to be a very capable showrunner," Pedowitz said. While Cherry's reps received inquiries about the scribe's availability, there was never any serious danger that he would jump ship. "The only thing hard about the choice is that this is the most exhaustive thing I've ever done," Cherry said. "The only thing harder would be letting someone else run the show. And they certainly made it worth my while, so it was easy to sign on the dotted line." With a potential end date in mind, Cherry is also free to begin planning the next stage of his career. "After I've completed 'Desperate Housewives,' I'm packing my bags, moving to New York, and I'm going to start writing books for Broadway musicals," the singing waiter-turned-scribe said. Don't expect "Desperate Housewives: The Musical," however. "I can't emphasize this enough: God, no," he said when asked about such an idea. "It will not take place in suburbia." Cherry's deal was brokered by his reps at Paradigm and attorneys Jon Moonves and Abel Lezcano. |
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Tuesday February 20, 2007 |
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Surf's Up Again in March at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon WDW News - The waves begin curling toward the beach again at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park March 18 -- just in time for spring break. And with the park's reopening following refurbishment, Walt Disney World Resort is rolling out a new money-saving Florida Resident Water Park After 2 p.m. Annual Pass. The pass provides admission to both Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park and Disney's Blizzard Beach water park after 2 p.m. every day the water parks are open for an entire year -- for $59 plus tax (ages 10/up) and $47.20 plus tax (ages 3-9). But that's just one of the ways Florida residents can save on splashing-good fun at Walt Disney World Resort. Here are two more ways Floridians can save compared to the price of a one-day, one-water park ticket (which costs $39 and $33 depending upon the guest's age): Water Park Annual Pass -- If a guest wants to regularly hit the slides, waves and other fun as soon as the gates open at Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard beach, then the Water Park Annual Pass is the ticket. At $99.95 plus tax (ages 10/up) or $80.50 plus tax (ages 3-9), a guest begins to save relative to the price of buying one-day tickets on just the third visit. And with the annual pass, the guest can visit either park -- or both -- whenever they are open during regular operating hours for an entire year. Water Park Fun & More add-on (to a Magic Your Way ticket) -- When Floridians purchase a Disney theme park Magic Your Way ticket (which is discounted for Floridians), they can add the Water Park Fun & More option for $25 (50 percent off the general price) and enjoy three or more visits to the water parks (the number of water park visits depends upon the number of days of the theme park base ticket purchased). For instance, a guest could purchase a one-day Magic Your Way ticket (Florida resident price: $60.30) and add Water Park Fun & More ($25), providing Disney land-and-sand fun on four days for $85.30. Along with a theme park visit, the guest could make a total of three visits to their choice of Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, DisneyQuest, Disney's Wide World of Sports and Downtown Disney Pleasure Island. (A better value yet for Floridians is the 3-Day Play Pass with the Water Park Fun & More add-on, providing three theme park admissions and three Water Park Fun & More admissions for $145, and the guest has 180 days from first use -- instead of 14 days -- to use all the admissions.) For more information or to purchase tickets, guests can call 407/934-7639. Guests can also purchase the water park annual passes at Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach ticket windows. To purchase the After 2 p.m. pass or Florida Resident Magic Your Way tickets, guests must show a valid Florida photo ID. |
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SFgate - Victoria Beckham was furious with
photographers who ruined her trip to Disneyland by
swarming her and her two sons during a family day out.
The former Spice Girl has said her young sons were excited to be moving to Los Angeles so they could be closer to Disneyland. Beckham and her two oldest sons, Brooklyn and Romeo, were completely overrun by photographers on Friday while they were trying to tour the world-famous theme park. The photographers, including one with festive Tigger ears, made it nearly impossible for Beckham to walk through the park with her children. The media crush infuriated Beckham who lashed out at one snapper yelling, "Stop that! Can you not take a picture?" According to TMZ.com, a friend had to hold Beckham back from becoming physical with the photographer. |
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The Prestige on DVD
 Buena
Vista Home Entertainment - Touchstone Home
Entertainment announces the DVD debut of the Academy
Award Nominated (Achievement in Art Direction and
Achievement in Cinematography), electrifying thriller,
The Prestige—on DVD February 20. From acclaimed
director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins,
Insomnia) and starring a powerhouse cast including
Golden Globe Nominee Hugh Jackman (Kate and Leopold),
Christian Bale (Batman Begins, American Psycho),
four-time Golden Globe Nominee Scarlett Johansson
(Lost in Translation, Match Point, A Love Song for
Bobby Long, Girl with a Pearl Earring) and the
legendary two-time Academy Award Winner Michael Caine
(Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules and
Hannah and Her Sisters), The Prestige is the
mysterious story of two magicians in Victorian-era
London whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long
battle for supremacy filled with obsession, deceit and
jealousy with astonishing twists and deadly
consequences.
Loaded with stunning bonus features, this riveting DVD begs audiences to "watch very closely." Bonus features include the insightful The Director's Notebook: The Cinematic Sleight of Hand of Christopher Nolan, a multi-part behind-the scenes look at all aspects of the creation of the film, and The Art of the Prestige interactive gallery. Available on February 20, 2007, The Prestige is priced at U.S. $29.99 (SRP) and Canada $37.99 (SRP) from Touchstone Home Entertainment. |
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Disney Cruise Caters to Children of All Ages WRAL.com - When Disney sets sail, adults can have just as much fun as children. Disney cruises from Port Canaveral, Fla., offer three-, four-, five- and seven night packages to the Caribbean, with most featuring at least one stop at Disney's private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay. Cruising in January is a pleasant escape from winter in the Carolinas. Days on the ship are warm, but you better pack a sweater for the evenings, which can be cool, especially if there is a breeze.  And
you better pack some intestinal fortitude to take a dip.
