Disney News Feed for August 30

MousePlanetWatch 34 – news feed for August 30, 2007

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Walt Disney World News

Most of the news came from this past Tuesday’s Walt
Disney World Park Update (it was published a day late this week).

• The wand, crane and stars are
  all gone from Spaceship Earth.
• The “Muppet Mobile Lab” that was tested at Disney’s California Adventure
  early this year went through
  some additional testing last week at Epcot.

The Muppet Mobile Lab goes out for a test spin with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and
Beaker rolling about Epcot’s Future World. Photo © Disney.

• The new “O Canada!”
  movie debuts at Epcot’s Canada pavilion tomorrow.
• The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is looking
  for additional witnesses to the “line rage” incident at the
  Mad Tea Party attraction back in May.
• Last Thursday, Walt Disney World Resort was
  honored by the American Lung Association of Florida and Florida Surgeon
  General Ana Viamonte Ros for its decision in May to make all of its 24,000
  hotel rooms smoke free.
• A permit application for
  a “Kim Possible World Showcase SFX Package” has been submitted to Orange
  County.
• The decking and substructure at the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse at
  the Magic Kingdom will be replaced
  on third shift.
• MouseFest has arranged for a special
  discounted rate at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort for
  MouseFest!
• As it nears the end of its renovation the Grosvenor Resort on Hotel Plaza
  Boulevard will be getting a new name on Saturday: the Regal
  Sun Resort.

Disneyland News

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

• The 2nd annual Disneyland
  Half Marathon is next Monday, September 3, 2007 (Labor Day). You can
  view the course map here
  and read more about the VIP spectator packages here.
• The Disneyland Resort will offer a new
  Halloween-themed tour this year, called Disney’s Happiest Haunts Tour.
  You can read reader
  reactions to the ill-fated 2004 version of this tour.
• Prices for the character meals at Disneyland will
  go up effective September 12th.
• The Indiana Jones Adventure will have a previously-unscheduled, three-day
  closure this week.
• Robert Olszewski will be at
  Disneyland on September 22 for the release of the final pieces in his
  Disneyland® Main Street, U.S.A. Collection. You can see photos of the new
  releases on the Disney
  Gallery web site, and the display platform for the complete collection
  at the Olszewski
  Studios web site.
• The Anaheim City Council voted to put a Disney-backed
  zoning referendum before the city’s residents on June 3, 2008.

The Walt Disney Company News

• On Sunday, Greenpeace activists snuck
  into a hotel at the Hong Kong Disneyland resort, swapped out light bulbs
  in two lobby chandeliers for fluorescent ones, and unfurled a banner stating
  “Mickey cooks the climate”.
• The
  Children’s Place is in serious
  trouble with Disney related to its amended license deal that they signed
  June 8 for running the Disney Store operation in the U.S. and Canada. Since
  the breach of their agreement would allow Disney to either demand action
  or cancel the deal completely, it’ll be interesting to see where Disney
  goes with this, since the original deal was created under Michael Eisner.
  If Bob Iger thinks that Disney shouldn’t have sold off the Disney Stores,
  the company could cancel the deal with Children’s Place and take the stores
  back.
• Disney Publishing has decided to fold Disney
  Adventures magazine after 17 years following the November issue.
• Disney’s ABC Television Network arm and Roger Ebert are sparring over
  the use of the trademarked “thumbs-up/thumbs-down” rating system
  on “At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper.” First, ABC released
  a statement last Friday to the AP stating that Ebert was withholding
  the rights to use the “thumbs” on the show. Later last Friday,
  Ebert responded
  through his web site, noting that he had not withheld the thumbs, and
  that Disney was not negotiating in good faith.
• ESPN has purchased Scrum.com,
  a popular rugby site. ESPN had recently bought Cricinfo.com,
  the top cricket site.
• Disney properties picked up 17 awards at the Teen
  Choice Awards Sunday night.
• Home
  Improvement and George Lopez will be showing up on Nick at Night.
• The Disney Music Group landed three titles in the Billboard Top Ten last
  week. The High
  School Musical 2 soundtrack was at # 1, Hannah
  Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus was at # 2, and Jonas
  Brothers was at # 8. DMG had a total of eight albums in the Top 50.
• TV
  Guide is reporting that Disney has confirmed that the theatrical release
  of High School Musical 3 will not be “Haunted” after all. However,
  first they have to meet the increased
  salary demands of the stars.
• The “Extended Edition” of High
  School Musical 2 will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 11.
• Ratatouille
  will debut in stores on November 6.
• Disney movies continue to drop on the weekly
  domestic box office charts.
• While Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is now fourth
  domestically, it’s still more than $62 million ahead of its closest
  competitor globally,
  with $957.7 million worldwide.
• Domestically, Disney’s distribution arm is in fourth
  place overall.