Marvel’s Iron Man & Captain America Unite to Save the World from Evil on July 29th!

Disney is releasing Marvel’s Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United in digital format (no Blu-ray or DVD will be released). Jeff and I reviewed Marvel's Iron Man & Hulk United last December at the Disney Review at Mice Chat.

Iron Man and Captain America join forces in a new, original animated adventure, "Marvel’s Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United” available only on Digital HD, On-Demand and Disney Movies Anywhere on July 29th. Iron Man and Captain America battle to keep the Red Skull and his triggerman, Taskmaster, from unleashing an army of Hydra Brutes on the world! Enjoy surprising twists and a special appearance by one of your favorite Marvel Super Heroes in this action packed feature featuring the voices of Adrian Pasdar and Roger Craig reprising their roles as Iron Man and Captain America, and Clancy Brown as the villainous Taskmaster.

Have you experienced Disney Movies Anywhere? What do you think about Disney releasing digital-only content?

The Southern Seas and the Ports-O-Call at Walt Disney World

Head on over to Mice Chat and check out my latest article that talks about the Southern Seas and Ports-O-Call, two Walt Disney World cruise ships that really show what the Vacation Kingdom of the World was like in the 1970s.

And yes, if you're wondering why I'm referring to them as cruise ships, chalk it up to nomenclature! They were used specifically for the World Cruise and other cruising activities.

The Southern Seas cruises past Discovery Island!

WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM’S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY Programs, Activities, Screenings, and Special Events

Once again the Walt Disney Family Museum is presenting some amazing events and programs to celebrate the five year anniversary. If you've got the opportunity to visit the WDFM in October, go for it!

THE WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM’S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

Programs, Activities, Screenings, and Special Events

This coming October, come celebrate our fifth anniversary here at The Walt Disney Family Museum! On October 1, 2009, Diane Disney Miller first welcomed guests to explore the life, work, and legacy of her father Walt Disney: an entertainer, risk-taker, and innovator who helped define 20th-century America. In recognition, we've planned a month full of special events, captivating programming, hands-on activities, after hour parties, and so much more. For more information, a full schedule of events, and tickets, please visit waltdisney.org/anniversary.

SPECIAL EVENTS

OUR FIFTH ANNIVERSARY!

Wednesday, Oct 1 | 10am–8pm (special extended hours)

$10 admission after 6pm

On the anniversary of our opening five years ago, we’ll be extending our hours to 8pm in celebration. Enjoy special programming all day long, in the galleries, and in the Learning Center. All galleries will be open and animated shorts will be featured in the theater. We’ll have something special exclusively for members, too. Beginning at 6pm, enjoy treats from food trucks and half-priced admission.

SPECIAL EVENT | Animate Your Night: Haunted Mansion Halloween

Friday, Oct 24 | 7–10pm

$12 members | $15 non-members

Pirates, ghosts, ghouls, and a New Orleans vibe inhabit the walls of the museum throughout this after-hours party. Celebrate our fifth anniversary in costume and enjoy the final weeks of our special exhibition, Marc Davis: Leading Ladies and Femmes Fatales, featuring a selection of Davis’ famous Haunted Mansion paintings. Creepy crafts and feisty food help conjure good spirits for the Halloween season. Look alive!

MEMBERS ONLY EVENT | Tinker Bell Tea with Mindy Johnson

Saturday, Oct 4 | 10am–3pm

$75 adults, includes book Tinker Bell: An Evolution

$40 children 9 years and under, includes a specially chosen book for younger readers

Meet, greet, and enjoy a lovely day with Mindy Johnson—author of Tinker Bell: An Evolution. This event begins with an intimate presentation and personalized book signing in the theater, followed by tea, lunch, and tasty desserts and conversation with our special guest. After lunch, you’ll be treated to reserved seating for an afternoon showing of Peter Pan.

BOOK SIGNING | Mindy Johnson, Author of Tinker Bell: An Evolution

Saturday, Oct 4 | 3–5pm

Books sold in the museum store. Signing is FREE and open to the public.

