This Week in Disney History: March 5th – March 11th

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

This week in Disney history we will take a look at some of the milestones that happened in the history of the Walt Disney Company during the  week of March 5th-March 11th. All of the factoids are here to inform you and broaden your knowledge so that you too can “be in the know” of Disney History. History and Disney are 2 of my greatest passions and I hope you all enjoy reading and learning about the history of Disney each and every week. This article is designed to share some of the things that help shape and mold the beautiful company we know and love today.

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Original photo of Journey into Imagination at Epcot (I thank imagineeringdisney.com for allowing me to use their photo)

This Week In Disney History March 5th-March 11th. 

  • On March 5th, 1983, the attraction Journey Into Imagination debuted to the public at Epcot. The attraction was about the Dreamfinder teaching Figment and guests to use their imaginations. In 1999, the attraction was updated and reimagined with a change in name to Journey into YOUR Imagination. In 2002, it was reimagined again as guests were unhappy with the changes, becoming Journey Into Imagintion with Figment.
  • On March 6th, 2013, the 20th Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival began.
  • On March 7th, 1942, former Walt Disney Company CEO, Michael Eisner, was born in Mount Kisco, New York. His reign as CEO of the Walt Disney Company began in 1984 and ended in 2005.
  • On March 8th, 1983, former President Ronald Reagan visited EPCOT Center and made a speech about what the promises of Epcot would bring and why it was so important to Walt Disney.
  • On March 9th, 2014, the new daytime parade Festival of Fantasy debuted at Magic Kingdom.  The parade still runs daily at 3:00 PM.

  • On March 10th, 2009, D23: the first official Disney Fanclub, was founded. The “D” stands for Disney, and “23” pays homage to when the Walt Disney Company was created in 1923.
  • Finally, On March 11th, 2007, the Disney Broadway show ‘Tarzan‘ celebrated its 350th show performance.

“Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things.”-Walt Disney

This Week in Disney History: March 12th-March 18th

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

In this week’s edition of ‘This Week in Disney History’ we will explore historical events within the Walt Disney company that helped shape and form the company as it exists today. We will explore the week of March 12th – March 18th. I hope you enjoy this week’s edition as much as I love and enjoy writing about Disney history. I also hope you can have a passion for Disney history just as much as I have a passion for Disney history. I would also like to write other unique articles for the readers. If you have any suggestions or ideas on topics you would like to read, especially Disney history, please comment your ideas and I will happily consider them for future articles. After all, this is for you, not me.

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Billy Crystal- Voice actor for Mike Wazowski in Monsters Inc.

This Week in Disney History: March 12th-March 18th.

  • On March 12th, 1938, Disney’s first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is released in the United Kingdom.
  • On March 13th, 1928, Walt Disney travels by train from New York to California. This train ride is significant because while in New York, Walt Disney lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. After losing the rights to Charles Mintz and Universal Pictures, he hopped on a train and decided to head home. Then while on his ride he got a crazy idea, and telegraphed a message to his brother Roy which read: “LEAVING TONITE STOPPING OVER KC ARRIVE HOME SUNDAY MORNING SEVEN THIRTY DON’T WORRY EVERYTHING OK WILL GIVE DETAILS WHEN ARRIVE.” Walt told Roy not to worry because of an idea he had, and he would explain when he got home. What was that crazy idea you ask? By losing Oswald, Disney developed on that train ride one of the most famous, beloved, and well know Disney characters of all time; Mickey Mouse.
  • On March 14th, 1948, famous comedian, and voice-over actor, Billy Crystal was born in Long Beach, New York. Crystal is the voice of Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., as well as the Mike Car from Cars.
  • On March 15th, 2001, the 450-millionth guest was welcomed into the Disneyland Park in California. The lucky guest was Mark Ramirez of Texas, a civilian production management specialist for the U.S. Air Force. It was his first visit to Disneyland. Ramirez, his wife, and 3 daughters were all honored during a ceremony where he was presented a lifetime pass to the Disneyland Resort (Disneyland and Disney California Adventure), a stay at the new Disney’s Grand Californian Resort and Spa Hotel and a gift pack. He was also given the honor of changing the official attendance sign at Disneyland’s Train Station from 400 million to 450 million.
  • On March 16th, 2002, The Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris, held its grand opening. During the grand opening, the 2nd Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster debuts. The Walt Disney Studios Park is Disney’s 10th theme park worldwide.
  • On March 17th, 1999, Test Track officially opened at Epcot. The ride was presented by General Motors, and was the fastest ride Disney Imagineers have created.

