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Earlier this Fall, Disneyana fans could be heard all around the Web griping about the Company's plans for Walt Disney World 's 40 th anniversary. Or lack thereof. "I don't get it," (or words to that effect) was the constant refrain that you saw online. "Why isn't Disney...

In the Stadler / Hill household, it's kind of a tradition that - as Thanksgiving rolls around - we reach for the latest edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac and then find out what sort of winter we're in for up here in New Hampshire. But this year, given that we're still four weeks out...

TikiTerry writes in to say: I've really been enjoying all of these Disney World history stories that you've been sharing with JHM readers lately. So I was wondering if you could maybe talk about the Polynesian Resort 's wave machine. How long did it work? Where was it located? Why did Disney...

Twas the week before Thanksgiving and all through the house, Would-be Scrooges were starting to grouse. "What's with these ads that are on my TV Hyping Christmas crud that I'm s'posed to see? Am I really the only one here who remembers That this holiday isn't 'til the 25 th of...

Picture this: It's the Fall of 1990. And after a highly successful summer (with attendance levels at the Happiest Place on Earth reaching record highs thanks to this theme park's 35 th anniversary celebration as well as the popularity of the Party Gras Parade ), Disneyland management is now facing...

Fluffy-Not-Fat sent me a new Why For question earlier this week, saying: As a longtime fan, it's great that you've begun writing theme park history stories again. Those stories were always my favorite part of your site. So now that I've kissed your butt a little, I was wondering if you'd...

So what it take to create a killer canvas like this? Well, it takes time, talent and a friend who really knows their way around a train. "Right on Time" by Maggie Parr. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved Luckily, artist & designer Maggie Parr has all three of those things...

And how was your weekend? Nancy and mine was going great there for a while. On Saturday, we were getting ready to celebrate her ... er ... 29 th - yeah, that's it - 29 th birthday when a freak October Nor'Easter came through and dropped two feet of snow on us. We did okay through most of Saturday...

Jeannine B. writes in to say: I have a friend who worked in the Character Department at the Magic Kingdom back in the 1980s. She has lots of great stories about what it was like to be a member of the Zoo Crew back then. But one of the stranger ones that my friend tells is about when Michael Eisner wouldn't...

For a little while there, as I was watching the Halloween episode of " Kick Buttowski - Suburban Daredevil " (which premieres tonight on Disney XD between 7:30 - 8 p.m. ET/PT), I thought that I had stumbled upon this genuinely cool theme park history-related story. Mellowbrook at night. Please...

Earlier this week, Steve B. wrote in to ask: Dear Jim, When the Disney-MGM Studios theme park opened, it was promoted as a working studio. Both live action and animation were being produced there. There was discussion in the news about the high costs in California driving production out of that state...

It's once again Food & Wine time at the Walt Disney World Resort . Photo by Angela Ragno Now in its 16 th year, Epcot 's International Food & Wine Festival is in full swing. For the next five weeks, foodies will eagerly be eating their way around World Showcase, sampling cuisine from...

Since The Walt Disney Resort has long been associated with fairy tales, I'd like to borrow a turn-of-phrase from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" to describe Saturday's 40 th anniversary celebration at the Magic Kingdom . It wasn't too long. It wasn't too short. It was just...

Brent SD writes in to ask about JHM's 40 th -anniversary-of- Walt-Disney-World coverage. Or lack thereof. I can't help but notice that while many of the other Disney news sites have been doing article after article this week about Disney World's 40 th birthday, JimHillMedia has been posting...

You wouldn't think that - given that Walt Disney World has been staging Halloween events at the Magic Kingdom for nearly 40 years now - that Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party would be still a work-in-progress. But given that Disney World's most popular theme park is right now in the middle...

As the sun sets over Buena Park, CA., Knott's Berry Farm - America's 1 st theme park - undergoes an unusual transformation on select nights in September and October. Photo by Noe Valladolid First a weird fog fills the streets of Ghost Town ... Photo by Noe Valladolid Then out of that mist comes...

How the Disney / Avatar Theme Park Deal Really Came Together So when exactly does the story of The Walt Disney Company's desire to build a theme park version of James Cameron's AVATAR begin? A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Seriously. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. / Twentieth Century...

So how did Disney diehards react to the recent news that Walt Disney World would soon be getting a brand-new interactive experience, " Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom " ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved ... and Disneyland Park would soon be bumping out the borders of...