Go Green! Celebrate Earth Day in Style!

This Earth Day, celebrate in style, Disney style that is. The Disneyland® and Walt Disney World® Resort are pleased to offer an array of environmentally friendly merchandise offerings including tee’s, accessories, bags, plush, stationary and more.

One of our most popular items includes the Every Tree Has Character – Reusable Bag. Choose to Re-Use! Be sure to stop in and pick up one of our Every Tree Has Character Reusable Bags for only $2.95, plus tax. The bags will be available at select locations throughout the Disneyland® Resort and Walt Disney World® Resorts as well as World of Disney® Store New York. Regardless of your purchase of the “Every Tree Has Character” bag, Disney has made a contribution to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund helping wildlife and wild places around the globe.

About the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund:
The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund* (DWCF) helps to protect and study some of the world’s most endangered plants, animals and habitats. To date the DWCF has contributed more than $12 million to non-profit conservation and animal welfare organizations supporting projects in 110 countries. To learn more about this effort for wildlife, wild places and the people link to their survival, please visit www.disneyconservation.com. *The DWCF is a Disney initiative to support conservation and animal welfare and is not a US 501(C)(3) public charity.

Find all of these items and more at locations throughout Disney Parks & Resorts:

Disneyland® Resort locations include Emporium, Greetings from California, Disney Vault 28 and World of Disney® Store, among others.

Walt Disney World® Resort locations include Emporium, Mickey’s of Hollywood, Island Mercantile, Tren-D, and World of Disney® Store in Downtown Disney® as well as New York

In honor of Earth Day our teams have worked hard to use recycled and re-usable items to enhance the displays in our locations. Below are a few images of some of the newest displays and fun facts regarding the recycled items.

Downtown Disney® District – World of Disney® Store:

  • The trunk and branches of the tree are made mostly using copper tubing, reclaimed from various places around the Resort. The leaves are created by using 51 Disneylandˊ maps and 51 Annual Passport brochures with 40′ of detonation wire from the nightly presentation of “Remember… Dreams Come True” Fireworks Spectacular. Hidden in the limbs of the tree include a piece of electrical channel from one of the attractions in Fantasyland, one brass heat lamp from a New Orleans Square restaurant, one .25″ slice of the track from the Disneylandˊ steam trains track, one horseshoe from Circle D, 6″ of twisted brass tubing from one of the carousel horses at King Arthur Carrousel, one gas pump nozzle from Transportation Services, three water valves, 18″ of brass chain from various queue lines, two circular saw blades from the Mill Shop, two decorative finial caps from fencing found in New Orleans Square, six iron rosettes from fencing found at “it’s a small world”, two roller coaster gears from California Screamin’, a brass coffee machine filter from a New Orleans Square restaurant and fifteen various pipes and elbow joints from Resort plumbing and irrigation.
  • The globe is a re-purposed clear acrylic dome, that was once used as a small scale sample of the large castle snow globes which are currently displayed in the World of Disney® Store & Emporium. Acrylic paint was sponged on the inside, 1.5 lbs of sawdust was utilized from our Disneyland® Resort Mill Shop and 3.5 lbs of shredded Disney Photopass cards were used to create the continents.
  • The back pads were made of the following: 54 square feet of recycled packaging paper, six square feet of giami paper, 2 Mickey head-shaped logos painted in watercolor on 4′ of recycled cardboard and “Love the Land” letters which were cut out of recycled cardboard and painted with acrylic paint.
  • The Disneynature Earth posters were printed with uv cured ink.

Disney Vault 28

  • The Men’s shirt is made of 132 Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse main entrance passports and is held together by 798 aluminum chain links. The sandals are of 14 main entrance passports, 8 layers of corrugated cardboard and 14″ of computer ribbon.
  • Our ladies dress has been created from 122 main entrance passports and is held together with 3′ of detonation wire from the Disneyland® Resort fireworks show. The purse was created from 24 main entrance passports and the unique flower attached on the purse was created from 10 picnic Disney Photopass cards. The sandals were made from 12 main entrance passports, 8 layers of corrugated cardboard and 14″ of computer ribbon.
  • The Disney Nature Earth posters were printed with soy based ink.
  • Display Glass Risers were created from pounds of recycled crushed glass from the bottom of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction.

