Soon after, the Nashville, woman heard a man yelling.

"You could hear him hollering for help," said Jackson, who was on the last night of a four-night cruise to the Bahamas.

Authorities have not released the name of the 34-year-old Philadelphia man who jumped from his sixth-deck suite aboard the Carnival Sensation late Wednesday. The man, who was on the cruise celebrating his wedding anniversary, was rescued 11/2 hours later by the Disney cruise ship Wonder.

The Coast Guard launched a search helicopter and a 47-foot-long rescue boat from Fort Pierce. An alert also went out to seagoing vessels to assist with the search.

Crews from the Wonder, which was also returning from a Bahamian cruise, pulled the man from the Atlantic Ocean at about 12:45 a.m. Thursday. Both ships are based out of Port Canaveral.

Jackson said the man's wife gave her the following account of the events before the husband went overboard:

The husband, who had been battling severe depression recently, had been drinking that night and the couple argued.

The wife said she went into the suite's bathroom. When she came out, her husband was teetering on the ledge of their balcony.

She rushed to him, but he jumped, Jackson said.

"We came out to see what was going on and we saw a woman who said her husband jumped overboard," Jackson said. "She was just hysterical."

Jackson said she stayed with the wife and called the wife's mother for her twice.

Meanwhile, the Sensation captain performed a maneuver designed to bring the ship back to the area where the man jumped, Carnival Cruise spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz said. The crew also sent out an alert to other boats that a man was in the water.

"It's just terrific that this gentleman was found," she said.

Passengers aboard Disney's Wonder said they felt the ship slow down, back up and do U-turns at around midnight.

Larry Watts of Rochester, N.Y., was on his room's balcony when he thought he heard crewmembers say "man overboard."

Soon after, he saw a Coast Guard helicopter hovering overhead and people throwing lighted life preservers into the water. Watts, however, said Disney cruise staff told him there was "no emergency" when he called them to see if the commotion was a drill or a real rescue.

Watts, a Navy veteran, said he was surprised that the man was rescued.

"Anytime you go in the ocean, especially at night, you are lucky to have other ships in the area," he said.

Brevard County Sheriff's Lt. Mike DeMorat said the incident was not a criminal case and the man will not face charges.

Joseph Marte from New York City said he could hear the man yelling for help as he videotaped the rescue from the top deck. He said he believes the man survived because he was able to swim.

This is among the less-discussed nodes of resonance in Disney 's (ticker: DIS) surprise deal last week to acquire Marvel Entertainment (MVL) -- creator of the average teenage boy who's also a web-squirting vigilante and the scientist who grows huge and green when perturbed.

The union of these two companies will make Marvel's male-skewing, often dark characters alter egos to Disney's girl-pleasing, sunnier personalities. The opportunity, and it's an attractive one, is to plug the characters from Marvel -- a pure content creator -- into Disney's global web of cable networks, product-licensing platforms and theme parks.

The potential for unleashing Spider Man, the Hulk and Iron Man -- not to mention some 5,000 total characters, many unknown and unexploited, and plenty of them no doubt forgettable -- on the Disney empire should justify well the stout price Disney agreed to pay.

The market expressed some mild alarm over the $4 billion tab, which amounts to $50 per Marvel share in cash and Disney stock. This values Marvel -- subject of a bullish item in The Trader column last October when the stock was near 30 -- at more than 22 times 2010 expected earnings and more than 13 times projected cash flow.

For certain, this represents a full price, but they're just not making 70-year-old iconic character portfolios that enjoy a slavish, multi-generational following and the capacity to drive nine-figure box-office hauls anymore.

Disney said the deal would dilute fiscal 2010 per-share earnings-now forecast at $1.87-by a mid-single-digit percentage. Disney shares sold off for four days, losing more than $2 billion in market value, before rising a bit Friday after analysts who had been briefed on deal details Thursday began commenting more favorably. The stock closed at 24.90, off 3.5% for the week.

This little shakeout creates a better entry point for investors in an already modestly valued stock -- probably the best-positioned media player even before picking up Marvel's stable of unique characters. Barron's has made this case going back to a positive cover story a year and a half ago ("The Magic's Back," Feb. 25, 2008). Since then, Disney shares have outperformed both the general media sector and the S&P 500.

There are signs that Disney is keeping financial expectations muted with its guidance on the acquisition's likely impact. Barton Crockett, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets who follows Marvel, vetted Disney's dilution estimate and figures that the denizens of the Magic Kingdom are either planning to use very conservative accounting for intangibles or simply low-balling.

Much has been said about how rival studios, such as Sony (SNE); Fox, a unit of News Corp. (NWSA), Barron's parent; and Paramount, owned by Viacom (VIA), have distribution deals for future Marvel films, which means that Disney won't take full control of all movie economics for some time.

In an interview Thursday, Disney CEO Robert Iger said: "We factored in all encumbrances with the agreements -- and then some." He went on to note that the guidance doesn't include returns that might be generated from obscure Marvel characters or from cost savings; Iger noted that Marvel is already a rather lean operation. There are some rather bankable sources of incremental revenue, however. Outside the U.S., licenses for products bearing Marvel characters are negotiated through third parties, who take a big slice of the proceeds. Disney can pocket 100% of sales by simply plugging Marvel's characters into its vast global licensing infrastructure.

A recent meet-and-greet at Disneyland tied to its Fairies franchise drew large crowds to visit the park and pay to have photos taken with the characters, says Iger. Tapping Marvel fans for such events would be a layup. And Marvel has been seeking a television outlet in India, where Disney has one of the more popular youth channels.

Iger figures that Disney could decide to use a couple of Marvel's planned film releases in any given year to replace Disney-produced features. Iger has long advocated capital discipline in the movie studio, and this would serve that objective.

