For golfers, staying at a Disney resort property comes with many benefits. Guests receive free transportation to and from whatever golf course they play and receive discounted green fees. You can book your tee times up to 90 days in advance (visitors may only book within 30 days). You're also never more than a few minutes from a golf course, which means no long commute and waiting in Orlando-area traffic.

The golf at Disney is also top notch. Two courses, the Palm and Magnolia, play host to the PGA Tour's Children's Miracle Classic presented by Wal-Mart, which culminates the Fall Series. Each of the four championship courses at Disney recently replaced their greens with a new TifEagle Bermuda grass over the last several years.

Though just minutes from the parks, Osprey Ridge is secluded from all the action, with only wildlife as your gallery. Lake Buena Vista on the other hand is set right in the heart of all the action, just around the corner from the Disney Institute and Downtown Disney.

The Polynesian Resort: One of Disney's Deluxe Resort properties, the Polynesian Resort is a Pacific-themed village that features tiki torch-lined walkways and lush tropical vegetation. It's also complete with a white sand beach, where you can lounge in the sun or strike up a volleyball match. Dining options are highlighted by the all-you-care-to-eat Spirit of Aloha open-air dinner theater.

The Polynesian also boasts a fantastic location for both golfers (located across the street from the Palm and Magnolia) and families, as it's on the monorail line, which offers access to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot in minutes.

Grand Floridian Resort & Spa: Spa buffs will want to stay just down the monorail line at the elegant Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, which is set in a classic Victorian theme paying homage to Palm Beach's golden era. Like the Polynesian Resort next door, it's also within the Magic Kindgom and on the monorail line.

Disneys' Luxury Resort Villas are another way to go at Disney. Rather than a single bedroom, they are spacious, condo-style accommodations in studio, one and two bedroom units that can accommodate up to eight guests, making it ideal for golf groups or families.

The Boardwalk Villas - The Boardwalk Villa Resort is awash in nostalgia and old-fashioned charm. Ragtime and carnival sights light up the waterfront entertainment district. Villas are airy and spacious, and many feature balconies or patios. One and two bedroom villas feature whirlpool tubs as well. There are numerous dining options, from the ESPN Club and Big River Grille & Brewing Works, to signature dining at the Flying Fish Café.

The Boardwalk also features an onsite health club with exercise equipment and massage treatments.

Yacht & Beach Club - Disney's Yacht & Beach Club is one half resort (Yacht Club) and one half villa resort (Beach Club). The resort sits across the water from the Boardwalk and is within walking distance to Epcot. The Yacht Club is themed in a late-19th century Nantucket Club, while the next door Beach Club is inspired by colorful mid-Atlantic décor. Both the Yacht & Beach Club are rife with water fun, including watercraft rentals and three acres of water slides, currents and sand-bottomed areas at Stormalong Bay. The Shipshape Health Club features exercise machines and a spa.

Alongside such legends of the high seas as Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, a specially created portrait of Jenifer Greenwell of St. Petersburg, Florida, now appears along the wall where queuing guests approach the dock to board the attraction. Jenifer was selected at random as the grand prize winner from hundreds of thousands of entries in the “Become a Disney Pirate” sweepstakes conducted in connection with the DVD release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.  Her likeness as “Mademoiselle Greenwell” in pirate costume will stand alongside the others and be viewed by millions of Disneyland guests.

Jenifer’s pirate journey, following the news of her big win, took her to the headquarters of Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California. There, in May 2007, she was sketched as a pirate in full costume by Imagineer artist Jim Crouch. She also was given a tour of Imagineering, which few non-Imagineers ever get to experience.

Jenifer returned to California in July where, in the Pirate Suite of the Disneyland Hotel, Jim Crouch and other Imagineers showed her the original artwork that he would paint as a four-foot-tall mural on the wall of the attraction. (The other notable pirates in this Pirates of the Caribbean rogues gallery were also painted by Crouch.)

 The art was unveiled the morning of Tuesday, January 29, in a special presentation featuring Jenifer and some of the pirate denizens of New Orleans Square in Disneyland. “Mademoiselle Greenwell” will remain on view in “Pirates of the Caribbean” through June 2009.

In addition, Jenifer was given a VIP tour of Disneyland Resort during her January 29 visit. She met and posed for photos with Disneyland pirates, and took home the original “Mademoiselle Greenwell” artwork developed for the attraction.

