D23′s “Sip & Stroll” Event at the Walt Disney World Resort

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August 28, 2010

Join the D23 team as we celebrate Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival with a weekend of unique events and experiences just for D23 Members. Our weekend begins Friday evening as we gather for a wine and cheese reception in the foyer of The American Adventure pavilion. Sample a selection of artisan cheeses with dried fruits, berries, nuts, and house made breads along with Canadian cheddar cheese fondue and additional flavorful treats. Wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages will be served to set the tone for a fabulous event.

Guests may then choose to join us inside the VIP Lounge of The Living Seas as we honor Disney Legend Dave Smith, retiring Chief Archivist for The Walt Disney Company. October 15 is Dave’s final day of work, and he wanted to celebrate with his friends and colleagues from D23. So we’re throwing an elaborate dinner inside one of Epcot’s most beautiful private spaces, which features an enormous glass window that looks into the pavilion’s 5.7 million gallon aquarium. Dinner includes a selection of crisp salads, grilled flatbreads, pecan-roasted turkey, fresh scallops and beef medallions. Sumptuous sides include sweet potato mash, wild mushrooms and truffle mac ‘n’ cheese. You can also wash down some delicious German sausage and baked spaetzle with Radeberger beer from Germany. For dessert, there will be a selection of sweets inspired by Disney movie classics. Dinner includes wine, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages — all perfect to toast the man who founded the Walt Disney Archives 40 years ago. Note: there is an additional cost to attend this dinner.

Saturday morning we will convene at the Mexico pavilion in World Showcase to sample some robust Mexican coffee and pastries at the newly opened La Hacienda restaurant, hosted by Ricky Deblar, president of the San Angel Inn, who will be on hand to talk about the latest addition to Epcot eateries.

Following our breakfast treat, we head to the Odyssey for exclusive presentations and surprises. Our friends from Guerlain and Givenchy will explore their rich histories with Epcot — and Givenchy will offer a sample of their brand new fragrance. Chef Scott Hunnel and Israel Perez of Disney’s exquisite Victoria and Albert’s restaurant will share exciting details about the new Queen Victoria Room, and they will prepare a new dish that will be featured at Remy — the new restaurant on the Disney Dream!

That afternoon, guests can join D23 head Steven Clark, Dave Smith, Archives Director Becky Cline, Disney twenty-three editor in chief Carmen Capone, D23’s Disney Geek Jeffrey Epstein and others from the D23 Team as we sip and stroll our way around World Showcase. As we talk about some of our favorite Epcot spots, each guest will have a “passport” they can use to obtain exclusive Sip & Stroll surprises at various locations around the lagoon.

Event Information
DATE
Friday and Saturday, October
15 and 16, 2010

LOCATION
Epcot, Walt Disney World Resort

TICKETS
Available Monday, August 30, 2010 at 1 p.m. EST. Check back here for ticket link.

COST
$85 per person/$185 per person includes Dave Smith’s Retirement Celebration Dinner

SCHEDULE
Check In begins at 5:30 p.m. on October 15

Hanes Magical Golf Getaway Sweepstakes

By

Chip

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August 28, 2010

Hanes Magical Golf Getaway Sweepstakes

Enter Hanes’ Magical Golf Getaway Sweepstakes for your chance to win one of six trips for four to Orlando, Florida to visit any of Disney’s theme parks and golf at a Disney golf course. Each prize is worth about $5,700.

Eligibility:

USA, 21+

Start Date:

August 16, 2010

End Date:

September 26, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Entry Frequency:

1 x daily per person/email.

Sweepstakes Prizes:

Grand Prizes (6): A 5-day trip for 4 to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL including airfare, ground transportation, hotel, Magic Your Way tickets with the Park Hopper Option, 4 create your own custom Mickey Mouse Ear Hat, a $500 Disney Gift Card, and 2-Round Golf Passes and Tee Times at a Disney golf course. (ARV: $5,715)

Click here to enter.

Source

New Comedy Series “Fish Hooks” to Premiere Friday, September 24th on Disney Channel

By

Chip

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August 28, 2010

“Fish Hooks,” an imaginative, eye-catching and funny animated series revolving around three tweens, Milo, Bea and Oscar (who happen to be fish), as they navigate the choppy waters of high school, will premiere FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 (9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel. An 11-minute preview of the series will get the coveted timeslot following “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam” on Friday, September 3.

