Phase One Complete

WDWNT Author on February 18, 2008

Sara K. Clarke | Jason Garcia and Scott Powers, Orlando Sentinel

The first phase of Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Villas time share is complete. Disney last month wrapped up work on the last of 109 units that have been converted from hotel rooms to time shares on the upper levels of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Construction is continuing on the project’s much-larger second phase: A 340-unit annex next to the lodge that has been dubbed “Kidani Village.” Disney says the expansion will include a 120-seat sit-down restaurant, a 4,700-square-foot swimming pool with a water slide and two spas, plus tennis, shuffleboard and half-court basketball, among other amenities. Disney expects to complete the second phase during the spring of 2009.

The Animal Kingdom Villas are Disney’s eighth time share and the sixth at Disney World. The company is in the midst of building new time shares at Disneyland in Southern California and has announced plans to develop a time share and hotel resort in Hawaii. Construction records also suggest Disney is building a time-share addition to the Contemporary Resort in Orlando, though the company has not confirmed the project.

Innovating at Innoventions

WDWNT Author on February 6, 2008

A press release on an exciting new weather safety exhibit coming this summer to Epcot’s Innoventions can be seen at this link. This is yet another part of the complete overhaul of Innoventions exhibits that we mentioned a few months ago here on WDW News Today. We will have more information on this upcoming exhibit as it becomes available.

Spaceship Tierra???

WDWNT Author on January 29, 2008

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., Jan. 28 PRNewswire- Spaceship Earth, the iconic centerpiece of Epcot, relaunches in February with changes and refinements installed during more than seven months of construction and detailing. Presented by Siemens, the relaunched Spaceship Earth looks on the outside like it did when Epcot opened a quarter century ago. But on the inside, Spaceship Earth has undergone changes since summer 2007 that will treat guests to an innovative “interactive” attraction with many new scenes, new costumes and set decorations, new lighting and special effects, a new musical score and narration, and a totally re-themed interactive post-show.

On a trip through time inside the Spaceship Earth attraction, guests discover how each generation of mankind has invented the future for the next generation, and how the spirit of innovation has moved people from caves to the cosmos. During the journey, new scenes depict: a family in the late 1960s viewing the moon landing on television; a massive, two-story computer room of the late 1960s with reel-to-reel-computers; a garage of the early 1970s where the “personal computer” is born; and a “tech tunnel” in which guests become part of a digital data stream. Even scenes that guests have experienced since 1982 have been touched by the project. “Practically every Audio-Animatronics figure in Spaceship Earth has been updated in one way or another,” said Show Producer Bob Zalk of Walt Disney Imagineering. “To make the figures more realistic, they’ve received a makeover of everything from their hair to their costumes to their movements.” Meanwhile, the makeover of the narration and music benefited from some “star power”:

— The new narration is delivered by English actress Dame Judi Dench, who earned an Oscar as best supporting actress in 1999 for her role in the motion picture “Shakespeare in Love.” While Dench delivers the ride vehicle narration in English, guests can also choose five other languages for their vehicle, a Disney “first” – French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

— The new musical score was composed by Bruce Broughton, who has won a record 10 Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy during a career writing in every medium – from theatrical releases and TV feature films to the concert stage and computer games. A 62-piece orchestra and 24-voice choir brings his latest composition to life. As the ride-through adventure nears its finish, interactive touch-screens in the ride vehicles light up with a series of questions, soliciting guests’ preferences concerning things such as where they’d like to live and work in the future. Then guests are treated to a personalized view of themselves in their idyllic future.

When guests disembark the time travel experience, they are invited to visit “Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow” presented by Siemens, where interactive exhibits bring to life the ideas and technologies Siemens is developing to help make the world a better place for the future. The space is filled with fun, interactive games and displays that showcase innovative technologies. Here, guests step into the world of tomorrow and glimpse the future of medicine, transportation and responsible energy management across the globe. Project Tomorrow includes:

— Body Builder, a 3-D interactive game that enables users to assemble a digital human body, simulating the Siemens technology developed to perform remote surgeries. — Super Driver, a driving simulation video game that showcases motor vehicle accident avoidance systems developed by Siemens.

