Walt Disney World celebrates 4th of July with fireworks and special shows

On July 21, Disney Parks and Resorts released information on its 2011 Independence Day shows and events at Walt Disney World Resort theme parks. The 4th of July celebrations include fireworks, holiday versions of night show, musical entertainment and special meet-and-greets at three of the four theme parks.

Magic Kingdom

Home to fabulous fireworks 365 days a year, the 4th of July at Magic Kingdom akes on an extra bit of night-time flair. The park will offer “Disney’s Celebrate America! A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky,” a patriotic version of their nightly fireworks spectacular. Look for star-spangled overlays and rousing music. The show celebrates American hopes and dreams.

Disney’s Celebrate America! Will be shown on July 3 and 4 at 9:00 p.m.

Guests interested in celebrating the holiday while at Magic Kingdom might also consider a visit to Liberty Square, especially to see the Hall of Presidents, or attend the 5:00 p.m. Flag Retreat Ceremony on Main Street, U.S.A.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

The Studios will offer its Fantasmic! night show at 9:00 and 10:30 p.m. on July 4th. But what really rocks for Independence Day is the Studios’ new musical show, “Rockin’ 4th of July Celebration!” Starring Mulch, Sweat ‘n Shears, the show will feature the cover band’s “musical road trip across America” and showcase different region’s rock and roll stylings. “Rockin’ 4th of July” takes place at 9:45 p.m.

For guests interested in recognizing the 4th of July holiday while at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, on option is visiting Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. Although focused on Walt and his worlds, the self-guided tour and optional film offers a look at Disney’s role in American culture in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Epcot

Epcot offers a look at America’s patriotic Independence Day celebrations, done Disney-style. IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, the park’s nighttime laser, water, music and pyrotechnic show, adds a special finale to celebrate the 4th of July. “The Heartbeat of Freedom” will add an overture of traditional American themes. The show starts at 10:00 p.m.

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 http://www.examiner.com/disney-travel-in-national/walt-disney-world-celebrates-4th-of-july-with-fireworks-and-special-shows#ixzz1QCPGW5oY

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Keith Richards does Disneyland for Pirates' sake

LOS ANGELES — After decades of dark excess, Keith Richards seems wildly out of place at family-friendly Disneyland. But on a recent Saturday, there he was, a rock 'n' roll exile on Main Street USA, attending the massive movie premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," the fourth installment in the blockbuster franchise in which he briefly appears as Capt. William Teague, father to Johnny Depp's scoundrel son Jack Sparrow.

"No one is more surprised by all of it than me," the Rolling Stones guitarist said with a wink. "I never expected to work for the Disney organization for a while. I'm still shocked, but, hey, it's all good fun."

Richards first got on board for a cameo in the 2007 film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" at the behest of Depp, whom the musician describes as a "blood on blood" friend, and it's quite apparent they have a jolly good time playing pirate together. "If Johnny says he wants to do something, well, it doesn't take much to get me to show up," Richards said with a rasp of a laugh.

The legendary guitar player was given a surprising amount of spotlight during the six-hour premiere, which was really more of a pop-culture pep rally, with more than 700 fans paying $1,000 each to join invited guests and watch the 3-D film on a six-story outdoor screen, eat dinner and see the stars up close.

With a big pirate grin, Richards went through it all, shrugging, bowing and staggering, the same bleary ballet that famously inspired much of Depp's on-screen shtick as Sparrow when he was first putting his now-signature character together for the 2003 film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

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http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Keith+Richards+does+Disneyland+Pirates+sake/4791814/story.html

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Boy Loses Battle With Cancer While On Dream Trip To Disney World

Saturday would have marked the second meeting in recent weeks between three-year-old Parker Karsan and Mickey Mouse.

The little boy loved Mickey. Recently, he got to hang out with Mickey during his family's vacation in Florida.

The Karsans made tracks for the Sunshine State last week after friends got in touch with the Dream Come True foundation.

Family friend Randy Plessor was one of the people who helped to make the trip a reality.

"The thing that we really prayed about, to give him that trip, happened," said Plessor.

"He had a very good time, enjoyed the trip as a whole and passed away on Tuesday morning," said Parker's dad, Shawn.

Soon, it'll be Mickey who's on the move. He's expected at a party for Parker on Saturday.

