Disney Abandoning Ship On Pirate and Princess Parties?

WDWNT on November 26, 2008

From what we have been hearing the last few weeks (contrary to some other “reputable” websites), it appears that Mickey’s Pirate and Princess Party will not be happening in early 2009 at the Walt Disney World Resort. Even though some expected dates were rumored around the net, estimated 2009 attendance levels and “Pirate and Princess” merchandise sales as of late seem to have “altered course” for the after-hours Magic Kingdom event. While we may not see these Parties return anytime soon, I don’t doubt that they will return someday (probably closer to the next Pirates of the Caribbean film release in a few years). As always, things can change, so stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information becomes available.

National Thanksgiving Turkey “Going to Disneyland!” To Celebrate Presidential Pardon

WDWNT on November 26, 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Nov. 26, 2008) – The National Thanksgiving Turkey will really have something to celebrate following today’s traditional Presidential pardon ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. “Pumpkin” and his alternate “Pecan” are going to Disneyland! It starts with a police escort to Dulles International Airport. Then the birds will “fly” First-Class on United Airlines Flight Turkey-1 to their new home at Disneyland Resort in Southern California.

The turkey’s special Thanksgiving Day celebration is a preview of things to come in 2009, as Disney Parks asks guests, “What Will You Celebrate?” and invites them to mark life’s special moments with a Disney visit.

The trip from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles will mark the fourth consecutive year that the National Thanksgiving Turkey has celebrated his pardon at a Disney Resort. Accompanied by National Turkey Federation Chairman Paul Hill of Ellsworth, Iowa, Pumpkin, a 20-week-old, 45-pound tom turkey, will be the grand marshal in a special Thanksgiving Day parade down Main Street U.S.A.  Following the parade, Pumpkin and his alternate Pecan will find a home at Santa’s Reindeer Round-Up at Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland, where they’ll remain throughout the holidays and the rest of their lives.

Americans nationwide will be able to share the celebration as the turkey enjoys his new Disneyland home.  See photos of the National Thanksgiving Turkey and watch video of this year’s White House pardon at www.disneyparks.com on Nov. 26 and 27.  And, for the first time, watch the turkey LIVE from Disneyland on Thanksgiving Day from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. PST (3 p.m.-7 p.m. EST). Go to www.disneyparks.com, listen for the turkey’s gobble, and then click on the turkey face to access “Turkey Cam” LIVE from Disneyland.

“My family and I celebrate the honor of presenting the National Thanksgiving Turkey to the President of the United States,” said Chairman Hill of the turkey federation. “We’ll also be celebrating the special privilege of flying to Disneyland where the turkey will be the grand marshal in the Disneyland Thanksgiving Day parade.”

Added Captain Vince Kramer of United Turkey-1 and Assistant Chief Pilot for United’s Airbus 320 Fleet, “United is proud to fly our special, feathered guests and to help them achieve every turkey’s dream of flight.  It is a rare treat for turkeys to reach 30,000 feet, and we look forward to getting them to Los Angeles and landing safely and on-time.”

U.S. President Harry S Truman was the first Commander-in-Chief to be presented with a Thanksgiving turkey (in 1947) by the National Turkey Federation. This year’s presentation marks the 61st anniversary of a tradition that has continued through 10 successive White House administrations. The 2008 National Thanksgiving Turkey was raised under Chairman Hill’s supervision on a farm in West Liberty, Iowa.

The National Turkey Federation is the advocate for all segments of the U.S. turkey industry, providing services and conducting activities which increase demand for its members’ products, as well as enhance the ability to effectively and profitably provide wholesome, high-quality, nutritious turkey products.

Mothers Use Guerrilla Tactics at Secret Jonas Bros. Event

WDWNT on November 26, 2008

According to the OC Register’s Around Disney blog:

We at Around Disney didn’t find out until later that the Jonas Brothers were going to be signing copies of their new book, “Burning Up: On tour with the Jonas Brothers,” at Disneyland this morning, but they were there.