Created by children’s book illustrator and author Noah Z. Jones (“Not Norman,” “The Monster in the Backpack”), the series is produced using an innovative mixture of digital animation and photo collage. It stars Kyle Massey (“Cory in the House”) as Milo, Chelsea Staub (“JONAS L.A.”) as Bea and Justin Roiland (“The Sarah Silverman Program”) as Oscar. Recurring guest stars include comedian Rachel Dratch (“Saturday Night Live”), exercise guru Richard Simmons, comedic legend Jerry Stiller (“The King of Queens”), ABC TV star Atticus Shaffer (“The Middle”) and Edie McClurg (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”), among others.

Maxwell Atoms (“The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy”) is the executive producer and Noah Z. Jones is the co-executive producer. Carl Greenblatt (“Chowder”) and Bill Reiss (“Chowder”) direct the episodes.

The schedule is as follows:

Friday, September 3

A preview of “Fish Hooks” (10:00 p.m., ET/PT) follows the premiere of “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam” on Disney Channel.
Viewers can enter the world of “Fish Hooks” online at DisneyChannel.com/FishHooks to meet the characters, Milo, Bea and Oscar, in the “Interactive Fish Tank” and to play “Fish Hooks” themed games.

Saturday, September 4

Preview of “Fish Hooks” available on mobile VOD.

Friday, September 10

Preview of “Fish Hooks” available on iTunes.

Friday, September 17

A full episode preview of “Fish Hooks” available on Disney Channel SVOD.

Friday, September 24

“Fish Hooks” series premiere on Disney Channel (9:00 p.m., ET/PT) with simulcasts on Sprint TV, MobiTV and Flo TV.

“Fish Hooks,” from Disney Television Animation, follows Milo, Bea and Oscar, three best friends who live in a giant fish tank trying to navigate their way through the choppy waters of high school. Together they experience the typical life challenges and triumphs, including friendship, dating and sports, along with more atypical situations such as giant lobster attacks and, with the use of special land suits, school field trips to the hamster cages.

Miss America 2011 Contestants Have a Magical Day at Walt Disney World

By

Chip

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August 28, 2010

All 53 contestants for the title of Miss America 2011 visited Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort on Friday, August 27, 2010.

Representing fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, the ladies continued the Miss America tradition of walking together down Main Street USA toward Cinderella Castle. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Cinderella and Belle met the 53 contestants for photos before the women broke up into smaller groups to see the rest of the park.

Through the day, guests may have spotted contestants on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, Mad Tea Party, Dumbo the Flying Elephant and other attractions.

The 53 Miss American 2011 contestants also recorded interviews that are scheduled to appear in the 2011 Miss America Pageant broadcast. Returning to ABC for the 90th anniversary of the Miss America Pageant, the competition will broadcast live from Las Vegas on Saturday, January 15 at 8 P.M. ET.

As the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women and one of the nation’s leading achievement programs, the Miss America Organization last year made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance.

The 53 Miss America 2011 contestants are in the Orlando area to attend the annual Miss America Outstanding Teen Competition.

Camp Rock: The Final Jam Video Game for Nintendo DS

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Chip

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August 28, 2010

Camp Rock: The Final Jam is all about Summer fun ! The game comes out August 31st on Nintendo DS. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Disneyland set to close 2 rides for upgrades

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

This article comes to us from Sarah Tully from the OC Register.

Two Disney park rides are set to close Monday to undergo improvements.

Toy Story Mania in Disney California Adventure is set to close for more than a month to undergo routine rehabilitation, said John McClintock, a Disneyland Resort spokesman.

The interactive ride is expected to reopen Oct. 10.

Toy Story Mania, which opened in 2008, takes visitors in a carriage in front of a series of 4D video games based on the movie series. Disney does not plan to add new features or games during the closure, McClintock said.

In Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion will be shut down while crews install decorations for the seasonal Haunted Mansion Holiday. The ride is slated to reopen Sept. 17, the first day of Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort.

Click here to keep reading.

500 millionth customer visits Tokyo Disney theme parks

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

The total number of visitors to Disney’s two theme parks on the outskirts of Tokyo hit 500 million Friday, with a housewife winning a ticket for free admission to both resorts for five years.

“I’m surprised and happy,” 38-year-old Megumi Soma, flanked by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, said on a podium as a crowd of visitors cheered.