These benefits would be in addition to the widely noted opportunity to pump Marvel programming through Disney XD, the cable channel aimed at boys. To sum up, the price for Marvel will take some work to justify, but it's likely Disney will do just that.

They call it the paper anniversary, the one that marks the completion of a first year. And boy, can we sure count on plenty of paper being stained -- and breath being expended and airtime burned -- about the first anniversary of the Lehman Brothers failure, approaching in a week.

Count on this: We'll soon be treated, or subjected, to how-it-all-happened articles and melodramatic cable specials, strategists' reminiscences and first-person laments from former staffers. This will generate some, but not all, of the noise in the market in coming weeks. We're also approaching the end, or the potential end, of some government financial-support programs rushed into place in the capital-markets chaos that followed Lehman's demise.

Then we've got the approaching profit-warning season -- the typical autumn reality check for next year's earnings forecasts -- the anniversary of 9/11 and the arrival of the date 09/09/09 on Wednesday -- which some flag as a potential terror-event magnet -- and the welling up of swine-flu fears. And that's to say nothing of a stock market that's up by half in six months.

In other words, there's plenty to worry about. And, helpfully, people are plenty worried, or at least cautious.

As noted here a couple of weeks ago, the prospect of a tougher, much more volatile market in September may have been over-anticipated by traders. This is visible in derivatives markets, where protection against a volatility spike has been bid up in price beyond what current conditions seem to warrant. (Much of this is hedging, but it's still noteworthy.)

In some respects, the outsized attention being paid to the historical record showing September to be the poorest month for stocks echoes the "sell in May" chatter of a few months ago. The historical pattern in both cases is clear, yet the almanac isn't always an oracle in any given year.

This doesn't mean -- as the most loudly snorting bulls will tell you -- that "everyone's bearish, and that's bullish." No, professional traders have chased the upward trend enough and gotten more comfortable with the S&P around 1000 than they've been in weeks, at least. The market for several days until Friday declined to seize on decent economic data as an excuse to tack on more upside. So far, the pullbacks have been mere hiccups, rather than dry heaves. At some point, that will change. Still the Main Street Investor stays disengaged and skeptical of the market, as Ned Davis Research noted last week, citing fund-flow, investor-survey and consumer-confidence trends. This doesn't help much in fashioning a tactical view about the direction of the next short-term move. But it does have relevance for longer-dated trends.

Undoubtedly, the moment when retail investors were most confident about stocks as wealth-building perpetual-motion machines for buy-and-hold devotees was around the top of the tech bubble in early 2000, when the annualized trailing 10-year S&P 500 return exceeded 15%. Bad call.

Today, the trailing 10-year return is a negative 2% or so, excluding dividends. It turned negative last fall and is likely to stay weak as we lap the melt-up market of late 1999 and early 2000.

Yet if stupendous historical results were a siren's song that was best left unheeded in 2000, do the quite-lousy trailing 10-year numbers of today imply that -- as stated here in January -- "the direction of mean reversion for asset classes will favor stocks again before long"?

Noting the widespread disillusionment with the buy-and-hold philosophy that had so enchanted the public a decade ago, Bernie Schaeffer of Schaeffer's Investment Research says that "subsequent to the previous 21 negative decades ...the market was higher 70% of the time over the following one, three and five years, and was higher 100% of the time over the following decade. And market returns over these periods were, on balance, better than average."

'Forward' thinking campaign for ABC

Variety - Hoping to attract a few more fanboys and gals to frosh thriller "FlashForward," ABC has started printing bizarre codes in certain print ads for the show.

When users hold the black-and-white codes up to a webcam, the picture on their computer screen turns into a 3-D ad for "FlashForward," featuring photos from the show. And if clicked, the pics turn into minute-plus clips from the show.

"It appears to play right out of the ad," said Darren Schillace, ABC Entertainment advertising/marketing veep. "Once you watch all the videos, it's a 10-minute experience. In the normal world, you'd never spend 10 minutes with a print ad." Dubbed "augmented reality," the experience was produced by ABC inhouse with help from its Web team.

Ads will appear in publications that target a tech-savvy audience, including Wired, Popular Mechanics and several gaming magazines. Users can also download the ad at the "FlashForward"-related website Jointhemosaic.com.

"We think it's fun and savvy enough for the group of fanboys that are out there," Schillace said.

The nets continue to look at ways to enhance their print ads: CBS, for example, is embedding a paper-thin video player in an ad that will appear in the Sept. 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly.

OCRegister - More than 500 fans showed up at Downtown Disney’s Studio Disney 365 shop to get an autograph from Mitchel Musso, co-star of the Disney Channel’s hit show “Hannah Montana.”

Lucky woman wins Disney vacation

BUCYRUS - Just after undergoing double bypass heart surgery, Rhonda Smith received some surprising news. She had won a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando.

"My husband came to MedCentral in Mansfield and told me that I had won the trip. I couldn't believe it," Smith said from her Whetstone Street home.

Smith learned of her victory in February.

"I entered the Time Warner Disney Pixar's 'Wall-E' Movies on Demand Sweepstakes online," Smith said. "I won a trip for four people to Walt Disney World in Florida.

"I am taking my mother, Bonnie Byers, my daughter-in-law Stephanie Smith and my daughter, Kristy Agin. It will be a nice trip for us girls," Smith said.

The all-expenses-paid trip includes airfare, a $1,000 food card, deluxe accommodations at Disney's Contemporary Resort and hopper passes to all Disney parks -- Magic Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney Quest, Downtown Disney and Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

"We leave Sept. 12 and come back the following Wednesday. I can't wait, it will be a lot of fun," Smith said.

Stephanie Smith has not been to Disney in years.

"I was in the eighth grade last time I went," she said. "My husband won a trip to New York for the All-Star Game last year and he took our son. It's my turn now."

This is Byers' first vacation in eight years.

