Archive for the ‘news’ Category

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!

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!

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!

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.

Last week, subscribers started to receive issue 5 of Celebrations, a fantastic magazine run by Tim Foster and Lou Mongello. I highly recommended this magazine a few weeks back, and still firmly do.

Especially this latest issue, because an article of mine appears in it! That’s right, the Main Street Windows article I mentioned awhile back appears in issue 5.

I just got mine today, and I must say that they continue to amaze me with how beautiful and informative each issue is. This month’s issue also features great articles about Disney’s Hollywood Studios (by Glenn Whelan of Passamaquoddy.blog.com),  pressed pennies (by the DisneyDaddy, Chuck Lionberger), and much more! For more information, and to order your copy, check out www.celebrationspress.com. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

And if you do already get the magazine, let me know what you think of the article!

Come on…how cool does that look?

We’ve all been on the ride, seen the movies, and wished we could be there with Captain Jack Sparrow and the rest of his crew.

Short of actually setting sail and becoming a pirate yourself, there is an easier way to become a Pirate in the world of Disney’s popular franchise: Video games. When the first Pirates movie came out, a game came out for the original Xbox loosely set in the same world, and had you square off against other pirates of lore and eventually the crew of The Black Pearl.

However, the game itself was rather forgettable, and wasn’t the experience we all hoped for. Disney Interactive Studios and Propaganda Games are hoping to correct that mistake with Pirates Of The Caribbean: Armada Of The Damned.

Though details are few at the moment, a bit is known about the game. Much like the original, it will be a RPG of sorts, but completely revamped. Players will assume the role of a young man, setting out to make a new for himself on the Seven Seas. It WILL take place in the same world as the Pirates films, however it will be set BEFORE the events of the movies. Players can explore the open world, choosing to pick their own battles, explore mysterious islands, and pretty much do anything else a pirate would do!

IGN.com has a great little interview with Alex Peters, director of the game. Again, he’s tight lipped on the exact details, but it’s just enough to get me excited! Click here to read it!

No release date is set yet, but based on what we know so far, it won’t be an easy wait! I can’t wait to play it!

Not exactly the cheery, pick-me-up story you’d expect from a Disney site…alas, it’s important to report this.

I just found out that, over the weekend, Wayne Allwine, the current voice of Mickey Mouse, passed away. Wayne has been the voice of Mickey for over 30 years, and is the third man to ever do so. In fact, as of 2008, he has been the voice of everyone’s favorite Mouse longer than anyone else! Wayne was was named a Disney Legend in 2008 along with his wife Russi Taylor (who happens to be the voice of Minnie Mouse!).

He will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family.

Don’t adjust that computer screen! You’re in the right place!

I promised big things, and big things are coming…one of which you may have already noticed!

That’s right, MagicofDisney.net has changed homes and changed names…welcome to Page626.com!

Why the name change, you may ask? Well, since we’re branching out into new things and we’ve gotten a lot more visitors, I’ve decided to change everything up a bit! And in the spirit of the infamous gossip column Page 6 comes our own little Disney version…Page 626!

Along with the the same great stuff we’ve been bringing you, bigger and better things, along with a few new faces, are coming!

We’ll be fixing the site little by little the next few days, so bear with us as we get everything under control and in working order. We’ll have everything ready to go in no time!

In the meantime, be sure to update your bookmarks, and come back often!

See you soon!

Earlier this month, I linked you to the website for Tokyo Disneyland’s latest attraction, “Monsters, Inc: Ride & Go Seek!”

Well, the attraction is now having a sneak preview at the park, and Joe over at the fantastic Tokyo Disney Resort fan page had a chance to check it out. He’s got two great videos to share: The first is of the ride queue and the second is of the ride itself. Go over and check it out at http://www.jtcent.com/disneyland/tomorrow/tommon.html

Watching his videos amaze me. I really wish Disney would do something like this at the Walt Disney World resort. It’s a great concept for an interactive ride, and it looks like a lot of fun!

Howdy folks!

So, I’ve been back about a week or so from my recent Walt Disney World visit, and I had a blast!

I’ve got a lot of great new behind the scenes tidbits for you in the coming weeks, along with some interviews, and some videos as well!

So, sit back, relax, and check it out!