MouseStation 190 – MousePlanetWatch news
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Walt Disney World News
- Following the conviction and sentencing of Victoria Walker in the “line rage” incident, Aimee Krause—the woman that she beat—filed suit against Disney last Thursday, alleging that its negligence was responsible for her suffering permanent injury.
- The Passholder/DVC Member previews of Toy Story Mania! (yes, yet another attraction with an exclamation point) over the weekend have been a big hit, with the guests responding very positively to the attraction. The press preview was yesterday. The attraction, barring surprises, is expected to go into soft opening mode until the official grand opening on May 31. There are plenty of photos in Monday’s Park Update and today’s article by Jeff Kober.
- A new technology may have Mickey-head logos flying all over the place at Walt Disney World. You can see a test of the Mickey-head logo in a video on the company’s site.
- According to a story in the Orlando Sentinel, McDonald’s french fries and Chicken McNuggets are out at Restaurantasaurus, being replaced with Disney’s own fries and chicken nuggets.
- Acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Adm. Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H., presented The Walt Disney Company with the “Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future” Champion Award at Walt Disney World last Tuesday in recognition of Disney’s well-balanced food initiative.
- The list of construction permits filed with Orange County includes repainting of facade tents on the Small World canopy roof, removing and reinstalling the wood walkway deck at Frontierland, removing and reinstalling the Veranda Deck at Aunt Polly’s, and plenty of other work across Walt Disney World.
- Quick Takes:
- The Narnia walk-through at Disney’s Hollywood Studios reopens tomorrow, the same day that the new Narnia movie opens in theaters.
- There’s a new page on the Walt Disney World Web site to help build anticipation for Star Wars Weekends.
- Just in time for Mother’s Day, a Sable Antelope and her new calf made their first appearance on the savannah together at Disney’s Animal Kingdom last Wednesday.
- Walt Disney World honored another class of Dreamers and Doers last Thursday, as 100 finalists, including the three Shining Star winners, were feted at the resort.
- The Major League Baseball draft will be held at The Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex for the second year, taking place on June 5.
- In a departure from usual procedure, Disney has not yet announced which water park will be closing first for refurbishment this fall.
- Late-breaking since Monday’s Park Update, Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World will be rebranded with the ESPN brand.
This and other news can be found in this week’s Walt Disney World Park Update.
Disneyland News
- Three months after proclaiming “I’m going to Disneyland!” New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl XLII MVP (Most Valuable Player) Eli Manning finally made his appearance in Anaheim.
- Shortly after Pixar Play Parade debuted in March in Disney’s California Adventure park, a minor accident on the Bug’s Life float caused Disney to cancel performances for about a week. When the parade returned, the entire Bug’s Life section was missing, as were the stilt-walking chefs from the Ratatouille unit and the acrobats from the Toy Story unit. Alert readers noticed that the Bug’s Life unit has returned along with the stilt-walkers, though the remaining acrobats are still missing. Photos can be found here.
- With Steven Spielberg’s fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise hitting theaters next week with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Disneyland has announced a number of new Adventureland activities promoting the fedora-hatted archeologist.
- A brief Prince Caspian pre-parade is now running 20 minutes before scheduled performances of the Parade of Dreams at Disneyland. The pre-parade is composed of a group of standard bearers and Prince Caspian on horseback. Photos can be found here.
- This and That:
- We mistakenly reported last week that Disneyland’s 2Fer offer ended on April 24, and MousePlanet reader Justin reminded us that the promotion had been extended to May 22.
- The Disneyland Resort raised parking rates last week.
- The first of the 2008 Grad Night events will be held at the Disneyland Resort this Thursday.
This and other news can be found in this week’s Disneyland Park Update.
The Walt Disney Company News
- Disney has completed its $203 million deal with Bollywood studio UTV Software Communications.
- Publisher Panini will launch a new Disney magazine in Britain, as well as taking on a second publication from the BBC both aimed at tween girls.
- Last Thursday, Disney signed a distribution deal with Tiscali SpA to run Disney movies on Tiscali’s Internet Protocol television service.
- The Los Angeles Times reported that Disney quietly posted the final report of Project Kaleidoscope to their web site last week without being announced formally.
- This year’s Tony Award nominations are out, and Disney’s production of The Little Mermaid only got two.
- The Walt Disney Company has a new IT boss.
- Disney is creating a new lab to research emerging media and advertising to try to determine how to help their advertisers better reach their markets.
- Disney’s ESPN network will be ditching its diet of reruns from early morning through mid-afternoon. So far, there’s only been one of these new anchors announced, and that’s Hannah Storm, who comes to ESPN from CBS.
- Following the current television season’s strike-shortened run, Disney’s ABC network decided that they’re going to pretty much stand pat.
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian opens tomorrow, and none too soon for Disney, since everything that it’s got out now isn’t making much.
Administrative stuff
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Wrapping up
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Thanks to our West Coast correspondent Andrew Rich, and audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
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