Is it that time again already?!

The latest issue of Celebrations Magazine is now available!

You already know that it’s a fantastic magazine. I sing its praises when it arrives every month, so you really should pick it up.

To make it extra special for me this month, the cover story is about my favorite attraction of all time, The Haunted Mansion, and if I do say so myself, the article is fantastic. Then again, I may be a little biased, seeing as how I’m the one that wrote it!

So, stop wasting time, and order your copy today!!!!

For ordering info, be sure to check out www.celebrationspress.com!

A very sweet girl recently went through her old Disney stuff with her mother, and came across a guide book from 1976 that she was gracious enough to give to me for some research. It is literally quite a find, so I thought I would share it with you guys as well!

As mentioned, this guide book comes from the summer of 1976, when patriotism was in full swing at Walt Disney World resorts. According to the book, the “Spirit of ‘76″ parade, filled with a 20 foot ice cream con, a musical river boat, and more, made their way along Main Street every day. To further celebrate the nation’s 200th birthday, the Hall of Presidents was complimentary to all guests that summer.

It’s incredibly interesting to look at a guide book from the early days of Walt Disney World, as it gives you a snapshot of where exactly the park was at that time. Back then, they still used the A-E ticket system, and it’s interesting to see how they rank each attraction. Ticket prices were (obviously) must lower in those days…a 2 Day, 17 ticket book cost an adult $15!

The guidebook also includes a “Photo Tips” section from GAF, the “official film of Walt Disney World,” as mentioned in the ad on the back cover. It’s filled with simple little tips to help make your family photos of your summer of ‘76 trip to Disney World better.

Two incredible maps are also found within the book…one of The Magic Kingdom itself, and the other of Walt Disney World Resort in general. The map of the Magic Kingdom is interesting, because it shows how much the park has grown from 1976 up to today. It also gives a vague outline of where the “show” buildings for each ride actually are, giving away some of that Disney “magic.”

The Walt Disney World Resort map gives a good look at what it looked like in 1976. At the time, Magic Kingdom was the only park that was open, and they only had 4 major resorts for guests to stay at: Contemporary, Polynesian, Golf, and Fort Wilderness.

I scanned the entire guide book into a PDF file for your enjoyment. You can download it by clicking here. Hope you enjoy it!

The massively huge D23 Expo got off to a huge start yesterday, and it looks like it’s going to be a smash with the fans. Unfortunately, I am one of the many who could not attend (as much as I would have liked too). I am making a vow now, though, that I will be there for next year’s convention for sure!

In any event, there is absolutely no way for me to accurately cover the details of the event, so I’ll refer you to someone who is better at me at keeping tabs. Jessica over at The True Disney Fan has been keeping a running list of all the websites, podcasts, twitter accounts and so on that are being updated constantly as news and fun stuff happens at D23.

If you’re like us, and stuck at home, head over to her post here to check out the latest happenings over at D23, and live vicariously through the people who are there!

It’s that time again!

The latest issue of Celebrations Magazine is now available! If you’re a subscriber, you should have received the latest issue. If you’re not…then what are you waiting for? It’s absolutely worth it, and it’s a great read every month.

And to make it even better…there is another article in it by yours truly! This time around, I explore Discovery Island, the oft forgotten island that failed to do what Animal Kingdom now excells at. If you read it, be sure to let me know what you think!

For ordering info, be sure to check out www.celebrationspress.com!

Forty years ago today, on August 9, 2009, everyone’s favorite haunt opened at Disneyland.

Happy Birthday, Haunted Mansion!

The Alice In Wonderland teaser trailer is now available, and it looks fantastic!

Check it out at these various links:

High Definition:

http://wdmp-wdsmp.rd.llnw.net/wdsmp/AIW/Teaser1/AIW_Teaser1_cc_1080.mov

http://wdmp-wdsmp.rd.llnw.net/wdsmp/AIW/Teaser1/AIW_Teaser1_cc_720.mov

Quicktime:

http://wdmp-wdsmp.rd.llnw.net/wdsmp/AIW/Teaser1/AIW_Teaser1_cc_High.mov

iPod:

http://wdmp.rd.llnwd.net/wdsmp/AIW/Teaser1/AIW_Teaser1_cc_iPod.m4v.zip

I can’t wait to see this movie, especially in Digital 3D. Some of these scenes will look incredible, such as Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

Can’t wait!

