"The Lion King 2" Movie & Sountrack Released Today

Today marks the day for the re-releases of both the movie, "The Lion King 2" and the soundtrack for the film.

I like how when the movie was first released, it was called, "The Lion King II" but now it is called "The Lion King 2." I guess the roman numerals don't work as well when you now have another film titled, "The Lion King 1 1/2."

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It Disney get any better than this

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Jimmy Smits to return to ABC as star, producer

Smits previously starred in the ABC cop drama "NYPD Blue" from 1994 to 1998.

"Jimmy's a one-of-a-kind star and we feel fortunate that he's decided to once again be part of the family," said Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Primetime Entertainment.

Through his El Sendero Productions, Smits will serve as executive producer of the shows that could air on ABC or other outlets owned by The Walt Disney Co.

NBC announced last week that Smits will play a a three-term congressman from Houston, with "presidential aspirations" in the upcoming season of the political drama.

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'King Arthur' Passes $100 Million Overseas

Disney's "King Arthur," a domestic dud at about $50 million, soared past the century mark ($107.4 million) at the foreign box office last weekend, helping the studio hit $1 billion overseas for an unprecedented 10th consecutive year.

Just as Chinese film "Hero" conquered the North American box office with $18 million, so did another Chinese effort, "Lovers" (aka "House of Flying Daggers"), take the top spot in Japan with $3.6 million

The weekend gold medal went to M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village," which took in $10.2 million from 13 countries, marked by No. 1 openings in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Thailand, as well as by second-weekend holdovers in the United Kingdom and France, for respective market hauls of $10.6 million and $12.4 million. The foreign haul for the thriller stands at $30.8 million.

"Garfield" was the surprise silver-medal winner, seizing $9.7 million from 42 territories and lifting its foreign total to $65 million. Solid openings in Russia ($932,000), Hungary ($440,000) and Norway ($418,000) and sound second weeks in France and Germany contributed to the family film's showing.

The bronze went to "The Bourne Supremacy," an $8 million performer from 11 countries. It went to the top in Australia with $3.5 million, 77% ahead of its 2002 predecessor, "The Bourne Identity." The spy thriller has racked up $25 million to date overseas.

"Arthur's" rise to the $100 million ranks after a $7.8 million weekend came wholly from holdovers, which included the No. 1 position in Germany for two weeks in a row for a market total of $7.3 million. Spain has supplied $9.5 million after three weekends; France, $5.4 million after four; and Russia, $4.5 million after three.

Two sci-fi contenders, "I, Robot" and "The Chronicles of Riddick," came in at $6.2 million each for the weekend, with "Robot's" take from 35 markets moving it up to $140.3 million and "Riddick's" tally from 35 taking it to $33 million.

"Dodgeball" seized the No. 1 position in the United Kingdom with $3.9 million.

"Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid," going day-and-date with North America, hunted down $2.6 million from five overseas markets, including a hot $1 million in India and $1.1 million in Mexico.

"Starsky & Hutch," in its final overseas date, came in first in Italy with $3.1 million, hoisting its foreign total to $75 million.

More weekend tallies: "Catwoman," $2.3 million from 21 countries; "The Terminal," $2.1 million from South Korea; "Alien vs. Predator," $1.8 million from six; "Collateral," $1.8 million from 14; and "13 Going on 30," $1.6 million from 31.

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American Heritage Gallery opening early September

Art lovers will have a new reason to visit Epcot beginning in September when the Walt Disney World theme park opens its sixth gallery, American Heritage Gallery, with an inaugural exhibition exploring the connection between historical African art objects and their influence and significance as interpreted by contemporary African-American artists. The new gallery will be located in the American Adventure pavilion in World Showcase.

"Echoes of Africa" will feature important pieces from the Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, considered to be one of the most significant and respected collections of African art in private hands. The collection was amassed over twenty years and spans the entire region of Africa, focusing primarily on Western Africa. During the three-year run of the exhibit, 15 to 20 pieces from the Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection will be on display at any one time, side by side with the works of approximately one dozen contemporary artists.

The Disney-Tishman African Art Collection has played a vital role in the world's understanding of African culture. The study of the objects contributed to some anthropological breakthroughs. Had this collection not been preserved and studied, experts say, some of our understanding of African culture would have been lost to history.

The collection was originally assembled by Paul and Ruth Tishman. The Walt Disney Company acquired the collection from the Tishmans in 1984. The collection has been included in world-class exhibitions since it was acquired by the Walt Disney Company. Objects from the collection are currently on exhibition at numerous museums around the world, including the Louvre, Smithsonian, Monastery of Our Lady of Prado (Valladolid, Spain) and the Museum for African Art, New York.

Renowned author and educator Dr. Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins will serve as guest curator for the exhibit. Dr. LeFalle-Collins is a noted scholar of African-American art and has curated exhibitions for the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the American Federation of the Arts in New York, the California African-American Museum in Los Angeles, and the 22nd International Bienal Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

As the sixth World Showcase gallery, the American Heritage Gallery joins galleries in the Mexico, Norway, China, Japan and Morocco pavilions. Entry to all of the galleries is included with Epcot admission.

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New Disney Cookbook, Cooking With Mickey and the Disney Chefs

The most-requested recipes from Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disney Cruise Line are featured in the new Cooking With Mickey and the Disney Chefs, the first-ever cookbook to include recipes from all three Disney venues.

Some recipes have incredible staying power, like Tonga Toast from Kona Cafe at Disney's Polynesian Resort or the Monte Cristo from Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland Resort. But newcomers like pork and polenta from California Grill at Walt Disney World Resort and the crème brûlée cheesecake from Disney Cruise Line are requested just as often. All the recipes have been adapted to family-size servings, and tested for home use.

Wine pairings accompany many of the recipes, with recommended vintages that are readily available in local wine shops.

Published by Disney Editions, the cookbook is edited by Pam Brandon with a foreword by noted food writer John Mariani. Price is $19.95, and the book is available at Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disney Cruise Line retail outlets, or may be ordered by calling 407/363-6200.

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Disney’s Swim with the Stars

America's first-ever eight-time medalist Michael Phelps and his gold medalist teammates Lenny Krayzelburg and Ian Crocker, in their first public appearances in the United States since winning in Greece, will meet and swim with young American swimming stars of tomorrow in 12 cities across the country during “Disney’s Swim with the Stars” tour. The nationwide tour begins August 31 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and ends at Disneyland Resort in California.

“Since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed of winning the gold medal and shouting ‘I’m going to Disney World,” said Phelps. “Now I’m really doing it – and going to Disneyland too!”

Phelps earned a record-tying eight medals (six gold, two bronze) in Athens and will now visit Walt Disney World Resort in Florida with U.S. swimming teammates Crocker and Krayzelburg (both Athens gold medalists for the 400-meter medley relay) upon returning to the United States. On Aug. 31, the three swimming champions will serve as grand marshals in a celebratory parade in their honor at the Magic Kingdom and lead a special swimming clinic at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park. The swimmers will then leave Orlando on September 5 and embark on “Disney’s Swim with the Stars” tour, visiting key cities across the United States.

In addition to sponsoring the tour, the Disney theme parks are creating a special community outreach program will take place at one school in each tour city. Local deserving schoolchildren will have the rare opportunity to meet Phelps, Crocker and Krayzelburg in a motivational 30-minute, morning, personal appearance filled with expert tips, encouragement and a surprise appearance by Mickey Mouse - - an unforgettable and inspirational experience for schoolchildren across the country.

“Disney’s Swim with the Stars” tour will culminate at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, bringing the three gold medal winners to the park as it prepares to celebrate its golden anniversary in 2005. Following their award-winning athletic performances in Athens and their cross-country tour, it’s only fitting their journey should end at “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

“Disney is all about turning dreams into realities and through this tour it’s our goal to share the spirit of accomplishment and pride these great athletes generated in Athens with the gold medal winners of tomorrow in communities across the country,” said Jay Rasulo, president, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. “There is nothing more important than sparking the imaginations of our kids and making them realize that anything is possible - - Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker and Lenny Krayzelburg proved in Greece that dreams can become realities.”

“We’re very proud and excited to be the title host sponsor for this extraordinary tour where these remarkable athletes will inspire and motivate today’s young people to pursue their dreams and goals,” said Michael Mendenhall, executive vice president, global marketing, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. “It’s our hope that kids across America will be encouraged to make their dreams come true like these three gold medalists.”

Each city stop will also feature a first-of-its-kind, two-hour swimming celebration show, presented by Disney, which will showcase the unparalleled accomplishments of each swimmer in a unique, exciting and intimate atmosphere. Each show will be filled with special insight into the stars' races and strokes; including demonstrations, rematches from Athens and a relay with the stars and special guests.

“Disney’s Swim with the Stars” tour was developed by Octagon and its clients, Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker and Lenny Krayzelburg. Octagon is a global sports and entertainment marketing company.


“DISNEY’S SWIM THE STARS” TOUR ITINERARY
Orlando / Walt Disney World Resort (8/31 – 9/2)
Atlanta (9/3 – 9/5)
New York City (9/6 – 9/9)
Baltimore (9/10 – 9/12)
Chicago (9/13 – 9/15)
Dallas (9/16 – 9/18)
Denver (9/19 – 9/20)
Las Vegas (9/21 – 9/23)
Salt Lake City (9/24 – 9/25)
Seattle (9/26 – 9/27)
San Francisco (9/28 – 9/30)
Anaheim / Disneyland Resort (10/4 – 10/5)

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Flying Fish
Adults $26.00 - Children $11.99 (3-11)
Thanksgiving Offering and limited menu items a la carte

Spoodles
Adults $19.99 - Children $9.99 (3-11)
Thanksgiving Offering and limited menu items a la carte

Shutters at Old Port Royale
Adults $19.99 - Children $9.99 (3-11)
Thanksgiving Offering and limited menu items a la carte

Boatwright's
Adults $19.99 - Children $9.99 (3-11)
Thanksgiving Offering and limited items from menu

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Film festival coming to AMC Pleasure Island 24 Theatres

AMC Pleasure Island 24 Theatres will host a flashback film festival every Friday and Saturday night at midnight Sept. 3-Oct. 30.

Scheduled movies include:
-- Sept. 3-4 -- Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
-- Sept. 10-11 -- Animal House and Young Frankenstein
-- Sept. 17-18 -- The Godfather and The Untouchables
-- Sept. 24-25 -- Goldfinger and GoldenEye
-- Oct. 1-2 - Independence Day and The X Files
-- Oct. 8-9 -- Speed and Die Hard
-- Oct. 15-16 -- Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow
-- Oct. 22-23 -- Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless
-- Oct. 29-30 -- The Crow and The Blair Witch Project

Tickets cost $6 a person for Cast Members and $7 a person for Guests. For more information, call the box office at (407) 298-4488.

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ABC.COM and Realnetworks Unveil ABC On Demand Broadband Content For Superpass Subscribers

ABC On Demand features "Soap 411," a daily recap of General Hospital, One Life to Live, and All My Children; celebrity and lifestyle segments from The View; clips from Jimmy Kimmel Live highlighting stunts, pranks, celebrity interviews, and produced sketches; behind-the-scenes insights into Extreme Makeover; and, extended footage and commentary from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

"The widespread acceptance of broadband in homes presents a great opportunity for ABC to offer its fans new access to their favorite shows and celebrities," said Harry Lin, Vice President of ABC.com. "This content will do three things: it provides an additional promotional platform for our shows, it offers more of the shows our fans can't get enough of, and it provides on-demand access to highlights of programs viewers may have missed on air. We've witnessed the success ABC News content has had with SuperPass, and we know this is a great home for our broadband entertainment content."

ABC News and RealNetworks have collaborated for nearly a decade. ABC News content, such as World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America, has been available for SuperPassTM subscribers since 2002 and is among the most accessed programming on that service. ABC News is also the largest content provider for Real's mobile data service.

"RealNetworks is the leader in offering consumers access to music, movies and games online," said Richard Wolpert, Chief Strategy Officer RealNetworks, Inc. "Entertainment content is a key driver of video content on the web, and we are excited to expand our relationship with ABC to offer exclusive entertainment to our SuperPass subscribers."

The consumer experience is changing as the world shifts from dial-up to high-speed, and RealNetworks continues to provide innovative technologies that give consumers the benefits of a high-quality digital entertainment lifestyle experience. SuperPass is available to RealPlayer users and offers consumers on-demand access to news, entertainment, and sports programming. As of the second quarter, RealNetworks has more than 1.4 million subscribers to its subscription services, including SuperPass.

About ABC.com
ABC.com is one of three Internet-related business units of the ABC Television Network. ABC.com is the leading broadcast network Web site, reaching more than four million unique visitors monthly who are interested in ABC's television programs, its stars, and on-air programming. The others include ABCNEWS.com, one of the leading news sites; Enhanced TV, the ultimate interactive experience; and Oscar.com, the official Web site for the Academy Awards, is produced in conjunction with ABC.com and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

About ABC News Digital Media Group
The ABC News Digital Media Group includes ABCNEWS.com, the 24-hour online news service of ABC News, and ABC News Now, the first-of-its-kind 24/7 live streaming video news channel. Bernard Gershon is Senior Vice President and General Manager.

About RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is the leading creator of digital media services and software including the award-winning Rhapsody Internet jukebox service and RealPlayer. Consumers can access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks' consumer software at www.real.com. Broadcasters, network operators, media companies and enterprises use RealNetworks' products and services to create and deliver digital media to PCs, mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. RealNetworks' systems and corporate information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com/.

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Ninth Annual ABC Super Soap Weekend Returns to Disney-MGM Studios Nov. 13-14

Susan Lucci ("All My Children") will headline a star-studded lineup of more than 30 actors and actresses from the ABC Daytime dramas Nov. 13-14, 2004, at the ninth annual ABC Super Soap Weekend at Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The announcement was made by Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime.

Annually, ABC Super Soap Weekend is the largest soap fan event held anywhere in the country.

ABC Daytime once again will partner with Colgate Total toothpaste as its presenting sponsor of the event that will be held at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World Resort.

During Super Soap Weekend, fans will have the opportunity to meet favorite stars from "All My Children," "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital." Other event festivities include celebrity motorcades, autograph sessions, star conversations, talk shows, a special soap opera edition of the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-Play It!" game show attraction and the chance to purchase one-of-a-kind memorabilia from each of the shows. The elaborate star-studded event also features live musical performances by cast members in the Colgate Total Street Jam concert.

ABC Super Soap Weekend is included with theme park admission to Disney-MGM Studios -- where guests of all ages are caught up in the glitz, glamour and excitement of show business.

For future updates and more information about ABC Super Soap Weekend, guests may call the Super Soap Hotline at 407/397-6808.

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ABC's Digital Convention Scam

ABC, like other broadcast networks, will cover the forthcoming GOP convention precisely as it covered the Democratic event--by largely ignoring it. After all, nothing must get in the way of the multibillion-dollar revenues from prime-time commercials.

CBS, NBC and ABC will air a measly three hours of the GOP convention, the same short shrift they gave the Democrats. (Fox Broadcasting doesn't show any convention coverage at all!) Although the four big broadcast networks' fortunes are predicated on free use of the public airwaves, no major politician will publicly chastise them for their greed and disregard of the public interest. In our hyper commercial media culture, even presidential candidates know that civic discourse doesn't bring premium prime-time ad rates.

So for the majority of viewers, who still watch broadcast TV, their glimpse of the convention will be for a slim, single hour at 10 pm Eastern time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, August 31 to September 2.

Despite this lack of broadcast time, ABC is even boasting of its "comprehensive" coverage. Through its new, purportedly ground-breaking ABC News Now digital service, the network promises "a more comprehensive look at what this election and these conventions mean." Using a combination of broadband streaming (via AOL and others), Sprint "Vision" phones and a handful of digital TV channels, ABC's "FAQ" sheet crows that "no other network is offering that kind of comprehensive coverage across multiple platforms."

Yet very few people are likely to watch Jennings and company digitally. Despite all the hype about tens of millions of potential viewers, only about 500,000 may have access to News Now, admits ABC. That's out of 108 million US TV households and the 68 million US adults who have high-speed Internet service. As for its digital TV channel, one must either have an over-the-air digital tuner (which very few have at present) or pay extra for premium cable service. If you live in Kansas, Maine, Missouri, New Mexico or several other states, the channel is simply not available at all. And if you live in other states where it is available, you still need to know about it, which most people don't.

ABC News president David Westin didn't mention any of this in a recent Washington Post op-ed criticizing anyone concerned about the networks' failure to broadcast the conventions as hopelessly "out of date." Cable and the Internet have now created a "media democracy," and "time and technology are passing the critics by." What the big networks do is largely irrelevant today, he claimed. (We have to wonder if his colleagues tell the same story to ABC's advertisers.)

But while Westin was offering journalistic gloss to cover up the network's unwillingness to expend much prime-time programming on public service, Disney's president, Robert Iger, spoke more candidly when he addressed investment analysts earlier this month. If the FCC or Congress passes the new rules that Disney and other broadcasters are lobbying for, new digital news channels like ABC News Now will flourish. In other words, ABC's new political programming offerings are a digital "Trojan horse" to help the company achieve a billion-dollar bounty of new corporate welfare. Disney paid more than $5 billion for a single cable channel (Fox Family) back in 2001 and has remained extremely profitable. Imagine how the bottom-lines of the broadcast industry will prosper from a policy which gives each broadcaster multiple cable channels for free.

Disney/ABC, GE/NBC and the National Association of Broadcasters say they can offer the public more channels as their TV stations broadcast digitally. All US broadcasters are converting to digital transmission. Each local TV station will soon be able to transmit as many as six distinct channels in the place of the one they have today. Some readers may recall the notorious giveaway of new public airwaves to broadcasters by Congress in 1996. It was worth $70 billion then. Under the policy sought by Disney and others, cable systems would have to show all these new channels. That would likely bring broadcasters tremendous new revenues, all because of government largesse.

But Disney/ABC and other broadcast companies want this new policy without any public-interest strings attached. They oppose even a modest requirement that they would actually have to provide additional news and public affairs programming as a condition for such a policy. It is likely that once the government approves the cable "must carry" policy sought by Disney, such vaunted efforts as ABC News Now would be quickly replaced by entertainment, sports and other ratings-proven fare.