— Innervision, a view into the future of medical diagnostics in the home.

— Power City, a game that demonstrates how to manage power in a growing city. Epcot is the Walt Disney World discovery park, where guests are immersed in a celebration of both technological accomplishments and international cultural achievements.

The 305-acre theme park encompasses two unique worlds — Future World and World Showcase — with attractions, shows, entertainment, dining, shopping and architectural wonders. Epcot is part of the 25,000-acre Walt Disney World Resort, near Orlando, Fla. For more information, guests may call 407/824-4321 or visit http://www.disneyworld.com/.

Siemens AG is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $107.4 billion in fiscal 2006. Founded 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $21.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens’ worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190 countries.

Upcoming Evolution of Pleasure Island

WDWNT Author on January 21, 2008

Christopher Boyd | Scott Powers and Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel
The slow evolution of Downtown Disney’s Pleasure Island continues with the recent opening of a second specialty apparel shop, the impending shutdown of a live-music nightclub, and the anticipated reuse of a long-closed building. Opening shortly before Christmas was a new, two-story shop called Curl by Sammy Duval, named after the water-skiing legend and featuring name-brand surf and skateboard fashions, boards and gear. Closing Feb. 3 will be the Rock ‘n’ Roll Beach Club, a venue known for its nightly live music. Along with Raglan Road, which often features solo musicians or acoustical combos, the Beach Club has been Pleasure Island’s live-music venue.

Nearly completed is the overhaul of a retail and venue building, along Village Lake, which has been vacant since the Orlando Harley-Davidson clothing store relocated and two other stores closed in 2006. Renovations appear to provide four retail storefronts plus side entrances for a multistory venue behind them. Disney officials would not discuss plans except to say something will be announced soon. Together, the three changes are consistent with a more than 2-year-old strategy pursued by Walt Disney World to broaden the appeal of Pleasure Island beyond nightclub patrons. Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez declined to elaborate on plans for the Beach Club building, which features a panoramic view of Village Lake, though she dispelled rumors that the building would be torn down. All employees are being offered jobs elsewhere in Disney World, she said.

The Beach Club building has undergone major change before. It opened in 1989 as the XZFR Rockin’ Rollerdrome, with a roller rink inside. The rink was deemed too dangerous and was removed in favor of a beach-club theme, according to The Official Encyclopedia Disney A to Z, by Dave Smith.

Contemporary Wing Likely To Be DVC

WDWNT Author on January 14, 2008

Jason Garcia : January 14, 2008 : Orlando Sentinel 

Walt Disney World is in the midst of building a $110 million, 15-story tower next to its iconic Contemporary Resort that likely will feature time shares — bringing the units closer to the Magic Kingdom than ever before. Disney will say little publicly about the fast-rising Contemporary addition. The new tower already stands five stories on 14 acres just to the north of the resort’s signature A-frame main building, which was just the second hotel at Disney World when it opened a few months after the park itself first welcomed guests Oct. 1, 1971. But there is ample evidence Disney plans to use the tower for time shares.

Building-permit applications filed with Reedy Creek Improvement District identify the owner of the property as a company called JMSRM Inc. State records show that is a fictitious name created in August 2006 by Celebration-based Disney Vacation Development, parent company of the Disney Vacation Club time-share arm. In a pair of letters, an environmental consultant hired by Disney calls it “a proposed Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Resort at the Contemporary hotel.” And in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Disney, which has built about 2,400 time-share units at eight resorts, revealed that it has about 680 more under construction at Disney World. Disney has only publicly acknowledged one ongoing time-share construction project in Orlando: Kidani Village, an extension of the partially completed Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas. That project is expected to have 340 units when finished in spring 2009 — leaving another 340 or so unaccounted for. Construction records for the Contemporary expansion call for 295 three-bedroom suites. Some could be sold as separate two- and one-bedroom units. Still, Disney will not talk about the Contemporary addition.

