“Star Wars Dine-In Galactic Breakfast” at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant and “Jedi Mickey’s Star Wars Dine at Hollywood & Vine” will take place on weekends from May 4 – June 15.
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Archive for Scott
Tips for a Quick Trip to Walt Disney World by Sarah Graffam
A quick trip to the World is a great survival strategy when you don’t have the time for a longer visit. My family has been lucky enough to take several such trips, which have allowed us to enjoy time together in Disney World despite busy school and work schedules.
Although these 3-4 day trips go by fast, we have found ways to make the most of our time and even squeeze in a little relaxation. And so, here are some of our quick trip strategies:
Stay close to a park. On a shorter trip, we have found it makes a lot of sense to splurge on a resort that is close to a park. This tactic can save travel time during your visit as well as open up the option for a targeted stop in a nearby theme park to simply have dinner or ride a couple of rides.
Staying at one of the monorail resorts provides easy access to the Magic Kingdom. If you stay at the Contemporary, you can even walk there (anyone for a quick game of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom?). At the Wilderness Lodge, you can take a boat ride to the Magic Kingdom. For my family, boat rides are just as much part of the Disney experience as the rides in the park, which is a wonderful benefit during a shorter Disney vacation.
If you want to be able to walk to Epcot or Hollywood Studios, the Beach Club and Boardwalk are good choices. You can hop over to Epcot for dinner at the Rose & Crown or take in some Streetmosphere at the Studios. These two resorts also offer the option of taking a boat ride to either of these parks.
Plan your time in and out of the parks carefully. On our longer trips, my family generally makes a lot of use of rope drop. Although we definitely aim for rope drop on a couple of mornings on our shorter trips, we have also found that a quick trip can be exhausting without some planned rest time.
One option is to do rope drop but then consider an early dinner and ending your day at your resort with a dip in the pool or enjoying the entertainment right at the resort. We have found that getting a good night’s sleep can make all the difference when we are ready for more fun in the parks the next day.
If you do plan a late evening, a good strategy is to plan a slow morning the next day—this could be the perfect time to take advantage of some of those later FastPass+ reservations. And, of course, an afternoon break at the pool is always a great way to recharge and to enjoy your resort even on a quick trip.
Prioritize—you can’t fit in everything. On shorter trips, it’s even more difficult to fit in everything than on longer trips to the World, and trying to do too much can make for a lot of stress. Prioritizing what you want to see and do is key! You may want to limit which parks you visit. Definitely go to the Magic Kingdom if you feel like a trip to the World is not complete without a walk down Main Street, but maybe save one of the other parks for next time.
And if you need to change your plans to avoid a meltdown, definitely don’t be upset. Slowing down may be just what is needed to enjoy a quieter moment relaxing in a resort lobby or having a cold drink while you “Disney people” watch.
Consider at most one table service meal per day. I love eating at Disney World! But when I am there for a short visit, I’d rather be wandering the parks and experiencing rides than sitting in a restaurant. In fact, this could be the time to try some of Disney World’s delicious counter service and snack offerings. I recommend the Greek salad at Cosmic Rays or a jalapeno cheese pretzel at the Animal Kingdom.
On your last day, go to the park closest to your resort. Some of the pain of knowing it is our last day in the parks can be alleviated by maximizing the time before we need to leave. Our tradition has been to schedule a later flight, go to rope drop at the park nearest to our resort, and let the Disney magic allow us to forget our return to reality in just a few hours. Perhaps we’ll have a longer trip next time …
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier Stars to Appear on ABC’s Good Morning America Next Week
MONDAY, MARCH 31 – Actor Chris Evans (“Captain America”)
TUESDAY, APRIL 1 – Actress Scarlett Johansson (“Captain America”)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 – Actor Samuel L. Jackson (“Captain America”)
THURSDAY, APRIL 3 – Actor Anthony Mackie (“Captain America”)
FRIDAY, APRIL 4 – actor Sebastian Stan (“Captain America”)
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Quiz: Are You More Like Anna or Elsa?
Oh My Disney takes a look at whether or not you may be more like Anna or Elsa from Disney’s ‘Frozen’ in their interactive Quiz.
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Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved – The Hollow
Disney Interactive and Harmonix reveal an all-new interactive discovery realm, The Hollow. This mysterious forest environment comes to life as users perform songs and interact with the world to add light, color, and characters to the scene.
From creating their own melody by sprouting musical mushrooms to guiding frolicking fairies through this woodland wonderland, players will be delighted by what they discover in The Hollow.
Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved will be available for Xbox One and Kinect for Xbox 360 in 2014.
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The Walt Disney Company Executives to Discuss Fiscal Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results via Webcast
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) will discuss fiscal second quarter 2014 financial results via a live audio Webcast beginning at 5:00 p.m. EDT / 2:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, May 6, 2014.
Results will be released at approximately 4:15 p.m. EDT / 1:15 p.m. PDT.
To listen to the Webcast, point your browser to www.disney.com/investors. The discussion will be available via replay through May 20, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. EDT / 2:00 p.m. PDT.
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THE WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM PRESENTS LEADING LADIES AND FEMMES FATALES: THE ART OF MARC DAVIS
The Walt Disney Family Museum is excited to present the exhibition Leading Ladies and Femmes Fatales: The Art of Marc Davis. On view in the museum’s Theater Gallery from April 30 to November 3, 2014, this exhibition co-curated by the museum’s director of collections and exhibitions, Michael Labrie, and animator Andreas Deja spotlights some 70 original pencil animation drawings, conceptual artwork, paintings, cels, and photographs from animator and Imagineer Marc Davis (b. 1913). Davis, who was named a Disney Legend in 1989, was assigned and executed some of the most difficult animation for Walt Disney’s leading ladies and femmes fatales from classics such as Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1956), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). It was Davis’ mastery of the human form and authority on anatomy and movement that brought these iconic female characters to life and made them believable.
Although his work and accomplishments could fill a much larger gallery, selected artworks mainly from Davis’ personal collection, Walt Disney Imagineering, several private collectors, and the Walt Disney Family Foundation’s collection, intend to focus on a part of Davis’ life and career with his mastery of the human form.Leading Ladies and Femmes Fatales highlights Davis’ female characters in film—such as Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty’s title heroine Aurora, its villain Maleficent, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ Cruella de Vil—as well as in live entertainment, his fine art, and through his beloved wife Alice Davis.
“If you can’t draw it, you can’t animate it,” Marc Davis once told an interviewer. He was proud of his drawing ability and had all the reasons for being so. Basically a self-taught artist, he honed his skills through a lonely childhood, and from his life experience he developed a keen sense of observation and ultimately became an excellent draftsman. Davis’ gift for dramatic storytelling coupled with his ability to inject humanity, humor, and emotion into his drawings is what made him stand out.
“Marc can do story, he can do character, he can animate, he can design shows for me. All I have to do is tell him what I want and it’s there. He’s my Renaissance Man,” said Walt Disney of Davis.
Davis’ sense of style and ability commanded admiration and respect. Employed at The Walt Disney Studio for forty-three years, Marc Davis was a master whose skills proved essential to a wide variety of projects both in film and live entertainment. As one of Walt’s renowned “Nine Old Men,” Davis was the only of the nine whom Walt asked to help in the planning of attractions at Disneyland the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair. His creative contributions include attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s a small world, and the Haunted Mansion, to name a few.
“Marc Davis became the most prolific Imagineer of his time in developing ideas and drawings for Disney Park attractions. There is a treasury of some of the world’s best-known and most humorous characters,” said Disney Legend and Imagineer Marty Sklar.
In 1947, Alice Estes—a promising artist from Long Beach, California—received a scholarship to the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute—a training ground for many Disney artists. With Alice’s goals of becoming an animator crushed because of the male-dominance in the field at that time, Mrs. Chouinard herself assigned Alice to become a costume designer, and gave her the added task of assisting the new animation teacher, Marc Davis.
After her graduation, Alice married Davis, eventually working with him at The Walt Disney Studios and becoming one of the first female Imagineers. She designed costumes for a number of Disneyland attractions, including Pirates of the Caribbean and Carousel of Progress—many based on her husband’s whimsical drawings.
Both Alice and Marc worked with a team of Disney artists and engineers to design and dress the Audio-Animatronics® figures for it’s a small world, including famed artist Mary Blair, one of Walt’s most recognizable leading ladies.
The exhibition is aptly timed with MAGIC, COLOR, FLAIR: the world of Mary Blair, on view from March 13 through September 7, 2014 in the Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall.
Leading Ladies and Femmes Fatales: The Art of Marc Davis is organized by The Walt Disney Family Museum.
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Inaugural Disney Princess Cup at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex Mirrors America’s Youth Soccer Trend
Mirroring the nationwide trend of girls participating in youth soccer, Disney Sports is growing its soccer portfolio, adding the Disney Princess Cup this fall at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World.