So while Peter Jennings and company appear on tiny cell-phone screens, Disney lobbyists are promising lawmakers that--with the right help from government--they can vastly improve the quality of political news coverage. No mention, of course, that all networks (thanks to Congress and FCC deregulation) are now part of larger media conglomerates rolling in dough. This year, broadcasters are also reaping historic profits from the sale of ad time to candidates, likely to approach $1.6 billion this year.

But don't expect to see coverage on network news--even ABC News Now--about how the networks are working on a scam of their own while they shortchange the public. Even with the expanded reach of digital, that's one story they won't broadcast--even to a cell phone.

But, if it's 2002 and you're a little Hawaiian girl named Lilo who needs a friend, you might kneel by your bedside and actually pray for an angel "the nicest angel you have."

So goes "The Gospel According to Disney," according to Mark Pinsky, the religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel who previously explored "The Gospel According to the Simpsons" in a 2001 hit.

His new book (Westminster John Knox Press, $14.95) chronicles two sides of the same story: an unchanging message of "faith, trust and pixie dust" at the heart of the Disney gospel and an evolving treatment of overt religion that has matured over time.

From the magic spells of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to the vaguely Hindu- and Buddhist-inspired theology of "The Lion King" in 1994, it is almost as if Mickey Mouse has left Fantasyland for a meeting of the "Parliament of the World's Religions."

Pinsky found one thing that remains constant throughout the films, an ideology he calls "secular 'toonism," a "gospel without God" that helps to shape moral sensibilities in children through quasi-religious values.

"Good is always rewarded; evil is always punished," Pinsky writes. "Faith is an essential element faith in yourself and, even more, faith in something greater than yourself, some higher power. Optimism and hard work complete the basic canon."

Pinsky is quick to note that Disney's gospel (unlike the Simpsons') is not an explicitly religious one. Indeed, in more than 35 animated Disney films, Pinsky found "scarcely a mention of God as conceived in the Christian and Jewish faiths."

Mostly that is because Walt Disney saw overt religion as "box-office poison" that would not appeal to wide audiences, Pinsky said. Disney himself was ambivalent toward organized religion after a strict fundamentalist childhood. Pinsky notes that the one building you won't see on Main Street USA at Disney World is a church.

The Disney gospel in the early Disney films is fairly easy to spot: lessons of conscience in "Pinocchio," tolerance and acceptance in "Dumbo" and truth and consequences in "Alice in Wonderland." Peter Pan is the chief apostle of Disney's gospel when he tells the Darling children that "all it takes is faith and trust, but the thing that's a positive must is a little bit of pixie dust."

Preaching the Disney gospel and living it out were not always in sync. Pinsky faults "Peter Pan" for dragging out "almost every demeaning cliche about Native Americans," and later, "Aladdin" for its stereotypical portrayal of Arabs.

Along the way, Disney films embodied a distinctive social message that helped shape young minds. Disney films portrayed environmental protection in "Bambi," Christian caring for the poor in "Robin Hood" and put a suspicious eye on class distinctions in "Lady and the Tramp."

After Walt Disney died in 1966, Disney's animated films went into "the wilderness period," as Pinsky put it. Most of the films were lackluster, both in style and substance. Take "The Black Cauldron" from 1985, which was bubbling over with sorcery and the occult.

"That movie's a mess," Pinsky said in an interview.

The Disney franchise was resurrected and reinvigorated in the late 1980s under Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg. What followed were a string of blockbuster hits "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Mulan." In 1996, Disney put religious faith center stage with "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," a film set in a cathedral. Its most poignant lyrics are "God Help the Outcasts."

The most striking feature of the later Disney films is the strong female lead characters certainly not ladies who will wait for Prince Charming to wake them from their beauty rest. The self-reliance and strong will embodied by Ariel, Belle and Mulan reflect central tenets of the Disney gospel.

Pinsky chose not to look at Disney's computer-animated films, such as "Toy Story" or "Finding Nemo," because those films are co-produced by Pixar. Pinsky said the wildly popular films are almost like Disney stepchildren with a new kind of Disney DNA. He also excluded "super lightweight" films such as "The Rescuers" and "Aristocats" that were mostly fluff.

In recent years, Disney also has woven more overt and diverse expressions of faith into its films: Islam in "Aladdin," animism in "Pocahontas," Buddhism and Hinduism in "The Lion King" and shamanism in "Brother Bear."

"As the country's attitudes toward religion, values and culture have shifted," wrote Pinsky, "Disney's animated features its historic corporate center of gravity have shifted to accommodate them."

Pinsky also examines the Southern Baptist-led boycott of Disney over its gay-friendly policies, which was really one skirmish in a larger cultural battle. "Singling out Disney for blame was like blaming one brand of thermometer for causing a raging fever," he said.

Pinsky said he's had "zero reaction" from Disney headquarters, and company officials declined to talk as the book was written.

Calls to a Disney spokeswoman were not returned.

While the Disney gospel remains at the core of all the films, Pinsky wonders what Walt Disney would make of the new films and their open, diverse embrace of religious faith.

"I think he would be more resistant to explicit representations of religion in any form," Pinsky said. "But at the same time, I think he would applaud and accept the representation of other cultures in a more authentic way."

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Dead ringers for Mickey at Disney World

A grandfather I know took his daughter and two grandkids to Disney World, and learned one of the sorry facts of life.

He put his daughter in charge of making all the arrangements.

They arrived at the airport at 2 p.m., were in their motel on the Disney World grounds by 3 and out on the rides at 3:30.

At 9 they had their first "Character Dinner," which is a dinner with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the other characters.

The kidlinks loved it; not gramps.

"At my age 9 is too late for dinner," gramps grumped.

There was no sleeping in the next morning.

At 6:30, they had to be at the tram stop because they had a Character Breakfast at 7. Tuesday was sort of an off day; normal touring and such. Gramps remembers Tuesday with fondness.

Wednesday it was up early again at the tram stop for a 6:30 Character Breakfast. The day ended with (A) a 9 p.m. Character Dinner and (B) a 10 p.m. party with Mickey.

Then it was back up early Thursday for a 7 a.m. Character Breakfast.

"Can't we go to a later one?" pleaded gramps. "No, we have reservations," said the daughter.

The day ended with a 9 p.m. Character Dinner.

Now, back home, gramps has finally figured out what they did to him.

"It wasn't the real Mickey at all those breakfasts and dinners," he disclosed.

Here I was, up early, staying up late, running from breakfast to dinner and back to breakfast and getting tuckered out. Mickey was fresh as a daisy because it wasn't the real Mickey.

"OK, so maybe the first one was real. But after that, they were throwing in ringers."

It is a sad life when you can't even trust Mickey.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

A few details have come in about November 2nd's re-release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The 3-disc Gift Set will include the existing 2-disc Collector's Edition plus "The Lost Disc", a third disc featuring 8 never-before-seen bonus features running a total of 69 minutes. Carrying the same $29.99 Suggested Retail Price that the 2-disc set did, the new DVD sounds enticing to those few people who haven't already bought the film on DVD.

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Walt Disney Company Financials

Click the link below for the Walt Disney World Financials

WDCo Financials

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Another Dynasty

ABC News is quietly gun ning to launch what would be the newest kind of cable channel on the block a heavy blend of local and national news.

It comes in the form of ABC News Now, which first appeared on digital cable tiers across the U.S. last month as a part of a test to showcase ABC's gavel-to-gavel coverage of the political conventions.

The test has also landed ABC a toe-hold on cable. ABC News has long coveted its own cable news channel. Until it fell apart last year, the network spent years in talks with CNN about a merger.

ABC News Now can be seen on several digital cable distributors across the U.S., including Time Warner's channel 730. Until now, it has been available only on the Internet and high-end cell phones with special software.

"All I'm concentrating on is making sure that the content, the general programming and the quality are as good as they can be," ABC News senior vice president Paul Slavin says.

At the moment, the network offers its own commercial free, casual coverage of national news (anchors like Peter Jennings and Sam Donaldson are loose with their commentary and sometimes crack jokes) and repeats of daily ABC News programming like "Good Morning America."

In the long run, Slavin hopes ABC News Now will offer a huge local news element that would offer coverage, features and weather produced by ABC affiliates around the U.S., like WABC/Ch. 7 and national news from the network.

"That's what would differentiate us from channels like MSNBC and CNN," says Slavin.

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Holly is one of four animatronic reindeer working on Andrew Adamson's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe after the living variety struck problems with Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry regulations.

The movie's producers withdrew an application to import 14 reindeer after MAF officers raised concerns over the possibility of introducing the potentially-deadly Q fever, which is present among American herds.

Their eerily realistic replacements were built in six months by Mark Rappaport and his Los Angeles-based Creature Effects team from fibreglass, servo motors and synthetic materials.

Each is controlled by up to five puppeteers who control all movements of their heads, neck, hips, nostrils, ears, eyes and tail as well as simulating breathing by expelling vapour from their nostrils. A movie spokesman declined to disclose how much they cost to manufacture.

The team will stand in for close up, stationary shots and will wear white synthetic pelts when pulling the evil White Witch's sleigh and brown when with Father Christmas. Any scenes showing moving reindeer will be computer generated.

Mr Rappaport said his creations will go into storage once shooting is completed, but was hopeful they would be needed again if Disney decides to film further novels from CS Lewis' Narnia series.

The scenes with Father Christmas, played by Braveheart's James Cosmo, were shot over the past week. Mr Cosmo was present on the West Auckland sets for only two days to complete his part in the project.

The only live animals to appear in the Disney-Walden Media production will be horses and wolves, which were yesterday working on sets near Henderson.

All other creatures will be computer generated by American companies Sony Imageworks and Rhythm & Hues.

Casting decisions are still awaited for six major roles: Aslan the lion, Maugrim, the White Witch's wolf henchman, and the four children - Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter - as adults.

The film, with the working title "The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz," is set to begin production in Vancouver, British Columbia, next month and air in the coming TV season on "The Wonderful World of Disney."

Tarantino's role as himself is likely to be overshadowed by pop star Ashanti, starring as Dorothy, and Miss Piggy. The muppet will play three wicked witches and Glinda, Good Witch of the South.

Among other muppets, Kermit the Frog is the Scarecrow, the Great Gonzo is the Tin Man and Fozzie Bear is the Lion. Besides Ashanti, the film features actress-singer Queen Latifah playing Auntie Em.

Described by the network as a "madcap adventure," the project is based on Frank L. Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Judy Garland played Dorothy in the famed 1939 film version, while Diana Ross starred in 1978's "The Wiz."

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, executives said no final decision had been made and that they were trying to develop a business plan to allow ABC News Now to continue beyond the election.

"I think the chances are very good," ABC News senior vp Paul Slavin said. "I know that at ABC News, we have worked vigorously to try and find a way to do this that is affordable and works within the ABC News DNA, and we're confident that we can do that."

The service grew out of ABC News' broadband video offering to include not only the Internet but also some ABC stations' digital stream, a temporary channel on the upper tier of some cable systems and wireless. Every ABC owned-and-operated station and a number of affiliates broadcast ABC News Now. But because it's on a little-known digital channel -- and isn't rated by Nielsen Media Research -- it's hard to tell just how many people are watching.

ABC executives readily admit that it's difficult to find out how many people are tuned in. But they say that data from Web partner AOL and anecdotal information from affiliates have found there's an audience for ABC News Now. When Hurricane Charley hit Florida, for instance, 400,000 streams of video were accessed via AOL between 4 and 7 p.m. And a Chicago station's request for viewers to contact them if they were watching ABC News Now led to a torrent of e-mails, said John Rouse, SVP of affiliate relations for ABC.

Even if the plug is pulled on ABC News Now, a part of it will remain because the broadband service will continue. Slavin said that the digital channel may end up being taken off for a period of time while it's reworked and while deals are made with cable systems to carry it, since it's temporarily using another channel.

"It's still very much a work-in-progress. We're learning a lot, our affiliates are learning a lot and we're very optimistic that this will be a success," Slavin said.

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The Incredibles Progress Report

While we're sure that Pixar is once again going to rock the house and bring in some serious loot with their next movie, The Incredibles, the outlook for the game is looking to be just as good. A lot of licensed games have really been excuses to tread out some tired old game with a new skin, but just like Spider-Man 2, The Incredibles could very well strike out on its own as a game and give fans a chance to live the experience themselves.

With that experience in mind, the layout of the game is going to be roughly based on the events of the movie. The overall layout of the game will be linear in nature and each level is matched with a single character, but there are plenty of extra touches being put in the game to make it just as lively as its cinematic counterpart. The environments that we saw were colorful and sometimes epic in scope. One level set on rooftops in a bustling city had plenty of buildings in the background and well-detailed textures everywhere.

Inside the game itself, there will be five playable characters although only three were on display at our demonstration: Mr. Incredible, his wife, Elastigirl, and their son, Dash. Mr. Incredible is all about strength and can lift up enemies or massive objects and toss them around. Need a gigantic barrier removed? This here is your man and he can also pick up entire gun turrets to fire off a few shots. If there's ever a brawl that needs clearing, he's the one to call.

When it comes time to use a little more brainpower, Elastigirl is a better choice. She can whip her arms at enemies and yank back to throw them around. She can also charge up and whip around, sending her arms flying out in a circle. The longer the charge the faster the whipping action and the greater her reach. For greater mobility, she can bend her arms and legs to form a large human wheel and roll around the levels.

If all else fails, there's always the chance to just run like hell and Dash does just that. True to his name, Dash runs furiously fast. The first mission that he is in in the game involves him running down a suburban street in an attempt to get to school before his school bus does. He can run fast and even kick in a super boost for some super speed. Later on, while running through some tunnels in a jungle level, Dash can even run along walls and ceilings, Sonic-style. The only trick to these levels is that Dash can't stop at any point along the way or else the mission's over. By hitting a truck or a tree trunk his zipping days are over.

If you've been following the progress of the movie, you probably already know about the characters. The only surprising thing here is how well they've been implemented into a videogame setting. The animations are smooth and the action is fluid for all three of the characters that we saw in action. The levels were also looking lush and detailed with an appropriately cartoonish feel for everything. All this and the build we saw was a month old.

With The Incredibles just over a month away from hitting the streets, we know that the title will be looking clean and accurate for those who want more than the regular movie experience. Is there going to be a new tradition of good games coming from good movies? We certainly hope so because good quality is good all around, remember that. Be sure to check back when we'll have the full review. For now, just check out some new screens in the Media Page.

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Sorbo going for laughs in ABC deal

After nearly a dozen years in action-adventure land, Kevin Sorbo is ready to segue to the lighter side of television. Sorbo, star of the syndicated first-run dramas "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," has inked a holding deal with ABC that calls for the network to develop a comedy project for the actor, ABC confirmed. Sorbo is no stranger to the sitcom genre. He's been building up his comedy chops during the past few seasons by doing guest shots on sitcoms, including ABC's "According to Jim" and "Hope & Faith," during his hiatus period from Tribune Entertainment's "Andromeda," which is heading into its fifth and final season this fall.

Disney Tour Bus Catches Fire

A Disney Cruise Line tour bus caught fire on state Road 528 Thursday afternoon.

The bus caught fire near Dallas in east Orange County. Eastbound lanes of the Beeline Expressway were closed as fire crews extinguished the fire.

The bus was smoking as the bus driver pulled the vehicle off on the right-hand side of the roadway. The driver and all the passengers, about 40 to 50 people, got off the bus and were moved a safe distance away before the bus erupted in flames. No injuries have been reported.

 
              
              
              
              
                                                     

The bus is owned by Mears Transportation. Other Disney buses, which were heading westbound after dropping other cruise passengers off, stopped when they saw the fire and picked up the passengers from the burned-out bus. The passengers are now on their way to the Disney Cruise Line terminal at Port Canaveral.

Most of the luggage for cruise passengers had already been sent ahead to the port. There were only a few pieces of luggage and some small personal items on the bus with the passengers that was lost when the bus caught fire, according to a representative of Disney Cruises.

The fire was started by a flat tire, and no other cars were involved in the incident.

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Clay Aiken recording the "Proud of Your Boy"

Disney has released three photos of the effervescent Clay Aiken recording the "Proud of Your Boy" music video under the supervision of Aladdin filmmakers Alan Menken, Ron Clements, and John Musker. The music video will appear on the 2-disc Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD.

                                                 
                

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999 Happy Haunts Online (RSP) Random Selection Process Merchandise Sneak Preview online now at Disneygallery.com

Below are a few pictures of some of the merchandise being offered this year at the 999 Happy Haunts. To see all of the merchandise and get more information Click Here  

                                              
 
                                              

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Animal Kingdoms Everest Photo Update

Below are the latest photos of Everest.

 

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"The Gears Behind the Ears"

What if you could sit down with the man who knows more about Disney – past and present – than anyone since Walt himself? What if you could ask him questions about anything that popped into your head, and hear stories about the whole rich expanse of Disney history?

The attraction, to be built at its second Paris theme park, would be similar to the Hollywood Tower Hotel attraction at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The French theme park operator is up against a Sept. 30 deadline to restructure its debt and its chairman, Andre Lacroix, has said he hopes to use part of the planned 250 million euro rights issue to fund "exciting new rides and attractions."

Building a Tower of Terror, a heart-stopping vertical drop in an elevator from the top of a tower, would be consistent with that strategy, sources told Reuters.

"It will either be the Tower of Terror or three smaller attractions," one source, who declined to be named, said on Tuesday. A second source said that of the two options, the tower was the most likely.

Euro Disney, the most visited tourist attraction in Europe, has to add novelties to its existing parks roughly once every three years, analysts say, to maintain interest and encourage its fans to return.

To that end it opened a second theme park, The Walt Disney Studios, next to the Magic Kingdom at its east-of-Paris site in spring 2002. But the new park has failed to draw in the crowds.

Instead, it has increased operating costs at a time when tourism has slumped following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, driving Euro Disney to the brink of bankruptcy.

