This morning, during Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s 10-year anniversary celebration, I was surprised to see that a new name and a new logo was introduced for Disney’s conservation outreach efforts, changing the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. Erin Wallace, Dr Jane… Read More »Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund renamed
On this day 10 years ago Walt Disney World’s fourth gate, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, officially opened to the public and a new era in theme parks was born. Animal Kingdom combined the animals of a zoo with the theming and lush landscaping Disney is known… Read More »Happy Birthday Disney’s Animal Kingdom
All the competition videos are now online for the Disney Parks’ Chief Magic Official (CMO) competition. Go see Tripp, Justin, and David as they perform on stage in a variety of events and competitions to determine which is best suited to become the first CMO… Read More »Vote for the first Chief Magic Official of Disney Parks
Although the volleys from both sides have decreased, this thing with “it’s a small world” is not over. It’s just the thin shell of a much larger egg. It has nothing to do with the personalities involved, their creative ability, nor their passion for the Disney product. No one is doubting any of that.
No. It has to do with a choice made by someone (or someones) in Disney parks management. A deliberate choice that has many of us worried.
John Nadleberg, who has recently set out with his own blog, summarizes excellently:
Disney is over cartooning their parks, they have been doing it for a while, and although it has been tolerated for one reason or another, it is often not appreciated at all. They are wrecking what were once theme parks with all kinds of entertainments by changing them to ones that have one single type of entertainment.
Movie people originally constructed Disneyland, and in a way, going to a Disney park is very much like going to a multiplex theater to see different types of movies, with each area within the park representing another type of film. This theater has a western, that theater has a horror film, the other theater has a drama or a comedy, and yet another has an animated feature. What they have been doing, and are continuing to do, is turn every single theater in that multiplex into being about animation, and they are doing so with very little artistic integrity. The shows they produce with this mindset are often very poor and poorly received. Shows, such as Soarin’ and Expedition Everest don’t follow this mindset and are their great recent successes.
Next to his own most intimate self-concerns, man is most fascinated by creatures of the animal kingdom. — Walt Disney In 2006, two white rhinos, both born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, became the first-ever to repatriate from the United States to Africa. The two white… Read More »Repatriating White Rhinos – 10 Years of Caring: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Fair warning to the men in the room you may want to avert your eyes in sympathy for our fellow mammalian males during this story. Southern Africa has an elephant over population problem. Specifically in South Africa and Botswana Elephant overpopulation in wildlife parks and… Read More »Elephant Population Control Project – 10 Years of Caring: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
For the first story of good work done by the fine folks at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, I thought I’d start with a story you don’t hear much about, but is very exciting to me since it involves re-introduction of a species to Florida. You see,… Read More »Operation Migration – 10 years of caring: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Last week Disney Auditions launched a new website for entertainment roles at all the parks around the world. Now no matter what location you audition at, you’re potentially auditioning for any role Disney might offer you anywhere in the world. That means, if you audition… Read More »Disney Auditions Revamps – It’s a Whole New World