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It's not often that a woman steps off a speeding train and is then immediately asked "What do you want to deal with? A Grizzly bear or monsters?" Well, that's sort of what happened to producer Michelle Murdocca back in 2004. She was just finishing up working on " The Polar Express...

Late last week, the Terrible Towel wrote in to say: Jim, I've been enjoying all of these XPASS articles that you've been writing lately. But with resort guests being able to reserve their ride times weeks and months in advance, I have to ask: What's going to be left for the day guest, the...

Over the past week, there's been a lot of talk on Disney-related discussion boards about the policy change that the Walt Disney World Resort now has in the works when it comes to FASTPASS return times . To be specific: Starting on March 7th, Guests who arrive 5 minutes ahead of their ride reservation...

It was supposed to be Disneyland 's first thrill ride: Monstro the Whale ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Which - in much the same way that Dumbo the Flying Elephant ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved ... was just a Disneyified version of that amusement...

Back when I lived in Central Florida in the early-to-mid 1990s, one of my favorite things to do this time of year was to go into Frontierland at WDW 's Magic Kingdom and then catch a performance of "Country Bear Christmas Special." Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved...

Picture this: It's the Fall of 1990. And after a highly successful summer (with attendance levels at the Happiest Place on Earth reaching record highs thanks to this theme park's 35 th anniversary celebration as well as the popularity of the Party Gras Parade ), Disneyland management is now facing...

Maddy Mouse wrote in to say: I have kind of a weird question for you to answer. I notice that Walt Disney World has lots of rides, shows and attractions that the Imagineers originally designed for Disneyland . But when it comes to rides, shows and attractions that the Imagineers originally designed for...

How many times have you looked at a piece of Disney theme park concept art and thought: "Oooh, I wanna go there right now." Collin Campbell's painting of the Fort Wilderness Railroad Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Collin Campbell was an absolute master when it came...

When Ridley Pearson first wrote that scene for " Disney After Dark " where the Kingdom Keepers kids are looking for clues inside of WDW 's version of " it's a small world " and then get attacked by the dolls, he thought that there was just no way that Mouse House managers...

There's this story which dates back to the Fall of 1984. About how Michael Eisner - right after he'd been installed as the new head of Walt Disney Productions - brought his son, Breck along when Eisner did his very first walk-through of WED. And based on this then-14-year-old boy's enthusiastic...

There's kind of a perception out there that - once the holiday season wraps up in Southern California - that the Disneyland Resort isn't much as fun to visit as it used to be back in October , November and December. Which is kind of understandable. Right now, anyway. Given that Disney California...

Good God. Are we really already be up to Volume 9 in the “Walt’s People” series? I can recall when Disney Historian Didier Ghez initially proposed these books (which – if I’m remembering correctly – was sometime back during the Pleistocene Epoch) that would collect & then reprint the very best Mouse...

Orange County Mountie writes in to say: I have just been loving these stories that you have been doing about Disneyland ’s expansion plans from the 1970s and 1980s. All of those rides, shows and attractions that the Imagineers wanted to build back then but never got around to. In your last article, you...

While I was out at Comic-Con last month, I was slipped a preview copy of the Fall 2009 issue of Disney twenty-three magazine . Which features a terrific cover story, “Celebrating 40 years of Frights & Delights at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.” Copyright 2009 Disney. All Rights Reserved This 10 page...

This past Thursday, Six Flags Over Georgia had a genuinely festive feel. A Dixieland band played while specially invited guests enjoyed a picnic lunch inside of this closed-to-the-public theme park. “And what was the special occasion?,” you ask. Well, a quick look at the centerpieces on the picnic tables...

Picking up where we left off ... As our Doom Buggy exits the Attic, it then descends into the Graveyard. Where diehard fans of Walt Disney World 's version of the The Haunted Mansion will notice that something 's different about this portion on the attraction. But -- that said -- they'll probably have...

Given that the Disney theme parks are now home to a plethora of peaks (i.e. The Matterhorn , Space Mountain , Big Thunder Mountain , Splash Mountain , Mt. Mayday , Summit Plummit , Grizzly Peak , Mt. Prometheus and Forbidden Mountain ), it may seem somewhat bizarre to hear that there was actually a time...

A real treat showed up in the mail today. " Darkwing Duck: Volume 2 ." Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved I don't know how many of you remember this " Disney Afternoon " show. But "Darkwing Duck" was great fun. A witty spoof of the whole superhero genre, "DD" debuted as part...