"I am very excited just to get away," she said.

Smith has her own opinion on entering sweepstakes.

Guests buying a five-night/five-day room and theme park ticket package at a select Disney Value Resort for stays most nights from Sept. 29 to Nov. 24 and Nov. 29 to Dec. 17, 2009, can enjoy the Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan for free. The Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan includes two quick-service meals and two select snacks per person per night of a guest's package stay. Guests also receive a mug they can refill as often as they like during their stay at any quick-service restaurant at their resort hotel.

Guests buying a five-night/five-day room and theme park ticket package at select Disney Moderate, Disney Deluxe or Disney Deluxe Villa resorts for stays most nights from Oct. 1 to Nov. 24 and Nov. 29 to Dec. 17, 2009 can enjoy the Disney Dining Plan for free. The Disney Dining Plan includes one quick-service meal, one select snack and one table-service meal at up to 100 restaurants for each night of the package stay.

Guests taking advantage of this offer will find even more to celebrate during their visit. Throughout 2009, Disney Parks asks guests "What Will You Celebrate?" and guests of Walt Disney World Resort can revel in new attractions, entertainment and services that allow them to turn their personal milestones into magical Disney experiences.

Digital Spy - Disney has set a December 17, 2010 release date for Tron Legacy, putting it in direct competition with Sony's The Green Hornet.

The Seth Rogen superhero movie, which is currently in production, was pushed from a summer 2010 slot this week by the studio.

Sony's 3D Smurfs movie is also scheduled to open on the same day, although the studio is likely to shift the date to avoid competition with its own Green Hornet and Warner Bros animation Yogi Bear, reports Variety.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) plans to re-release its popular “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” animated movies as a double feature, introducing a new generation of kids to Woody, Buzz Lightyear and pals and taking them “to infinity and beyond.”

The purpose of the re-package is to set the stage for the release of the third installment of the Toy Story series, Toy Story 3, due out next year.

“Clearly with ‘Toy Story 3 coming out next summer, [the double feature] provides a good launching pad to reintroduce the characters,” Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook told The Wall Street Journal.

According to the Journal, Disney expects Toy Story 3 to be its most profitable movie in years. The first two movies together took in $847 million worldwide, the Journal reported.

As one of the first of its kind for an individual hotel property, the program allows guests the opportunity to sign up to receive text messages for exclusive deals at its spa, restaurants and lounges during their stay. All deals offered through the program are of greater value than those available to the general public.

"We are constantly seeking the newest and most innovative ways to enhance the guest experience at our resort," said Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin General Manager Paul Scott. "Whether our guests are relaxing in their room, lounging by the pool or enjoying a day in the theme parks, they can access immediate savings from their mobile phone."

According to CTIA, the cellular phone industry's trade group, more than 85 percent of Americans use mobile phones. To add to this, texting has exploded in popularity, with more than 1 trillion text messages having been sent last year. This number is expected to grow even further in 2009.

While the new program offers savings to the guests, it also brings value to hotel employees, as restaurants, spas and other venues can stimulate customer traffic with immediate offers to those already on-site. "The program is mutually beneficial for our guests and cast members," said Scott.

The program also serves as a unique, immediate tool to keep hotel guests informed of last-minute hotel updates.

Guests will automatically stop receiving the text messages after four days and can opt out of the service at any time. Those staying at the resort longer than four days can sign up again to continue receiving the texts.

Users who do not actively opt out of the service receive the added benefit of being eligible to receive exclusive offers on future stays at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort.

As a leader in individual hotel technology, the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort is one of the first to offer a program of this kind. The property has continually taken aggressive steps to lead the way in developing systems typically offered by larger entities, such as hotel chains and destinations. Recently, it introduced a groundbreaking iPhone and iTouch application that provides users access to in-depth resort information including pictures, video and resort map. In addition, the hotel was among the first individual properties to unveil a hotel-specific website when hotel websites were still an industry novelty. They went on to expand their internet technology usage by leading the way in introducing an on-line group reservation system, 360-degree photo tours and more.

"We will continue to leverage technology to the benefit of our customers," added Scott. "I can't think of a more suitable way to connect with our customers than using it to give them immediate savings."

USA Today - A Disney cruise ship sailing off the coast of Florida has rescued a Carnival passenger who went overboard during the night.

Disney spokeswoman Rena Langley says the Disney Wonder pulled the passenger out of the water at about 12:45 pm ET after responding to a call for help from the Carnival Sensation. 

Langley says the Disney ship was about 17 miles south of Port Canaveral when it made the rescue, and the ship brought the passenger into the port when he was taken to a hospital by ambulance as a precaution.

"We're incredibly proud of our crew members who were able to locate the individual in distress and bring him safely aboard the Disney Wonder," says Langley.

Central Florida's CFNews13 reports the man was in the water about an hour before being rescued. There's no word yet on how the passenger ended up in the water.

Both the 2,056-passenger Carnival Sensation and the 2,400-passenger Disney Wonder were returning to Port Canaveral, Fla., after a cruise to the Bahamas.

The entire ordeal notably was documented in a series of tweets from a passenger on board the Disney ship.

"I'm on a Disney Caribbean cruise, and just now, we RESCUED A MAN FROM THE OCEAN," the series of tweets from BigHeadDennis began early this morning.

BigHeadDennis, who describes himself as "mostly just another boring suburban dad" in his Twitter profile, tweeted that he could hear the Carnival passenger screaming from the water.

"The Captain got onto the PA system and asked everyone to keep quiet, so the lifeboat crew could pinpoint the guy from his yelling," he then tweeted, followed by word that the passenger was "safe and sound."

Buisness Wire - Disney today unveiled a first glimpse of how it will influence fashion trends in 2010 with the announcement of a spectacular fashion-driven lifestyle program inspired by its upcoming feature Alice In Wonderland. As part of this phenomenal line, Disney Consumer Products (DCP) announced renowned jewelry designer and Council of Fashion Designers of America winner, Tom Binns, as the first in a cadre of top designers and brands soon to be revealed.