Earlier today, it seems as if construction blueprints for Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland expansion leaked out to the public. After looking them over, they seem to be pretty realistic to me, and not just the work of some overzealous Disney fan. For one thing, they seem to match up with various news and rumors we’ve heard the past few years about a new attractions and areas.

The plans look like Fantasyland will expand back into Mickey’s Toon Town Fair, and almost get rid of the entire land completely. The only thing that seems to be safe is Goofy’s Barnstormer.

Disney princesses Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, and Ariel will be getting the royal treatment with newly added meet and greet areas. The long rumored The Little Mermaid ride is also on the plans, along with a possible dinner theater called “Be Our Guest” over by Belle’s area.

Overall, it seems like it will be a very good (and much needed) expansion to the Fantasyland area, and definitely a way to drive more traffic in there.

Check out the proposed blueprint below, and click to see it full size!

Weird Al has some really good songs. The man takes the parody (which is already a joke in itself) and makes it into a true art form.

What is Weird Al doing on a Disney blog, you may ask?

His latest little diddy, which I suppose will be on his next CD, due out late this year/early next year, is about a guy who wanted to be a famous actor when he grew up, and instead is a Jungle Cruise Skipper.

Very funny stuff! Enjoy!

Skipper Dan

UPDATE: You can now download the single from iTunes, Amazon, and other various online outlets!

A lot of people propose to their significant other at a Disney Park. Each one is magical in their own way, but some are a little more than others.

The official Disney Parks YouTube page posted this back in early June, and I didn’t really get a chance to discuss it until now. It’s probably one of, if not the best proposal I’ve ever seen.

It’s a singing, dancing proposal to end all proposals. Check it out:

There has been a bit of controversy surrounding the video, though. Lots of people are crying foul, and saying it’s all fake. While it does have an over abundance of clearly convenient  attributes to it, and does seem to go above and beyond typical Disney proposals, I still feel it’s the real thing.

If you ask ahead of time, most Disney Cast Members will go out of their way to help make your proposal special, and that’s obviously the case here. To me, it seems like these two guests in this truly magical moment are current or former Disneyland Cast Members themselves, and that’s how he was able to set up all that extra “magic.” I mean, look at that girl’s face. She looks incredibly surprised (and slightly embarassed) by the whole thing. Either that, or she’s a really good actress!

Regardless, whether it is a clever piece of Disney marketing, or just them helping a fellow Cast Member out, it truly is remarkable and definitely memorable!

I’m sure by now that most of you have heard of the tragedy at Walt Disney World late last night. At around 2 AM, a monorail crashed into the back of another near Epcot’s station. The driver of the monorail unfortunately passed away. There was a family on one of the monorails who, fortunately, were not injured.

For more on the story, check out CNN.com’s coverage.

Click Orlando also has a video from an eyewitness, and several photos, but I must warn you, they are very upsetting.

I would like to take this time to say that our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the Cast Member who lost his life last night.

This sort of accident has never happened at any Disney theme park before, so it brings up a lot of questions. Disney is very regimented in their safety features for all of their attractions, especially the monorail, so one has to wonder what went wrong.

The monorail is equipped with several safety features that can be used in order to prevent something like this from happening. They all have the standard equipment like most major transportation systems do: communications and navigation system (which is similar to an air traffic control tower), front and rear headlights, and a horn.

On top of that, each monorail has a fail-safe computer system that kicks in, effectively shutting down the monorails’ computerized operating systems, when they come too close to each other.

There a few reasons why this tragedy may have happened. There very well may have been some sort of equipment failure, and the fail-safe didn’t work properly. Being as how it was so late at night, the monorail driver may have been suffering from exhaustion. He may have even had a health problem of some sort, such as going into cardiac arrest, which prevented him from stopping in time. At this time, however, there is no conclusive reason why this occurred.

Officials did not release the name of the Cast Member, but Mike Griffin, Walt Disney World Vice President of Public Affairs, released the following statement:

Today, we mourn the loss of our fellow cast member. Our hearts go out to his family and to those who have lost a friend and co-worker. The safety of our guests and cast members is always our top priority. The monorail is out of service and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement to determine what happened and the approximate next steps.

While some people may be adverse to riding the monorail system from now on, please realize that this is a true rarity, and Disney does take everyone’s safety very seriously. I imagine that there will be some new systems and rules that will be put into effect in the following days, to try to make the monorail even safer.

In any event, this is a truly tragic event, and our thoughts go out to the Cast Member’s family.

UPDATE: Orange County authorities have identified the monorail driver as 21-year old Austin Wenneberg. Our thoughts are with Mr. Wenneberg’s family.