Orphaned Siblings Sue Disney/ABC

According to this, the Leomiti family seems a bunch of jerks. Of course, their side of the story is not represented in this article at all. #1 question: Why would they evict the 5 orphans?

LOS ANGELES (Long Beach Press Telegram) – Five orphaned siblings whose "adoption" by a Santa Fe Springs family was featured on television are suing Disney/ABC International Television Inc. Charles, Michael, Charis, Joshua and Jeremiah Higgins are claiming they were cheated out of a home, gifts, cars and other items given to them by the producers of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and private donors. At a hearing on the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles County Court, attorneys for both sides argued over the diary entries of one of the children and whether the entries should be allowed as evidence in the suit. The five Higgins siblings lost both of their parents suddenly within 3 months of each other in 2004, leaving them orphaned and homeless. They were taken in by the Leomiti family of Santa Fe Springs, who attended the same church, the Norwalk Assembly of God Church. When "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" learned about their story, the show's producers built a home for the children and the Leomiti family. The siblings also were given gifts, cars, and a Disneyland vacation in February 2005, according to their lawsuit. But the rags-to-riches fairytale didn't last long. According to their suit, the Leomiti family evicted the siblings from the newly built home in April, after they had received thousands of dollars in donated items meant for the children, along with gifts from the show's producers. The siblings were left with nothing, according to their suit, and as a result were forced to separate, their attorneys said. The Leomiti family retained the house, cars, and at least $50,000 in cash donations given to the Higgins children independently of the show, according to court documents. Judge Paul Gutman ordered both sides to "meet and confer" about the issue and return to court on Feb. 27. A trial date in the suit has been set for May 14. The siblings, who were between the ages 14 and 21 at the time the show was taped, filed suit against Disney/ABC International Television Inc. and other companies who produced, distributed and marketed the show. Their court complaint states that the siblings were given a fraudulent contract and promised things they never received. The show's contract was made between the producers and the Leomiti family, even though the Higgins' traumatic story is what prompted producers to build the house, said Mesisca. "Within a few days after their father died – their mom had died just a couple months earlier – ABC contacted the Higgins," said Mesisca. "The memos in-house reflect that the decision was made to provide assistance to the kids, even before their father's funeral service." But the show's producers argue that, since their contract was solely with the Leomitis family, not the siblings, there was no fraud or obligation to the Higgins siblings.

Cinderella and Me: A Night in the Castle

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) – I am in hundreds of strangers' vacation pictures – the bewildered guy in the sputtering truck at the front of the Walt Disney World parade. I'm sitting next to Daisy Duck and wearing mouse ears embroidered with my name, waving like an idiot and smiling like I just won a toaster. That's the first place they put you when you've won an overnight stay in the three-room suite inside the Cinderella Castle. It's the crown jewel in Walt Disney Co.'s "Year of a Million Dreams" sweepstakes, the squeal-inducing fantasy of millions of little girls – and my home for the next 17 hours. Each day, Disney randomly chooses one family to spend the night in its new Cinderella Suite, but I got to stay there thanks to an exclusive invitation from Disney to The Associated Press. (Families stay there for free, and the suite cannot be rented, but The AP paid $587 for my stay, which was the estimated value for the overnight.) Staying in the suite also means I'm also grand marshal of the parade, the honorary guest in an event called the "Dreams Come True Dinner," created by Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, and the front-of-the-line guy at anything I want to ride. I am a tattooed 27-year-old guy with Buddy Holly glasses and no children. But I'm just not that into princesses. So to enhance my appreciation, I've adopted a family with two little girls (ages 5 and 2) to stay with me. I am tired of smiling and waving when the parade ends, and I wonder how the full-grown adults dressed up like Goofy and Minnie do it every single day.

