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What with " Frozen - Live at the Hyperion " opening in late May at Disney California Adventure Park and Epcot 's " Frozen Ever After " attraction opening its doors later this morning, Anna & Elsa have had a very busy month. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved...

For nearly 30 years now -- ever since King Kong Encounter was first added to Universal Studios Hollywood 's tram tour back in June of 1986 and that 7 ton, 30 foot-tall animatronic figure began blasting tourists with his banana breath -- theme park goers have been going ape for this massive movie...

For Matt Ouimet , the President and CEO of Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. , a typical day at the office really is a walk in the park. Matt Ouimet at the May 2013 grand opening of GateKeeper at Cedar Point. Copyright 2014 CFEC. All rights reserved "To be honest, I don't think I'd like this...

You've no doubt already heard about all of the box office records that " Frozen " has broken over the past eight months (With the most recent one being the 16 weeks that this Walt Disney Animation Studios production spent as the No. 1 film in Japan. "Frozen" sold over $240 million...

Let's cut to the chase here: " Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts " (i.e. the feature attraction for Diagon Alley , that new Harry Potter-themed land which will be opening at Universal Studios Florida later this summer) isn't just a thrill ride. It's really " Harry...

By now, you've probably already heard that Universal Studios Hollywood 's version of " Despicable Me Minion Mayhem " opened on Friday. Copyright 2014 Universal Studios. All rights reserved And as you might expect, there was the usual hoopla ... Gru is joined onstage by Miranda Cosgrove...

So how exactly do theme park attractions get created? Well, if you're talking about the rides & shows found at the Disney Parks , those are mostly the work of Walt's fabled Imagineers. Or if you're talking about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which -- even as you read this -- is...

I wanted to share a few photos (as well a quick, cute story) from last week's grand opening media event for " Transformers: The Ride - 3D ." Photo by Nancy Stadler The Universal Orlando Resort invited myself, Nancy and Angela to the pre-opening party. Where -- no matter what direction you...

Ever since The Wizarding World of Harry Potter first opened at Universal's Islands of Adventure back in June of 2010, thousands of people have entered Hogsmeade and -- after spotting that stationary version of the Hogwarts Express (which was parked at the entrance of this theme park land as a photo...

It's one of the hard realities of the theme park business. You may have this absolutely killer concept for a new attraction in your head. But when you factor in the size of the budget that you've been handed coupled with the amount of time that you have left to actually construct this ride, sometimes...

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...

Figment's Friend sent me a rather anxious e-mail last week. This JHM reader wanted to share a bit of news coming out of WDW's Magic Kingdom which had really upset him: Did you see what happened to that portrait of Tony Baxter which was hung in the new interactive queue of Big Thunder Mountain...

So what does it actually take for D23 to pull together those Fanniversary events that they've been presenting around the country for the past few weeks? According to Jeffrey Epstein, spokesman for the Official Disney Fan Club, it takes a solid six months of behind-the-scenes effort to produce each...

The Internet is really a wondrous place. Especially if you're a young person who's considering a career in animation. If you've ever considered becoming a character designer someday, you can always swing by Tom Bancroft 's Character Mentor Studio or Stephen Silver's blog and then...

sk anyone who's ever worked in themed entertainment about what the tougher job is: building a brand-new ride, show or attraction from the ground up OR finding a way to shoehorn a brand-new ride into a pre-existing show building. And to a man, they will tell you that the retrofit is always the tougher...

Paul G writes in to ask: Why on earth are so many Disney fan websites so negative? There are a good number of them that I don't even look at anymore because they spend so much time complaining about every last little thing. They are so negative! (thank you Jim for being one of the few who, while...

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...

Earlier this month when I was down at Universal Studios Florida for the " Transformers The Ride - 3D " press event, a longtime Universal cast member pulled me aside and suggested that -- as part of that trip -- I make an effort to swing by that theme park's International Food & Film...

Chris B. wrote in on September 10th to say Hi Mr. Hill, Great website and so appreciate how you share your Disney knowledge. With the opening of the New Fantasyland Disney has installed a statue for Beauty and the Beast's Gaston. Disney villains have typically only been out and about for the Halloween...

If you noticed some yellow & silver confetti drifting by yesterday ... Photo by Jim Hill ... Well, there was a good reason for that. " Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem " had its grand opening at Universal Studios Florida yesterday morning. Photo by Jim Hill And the Universal Orlando Resort...