Disney spokesman John McClintock said the semi-secrecy was on purpose. The Jonas Brothers didn’t want to appear before the media, just the approximately 250 screaming tween girls that were allowed access to the Disney-sponsored youth pop outfit.

The signing wasn’t all fun for the girls and their parents who didn’t get the requisite arm band needed for access to the young heart throbs, though.

We at the Register took a few phonecalls this morning from irate parents demanding that justice be served against the few unscrupulous mothers who rushed ahead of the security guards after 1 a.m., when the girls started lining up (the event was at 11 a.m.)

“They lined up behind the security guard at 1 a.m. and were going to be at the front of the line,” said Cheryl Sullivan, the mother of a 13-year-old who tried to get to the book signing. “All of a sudden, these moms hauled … out of the bushes and they all got bracelets and we got none.

“Some of these moms decided they wanted to try to teach their children to cheat at Disneyland,” she said.

McClintock said fans attending limited-admission events surrounding teen stars at the park tend to get a little cutthroat.

“That doesn’t entirely surprise me,” McClintock said. “They’re only going to be there for a limited time, so there are going to be people who came out very early who aren’t going to get access.”

Where The Future Is Being Made Today!

WDWNT on November 26, 2008

From the Disneyland Resort Annual Passholder website:

Greetings, Disneyland® Resort Annual Passholders! I am Dr. Bunsen Honeydew from Muppet Labs, where tomorrow is the future.

We at Muppet Labs are all atwitter about our fantastic new invention — The Muppet Labs Time Rewinder™! Thanks to this amazing scientific breakthrough, we will soon be able to send you back in time!

As a Disneyland® Resort Annual Passholder, you have been specially selected to be some of our first test subjects. If you are interested in time travel or simply have some time on your hands, please visit our website and fill out our volunteer questionnaire! Registration is limited, so please sign up soon! We’ll be selecting our lucky team in just a few days.

Thank you, and see you in the near future, or the recent past… oh my it’s so hard to keep track.

Scientifically yours,

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

Illuminations: Reflections of Early

WDWNT on November 26, 2008

The Walt Disney World website has updated it’s January calendar with an interesting note about Epcot operating hours. It appears Epcot will be closing at 8:00 PM on Fridays from January 9th to April 3rd to non-Disney resort guests. This will make Illuminations: Reflections of Earth perform at 8:00 PM on those select evenings, with Extra Magic Hours for Resort guests following until 11:00 PM. To the best of my knowledge, that is the earliest the park has closed since 1999 and the earliest that firework show has ever performed. Stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information on this change becomes available.

Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough Opens Tomorrow!

WDWNT on November 26, 2008

The interior of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, long closed to guests, will “reawaken” in time for Thanksgiving. A vibrant new version of the classic walkthrough attraction features colorful scenes of Aurora, her gallant prince, the evil Maleficent and other characters from the beloved fairy tale film.

This revived Sleeping Beauty Castle “show” differs from the window-display dioramas which could be seen in the castle during the 1980s and ’90s. It takes its inspiration from the unique style of the original Disneyland castle walkthrough attraction of 1957, co-designed by animation art director and color stylist Eyvind Earle, who was credited with giving the motion picture “Sleeping Beauty” its distinctive and colorful look of storybook illustrations in medieval style.

Enhanced with new scenes and special-effects magic, the re-Imagineered attraction employs technology not available in the 1950s to tell the story of Sleeping Beauty, including the magic of good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and the more sinister spells of the evil Maleficent.

For the first time, guests who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle will be able to experience the walkthrough “virtually” in a special room on the ground floor of the Castle.