In celebration of the forthcoming collection, DCP tipped its hat to fashion staging an unexpected and most elaborate tea party at the MAGIC Marketplace, the world’s most comprehensive fashion trade event, in Las Vegas this week. Wonderland-influenced performers took the unsuspecting MAGIC crowd by surprise as the maddest of tea parties came alive before their eyes showcasing fashion inspirations similar to those releasing in Spring 2010 in conjunction with the film. Proving that it was not just a figment of their imagination, a viral video of this mad spectacle premiered today for all to view at www.YouTube.com/DisneyLiving, DCP’s official YouTube Channel.

“Disney fashion continues to be at the forefront of trends,” said Pam Lifford, executive vice president, global fashion and home, DCP. “Drawing inspiration from such creative works of art as Alice In Wonderland and collaborating with top designers like Tom Binns keeps Disney and our characters relevant with tastemakers and serves up an aspirational halo effect with consumers and Disney fans of all ages.”

The new Tom Binns Alice In Wonderland-inspired jewelry lines will feature two collections influenced by key story characters including Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, the White queen and the White Rabbit. The Tom Binns for Walt Disney Signature line will offer a limited edition collection of six jewelry pieces designed in Binns' coveted over-the-top runway style. This high-end collection will be available at luxury retailers and fine boutiques with a price range from $1,000 to $3,000. Next up for the avid designer will be Tom Binns for Disney Couture offering 35 pieces featuring Binns’ unique flair in collaboration with Lucas Design International, this collection will incorporate photo inlay with lace accents and Swarovski crystal details. The retail price range starts at $50 going up to $250; it will be available at department stores and specialty boutiques. Both collections will make their retail debut Spring 2010 in the U.S. and international markets.

“This timeless story of Lewis Caroll married with the wonderful world of Disney and Tim Burton’s interpretation offers so much philosophical fantasy and peculiar surreal imagination,” explained award winning designer Tom Binns. “It opens up a labyrinth of doors for my particular way of seeing the world, allowing me to express my fashion experience with my interest in art and cinema. Alice is the perfect story to release that creativity and I cannot imagine a better story to cultivate my relationship with Disney.”

Citi ( C) Investment Research analyst Jason Bazinet posed that question in a note to investors on The Walt Disney Co. (DIS)'s plan to buy Marvel Entertainment (MVL) Inc. for $4 billion.

Spider-Man and the X-Men, Marvel's valuable comic book superhero brands, are already tied up in licensing deals with rival film studios.

Meanwhile, "we question the value of Marvel's lesser known characters," Bazinet said. "This suggests future releases may be less successful."

He cut his earnings estimate for Disney's fiscal 2010 to $1.82 per share from $1.89, reiterating a "Sell" rating. On average, analysts expect $1.87 per share next year, according to Thomson Reuters.
That said, Bazinet raised his target price for Marvel shares to $50 from $31 and boosted his rating from "Sell to "Hold."

"We see no reason the deal won't close," he said. "And given the rich offer, we don't expect a bidding war for Marvel."

Reuters - For any mom—or dad—who has always wanted to share their knowledge of Walt Disney World with other families, here is your chance. The Walt Disney World 2010 Moms Panel will begin accepting applications after 9:00 a.m. EDT on September 10, 2009. Thousands will enter, but less than two dozen will be chosen to serve a 12 month term on the Moms Panel.

According to the Walt Disney World Web site, the Moms Panel is "an online forum of vacation advisors made up of everyday people who will answer questions, offer advice and address specific concerns of families in the process of planning a trip to Walt Disney World Resort." By "everyday people," Disney means no current employees/cast members of the Disney company (or their immediate family members) and no persons employed by the travel or theme park industries. Panelists will receive a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort to participate in training classes for the 2010 Moms Panel.

The station will air the show on its Playhouse channel.

"Thomas & Friends is one of the best loved and well-known brands in the world and we're very pleased to further extend our relationship with the Disney Channel, which we believe will provide the ideal home for the series in Spain," said Christophe Goldberger, head of distribution and marketing at Imira.

Wayne Dunsford, VP of television distribution at Hit, added: "We are delighted to be taking the world's number one pre-school property, Thomas & Friends, to the Disney Channel in Spain, enabling us to expand the show's reach to a new audience of young Thomas fans."

For older kids and adults, Halloween Time offers a new attraction: Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. The scary new experience will begin as a typical Space Mountain adventure, but will suddenly launch voyagers into an uncharted and haunted section of the universe. Ghosts appear out of the starry darkness and swirling galaxies of Space Mountain, reaching out as if to grab guests as they speed through space. The exhilarating drops and curves of the journey are punctuated by piercing screams, creepy sound effects and haunting music. The Halloween transformation occurs outside the mountain as well, as frightening images, audio and lights illuminate the Space Mountain exterior.

Also new this year is "Halloween Screams - A Villainous Surprise in the Skies." The new fireworks spectacular will haunt the nighttime sky throughout the Halloween season. To start the show, "Master of Scare-omonies" Jack Skellington appears in a flash of fire above Sleeping Beauty Castle. Thanks to Jack's ghoulish charm, haunting melodies fill the air and a Halloween pyrotechnics extravaganza explodes into the night. Such classic Disney villains as Maleficent, Ursula the Sea Witch and Oogie Boogie join in the "spirit" of the celebration, and even Zero, Jack's faithful ghost dog, will make an appearance. Spectators in Disneyland are encouraged to participate in a bone-chilling Halloween Scream-Along during the show.