Mindy Johnson will be available book signing in our Awards Lobby. Our very special guest has achieved success as an author, historian, educator, musician, songwriter, playwright and much more. She will be signing copies of her critically acclaimed book, Tinker Bell: An Evolution (produced in conjunction with Disney’s Animation Research Library and Disney Editions), which was recently honored with a 2014 Family Choice Award.

MEMBERS ONLY EVENT | Anniversary Open House

Friday, Oct 10 | 6:30–10pm open house reception, 7pm presentation

$35 open house reception only | $45 open house reception & presentation

The museum opens its doors to members and their guests for a special evening celebration of our fifth anniversary. Enjoy the galleries after-hours, musical entertainment, food and drink, and an exclusive video retrospective of the making of the museum. Limited tickets are also available to join Disney historians and museum founding consultants Jeff Kurtti and Paula Sigman Lowery for a special presentation about the history of the museum and working with Diane Disney Miller to pull it all together, followed by a Q&A. Our Walt’s Circle donors and Supporter and Friend members are welcome to enjoy dessert during a private meet and greet with Jeff and Paula in the Learning Center at 8:30pm. Presentation tickets are limited.

LEARNING CENTER OPEN HOUSE
Monday–Sunday, Oct 13–19 | 1–6pm
FREE with special exhibition admission
Join us in the Learning Center to celebrate the art and animation created here over the past five years and try your own hand at some of our favorite activities.

Ron and Diane Miller tour the construction of the Walt Disney Family Museum.

SCREENINGS

FILMS OF THE MONTH

In celebration of our five years, enjoy a new screening in our theater every week in October.

Peter Pan

Oct 1–5 | 1:30 & 4pm

Fly away to Never Land with Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, and friends for adventures with pirates and a hungry crocodile.

The Best of Mickey Mouse

Oct 6–­12 | 1:30 & 4pm

Enjoy a compilation of shorts featuring America’s favorite mouse and ambassador of The Walt Disney Company.

Donald Duck and Friends

Oct 13–19 | 1:30 & 4pm

This entertaining collection of shorts stars one Disney’s most beloved cartoon characters and his partners in fun.

Hallowscreen!

Oct 20–31 | 1:30 & 4pm

A spoooooky line-up of hair-raising shorts featuring breakthrough animation techniques and some of Walt’s most memorable characters.

DISCUSSIONS

SPOTLIGHT TALKS | The History of The Walt Disney Family Museum

Wednesday - Sunday, Oct 1–5 | 11am, 1 & 3pm
FREE with special exhibition admission
Beginning October 1, 2009, visitors from around the world journeyed to the Presidio of San Francisco to experience the life story of Walt Disney in a new and inspiring way. On the occasion of our fifth anniversary, join our museum educators as they share the fascinating story of how the museum itself came to be.

TALK | The Walt Disney Family Museum: From Dream to Reality

Saturday, Oct 11 | 3pm

$18 members | $20 non-members | $15 youth (ages 17 & under)

During the crucial period of project development for The Walt Disney Family Museum, authors and Disney historians Jeff Kurtti and Paula Sigman Lowery worked closely with museum founder Diane Disney Miller in determining the overall story and content for the museum’s ten galleries. Join these two leading authorities for a talk about the creation of Walt’s museum, their experiences with Diane, and the challenge to bring her dream to life.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Walt’s Circle, Supporter, and Friend level members receive exclusive, early access to purchase tickets for all anniversary events until the public on sale date of Monday, August 4 at 10am. To reserve your tickets today, call 415.345.6829 or email membership@wdfmuseum.org; tickets are not available for purchase at the museum ticket desk until the public on sale date.

Don’t miss out! Join or upgrade your membership at the Friend level or above to secure your tickets now.

Communicore Weekly Cruising, Show Biz and Boatwrights!

http://youtu.be/yLL3snKijzE

Welcome to this week’s Communicore Weekly (the Greatest Online Show™), where we talk about:

• World Cruise - Take a cruise into the past and check out the World Cruise in this week’s Disney History!
• From Showbiz To Your Biz - George and Jeff talk about Disney’s Hollywood Studios: From Show Biz to Your Biz by J. Jeff Kober for the Book of the Week! 
• Boatwrights holds this week's Five Legged Goat!

