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 Michael Clarke Duncan died today . I don't suppose that you have any Disney-related stories that you can tell about him? Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan in "The Green Mile." Copyright...

Pirate Pete wrote in this weekend to say: Have you been following what's been going on with the Luigi's Flying Tires ride at DCA 's Cars Land ? Why exactly did they remove the balls from that attraction? Was it a safety issue? Photo by Paul Hiffmeyer. Copyright Disneyland. All rights reserved Pirate Pete -- The balls weren't removed from this reimagining of Disneyland's classic Flying Saucers ride because of safety concerns. But -- rather -- because they were slowing down the...

How tall is Walt Disney World 's Space Mountain ? Seems like a relatively straight forward question, don't you think? But the way that Company officials have answered that question has changed greatly over the past 37 years. By that I mean: If you were to ask a spokesperson who works for the WDW Resort today about what the height of this Tomorrowland thrill ride is, they'd mostly likely tell you that -- were you factor in some of the spires which jut out of this immense show building...

This past Saturday morning after our water aerobics class (Yes, Nancy has got me exercising. With the hope that I'll eventually slim down from my current Jabba-the-Hutt-like physique to something a little ... Well, less bulky), we dropped by our local WalMart to do some grocery shopping. And as I wandered past their in-store Subway sandwich shop ... Photo by Nancy Stadler ... what to my wondering eye should appear but Frankenweenie toys! Photo by Jim Hill "Now wait a minute," I hear...

For four weeks now, Phineas & Ferb fans have been patiently waiting to learn what became of Agent P. That crime-fighting platypus who suddenly disappeared back on July 26th when " Where's Perry? Part 1 " first aired on the Disney Channel . Copyright Disney Channel. All rights reserved And while I'm pleased to hear Agent P's fate will finally be revealed tonight when "Where Perry? Part 2" premieres at 9 p.m. ET / PT ... To be honest, I consider this particular episode...

The full-length animated features that Walt Disney Animation Studios has produced over the past 75 years can mostly be sorted into two distinctly different piles: Those films that Walt personally had a hand in and those movies which were produced after Disney passed away. Please note that I said "mostly." Because the jury's still out about which pile "The Aristocats" actually belongs in. Why For? Because prior to his death in December of 1966, Walt spent five years working...

This is kind of hard for a grown man to admit. But I really miss Stars Hollow. You know the place I'm talking about, right? The fictitious Connecticut town which " Gilmore Girls " was set in? Copyright Warner Bros. All rights reserved Oh, sure. We all mostly tuned in for the seven years that this comedy-drama ran on The WB & The CW to find out what would happen next to Lorelai Gilmore ( Lauren Graham ) and her daughter Rory ( Alexis Bledel ). As well as seeing if we could actually...

"Did you enjoy attending the 2011 edition of the D23 EXPO ?" For a lot of Official Disney Fan Club members, the answer to that question depends largely on how early they got in line for last year's Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix concert. If you were among the folks who got in line early-early outside of Stage 23, you had a genuinely wonderful time at this three-day-long event. On the other hand, if you were among the hundreds who wound up getting turned away that Friday night because...

My apologies, folks. I know that JHM has been extremely light on content this past week or so. But I have been traveling. Dear Lord, have I been traveling. I wonder how many Frequent Flyer miles The Dreamfinder racked up while he was flying this contraption around EPCOT Center's Kodak pavilion? Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved First I flew out to LA to take part in a two day-long " Wreck-It Ralph " / " Secret of the Wings " press junket. Then it was back...

You have to admit that it's kind of ironic that Elijah Wood has gone from playing Video Game Boy No. 1 in 1989's " Back to the Future 2 " (He's the kid who -- after being shown how the "Wild Gunman" video game is actually played -- turns to Marty McFly and whines "You mean you have to use your hands?") ... Copyright 1989 Universal Pictures. All rights reserved ... to now voicing a character who actually lives inside of a video game in Disney XD 's "...

LAX 's Encounter Restaurant and Bar has encountered some pretty serious challenges over the past 15 years. Photo by Jim Hill For those of you who don't remember: When this WDI-designed restaurant and bar first opened inside of the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport back in January of 1997, people just couldn't get enough of its retro-futuristic stylings (not to mention that California Fusion Cuisine menu which renown LA chef John Rivera Sedlar had put together for this...

Last Tuesday morning, I spent a hour or so wandering around the campus of USC 's School of Cinematic Arts . Where -- I'm being serious here -- I actually received this celebrity-filled set of directions from an undergrad there: Photo by Jim Hill "The complex you're looking is right across from John Williams and Johnny Carson . If you see Harold Lloyd , you've gone too far." Thanks to those directions, I eventually found myself at the Steven Spielberg Building . Which --...

