February 25, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FIRST-EVER D23 EXPO JAPAN TO BE HELD OCTOBER 12-14, 2013 The Official Disney Fan Club's Signature Event Makes Its International Debut Meguro-ku, Tokyo , February 25, 2012 -The Walt Disney Company Japan announced today that it will stage the first-ever D23 Expo Japan , a special event for Disney fans created by D23: The Official Disney Fan Club. D23 Expo Japan, the first Expo to be held outside the U.S., will feature an array of engaging presentations, hosted...

Early this Sunday morning, I left New Hampshire in the middle on a snowstorm. After a quick plane change in Detroit (where -- at that time -- it was a frigid 6 degrees), I caught a flight out to Los Angeles. Where -- as soon as my plane landed at LAX on Sunday afternoon, I grabbed my bags and then hustled out to curbside. Where I then jumped into a car that was headed to Garden Grove . "And what was out in Garden Grove?," you ask. Well, this was where the Disneyana Fan Club ... Photo by...

Travel Dates : April 6 - June 3, 2013 Walt Disney World has released special room only discounts for Florida Residents. You must check in during the travel dates listed above, however, you can extend your stay past June 3, 2013. Only the nights included in the travel dates listed above will be discounted. You cannot check in before April 6, 2013 and receive a discount. Availability is limited, and not all resorts and room types are available. Some nights may not be discounted, and weekend prices...

TAMPA, Fla. (February 19, 2013) -- Joffrey's Coffee & Tea Co. and Disney have entered into a long-term strategic alliance that makes Joffrey's the official specialty coffee of Walt Disney World® Resort, Disneyland® Resort and Disney Vacation Club properties. Through this agreement, Joffrey's becomes the first Disney Corporate Alliance sponsor in the category of specialty coffee and will have expanded presence at select Disney dining locations and resort hotels. "Like...

When " The Wizard of Oz " held its Hollywood premiere back on August 15, 1939 at Grauman's Chinese Theater ... Copyright Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved ... MGM really went all out. They took the courtyard of this famous movie palace and transformed into a miniature version of the Land of Oz. Complete with its very own tiny version of the Yellow Brick Road and a handful of Munchkins to greet the various celebrities who turned out for this star-studded affair. Mervyn...

When small-time magician Oscar Diggs (James Franco) pulls one flimflam too many, he finds himself hurled into the fantastical Land of Oz where he must somehow transform himself into the great wizard—and just maybe into a better man as well . OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL releases in theaters on March 8, 2013! Visit the website: http:// www.disney.com/ozthegreat “Like” OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ozthegreatandpowerful "Follow" OZ THE GREAT...

Imagine You at MU

If you listen carefully today, you can hear thousands of people around the country quietly cursing. "And why are these people cursing?," you ask. Well, that's because these folks are just now realizing it's February 13th. Which means that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. That day when you're supposed to prove to your significant other that you genuinely care about them by tossing a thoughtful gift their way. Which can be somewhat difficult if you haven't actually gotten...

Marking a Disney first, Wreck-It Ralph Released with an Early Debut of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D Versions - Available for Purchase on February 12, 2013 Followed by the Blu-ray TM Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D TM , DVD, SD Digital and On-Demand Debuts March 5, 2013 Burbank, Calif. - Walt Disney Animation Studios announces the debut of the hit arcade-game-hopping adventure "Wreck-It Ralph" marking a Disney first with the early release of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D on February 12, 2013...

Greetings from the 110th edition of the American International Toy Fair . A trade show that Nancy and I love to attend because -- to be blunt -- it usually gives you lots of opportunities to learn about movies & TV shows that are still months ... Photo by Nancy Stadler ... if not years away from being released to theaters. Photo by Nancy Stadler Toy Fair is a particularly great show to cover / attend if you're someone who writes about The Walt Disney Company. Because if you're actually...

This past Saturday night, I got to do something very fun. As part of the press event for the kick-off of this year's Mardi Gras celebration at the Universal Orlando Resort ... Copyright 2013 Universal Orlando Resort. All rights reserved I got to go backstage at Universal Studios Florida to see the floats to be featured in this year's Mardi Gras parade before they rolled through that theme park. Photo by Angela Ragno I have to admit that -- having seen a number of these units in years previous...

