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April 29, 2006

Disney Sells Welcome Center for $2 Million The former Disney Welcome Center, a fixture to countless tourists on their way to Disney World until it closed last year, has been sold. An investment partnership known as JR Investments of Ocala LLC, bought the property from Disney for $2 million, according to Ray Amin, one of the two principals in the partnership. A Disney spokesman confirmed that the property had been sold, but could offer no additional information. The center, located at 3601 S.W. 38th Ave., closed last August 13, after 18 years in Ocala. Disney officials said at the time that fewer theme park visitors were using the center because they were able to get information, make reservations and buy tickets on the Internet before coming to Florida.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 5:48 PM | permalink

No Magic Kingdom for Steve Jobs Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Thursday he had no interest in becoming an executive at The Walt Disney Co., which will soon complete its acquisition of Jobs' other company, Pixar Animation Studios. In fact, Jobs told shareholders he plans to spend more time at Apple after he relinquishes his chief executive job at Pixar when the studio's merger with Disney closes in two weeks. Disney's upcoming, $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar will land Jobs a seat on the Disney board and make him the company's largest shareholder.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 5:45 PM | permalink

April 26, 2006

Disney Channel's "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" PremEar'ed at Disney Parks and Resorts Kids and families around the world got the first look at Mickey's vibrant new interactive TV series, "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," during a PremEar in the Park celebration on Wednesday, April 26, at Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland Resort Paris, and aboard the Disney Cruise Line. (Tokyo Disneyland Resort will PremEar the show on May 7, 2006 along with the global launch of the series.) At Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla., Tony Award-nominee John Tartaglia of Playhouse Disney's "Johnny & the Sprites" emceed the celebration, joining Mickey and his pals to present the exciting new series on a big movie-style screen.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 8:16 PM | permalink

April 25, 2006

Disney Introduces "Magical Beginnings" Disney today announced a new, breakthrough program devoted to families traveling with toddlers or preschoolers. Called Magical Beginnings, it was custom designed based on both consumer research and guest feedback and is aimed at reducing the hassles and increasing the magic for parents when vacationing with toddlers and preschoolers. Disney theme parks in Florida and California have always been the perfect playground for the whole family, but new attractions, shows and amenities make the parks and resort hotels even more welcoming to "little ones."

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 7:01 PM | permalink

April 23, 2006

High School Musical Encore Edition DVD "High School Musical," the contemporary movie musical that has captivated kids, tweens and families aspart of the blockbuster Disney Channel Original Movie franchise, and is the highest-rated original programming in the history of the network, will debut on Disney DVD, May 23, 2006. A "break into song" production, the comedic "High School Musical" follows two teens, Troy and Gabriella, who must learn to believe in themselves and follow their dreams, despite the polarization of high school cliques. Allowing fans to experience even more, the DVD will include two versions of the film -- the original telecastversion and an exciting sing-along version which displays lyrics on screen during all musical numbers, so audiences can learn the words of the film'schart-topping songs.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 10:58 PM | permalink

April 21, 2006

Epcot Flower & Garden Festival 2006 Blooms The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival begins today and will continue through June 11. Disney "sweetheart" topiaries based on decades of happily-ever-after classic stories will add romance and whimsy to the 13th annual event. The Nelsons will kick off the Flower Power Concert Series at the American Gardens Theatre. Other highlights include Themed Weekends, Minnie's Magnificent Butterfly Garden, Tinker Bell's Fairy Garden, Daily Ladybug releases and much more. The festival is included in regular Epcot admission.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:36 PM | permalink

April 20, 2006

Star Wars Weekends 2006 Warwick Davis will be hosting all four 2006 Star Wars Weekends. Davis played the Ewok hero Wicket in Return of the Jedi and Anakin's young friend Wald in Episode I. Other celebrities appearing during the event are Peter Mayhew, Jeremy Bulloch, Jake Lloyd, Temuera Morrison and more. A galaxy of special Star Wars merchandise will be available through out the weekends including limited edition pins and a Darth Goofy Beanie new for this year. Star Wars Weekends 2006 blast into orbit May 19 and will be held four consecutive weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) through June 11, 2006 and are included with regular theme park admission.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:52 PM | permalink

April 19, 2006

Keeping Families Connected the Disney Way Roots and wings, freedom and safety - it's the balance every parent has to strike when it comes to children. Parents want their kids to learn responsibility and feel confident to try new things ... but also want to avoid any dire consequences if they slip up while learning how to exercise that responsibility! The age-old dilemma has gotten a new urgency with the coming of mobile phones. Kids want phones and parents want to be able to stay in touch with their kids while managing the phone's use and costs- but what wireless company can you trust to provide phone service that gives families wings? Who else but Disney? "We originally developed the concept of a Disney phone service when I was with Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development. Our tradition of storytelling, innovation, and creating rich Guest experiences helped us bring a whole new perspective to the idea of mobile phones." says Scott LaRocca.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:18 PM | permalink

