Disney News Round Up: Halloween, Events, and Fun

We are offering meets and events this coming weekend in celebration of Disneyland’s Gay Days. Gay or straight, all are welcomed at the MiceChat events as we hold meets on the 5th and 6th and host one of our famous Free Eye Spy events on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.  Click the link for more information: MiceChat Eye Spy and Gay Days Meet Ups

Kevin Yee: New Meet Minnie at Disney Hollywood Studios Delivers
The newest addition to The Magic of Disney Animation – a Meet Minnie character interaction – is a success on every level. It certainly satisfies on the character interaction level, but what really caught my eye was the level of detail on the hidden details, tributes, and homages in the queue.

Dateline Disneyland: Starbucks opens on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. as Club 33 gets ready for expansion
Disneyland‘s newly expanded Market House reopened on Main Street, U.S.A. last week, officially marking the controversial debut of Starbucks in Disneyland. The addition of the coffee giant brought significant changes to Main Street’s classic Market House shop, making its corner of Main Street a bit bigger and a lot less intimate. Meanwhile, Disneyland’s private Club 33 is getting ready for a major expansion that’s set to bring controversial changes to New Orleans Square.

In The Parks: Starbucks on Main Street at Disneyland
This Wednesday Starbucks finally opened on Main Street U.S.A. after years of rumors and speculation.  Many are happy with the change and many others are not. We’ll take you on a tour and let you decide for yourself if the execution of the new coffee shop fits in. We also explore the idea of Thor coming to . . . Tomorrowland. We also round things out by showing you what is behind the first door on the Haunted Mansion Holiday gingerbread advent calendar.

The Court of Angels, Disneyland Resort.

Change is a ‘comin’, and in most cases it cannot be stopped. Below is some fun information about this lovely corner of the park. Look for a decorative plaque up the stairway in the Court of Angels, it reads:

Musique Des Anges
Music Lessons
Vocal Instructions
Mme. Sally McWhirter
Instructor

Who is Sally McWhirter? Wel, Sally began her career with Disney in the Disney Stores, Inc. in Indiana. She was then promoted to District Manager before coming to work in Disneyland. Here she was named director of store operations in 1995 until her passing in 1997. She died at 40 as a result of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The remodeled Market House has opened in Disneyland Anaheim, to mixed reviews.   We also find a couple of seldom seen characters in Disneyland.  And get ready to get your Disney on for the latest marketing promotion “Show your Disney Side.”~ Aladdin

Epic Trip Report #1! Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Wackyness!
TanyAnnette and friends ended the summer season with trip to the Disneyland Resort for the Half Marathon Event! She even had a chance to meet one of her childhood idols! Her complete report is here!

A Capt Hook trip report for Sept. 24, 2013=Ariel’s new dress and a surprise for me
Capt Hook visits with his favorite character in Disneyland, and also runs into a certain scallywag on Tom Sawyer’s Island!

ATTENTION: Roger Rabbit Makes An Appearance At Mickey’s Halloween Party!
The Disney Ninja lets us know about a seldom seen Disney friend making limited appearances during Halloweentime!. Details are here!

Show Your Disney Side
Every couple of years, Disney’s marketing department trots out its newest campaign, that fans must endure, in advertisements, cringeworthy commercials, promotions, banners, sappy songs and the all too often the infamous ugly decorations. Even firework shows and parades are named to advance these marketing promotions. Do you recall the ‘What will you celebrate’ promotion? How about ‘Year of a Million Dreams’, ‘Where the Magic Began’? Oh, the days when it was simply ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’. Well, now it’s time once for you to get your Disney on and ‘Show your Disney Side’. Whatever the heck that means. Take a look at their latest commercial and tell us what you think!

Starbucks finally opens on Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland Park
Fishbulb has photos and video of the newly remodeled coffee shop on Main Street USA. With this remodel, Starbucks has moved into Disneyland, which is good news for many coffee enthusiasts. The bad news is this remodel emptied out the old facility, and closed up the Disneyana Shop on Main Street in favor of a large queue that will be empty the majority of the day. Has more charm disappeared from Main Street with this remodel? Take a look here, and then tell us your opinion.

Watch Disneyland under construction (Tony Baxter’s 2011 presentation)
CaliforniaAdventurer found this video of Tony Baxter’s 2011 D23 presentation on the construction of Disneyland! Take some time to watch this terrific video!

This week we have some great ideas from our very own MiceChatters! ~ Trekkie Dad

Blending Star Wars into Tomorrowland’s facade
mondo has opened a discussion on how Star Wars could be subtly (or maybe not so subtly) worked into all of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. What do you think?