Euro Disney's 39 percent shareholder, the Walt Disney Co., has agreed to extend it fresh credit lines and waivers on some of the royalty payments it owes for use of the Mickey Mouse characters.

Euro Disney, surviving on temporary debt waivers from its banks, is counting on new attractions to revive its flagging fortunes. Visitors to the second theme park, which has only 10 attractions against 47 at the first, have complained that the new park lacks thrills.

Euro Disney was able to revitalize attendance at The Magic Kingdom with the construction of its Space Mountain ride, though shareholders still blanche at the 100 million euros it cost the company to construct it.

When Space Mountain was opened, former Chairman Philippe Bourguignon said that each new attraction drew about half a million more visitors, but that was in Euro Disney's early days.

With numbers now stabilizing at about 12.2 million a year, some analysts say bringing increasing the number of visitors will be a much tougher challenge.

Shares in Euro Disney, which have been grazing record lows amid debt talks that have been going on for a year, were trading on Tuesday at 0.24 euros. ($1=.8231 Euro)

But that's just the beginning! Guests who really want to plunge into the water fun of America's most popular vacation destination resort discover they can surf, snorkel, water ski and scuba dive at Walt Disney World Resort. And once they've decided to come up for air, they can captain a variety of rental craft. And go on a private bass fishing excursion. And even parasail.

And that's not to mention the two water parks that make Walt Disney World Resort the "water park capital of the world." Plus 20 resort hotels featuring elaborate pools -- some of which have the aura of mini-water parks.

For those who want to get more than their toes wet, here's what the "waterful world" of Walt Disney World Resort has to offer.

Surfing

Adventurous guests can catch a wave and feel like they're sitting on top of the world at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park. Its 2.75-million-gallon wave pool provides consistent waves every 90 seconds that can range from three to six feet high -- and no sharks! Craig Carroll's Cocoa Beach Surf School invites guests to learn from professional surfers how to cut, carve and "hang 10." The program is available for an extra charge on selected mornings from 6:30-9 a.m. (prior to regular park hours). Guests may call 407/WDW-PLAY for more information. 

Scuba Diving

Certified divers can slip into dive gear for an unforgettable encounter with creatures of the deep. Imagine browsing a salt-water world of coral teeming with marine life without ever entering the sea. Walt Disney World guests can do just that at The Living Seas pavilion at Epcot. One of the world's largest aquariums (6 million gallons) is home to thousands of creatures -- from angelfish to 300-pound sea turtles. Disney's twice-daily DiveQuest program welcomes certified divers on expert-led tours. Rates include equipment, so guests don't have to bring dive gear from home. Guests may call 407/WDW-TOUR for more information. For more info. Click Here

Scuba-Assisted Snorkeling

Guests without scuba certification can experience the wonder of The Living Seas at Epcot by means of the new Epcot Seas Aqua Tour. This is get-wet action at its most exciting -- an up-close experience with the species of the deep that make The Living Seas their home. Participants use scuba-assisted snorkeling equipment. For more information, guests may call 407/939-8687. For more info. Click Here

Snorkeling

Imagine floating above leopard and nurse sharks, rays, rainbows of tropical fish and an upside-down sunken ship without venturing into the ocean. Shark Reef at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park offers guests the opportunity to explore in snorkel gear, included with admission to Typhoon Lagoon. A supplied-air (scuba assisted) snorkeling program (available for an additional charge) offers young guests their own look at Shark Reef. For more information guests may call 407/824-4321.

In the Boat

Guests have a new way to skim across Walt Disney World Resort waterways aboard a personal Sea Raycer watercraft. These modern-looking mini-powerboats, created exclusively for Walt Disney World Resort, make waves as they cut through open water and are environmentally sound. These crafts meet new federal laws requiring small engines to meet pollution control and fuel efficiency standards. Sea Raycers by Sea Ray are available at Magic Kingdom resort area marinas. They will be available at other resort marina locations starting April of 2004. Guests can experience water adventures with a WaterMouse, sailboat, pontoon boat, canopy boat, pedal boat, rowboat or canoe at select Walt Disney World marinas. Guests are also welcome to come aboard on two luxurious fireworks cruises offered at Walt Disney World Resort. These specialty cruises feature the Grand 1, a striking 48-foot Sea Ray yacht, and Breathless, a 24-foot reproduction of a 1930s mahogany runabout. For more information, including prices, guests may call 407/WDW-PLAY. For more information and pricing on the Grand 1 cruise, guests may call the Grand Floridian Marina at 407/824-2439. For more info. Click Here

Behind the Boat

The recipe for adventure at Disney's Contemporary Resort includes skis and speed at Sammy Duvall's Water Sports Centre. "Air time in no time" is the motto when guests slalom, kneeboard and wakeboard on Disney waterways. Guests can book tournament-level ski boats and ride the waters of Bay Lake near Magic Kingdom on skis, boards or tubes with guidance from a professional instructor. Hour-long sessions can be reserved by calling 407/939-0754 or 407/WDW-PLAY. For more info. Click Here

Bass Fishing

Even sport fishermen's dreams really do come true at Walt Disney World Resort, where trophy-sized largemouth bass in the 14-pound range sometimes lurk in lakes and canals almost within casting distance of Cinderella Castle. But this fish story gets even better: "Wannabe" sports fishermen's dreams also come true. On fishing excursions led by expert bass guides, guests with lots of experience -- or with little or no fishing experience -- can all enjoy the exhilarating thrill of a feisty largemouth "striking." The two-hour excursions are for a party of up to five people and are on a boat stocked for the excursion with rods, reels and other fishing gear, cold drinks, and a camera to prove you're not telling "fish stories." Information and reservations are available by calling 407/WDW-PLAY. For more info. Click Here

Parasailing

The sky is the limit when guests take a parasailing adventure high above Bay Lake. Single and tandem fliers can have a bird's-eye view of Magic Kingdom at altitudes nearing 600 feet for 8 to 10 minutes. Instead of the traditional water approach, the uniquely designed boat enables a "dry" take-off and landing from the back of the boat. For "flight" times guests may call 407/939-0754. For more info. Click Here

Pools

Unique theming at each Walt Disney World resort offers guests many different options for pool adventures -- such as a three-acre, 750,000-gallon mini-water park with pirate shipwreck and sand-bottom pools at Disney's Yacht Club Resort and Disney's Beach Club Resort, or a cascading five-story waterfall on the side of a Mayan pyramid at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. For more information, guests may call 407/824-4321.

Water Parks

Slides, sunshine, shrieks, screams, surf, splashes. Water fun is a main event at the birthplace of the water park. With the opening of River Country in 1976, America had its first official water park. Now Walt Disney World Resort has two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Information about water park hours is available by calling Walt Disney World guest information (407/824-4321) or by visiting www.disneyworld.com.

Blizzard Beach
What do you do when a freak snowstorm hits Florida? Build a ski resort, of course. But as our lift went up, so did the temperature, leaving some of the world's fastest, longest, gushing, downhill thrills. Disney's largest water park offers 66 acres of whitewater raft rides, water slides and floats. Guests can travel side by side at speeds up to 25 mph on the Downhill Double Dipper or plunge 120 feet from Summit Plummet's "ski jump" tower. Designated areas for pre-teens and young children in addition to a one-acre wave pool create a magically wet experience for the entire family. For more info. Click Here

Typhoon Lagoon
Boats were tossed and palms were bent. And when the storm of storms finally blew out to sea, it left behind a topsy-turvy tropical playground. A paradise for snorkeling, sliding and bodysurfing, the park also includes a 2.25-million-gallon wave pool with waves averaging four feet. The 56-acre Typhoon Lagoon features speed slides, and a 362,000-gallon salt-water coral reef where guests can snorkel amid colorful fish, live sharks and coral. For more info. Click Here

Thanks to Johnny Depp, TV comic Johnny Vegas could be joinging the crew of the Black Pearl.

Johnny Depp met Johhny Vegas while working with him on the new costume drama "The Libertine," and Depp thought he would be great in the Pirates sequels.

"We need even more of a comic element in the next two movies and I think Johnny would be great," he said. "He could play the first mate. I'm sure he will be up for it."

Johnny has already got Keith Richards onboard to play Captain Jack Sparrow's father. After all, it was Keith Richards who Johnny Depp based his swaggering character on.

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New images for "The Incredibles"

Three new images have surfaced from the November movie by Pixar.

                             
                             
                             
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"'Proud of Your Boy' ... was really special to Howard and me," Menken told reporters. "It was, I think, one of the best ballads we'd ever written. It was a song that Aladdin sings to his mom about how he's going to make good. And we thought that was going to be the single."

The DVD will feature a music video of the song, performed by original Aladdin musicians and sung by American Idol's Clay Aiken. The video is one of several special features on the DVD set, which hits store shelves on Oct. 5.

Will ABC Sack 'Monday Night Football'?

Her "Leave (Get Out)" is not only a smash hit that's all over the airwaves, it has introduced to the world a powerful voice that was cultivated singer gospel when she was younger. The song and video suggest a girl in her late teens, not in early adolescence, but there's nothing tawdry or tasteless about it.

That's in keeping with Disney's squeaky clean image. The birthday party (the children's radio station signed on in Flint on Aug. 15, 2002) is actually in two parts, a family fun fair from 1-5 p.m. in the parking lot and a concert, also featuring Greg Raposo, Jerry Reid and Jag Star, at 6. There's no admission for the fair, which includes bounce houses, a dance contest and other fun things to do, but concert admission is $12 general admission, $24.99 for reserved seating on the floor.

Last year's bash was held in Genesee County, but station manager Lesley Howe said she decided to move it this year to a location that could draw from the Flint and Saginaw areas.

"We go all over. We're not just a Flint station," Howe said.

The station's owners, ABC Radio, hope to make that even truer than it is now. ABC has filed an application with the FCC to transfer its license and operations eventually to the Detroit area, though its signal would be boosted to cover the entire southeastern/mid-Michigan region.

Speaking of moving, the station (WFDF-AM, 910), recently moved from its office on Hill Street in Grand Blanc Township to new digs in the Grand Mall in Grand Blanc.

JoJo, by the way, returns to the area Sept. 18 at The Palace of Auburn Hills to sing at the 2004 Rock & Roll Gymnastics Championships, featuring Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm. (Ticket information is on F17.)

“Straight-line winds wiped out paths of trees and landscaping in some places of more than 100 yards,” Hardin said. “It was pretty devastating.”

He compared the aftermath of a hurricane to a Midwest tornado.

“A tornado seems to grab the ground and take everything with it,” he said. “This (hurricane) bulldozed things from the top and just pushed everything over. You knew the hurricane covered the entire area, but it was odd that the sustained winds just ripped landscaping, roof shingles, tile roofs and knocked over atriums near pools.”

Hardin, his wife Susan and two-year-old son Harry arrived in Disney World on Aug. 9 and were scheduled to leave Orlando on the afternoon of Aug. 14.

“We found out that the hurricane was going to hit Tampa, but we were quite comfortable and decided not to leave Orlando,” Hardin recalled. “People from Tampa filled the hotel, but we still decided to stick it out.”

Hardin and his family figured the park would close early on Aug. 13, so they went to the pool that was closed at 11:30 a.m. They were staying in the Animal Kingdom Lodge on the top floor. He recalled it started to rain at 2 p.m., but later saw the wall cloud moving at 70 miles per hour.

Doors already had been sandbagged and hotel workers advised hotel guests to stay in the room, close the curtains and stay as close to inside walls as possible. They had box lunches because the restaurant closed at 2 p.m.

“They were so well-prepared there was no fear at all,” he said.

Hardin recalled that it rained for about 20 minutes, then the eye of the hurricane took about 90 minutes to pass.

“Then the rest of the hurricane came through,” Hardin said. “We had the curtains open so we could watch. Visibility was about 20 to 30 feet. You could see some of the trees bending.”

Amazingly, the park opened the next day. However many roads were closed and the National Guard was already in the area.

He related that Orlando International Airport sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Charley with record wind gusts of 105 miles per hour. The airport reopened at 1 p.m. on Aug. 14.

Hardin and his family noticed that the airport sustained heavy roof damage, chairs were strewn and windows had been shattered.

They were scheduled to leave Orlando after 9 p.m. on Aug. 14, but did not depart until 2 a.m. on Aug. 15 on a delayed American Trans Air flight and thankful to be headed home.

“It was definitely an experience-it was my first hurricane,” Hardin said after his return to Greenwood.

The lineup is a veritable "who's who" of Christian music with names such as Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Kirk Franklin, Third Day, CeCe Winans, Point of Grace and Jaci Velasquez. Among them, the 24 acts have amassed 174 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and 21 Grammy Awards.

In addition to concerts, Night of Joy features an opportunity to enjoy favorite Magic Kingdom attractions during event hours, 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. each evening (following regular Magic Kingdom closing). There also will be character greetings in Town Square each evening beginning at 7:30 p.m.

One-, two-, and three-night tickets are available. Guests can get tickets or more information by calling 407/W DISNEY or by visiting disneyworld.com/nightofjoy on the Internet. Advance tickets are $36.95 (plus tax) for one night, $59.95 (plus tax) for two nights and $79.95 (plus tax) for all three nights. Tickets also are available at Florida locations of Family Christian Stores. One-day tickets on event days -- if available -- are $41.95. The event has been sold out in advance in recent years.

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New Disney Cookbook Features Most-Requested Recipes

The most-requested recipes from Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disney Cruise Line are featured in the new Cooking With Mickey and the Disney Chefs, the first-ever cookbook to include recipes from all three Disney venues.

Some recipes have incredible staying power, like Tonga Toast from Kona Cafe at Disney's Polynesian Resort or the Monte Cristo from Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland Resort. But newcomers like pork and polenta from California Grill at Walt Disney World Resort and the crème brûlée cheesecake from Disney Cruise Line are requested just as often. All the recipes have been adapted to family-size servings, and tested for home use.

Wine pairings accompany many of the recipes, with recommended vintages that are readily available in local wine shops.

Published by Disney Editions, the cookbook is edited by Pam Brandon with a foreword by noted food writer John Mariani. Price is $19.95, and the book is available at Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disney Cruise Line retail outlets, or may be ordered by calling 407/363-6200.

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Eisner Visits in Charley's Wake

Dressed in a yellow polo shirt, white pants, black sneakers and a Mickey Mouse baseball cap, he could have passed for a tourist.

But Michael Eisner wasn't on vacation Wednesday.

Instead, the Walt Disney Co. chief executive was on the job, praising his troops for their efforts to keep much of the Walt Disney World resort humming in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley.

"I just wanted to come and say what a great job you people did. We totally appreciate it," Eisner told about a dozen workers who were crammed into an employee lunchroom at the resort's Disney-MGM Studios with the CEO and his entourage.

Although the storm forced Disney to shut down Animal Kingdom for a day, it caused only minimal damage to the resort, which opened three of its parks the next morning after extensive cleanup efforts by employees.

In several informal meetings in the backstage area of Disney-MGM on Wednesday, Eisner peppered employees with questions: Where were you when the storm hit? Was your home damaged? How did guests respond the next day?

Responses ranged from polite to candid.

One worker described how she reported to work at 4:30 a.m., just hours after her previous shift, to help clean the park even though her own home was damaged.

On her way to Disney, she said, "I was stopped three times and told to go back home, and I said, 'No, Disney needs my help.' "

Another colleague brought up the delicate issue of contract talks between Disney and unions representing 21,000 full-time employees.

"It shows the dedication that we have to this company, and we'd like to be appreciated as well and in contract time we'd like to see a little better offer," she said.

"Oh. Oh," Eisner said, "We're not negotiating now."

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Where Do All Those Bad Ideas Come From?

The Fall of Walt Disney Imagineering, Part One of Two

How is it possible that the same people who created EPCOT Center, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure and Tokyo Disney Seas, also created Disney's California Adventure, Walt Disney Studios Paris, DinoRama, and Journey into YOUR Imagination? The answer is simple...they didn't. There was a severe power shift at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) in the early-90s, which completely changed the creative landscape. The best ideas no longer made it into the parks, and WDI fell victim to the kind of personal politics and rampant cronyism that is often associated with Hollywood studios. Many talented Imagineers were laid off or put out to pasture, while finance executives were given the power to make creative decisions.

It helps to have a historical perspective.

1984 to 1992 - Michael & Frank

For his first eight years, Michael Eisner enjoyed a very positive relationship with the creatives at WDI. He and Disney President, Frank Wells, visited the WDI facility in Glendale frequently. They had the final say over which projects made it into the parks and which were destined never to leave the drawing board.

It should be noted that during those years, it was always Michael and Frank. Michael clearly looked to Frank for guidance. Although technically the CEO, Michael was younger and less experienced then Frank. And Frank reported directly to the Company's Board of Directors-not to Michael. They were true partners; Michael Eisner made no important company decisions without Frank's blessing. One of his most valuable qualities was the ability to look beyond the numbers on the spreadsheet, and make a decision based on the creative merit of an idea. It was this type of thinking (on the part of both Michael and Frank) that lead to the creation of attractions like Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure and Fantasmic! (often over the objections of the newly created Strategic Planning group).

1992 to 1993 - The beginning of the end

In 1992, the Walt Disney Company unveiled another masterpiece of imagination, Euro Disneyland (later re-named Disneyland Paris). The park was beautiful and complete with all the lavish detail and meticulous theming you'd expect to find in a Disney theme park. Financially, it flopped. Decisions made on the corporate level (the location of the park, an excessive number of hotel rooms, and few concessions to local culture) doomed the project, but the blame was placed on Walt Disney Imagineering. Michael Eisner decided that the creative folks in Glendale were spending too much money and would need to be controlled.

Unwilling to admit that the failure of Disneyland Paris was his, Eisner began ten years of enforcing tighter and tighter restraints over Walt Disney Imagineering. The first step in this process involved the Disney Development Company (DDC). At the time, DDC was separate from WDI. DDC was responsible for everything "outside the berm." They built hotels, office buildings, and golf courses-conventional construction. Eisner decided to merge the two units into one. He placed the former DDC executives (lead by Peter Rummell) over the WDI creative executives (lead by Marty Sklar). Convention over innovation. From this point onward, WDI would not be run by the apprentices of Walt's original creative team, it would instead be lead by land developers.

