May, 2012

PixiePal 225 recently wrote into say: I've been following the Fantasyland expansion project at WDW's Magic Kingdom for a couple of years now. And while I love the level of design and attention to detail that I've been seeing in the completed portions of Storybook Circus, as a Tinkerbell fan, I have to admit that I find myself missing what was originally supposed to have replaced Mickey's Toontown Fair . Which was a full-scale walk-through mini-land celebrating Disney Fairies . Concept...

What with the enormous success " Marvel's The Avengers " has had so far (This Joss Whedon film is now officially the highest-grossing film in Walt Disney Company history. As of Tuesday, this Marvel Studios / Paramount Pictures production has racked up $1.19 billion in global ticket sales . Besting Disney's previous record-holder -- " Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ," which grossed $1.07 billion worldwide back in 2006 -- by more than a hundred million),...

It's kind of a summer tradition here in the States that -- before you head out for the beach -- you stuff something trashy to read in your tote. Jacqueline Susann (AKA the author of " Valley of the Dolls ," which sold 30 million copies back in the 1960s) used to specialize in these sorts of books. Romans à clef that were liberally laced with sex, drugs and violence. The reason I'm bringing up Ms. Susann as part of my intro to JHM's review of " Our Kingdom of Dust...

It's been a while since JHM last did a story about the various domain names that The Walt Disney Company has registered. Me personally, I always love the research phase for pieces like this because they then allow me to peek over the horizon. See what the Mouse possibly has planned for the future. Like -- say -- this domain name that the Company registered on March 15th ... beautyonbroadway.com ... which suggests that Disney Theatrical is perhaps toying with the idea of reviving its first major...

Okay. The first field test of xPass / FASTPASS+ officially wrapped yesterday. And while Disney correlates all of that data which they collected from those 4200 individuals, groups and families who agreed to take part in this pilot program at the Magic Kingdom , the Company's already reaching out -- via e-mail -- to those Disney's Magical Express passengers who were recruited at Orlando International Airport to take part in this two week-long trial run, asking them questions like ... Did you...

There certainly seem to be a lot of Spider-Man fans who read JHM. Because this site just got bombarded with entries for last week's trivia contest , with all sort of folks competing for that Disney XD goody bag full of "Ultimate Spider-Man" swag. Copyright Marvel Studios. All rights reserved Sadly, this time around, there could one winner. So the lucky JHM reader -- who was randomly selected from all of the entrants who correctly answered all four of these Disney spider-related questions...

Earlier this week (Monday, to be exact), Bond from Upstate dropped a line to ask: Hi Jim, Long time fan... just wondering with "The Avengers" making a kajillion dollars and receiving near universal love, is Disney ready to go all in with a high profile Marvel area? With Universal Hollywood getting Potter in 2016 and Shanghai opening in 2015, it seems like the window is getting tight to get full leverage. Any word from your inside sources? Copyright Marvel Entertainment / Paramount Pictures...

The old adage is "April Showers bring May Flowers." Image courtesy of S/R Laboratories. All rights reserved Well, Nancy and I are down in Orlando right now. And this year, April Showers seems to be bringing May Downpours. Which suggests that June might be a really good time to go shopping for a snorkel. Image courtesy of S/R Laboratories. All rights reserved Anyway ... For now, we're both safe & warm & inside. And to kill time while we're waiting for the rain to stop, I'm...

When you're someone like Lora Wallace (i.e. the show director of Universal Studios Florida 's new Superstar Parade ) , and you've spent weeks in the pre-dawn darkness teaching your young, energetic cast the proper way to move through that theme park ... It's kind of ironic that the light at the end of your tunnel turns out to be the sun. Photo by Nancy Stadler "Yeah, the rehearsal phase -- when it comes to the launch of a new parade -- can be pretty brutal," Wallace admitted...

Greetings, trivia contest enthusiasts! Clearly JHM readers enjoy a competition. Why For? Because we saw a significant jump in the number of people who decided to participate in last week's Pirates-themed trivia contest, which took its inspiration from that popular Disney Junior series, " Jake and the Never Land Pirates ." Anyway ... The correct answers to last week's JHM trivia contest were: Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved 1) What was the name of the first...

Elizabeth Jane Cochran didn't exactly make headlines when she was born in Western Pennsylvania 148 years ago this Saturday. But all of that would change when -- at just 16 years of age -- Ms. Cochran took up the pen name Nellie Bly and thus became America's first female investigative reporter. Nellie tackled the sort of stories that few men would dare to do. Like spending 10 days undercover in a New York City lunatic asylum so that she could then reveal how poorly the patients there were...

So we're two days into WDW 's first real field test for the Resort's new xPass / FASTPASS+ system . And the results so far look rather promising. Perhaps the biggest news so far is that we've discovered one of the ways that Disney is recruiting Guests to take part in this two-week-long field test. And that's through randomly selecting people at Orlando International Airport as they head downstairs to check-in for Disney's Magical Express Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc....

"Harry Potter vets lend their voices to Aardman Animations' 'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' " It's kind of a weird way for a relationship to start. This great big Irishman falling for a wee small man made out of clay and his silent, long-suffering dog. But to hear Brendan Gleeson tell the tale, that's exactly how he wound up working with Aardman Animations on their latest feature-length production, The Pirates! Band of Misfits . "Have you seen the Wallace and Gromit...