April 18, 2006

Disney/Pixar's Cars to Hit the Real Road Two of the stars of Disney/Pixar's exciting new computer-animated feature Cars will race straight off the movie screen and into the real world as actual life-sized models of hotshot rookie racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) and Sally Carrera, a snazzy 2002 Porsche 911 (voiced by Bonnie Hunt) will hit the road today for Disney/Pixar's "'Cars' Road Trip '06" presented by State Farm, it was announced today by Brett Dicker, Executive Vice President of Buena Vista Pictures Marketing. The tour, which was designed and will be managed by the Becker Group, will cross the country with stops in over 40 cities and be highlighted by an appearance at the World Premiere for Disney/Pixar's Cars on May 26 in Charlotte, NC at the Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 8:52 PM | permalink

Spanish Resorts Building Up to a Costa del Disney? Disney said it was in negotiation for various new schemes in Manilva, including a summer camp for children, offering the opportunity to improve their sports and languages. Javier Sansierra, the executive who has been running negotiations with Manilva town hall, denied it planned a full-scale theme park like Disneyland Paris, operated by Euro Disney. “While I completely agree that a Euro Disney would do well in Spain and personally I believe it should have opened here in the first place, there are no plans to open a second or mini amusement park in Spain for the time being,” he said.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 8:50 PM | permalink

April 13, 2006

Disney Offers Vision on Technology's Impact on Travel and Tourism Throughout his career Walt Disney established himself as a recognized visionary in using prototype and state-of-the-art technologies to expand the boundaries of visual storytelling, culminating 50 years ago in the debut of his revolutionary, three-dimensional, immersive experience of Disneyland. On April 11, 2006, at the 6th Annual Global Travel and Tourism Summit's gala dinner in Washington, D.C., that tradition continued when Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (WDP&R) laid out a vision to further implement cutting-edge technology to entertain and connect with its guests and consumers.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 7:59 PM | permalink

April 12, 2006

Winnie the Pooh Gets Star On Hollywood Walk of Fame Squealing fans lined up ten deep on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Tuesday, a few hurling themselves through a phalanx of minders to get close to their idol -- who wore only a red T-shirt over his yellow fur. "Nobody went this crazy over Britney Spears," a photographer marveled, as he and others snapped off shot after shot of the star. "Winnie -- to your right!" another yelled. The scene was the unveiling of the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for Winnie the Pooh, who is marking the 80th anniversary of the publication of his story in the London Evening News with an 18-month-long celebration hosted by the Walt Disney Co.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:15 PM | permalink

April 11, 2006

Iger: Creativity, Technology, Globalization Will Drive Future Walt Disney Co. chief Robert Iger's mantra of creativity, technology and globalization means the company should focus on fewer but higher-quality entertainment projects compared with before he took over last fall. Iger is at Walt Disney World to celebrate today's grand opening of Expedition Everest, the new roller coaster ride that unofficially opened six weeks ago at Disney's Animal Kingdom. On Thursday, Iger and two other top Disney executives laid out their plans for the company -- and the area's largest employer -- for about 150 Central Florida community leaders who gathered at one of Walt Disney World's resorts.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 7:38 AM | permalink

Talking with Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger Question: This company has so much reverence for its founder. Do you ever ask yourself, when you have a tough decision: What would Walt do? Answer: It's interesting because a lot of people allegedly ask just that question. I don't really ask myself that per se. I spend a lot of time studying him, and I'm intensely curious about him. ..... And interestingly enough, I was given something a few weeks back that Walt wrote for a time capsule in 1956, and he was asked basically to project what the world of entertainment would look like in 2006, 50 years hence. I devoured it and have already quoted him. So I wouldn't say that I necessarily ask what he would do. He would probably be the first to admit, if he could, that while there are a lot of similarities to what was in his writings in 1956, the world also is very different. One of the things he said that was interesting, he said no matter what the world looked like people would want to be entertained and refreshed. This was the first time I'd actually heard that. He was obviously encompassing his theme park business at the time. Disneyland was then a year old. He was thinking about it as entertainment and refreshment.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 7:31 AM | permalink

April 10, 2006

ABC.com Launches Free Encore Episodes Trial in May Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Television will offer some of its most popular shows, such as "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," for free on the Internet in a two-month trial, the company said Monday. Advertising revenue will support the trial run on ABC.com, with advertisers AT&T Inc., Ford Motor Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Universal Pictures already signed up. "Commander in Chief" and "Alias" along with "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" will be available on the Web in May and June, starting the day after they are first broadcast.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:18 PM | permalink

April 07, 2006

Expedition: Everest Grand Opening & 3 More Attractions to Open in 2006 Ancient legend holds that high in the Himalayan Mountains lives an enormous creature that fiercely guards the route to Mount Everest. In Florida, the legend of the ferocious yeti dramatically roared to life today at Walt Disney World Resort with the official opening of Expedition Everest, a runaway train adventure that combines coaster-like thrills with the excitement of a close encounter of the hairy kind. The undersea world that charmed audiences around the world in the Disney presentation of the Pixar Animation Studios smash-hit film "Finding Nemo" will come to life in an all-new musical stage show debuting at Disney's Animal Kingdom in late 2006. The Seas with Nemo & Friends, a whimsical and visually stunning attraction for guests of all ages, is scheduled to open at Epcot in Fall 2006. Featuring technology that for all appearances has the stars of "Finding Nemo" swimming amid the live marine life of the huge aquarium in The Living Seas pavilion, the attraction is an adventure that picks up where the motion picture left off. First the theme park attraction inspired the movie -- now the movie is inspiring the attraction. Pirates of the Caribbean, the classic Disney theme park adventure brought to the big screen in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," is adding new characters and features from the blockbuster entertainment franchise and debuting when the next adventure begins in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 8:51 PM | permalink

