The earful tower at the Disney MGM Studios has had it’s signage removed this week. The new Disney’s Hollywood Studios logo should be placed on the structure sometime in early 2008, as the park changes to the new name on January 7.
The following information was given out to cast members this week regarding additional dining choices during the busy holiday season at the Magic Kingdom:
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe will serve breakfast from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. daily, December 23- 31.
The Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station will be open for lunch and dinner as follows:
December 22 -28: 11:00 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
December 29-31: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m.
January 1-5: 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
The Diamond Horseshoe will be serving quick service lunch December 23 – January 3 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In addition, a full service traditional turkey dinner will be offered from December 24 – 31. Dinner will be served between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on those dates.
El Pirata y el Perico Restaurante will open daily for lunch December 22 – January 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. December 28 – 31, El Pirata will offer extended operating hours until 8:00 p.m.
Sleepy Hollow will open for waffles daily at 7:00 a.m., offering another great breakfast option for Guests!
Plaza Ice Cream Parlor will open at 7:00 a.m. daily for “Coffee Express,” offering coffee, hot cocoa and pastries.
New carts and kiosks will be open in several locations:
A Tomorrowland Kiosk will serve burgers, sandwiches and a salad.
Another cart in Tomorrowland will serve hot wings and chili.
In Fantasyland, a cart will serve a turkey wrap and Caesar salad.
The Center Street Hog Dog cart will return on December 25.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Epcot’s iconic white sphere, Spaceship Earth, closed for nearly six months, will reopen to the public Friday with a new story line and digital enhancements. The show’s producer Bob Zalk says the new story is about innovations and how they inspire the next generation. The ride features new show scenes, lighting effects and costumes with a new musical score narrated by Judy Dench. The ride’s vehicles remain the same, but include new touch screens. There will also be an interactive component. Disney officials expect to make minor changes before the ride’s formal reopening in February.
The dates for the 2008 Pirate and Princess Party at the Magic Kingdom are as follows:
January: 21, 26, 29
February: 2, 5, 9, 14, 22, 26
March: 1, 6, 11, 14
April: 1, 4, 6, 11, 16, 23, 29
May: 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 21, 26, 31
June: 4
It’s hard to believe, but there will be almost 6 months of these parties this year. It looks like there will be some kind of after hours hard ticket event at the Magic Kingdom through almost all of 2008.
Back from an extended hiatus is columnist Sparky LD. Good thing too, because our resident Walt Disney World Cast Member is here just in time to talk about the magical holiday season at WDW. So grab some cookies and cocoa, and enjoy another Behind The Secens look from Sparky.
Hey there everyone, back again with another Behind the Scenes look into the Walt Disney World Resort. Since Christmas is only a few days away, let’s use that as our topic for discussion.
Christmas at the Parks is an amazing site. Not only is it beautiful, but how much of it there is and the amount of time it takes in preparation and installation is a modern marvel. A crew of 25 or so work year round in the Holiday Services Warehouse to put together all the trees, garlands, wreaths, and other decor. The Holiday Services Department is responsible for the 4 theme parks, 20 some resort hotels and Downtown Disney. Once Christmas is over, they begin on next year’s displays right away. The Warehouse has racks and racks of ornaments, garlands, tinsels, toppers, etc. These “elves” are also responsible for store window displays around the entire WDW property.
The week before the Christmas season starts, small decor begins to go up. The larger stuff goes up mainly overnight, which doesn’t happen often anymore. Usually the larger stuff will go up over two nights. Crews of 75 or so install the decor after hours. The Christmas season gobbles up about 3,000ft of garland, 4 million strands of lights, over 2,000 wreaths, more than 1,000 Christmas trees varying in height from 2ft to 80ft, over 1,000 yards of fake snow sheeting will be used, and over 200,000 ornaments will be used for decorating. Not to mention that new castle lighting this year, takes up another 200,000 strands of LED lights, a little over 4000ft of control cable, 300 strobes, and over 10,000 yards of fishing net.
During the Christmas season, certain Cast Members are decked in holiday costumes as well as shows and parades with holiday costumes. There are over 2,500 pieces of holiday costuming used throughout the season. Not to mention the new talking character heads that are used in 3 different shows. You now have Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale and Pluto talking, winking, and more in “Cinderella’s Holiday Wish”, “Celebrate the Season”, and “Mickey’s Twas the Night”.
