I’m going to be at the lovely Disneyland Resort from Monday to Thursday this week, so I’ll obviously be unavailable to post. Hopefully Tom Corless & SparkyLD will step up & post a few things while I’m gone.
Don’t worry though, because I’ll be back on Friday with the usual DLR Pictorial, at least 3 vidcasts, & our Toy Story Midway Mania special on the Disneyland News Today Podcast!
See You All On Friday!
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg poses with Mickey Mouse at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. June 20, 2008. Bloomberg was at Walt Disney World Resort taking part in the first annual “Excellence in Action” education reform summit, presented by The Foundation for Excellence in Education. The foundation was launched in January by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
With the upcoming refurbishment of Sounds Dangerous starring Drew Carey at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, comes an interesting rumor about the future of the space it occupies. The latest rumors for the park in general suggest that Disney will attempt to bring a tween audience in by using their multiple successful Disney Channel programs in attractions and entertainment offerings. A copy of the Bibbidi Bobbiti Boutique using High School Musical and Hannah Montana inspired child makeovers will debut at the park this fall, and a new attraction themed to Ms. Montana and her Disney Channel friends may come following after.
If the rumors I’m hearing are true, a new sound-based attraction using new, surround-sound headphones and an HD projector to bring guests into their favorite Disney Channel artists (i.e. The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale) songs will be coming to Hollywood. While I’m not so sure that Disney will keep the headphone concept in the theater, I strongly believe we will see a Disney Channel based attraction of some kind in the theater by 2009. In the meantime, don’t worry about Sounds Dangerous (at least if you’re one of the few who enjoy the attraction) going anywhere just yet, the latest closure is really just to accommodate American Idol construction and survey the theater for future development. Sounds Dangerous should return in early August, but will probably be on borrowed time by then, as the Drew Carey attraction contract expires on January 1, 2009.
WASHINGTON: The Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), the oldest and largest Sikh-American civil rights and advocacy organization in the US has filed a class action suit against the Walt Disney World Company on behalf of Sukhbir Singh Channa.
Channa, a Sikh-American, had applied for a job with Disney in September 2006 but was told that he could not be hired unless he removed his religiously-mandated turban. He was also told that he did not have “the Disney look”. Witnesses have filed affidavits in his support. “There’s no legal or other justification for a company to repudiate an employee in the manner that Disney has repudiated Channa,” said SALDEF chairman Manjit Singh.
“Disney makes millions of dollars each year on cartoon characters that wear turbans but cannot respect the right of an American to wear a turban for religious reasons,” said Manjit Singh.
This should be an interesting legal battle and could lead to big changes in the look of Cast Members at all the Disney resorts should this organization win. We’ll keep you posted on this story as more becomes available.
By Sonya Smith of the OCRegister:
The Walt Disney Co. will begin out-sourcing the manufacturing of Audio Animatronics because of too much demand on staff time, according to an Imagineering memo sent to the Orange County Register and Disney Imagingeering Spokeswoman Marilyn Waters.
Audio-Animatronics figures are basically moving and talking (or singing) robotic figures that were started by Walt Disney’s company. Today, Audio-Animatronics can be seen in several Disneyland attractions, which include: “it’s a small world,” Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Adventure, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! and the upcoming Toy Story Mania!.
The memo is dated June 12, 2008, and was sent to all Walt Disney Imagineering employees from Bruce Vaughn, chief creative executive, Craig Russell, chief development and delivery executive, and Kevin Eld, vice president of Disney Creative Production. The memo was sent to and received by the Orange County Register today. Imagineers is Disney’s a word for designers and engineers.
The memo states that after review manufacturing all Audio-Animatronics figures in-house is not feasible in terms of cost and staffing. Instead, Imagineering’s Manufacturing and Prototype Operations group based in North Hollywood will “build some select, highly complex” figures in-house.
Waters confirmed that the manufacturing of some Audio-Animatronics will be given to outside vendors. She said that over the past years Walt Disney Imagineering has begun to work with outside vendors on the talking and moving figures.
