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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...

W.C. Fields is often credited with coining that old show business adage, "Never work with children or animals." Copyright 2009 W.C. Fields Productions. All rights reserved Well, Robert Vince has clearly never heard this adage. Given that - as the writer / producer / director of Disney's...

Okay. I know. JHM has already done a number of stories on “ Disney Prep and Landing ,” that new holiday special that Walt Disney Animation Studios produced exclusively for ABC (which – FYI – wound up being the highest rated Christmas special of the 2009 – 2010 season ). Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises...

Every family has Christmas Eve traditions. For the Hills … Well, first we eat itty-bitty pizzas. Then the family gathers in the living room, where – going from oldest to youngest – we each hang up our stocking before taking a single candy cane off of the Christmas tree. Whereas for the Gattelli family...

You gotta give DreamWorks Theatricals & Neal Street Productions their props. These folks will do whatever they have to in order to make sure that “ Shrek the Musical ” stands out from the crowd. Seem that much more different than all the other shows that are currently running on Broadway. Take –...

In response to last week's review of Jeff Kurtti 's newest book , " Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park ," I got the following e-mail: Not everyone who reads JimHillMedia is interested in the Disney theme parks. Some of us come to your site because we want to learn...

Christmas time in NYC means lines. All over the city this past Saturday, there were people standing in lines. They lined up on the 8th floor at the Macy's in Herald Square in order to see Santa . They lined up along 5th Avenue in order to see Saks ' holiday windows . They even lined up at Rockefeller...

"There can be only one ..." And -- no -- I'm not channeling for the Highlander here. I'm talking about the real budgetary challenge that many consumers are facing this holiday season. Where -- instead of heaving multiple presents at friends & family as they have in years past -- they can now afford...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to break out all of those Christmas lights and start decorating the exterior of your home. Mind you, Rob Hamberg got kind of a headstart on the rest of us. This Walt Disney World Entertainment show producer didn't wait 'til turkey time to start his holiday decorating...

Bob Iger didn't mince words during yesterday's earnings call . Though Disney's CEO said he was pleased with the Company's overall performance in fiscal 2008, 2009 looks to be a very different story. What with advance bookings at the Walt Disney World Resort down almost 10% from what they were a year...

Do you want a true demonstration of the awesome power of Disney's "High School Musical" franchise? Well, never mind about the record-breaking advance ticket sales for " High School Musical 3 : Senior Year ." Or the fact that Salt Lake 's East High (i.e. the actual school where all three of the "HSM"...

Here on the Web, we just love to complain about what the Walt Disney Company does wrong. Particularly when it comes to corner-cutting at the Parks. But today ... Well, I thought that we might try and do something different. Which is talk about a time when the Mouse actually had the opportunity to cheap...

In recent articles here on JHM, there’s been quite a bit of discussion about the fact that the Walt Disney Company has agreed to repurchase 100% ownership of its Disney Stores and that -- as part of the re-acquisition and repositioning of the once-strong retail division -- they are going to be closing...

For almost 18 years now, " Earthquake -- The Big One " had been entertaining guests at Universal Studios Florida . But as 2008 approached, the folks at Universal Creative felt that they needed to shake things up. Completely reimagine this still-popular-but-obviously-aging theme park attraction. So the...

What's in a name? Well, as Universal learned the hard way back in 1998, when it decided to rename its recently expanded resort " '>Universal Studios Escape " and thus confused hundreds of thousands of tourists ... Sometimes picking the wrong name for your theme park and/or resort can prove to be disastrous...