You can’t forget the holiday fireworks, “Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season” and “Holiday Illuminations”. Holiday Wishes uses the same bunkers as regular Wishes, but they add an extra touch. On certain nights they fire the show with a 180 degree pyro on both sides of the castle. Pyro fires from not only behind the castle, but the left and right sides. This is accomplished by flat bed trucks with pyro bunkers on them that are driven out on the road surrounding the park. They used to do a full 360, which still happens on the rarest of occasions. For that a site on an island in the Seven Seas Lagoon is used as well as other various flat bed bunker trucks. Holiday Illuminations uses all the launch sites for the normal show, plus 1 extra barge and 55 extra launch tubes.
Christmas at the Walt Disney World Resort is the most magical time of year where anything can happen. From all of us here at the Walt Disney World Resort, and from everyone in the the Parade and Technical Services Department we wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
The Orlando Sentinel has the complete story, as well as a recording of the 911 call pertaining to yesterday’s death on Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest attraction. The full story and audio can be found at this link.
| Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer 6:06 PM EST, December 18, 2007
A 44-year-old man has died after riding the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Disney’s Animal Kingdom today. Jeffrey Reed, of Navarre, was unconscious and unresponsive when his ride vehicle pulled into the unload area, around 11:25 this morning. Another park guests who is a registered nurse and a Disney employee began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until Reedy Creek Emergency Services paramedics arrived and took over, said Assistant Fire Chief Bo Jones. The man had no pulse when paramedics arrived, Jones said. There was no apparent trauma and “no obvious signs of any cause,” Jones said. The paramedics transported him to Celebration Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Walt Disney World officials said the ride was inspected this morning and was operating properly, but is currently closed while Disney officials reconfirm the ride’s status. The Florida Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office were notified. A Disney spokeswoman said the company has offered the man’s family “our deepest sympathies” and offered assistance.
The death is the first associated with the roller coaster Expedition Everest, which opened in early 2006. That ride includes tight twists and turns and some backwards travel but is not a particularly fast or steep roller coaster and has no loops. The death is the third death associated with a Disney attraction this year and the first since March, when a man died after collapsing at the Downhill Double Dipper at Blizzard Beach.
Walt Disney World, the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean International were among scores of winners of World Travel Awards announced recently. Based on thousands of votes online from 167,000 travel agents and tourism professionals eligible to vote, Disney World emerged as the world’s leading theme-park resort; the Orlando CVB, the leading convention bureau; Carnival, the leading cruise brand; and Royal Caribbean, the leading cruise line.
The 14th annual awards were presented by World Travel Awards, an independent company, at a gala last week at The Beaches Turks and Caicos Resort and Spa in the Caribbean. Among other winners, British Airways was chosen world’s leading airline; Grace Bay Beach in Turks and Caicos, the leading beach; Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, the leading golf resort; Singapore Changi Airport, the leading airport; and London, the leading destination (an award won in 2006 by Orlando).
Regional awards also were presented. Among them, Orlando was chosen North America’s leading tourism destination. The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin was named both the leading convention hotel and the leading resort hotel. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau beat out the Orlando bureau as North America’s leading tourist-and-convention bureau. New York JFK Airport was picked as the continent’s leading airport. JetBlue Airways was voted the leading budget airline, Delta Air Lines the leading business-class airline, and American Airlines the leading overall airline. The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Ariz., was chosen the continent’s leading golf resort.
www.mouseplanet.com is reporting the following:
We’ve got a lot more information about the Pop Warner fight at the All-Star Music Resort than we had last week. In the incident, the Westport Patriots of Baltimore got into a fight with the Kahalu’u Hei’eia Broncos of Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii and the Waianae Tigers of Waianae, Oahu, Hawaii. A Disney cast member familiar with the situation informed MousePlanet that the All-Star Music front desk received a call at around 11:45 p.m. Friday night that there was an altercation at the arcade, and that there were 90-100 teenagers involved in a serious fight. There were reports of adults hitting kids. Three security guards and a security manager responded and broke up the fight after midnight. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office was called and deputies interviewed participants to try to determine how the incident started. Due to conflicting stories, no charges were lodged. All of those involved were sent back to their rooms. The members of the three teams involved were all disobeying the Pop Warner “quiet hours” curfew that began at 10 p.m., as noted in a Disney information packet sent to all participating teams.