• The Magic Kingdom is designed so you can see the castle from just about anywhere, and the walk to our suite seems longer than it should. We are led up a far pathway, past a side door and into a small room with stone walls. Our guide, dressed as a 17th century castle guy, swipes a card to call our elevator and takes us four stories up. The suite is brand new. The elevator is not, and moves eerily a few inches up and down when it's boarded or stopping.
• Each of us is given a swipe key with our name and "Cinderella Suite" written on it, and before long there are bite marks all over 2-year-old Emily's. Her sister Hannah has the honor of opening our door the first time.
• There are golden flecks in the floor and ornate squares on the ceiling, making the whole room feel gilded. The desk in the corner is a 17th century Dutch antique with velvet-lined shelves that Disney has retrofitted with a high-speed Internet hookup. There are two queen beds with headboards and a canopy and a fireplace that can't burn anything, but holds a fiberoptic display of flame and pixie dust.
• The television in the sitting room is a mirror that converts at the touch of a button, while the "royal bedchamber" TV changes from a framed electronic portrait of Cinderella. There is a television with at least five channels in foreign languages, an array of DVDs (all Disney, of course) and free calls to anywhere on an antique-looking phone. I get wild ideas about that last part until I remember I don't know anyone in Paris or Tokyo anyway.
• Perhaps most impressive is the bathroom, which features a 4-foot square Jacuzzi jet tub with a waterfall faucet, a separate shower that could comfortably fit three, and a square toilet. Over the tub are three sparkling mosaics made of hand-cut Italian glass.
• All of these things I like – especially the mirror that turns into a TV. But I am disappointed in the mini-bar. It has juice boxes but no Jack Daniels.
• Much of the royal family's day is preset, so there isn't a lot of time for rides. Emily isn't tall enough for the roller coasters, which basically leaves the other category – the ones where you sit in a car, ride along a track and watch animatronic pirates or fish or jungle animals. But because we're staying inside the park and Disney provides us a front-of-the-line escort, we've got to ride something. We end up on Peter Pan's Flight and then the ride whose name Disney refuses to capitalize, it's a small world.
• We have dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table, a place where the Fairy Godmother and other Disney characters weave between diners performing songs. It is expensive, but we aren't paying because it's included in our stay. Before dinner we finally meet Cinderella. In blond wig, powdered cheeks and lilting voice, she is convincing, and poses for pictures with us. She embraces my arm; I do not tell her I will later be naked in her bathtub.
• The restaurant serves everything from hot dogs to prime rib, but they also do not have booze. I guess that explains our minibar.
• Our Disney escort is waiting when we're done with dinner, which is starting to become a pattern. It almost feels like we're being watched. The pretty girl dressed like a stewardess who guides us around reports into a hand radio whenever "The Royal Family" is on the move. Who is she talking to? I have no idea but it's kind of creepy.
• Disney has left princess wands, crowns and Minnie Mouse dolls for the girls back at the suite. They have also turned back the covers on our beds, put out a tray of cookies and traded our barely used bathroom soap for an unopened bar. All of those are hotel luxuries I have never before experienced. We watch the fireworks show that closes the park through the suite's stained-glass windows, and everyone tries out the Jacuzzi. Separately. I haven't taken a bath since my mother was holding the wash rag, but I can't resist this thing. I turn on the jets for 20 minutes, thinking there's no way I'll be there longer than 10. They have all kinds of fancy soaps lining the side, and I use some shampoo that smells like weird plants and expensive salons. I finally pry myself out after 16 minutes, feeling like I'm hogging the bathroom.
• At about 9:30 p.m. I press 0 for the concierge and ask for an after-hours look outside the castle. You can't really leave the suite without asking, but it somehow doesn't feel like you're trapped. Someone is posted round-the-clock just to handle our requests. I do literally have the park to myself, but there's not much to do in it because the rides are closed. Everything remains lit up as if it were packed, and piped-in Disney music fills the air. Most striking is the number of trash cans I see – dozens within a few feet of one another – that I never recognized before. They blend in seamlessly when the whole place is cluttered with people.
• Back at the suite, Hannah has fallen asleep clutching her Minnie doll but little Emily somehow outlasts her usual bedtime. She's wearing her tiara upside-down, spinning and banging her wand on the ground in between pleas for more cookies. She finally crashes at 10:30 in her parents' bed, and the grown-ups follow shortly thereafter. The bed and comforter are soft and thick, and I don't stay up long.
• I'm awakened by a 7:35 a.m. call I didn't ask for, to prepare for 9 a.m. breakfast reservations Disney made for us. I spend the next hour trying futilely to go back to sleep as dad plays with the girls in the sitting room. They don't want to leave the suite, and frankly neither do I.