The terrible diagnosis came last summer. And then in October, the family's home in Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, was heavily damaged by a fire.

The Disney vacation was a much-needed getaway. Parker, along with his parents, older brother and sister, rubbed elbows with Disney princesses, checked out the rides, and even dug into some ice cream.

But on Wednesday, Parker's parents had to get on a plane to bring their little boy home. They're making plans for a funeral on Friday. But they're also planning that party.

On his Facebook page, Parker's father said:

"Parker always made the best of his situations and that is how we intend to continue to lead our lives."

Plessor said the party will be a celebration of Parker's life.

"We're going to have games and parties, dances going on, bands, and giveaways," said Plessor.

All proceeds from "Parker's Party" on Saturday at the Petersville Rod and Gun Club in Bath will go to his family.

LINK: Pray For Parker 

Book yourself one of the Orlando villas or the Florida holiday rentals to have a great vacation

Walt Disney World announces dates for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

So what if it is only the beginning of May; that doesn't maen it is too early to plan for the October holiday that brings out the ghosts, ghouls, and monsters. Only why not enjoy the company of all the little creatures that happen to not be the scariest ones in the land.

Walt Disney World has now announced the dates for the this year's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party which is sure to be a semi-frightening good time. Enjoy trick-or-treating and costumes on your favorite characters along with the Magic Kingdom decorated to the fullest extent with pumpkins and other Halloween related goodies. Let's not forget about the "Boo To You" Halloween parade and Happy HalloWishes fireworks display.

Tickets officially went on sale on Sunday, May 1st.

Dates:

* September: 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30

* October: 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31

* November: 1

Mickey's Not So Scary events take place after the Magic Kingdom park closes for the night and all other park guests must exit. To stay for the party though, it is an extra cost and one that is worth it to spend the hours of park closing until midnight enjoying all the Halloween festivities.

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 http://www.examiner.com/disney-world-travel-tips-in-national/walt-disney-world-announces-dates-for-mickey-s-not-so-scary-halloween-party#ixzz1LI2olTcV

Disney says it generates $18.2 billion annual ripple effect in Florida

Walt Disney World and its related businesses in Florida generate an estimated $18.2 billion a year in economic activity and are responsible for more than one of every 50 jobs in the state, according to an impact study paid for by the giant resort.

The report, released Wednesday, found that Disney's theme-park operations in the state — which include Disney World, Disney Cruise Line and its Disney Vacation Club time-share business — account for 2.5 percent of Florida's cumulative gross domestic product.

"It was 40 years ago, in the fall of 1971, that we opened the gates of Walt Disney World. And we've been growing ever since," Disney World President Meg Crofton said at a Disney-organized breakfast in the Orlando Museum of Art to present the results to local government, business and civic leaders.

The eye-popping numbers stem from a report prepared by Arduin, Laffer & Moore, a Republican consulting firm whose partners include a budget director to former Gov. Jeb Bush, an economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, and the founder of the conservative Club for Growth political group. The firm examined data from Disney's 2009 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 3, 2009.

Disney released a two-page summary of its findings. The company would not release the full report because, it said, the report includes proprietary financial information.

The researchers found that Disney paid out nearly $1.8 billion in compensation to more than 59,000 workers in 2009. That equates to an average annual salary of approximately $30,508.

Disney said the researchers did not determine the median — or midpoint — salary for its workers. The average salary can be distorted by a small number of exceptionally high or low earners; Disney's senior-most executives in Florida are paid annual bonuses that in some cases have exceeded $1 million in a single year.

In addition to the wages paid, Disney purchased $2.3 billion worth of goods and services during the year, according the report, including an estimated $900 million from vendors in Florida. And third-party businesses operating on Disney property generated almost $600 million in sales, while vacationers to Disney spent another $1.7 billion at off-site businesses.

In all, that amounted to a cumulative direct economic impact of $6.3 billion. When researchers used computer models to include additional, "indirect and induced" impacts from Disney's operations, they said the total economic effect swelled to $18.2 billion and approximately 161,000 jobs.

For as big as Disney's presence has become in Florida since opening the Magic Kingdom four decades ago, the look of the company's growth has changed dramatically in recent years.

