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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...

Danielle F. wrote in yesterday to say: I really enjoyed today's story about Luigi's Flying Tires and like the idea of you turning Why For into a daily feature at your site. I just hope you get sent enough questions to actually make this happen. And speaking of questions: I was sorry to hear that...

It's been almost three years now since Bob Iger asked then-Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel to pass along a message to Isaac Perlmutter . To be specific, the Chairman & CEO of the Walt Disney Company wished to talk with the Chief Executive Officer of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. about the Mouse...

It's official. Teen crime fighter Kim Possible is being replaced by a platypus. In a recent interview with Travel Weekly editor-in-chief Arnie Weissmann, Chairman of Disney Parks & Resorts Tom Staggs was asked about the rumors which have been circulating lately about Disney's Kim Possible...

It's kind of a long drive from the woods of New Hampshire to northern Georgia. 1075 miles to be exact. But you can do in 19 hours & change if you drive straight through. That's what I wound up doing late last week. I climbed into our Ford Explorer just before 11 a.m. on Thursday and eventually...