Disneyland's New Mr. Lincoln Mixes Technology With Emotion
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After a long hiatus, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is set to return to its home on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland. Imagineers plan to bring back the attraction with the same charm and nostalgia, but with new technology and more emotion, creators said today. "In bringing the Lincoln show back, one of the things I remember about the first show is it made you emotional and proud to be an American," ...
Disneyland's New Parade Isn't A Parade Even Though It Is
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Although Disneyland isn't calling it a parade, the new "interactive street party" debuting March 27 will travel along the parade route, replace the outgoing parade and essentially serve as the daily parade. In typical punctuation-challenged Disney fashion, Celebrate! A Street Party will feature seven floats and 90 performers in a "celebratory song and dance party." Banners and ribbons will ...
Disneyland's New Star Tours Ride Is Light-Years Better Than The Original
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The new Star Tours attraction that will soon debut at Disneyland adds several layers of 3-D realism to the 1980s-era simulator ride, making the experience less like watching a movie and more like being in the middle of the action. I took a few preview rides Friday at Disneyland on the updated attraction, which offers 54 possible storylines, and I found myself wanting to jump back in line after each ...
Disneylands Princess Fantasy Faire To Close In August
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On Aug. 2, Disney Parks Blog announced that Disneyland park will close its Princess Fantasyland Faire at the Fantasyland Theatre on Aug. 12. Princess Fantasy Faire, a Disney Princess meet-and-greet, will be closed for an extended period of time. When it re-opens in summer 2013, Princess Fantasy Faire will add a "live entertainment experience" to the meet-and-greet in which Disney's focused on ...
Disneyland's River Set To Be Drained
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Right after the holiday season, visitors to Disneyland will find a dry Rivers of America. That's right, dry. The river is scheduled to be drained beginning Jan. 4 and won't be filled up again until May, according to officials with the theme park. While the river is drained, many Disney fans would like to see something done to add some new life to the Rivers of America and the slow ride on ...
Disneyland's Soundsational Summer Plan
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The Disneyland Resort is hoping everyone loves a paradeand a couple of new ridesthis summer. That's what Walt Disney Co. has on tap to spur summer attendance as the Anaheim resort passes the halfway point on a multiproject, billion-dollar-plus renovation and expansion of its two theme parks and hotels. Mickey's Soundsational Parade is due next month at Disneyland. A Little Mermaid ride at ...
Disneyland's Space Mountain Temporarily Closed Amid Safety Review
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Disneyland's popular Space Mountain roller coaster and another ride are temporarily closed after the company received citations from state regulators last week that prompted a review of its employee safety protocols, a spokeswoman said Sunday. After receiving the citations Friday, company officials shut down the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride, Space Mountain and Soarin' Over California on Saturday, said ...
Disneyland's Splash Mountain Set To Close Until May
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Disneyland is set Tuesday to close Splash Mountain for about four months during a major rehabilitation project, according to the Disneyland website. Disney usually refurbishes big rides about once every five to 10 years. Splash Mountain is next on the calendar, said John McClintock, a Disneyland Resort spokesman, earlier this month. Crews plans to spruce up the waterway and scenes, but no major ...
Disneyland's Star Tours Is Closing And D23 Members Get The Last Ride
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Disneyland will shutter the popular "Star Tours" attraction this month to make way for a major overhaul of the Reagan-era ride -- but D23 members will be given one last, special opportunity to say goodbye to the vintage "Star Wars" adventure. On July 14, members of D23 (which is the prestige, dues-membership fan club launched by Disney last year) will be offered a free and final ride on "Star Tours" ...
Disneyland's Star Tours Ride Set To Turn 3D
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Disney plans to turn the Star Tours thrill ride into a 3-D adventure at Disneyland, a company official announced today. Jay Rasulo, Walt Disney Parks and Resort chairman, gave the announcement today during a presentation at the D23 Expo, a major Disney convention, at the Anaheim Convention Center. The ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida also will be transformed. Guests are expected to ...