Jack Skellington also returns to take over the Haunted Mansion and bring back Haunted Mansion Holiday to New Orleans Square in Disneyland. Transformed to a mix of Halloween spookiness and Christmas tradition, Haunted Mansion Holiday is inspired by the classic animated film "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas." Jack and his friends provide plenty of havoc and surprises as they celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion in their unusual style. Jack's return to the Haunted Mansion includes the traditional Halloween/Christmas gingerbread house in the Mansion Ballroom, with some special spooky surprises in this year's design.

More spine-tingling fun can be found in Disney's California Adventure at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, where a "supernatural" event happened on Halloween evening, 1939, forever haunting the building.

Also at Disney's California Adventure, Sunshine Plaza becomes Candy Corn Acres, with Mickey's pal Goofy up to his tricks again – attempting to wow the world with his unusual candy corn treats. Candy corn carrots, candy corn pumpkins and candy corn grapes are just a few of the candy corn items Goofy is harvesting.

This separate-ticket nighttime event gives children and their families a chance to dress as their favorite princesses, goblins or heroes and trick-or-treat throughout the park. Tickets purchased in advance are $32 most days, while tickets purchased on the event day are $39. For Oct. 30 and 31, all tickets to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party are $42. Favorite Disney characters, including Mickey himself, will be in attendance in their favorite costumes. It's the ideal environment to have fun, eat special holiday treats, play interactive games, listen to "spirited" music and watch a nightly character cavalcade that celebrates the season.

For more information about Halloween Time at Disneyland Resort, see disneyland.com/halloween. This site will be updated as frightfully fun details become available.

Examiner - The Disney Vacation Club is expected to raise prices for point purchases at Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort--the first new monorail-line resort at Walt Disney World since the Grand Floridian opened its doors in the 1980s--in October, according to DVCNews.com.

DVCNews reports that Disney Vacation Club point purchases at Bay Lake Tower should rise from $112 to $120 per point starting October 4. DVCNews predicts that this price increase will apply to new buyers only. Current Disney Vacation Club members have traditionally received a four- to six-week grace period in which they can purchase points at the former price before the increase goes into effect, although this extension is not guaranteed.

Gibson, 66, said he had been planning to retire at the end of 2007 but events compelled him to stay. He was named anchor following the death of Peter Jennings and the wartime injury of Bob Woodruff in 2006. He's been at ABC News for 35 years and says he plans to continue as an occasional contributor.

Sawyer's elevation means that, with Katie Couric at CBS, two of the three leading anchors for the broadcast networks will be women.

His comforting presence made him an instant ratings hit at "World News" at a time the other networks had much younger anchors. But NBC's Brian Williams eventually passed him by and has been leading in the ratings for the past year, with "World News" a solid second.

"The program is now operating at a very accelerated, but steady, cruising speed and I think it is an opportune time for a transition -- both for the broadcast and for me," Gibson said in an e-mail to fellow ABC News staffers. "Life is dynamic; it is not static."

Sawyer will leave a hole at ABC's "Good Morning America," where she was co-host with Robin Roberts. ABC said it had no immediate announcement on what will happen on that show, which is also second in the ratings to NBC.

Gibson's biggest impact at ABC is when he stepped into the breach during times of need. He had left "Good Morning America," but the program was imploding in the ratings when ABC News President David Westin asked him and Sawyer to step in as anchors. What was originally envisioned as a stopgap of a few months turned into nearly a decade.

After Peter Jennings' death from cancer in 2005, Westin replaced him with an anchor team of Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas. But after Woodruff was seriously hurt in a wartime injury and Vargas became pregnant, Gibson was asked to take over.

"We owe him much for the leadership he gave us when we needed it most," Westin said.

The Motley Fool - It's dog eat dog -- or mouse eat spider -- in the entertainment industry.

Disney's (NYSE: DIS) $4 billion deal to acquire Marvel (NYSE: MVL) turned heads on Monday, but it's an inevitable match and a perfect fit.

Disney diehards and Marvel maniacs will disagree, but they're wrong.

The family entertainment titan isn't overpaying because it has the resources to milk Marvel's character library better than Marvel ever could on its own. And by "milk" I don't mean brand-deflating moves like having an "X-Men Babies" series on Disney Channel or turning The Fantastic Four into a teen vocal group. Give Disney a little more credit, folks.

Marvel also isn't selling itself on the cheap. The comic book giant's financials will always be lumpy, so cut your 2008 growth projections short. Analysts expect earnings this year to clock in at roughly half of last year's profitability. Disney could have -- quite possibly -- waited a few months and paid less.

Marvel is a $3 billion company on its own, or a $5 billion company in Disney's trained hands. So $4 billion is a win-win price that both sides will learn to live with.

Why is this company worth more under Disney's watch? Let's go over a few of the reasons.

1. Disney is smart enough to let Marvel be Marvel
As a Pixar investor when Disney came calling three years ago, I can sympathize with Marvel shareholders who feel that they are trading long-term wealth for short-term gains. However, I have no tears for the worrywarts who feel that Disney will somehow Disney-fy Marvel.

This isn't Disney's first acquisition. It won't be its last. Let's go over how Disney has been able to keep a "hands-off" approach when it comes to guiding purchased entertainment companies.

• The prize jewel in its 1996 purchase of Capital Cities/ABC is ESPN. I have yet to see a pinstriped Goofy suit up as a referee or an official in any televised sporting event.
• Disney's deal to acquire Pixar was more desperate and expensive than this week's Marvel coup, and the Pixar campus has continued to raise the bar in computer animation with little interference.
• Smaller content-widening deals including Jim Henson Productions and Baby Einstein haven't steered the franchises awry.

Letting Marvel be Marvel isn't enough to justify a buyout, naturally. There have to be strategic fits and synergies to justify the market premium.