“We have plans to expand our Disney Vacation Club business both on Walt Disney World property and at other vacation destinations in the future. However, we don’t have anything formal to announce today,” Disney Vacation Club spokeswoman Rena Langley said. Reasons to stay mum: Analysts say Disney may have strategic reasons for holding back on a Contemporary time-share announcement. Disney, which has invested deeply in the time-share business in recent years, is still in the midst of peddling time shares in Animal Kingdom Villas and Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, both at Disney World. Announcing future time shares now in the Contemporary — which are likely to be hugely popular, given their prime location along the Magic Kingdom monorail and within walking distance of the park — could slow the current sales, said Robert LaFleur, a leisure-industry analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group. Disney time-share buyers, though they own a real-estate interest, do not purchase specific units in individual resorts; rather, they buy points that they can redeem for rooms in the company’s time-share resorts or elsewhere. But buyers must purchase those points from a “home” resort — there are a limited number of points available for each facility — and they are given priority at that particular resort when booking a stay.

“If you’re trying to pitch a sale at Saratoga Springs or trying to pitch a sale at the Animal Kingdom, and somebody’s aware that a year from now there’s going to be stuff available in the Contemporary . . . that would cannibalize your other sales, I would think,” LaFleur said. It is also possible that Disney could decide against marketing the Contemporary addition as time shares and use the building for more hotel rooms instead. Company executives said recently that Disney World hotels are averaging 90 percent occupancy, and the Contemporary commands some of the highest room rates of them all: A one-bedroom suite can run as high as $1,310 a night. “I know [Disney has] talked about a tower there for a long, long time,” even before the company’s interest in time shares, said Reedy Creek District Administrator Ray Maxwell.

The Contemporary addition is sure to be a lavish one. Records say the crescent-shaped tower will include a host of amenities, including a swimming pool and water-play area with an outdoor bar and a water slide; a spa; tennis courts; a barbecue pavilion; and a 499-person lounge on the 15th floor featuring a restaurant and bar. The new tower will be connected to the main building by a pedestrian bridge. The project price tag: $109.6 million with completion likely in 2009. According to development records, Disney broke ground on the expansion in January 2007. The construction, which began with the demolition of an older, three-story wing of hotel rooms, is expected to take about 32 months. That would put the completion date about September 2009.

The construction comes with Disney already in the midst of a major time-share building boom. Last fall, Disney announced that it will build an 800-room resort in Hawaii in which at least half of the rooms will be time shares and that it will add 50 two-bedroom villas to Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, which will be the first time shares at Disney’s original resort. Disney Vacation Club President Jim Lewis has also said that the unit is considering projects in Lake Tahoe and the Caribbean. The company currently has six time-share locations at Disney World and one each in Vero Beach and Hilton Head, S.C.
Time shares have blossomed across the hotel industry. Jeremy Glaser, an analyst with Morningstar, said they are especially lucrative for a company such as Disney because time shares lock in future trips to its theme parks. “They’re going to make money from your park admission and all of that ancillary money you’re going to spend every time you come to Orlando,” Glaser said. “They have an added bonus to get you to commit to taking vacations there for years.”

It’s Done!

WDWNT Author on December 21, 2007

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Epcot’s iconic white sphere, Spaceship Earth, closed for nearly six months, will reopen to the public Friday with a new story line and digital enhancements. The show’s producer Bob Zalk says the new story is about innovations and how they inspire the next generation. The ride features new show scenes, lighting effects and costumes with a new musical score narrated by Judy Dench. The ride’s vehicles remain the same, but include new touch screens. There will also be an interactive component. Disney officials expect to make minor changes before the ride’s formal reopening in February.

