The MouseStation and MousePlanetWatch Podcasts
MouseStation 21 – Pirates of the Caribbean:At World’s End views and reviews and MousePlanetWatch 21 news feed for May 31, 2007
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MousePlanetWatch 21 run time 0:48:36
In the Walt Disney World news, sponsored by Small World Vacations, MousePlanet’s preferred travel provider, most of the news came from this past Monday’s Walt Disney World Park Update, and links to the various information reported can be found there. Here are some quick links:
Discussion regarding the incident leading to the TASERing of a teenager took place on a MousePad thread
- The Shuttle Launch Experience at the Kennedy Space Center is new competition for Mission: Space.
- The 2008 Walt Disney World Half Marathon is at 95% capacity and the full Marathon is at 65%. If you’re interested in running the Half next year, you’d better hurry up and sign up (half | full) now!
- There’s also a MousePad thread regarding the breaking news about the incident
at Kali River Rapids.
In the Disneyland news, all of the news came from this past Monday’s Disneyland Park Update. Here are some direct links to information from some of the stories:
- There’s a Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island discussion thread on MousePad.
- Jonathan Lansner discussed “World War II” in his Orange County Register column.
- Information regarding the Annual Passholder lottery for Submarine Voyage preview can visit the Disneyland AP web site.
- Cindy Stephens’ merchandise photos are listed on a MousePad thread.
- The Limited Edition Nemo Subs pin was discussed in this week’s Park Update.
- Information regarding the closure of Disneyland’s VMK Central is on the Virtual Magic Kingdom.
In The Walt Disney Company news, several stories have related links.
- The final official domestic three-day weekend total for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is $114,732,820. The four-day total is $139,802,190. The three-day foreign total is $216,000,000.
- The official press release regarding the final disposition of ABC Radio Holdings is on the Disney web site.
- Disney’s Steamboat Ventures venture capital arm invested in Greystripe, a distributor of advertising-supported mobile games and applications, one of whose distribution methods is via their own game portal.
- Build-A-Bear Workshop is running a “Buy a Pooh, create another one for charity” promotion through June 30 to support donations to the Starlight Starbright Foundation. The Foundation is also the sponsored charity of Disney World Trivia’s Dream Team, coordinated by friend of the show Lou Mongello.
MouseStation 21 run time 1:17:40
Our Tip of the Week this week came from Mark, who recommended that (if you don’t mind losing some park time) you can leave Disneyland or Disney’s California Adventure and walk to Harbor Boulevard to eat at one of the dining locations there before returning to the park to enjoy the rest of your day. You can combine it with a mid-day break if you’re staying at one of the Harbor Boulevard hotels, and have either a late lunch or early dinner. Reviews of a couple of the Harbor Boulevard eateries can be found in the MousePlanet review system.
Featured topic: Mike and Mark review and discuss Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
- Mike & Mark both enjoyed the movie, but didn’t think that it was great. They both felt that there were too many storylines, which took away from the overall story arcs.
- The violence was very intense for a PG-13 movie, and it’s certainly the most violent movie ever released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.
- Mike mentioned the trivial fact that all of the pirate flags used in the movie were actually historically accurate pirate flags except for Captain Jack Sparrow’s flag and the flag flown on the Black Pearl.
- Mike and Mark were split on the value of the references to the attraction. They agreed that the trip to Davy Jones’ Locker by going over the waterfall was a good reference, that the attraction audio was a bit overdone, and that the dog was used very well.
- Mike and Mark felt vindicated that their predictions on the movie’s domestic opening numbers were accurate, that it was big but did not beat the openings of Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third due to the increased competition.
- Mike and Mark referred several times to Alex Stroup’s review of the movie.
- If you’ve seen the movie, call our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278) or send us email to tell us what you think about it.
This week’s Featured Attraction is the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies in Frontierland at Disneyland Park. Mike enjoyed them, but wouldn’t go out of his way to see them. Mark has seen them twice, and will make sure that he sees them again on his next trip West. Mark’s favorite number was a one-man acoustic version of Classical Gas.
This week’s Review system spotlight focuses on Beaches & Cream at Walt Disney World’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts. Mark loves the burgers and claims that they have the best burgers on property. Mike (who doesn’t eat red meat) loves the chicken sandwiches. Both love the ice cream. They highly recommend a visit, but don’t order the Kitchen Sink unless you’re realllly hungry. MousePlanet readers seem to agree, as it was rated 4.1 out of five planets on the strength of 9 reviews. You can also find Beaches & Cream in our Park Guide.
In this week’s Ask the Kid segment, listener Eric Scales asked Mark’s 8-year-old son: “What one attraction would you like to change and what would you change about it?” Mark’s son’s answer was remarkably prescient.
This week’s Magical Moment came from a celebrity interview on the Pirates premiere red carpet from Christy Carlson Romano’s interview with Steven Ng, who voices Disney’s Kim Possible. Christy’s Magical Moment came when the Mickey statue that she designed for the 75 InspEARations collection was unveiled.
In Listener Feedback, we had a great recap of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Adventure on the Seven Seas Lagoon event from Mike Shearin, member of The Abominables MouseAdventure team. He wrote us in detail about the events. It sounds like he and his wife Sunnie had a great time at the event.
We also got a voicemail from Alan Ng, brother of our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng, who complained that Mark keeps mispronouncing their last name. (Steven is more tolerant about the pronunciation.) Mark promised that he’d try harder to pronounce it “Ing” instead of “Eng” as long as Alan didn’t compare him to Jennifer Tilly as Madame Leota again.
Send in your suggestions, comments or tips via our email form or via voicemail on our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278). You can also make suggestions by replying to this post.
If you want to contribute a story for our Magical Moment segment (and possible inclusion in the Cast Place column here on MousePlanet), you can either use our email form or the toll-free feedback line. (We like when you use the voice mail system, because then we can play it on the show.)
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Thanks to our West Coast correspondent Andrew Rich, and audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
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