Archive for April, 2009

I’m a day early, but May 1st is the 20th Anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

To celebrate, three representatives from Walt Disney Imagineering will speak at Premiere Theater at 9:00am & 10:45am about the history of the theme park.

* Tom Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President, Senior Creative Executive
* Eric Jacobson, Senior Vice President, Creative Development
* Bob Weis, Executive Vice President, Creative

If you’re in the area, I suggest that you definitely check it out!

Do you have a son who feels left out when his sister gets made up as a Princess at the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique?

Well, have no fear, because The Pirate League will soon be opening!

That’s right, just like it’s Princess counterpart, The Pirate League will transform young boys into fearsome pirates!

The Pirates League will be located in the area between the Pirates of the Caribbean entrance and the merchandise shop. The store will officially open on June 29.

Boys will get new pirate names before receiving a variety of accessories, including beards, eye patches, scarves, scars, earrings and gold teeth. After taking a sacred oath and an official portrait, they will then be part of Jack Sparrow’s gang.

There are three pirate packages available for your young swashbuckler:
- First Mate Package ($49.95): bandana, choice of facial effects, sword and sheath, pirate coin necklace, 5×7 photo and a personalized pirate oath.
- Empress Package ($49.95): bandana, “shimmering” makeup, sword and sheath, pirate coin necklace, 5×7 photo and a personalized pirate oath.
- Captains Package ($124.95): choice of costume, facial effects, sword and sheath, pirate coin necklace, three 5×7 photos and the personalized oath.

I’m curious to see if this will become as popular as the Princess makeover available at Downtown Disney and at Cinderella Castle. If so, we’ll soon be seeing Pirates invading all over Walt Disney World!

On April 29th, 2009, two more Disney Legends will be recieving their very own windows honoring them on Main Street, USA in Disneyland.

The first window will belong to Rolly Crump, who is best known for his work at Disneyland. He worked on various projects like Rhe Haunted Mansion, Rhe Enchanted Tiki Room, it’s a small world, and The Carousel of Progress. Crump retired from the company in 1996, but still continues to contribute ideas to this day. He was inducted as a Disney legend in 2004.

The late Don Edgren is also receiving a window. Don was the original chief engineer in the field for the original construction of Disneyland, and he also led the Imagineering engineering team for New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. He was inducted as a Disney legend in 2006.

Rolly and Don’s names will be over the porch of the old bra shop and above the Silhouette Studio, respectively.

Since Spaceship Earth’s refurbishment last year, riders have been able to see their “futures” by answering a few simple questions at the beginning of the ride. At the end of their journey, they were able to see themselves transported into their future based on their answers, and see what life might be like soon.

Personally, I thought this was a neat little addition to the ride (though the original still blows it out of the water!), especially because you were able to send yourself an e-postcard from your future.

On my past trip, I found you can no longer email yourself a postcard…now you can send home the entire video!

So, for your viewing pleasure, enjoy what my future might look like with my fiancee…

Sorry Space Travelers…we all knew it was coming, and now that day is finally upon us.

As of yesterday, Space Mountain has closed down for refurbishments. But fret not! We will all benefit from the refurb, as this is the first significant overhaul to the ride in the past ten years!

Some of the things that will be updated include:

• The queue line
• The ride’s track
• The “space atmosphere” projection’s on the ride’s ceiling

Even though the track is being updated, the layout will remain the same. One has the wonder if the ride will receieve a similair “update” like it’s Disneyland counterpart did in 2005.

Because of Space Mountain’s closure, the Tomorrowland Transist Authority will also close for refurbishment. The TTA is sometimes shut down when Space Mountain is down so riders cannot see the inside of Space Mountain with the lights on, so this makes sense in a way.

However, the TTA is scheduled to reopen in late August, and Space Mountain isn’t scheduled to reopen until late November, so there is a bit of an overlap there.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly, and perhaps Space Mountain will reopen a bit earlier than expected, like it’s Disneyland counterpart did in 2005.