For three weeks now, photos of a mysterious bankers box have been making the rounds on the Web. Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof reportedly deliberately put these images out there to help whet people's appetites for " Tomorrowland ," the sci-fi -themed project that these two wrote which is based on a concept that Lindelof and " Entertainment Weekly " writer Jeff Jensen originally came up with. "So what's this motion picture actually supposed to be about?," you ask...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 7, 2013 Actor James Franco Named Grand Marshal for 55 th Annual Daytona 500 Star of Disney's Upcoming 'Oz The Great and Powerful' to Deliver Starting Command for 'The Great American Race' DAYTONA BEACH, Fla . - James Franco, star of the Disney fantastical adventure "Oz The Great and Powerful," which is scheduled for release on March 8, will serve as Grand Marshal for the 55 th running of the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on...

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF), the leader in educational entertainment, today announced the release of interactive eBooks from Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world's largest publisher of children's books and magazines, as part of LeapFrog's new third-party developer program for its award-winning platforms. "Doc McStuffins: Rundown Racecar" and "Wreck It Ralph: Sugar Rush" were developed and produced by Disney...

Huffington Post -- Alan Tudyk: It sucks not being able to come back for the "Firefly" and "Wreck-It Ralph" sequels Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 It was Ed Wynn for the win this Saturday at the Annies . As " Suburgatory " star Alan Tudyk -- who used Wynn's comic persona as the inspiration for his vocal performance as King Candy in " Wreck-It Ralph " -- wound up beating out Adam Sandler and Jude Law for this year's Voice Acting in an Animated Feature...

GLENDALE, Calif., Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA) today announced that, at the recommendation of its distributor, Twentieth Century Fox, it has decided to change the domestic theatrical release date for Mr. Peabody & Sherman to March 7, 2014. The film had previously been scheduled for release on November 1, 2013. Me & My Shadow , which had previously been scheduled for release in March of 2014, will now return to development at the studio. "Our...

BURBANK, CALIF. (February 6, 2013) -Disney announced today that multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning superstar Mariah Carey has recorded the song, "Almost Home," for "Oz The Great and Powerful," the studio's highly anticipated fantastical adventure, directed by Sam Raimi, releasing in theaters nationwide on March 8, 2013. "Almost Home" will be released as a single by Carey's label, Island Def Jam, on February 19, 2013. Award-winning photographer/director David...

Bonus Clips The following bonus clip comes from Ted Thomas' Featurette Growing Up with Nine Old Men about Disney's original 9 Old Men. Walt Disney's daughter Diane explains how her father fell in love with Peter Pan as a boy and wanted to make it his second feature after Snow White but had to wait 10 years for animation techniques to evolve to be able to make the film. Peter Pan Three-Disc Diamond Edition: Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy + Storybook App is available on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack...

Discovery Babe wrote in this weekend to ask: In Friday's Tony Baxter story , you touched on the Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm . Since this is my favorite non-Disney theme park attraction, I was wondering if you had any information about what is currently being done to this flume ride. What enhancements and upgrades does Knott's have planned? Your timing couldn't be better, Discovery Babe. Late last month, I actually got Kent Maulsby (i.e. the Vice President of Maintenance...

You're going to be seeing a lot of stuff about Tony Baxter online today. Stories about how this longtime Disney Company employee (i.e. Tony started at Disneyland Park back in August of 1965 as a sweeper and eventually rose through the ranks to become Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering as well as being Creative Executive for Disneyland) will soon transition from being a full-time Imagineer to becoming a part-time advisor for WDI. Now for some of you folks...

Visit the website: http://marvel.com/ironman3 “Like” IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironman “Follow” IRON MAN 3 on Twitter: @Iron_Man IRON MAN 3 releases in theaters on May 3, 2013

Visit the website: http://marvel.com/ironman3 “Like” IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironman “Follow” IRON MAN 3 on Twitter: @Iron_Man IRON MAN 3 releases in theaters on May 3, 2013!

Visit the website: http://www.disney.com/ozthegreat "Like" OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ozthegreatandpowerful "Follow" OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Twitter : https://twitter.com/disneyozmovie

Peter Pan will be available on Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy + Storybook App on Tuesday February 5th

Huffington Post -- The online premiere of Disney's "Paperman" So what do you know about " Paperman ," that new Walt Disney Animation Studios production which was recently nominated for a Best Animated Short Oscar ? Well, you may have heard that this mostly black-and-white film uses a new technology, which Disney senior software engineer Brian Whited created to merge CG and hand-drawn animation. Or that this 7 minute-long film (which was helmed by John Kahrs , a first-time...