April 06, 2006

Conservation Celebrities Recognized as Disney Fund Reaches Milestone $10 Million Investment in Wildlife Five renowned conservation celebrities joined with Disney Thursday night to celebrate a $10 million milestone for the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund (DWCF) -- a program that has benefited nearly 500 wildlife projects around the world. Actor/comedian John Cleese; elephant expert Iain Douglas-Hamilton; primatologist Jane Goodall; actress Isabella Rossellini; and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai accepted awards of $100,000 each for their conservation causes in a ceremony at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 6:49 PM | permalink

End Of Line For Disney's Train Conductor In 1969, man first landed on the moon, there was a concert called Woodstock, and a man named George Britton was hired to run the railroad at Walt Disney World. He's the only one who ever has. But all good things must come to an end, and for Britton, Thursday was the end of the line, WESH 2 News reported. Every seven minutes, all day long, a train pulls into the station at Walt Disney World. But one trip on Thursday morning was one that Britton will never forget because it was his last.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 6:42 PM | permalink

April 05, 2006

Disney Reveals Plans for Family Mobile Service Walt Disney Co. is set to reveal plans on Wednesday to start selling cellphone services to teenagers and their parents as it hopes to carve a niche in the U.S. market by giving parents the option to take strict control of their children's wireless use. Even while U.S. subscriber growth slows as the number of potential, first-time customers dwindles, Disney and other upstart services, such as its ESPN brand service for sports fans, hope to win customers in very specific markets.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 7:08 PM | permalink

Oswald's Lucky Day The Walt Disney Company family recently got one member larger -- and what an important member it is! On February 9, 2006, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's first big cartoon star, returned to the Disney fold, thanks to an agreement with NBC/Universal, the company that previously owned the rights to Oswald since his theatrical debut in 1927. "As the forerunner to Mickey Mouse and an important part of Walt Disney's creative legacy, the fun and mischievous Oswald is back where he belongs, at the home of his creator and among the stable of beloved characters created by Walt himself," said Walt Disney Company President and CEO Bob Iger, who had devoted himself to recovering Oswald.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 6:26 PM | permalink

Disneyland Brazil ? As rumors continue to swirl about Disney parks in China, India, and South Korea, the Brazilian newspaper Jornal de Brasilia reported yesterday that government officials are negotiating with Disney to build the first Disney theme park in Latin America.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 5:28 PM | permalink

April 03, 2006

Hong Kong Disneyland Introduces "Extra Magic" for Inaugural Spring/Summer Season With the special offers available today for guests at Hong Kong Disneyland, it's like a dream come true. Guests from international countries can choose their own Extra Magic. International guests can choose their own Extra Magic when they book a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland through a travel agent. The Extra Magic choices include: a photo on Space Mountain or The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh; buy one main course meal and get the second for free; or a Disney-themed souvenir. This Extra Magic offer is available March 20 through September 30, 2006 for international guests.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:10 PM | permalink

Retelling Nemo As a Walt Disney Imagineer, Kevin Rafferty's ideas and humor are all over the Disney theme parks. He has written stories and shows for attractions from Anaheim to Hong Kong, collaborating with a team of creative sculptors, architects, sound technicians and other specialists. As much as he loves his job, one part gives him grief. Try explaining to the dentist next door what you do. People don't get it. His oldest son, also Kevin, finally gave up and started telling his buddies that his dad sold popcorn at Disneyland. Rafferty spends most of his time these days at the Submarine lagoon, getting ready to open a new attraction next year. The old subs closed in 1998. He talked about how the ride developed, and how he became an Imagineer.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 9:07 PM | permalink

April 02, 2006

Disneyland Paris Recovered from a Slump in 2003 and Now Attracts More People Than Ever When the Walt Disney Company launched its idea of creating a resort in 1987 in France, Europe, expectations were high and critics denounced it to be a useless try. However, figures show that Disneyland Paris attracts more people than ever since its opening in April, 1992 and that the resort recovered completely from a short slump in 2003. Restructuring plans have been implemented and new attractions have been installed in order to provide the magical character of Micky Mouse and his friends. Today, the whole resort consists of 14 hotels, more than 12,000 employees, 600,000 square meters for all the attractions and parks, and it counts yearly more than 12,5 million tourists.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 2:14 PM | permalink

High School Musical Cast on Tour Later This Year Disney has announced that the cast of the hit Disney Channel movie High School Musical will be going live on tour later this year. The cast will reveal on Access Hollywood next week that there will be a live stage version of this film also later this year.

Details & Discussion Here Posted By: Figment! @ 2:06 PM | permalink

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