Jet-Man in Tomorrowland
DisneylandMaster brings us a great idea about the Jet-Man in Tomorrowland! Read his proposal here to create a new original idea!

Happy Birthday to Walt Disney World and Epcot. This week in the forum brings us the 30th of one of Disney’s most beloved attractions, a question about actually signing up for the MyMagic+ testing, and a new pool policy. Take a look and share your thoughts in the forums! ~ YoYoFlamingo

Happy Birthday Horizons
Though it was yesterday with the rest of EPCOT and Walt Disney World, October 1 was also the 30th anniversary of one of Disney’s greatest attractions – Horizons. Wish it a happy birthday, reminisce, and vote for desert, space, or undersea, just like in the old days!

I’ve been selected for the MyMagic+ test, should I go for it?
jade13 recently received the letter to ask about joining the MyMagic+ test. What do you think?

WDW Pools to be Locked at Night
In a semi-surprise move, Disney is looking to fence in and lock the feature pool at all resorts when there is no lifeguard on duty. Smart more or unnecessary?

Photos of popular and wacky merchandise at Tokyo Disney resort
Jenn brings us fun photo-filled look at popular and wacky Tokyo Disneyland merchandise.

Hong kong Disneyland Halloween 2013 commercial
ridetotheworld found a Hong Kong promotional video for Halloween that challenges you to not scream.

Mousetalgia Episode 247: Halloween Time, Anaheim Halloween Parade:

Halloween Time has come to Disneyland, and Team Mousetalgia reports on the arrival of this popular villainous season. But first, we welcome Kevin Kidney back to the show to give some history of the upcoming Anaheim Halloween Parade, and explain what guests can expect at this year’s event and the intriguing Disney ties to this special hometown celebration.

Welcome to this week’s Communicore Weekly,  where we talk about Guest Assistance Card and the new Disability Access Service Card! Leaving the usual shenanigans for an episode, Jeff and George discuss the Guest Assistance Card and new system that Disney is introducing, the Disability Access Service Card, and how it effects people.

HowlOScream
MiceChat brings you a brief tour of Death Water Bayou at Howl-O-Screams in Busch Gardens Tampa.

Starbucks at Disneyland
We look at the Starbucks at Disneyland on Main Street!

Wakefield Report, covers the latest in theme park news! find full notes on this podcast at

Direct Link | iTunes Link

Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast, is giving you the run down on Lee and Tracey’s trip to Orlando in August. They are joined by Darren and Eric to discuss their opinions of all the new experiences and all the classic favourites that Universal Orlando has to offer. Included in the report, we have some “live” reports from the parks too!

Direct Link | iTunes Link

Season Pass Podcast: Doug and Brent interview the President and Creative Executive for The Hettema Group, Phil Hettema! Phil discusses his beginnings with Disneyland and Disney parks, then creating for Universal Studios including the creation of Islands of Adventure, to beginning his own company.

iTunes Link

MiceChat Podcast – For a long weekend in August, all the Disney stars aligned during Disney’s big Comic-Con like event, the D23 Expo. Of course, MiceChat was there and we report back with what we found most interesting. This is our most downloaded show of all time. If you are one of the few who haven’t listened, we invite you to join in the fun:

Direct Link | iTunes Link

Unofficial SeaWorld Podcast, In this episode we will bring you news from all 3 SeaWorld Parks, SeaWorld Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego, along with an incredible interview with Catherine Brown a Sea Lion trainer at SeaWorld San Antonio, talk to Super Fan Becca, and Super Fan Erin who just came back from Career Camp at SeaWorld Orlando. We also have an animal spotlight on Harbor Seals, some inspiring Sea Rescue stories and more!

Direct Link | iTunes Link

Window to the Magic: On this show, we introduce you to our Disney luminary conversation/interview shows, with a trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco’s Presidio.  We join Disney historians & authors J.B. Kaufman & Russell Merritt in a show that we call Pinocchio Part 1!

Direct Link | Direct Link 

Catch The Code and win dining cards, hotel stays and more with V24 Radio!

CONTEST RUNS: Weekdays from September 30-October 28, 2013 between 9am-5pm Eastern

Here’s what you have to do:

Listen to V24 Radio as 4 times per day you’ll hear a voice say “CATCH THE CODE”. This will be followed by a code word. For example, you may hear “CATCH THE CODE! The Code Word is Splash Mountain“.

You’ll then be prompted to e-mail us the Code Word via our Contact Page at V24Radio.com. There will be four different Code Words every day…so you can enter up to 4 times daily…which works out to 20 times per week!

