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So why exactly did Walt Disney World 's November 2010 plan for Pleasure Island (i.e. turn the center-most section of Downtown Disney into Hyperion Wharf , "a nostalgic yet modern take on an early 20th century port city and amusement pier" which was supposed to have "stylish boutiques...

Kristin T. sent me an e-mail earlier this week offering her thoughts about Disney Parks ' new Limited Time Magic promotion. To be specific ... ... I can't help but think that this money could be better spent in other ways. Wouldn't it have made more sense in the long run if the Imagineers...

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...

Greetings from Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved ... which -- now that this hotel's 45 foot-tall Christmas tree has been set up in the lobby ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved ... and the Gingerbread House...

So how close are we to the official launch of Fast Pass+ at the Walt Disney World Resort ? "We're getting close," Bob Iger admitted yesterday as part of The Walt Disney Company's fourth quarter and full earnings webcast. This was the first time that Disney's Chairman & CEO has...

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...

I got a note from Diana D. a few weeks back. It turns out that her husband has become a fan of those "Unofficial Guide's Disney Dish" podcasts that Len Testa and I have been recording for iTunes. And since her husband was now addicted to behind-the-scenes stories about The Walt Disney World...

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...

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...

You have undoubtedly already heard all of the news coming out of last week's big blogger event at Walt Disney World . With all sorts of Web-based tastemakers getting treated to construction site tours of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland expansion area as well as Disney's Art of Animation Resort...

Upstage: (verb) To divert attention or praise from; force out of the spotlight This wasn't how The Walt Disney Company envisioned 2012 starting out. After weeks of broadly hinting that the Mouse had something big in the works for Leap Year, Disney's PR department thought that Twitter & Facebook...

It's one of those must-do aspects of a Walt Disney World vacation. Especially if you've got young kids. Character dining . That pricey breakfast, lunch or dinner which is periodically interrupted as Disney characters come by your table, pose for pictures and sign autographs. Copyright Disney...

This week's first Why For question comes from Buddy W. Who asks about a change that was made to one of Disney's Animal Kingdom 's opening day attractions: It seems like "Countdown to Extinction" was tamed down when they changed it to " DINOSAUR ." Besides the movie coming...

It's that classic Christmas-time question: Have you been naughty or nice this year? Well, Leonard Kinsey - at least as far as Walt Disney World is concerned - has been very, very naughty. He and his merry band of Mouse-obsessed miscreants (Wait a minute. Would that then make Kinsey and his crew mouse...

Kevin Yee is a cyborg. Mind you, that's my theory. I don't have any definitive proof. Not yet, anyway. Copyright Ultimate Orlando Press. All rights reserved But there has to be some sort of logical explanation as to why this MiceAge columnist has become the Terminator of Disneyana-related authors...

There are Walt Disney World guidebooks that you read because they give you amazingly accurate info about how to properly navigate this 43 square-mile resort (EX: " The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2012 "). Then there are those WDW guidebooks that you pick up because they have lots of...

Okay. It's confession time. I know that the following statement may be hard for Disney hardcores to hear. But when you make your living as I do -- writing about The Walt Disney Company five days a week, 52 weeks a year, year in, year out -- there really is such a thing as too much Mouse. So when...