Penn & Teller, Universal Orlando team up to create haunted house for Halloween Horror Nights In the nearly 40 years that they've been working together, Penn Jillette & Teller have accomplished a great many things. Thanks to their skillful blend of cynical showmanship & macabre magic, these two have traveled the world over, had hit shows both on & off Broadway, made numerous TV & film appearances, written best-selling books as well as starring in their own long-running Las...

I've got a problem, folks. As you may recall, D23 -- The Official Disney Fan Club -- provided JHM with a terrific prize for this website's seventh trivia contest . Which was a pair of tickets to next weekend's Destination D event at the Disneyland Hotel , a two day-long celebration of 75 years of Disney animated features. That contest officially wrapped this past Friday. And given that we had 130 people enter, it then took me the better part of this past weekend to go through all of those...

Last Monday afternoon, I was at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum and overheard a pretty funny exchange between two of the docents who'd been assigned to work the " D23 presents Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives " exhibit. Photo by Alice Hill It seems that one of these poor women had spent the bulk of that day working in this exhibit's "Patriotic Legacy" room. Which -- to quote from the map that Ronald Reagan staffers hand off to every person who...

When you go to a theme park, it kind of goes with the territory that the food you're going to encounter over the course of your day is going to be ... meh. Well, that's not really an option at Knott's Berry Farm . After all, this is a theme park that actually grew up and around Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant . So serving quality food to its Guests has always been a top priority for the team at Knott's. Image courtesy of Orange County Historical Society But when Russ Knibbs...

It's been a rotten couple of days, news-wise, hasn't it? The shootings in Colorado. The Penn State Scandal. And now the untimely passing of Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space. So it'd be perfectly understandable if you just wanted to unplug your flat screen and keep it turned to the wall for a while. With the hope that this would then prevent you from hearing any more bad news. But the downside of doing like that is that this is that it would also then prevent you from...

AMC's "The Walking Dead" takes a bite out of Universal's Halloween Horror Nights Fans of AMC 's " The Walking Dead " will be running -- not walking -- to Orlando and Hollywood later this year. Especially after they learn that this Emmy Award-winning television series is going to be recreated as an elaborately themed maze for this year's Halloween Horror Nights events at both Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood . In an interview yesterday, John...

I know, I know. A lot of you have been patiently waiting to hear about who won JHM's most recent trivia contest. And I apologize for the delay. But I have been traveling a lot over the past month or so. And between covering the opening of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, "Brave" 's world premiere in Hollywood, "Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem" at Universal Studios Florida, Disney Consumer Products' Holiday Showcase in New York City and Comic-Con International...

Greetings from the San Diego Convention Center ... Photo by Jim Hill ... where the big news coming out of the 2012 edition of Comic-Con International is how excited this year's attendees seem to be about family-friendly frights.I mean, you should have seen all of the people who were clamoring for tickets to Disney's "Art of Frankenweenie " exhibition ... Photo by Jim Hill ... so that they could then see some of the puppets ... Photo by Noe Valladolid ... and sets ... Photo by Noe...

It's one of those Comic-Con clichés that (sadly) turns out to be true. That -- when you cram 135,000 people into the San Diego Convention Center and then make them stand in line for hours (Or -- in the case of those poor people who began camping out alongside of this enormous bayside structure on Monday, just so that they'd then be guaranteed a seat at Thursday's " The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part Two " presentation in Hall H -- days) -- the place can get kind...

Hollywood is mourning the loss today of Ernest Borgnine , that stocky, gap-toothed Academy Award-winner who made us cry with his heartfelt portrayal of a lonely butcher from the Bronx in Paddy Chayefsky's 1955 drama, "Marty." Not to mention making us laugh when he played that lovable rogue Quentin McHale on the popular 1960s sitcom, "McHale's Navy." And while we may have seen the last of this 95 year-old performer (who passed away yesterday at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center...

How's this for a holiday mish-mash: On July 4th, I'm posting a story about how Brad Bird wants movie goers to stop spoiling their Christmas presents by trying to find out where all of the Easter Eggs in new Pixar films are BEFORE they then head out to the theater to see these movies. To explain: Late last month, I was out in Hollywood, covering the world premiere of " Brave ." And as I'm standing at the edge of the press barricade, who comes strolling up the green carpet but...

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 put on quite a show to celebrate the official debut of its newest 3-D ride. Sending scads of minions strolling down a bright yellow carpet ... Photo by Jim Hill ... not to mention flying in some of the...

I'm sending this message out to all you D23 fence-sitters out there. Those people who haven't quite decided yet whether the Official Disney Fan Club is really worth joining or not. If that nation-wide series of Fanniversary events that D23 has been staging weren't enough to convince you, not to mention the upcoming "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives" exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum and/or that amazing line-up of artists & Disney Legends...