Disney’s California Adventure® park – Greetings From California

  • The back pads were made of the following: 44 square feet of recycled packaging paper, 4 square feet of giami paper, 1 Mickey Mouse head-shaped logo painted in watercolor on 2′ of recycled cardboard and “Love the Land” letters which were cut out of recycled cardboard and painted with acrylic paint.
  • Several recycled items were also used to make the geometric shaped risers including 12 linear feet of cardboard tubing, 18 square feet of scrap plywood and masonite, 8 Disneyland® Resort Annual Passport brochures, 42 Disneyland® Resort Main Entrance tickets, 27 square feet of linoleum tiles from backstage areas, 6 reclaimed drywall screws.
  • In addition, the Disneynature Earth posters were printed with uv cured ink.

Disneyland® park – Adventureland Bazaar

  • Adventureland Bazaar also has received a tree made up of materials similar in nature to that of World of Disney, with the following exceptions, 50′ of copper tubing from Disneyland Resort kitchen facilities, 3 impellers from water pumps around the Disneyland Resort, Prop horn from Disneyland New Orleans Christmas decor, Fire system heads from Disneyland Resort backstage areas, 1 iron flower from the Tinker Bell arbor at the World of Disney, two iron leaves, from area railing, found in New Orleans Square, bullet casings from the Jungle Cruise, a propeller from the Jungle Cruise attraction and a pressure gauge from the weld shop. The leaves on the tree are made from 750 Pirates of the Caribbean bookmarks held together by 40′ of detonation wire from the Disneyland Resort fireworks show.

Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival Fun Facts

Tantalizing taste buds with authentic, international flavors, Disneyland Resort celebrates its fourth annual Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival, with a six-week “World Celebration” featuring celebrity chefs, signature and complimentary experiences and winemaker dinners with themes from around the globe.

Southern California Restaurant Writers recently awarded Disneyland Resort 15 new awards for its restaurants and chefs – just in time as it prepares to launch the 2009 Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival.

NEW in 2009

Where can you find “Bad Boy” of the Food Network, Guy Fieri, along with celebrity chefs and nearly 100 Disneyland Resort chefs?

  • Whipping up cooking demonstrations for guests to discover new twists on timeless classics, daily at Disney’s California Adventure.

Passport handy?

  • Embark on a Festival Wine Walk and get the flavor of France, Italy, Spain and Germany, or experience the California wine country featuring 89 American Viticulture Areas – without ever leaving the Food & Wine Festival!

Celebrities on your mind?

  • Go Behind the Scenes with…stars of the Food Network!  Trade kitchen secrets, ask culinary questions and capture a photo. Curious about becoming a winemaker? Meet baseball legend, Tommy Lasorda (Lasorda Wines) and get “direction” from the guru of Pixar films John Lasseter, along with his wife Nancy (Lasseter Family Winery).

Who’s the SWEETEST of them all?

  • Learn the magic of creating a pastry masterpiece from the highly-skilled chefs of Sweet Cheeks Baking Co., San Diego, and Cake Monkey Bakery, Los Angeles, during Sweet Sundays.

Dream of becoming a MASTER Wine Connoisseur?

  • Master Sommelier Michael Jordan, of the award winning Napa Rose restaurant hosts a six-hour Advanced Wine Course featuring an in-depth look at international wine regions, various growing and harvesting techniques, wine laws and governance – a perfect recipe for wine expertise. Or, try his introductory course for another immersive experience.

It’s a Whole New World…

  • Experience an exciting menu every week during World Celebrations Dinners – featuring the aromas and flavors of Italy, Spain, France, Korea and Japan as well as the wines of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).

For additional information, please visit www.disneyland.com/foodandwine.

Food and Wine In The Sun For Everyone!

Disney has released the daily schedule for the whole of this year’s California Food and Wine Weekends. The schedules are available to view in separate pdf files at this link. There is also a new Festival map this year which shows off a few changes to the event, including the moving of the Festival Welcome Center and Festival Gift Shop, a new seminar stage in Sunshine Plaza, and the brief return of the popular Vineyard Room restaurant:

For a bigger version of this map, just click on the image.