Attempted Rape At Pop Century

WDWNT Author on December 19, 2007

Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer 3:59 PM EST, December 18, 2007
A guest staying at Walt Disney World’s Pop Century resort narrowly avoided being raped last Friday evening, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. The woman was walking about 5:50 p.m. on a path when a man pushed and knocked her to the ground in 4-feet-tall bushes. The man immediately reached into the pockets of her shorts and snatched her room key, states an incident report released on Tuesday. Details of how the woman escaped have not been released.
She returned to her room about 6 p.m. but could not open the door because her key had been bent in the attack. She alerted her husband sleeping inside by screaming and pounding on the locked door, the report states. The husband had a hotel worker call 911, while he ran to the resort’s pool area in search of the attacker, the report states. At least 11 sheriff’s patrol cars responded to the call and remained parked outside the hotel until late Friday night, a tourist from Texas told the newspaper. The attacker was described by the victim as a tall, light skin black man, 190 pounds, 40 to 50 years old, with short, clean-cut black hair, brown hair, and wearing a clean, short-sleeve white shirt with dark pants. On Tuesday, members of the sheriff’s Sex Crimes unit continued to search for the suspect.

Man Dies Riding Everest

WDWNT Author on December 19, 2007

Scott Powers | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer 6:06 PM EST, December 18, 2007

A 44-year-old man has died after riding the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Disney’s Animal Kingdom today. Jeffrey Reed, of Navarre, was unconscious and unresponsive when his ride vehicle pulled into the unload area, around 11:25 this morning. Another park guests who is a registered nurse and a Disney employee began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until Reedy Creek Emergency Services paramedics arrived and took over, said Assistant Fire Chief Bo Jones. The man had no pulse when paramedics arrived, Jones said. There was no apparent trauma and “no obvious signs of any cause,” Jones said. The paramedics transported him to Celebration Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Walt Disney World officials said the ride was inspected this morning and was operating properly, but is currently closed while Disney officials reconfirm the ride’s status. The Florida Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office were notified. A Disney spokeswoman said the company has offered the man’s family “our deepest sympathies” and offered assistance.

The death is the first associated with the roller coaster Expedition Everest, which opened in early 2006. That ride includes tight twists and turns and some backwards travel but is not a particularly fast or steep roller coaster and has no loops. The death is the third death associated with a Disney attraction this year and the first since March, when a man died after collapsing at the Downhill Double Dipper at Blizzard Beach.

World’s Finest

WDWNT Author on December 18, 2007

Christopher Boyd | Scott Powers and Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writers

December 17, 2007

Walt Disney World, the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean International were among scores of winners of World Travel Awards announced recently. Based on thousands of votes online from 167,000 travel agents and tourism professionals eligible to vote, Disney World emerged as the world’s leading theme-park resort; the Orlando CVB, the leading convention bureau; Carnival, the leading cruise brand; and Royal Caribbean, the leading cruise line.

The 14th annual awards were presented by World Travel Awards, an independent company, at a gala last week at The Beaches Turks and Caicos Resort and Spa in the Caribbean. Among other winners, British Airways was chosen world’s leading airline; Grace Bay Beach in Turks and Caicos, the leading beach; Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, the leading golf resort; Singapore Changi Airport, the leading airport; and London, the leading destination (an award won in 2006 by Orlando).

Regional awards also were presented. Among them, Orlando was chosen North America’s leading tourism destination. The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin was named both the leading convention hotel and the leading resort hotel. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau beat out the Orlando bureau as North America’s leading tourist-and-convention bureau. New York JFK Airport was picked as the continent’s leading airport. JetBlue Airways was voted the leading budget airline, Delta Air Lines the leading business-class airline, and American Airlines the leading overall airline. The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Ariz., was chosen the continent’s leading golf resort.

Football Teams Update

WDWNT Author on December 17, 2007

www.mouseplanet.com is reporting the following:

We’ve got a lot more information about the Pop Warner fight at the All-Star Music Resort than we had last week. In the incident, the Westport Patriots of Baltimore got into a fight with the Kahalu’u Hei’eia Broncos of Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii and the Waianae Tigers of Waianae, Oahu, Hawaii. A Disney cast member familiar with the situation informed MousePlanet that the All-Star Music front desk received a call at around 11:45 p.m. Friday night that there was an altercation at the arcade, and that there were 90-100 teenagers involved in a serious fight. There were reports of adults hitting kids. Three security guards and a security manager responded and broke up the fight after midnight. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office was called and deputies interviewed participants to try to determine how the incident started. Due to conflicting stories, no charges were lodged. All of those involved were sent back to their rooms. The members of the three teams involved were all disobeying the Pop Warner “quiet hours” curfew that began at 10 p.m., as noted in a Disney information packet sent to all participating teams.

