Ratatouille cooked up another $18 million with third place at the box office this weekend bringing its domestic total to $143 million. It’s also the highest rated film of the year in movie critic polls. But will that be enough to earn it a best picture Academy Award? In this short interview Animation master John… Read More »Morning Round Up – July 16
Sarah Tully of the Orange County Register brings us another piece on the ongoing dispute in Anaheim between the tourist businesses and the housing developers over land in the Anaheim Resort District. This time, SOAR, the pro-tourism group, has offered a report showing that a hotel and retail complex would generate more tax money than… Read More »Anaheim and Long Beach
Deepa Bharath of the Orange County Register reports that the City of Garden Grove, which is directly south of Anaheim, is still looking to enhance the area along Harbor Boulevard. Garden Grove has been trying to hitch itself to the Anaheim Resort train for a… Read More »Anaheim’s Neighbor to the South Still Trying
Yes, it’s shameless plug time. The latest edition of Kenversations(TM) was posted today at LaughingPlace.com. It’s all about the crossroads were now facing in Anaheim between "giving up" on the Anaheim Resort or upgrading the Anaheim Resort.
The ever-aspiring muckraker Steve Lopez, in his Points West column in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, pokes his finger in Disney’s chest. He writes about the seeming contradiction between the low wages of Disneyland cast members and Disney fighting "affordable" housing in the Anaheim Resort area.
But at the end of the workday, many of the people who work at the "Happiest Place on Earth" sleep on air mattresses, in by-the-week motel rooms and in apartments shared with other families.
"I’ve been at this motel since 1997," said Derrick, a Disney security guard who pays $209 a week rent. He spoke to me Thursday night while standing in the doorway of the room he shares with two elderly aunts at Arena Inn and Suites in Anaheim, about a mile from his job.
When I was working full-time as a Disneyland cast member, which wasn’t all that long ago, I was able to afford a bachelor apartment by myself within 15 minutes of the Resort.
First, Disney challenged the right of a council member to cast a vote on the housing because she intends to open a wine bar in the area and might have a conflict of interest.
More after the jump – be forewarned that I get politically opinionated.
Well it appears the day went off fairly well, all things considered. The park was packed at times, but the gates never closed. Here’s a look around the net at some of the coverage. LaughingPlace.com kept sending photos of the event in real time via it’s ‘LIVE‘ cameraphone feature. The official 50th Anniversary Podcasts. The… Read More »Disneyland’s well-wishers
In a recent interview Diane Disney Miller recounts some of the familiar stories of her childhood as a Disney daughter. What’s new and interesting is the information on the Disney Family Museum that is scheduled to open in a refurbished barracks at the Presidio in San Francisco… Miller said the museum will be in a… Read More »Diane Disney Miller Interview
How much is a professional team worth when there is no functioning league for it to belong to? Broadcom Corp. Chairman Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, have officially signed the papers their purchase of the National Hockey League’s Mighty Ducks of Anaheim from The Walt Disney Co. The sale was for an estimated $75… Read More »Ducks officially on Ice