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Disney has released a special slideshow, featuring hundreds of pictures and some videos of the American Idol Experience media event that was held at Disney’s Hollywood Studios last thursday:
Celebrating 100th Birthday at Disneyland
On her 100th birthday, Friday, February 13, Frances Taylor of Lake Forest, California, took advantage of the Disney Parks “Free On Your Birthday” offer to celebrate with her extended family – four children, 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren – at Disneyland in Anaheim. She was greeted at the Main Entrance to Disneyland by Mickey Mouse and friends, who presented her with a 100th Birthday cake. In 1912, as she and her mother prepared to emigrate to the United States from their native Scotland, they were bumped from the passenger list of the Titanic. For her birthday, she boarded “the happiest cruise that ever sailed” to experience the newly refreshed and reopened “it’s a small world” attraction. Approximately 2 million people have registered for the Disney Parks “Free On Your Birthday” offer since it was announced last fall. Taylor’s daughter, Maggie Winn (far left), registered her for “Free on Your Birthday.”
Chris Lastrapes’ 2/14/09 Photo Report
WDWNT’s very own Chris Lastrapes was at the Disneyland Resort celebrating his birthday this past Thursday, and shares with us a few photos of the latest happenings around the Resort:
Workers were working outside the gates of The Haunted Mansion up to it’s soft re-opening Thursday afternoon.
The attraction was closed early in the day.
The painting of Mickey’s Fun Wheel is pretty much done. Just a little bit left to do on the stars.
Lots of work going on in the Paradise Pier lagoon.
We’ll end this short photo report with the new covering for Mr. Potato Head.
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Short video clips have begun to surface of the new Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party that debuts tomorrow at the Magic Kingdom with the first performance at 11:00am. Here are the three only videos that have surfaced so far showing the first two floats in the parade as well as a couple of minutes of the show stop:
Judging from what you can see in these short videos, the “parade” looks like another Block Party Bash type parade. In fact, it looks almost the same as Block Party Bash in how the show is laid out. Stay tuned to WDW News Today tomorrow for coverage of the first performances of the Magic Kingdom’s new street party.
Grim Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize Early
Our very own Chris Lastrapes is currently on location at the Disneyland Resort and reports to us with the news that The Haunted Mansion has re-opened early from its refurbishment. According to Chris, nothing much is new, except for some fresh coats of paint.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today as I will be visiting the Resort tomorrow, and will bring back plenty of pictures of The Haunted Mansion.
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Walt Disney World re-launched the official American Idol Experience attraction website this morning, just as a huge media blitz descends upon Disney’s Hollywood Studios for a weekend of publicity festivities. The website now features a 3-D model of the stage, some video clips, and a number of other features. The most vital feature has to be the online audition registration system that has been introduced. Guests will now be “required” to reserve an open audition time on the official website if they plan on trying out for the show after Saturday, when it officially opens to the public. As of right now, guests can register to audition up to two weeks in advance. Don’t expect Disney to hold to this concept too much, as there would probably then be a long line of frustrated idol hopefuls at guest relations who were turned away from auditioning because they were not aware of this pre-arrival registration system. Stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information on this audition registration becomes available.
In case many of you missed it, the attraction was featured through-out Good Morning America on ABC earlier today. The coverage concluded with a live performance in front of the Superstar Television Theater by Idol winner David Cook that didn’t entirely make it onto the program thanks to some technical difficulties. The celebration continues later today with live blue carpet coverage from the huge media event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The events will be broadcast between 4:30 PM and 6:45 PM and can be viewed at that time at the link provided HERE.
Live from the Blue Carpet?
Walt Disney World will actually be providing live blue carpet coverage from the American Idol Experience media event tomorrow afternoon at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The events will be broadcast between 4:30 PM and 6:45 PM and can be viewed at that time at the link provided HERE. The attraction officially opens to guests on Saturday, February 14th.
Four Stores Close in Downtown Disney
According to the OC Register’s Around Disney blog:
Downtown Disney is quickly losing tenants.
Club Libby Lu – a store for girls to dress up, shop and have a makeover – has closed. Owned by Saks Inc., all 78 of the Club Libby Lu stores around the nation are closing.
Department 56 and Starabillas have closed as well.
The Register’s Retail blog reports that Yankee Holding Corp. will close all 28 of its Illuminations stores. Downtown Disney’s high-quality candle store is scheduled to close April 30. Everything in the store is being sold at 25 to 50 percent off.
A fifth store might soon shutter as well.
The retail blog also reported that Quiksilver plans to close 25 of its stores. It is unclear whether the Downtown Disney outlet will be among the fatalities.
Disney spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said today that Downtown Disney is in talks with four or five retailers to pick up the leases.
Sanchez wouldn’t comment on whether the overall sagging economy, or more specifically any reduced foot traffic in Downtown Disney, was to blame for the closures.
According to Disney’s earnings report for the quarter ending Dec. 27, theme park revenue was down 4 percent.
“From our perspective the closures at these locations had nothing to do with Downtown Disney,” said Disney Spokeswoman Suzi Brown. “These have to do with the parent companies’ decision to close the stores chain-wide.”
She said as far as Starabilia is concerned, the privately-owned celebrity collectable shop came to the end of its lease and chose not to renew it.
Though Brown said Disney hasn’t heard anything about the Quicksilver shop yet, the one in Downtown Disney is “among the top performers in the chain,” as was Libby Lu.
Innoventions “Adds” an Exhibit in 2009
It seems that a new math themed exhibit is coming to the “new” Innoventions at Epcot in the Fall of 2009:
Raytheon Company plans to unveil an interactive, math-based experience called “The Sum of All Thrills” at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The exhibit, set to open fall 2009, will engage children through a fun and educational experience that helps instill a lifelong passion for math, science and technology.