The new soccer event, Oct. 10-12, will feature a 6 versus 6 player format involving girls ages 9-14, one of the fastest-growing age ranges among girls in youth soccer, according to recent studies which list soccer as the No. 1 participation sport among female youth athletes.
The Disney Princess Cup, which is open to teams and individual players, will also include a pep rally featuring a Disney Music recording artist, an awards ceremony, a speaker series geared towards empowering young girls, and designated free time for teams and parents to visit the Disney theme parks. All participating athletes will receive a pair of soccer cleats from Puma, the official soccer equipment sponsor of Disney Soccer. Registration for the Disney Princess Cup begins April 1 at www.espnwwos.com.
“The Disney Princess Cup is ideal for those parents and coaches who are looking for a unique soccer experience for their girls,” said Faron Kelley, Director of Marketing for Disney Sports. “This new event figures to provide the parents, coaches and players with a hassle-free experience within a competitive yet family-oriented environment where the parents and coaches can celebrate with their kids and empower them to embrace their inner Disney Princess to become strong, unique and compassionate individuals.”
The Disney Princess Cup builds on the portfolio of soccer events held at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, bringing the total number of annual soccer events at the 230-acre facility to 11. That portfolio includes prestigious youth and professional soccer tournaments, from the Disney Soccer Showcase, which features top high school boys and girls teams, to the Disney Pro Soccer Classic, the premier preseason tournament for pro soccer clubs.
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AN ALL-NEW INTERACTIVE “JAKE AND THE NEVER LAND PIRATES” APPISODE IS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE DISNEY JUNIOR APPISODES APP FOR iPAD, iPHONE AND iPOD TOUCH
Disney Junior is debuting an all-new appisode for its popular animated series “Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” on the Disney Junior Appisode App for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch for $4.99.
Developed by Disney/ABC Television Group’s Digital Media team, the Disney Junior Appisodes app offers true interactive viewing, allowing fans 2-7 to touch, tap, swipe, tilt, shake and talk their way through various fun-filled activities embedded into full episodes of some of their favorite Disney Junior shows.
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Walt Disney Records’ Frozen Soundtrack Maintains The No. 1 Position On The Billboard Top 200 Album Chart For Seven Non-Consecutive Weeks
The Platinum-certified Frozen soundtrack maintains the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Top 200 album chart spending seven non-consecutive weeks in the top position according to Nielsen SoundScan. Selling 202,000 copies in the week ending March 23, the soundtrack has sold over 1.6 million copies and over 5 million combined digital tracks in its 17th week of release. Frozen is the first album to sell a million units in 2014.
The Oscar-winning song “Let It Go,” performed by Idina Menzel, has sold over 2 million copies and is expected to be certified double Platinum by the end of the week. The track is in the Top 15 (*13) at Mainstream AC radio and is #33* and climbing at Adult Top 40 radio. “Let It Go” is currently the #2 song on the iTunes singles chart and #2 on the overall Billboard’s Digital Song chart. The film video version of Idina’s “Let It Go” has been viewed more than 150M times on YouTube and Demi Lovato’s “Let It Go” music video has been Vevo-certified for surpassing 100M views.
The album maintains its No. 1 position on Billboard’s Soundtrack Chart, peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes Overall Chart (and in 31 countries), plus Amazon’s Overall Music Category, Pop, and Overall MP3 charts. The Frozen album has held the #1 position for 5 non-consecutive weeks at Spotify and worldwide, is approaching 110M album streams.
The soundtrack features eight original songs from Oscar-winning songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and songwriter Robert Lopez plus score by the composer of last year’s Oscar-winning short “Paperman,” Christophe Beck.
The Frozen soundtrack, the Frozen two-disc deluxe edition and the digital deluxe edition soundtrack (featuring 23 and 27 additional tracks respectively, including demos, outtakes and a “Let It Go” instrumental karaoke track) are available at physical and online retail.
The Disney Karaoke Series: Frozen album will be available in physical and digital formats on April 15. The physical album will feature all 8 songs from the film with CD + Graphics (CD + G) technology which allows the song lyrics to appear on a television screen when played in a CD + G machine.
For more information on Walt Disney Records’ releases, please visit Disney.com/music, become a fan at Facebook.com/disneymusic or follow us at Twitter.com/disneymusic. To purchase Disney music, visit the online store at www.disneymusicstore.com.
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