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Disneyland opened in 1955 and has always had a strict no-alcohol policy, with the exception of the exclusive, members-only Club 33. Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 with the same strict no-alcohol policy. Walt believed offering beer and liquor would attract "a rowdy element.....people we don't want." That has now changed. This is from today's Orlando Sentinel:
Commentary: The Magic Kingdom boozes it up. What would Walt Disney think?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opini...518-story.html
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Allow me to paraphrase Jake Sully: "The Disney People have sent us a message that they can continue to raise admission prices as high as they want. That no one can stop them. Well, we will send them a message. You ride out as fast as the wind can carry you. You tell the other clans to come. My brothers! My sisters! We will show the Disney People that they....... Oh, who am I kidding? As long as they keep opening new attractions, we will keep going to their theme parks no matter what they charge."
Disney’s Animal Kingdom surpasses Epcot in annual attendance for the first time ever
WDW News Today, May 17 2018
Pandora: The World of Avatar has proven to be a huge payoff for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The attendance in 2017 went up 15%, beating out Epcot for the first time and making Animal Kingdom the second-highest-attended park at Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom is the highest.
In 2016, Animal Kingdom’s attendance was reported at 10.8 million visitors, which means it gained almost two million in the year of 2017. This, of course, is due to Pandora: The World of Avatar opening with two new attractions: Flight Of Passage, an immersive experience where you feel like you’re flying on a banshee; and Na’Vi River Journey, a boat ride through Pandora. When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens next year, the numbers will likely change again, and then the Guardians Of The Galaxy roller coaster opening at Epcot in 2021 will probably sway things once more.
https://wdwnt.com/2018/05/disneys-an...-ever-in-2017/
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Home2Go just released their report on the cost of spending a day at any of the 45 most popular US theme parks. The rankings are based on the total cost of parking, admission, one meal and a one-night hotel stay. Not surprisingly, all six Disney parks are among the ten most expensive. Topping the list: Universal Studios Hollywood.
How much it costs to spend a day at America's most popular theme parks, ranked
http://www.businessinsider.com/cost-...x-flags-2018-5
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Walt Disney liked to say that his company "all started with a mouse." Actually, it started with the Alice shorts and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but I digress. The Walt Disney Company is about to get much bigger:
Date set for 21st Century Fox shareholders to vote on Disney deal
The New York Times, May 30 2018
21st Century Fox today set a date for shareholders to vote on its $52.4 billion plan to sell most of its assets to the Walt Disney Company. The special meeting will take place at 10 AM July 10 at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan. Disney shareholders will simultaneously vote on the plan 12 blocks away at the New Amsterdam Theater. That puts pressure on Comcast, which said in a news release last week that it is "in the advanced stages of preparing an all-cash offer for the businesses of Fox that Fox has agreed to sell to Disney."
Under its deal with Disney, Fox is selling stakes in television providers Sky of Great Britain and Star of India; a portion of Hulu; the cable channels FX and National Geographic; a chain of 22 regional cable networks; a television studio; a portion of the Endemol Shine Group, which makes reality shows; and the 20th Century Fox movie studio.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/b...lder-vote.html
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Let this be a lesson: An "active shooter" is not something to joke about.
YouTube stunt at Disney resort lands Arizona man in jail
Orlando Sentinel, May 30 2018
A 22-year-old Arizona man was arrested Monday after he told guests at a Disney resort there was an active shooter so he could record their reactions and post it to YouTube, according to an arrest affidavit. Dillion Burch was "highly intoxicated" and running up to guests at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort shortly after midnight and telling them they had to evacuate because of the shooter. Burch then told the people he was joking and wanted to see what their reactions were for a school project. The incident caused a "significant disturbance" and the resort had to go on lockdown, the affidavit said. Deputies found Birch hiding in some bushes and arrested him. He was taken to the Orange County Jail on disturbing the peace and disorderly intoxication charges.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...529-story.html
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If you're a millionaire who can afford the $1,149 cost of the Signature Plus annual pass, you won't be affected by this:
Disneyland to put new limits on park visits for some annual passholders
Orange County Register, Jun 2 2018 8:19 AM
Disneyland has announced the first of what could be sweeping changes coming to its annual passport program that will limit – for the first time – which parks some passholders can visit on specific days. The changes come at a time when resort officials are debating how best to manage enormous crowds expected when the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land opens in Disneyland in summer 2019.
The new program will create two new admission calendars, one for Disneyland and one for Disney's California Adventure. Some passes will be good at certain parks on certain days but not necessarily both parks on the same day. Starting next June, annual passholders can go online to see if they can visit Disneyland or DCA or both on their chosen date. The biggest changes will be to holders of the mid-priced Deluxe passport, with the higher levels experiencing no change at all.
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/06/0...l-passholders/
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At Downtown Disney in Anaheim, a new 700-room hotel will replace the ESPN Zone, Rainforest Café, Earl Of Sandwich and AMC Theater. With ESPN Zone out of business, we'll have to find some other crowded noisy venue with 50 giant tv screens showing 50 different sporting events.
Disney says goodbye to the ESPN Zone concept as the chain’s final restaurant closes in Anaheim
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/06/0...es-in-anaheim/
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A coalition of unions wants Anaheim to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 in 2019, $16 in 2020, $17 in 2021 and $18 in 2022. Today at a rally during which Bernie Sanders spoke, several Disneyland employees took the stage to whine that they can't get by on a theme park salary. Ummm.......couldn't they look for a higher-paying job? Just a thought.
Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at rally to call for higher wages for Disneyland Resort workers
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...602-story.html
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Olaf likes warm hugs -- but all the Disney-Pixar employees who Lasseter repeatedly hugged did not.