“The Sum of All Thrills” will be a core component of Raytheon’s MathMovesU program, an initiative designed to engage middle school students in math and science, and help create the next generation of innovators for the U.S. It will be located in the INNOVENTIONS pavilion at Epcot, a unique area of the park that contains 100,000 square feet of interactive, hands-on exhibits that allow visitors to celebrate the inspiration and innovation that improve their lives and expand their horizons.
“Raytheon is working to foster young students’ interest and success in math and science, two of the primary fundamentals on which American competitiveness has been built,” said William H. Swanson, Raytheon Company Chairman and CEO and 2009 MATHCOUNTS honorary chairman. “Raytheon shares The Walt Disney Company’s commitment to innovation and education through imagination. We’re proud to offer INNOVENTIONS visitors a unique experience that combines all of these attributes and that seeks to unlock the math and science potential within every student.”
In addition to the experience at INNOVENTIONS, Raytheon will be supporting another 2009 initiative at the Walt Disney World Resort – the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition. Taking place May 7-10, 2009, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, the competition is the culmination of an enrichment and coaching program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement in every U.S. state and territory. Raytheon is the title sponsor of the MATHCOUNTS National Competition for the next three years, through 2011.
About MathMovesU
Since its inception in 2005 to help spur interest in math and science, Raytheon’s MathMovesU program has touched the lives of more than 700,000 students, teachers and parents. Through interactive learning programs, contests, live events, scholarships, tutoring programs and more, MathMovesU engages and inspires students. Core components of the program include:
- An innovative approach to engaging students in math and science through a partnership with the Kraft family and The New England Patriots at The Hall at Patriot Place presented by Raytheon
- www.mathmovesu.com, a virtual space to educate and entertain middle school students through games and activities that showcase the math behind students’ favorite pastimes
- A scholarship and grants program that awards $1 million annually to students, teachers and schools.
More information may be found at www.raytheon.com/stewardship/mmu/.
Raytheon Company, with 2008 sales of $23.2 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 87 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide.
About INNOVENTIONS at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort
INNOVENTIONS is located in the heart of Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Creativity and imagination abound as guests celebrate inspiration and the innovations that improve their lives and expand their horizons. Hands-on, interactive exhibits allow children and adults to be immersed into ideas that inform, entertain and inspire – conquer the most dangerous house in America, find solutions to “sticky” problems, experience the most cutting edge products at the “House of the Future,” protect the environment from the daily waste we create, and push the limits of everyday products as we make the world a safer place.
Doorway to Dreams Leads to Long Island
Disney has confirmed that it will be opening a second “Doorway to Dreams” Disney Vacation Club sales location (in my backyard) on Long Island, New York in the summer of 2009:
Scheduled to open later this summer, Disney’s Doorway to Dreams will offer Roosevelt Field visitors and Long Island, N.Y.-area residents a convenient and exciting way to learn firsthand about Disney Vacation Club, an innovative vacation-ownership program that helps families enjoy flexibility and savings on decades of future vacations.
Disney’s Doorway to Dreams will showcase the accommodations at Disney Vacation Club resort hotels, which are spacious and offer numerous home-like amenities. These vacation villas provide families with a place to relax and spend quality time together either at Disney destinations worldwide or at more than 500 other popular vacation locations around the world. This convenient mall location will give them a glimpse of the choices they have, from a magical stay at the Walt Disney World Resort or a relaxing cruise aboard a Disney Cruise Line ship to a family-friendly, interactive Adventures by Disney trip or an exotic jaunt to South America.
“Our first Disney’s Doorway to Dreams location has been very popular and a great way for Chicago-area residents and visitors to learn more about the family vacation experiences available through Disney Vacation Club,” said Disney Vacation Club President Jim Lewis. “Now, we are delighted to bring Disney’s Doorway to Dreams to New York, which is one the top markets for our rapidly growing membership base, so that more people can discover all that Disney Vacation Club has to offer.”
To help families envision just what those vacations will entail, Disney’s Doorway to Dreams, located at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, NY, will feature a full-scale, two-bedroom model of the vacation home accommodations Disney Vacation Club members and their families can expect to find at Disney Vacation Club resort hotels.
“Disney has always been a unique and innovative leader in the timeshare industry,” said Howard C. Nusbaum, chief executive officer of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA). “Now, Disney’s Doorway to Dreams allows New York-area families the chance to experience how a timeshare ownership can help ensure years and years of memorable family vacations.”
Designed to create a fun and immersive experience, Disney’s Doorway to Dreams is planned to go beyond featuring model accommodations to offer an interactive family vacation discovery zone, comfortable discussion areas and a supervised children’s play area within its approximately 6,900 square feet of retail space.
Celebrating more than 50 years of offering more choices, Roosevelt Field is located at the intersection of Old Country Road and the Meadowbrook Parkway in Garden City and is managed by Simon Property Group, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The mall offers unparalleled customer service with amenities including Simon Giftcards, good everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted and Simon American Express Giftcards, which can be used everywhere American Express cards are welcomed; Ticketmaster at Simon Guest Services, valet parking; complimentary wheelchairs; strollers and a post office. It is anchored by Nordstrom, Macy’s, JC Penney, Bloomingdale’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods and has more than 270 specialty stores. For more information, please go to www.simon.com.
For more information about Disney Vacation Club and the new Disney’s Doorway to Dreams preview center, please visit www.disneyvacationclub.com.