The MouseStation and MousePlanetWatch Podcasts
MouseStation 22 – Rainy days at Walt Disney World and MousePlanetWatch 22 news feed for June 7, 2007
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MousePlanetWatch 22 run time – 0:29:39
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:
- You can see photos of the Star Wars Weekends Big Fig figures in the Park Update, or you can see the official photos at the Disney Gallery site
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will open at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure in late 2009.
- The Service Trades Council Union, representing almost half of Disney’s workers, voted on a proposed contract yesterday. We don’t have results at publish time.
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:
- Pirates Lair photos by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix can be found in the Park Update.
- There is a discussion thread regarding those who won Nemo preview tickets on MousePad.
- Information about the Adora Belle Disneyland Dream doll breakfast can be found on the Disney Gallery web site.
- A new AMS discount Disney character warehouse will be opening in Hayward, CA.
In The Walt Disney Company news, several stories have related links.
- Marriott and Nickelodeon are working together to develop up to 20 more resorts patterned on the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn located near Walt Disney World. Could this be a move to beat Disney to their blue-sky idea of Disney-themed resorts away from the parks to be located around the world? See Brian Bennett’s photo tour of the Nick hotel.
- Disney is teaming with Kroger to create a line of healthy food selections called Disney Magic Selections that will only be sold in Kroger stores.
- Live with Regis and Kelly (produced by Disney) is celebrating Broadway this week, with tomorrow’s live performance being “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins, leading up to Sunday’s Tony Awards.
- Disney’s Steamboat Ventures venture capital arm has made a $5 million investment in CTS Media, also known as “Click To See Media“.
- Disney has made a deal with Imagination Games to create a new version of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire DVD Game featuring Meredith Vieira as the host, available soon.
- Disney will release the CD single of “What Time Is It”, a new song from High School Musical 2, on July 17.
- Disney and The Wiggles have renewed their contract for the show to appear on Playhouse Disney for another five years.
- The cable TV rights for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition have been bought by TV Land
- The basic cable rights for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End were picked up by the USA Network.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the second movie in the trilogy collected a Golden Popcorn trophy at the MTV Movie Awards for best movie, and Johnny Depp won for best performance.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End saw its box office total drop 61.5 percent from its first weekend. It looks like it’s going to be a horse race to the finish between Pirates, Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third for the summer box-office crown, but Pirates is $100 million behind Spidey at this point.
- The Ratatouille Big Cheese Tour will be stopping at the International Cultures Festival in New York City on Sunday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
MouseStation 22 run time – 1:43:43
Our Tip of the Week this week came from Mike, who reminded us why we need to make sure that we have enough clothing packed into our carry-on bags to last us a day or two.
Featured topic: What to do on a rainy day at Walt Disney World
Mike and Mark present various alternatives, including DisneyQuest, shopping, and just staying in the parks wearing a poncho.
If you’ve got any rainy day tips, or if you agree or disagree with our opinions, call our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278) or send us email to tell us what you think.
This week’s Featured Attraction is Kilimanjaro Safaris in Africa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Mike & Mark both enjoy the attraction, with Mike putting it in his top 3 attractions at Walt Disney World.
This week’s Review system spotlight focuses on the Pacific Wharf Café at Disney’s California Adventure. Mike & Mark both recommend it. MousePlanet readers seem to love the Café, as it was rated 4.5 out of five planets on the strength of 14 reviews. You can also find Pacific Wharf Café in our Park Guide.
In this week’s Ask the Kid segment, listener Maryann Fekete asked Mark’s 8-year-old son: “If you could ADD one thing any place in WDW- and it didn’t matter how much it cost or how big it was, what would it be?” Mark’s son’s came up with an interesting Meet the Robinsons-themed time travel roller coaster.
This week’s Magical Moment came from a guest interview on the Pirates premiere red carpet from Jenn Davis’ interview with Steven Ng. Jenn’s Magical Moment came during a family trip to Disneyland for her birthday and her first experience with snow on Main Street.
In Listener Feedback, Mike & Mark spent a long time answering a question from Rick Tomaska, who was looking for their opinions on their favorite resorts in each category. Mike preferred the Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Saratoga Springs Resorts. Mark went with the Pop Century, Port Orleans French Quarter, Polynesian and Old Key West Resorts.
Kathy Glennan sent in a great link regarding the early history of fiberglass statues being placed around various cities.
James Lovell is the only listener so far to weigh in on his opinion of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. He didn’t like it as much of the first two, and thought that Jack’s experiences in Davy Jones’ Locker did not match his characterization.
Steve Russo weighed in again on last week’s “is the monorail an attraction or transportation?” issue, with a very humorous touch. His new “Stump the Hosts” question fooled Mike, but Mark knew the answer.
Finally, Major Bill Fox asked for assistance in listening to the podcast through the new block that the Air Force has placed on downloadable media for the troops overseas. If anybody has any ideas, please email us or use the toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278).
We’re looking at cutting the podcast into multiple, smaller shows each week in order to make it accessible to those who may not be able to listen to 90-minute or so shows. We’re looking to break MouseStation into either two 45-minute shows or three 30-minute shows. (Time are approximate, of course, as we have no idea how long we’re going to ramble on any given topic.) Anyway, we’d like your feedback on what you think of the idea, and whether you agree with our idea of breaking the show into a featured topic show, a mini-feature segments show and a listener feedback show, all published on different days each week. (The MousePlanetWatch news would continue as a separate show on yet another day of the week.) We haven’t made a final decision yet, so let us know what you think!
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Thanks to our West Coast correspondent Andrew Rich, and audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
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