Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada – March 23, 2009 – Following its phenomenal success with millions of children and parents around the globe, the virtual world of Club Penguin (www.clubpenguin.com) has opened its igloo doors to the francophone community.
The new French language version of Club Penguin (www.clubpenguin.com/fr) is supported by francophone staff in Europe and Canada who understand the unique cultural references of the French audience and can provide timely and responsive moderation and customer support.
China View is reporting that the Hong Kong government will begin conducting a study to determine if additional funding from the government will be necessary and help relations with the Disney company in an effort to continue with the expansion plans for Hong Kong Disneyland. Article here.
The Best Western, Holiday Inn, Doubletree Guest Suites, Regal Sun Resort, Hilton, Royal Plaza and the Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa, all located on Waly Disney World property, are now offering a Florida resident discount of 15% off the best available rate. Additionally, both active duty and retired military personnel are being offered a 20% discount on rooms through 2009.
After its stellar debut in 2008, the second annual World Science Festival in New York City is slowly coming upon us. While the schedule isn’t expected to be published until April, here’s a formal request for some pixie dust in that Disney will once again be a participant. An introduction to the educational DVD series under the same name, the Science of Disney Imagineering introduces school-aged children to science as employed by Disney’s imagineers in the theme parks and featured presentations by actual imagineers and prominent cast members. Below is a very abbreviated video from one of the World Science Festival presentations featuring Scott Trowbridge, Ric Turner, Asa Kalama, Dr. Ben Schwegler, Amber Samdahl, Dr. Anne Savage and special guest stars Crush and Lucky. For Stitch Kingdom’s photo-heavy coverage of last year’s event, click here.
On a very related tangent, Disney is set to release the next 3 volumes in the Science of Disney Imagineering DVD series on March 30. The new volumes (30 minutes in length, MSRP $49.95 each) focus on fluids, energy and design & models (which promises to give a glimpse into the upcoming Disney California Adventure’s Carsland’s Radiator Springs Racers).
Here’s my dose of Saturday Synergy. I’m playing catch-up on this past week’s television and finally muddling through the soon-to-be-over Life on Mars. In this episode, All the Young Dudes, Sam makes a promise to ‘make it up’ to Annie when he gets back to 2008 (or 2009) from 1973. He’s got a laundry list of hip and current buzz-word laden things to do for her: take her to Nobu for sushi; fill up her ipod with the Justin Timberlake library; and even take her to EPCOT Center to ride Spaceship Earth. EPCOT Center? What you talkin’ bout, Sam Tyler?
(Epcot dropped the Center portion of its name (and the acronym in general) in 1994.)
Seriously though. Even if it still had been called that for the previous 14 years in Sam’s world, is that really the most relevant 2000-ish thing he could offer? How about taking her for a spin on Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney-MGM Studios? Now THAT would have blown her mind.
Certified Assets Management, one of the nations leading rare coin and bullion dealers announced today that “Celebration Mickey” is going on tour and will debut at the Baltimore Coin & Currency Convention on March 26th – 28th 2009. being held at the Baltimore Convention Center.
“Celebration Mickey” is the largest solid gold sculpture ever created in the United States, and the most valuable “Disney” collectible in the world!
Made from 24-karat gold, this one-of-a-kind Mickey Mouse sculpture was created to observe Walt Disney’s 100th birthday in 2001. Designed by Disney artist Marc Delle, “Celebration Mickey” classically depicts Disney’s hallmark character dressed in his traditional button shorts, gloves, shirt, and shoes.
TMZ is reporting on a lawsuit filed against Disney in Los Angeles today citing that Disney’s headquarters in Burbank has forced residents to live in ‘terror of emissions’ and has resulted in the death of Louise Jackson. Report here.
Comic Book Resources has posted several high-resolution pages from each of The Muppet Show and The Incredibles comic books which both hit the shelves next week courtesy of BOOM! Studios. You can check them out here.