Around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, the fight started again in buildings 3 and 6, with approximately 100-110 people involved. The front desk was called by families not involved with Pop Warner, claiming that it was close to riot conditions and that they wanted to check out immediately to get away from the situation. Sheriff’s deputies, along with Disney security staff, stopped the fight again. One boy from the Kahalu’u team had his nose broken and went to the hospital. There were no other reported serious injuries.
Pop Warner football commissioner Sam Mutz and others from the organization were called to the scene. After evaluating the situation, Disney and Pop Warner made a joint decision at around 2:20 a.m. to evict the teams from the resort, rather than ban them from Disney property entirely. With about 140 people in total evicted and 100-110 involved in the fracas, there were perhaps only 30-40 people who had to be woken up when the decision to evict them was made.
The Pop Warner representatives called around to find alternate lodging for the teams, and found space at the Legacy Grand and Holiday Inn. Disney paid for the teams to be transported to their new lodging. They had a fleet of cabs lined up, and the last cab left just before 5 a.m.
The situation was apparently anticipated by the Pop Warner organization, as a packet sent out months ago to participants in the tournament included a memo from Pop Warner Executive Directory Jon C. Butler to all Pop Warner Association, League and Regional officers that warned:
As Pop Warner’s events grow and attract more media attention, each of us has a duty to make sure that ALL of the people at those events represent Pop Warner appropriately.
We’ve had serious behavior problems at past Pop Warner Super Bowls at WALT DISNEY WORLD. This note gives you and your participants, young & old, players & coaches, parents & fans fair warning that such problems have not been tolerated in the past, and certainly will not be tolerated this year. Teams have been disqualified, and, in one case, sent home early at their increased expense.
Every Pop Warner Association is accountable for its players, cheerleaders, coaches, administrators, parents and others from your area at all Regional and National events. Any incidents of unacceptable behavior from any person(s) affiliated in any way with your Association will mean:
- A possible immediate ejection from the Pop Warner Super Bowl events and WALT DISNEY WORLD® property. The persons involved risk forfeiting hotel and other deposits. Revised Air reservations/ ticket payments will be your problem, not ours nor Disney’s.
- Possible lifetime ban from Disney World.
- An AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION from all Regional and National events for all teams/squads from that Association for one full season.
- Possible suspension and/or probation from coaching or administering within Pop Warner.
Each Association is responsible for those who represent it. So is each League. So is each Region. If repeated problems occur within a particular Association, League or Region, additional measures will be taken.
Pop Warner is a family. Let’s all act like it. If our Pop Warner family behaves well, then everyone—whether part of Pop Warner or not—will respect us.
This was echoed in a statement from Walt Disney World spokesman Jacob DiPietre, who said, “This incident was unfortunate but with thousands of Guests at the Resort we have to maintain a safe environment for everyone. We have a no-fighting policy that is shared with Pop Warner. Anyone fighting is subject to disqualification from the competition and eviction from the resort. We were in contact with both law enforcement and Pop Warner throughout the event.”
With both sides telling conflicting stories, it’s unlikely that the true cause of the fight will come to light. It appears that the altercation started between the Westport and Kahalu’u teams, with the Waianae team coming to the aid of its Hawaiian compatriots. The Westport team had won the Midget Division II Warner Conference title earlier on Friday. The Kahalu’u squad took the Midget Division II Tomlin Conference consolation title on Friday, and the Waianae team was finished on Wednesday, having lost both of its games in the Midget Division I playoffs. The Midget teams were composed of youths approximately 12-15 years of age.
One of the Westport coaches told the Baltimore Sun that he was upset that the fight overshadowed the team’s win. “It’s unfortunate that it had to happen like this,” he said. “It’s getting me down. We work hard to keep these kids out of trouble and now this one moment is going to dominate the entire season.” Despite the organization’s Web site noting that “Pop Warner is committed to developing America’s young people on the field and off,” it seems that some coaches still believe off-field behavior takes a back seat to on-field results.
