Disney Announces 100 Years of Magic

[Sarangel]

Disney announced some of the details of the upcoming 100 Years of Magic event that will begin 10/1/01. The event will be centered at Disney/MGM studios.

The new entertainment will feature "Disney Stars and Motor Cars" -- a daily parade of customized cars loaded with Disney characters at Disney/MGM Studios; life-sized snow globes containing Disney characters in a parade at Magic Kingdom; and "Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade" at Animal Kingdom. A parade featuring new characters called dream spinners will replace Tapestry of Nations at Epcot.

The event also will include several shows and exhibits tracing Disney's and Walt's history.
----------------------------------------
Source: Orlando Sentinel

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

He should have never been stored away in the first place!!! Ei$ner should have "Remembered the Magic". Or at least who invented it!!

The event will be centered at Disney/MGM studios.

Why? I mean why at what is CLEARLY an Ei$ner style park? Very nice, but hardly Walt-like. I would think that Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom would be the likely spots to celebrate Walt's birthday. As long as it's MGM here, why not center the west coast festivities around DCA? It make about as much sense to me.

And from the article itself:

"I think it's somewhat of a challenge because you're celebrating a man's 100th birthday party and he's been gone quite awhile," said former Disney executive and Orlando leisure industry consultant Steve Baker.

WHAT!!??!!?? Well maybe if they didn't get rid of the Walt Disney Story they wouldn't have to educate a generation of fans. Which leads me neatly to the next bit:

The event also will include several shows and exhibits tracing Disney's and Walt's history.

Hmmm. Sounds like the Walt Disney Story. Maybe… Could it be… Would they… Nah! For a hot minute there I forgot who was in charge!

The celebration also will tout new attractions and shows such as The Magic Carpets of Aladdin in the Magic Kingdom; Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama!, featuring two new rides, in Animal Kingdom; and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire -- Play It!" in Disney-MGM Studios.

Now that's a lot of WOW power! I can hardly wait. (for those of you who don't me, sarcasm, very much, intended)

 

[pnelson]

Most people will disagree with me, but I wish they were doing something to commemorate their 30th anniversary instead.

 

[Werner Weiss]

In response to the line, "The event will be centered at Disney/MGM studios," DVC-Landbaron wrote:

Why? I mean why at what is CLEARLY an Ei$ner style park? Very nice, but hardly Walt-like. I would think that Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom would be the likely spots to celebrate Walt's birthday. As long as it's MGM here, why not center the west coast festivities around DCA? It make about as much sense to me.

The Walt Disney Company learned something during the "Remember the Magic" 25th anniversary of Walt Disney World. The event was very successful at increasing attendance at the Magic Kingdom -- the park that was already the busiest and most crowded -- while attendance at Epcot and Disney-MGM didn't benefit from the event. So, for the Millennium event, Disney put the focus on Epcot, which normally operates well below its capacity. The Millennium gave Epcot a good boost.

For the "100 Years of Magic," it appears that Disney will focus on Disney-MGM, but will spread the event over all four parks in hopes of getting guests to visit all the parks.

By the way, I won't be surprised if the West Coast focus for "100 Years of Magic" is DCA, for the same reasons the Main Street Electrical Parade -- I mean "Disney's Electrical Parade" -- is going to DCA instead of Disneyland.

And, in fairness to Disney, it actually does make sense to honor Walt Disney at the movie studio theme park. He was, after all, first a filmmaker. (By the way, DCA also has a movie studio section.) I just hope that the spotlight will be on the creative works of Walt Disney, from his earliest pre-Mickey Mouse works onward -- not just on whatever The Walt Disney Company is releasing in the theaters or showing on television next year.

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

Great post Werner Weiss!! I have changed my mind. You are right, MK doesn't need any more crowds. And I think you are also right that we will see much about current movies, TV, etc. and very little history. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[HBK]

Most people will disagree with me, but I wish they were doing something to commemorate their 30th anniversary instead.

I agree with you there....I'm not big on celebrating birthday's of the deceased.

Just my personal taste.

 

[YoHo]

But 30 years is such a bogus aniversary, Walt Disney was a legend in his own time. Without Walt Disney there would be no Disney company. I mean, I'm going a bit extreme here, but to me, you either celebrate his hundreth or you Pave over the parks, because if you aren't celebrating the source of the magic, you don't understand how the magic came to be there.

Just my opinion.

 

[Safari Steve]

There are some Cast seminars scheduled for the next couple of weeks involving "Disney Animation Before the Mouse." We have these kinds of things all the time in our "Centers of Excellence." as well as discussions with execs, WDI, and WDFA. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these types of educational activities become available to guests in one form or another.
Also, (and here's something concrete!) CM nametags will become conversation starters for the 100 Years Celebration. The CM hometown on each tag will be replaced with a word or phrase picked by the CM from a list of 100 to represent the individual's favorite or earliest Disney memory (choices include "Mickey Mouse Club", Eeyore, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, "Davy Crockett", and "Zorro TV Show" among others.) I still haven't decided on mine, but I think it'll either be Magic Kingdom or "Dumbo". I hope that one takes off as quickly as the pin trading did!

 

[Testtrack321]

I HATE how there adding these new things to ToN!!!! It kinda sounds like they are mixing JII with ToN! But if you got your Diz Mag there are pictures of the new vehicles in Mickey's Jammin Jungle (they look pretty cool!)

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

I think it's nice that they are paying a little attention to their culture. Creating a new "Walt Disney Story" is good for everyone. Nice job to Disney on that one. I hope that the exibits are done with quality and respect.

It's too bad that we don't have a new E-ticket, but I will take the parades and entertainment!

I really agree that the Studios is the place to have this. MK doesn't need any more crowds. AK isn't open late enough and EPCOT just hosted the 2000 stuff.

These are the kind of decisions that make sense!!!!!

We will get to check them out in November.