It may be the Bahamas, but it's still winter and water
temperatures in Nassau and on Castaway Cay are downright
chilly.Another must-pack item: your passports. Disney issues everyone a "Key to the World" card that allows you entry and exit from the ship as well as the ability to charge for everything onboard, from merchandise to specialty drinks. But once you're off the ship, you need a passport to get around the Bahamas--and to get through U.S. Customs at the end of the trip. Nassau is over-commercialized and can easily be skipped during the cruise. Instead, when the ship docks, head directly to the Atlantis Hotel. There, you can spend time relaxing on the hotel's beach and playing in both the water park and the casino. The aquarium at Atlantis is a must-see. They have a huge variety of fish, and the aquarium meanders across the hotel property, going from open-water exhibits to glass walk-through tunnels. Castaway Cay offers shuttles to different areas, including adults-only beaches, teen beaches and children's beaches. Each offers music, a beach barbecue and water sports. The island also features the actual pirate ship from Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. For adults looking for a night out, make sure to reserve a table at Palo for a quiet, romantic dinner. These reservations fill up quickly, so it's best to make a reservation online before the cruise begins. For those with children, make sure to bring a pen and some paper to get autographs from Disney characters, which is the new "biggest thing" for children. The cruise ship also offers babysitting (for a fee) for children 3 and under, while the Castaway Club is geared for children ages 4 to 12. The club has games, activities and visits from the Disney characters, and the staff works hard to keep children busy and entertained. As with all things Disney, a Disney cruise is very family-friendly. But unlike much of the theme-park action, a cruise offers activities for everyone, including some of the best food, entertainment and nightlife for adults and children alike. |
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Virgin and
Buena Vista Ink HD Deal
DVD-Recordables - Virgin Media and Disney's Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) have announced a deal, that will provide content for Virgin's TV-on-demand service in the UK. The deal includes hit U.S. shows including Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds and Alias. The deal also includes high definition versions of all the shows except Extreme Makeover UK. "We're strengthening our TV-on-demand and HDTV offerings with this major new agreement. Our customers already love the additional choice and control offered by on-demand and now we're focused on creating a must see menu of entertainment." Steve Burch, president and CEO of Virgin Media, said. Virgin expects to strike several more major content deals soon, bringing more HD content to UK customers. "Flexibility and choice are becoming increasingly important factors to consumers of TV entertainment, so we're pleased to be working to offer this strong selection of our series to Virgin Media's customers across the UK, in convenient ways." Jim Brehm, senior vice president, Sales, BVITV EMEA, said. |
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Disney's 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Booty to Include Two
Discs, BD-Java Features High-Def DVD Digest - In a pair of Blu-ray firsts for Disney, the studio will unleash their premiere two-disc and BD-Java-enhanced titles when it brings the blockbuster 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films to the format this spring. As first announced late last month, the studio is set to debut 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' on Blu-ray on May 22, just in time for the theatrical premiere of the third film in the series, 'At World's End.'
Each title will be a "75GB" release, aka a BD-50 dual-layer disc for the movie, and an extra BD-25 single-layer disc with additional extras. Tech specs include the usual 1080p video transfers and uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround tracks. Extras will replicate the existing, feature-packed standard-def DVD versions. And exclusive to the Blu-ray releases will be two BD-Java bonuses. 'The Curse of the Black Pearl' will include "Scoundrels of the Sea," an interactive in-movie feature that presents facts on-screen about the legends and lore of pirates. 'Dead Man's Chest' will include an "exciting" new Java feature called "Liar's Dice," a single-player game shot in live-action HD video. Disney has set a $34.95 suggested list price for each of the 'Pirates' flicks. Full specs for both titles have now been added to our Blu-ray Release Schedule under May 22. We've also set up dedicated threads for both titles in our Forums area -- click the following links to discuss 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' Blu-ray release and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' Blu-ray release. |
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Gadget's gadget: Steamboat Willie cell phone The
Orange County Register - The limited-edition Steamboat
Willie cell phone is still available to Disney Mobile
users.
