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If you've been reading JHM for a while now, you already know that I'm a very big fan of Didier Ghez 's "Walt's People" books . So -- that said -- is it really all that big a surprise that I enjoyed reading " Volume 5 " of this ongoing series. Mind you, at 443 pages in length, this paperback is the heftiest...

Mindy T. writes in to say: I'm a big Beyoncé fan. So last week's story about how Disney was after her to star in the movie version of "Aida" really excited me. Is there any other new on this project? Dear Mindy T. Talk between Ms. Knowles and the Mouse are continuing. And though Beyoncé has yet to officially...

You all know about Epcot, right? That futuristic city that Walt Disney hoped to build? Copyright Bonaventure Press That's the real reason that Walt bought all of that swampland in Central Florida in the early 1960s, you know. Not because the Old Mousetro really felt the need to build Disneyland East...

What can you say about the "Imagineering Field Guide" series? It started out strong with the " Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World " guide back in 2005 and then got better last year with the " Epcot at Walt Disney World " guide. And now? " The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt...

Earlier this week, Perry T. sent me the following e-mail : Jim, Are you as sick as I am about how the Imagineers keep forcing characters into older attractions at the Disney theme parks? Just in the past six months, we've had that new " Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor " show replace the Magic Kingdom 's old...

As you might expect, I got an awful lot of e-mail yesterday concerning that "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" project that Universal Studios just announced. That $500 million re-theming of the "Lost Continent" section of Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park . First up, Kurt G. wrote in to say...

Have any of you folks checked out those "X-marks-the-spot" hotspots that went live at Disneyland as well as at WDW's Magic Kingdom last week yet ? If not, I really suggest that you make a point of dropping by some of them sometime this summer. For the people-watching in these parts of the theme parks...

Having gone for the gold with its " Pirates of the Caribbean " trilogy, is the Mouse now getting ready to go for the silver ? As in "Hi-yo, Silver ! " It certainly sounded that way late last week. As the Web (Keying off of a story that had originally been posted on Collider back on May 24th) was suddenly...

There is an old Zen Koan that goes something like this: If a Tree Falls in the Forest, and No One is Around to Hear It, Does It Make a Sound ? Last week, Walt Disney Imagineering experienced the corporate equivalent of that tree falling in the forest. In that last Tuesday, there was this extreme makeover...

It was three years ago this week that -- after more than a decade of doggedly pursuing Miss Piggy & pals -- the Walt Disney Company finally completed its acquisition of the Muppets. And on the heels of the completion of this deal came news of Mickey's very ambitious plan to revive this much beloved...

By now, you've probably heard about that article that ran in yesterday's News-Leader . You know, the one where this Springfield, MO. -based newspaper talked about the rumor that's been racing around Newton County this past month. Which has the Walt Disney Company getting ready to build a $1.1 billion...

Terri P. writes in to say: I really enjoyed last week's Why For and was wondering if you had any more info about those three resort hotels that were never built. Ah, you mean the Asian, the Venetian and the Persian. Turning again to my handy-dandy copy of the "Preview Edition" of the "Walt Disney World...

By now, you've probably heard that Nikki Finke has confirmed what I wrote back back on February 5th (Though -- to be fair here -- I guess I should acknowledge that it was actually Arthur Levine of About.com & Lance Hart of Screamscape who first reported this story). That Universal Studios has in...

Matt H. writes in to say: I just finished reading Charlie Ridgway 's " Spinning Disney's World: Memories of a Magic Kingdom Press Agent ." And my favorite part of that book has to be all of his stories about WDW's pre-opening phase, where Ridgway kept having to take reporters through the half-finished...

As regular readers of JHM already know, the history of the Walt Disney World Resort is littered with great what-might-have-beens stories. Terrific sounding attractions that never quite made it off the drawing board. Entire resorts that were all planned & ready to go, only to suddenly fall out of...

In Las Vegas parlance, they're known as whales. Those really big spenders who want to do more than just stand in a line, doing what typical tourists do at Walt Disney World. So -- with the hope that this project might make WDW more whale-friendly -- back in the late 1990s, the Imagineers began meeting...

First, Thomas M. writes in to ask: Jim: I was always a huge fan of the Jolly Holidays dinner show at the Contemporary Resort at WDW and was very upset when they stopped having it several years ago. My family and I went every year and there was always a gigantic crowd. I know that much of it was lifted...

First up, Lee H. sends along a note and a photo, seeking some info about Disney's original plans for Epcot's Space pavilion: Hey Jim, First off, let me just say that I love the site. This is despite the fact that you tend to leave me hanging on some of your longer stories (remember Tower Tales...

Okay. Picking up where we left off last week (when JHM readers actually came forward with answers to earlier "Why For" questions), it would appear that veteran Disney animator Bill Justice actually *WAS* wrong about the origin of that "Applecore ... Baltimore" gag that's featured...

First, an apology. You know, in yesterday's review of Carlene Thie's "Disneyland Under Construction" books, I'm afraid that I may have come down a bit too hard on Ms. Thie. Or -- at the very least -- criticized things that I didn't really know about. For example: In yesterday's...