  • Finally, on March 18th, 1967, the well-beloved and famous Disneyland attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, opened to the public. The debut kicked off with great excitement, as a group of marauding sea-dogs, led by Wally Boag, first sailed the ship Columbia before bursting through the new attraction’s doors with a battering ram! This was the last attraction Walt Disney worked on extensively before his death. March 18th, 2017, marks the 50th anniversary of the attraction. For more history of this amazing attraction, tune in to Back to the Future LIVE! – The Complete history of Pirates of the Caribbean.

“Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better. I worry about many things, but not about water over the dam.” – Walt Disney

Live Chat with Pandora Experts Launches on VisitPandora.com, AVATAR Land Website

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

The VisitPandora.com website takes itself pretty seriously, delving into the backstory of the ACE organization that will be guiding you through Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Well, they now even have a live chat feature, where you can talk to one of their experts…

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Down in the lower right corner of the site, you’ll find the opportunity to chat with Kam Demarco, Lead ACE Field Expert.

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Kam’s bio can be found on the about us page, along with several of his imaginary colleagues.

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The live chat is completely automated, so sometimes responses generate something genuine and cool, and other times… well, you’ll see…

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Let the jokes about “alien wraps” begin…

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You can talk to this thing for hours, and it will continue to spew facts. Every once in awhile, you may ever spur a good response to a question. You’ll just have to keep trying to uncover all of the amazing facts and tips this live chat can offer!

This post is brought to you by…

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I’m joking, but how awesome is this logo from the VisitPandora.com website? Anyway, Pandora: The World of AVATAR opens May 27th at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.

What’s Going On With Disney And Amazon?

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

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Update: Now Amazon says they will be shipping the Doctor Strange Blu-ray within 1 – 2 months.

If you recently tried to pre-order Disney titles on Blu-ray such as Doctor Strange, Moana and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story through Amazon, you were out of luck. Unfortunately, you have to look elsewhere because those titles are not available for purchase on Amazon.

What’s unusual about all of this, is that you can still purchase the movies digitally and on DVD through Amazon, just not on Blu-ray.

It appears that Disney and Amazon are in some kind of stand off. Whatever agreement they had previously has fallen apart. If I had to guess, I would say it is Disney that is trying to get Amazon to crack by not allowing their most recent popular movies available for purchase on their site. But it could also be Amazon wanting a larger piece of the profit and refusing to allow Disney Blu-rays to be sold on their site.

By not allowing consumers to purchase the Doctor Strange Blu-ray through Amazon, it seems to have created a demand at brick and mortar stores but there is not enough supply to meet the demand.

I had a difficult time finding a Doctor Strange Blu-ray on release day. I also spoke to friends around the country that were having the same problem. Since I couldn’t purchase the disk through Amazon, I decided to stop by my local Wal-Mart. When I got there, there was a huge display dedicated to Doctor Strange, but there were no discs in the display. I asked one of the employees if they had any in the back and he said that they were all sold out. They only had DVD’s available. I’ve never seen that happen before. I finally was lucky enough to find one at Target, but they were in short supply.

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I did check Amazon recently and you can now purchase the Doctor Strange Blu-ray, but there is a catch. If you add the item to your cart, you receive a message saying that the item is temporarily out of stock and that you will be notified when they have more information. That may be Amazon’s way of trying to cover things up with their customers, trying to reassure them that there is no problem. You still can not preorder the Moana and the Rogue One Blu-rays.

I’m sure both sides are working to resolve this issue because in the end it not only hurts the consumer but it has to hurt both companies revenue stream.

REMINDER: Disney Infinity Servers Shut Down Today

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

This Friday marks the end of an era for many fans of the cancelled Disney Infinity series.

On March 3, the servers for all three Disney Infinity games will officially be shut down for good, making players unable to access and download Toy Boxes from the Community Content servers. We have known about this closure since July, so luckily players have had ample time to get online and download all their favorite Toy Boxes before it’s too late. However if you haven’t downloaded your favorite Toy Boxes yet, you still have a small window of opportunity to do so.

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Each game allows users to download up to 300 unique user made Toy Boxes, which should be plenty for most players. Downloading a Toy Box works the same on all three versions of Disney Infinity. From the game’s main menu, simply head over to the Community Content page and select the tab called Disney’s Toy Boxes. Once you pick a Toy Box select download to add it to your list. This way, the Toy Boxes you save will remain on your Xbox One/360, PlayStation 4/3, or Wii U for as long as you decide to keep it there.

Another feature that will be going away forever is Friend Sharing. Friend Sharing allows you to play and download Toy Boxes created by users on your friend list. To download a Toy Box created by a friend, head to the main menu and select Community Content, then Friends, and select a specific friend. A menu will then display all the Toy Boxes created by that friend that have been Friend Shared. Just choose the Toy Box you want and download it, voilá! All downloaded Toy Boxes will be available under the menu Toy Boxes, in the tab Toy Box Saves.