Soma, a housewife from Gumma prefecture north of Tokyo, was visiting Tokyo Disneyland with her husband and two children and struck lucky on her children’s first visit to the nation’s most popular theme park.

Tokyo Disneyland opened in the suburbs of the Japanese capital on April 15, 1983 as the first Disney theme park outside the United States.

Built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay dubbed “Maihama” — a Japanese take on Miami Beach near Florida’s Disney World — it has sprawled to include hotels, a shopping mall, an aqua park and a permanent Cirque du Soleil.

Oriental Land Co. Ltd. of Japan runs the resort under a licence contract with the Walt Disney group.

Japan’s birth rate may be on the decline, but the parks boast loyal fans.

The number of visitors to Disneyland and DisneySea, a water park opened in 2001, has stood at record levels of around 25 million annually in recent years, up from 9.9 million people in Disneyland’s first year.

Oriental Land has set its sights on the generation who grew up watching Disney cartoons on television and took their children to the park’s opening 27 years ago, launching a cut-rate annual pass for visitors aged 60 or older.

Disney World passholder event to introduce Duffy the Disney Bear

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

This article comes to us from Kristin Ford at the Daily Disney.

Duffy the Disney Bear will become a regular for character meet-and-greets at Epcot in October. Known as the teddy bear who sailed around the world with Mickey Mouse, Duffy made regular appearances at Disney’s Teddy Bear & Doll Weekend and has been spotted at Once Upon a Toy store occasionally. Duffy also is very popular at the two Disney parks in Japan.

Walt Disney World passholders can hear about Duffy’s background at a special presentation at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at The Odyssey at Epcot. Each hour-long show will feature a guest speaker from Walt Disney Creative Entertainment.

This event is for passholders only, and seating is limited to those who reserve it online at Disney’s passholder website. Adults can claim children ages 3 to 17 as their guests when making reservations, but the kids still must be passholders and show valid passes and the confirmation slip at the time of check-in. This is a welcome change and should help many families who were frustrated by the tedious reservation process in the past that required each family member to log in and reserve a seat. (Children younger than 3 must sit on an adult’s lap.)

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Disney-Sponsored Football Game Kicks Off Labor Day Weekend at Citrus Bowl

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

The 6th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney returns to Central Florida with a full slate of events from Sept. 2-5 to celebrate legends of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), salute the accomplishments of great HBCU student athletes and encourage young people to reach for their dreams.

The MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney showcases an exciting gridiron match-up at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium between the Southern University Jaguars of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Delaware State Hornets of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

“As a company that values diversity and supports education, we are proud of our role in the 6th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney,” said Eugene Campbell, vice president of minority business development for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. “The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is more than a game – it’s a weekend long celebration for our whole community that gives enthusiastic football fans another reason to enjoy Central Florida.”

Weekend highlights include:

ESPN 101 High School Career Panel – More than 600 high school juniors and seniors will discover how to take their passion for sports and entertainment and apply it to real-life careers at the ESPN 101 High School Career Panel on Thursday, Sept. 2. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida Walt Disney World Clubhouse in Pine Hills will host students from Jones, Edgewater, Wekiva, and Oak Ridge High Schools, as well as panelists that include ESPN personality Jay Harris and Gerald Jones, who works in business development for the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney Legends Reception – NFL Hall of Famer Mel Blount and Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams lead a group of six honorees from Historically Black Colleges and Universities who will be celebrated at the event, which will take place at the Ballroom of the Americas at Disney’s Contemporary Resort on Saturday, Sept. 4.
Televised live to a national audience on the networks of ESPN, the 6th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney kicks off at noon on Sunday, Sept. 5, at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. This year’s matchup has been a long time coming as the Southern University Jaguars will take on the Delaware State Hornets for the first time in nearly 25 years.

Thousands of fans are expected to participate in the weekend’s activities, staying in local hotel rooms and dining at restaurants across Central Florida.

Sponsoring the MEAC/SWAC Challenge is part of Walt Disney World Resort’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, which helps drive growth, creativity and innovation. Evidence of this commitment is seen through the company’s involvement with such organizations as the FAMU Law School, Bethune Cookman’s Hospitality College, Disney Entrepreneur Center, African American Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando, Florida Minority Supplier Development Council and Hispanic Business Investment Fund of Florida.

For more information on the 6th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney, visit http://www.meacswacchallenge.com/.

