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If you look around the Web today, you'll see that there are lots of Disney fans who are expressing sorrow at Marty Sklar's untimely passing . But I wonder how many of these folks would ever admit that they were among those who - just two weeks ago today - actually booed this Disney Legend. All...

The Hall of Presidents at WDW's Magic Kingdom is renown for a lot of reasons: Its earnest, respectful and almost painfully balanced look back at our nation's history. Not to mention being a technological marvel that - thanks to the magic of Audio Animatronics - manages to create the illusion...

Let's at least start on a positive note: Celebrated chef, author & TV personality Kevin Dundon - the man that Tourism Ireland has repeatedly chosen as the Face of Irish Food - loves a lot of what happens in the United States on March 17th. "I mean, look at what they do in Chicago on Saint...

It's been over a month now since we lost Charlie Ridgway. And for those of us who were lucky enough to know and/or work with this Disney Legend, this is a wound that will take a while to heal. "And why exactly is that?," you say. Well, I could go on & on about my own dealings with Charlie...

Given that -- late last month -- Disney Parks & Resorts released that shot of the model of Pandora's floating mountains ... Copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Coporation / Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved ... I thought that it might be time to check out how far along construction...

Picture -- if you will -- a WDW Security Officer in her vehicle, frantically waving her arm and honking her horn, trying to stop a caravan of Universal characters as they sped past the toll booths on World Drive and then made their way to the Ticket and Transportation Center. That sounds like something...

35 years ago this week, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first began rolling through Disneyland 's Frontierland. And while millions of theme park fans have enjoyed "The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness" since then, few folks today realize that -- if Disney's Imagineers had had their way...

35 years ago today, Disneyland 's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad officially opened the public. And the very first Guests were then able to climb aboard the I.M. Brave & U.R. Daring for the "Wildest Ride in the Wilderness." Zooming along 2,780 feet of track at speeds that sometime reached...

When it comes to the Walt Disney Parks & Resorts , it's kind of a tradition that good enough isn't really good enough. Case in point: " Pirates of the Caribbean ." When Walt Disney first envisioned bringing buccaneers into his first theme park in the late 1950s, he was thinking...

Back when our grandparents used to visit the Sunshine State, there was always one place that they had to visit. And that was Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida . Started back in 1936 by Dick Pope Sr. and his wife Julie, this 170-acre park quickly became world-famous for its lush botanical gardens...

"I'm not going wear a MagicBand . I don't like the idea of Disney being able to track every single move that I make in one of their theme parks. And the fact that the Mouse is now going to keep track of my purchases -- learn what my likes & dislikes are -- really, really bothers me."...

Has it really been eight months since we last peeked over the fence to see how construction of Disney Springs was going ? Photo by Jim Hill Earlier this week, Nancy, Angela & I drove over to Walt Disney World to see how the reinvention of Downtown Disney is progressing. And as we took to the Epcot...

It was twenty years ago yesterday that I was standing in the Adventurers Club surrounded by some very incredulous WDW cast members. "Let me get this straight," said the woman who was playing Pamelia Perkins that evening. "Your wife is in a hospital, in labor right now ... And yet you're...

I got an e-mail this past weekend from a longtime Disney fan who I won't name. Mostly because he had some very unkind things to say about Bamboo Forest Publishing 's latest audio effort, " More Cute Stories, Volume 3 : Museum of the Weird ." Copyright 2014 Bamboo Forest Publishing....

You know, as I sit and watch footage of Shia LaBeouf behaving like a jackass at the Berlin Film Festival or hear yet another story about how Justin Bieber continues his transition from talented tween to delusional jerk , I wonder: How did Shirley Temple do it? Shirley Temple on the red carpet at the...

So where exactly -- in the great holiday scheme of things -- does Disneyland Park 's latest attempt at a seasonal overlay fall? Is the Jingle Cruise that Xmas gift which you've always dreamed of getting or more of an itchy sweater? Changing a single letter makes a really big difference at this...

You think -- what with all the attention that he's been getting lately -- you'd think that the Headless Horseman would have a bigger head. If he had a head, I mean. Copyright 2013 FOX and its related entities. All rights reserved To explain: Until relatively recently, if you were looking for...

It's been a busy couple of days, Disney news-wise. With all sorts of official announcements being made and weird rumors bubbling up. So as a special Columbus Day treat, I thought that it might be fun to dig down into this pile and then offer some additional information about some of the stories that...

By now, you've no doubt heard about what happened at Disney's Hollywood Studios this past Friday night. How a New Year's Eve-sized crowd turned out for this " Limited Time Magic " event. Which led to some pretty interesting challenges for the very unlucky WDW cast members who were...

Last month when I was out at the D23 EXPO , longtime Imagineer Doug Hartwell was nice enough to give me a brief tour of the "Journey into Imagineering pavilion. Doug Hartwell and Jim Hill stand in front of the Disney Springs model. Photo by Nancy Stadler As part of that tour, we stopped in front...