Around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, the fight started again in buildings 3 and 6, with approximately 100-110 people involved. The front desk was called by families not involved with Pop Warner, claiming that it was close to riot conditions and that they wanted to check out immediately to get away from the situation. Sheriff’s deputies, along with Disney security staff, stopped the fight again. One boy from the Kahalu’u team had his nose broken and went to the hospital. There were no other reported serious injuries.

Pop Warner football commissioner Sam Mutz and others from the organization were called to the scene. After evaluating the situation, Disney and Pop Warner made a joint decision at around 2:20 a.m. to evict the teams from the resort, rather than ban them from Disney property entirely. With about 140 people in total evicted and 100-110 involved in the fracas, there were perhaps only 30-40 people who had to be woken up when the decision to evict them was made.

The Pop Warner representatives called around to find alternate lodging for the teams, and found space at the Legacy Grand and Holiday Inn. Disney paid for the teams to be transported to their new lodging. They had a fleet of cabs lined up, and the last cab left just before 5 a.m.

The situation was apparently anticipated by the Pop Warner organization, as a packet sent out months ago to participants in the tournament included a memo from Pop Warner Executive Directory Jon C. Butler to all Pop Warner Association, League and Regional officers that warned:

As Pop Warner’s events grow and attract more media attention, each of us has a duty to make sure that ALL of the people at those events represent Pop Warner appropriately.
We’ve had serious behavior problems at past Pop Warner Super Bowls at WALT DISNEY WORLD. This note gives you and your participants, young & old, players & coaches, parents & fans fair warning that such problems have not been tolerated in the past, and certainly will not be tolerated this year. Teams have been disqualified, and, in one case, sent home early at their increased expense.
Every Pop Warner Association is accountable for its players, cheerleaders, coaches, administrators, parents and others from your area at all Regional and National events. Any incidents of unacceptable behavior from any person(s) affiliated in any way with your Association will mean:

  • A possible immediate ejection from the Pop Warner Super Bowl events and WALT DISNEY WORLD® property. The persons involved risk forfeiting hotel and other deposits. Revised Air reservations/ ticket payments will be your problem, not ours nor Disney’s.
  • Possible lifetime ban from Disney World.
  • An AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION from all Regional and National events for all teams/squads from that Association for one full season.
  • Possible suspension and/or probation from coaching or administering within Pop Warner.

Each Association is responsible for those who represent it. So is each League. So is each Region. If repeated problems occur within a particular Association, League or Region, additional measures will be taken.
Pop Warner is a family. Let’s all act like it. If our Pop Warner family behaves well, then everyone—whether part of Pop Warner or not—will respect us.

This was echoed in a statement from Walt Disney World spokesman Jacob DiPietre, who said, “This incident was unfortunate but with thousands of Guests at the Resort we have to maintain a safe environment for everyone. We have a no-fighting policy that is shared with Pop Warner. Anyone fighting is subject to disqualification from the competition and eviction from the resort. We were in contact with both law enforcement and Pop Warner throughout the event.”

With both sides telling conflicting stories, it’s unlikely that the true cause of the fight will come to light. It appears that the altercation started between the Westport and Kahalu’u teams, with the Waianae team coming to the aid of its Hawaiian compatriots. The Westport team had won the Midget Division II Warner Conference title earlier on Friday. The Kahalu’u squad took the Midget Division II Tomlin Conference consolation title on Friday, and the Waianae team was finished on Wednesday, having lost both of its games in the Midget Division I playoffs. The Midget teams were composed of youths approximately 12-15 years of age.

One of the Westport coaches told the Baltimore Sun that he was upset that the fight overshadowed the team’s win. “It’s unfortunate that it had to happen like this,” he said. “It’s getting me down. We work hard to keep these kids out of trouble and now this one moment is going to dominate the entire season.” Despite the organization’s Web site noting that “Pop Warner is committed to developing America’s young people on the field and off,” it seems that some coaches still believe off-field behavior takes a back seat to on-field results.