In the Parks

Good Morning, and hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! Let's get to it....

Year of a Million Dreams to return in 2009?

Are we really going to have the "39 months of way too many cheap prizes" (and a few nice ones). Sarah Tully over at the Orange County Register reported...

http://ocresort.freedomblogging.com/

The suite only has enough room for six people to sleep there. But guests have invited up to 16 people to watch the Fantasmic! show from the balcony. Overnight guests get a two-hour tour after the park closes and receive a gift basket, including a crystal bowls engraved with their names and the dates of their stay.

Disney has committed to 266 nights, but may extend the contest another year.

Eli Manning will finally get to Disneyland in May

Brady MacDonald over at the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Eli Manning is planning to finally get to Disneyland in May, after his commercial that was filmed Super Bowl Sunday.

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/?p=1532

Disneyland officials are working with representatives of the New York Giants quarterback to finalize plans for a visit to the Anaheim theme park, complete with a day parade. The event is expected to take place in early to mid-May; a firm date will be announced once scheduling conflicts are ironed out.

Disneyland was forced to postpone a hastily arranged parade on the day after the Super Bowl when Manning got stuck for hours at an Arizona airport waiting for the skies to clear of corporate jet getaway traffic.

The abrupt cancellation left disappointed Giants fans along Disneyland’s parade route as a team of forlorn Pop Warner football players rode a float sans the MVP down Main Street U.S.A.

Al Lutz's "it's a small world" story gets major Media attention

The makeover of "it's a small world" has got the attention of TV, Radio and print media, as Al's story has been reported at TMZ, the LA Times and Southern California TV/Radio stations.

The most interesting thing, in my opinion, is the poll over at TMZ.com.

http://www.tmz.com/2008/03/20/disney...tinuedcontents

With over 19,000 votes, currently 89% of the readers have voted to not add Characters such as Mickey and Nemo to "it's a small world".

Pixar Play Parade cancelled due to Float Damage

As reported here at MiceAge on Friday, after only 6 "official" performances of the new DCA parade, it has been cancelled for at least 4 days due to the fact that one of the swings on the "a bug's land" float broke off during the March 19th performance.

http://micechat.com/forums/showthrea...ted-92778.html

Nobody was hurt, and hopefully the parade will return for the Peak Easter/Spring Break season quickly.

"Toy Story Mania!" is the official name, but the signage on the building says "Toy Story Midway Mania"

As I understand it...

The ride's OFFICIAL name is "Toy Story Mania!", and will be used on all Marketing, Advertising, Park Maps, etc. (Which is what the "Disney Parks" senior staff wants). For example, the Disneyland Resort released 2 different Press Releases the last couple of days that say "Toy Story Mania!"

http://micechat.com/forums/showthrea...sts-92742.html

http://micechat.com/forums/showthrea...ive-92753.html


But then when you walk up to the attraction, the signage on the Ride says "Midway Mania", which is what much of TDA and some in WDI wanted, supposedly including John Lassiter for the DCA version, the WDW version will say "Toy Story Mania!" on its signs.




Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant to open on Friday

The last of the 6 major restaurants at the new Anaheim GardenWalk is scheduled to open March 28th. Roy's, which is operated by the Outback Steakhouse chain, will be the last of the Katella Avenue restaurants to open.




The full mall, including a large food court is scheduled to open in late May, 2008.

Save Our Anaheim Resort places full page ad in Friday's Orange County Register

The SOAR folks (basically funded by the Walt Disney company) place a full page color ad in the March 21st OC Register, thanking Mayor Pringle and council-members Lucille Kring and Harry Sidhu for voting in favor of making the SOAR initiative law.

Ironically, the bottom of the ad mentioned this website.

http://www.soaranaheim.com/

And last I checked, the link is "dead", and has been since Wednesday.

Photo Time

I had a busy weekend, heading to Disneyland on Friday, Downtown LA and the blessing of the Animals on Olvera Street Saturday, and Knott's on Easter Sunday, including the Church of Reflections service. Here are some selected photos, and of course, plenty more at http://darkbeer.smugmug.com


Possibly the World's Largest Slip and Slide taking up 3 blocks of Downtown LA for a commercial.


Maggie, who came to Olvera Street for the Blessing of the Animals.




Due to the fact that only one Monorail is running, be prepared for limited service, or the fact that will only allow guests staying at one of the three Disney owned hotels on-board.





A look at the current Grand Californian/Disney's Vacation Club addition.

That is it for this week, hope to see you this Sunday at the Noon Meet at the Hub (southwest corner next to the Partners Statue), and then visit Seasons of the Vine for its last day.