In 1994, WDI lost one of its biggest supporters, Frank Wells. The one-two punch of the financial failure of Disneyland Paris and the death of Frank Wells would set WDI on a course that would lead to its creative demise.

1994 to 1998 - The pendulum starts to swing

Walt Disney Imagineering has always been a difficult organization to run. Managing artists is a lot like herding cats. In the early-90s, the chief cat herder was Mickey Steinberg. Steinberg wasn't always well liked by the creative folk, but he respected the specialized nature of their work...and it showed in the results. He presided over successful projects like the Magic Kingdom's Splash Mountain and the Disney-MGM Studios' Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. But Steinberg would receive a quasi-demotion when Peter Rummell and his land development executives arrived. Mickey Steinberg would eventually choose to leave. Marty Sklar, the long-time President of WDI, would receive a very real demotion and find himself subordinate to Rummell. Sklar would stay; his authority diminished. Marty Sklar would become the head of the "Creative Development" department-the core creative group at Imagineering.

Rummell's mandate was clear; to deliver projects on budget and on schedule. Obviously, this is a necessary goal for a division of a public stock company. But because WDI is an organization whose success is founded on innovation and nurtured by a pioneering spirit, those who establish the limits of schedule and budget must be equally innovative and pioneering in nature. In other words, conventional estimating and scheduling practices don't apply. Keep in mind, almost every attraction WDI has created throughout its 52-year history has been a prototype. Managing the design and construction of a fairytale castle or 180-foot geosphere requires a different set of principles then building tract housing or a string of Taco Bells.

During this same time, a drastic role-reversal took place. WDI was forced into taking a subservient role to Park Operations. Local park management became the "owners" of the parks. WDI must now be "hired" to make additions or modifications to the parks (the money would reside with Park Operations). From this point forward, the parks and WDI would operate as independent companies. Today, the parks contract the WDI design firm the same way you would hire a plumber to fix your leaky pipes. This puts the parks in a power position and leaves the old WDI Creative Development department with three different bosses, each with a different agenda...Peter Rummell and the land developers, the Park Operations executives, and the Strategic Planning department.

1998 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

The pendulum reaches its halfway point but doesn't stop swinging.

Disney's Animal Kingdom opened at a unique time in the history of WDI. The creative culture was still strong enough that it was not willing to compromise on quality-just quantity. If you've been to Disney's Animal Kingdom, you've seen it first hand. The park is beautifully themed, with the quality guests have come to expect from Disney. The attraction roster, however, is short. No problem, thought the Imagineers, attractions can be added after opening-so long as the park concept is sound and the existing attractions are up to the high Disney standards. After all, Disney-MGM Studios was skimpy on attractions when it opened too, but within a few years, enough had been added to bring it up to the level of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Imagineers thought, would do the same.

But no new attractions would be developed for Animal Kingdom for several years. The visionary Park Operations chief that had championed Disney's Animal Kingdom, Judson Green, had fallen out of favor with Michael Eisner. His replacement would have a very different agenda.

1999 to 2002 - The Pressler Years

Let's break from the WDI timeline briefly to get the backstory on Paul Pressler...

Paul Pressler was the president of the Disney Stores from 1992 to 1995. He gained the position when Steve Burke, the founder of the stores, was moved over to rescue the ailing Euro Disney project. Burke once described the Disney Stores as "little out-posts of Disney culture." He wanted to limit the number of stores in order to keep them special in the eyes of the public. Paul Pressler did not share this philosophy. He was fortunate enough to gain his position as head of the Stores at the same time that Walt Disney Feature Animation was going through its new renaissance. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lion King were on top of the box office, and merchandise from those films was in demand. Pressler seized this opportunity, and the short-term gains were tremendous. He added new stores as fast as possible-fulfilling the very high (and very temporary) demand for Disney character merchandise. In the long-term, the results were disastrous. Without the demand for Disney merchandise (a direct result of the missteps of Animation-synergy works both ways) the Disney Stores would lose their luster and collapse under their own weight. But none of this blame would land on Pressler. In 1995 he jumped ship to become the President of Disneyland. He openly admitted not being fond of theme parks, but he was the golden boy of the hour and received the much-coveted job.

From 1995 to 1999 he squeezed every penny out of Disneyland, making dramatic budget cuts and focusing attention on merchandise promotions and suggestive-selling programs. Hard selling was never the Disney way-in fact it was the antithesis of Walt's philosophy. Just like at the Disney Stores, Paul Pressler would impress his bosses by achieving short-term gains and the expense of the long-term health of his business unit. Stores became more important than attractions.

Some of Disneyland's classic attractions would be shuttered to save costs, among them Skyway and Submarine Voyage, both closed without replacement. The 1998 redesign of Tomorrowland would also be impacted by budget cuts, even as the project was underway. Warnings from the traditional Imagineers went unheeded and the resulting Tomorrowland proved a disaster with both guests and operations (with its signature attraction, Rocket Rods, closing within two years).

Many of the most significant budget cuts effected Disneyland maintenance. The financial price of these decisions is being paid today. Disneyland, long regarded for its cleanliness and efficient maintenance practices, is being forced into a dramatic refurbishment program to bring the park up to its old standards-including a 28 month refurbishment of one of it's signature attractions, Space Mountain. But the price wasn't only financial. Paul Pressler would later be quoted in the LA Times as saying, "We have to ride these rides to failure to save money." The article was prompted by an accident on Big Thunder Mountain that was the result of maintenance failures. The accident took the life of a young man who was visiting the park with friends.

This brings us back to 1999 and catches us up with our WDI timeline...

In 1999, Paul Pressler became the President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and shortly afterwards would be named Chairman. He was given a more powerful role than any other Parks & Resorts chief in history. He wasn't only supervising Park Operations, he was put in charge of Imagineering as well.

Paul Pressler was already well known to WDI by 1999. As President of Disneyland, he had been intimately involved with the design and development of Disney's California Adventure. Pressler helped shape the concept and determined the budget for the park. It was reported that the overall expansion of the Disneyland Resort was well over one billion dollars. Most of that money did not go into California Adventure; in fact, the park received less then half of the investment. Most of the money went into the new parking structure, Downtown Disney, and especially the Grand Californian Hotel. The park designers would have to work with crumbs. But Paul Pressler wasn't just the guy holding the purse strings anymore, as Chairman of Parks & Resorts he had creative approval as well. For the first time in Disney history, a moneyman was dictating "creative" changes to the artists at Walt Disney Imagineering.

Paul Pressler had convinced everyone on the Parks & Resorts team that Disney's California Adventure would be an unparalleled success. In the days leading up to the opening of California Adventure, the Director of Attractions at Disneyland, Paul Yeargin, openly discussed his concerns that Disney's California Adventure would fill to capacity every day. He thought the resort's biggest problem would be disappointed guests, who, after traveling a great distance to see California Adventure would have to settle for Disneyland instead. Yeargin and other Disneyland executives made decisions based on this premise. Including a now infamous decision by Disneyland Resort President, Cynthia Harriss, to restrict Annual Passholders from using their passes at Disney's California Adventure for the first few months after opening. This decision only served to anger the already disgruntled 400,000 passholders who provide a significant amount of revenue for the resort. Harriss and Yeargin, like many of the Disneyland executives, had followed Pressler over from the Disney Stores and had no previous theme park experience.

Then in February 2001, the world saw what had been festering behind closed doors at WDI for the past several years. Disney's California Adventure opening in the old Disneyland parking lot. It was a mix of off-the-shelf carnival rides and film-based attractions. When Walt's close friend and long-time Imagineer, John Hench, saw the park for the first time he said, "I liked it better as a parking lot." WDI would try to fix California Adventure any way they could. They threw attractions at it left and right...Who Wants to be A Millionaire, a bug's land, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, even the Main Street Electrical Parade would come out of moth balls. None of it worked, of course.

All these projects were subject to the same approval process as Disney's California Adventure. Park Operations (Paul Pressler) would need to approve the concept and budget for the new attraction. The Strategic Planning department would then determine if the project were economically feasible. Then if the project were approved, it would be supervised by Project Management to make sure the creatives didn't try to improve the attraction after it was in production. Of course, all these new systems of control came with a price tag, which drove up the cost of the projects. The Walt Disney Company was spending more money on bureaucracy and less on the attraction itself. In the end, the paying guest got shortchanged.

At WDI, it was taboo to suggest that there was something wrong with California Adventure or the any of the new attractions. At first, WDI management said that the weather was to blame. When the weather cleared up, they blamed the economy. Then they used the new standby...people were scared to travel after September 11th. None of these excuses were valid because Disneyland continued to have much more respectable attendance figures (it's hard to image the weather or economic conditions could be so drastically different ninety feet to the south).

It would seem that WDI could sink no further, but in March of 2002, Pressler (along with former strategic planner Jay Rasulo) opened the only Disney theme park less impressive then California Adventure...Walt Disney Studios Paris. The park failed so miserably, it forced Disneyland Paris into a debt re-structuring plan that currently threatens the future existence of the resort. The pendulum had swung to the other extreme. Walt Disney Studios Paris is the total opposite of Disneyland Paris. It is a theme park by the numbers-designed with a spreadsheet instead of paint and brush.

Marceline Post Office to be Named in Honor of Walt Disney

Marceline, Mo. - Walt Disney's boyhood home of Marceline, Missouri will honor the memory of their favorite son on Monday, Aug. 23, when community, congressional and U.S. Postal Service officials designate the Marceline Post Office, located at 120 E. Ritchie Ave., as the Walt Disney Post Office Building at a ceremony that begins at 3 p.m.

Congressman Sam Graves, who, along with Missouri Senator James Talent, sponsored the legislation authorizing the renaming of the Marceline Post Office, will join Ormer Rogers, Jr., the manager of the Postal Service's Kansas City-based Mid-America District, Marceline Postmaster Steve Othic and Marceline city officials. Members of Walt Disney's family and representatives of the Walt Disney Co. also will attend.

Many of the participating officials will be available for pre-event interviews from 2:30 until 2:55 p.m. To coordinate interviews and pick up press kits, members of the media are invited to the Marceline Masonic Temple, located at 201 N. Main Street USA Ave. (less than one block from the Marceline Post Office).

The Marceline Post Office also will offer a special souvenir "Walt Disney Post Office" postmark beginning August 23, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The postmark will be available at the Marceline Post Office through September 22, or by mail (ordering instructions below).

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 190l to Elias and Flora Call Disney. One of five children, it was in Marceline where Walt first took an interest in art. Marceline also was where Walt began to appreciate nature, wildlife, and family and community, which were a large part of Midwestern agrarian living.

After service with the Red Cross during World War I, Walt returned to Kansas City, where he began his career as an advertising cartoonist. It was in Kansas City where he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons in 1920 - and later perfected a new method for combining live-action and animation.

How to Order the Special Walt Disney Post Office Postmark: Customers have 30 days to obtain the special souvenir postmark by mail. They should affix a First-Class stamp to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Walt Disney Post Office Postmark
Postmaster
120 E. Ritchie Ave.
Marceline, MO 64658-9998

After applying the Walt Disney Post Office postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by September 22, 2004.

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The strange hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz

If there can be an opera called Nixon in China, then surely there should be one called Ovitz at Disney. The saga certainly has all the hubris and betrayal and dashed ambitions one could wish for.

Instead of an opera, we have lengthy depositions from both players, Michael Ovitz and Michael Eisner, who fell out spectacularly in 1996 after Ovitz's brief and unhappy tenure as Eisner's No. 2 man at Disney. These documents exist as part of a lawsuit currently pending in a Delaware court. Filed in 1997 by shareholders understandably upset about Disney's costly hiring and firing of Ovitz, this litigation has withstood a number of challenges from the Disney board. It's also yielded some strange fruit as present and former Disney brass has been forced to undergo lengthy interrogations. The trial is set for October.

The depositions were taken last year and made public this spring. At that time, a few newspapers reported some juicy tidbits, like Ovitz's claim that he kept an unhappy Tim Allen from walking off the hit show Home Improvement by giving him a dinner party and a Roy Lichtenstein print. But for some reason the depositions have hardly been mined—and they make tantalizing summer reading for those who want a peek into the minds of moguls. Take it from someone who's written a book on Disney: These massive documents include the most detailed account of these two outsized personalities and their strange interlude together.

Ovitz's deposition achieves the impossible: It makes you feel sorry for him. Paired with Eisner's, it paints a picture of Hollywood "friendship" that might make one flee into the loving arms of Sammy Glick. But what the depositions don't quite do is unravel the mystery at the center of the drama: Why on earth did Eisner hire Ovitz to be his No. 2 man in the first place? Was Eisner so seriously deluded about a man whom he had known for years as to believe that he really could transform from an imperious, chilly super-agent to a successful executive in a publicly held company? Or did Eisner—consciously or not—simply seize a chance to bring the erstwhile most powerful man in Hollywood down a peg?

The depositions suggest the latter, though establishing intent is nearly impossible. Still, it's a question that remains relevant as Eisner, all these years later, hasn't moved any closer to installing a potential successor at Disney. It would seem that was never his priority.

The need for a successor was the ostensible reason Eisner hired Ovitz in 1995. Disney's No. 2 man, president and chief operating officer Frank Wells, had been killed in a helicopter crash more than a year earlier. As the litigation reveals, the job was still vacant months later when board member Ray Watson sent Eisner a memo on the subject of corporate governance. "What I'm doing now looks crazy, no president, no CFO, no treasurer," Eisner conceded in a written reply. Should he die, Eisner suggested, the board ought to approach either Ovitz or Barry Diller. He leaned toward Ovitz, he said, "because he is a hard worker, a good family man and motivated, maybe too motivated and somewhat untested." But then again, he sometimes favored Diller, who was "completely the opposite …. smarter, much more ethical."

There was no chance that Diller was going to work for Eisner or anyone else. So Eisner went with the candidate whom he considered to be untested, less smart, and much less ethical.

After he was hired, the question of Ovtiz's ethics (or lack thereof) apparently arose early and often. According to the court papers, Eisner confided a concern to Sid Bass, then Disney's majority shareholder, that Ovitz might have been less than truthful with his former partner in the agency business, Ron Meyer. According to Bass' account, Ovitz had told Meyer he was flying on a Gulfstream jet belonging to a producer (not named, but it's said to be Sydney Pollack) who insisted that he use it. The story was that Meyer had unknowingly been paying part of the plane's costs—without being able to use the plane himself. (Whether the story is in fact true remains unclear.)

It hardly seems surprising that one line of questioning focused on Ovitz's expenses. The litigation suggests Ovitz's tendency to spend was a problem from the start. According to a brief filed last month, Disney had Pricewaterhouse look into the subject after Ovitz's departure. The firm prepared a draft report that said Ovitz spent about $4.8 million during his brief time at Disney and only $690,000 of that amount was in compliance with Disney's spending guidelines. The report was neither finalized nor acted upon, according to the brief.

Ovitz said that before he was formally elected to the Disney board, he charged the company $90,000 for a star-studded party he threw at his house. "When I gave a party like this at CAA they would cost a minimum of $200,000," he said. "There is probably no one in the city of Los Angeles that could have drawn the kind of people we did to that party and do it for $90,000." But Ovitz said Disney didn't fully reimburse him for the "bargain-basement" party, prompting the question from the shareholders' lawyer, "At CAA, you would have been fully reimbursed for the party?"

"One hundred and ten percent," Ovitz answered.

In addition, before he had even been officially hired, Ovitz started work on a lavish redesign of his capacious new office at Disney. The multimillion-dollar project was to become a sore point with Eisner. It's hard to imagine anything that would interest Ovitz more than such a visible symbol of power, but Ovitz claims he didn't pay much attention to the renovation. "I was working 24/7 at the company and, frankly, I think it just all ran away from me," he said. "I didn't know what they were doing." (In the same session Ovitz noted that he "had built an I.M. Pei building [that housed CAA] and was involved in every single inch of it.")

The depositions amplify what was obvious from the start: In terms of temperament and experience, Ovitz could not have been more ill-suited to the job. He had no idea what it meant to act as a director of a publicly held company or how to function within the confines of one. Asked in his deposition if he understood that he had a legal "duty of care" as Disney board member, Ovitz replied, "I'm sorry, I don't really understand that. I would understand that if it was at a hospital."

Before he came to Disney, Ovitz's legend rested partly on the key role he played in brokering Sony's and Matsushita's costly purchases of two entertainment companies (Columbia and Universal, respectively). So in defense of his performance during his short tenure at Disney, Ovitz cited the usefulness of his contacts in Asia. "I had the mayor of Shanghai to my home for dinner because I have the most definitive collection of Ming Chinese furniture in the United States of America," he boasted. "He … still corresponds with me." Ovitz said he set up a possible deal for Disney to buy half of Sony's music business but was rebuffed by Eisner. Ovitz also acknowledged that he contributed to an embarrassing public relations fiasco: He was responsible for bringing the Martin Scorsese film Kundun, about the Dalai Lama, to Disney, and he admitted that he was surprised when the Chinese government objected to the film. (The episode was a sticky one for Disney, hoping to break into the Chinese market.)

Yet although Ovtiz may have been ill-suited for the job, the court documents also vividly demonstrate that Eisner never gave him a chance. For example: Having been assured, by Ovitz's account, that he and Eisner would be partners, Eisner undercut Ovitz's authority by allowing one executive after another to opt out of reporting to him even before he started the job.

In a mere matter of months, Ovitz set to work on an escape plan: getting a job running Sony's entertainment operations. Eisner said he sent Ovitz a "schmoozie" note permitting him to negotiate for the Sony job.

But Ovitz was on his guard. He distrusted Eisner's apparent encouragement to pursue the idea. Ovitz had a bitter relationship with Sandy Litvack, then vice chairman of Disney and consigliere to Eisner. "I did know one thing," Ovitz said in his deposition. "That if Eisner told me to go meet with Sony … Litvack would say that I breached my [employment] agreement." Ovitz got Eisner to put his approval in writing. Eisner named his terms: Sony not only had to pay off Disney's contractual obligations to Ovitz but offer some kind of strategic deal to make Disney and Eisner look good. (This was Plan A. In his deposition, Eisner said that board member Tom Murphy suggested another tack: getting Ovitz named deputy trade ambassador in the Clinton administration.) Ovitz flew off to Japan, drank a fine Bordeaux with the top Sony brass, but came away without a deal.

