Disney To Bring Back Discounts For Disabled
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Step aside, Scrooge McDuck. Tinker Bell waved her wand Monday and restored Disneyland's half-price admission for disabled patrons. Two days after Disneyland said the $18 Happy Hearts prices would end, the company relented. Not only will the half-price admissions be restored starting in November, but they'll be expanded from 12 days a year to 24. "I would apologize ... if we in any way offended ...
Disney To Build Avatar-Themed Lands
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
The Happiest Place on Earth is going to Pandora and beyond. But not to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure, at least right now. The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it had formed a partnership with Academy Award-winning director James Cameron and Twentieth Century Fox to develop themed lands based on the blockbuster movie "Avatar" in Disney parks. At a press conference at ...
Disney To Impose Age Policy At Theme Parks
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Children under age 14 will have to be accompanied by someone 14 or older to get into Disneyland and Disney California Adventure starting March 23. The policy change is going into effect across Disney's American resorts, which previously had varying age policies. "We regularly review all policies and identified an opportunity to provide a consistent age of admission and address a question we ...
Disney To Install Permanent Security Gates
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Anaheim, California Bowing to fears of terrorism, Walt Disney plans to build permanent security gates at the Disneyland Resort next year. The company had resisted security gates around Disneyland and its California Adventure theme park next door, saying that the sense of fantasy would be spoiled. Disney already screens purses, backpacks and coolers, but the bag-check tables have been moved away from the ...
Disney To Make Movie Loosely Based On Your 35th Favorite Disneyland Attraction
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
As someone who works in an ostensibly creative profession, I understand that coming up with ideas is hard, but I think if Disney hasn't hit the bottom of the conceptual barrel with a movie sort-of-not-really adapted from the Enchanted Tiki Room, the second take on The Haunted Mansion certainly is. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of the most successful franchises in the history of Disney. But when it ...
Disney To Offer Ride Wait-Time Updates Via Cellphone
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
My friend and colleague Dawn Chmielewski reports that starting next year, visitors to Disney theme parks will be able to use their cellphones to check ride wait times, locate restaurants and find characters as well as receive admission discounts and merchandise deals. Disneyland and Walt Disney World visitors would have to download an application to their Verizon Wireless phones to access the ...
Disney To Project Guests Photos On Ride
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A new Disneyland show featuring photos of visitors is set to debut next week. The first show, called "The Magic, the Memories, and You," is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 27 in the outdoor mall area in front of the "it's a small world" ride, said John McClintock, a Disneyland Resort spokesman. Disney plans to project pictures of visitors many of them taken that day on the facade of the ride building ...
Disney To Provide Park Navigation By Cell Phone
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Disneyland visitors will soon be able to find their way about the park by cell phone - and like a ghost at Haunted Mansion, the mobile application could follow you home. The Walt Disney Co. and Verizon Wireless announced Wednesday that they have reached a multiyear deal to provide theme park information and extras to Verizon customers who download a special application. Beginning next year, ...
Disney Top 10 Innovations Of All Time
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
The Walt Disney Company is known for its creativity, innovative thinking and technological advances. Who, but Walt Disney, could have given us a motion picture like "Snow White," the first full-length animated feature film which was a movie industry first? Who, but the Walt Disney Company, could have given us Epcot, perhaps the most unique theme park experience in the world? On a recent ...
Disney Tram-Injured Woman Reach Settlement
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A Chinese woman who fell out of a moving Disneyland tram and suffered injuries that left her needing 24-hour medical supervision for the rest of her life has reached a settlement in a lawsuit she filed against the Walt Disney Co. Lawyers for Qi Zhao and Disney reached the agreement Tuesday, bringing a two-week trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court to an abrupt end. Details of the accord ...
Disney Trip Evokes Magic Of The Past
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Keeping the porch light on shone a new meaning for me recently. Our family journeyed down to Disneyland for seven days to explore The Happiest Place on Earth. I have visited Disneyland twice before so I was eagerly looking forward to sharing the magic with my wife and the rest of our family. Seeing my 11-year-old grandson Nicholas enjoy Disneyland - the rides, the churros, the ice cream and ...
