Diz News - Friday 9.5.08

Parents Get Your Pens Ready

Did you miss out on the “Disney World Mom’s Panel” last year? Well, now is your chance...Starting September 8 you can apply for the 2009 panel. Visit here from September 8 through September 19, 2008 to apply.


Mickey’s Not So Scarry Halloween Party gets a New Look

Guests attending MNSSHP this year will be greeted by Mickey and Minnie will be dressed for a Halloween Ball, instead of his traditional scarecrow costume. The party runs 26 evenings featuring a Boo to You Parade and Hallowishes Fireworks. Guests are invited to dress for the occasion.


Disney Interactive starting Trivia Game

Disney THINK Fast! Will be released later this year for Wii and Playstation 2. Genie from Aladdin will serve has host to test players knowledge of Disney and general knowledge. Players “play” as their favorite Disney characters and get to answer by having the “fastest fingers”. They will also be able to compete in Disney classic movie based locations including “The Little Mermaid”.

Disney at ComiCon - Tron 2 and Time Jumper

It all started out as a one hour panel hosted by Disney, on “Race to Witch Mountain.” Then the audience was surprised with footage from the upcoming Tron 2. Firstshowing.net reported that the footage was “stunning” and features a “light cycle duel” and Jeff Bridges. You can read a detailed description of the trailer on firstshowing.net.

Disney and Stan Lee announced an extension of their original three project deal earlier this year at ComiCon today, they will be jointly producing a multi-platform digital comic called “Time Jumper” featuring a cell phone that allows the user to travel through history. It will be highly stylized with some moving graphics within the traditional panel drawings. This new comic will be offered to the public through Disney home entertainment, publishing and online.

Disney Launches Disney Parks Channel on YouTube

Well, I guess if they couldn't beat em....Disney has not been a fan of YouTube because of the amount of copy write infringement that appears there. Now Disney has launched their own channel on YouTube: The Disney Park Channel.

Link

The site advertises, "Discover the wonder of Disney Parks as you enjoy official Disney Parks videos. And upload your own videos of your family's Disney trips to share the magic that's made them so unforgettable." The site is running a contest to submit your one minute video of your family's vacation to win a Disney Parks trip. I went to the site this evening and had some difficulty signing in. It would be great to watch Disney Park videos and perhaps some of the
Disney programming from the televisions at the resorts. I'm very curious to see what they are showing on the channel.

Disney Overhaul's Website

Last week I reported that Disney is going to allow free viewing of their full length movies on their website, today's New York Times is reporting that this is just the beginning of a complete facelift for the site. With Disney facing stiff competition from other sites geared toward children they are reportedly concerned that they will lose viewers. New content will include more video content, games and cross over applications to cell phones. Disney is specifically looking to increase the time that visitors spend at the site.

Google Earth at Disney World Finally

I was excited when I first wrote about this a few weeks ago but the site was not up. Well, the wait is over and Disney World at Google Earth is finally up. I had a little difficulty downloading the tool but once that is done, you type in Walt Disney World and are off. The interface is somewhat complicated but the pay off is really neat. You can see close ups of many of the attractions in 3D. I definitely want to spend some more time with the tool but after just 20 minutes I was impressed.

Disney and Hulu?

Hulu.com is generally considered an online “rival” to YouTube. The site features online licensed video including movies, TV shows and some sporting events. There is a lawsuit currently going on against YouTube for copyright infringement. Many media companies are not putting things on YouTube because of this infringement. If Disney does place content on Hulu they will join NBC and Fox who currently offer content on the site.

Google and Disney

Two interesting stories on Google and Disney today. Starting tomorrow, Tuesday May 20th Google Earth will feature 3D representations of Disney World (disneyworld.com/3dparks). Eight
photographers photographed every attraction, restaurant and hotel in Disney World and these are now available rendered in 3D for free. Visitors to the service will also be able to find out room rates, make reservations and find out attraction height requirements. Laughingplace.com is now publishing three Disney related calendars, one each for whole Disney, Disney World and Disneyland. Need to know what time Fantasmic is on a Tuesday night six months from now? They
are available for download at laughingplace.com.

Make Way for the Tweens

Today, Disney is going to launch the Nintendo DS Prince Caspian game today. In addition they will be unveiling their Tween Social Networking Mobile Network. The network allows kids to create avatars, chat and share their scores over WiFi. This is just in time to replace the soon to be sadly missed VMK. This will join Disney Xtreme Digital for younger kids and Club Penguin for the little ones. While the article does not address the cost of this service, I'm assuming that
it is not free, as much of Club Penguin and Disney Xtreme Digital are not free.

Sea Raycer new in Disney World Waterways and Fans Petition Disney to keep VMK

Disney announced today that they have new small watercraft at the Disney World resorts, Sea Raycers. From the picture they look like a newer version of the popular water mouse. They seat two passengers and can be rented from any marina on Walt Disney World property.

United Press International is reporting that 11,ooo people have signed a petition to protest the closing the Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) online. However, Katie Gerber, of the Walt Disney Internet Group, stated that the game was set up as an online promotion but that it must come to an end. The game is slated to end on May 21, 2008.

