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Just yesterday, Universal Orlando served up its five-millionth glass of Butterbeer. Which is quite an achievement. Given that -- prior to the June 2010 opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure -- this beverage only existed between the pages of J.K. Rowling...

"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality" -- Walt Disney And when it comes to next week's "One More Disney Day" event (which will run from 6 a.m. Wednesday, February 29th right through to 6 a.m...

January used to be the start of the slow season at the stateside Disney Parks. How so? So slow that - immediately after New Year's Day -- Disneyland Park wouldn't even open on Mondays & Tuesdays. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Which -- as far as the maintenance crew...

I know, I know. It's the holidays. So hearing people go "Ho-Ho-Ho" this time of year isn't all that unusual. But that steady wave of laughter which has been rolling out of the ABC Sound Studio at Disney's Hollywood Studios since this past Sunday, that IS kind of unusual. Especially...

Do you remember that niche park which the Imagineers toyed with building back in 2008? You know, that project which went by a variety of names among them Disney's Night Kingdom & Disney's Jungle Trek )? Which then would have given WDW Guests the opportunity to have all sorts of hands-on experiences...

There have been lots of looky-loos lately over that Fantasyland Forest construction fence. Which has resulted in an equally large number of theories floating around online about what's currently going on with this $300 million project. Take - for example - all that soil that's been piled up towards...

IronManFan236 sent in a question that was short & sweet: Did Marvel Studios deliberately make Howard Stark look like Walt in “ Iron Man 2 ” as a tribute / tip-of-the-hat to the Disney acquisition deal? Iron Man 2, the Movie: Copyright 2010 MVL Film Finance LLC. Iron Man, the character: TM & Copyright...

Did you hear about the play test that WDI ran at The Magic Kingdom last month? Where the Imagineers used Guests who were waiting in line for a character meet-n-greet right outside of Pooh’s Playful Spot to try out a new entertainment-based queuing system? Though the Imagineers are being pretty close...

First up, RedRyderBB writes in to say: Disneyland can’t be serious about bringing back “Captain EO.” I saw that 3D movie when it first opened in 1987 and once was really enough. “EO” was just a glorified music video. And even MTV doesn’t show music videos anymore. So what’s the point of bringing “Captain...

Still working your way through the last of the Halloween candy, eh? Well, before we all totally transition away from trick-or-treating to Turkey Time, I’ll share a Halloween Horror Night-related story that you may have missed. Copyright 2009 Universal Orlando. All Rights Reserved Do you recall the theme...

The Walt Disney Company has long been an innovator when it comes to its theme parks & resorts. But that being said, that doesn’t mean that the Mouse doesn’t still keep a close eye on the competition. And when one of the other Central Florida parks introduces a service that quickly proves to be popular...

This past Thursday, Six Flags Over Georgia had a genuinely festive feel. A Dixieland band played while specially invited guests enjoyed a picnic lunch inside of this closed-to-the-public theme park. “And what was the special occasion?,” you ask. Well, a quick look at the centerpieces on the picnic tables...

Six Flags Over Georgia fans dodged a bullet a few months back. A speeding bullet, to be exact. Copyright Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. All Rights Reserved Last year, Six Flags management gave some very serious thought to shutting down that theme park’s much-beloved Monster Plantation attraction. Worse...

You'd think that -- what with this past weekend's ABC-SOAPnet Super Soap Weekend supposedly being the last of these events to be held in Central Florida -- that this past Saturday & Sunday would have been a pretty sad time at Disney's Hollywood Studios . Photo by Jeff Lange Well, that's where you...

What can one say about IAAPA 's Attractions Expo ? Let's start with Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi. Photo by Nancy Stadler The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions' annual conference & trade show is big. Scarily big. So big that it fills the entire North / South Building at the Orange County...

This may seem like kind of an odd question, but ... Have you ever been to Universal Orlando 's Halloween Horror Nights ? If so, have you ever found yourself stumbling through one of their mazes? And as some performer jumps out of a darkened corner and scares the living cr*p out of you, have you ever...

Yesterday was a cold, grey day in Boston. More like November than September. It was just the sort of day that the phrase "Blue Monday" was invented to describe. Photo by Jim Hill So how do you turn a day like that around? By handing out some Mickey Mouse balloons? 2500 of them, to be exact. Photo by...

Last Tuesday night, I traveled down to one of the cities I most dislike in all of Southern California: I went to Hollywood . Good ol’ Tinsel Town, with its sidewalk hucksters wearing eBay costumes of Bugs Bunny and SpongeBob , with its endless food courts and faux-trendy boutiques. Hollywood, that theme...

By now, you've probably heard about the Mr. Potato Head that's been installed in the queue area of " Toy Story Mania ." How this 5 foot, 2 inch AA figure (Which reportedly cost a million dollars to build) will actually address individual quests as they stand there, waiting in the attraction's queue area...

Picking up where we left off with last week's tale ... It's one thing to watch your favorite Disney show as a fan. It's quite another to know that -- in 45 minutes -- you're going to be a member of the cast, carrying on a proud tradition started 25 years before by Walt Disney and Wally Boag . It's April...