In the Blogosphere: Disney puts improvements to Fantasyland on hold

According to Jim Hill, Disney has apparently put on hold a fairly major renovation and expansion of Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Take this news for what it is -- unconfirmed reports.

Still, it sounds plausible. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney did have some plans on the board to give some major attention to Fantasyland, which is looking rather stale. Given all the economic mess going on right now, I also wouldn't be surprised if any or all of those possible plans were put on hold.

The next few years are going to be interesting for Disney. With a mega-renovation project getting ready to start at Disney's California Adventure (DCA) and with a slew of new movie projects underway, Disney probably doesn't have all that much capital to play around with to plan projects at WDW. Toss in the falling stock prices and it's anybody's guess what could happen next.

Like the stock market, Disney fans should adopt a "wait and see" attitude.

Tip Tuesday: Using a click-sharpie

It's Tuesday, and that means it's time for another WDW tip. For anyone whose been at WDW and worked to get character autographs, you have encountered some general truths about the process.

1. Standard pens don't work well - characters can't see what they're writing
2. Regular sharpies mark all over the place

When the Sharpie folks came out with the click-sharpie, I knew this was the perfect writing tool for getting character autographs. Many characters have large hands (Mickey and Minnie are great examples), so they have a hard time signing books. With a sharpie, the line is thicker and bolder, so characters can more easily see what they are writing. But sharpies by themselves can leave marks where you (and the characters) don't want them. With the click-sharpie, a character can easily have it ready to use and then retract afterward. No lid to worry about - no fuss.

One note -- DON'T get the ultra fine point - the line it draws is too thin. The fine point is what you need.

Try this the next time you're getting character autographs. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Come back next week for another Tuesday Tip!

Calling all Disney pinheads!

Ok, time to give you a bit more about myself and my wife. In a nutshell, we're Disney pinheads. We love collecting Disney pins. We have a VERY hard time controlling ourselves when we're at WDW. If we had our way, we'd buy every pin in sight!

With this in mind, my wife was browing the official Disney pin trading Web site, when she came across two pin events that caught her eye.

The first is the Museum of Pin-Tiquities event in the summer of 2009 at Epcot. According to the Web site, the event is "presented in conjunction with the Epcot® Committee For Celebrating Disney Pins, The Department of Tradeology and Fellowship of Happy Traders, this event will feature unique Disney pins created for the Museum's opening, Disney pin trading activities, a silent and live auction of artifacts direct from the Museum's vault and much more."

The second is the Haunted Mansion Opin House at Disneyland next summer. This is in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. This looks interesting, though I don't know that we'll be able to go out to Disneyland for this event. I know some real Haunted Mansion fans, who I'm sure will try to get out there.

So for you Disney pinheads out there -- here are two events you may be interested in!

Simba's going to Vegas!

CNBC says Disney's "The Lion King" is coming to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, starting next May. The show replaces "Mamma Mia." This is the first Disney stage show to appear in Vegas.

Just remember Simba -- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! If you see a lion sitting at the slots, don't be too alarmed.

HKDL clears loans - makes room for expansions

CNBC is reporting that Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) has cleared their commercial loans of about $425 million, thanks to some help from the Walt Disney company. HKDL is a joint venture between Disney and the Chinese government, which handled most of the construction costs (estimated at $3.5 billion).

According to a spokesperson, this means HKDL can now focus on expanding the park, which currently only has four lands (Main Street, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland).

I guess this is good news for them. HKDL is a pretty small park, so whatever they can do to expand should help out.

Disney Daddy presents "Tip Tuesday"

In a new feature I hope to provide every week, I'll give a tip for visiting Walt Disney World. Some of these are tips I've heard, others are tips I've learned from my own visits to WDW. So without further ado, here's this week's Tuesday Tip:

Take full advantage of PhotoPass

Now anyone who's been to Walt Disney World probably has seen the PhotoPass photographers all over the parks. What you may not realize is that after your trip, you can go online and order your photos - all on one CD. Now for the tip: while you're at the park, get as many PhotoPass pictures as you can (in both portrait and landscape) - then when you go online to view your photos, be sure to add as many enhancements as you can. When you save a photo with an enhancement (graphic, border, etc.), it saves a copy of your photo, so your original is not changed.

