Update for June 5 – 11, 2006
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News and Views
Walt Disney World declared “StormReady” by NOAA
The Walt Disney World Resort has been declared to be the first theme park
and resort in the nation to achieve “StormReady community” status by the NOAA
National Weather Service. A total of more than 1,050 communities throughout
the United States have achieved this designation.
The nationwide StormReady program, which began in 1999 with seven communities
in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, uses a grassroots approach to help communities
develop plans to handle local severe weather and flooding threats. Program
requirements include: establishing a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations
center; having more than one way to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings
and to alert the public; create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and
develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather
spotters and holding emergency exercises.
“We appreciate this acknowledgement of our continuous efforts to ensure the
year-round safety of our guests and cast members,” said Lee A. Cockerell,
executive vice president of operations for Walt Disney World. “Our partnerships
with local, state and federal emergency management agencies are part of our
overall safety strategy that enables us to provide our guests with the highest
level of security and comfort possible.”
The StormReady recognition will be in effect for three years while the resort
conducts the renewal process.
Gay Days conclude quietly
An estimated 140,000 gays and lesbians converged on the Orlando area last
week for the “Sweet Sixteen” edition of Gay Days. The central event for the
gathering was Saturday in the Magic Kingdom,
when 60,000 participants in red shirts converged on the theme park. The gathering
pumped an estimated $100 million into the local economy, and ended yesterday
with no major incidents.
Shifting gears from spring to summer
Disney’s big spring push is coming to an end as both Star
Wars Weekends and the Epcot International
Flower & Garden Festival both wrap up this coming weekend. While the
announcement of Star Wars Celebration IV (link)
next Memorial Day weekend in Los Angeles has raised some concerns about Star
Wars Weekends, we have heard nothing indicating that the popular event would
not return next year. The Flower & Garden Festival should return as well.
We’ll report dates for the events as soon as they are released, but they should
be pretty close to this year’s dates.
However, Disney isn’t quite ready to let go of holding daily concerts at
the America Gardens Theater. On Monday,
June 12, following the final Flower Power concert featuring Herman’s Hermits
starring Peter Noone the day before, the inaugural Sounds Like Summer concert
series will begin. For nine weeks, the theater will host a series of concerts
by “tribute” bands (for those unfamiliar with “tribute”
bands, these are bands that exclusively sing the songs of a famous artist
or group, and are often named after one of the band’s songs or other information
about the band). Here is the lineup that we’ve seen: