Quebec’s citizens looking to get a flu shot for the H1N1 Virus have a health official’s trip to Walt Disney World to thank for their short wait to get vaccinated. Inspired by the Fastpass system that saves guests a virtual place in the queue for attractions like Peter Pan and Space Mountain, a coupon tells each patient when to return for their flu shot.

Lines are still forming at some vaccination centres, where people are queuing up early just to get their coupons. But officials say the system has been effective. At one vaccination centre in Montreal’s Plateau Mont Royal district recently, nurses and health workers outnumbered people in line.

“The system is marvellous,” said Johanne Spencer, who’d whisked through her vaccination. “You know what time you’re going to have your turn and you know how long you’ll have to wait. You don’t waste three, four hours in line.”

I’m pretty sure Disney won’t be promoting this as they don’t want the parks identified with Swine Flu at the moment.

More here (Hat Tip to BoingBoing’s Cory D.)

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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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.

Monorail Teal was spotted parked outside the maintenance bay sporting a Teal color strip. Looks almost ready to return to service. Having one more train on the beam will certainly help when the holiday crowds arrive.

Previously: Monorail Teal testing at Walt Disney World.

Princess Tiana appears in a horse drawn carriage fit for an American Princess.

Yesterday marked the official opening of a 15 week run for Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. As I posted earlier, the show envelopes guests into being part of the show, a great experience for the guests involved, but how would it play for the rest of the park attendees? Turns out, pretty amazing.

For the special ceremony New Orleans dancers led Princess Tiana to the castle.

The Princess and The Frog is an American story at its root and it features the first African American Princess. The park is really excited about promoting the first new princess in 12 years, so they rolled out some big guns for the press event. One of those was Bruce Smith, the lead animator on Dr. Facilier, the main villain of the movie.

Characters representing current inhabitants of the Magic Kingdom welcome Princess Tiana to the fold.

There was also a wonderful display of merchandise that Disney spent the last two years creating. Some of it, like the theme park exclusive Princess Tiana dress, has been for sale in the park for two weeks and is already flying off the shelves.

A royal proclamation is read.

But the focus of the day was the introduction of Princess Tiana to the park and the official debut of Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee. TSJ has three distinct parts, and while it’s possible to catch all three, if you can only pick one, make sure to choose the middle part performed on the Liberty Belle when it stops in front of Splash Mountain.

The regular show will take place three times daily on the Liberty Belle with a procession leading to and from the boat before and after each performance.

The show is currently only scheduled to run through January 3rd, 2010 as a tie-in to the movie’s launch on December 11th. It’s my hope they extend this show at least through the summer. The show was already drawing huge crowds without the benefit of the movie even being in theaters, I imagine it will continue to grow once it’s seen by the public.

Lots more photos below the jump, so come on down

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‘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.