Disney Theme Park News and Rumors

Animal Kingdom: We Got Next – The Quiet Transformation

In 2007, Disney announced a massive makeover of the ailing Disney’s California Adventure park, located on Disney property in California. The fan community rejoiced. We religiously followed every phase of the project, from the demolition of the Whoopie Goldberg theater, to the removal of the Hub Cap icon, to the eradication of the giant lines […]

Forget Star Wars Land. Give Me Guardians of the Galaxy.

Okay, not really. Give me both. We are only a few weeks away from the opening of the next Marvel Studios movie–a strange, weird, wonderful departure that has me remembering the giddy days of anticipating the next Star Wars or Lord of the Rings episode. Guardians sounds like a bizarre left hand turn from the […]

Bold New Worlds – Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Yesterday I posted about how strange it is for frequent guests to suddenly have new experiences to enjoy. The Seven Dwarfs mountain has been isolated in the middle of New Fantasyland for what feels like a decade. We all remember when it was just a wee bump of steel in the middle of a dirt […]

Bold New Worlds – Harambe Theater District

In 1998, I flew down for a long week at Walt Disney World. My third such long week trip in as many years. Only this time was different. This time, there was a whole new theme park waiting for me. People say Animal Kingdom is a half day park. That trip, I spent half the week […]

The World’s First Traffic Jam

In the classic EPCOT Center attraction, the World of Motion, they based an entire show scene around the idea of the World’s First Traffic Jam, complete with animatronic chickens. But Disney World’s First (and Worst) Traffic Jam happens every night at the Magic Kingdom. I don’t spend a lot of time musing about the future […]

T-Shirts and the City

Shane has all the fun.  He lives in Orlando so he gets to visit the parks often. He enjoys Disney Halloween parties in August and Disney Easter Egg hunts in January.  I think he took his son to see Santa in Disney Hollywood Studios sometime mid September but whatever… that’s not my concern. When things […]

Railroad Torso Boy

I do not often expect to be confronted with the truly weird when visiting Walt Disney World. Maybe if it was the actual Museum of the Weird. But when I’m just perusing Main Street or the Art of Disney, my guard is not up. I’m still traumatized by the Kid with the Unhinged Jaw on New York […]

Advance Screening of My Magic Plus

A few weeks back I posted some screens that had appeared in the Expedition Everest queue. A reader comment subsequently blew my mind with the information that not only is Wilby Daniels a Dean Jones character, but every single name on all the different posters seemed to be a different Dean Jones character from a […]

Where the Merchandise Dances for YOU

It is Christmastime again. The lights are strung, the stockings are hung, and giant bedecked evergreens have appeared out of nowhere in the central plazas of the theme parks. In the tantalizing shop windows along Hollywood Boulevard, the Dancing Minnie Globe Ornament Rockettes have reappeared. O Dancing Minnie Globe Ornament Rockettes, why do you mesmerize […]