In one example, Waters said Disney employees worked with Chinese vendors to make some of the figures for the “It’s a Small World” attraction at the Hong Kong Disneyland.
“Our industry has generated quite a few heavily-skilled and proficient vendors who can supplement our teams with simple figures with significant oversight by our production team,” Waters said. “This will allow us to focus on creating more sophisticated and advanced figures.”
While Waters said Imagineering’s next step is to focus on the next-generation of Audio-Animatronics, an anniversary is coming for the oldest figures. June 22 is the 45th anniversary of the Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland’s Adventureland.
The Tiki Room includes 225 performers, including birds, flowers and tiki poles that spring to life. The attraction opened in 1963 and was the first attraction to function completely via the wonders of Audio-Animatronics technology.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
A second St. Cloud man accused of helping to obtain a pipe bomb detonated in a Downtown Disney trash can last July surrendered Thursday to federal firearms agents. Brandon Woll, 21, was freed on his own recognizance after a bail hearing before U.S. Magistrate Karla Spaulding. His attorney, Jim Taylor, entered a plea of not guilty.
On Wednesday, Woll’s stepfather, David Tagg, 40, of St. Cloud, was arrested on charges he aided in the bomb-making. A third St. Cloud man, Michael Morgan, 21, is being sought.
At Thursday’s hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Wilson asked Spaulding to bar Woll from having contact with other defendants and witnesses in the case, including his live-in girlfriend, Sarah Folsom. But Taylor objected, saying the couple had lived together for a year and that Woll could not move back in with his mother and Tagg. Spaulding ultimately allowed the couple to remain together but ordered them not to discuss the case.
I just want to send a big thank you to the multitude of listeners who joined us for last night’s live show, it was a fantastic way to kick off our 1 year anniversary celebration. Don’t worry if you missed all the fun, we will be posting the recording of the show on the WDW News Today, Disneyland News Today, and Disney Pincast feeds for you to download directly or through Itunes. Also, don’t forget to join us for our next live show on July 6, 2008. More details on that will be available soon.
Many people have also wrote in asking about our anniversary contest we will be running. While I can’t give you any details on that yet, stay tuned to hear how you can win and find out what will be included in the spectacular prize package.
It’s hard to believe that WDW News Today will be turning 1 year old on July 8, just about a month from now. When I began this website in 2007, never in my wildest dreams did I believe we would be where we are today; one of the most visited Walt Disney World information websites on the internet. With the help of a fantastic staff and devoted readers and listeners, we proved many detractors wrong and made it a lot further than many critics suggested. To celebrate our “dream come trueâ€, we are preparing a month long party to remember the magical moments of the last year and reward our readers and listeners who have made this all possible. In case you haven’t noticed, some of the changes for our anniversary celebration have already taken shape, yet some are still on the way. Here is a complete list of what to expect from WDWNT during this celebration from June 8-July 8, 2008:
Already in Place
Magical Milestone Banners: New banners, featuring the WDWNT 1 Year anniversary logo, for the top of the WDW News Today website celebrating the milestones and events that have made the last year so memorable.
1 Year Anniversary Logo: Inspired by the actual Walt Disney World 1st anniversary pin, the original WDWNT website, and the mouse that started it all; this logo will stay with us throughout our entire 1 year anniversary celebration.
Magical Travel Becomes Official Travel Agent: We are proud to announce that Magical Travel is now our official travel agent sponsor and will be answering your vacation planning questions on the WDW News Today Community Forums, as well as on our family of podcasts.
WDWNT Studio Store: After a long absence, we finally have an official store for all your WDW News Today, Disneyland News Today, and Disney Pincast needs. We will be adding new items to the shop regularly and all proceeds made from purchases will go towards contests and updates that will make everyone’s WDW News Today experience better.
Events from June 8-July 8
WDW News Today Live: Join us for our first ever live interactive shows on June 8 and July 6, as we present exclusive content and talk live with listeners. These shows will be hosted on talkshoe.com and information on how to join in on the show is located on the left sidebar of wdwnewstoday.com.
