Whit Honea is the author of The Parents' Phrase Book. He lives in the L.A. area with his wife and two boys. You can find his writings and other works all over the Internets. Now available on Twitter.
The next Disney attraction to get the movie treatment was rumored to be The Jungle Cruise. Now Reuters is reporting that production has been greenlighted and given a high-priority status. The executive producers of the CW network’s superhero saga "Smallville," Al Gough and Miles Millar, are in negotiations to write the script. Plot details are… Read More »Disney bumps up production on Jungle Cruise inspired film
Meet MickeyWiki.net. It’s a fun wikimap, a wiki in which all articles are related to a location on a map and navigation between articles takes place within that map, of Disneyland. It has interactivity built in so visitors can add points and information about different places in the park and grow this great resource. Right… Read More »A Sticky Mickey Wiki
MovieSay, the movie buzz blog, looks at the movie buzz rankings of some of Disney and Pixar’s most famous animated features. Disney holds number two spot with The Lion King, while yet another one of the company’s celebrated early 1990’s animated features, Aladdin, makes an appearance as the 13th most talked about movie on the… Read More »Disney animation ranks higher than Pixar’s
There’s an interesting rumor going around that got its start as part of a survey Disney sent out to previous guests. Apparently they’re considering a Captain Jack Sparrow character meal. "Board a pirate vessel from a resort and sail to Pirate’s Cove, where Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of bandits have cooked up a… Read More »Character Dining with Captain Jack Sparrow
Disney is reporting that in just the first week of offering movies for sale on Apple’s iTunes store over 125,000 movies were sold. The expect revenues from this delivery channel to be in the $50 million range for the first year (nothing to sneeze at for sure). Right now Disney is the only studio to… Read More »Disney movies and iTunes has strong start
Disney’s Year of a Million Dreams promotion for its US theme parks starts in just a few weeks. When it was announced I thought I wouldn’t get that excited about it. To me the giveaways of years past (a car a day, every guest a winner, etc) were better ideas than this one. They certainly were more oriented at the frequent guest. But I tell you what, I’m starting to feel my pulse race at the thought of being there on October 1st and seeing if I can’t be one of the lucky ones, or failing that, capture some of the magic.
Plus, if you live near a Disney park in the US, then you can join in another game, figuring out the system. The rules ( http://www.disneyparks.com/rules ) are fairly clear, but they aren’t specific as to when or where you have to be to win (what fun would that be). The prizes are many (over 1.25 million and around 200-400 a day handed out in any park.
There are a couple sites out there that are already getting into the nitty gritty of contest and how to play to your best advantage. On LaughingPlace.com there are threads for the general rules and breakdown and information on how to enter via mail.
In the end it breaks down to the average vacationer having about a 1 in 60 chance of winning any prize for any given day they visit. The local who games the system might be able to lower that to as good as a 7 in 1 chance of winning. Of course you have to spend money: admission, gas, food, postage, time and effort to win. You also have to be able to be in the park early; Park Opening-5PM is the scheduled time range for prizes to be handed out. And 99% of the prizes awarded have a cash value of less than $24 ARV.
But some of the prizes are wicked cool in my book.
Even the modest gifts are neat. I like the idea of a pin lanyard or a special pair of mouse ears being the largest giveaways in terms of numbers. Give the guest something to take home.
That’s not to say there aren’t critiques of the contest….
Is there life after the movies? You bet. For Thomas Schumacher that meant a move from running Walt Disney Feature Animation to running Disney Theatrical. Disney Theatrical is in charge of all Disney live stage and ice shows outside of the theme parks, cruises, and the El Capitan movie palace. Playbill recently sat down with… Read More »An Encounter with Thomas Schumacher, Disney’s Broadway Leader
Some of the wonderful people who hang out on LaughingPlace.com were recently profiled in the Contra Costa Times. What began as online chatter has evolved into a tight-knit group of 14 travel buddies who rendezvous at Disneyland twice a year, celebrate birthdays in British Columbia or Oregon and take spontaneous road trips together. There are… Read More »Disney fans profiled