Rumors about Disney opening a new park in Shanghai has caused a run on property in Shanghai with people opening businesses and expanding homes according to the Wall Street Journal. Residences of Jinjia, a Shanghai village, believe that by expanding their homes and opening businesses, Disney and the local government will be offering relocation compensation paying by the square footage of a home and the number of trees it has.
Disney spokeswoman Leslie Goodman said there is “no agreement and no deal” for a Disney park in Shanghai but many rumors persist saying the park will be opening in 2012.

Walt Disney World has released the American Idol Experience web site. The web site gives guests an overview of what the attraction will be about along with videos and news updates about the American Idol Experience. The attraction is currently scheduled to open January 2009.

Walt Disney World’s Online calendar is indicating that Fantasmic! is not being scheduled for daily showings for the month of January.  When looking through the calendar, you can note that the show is only scheduled for a few days a week.  Currently, the show is run daily and on some days twice daily.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the ‘Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends‘ show is closing at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The show will have its final showing on September 27, 2008; no replacement has been announced. The 28-member crew have been reassigned and 3 of the actors have to audition for other positions.

WFTV is reporting that a Lake County, Florida, family owned clown company is being sued by the Walt Disney Company for $1,000,000 due to trademark infringement for their use of Tigger, Eyeore, and Pooh at their clown parties. The company, ‘Kool Klown Party People‘, purchased costumes of Tigger, Eyeore and Pooh from an eBay user in Peru and advertised them on their website, MySpace page and CraigsList for parties. When Disney found their website, they sent three notices to the company to send the costumes to Disney so they can be destroyed. The company instead returned them to the eBay user in Peru which caused Disney lawyers to say they were acting in bad faith.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Walt Disney World is upset over expired FastPass tickets being sold on eBay. Disney has contacted eBay about this but eBay is refusing to do anything about them. Expired FastPasses are not supposed to be accepted at attractions, but the on-line sellers claim that Disney is not enforcing the rules.

“Since there are no laws prohibiting the sale of expired tickets, listings for expired tickets are allowed,” eBay spokeswoman Catherine England said. “eBay does not enforce third-party contracts, so it’s up to whoever issues the tickets [in this case, Disney] to enforce the terms and conditions they’ve defined for their tickets.”

FastPasses are now being date and time stamped along with notices that they are “NOT FOR SALE,” “Valid only on date printed” and “Nontransferable.” A Disney spokeswoman said that attraction attendants are instructed to reject any FastPass not stamped with the current date and do not have perforated edges. Disney has also been testing bar codes on the FastPasses and bar-code readers at some attractions.

The Ticket And Transportation Center has added a new coffee, espresso and pastries shop between the Monorail station and the Magic Kingdom ferry. Photos of the booth are available at the Orlando Sentinel’s web site.

Edwin Sotomayor, a security guard at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, is challenging Disney on their stance that the park is exempt from the new gun law passed in Florida. Sotomayor has been suspended from his job after he refused to allow Disney managers and Orange County Sheriff Deputies search his car. Managers drove Sotomayor to their offices, questioned him then sent him to his normal job. After four hours, managers told him he was suspended. Disney said that Sotomayor was suspended because he wouldn’t cooperate with their investigation.

Sotomayor has indicated he is willing to test the new law even if he loses his job over it. He says he is testing the law on his own case and not for groups like the National Rifle Association.

(Additional Information: WFTV, WESH)

Cast Members will not be able to store their hand guns on Disney property in Florida despite the law passed in Florida, ‘Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008‘, allowing employees to store hand guns in their cars at work. Disney says that language in the bill creates exceptions for companies who manufacture, use, store or transport explosives that are regulated under federal law; Disney falls into this category due to the fireworks it uses. This allows Disney to ban hand guns in all their properties except for the Vero Beach Resort, Disney Cruise Line’s crew parking lot and a few other properties around Florida.

State Senator Durell Peaden, one of the authors of the bill, was stunned by Walt Disney World’s position and unhappy about the loophole they are using. “I intended it to exempt places like defense plants, Air Force bases, things like that,” said Peaden, “But not Disney. Not at all.”

Universal Studios Orlando is using a different loophole to ban firearms while SeaWorld Orlando ‘continues to support the rights of its employees or visitors to transport legal firearms in their cars’ spokeswoman Becca Bides said.

(Additional Information: Orlando Sentinel)