Iger talks more about Disney Online

Bob Iger talked today about Disney's online presence. He said that the company does not see Google and Yahoo as competitors and that they will not bid on the AOL company. He also talked about the importance of social networking sites and that he has a face book page but that he uses a pseudonym. Iger also talked about Disney's online presence and how they hope to grow the company's online presence. There is a LOT of news the last few days about Disney Online. I will be interested to see what is in the pipeline.

Disney Interactive

The Walt Disney Company's online division is expanding it's focus and has created a new team called Disney Online Studios. It will be tasked with developing, "games, virtual worlds and online social communities". The group will include the creators of Disney.com XD and the Virtual Reality Studios group. Cnet news.com is reporting that Disney is releasing a new online virtual world to be called Pixie Hollow featuring the Disney Fairies including Tinkerbell. The site will be similar to Disney's Toontown and Club Penguin.

Virtual Worlds for Kids are Disney's new Frontier and a New York Times on the Effect of the Economy and Strike on Studio Profits

Disney's Club Penguin is drawing big crowds for kids and they are planning on spending $5-10 million to develop as many as 10 "virtual theme parks". Marketers are projecting that audiences for these "worlds" are going to almost triple in the next four years. Disney stands to profit from this site and others in development by having coveted "brand recognition" and may charge subscription fees to the sites. Disney's Toontown and other sites are targeting kids as young as 3. As the parent of an almost two year old I'm not sure how I feel about this...thoughts?

A news article in today's New York Times, discusses concerns that all studios have regarding the loss of revenue in reference to Writer's Guild of America strike and particularly highlights Disney's vulnerability given the country's economic downturn and recession. Theme park revenues declined in 1991 and 2001 (both having to do with economic downturn) however, the parks are attracting a large contingent of foreign visitors due to the weak dollar. A lot of speculation here about the future of production, we'll have to wait and see what happens...

Disney’s Top IT Executive leaves for Microsoft, Stage 9 Production Postponed and Hanna Montana Movie Tickets are Hard to Get

Tony Scott has been tapped by Microsoft for their CIO (Chief Information Officer). Scott was the first CIO at Disney and now will be managing 4000 employees and will oversee systems that support world wide sales for Microsoft.

Stage 9, a Disney production unit charged with developing programming for an online series, has stopped work. Speculation for this change generally points toward Disney not wanting up upset the unions during the writers strike.

Tickets for the The Hannah Montana Movie which opens February 1 and will only run for one week are tough to get. Fandango, an online ticket company, has been selling out shows so quickly that movie theaters are having to add additional showings. Many parents are getting tickets for kids that were disappointed when they were unable to get concert tickets for the Best of Both Worlds Concert.

The Gang's All Here for High School Musical Three, Zac

Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, and Lucas Grabeel have all signed on for the third edition of High School Musical. Rumor has it that the third installment will be in the final in the series and will be released as a feature film instead of on the Disney Channel. No release date has been noted as of yet.

In other HSM news, actor Zac Efron had emergency surgery to remove his appendix at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

Disney Interactive has announced that they have appointed Jean-Marcel Nicolai senior vice-president, global production. Formerly he worked for Atari,part of Infogramers Entertainment as chief technology officer.

100th Marathon, Mom's Panel, Dining Plan Dilemma and Mania

This weekend 51 year old Debbie Lazaroff of Jackson, Michigan will run her 100th Marathon! She has run all 14 Disney marathons and plans to run a marathon in each state. Go Debbie!!

Yesterday at 2pm the Disney World Mom's Panel launched its site. If you go to you can pose a question to these knowledgeable moms and one dad! Some questions appear, at least they did yesterday, to be being answered live. You can also rate their answers as to their helpfulness to you.

Jimhillmedia.com is reporting that Disney World has had some bumps in implementing the changes to the dining plan. Guests and CMs working in restaurants are reporting concerns particularly in the tip not being included in the package. Guests are being encouraged to report any feedback to Guest Relations.

Finally, the Orlando Sentinel published pictures of the new Toy Story Mania attraction scheduled to premiere this year in the Hollywood Studios.

ABC News to Maintain Facebook Political Blogs

ABC has teamed up with Facebook to "promote political discussions" surrounding the upcoming elections. ABC reporters will maintain blogs and commentary with details regarding individual presidential candidates and their campaigns.

Playing Games and the Castle Aglow for the Holidays

Not much in the way of news today. Disney is trying to build its empire by branching further into the video game arena. They are planning to use the same strategy that they employed in music by releasing media on multiple platforms. High School Musical Sing It! and games based on Hanna Montana and the Chronicles of Narnia are planned.

Starting November 12th Cinderella Castle will be bathed in magical light each night to celebrate the holidays. The "castle lighting" will take place each evening at 5:45 p.m. with a show staring Mickey, Minnie, Cinderella and Prince Charming. Who else but the Fairy Godmother will light the castle. The lights consist of "200,000 energy efficient LEDs interspersed with 500 strobe lights."

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Disney Online has announced a new massive multiplayer online game,
Pirates of the Caribbean Online. The game which is formatted for Mac
OS X and Windows users will cost $4.95 for the first month and $9.95
each month after. The game, based on the movies, allows players to
design their own pirate, interact with Captain Jack, Will and Elizabeth
as well as hunt for treasure. There are also opportunities to increase
you pirate booty by playing cards and mastering sword fighting. Pirates
of the Caribbean Online is rated E10+ (for Everyone ages 10 and up).