It's been quite a while since I last posted a piece about the various domain names The Walt Disney Company has recently registered . Which sometimes offers up a clue or two about the Mouse has in the works for the weeks, months & years ahead. Mind you, a lot of the news that I've uncovered this time around won't be all that startling. I mean, given that production just began last week in Iceland on " The Fifth State ," (i.e. a movie about the controversial website WikiLeaks...

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Which is why Walt Disney World's initial roll-out / in-park testing of the MagicBands component of MyMagic+ -- which was supposed to begin being offered to Guests staying at Disney's Boardwalk Resort next month -- has quietly been pushed back for a few weeks. "Pushed back?," you ask. "For how long? And for what reason?" To be blunt, the My Disney Experience program isn't quite ready for prime time. Not yet, anyway...

FILMMAKING TEAM BEHIND 2011'S CELEBRATED FILM "THE MUPPETS" REUNITES FOR ALL-NEW GLOBAL MUPPETS ADVENTURE Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey Join Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Walter and the Entire Muppets Gang (Plus Celebrity Cameos) BURBANK, Calif. (January 30, 2013) - The filmmaking team behind 2011's celebrated film "The Muppets" reunites as Disney's "The Muppets ... Again!" kicked off production last week in London. The all-new global Muppets adventure...

A Dazzling Behind-The-Scenes Look At Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful, The 15th Anniversary of Disney's Animal Kingdom, Never-Before-Seen Concept Art from Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen BURBANK, Calif. - January 30, 2013 - The spring issue of Disney twenty-three , the flagship magazine of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, hits stands February 12, loaded with articles to delight both Disney fans and the general public. The cover story, "A Great and Powerful Odyssey,"...

Six Lucky Kids Will be the First Junior Concierges at New LEGOLAND ® Hotel at LEGOLAND ® California Resort The Nations First LEGO ® Themed Hotel Is Searching for Kids to Assist Guests Download images CARLSBAD, Calif. (Jan. 29, 2013) – LEGOLAND ® California Resort is searching for a few great kids to become the first Junior Concierges at North America’s first LEGOLAND ® Hotel, opening April 5, 2013. The national Junior Concierge contest is aimed at children ages 8 –...

SPENCER WRECK-OGNIZED AT PGA -- Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Clark Spencer (“Winnie the Pooh,” “Bolt,” “Lilo & Stitch”) was named outstanding producer of animated theatrical motion pictures for his work on 2012’s “Wreck-It Ralph” at the 24th annual Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. “Wreck-It Ralph” takes moviegoers on a hilarious, arcade-game-hopping journey in which Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly)—tired...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 27, 2013 STOP MOTION ANIMATION HIGHLIGHTED AT THE WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM IN FEBRUARY February Exhibitions, Programs, and Events SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic Now through April 14, 2013 | Special Exhibition Hall Special ticket price for Snow White: $10 general | Special combination ticket which includes general museum admission: $25 adults; $20 seniors and students; $15 children ages 6 to 17. This special exhibition...

Be sure to check out the witch and all her power as she takes over the Disney.com homepage immediately following the commercial on game day. Visit the website: http:// www.disney.com/ozthegreat “Like” OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ozthegreatandpowerful "Follow" OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Twitter : https://twitter.com/disneyozmovie

So how is Limited Time Magic being received by visitors to Walt Disney World ? Well, if the long lines in Town Square yesterday afternoon are any indication, this special series of entertainment events & experiences are being embraced in a big way by WDW Guests. People stood in the hot sun at Magic Kingdom Park sometimes for a half hour or more just to get their pictures with Long Lost Friends like the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf ... Photo by Nancy Stadler Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, the...

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, more challenging project. And no one in the themed entertainment would know this better than Mike West, the former Imagineer who is now an Executive Producer with Universal Creative. West was one...

Will two too many birthdays spoil the Danny Kaye centennial celebration? For weeks now all around the country, there have been events honoring that king of jesters and jester of kings, Danny Kaye . In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of this legendary entertainer and humanitarian, cultural institutions as varied as the Paley Center of Media in Beverly Hills and NYC's Lincoln Center have been putting together high-profile panels and concerts which then paid tribute to Kaye's creative...