Eisner's deposition reveals that he was horrified when Ovitz vowed to recommit to his job. Litvack paid Ovitz a rare visit in his office and told him that Eisner wanted him out. But Ovitz simply wouldn't go. (That may have given Eisner some ideas on how to handle unhappy shareholders—he didn't budge after more than 45 percent voted for his ouster at this year's annual meeting in March.) At one point, Eisner said, Ovitz even vowed to chain himself to his desk.

Whatever friendship Eisner and Ovitz had once enjoyed had clearly frayed. The nature of that friendship is a major focal point of the litigation. This is because the shareholders' case benefits if it can be established that Eisner was doing favors for his pal. Naturally Eisner minimized the relationship in his deposition. Asked how he became friends with Ovitz, Eisner replied, "We were—well …. you have to define 'friends.' " Ovitz "was deemed by me to be an effective agent," he continued. The attorney for the shareholders tried again.

"Did you ever develop a social or personal relationship with Mr. Ovitz?"

"In the business sense, yes," Eisner replied. Asked to explain, Eisner said, "He was not a personal friend. … He was a seller of his products and I was aware that he was a seller of his products."

In his deposition Ovitz didn't play down his friendship with Eisner, though often it seems that he had a strange way of manifesting his affection. He described an episode that occurred in 1984, for instance, just after Eisner was abruptly fired from Paramount. When he paid a visit to Eisner at home, Ovitz said, Eisner tried to make a reservation for that same night at Morton's but was turned away. "And he turned to me very sadly and said, 'This just shows you what this community is like. I'm out of Paramount three days and I can't even get a table,' " Ovitz remembered. Ovitz called Morton's and immediately booked a table in his own name. This was a bonding moment, according to Ovitz. He said it made Eisner recognize "how tenuous situations are" and "how great it would be" if Ovitz joined the team that was, at the time, seeking to take the reins at Disney. But at that time, Ovitz said, he was launching his own company. He wasn't interested.

Ovitz also made much of his attendance at Eisner's bedside when Eisner had emergency bypass surgery in 1994. Eisner's recollection is different. "He came to my hospital room once. That's all," he said. Questioned further, Eisner acknowledged that his wife told him that Ovitz also spent some time outside his room. The lawyer tried yet again. "He did turn up at your hospital, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah. It was very nice of him," Eisner answered.

"That was friendly, was it not?"

"Well, he wasn't there for other reasons, yeah. There were a lot of people that came."

"Who else visited your hospital bed?"

"I don't know. … My kids."

If Eisner didn't think much of Ovitz's assistance during this crisis, he certainly knew that Ovitz did. As he pushed Ovitz toward the exit at Disney, Eisner sent a note that read, "You still are the only one who came to my hospital bed—and I do remember."

In his deposition, Eisner said the remark wasn't exactly true. Asked whether it was at least sincere, Eisner replied that he was simply focused on his goal of getting rid of Ovitz. "Sincere or insincere is really not the applicable question," he said. "The question is could it work?"

After a fashion, it did. Ovitz finally unchained himself from his desk and was paid more than $120 million to go away—just one reason the shareholders are suing. In papers filed recently in connection with the litigation, Ovitz said if Disney hadn't paid him off, he would have sued claiming that he was fraudulently induced to take the job in the first place. Reading the depositions, it doesn't seem such a far-fetched claim.

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Images from American Dog

Ain't It Cool News offers still images from the upcoming Disney feature American Dog, a story by Chris Sanders.

http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18156

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Disney Trying to Get ABC Family Airborne

Known as the problem child amid the prodigies in Walt Disney Co.'s cable brood, ABC Family may finally be growing up.

Sources say Disney is close to finalizing a new broad carriage deal with Time Warner Cable for all of Disney's programing properties, which is expected to include a slight rate increase for ABC Family.

It's a small but hard-won measure of respectability for a network that distributors will be closely watching in the year ahead for buzzworthy programing. Both companies declined comment.

Given criticism that Disney CEO Michael Eisner overpaid when he forked over $5.3 billion for ABC Family in 2001, the challenge is worthy of the flying Disney character Dumbo: Can they get this white elephant off the ground?

ABC Family president Paul Lee is confident they will, pointing to the ability of Disney's top TV executive, Anne Sweeney, to bolster cable properties at the once-moribund Disney Channel and during her stints at News Corp. and Nickelodeon.

ABC Family's programing strategy hasn't clicked with the young adults it targeted ever since Disney bought the network -- formerly known as Fox Family Channel -- from News Corp. and Haim Saban. Early experiments with recycling programs from the ABC network, such as "Alias" and "The Bachelor," drew mixed results, and more recent original-series efforts flopped, including a revival of "Dance Fever" and a Roseanne Barr reality show that never made it to the air.

ABC Family's failures were especially evident last year when its president, Angela Shapiro, departed following a power struggle with Sweeney, who has since integrated the channel into the Disney ABC Cable Networks Group, which also includes SoapNet and Toon Disney. Lee was hired to replace Shapiro in April amid a corporate shakeup that elevated Sweeney from the chief of Disney's cable division to co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of ABC-Disney Television Group.

Lee was considered a surprising choice for a network in desperate need of a programing whiz. He is better known as a savvy marketer, having orchestrated a turnaround for cable channel BBC America largely on the strength of programing he didn't produce, including "Coupling" and "The Office," which drew multiple Golden Globe awards

But Lee also has 15 years of production experience in England, where he worked in a variety of genres. To provide the hit-starved network with the original programing deemed crucial to burnishing its brand, he is developing a mix of scripted and unscripted programing, initially leaning toward the latter because its quick production cycles would mean he could have something on the air as early as January.

ABC Family won't waver from its family strategy, but it will seek to redefine that word's staid connotations with programing that reflects more modern -- read dysfunctional -- families epitomized by shows like Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The Simpsons."

Lee sees ABC Family ripe for breakout programing thanks to a foundation of off-net acquisitions including "Gilmore Girls" and "Smallville" in place on the schedule in the fall.

"We do have a hill to climb here, but if it's anything like my last job, people will start to knock on our door when we have a hit," he said.

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Disney Karaoke Releasing Radio Disney Chart Toppers and Disney's Aladdin

Sing Along with Two New Releases in the Disney Karaoke Series: Radio Disney Chart Toppers and Disney's Aladdin Available on Walt Disney Records August 24, 2004

"The first thing you (sic) really got to fix is the quality of the product," Mooney said, echoing comments he's been making ever since he was brought in to report to former chairman Bo Boyd in 1999. Although he's had nearly five years to make a meaningful impact on the division, we can now see the fruits of his labor by walking into any local grocery store:

Disney paper towels.

Mooney is the same person who told Business Week in 2003 that "we're focusing on making great products." He publicly decried "character slaps" (putting a random image of a Disney character on a meaningless product) as something that would never happen under his watch. And now he has overseen the devolution of Mickey Mouse to meaningless brand icon who now hawks paper towels.

Just a few years back, Mooney routinely gathered his troops to tell them that the Consumer Products division had grown stale, that it needed to create new meaning for the Disney "brand," that it needed to scale back the number of licensees and products it created in order to focus on the most important, profitable items. In these meetings, Mooney would stress the need for Disney products to emphasize the company's storytelling heritage.

Maybe I'm thick, but I'm missing the story that connects Mickey Mouse has to paper towels.

Sure, there have already been things like Disney Band-Aids and toothbrushes. Though they may seem to fall into the same character-slap category, one can follow that these products bring a little touch of Disney to items that small children need and use frequently. Mickey's smiling face on a Band-Aid might well bring extra comfort to an "owie".

Now, Disney diapers were hardly a respectable end for some of Walt's best loved characters. (One can imagine Donald getting the assignment with a... "Wak!"). Still, there was some connection to kids there...

But I'm at a loss to remember the last time a 3-year-old decided to grab the 409 and spray down the kitchen counters or pick up Fido's mess.

The paper towel packaging does nothing to try to establish some sort of connection to the characters - there's no cute story on the back about how Mickey loves to clean the kitchen, or how Minnie toils to keep her countertops sparkling. Rather, there's Mickey on the package in a few random, meaningless poses along with a giant, bold "Disney" logo on the store shelves - right next to the Bounty woodsman and the Viva brand.

True, this is only one product among thousands that Disney's licensing division creates. But it speaks volumes about the lack of creativity, the lack of leadership and the lack of long-term vision that Disney's current management regime has.

On one hand, they're selling the Disney Stores, the only day-to-day immersive Disney experience that the average consumer can have these days, claiming that the long-term strength of the "brand" doesn't support the expense of operating a retail chain (even though Eisner bought off on the concept as a money-loser because of the goodwill it generated for the Disney name).

On the other, they're randomly slapping Mickey's image on paper towels.

The Disney-branded cereals moved in this direction a few years ago. Cap'n Crunch, Mr. Whipple and the Trix rabbit may be great advertising icons, but few could argue that Mickey Mouse transcends them. After all, you don't see global entertainment destinations being created around, say, the Gorton's fisherman. After 70-plus years, Mickey Mouse - the most famous cartoon character in the world - has been reduced to their level.

Under Mooney (and the notoriously hawk-eyed Eisner, who must have seen plans for these Disney paper towels), the care that Disney management has lavished on Mickey and the gang for nearly 80 years has been rendered meaningless. Or maybe it isn't Consumer Products that creates these deals at all, but Strategic Planning and Strategic Alliances. The bonding of corporate global entities before product consideration.

Carping about a product this cheap, this disposable (quite literally), this meaningless and this unimaginative may seem frivolous at first glance. But the trend holds great potential to undermine the faith consumers have in the Disney name and characters. How can they justify spending $50 a pop at Disneyland to see that guy who's on their roll of paper towels? How can they have affinity for characters they use to wipe up food and vomit?

Yet you can't find Mickey's classic films on the Disney Channel... and managers wonder why kids today "don't know Mickey." Often times, they've never truly met him. And who's fault is that?

Maria Gladowski, a Disney communications manager, told Potentials in Sept. 2003, "You really want the products to be reflective of your brand." When they cynically slap Mickey on some paper towels, you have to wonder exactly what they think of their much-discussed "brand" after all.

Remember, these are the people who are making decisions that are supposed to grow, protect and nurture the Disney name and characters into the next decade and beyond. That makes me more worried than ever, because they're making a mess that even all the Disney paper towels in the world can't clean, no matter how happily Mickey's smiling up at you from the muck.

Is toilet paper next?

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Sky and Disney tie up gaming deal

The Disney service, which can be accessed via the Disney Channel, or through Gamestar on the Sky Interactive menu, is called Disney Channel Play.

Featuring up to three games at any one time, the service will feature well-known Disney brands and characters from The Lion King and Aladdin to Lilo & Stitch.

The games are pay-to-play - either on a game-by-game or day pass basis, but can be tried free of charge.

John Hardie, senior vice president and managing director of Disney Branded TV Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “This represents another extension to our successful partnership with Sky, as well as our existing and already popular enhanced TV applications behind the Disney Channel.”

Attila Gazdag, vice president and managing director for the Walt Disney Internet Group Europe, called the new service “a natural extension to our existing innovative portfolio of interactive assets in the UK, such as our multi-player game ToonTown online, as well as several mobile games”.

Gamestar currently provides over 25 interactive games, and Disney has four channels in the UK – Disney Channel, Disney Channel +1, Playhouse Disney, and Toon Disney.

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Disney Channels in Germany, Italy & All of Asia Acquire Nine Dog Christmas Animated All Family Entertainment Feature

Earthworks Entertainment announced today that the Nine Dog Christmas Special will have its Christmas 2004 premiere on the Disney Channels in Germany, Italy and in all of Asia. Further International TV deals are in process and expected to be announced shortly. A TV Broadcast Network deal for the US market is in the works.

Diane Woods-Branco, Managing Partner of the Nine Dog brand franchise rights holder, JRS Properties LLC, stated: "We're delighted by the property's terrific reception by TV Networks all across the globe and we're extremely fortunate to have Warner Home Video, the largest video distributor in the world, handling the home video distribution for Nine Dog Christmas."

Earthworks President and CEO Peter Keefe, who produced the Nine Dog Christmas Special and developed the property's marketing strategy, states: "The US and Global TV Network response to our Nine Dog brand franchise is absolutely incredible -- everyone loves the Nine Dog characters and story. Our talented colleagues at the Indigo Group are doing a thoroughly splendid job of marketing this irresistibly charming property to the International TV community. We are now following on our initial Nine Dog brand success with the development and marketing of the Nine Dog Night of Fright -- a fun, spooky Halloween sequel that can entertain all year long."

Nine Dog Christmas stars nine extraordinary stray dogs who overcome tremendous odds to help Santa bring the spirit of Christmas to children all over the world when the reindeer flu threatens to ground Santa's sleigh. James Earl Jones narrates this captivating, all family musical adventure story, which resounds with the magic of Christmas.

Earthworks Entertainment creates, produces, markets and distributes high quality children's and family oriented entertainment properties. The Company identifies entertainment properties that it believes have the greatest success potential in the global marketplace. It then develops and markets these properties in exchange for management, production and distribution fees and for a substantial percentage of the worldwide merchandise licensing profits.

These entertainment properties are marketed to all areas of commercial licensing including: TV & Home Video, Toys, Video Games, Music, Books, Leisure & Play Items, Gifts & Novelties, Theme Parks, Food & Drink Promotions, and Apparel.

Please visit the Company website at: http://www.EarthworksEntertainment.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Due to the fact that Earthworks faces competition from other creators, producers, sellers, marketers, distributors and licensors, and due to the uncertainty of the public's response to Earthworks' children's and family entertainment properties, actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements.

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Antelope Island Buffalo Filmed for Disney Movie

Monday wasn't an average day for the bison population on Antelope Island.

First, a herd of 600 or more was rounded up. Next, two helicopters flew overhead to incite them to charge in a minor stampede.

Park rangers kept track of temperatures and requested breaks so the bison wouldn't overexert themselves as cameras rolled for "Buffalo Dreams," a Disney Channel movie to air next spring.

"It's a great story about a native boy and a white kid who learn to appreciate each other's cultures and be friends," said Simon R. Baker, 18, who plays a Navajo teen named Tom. "It's really about friendship and tolerance, and it has lots of great mountain biking."

The story is told through the eyes of the other boy, Josh, played by 14-year-old Reiley McClendon. Josh is a Chicago kid whose family moves to New Mexico (portrayed by Antelope Island State Park). The bickering boys end up working together on a bison preserve run by Tom's tribe.

Actor Graham Greene ("Dances With Wolves") plays Tom's grandfather, who sends the two boys on a Vision Quest to gain insights into their values and life purposes.

"I really like working in Utah," said McClendon. "It's a gorgeous state. We've shot in Skull Valley and at Provo River Falls and at Wasatch Reserve. Utah has great locations."

Utah has been used in more than 600 theatrical films and TV movies, said Leigh von der Esch, executive director of the Utah Film Commission.

"Our high-water mark was $140 million film-related money in a year," von der Esch said. "We've taken a hit in recent years because of losing 'Touched by an Angel' and because of the increase of reality-based television cutting into the kind of filming that was typically done here. We also have other states and countries offering financial incentives."

The Utah film industry still brought more than $80 million to the state last year, von der Esch said. "Still, every film is very important t o us," von der Esch said. "And Don Schain is a hero to us because of the films he brings here."

Schain is the line producer for "Buffalo Dreams," responsible for day-to-day details.

"I try to bring in at least three films a year," Schain said.

"I came here in 1991 after 20 years in L.A., and I decided to stay. I mean, look at this state. I hate to state the obvious, but within an hour either direction, you've got beautiful mountains, lake valleys, red rock in Heber -- and I'm not even talking about southern Utah yet."

For nearly a decade the Emeryville, Calif. animation powerhouse has churned out a steady stream of blockbusters, with each one performing better than the last at the box office. In all, Pixar has produced 5 full-length animated features, starting with "Toy Story" in 1995 and culminating with "Finding Nemo" in 2003.

Yet, even though its winning formula of heartwarming characters who tackle adversity with spunk and humor has led to numerous hits, Pixar has yet to face any major challenges of its own.

That could soon change. Pixar's runaway success has lured competitors, most notably the soon-to- be-public DreamWorks Animation, which produced both Shrek films, into the field.

And unless Pixar strikes a new deal with Walt Disney Co., CEO Steve Jobs will have to find a new distributor and promoter by 2006. Investors are hoping to hear more about the company's search for a new partner in Pixar's latest earnings call Thursday.

What's more, Pixar's next release, "The Incredibles," due out in November, is arguably its riskiest proposition yet. The main characters are adult humans, not toys, monsters or lovable animals. So can Pixar, with its stock trading near all-time highs, keep soaring or is calamity lurking around the corner?

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Walt Disney World Announces Relief Efforts for Central Florida Families and Cast Members Impacted by Hurricane Charley

To assist Central Florida families and Cast Members adversely impacted by Hurricane Charley, the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney World Resort today announced an array of relief initiatives.

"Our Disney family always steps up in times of crisis to assist those in need," said Al Weiss, president of the Walt Disney World Resort. "We are joining with other caring corporate citizens to provide much-needed help and compassion in the community and within our own company."

    The following relief is being offered to the community:

    * DisneyHand, worldwide outreach for The Walt Disney Company, has
announced a contribution totaling $100,000 to the American Red Cross and the
Heart of Florida United Way.
    * Walt Disney World will conduct a food drive with employees to benefit
the Second Harvest Food Bank, which provides food supplies to agencies
throughout Central Florida.
    * Walt Disney World will provide work crews to assist with the recovery
effort.

