Welcome! I have some exciting and interesting news for you this week. Disneyland Paris expansion, good resort news, more refurbishment news, DCA entertainment and dining notes, Monsters Inc. update, holiday shopping and more! Drop me a line at
MegaDisney@intercotwest.com if you have any questions or comments. Lets get right to it!
BREAKING NEWS: In the continuing saga of "As the Refurbishments Turn" some changes to report. The Pirates of the Caribbean and the Blue Bayou Restaurant will be closed for refurbishment February 12 through March 15, reopening on the 16. Also, Grizzly River Run has been removed from the list entirely. Keep in mind that Disneyland.com may not have this information posted yet, and as always, (all together now) "this information is subject to change."
Where o' where has the Cheshire Cat gone?
The Fantasyland paving project will resume on November 26 and continue through December 20. Hopefully they will be able to locate the missing Cheshire Cat, maybe he is chasing mice in the new storm drains! Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Casey Jr. Circus Train will remain open but the entrances to the rides will be narrowed. In addition, construction walls will be in place in the walkway in front of Dumbo and Casey Jr. While the walls are up, guests will need to walk around King Arthur Carrousel.
The fanciful Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle) at Disneyland Paris
The Disneyland Paris Resort is growing. The Disney Studios park, which is similar to the Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando, will open ahead of schedule (a first for a new Disney Theme Park) on March 16th,
2002. Admission will be the same as that of Disneyland Paris, a mere 36 euros, with multiday "Hopper" passes available for stays in excess of two days. Currently the resort has 5800 hotel rooms. Expansion will see eight to nine thousand rooms open by 2003. The Paris resort will become a multiday destination in and of itself, not to mention being near one of the most famous and romantic cities in all of the world! Lets go!
Good news for the stateside resorts. Disneyland apparently is doing a bang-up job of attracting the locals. With all the added holiday happenings and new park, Disneyland Resort business is actually up! A Securities and Exchange Commission report credits California Adventure for the increase. So a park described by some as a " monkey on Disneyland's back" is in reality helping to drive UP attendance. Naysayers, are you listening? Walt Disney World is having a harder time with relatively flat attendance, which is likely due to the decrease in air travel. E-Ticket ride nights are returning to the Magic Kingdom on a limited basis (November 21st and 24th announced so far) which is a good sign. Also good news is the slow recovery of Disney stock. It recently went above $20.00 a share, a level not seen since September 11th. The best news is the overall steady return to "normal".
Some sad news to report, The Walt Disney Company announced on Monday that Jim Cora will retire next month, after a 43-year career with the Mouse. His current role is chairman of Disneyland International, the division that acts as liaison between Disney and the Oriental Land Company, owner of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. Jim started out as an hourly castmember in 1958, and is one of the few remaining employees to have worked with Walt.
The Avalon Cove restaurant at DCA re-opened on November 21. The restaurant will retain its original name (sans Wolfgang Puck) and have some new themeing. The restaurant will feature Disney Character dining for dinner and lunch. Guests will dine with Ariel, Chip and Dale, Goofy, Minnie and Pluto, wearing their finest beachfront resort wear. There will be a "By the Sea" scenic photo backdrop which guests will be invited to use to capture their photo memories of the occasion. The menu will be "comfort food" including fish and chips, chicken pot pies, meat loaf, lasagna, and assorted soups, sandwiches, salads, and scrumptious desserts. Look out Bayou Potatoes, the specialty side dish here will be white cheddar mashed potatoes! A children's menu is available featuring chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs and fish sticks served in a beach pail that's sure to please the little ones. Intercot Moderator Bleen went to a cast taste test and gave Avalon Cove eight out of ten! Not bad, considering all the negative word of mouth Puck received for his on-again, off-again food quality. The Cove Bar has remained one of the best places in the Resort to have a cocktail.
The Hyperion Theatre in DCA, now home to BLAST!
In other DCA news the much-maligned Steps In Time, has been replaced by BLAST!, an exciting concept in live entertainment. The cast are in constant motion, executing intricately choreographed drill movements while performing music on brass and percussion instruments. BLAST! has no storyline but draws its musical inspiration from the classics, blues, jazz, rock and roll, and Broadway. Check out
www.blasttheshow.com for more information about the Broadway version of the show.
Disney Online, part of the Walt Disney Internet Group and creator of the online destination Disney.com, has won four Web Awards in the annual competition put on by the Web Marketing Association (WMA). Disney Online entered in four categories and won in each of them. The awards were as follows: Best Entertainment Web Site - Awarded to Disney.com , Best Family Web Site - Awarded to Family.com, Best Game Site Web Site - Awarded to Disney's Blast (
DisneyBlast.com), and Best Movie Web Site -awarded to the Web site that served as a marketing vehicle in launching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (
www.disney.com/snowwhite) on DVD.
Monsters Inc. continues to be a box office "monster" . Even up against the formidable Harry Potter, Monsters managed to rake in another 20+ million last weekend, with a total box office as of today (11/19) is over 150 million dollars. All I have to say is..... Shrek who? This may end up being Disney's biggest animated release ever! Speaking of Monsters Inc., the new show at DCA is getting rave reviews; try and check it out.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you are aware of the upcoming 10th anniversary of Walt Disney Pictures' timeless animated classic, "Beauty and the Beast," which will be re-released on January 1, 2002, debuting exclusively in IMAX® and other Giant Screen Theatres around the world! The anniversary edition will feature an all-new musical sequence with the original song, "Human Again." You can check out the trailer at
www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/beautyandthebeast .
With the Holidays fast approaching, many of you may be planning on doing some online shopping. You can help keep Intercot and Intercot West online by using the Intercot Store. With cool Intercot Holiday merchandise, Disney checks, links to the Disney Store and Amazon.com, and much more, it is your one-stop shop for the Disney Fan and Intercotee in your family! Check it out at the
Intercot Store or for INTERCOT West apparel go to the
Intercot West Shop .
Have a Disney Week!
Bryant "MegaDisney" McVey
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