Disneyland's Star Tours Set To Close Early For Rehab
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Disneyland's Star Tours will shut down about three months earlier than scheduled so workers can begin revamping the ride as a 3-D attraction, Disney announced Thursday. Star Tours will close July 27 for a nearly year-long project. Originally, work was set to begin in October. In September, Jay Rasulo, then Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman, announced the major overhaul, including the October ...
Disneyland's Submarine Voyage Reopens
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After nearly a half-century, there's been an extreme makeover of Disneyland's "Submarine Voyage" ride. Disneyland closed down the submarine ride a decade ago and spent 70-million dollars to construct a state-of-the-art attraction. The attraction reopens today at the Anaheim theme park with a new story line, shiny new coral reefs and something not envisioned when it debuted in 1959 -- an alternate ...
Disneylands Super Exclusive Club 33 To Undergo Renovations
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Disneyland's super-exclusive Club 33, where it costs $25,000 to join and membership fees are $10,000 a year, is reportedly undergoing a major renovation. According to the unofficial Disney blog, Inside the Magic, the famous restaurant in the Anaheim theme park will get a new layout, including a makeover of the entrance, lounge and kitchen, as well as a whole new menu. The number of seats won't ...
Disneyland's Thor: The Dark World Attraction
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Disneyland opened its doors today for a special preview of the brand new, Thor: The Dark World-themed "Treasures of Asgard" attraction and ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype was on hand to take an early peek at the fantastic artifacts contained within. Located right next to Stark Industries' Iron Man tech display inside Tomorrowland's Innoventions building, "Treasures of Asgard" came about, creative ...
Disneyland's Toontown Explosion Shocks Visitors
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Disneyland visitors expressed shock Tuesday night that an explosive device was left at the popular family destination that bills itself as "The Happiest Place on Earth." The apparent dry ice "bomb" exploded about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in a trash can at Toontown, forcing officials to evacuate people from the area, police said. No injuries were reported, and the area was reopened about two hours later. ...
Disneyland's Village Haus
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When Mickey Force Feeds, It's Hard to Swallow I am more than willing to pay over $230 hard-earned clams (not including parking) for the opportunity to tell the world that I took my family of four to the Happiest Place on Earth (that would be Disneyland for all of you hermits). Sure, it's a pretty penny, but worth sharing this American rite of passage with my daughters. But there's one thing I won't ...
Disneyland's VIPs: Five Things You Didn't Know About Disney's Star Treatment
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Celebrities get the star treatment everywhere they go and Disneyland is no exception. For years now, Disney has offered VIP guides (usually seen walking throughout the parks donning their red and blue plaid vests) to the families of film, television and sports stars. But one might be surprised by how unglamorous the star treatment can be at the Happiest Place on Earth. Sure, certain celebs might be ...
Disneyland's Wireless Wristband Could Replace Tickets
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Amusement parks have changed a lot since the early days, and paper tickets have long gone the way of the dodo. But a new gadget made for Disneyland takes admission to a new world of high tech. It hasn't been officially announced, but this "Magic Band" recently appeared on the website of the ...
Disneys Christmas Day Parade Receives Harsh Criticism From Viewers
For over four decades, Disney (DIS) has become a special part of Christmas morning for many families across the globe.
Disney 's Christmas Day parade, which often features musical performances, Disney character appearances, floats, etc., has aired on ABC Network every Christmas morning since 1983, and watching it has become a popular holiday tradition for many families.
While this ...
Disney's Controversial Online Games
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Some media watchers are crying foul over Disney's plans to offer online advergaming to kids in an attempt to get the tots to con their parents into taking them to one of the parks. Starting May 5, Disney will offer an online multiplayer game called "Virtual Magic Kingdom", targeted at 8- to 12-year-olds, as part of Disneyland's 50th anniversary. "We hope it becomes a real hangout for preteens and ...
Disney's Critter Country Closes For Month
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Disneyland is set to shut down Critter Country for more than a month starting Wednesday. Crews already began refurbishing Splash Mountain and Hungry Bear Restaurant, two major features in the land in the northwest corner of the park, earlier this month. Disney decided to close the rest of Critter Country while work is ongoing, said Suzi Brown, a Disneyland Resort spokeswoman. Click on the photo ...