Only 2,006 were made. Each is numbered and packaged in a special box and includes a collectible pin. The phone is $299 and a $100 rebate is available. Disney Mobile service is extra. Details at disneymobile.com. |
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Disney Mobile gives new meaning to 'Family Plan' OCRegister - Purpose: The kids want a cell phone but are they too young? With Disney Mobile, parents can control usage and track the whereabouts of phone's (i.e. the kid's) location. The lowdown: The idea that someone is watching me through my cell phone is creepy. But if I was a kid and that someone was my parents, I'm sure my parents would have loved that. Disney Mobile, which launched last June, lets parents do just that. It is one of those Mobile Virtual Network Operators. MVNOs turn popular brands into cell phone services that runs on a more traditional cellular networks. Disney, for example, uses Sprint. But Disney added parental controls and tracking services. The phones we tested, a set of red LG's DM-L200, are solid pieces of hardware (Disney also offers two phones from Pantech in Cypress.) The LGs include a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth, speaker phone and Web access. Disney, of course, throws in its own wallpapers and ring tones. But what makes the service unique is the family plan, are the parental perks: Family Monitor, to track and limit spending; Family Locator, to get an approximate address of the location of the kid's phone plus a map; Family Alert!, to send priority messages to family members; and Call Control, where you set limits on who or when the child's phone can be used. And, of course, it includes the usual perk of unlimited calls to any phone on the same bill (up to nine). My colleague Nancy Luna helped me test the phones with her family. Her 6-year-old daughter Hannah loved it. Hannah figured out how to use the video camera and flash without any help. Nancy, perhaps, loved the family features even more. She set Hannah's phone to always be able to call either parent, but only allow calls to extended family before 6 p.m. Because Hannah is so young, her mom programmed numbers only to call grandparents and cousins on her cell phone. "She's chatty, but not that social to be calling school friends, quite yet," Nancy said. If Hannah, for example, tried to call Grandma Luna after bedtime, she got a voice recording that said, "We are unable to complete your call at this time…" The Family Locator feature was simple to use. Access it from the phone's menu then type in your pass code and pick which kid's phone to locate. Disney's service got the location to within 20 yards. You can use the service right on the cell phone or on the web. It uses a mix of the phone's built-in GPS chip and cell phone towers estimation. But don't go overboard. Disney's family plan includes five requests per month and then it costs $0.49 per search or $12.99 per month for unlimited use. Also, this feature doesn't work if the cell phone isn't on. All the controls can be set online with a password at the Disney Mobile Web site. Just keep that password secret or else your kid could be configuring his own settings. Verdict: Hannah figured out the phone's features within minutes – and she's only 6. But after a few weeks, she forgot about it, like any new toy, Nancy said. Hannah is too young but maybe in five years, this phone service would be something Nancy's family must consider. A family of four can get a decent package for about $100. There's also an individual child plan, that starts with one phone and 200 minutes for $24.99. A parent can still configure all features online. However, if you're a texting fiend ($0.10 per message) or travel a lot outside of your coverage area (roaming is $0.40 per minute), the fees will add up. If you have tweens and teens, Disney Mobile needs to be considered, says Nancy. Sure, the kids will lament the restrictions but at least they'll get a cell phone they can call their own. Price: Family plans start at $59.99 for 450 minutes to $249.99 for 4,500 minutes. This includes 2 phones and free night and weekend minutes (after 9 p.m. during the week). Additional lines are $9.99 a month. Phones are extra, with the red LGs we reviewed currently at $49 after $150 in rebates. Best: Easy-to-use parental controls Worst: Locator doesn't work if phone is turned off, excess fees for overage, roaming and messaging. More info: DisneyMobile.com |
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Scholarships
to Disney Institute
Sun-Times News - National City Bank will sponsor 25 partial scholarships to Disney Institute's professional development program, "The Disney Keys to Excellence," which will be presented March 15 at the University Center of Lake County, 1200 University Center Drive on the College of Lake County campus. Sponsored locally by the College of Lake County's Business and Industry Services department and the University Center of Lake County, the full-day event will give area business professionals a chance to discover innovative Disney business strategies that they can easily implement in their own organizations, focusing on leadership, management, loyalty and service. To be eligible for the $100 scholarships, applicants must own or be employed by a business that has fewer than 50 employees. Scholarship applications will be accepted through March 2, and scholarship recipients will be notified by March 5. The remaining program balance is due by March 12. To apply, applicants should e-mail the following information to smallbusiness@clcillinois.edu : full name, business name, industry, address, phone number, e-mail address and the number of employees. Applicants should also include a paragraph (200-word limit) defining their need for the scholarship and how attending this program will enhance the growth of the company. Only one scholarship will be granted per company. |
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Learning the secrets of the Disney smile Scotsman, UK - An Edinburgh hotel is attempting to introduce a little American-style service with a smile. The Point Hotel is sending one of its staff to the Disney Institute, in Florida, to learn some tricks of the US hospitality trade. Stephen McLay, 27, food and beverage manager, said he wants to help get rid of the "dour" image of Scottish hotels. He said: "The first thing which springs to mind when you think about Disneyland is people smiling and, although Edinburgh is a long way from Florida, it would be great if we could be as cheerful. "Scottish hospitality has a reputation for being very authentic, but sometimes a little dour. I would not want staff to lose that authentic touch, but it would be great to be able to walk in and instantly put a smile on people's faces every morning. "The Americans have a reputation for service with a smile and The Disney Institute is renowned for its hospitality expertise. They have thousands of staff and motivating them all is a major task. I look after 20 to 30 staff but want them all to be happy and positive. "While there is a lot we can learn from the Americans, we would not want to turn people into smiling robots and there are some aspects which would not work so well over here." |