    Walt Disney World also is offering the following relief assistance to Cast Members:

    * Up to $5,000 for Cast Members who have sustained catastrophic damage to
their primary residence or severe personal injury through the Walt Disney
Company's Disney Operation Care (DOC) program.
    * Up to $1,000 to assist needy Cast Members with recovery from the storm
through the Walt Disney World Cast Member Hurricane Relief Fund. The Walt
Disney World Resort has initially contributed $50,000 to the Fund. Cast
Members worldwide also may contribute to the Fund, which is held at the Vista
Federal Credit Union.
    * Complimentary rooms at resort hotels for Cast Members who have
experienced catastrophic hardships or have unique medical needs.
    * Resort hotel rooms at a 50 percent discount for Cast Members who have
experienced discomfort due to the storm, such as loss of electricity.
    * Increased childcare capacity for school-age children at on-property
childcare locations.

The Mouse sure hopes it's big.

Pressure on this small bird is immense.

The homegrown pic -- due out next summer -- will be heavily scrutinized as Hollywood players and Wall Streeters wonder if Disney's decision not to re-up with Pixar, on whatever terms, was a disaster, or not.

"If the sky falls on the chicken's head" it's bad news for Disney, says one Gotham-based fund manager.

In recent months, he and many others have seen clips of the film at investor conferences. Reaction was mixed. Some found the feathered hero cute. Many called him grating.

"I thought it looked like a commercial for Pixar stock," says one particularly disgruntled money manager.

Many Wall Streeters have acknowledged that Disney CEO Michael Eisner was perhaps justified in nixing Pixar's last offer, which would have altered terms for the last two films in the pact and called for Disney to give up rights to Pixar's valuable library.

And a deal may still get done. Negotiations seemed dead. Then they didn't. Then they did -- when Eisner said so on a conference call discussing Disney's latest financials last week.

Disney has two pics left with Pixar, "The Incredibles," due out this fall, and "Cars," set for next year.

Post "Chicken Little," Disney's got "Rapunzel Unbraided," "Fraidy Cat," "The American Dog," and "A Day With Wilbur Robinson" in its own CGI hopper.

Ironically, if "The Incredibles" is a smash, the success will jar investors apprehensive at the pending divorce, even as it lines Disney's pockets.

If the pic's a dud -- which seems a near impossibility given the tremendous buzz -- Disney's pocketbook would feel it, yet the Mouse would be somewhat vindicated.

"Stocks are valued on future expectations," says one investor.

Sometimes chickens are too.

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New Cat Short Animates Mary Poppins Anniversary DVD

When MARY POPPINS comes to DVD for the third time on Dec. 14 in a special 40th anniversary edition from Buena Vista Home Ent., it will boast a brand new 2D-animated short, THE CAT THAT LOOKED AT A KING, produced by DisneyToon Studios. It's based on an original story by Poppins author P.L. Travers about the magical nanny. Former Duchess of York Sara Ferguson, Tracy Ullman and David Ogden Stiers provided voice work, while David Bossert (LORENZO, DESTINO, THE LION KING) directed the animation and former Disney studio chief Peter Schneider directed the live-action bookends hosted by Julie Andrews.

Speaking of Andrews, she is reunited with co-star Dick Van Dyke on the two-disc set. They both provide commentary along with co-composer Richard Sherman and others. In addition, the DVD will contain a new rendition of a never-before-heard deleted song, "Chimpanzoo," a set-top game and a 50-minute doc with never-before-released footage and new interviews.

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Skinner and Sutherland Likely for Disney's On the Record

Emily Skinner and Brian Sutherland will likely star in the new Disney musical On the Record, which begins a national tour this fall.

Playbill On-Line has learned that Skinner and Sutherland are both in final talks to portray, respectively, Diane and Julian in the new show, which borrows from Disney's beloved canon of songs. The On the Record tour kicks off Nov. 9 at the Palace Theatre in Playhouse Square in Cleveland, OH.

A spokesperson for the musical could not confirm casting as of press time. (A recent workshop of On the Record featured Rebecca Luker, Brent Barrett, Andrew Samonsky, Ashley Brown, Lenny Wolpe, Matt Farnsworth, Meredith Inglesby, Tyler Maynard and Kelly Sullivan.)

Directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom, On the Record will play Cleveland through Nov. 21 before launching a national tour that includes stops in Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Indianapolis, Florida and Texas. The creative team includes Natasha Katz (lighting), Robert Brill (scenery), Gregg Barnes (costumes), David Chase (musical supervision and arrangements) and Chad Beguelin (scenarist).

On the Record features songs from the Disney canon — both from classic Disney films and Disney's Broadway outings — and will be set in a recording studio. Over 50 songs comprise the musical, including tunes from "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Tarzan," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Sleeping Beauty," "Dumbo," "Peter Pan," "Pinocchio," "Lady and the Tramp," "Cinderella" and "Snow White."

Emily Skinner received a joint Tony Award nomination — with co-star Alice Ripley — for her performance in Side Show. Skinner's other Broadway credits include Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty and Dinner at Eight.

On Broadway, Brian Sutherland has been seen in the revivals of The Sound of Music and 1776 as well as Steel Pier, A Change in the Heir, Dance a Little Closer and Cats. He appeared in the national tours of Cabaret, Peter Pan and 42nd Street as well as regional productions of Breaking Legs, She Loves Me and A Chorus Line.

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Nick Franklin to Lead Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Business in Japan

Ed Grier to Oversee Local Operations of Walt Disney Attractions Japan

Nick Franklin, senior vice president of International Development, has been appointed to oversee Disney's Parks and Resorts business in Japan, including Walt Disney Attractions Japan (WDAJ) and Disneyland International, it was announced today by Jay Rasulo, president, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Franklin, who will continue to report directly to Rasulo, will help align Disney's business in Japan with the Parks and Resorts' international growth strategy and lead efforts to expand Disney's presence in Japan and throughout Asia. In addition to these duties, Franklin will continue to oversee International Development for the Parks and Resorts segment.

Mas Imai, executive vice president of WDAJ and Disneyland International, will conclude his three-year assignment in Japan and return to the United States to work with the International Development team. Imai will be replaced by Ed Grier, a 23-year veteran with the company, who will be the on-site executive leader in Japan, heading both WDAJ and Disneyland International.

In this role, Grier will work in tandem with the Oriental Land Company, Ltd., the owners and operators of the Tokyo Disney Resort. Grier will report to Franklin.

"As the Tokyo Disney Resort enters its 21st year of operation, Nick and his team will work with our partner, Oriental Land Company, to build on the success of the Tokyo Disney Resort," said Rasulo. "As part of our international growth strategy, the team will also identify new opportunities for expansion, capitalizing on the broad appeal of the Disney brand in Japan. Nick's proven leadership skills, coupled with Ed's breadth of operations experience, will serve us well as we integrate our efforts in Japan with the Oriental Land Company as well as coordinate across our broader international development strategy.

"I also want to commend Mas for his efforts and dedication over the last several years," added Rasulo. "Mas has worked very closely with the Oriental Land Company and was instrumental in turning Tokyo Disney Resort into a full- scale vacation destination - helping to create one of the most popular tourist attractions in Asia."

Franklin, who has been with The Walt Disney Company for eight years, is responsible for leading the international expansion of the Parks and Resorts portfolio. Franklin's focus includes developing and capitalizing on the Disney brand in Asia, as well as other strategic areas of the world.

Franklin began his career at Mercer Management Consulting before joining Disney in 1996 in the Corporate Strategic Planning department. Over the next few years, Franklin held positions of increasing responsibility and worked on such projects as the development of Hong Kong Disneyland, the business strategy for Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, the launch of the ESPN Zone chain throughout the United States and the expansion of the Disneyland Resort in Southern California.

Franklin graduated from Princeton with a bachelor's degree in politics and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.

Grier joined Disney in 1981 and has held a number of positions at both Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort Paris in France, where he gained international experience as manager of Market Development and Planning.

Grier also served as manager of Attractions at the Disney-MGM Studios. In 1997, he was promoted to general manager of Disney-MGM Studios Operations and in 2004, he took on the role as general manager of Epcot.

Before joining Disney, Grier worked as a CPA for Ernst and Young. Grier has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Duquesne University in Pennsylvania.

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Nomination Period Begins for the 2005 DisneyHand Teacher Awards

Raise a Hand for a Teacher and Nominate Your Favorite Now Through October 15, 2004

Disney invites you to nominate a K-12 teacher who has made a significant impact on students and learning for the 2005 DisneyHand Teacher Awards.

The DisneyHand Teacher Awards honors educators who are uniquely creative and inspiring. The honorees and overall winners will be selected by a prestigious national committee of educators and education associations. Nominations are submitted by current and former students, parents, administrators, colleagues and members of the community.

Nominations will be accepted now through Oct. 15, 2004, and may be submitted by calling 1-877-ATA-TEACH (1-877-282-8322) or by logging on to www.disneyhand.com. Those selected from the submitted applications as official honorees will each receive a monetary gift, a trip to one of the Disney theme parks including VIP parties and a parade, as well as professional development workshops focused on innovative teaching and learning through leadership development. Three honorees will receive the distinction of being named a DisneyHand Teacher Awards Outstanding Teacher, and one will ultimately be named the DisneyHand Teacher Awards 2005 Teacher of the Year.

Over the past 15 years, Disney has honored more than 500 teachers and contributed more than 100 million dollars to teachers and schools--making it one of the most significant commitments of financial and corporate resources to teachers and learning of any company in America.

"The DisneyHand Teacher Awards recognizes deserving teachers for the excellence they have displayed in the classroom. Educators are honored for their creativity, inspiration and dedication to their students' success," said Jody Dreyer, senior vice president, Disney Worldwide Outreach.

DisneyHand is sending nomination forms to every school in the nation. Along with the documents, DisneyHand will include a book, "Disney Looking at Paintings--An Introduction to Fine Art for Young People," by Erika Langmuir and Ruth Thompson from Boston-based Bunker Hill Publishing. The gift is part of DisneyHand's commitment to imagination and learning as exemplified by the DisneyHand Teacher Awards, and can be a useful tool to help engage young people in creative ways of looking at the world around them.

The recently named 2004 DisneyHand Teacher Awards Teacher of the Year is Jeffrey Thompson, a Kindergarten teacher at Evergreen Elementary school on the Fort Lewis military post in Fort Lewis, Wash. Jeffrey was also honored as an Outstanding Elementary School teacher from among his peers. Jeffrey received the two distinctions from more than 150,000 nominees received from across the country last year.

DisneyHand Teacher Awards is part of The Walt Disney Company's commitment to worldwide outreach. DisneyHand is dedicated to making the dreams of families and children a reality through public service initiatives, community outreach and volunteerism in areas of learning, compassion, the arts and the environment. For more information on Disney's corporate public service efforts, please visit our Website at www.disneyhand.com.

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Some tourists head to parks -- others head home

Central Florida's tourism economy was nearly back on track Sunday, with the major attractions up and running and only scattered cancellations at the airport.

Animal Kingdom, the only Walt Disney World theme park that didn't open Saturday, was back in business Sunday with the rest, showing few scars from the ferocious winds that ripped through the region late Friday.

Kali River Rapids, a water ride, was closed, and a couple of trees were uprooted on the plaza in front of the park's ticket booths, but there was practically no debris along the many paved pathways.

Employees said one reason the lushly landscaped park didn't open Saturday was because there were so many downed tree limbs. One said that, before the cleanup, it looked as if the sidewalks had been covered with mulch.

Discovery Cove was closed Saturday for similar reasons, but it reopened to a full house Sunday, said Jim Atchison, who oversees the high-end day resort as well as its sibling theme park, SeaWorld Orlando.

Orlando International Airport officials said most carriers were operating at or near capacity Sunday. Some, they said, had added flights to help make up for those canceled Friday and Saturday.

Delta Air Lines, OIA's busiest carrier, didn't add capacity, but "there are no empty seats coming out of Orlando," spokesman Todd Clay said. "We're putting everybody we can on those flights."

Still, Hurricane Charley continued to interfere with some travel plans Sunday.

Anne McKeon, a tourist from Ireland, said she spent two weeks in a rental house in Kissimmee with her husband and four children. The family rode out the hurricane in the utility room and then spent the last two days of their vacation without electricity.

They had hoped to fly home Sunday, but McKeon said they missed their flight because they didn't allow enough time for a long detour around storm damage on their way to the airport.

Standing with her family in front of the Delta ticket counter, a tired-looking McKeon said the airline had agreed to let them catch a later flight to Atlanta. Rather than spend the money on a hotel, she said, they would nap in the terminal and then fly to Dublin today.

Her husband, Philip, who works for a construction company, said that, if nothing else, he has a good story to tell his friends at work. "It's been some experience," he said.

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Saratoga Marine Facility Sends Animals to Epcot for Safety

Several marine mammals including two manatees, two dolphins, four sea turtles and a number of beach hatchlings were to be moved to The Living Seas at Epcot and to SeaWorld from the Mote Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center in Sarasota.
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More Theme Park Character Fun Than Ever Before at Walt Disney World Resort

Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy and the rest of the Disney character gang arrive at the Main Street, U.S.A. station aboard the Walt Disney World Railroad minutes before Magic Kingdom opens, greeting early-arriving guests to a theme park full of character fun like never before. Steps inside the gates, Town Square becomes a joyous scene of cherished Disney characters signing autographs, posing for photos and making guests feel welcome. And throughout the day, more characters meet and mingle with Magic Kingdom guests than ever before.

"Our guests want to see characters," says Rich Taylor, vice president, Walt Disney Entertainment and Costuming. "Guests -- young and old -- tell us that a special kind of magic happens when they see our Disney characters. In our theme park attractions, we relive the fantasy stories. Imagine how much richer and entertaining the experience if, say, you arrive at the Mad Tea Party . . . and the Mad Hatter himself is there to greet you."

More characters are making more magic throughout the Vacation Kingdom -- not just in Magic Kingdom. Here are additional character entertainment opportunities:

• Goofy’s Country Dancin' Jamboree, a country music dance party for young guests held multiple times a day in the world-famous Diamond Horseshoe Saloon in Magic Kingdom;
• More character meet-and-greets in Epcot World Showcase;
• An all-new Princess Storybook Breakfast at the Norway pavilion in World Showcase;
• An expanded show schedule -- from five to seven days -- of "Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage" at Disney-MGM Studios.

"Our aim," Taylor says, "is to create delightful surprises -- with lots of characters. Opportunities throughout the day to meet and greet characters in their storybook environment. And also opportunities to discover characters in some places you might not expect."

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The Three Musketeers on DVD this Tuesday

The Three Musketeers Movie & DVD Details Director: Donovan Cook Voice Cast: Wayne Allwine (Mickey Mouse), Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse), Tress MacNeille (Daisy Duck), Jim Cummings (Peg Leg Pete), April Winchell (Clarabelle Cow), Rob Paulsen (The Troubadour) Running Time: 68 Minutes / Rating: G 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French, Spanish), DTS 5.1 (English) Subtitles: English; Closed Captioned Release Date: August 17, 2004 Single-sided, dual-layered disc (DVD-9); Suggested Retail Price: $29.99 White Keepcase

Four of the company's parks at Walt Disney World near Orlando managed to get back to normal operating hours by Saturday morning, while a fifth, Disney's Animal Kingdom, was up and running by Sunday.

Disney World took the unusual step of shuttering as Charley approached the Florida coast Friday. The Disney parks were shut down by 1 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Disney said it was still gauging the damage its parks had sustained.

"Like other members of the Central Florida community, our property received some damage as a result of Hurricane Charley," the company said in a press release. "While it is too early to assess the total impact of the storm, we would not open unless it was safe for our guests and [employees]."

A water park known as Typhoon Lagoon and the Ft. Wilderness Campground, which was evacuated as the storm approached last week, remained closed through Sunday.

Heavily dependent on air travel, Disney World's attendance fell after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, but attendance figures have been climbing of late.

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"Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" number 2 at Box Office

Disney's (DIS) "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" ranked second, pulling in $23 million. The film, starring returning royals Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, has picked up $37.2 million, right in line with "The Princess Diaries," which took in $37.9 million in its first week in 2001.

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Disney (and ESPN) going mobile?

They’ve been hinting at it for months, but now Rafat Ali gets the scoop that Disney is definitely getting into the wireless game and will be launching both a Disney-branded and an ESPN-branded cellphone service sometime in the next several months. They’ll actually just be leasing space on somebody else’s network (like how Virgin Mobile leases space from Sprint), but at the very least expect plenty of cutesy Disneyfied handsets for kids, though we just hope they do something more clever than just slap an ESPN logo on the ESPN phones.

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Artists transform Disney characters

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Lynda Carter, Bruce Campbell join "Sky High"

The former director has said he sought to publicize the information so that investors can evaluate whether the board is doing its job.

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Walt Disney Pictures presents the world premiere of PRINCESS DIARIES 2: THE ROYAL ENGAGEMENT Held at Disneyland

                   
                             

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Disney theme parks seen boosting its Q3 results

Wall Street analysts expect Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday to report a higher fiscal third-quarter profit than it did in the year-earlier period, fueled by greater revenue from the company's theme park division.

According to a survey of analysts conducted by Thomson First Call, Disney (DIS) is expected to earn 27 cents a share on revenue of $7.15 billion, compared with its profit of 19 cents a share on $5.8 billion a year earlier.

Analyst David Miller at Sanders Morris Harris says the parks should benefit from "higher consumer costs, lower energy costs and pent-up demand for a 'Disney-branded' vacation."

Miller also recently told clients that two high-profile rides -- "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" at California Adventure and "Mission Space" at Walt Disney World -- have been important keys to the division's growth.

Disney also raised its gate prices at some parks early in the quarter.

Meanwhile, analysts don't expect to hear good news at the ABC television network. Laura Martin at Media Metrics anticipates "flat revenue and lower profits" due to an unappetizing combination of decreased ratings and more expensive programming.

However, Martin says solid growth in advertising sales at the cable sports powerhouse ESPN and the ABC Family cable channel will help Disney's Media Networks division post 8 percent revenue growth compared to a year ago, as well as a 9 percent improvement in operating income.