Download on iTunes here! | http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/communicore-weekly/id496333443
Direct download here! | http://www.bamferproductions.com/communicore/0132-CommunicoreWeekly.mp3

Call The Communicore Weekly Hotline and leave us a message at 424-785-GOAT! That’s 424-785-4628!

Want to wear your love of Communicore Weekly? BUY THE SHIRTS!!! at http://www.communicoreweekly.com

WYWHW: Mickey and Minnie on Flower Street

This postcard from the mid-1990s reads: Mickey & Minnie enjoy the flowers on Main Street, USA in the Magic Kingdom.

Check out my post at Mice Chat for a look at Center Street to find out what happened to West Center Street at the Magic Kingdom.

Summer of Yesterday by Gaby Triana

I received a review copy of Summer of Yesterday by Gaby Triana (thanks for the heads up, This Happy Place Blog).

So, why am I reviewing a teen summer romance book?

Glad you asked.

Fort Wilderness and time travel.

Need I say more? I'm only a few chapters into it and it's a good read, so far.

From the blurb:

Thanks to a stupid seizure she had a few months earlier, Haley’s stuck going on vacation with her dad and his new family to Disney’s Fort Wilderness instead of enjoying the last session of summer camp back home with her friends. Fort Wilderness holds lots of childhood memories for her father, but surely nothing for Haley. But then a new seizure triggers something she’s never before experienced—time travel—and she ends up in River Country, the campground’s long-abandoned water park, during its heyday. 

The year? 1982. 

And there—with its amusing fashion, “oldies” music, and primitive technology—she runs into familiar faces: teenage Dad and Mom before they’d even met. Somehow, Haley must find her way back to the twenty-first century before her present-day parents anguish over her disappearance, a difficult feat now that she’s met Jason, one of the park’s summer residents and employees, who takes the strangely dressed stowaway under his wing.

Seizures aside, Haley’s used to controlling her life, and she has no idea how to deal with this dilemma. How can she be falling for a boy whose future she can’t share?

The full review will be coming to Mice Chat and Communicore Weekly (the Greatest Online Show™).

Guide to the Magic for Kids by Tim Foster

I received a review copy of Tim Foster's Guide to the Magic and I'm finally cracking the spine, so to speak.

The book is really well-laid out and looks like a fantastic guidebook for young children and tweens to use before, during and after their Walt Disney World vacation.

A full review is coming soon!

Happy Birthday Disneyland!

A great way to celebrate Disneyland's birthday is to read the wonderful Disneylanders by Kate Abbott.

Jeff and I reviewed the book at Mice Chat and we both loved it. It's a book about a young girl whose life is changing right in the middle of her annual family vacation to Disneyland.

From the review:

One of the nice things about Kate’s style with Disneylanders is that the scenes, like Disneyland, enfold you. You can see (and smell) Disneyland in this book.

Grab your copy today. I guarantee that you're going to love it.

WYWHW: Echo Lake at Disney-MGM Studios

Wish You Were Here Wednesday

LAKESIDE TREATS, TREATS, TREATS (ST-7)
At Echo Lake, in the Disney MGM-Studios, you have two great places to meat and eat: Min & Bill's Dockside Diner and Dinosaur Gertie's.

Min & Bill's Dockside Diner

Only in Hollywood could you find a freighter ship offering tasty sandwiches, seafood, salads, snacks and beverages.

Dinosaur Gertie's Ice Cream of Extinction

The architecture is California Crazy, but the flavor is simply scrumptious. Ice cream novelties.

Lakeside

(L-R) Sights & Sounds - Record your own music video! Presented by Selah. Lakeside News - Hollywood's best selection of comic books. (Backside of) Keystone Clothiers - Disney character clothing, jewelry and accessories with a Hollywood flair.

Special thanks to Todd at DisneyParksEarchive for the 1989 guide map descriptions.