It's foggy outside when we emerge from the castle, and the park is already full of families just starting their day. I feel strangely like I don't belong – like I've stayed out all night and am watching people go to work the next morning. I already dread the lines I'll be waiting in. The mouse ears I can do without.

Cage to star in live-action 'Sorcerer's Apprentice'

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Nicolas Cage will star in a live-action feature film version of the classic tale of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" for Walt Disney Pictures.
Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal are writing the screenplay, which takes its inspiration from Johann Wolfgang Goethe's 18th century poem, which in turn was the inspiration for the classic Mickey Mouse animated sequence from Disney's 1940 "Fantasia."
"Sorcerer" is being envisioned as a fantasy adventure set in contemporary New York, where a powerful sorcerer is in need of an apprentice. Cage would play the sorcerer.
While not based on a ride like the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, the in-development project continues Disney's trend of reimagining classic Disney titles as live-action, event pictures.
No director is yet attached to the project.
Konner and Rosenthal have worked on such films as last year's "Flicka" and "Eragon." Their credits also include "I, Robot" and "Mona Lisa Smile."
Cage next stars in Columbia's "Ghost Rider." In the spring, Paramount will release the thriller "Next," in which he plays a magician who can see into the future.

Walt Disney Pictures' 'Tinker Bell' Coming in Fall 2008

(ElitesTV.com) – Walt Disney Pictures' all new CG-animated feature "Tinker Bell" will arrive worldwide in Fall 2008 from Disney's Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment it was announced today by Bob Chapek, president of BVWHE. "Tinker Bell," produced by DisneyToon Studios, will be the first time audiences hear Tinker Bell speak, as the movie brings to life the amazing world of Disney Fairies, The Walt Disney Company's newest franchise, in all-new CG-animation with Brittany Murphy as the voice of the spunky and sassy fairy. In the tradition of its many animated classics, Disney will bring to life an enchanting tale of Pixie Hollow and Tink's new fairy friends voiced by some of Hollywood's most talented actors. Disney Fairies builds upon the enormous popularity of Tinker Bell and introduces children to her secret, magical world and a new circle of enchanting fairy friends – each with an incredibly diverse talent, personality and look. Disney Consumer Products introduced Disney Fairies in 2005 with the release of New York Times best-seller, "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg," from Disney Publishing Worldwide, followed by an apparel line, toys, a global magazine launch and a series of award-wining chapter books in 2006. Disney Fairies represents an expanded definition of synergy at The Walt Disney Company. As part of its ongoing commitment to drive the franchise companywide, Tinker Bell will be supported with a strong marketing campaign and a broad licensed merchandise program at major retailers around the world through an expanded Disney Fairies line from Disney Consumer Products. The new line will launch into new categories such as role play, youth electronics, stationery, home decor, and personal care. The iconic Tinker Bell character, together with the Tinker Bell film and Disney Fairies product line, will provide a multitude of new experiences for families to enjoy and treasure for many years to come.

Kuwait's KFH Denies Plan for US$8 BLN Disneyland in Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain (Asia Pulse) – Bahrain-based Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Friday denied a report it was investing in an US$8 billion Disneyland theme park in the country. The report, in the Al Waqt news-paper, said that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was in talks with KFH and other investors to build Disney Bahrain. "The report is totally baseless and all false," said KFH Bahrain general manager Abdul Hakim Al Khayat. "We have nothing to do with such a project and no-one has approached us." KFH has strong belief in Bahrain and its potential as an investment and tourism destination, Al Khayat told the Gulf Daily News. "We shall continue investing in Bahrain, but this report is somebody's guess." Bahrain's Economic Development Board said it had no knowledge of the project. KFH is already investing in key projects in Bahrain, such as the Durrat Al Bahrain and the Science and Technology Park. The report had said that Disney Bahrain had undertaken a study and found the region in great need of a project for family entertainment. The park would cover 16 million square metres with work expected to start in May and take six years to complete. Prince Alwaleed indirectly owns 10 per cent of Disneyland Paris operator Euro Disney and his Rotana Audio Visual Company signed a deal in November to distribute Walt Disney prod-ucts across the Middle East and North Africa.

