Search Results for: blog muppets debut at magic kingdom today

It’s Time to Meet the Muppets in “The Muppet Movie”

Can “The Muppets” really ever come back? Or more to the point, can they ever be really what they were without Jim Henson? Although I enjoyed “Muppet Treasure Island” and to a lesser extent “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” these movies came out when I was a kid and thus I loved them automatically. I agree with many that The Muppets’ heyday was when Jim Henson was still alive. Sure, The Muppets have been carving out their own space in current popular culture with their YouTube shorts. Perhaps that’s the best way to be relevant in the modern era, but short … Continue reading →

A Night at the Magic Kingdom

Many of us had the fantasy as children: we get to spend a night locked in the mall, or zoo, or our favorite amusement park. The details might have differed, but the overall wish remained the same. We wanted to live in whatever counted as our personal wonderland. Now Variety Magazine reports that the Disney Company is planning a film which would play on that very desire. Forget about rides like Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion, it looks like the Magic Kingdom itself might be getting its very own movie. At this point the movie exists in … Continue reading →

The Muppets Make Two Online Cooking Series

You know how excited I’ve been that Disney bought The Muppets. I know some were worried that The Muppets might change, becoming too cutesy, when under Disney’s control, but everything I’ve seen since the purchase leads me to believe that the essential spirit of The Muppets is still intact. More importantly, in the years leading up to the buyout we saw little from The Muppets. What we did, like their last feature film “Muppets from Space,” wasn’t encouraging. As soon as I heard that Disney now had ownership of my beloved puppet troupe, I knew at the very least we’d … Continue reading →

Muppets Debut at Magic Kingdom Today

They’re characters who feel like an integral part of childhood for generations of kids growing up since the 60s. Some members of their extended family living on Sesame Street still hold a dear place in children’s hearts today, teaching them about reading, counting, and neighborly spirit every day on PBS. But overall, kids today don’t care as much about The Muppets. Disney’s finally starting to change that. The House of Mouse added a new wing for The Muppets in 2004, but has done little with the beloved characters since then. They’ve made a few television and direct-to-video appearances in the … Continue reading →

Disney World to Build “Avatar” Park

News broke last month of a new theme park addition to Disney World. It comes in the form of a property that, upon first glance, one might almost mistake for a Disney/Pixar feature. It stars fuzzy blue cat-like people with big luminous eyes, and studies the interaction the denizens of this new world have with the humans who discover them. That previous sentence summary might almost pass as a Disney movie, but 2009’s “Avatar” was anything but. It was a darker story, one along the lines of “The Last of the Mohicans.” But it was a smash hit, so now … Continue reading →

The Great Muppet Comeback

The Muppets are making a comeback. Disney’s successfully integrated them into the parks, but now, backed by their new owner, they’re soon to make a hopefully triumphant return to the big screen. I mentioned their upcoming film in my Muppet article back in January, but now New York Magazine has some details about the film. Tentatively titled “The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever,” (I’m sensing tongue-in-cheek humor with the title) the script sounds like a return to the classic Muppet movie formula. It tells the story of lifelong friends Gary and Walter (the latter of whom happens to be a Muppet) … Continue reading →

Fun for Grown-Ups at Disney: The Richard Petty Driving Experience

Disney World (or any of the Disney parks) is pretty much the ultimate family vacation spot. I can’t wait to make my eventual jaunt to Disney World, but I am putting it on hold until I have kids old enough to go, because it seems like the ideal trip for a family. That being said, there’s plenty for adults to do at Disney World. There’s all the fancy dining restaurants (like Victoria & Albert), the full-service spas, and of course, enjoying the regular park experience just like everyone else. So today I’m starting another recurring column, one that I’ll bring … Continue reading →

D23: An Insider’s Disney

Anyone who’s here at families.com’s Disney corner is probably a Disney fan. Maybe we consider ourselves members in an unofficial fan club. Well, now we can join an official one. Last March Bob Iger unveiled D23, the official Disney fan club/community. The “23” stands for 1923, the year Walt Disney left Kansas City for California and founded the Walt Disney Company with his brother Roy O. You get the usual fan club stuff: calendars, membership cards and certificates, and subscription to a quarterly. Not to knock the quarterly; Disney twenty-three offers gorgeous photographs of and insight into past and present … Continue reading →

Disney’s Quiet Florida Escape

Sometimes it feels like the only Disney attraction I talk about are the parks, especially Walt Disney World in Orlando. It’s one of the most popular locations and a lot of interesting promotions and events are happening there right now, so I do want to share them with everyone here at families.com. But for those who might tire of the hectic crowds, noise, and cement pathways of an amusement park, Disney has an entirely different option: the Disney Wilderness Preserve. The Walt Disney Company created the Wilderness Preserve in 1992, purchasing the 8500-acre Walker Ranch in Poinciana, Florida. In partnership … Continue reading →

Higher Prices, Lower Crowds at Disney World

Things are going up and down at Disney World these days. The first thing that’s up is the general ticket costs. That shouldn’t be news to anyone who’s considered a Disney vacation in the past few years. Every year Disney keeps raising their prices; since the last time we covered this topic, a one-day one-park adult admission price has gone up again. Now it costs adults $79 to visit a single park for one day, and child tickets have climbed to $68. And that’s not the only price hike that happened in ’09. Many of the prices for the park’s … Continue reading →