The Matterhorn attraction at Disneyland celebrates its 50th anniversary on Sunday. I wish I was there to recreate my grandfather’s initial test ride (although I think I’ll skip the bale of hay at the end). Residents in Burbank have accused the Walt Disney Company of… Read More »Friday Finds – Disney News & Links Roundup
Via designer and illustrator @JoeyEllis comes a set of ‘cute’ Disney themed twitter emoticons. Click to see the whole set. Previously we saw Joey’s amazing 1933 Mickey Mouse themed mural for his son’s bedroom.
This year sees two major new coasters coming to Orlando. SeaWorld is first on the scene with its new Manta ‘Flying’ Roller Coaster. Guests will feel like they’re soaring over Orlando and aquatic life as they zoom around the park’s entrance area.
Thanks to @RealShamu and @Doterati I got the chance to experience the attraction three times tonight. It was a pretty intense experience, especially in the back row, so three times was just about enough. But I think I could have ridden it all night if I stayed in the middle rows (4 or 5).
Here’s a little video of the unique load and unload process that SeaWorld uses for Manta.
The Roller Coaster ‘Manta’ opens officially on May 22nd, but it’s unofficially open as of Noon on May 5th.
Click below the jump cut for some photos from the evening.
A small snafu over at Disneyland’s ticketbooths. Some non-SoCal annual passholders were enrolled in the monthly billing program. Instead of seeing that as an indication the promotion would be desirable to others outside the LA area, they’re canceling the subscriptions of the northerners.
Disney Theatrical is struggling to fill the weekday performances of its three Broadway productions. The NY Times examines some of the strategies Disney has been employing.
Dean has some great thoughts on using Twitter as a Disney fan. If you’re not following me on twitter, click here and sign up.
I wrote the other week about the iPhone Application (itunes) for Disneyland, but what about the rest of us Mobile users? Check out CoasterQ. Bookmark it on your mobile browser and then update wait times when you’re in the park. When it reaches a critical mass, you’ll have the same wait time information as the iPhone app.
Bre Morgan needs your help to become Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing. Voting ends today at 5pm. Help me, Help her win by doing the following:
1.visit Bre’s entry in the Radio Disney’s contest.
2. Give each of her two songs a 5 star rating
3. Vote as often as you can now through tomorrow (5 PM EST)
4. Vote also by texting NBT to Disney (347639)
6. Tell as many people as you can. Post Banners, Bulletins or whatever you can do!
Finally don’t forget about the Marvel X-Men DVD contest. There’s a new preview clip below the cut:
A friendly reminder to turn on the TV and tune out everything else as LOST season 5 begins tonight on ABC. An hour long recap episode begins at 8pm followed by TWO new episodes.
Have you missed some or all of the previous episodes? Linda at NPR’s Monkey See pop culture blog explains why you should be tuning in anyway.
I’ll be on twitter for the EST broadcast. Just follow @TheDisneyBlog or use tag #LOST to join in the chat. And, of course, come back tomorrow for OhAmanda’s LOST recap.
Don’t look below the cut. Something scary is lurking down there….
Update: Added video of family in the Magic Kingdom. Congratulations to Andrew DaCosta who was the first guest to enter any US Disney theme park using the free admission that’s part of Disney Park’s “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign. DaCosta used an oversized park ticket… Read More »First Free Birthday Admission Celebrates at Magic Kingdom
Positive Reviews for Pixar’s WALL-E are coming in faster than anyone can really keep up with now that the movie has hit the big screen across the nation. Every minute another dozen twitters about the movie are posted and the buzz continues to grow. There’s… Read More »WALL-E Continues to Impress – More News and Reviews
Disney Parks is essentially the global marketing arm for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. They’ve slowly been exploring this thing called Web 2.0, or alternatively Social Media. That Disney Mom’s club, that’s them. Now they’ve just launched two new products a YouTube channel and @wdwnews… Read More »Disney Parks slowly moves onto Twitter