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From Disney
World to Mecca World PalmBeachPost - When it comes to finding the right place for major attractions, Palm Beach County has been on target about as often as a blind quarterback. The county's 18-month odyssey to build The Scripps Research Institute turned the most positive economic news in decades into a public relations nightmare. It took years for the county to find the right place for a spring-training baseball stadium, during which one team, the Atlanta Braves, fled in disgust. The fight over a convention center saw 10 years of false starts before landing in downtown West Palm Beach. The Kravis Center, across the street from the convention center, originally was designed to go on Palm Beach Community College's main campus in suburban Lake Worth. In the 1960s, Walt Disney wanted to build Disney World off PGA Boulevard west of Florida's Turnpike but couldn't make a deal with irascible millionaire John D. MacArthur. As a result, Palm Beach County still has vacant land west of Palm Beach Gardens, including Mecca Farms. The lack of a major theme park and the availability of Mecca Farms combined this month in the suggestion to turn the foiled Scripps site into a theme-park resort. The proposal from three investors, including an 85-year-old who built the old Pirates World theme park in Dania Beach, calls for nothing less than an amusement park, golf course, movie theater, shops, restaurants and 15 - count 'em - 15 hotels on the remote 2,000-acre site. That's sure to get a warm reception from the neighbors and environmentalists who filed lawsuits to stop the Scripps biotech "resort" at the former citrus grove on the edge of the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area. But the opponents shouldn't be too quick to reject the possibilities invited by the theme park. No, they probably wouldn't go for a ride called Nature World that would shoot thrill-seekers across a waterway into the wilds of the Corbett, where they'd be forced to fend off outraged environmentalists to make their way back. And there's really no way the water flume ride would end in a spectacular $14 million marina where visitors could tour County Commissioner Warren Newell's 38-foot fishing boat. It would be hard to expect, also, that the investors would set aside space for a federal prison so that Palm Beach County politicians who spent so much of their free time debating Mecca Farms could spend their years of involuntary contemplation viewing it through steel bars. As fitting as that would be, the best the opponents realistically could expect would be a daily appearance at the dunk tank by former Commissioner Tony Masilotti. That sort of approach, however, at least would give Mecca World the unmistakably local color that makes theme parks unforgettable. Even Pirates World, which lasted a mere eight years, touched enough people to have a reunion last year, 30 years after it closed. Fans gathered to recall rock concerts by groups such as Pink Floyd and rides such as the Crows Nest observation tower, recovered from the 1964 New York World's Fair, the log flume and the steeplechase, in which, according to the Web site lostparks.com, riders straddled molded horses and hung on to a metal "bit" as their horse traversed an undulating track. That ride, come to think of it, would be a fine way to memorialize the politician-developer relationship in Palm Beach County, now that the days of developers leading politicians around by the bit are over thanks to West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel's new ethics code. So, to the octogenarians who wish to build Mecca World, I say, what Palm Beach County needs now is a full-fledged theme-park site competition. The investors need to contact Riviera Beach and Lake Worth, which have been looking for ways to rebuild their beachfronts for years. They can't rule out the Everglades Agricultural Area. That vast land of muck and sugar cane is a favorite prospect for developers - and some politicians. Site competition always brings out the best in the locals. It's clear that these investors, like county commissioners, have no idea what they're doing. |
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Monday February 19, 2007 |
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Disney ready to release new Little Einsteins DVD Monsters and Critics.com - Calling all explorers! Disney’s Little Einsteins, the preschool hit from the Disney Channel, embarks on more fun and adventure with Little Einsteins - The Legend Of the Gold Pyramid - available on Disney DVD February 27th for the suggested retail price of $19.99. In this adventure, the team finds a golden harp and a treasure map, which leads them to Egypt in search of the Golden Pyramid and the secrets that lay inside.
Created specifically for preschoolers, Disney’s Little Einsteins was developed with child development experts and musicians. Preschoolers are encouraged to “make music every day” and shout “We’ve Got A Mission!” The Little Einsteins interactive series airs on Disney Channel in the Playhouse Disney block. Children are encouraged to listen, respond, collaborate with and create their own music, often right on the spot. They also experience fine works of art by the world’s best artists as never before. The lovable and diverse cast of Little Einsteins – Leo, June, Quincy, Annie and Rocket – each bring a special talent to the group of spirited adventurers. Leo is six years old, loves music, and is the conductor of the group. Annie is four years old and Leo’s sister. She loves to sing and can make up a song on the spot. She’s also the only one who can fly Rocket all by herself. Quincy is an instrument virtuoso who plays any instrument he gets his hands on. He’s five years old and especially likes the trumpet and violin. And he tells great jokes. June is six years old and loves dancing. Her leaps, spins and twirls help change the direction of each mission. Rocket is the best friend of all four children. He has lots of gadgets, and can transform himself into anything imaginable. Included on the DVD are: “The Legend Of the Gold Pyramid” – Quincy finds a harp that plays a song that can open up anything. The harp has a picture of a golden pyramid on it. The team makes it their mission to find out who lives inside the golden pyramid. It’s off to Egypt, as the team and Rocket go through the Egyptian desert, take a trip down the Nile and visit the Sphinx to find the golden pyramid. Once they open the pyramid with the golden harp, the team gets to have a dance party with the ancient hieroglyphics inside. “The Dragon Kite” – While June practices her dancing in the backyard, she is surprised when a Little Dragon Kite comes to visit her. When she discovers that the Little Dragon Kite needs her help because some of her friends went missing, June gets her friends together and they head off to China. They need to find three Blue Dragon kites, two Yellow Dragon Kites and one Orange Emperor Dragon kite – all in time for the big Dragon Kite Parade. This high-flying DVD includes a bonus,
never-before-seen Little Einsteins episode “Annie and
the Little Toy Plane” and a new, interactive storybook
all ages will enjoy. |