Now the good stuff: What’s in it for you? Weekly draws will be held on our live-hosted show, A Disney Roundtable, 7pm Eastern on Tuesday evenings. We’ll be giving away prizes including Downtown Disney dining cards, Disney Park merchandise, and a stay at one of the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels. You’ll never know which weekly prize we’re giving away, so you’ll want to make sure to enter as much as you can!

Also, if you become a V24 Insider prior to September 30, you automatically get an extra entry into the contest each week!

This all starts September 30 – so make sure you tune us in to Catch The Code! Stream us any time at V24Radio.com!

 

The Halloween season is in full swing and we had out MiceChat Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt on Saturday. Catch up on the weekend excitement and if you don’t mind being spoiled, we have this years Hanging too. Then we travel to Florida and see the size of the Diagon Alley construction and tour one of the tallest lighthouses in the US. ~ DLandFansAZ

The MiceChat Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt meet 2013
MiceChat held it’s Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt Event this past Saturday the 28th. It was a remarkable event this year, so for a great re-cap of the excitement and for those who were unable to attend, here is MiceChat’s haunt at Knott’s 2013.

The Hanging At Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt
**SPOILER ALERT** If you plan on attending this year’s Hanging and want to be surprised, DO NOT view this thread. Everyone else have a blast!

Diagon Alley construction
Melanie1001 brings us a panorama shot of the construction of Diagon Alley and shows us the size of this project.

Ponce De Lon Inlet Lighthouse & Museum
Coasterjunkie takes us on a tour of the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. What a neat trip report with great photos!

We invite you to join us on a very special MiceChat voyage to the Eastern Caribbean on the newest ship of the Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Fantasy.

Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights Event on October 17th. Join MiceChat for a night of fun at Universal Orlando as we survive the zombies in our own rag tag group. You’ll need to purchase Halloween Horror Night tickets with Express access (it will be too crowded to see all the houses without it). For more details please email [email protected]

Inside the Walt Disney World Empress Lilly
I’ve heard the same story from so many people: “When my mom took pictures of us at Disney, she took pictures of us and not of the parks or restaurants!” Before the era of digital.

Disneyland Paris Managers Reveal Official Name of New Ratatouille Ride
Thanks to Alain Littaye of the Disney and more blog, we have some announcements from Disneyland Paris. Park management revealed plans for the Halloween and Christmas seasons plus they announced the official name of the.

Disney Mountains by Jason Surrell
Wearing your lederhosen? We’re going to do some Disney Mountain climbing this week! The Disney Mountains: Imagineering at Its Peak was published in September 2007 and has 128 pages. Jason Surrell might be a familiar name.

Spanish Theme Park Port Aventura Part 2
Today, Alain Littaye of the Disney and more blog finishes up our trip to Spain’s Port Aventura theme park. This European theme park has an American heritage and, according to Alain, the quality is quite.

In The Parks: Starbucks on Main Street at Disneyland
This Wednesday Starbucks finally opened on Main Street U.S.A. after years of rumors and speculation.  Many are happy with the change and many others are not. We’ll take you on a tour and let you.

Dateline Disney World: Epcot Food and Wine Festival Starts Today
Hello, and welcome to Dateline Disney World! This week, we’re taking a look at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, which starts today! We have almost 50 photos for you, so let’s go! If you’d.

An Urban Legend about Walt Disney and Disney Theme Parks
In a few days, it will be October 1. It’s the biggest anniversary date at Walt Disney World. Back in the days when Walt Disney World bus drivers often provided their own commentary to passengers.

Dressing Up for Mickey: Disney Halloween Party Tips
Fall in is full swing at the Disney Parks, and the Halloween parties are one of the most fun events of the season!  While guests can show up sans costume, I think part of the.

Hadden Spaces Out In Tomorrowland!
In today’s From The Mouth Of The Mouse, we talk to Hadden, who worked all over Tomorrowland! He got into Disney VERY young…just a few days after he was born! He has some great stories.

Dueling Disney: Similar Attractions
Sometimes, the attractions at the Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts are the same. Sure, they may have a few subtle differences, such as being longer, shorter, better, worse, and so on and so forth.

Universal Orlando Update – Diagon Alley Details and the Simpson Couch Gag
Construction is happening at a fever pitch at Universal Orlando where we find something new in Jurassic Park and Springfield as well as updates on Harry Potter, Citywalk and the new family hotel being constructed.

The MiceEars Crew can be e-mailed at: [email protected] if you have questions for Anthony our Editor he can be e-mailed at: [email protected]