2. Marvel fills Disney's young, male void
If you're a kid, Disney has it all. There are fairies and princesses for young girls. Young boys can take heart in pirates and computer-rendered racing cars. For the preteen set, it's more of a girl's world. There's the Jonas Brothers as well as Disney's prowess as a teen-actress factory, with Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan passing the baton to Miley Cyrus, who in turn is now moving on to let Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato steal the show.

Disney knows that it will win back teen boys once they become young fathers, but there's a lost decade in there that Disney would love to get back.

Its theme parks lack the monster thrills you'll find at regional chains Six Flags and Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN). There's ESPN as a killer brand, but it obviously doesn't own the actual sporting leagues or the star athletes.

Marvel seriously ramps up the cool points in a juicy and jaded demographic segment that Disney would love to get to know a little better.

3. Disney gives Marvel room to fail
There was a lot riding on Iron Man as Marvel's first self-financed feature. In inking its complicated $525 million credit facility with Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) Merrill Lynch to bankroll the funded flicks, Marvel had to put up movie rights to the featured characters as collateral.

Iron Man panned out, of course, but what if it had been another Elektra? Disney won't need to tap that credit line. It can give Marvel the freedom to ramp up its production slate and the wiggle room to fail from time to time.

4. Let's play some games
Disney has been making a serious push into online gaming since acquiring Club Penguin. It has also ramped up its in-house software development. Marvel is perfect, since it gives Disney a 5,000-character easel to begin carving out opportunities on both fronts.

Disney is no Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), but this also means that Marvel won't have to turn to third-party developers such as Activision to put out its wildly successful Spider-Man games. As developer deals lapse, you can expect Disney to take a larger role in releasing Marvel games and launching online experiences.

5. There's more room to park
One of the oldest cyberspace rumors is that Disney's fifth park in Florida will be an edgy attraction themed to Disney's villains. It would be Disney's way to win the thrill-seeking teens that have temporarily outgrown Disney's family-friendly charms.

The villains scenario is just fanboy drivel, it seems, but Marvel now gives Disney the ammo to open up a high-octane park that can match Cedar Fair and Six Flags, coaster for coaster.

There's a problem, though. If you leave Disney's Florida parks and go northeast on I-4, you will bump into Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure a dozen miles later. The high-tech park features a whole land devoted to Marvel superheroes.

Something has to give. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Universal can retain the rights to its Marvel-themed attractions -- including the signature Spider-Man dark ride and iconic Hulk coaster -- as long as it adheres to the agreement terms.

Disney can open rides based on the licensed characters, but only west of the Mississippi. In other words, California's Disneyland can add new rides themed to Spider-Man and X-Men, but its hands are tied in incorporating marquee characters in its larger Florida resort.

This will be a game of chicken. How long can Universal Orlando -- a theme park complex owned by Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) -- contribute to the licensing coffers and ambassadorial wishes of Mickey Mouse's Marvel? By the same token, it can also weaken Disney World's appeal by maintaining its Marvel attractions.

Neither party will flinch, so expect a Disney buyout at some point. If not, expect Disney to still do something at its parks with the hotter Marvel characters that it can mine for theme park content.

Perhaps it's because teenagers Hutch Dano and Adam Hicks, the stars of the channel's most popular new show, "Zeke and Luther," exude a goofy innocence in a scrubbed-clean environment.

Whatever the reason, the slightly off-kilter rebranding effort at the channel now called Disney XD highlights a larger problem at The Walt Disney Co.: It has had difficulty winning over young male audiences.

Disney announced part of the solution this week, agreeing to buy comic book giant Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion, bringing characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the house of Hannah Montana, Cinderella and Pocahontas.

A closer look at Disney's ongoing efforts with the XD channel — where prime-time ratings this summer nearly doubled among boys aged 9 to 14 but tripled among girls the same age — helps explain why the company wanted Marvel's outside firepower in its quest for boy-focused content.

While there's no harm in attracting more girls to the channel, Disney also wants to draw more advertising for boy-focused products like video games and action figure toys.

That might have taken years on its own. Now Marvel is expected to bring more superhero power to Disney XD, adding to the 20 hours per week that Marvel content already runs on the network.

That could be a big boost at Disney's cable division, which includes ESPN, the Disney Channel and ABC Family, and is increasingly important for the company, especially as DVD sales sag. The cable networks account for more than a quarter of Disney's revenue and more than half of its profit, and have launched some of Disney's biggest stars.

But going after a more male audience is a tough slog. Boys are fickle. They demand authenticity and appreciate a snarky sense of humor, while at other times, they just want to immerse themselves in fantasy worlds and animation.

Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, said the goal of rebranding Toon Disney as Disney XD was always "to create this destination for boys that is still inclusive of girls."

And the shift has already helped bring in some new ads.

Electronic Arts Inc. boosted its advertising spending about 30 percent this year on Disney XD after its switch, mainly to advertise kid-friendly video games such as "MySims Racing" and "Madden NFL 10."

Higher ratings and more girl viewers should help sell more games, said Amber Mayo, EA's director of media strategy.

"It's not unexpected that we're seeing XD pop up with more girl numbers. That's great for us. That's a bonus to me," she said.

The openness to girls was part of the design of "Zeke and Luther," according to executive producer Matt Dearborn. Amid their tomfoolery, the lead characters sometimes turn to the camera to agonize over decisions, expressing self-doubt in a way that is reassuring to girl audiences, he said.

"There's a vulnerability behind their bravado and swagger," Dearborn said after a recent writers' session. "For a girl viewer, I think they feel like they're getting a peek into `the secret world of boys.'"

Disney XD also is rounding out its schedule with "I'm in the Band," a sitcom, set to air in October, about a teenager who joins a washed-up '80s rock band that moves in with him and his single mother.

When a reporter visited the set recently, crews were shooting a flashback scene that explored an event from the rockers' irresponsible past — when they swung at a pinata in their van.