At Disney's Studio Entertainment division, analysts say strong home video sales of such titles as "Scary Movie 3," "Kill Bill Vol. 1" and Finding Nemo" will lead to overall improvement, though the box-office bombs "King Arthur" and "Around the World in 80 Days" will lead to write-offs in the quarter.

Disney shares fell 29 cents to close at $21.99 on Friday.

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Less a Sleeping Beauty, more a rude awakening at Euro Disney

It has withstood mudslinging, cash crunches, strikes and bouts of anti-Americanism. But now Disneyland Paris, 12 years old and slowly being strangled by debt, is undergoing the challenge of its life. The biggest tourist attraction in Europe is facing a standoff with its creditors that could send operator Euro Disney into bankruptcy.

Last week a host of hedge funds, which had snapped up the company's distressed debt from its banks, rejected a rescue plan that would have hauled it back from the brink of insolvency. They agreed to keep talking for two more months, but without their unanimous backing, Disneyland Paris will have to hang up its Mickey Mouse costumes and hand the Space Mountain keys to the bailiffs.

"If the creditor banks say the agreement is not acceptable, then [Euro Disney] will have to declare bankruptcy," said a source familiar with the situation. "They are not meeting the financial agreements they signed with the banks in 1994: that 100 per cent of their debt could be called in if they failed to honour one payment. They have been in that situation for a year."

Euro Disney, with its Sleeping Beauty castle towering over the windswept sugarbeet fields 20 miles east of Paris, has been in intensive care since its debt problems became public a year ago. It is being kept alive on a drip-feed of credit lines from 39 per cent parent the Walt Disney Company, and debt waivers from its banks.

Compounding its woes, the company opened a costly new theme park, the Walt Disney Studios, on the doorstep of the original Magic Kingdom. Its ill-timed launch in March 2002 coincided with a tourism slump that has left Euro Disney struggling to turn an operating profit, let alone meet its commitments on its €2.4bn (£1.6bn) debt.

Thanks partly to cash from its parent, Euro Disney claims that it has "sufficient liquidity" - €62.7m in all - to tide it through until the end of next month. But after that, Mickey Mouse will be destitute.

Last week, Euro Disney twinned news of its debt problems with a profit warning, predicting a "significant increase" in net losses for the full year to the end of September, after a €56m loss last year. Its turnover is starting to be hurt by increased capacity at competitors' hotels, whose building it had encouraged around the site.

This volley of bad news sent Euro Disney's ravaged shares to an all-time low of €0.23 on Friday. The stock has lost more than 40 per cent of its value this year.

How has Euro Disney - which rakes in more tourists than the Tower of London and the Eiffel Tower combined, and runs onsite hotels with occupancy levels among the highest in the trade - gone from fantasy to nightmare? Is this a classic case of an overstretched balance sheet and a business model gone sour? The problems, experts say, have been present all along.

Derided at birth as "a cultural Chernobyl" that would "irradiate millions of children, whiplash their imaginations and manipulate their dreams", Disneyland Paris has never been far from controversy. Unions, when it opened, predicted that workers would rebel against a dress code dictating the size of their earrings and the length of their shoe heels and hair. And the company had to backtrack on rules against ser- ving alcohol in a park built in Europe's pre-eminent wine-growing nation.

"At the start, the construction of the first park went over budget by 30 per cent," a well-placed source said. "When they listed on the stock market in 1991, they immediately issued a convertible bond with the aim of opening a second park two years after the first. In fact, the convertible bond was completely used, 100 per cent, for the overrun on the budget for the first park."

Yet the French state, which provided Disney with tax breaks and low-interest loans, built railways and motorways to the site, and partnered it in real estate ownership, was keen on Euro Disney's plan to open a second park within its first 10 years. That was in keeping with the Disney model of clustering several parks at one location to minimise costs and maximise operational gains.

The payoff for the government would be the creation of an estimated 3,000 jobs; not quite the 12,000 pencilled in for the depressed Marne-la-Vallée region east of Paris at the time of the first park's opening.

As for the theme park operator, it needs to provide a major attraction roughly every three years to create a fresh buzz and bring old visitors back. After its first debt restructuring in 1994, when a property price collapse sabotaged its land-sale plans, Euro Disney revitalised the Magic Kingdom with its Space Mountain roller-coaster in 1995, though investors still blanch at its €70m cost. "In the past, we have noted there are about half a million more visitors after each new attraction is launched," then-chairman Philippe Bourguignon said at the time.

Opening a second park was also meant to meet the thirst for novelty. But with its bond used up, Euro Disney had to finance the Walt Disney Studios with borrowings and a capital increase. It came in on budget, at €610m. But the overheads involved in the labour-intensive theme park business swelled its operating costs just as economic slowdown and the 9/11 attacks wrought havoc on global travel.

And unfortunately, the crowds didn't materialise.

Management had hoped that the Walt Disney Studios, dedicated to the world of cinema with its Armageddon space station and stuntmen freewheeling through walls of fire, would boost overall visitor numbers to 17 million. But after the first full year of operation, entrances barely inched over the 12.2 million who had shown up at the first park alone.

"Their business plan obliged them to sell [entrance] to the second park at the same price as the first, and to fill it 100 per cent. If they had done that, they would have been able to meet their payments and start reimbursing their debt," one insider said.

In the end, it wasn't northern France's massing rain clouds that kept the crowds away, but rather a lack of thrills. With just 10 attractions compared with 43 at the original Magic Kingdom, it was going to be an uphill battle to win over Europe's theme-park-savvy public, and make them pay.

What happens next remains in the hands of the funds that own up to 30 per cent of Euro Disney's debt. France's three biggest banks - BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole - have to persuade them to back the plan they thrashed out with the state-owned CDC bank, which owns another 50 per cent of Euro Disney's borrowings, and the Walt Disney Company.

That plan involves a €250m rights issue that will once again dilute the stakes of Euro Disney's long-suffering shareholders. But it will allow chairman and former Burger King executive André Lacroix to fund "exciting new rides and attractions", most probably in the second park.

The Walt Disney Company will again defer the royalty payments that Euro Disney makes for use of the Mickey Mouse characters, and extend it a €150m credit line.

Conspicuous so far by his absence is Euro Disney's 17 per cent stakeholder, the billionaire Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, famously hailed as the "saviour" of the Paris park when he stepped in with a cash injection once before. But Euro Disney is not holding its breath that he will work the same magic again.

A Euro Disney spokeswoman said the firm and its bankers would meet throughout the summer to win over all of its debtors; the source thought it was unlikely, in the end, that they would scupper a deal.

"The hedge funds are trying to make their investment as profitable as possible and are playing for time," he said. "Can they derail a deal? They are capable of it, but if they did so, Euro Disney would have to declare bankrupt- cy, and that is in the interest of no one."

Ultimately, breaking up Euro Disney's assets for a fire sale would make little financial sense, even for them. Without the hotels, the theme park would be worthless. The attractiveness of the Disney village alone would be limited, and the park needs people who know how to manage it.

"It is in everyone's interest to find an agreement and continue operating the park," the source said. Even if it is a Mickey Mouse operation.

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Disney hopes 'Diaries 2' boosts its sagging fortunes

The folks at the film arm of Walt Disney need a hit badly. Nothing is working - not "The Alamo," "Home on the Range" or "Around the World in 80 Days." It's a far cry from last summer, when "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" smashed box-office records.

Finally, last weekend the Mouse House hit paydirt with "The Village," which topped the box-office charts. It has even higher hopes for its sequel "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement," which bows Wednesday.

The story picks up from where the first faded to black. Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway) is ready to assume her place in the royal firmament, thanks to training from her grandmother, Queen Clarisse (Julie Andrews). But there is a hitch. She must wed within 30 days or forfeit her claim to the throne.

Joining the stars are Heather Matarazzo, John Rhys-Davies, Carolyn Goodall and Hector Elizondo, reprising his role. Also back for the sequel is director Garry Marshall.

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Sophisticated Disney

                                                 

Walt Disney World, in author Cara Goldsbury's estimation, is not just for kids. In The Luxury Guide to Walt Disney World: How to Get the Most Out of the Best Disney Has to Offer (Bowman Books, $19.95), Goldsbury offers useful advice for even the most experienced -- jaded? -- Disney goer and something else, too: a look at the sophisticated side of Disney. A good chunk of the book is devoted to descriptions of 22 Disney resorts, and Goldsbury has chosen the best of the bunch. She also devotes a chapter to Universal Orlando and other nearby attractions, including SeaWorld and the Kennedy Space Center.

If this is supposed to be "Raiders South," then someone forgot to ditch the cloak and hide the dagger.

There are no on-field mysteries in training camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not when 3,000 fans fill the stands so they can cheer wildly when Mike Alstott runs up the middle for a big gain in a 7-on-7 drill.

While there is grumbling in the media about the Bucs taking on some of Oakland's propensity for being a stealth operation when it comes to information, everything is out in the open once the whistle blows for practice.

Humidity, camera, action.

The Raiders hold their practices in relative isolation on the grounds of Redwood Middle School behind the Napa Marriott. The Bucs are the feature attraction of a multi-ringed circus at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

Fans began flooding the 220-acre complex Saturday near the southern boundary of Disney World before 9 a.m., clad in red Bucs gear and toting rosters so they can begin projecting their cutdowns to the 53-man limit.

It's a big change for Raiders defensive tackle and former Buc Warren Sapp, who played to the training camp crowd in college at Miami and in Tampa. "It's the first time I've been away from fans in 14 years," Sapp said. "You can get a break from

reality when you have fans. There is always something to look at it."

Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who went through four Napa training camps as head coach of the Raiders, also loves the roar of the crowd.

"I agree with Warren 100 percent," Gruden said. "No disrespect to how (the Raiders) did it, but it's good to share your team with your fans. They do motivate you. They do inspire you -- and not just the players. The coaches enjoy it too.

"You make a good play, you like to hear from the fans -- plus there are some good-looking girls here that like to come out and watch."

Bucs faithful fill the grandstands in one end zone and one full sideline, and there's an enclosed fieldhouse that serves as an oversized luxury box for boosters. Fans wander the perimeter on two far practice fields, watching their favorite position groups.

Vendors move about, selling lemonade, soda and cold beer, giving Bucs training camp a feeling not unlike baseball spring training.

On fields surrounding the Bucs camp Saturday was a youth soccer tournament and a national AAU basketball tournament. There's an All-Star Sports Cafe with large screen televisions and Disney shops at the entrance to the park.

There's an immaculate minor league baseball stadium called Cracker Jack Field, the spring training home of the Atlanta Braves.

Contrast that with Oakland's Napa training camp, with its twin gridirons tucked away on Highway 29 en route to the serenity of vineyards and wineries.

The Raiders' preferred M.O. is mixing technical football with solitude, a classroom environment Al Davis believes better prepares them for the season ahead.

Considering the vast majority of NFL teams open training camps to fans free of charge, the difference is striking.

"It was real quiet," Garner said of Napa. "(The players) had to generate some enthusiasm, and that's what Warren Sapp is going to have to do out there. It's more exciting to have knowledgeable fans cheering for you."

To be fair, the Raiders couldn't invite the fans en masse for a look even if they wanted to, given the size restrictions of their present locale. A small but steady flow of guests, including youth groups and boosters, are allowed to visit.

Security guards are stationed along the fences so common folk can't get a look. Photographers must stop shooting pictures in team sessions, perhaps fearful that Mike Shanahan reads the local papers and will see something of value. Use of cell phones for any reason is frowned upon. Residents of an apartment building near the south end zone are encouraged to move along even as they stand on their own property.

Tampa Bay has sold out every home game since Raymond James Stadium opened in 1998 and has 100,000 fans on a waiting list for season tickets but is actively cultivating its central Florida fan base.

The silver and often blacked-out Raiders, whose camp site is roughly the same distance away from their home facility that Tampa is from Lake Buena Vista, haven't held a public Napa "Family Day" at a local stadium in the last two years.

The 49ers, who closed their training camp last season when they decided to hold it at their team facility in Santa Clara, hold an open night for fans at Kezar Stadium.

Once the whistle blows, the 2004 Bucs are much like the old Raiders, while the new Raiders have revamped their schedule under new coach Norv Turner.

Tampa follows a practice schedule similar to the one Gruden ran from 1998-2001 and carried on by Bill Callahan in 2002. Turner has changed things up, moving padded practices in the afternoon in part to take advantage of the heat for conditioning.

In central Florida, the Bucs have no such concerns. The air clings to bodies like a damp wool sweater, making it uncomfortable even with persistent cloud cover and occasional rain.

When the clouds break and temperatures climb into the mid-90s, the conditions are brutal. Cool mist machines are rolled onto the practice field when possible, and there is a "cool off" tent with mist and plenty of cold water.

"It's excruciating," Garner said. "In Napa we had a nice little breeze. We were in wine country. This reminds me of when I was in college at Tennessee. but I'm getting acclimated to it."

If things get too hot to handle, Garner knows the fans in the stands will tell him all about it.

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What ESPN is hoping to do here, Omori did for Japan

With apologies to the late Dean Martin, my mom's favorite Italian crooner ...

When a man takes sport and gives it international appeal, that's Omori.

Takahiro Omori, a native of Japan now living in Texas, beat 52 of America's finest fishermen last week to win the sport's most cherished title.

So for the first time in its 34-year history, the Bass Masters Classic's winner can be rightfully called World Champion, which is what it says on the trophy.

Surprising?

Not really, and for several reasons.

First, it is not the first example of Asian athletes mastering what have always been thought of as American sports. Little League baseball, Major League Baseball and the NBA come immediately to mind.

Second, Japanese anglers have already won several tournaments on national bass tours.

And third, Japanese companies are now making some of the hottest, and most expensive, lures on the market.

Frankly, I was more surprised at the way ESPN handled its telecast of the final day of the Bass Masters Classic than I was the event's outcome.

I mean, wow, did ESPN go overboard.

Shrek 2 is scheduled to come out on DVD Nov. 5, the same date Disney planned to release its new Pixar film at U.S. theaters, E! Online reported Friday.

Spokesmen for the companies refused comment about the same day releases, but a DreamWorks source told E! Online the decision to release Shrek 2 on a Friday, as opposed to three days earlier on the traditional Tuesday when videos usually hit the shelves, was because Tuesday, Nov. 2, is the day of the U.S. presidential elections.

The original date, Nov. 2, initially was selected because the top-selling Shrek DVD was released Nov. 2, 2001. The decision had nothing to do with The Incredibles release, the DreamWorks source said.

Coincidence or not, the animation war has been under way for many years.

In 1998, DreamWorks released its first computer-animated feature, Antz, in October to try to upstage A Bug's Life, which Disney and Pixar released that November.

In 2001, Shrek was released on video the same day as Monsters Inc., another Disney/Pixar project, hit U.S. theaters.

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What's left of  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

This is what's left of Magic Kingdom's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

  
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Disney Channel premieres "Tiger Cruise" movie at North Island

"Tiger Cruise," a Disney Channel made-for-television movie premiered at the Naval Air Station North Island base theater July 26 to a near-capacity audience of more than 1,450 movie watchers.

Starring Bill Pullman and Hayden Panettiere, the movie is the story of a daughter who tries to convince her father to quit the Navy and come home to be with his family.

Pullman, who plays Cmdr. Gary Dolan, former USS Constellation's (CV 64) executive officer, tries to show his daughter (Panettiere) why he stays in the Navy by inviting her to a traditional tiger cruise. However, this particular tiger cruise happens during the days surrounding the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"The story is fictional, but is based on real events," said Lauren Rees, senior manager at Disney Channel’s marketing department. "It's about what happened to families and Sailors during 9/11." Notes from interviews of families and Sailors on board "Connie" during that tiger cruise were used to recreate the climate and experience, said Executive Producer Barry Rosenbush.

"Originally, we were going to make a completely different movie, but as we researched, we saw an opportunity to share an incredible story," said Rosenbush.

That story, about Sailors and their families, Navy tradition and new world adaptation, brought tears to the eyes of many movie watchers, as well as spontaneous, patriotic applause from the appreciative audience.

"It's a great movie, outstanding, and deeply impacting," said Airman Lorie Carroll, of Sea Control Squadron 41. "A lot of families don't understand what military members go through. This movie showed them what we go through. It made me proud to be in the military."

Naval Security Group Activity San Diego Commanding Officer Capt. Gerald Burnette and his family enjoyed the movie, saying it explained what was going on, but without using jargon that might confuse some people.

"It brings back how you felt back then," said Burnette's wife Eliza. "And I liked seeing it as an insider."

Rosenbush said that during production, which took place primarily aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), and USS Nimitz (CVN 68), he found that the strength of the Navy didn’t lie in its guns, missiles, or ships.

"We discovered that families are the true strength of the Navy," he said.

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Pixar thrives despite tension with Disney

In announcing another hugely profitable quarter, Pixar Animation Studios outlined how it was preparing for possible life beyond Walt Disney following the dissolution of the companies' long-time marriage.

Pixar said it had struck a new interactive games deal with publisher THQ for its first four wholly owned movies that would be produced outside its existing partnership with Disney, beginning in 2006.

Net income for the quarter ending July 3 rose to $US37.4 million ($53.2 million), or 63c a share, from $US19.5 million, or 34c a year ago. Revenue was $US66.3 million, up from $US48.9 million.

Underpinning the latest profit was the continued success of Pixar's 2003 smash, Finding Nemo, particularly in home video sales.The film, set on the Great Barrier Reef, is among the most successful productions from the marriage with Disney.

"Our results were well ahead of expectations," said Simon Bax, Pixar's new executive vice-president and chief financial officer, who hosted Thursday's earnings call with Pixar president Ed Catmull.

Beyond the issue of which studio will distribute Pixar's future movies, Catmull said there were other "building blocks" just as important to his company's future, including merchandising and other partnerships.

"As evidenced by today's announcement, we're putting these pieces in place," Catmull said.

The Pixar president also took the opportunity to reassure Wall Street that company founder Steve Jobs was making a successful recovery from his pancreatic cancer surgery and that he was expecting to return to work in September.

"He's doing great," said Catmull, who, along with Pixar's creative guru, director John Lasseter, had just visited Jobs. "He was cracking jokes and gave us the distinct impression that he'd be firing off a lot of emails from his Powerbook over the next month."

