Disney Buys Lucasfilm, Now Owns Star Wars

This is probably the hugest and craziest Disney news story I’ve ever heard, and possibly ever will, I can’t think of anything bigger: this week, Walt Disney Company announced that it is buying Lucasfilm for about $4 billion dollars. That’s right: Disney will own Star Wars. The news is entirely shocking. In the past year George Lucas has announced his intention to retire from film making, or at least big-budget film making, instead focusing on smaller projects. But no one expected him to sell his company (Lucas is the sole owner), and certainly not to Disney. When one thinks about … Continue reading

Disneyland: The Most Sued Place on Earth

I made a strange assertion in my article about the girl kicked out of Disney World for wearing a Tinker Bell outfit: that a lot of people like to sue Disney. It’s something I said because, following Disney news professionally for the past 3 years, I’ve noticed a few lawsuits brought against the parks for one reason or another. Apparently I’m not the only one to notice the trend; The Orange County Register recently published an article focusing on how two southern California amusement parks, Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland, are frequently the targets of lawsuits. The most recent involved … Continue reading

Disney Logo Change

When I went to see “The Muppets” I was so excited for my favorite puppet troop’s long-awaited big screen revival that I didn’t notice something interesting. In fact, I didn’t even realize that this something had happened until December, when all of a sudden a ton of news stories broke about it (perhaps I wasn’t the only one who didn’t notice right away). Disney’s changed its famous pre-film logo again. This time, instead of giving it another animated overhaul, they’ve changed the name. Rather than saying “Walt Disney Pictures,” it just reads “Disney.” The funny thing is, even when I … Continue reading

Why Disney World?

I have talked for years about my eventual Disney park trip. I never got to go as a child, so it’s something I assume I definitely want to do in my adulthood. I figure that I’m an avid Disney fan, so of course I will want to go to a Disney park. When I mention this to my husband, his first question is “yeah, but what would you do there?” As an adult I might want very different things out of a Disney park trip, and my youthful enthusiasm is also tempered by a rational need for practicality and frugality. … Continue reading

Disney’s Comic-Con 2010 Schedule

If there’s one place I maybe want to visit more than Disney, it’s Comic-Con. The crowds at Comic-Con turn me off a bit, but they are part of the experience as much as queuing in line at a Disney park. Since its inception in the late 1970s, Comic-Con has morphed from a smallish gathering for fans of comic books, to the mother of mega-conventions including not only “genre” entertainment like science fiction and fantasy films, but hosting panels on popular movies, television shows, and other media. Of course Disney has a presence at Comic-Con, especially because many years Disney fare … Continue reading

Disney Dithering on Next Marvel Movie Hero

Way back when Disney bought Marvel, a move first announced almost a year ago, a few questions immediately popped to fans’ minds. One of the most prominent: what will the movies look like? Will they take on a classy but maybe too squeaky-clean Disney shine? Will Disney keep their hands off entirely, or will the combination of Disney’s resources with the Marvel movie studio make for even bigger and better superhero films? We haven’t seen the answers to any of those questions yet. While Disney did profit from “Iron Man 2,” due to its release by Marvel Studios, now a … Continue reading

Disney’s New Destination D

Remember when I talked about Disney’s new fan club D23, and couldn’t decide whether or not to join? The price of membership was a little high, and I was mostly interested in the earlier and cheaper ticket benefits D23 members get for the D23 Disney convention. A Disney convention sounds like a playground to me. Only tickets for the convention are open to the public, not just fan club members, hence my indecision. Well, it looks like it’ll be another year before I need to make up my mind. Disney execs have decided not to hold the D23 convention again … Continue reading

Marvel Introducing Line of Superhero Storybooks

When Disney bought Marvel nearly a year ago, many fans were torn as to whether this would herald a new era for the company or a disaster for one of the leading comic book institutions. One thing no one questioned, however, was why the Mouse House was interested in Marvel. Disney wanted a property for boys as prolific as its Princess and Pixie lines for girls, and Marvel provides that in spades. For the most part evidence of Marvel’s new ownership hasn’t been that obvious, at least to the more casual viewer. The most notable change was over the San … Continue reading

Star Wars Weekends

Even I’m surprised that it’s taken me this long to blog about the various Star Wars attractions at the Disney Parks. As I mentioned in my previous post, as much as I love Disney I’m even more of a “Star Wars” fan, so what’s with the hold up? Honestly I’m just not sure, but now that the official Disney Parks blog has announced the lineup for 2011’s Star Wars Weekends, it’s the perfect time to write about them. Star Wars Weekends take place at Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, over the course of about a month. This year they start … Continue reading

Fantasyland Expansion Update

Since I first wrote about the 2012 Fantasyland expansion Disney World has released more information about the upcoming changes to the park. Construction has officially begun, but now that the expansion is becoming reality, we’re learning that not all of the original plans for the new Fantasyland will come to fruition. The Orlando Sentinel has the latest details about the transformation currently happening right now in the Magic Kingdom. While the expansion still revolves around the Disney Princess theme, their section won’t be as elaborate as originally planned. Instead of Cinderella, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Snow White, Belle, and Ariel each … Continue reading