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.

As I’m searching for a job, I make it a practice to check out the DisneyCareers website every couple of days. Hey, you never know. There might be a few positions that would be a good fit for me. Here’s one I would love to have, even though I know I’m not really qualified.

The Vice President of Walt Disney World Resort Transportation will help lead the resort into future while keeping a careful eye on current operations. With the possible addition of a High Speed Rail line stop at the resort, the will be new opportunities to modernize the transportation options across the resort. In the meantime, there are still plenty of opportunities to improve the existing modes of transport. A great job for someone with a background in transportation management.

Follow below the jump for the complete job description.

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Please welcome Michael Owen to The Disney Blog for this guest post. – ed

Throughout the current economic crisis theme park operators around the world have been coming up with varied marketing tools in order to keep the turnstiles turning and their hotel rooms full. Disney Parks & Resorts have been no different; Jay Rasulo commented at D23 that Disney’s recession-busting marketing strategy ‘Celebrate Today’ saw around 1 million people coming into the parks around the United States for free on their birthday.

Disney has recently announced their promotion for the New Year, ‘give a Day, Get a Day’. To put this simply if you do some volunteer work for a day Disney will offer you a free day ticket to one of their parks in either Florida or California. Of course this promotion will get a large number through the park gates, maybe more than the previous promotion. This is all well and good, but I’m not sure if Disney is really aiming their promotions at the right audience in order to best benefit their parks.

The most recent promotion and the one just announced are aimed mainly at those coming for one off trips, the same can be said for the free dining and buy four get three free on hotels and tickets. All of these offers are for people who are most likely coming on a vacation, or only for one day; meaning there is a limit to how much they will spend on-property over the duration of their visit. Admittedly, this does keep hotel rooms full and attendance high, but looking at it from a financial perspective I think heavily marketing towards those looking into, or currently in ownership, of an annual pass would prove much more successful.

So, why do I think annual pass holders are important? Simple, repeat business. An annual pass holder is going to want to make the most out of their investment, so they’ll be in the parks as often as they can be and whilst they are there they’ll most likely be spending money. Annual pass holders may not spend as much in a day at the park as a tourist would but the difference is a tourist may be in the parks 14-days a year whilst an annual pass holder could come 365 days a year, if they had the incentive to.

That’s the key point, an annual pass holder needs a reason to visit the parks more often, some sort of discount or offer which allows them to save money and/or have a more enjoyable time in the park. My suggestion for this would be a ‘Share the Magic’ promotion. My idea for this would be that anyone who buys an annual pass is allowed a select number of days a year in which they can bring a friend to the park for free. It’s similar to the ‘Celebrate Today’ and ‘Give a Day, Get a Day’ promotions apart from with this Disney are getting the profit from an annual pass.

By offering free days for friends Disney would see an increase in annual pass sales as people who wouldn’t normally see the annual pass as good value may have their mind changed by this offer. On top of that an increase in annual pass holders would see an increase in the money spent in park, as there’s more people there to spend it. As well as this the ‘friend’ who the annual pass holder brings on selected dates would be spending money in the park as well meaning Disney would be benefiting from offering such a promotion.

It also may be worth increasing the discounts that annual pass holders get whilst in the parks, it may mean they’re not paying as much for selected products but it may give them the incentive to buy something they wouldn’t at a higher price, again increasing the annual pass holders spending inside the parks. By being offered these discounts annual pass holders will feel that a day at the park is cheaper than before the promotions were introduced, meaning they’re more likely to visit more frequently.

Combine this with the current promotions, such as the recently reintroduced buy four get three free, and you’ll see both profits from both tourists and regular visitors increase, much better than just targeting one segment of the theme park visitor market, which is what Disney are doing now by primarily aiming at those visitors coming from long-distances domestically and those living outside of the United States.

Everyone enjoys being rewarded for their loyalty, maybe it’s time Disney took note of that too.

M. Owen

Now that the 2010 promotion for Disneyland and Walt Disney World has been revealed with a bit of a huh? I think it’s time to look forward to 2011 and Walt Disney World’s 40th Anniversary.