You never can tell about these leaks. Maybe they just wanted to gauge public reaction to the idea of a Disneyland in the Middle East.

Muppets show at Disney MGM Studios (1990)

The original "Here Come the Muppets Show". It was located where "The Voyage of the Little Mermaid" is now.

Disney MGM 1994 Cast Member Video part 1

There are 3 of these from 1994 out on Youtube right now. Hopefully they'll be out there for a while. I worked at GMR during that time and although I am not in any of the videos, my girlfriend at the time is in all 3.

Colts Super Bowl Parade at Walt Disney World

02/02/2007 - The 2007 Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts had a parade at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and I was there to get it on video, front and center (well, ok, kind of from the side by Casey's Corner). My 19 month old daughter and I wore matching Peyton Manning jerseys. Check out Dominic Rhodes point right at us and give us a 'solid'.

GO COLTS!

Nielsens: A Super Week in the Ratings

(AP) – Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Jan. 29-Feb. 4. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.

1. (X) "Super Bowl XLI: Indianapolis vs. Chicago," CBS, 93.18 million viewers.
2. (X) Super Bowl Post-Gun Show" (9:59 to 10:04 p.m. ET), CBS, CBS, 81.54 million viewers.
3. (X) Super Bowl Post-Game Show" (10:04 to 10:26 p.m.), CBS, 57.34 million viewers.
4. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 33.65 million viewers.
5. (2) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 31.85 million viewers.
6. (12) "House," Fox, 27.34 million viewers.
7. (X) "Criminal Minds" (Sunday), CBS, 26.31 million viewers.
8. (6) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 24.18 million viewers.
9. (5) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 21.49 million viewers.
10. (11) "Deal or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 16.92 million viewers.
11. (23) "Shark," CBS, 14.08 million viewers.
12. (21) "24," Fox, 14.04 million viewers.
13. (26) "Ugly Betty," ABC, 14 million viewers.
14. (25) "Heroes," NBC, 13.63 million viewers.
15. (8) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 13.54 million viewers.
16. (16) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 12.7 million viewers.
17. (68) "Bones," Fox, 12.4 million viewers.
18. (20) "NCIS," CBS, 12.25 million viewers.
19. (X) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," (Thursday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 11.93 million viewers.
20. (29) "ER," NBC, 11.79 million viewers.

Revamped Disney Site Launched

BURBANK (LA Times) – Walt Disney Co. launched its overhauled Disney.com website early Tuesday, a week after the Jan. 29 target date. The first day's visitors posted generally positive reviews on fan websites, discussion groups and blogs, though people overseas complained they couldn't reach the new destination. In a preview offered by Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger early last month, the souped-up site emphasizes promotional video clips and games aimed at teenagers and children. With one click, visitors who pick from such categories as "girls" or "preschool," see a variety of material aimed at them. Viewers can also sort by character before delving into more interactive environments built around Winnie the Pooh, Disney princesses and other favorites. Some of the pages and features were slow to start, even with high-speed Internet access. The most advanced and customizable part of the site, Disney XD, still had parts that weren't working, and Disney said it remained in a testing mode. A Disney spokesman declined to comment on the number of Web visitors or the sort of feedback received by the firm. Iger last month said the site was one of Disney's most important initiatives of the year.

Disney 1Q Earnings Rise on DVD Sales

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Walt Disney Co. delivered a stellar first quarter boosted by DVD sales and one-time gains from asset dispositions, easily beating analyst expectations. The media conglomerate has delivered double-digit annual earnings growth for the past few years, sending its stock price soaring more than 70 percent since 2004. The results have analysts questioning whether Disney can continue that sizzling growth in 2007, especially when compared with the 34 percent growth in 2006 earnings. The Burbank-based company Wednesday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $1.7 billion, or 79 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 30, compared with $734 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same period last year. Those results included 29 cents per share from the sale of its shares in US Weekly magazine and the E! Entertainment channel. Even without the one-time gains, Disney beat analyst forecasts by 11 cents per share on strong performance from sales of DVDs, including "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." Results were also helped by a strong ratings performance at its ABC network and cable channels, including ESPN. Revenue grew 10 percent to $9.73 billion from $8.85 billion in the same period last year. Excluding one-time items, earnings grew 43 percent to 50 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 39 cents per share on revenue of $9.51 billion. Before the results were announced, shares of Disney rose 29 cents to close Wednesday at $35.48 on the New York Stock exchange. Shares rose an additional 72 cents in extended trading.