About Disneyland Resort

The Disneyland Resort includes two theme parks – Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure – three hotels and the Downtown Disney shopping, dining and entertainment district. Disneyland Resort is celebrating its “Dreams Come True” heritage with the Year of a Million Dreams through 2008. In addition to meeting and playing with Disney Princesses at the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire, guests can experience other Dream Come True opportunities such as dueling with Darth Vader at Jedi Training Academy, creating mayhem with the denizens of Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island and showing their school spirit by joining in the fun of “High School Musical 2: School’s Out!” at Disney’s California Adventure park. The Year of a Million Dreams is being celebrated at both Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

For more information about new attractions, the Year of a Million Dreams, and vacations at Disneyland Resort visit www.disneyland.com, call (866) 60-DISNEY or visit local travel agents. Please visit our podcast at www.disneyland.com/podcast.

About Walt Disney Imagineering

Trina Shumsonk, 24, plays the mail-carrier-turned-hostess, or "postess." She's all for getting the little ones ramped up.

"Be as fun and crazy as you want," she says. "We want their full participation."

The show follows Mickey as he plans a huge musical party for his friends. Shumsonk delivers the invitations to pals throughout the show, including Tigger and Pooh's new human friend, Darby.

The kids will also hang out with Handy Manny the handyman and his friends from Sheetrock Hills.

Children are a tough crowd, Shumsonk says.

"If you don't grab their attention right away, it's hard to get it back," she says. "When I welcome them, I'm as energetic as I possibly can (be). Children have all the energy in the world."

The characters encourage activity. The Little Einsteins power their rocket ship by patting their laps with their hands, so they ask the children to do the same.

Other highlights include Darby, Tigger and Pooh singing a nature song using sounds from the forest. Handy Manny and friends make music with instruments from the toolbox. And your child might be picked to dance with Mickey.

Be prepared to call Mickey onto the stage once in a while, Shumsonk says, with the magic words, "Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse."

When the show rolls out of town, Shumsonk encourages parents to continue to take their children to the theater, especially local children's productions.

The Pixar film landed five Oscar nominations and was ranked by many critics as one of the year's best, yet was never a serious contender for best picture. Instead, it was relegated to the relatively new category of best animated feature, which the academy began dolling out in 2002.
Directed by Brad Bird, "Ratatouille" has garnered an aggregate score of 96 on Metacritic.com, ranking it above "Pulp Fiction," let alone this year's best picture candidates: "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "Juno," "Atonement" and "Michael Clayton."

And its other nominations across three different disciplines -- best original screenplay, best score, best sound mixing and best sound editing -- suggests the kind of broad consensus that often results in bigger awards like best director or best picture.

Its five nominations rank as the most ever for a computer animated film, and rate second among all animated films, only surpassed by the six received by Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." That picture, done in the traditional Disney style in 1991, stands as the only animated film to ever be nominated for best picture.

If not for the best animated feature category, it's safe to say "Ratatouille" would have been strongly considered for best picture. Brad Lewis, the film's producer, is quick to point out that he has no sour grapes with the academy -- and that he's ecstatic about the five widespread nominations.

Still, he has to wonder.

"Ultimately, it makes it perhaps too convenient for people to look at an animated film from an isolated perspective," said "Ratatouille" Lewis. "Somebody can say, `You know what? We have a place for that, so we don't necessarily have to give it broader consideration."

Tom O'Neil, a columnist specializing in awards coverage for the Los Angeles Times' "The Envelope" Web site, has pondered whether "Ratatouille" -- which he calls the best reviewed movie of the year -- is the equivalent of "Beauty and the Beast," only it had to deal with the specialized category.

"Is this a case where it's penalized and ghettoized because there's a separate category for animated fare?" O'Neill said. "It seems to have the same respect in the industry and among film critics as `Beauty and the Best.'"

"Ratatouille," made by Walt Disney Company and its Pixar Animations Studios, is also not a conventional animated movie. Its framing is largely based on the techniques of classic filmmaking, and the story of a rat who dreams to be a chef has been called a Joycean "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Rat."

"I don't think people when they walk out of `Ratatouille' the first thing that they're thinking about is `I went and saw an animated film today,'" said Lewis. "It's partly because we're telling more sophisticated stories and I think it's because we have a more sophisticated filmmaking tool."

"Ratatouille" also has the support of that great international critical body: the French. The film, which is set in Paris and imbued with French culture, was No. 1 at France's box office for six weeks in a row -- surpassing a record set by "Titanic." After making $206 million at the domestic box office, "Ratatouille" made $410 million internationally.

Those totals are much greater than any of the best picture nominees, which combined haven't grossed as much domestically as "Ratatouille."

New York Times film critic A.O. Scott listed "Ratatouille" as one of the five films that deserved to be nominated for best picture. He earlier called it "a nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive portraits of an artist ever committed to film."

