Disney News Feed for August 16

MousePlanetWatch 32 – news feed for August 16, 2007

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Walt Disney World News

Most of the news came from this past Monday’s Walt Disney World Park Update.

• The Disney-MGM Studios theme park will have a new name come January: Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Along with the name change, Walt Disney World announced several entertainment changes, the most notable of which are the replacement of the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade with a Florida edition of Block Party Bash from Disney’s California Adventure, and the complete makeover of Playhouse Disney–Live on Stage with characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and others.
• Disney will be extending the Year of a Million Dreams through December 31, 2008. This means that the “Year” will eventually last27 months.
• Universal has matched Disney’s one-day, one-park ticket price at $71. There is no word yet from SeaWorld.
• Disney is testing a new children’s activity program at Typhoon Lagoon. There are about three-and-a-half weeks left in the test. If you get a chance to try it out, let us know what you think!
• Disney has announced the 2008 itineraries for Adventures By Disney. For a complete schedule, see the Park Update.
• The Tower of Terror 6.5K race has sold out. There’s still space in the 13K, though.
• The reopening of Mitsukoshi Teppanyaki as Teppan Edo has been delayed to November 1.

Disneyland News

Much of the news came from this past Monday’s Disneyland Park Update.

• The Fall MouseAdventure
  sold out in a record 44 hours! If you want an advance email notice about
  the Spring 2008 edition, drop
  us a line.
• The Disney Gallery indeed
  closed last week.
• While it has not been officially announced yet, it is expected that Disneyland
  will also extend the Year of
  a Million Dreams.
• High School Musical 2
  had its world premiere at the AMC theater at Downtown Disney.
• Disney has reversed their
  decision to pass a fee increase along to passengers on the trans-Panama
  Canal cruises next year.
• This is the last week for the Pirates
  of the Caribbean watch/litho offer.
• The Bengal Barbecue may not
  be dead yet.
• Disney will be releasing the Tiny Tot version of Marie Osmond’s Mary Poppins
  doll through the Disney
  Gallery web site starting August 28
• We had the wrong pricing last week for Mickey’s Halloween Treat. Correct
  pricing and online purchasing can be found here.

The Walt Disney Company News

• Disneyland
  Paris will again stage their incredible Halloween celebration this year,
  redecorating the park from October 6 through November 4.
• On Monday, Disney CEO Bob Iger sent
  a letter to University of Washington president Mark Emmert demanding
  that the school retract a press
  release issued last Tuesday heralding the results of a study done by
  three university professors that declared in its opening statement that
  “Despite marketing claims, parents who want to give their infants a boost
  in learning language probably should limit the amount of time they expose
  their children to DVDs and videos such as ‘Baby Einstein’ and ‘Brainy Baby.'”
• A new Nintendo
  DS game from Disney might be considered Disney meets Tamagotchi.
• Miley Cyrus, star of Hannah Montana, is launching a 54-date tour in October,
  co-starring with herself. Miley/Hannah is touring in support of her double-billed
  two-CD
  set on Walt Disney Records. Third-billed on the tour, as “special guests,”
  are the Jonas Brothers touring in support of their
  first CD on Disney label Hollywood Records. Their
  first album was on Sony Records.