Press Release: Little Mermaid Look-A-Like Contest

The world of Cosplay at conventions has grown tremendously over the years. Now, the Burbank International Film Festival is holding a virtual look-a-like contest for Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Send in a photo of yourself in your best Ariel costume and  you could be invited to be part of the event!

WORLD'S LARGEST “ARIEL” FROM THE LITTLE MERMAID LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST TO COINCIDE WITH EXCLUSIVE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF THE CLASSIC FILM IN WORLD FAMOUS BURBANK, CALIFORNIA. 

FANS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD ARE INVITED TO SEND IN THEIR PICTURES OF THEMSELVES IN ARIEL “FAN” COSTUMES AND WIN PRIZES. SPECIAL GALA SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS FULL SCHEDULE OF SPECIAL EVENTS FOR 6TH ANNUAL BURBANK INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, WITH HONOREES INCLUDING THE WRITER/DIRECTORS OF "THE LITTLE MERMAID."

(July 8, 2014 - Burbank, California) The Burbank International Film Festival will be hosting the exclusive 25th Anniversary screening of "The Little Mermaid" on Saturday, September 6th at 12 noon at the AMC Town Center 6 Theaters. Prior to the screening, there will be a special "Ariel” Red Carpet with select fans in attendance invited to pose for a team photo with dozens of other Ariels. In lead up to the event, the hosts are posting pictures from throughout the world of fans' dressed as Ariel, with special prizes awarded to lucky fans.

“We are extremely honored and excited to be screening this timeless Disney classic that most children have never before seen on the big screen in a theatrical environment,” said Jeff Rector, Director of the Burbank International Film Festival, in a statement released today.

To submit your photos of yourself or a friend or loved one dressed as Ariel, please send your pictures to Mermaid@BurbankFilmFest.org

For questions about the event and the festival, check out www.BurbankFilmFest.org/

To purchase tickets for the screening, go to www.itsmyseat.com/events/166715.html

About the Festival:

Our mission is to promote up-and-coming filmmakers by providing a gateway to expand their careers in the entertainment industry. We shine a light on the unknown talent of today, helping them become the celebrated filmmakers of tomorrow. Not only do we actively champion independent filmmaking, we are one of the few, if not the only film festival in the world that offers film distribution seminars to help filmmakers guide their cinematic vision toward profitability.

The Burbank International Film Festival is a California non-profit organization operating as a 501C3 tax-exempt corporation.

Media contact: Daniel Bernstein/Bernstein Entertainment 310-902-2554 dbernsteinpr@aol.com

Press Release: StarWars.com Relaunches!

I've been a Star Wars fan since the first film was released in 1977 and patrolled my neighborhood with a yardstick as lightsaber. The prequels cooled the flames of my fandom somewhat and I admit that I was excited and nervous about Disney taking over the helm. Regardless, I'm glad to see Star Wars making a resurgence and I'm looking forward to the new content being released.

PRESS RELEASE

The new site features:

·      Long-form articles and videos that go behind the scenes of past, current and upcoming projects

·      Exclusive online videos, including a behind the scenes video of the making of Chopper from the upcoming series Star Wars: Rebels, and more to come in the following weeks

·      The immersive Databank, an encyclopedia of hundreds of pieces of Star Wars knowledge about characters, creatures, locations, droids and devices.

·      Details about upcoming fan events

·      Users can log in with their Disney ID to access upcoming special features and digital experiences

·      New, simple navigation and design

·      Rich, consistent experience across all platforms and devices using the same technology that powers the entire Disney Interactive Media portfolio

Droid Designs: Chopper from Star Wars Rebels Comes to Life on Star Wars Video

Doubloon Lagoon Postcard from Disney's Port Orleans Resort

Wish You Were Here Wednesday: Doubloon Lagoon at Disney's Port Orleans Resort

Evoking a bygone era of romance and charm, the hidden courtyards, splashing fountains and lush gardens of Disney's Port Orleans Resort create a welcome retreat. At the heart of it all is Doubloon Lagoon, where "Scales" the sea serpent invites visitors to make a splash!