That judgment is notable in part because it doesn't make use of the word "animated."

Lewis, who's working on directing a film for Pixar, cited fellow nominee "Persepolis" -- an animated French language film about a girl coming of age during the Islamic Revolution -- as proof of the breadth to animation today. (The third Oscar nominee is the more standard family fare of "Surf's Up.")

"The type of filmmaking that's taking place in the animation category is very broad," said Lewis. "And it's perhaps traveling beyond what people felt the parentheses of the industry were before."

And considering the increasing role that digital animation and computer-generated imagery play in the making of nearly all movies today, it's becoming difficult to firmly say what is and isn't animated. Just as "Ratatouille" reflects live-action filmmaking, live-action films like "King Kong" and "Transformers" often reflect animated works.

"It's folly to have a separate animated category because it hurts the chances of a movie like `Ratatouille' for being in the best picture race," said O'Neil. "But considering the academy history and the fact that only once did they have the guts to do it, at least the little rat is getting the chance to be a big cheese in one category."

That's right. You're still ankle-deep into 2008, aren't you? I've been taking an "unauthorized field trip" through time this week, checking in on what many of my favorite companies are up to two years later.

Think you know Disney? You won't believe what the company is up to in 2010.

A walk around the theme park
We'll start at the theme parks, because that's what many people associate with the Disney brand. They're doing great, by the way. Even Disney's California Adventure is a hotbed of turnstile clicks. Since Disney telegraphs its expansion plans early, you already know about the makeover that has added the popular Little Mermaid ride and will soon add the highly anticipated Cars Land.

It worked. Attendance at DCA still can't rival what Disneyland is drawing next door, but no one laughs at Disney's investment in the park anymore.

Out in Florida, Disney finally announced plans for a sixth theme park. It won't open for several more years, but the company finally dusted off the plans for the villains-themed amusement park that has been part of cyberspace chatter for ages.

The huge role that Expedition Everest played in turning Animal Kingdom around inspired Disney to make a gated attraction that caters to thrill-seekers. It's not all coasters, though Disney is really pushing the envelope on that front. Don't worry. There will still be plenty of rides for the entire family. I just can't wait for the park to open in a few years. I hear Disney is actually going to top the creepy Halloween scare houses that you find at your local Six Flags (NYSE: SIX) and Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN) October events.

Oh, and speaking of regional amusement parks, Disney is a hit in Canada. It acquired a Canadian amusement park from a publicly traded operator. Was it the Six Flags park in Montreal or the Cedar Fair property just outside Toronto? I'm not at liberty to say. Since Disney is now building smaller, localized themed experiences like indoor water parks and high-tech arcades, it was able to get a great deal from a cash-starved operator and enter a lucrative market that won't cannibalize its coastal bookends back home.

Animation in motion
Disney's back on track in animation. Those Pixar folks did a great job of reshaping Disney's full-length features. There are no more Home on the Range or Treasure Planet stinkers. Those direct-to-Blu-ray sequels also don't go out unless they're actually good.

The company's rebirth as an animation studio -- now well ahead of DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) -- has helped it in other ways. Along with its continued stream of hip live-action releases, Disney is a character magnet again.

Sure, that has boosted the company's licensed consumer products division, but Disney is also now one of the largest music labels. The Mickey Mouse company is also huge in cyberspace. The 2007 purchase of Club Penguin was really just the beginning. The company has created virtual worlds online, beyond the Disney Princess, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Virtual Magic Kingdom experiences that you already know about.

The hottest Disney virtual community is themed to WALL-E, the 2008 Pixar smash that got kids -- and kids at heart -- online to create their own virtual robots. Collectively, Disney's online communities in 2010 have a wider audience than World of Warcraft. Really.

Big things on the small screen
Are the writers still on strike? That's right. An amicable resolution didn't come together until the third week of February. Regardless, Disney's ABC resumed its golden network status by the time fresh shows emerged for the new fall prime-time season. No, Cavemen isn't on the air anymore. Breathe easy.

Since the economy didn't get back into high gear until after the summer, the programming gap was a mixed blessing. The advertisers came back just as consumers resumed their couch-potato poses.

ESPN is even bigger now in 2010 than it was in 2008. Pro sports are somehow even more popular. ESPN even shows hockey sometimes. You can thank the 2009 fashion trend that made hockey fantasy leagues hip for getting the NHL back on ESPN.

The Disney Channel is huge, too. Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon is doing OK, but Disney is where young pop stars are born. Even after the Hannah Montana craze died out in the summer of 2009, Disney had the pipeline ready to go with more fresh talent.