Disney's Do's And Don'ts
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Disneyland is often called "The Happiest Place on Earth". When you break it down, this claim has a lot of validity. Magic comes to life when your favorite childhood characters begin dancing in front of you. Suddenly Belle, Prince Charming and Mickey Mouse come alive in one location, forcing you to discover your pupils aren't big enough to take in the entire scene all at once. You can fly around in a ...
Disney's Dream Theme
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It was sometime in the 1940s, and a young father sat on an amusement park bench, licking a Popsicle and feeling slightly disgruntled. While his two daughters rode the merry-go-round, he waited restlessly, wondering why there was no amusement park that was equally "amusing" for children and adults. Had this been anyone else, the thought might have disappeared with the last slurps of the Popsicle. ...
Disney's Fantasy Empire
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This article was conceived as a critique of a man, his works and organization. The recent death of Walt Disney necessitated not only changes in tense but a look at the Fantasy Empire's future. No other revisions of fact, opinion or judgment are deemed imperative. -The Author Walt Disney, grand vizer of fantasy, possessed the world's largest collection of personal honoraria-praise emblazoned on plaques, ...
Disney's Fantasy Island
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When Disneyland recently opened its new night spectacular, Fantasmic, the park created a multi-million dollar venue for the future, Bob McTyre, vice president of entertainment explains, "We were inspired by the Illuminations lagoon show at Disney World. Our 'river' surrounding Tom Sawyer Island is smaller than the Florida lagoon, and Fantasmic is different from Disney's other shows." Disney Imagineering ...
Disneys' Five Ways To Make Dreams Come True
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Sixty years ago, in a state of shock, a struggling young animator boarded a westbound train in New York. Walt Disney had traveled east to negotiate a better distribution deal for his cartoons starring Oswald the Rabbit-only to be told that his distributor owned the rights to the rabbit and had signed up Disney's key artists. Defiantly, Walt told his wife, Lilly, that he'd think up a new character. As the ...
Disney's Golden Opportunity
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Today is a big day for Disney. It's when the company kicks off Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration by officially launching new rides and attractions at most of its parks while announcing plans for even more potential tourist magnets in the future. It's easy to get lost in all of the celebratory glitz behind the so-called Happiest Celebration on Earth. This is a mouse-eared merchandising dream ...
Disneys Imagination Soars Again
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Magical touches added before the reopening of Disneyland, Disney California Adventure After the longest closure in its 66-year history, Disneyland will reopen Friday with magical changes to one of its original rides. In Fantasyland, Snow White 's Scary Adventures has been reimagined as Snow White 's Enchanted Wish. Visitors will see new scenes such as a dancing ...
Disneys Imagineering Story Helps Streaming Service Lift Off
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To launch the streaming service Disney+ on Tuesday, the Walt Disney Co. will send in “Avatar,” a “High School Musical” series, a new “Lady and the Tramp” and “The Mandolorian,” a “Star Wars” series. Disney also will share part of its history in “The Imagineering Story,” a six-hour documentary from director Leslie Iwerks. “Disney 's in my blood,” Iwerks said in an interview. “My ...
Disney's Jack Lindquist Master Of Fun
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Like his good friend Marty Sklar, Jack Lindquist was hired by Walt Disney weeks before Disneyland opened in 1955. Lindquist was brought on board as the park's very first advertising manager. He came with a very strong recommendation. "I was working for an ad agency in Los Angeles at the time when some folks from Disney came in and asked me to recommend someone for the advertising job at ...
Disney's Longtime Imagineering Chief To Step Down
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Martin Sklar, the creative force behind most of Walt Disney Co.'s theme parks, will step down as head of the company's famed Imagineering division, Disney said on Friday. Sklar, 72, takes on a new role as a recruiter and ambassador for the division where he worked for 50 years and was regarded as a legend. The change at the top of Imagineering comes as Pixar Animation Studios Inc. creative ...