"It's doing a show about rock 'n' roll without the sex and drugs," said executive producer Michael Kaplan. "There's the whole fantasy of being in a rock band, but there's also just the fun of being a kid with these three crazy idiots who are just making his life chaos, which is just a very boy-friendly thing."

One big challenge for Disney is that the boys market is well served.

Time Warner Inc.'s Cartoon Network, whose audience is more than 70 percent boys, plans to roll out the second season of George Lucas' popular "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" series this fall.

Cartoon Network is also branching into live-action and reality TV shows that leave little doubt about their target audience. "Dude, What Would Happen" features a group of teenage boys who try stunts like installing a lemonade tank into the hood of a car. "My Dad's a Pro" follows the Boston Celtics' Eddie House through the eyes of his 8-year-old son, Jaelen.

"We think we have a finger on the pulse of boys," said Stuart Snyder, president of Turner Broadcasting Inc.'s animation, young adults and kids media group, which houses Cartoon Network.

Ron Geraci, a senior vice president of research for the Nickelodeon kids and family group, questioned Disney's focus on boys.

Nickelodeon's tween audience draws almost equally between boys and girls on such shows as "SpongeBob Squarepants," "iCarly," and "Penguins of Madagascar."

"One of the fallacies in the kids marketplace has been that you can't program to both boys and girls," Geraci said. "We think the commonality among boys and girls is comedy and we've proved it time and again."

Indeed, Nickelodeon's average audience is 2.2 million, while Disney XD gets close to 300,000. Disney XD is expected to bring in $220 million in revenue this year — peanuts compared with $1.9 billion at Viacom Inc.-owned Nickelodeon and $573 million at Cartoon Network, according to estimates by research firm SNL Kagan.

Ross, the head of Disney Channels, says skeptics shouldn't bet against a company that has turned out such unexpected franchises as "High School Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "The Jonas Brothers."

Sawfnews - Michael Jackson will be buried close to two of his idols - Walt Disney and Three Stooges actor Larry Fine.

Family sources said the King of Pop will be laid to rest near the pair at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Jackson is set to be entombed in the Freedom Mausoleum at the cemetery tomorrow night.

Disney is buried in a garden just outside the two-storey structure, while Fine - best known as wise-cracking Larry of comedy act The Three Stooges - lies inside the mausoleum's first floor.

Jackson was going to be entombed at the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn, but loved ones switched gears to get him near Disney and a Stooge.

"The family believed this is what Michael would have wanted," a close family friend revealed.

The ceremony will start with eulogies at the Great Mausoleum in front of the building's stained-glass version of the Last Supper, followed by a half-mile procession to the Freedom Mausoleum.

The Disney Legends Awards are a 22-year tradition of The Walt Disney Company, and the four-day D23 EXPO provides a rare opportunity for the public to watch the awards presentation. The awards ceremony, hosted by ABC personality Tom Bergeron, will take place at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. It directly follows a special, one-hour presentation by Walt Disney Company President and CEO Bob Iger that kicks off the first day of the D23 EXPO - which promises to be the ultimate Disney fan event.

"This year's recipients have had truly indelible influence on the Disney legacy," Iger said. "Whether on screen or behind the scenes, these 10 men and women have contributed their talents in countless ways, and we are very honored to name them as Disney Legends."

The 2009 Disney Legends Award honorees (listed alphabetically) are:

TONY ANSELMO is a Disney animator who, since 1985, has provided the incomparable (and some would say inimitable) voice of Donald Duck in movies, cartoons, TV shows and theme-park attractions.

HARRY ARCHINAL is the former president of Buena Vista International, who helped expand Disney's cinematic presence into regions outside of the U.S. and Canada, bringing Disney movies to audiences around the world.

BEATRICE ARTHUR brought deadpan comic timing and enormous warmth to the role of Dorothy Zbornak in The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992, a role that brought her a second Emmy Award (in addition to an Emmy for Maude). She was also a Tony Award-winning stage actress and is in the Academy of Television Arts & Science's Hall of Fame. Note: This award is presented posthumously.

BILL FARMER is an accomplished voice actor whose enormous body of work has included providing the voice of Goofy since 1986. Farmer has also been the voice of Pluto and Horace Horsecollar for Disney productions.

ESTELLE GETTY was, in fact, younger than Beatrice Arthur but portrayed her mother, feisty Sophia Petrillo, in The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992. She received an Emmy Award for the role - which she reprised in Golden Palace and Empty Nest - and was nominated six additional times. Getty was one of the first recipients of the "In Memoriam" Tony Award for her Broadway stage work. Note: This award is presented posthumously.

DON IWERKS is the son of Walt Disney's longtime friend and animator Ub Iwerks. Don Iwerks worked at Disney from 1951 to 1986, and created revolutionary film systems that were used in movies like Mary Poppins (sodium traveling matte process) and in such Disney theme park attractions as "CircleVision 360" and "Star Tours."

RUE McCLANAHAN was honored with an Emmy Award for her hilariously lusty, warm-hearted role as Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, which she also repeated on Golden Palace. From 1972 to 1978, McClanahan played opposite Beatrice Arthur as Vivian on Maude, and also co-starred in Mama's Family. In addition to her renowned work on TV, on stage and in films, McClanahan is active in animal-rights, cancer and AIDS organizations.

LEOTA TOOMBS THOMAS was working at Walt Disney Imagineering (then WED Enterprises) when she served as a model for a new attraction called the Haunted Mansion. She soon became world-famous as the Mansion's disembodied Madame Leota. Note: This award is presented posthumously.

BETTY WHITE has become a television icon, especially for her role as slightly befuddled, always charming Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls - for which she received one of her six Emmy Awards. White has also been a key cast member in such hit TV shows as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Palace, The Practice and her own series, The Betty White Show. She has been seen in 19 films and has long supported many animal-rights organizations.