The attraction is scheduled to open at 5 p.m. Wednesday, kicking off the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

11/23/08 WDW Photo Report By Matt Paul

WDWNT on November 25, 2008

WDWNT Photographer Matt Paul has provided us with his first photo report from his latest trip to the Walt Disney World Resort. To start off this series, here is his first report from Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

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The tree outside the park along with a large film reel

Some new decorations for Hollywood Blvd. since Block Party Bash floats are way too tall to allow the old decorations

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I think these fit the theming a little better

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Usual decorations replace the long standing Year of a Million Dreams banners on Sunset Blvd.

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More decorations

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Even more decorations

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Green Army Men appearing in Pixar Place

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Decorations outside what will now be known as Muppetvision 3-D (they have permanently dropped the “Jim Henson’s” from the name)

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Nativity scene at the Studios

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Woody and the Toy Story sign have been removed from the top of Pizza Planet, expect something new here in 2009

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As we reported before, the screen outside the American Idol Experience is now operating

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With the walls down, there is much more performance space outside the theater for Block Party Bash

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What used to be the Monsters Inc. meet and greet

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It is the stage entrance, where those performing in the show will be entering

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To end the report, here is the lovely disclaimer you’ll be met with when you get in line for the American Idol Experience beginning in January when the attraction opens

It’s Getting Cold Outside

WDWNT on November 25, 2008

As we head in to this holiday week, here are a few interesting happenings going on around the Disneyland Resort:

  • The Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through is currently planned to open this Wednesday, November 26th. While this date could definitely change at any time, this is the most concrete date we’ve seen thus far.
  • Air conditioning has finally been installed in the indoor portion of the queue for Toy Story Midway Mania. This will really improve the circulation in there during the hot summer months. Too bad they installed it as it starts getting cold!
  • Quite interestingly, Disneyland is currently running 2 different pre-parades to A Christmas Fantasy. The Narnia pre-parade from back in May is running in front of the 3:30 parade, & the new Bolt pre-parade is running in front of the 6:30 parade.

WDWNT Podcast Episode 69 Now Available for Download

WDWNT on November 24, 2008

Join me, Tom Corless, and a cast including Justin Heyman, Jason Diffendal, Kyle Duffield, Matt Paul, Kelly Russo, Brian Martsolf, Mike Remy, and Jose Castillo for a show that Bridges the Gaps Between You and the World. I hope you enjoy all of the Walt Disney World information and fun we have to offer on this “Holiday Season Kickoff” edition of the WDW News Today Podcast.

To kick off episode 69, we have the third edition of our newest WDWNT game show, “Where in the World is Tom Corless?”. For this third episode, I have invited a number of staff members to play against two of our listeners and we’ll see if we can hand out our first fabulous Disney prize package on this show. Will a listener finally win on this show? Where am I? Listen in to find out!!!

After that, we have another great Walt Disney World based discussion that you voted for. In this week’s opinionated round-table, we’ll be discussing former Walt Disney World attractions that we would like to bring back from the dead. While the discussion features mostly opinions, we hope you find it entertaining.

Finally, Town Square Talk is back this week, highlighting the hottest topics around our WDWNT Network of websites. First up, Matt Paul is here to highlight our video download site, the WDWNTube, featuring tons of great Disney Parks videos. Be sure to check that out at www.wdwntube.com. I’m also making some Town Square Talk this week, with news on how you can determine upcoming segments for this show, including our countdown of the 20 greatest moments in Disney’s Hollywood Studios history.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on Itunes, go to this link. If you do not have Itunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows

This episode is also available in an enhanced version. An enhanced podcast is a podcast with added features that standard podcasts don’t have. Enhanced podcasts include many features like Chapter listings, this lets you skip through chapters or see what is in store for this weeks show. Enhanced podcasts also have images to let you differ the chapters by. Enhanced podcasts have one negative feature, you can not play them on most MP3 players. The file format for this is a .m4a which can play on Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune. You will also need iTunes or Windows Media Player to be able to skip through chapters. If you need or would like the standard edition, download the normal edition listed below this file both on Itunes and in our podcast directory.