  DAY	DATE	MARKET	VENUE	ON SALE DATE
  THU	18-Oct	St. Louis, MO	Scottrade Center	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  SAT	20-Oct	Moline, IL	I wireless Center	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  SUN	21-Oct	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	Sat, Sept 8 Noon
  TUE	23-Oct	Omaha, NE	Qwest Center	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  THU	25-Oct	Denver, CO	Pepsi Center	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  SAT	27-Oct	Salt Lake City, UT	Energy Solutions Arena	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  MON	29-Oct	Seattle, WA	Key Arena	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  TUE	30-Oct	Portland, OR	Rose Garden	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  THU	1-Nov	Oakland, CA	Oracle Arena	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  SAT	3-Nov	Anaheim, CA	Honda Center	Sun, Aug 26 Noon
  SUN	4-Nov	San Jose, CA	HP Pavilion at San Jose	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  MON	5-Nov	Fresno, CA	SaveMart Center	Sat, Aug 18 10am
  WED	7-Nov	Los Angeles, CA	Staples Center	Sun, Aug 26 Noon
  THU	8-Nov	San Diego, CA	San Diego Sports Arena	Sat, Aug 25 10am
  FRI	9-Nov	Glendale, AZ	jobing.com Arena	Sat, Aug 25 Noon
  SUN	11-Nov	Houston, TX	Toyota Center	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  MON	12-Nov	San Antonio, TX	AT&T Center	Sat, Sept 15 Noon
  WED	14-Nov	Ft. Worth, TX	Ft. Worth Conv. Ctr.	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  THU	15-Nov	Bossier City, LA	CenturyTel Center	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  FRI	16-Nov	TBD
  MON	19-Nov	Tampa, FL	St. Pete Times Forum	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  TUE	20-Nov	Sunrise, FL	BankAtlantic Center	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  FRI	23-Nov	Nashville, TN	Sommet Center	Sat, Aug 25 10am
  SAT	24-Nov	Knoxville, TN	Thompson-Boling Arena	Sat, Aug 25 9am
  SUN	25-Nov	Greensboro, NC	Greensboro Coliseum	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  TUE	27-Nov	Charlotte, NC	Charlotte Bobcats Arena	Sat, Sept 15 Noon
  WED	28-Nov	Duluth, GA	Arena at the Gwinnett Center	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  THU	29-Nov	Memphis, TN	FedExForum	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  SAT	1-Dec	N. Little Rock, AR	ALLTEL Arena	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  SUN	2-Dec	Oklahoma City, OK	Ford Center	Sat, Aug 25 10am
  MON	3-Dec	Kansas City, MO	Sprint Center	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  WED	5-Dec	Auburn Hills, MI	Palace at Auburn Hills	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  THU	6-Dec	Grand Rapids, MI	Van Andel Arena	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  SAT	8-Dec	Rosemont, IL	Allstate Arena	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  SUN	9-Dec	Indianapolis, IN	Conseco Fieldhouse	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  TUE	11-Dec	Columbus, OH	Nationwide Arena	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  WED	12-Dec	Lexington,KY	Rupp Arena	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  THU	13-Dec	Cincinnati, OH	US Bank Arena	Sat, Sept 15 10am
  SAT	15-Dec	Toronto, ON	Air Canada Centre	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  SUN	16-Dec	Rochester, NY	BlueCross Arena	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  MON	17-Dec	Philadelphia, PA	Wachovia Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  WED	19-Dec	Hartford, CT	Hartford Civic Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  THU	20-Dec	Providence, RI	Dunkin Donuts Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  FRI	21-Dec	Worcester, MA	DCU Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  SAT	22-Dec	Worcester, MA	DCU Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  THU	27-Dec	Long Island, NY	Nassau Coliseum	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  FRI	28-Dec	Long Island, NY	Nassau Coliseum	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  SAT	29-Dec	Newark, NJ	Prudential Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  SUN	30-Dec	Newark, NJ	Prudential Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  THU	3-Jan	Cleveland, OH	Quickens Loan Arena	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  FRI	4-Jan	Pittsburgh, PA	Mellon Arena	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  SAT	5-Jan	Atlantic City, NJ	Boardwalk Hall	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  MON	7-Jan	Washington DC	Verizon Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  TUE	8-Jan	Baltimore, MD	1st Mariner Arena	Sat, Sept 29 10am
  WED	9-Jan	Albany, NY	Times Union Center	Sat, Sept 29 10am

• High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Princesses and Pirates are the inspiration
  for lines of electronics, including a 15-inch LCD TV, an iPod speaker device
  and a video camera.
• The High
  School Musical 2 Junior Novel and High
  School Musical: East High Yearbook have been released in support of
  the TV movie’s premiere tomorrow.
• In the summer box office race, Transformers is maybe a week or two away
  from overtaking Pirates domestically. On the global stage, though, Pirates
  has taken in a total of $954.7 million worldwide, followed by Spider-Man
  3, Harry Potter, Shrek the 3rd and Transformers.