Disney-Pixar animation chief John Lasseter to exit at end of year
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...d-year-1069547
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The squirrel stole a bag of M&Ms. Peanut M&Ms. Of course.
Shoplifting squirrel caught on camera stealing from store in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shoplif...magic-kingdom/
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"Yo ho, yo ho, a PC ride for me." Several years after altering a scene in the Pirates Of The Caribbean attraction so pirates are no longer chasing women but rather the women are chasing the pirates for stealing food, Disney has once again caved to the MeToo protesters and the "politically correct" crowd.
Disneyland's Pirates Of The Caribbean bride auction redo: people either hate it or love it
Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, Jun 14 2018
"Take a wench for a bride," read the banner above the auction block. Front and center was a buxom redhead, clearly the Mercado’s prime merchandise. Dressed in crimson and bound with rope to several more female abductees, she winked at prospective buyers as other prisoners cried into dainty hankies over their fate.
"Shift yer cargo, dearie. Show 'em yer larboard side!” the grizzled auctioneer commanded an abductee as the animatronic vixen lifted her skirt to show some leg, just as she had hundreds of times a day, thousands of times a year, since Pirates Of The Caribbean’s grand opening at Disneyland in 1967.
But last week came a change in the script. After closing April 23 for renovations, the iconic ride reopened June 8. Gone is the bride auction and with it, the idea of female subjugation as a punchline. The redhead has been recast as the wily wisecracking Redd, the Disney attraction’s first female pirate. With a bottle of rum in one hand and two pistols tucked in her skirt belt, now she's the one heckling the auctioneer as he solicits bids on "hearty hens, every one an egg layer."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...614-story.html
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The head of the Anaheim Chamber Of Commerce says forcing Disney and other big employers to pay higher wages will lead to "the loss of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue." The union members who want more money don't want to acknowledge that possibility.
Initiative to give Disneyland workers a 'living wage' qualifies for the ballot in Anaheim
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...614-story.html
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Until this weekend, the animated film with the highest opening-weekend domestic gross -- $135,000,000 -- was 2016's Finding Dory (which actually had nothing to do with finding Dory but rather was about Dory finding her parents). The estimated opening-weekend gross for The Incredibles 2: $180,000,000. I think it's safe to assume there will be an Incredibles 3.
Incredibles 2 crushes animation box office record
http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/17/medi...ice/index.html
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In 1997, hundreds of children suffered seizures or migraine headaches while watching strobe-like scenes in Pokémon. In 2018, strobe-like scenes in The Incredibles 2 could cause the same problems, so.......
Theaters add strobe light warnings to Incredibles 2 after viral Twitter thread
https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/in...ng-1202848920/
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Everybody in the industry knew who would be replacing John Lasseter at Disney/Pixar. Today the news was made official:
Disney Animation and Pixar name two animation veterans to replace John Lasseter
Los Angeles Times, Jun 18 2018 1:35 PM
The Walt Disney Company today named two respected animation directors to lead Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, following the departure of top creative executive John Lasseter. Jennifer Lee, who co-directed the blockbuster Frozen for Disney Animation, and Pete Docter, the mind behind Pixar’s Inside Out and Up, will become chief creative officers of their respective studios. They will report to Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Disney said Lasseter, who served as chief creative officer of both units, would leave the company at the end of the year. Lasseter’s departure follows an extended leave of absence in response to allegations that he engaged in inappropriate workplace behavior.
http://www.latimes.com/business/holl...619-story.html
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It was like a poker game. Disney bet $52.4 billion. Comcast said, "We'll see you and we'll raise the bet to $65 billion." Disney responded, "We'll see you and raise the bet to $71.3 billion." Comcast folded and Disney won the game.
Disney buys 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion
http://theweek.com/speedreads/780191...ox-713-billion
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The Walt Disney Company can't pay its theme park employees a decent wage but they can spend gazillions of dollars buying Pixar, Marvel, ABC, ESPN, Playdom, Saban Entertainment, Lucasfilm, the Muppets and 21st Century Fox. Go figure!
Disney's bid for 21st Century Fox approved by Department of Justice
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disneys...nt-of-justice/
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Disneytoon Studios began in 1990 as Disney Movie Toons. Their first production was DuckTales The Movie: Treasure Of The Lost Lamp in 1990 -- and now it seems the "Uncle Scrooges" at Disney no longer want to spend any money on the studio.
Disney shuts down Disneytoon Studios
The Hollywood Reporter, Jun 29 2018 10:37 AM
Disney is shutting down Disneytoon Studios, the animation house behind the Planes theatrical movies and many direct-to-video releases. It is unclear if there will be layoffs. The Glendale-based Disneytoon Studios focused on spinoffs and sequels of Disney's hand-drawn animated films, with titles including Bambi II, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch and Cinderella 3: A Twist In Time. More recently, Disneytoon was producing CG features in their Fairies franchise, beginning with 2008's Tinker Bell. The last feature Disneytoon produced was 2014's direct-to-video release Tinker Bell & The Legend Of The NeverBeast.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...tudios-1124168
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What a great idea -- people will now have something fun to do while they spend three hours waiting in line for Space Mountain or Pirates Of The Caribbean.
New Play Disney Parks app lets you play interactive games while waiting in line at Disneyland and Walt Disney World
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-...629-story.html
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Today Disney's The Incredibles 2 becomes the 12th film, and first animated film, to gross at least $500,000,000 in North America. Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the biggest of the 12, grossed $937,000,000 domestic and $2,068,000,000 worldwide.
The Incredibles 2 becomes first animated film to gross $500 million domestic
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/new...Ictk?ocid=AMZN