It was a bright, sunny morning in Carlsbad, CA today, when LEGOLAND California held a brief presentation outlining the upcoming plans for the resort in the next year, including a new 4-D experience based on their new Chima series & toys and the opening of the first LEGOLAND Hotel in the United States. General Manager Peter Ronchetti spoke, outlining the successes of the past year and unveiling the new attraction, which will open to the public March 7 at LEGOLAND California and the LEGO Discovery...

My daughter and I attended the launch of Disney Infinity , Disney Interactive 's new platform at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Tuesday. In a kind gesture to the Disney fan community, members of D23 , the official Disney fan club, were invited to attend and watch the proceedings from the balcony. Where they then received a shout-out from the stage from John Lasseter. John Lasseter at Tuesday's Disney Infinity preview event. Photo by Alice Hill John Pleasants , John Lasseter and John...

You've heard about Fast Pass Plus , right? Well, this Saturday morning, the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood will be home to Peter Pan Plus. Which will (in theory, anyway) be able to give all you J.M. Barrie fans out there a new appreciation for the many & varied ways that The Walt Disney Company celebrates the boy who never grew up. The festivities actually get started right next door at Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store . Where -- starting at 8:30 a.m. -- Jake from Disney Junior...

Newtown, Connecticut, was the scene of one of the most hideous mass slaughters in American history. Driving into this quaint New England town, it is impossible to miss the sad reminders of that horror, cutout angels along the roadside and tributes of sympathy from around the world in the town hall. But through January 27, 2012, that same town hall is being treated to a gentle reminder that the world can be a better place and that, yes, it is possible to have magical days. "Small World: A Fantasia"...

On January 14th, The Walt Disney Studios announced release dates and additional information for several upcoming films. Here's a closer look. THE MUPPETS 2 is now dated on 3/21/14. MUPPETS 2 is produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman and directed by James Bobin. The screenplay is by Bobin and Nick Stoller, who will also serve as executive producer. The cast includes Ricky Gervais and Ty Burrell - and of course, the whole Muppets gang. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Marvel) will be...

Let's face facts, folks. Though Dr. Seuss gets most of the credit, it's Stan Lee who actually taught a lot of us how to read. That's how Cort Lane, the vice president in charge of animation development & production at Marvel Television , remembers it anyway. It wasn't "The Cat in the Hat" or "Hop on Pop" that got him excited about reading. But -- rather -- Avengers No. 161. TM & Copyright 2012 Marvel & Subs "I remember how this Marvel comic used...

Disney's novel approach to testing "Sofia the First" 's storybook world When it came to finding out if there actually was an audience out there for "Sofia the First ," Disney Junior decided to go by the book. Literally. "When you're developing a new animated series, you typically do a pilot," explained Nancy Kanter, the senior vice president of Original programming and General Manager at Disney Junior Worldwide. "But in this case, given that we were...

Famed Hansons running club runner sets record time; celebrities among record field of 27,000 runners; 20 th anniversary Disney Marathon presented by Cigna set for Sunday LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Jan. 12, 2013) – Michigan runners Mike Morgan and Melissa White blazed around Walt Disney World on Saturday - Morgan even set a race record - en route to sweeping the Disney Half Marathon titles. Morgan, of Rochester Hills, Mich., flew around the 13.1-mile course in 1:05:26 to cross the finish line at...

Has Your Pass Expired? Upcoming Events Kid's Marathon Mile January 26 Underwater Parks Day January 19 Facebook Twitter Video Blog Email LEGOLAND ® Hotel at LEGOLAND ® California Resort Grand Opening April 5 Opening April 5, 2013, treat your family to the ultimate LEGO experience – a day at LEGOLAND California Resort and a night at the all-new LEGOLAND Hotel! LEGOLAND Hotel will immerse your family in the creative world of LEGO , for a truly unforgettable experience. From the moment...

Thanks to a WDW-Cast-Members-Only document that got leaked to the Web over the weekend and today's New York Times story , a lot more people suddenly know a whole lot more about FastPass+, My Disney Experience and MagicBand. Mind you, there are a few questions that have yet to be answered. Like when will The Walt Disney World Resort reportedly turn the key on this $1.5 billion project. More to the point, which on-property hotel will supposedly serve as the starting point for this program which...