It’s hard to say goodbye to such a beloved series, but thankfully fans have had a long time to enjoy the game before everything shuts down. In other news, the former developer of Disney Infinity, Avalanche Software, has since reformed and is now working on a game for the upcoming Pixar movie, Cars 3.

New River Cruises Coming to Adventures by Disney In 2018

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

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Starting in 2018, Adventures by Disney will be having all new experiences where you can stroll through a quaint little French town like Belle, dance to a German polka band during Oktoberfest and so much more on the all new European River Cruises!

The new options starting in summer of 2018 include new ‘Beauty and the Beast’ themed experiences on the Rhine River sailings. There will be a special ‘Beauty and the Beast’ dinner as well as some unique dishes all inspired by the film. For entertainment, families can enjoy both versions of ‘Beauty and the Beast’: the animated classic and the newly adapted live-action version. For the adult foodie, there are unique food and wine cruises along the Rhine where they offer 2 epicurean sailings. On board you can expect to find luxurious food and beverage stations, wine tasting, gourmet demonstrations, workshops, culinary walking tours, a French patisserie class, local beer and wine pairings, craft cocktail blending seminars and these are are just to name a few because there is so much more! These Adventures by Disney Rhine River cruises give you these wonderful, authentic experiences that immerse you into the beauty of 4 different countries which include France, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. From exploring the famous Heidelberg Castle in Germany to riding a toboggan in Switzerland, there will be much to do! width=

Also in 2018, the Danube River Cruises will be making a return. On them you can expect to tour Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. On all of the Danube cruises you can immerse yourself in the land that held scenes from the film “The Sound of Music”, explore Devin Castle in Bratislava, take a traditional Austrian folk dancing lesson in Melk, and much, much more. Bookings for 2018 River cruise vacations are open now. Book early and save $500 per person on select 2018 River cruises* when you book May 1, 2017 for sailing dates June 17- October 8, 2018.

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TONIGHT on WDW News Tonight (3/1/17) – Flower & Garden Festival 2017 Spectacular, Price is Right, EasyWDW, & More

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

Tonight on WDW News Tonight, we review the 2017 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, we play WDWNT: The Price is Right, and Josh from EasyWDW.com joins us…

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If you are in the Orlando area, you can tune in to 105.5 FM or AM 1520 WBZW at showtime. For those outside of the Orlando area, the show can be watched via video stream at listen.WDWNT.com on your computer or mobile device. You can also use WDWNT: The App to watch and chat along. The show also utilizes a live chat and the ability to call-in to interact with the show. WDW News Tonight is hosted by Tom Corless and Nick LoCicero, but also features appearances by a number of other WDWNT correspondents and announcer Michelle Wargo.

Coming up on this week’s show:

  • A recap of the week’s news (with a WDWNT comedic twist)
  • An in-depth review of the 2017 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival with Josh from EasyWDW.com
  • The Wonderful World of Psychotic Comments
  • “WDWNT: The Price is Right”, presented by Theme Park Connection
  • Who’s Hates Tom Now?
    And more!

We hope that you will tune in tonight at 9PM ET for another episode of WDW News Tonight!

If you missed last week’s show, be sure to watch it:

PHOTOS, VIDEO: Port Orleans Mardi Gras Parade 2017 Features Monorail, Peoplemover, & More

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

Yesterday, the Port Orleans Resort Hotels at Walt Disney World held their annual celebration of Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday with a parade. The event started at 10AM and winded from Riverside down to French Quarter. Cast members and their invited guests showed off some fantastic cart creations in the parade, including a Monorail, a Walt Disney World Railroad Train, and even a Steamboat with a working paddlewheel! Take a look:

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The theme this year was transportation, offering all sorts of imaginative vehicles.

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The parade ended with a visit from Tiana in a horse-drawn carriage.

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Happy Mardi Gras!

VIDEO: Watch As Beast Invites Belle To Dinner In This New Clip From “Beauty And The Beast”

WDWNT on March 6, 2017

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Disney has released a new clip from “Beauty And The Beast” in which we see a Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts try to teach The Beast some manners when inviting Belle to dinner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKyp9Tx-NPY&feature=youtu.be

The story and characters audiences know and love come to spectacular life in Disney’s live-action adaptation “Beauty and the Beast,” the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart of the true Prince within. The film stars: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson. Directed by Bill Condon based on the 1991 animated film, “Beauty and the Beast,” the screenplay is written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos and produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman, p.g.a. and Todd Lieberman, p.g.a. with Jeffrey Silver, Thomas Schumacher and Don Hahn serving as executive producers. Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards® (Best Original Score and Best Song) for the animated film, provides the score, which includes new recordings of the original songs written by Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as three new songs written by Menken and Tim Rice.

And don’t forget to see “Beauty and the Beast” when it hits theaters nationwide on March 17, 2017!

Source: Disney Movie Trailers