Disney Trippers
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
The tears were still damp on the powdered cheeks of Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson when she announced to her waiting public that the very first thing she was going to do now that she was Miss America was go to Disney World. Her decision was not altogether unexpected, since the Orlando playground and its progenitor in Anaheim seem to be the destinations of choice these days for big-time winners. Doug ...
Disney Turns 100 Here Is A Look Back At Price Changes Over The Years Including The 1 Dollar Ticket When Disneyland Opened In 1955
One hundred years ago today, Walt Disney and his brother Roy signed an agreement to form Disney Bros. Studios, which would produce a live-action/animated film series called The Alice Comedies. Walt himself starred in the first of the shorts, but they would hardly be the sort of things an empire was built upon. The real turning point would come five years later with the release of Steamboat ...
Disney University Teaches The Art Of Making Customer Magic
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Disney University teaches employees the principles of making memorable experiences. If Disney University had an inscription carved in marble somewhere, that phrase would be it. From how to stand when speaking to a visitor to the genesis of the company's practices, Disney University is the entertainment giant's training unit, graduating thousands of workers every year-every public-contact employee ...
Disney Unveils Disneyland Toontown Revamp
When Mickey's Toontown reopens sometime early next year, visitors will see a newly reimagined area of Disneyland. The moment visitors walk underneath the Disneyland train trestle that separates Fantasyland from Toontown, they'll first encounter CenTOONial Park. There, they'll see a large manicured grassy area and, in the middle, a Dream Tree modeled after the same tree ...
Disney Ups Halloween Party Prices
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
The Disneyland Resort has more than doubled prices for its special Halloween trick-0r-treat parties since they started five years ago. This year, the cost starts at $49 each for advanced tickets on most nights, but tickets can go up to $59 for Oct. 29 and 31 at Disneyland. In 2005, the prices began at $18 when the parties debuted at Disney California Adventure. Tickets to the general public go on ...
Disney Vacation Pros Dish Up Budgeting Tips for Trips
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Taking a Disney vacation can be pure magic. That's what it feels like for Becca Robins of Boise, Idaho. She travels to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, about twice a year with her husband and three sons - one 7-year-old and 3-year-old twins. "We really fell in love with it when we had our first son," says Robins, who runs the travel blog This Crazy Adventure Called Life. She and her husband ...
Disney Version
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
For all the natural grandeur of the west, its greatest tourist attraction is a synthetic creation: Disneyland-the subject, along with Disney's films and Disney himself, of Richard Schickel's The Disney Version (Simon and Schuster, $6.50). Those who remember Disney fondly may find this book discomforting or worse. Schickel's view is critical and frequently provocative, though not a diatribe of the sort that ...
Disney Voice Over Actors Bring Theme Park Rides To Life
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Voice-over actors are the hidden artists who provide the audio atmosphere and essential back stories that bring theme parks to life.. From the parking lot tram spiel to park-wide announcements to ride narrations, the best work of voice-over actors often goes unnoticed simply because it blends so seamlessly into the overall theme park experience. During the upcoming ScareLA convention on Aug. 8 ...
Disney Wants To Invest $1 Billion At Disneyland In Exchange For No New Gate Tax
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
The Walt Disney Co. is seriously considering a $1 billion-plus expansion of the Disneyland Resort with new attractions, a new parking structure with at least 5,000 spots and other improvements to the massive theme park complex. In exchange for the investment, Disney wants the city of Anaheim to forgo a tax on theme park admission tickets for another 30 years, according to a public notice published ...
Disney Wants To Make Theme Park Rides Controlled By Your Emotions
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Disney has filed a patent for theme park rides that can be controlled by your emotions. Titled, 'Sensing and Managing Vehicle Behaviour Based on Occupant Awareness', the patent seeks to develop technology which can read the facial expressions of riders, determining their emotions and customising the experience around those emotions. Bored? Your vehicle may suddenly speed up, or start spinning ...
