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1902: Animator and Disney Legend William Norman Ferguson (created Pluto and the Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) is born in New York City, NY. 1903: Animator Hugh Harman (worked on the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) is born in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. 1905: Animator, Disney Legend, and one of the [...]

Friday, Michael Phelps will get a hero’s welcome during a special “America’s Homecoming Parade” at the Magic Kingdom according to People Magazine. A Walt Disney World representitive called it a “a star-spangled salute amidst confetti and thousands of flag-waving fans.”

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that The Walt Disney Company will be teaming up with the Florida Hospital to create the Disney Children’s Hospital at Florida Hospital in Orlando. In the rooms are video games, in the lobby are familiar Disney characters (foremost of which is a 6-foot Baloo), various nature scenes can be shown [...]

Walt Disney World is in the process of improving the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The broadest campground-improvement steps taken in 20 years will include extra-extra-large camper pads for RVs, more cable-TV and Internet service hookups (there are currently three WiFi hotspots on the grounds), Segway scooter tours, a mini-water park, a [...]

1908: Actor Fred MacMurray (The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, The Happiest Millionaire) is born in Kankakee, Illinois. 1913: Cartoonist Walt Kelly (Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Fantasia) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1916: Actor Hal Smith (Phillipe in Beauty and the Beast, Owl in Winnie the Pooh, the voice of Goofy) is born in Petoskey, Michigan. [...]

News stories from this episode of the podcast: Tropical Storm Fay has been a concern for WDW. The resort has been opening up parks a bit earlier to ensure guests get some extra time at the parks. Some cast members dressed in Disney character costumes (not all of which were real costumes) were arrested for [...]

Market Watch is reporting that a new, interactive attraction is coming to Epcot. This new attraction, based on Disney Channel’s award winning series “Kim Possible”, will take guests on an adventure through Epcot’s World Showcase. In this high tech adventure, guests will receive a “Kimmunicator” which will help them through the mission. This device not [...]

Talk about living in the public eye. The United Press International is reporting that the Walt Disney Company, along with the Cyrus family, is planning on hosting the teen pop starlet’s Sweet 16 party. The event, called “Miley’s Sweet 16–Share the Celebration”, will be hosted by Disneyland on October 5th and will have a double [...]

Wired is reporting that Disney is taking their Mobile site to a whole new level. While games and websites on cellphones aren’t a new idea, the media giant is about to launch a site targeting 9-14 year olds with ringtones and wallpaper based off of hit shows/movies. Also, the new Disney Mobile site will include [...]

Guests at the Walt Disney World Resort will be able to get into the parks a bit earlier tomorrow. All four parks will open at 8 am, DisneyQuest at 9am, and the AMC Theatres at Downtown Disney opening at 10 am. This move has been made in order to let guests enjoy an extra hour [...]

1786: Congressman and explorer Davy Crockett is born in Greene County, Tennessee. 1905: Animator Robert W. Youngquist (Fantasia, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone) is born in Illinois. 1907: Radio actor Alan Reed (Boris in The Lady and the Tramp) is born Edward Bergman in New York City. 1922: Actress Shelley Winters (Lena [...]

If you’re planning a trip to WDW during the next week, keep an eye on the weather. Tropical Storm Fay (Soon to be Hurricane Fay) is set to ride straight up the Floridian Peninsula and into Georgia. Therefore, all major cities in the state should keep an eye out for the storm to come ripping [...]

News: Disney is opening up two new Research & Development labs that will focus on robotic and virtual theme park characters. McDonald’s is shutting down restaurant locations at the Disneyland, CA resort. Disneyland is shutting down The Vineyard Room restaurant at their California Adventure park. Disney launched a new website for their Disney Animation group. [...]

Hundreds of maids, cooks and dishwashers from the Disneyland Hotel, the Paradise Pier Hotel, and the Grand Californian, walked out signifying their protest of what they called an unfair labor proposal in the latest negotiations for new contracts (which expired in February). Their union stated that Disney’s latest proposal makes health care unaffordable and creates [...]

Adventures by Disney, the out-of-the-park Disney experience, will be adding eight new itineraries as of spring 2009. Included in the new line up are tours of Alaska; the Galapagos Islands; Capetown and Kapama Game Reserve (South Africa); Stresa, Zermatt and Lake Lucerne (Italy and Switzerland); Boston, Newport, R.I., and New York City (New England); Sorrento [...]