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Disney Debuts
Honeymoon Registry Here's how it works. After a couple books their honeymoon vacation at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels, aboard a Disney Cruise Line ship or at a Disney Vacation Club Resort, they may use their confirmation number to create a Honeymoon Registry account online at www.disneyhoneymoonregistry.com. The couple then browses the Web site, selecting products and services to add to their "wish list" (spa treatments, recreational activities, romantic dinners, etc.), and they share their registry with friends and family. Those friends and family members may contribute monetary gifts toward those items in the registry, and the couple will receive a special Disney Gift Card for Honeymoons containing the gifted funds. The couple then uses the Disney Gift Card to pay for their expenses both before and during their honeymoon. Read more about Disney's Honeymoon Registry in the summer edition of Disney's Vacation Magic magazine, which will begin mailing in May. |
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Atlanta Braves Spring Training Tickets on Sale WDW News - Through the month of March, the Atlanta Braves are at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex for their 10th Major League Baseball Spring Training session, including a 15-game home schedule against 10 major league opponents. Individual-game tickets can be purchased at the Disney's Wide World of Sports box office or through Ticketmaster at 407/839-3900. Prices range from $14 (general admission lawn seats) to $22.50 (lower reserved). |
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Disney's
Cory puts a spin on Raven SouthFlorida.com - There is nothing for grown-ups in Cory in the House, the Disney Channel's new tween sitcom. There are no clever double-entendres. No hidden meanings lurk beneath the boisterous banter of 15-year-old Cory Baxter (Kyle Massey) and his friends at a Washington prep school. Even though Cory is set in the White House, where the hero's father (Rondell Sheridan) is the president's chef, no political messages issue from anyone's mouth, least of all that of President Martinez (John D'Aquino), a genial but clueless commander in chief. In one episode, a sleep-starved Chef Baxter finds himself in the Lincoln Bedroom in the middle of the day, snoozing next to the jet-lagged president. They hear a horde of tourists outside the door. "Don't you get it?" says the president. "If they find us here they'll think we're lazy!" Cory doesn't wink, or pander or try to be anything beyond a loud, hyperkinetic farce with likable characters, wholesome content and a few life lessons between spit-takes and pratfalls. That's the formula that made That's So Raven the Disney Channel's highest-rated series during its four-year run. (Raven ended in January when the eponymous heroine went to college and her brother and father moved to Washington.) Massey was a strong co-star on Raven, and he's more than capable of carrying this show. Cory is not The West Wing: The Teen Years. It's a kids'-eye view of a certain slice of unreality, and as such it succeeds well enough. In one way, Cory is more realistic than almost everything else on television. Like his sitcom sister Raven, Massey is on the chunky side, and apparently undisturbed by it. Poundage is simply part of the landscape. The show's visuals here constitute a pretty healthy life lesson all by themselves, never mind the verbiage. Program: Cory in the House' Airs: 8:30 p.m. Fridays. Premiere episode encores at 4:30 and 7 p.m. today, on Disney Channel. |
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Sunday February 18, 2007 |
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ESPN The Weekend
2007 details
WDW News - ESPN and Walt Disney
World Resort will offer sports fans of all ages the
opportunity to see and hear ESPN personalities and
world-famous athletes March 2-4 during the fourth annual
ESPN The Weekend, a festival-style event at Disney-MGM
Studios. |
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Guy with no kids spends a night in Cinderella's Suite Sun Sentinel - I am in hundreds of strangers' vacation pictures -- the bewildered guy in the sputtering truck at the front of the Walt Disney World parade. I'm sitting next to Daisy Duck and wearing mouse ears embroidered with my name, waving like an idiot and smiling like I just won a toaster. That's the first place they put you when you've won an overnight stay in the three-room suite inside the Cinderella Castle. It's the crown jewel in Walt Disney Co.'s ``Year of a Million Dreams'' sweepstakes, the squeal-inducing fantasy of millions of little girls -- and my home for the next 17 hours. Disney typically awards one random family a day with a free night in its new Cinderella Suite, but I am among a small cadre of journalists invited to stay there (The AP paid the estimated $587 value). That means I'm also grand marshal of the parade, the honorary guest in Fairy Godmother's dinner theater and the front-of-the-line guy at anything I want to ride. I am a tattooed 27-year-old guy with Buddy Holly glasses and no children. But I'm just not that into princesses. So to enhance my appreciation, I've adopted a family with two little girls (ages 5 and 2) to stay with me. I am tired of smiling and waving when the parade ends, and I wonder how the full-grown adults dressed up like Goofy and Minnie do it every single day. Besides that, what will become of all those pictures when they make it back to Iowa or Idaho or Kalamazoo? The Magic Kingdom is designed so you can see the castle from just about anywhere, and the walk to our suite seems longer than it should. We are led up a far pathway, past a side door and into a small room with stone walls. Our guide, dressed as a 17th century castle guy, swipes a card to call our elevator and takes us four stories up. The suite is brand new. The elevator is not, and moves eerily a few inches up and down when it's boarded or stopping. Each of us is given a swipe key with our name and ``Cinderella Suite'' written on it, and before long there are bite marks all over 2-year-old Emily's. Her sister Hannah has the honor of opening our door the first time. There are golden flecks in the floor and ornate squares on the ceiling, making the whole room feel gilded. The desk in the corner is a 17th century Dutch antique with velvet-lined shelves that Disney has retrofitted with a high-speed Internet hookup. There are two queen beds under headboard with a canopy and a fireplace that can't burn anything, but holds a fiberoptic display of flame and pixie dust. The television in the sitting room is a mirror that converts at the touch of a button, while the ``royal bedchamber'' TV changes from a framed electronic portrait of Cinderella. There is television with at least five channels in foreign languages, an array of DVDs (all Disney, of course) and free calls to anywhere on an antique-looking phone. I get wild ideas about that last part until I remember I don't know anyone in Paris or Tokyo anyway. Perhaps most impressive is the bathroom, which features a 4-foot square Jacuzzi jet tub with a waterfall faucet, a separate shower that could comfortably fit