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  • Blog Post: Magic Kingdom presents an abbreviated "Dream," Blue Man Group regroups

    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...
  • Blog Post: Are the Imagineers taking another shot at getting a shoot-the-chutes built at a Disney theme park?

    It was supposed to be Disneyland 's first thrill ride: Monstro the Whale ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Which - in much the same way that Dumbo the Flying Elephant ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved ... was just a Disneyified version of that amusement...
  • Blog Post: "Family Fun Weekends" give Southern Californians an extra incentive to revisit the Disneyland Resort

    There's kind of a perception out there that - once the holiday season wraps up in Southern California - that the Disneyland Resort isn't much as fun to visit as it used to be back in October , November and December. Which is kind of understandable. Right now, anyway. Given that Disney California...
  • Blog Post: How a Toon Elevator helped Mickey Mouse learn how to talk

    By now, you’ve no doubt seen those online videos that made many a theme park fan go gaga. Where a few lucky Guests – as they were making a stop at Mickey’s House at Disneyland earlier this week – suddenly found themselves face-to-face with a NextGen walkaround character. A Mickey Mouse who not only addressed...
  • Blog Post: Coaster Corner: Tomorrowland favorite gets a warp speed makeover

    It’s been the smash hit of this year’s Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort . That Ghost Galaxy-themed redo of Space Mountain . During which Tomorrowland visitors have a far-too-close encounter with an angry spectre from outer space. Disneyland Guests have just been marveling at some of the effects...
  • Blog Post: How "One Little Spark" nearly fried the Dreamfinder

    As a kid I'd tune in the Wonderful World of Color every Sunday night. Most of the time Walt would introduce some western or historic feature - or some story like "Melvin, the Manic Marmoset" - and I'd switch over to watch Ed Sullivan . He had ventriloquists ! On a good week, there'd be an animated feature...
  • Blog Post: "Because if we get hit by a train, we're going to die and we're going to hell"

    Hey, gang Jim Hill here. My apologies for JHM going dark for three days last week. But between my Mom going in for gall bladder surgery on Monday and my Dad winding up in the emergency room with heart palpitations on Friday (Not to mention that brownout in New Jersey as well as the 60 MPH windstorm in...
  • Blog Post: "We're rollin' on the Mickey's Birthdayland Express"

    Today's lesson: Sometimes our Disney fan obsessions do pay off. When EPCOT Center opened in 1982, Steve Hansen was already an accomplished puppeteer and performer, working as the PuppetMan in World Showcase. Someone as talented & versatile as Steve was bound to go far in the Walt Disney world. In...