In 2011 the Fantasyland Princess expansion will still be under construction and Star Tours II will be in a different park, so what ever Disney does at the Magic Kingdom will have to be spectacular enough to draw guests on its own.

I was at Disneyland all summer for its 40 Years Of Adventure promotion. They had opened the Indiana Jones Adventure and designed the whole concept around that theme. They had The Lion King Celebration parade (my favorite parade of all time). And the released a new Disneyland park map. That may not seem like much to you, but it was a big deal at the time as it had been years since Disneyland sold a park map. Then there was the 40 days of summer where the park gave away a trading card every day for 40 days in a row. That was absolutely crazy trying to get to the park on nights when it closed at 6pm.

Walt Disney World is at a different place in its evolution than Disneyland was at its 40th. It got a head start using lessons learned at Disneyland. WDW also has a different target market. They need to attract families who want to stay for 4-7 nights, preferably on property.

What would you like to see at the Magic Kingdom as it celebrates its 40th year? What would make you bring your family to the MK for it’s 40th Anniversary?

My wishes are for two new parades, and I mean new. Don’t recycle existing ones. Spectromagic can go visit some other Disney park, the Magic Kingdom should get a new parade that uses modern technology to really wow. Leave out the show stops though, can you say Light Magic? I think the Day parade should be a highlights parade bringing back some of the more memorable moments from Florida and the park’s past.

I would also like to see Disney reach out to the Florida community in a way that lets everyone know we’re in this boat together. Other than that it needs a snappy name and a catchy tune that we all leave the park humming.

Put on your thinking cap and post your ideas below.

Planning a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland resorts in 2010? Disney wants you to give back to the community and they’ll give you a free ticket to celebrate your participation. The “Give A Day, Get A Disney Day” promotion celebrates the volunteer ethic by matching you with an approved nonprofit to make a difference. Hopefully this will light the volunteer spark under some who have yet to experience the joys of doing good for others.

GADGADD replaces the 2009 ‘Celebrate Today’ promotion where you could get free admission (or a replacement gift if you were an annual passholder) on your birthday. That promotion ends Deember 31, 2009.

The GADGADD promotion is fairly simple. Beginning January 1, 2010 you must sign up at Disney’s website and search for an available volunteer opportunity. Once you’ve completed your shift at the organization, Disney will verify your session and send you an email that will allow you to get one free ticket (allow at least two weeks for verification). You can only earn one ticket a year through this promotion and supplies are limited.

To get an idea of what shifts will be available search HandsOn Network’s list of approved volunteer opportunities for a something near you. Feel free to volunteer today and help out a great organization, but it won’t count toward the promotion until after you sign up for Disney’s promotion. Even if you already regularly volunteer, you still have to sign up at Disney’s site for your shift to qualify.

There are many more details in Disney’s FAQ for the program. For instance, if you’re an annual passholder you can choose an alternate gift such as a special fastpass or a collectible set of mouse ears with a matching pin. The whole program wraps up on December 15th, 2010. You’ll have to use your ticket voucher by then. Plus there are a few blackout periods ( Walt Disney World® Resort: March 29 – April 8 and July 4, 2010 AND The Disneyland® Resort: February 13-14, March 21, June 21-22, July 4, November 21, December 11-12, 2010 ).

Disney plans to use the Muppets to promote the campaign. Check out the launch site. It’s actually pretty cute and full of downloads and even a contest to win a free trip.

What do you think? Is this a good follow up to 2009’s promotion? While I don’t have Disney’s numbers for the event, I have to wonder how successful the free birthday ticket was at driving new traffic to the parks. Probably more successful in Anaheim where more people live within driving distance.

I don’t see this promotion driving a lot of new traffic either. It certainly is a great idea though.

Disney has a long history of volunteering in the community. The cast member army of VoluntEars is always out and about in the community and Disney’s Conservation efforts makes an impact every day all around the globe. I hope that the GADGADD promotion will now create millions of new ripples in the pond and you never know if one of those will become a tidal wave of change.

EPCOT’s International Food & Wine festival officially opens tomorrow, but if you head to the park this afternoon you’ll likely be able to experience some of the options during today’s test run. There are 70 new dishes this year and most of the old favorites (like Canada’s Cheese Soup). Look for more of an international street food feeling this year at the 27 food booths and showcases.