three and a square toilet. Over the tub are three sparkling mosaics made of hand-cut Italian glass. All of these things I like -- especially the mirror that turns into a TV. But I am disappointed in the minibar. It has juice boxes but no Jack Daniels. Much of the royal family's day -- like the parade and dinner reservations -- is preset, so there isn't a lot of time for rides. Emily isn't tall enough for the roller coasters, which basically leaves the other category -- the ones where you sit in a car, ride along a track and watch animatronic pirates or fish or jungle people sing and dance. But because we're staying inside the park and Disney provides us a front-of-the-line escort, we've got to ride something. We end up on Peter Pan's Flight and then the ride whose name Disney refuses to capitalize, it's a small world. When it's over, the girls' father and I are yawning. It's only 5:30 p.m. but we've been on the go nonstop since the parade at 2 p.m. We have dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table, a place where the Fairy Godmother and other Disney characters weave between diners performing songs. It is expensive, but we aren't paying because it's included in our stay. Before dinner we finally meet Cinderella. In blond wig, powdered cheeks and lilting voice, she is convincing, and poses for pictures with us. She embraces my arm; I do not tell her I will later be naked in her bathtub. The restaurant serves everything from hot dogs to prime rib, but they also do not have booze. I found out the hard way after asking for a Sam Adams when I thought our waiter said they have ``great beer.'' Root beer, it turns out, but there is no alcohol at the Magic Kingdom. I guess that explains our minibar. Godmother identifies our table as the lucky suite winners during dinner, and the rest of the restaurant offers rousing applause. Later, a woman stops by to ask us where we were when we found out when we won. I feel like a jerk telling her we didn't win anything, it's just that I'm a reporter. Our Disney escort is waiting sharply when we're done with dinner, which is starting to become a pattern. It almost feels like we're being watched. The pretty girl dressed like a stewardess who guides us around reports into a hand radio whenever ``The Royal Family'' is on the move. Who is she talking to? I have no idea but it's kind of creepy. Disney has left princess wands, crowns and Minnie Mouse dolls for the girls back at the suite. They have also turned back the covers on our beds, put out a tray of cookies and traded our barely used bathroom soap for an unopened bar. All of those are hotel luxuries I have never before experienced. We watch the fireworks show that closes the park through the suite's stained-glass windows, and everyone tries out the Jacuzzi. Separately. I haven't taken a bath since my mother was holding the wash rag, but I can't resist this thing. I turn on the jets for 20 minutes, thinking there's no way I'll be there longer than 10. They have all kinds of fancy soaps lining the side, and I use some shampoo that smells like weird plants and expensive salons. I finally pry myself out after 16 minutes, feeling like I'm hogging the bathroom. At about 9:30 p.m. I press 0 for the concierge and ask for an after-hours look outside the castle. You can't really leave the suite without asking, but it somehow doesn't feel like you're trapped. Someone is posted round-the-clock just to handle our requests. I do literally have the park to myself, but there's not much to do in it because the rides are closed. Everything remains lit up as if it were packed, and piped-in Disney music fills the air. Most striking is the number of trash cans I see -- dozens within a few feet of one another -- that I never recognized before. They blend in seamlessly when the whole place is cluttered with people. Back at the suite, Hannah has fallen asleep clutching her Minnie doll but little Emily somehow outlasts her usual 8 p.m. bedtime. She's wearing her tiara upside-down, spinning and banging her wand on the ground in between pleas for more cookies. She finally crashes at 10:30 in her parents' bed, and the grown-ups follow shortly thereafter. The bed and comforter are soft and thick, and I don't stay up long. I awaken with a 7:35 a.m. call I didn't ask for, to prepare for 9 a.m. breakfast reservations Disney made for us. I spend the next hour trying futilely to go back to sleep as dad plays with the girls in the sitting room. They don't want to leave the suite, and frankly neither do I. It's foggy outside when we emerge from the castle, and the park is already full of families just starting their day. I feel strangely like I don't belong -- like I've stayed out all night and am watching people go to work the next morning. I already dread the lines I'll be waiting in. The mouse ears I can do without. |
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Military families can deploy to Disney World for family
R & R Inside Bay Area - It was the thing that often kept him going during a dangerous deployment near Tikrit, Iraq. On scorching, dusty days and frigid, muddy days, Lt. James "Taylor" Riley would imagine strolling through an immaculately clean theme park, his son Liam on his shoulders, his wife Delacey at his side. All three in this scene were in their shirtsleeves, basking in a warm December sun. By then, Christmas lights would cover trees and bushes; carols would fill the air. He could see it in his mind. Then, after a 14-month separation, all three posed with Mickey Mouse, surrounded by red-bowed wreaths and Christmas trees. It was one highlight of their trip to Shades of Green, a Department of Defense-owned resort on Walt Disney World property. For the Rileys and other military families who have been separated by war, such trips are not merely vacations. They are also reunions, celebrations of life, a means of reconnecting. On any given day, as many as 60 families at Shades of Green are on the resort's R&R package, meaning at least one parent has recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan, says front office manager Sharon Galzeski. An additional number, which the resort doesn't track, are there squeezing in quality family time pre-deployment. Taylor, 35, a full-time member of a South Carolina National Guard engineering battalion, had once agreed with Delacey, 37, that they should delay a trip to Disney until Liam was at least 5. But then Taylor was put in charge of a platoon clearing roads of improvised explosive devices. The couple realized they couldn't count on having all the time in the world together. And they needed to focus their minds on something positive. Disney became that something. Liam was just more than a year old when his father left for the Middle East. He could repeat what he'd been told: "Daddy in Raq." But he clearly didn't understand what that meant. Once the family decided to take a post-deployment trip, however, Liam had a concrete idea to attach to his father: "When Daddy comes home, we'll visit Mickey Mouse." Back home, searching the Web, Delacey stumbled on information about Shades of Green, which was acquired from Disney by the DOD in 1994, and in 2004 underwent a renovation and expansion that doubled its size, to 