Disney Welcomes Young At Heart To Disneyland
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
"To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disney-land is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past ... and here youth may savour the challenge and promise of the future. "Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope. that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world." These words ...
Disney Will Close Mcdonalds Restaurants In Anaheim
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A spokeswoman says the move is unrelated to the theme park company's push for healthier children's food. McDonald's Corp. is apparently no longer "lovin' it" at the "Happiest Place on Earth." The three McDonald's restaurants at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim will close Sept. 2 as part of planned refurbishments, Disneyland spokeswoman Lisa Haines said Thursday. Disney has been promoting ...
Disney Will Explore Disneyland History With Behind The Attraction
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
What do you know about The Haunted Mansion? How about Space Mountain, or The Jungle Cruise? People have loved these iconic Disney rides for decades, but it takes a special breed of fan to actually research the history of how they were created. Disney+ hopes to make those stories a little more accessible, while also shining a spotlight on the brilliant Imagineers who made these attractions possible, with ...
Disney Will Go Polynesian With New Ahmet Zappa Film
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
"Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of the most successful franchises in the history of Disney. But when it comes to classic action-adventure, the company that Walt built isn't stopping with Jack Sparrow. The studio is developing an adventure film from a script by Ahmet Zappa -- yes, son of Frank -- that's set against a Polynesian backdrop. Sources close to the project said Zappa and writing ...
Disney Won't Open Event To Regular Guests After All
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Disneyland made an announcement this summer: Regular visitors could buy tickets for a normally closed holiday event, the Candlelight Ceremony. But now Disney is largely restricting the ceremony to annual passholders who win tickets through a lottery, as well as invited guests. Signups for the online lottery end Sunday. Since 1958, Disneyland has hosted the classic Candlelight Ceremony in a ...
Disney Worker Avoided Burns In Fireworks Incident
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A Disneyland employee quickly moved away from fireworks when he heard a suspicious noise before it exploded, avoiding any burns in a rare incident last week, according to an Anaheim Fire Department report. Disneyland tonight is canceling the nightly fireworks display for the seventh time in the past eight nights. Disney began halting the shows after an employee was taken to the hospital for a ...
Disney Worker Collapses, Dies Of Natural Causes
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A longtime cast member at Disneyland died after collapsing inside the amusement park on Wednesday afternoon. Philip Doyle, 58, of Corona died of natural causes, Deputy Coroner Larry Esslinger said Friday. Doyle had been under a doctor's care for a previous medical condition. Philip Doyle, 58, a food-services cast member at Disneyland collapsed at the park Wednesday and later died. Doyle, ...
Disney Worker Injured In Space Mountain
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A Disneyland machinist, struck by a Space Mountain vehicle last week, remained hospitalized Tuesday in a critical-care unit, officials said. The 68-year-old employee was injured Oct. 3 after the park closed. The machinist was returning a vehicle that had been out of commission back onto the ride when something went awry and the vehicle hit him. The impact caused back, chest and head injuries, said ...
Disney Worker Taken To Hospital After Fall
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
A Disneyland Resort construction subcontractor this morning was taken to the hospital for back pain after falling into a trench in an employee-only area inside Disneyland, fire officials said. The man was working on a trench, which was up to 5-feet deep, when he fell in this morning before the park opened, said Maria Sabol, an Anaheim Fire Department spokeswoman. About 14 firefighters responded ...
Disney Workers On Set Extras In Wonderland
**RESTRICTED CONTENT** Gain Access Here
Disneyland employees who work on Main Street, U.S.A., got an unusual request: How'd you like to be in a Tom Hanks movie? "I said, "Attaboy! Put me down,'" said Steve Finley, a 40-year Disneyland employee. Two Main Street drivers and a balloon vendor were among the handful of Disneyland employees who served as extras in "Saving Mr. Banks," released this month. The movie, starring Hanks as ...