• The biggest gains for the quarter came from Disney's studio entertainment division, where revenue rose 29 percent to $2.6 billion and operating income more than quadrupled to $604 million from $128 million in the prior year's first quarter.The gain came from the sale of DVDs, including the Disney/Pixar film "Cars" and the re-release of "The Little Mermaid." The latter title also boosted the studio's profit margins in the quarter. The strong home video results more than offset a losing quarter for the studio's theatrical slate, which includes disappointments such as "Deja Vu" and "Santa Clause 3."
• Operating income at Disney's network division grew 24 percent to $750 million from $606 million in the same period last year. Revenue grew 6 percent to $3.91 billion. The network gains were driven mainly by increases in subscription fees at the company's international Disney channels and DVD sales domestically of the Disney Channel hit movie "High School Musical."
• Growth in attendance and spending helped boost revenue and profits at Disney's theme parks, although the company continues to have difficulty with its most recent park in Hong Kong. Top theme park executives just returned from a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland and have identified areas that need improvement, Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, told analysts Wednesday. Revenue for the quarter increased 4 percent to $2.5 billion and operating income increased 8 percent to $405 million, driven mainly by gains at Walt Disney World.
• Revenue at Disney's consumer products division fell 6 percent in the quarter to $692 million and operating income dropped 13 percent to $235 million.

Disney Parks Eyes Stand-Alone Hotels

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Walt Disney Co. is considering "blue sky concepts" of creating smaller theme parks and stand-alone hotels, retail, dining and entertainment centers, Jay Rasulo, chairman of Disney's Parks and Resorts told analysts at a conference on Wednesday. Building stand-alone hotels in urban areas where families already travel would give Disney the chance to reach out to parents who feel their children are still too young to appreciate a trip to a Disney theme park, Rasulo said. Along those lines, Disney could locate versions of its Downtown Disney, a high-end retail, dining and entertainment district, in urban areas far from its parks. The company also was exploring alternatives to full-size theme parks, including "a smaller, deeply immersive park" that would offer consumers a more interactive experience at higher prices. These ideas are "blue sky concepts" that will not be executed unless the new businesses could achieve a high return on invested capital, Rasulo said. Disney also was looking into expanding its water park offerings beyond Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach and possibly adding ships to its two-vessel cruise lines.

At Disney, a Comeback for Hand-Drawn Animation

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hand-drawn animation, out of fashion in the computer age, experienced a rescue worthy of a fairy tale on Thursday, when Walt Disney animators announced they would bring the art form back to the big screen. “We will be bringing back hand-drawn films,” said Edwin Catmull, the president of Pixar and Disney Feature Animation. Animators refer to hand-drawn animation as “two dimensional,” as opposed to computer-generated animation, referred to as 3D. Speculation has swirled over whether Mr. Catmull and John Lasseter, the chief creative officer, who took control of the ailing Disney animation facility, would reestablish the art form that made Disney the world’s pre-eminenent animator. When Disney bought Pixar to try to revive its flagging animation program, Mr. Catmull and Mr. Lasseter took charge of both studios, which are run separately. Mr. Catmull and Mr. Lasseter gave the first descriptions on Thursday on how they reshaped story lines of Disney films already in production, canceled others and restructured how the Disney artists work. “Pixar is still Pixar – nobody left,” Mr. Catmull said. “At Disney, you have these remarkable artists there. ...they were not kneaded together in the right way. At the heart of it there has to be a director and the director has to have a vision.” Mr. Catmull said there were no plans to merge the studios or to limit them to a certain type of animation. “We always believed that quality is the best business plan,” he said. He and Lasseter showed clips from upcoming films, including "Ratatouille," "Meet the Robinsons," "Wall-E," "American Dog" and "Toy Story 3."