M-I-See
Bob Iger is still CEO. Yes, he's still a Wall Street and shareholder darling. Even when eBay's (Nasdaq: EBAY) Meg Whitman returned to Disney's executive ranks after a brief retirement from the auction giant, there was no perceived power struggle at Disney. This is Iger's show, but he knows how to share the spotlight.

Disney's stock bounced back, as did most media companies. Seasoned media conglomerates like Disney and CBS (NYSE: CBS) should never have been fetching dirt-cheap multiples in the low teens the way they were when they bottomed out in the spring of 2008.

Roper, of Avon Park, has been cast in the lead role of Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios performance of "High School Musical 2."

Tweens will squeal when Roper, who uses the stage name Antwuan, takes the stage to sing and dance in the daily performances in front of Mickey's Sorcerer's Hat on Hollywood Boulevard in the park formerly called Disney-MGM Studios.

The role is a dream come true for the 23-year-old, who said he has always wanted to be in a professional musical.

"The director said the audience gets really into the show, and the kids love all the characters," Roper said. "We will have people really energized and singing and dancing along."

He has to be energized as well. He described the dance choreography as "very aerobic," and the cast has about six performances per day. He likes the message of the movie and show, and thinks its an important one to convey to kids.

"The theme of the movie is all about coming together as a team," Roper said.

Cynthia Barrett, one of Roper's mentors, said she cannot think of anyone to better convey that theme and serve as a role model.

"Children naturally look up to him as an idol because he has made great decisions and is a great person," Barrett said. "He is a very positive role model, and I am so excited for him."

Barrett, a social sciences teacher at Avon Park High School, had Roper in class for four years and served as his mentor through the College Reach Out Program. She is one of the first people Roper called when he went to auditions and again when he was offered the part.

"Some people discouraged him, but I always stood by him and believed in him," Barrett said. "I believe in my students and always tell them to follow their dreams."

Roper, a 2003 graduate of Avon Park High School, was president of his class, homecoming king and active in community choir, cheerleading and dance. Barrett said she recognized his potential right away.

"I saw something special in Derrick the first time I met him, and I wanted to make sure he reached his full potential," Barrett said. "I think he is a great success story – a kid from a single-parent family, who grew up in Avon Park, and is proving that you can succeed."

The transition into professional theater has been a whirlwind for the performer. Roper found the audition information online while looking for an internship and decided to go for it. The hiring director called him a few days after the audition to offer him the role.

Before accepting the part, he consulted with Barrett and Felicia Dozier, a counselor at South Florida Community College, who was his advisor when he was a student there, about putting his education on hold.

Roper, a senior performance major at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, was set to graduate this year.

"He was very torn between whether to finish college or take this role," Dozier said. "We decided this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that he just can't pass up.

Now I just can't wait to take a group of kids up there and see him."

FAST FACTS
When "High School Musical 2" debuted Aug. 17, 2007 on the Disney Channel, more than 17.3 million viewers tuned in making it, at the time, the highest-rated basic cable broadcast in U.S. history.

Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield, in a note to investors today, also increased his estimate for fiscal 2008 earnings to $2.15 a share from $2.13. The average of 22 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg is $2.14.

Disney Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs said yesterday he was ``pleased with the pace of business'' at the company's parks. He was responding to a report from Citigroup Inc. analyst Jason Bazinet, who said a reduction in rates for Disney's hotel rooms indicated diminished demand.

``We take this to mean that Disney will maintain an upbeat view of their theme-park business,'' Greenfield said of Staggs's remarks. Greenfield previously rated the stock ``neutral,'' meaning he didn't expect the stock to rise or fall meaningfully over the next year.

Disney gained 55 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $29.35 at 9:59 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had fallen 16 percent in the past year before today.

The strong connection kids and families have to Disney Channel's hit series "Hannah Montana" has made Miley Cyrus a sensation across the country. Throughout the year Wal-Mart will offer more ways for fans to express their inner pop star, with more than 140 unique Hannah Montana-inspired products.

Hannah Montana fans can already begin to browse new accessories in Wal-Mart's "Hannah Montana Shops" in 750 Wal-Mart stores across the U.S. Wal-Mart will offer unique assortments of Hannah Montana-inspired products, including apparel and footwear, handbags and cosmetics, bedding, room decor, games, music and more. The new line will appeal to tweens looking for on-trend casual and athletic-inspired styles as well as accessories and decor.

"Beginning now and continuing through the fall, parents and kids can depend on us for the best selection of Hannah Montana merchandise at the Wal-Mart price," said Janet Bareis, marketing vice president.