586 rooms. One of four resorts worldwide operated by the U.S. military for members of the armed services and Department of Defense contractors, it includes swimming pools, lighted tennis courts, a fitness center, a playground and a golf course. As a recent veteran of the Iraq war, Taylor was eligible for a special R&R package that included breakfast and dinner with the already reasonably priced room of less than $100 a night. Delacey figured they could afford a whole week. The resorts and other travel deals "help give the military community the same opportunities for a vacation as the people in the society they defend," says Dan Yount, chief of Army Leisure Travel Services. "We believe the benefits of travel and recreation are enormous." For people returning from a deployment, he adds, a vacation is "about getting reacquainted." Taylor had done his best to maintain strong bonds with his family during two months of training in Washington state and 12 more in Iraq by calling home every day. He'd taken with him copies of four books that Liam also had at home. Each day, about 4:30 p.m., Taylor would line up at a phone booth, storybooks under his arm. Given the eight-hour time difference, that meant that soon after getting up each day, Liam would hear his dad asking, "What do you want to read?" "The dad book" referred to a story called "Just Me and My Dad." "Where the Wild Things Are" became, in Liam's words, "wild book." Long before the deployment was over, Liam had memorized the books and would correct Taylor if he changed or skipped a word. Liam learned quickly during the deployment that it didn't help to cry for his father. But at times he'd tearfully announce, "I need my daddy pillow." The pillow was a Delacey creation. She went to a shop near their small town of Edgefield, about 60 miles southwest of Columbia, and had Taylor's picture printed on a T-shirt. Then she cut the shirt into a rectangle and stuffed it. Liam slept with his Daddy pillow every night. And then in December, Daddy was back. Liam held his father's hand as they walked the freshly swept sidewalks of Animal Kingdom. "This is our first vacation together, just the three of us," said Taylor as the family passed Minnie Mouse. "After a long separation, we just wanted to go away and immerse ourselves in each other." At Disney's MGM park, Taylor pointed to statues of Huey, Dewey and Louie and asks, "Who are they?" "Daisy, Donald and Donald," answered Liam. Taylor smiled and swept Liam, who has been looking through a picket fence, onto his shoulders. The Rileys were on their fifth day of a week-long trip, not including the nine-hour drive each way. Turns out Liam was not too young to appreciate Disney. He didn't fuss when they got up early each morning to hit one of the four major parks when they opened, or when they stayed out long after dark. On the first four days, they visited one park per day — Magic Kingdom, MGM, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Three of those days, they stayed from the time the park opened until at least dinnertime, then returned to the park until closing. Liam's favorite things? "Whatever he's seeing at the moment," Delacey said. "We were at Epcot's Moroccan village when I asked him what was his favorite thing, and he said, 'Morocco.' Every character he sees is his favorite." Then again, while Taylor was away Delacey had reviewed every detail about Disney World that she could find — with an eye toward "What would Liam like?" During a stroll through Animal Kingdom, Delacey said that an elderly woman told her about her husband's deployment during World War II. "I figured that if she could do it for three years, I could do it one." Both Rileys are aware that Taylor might have to return to Iraq. He has 14 years in the National Guard, and plans to stick with it for at least 20. While Taylor was away, Delacey said, she avoided news reports and decided it would be bad for everyone to worry. "There was nothing I could do. I had a sense that Taylor would be fine, and even if things didn't turn out that way, we'd get through it. God gave me peace." Still, there were difficult, lonely days. Sitting down at the computer and planning their trip added to the excitement of anticipating the homecoming and gave her comfort. On a subconscious level, she says, planning created a feeling of assurance that Taylor was coming home. It's the way an otherwise rational mind works: If you have tickets for a certain date at a certain place, then obviously that's where you'll be when that time comes. You'll get a five-day Park Hopper pass, hit four parks in four days, and on the fifth day, perhaps because you're too polite to say no, you'll meet a reporter and head first thing in the morning to revisit Animal Kingdom. We board an open, safari-style vehicle for a ride through terrain that has been made to look African, with big game at every turn. In the Asian section, Taylor hands Liam the laminated map, and the boy pretends to guide us by pointing along a route with curves but no turns. He waits patiently in line to greet the various characters in the park. By the fifth day, he has the routine down pat. Throughout the day, the couple shoots pictures, mostly of Liam. By the time the trip is over, they'll have hours of videotape and more than 800 photographs. When Delacey takes Liam for a potty break, Taylor confides that his biggest worry about going to Iraq was that Liam would forget him. A colleague who went to Iraq before Taylor did told him that his youngest was frightened of him when he returned. By the time Taylor arrived in Iraq, phone access was better. Occasionally he'd also get on a webcam so that Liam could see him, even though the connection wasn't fast enough to allow him to be heard as well as seen. Meanwhile, Delacey regularly videotaped Liam and sent footage to Taylor. "I watched Liam growing up on film," Taylor says. The minute Taylor returned to the States, it became clear he needn't have worried about being forgotten by his young son. He arrived with his battalion on a drill field at Fort Stewart, Ga., and marched in formation toward an area where Delacey and Liam were among those waiting. While sitting in the sunshine on a patio outside the Shades of Green, Delacey remembers that day. "Liam was kicking his feet and saying he was going to run to his daddy as soon as he saw him," Delacey says. "The mass finally parted, and there he was. The two just melted into each other's arms." Children even in their first year can miss their parents, says T. Berry Brazelton, the famed pediatrician who recently released an updated edition of "Touchpoints: Birth to 3." The many thousands of American children with parents in Iraq or Afghanistan "are going through a lot more than we know," he says. Brazelton approves of the Rileys' handling of the situation. "The children who get that kind of attention will be resilient and sail through," he says. Taking a vacation — and it doesn't matter where it is — gives the members of any family an important chance to step outside their normal responsibilities and focus purely on each other, Brazelton says. It's particularly critical to a family that has been torn asunder. |
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Living in a Disney