Once you have enhanced all the photos you want, you can order the CD of EVERYTHING. This is the real deal of PhotoPass. The CD runs about $150 or so. Now that may seem like a lot, but it isn't all that much when you think about how much you spend ordering individual prints. Oh, and it doesn't matter how many photos you have. Only have 50 images? Have more than 250? The price is the same. So if that's the case, go for it while you're in the parks -- make that PhotoPass CD that much more of a value.

I've personally done this twice and the CD was worth every penny. Oh, worried about copyright problems when you take a digital image to a printer or photo store? No worries, Disney even gives you a copyright release.

So take advantage of the PhotoPass CD - you'll be glad you did.

Be sure to check back for the next Tip Tuesday!

Depp-ending on Depp

If you're a Johnny Depp fan, get ready to see more of him on a Disney big screen - a whole lot more of him.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Depp will star in Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (Jack is back!), Alice in Wonderland (as the Mad Hatter), and The Lone Ranger (as Tonto).

We can only guess what the topic of the fourth Pirates movie will be, but it's a safe guess the fountain of youth will come into play (see the end of the third movie). I just hope the script is much stronger than the third film.

Other interesting news to report: Cars 2 will come out a year earlier (2011) and Oprah will voice a character in the upcoming Princess and the Frog. While I hope Oprah will bring some additional attention (and revenue) to the movie, I hope she doesn't oveshadow the entire thing.

Also, National Treasure 3 is in development. I guess we'll find out about that other page in the Book of Secrets.

What wasn't talked about much was Tron 2. I can't wait to see this one. Like many Disney fans, I saw the bootleg trailer. Even though the video was awful - the trailer looked incredible. I really wish Disney would make that available.

Oh, and despite what the article may say (in jest), Depp is not the mascot for Disney. That role still lies with the head cheese. Mickey is king.

Kungaloosh! no more

Today I mark a sad note in Walt Disney World history.

The Adventurer's Club (as with the rest of Pleasure Island) has officially closed for good - to be replaced with some kind of retail center. You can follow all the news about this change over at the Orlando Attractions Magazine Blog.

While I never personally had the opportunity to visit the Adventurer's Club, I am sad to see it go. When I first heard that Pleasure Island was going away, I thought "good riddance," I am not a bar and club type of person and I never thought that kind of drunken behavior belonged at Disney.

I guess that's what I get for going on stereotypes. While I may not be able to speak for the other clubs at PI, I've learned that The Adventurer's Club is nothing like what I thought. Since that announcement, I heard so many story and seen video from the Adventurer's Club, that I really wanted to go. Now that the opportunity is lost, I regret not finding time to spend a few minutes to appreciate this place and its loyal followers.

To all those who loved The Adventurer's Club: May you remember the adventurers fondly, may you sing the club song, may you remember the Colonel, may you always play along.

Kungaloosh!!!

New "Cars" short cartoons to air on Disney channels in late October, November

CNBC is reporting that Disney will launch a new series of cartoon shorts based on the successful "Cars" movie starting October 27 on the Disney Channel, Toon Disney and ABC Family. According to the CNBC Web site, the three shorts will mostly feature Mater.

Either way, this is pretty cool. Right now, there appear to be only three shorts in the works, let's hope there's more to come!

What's the Sitch?

About a month ago, Disney announced a new adventure at Epcot -- the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. This sounds pretty cool. For anyone who may have visited a MagiQuest location - I think it's something similar.

Basically, you will get what Disney is calling a "Kimmunicator" (nice play on words) which will help guests on mission to stop all of Kim's bad guys. Most countries in World Showcase are taking part in this adventure. You get clues on your Kimmunicator in order to solve the mysteries.

Short of a whole new attraction in World Showcase (something this side of Epcot still really needs), this sounds like a lot of fun. My three kids are eager to try this out. I have to admit, my wife and I are too. We really enjoy Kim Possible and the wittyness of the show.

Here's the really thoughtful bit on Disney's part: guests who don't want to play probably won't see too much of it. Based on the news release from Disney, it sounds like much of this is discreet interaction with the Kimmunicator (which led me to the MagiQuest analogy).

The Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure is due to start sometime later this year (it had better be before December!!!), so I'll try to have a review after our next visit.