Orlando food critic Scott Joseph got to sample a few of the tasting sized dishes early this year and he has a review up on his blog. A downloadable guide and map are available at Scott’s blog or the official website.

Another change might come as a surprise to long time event attendees. The daily wine seminars and tastings are no longer be free. There is now an $8 fee. Tickets are sold through the reservation system. However, Disney is holding some tickets for sale in the park each day for guests who may not have heard about the change.

Food and Wine runs a long 45 days this year wrapping up on November 8th, which will make it a pretty tight turn around to get the Winter Holiday decorations up at the park.

One of my favorite parts of the Food & Wine Festival are the Eat To The Beat concerts. Plenty of big names this year, and, in what I believe is a first, an American Idol winner.

A full listing of which acts are scheduled below the jump:

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I wanted to put a little coda on the recent Bomb Scare that hit the Walt Disney World bus transportation system. As mentioned in the updated version of my previous coverage, the item was determined to be non-hazardous. Since then the sheriff department has said that it appeared to be a transponder of the sort that would be used to track the movements of the bus.

It seems likely this was a benign use of a GPS tracker or similar device probably put on the bus by some Disney group in the past that was just unfamiliar to the crew that was working on the buses in the maintenance shop that day. I’d rather not discuss the less benign possibilities as to why someone not-affiliated with Disney would want to track the movements of a bus. Your mind can fill in the blanks on its own.

Disney reacted in a timely matter, erred on the side of safety for its guests and cast members (although the drivers sitting in idling buses waiting for their inspection had to be nervous), and managed to get everything back up to full operation by later that night while providing alternatives for those who needed them. They also avoided another nasty public relations hit. So I’ll give them a B+ on the report card.

What I would like to see from Disney is some vision when it comes to the transportation options at the resort. I think it’s hopeless to dream that they’ll ever expand the monorail system unless the costs can be brought down on that. The two most likely options seem to be adding a light rail line or two or some form of a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system such as the Podcar or Skytran.

I like the PRT option personally. A Podcar system is being installed at Heathrow Airport which has similar requirements as a Disney resort. The Skytran is a different implementation of the PRT vision. The company claims you can build 19 miles of Skytran for every mile of Light Rail. That’s good because the purpose of Skytran is destination to destination personal transport with no other stops in between.

I wouldn’t have brought this up at all today, but I saw a video where the inventor of Skytran mentions that he has a project going in in Florida? Could that be at Walt Disney World maybe? A guy can dream, I guess.

Local news is reporting that a suspicious package has been found on Disney World Transportation Bus located in a non-guest accessible area. Some cast members have been evacuated and the bomb squad called in. A employee inspecting a bus in the maintenance area found a suspicious device attached under the bus and immediately called for help. His supervisors concurred that the device didn’t belong there and the bomb squad was called in.

No word now on if this incident will require all Disney buses to come in for inspection or if it’s just Disney acting out of an abundance of caution.

Update: WESH news now reporting that Disney Bus Service has been suspended. Buses are being inspected 1 by 1 at Disney facilities before being released back into service. Most buses are lined up at the Car Care Center near the Magic Kingdom to be inspected. Buses that pass inspection are being tracked by Disney. will be given an all clear sign (reportedly a ‘white dot’) to be affixed to their front window before they’re returned to service. I did not get confirmation on the white dot that had been reported in the news earlier.

The sheriff has set up a mobile command at the Bear Creek Bus Maintenance facility.

Disney has announced that DAK will have its hours extended tonight until 7pm and the water parks until at least 6pm. They’ll also take guest needs that have been impacted by the bus closure on a case by case basis.

Disney has called in extra help from local cab services if you have to get around. It’s estimated that bus service will be back at full strength in the next few hours.

6:45 pm: guests at EPCOT told Bus Service has resumed. Reports of buses operating at Magic Kingdom as well.

6:50 pm: CFNews13 reporting that sheriff’s determined the suspect device was not explosive in nature. Investigation continues, however.

More as it becomes available.