world Toronto Star - Patrick Pedneault visits the Disney Store at the Eaton Centre "at least once a week ... in case something interesting becomes available." That's not, however, where he got his Mickey Mouse sheets. Those are from eBay. He has Winnie the Pooh tattooed on his back, special-edition DVDs of all the animated movies and decorates his Christmas tree with Disney ornaments. The 31-year-old is a self-described "Disney addict," who was introduced to the mouse as a kid in Chicoutimi when his parents got him the Learn & Grow books. He's excited about having just seen Disney on Ice, but even more so about his upcoming pilgrimage to Orlando, Fla. – the second trip to Disney World inside of one year. Pedneault's job as a consumer care co-ordinator for Procter & Gamble, by the way, is perfect for someone who, besides his abiding love of Disney, harbors a fascination with all things trademarked. Why Disney? "It may sound a little bit crazy, but it's kind of like going back to old friends. Those characters were part of my childhood ... A lot of people will talk about the evil Disney empire, but for amusement parks, they're the best in the world. We went to Canada's Wonderland and I wanted to die compared to what it is at Disney ... At Disney everybody is happy. When I'm going to Disney I want smiles. I'm paying for that. I'm not paying to get grumpy people who are not happy about their jobs." How much time do you spend on Disney? "There's a bare minimum of two hours a week. That would be the bare minimum for the podcasts that I subscribe to ... If there's a new release of a Disney movie, I'll watch it. I also update my website every two, three weeks – mostly for my family and friends." How has your fandom enhanced your life? "It comes down to the values. I wish sometimes we were still into some of those old-fashioned values ... many of those values, I think, weren't so bad." What do you consider to be the greatest achievement of Walt Disney? "To put animation into the mainstream; to make full-length features, a tremendous achievement. Early on he put live characters in with drawings. He was a pioneer in many things. The whole Disney enterprise was to relive those magic moments. You can go there and enjoy and be back in time. I dare anyone to go to Disney and not smile at least ten times a day." Have you met and made friends with other people through your fandom? "No. But I have to thank my partner. He was not a Disney person in the beginning, but I brought him over a little bit. Not as much as me, but he does enjoy going there." Do you have a secondary fandom? "Astro Boy! When I was six or seven it was on CBC in French. I just loved that character; it was about justice, fairness and equality. It's the same values as Disney. And he had fantastic gadgets. It kind of went away, but when eBay started, I searched and there were millions of things. Those were the first things I purchased on eBay. "I don't buzz only on one thing. It's really about the trademarks and concepts ... I think mostly I'm stuck in my childhood." |
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Disney
presses for warning to pirates This is Money - Walt Disney and other media companies are putting pressure on internet service providers to aim on-screen warnings at those who download films or music illegally. Tom Toumazis, executive vicepresident of Disney's Buena Vista International television distribution arm, said his company was 'working closely' with providers to communicate directly with pirates. Media companies like Buena Vista - which produces top-rated TV shows including Ugly Betty, Lost and Desperate Housewives --are fighting a continuous battle against illegal internet downloads. Toumazis said: 'The kind of thing we are looking for is a notice coming up on screen that tells users when they are acting illegally. We want a reasonably secure environment to make our content available online.' But talks have hit difficulties because providers argue that data protection laws limit how much they can monitor and intervene. Despite the difficulties, Toumazis said he believed that providers were keen to come to an agreement. In the US, Disney signed an deal with Apple last year for current and past episodes of its top shows to be downloaded legally from Apple's iTunes music and entertainment download site. The company was the first major studio to make its films available for downloading. Disney expects to generate $50m (£26m) in added revenue for films alone in the first year of the deal with Apple. Music companies are also encouraging providers to act directly against users who are downloading music illegally. The British Phonographic Industry has been talking to providers about taking similar action to protect copyrighted music. In the past, the BPI has collected evidence of illegal activity and has then gone to the High Court to get backing to approach the provider to begin the process of taking action to stop illegal downloading. Now the BPI has begun approaching providers direct to call on them to take action. |
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Chilean Filmmaker signs contract with Disney The Santiago Times - Chilean director Nicolás López astonished the audience at the Berlinale film festival last weekend with the partial screening of his second movie, “Santos.” The movie was presented in the festival’s section Works in Progress from Latin America and earned him a contract with Buena Vista International for Spain and Latin America distribution. “This is the first step towards an international distribution,” said López. “I will travel to the U.S. to see which studio could distribute the film there. In the meantime, 300 copies of Santos will be released in Spain.” “Santos” tells the story of a mediocre cartoonist who lives in a parallel realm. The cartoonist is also a superhero, though mediocre at this, too. López calls his film “a romantic comedy about the end of the world.” After Guillermo del Toro’s success with “Pan’s Labyrinth,” the American audience is thought to be more ready to welcome Spanish-language films. “Pan” has received six Academy Awards nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, and 19 Hispanic artists are in the race for an Oscar on February 25th. (ST, Feb 3) In fact, that is the next market López is hoping to explore. “After ‘Santos’ I would like to make a sequel but what I’m working on right now is an English language project for the U.S.,” he said. López produced his feature film debut “Promedio Rojo” (2004) at the age of 20 and without any formal filmmaking training. The movie is an autobiographical satire about Chilean high school life and is filled with a sense of humor that is both absurd and accessible – one of the director’s signatures. The film was a huge hit in Chilean box offices and made US$600,000 in profits. The Buenavista contract marks a new era in López’s career. Variety magazine columnist John Hopewell wrote: “Pundits are asking who could be Latin America's next Guillermo del Toro: some money's already on López.” |
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The
students were given an opportunity to be among the first
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