1 Year Anniversary Contest: Join us on our first live show on June 8 to get details on how you can win one of the largest Disney prize packages ever. We will then announce the winner on our second live show conducted on July 6.
WDWNT Podcast Episode 50: Join us for the biggest episode in the history of the WDW News Today podcast as we celebrate one year of the WDW News Today podcast and website, as well as a landmark 50 episodes of the show. More details on this available soon.
All this and more is waiting for you during our very special month long celebration of WDW News Today’s 1 year anniversary. We hope that this is the first of many anniversaries we will be able to celebrate and hope to continue to help you better plan your next Disney vacation. We hope to see you this Sunday at our first live show!!!
See Ya Real Soon,
Tom Corless
Owner of WDW News Today
Hi everybody, John Corigliano here to provide you with some photo updates of my wild weekend at the Walt Disney World Resort, visiting both Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Hope you enjoy it!!!
Spaceship Earth’s wait time for 20 minutes today. Does that look like 20 minutes?
They’ve added this sign to Pin Central at Epcot to tell guests how to trade pins. They’ve also a screen that will soon tell guests how much pins are just by scanning the UPC bar code.
Here’s the new Price Pin Guide that’s being implemented at the Epcot’s Pin Central. Each color is represents a different price.
Here’s what the UPC Bar Codes on the back of the pins look like. This pin has a blue sticker denoting that the price is $8.95.
Here’s another example. The price here is $6.95.
Rumors were circulating that Nestle had their signs removed at The Land, for the time being that is totally and completely FASLE. Here’s the proof.
The only thing that’s gone is the Jr. Chef station.
Here’s the “NEW” EPCOT Center shirt that’s been released around Epcot shops.
The only difference is that there’s a 25th Anniversary logo on inside where the tag would be.
Here’s some of Father’s Day merchandise being sold around Walt Disney World.
Here’s a billboard for Toy Story Mania! that’s just down the street near my home.
Now we move over to the actual attraction and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
TSMM had a 90 minute wait on opening day (May 31). Sadly, I one got on the ride once since the ride had technical difficulties after I got off it.
Here was my one and only score. Not as good as Tom Corless who actually holds the all-time high score at the moment.
Here’s the newly unveiled directional sign showing where Toy Story Midway Mania is.
Here’s the only reference to the Disney-MGM Studios that I could find in the entire park. I miss you MGM.
More Disney’s Hollywood Studios merchandise continues to come in.
Already, Imagineering has a Toy Story Midway Mania wait time sign pin. Tom wants this pin so bad.
Progress on enclosing the old Hunchback Theater is almost done.
As you can see from looking over the wall.
Nothing really new over at the old ABC Theater, future home of the American Idol Experience.
Does it seem like something is missing?
Anyone know the answers?
Here’s the new DHS watch design by Jason Zucker, only 50 of them available.
One of Jason’s amazing drawings for Star Wars Weekends.
Here’s one of Jason’s unreleased Star Wars Weekends artwork designs featuring Donald Duck.
Here, again you can see the new Playhouse Disney sign at the entrance.
A lot of progress as gone on over at the DVC Tower.
I finally got to eat here for the first time….on the last day in operation. Too bad I can’t come back for seconds.
So, as we end this WDW Update, we say good-bye to the Concourse Steakhouse.
Exactly 10 years ago today, the New Tomorrowland of 1998 officially opened to the public. While it’s not one of the best times in Disneyland’s history, it is a moment I’d like to look at. So we will be celebrating it in various ways for the next week.
Each day, a special article of sorts will be put up taking a look at each of the various attractions part of this re-do (the first one will be up tomorrow). And on this week’s edition of the Disneyland News Today Podcast, we’ll have a special audio tribute segment, featuring music from Rocket Rods, Space Mountain, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, & more!
So stay tuned, & remember… “BEYOND THE GREATEST STAR OF ALL LIES OUR FUTURE!”