When asked about the timing of landing a new distribution partner, Bax reiterated Jobs' oft-stated position that while the company was in no hurry, it hoped to make a deal within the next 18 months - well before the release of its first non-Disney movie, Ratatouille.

Pixar's next two pictures, The Incredibles and Cars, will be released by Disney under the existing deal. Pixar's first self-financed production, Ratatouille, will be about a rat who lives in a Paris restaurant, and is expected to be released in late 2006.

In January, after more than 10 months of fractious negotiations to extend their lucrative, 12-year relationship under dramatically altered financial terms that included giving Pixar full ownership of its movies, Jobs abruptly called an end to talks.

The Pixar-Disney marriage, though strained, produced five films, all of them hits: Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., A Bug's Life and two Toy Story movies.

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Disney Taps ContentWatch for E-Mail Filtering

ContentWatch Inc. on Friday said its Internet tools for filtering e-mail and blocking spam and pop-up ads will be pre-installed in Walt Disney Co.'s new personal computers for tech-savvy kids.

The Disney Dream Desk PC, available in retail stores next month and online next week, will also include ContentWatch's Internet filtering tools for blocking offensive sites, officials with the Salt Lake City company said. The entire bundle, called the ContentProtect Home Suite, will come preinstalled at the highest settings.

"It's our job to make sure parents that purchase a Disney Dream Desk PC will have peace of mind when their child uses the Internet," Brent L. Bishop, president and chief executive of ContentWatch, said in a statement.

In addition to ContentWatch software, the Disney PC will include applications for drawing, editing pictures, creating music and writing and directing movies.

The PC, which includes a 14.1-inch flat screen sporting Disney's trademark mouse ears, is the latest branded-electronics product for the Burbank, Calif.-based, entertainment company. Disney also markets products in other areas, such as breakfast cereals and clothing.

Designed by Disney Electronics, the PC took nearly three years to develop, and targets children from 6 years old to 11 years old. Children, according to Disney, represent the fastest growing segment of PC users.

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Gargoyles - Creator Reveals Street Date at Convention

Gargoyles Creator/Producer Greg Weisman has revealed the street date and price for the Season 1 DVD. He did so yesterday at the opening of The Gathering of the Gargoyles, a convention of fans being held this weekend in Montreal. We told you last June about this convention: this is the one where fans have the opportunity to be recorded and possibly be included as an extra on this DVD release!

The Gargoyles News Central website is reporting day-by-day happenings at The Gathering, and they are very pleased to bring you this bit of news about the DVD:

• Gargoyles DVD release date set
  
  At the opening ceremonies of The Gathering, Greg Weisman announced that the Gargoyles two-disc DVD set will be released on December 7, 2004 for $29.99. More details will be posted soon.

Nice! Disney/Buena Vista hasn't posted this to their schedule yet, but then again they are still making announcements for October offerings. So it may be more than a month before we have official details from the studio. Still, Weisman is obviously a creditable source for this, and we'll attentively listen to what else he says on the subject, both at the convention and also at his "Ask Greg" website afterward.

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The HEAT is ON

The heat is on at the Disneyland Resort Paris - unfortunately not only the summer heat, but the heat under the seats of the management. After the disappointing anouncement to prolong the period for lenders to approve the financial rescue deals the markets pushed the shares over the week further down...

Any relieve would be welcome now but that seems rather unpropable as guests seem to have decided to stay away from the resort this summer. After the trend of shrinking attendance numbers from fiscal year 2003 continued in the first three quarters of the fiscal year 2004 it seems to be unbroken in July too as far as internal sources and guest reports indicate. This is especially disappointing in the light of the expensive Europe-wide "Need Mag?c"-campaign and the substantial reduction in the annual passport prices that took effect 1st of January but at least were not able to fill the gap left by the missing hotel- and one-day-guests.

In the meantime the Resort and its parks also managed to disappoint in the latest edition of P.S.: if not the management so at least those guests who still come and visit the parks can look forward to a special treat against the heat. As in 2002 sprinkler systems have been errected in several locations in both parks to help cool guests down.

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Buh-Bye FastPass (From Miceage)

Meanwhile, about the same time the Thunder accident was happening, news began to spread amongst Disneyland CM's (cast members) that a radical rethinking of the parks FastPass strategy had just been approved by TDA, and that those changes would be coming sooner than anyone thought.

Beginning Monday, July 12th they were conducting a "test" by not offering FastPass at Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion. The FastPass machines at those two rides have been covered up, and they have tried to restore as much of the original queue setup at those two rides as they could with such short notice.

But there are other radical changes coming to all of the Resorts FastPass locations, besides this "test" at Pirates and Mansion. Before we get to those however, it would probably help explain the current Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) mindset behind these big changes if we go back a few years to the beginning of FastPass.

Pirates of the Caribbean will no longer offer FastPass, effective immediately. In September the marquee will have all references removed, the machines will be removed, and the queue will be restored to its pre-FastPass condition.

The Haunted Mansion will keep its FastPass machines closed for 9 months out of the year. Haunted Mansion will only offer FastPass during the Haunted Mansion Holiday season, and even then there may be slower weekdays when it is not offered.

Winnie The Pooh will have its FastPass operation permanently removed in the fall, and minor queue modifications will be made. It is still undecided whether or not Splash Mountain will move back to its old FastPass distribution area where the Pooh machines currently are.

Big Thunder Mountain will continue to offer FastPass, although it will not offer it on slower weekdays.

Roger Rabbit will continue to offer FastPass as the only FastPass attraction in the northern half of the park, although it will not offer it on slower weekdays.

it's a small world holiday will not offer FastPass again. This Christmas season they will restore the queue they used during 1997-99 before FastPass.

Star Tours will have its FastPass operation permanently removed in the fall.

Autopia will continue to offer FastPass, although it will only be offered on weekends and during busy seasons.

Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain will continue to offer FastPass, although there will be slower weekdays in the off season when it is not offered at either attraction.

Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear will both open in 2005 with FastPass. They plan to evaluate whether to keep FastPass on Buzz Lightyear later in 2006.

Clash of the 'Toon Titans

DreamWorks isn't blinking this time.

After moving up the release of its latest CGI creation, A Shark's Tale, by a month to avoid a potential showdown with rivals Disney and Pixar's latest 'toon, The Incredibles, the studio is looking to a not so jolly green giant for a little payback.

DreamWorks has announced that the Shrek 2 DVD will hit stores on Nov. 5. That just happens to be the date when Disney-Pixar's The Incredibles unspools in theaters.

Coincidence? We think not.

Bad blood between the studios dates back to 1994 when Jeffery Katzenberg was dissed by Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Katzenberg had expected to be promoted to the Mouse House's corporate president but was passed over. Katzenberg quit a year later and filed a massive lawsuit that was settled out of court in 1996. His new home base has engaged the Magic Kingdom in a brutal battle, fought on the 'toon front, ever since.

In 1998, DreamWorks unleashed its first computer-animated feature, Antz, in October to try and steal some thunder from Disney-Pixar's A Bug's Life, which was released that November.

While both films became massive hits, the pissing match lived on.

The clash of the 'toon titans spilled into the video biz in 2001 when DreamWorks staked out Nov. 2 as the DVD date for the original Shrek--that year's box-office champ--on the same day Disney-Pixar's Monsters, Inc. stormed multiplexes.

Though he didn't eat into Monsters' massive $255 million domestic gross, the titular ogre was the fairest of them all on video, raking in a monstrous $420 million in VHS and DVD sales and ranking the best-selling home entertainment title in 2001.

But Mickey bit back. After DreamWorks targeted A Shark's Tale's release for Nov. 5, Disney-Pixar slapped a Nov. 5 release date on The Incredibles and forced its rival into a game of chicken. DreamWorks eventually capitulated and moved its fish story to Oct. 1.

While reps for the two companies declined on-the-record comment Thursday, a source at DreamWorks says the decision to release Shrek 2 head-to-head with The Incredibles on a Friday, as opposed to three days earlier on the traditional Tuesday when videos usually come out, was simply because Tuesday, Nov. 2 is the same day as the presidential election.

According to the source, the reason DreamWorks' marketers chose that date in the first place was tradition: The original Shrek DVD arrived in stores on Nov. 2, 2001 and was a huge success. The studio source insists that it wasn't trying to force audiences to choose Shrek 2 over The Incredibles.

In any event, the latter film will have a long way to go to trump the ogre. Since its release in May, the fractured fable sequel has set all kinds of box-office records, including wresting the title of top-grossing 'toon of all time away from Disney-Pixar's 2003 mega-hit, Finding Nemo, which grossed $346.5 million.

With its current theatrical haul at $429 million and climbing, Shrek 2 has now surpassed Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace as the fourth highest grossing film ever.  

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Disney Movie Ranch Aids Firefight

Narrowly averting disaster itself over the weekend, The Walt Disney Co.’s Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon continued to aid the firefighting effort Monday as a steady stream of helicopters scooped water from a man-made lake familiar to fans of “Little House on the Prairie.”
    
On Saturday, in the first hours after the outbreak of the blaze in the Newhall Pass, flames crossed onto the ranch property immediately north of Placerita Canyon Road. Trees that normally obscure the movie sets from the road were obliterated, but fire crews managed to keep the fire well away from the Western movie town Walt Disney built shortly after he bought the property in 1959.
    
The ranch’s history as a movie location actually dates back farther, to the genesis of Hollywood Westerns. In 1922, pioneer producer Trem Carr and set designer Ernie Hickson, unknown to each other at the time, came out West. By 1926 they were making motion pictures together in Placerita Canyon. Hickson initially erected a Western movie town to the east of today’s state Route 14; in 1936, after oil was found nearby, Hickson moved the buildings to the current location of Melody Ranch, west of SR 14.
    
Gene Autry bought Melody Ranch after Hickson’s death in 1952. When Disney bought the easterly portions of Carr and Hickson’s old movie ranch a few years later, he created a new Western town almost precisely where Hickson had built his first one nearly four decades earlier.

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Haskins observes first week of filming 'Glory Road'

Jerry Bruckheimer Films began shooting "Glory Road" in New Orleans this week with legendary UTEP basketball coach Don Haskins on the set.

The Disney movie chronicles Haskins' racially significant 1966 NCAA championship team, which featured five black starters and defeated all-white Kentucky in the title game.

"He's a very sweet, friendly man," the movie's unit publicist, Claire Cooper, said of Haskins, who could not be reached for comment. "He had lots of tips for the cast. He attended one of the basketball practices."

Cooper said that Wednesday afternoon a Texas Western practice scene was being shot in New Orleans' Chalmette High School gymnasium, doubling as the Miners' old Memorial Gym.

Actor Josh Lucas (A Beautiful Mind, Sweet Home Alabama), who replaced Ben Affleck, is playing Haskins. Actress Emily Deschanel (The Alamo) has been cast as Haskins' wife, Mary.

Cooper also confirmed that Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher and Friday Night Lights) has been cast as "mischievous" Texas Western star point guard Bobby Joe Hill. And Austin Nichols (The Day After Tomorrow) will play forward Jerry Armstrong, billed by Bruckheimer Films as "a Midwestern farmboy-type who is one of the biggest hustlers on the basketball team."

"(Luke) is a very good actor," screenwriter Christopher Cleveland said. "He was very good as the star of Antwone Fisher (opposite Denzel Washington)."

Many of the actors playing members of Haskins' title team are making their film debut in "Glory Road." Most were found during recent open casting calls across the country.

Cleveland said Wednesday he was not yet on location. Filming, which also will take place in Baton Rouge and Hammond, La., will shift to El Paso sometime in September.

"They're in their third day of shooting," Cleveland said. "There's no returning now. They've been shooting a sequence where (Haskins) is finding his players. I'm glad he's there. Knowing him, he's complaining about everything right now and secretly enjoying it."

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Around the World with Timon and Pumbaa

Ever since making their debut in The Lion King, the pairing of Timon The Meerkat and Pumbaa The Warthog have proved an unmitigated success for Disney, so it's only fair they've been given their time in the spotlight away from Simba and co.

                                                                          

This straight-to-DVD release finds the friends leaving the Pridelands for a world tour in a series of hilarious adventures. Tropical islands, the Amazon jungle and two stops in Canada make up the locations for Timon and Pumbaa's globe-trotting antics as they make a host of new friends and get into all sorts of scrapes.

Once again Ernie Sabella provides the voice of the gaseous Hog, while Kevin Schon replaces original star Nathan Lane as the voice of Timon.

Officials believe tax incentives in Pennsylvania were a factor in the decision. And they say the Navy was concerned about the script -- including a scene in which a plebe punches an officer.

The switch means the film crew will recreate the Naval Academy at a location in Philadelphia.

A spokesman at the Naval Academy says the decision was a surprise. The Navy had been talking to the filmmakers since March about ways to authentically portray the academy.

Officials in Annapolis had been hoping the movie project would give an economic lift to the city.

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ESPN Names John Skipper Executive Vice President

Skipper Promoted at ESPN

ESPN and ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer and Alex Wallau, President, ABC Network Operations and Administration, announced today that John Skipper has been promoted to ESPN Executive Vice President, Advertising Sales, New Media and Consumer Products. In this new role, Skipper will add oversight of ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales to his current responsibilities leading ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine and the company's ventures in emerging media, including ESPN Broadband, ESPN Enterprises, SportsTicker and ESPN Mobile. Skipper will continue to report to Bodenheimer with respect to his prior responsibilities, and to Bodenheimer and Wallau with respect to ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales.

The move unites Skipper and Ed Erhardt, President of ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales, to manage all sales activity across the spectrum of ESPN and ABC Sports media assets, including television, the internet, radio, print, wireless, broadband, video games and other businesses. Erhardt will report to Skipper.

It also streamlines the company's operations under Bodenheimer, who recently assumed added responsibility as co-chair of the Disney Media Networks group.

"Two of the most dynamic sales executives in our industry working more closely together will maximize the value our premier collection of assets brings to advertisers," Bodenheimer said. "John's record of success speaks volumes about his abilities, and Ed and his team have written the book on marketing across multiple platforms. They have a combined 50 years of experience in all forms of traditional and emerging media, and their continued leadership will strengthen our company."

Skipper achieved a distinguished career in publishing before joining ESPN in 1997 to launch ESPN The Magazine, the most successful launch of a magazine in the 1990s. Previously, he was a successful publishing executive at US, Rolling Stone and Spin before running all of The Disney Publishing Group's magazine, book and licensed publishing operations in the United States.

Under his leadership, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine have achieved economic success and many industry awards. The Magazine won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence in only its fifth year of existence, and has made Adweek Magazine's "Hot List" of magazines three years running. ESPN Motion, high-quality video on ESPN.com, has received much industry acclaim and has provided significant added value to advertisers. ESPN.com has earned many honors for its journalistic enterprise as well, including a 2003 Online Journalism Award for General Excellence from the Online News Association.

Erhardt as well has had a very successful publishing, sales and management career. He held several senior positions at Ad Age, extending its influence from a single magazine to reach readers, viewers, subscribers and listeners through a variety of traditional, interactive and new media formats. He was Vice President/Group Publisher of Ad Age upon joining ESPN in 1999, when he successfully merged the sales operations of ESPN and ABC Sports. Since then, he has established one of the most respected and effective sales teams in the industry. The ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales group has consistently scored at the top of Beta, Myers and other industry performance rankings. In 2004, the Beta Ad Executive study ranked ESPN ranked first, of the cable networks evaluated, among advertising executives in brand image as the network on which they intend to increase spending and in providing a desirable environment for advertising. Erhardt and his team have enhanced ESPN's sales leadership position with innovations like the yearly "Sports Upfront," already a much-anticipated event after only three years, and the recent ESPN25 sponsorships.

Both Skipper and Erhardt will continue to be based in New York.

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"Bachelorette" Taps Jen Schefft

Can Jen Schefft keep The Bachelorette batting average at 1.000?

The 26-year-old Chicago native, who won, then lost the heart of tire heir Andrew Firestone in the third installment of The Bachelor on ABC, will take another shot at finding true love--reality-TV style--as the titular significant-other seeker on the next edition of The Bachelorette.

Sources close to the show confirm to E! that Schefft will begin her romance search this fall as the third Bachelorette, and the third former Bachelor contestant, to take the reins and command her own red-rose ceremonies.

Earlier speculation centered on Trish Schneider, dumped by Jesse Palmer on the last edition of The Bachelor, but producers ultimately went with Schefft.

Now she will hope to keep the Bachelorette streak alive, adding another successful romance to the lineup that includes Trista Rehn, the Bachelor reject who married her Bachelorette sweetie, Ryan Sutter, and Meredith Phillips, the Bachelor 4 reject who is engaged to her Bachelorette 2 pick, Ian McKee.

The men of The Bachelor, meanwhile, have notoriously failed to make their love matches stick. Including last season's Bachelor 5 hunk, pro football quarterback Jesse Palmer, whose pairing with winner Jessica Bowlin lasted only about a month after the show's finale last May, The Bachelor stars are 0-for-5 in the game of reality love.

One of those failed matchups, natch, was the Firestone-Schefft pairing. The couple, whose romance lasted eight months, was the subject of many a celebrity weekly cover story, including tales of shopping sprees, ski trips and much public canoodling. Schefft even left her job in Chicago to move to California and take a job with Firestone's family winery.

But rumors began swirling that the millionaire was enjoying the fame the show brought him--not to mention the attention from the some other bachelorettes--and Firestone announced in December 2003, on TV, of course, that he and Schefft had split.

Schefft, who was briefly linked to The Apprentice star Bill Rancic after his reality-show win last spring, will now get the chance to pass out roses to 25 new bachelors. USA Today reports that production on Bachelorette 3 will begin in September or October, and sources report that ABC plans to premiere the new season in January.

And there's a bonus for the wooer who wins the Bachelorette's hand in the final rose ceremony this time around. Word is that shrewd Schefft comes engagement-ready, as she reportedly kept the three-carat Harry Winston ring Firestone presented to her at the end of The Bachelor 3.