Downtown Disney Orlando recently added a tethered balloon experience, Characters In Flight. It takes guests 400 ft into the air for a glorious panoramic view of the Lake Buena Vista area. When it opened the attraction was notorious for closing down for safety with even a light breeze in the area. It’s rumored that they brought in a new operations team and these days the balloon flies in even a stiff breeze.

Of course, this can make things interesting from time to time. From what I’ve seen the flight up is fine, but sometimes the landings can be a bit shakey. The video below wasn’t even the roughest landing I saw all day, but it’s still an e-ticket experience. Check out the passengers clapping at the end. Happy they all survived it sounds like.

The Hollywood Reporter believes that Michael Jackson will return from the dead to visit Disneyland. Well the Captain EO attraction starring the gloved one will, at least.

A few months ago Disneyland actually did set up the theater to show the Captain EO film with most of the original effects. It was shown to company executives and Jackson family members, including Michael’s kids who had never seen it before. The general feeling by executives was that it could work, but that the justification just wasn’t there financial wise to do it.

Now, with the global success of “This Is It” the Michael Jackson concert pic earning big dollars around the world, it might be time to roll out Captain EO for one more dance.

What do you think? Will you make a special trip to Disneyland to see Captain EO if it’s brought back?

Today TouringPlans.com, the fine folks behind the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, are launching a preview version of Lines, a mobile website for iPhone users that displays estimates of wait times for every attraction at Walt Disney World, in real time.

For the past 10 years they’ve been obsessively researching wait times at Walt Disney World, collecting and processing a massive amount of data along the way. Their products like Touring Plans and the Crowd Calendar help you efficiently tour the parks and avoid the crowds.

In Lines, it’s obvious they thought a lot about one’s experience while touring the parks: standing in Frontierland and want to know how long the line is at Space Mountain? Is Soarin’ really a ninety minute wait? Will there be FASTPASSes left at Toy Story Mania if we get there at noon?

Lines was built to solve these problems. There are many mobile applications doing wait times (Disney included), and accurate estimates are particularly challenging. TouringPlans has the unique dataset required to provide the most accurate estimates.

There is also a handy preview of what tomorrow will look like. I’d like to see this expanded in future editions.

To give it a test-drive, grab an iPhone our iPod Touch and navigate to http://m.touringplans.com (other mobile platforms are on the way). You’ll need a TouringPlans.com subscription (which is free) to use Lines during this preview.

Disneyland Resort wants you to come and get two free days on them if you stay at the resort in the first part of 2010. From Jan. 5 through April 29, 2010, guests get two more nights free when they buy a three-night hotel package with a five-day special value Disneyland Resort Park Hopper ticket.

For guests who already have theme park tickets, a second offer features a 30 percent savings at any of the Disneyland Resort hotels when travel agents book guests on a two-night hotel-only stay (hotel-only offer does not include theme park tickets).

Travel agents can book guests on either vacation offer starting Nov. 9, 2009, through April 1, 2010, for arrivals between Jan. 5-April 29, 2010. Travel must be completed by May 4, 2010.

2 Nights Free

The Park Hopping tickets included in the two-nights-free package make it easy to experience the best of Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Guests can buckle themselves onto the Soarin’ Over California attraction for a birds-eye view of the Golden State or aim for the highest scores aboard the exciting new Toy Story Mania! attraction at Disney’s California Adventure. Then they can hop over to Disneyland for a journey aboard the recently enhanced “it’s a small world” attraction – the happiest cruise that ever sailed. Guests will enjoy riding “it’s a small world” again and again as they search for the 29 Disney and Disney•Pixar characters now represented in the classic attraction.

The packages feature several extras such as admission to Magic Morning, where families can enjoy select theme park attractions before Disneyland park opens to regular guests. The package also features entry into Mickey’s Toontown Morning Madness – an interactive guest and character experience – and preferred seating at select attractions and restaurants at the Disneyland Resort.

The special offers are valid at the three Disneyland Resort hotels – Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel &Spa. Whether it’s discovering whimsical Disney art at the Disneyland Hotel, stepping back in time to the golden days of California beachfronts at Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel or indulging your senses at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, staying at any of the resort hotels provides the Disney magic from check-in to check-out. Guests are steps away from two of the world’s most famous theme parks and Downtown Disney, a vibrant dining and entertainment district.

Offer details below the cut:

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It’s plenty windy today around Walt Disney World, but this is nothing compared to what a Hurricane could bring to the area. Hurricane season doesn’t technically wrap up until the end of November and Hurricane Ida has just entered the Gulf of Mexico. The storm could possibly be heading toward Central Florida mid-week, although current forecasts say it’s moving in a more northerly direction.

If you’re coming to Walt Disney World this week you might want to call and see if the 2008 Hurricane Policy is still in force. But basically, just come prepared for rain with a couple ponchos and good water proof shoes or Keen like sandles you can wear without socks (my personal preference).

The best advice is to stay safe and follow any advisories Disney or your hotel might give out.

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.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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

When the Walt Disney Company set out to build a theme park in Hong Kong there were a lot of questions. Would the Chinese take to the American style theme park? Would the Disney characters resonate with a population that had previously had little exposure to them? Just who was the audience for the park?

Fortune Magazine looks at some of the lessons Disney can take away from their experience in Hong Kong that might serve them well in future expansion into Asia markets.

[Disney] failed to gauge local tastes, opened with a park that was too small to meet the grandiose expectations of its clientele, made some public relations mistakes early on, and took too long to adapt to local food, culture, and tastes, according to Allan Zeman, the chairman of the rival Ocean Park theme park in Hong Kong.

“Disney, on the other hand, came in very American,” Zeman says. “Disney was a big brand, not really understanding the culture at the beginning. They had everything run out of the U.S. At the beginning there was a sense of arrogance: ‘We’re Disney, and don’t tell us how to run a theme park.’”

Hong Kong Disneyland also earned the wrath of the Hong Kong press corps by taking a long time to respond to queries with answers that had to be approved through U.S. headquarters

In hindsight it’s obvious Disney didn’t know what they were getting into when they built Hong Kong Disneyland. Let’s hope they’ve done their homework for Shanghai?

If you’re heading out to Disneyland or Walt Disney World this fall, make sure you mosey on down to the Rivers of America and catch “Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee.” Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis, and the evil Dr. Facilier are all featured with their own songs from the movie and it’s sure to get you excited about seeing The Princess and the Frog in the theaters.

I’ve put together a few clips from the show to give you an idea on what to expect.

The show is currently scheduled to run through January 3rd, 2010 as a tie-in to the movie’s launch on December 11th.