If you’ve visited Disney’s California Adventure Park recently, you know the lagoon has been dry for many months as Walt Disney Imagineers install and test the newest and coolest water fountains at any Disney Park.
You can now see that the floor of Paradise Bay is a superstructure that’s nearly an acre in size and covered with a mass of metal, wiring, nozzles and gadgets. It’s all part of an intricate engineering feat to support “World of Color,†an exciting new nighttime water show that brings Disney animation to life with powerful fountains and amazing projection.
Disney Channel is about to start a series of short features called “The Time I…â€, which will begin airing November 8th. Kids will share important milestones in their lives in a two –minute segment. The kids will talk about how they dealt with different events in their lives.
Some of the features are already set. They are: “The Time I…Became a Big Sister,” “The Time I….Flew By Myself,” and “The Time I…Won a Blue Ribbon at the Country Fair.”
Ron Pomerantz, Vice President, Creative Director, Disney Channel said, “This series contains more than 20 inspirational storytellers and unique stories featuring the emotional milestones that kids around the world experience. Our hope is that by sharing these experiences, kids will feel connected and inspired to try new things.”
A beer advertisement featuring Snow White blowing smoke rings while lying in bed with seven semi-naked dwarves has reportedly left Disney fuming.
The raunchy Jamieson’s Raspberry Ale ad renamed the fairytale cartoon heroine “Ho White”.
Loveable Disney dwarves, like Sleepy, Happy and Doc, were replaced with Filthy, Smarmy and Randy to portray different types of drinkers. Campaign creators The Foundry claimed the idea was to convince Australian drinkers that the fruit-flavoured beer was “anything but sweet”. But the ad has come to the attention of the entertainment giant which licenses Snow White, according to Australia’s Daily Telegraph.
The Foundry says it has had “a little bit of contact” with Disney over the issue, the paper said. The campaign’s official website, anythingbutsweet.com, could not be accessed. The Foundry’s site had featured pictures of Ho White but links to the campaign appeared to have been disabled.
Australia’s Food Week website speculated that this may be due to a copyright infringement.
Judging by online conversations, theres some question about whether Chef Remy, one of Disney’s newest Audio-Animatronics characters, can still be seen in Epcot. The answer is, yes, you can still enjoy Chef Remy’s culinary talents.
Bon Appetite from Chef Remy at Les Chefs de France at Epcot was initially scheduled to end in September but his appearances have been extended.
If you havent experienced Remys hi-jinks, you should. The rat-turned-chef made famous in the Academy Award-winning film Ratatouille flirts, dances and entertains several times a week at the France pavilion in Epcot.
Excitement around Chef Remy begins with his presentation how hes revealed. He travels table-to-table on a rolling gourmet food cart. Then a Maitre d lifts the lid off a silver-domed cheese platter to begin the show and the smallest Audio-Animatronics character ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering doesnt disappoint.
Through December 23, 2009, each active or retired member of the U.S. military may obtain one complimentary 5-day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute” ticket with Park Hopper® and Water Park Fun & More options. They can also purchase up to a maximum of five 5-Day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Companion” tickets (one theme park per day) for $99 per ticket, plus tax.
This promotion ends 12/23/09.
Save up to 40% off rooms in select Disney moderate resort hotels.
The grand opening for The Sum of All Thrills ride at Epcot’s Innoventions was held on Oct. 14, 2009.
This video gives you a look at the process of designing your own ride and then experiencing it via the KUKA RoboCoaster arm. You also get to hear from the designers of the attraction.
This classifies as the weirdest news I have heard today..
Los Lobos is readying to release their first new album in three years – Los Lobos Goes Disney. The set features 13 songs from Disney films and theme parks as interpreted by Los Lobos. It hits stores on October 27th.
Tracks include “Heigh-Ho” (from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”), “I Wan’na Be Like You” and “Bare Necessities” (from “The Jungle Book”), “Not in Nottingham” and “Oo-De-Lally” (from “Robin Hood”) “Cruella De Vil” (from “101 Dalmatians”), “Bella Notte” (from “Lady and the Tramp”), “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (from “Song of the South”) and “Grim Grinning Ghosts” and “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room,” songs from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion and the Enchanted Tiki Room.
Saxist Steve Berlin adds: “We’re all really happy with it. The kids record doesn’t sound like a kids record. It just sounds like Los Lobos playing funky old songs, so I imagine over time we’ll probably be integrating some of those songs into our set.”
You can check out Los Lobos playing live this fall. For more info, check out Disney Records or Los Lobos’ official site.
That high-energy, interactive show is what artist Stephen Fishwick calls “speed painting – a collection of music, art, choreography and lots and lots of flying paint.†In August, Splash! Animals performed for the first time at the Downtown Disney District, outside Rainforest Cafe. Visitors loved the performance so much that Splash! Animals will be coming back for more performances. You can catch the free shows at the Downtown Disney District on October 17-18, November 6-7 and November 13-14.
All eyes and ears are on Disney with the events of the past year. So just thought this might be news worthy even if it is just routine maintence.
From the Orland Sentinel:
Walt Disney World has been making some monorail repairs.
The giant resort recently filed notice for electricians to work on an electrical panel on the monorail platform at the Transportation Ticket and Center, the central hub that links the system’s Magic Kingdom and Epcot lines.
About two weeks ago, the two Magic Kingdom loops were forced to shut down for most of a day following an electrical short at a control booth at the Magic Kingdom’s monorail platform. Disney said the current electrical work was unrelated to that incident.
“This was just routine maintenance,” Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said.
Walt Disney World opens an attraction Wednesday allowing them to design their own ride, then experience it on a giant robotic arm simulator. See video below
“Sum of All Thrills” is the first ride in Epcot’s Innoventions pavilion, where businesses sponsor educational attractions and hawk their brands.
Unlike IBM and Liberty Mutual, which wouldn’t mind selling tomorrow’s customers a policy or laptop, “Sum of All Thrills” sponsor Raytheon has nothing to offer the average consumer. But the high-tech defense and homeland security contractor does have jobs for those passionate about engineering, and would like to broaden the field.
“Our aim is to show kids how math and engineering make the things they care about really come to life and happen,” said Kristin Hilf, vice president of Raytheon public affairs.
The ride begins, after a tutorial, in a design room. On a touchscreen computer, visitors pick a vehicle shape and determine how fast the ride should go based on ascent, inversions or corkscrews.
The information is saved on a magnetized card strip and fed into the simulator, where visitors experience the track they just designed. The cards are imprinted with numerical identifiers kids can use at home for a Raytheon educational Web site with more math and science problems.
“I did a lot of talking to kids before we got started. What I found is kids typically didn’t like math, and didn’t understand how it applied in their lives,” said Eric Goodman, Disney Imagineer and “Sum of All Thrills” project manager. “They always felt there was one answer, and that’s what you’ve got to do — find that one answer. What this does is show kids and adults the possibilities. If you have a math-controlling view, you get to control it.”
Neither Disney nor Raytheon would disclose their financial agreement, but Disney has acknowledged in financial filings receiving substantial profit from ride sponsors. Last year, the agreements helped keep its parks and resorts segment from losing revenue in the third quarter despite declining attendance.