Warner Bros & Disney sue to stop advertising on pirate web sites

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

Warner Bros. and the Walt Disney Co. have teamed up in a new legal effort to choke off the air supply of various web sites that post and index links to pirated movies.

The two studios are suing Triton Media, alleged to have provided advertising consulting and referrals for nine websites identified as “one-stop-shops” for infringing works.

Warners and Disney claim that Triton committed contributory copyright infringement and induced copyright infringement via their advertising assistance. The lawsuit indicates that Hollywood may be on the verge of expanding its hit-list of targets in the ongoing war against piracy.

The complaint was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in California and is rather thin on specific details of Triton’s services to these web sites.

Instead, it largely focuses on the misdeeds of the sites. The two studios identify www.free-tv-video-online.info, supernovatube.com, donogo.com, watch-movies.net, watch-movies-online.tv, watch-movies-links.net, havenvideo.com and piratecity.org as providing users access to content that has been unlawfully reproduced. The web sites are said to either host infringing content themselves or link to other third-party web sites that have infringing content.

All of these sites could themselves be liable for a contributory infringement claim, but the studios have instead decided to reach out even further by taking action against a larger business in Triton.

Triton allegedly enables these web sites to operate and has actual knowledge that the sites are participating in copyright infringement.

The two studios aren’t the first to attempt to crack down on piracy by targeting so-called facilitators. Adult entertainment publisher Perfect 10 sued Mastercard and Visa in 2004, alleging the two credit card companies provided “crucial transactional support services” to pirate websites. A district court dismissed the case, and later the Ninth Circuit upheld it, determining that Perfect 10 had failed to support any theory of liability against the defendants.

Some legal observers have argued that Perfect 10 wasn’t the “perfect plaintiff” to bring the case. It appears that Warners and Disney want to take a shot at being the very plaintiff that might expand the definition of contributory copyright infringement.

The studios are seeking unspecified monetary damages as well as an injunction that would prevent Triton from doing business with these web sites.

Please note – Triton Media is is a company based out of Scottsdale, AZ. and is in no way affiliated with Triton Media Group LLC in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Disney construction angers residents

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

This article comes to us from the Glendale News-Press.

City officials this week got an earful from a group of local residents who said they are fed up with months of noise, dust and traffic associated with construction on the Walt Disney Co.’s massive creative campus.

At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, residents on the 1300 block of Truitt Street said they have asked Disney and city officials to ease the effects of construction on a new childcare facility being built a mere 30 feet from their homes.

City officials — who told the residents they had passed their concerns to Disney officials and were unaware they had not been resolved — agreed to set up a neighborhood meeting with all stakeholders to address the issues.

“Let’s get some mitigation to this,” Councilman John Drayman said. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

The residents cited constant beeping and other construction noise, in addition to dirt and dust, truck traffic and cramped parking. The worst, they said, included a week of earthquake-like conditions during demolition and dirt compactions that left cracks and other damage to their homes.

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Photo credit by Raul Roa

Good Eats – Cafe Orleans

By

Chip

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August 27, 2010

Celebrate the spirit of Mardi Gras every day of the year at Café Orleans. On a charming shady corner in New Orleans Square, this table-service restaurant serves Creole-inspired cuisine. The authentic food and atmosphere just might make you think you’ve taken a trip to the French Quarter.

Menu

Café Orleans serves delicious food with a distinctive New Orleans flair for lunch and dinner, and seasonally for breakfast. Menu items range from shrimp salad and gumbo to crepes and the restaurant’s famous Monte Cristo sandwiches. Special menu items for the kids include a peanut butter and jelly version of the Monte Cristo. The signature Mickey-shaped beignets are great for dessert or an afternoon snack.

Monte Cristo Sandwich

The specialty of the house is, without a doubt, the Monte Cristo sandwich. Adapted from the French classic sandwich, croque-monsieur, the Monte Cristo sandwich appeared in California restaurants in the 1950s. Featured at Disneyland Park eateries since 1966, it has since become a coffee shop standard nationwide.

Location

When you meander down the narrow streets of New Orleans Square, you are transported into a genteel world of fragrant flowers and leisurely afternoons. Sit down and relax in the gracious dining room or on the shady patio as you watch the boats on Rivers of America glide by.

Close to two of the most popular attractions in Disneyland Park, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, it’s also a great place to dine before Fanstasmic! during the summer.