Disney This Week - 13 September 2013

This Week – On the Main Street Gazette

Silent Saturday paused for a moment in Test Track's extinct Heat Chamber.

We have a new official album for Walt Disney World and it went digital, could this be the beginning of a digital revolution in Disney theme park music?

Let's explore how Walt Disney World was seen by Jack and Jill in 1972!

BoardWalk Bakery has a penchant for the rich and delicious, even with items like the No-Sugar Added Mango Vanillia Panna Cotta.

We found that Port Orleans - Riverside has an affinity for Steamboat Willie.


This Week – Around the Disney Blogosphere 

Suzannah Mitchell explores the newly refurbished California Grill and really digs the Mary Blair vibe at Zannaland.

Something we don’t consider enough when we go to Walt Disney World are fruit offerings, but The Disney Food Blog and AJ Wolfe have some thoughts to nibble on.

Ever seen Mowgli wandering the parks? Adam and Andrew have, and the tell the tale at the Disney Hipster Blog!

George Taylor and Jeff Heimbuch discuss Marty Sklar’s Dream It! Do It! at Imaginerding. Don’t miss the conversational review!

The latest park games to hit Walt Disney World are explored by Andy Jackson for Eating (and Drinking) around the World.

Estelle Hallick talks to readers of This Happy Place Blog about the hits and misses of Under the Sea.

We get to hear about the under-appreciated Lighthouse Sandwich from Eating WDW and Sarah Holodick.

Mitch examines the construction of an icon, Cinderella Castle, at Imagineering Disney.

This Week – World News Roundtable

Roundtable Contributors: Estelle Hallick (This Happy Place Blog), Alan Mize, and Blake Taylor (BlakeOnline.com).

A Dance a Day

Estelle Hallick (This Happy Place Blog) 

It seems like everyone in THE WORLD is talking about Bill Nye the Science Guy, who will be a contestant on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. (People really want him to win already.) I'm pretty impressed with the latest cast that actually includes some current stars (Amber Riley from Glee), two Saved by the Bell Stars (Elizabeth Berkley and Leah Remini), and the token Disney Channel star, Corbin Bleu.

While the cast is the best one the show has featured in awhile, it is the new show format that is worrying me. Instead of a 2-day a week show, DWTS will only air one day a week for two hours. Viewers will vote for their favorite dance of the week, and eliminations will combine those votes and the judges' votes. Will the professional votes start to mean more? Oh, I hope so. That has always been one of my main complaints about the show.

Hopefully with less of a weekly commitment, more viewers will turn in and this season will prove success. If not, the live band is amazing and totally the reason to watch.

September 16 is not right around the corner!

Glow with the Walt Disney World Show 

Alan Mize 

Beginning in October, the Walt Disney World resort will start featuring the “glow with the show” mouse ear hats at their night time shows.  Leading off with Fantasmic! on the 15th and then followed shortly thereafter by Wishes, Celebrate the Magic, Holiday Wishes, and even the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights this Christmas season, these electronic mouse ears will be available for $25 each. 

These hats debuted for the World of Color show at the Disney California Adventure Park and have been a hit with park guests.  I got a chance to see them up close during my Disneyland trip last fall and I thought they were cool.  They added an extra effect to the show by bringing some movement into the crowd instead of just on stage, yet they weren’t intrusive or distracting from the show itself.  No, I didn’t buy any in California, and I probably won’t buy any for the Walt Disney World shows either.  I enjoy the added color to the shows, but I’m not one to buy mouse ears since my head is big enough without putting on a tiny hat.  However, a lot of other guests bought them in California and I’m sure that a lot of guests will buy them in Florida as well.

Look to the Horizon

Blake Taylor (BlakeOnline.com)

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced that the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean will be booted from its July 2015 release and pushed back to 2016. Script concerns and budget issues prompted the delay. I don't mind that the film will come out later than anticipated, especially if the delay is to freshen the movie up. I'd much rather have a better film than one rushed to complete in a hurry.

More curious to me, though, is the film's title, which was announced several weeks ago. It's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The name blatantly borrows a signature line from the Pirates park attraction, meaning that it could potentially steer the film to be a signature movie for the franchise, one that could sum up (and possibly conclude?) what audiences love so much about these films and characters. However, the title is admittedly quite a mouthful, and doesn't make much sense (right now, at least) to anyone who's not pretty familiar with the lore of the ride. In terms of casting, the only known actor that is for-sure signed on is Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Barbossa is a likely bet, though not confirmed just yet. I think I speak for many, though, that the real question mark (and anticipatory hope) lies above the head of a certain blacksmith named Will Turner.