ROBIN WILLIAMS is the recipient of six Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Grammy Awards and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1997). His unforgettable film work for Disney has included providing the voice of Genie in Aladdin and starring in Good Morning, Vietnam, and Dead Poets Society. He also appeared in the short film Back to Neverland at Disney theme parks. This fall, Williams stars with John Travolta in Old Dogs from Walt Disney Pictures.

Each honoree receives a two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture that signifies the imagination, creativity and magic they have brought to the Company. Disney Legends Award recipients also participate in a hand-print ceremony, and their bronzed prints will be displayed in the Disney Legends Plaza at the Company's Burbank headquarters.

The first Disney Legend, actor Fred MacMurray (The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire), was named in 1987. Including this year's honorees, a total of 237 Disney Legends have been named. Past Disney Legends include Tim Allen, Julie Andrews, Howard Ashman, Annette Funicello, Peter Jennings, Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, Alan Menken, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker, Sir Tim Rice, Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Walters.

Tickets to the D23 EXPO are available at http://www.D23Expo.com. Admission includes access to all experiences and entertainment at the D23 EXPO and can be purchased for single days or for the full four days of festivities. Admission is $37 for a one-day adult ticket and $27 for children 3-12. Four-day passes are $111 for adults and $81 for children. Members of D23: The Official Community for Disney Fans will receive a discount on up to four admissions, as well as early entry to each day of the D23 EXPO for themselves and their guests.

Special vacation packages including Disneyland Resort hotel accommodations, D23 EXPO tickets and theme park admission are available at the D23 EXPO website. Packages are available from both the Walt Disney Travel Company and the Anaheim/ Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, which is offering a limited number of area hotel rooms at special rates to those attending the D23 EXPO.

Los Angeles Times - Hong Kong Disneyland does Halloween in a decidedly un-Disney way — complete with jungle demons, dancing devils and menacing aliens.

In stark contrast to Disneyland’s family-friendly fall festival approach, the Chinese theme park’s Alien Invasion attraction looks downright scary: teenagers trapped in liquid-filled isolation chambers, oozing green pods with whipping tentacle tendrils, visitors drawn like zombies to a waiting spacecraft.

The storyline for the new walk-through attraction in Tomorrowland includes a tour through a spaceship and encounters with alien abductees, Alien Intelligence Agency investigators and extraterrestrials with sinister intensions.

It looks and sounds like tremendous fun. The yawn-inducing orange explosion of pumpkin and candy corn theming that layers Disneyland every Halloween has never done much for me. Just another color scheme between red, white and blue “patriotic” and “holiday” red and green. Here’s hoping the aliens invade California next Fall.

Also returning for Haunted Halloween 2009 at Hong Kong Disneyland:

* The Main Street Haunted Hotel and Demon Jungle walk-through attractions with scare actors.

* The daily Glow in the Park Halloween parade with Disney villains, bat puppets and dancing devils.

* The Ghost Galaxy thematic overlay for Space Mountain (also debuting at Disneyland this year).

AP - ESPN has secured the rights to broadcast Europa League matches in Britain.

The Disney-owned network said Tuesday it was awarded rights to the former UEFA Cup for three seasons.

Scottish club Celtic and English sides Everton and Fulham are among the 48 clubs that have reached the group stages, along with AS Roma, Lazio, Valencia, Werder Bremen and Ajax. The group matches start on Sept. 17.

ESPN said it will be broadcast select live home matches featuring British clubs.

Disney lists the price for this at $116.09 (tax included). Getting behind the wheel is an entirely different -- and more expensive -- undertaking. Prices range from $424.94 to $1,383.44. (See www.1800BEPETTY.com for more information and reservations.)

Admission to Disney is not required, and parking is free. There's a 15 percent discount on all regulra program rides and drives for Florida residents.

"The transaction raises many more questions that need to be answered in the coming months and ... years," according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson. "We are not sure why the company felt the need to do this deal," Nathanson wrote. It's unclear, Nathanson said, what Disney can "immediately do" to add value to the deal since many of Marvel's biggest properties are locked away with rival companies for several years, and a few ("Spider-Man") are in perpetuity. Nathanson is also wary about how this deal puts Disney right back into the DVD business, which Chief Executive Bob Iger has rightfully been bearish on for some time.

That said, Nathanson acknowledges short-term gains to Disney's movie slate and sees strong potential to exploit Marvel products overseas.

Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield, who is known for his brashness, notes as other have that the deal gives Disney an in with young boys. While Disney has been very strong reaching girls on its cable networks, it needs a boost with boys, and Marvel has the characters and franchises to do that. 

Laura Martin of Soleil echoes many of these concerns and is lowering her earnings-per-share estimate for 2010 to $1.80, from $1.90. Disney's debt may also be downgraded as a result of the deal, Martin warns.

Martin hits it on the head when she writes: "Great CEOs typically manage to longer time frames than Wall Street's."

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" is syndicated, but airs primarily on ABC stations in the nation's major markets.

Andrews' attorney has said the blurry five-minute video was shot at a hotel without her knowledge and she plans to seek criminal charges and file lawsuits against whoever shot the video and anyone who publishes it.

The reporter also says she's excited to get back to work this fall, adding "it's really going to help me heal my wounds."

Andrews will be working on air Thursday night for the first time since the video became widespread news. She'll be the sideline reporter for ESPN's broadcast of South Carolina at North Carolina State.

It was not clear when the video of Andrews in the hotel room first appeared on the Internet. The person who first posted the video didn't identify the nude woman, and Andrews' attorney later confirmed the video was of the 31-year-old reporter.

Andrews, a former University of Florida dance team member, was an Internet sensation even before the video's circulation. Some Web sites have referred to her as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic she can generate, and Playboy magazine named her "sexiest sportscaster" in both 2008 and 2009. She has covered numerous sports for the network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter.