Behind the Scenes: Disneyland Performers Prepare for Celebrate! A Street Party

Disney shuts down monorail after driver gets shocked

Disney had to shut down its monorail system Saturday night after a driver got an electric shock while flipping a switch.

According to Disney officials, the driver flipped a switch and received a light shock. Disney took him to a hospital only as a precaution. The driver was released with no injuries.

The monorail was shut down for about 20 minutes, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Disney is early bird on new Twitter service

Walt Disney Studios has become the first advertiser to partner with Twitter on its new Earlybird service.

A new revenue channel for Twitter, Earlybird is designed to provide followers with exclusive deals, sneak peeks, events and discounts for a limited period of time. While advertisers design the offers – deciding on their availability, amount and price – Twitter retweets them to @earlybird followers.

Launched on 6 July and initially focused on the US market, @earlybird has so far attracted more than 60,000 followers.

Walt Disney’s exclusive offer is a two-for-one special deal on tickets for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which opened in US cinemas this week.

According to the Twitter blog, the programme is just getting started: “We’ve got an amazing line-up of deals to share in the coming days and weeks with people following @earlybird.

“Several times a week, @earlybird will help consumers discover Twitter-exclusive deals in entertainment, fashion, technology, beauty, travel and more. These deals will come directly from our advertising partners and from other companies (including Groupon and Gilt Groupe) that already deliver valuable deals to consumers via Twitter.”

Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com

Electrician working at Disney complex in Fla. dies

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Authorities say an electrician working at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida has died after being seriously injured while installing a temporary transformer.
Osceola County sheriff's officials say 50-year-old Steven Snyder of Davenport was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital Friday.
Snyder worked for Buena Vista Construction Company. Disney says he was installing the transformer to supply power to a tent that was under construction. A Disney spokeswoman said the company is grieving with Snyder's family, friends and co-workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been notified and authorities are investigating.

Sorce: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcSevzjw4xIAd2XHBMLRO2RqDligD9GS08F80

Disney loses $270 mln judgment over "Millionaire"

By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES, July 7 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) will have to pay the British company that created "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" $270 million in unpaid revenues from the popular TV game show, a U.S. jury ruled on Wednesday.
Celador Entertainment had sued Disney six years ago, but the case was only brought to trial in May before a jury in Riverside, California.
Disney chief executive Bob Iger said his company will appeal the decision.
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" debuted in Britain in 1998 and came to the United States on Disney's ABC network the following year. It became a ratings smash for the Burbank-based Disney, with TV personality Regis Philbin as host.
Paul Smith, chairman of Celador, said the case came down to competing interpretations of the contract between his company and Disney.
"Clearly I'm delighted, this was a David against Goliath story. I think that very few small independent companies would dare to take on the giants -- we did and we won," Smith told Reuters by phone from London.
Celador had claimed it was owed 50 percent of revenue from airings of "Millionaire" in the United States and also from merchandising tied to the show, such as a board game.
Iger, who was among the witnesses called to testify earlier in the trial, told reporters the dispute all boils down to the contract.
"The judge and the jury got it completely wrong," the Disney chief executive said on Wednesday at a media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Celador's Smith said two expert witnesses that the company called to the stand during the trial testified that Celador could be owed between $200 million and $360 million, but that the jury came to its own calculation of $270 million in the case.
"Who Wants to be a Millionaire" still airs in syndication in the United States, with Meredith Vieira as host. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Gary Hill)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0716808220100708

Disney may start Shanghai park work in Nov: 2010

SHANGHAI — Disney could start building its planned theme park in Shanghai as early as November, a year after Chinese authorities gave the green light for the project, a report said Tuesday.

"Talks on the Disney project are in the final stages and the construction is expected to start as early as November," the China Business News reported, citing an unnamed source.

The park would be Disney's fourth outside the United States and its third in Asia, after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong -- the last to open in 2005.

All major construction in Shanghai has been suspended until after the World Expo ends on October 31 as part of efforts to improve the city's air quality during the six-month event.
The Shanghai government announced its long-awaited approval for the project in November last year after authorities in Beijing approved Disney's application.

Neither side disclosed any figures or gave a timeframe for the project, but previous reports have said the US entertainment giant will invest 3.6 billion dollars in the 10-square-kilometre (four-square-mile) park.
When asked about the report, Disney said it looked forward to being able to announce a final deal and a timeline for opening in the future.

"Final discussions between Disney and the Shanghai government are not yet complete, and detailed negotiations to produce a final deal will continue for a number of months," a Hong Kong-based Disney spokeswoman told AFP in an email.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hfw2b5hnomJzxE35SHlXp91ErOaQ

Trailer for The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Living Statues surprise guests in Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World

These living, breathing, moving "statues" posed and played with guests during part of June and July 2010 in the Pleasure Island area of Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Watch as a red guitar player and a bronze angel get their picture taken with various guests.

Visit Orlando Attractions Magazine at http://attractionsmagazine.com for more about the statues and other entertainment at Downtown Disney.

Disneyland Paris Remember the Magic - Princess Parade 2006

25th anniversary of Tinker Bell's pre-fireworks flight at Magic Kingdom.

e flight. At the time, Tinker Bell had been flying over Disneyland Park in California since the summer of 1961, coasting through the skies from the top of the Matterhorn and over Sleeping Beauty Castle, preceding the park's Fantasy in the Sky fireworks show. But, she had yet to make an appearance in Florida.

It wasn't until 1985 that guests at the Walt Disney World Resort finally got their wish and it was announced that Tinker Bell would perform her first flight at Magic Kingdom Park. The guest response was immediate and a crowd of more than 60,000 showed up to watch the fairy's inaugural flight July 3, 1985.
Originally planned as a seasonal and holiday spectacle for our theme park, the response was so positive that Tinker Bell's flight turned into a nightly event that continues to this day.


Tinker Bell currently makes her nightly appearance at the end of the Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular. In the middle of the fireworks, she appears near the top of Cinderella Castle and flies a distance of 850 feet into Tomorrowland. Her trip takes less than 30 seconds.

Attraction Insider: World of Color control room!

Today, we're taking you behind the scenes and going inside the control room that allows Disney cast members to run "World of Color" every night.

The production uses one of the biggest show control systems ever built. More than 18,000 active points of control are precisely managed by a single system.

In this video, Disneyland Resort Ambassador Danielle DuBois takes us into this technological marvel and speaks with Chuck Davis, Senior Technical Director.

The Fortune Teller on Main Street, U.S.A

Fireworks tradition at Disneyland Resort