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Times certainly have changed in Toontown. 20 years ago, this was a particularly competitive & cutthroat corner of Hollywood. Take - for example - the extraordinary lengths that Disney went to back in November of 1997 in order to maintain its dominance in feature animation. To deliberately undermine...

25 years ago tonight, Disneyland Park traded its "Happiest Place on Earth" reputation for one that stressed security. Which is why - as you approached the perimeter of this famed theme park on the evening of February 27, 1992 - you'd have then encountered guards armed with flashlights &...

Six times a day, Louis the Alligator is up onstage at WDW 's Magic Kingdom . Performing in front of Cinderella Castle as part of the cast of characters featured in " Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire ." Which wasn't always the case. When this new theme park show officially debuted...

After having dealt with those record low temperatures that this past Winter's Polar Vortex whipped up, I have to admit that I am genuinely enjoying this year's belated (but much appreciated) Spring. But that said, I recognize that late 2013 / early 2014 wasn't the only time that things got...

This ain't your Dad's Walt Disney Company anymore. Sure, every so often, you'll see the Company fund the construction of some massive immersive environment like Cars Land at Disney California Adventure Park or that AVATAR-inspired "land" which finally officially broke ground at...

An estimated 1.5 million people made their way to Times Square last week to experience Super Bowl Boulevard . In fact, so many folks crowded into this 13-block area that they sometimes had to wait for hours before they could then zoom down that 60-foot long toboggan run on 40th Street or shuffle through...

Okay. I know. You're feeling kind of blue because members of the Academy didn't show " Saving Mr. Banks " all that much love last week. There's also a number of you out there who are really, really angry at Meryl Streep right now. Mostly because you believe that her ill-considered...

SuperGrover22 wrote in yesterday with a Why For question: Copyright Ballantine Books. All rights reserved I just finished reading your review of Brian Jay Jones ' " Jim Henson: The Biography ." Can you please explain why Michael Eisner seemed so eager to get his hands on the Sesame Street...

So when Jim Henson finally signed the Muppets over to The Walt Disney Company, where exactly did the deal go down? New York City? London? LA? Nope. According to Brian Jay Jones , the author of " Jim Henson: The Biography " ( Ballantine Books , September 2013), this fateful meeting actually...

So how long has Walt Disney Animation Studios been trying to bring " The Snow Queen " to the big screen? Would you believe 70 years? Concept painting for the aborted Hans Christian Andersen bio pic that Walt Disney and Samuel Goldwyn once considered collaborating on. Copyright Disney Enterprises...

So it was Walt who dreamed up the Disney Company. And it was his older brother Roy O. who repeatedly found the funds necessary to turn Walt's dreams into reality. And it was Michael Eisner who took Disney when it was dead last in Hollywood (Out of the eight studios in town that were making movies...

Director John Landis clearly has a soft spot when it comes to theme parks. Want proof? Check out that "When in Hollywood, Visit Universal Studios (Ask for Babs)" card which Landis used to have tacked on to the end credits of his feature films back in the late 1970s / early 1980s. Or the fact...

Just a quick heads-up to all you animation & theme park history buffs out there: Profiles in History is holding an animation art auction on Wednesday, July 31st that you really don't want to miss. Copyright 2013 Profiles in History. All rights reserved Joseph Maddalena and his PIH team always...

Earlier this week, Paul T. sent me an e-mail with an image attached that -- I'm sure -- will titillate a certain segment of the Disney fan community. Jim, Check out what I found on an animation art auction cite!! It's a bare-ass Ariel!! Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Well...

Did you need a distraction from all of the sad news coming out of Boston tonight? I know that I do. Which is why -- rather than watch that footage of the explosion at the marathon's line yet again -- I picked up a copy of Doug Lipp 's terrific tome, " Disney U: How Disney University develops...

Chris sent me an e-mail earlier this week in regards to the "Unofficial Guide Disney Dish" podcast that I do with Len Testa , where he asked: "Where do you get all of the stories that you tell on these podcasts? I'm a big Disney history buff. But you always seem to have these behind...

For three weeks now, photos of a mysterious bankers box have been making the rounds on the Web. Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof reportedly deliberately put these images out there to help whet people's appetites for " Tomorrowland ," the sci-fi -themed project that these two wrote which is...

First up, Brandon S. writes in to say: Hi Jim, I love listening to the Unofficial Guide’s Disney Dish podcasts with you and Len Testa . Even when you guys are touring the resorts and not just the Theme Parks its really cool to here all the stories about how things came to be. One question I always...

They say that a man's home is his castle. Well, tonight, my castle is under siege. The wind field associated with Hurricane Sandy has already made its way up to New Hampshire, sending wind gusts of 50 - 55 MPH whistling through the trees. Which means that Nancy and I have already experienced a number...

Earlier today, Chris sent me a note which read: Hi Jim I am loving the daily why for entries. I heard that when planning a european park the original plan was to construct somewhere is Spain. if this is true why for did Disney feel the need to build it in France? As a Britt, I can say that the amount...