- It continues to be an exciting time at Walt Disney World with a slew of changes and construction slated for the rest of this year. The Disney Enquirer has a roundup of some of the rumors, including signs of new scenes at the Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion (the Hogwarts-esque stairs to the left will replace the spider scene).
- At the bottom of this article by the Orlando Sentinel’s Chow Hound is a quick note that Anette Grecchi Gray, formerly executive chef at Disney’s Jiko — The Cooking Place, has left Disney to take a position with Carlson Cos., whose brands include T.G.I. Friday’s. I’m very sorry I never got a chance to eat at Chef Anette’s special table (not that I could afford that anyway). A change in leadership can be a good thing for a restaurant, but it will be hard to fill Chef Anette’s clogs.
- The University of Cincinnati Magazine interviews alumna Jill Casagrande. Casagrande is the General Manager of Radio Disney and she reveals a little of the philosophy behind the kid music powered radio network and the influence of shows like High School Musical.
- Remember those rumors about the ABC Fall sit-com ‘Cavemen’, well now we learn that the pilot for the series has indeed been re-shot and some of the roles recast. The show will also focus more on the perils and problems of acclimation and less on being an allegory for racial discrimination (although obviously there is some overlap).
- For the 13th year in a row the Walt Disney Company has earned over $1 billion in international box office receipts. Pirates Of The Caribbean has just passed $950 million for domestic and international box office, a very respectable number for a film that suffered a bit at the box office due to it’s length limiting the number of showings per day.
- Good news for Disneyland Paris, Euro Disney SCA, the parent company for the resort has reported a rise in third-quarter revenues of 12 percent. Of course, they’re also warning of higher costs, so keep that in mind as the parks recovery efforts continue. Increased costs can be a good thing as long as it’s focused on areas that will provide quality show experience for the guests and encourage repeat visits and good word of mouth.
- USAToday talks about how the studios use Comic-con to excite the fan base on upcoming films and features an image of WALL-E, the robot from the upcoming Pixar film of the same name.
- TV Squad has a look at some of the new shows coming to ABC this fall as revealed at the TV Critics Association tour.
- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers report to training camp at Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sports complex today. That also means they’ll be frequent guests at the Celebration Hotel. Either is a good spot to do some autograph hunting, if that’s your thing.