The company hasn't built a new theme park in Orlando since 1998, when it opened Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney World's fourth park. It has in recent years focused instead on wringing more revenue from its existing assets — capturing more of its guests' total vacation spending and luring new travelers to its parks — and moving into new businesses, such as cruises.

Disney executives say there is still ample room to grow through those strategies.

"I can tell you, it will still be significant, the potential future impacts," Al Weiss, the president of global operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in an interview after the presentation.

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-daily-disney/os-disney-economic-impact-20110413,0,7480432.story

Disney Dream not just for youngsters

From the outside, and it's easy to see how different the Disney Dream is from other 4,000-passenger cruise ships.

The design is "classic, evoking a sense of romance," said senior creative vice president Joe Lanzisero, whereas other similar-size ships have lost their classic shapes.

Maybe that's one sign things will be a little different on this ship.

Once aboard, passengers will notice another thing that sets the Dream apart from other cruise lines: There are no casinos.

Having a casino on board one of the company's ships is "totally inconsistent" to what Disney is all about, Disney Cruise Line President and CEO Karl Holz said.

"I cannot in a million years imagine that," he said. "We offer a unique Disney product, a family cruise product that is uniquely Disney in all we do."

But that's not to say the Dream is strictly kids' stuff.

This is where the ship makes its distinction from other ships in the Disney fleet. There's something aboard for everyone in the family, even the adults.

When Disney first dipped its toe into the cruise industry, it was family-oriented in just about everything.

But it is Disney, after all, filled with pixie dust, magic and technological amazement. With the Dream, the key was amazing the adults as well as the children.

Watery thrill

Let's start with the Aqua Duck, the first water coaster at sea. When looking at the ship from the outside, the see-through coaster is the first thing you notice.

The Aqua Duck takes cruisers on a 760-foot-long ride that shoots out 10,000

gallons of water per minute and includes a segment that extends off the ship, high above the ocean.

"We looked at the ship and thought, 'We want to do a roller coaster, but not the norm,' " said Peter Ricci, show design and production manager and one of the Aqua Duck's designers.

So what are you waiting for book yourself one of the Florida luxury villas or an Orlando holiday rental to enjoy your vacation

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http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110206/LIFE/102060310/0/LIFE/Disney-Dream-not-just-youngsters?odyssey=nav|head

Disney Against Florida Hotel Pizza Fliers- Food For Thought

There's a push in Florida to encourage a police crackdown on unsolicited pizza menus and other fliers in hotels, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

What's so dangerous about a flimsy piece of paper that advertises a $9.99 pizza pie and a 1-800 number?

The handouts are really said to be a ruse by criminals to convince hungry tourists to give out their names, credit-card information and hotel room number. They apparently pose such a threat to both tourists - and Florida's $60 billion-a-year tourism industry - that even Walt Disney World's backing legislation designed to fight them, the paper says.

Supporters of a pizza-flier crackdown pin their hopes on the proposed "Tourist Safety Act of 2011," which passed a House committee last week.

The proposed legislation would make it easier for police to arrest people who illegally distribute these fliers in hotels. It would allow police to seize the workers' cars, as is allowed in drug-related cases.

It would not affect the distribution of materials from legitimate companies such as Pizza Hut or Domino's Pizza, which have contracts with hotels and permission to be on the property, the Sentinel has said.

Central Florida hoteliers want Florida to take action because they claim criminals use the pizza menus as a ruse to obtain tourists' credit-card numbers, steal their identities and/or burglarize their hotel rooms, the paper says.

A year ago, the St. Petersburg Times quoted State Rep. Kevin Ambler, R-Tampa, as describing the pizza flier ruse as a "problem of epidemic proportions" and possibly "part of an organized crime syndicate."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, linked the fliers to an attempted rape and the beating of a security guard at Daytona Beach hotels last fall. The legislation "gives law enforcement the tools it needs to keep tourists safe," Crisafulli told the Sentinel.

Lobbyists for Walt Disney World, as well as Central Orlando's hotel association, appeared last week to support the legislation, the paper says.

Similar legislation almost passed last year but died because of an unrelated political debate over abortion, the Sentinel says. Whether it succeeds this time remains to be seen, since it has attracted some skepticism on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, called it "ridiculous" to jail people for passing out fliers in hotels, particularly when the state faces a nearly $4 billion budget shortfall.

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http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/01/florida-hotels-pizza-menus/140834/1

Walt Disney World's Fantasyland gets a massive facelift

In a new retooling of a major expansion project announced last fall and expected to open in phases starting in late 2012, the Fantasyland section of Walt Disney World 's Magic Kingdom will add an indoor roller coaster and scuttle a proposed fairy-themed "Pixie Hollow" greeting area.

The moves are part of what Disney expert Jim Hill calls "more boy-friendly plans" by the Orlando theme park. which has gotten some amped-up competition from Universal Orlando's new Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The Magic Kingdom revamp will double the size of Fantasyland by its completion in 2013. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the moderately intense "Seven Dwarfs Mine Train" attraction (shown above) will feature music from the animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and a first-of-its-kind ride system in which vehicles swing back and forth along a twisting track.

"Disney will scrap a pair of elaborately themed areas where guests could dance with Cinderella or celebrate a birthday party with Sleeping Beauty's Aurora. Instead, the two characters will be given a new home together — along with some of the company's other animated heroines — in a new set dubbed 'Princess Fairytale Hall.' The meet-and-greet area will replace an original Disney World attraction, 'Snow White's Scary Adventure,'" the paper says.

Among the features remaining from the original expansion plans: A Beauty and the Beast -themed restaurant, the dueling Dumbo flying elephants ride and "Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid," an indoor ride with animatronics identical to an attraction being built at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, Calif.

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http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/01/walt-disney-worlds-fantasyland-gets-a-massive-facelift/139129/1

Disney Florida Resident Ticket Price Increasing, Too

According to the OC Register, that the price of the annual California “winter deal” ticket is increasing significantly – but with the price, guests enjoy additional flexibility. This afternoon, word is coming in that the Florida resident ticket comparable to the West Coast deal is also increasing.

The 2011 iteration of the deal – the “4 Day Wild 4 Disney” ticket – is now on sale for $119. The same deal in 2010, then called the “Play 4 Days” ticket, was $99. The pass is good for four days of single park admission between January 2 and May 22 (with blackouts around the Easter holiday.) There are no other restrictions on the ticket; guests can choose to go to all four parks, the same park four times, or any combination in between.

Guests can add a “park hopper” feature to the ticket, which enables them to hop from one park to another on the same day, for an additional $27. Likewise, admission to the water parks can be added on for the same amount. The cost of the child’s ticket is the same as adult ticket.

While the price hike is significant, Walt Disney World is still charging less for the pass than they did in 2008, before the global economy – and Orlando tourism – went soft.

Disney price increase does raise a few eyebrows but you can save enough to go to Disney world by holidaying in one of the discounted Florida luxury villas

To learn more about the deal, vist DisneyWorld.com and look for “Florida Resident Discounts.”

Chilean Miners Going to Disney World

The 33 Chilean miners who spent more than two months trapped underground in a Chilean mine are getting a free trip to Walt Disney World in the southeastern U.S. city of Orlando, Florida.

The miners and their families will spend a week at the resort, courtesy of Disney head Bob Iger. Their trip will place at the end of January. It includes not only lodging and admission to the popular resort, but also spending money.

Iger said the Disney Company is proud to welcome "these courageous men" and their families to Disney World.

The miners, who became trapped in early August, were rescued in October. Their ordeal captivated people all over the world, and their rescue was shown live on worldwide TV.

So join these heroes and make your trip to Disneyland to kick start an awesome year booking your orlando vacation villa soon

Harry Potter park chips away at Disney’s dominance

Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and their children had a holiday in Florida enjoying their Florida villas.Also they visited Disneyland recently and took a ride on the Flight of the Hippogriff at University Orlando Resort.


ORLANDO, Fla. — The new Harry Potter attraction at Universal Orlando has drawn huge crowds since it opened in June, while attendance at Walt Disney World stayed flat.

Industry and Florida tourism officials are now wondering if Universal can maintain the momentum and gain some permanent ground on Disney, whose footprint on central Florida is massive. Universal reported a 36 percent increase in attendance at its Orlando parks in the three months after the attraction opened compared to the same period last year.

Everyone agrees that the eye-popping success of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has been a shot in the arm for all the Orlando-area attractions, which had seen crowds drop off in the dismal economy.