One last little bit to share from the media event for Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee at the Magic Kingdom. I got the chance to meet and interview Tara Anderson, Show Director from Creative Entertainment at Walt Disney World Resort.

Her previous work at the Magic Kingdom includes the Move It! Shake It Celebrate It! Street Party – which shares a very similar energy to Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee. A good thing in my book.

In the three and a half minute interview we discuss coordinating development of the show on both coasts, the song choices, and more.

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Update: The Disneyland Version will officially open tomorrow. The LA Times has a preview.

It’s one of the realities of Disney Animated Features, they’re just plain expensive to produce. So much that sometimes even a $400 million box office earning film, like Cars, just breaks even for the company after marketing and production are accounted for. So how does Disney make money off these animated beauties? One word, merchandise.

That makes Dara Trujillo a very important person at Walt Disney World. She’s the Manager of Merchandise Synergy and is in charge of coordinating the theme park’s line of products with the animator’s vision for the film.

I got to speak with Trujillo at the premier of Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee, the Magic Kingdom’s tie-in to the launch of “The Princess and the Frog”. She was presiding over a very full and very beautiful table of merchandise to be sold in the parks. Much of it already available and flying off the shelves even with the film’s debut more than a month away.

Tiana is the Walt Disney Company’s newest princess in 12 years and the first princess under Trujillo’s watch. So she was excited about the possibility of making dreams come true for a whole new generation of theme park guests.

Central to those dreams is the Princess Tiana costume. It’s a theme park exclusive and very similar to the dress that Tiana wears in the film and the park. There were already a number of little princesses wearing this dress at the Magic Kingdom, anxious to spot the ‘real’ Princess Tiana as she made her way through the park. It was very cute.

Another item that I think will be a bit hit are the Kissing Frogs. These are a pair of frogs from the film representing Tiana and Naveen in amphibian form. A magnet in their heads keeps them together in the kissing pose.

All this merchandise is currently available in every park in at least two locations, said Trujillo. And they’ll roll out to more locations as the film’s premier draws closer.

See anything you like?

Disney has recently converted one of its merchandise carts into a much more permanent location on one end of Main Street USA at the Magic Kingdom. Is this an example of Disney doing something right and ditching the tacky temporary cart or have they gone too far in the pursuit of sucking that last penny from your wallet?

Hats, mouseears, autograph books, suntan oil, and cameras. The sort of things that is a quick pick up at the end of Main Street before you make your way into the heart of the park. However, all this stuff is available in the Emporium at the start of Main Street at in stores in each land. Is this location really necessary?

As you can see above this merchandise location looms large at the end of Main Street. Which is my biggest problem with the location. I think it’s too tall and interferes with the view of the castle. It’s the first thing I saw when I passed the end of main street.

What do you think? Have they gone too far?

Sparrowmen now have one of their own to pose for pictures with at Pixie Hollow inside Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park. The world’s most beloved fairy, Tinker Bell, has welcomed her friend Terence to the photo meet & greet area. The pair star in the new motion picture “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure” now out on DVD/Blu-ray.

Terence will be available to pose for pictures with Disney Parks guests in Pixie Hollow at the Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland park in California. (Photo courtesy Disney. Diana Zalucky, photographer)

‘Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee!’ is a new concept in entertainment for Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. The show will introduce park guests to the characters of Disney’s next animated hit – The Princess And The Frog – and it will give select guests a taste of showbiz as they become part of the show.

For more than 6,000 Walt Disney World guests, a 10-week limited engagement of the entertainment spectacular “Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee!” in Magic Kingdom will be an opportunity to get a taste of showbiz – or in Disney parlance, “be part of the magic.”

The swinging musical show being presented in conjunction with the upcoming Disney animated feature, “The Princess and The Frog,” will treat theme park guests to a rousing revue of song and dance from aboard the Liberty Belle riverboat. Three times daily, Oct. 26 through Jan. 3, 2010, the riverboat will pull away from the dock in Liberty Square with a live six-piece jazz band, 22 dancers and 30 theme park guests who have been randomly preselected earlier in the day by Magic Kingdom cast members.

But the park guests will not be “just along for the ride.” As the Liberty Belle glides along and the band plays “Down in New Orleans,” the guests and dancers will be waving hankies along to the music. And when the riverboat, festooned with green, purple and yellow bunting and sparkling beads, stops in Frontierland, the guests continue their role: Dressed in choir robes, they move large musical notes in time with the music, and then shake and rattle tambourines.

When the show concludes and the Liberty Belle resumes its travels on the Rivers of America, the theme park guests are treated to a meet-and-greet with the newest Disney royalty, Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen – the stars of “The Princess and The Frog,” which premieres in late November.

Three performances of “Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee!” are planned daily. Viewing locations are in Liberty Square and Frontierland. I’m getting a first hand look at the show on Monday and will report back after that.

Do you live in the United Kingdom? Have you always felt that your town had something magical about it? Maybe it could be a twin of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom? Well now Disney wants you to tell the world about your special down and nominate it to be paired with the MK in Orlando.

From now until 22 November 2009, anyone across the UK (over 18 years) can nominate their home village, town or city to become the Walt Disney World twinned town by visiting www.waltdisneyworldtwinnedtown.co.uk. Full terms are available on the website.

The winning location will be announced as having official “Walt Disney World Twinned Town” status and arrangements will be made to hold a magical Disney party in January to celebrate the twinning. Plus, the lucky person who submits the winning nomination will jet off to Walt Disney World in Florida with their family (max 4 people) for the official twinning ceremony presided over by the mayor of Main Street, U.S.A., in the fairy tale Magic Kingdom.

To nominate your town, you can write about how great it is, take photographs, or even make your own video, showing why it deserves to win this amazing competition. Entries can be uploaded on the website and visitors to the site can browse all qualifying entries to check out the competition.

The winning entry will be selected by a team of judges, including TV star Angellica Bell, Vice President Creative Inc, Walt Disney World Duncan Wardle, Vice President and managing director of Disney Destinations International UK Hugh Wood, and one of the famous Walt Disney Imagineers, Patrick Brennan.

In the second time lapse video of today we have a behind the scenes look at the Magic Kingdom as it puts up its fall decor to transform the park into a Halloween wonderland.

Today is the 38th anniversary of Walt Disney World. They’ve released a tilt-shift stop motion video as a present to us all. It celebrates a day in the life of the Magic Kingdom. The tilt-shift technique makes the real look like miniature toys. Check it out.

(via Disney Parks blog)