I’m happy to welcome Mark Storer as a guest columnist on The Disney Blog. He recently visited Disneyland’s neighbor and files this report. Unfortunately his camera malfunctioned, so you’ll have to make do with his well written imagery. – Ed It’s no secret to most… Read More »Drained Lakes and No Excuses – A California Adventure Update
Celebrating the best in basketball, the Disneyland Resort saluted the 2009 World Champion Los Angeles Lakers today with a victory parade down Main Street U.S.A, for Kobe Bryant, MVP of the recent NBA Finals. Kobe smiled and waved to fans as he rode on a float with Mickey Mouse and other characters.
“It’s like a dream come true to be here and celebrate at Disneyland, coming down Main Street U.S.A. with all the fans cheering,” Bryant said after the parade. “It’s a tremendous honor to represent my team.”
As part of the ‘Fairytale Series’ the presidents of the two Resorts, Ed Grier at Disneyland and Meg Crofton at Walt Disney World, made a friendly wager on the NBA Finals. On Thursday, Meg Crofton fulfilled her pledge by donning a pair of Lakers’ purple and gold Mickey Mouse ears and walking down Main Street, U.S.A., in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. I’m hoping a photo of that will turn up somewhere.
Each of the Resorts also turned the lights of their respective castles to the team colors of the Lakers and the Magic, in celebration of the historic pairing. Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland park was glowing with Lakers purple and gold during the NBA Finals and will stay that way through Thursday night.
“I heard there was a little competition with Disneyland and Disney World and we won,” Kobe Bryant said, “so our colors are staying up a little bit longer.”
Two of the many Lakers fans at Disneyland on Thursday were selected to ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds with Bryant after the parade. David Guerrero and his son Jonathan, 4, of Pomona, are Annual Passport holders and they came to Disneyland in their team jerseys to celebrate the Lakers’ World Championship.
“They just picked us out of the crowd and said, ‘Do you want to ride the Matterhorn with Kobe?’ I’m shaking, this is so exciting,” David Guerrero said as Jonathan jumped up and down. “In Southern California, being a Disney fan and a Lakers fan, it just goes together and that’s why we wanted to be here today.”
A short video of Kobe Bryant at Disneyland is below the cut:
Read More »Kobe celebrates Lakers NBA Championship at Disneyland
At Disneyland everything its Nightastic! Well, almost everything. The much anticipated new Fantasmic! Dragon is still being worked on. But the new Tinkerbell float for the Electrical Parade at Walt Disney’s Adventure Park (I’m hearing that’s one possible new name for DCA) looks good and… Read More »Nighttime Entertainment Upgrade debuts at Disneyland
From almost the moment the Walt Disney Company took over ownership of the Disneyland Hotel from the Wrather company in 1988 the question has been, will they keep the towers or remodel them. So far during every renovation the answer has ‘keep the towers’.
There had been some rumors that one or more of the towers was scheduled for demolition in the next scheduled renovation, but it now looks like that plan has been scuttled (likely due to the economy) and again they’ll be focusing on making each room a masterpiece as best they can while constrained by the original tower specifications.
That said, there’s a lot of really cool stuff included this time around, including another remake of the hotel grounds, green upgrades, and some crafty use of fiber optics to make your hotel stay dramatically more magical. For instance, the backboard (seen above) features fiber optic fireworks above Sleeping Beauty Castle and a hidden mickey too!.
The full press release highlighting this round of changes, along with more photos of what the finished room will look like, is below the cut:
Read More »Disneyland Hotel to finally get makeover it deserves
It has become a tradition among the mayors of towns involved in a sports championship to make a friendly wager hooked to which team wins out. Usually the prize is food or some sort or wearing the other teams jersey for a day. Since this is now known as the Disneyland Vs. Disney World NBA finals (a fact I’m sure makes Disney’s marketing gurus happy beyond belief despite its origin on TNT sports) it only makes sense that the ‘mayors’ of those two theme parks and resorts make their own wagers.
Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton and Disneyland President Ed Grier have decided to take the team jersey approach and will wear Mickey Mouse ears with the opposing teams colors if their city’s team loses.
I lived in Los Angeles during the Shaq/Kobe championship runs. That was quite an amazing time for a sports fan. Of course, now I live in Orlando. So who do I root for? I have to say my heart is with the Orlando Magic. They’re a great team and its a deserving community. Plus they’re named ‘Magic’ how can you get more Disney than that?
The full press release is below the cut:
Read More »Friendly Wager between Disneyland and Walt Disney World ‘mayors’ for NBA playoffs
When I was in High School *cough* *cough* years ago, I spent a good portion of my junior and senior years lobbying to have the school participate in Disneyland’s Grad Nite program. Alas, I failed in my endeavor, and thus will always be incomplete in… Read More »Grad Nite at Disneyland Celebrates its 5 Millionth Student
Although an ‘official’ Disney fan organization has recently come on the scene there are still plenty of good reasons to get involved with the NFFC, the Disneyana Fan Club. For example, there are plenty of things you can say or do at a fan organized convention that you just can’t do at a company sponsored event.
Registration is now open for this year’s 25th Anniversary NFFC Disneyana Convention and All Disneyana Show and Sale July 14 thru July 19 at the Anaheim Crowne Plaza Resort, which is located in Garden Grove, CA.
The 25th Anniversary Convention is shaping up to be the biggest and best Disneyana bash yet, with such Disney favorites as Don Hahn (Disney producer extraordinaire), Paige O’Hara (the voice of Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), and Jodi Benson (the voice of Princess Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid) scheduled to be part of Celebration Banquet, A Royal Gathering.
Rebecca Cline, manager of the Disney Archives, is scheduled to give a presentation of rarely seen film footage and items from the Mickey Mouse Club Circus. There may even be a few surprises from Disney’s new official fan community D23, which Rebecca is a significant part of.
Of course several of your favorite Imagineers and Disney artists, past and present, are planning on attending the 25th Anniversary NFFC Disneyana Convention and NFFC All Disneyana Show and Sale as well.
Seminars, brunches, banquets, NFFC Disney Legends Luncheon, gigantic NFFC All Disneyana Show and Sale and of course sharing great times with good friends will all be part of this year’s blowout 25th Anniversary event.
Visit NFFC.org to learn more and register.
The NFFC Calendar for the rest of the year is below the cut:
Ed: A big thanks to Daniel Ross for coming back with another podcast review in what I hope will be an ongoing feature. Welcome to the 2nd week of The Who Knew? Podcast Review. This week, we’ll take a look at Episode #4 of The… Read More »The Who Knew? Podcast Review – The Original D Podcast