Mickey Gets a Facelift

According to D23:

Opening early May, Mickey’s Fun Wheel (previously known as the Sun Wheel) is the 150-foot-diameter Ferris wheel inspired by Coney Island’s famous “Wonder Wheel.” Located on the Paradise Pier boardwalk, Mickey’s Fun Wheel sits high above the water’s edge and is dominated by the smiling face of its namesake, Mickey Mouse. Though the attraction itself has not changed (Guests can still choose between boarding a standard or swinging gondola), the gondolas present colorful images of the Fab Five: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald and Pluto. At the entrance to the queue, Guests are now greeted by a smaller version of the image on the wheel.

Myrna Litt’s 4/15/09 Photo Report

It is once again time for a photo report from our very own Myrna Litt, as she takes a look at the latest progress over at Disney’s California Adventure (with a brief stop at Disneyland):

Monorail Orange making the rounds.

The Mickey Mouse face is now up on Mickey’s Fun Wheel, and it looks just swell!

Look at that, Walt and Mickey.

The sunburst awaits its new lighting effects.

A close-up of the Mickey face.

Read More about Myrna Litt’s 4/15/09 Photo Report

A Paradise of Fun, Under the Sun

Disneyland News Today reader Stephen Thomas was nice enough to send in pictures he managed to grab from the HoJo Anaheim’s Mattercam of the progressing work on the California Screamin’ sunburst, as well as work that has finally begun on the Mickey face for Mickey’s Fun Wheel:

The sunburst looks to be pretty much done. Just a little bit left to paint in the middle.

A white backing of Mickey’s head has been put up. His facial features will either be put up on top of that or painted on.

Thanks once again Stephen!

Mickey’s Face-lift Postponed

Some of our sources have reported that Mickey’s Fun Wheel is a couple weeks behind schedule, and is now scheduled to open on May 8th, as opposed to the originally scheduled April 24th date. We’re not exactly sure on the reason of the delay, but it’s most likely due to the Mickey face, as it hasn’t even arrived at the Resort yet.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest on the Paradise Pier make-over.

Glowing Back In June

According to the OC Register’s Around Disney blog:

The classic Electrical Parade at Disneyland is on its way back, this time to Disney’s California Adventure.

Disney spokesman John McClintock said the seasonal night parade — marked by float’s and characters decked in thousands of lights — will start again in June.

There will also be a number of other new after-dark shows and attractions — possible a new fireworks show.

McClintock said all of the details of these new shows and features will be announced April 24 — a press event that we at Around Disney will, of course, be folllowing.

The parade started in Disneyland, but was retired in 1996. A popular show, McClintock said Disney resurrected the parade in 2001 during the summer after California Adventure opened as a way to draw people to that park.

The show was originally conceived and performed in 1972. It has been performed about 3,600 times.

The parade uses 500,000 lightbulbs now, powered by 500 batteries.

More than 50 six-volt batteries power the same number of costumes worn by performers — lighting up 11, 000 bulbs.

Since July, 2001, the parade has been performed about 620 times in California Adventure.

Disney themselves have announced that a Tinker Bell float will be added to the parade, and it has been rumored that the old Snow White Dwarf Mine and Pinocchio floats will make their way back into the parade, as well as the possibility of a new soundtrack inspired by Tokyo Disneyland’s Electrical Parade: Dreamlights.

Being released on April 26th, two days after the press event, is an open edition pin featuring the new Tinker Bell float coming to Disney’s Electrical Parade:

Disney’s Electrical Parade is one of my personal favorite things at the Resort, so definitely tuned to Disneyland News Today for all the Electrical Parade coverage you could need.

New Horse, Old Bridge

The Twilight Bark news section of D23’s website continues to be a great source for little news tid-bits about the Disneyland Resort:

  • 03.27.09 — Danny Makes His Debut!
    On March 20, Danny the Clydesdale made his debut as the newest addition to the horse-drawn streetcars on Main Street, U.S.A. At 5 years old, Danny is the youngest of the horses that pull streetcars from Town Square to Sleeping Beauty Castle.
  • 03.27.09 — Pacific Wharf Bridge Reopens
    The Pacific Wharf Bridge in Disney’s California Adventure opens again on April 3 after a planned refurbishment. The bridge connects the Pacific Wharf area with Golden State Plaza.