Discounts for Military Personnel at Disney Parks!

Important info below from the OC Register worth passing on!

"Military personnel can get discounts of more than half off on Disneyland Resort park passes under a new promotion.

Three-day “park hopper” passes cost $99 each under the deal. At the door, three-day passes are usually $206 each for adults. Park hoppers allow visitors to go to both Disneyland Resort parks — Disneyland and Disney California Adventure — on the same day.

The deal is valid for active and retired military personnel, including the U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard and reservists. Members of the military or their spouses can buy up to six passes.

The passes are for sale at U.S. military sales outlets, but not at the parks.

Walt Disney World also has a similar promotion: Four-day park hopper tickets starting at $138 each.

The promotion began this week and runs through Sept. 28, 2011. There are some blackout days when the passes can’t be used.

Disney regularly offers discounts to military personnel, but the prices were set by the bases and were usually higher. Read a previous post about Disney military discounts.

The new offer is part of Disney’s new campaign based on creating memories, called “Let the Memories Begin.” See a previous story about the Disney memories campaign.

Find more information about the Disney military discounts on the Disney Parks blog HERE.

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Discounts for Military Personnel at Disney Parks!

Video of the new Disney Dance Crew at CA Adventure

via disneyparks.disney.go.com

Here's a fun video and post from the Disney Parks Blog:

"Beginning October 22, the Disney Dance Crew will start shaking things up at the Hollywood Backlot Stage in Disney California Adventure park.

Disney Dance Crew is a live, 10-minute performance for the entire family that features contemporary remixes and mash-ups of popular Disney songs, and dancers performing hip, edgy dance moves. The show also includes an appearance from Mickey Mouse like you’ve never seen him before. Mickey shows off slick new threads and some crazy moves.

After each performance of Disney Dance Crew, Mickey Mouse will greet guests and pose for photos.

Disney Dance Crew will be performed several times a day, Wednesday through Sunday, until November 26. When Disney Channel Rocks! debuts November 26, Disney Channel Rocks! will perform mid-morning to early afternoon, and Disney Dance Crew will perform mid-afternoon to early evening."

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Video of the new Disney Dance Crew at CA Adventure

Photos On the Set of Star Tours with C-3PO

As posted on the Disney Parks Blog:

"Things are very busy in the world of Star Tours, both here in California and in Florida as well!

A few weeks ago I shared a first look at two new characters joining Star Tours, and today, I want to take you behind the scenes and show you what we were working on back in April 2009. We occupied a large soundstage in Hollywood to film a key sequence of the new show. Anthony Daniels flew in from London to bring C-3PO to life on the stage, as well as workshop the script with our writer Steve Spiegel.

I spoke with Anthony Daniels the other day about what it felt like to be back working on Star Tours.

“Wow! Back in the gold suit for the first time since ‘Revenge of the Sith,’” was Anthony’s reply. “But on this occasion in front of a beloved Starspeeder, a bit like the one R2 and I’d repaired every day since Disneyland first opened the Star Tours Spaceport all those years ago. I’d enjoyed being a part of the original Star Tours, one of the most wonderful jobs I ever had. I’d been alerted that amazing things were in store for passengers on the new Starspeeder – and for me too – and so here I was again, working with many of the same creative teams, with even more spin and excitement than the first time.”

On the immense soundstage, our production team re-created – full size – a portion of the Starspeeder 1000, so we could film it from multiple angles. Later, the effects wizards at ILM, under the direction of Bill George, completed the scene, adding in a whole range of droids and characters, and expanding the scale and scope of the scene.

Here, for the first time, are some photos from that soundstage shoot."

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Photos On the Set of Star Tours with C-3PO

Video of Disney Archives founder who retires today

via ocresort.ocregister.com

Here's a real nice article from the OC Register about Dave Smith:

Dave Smith, the founder and head of the Disney Archives will dig into the archives for the last time when he retires Friday (today).

“I will take a lot of memories with me,” said Smith during a recent interview at the Walt Disney Co.’’s headquarters in Burbank.

A new head takes over Monday to continue documenting the history of Walt Disney and the company that bears his name.

Though he will no longer be on the job, don’t look for Smith to take off his mouse ears any time soon.

“I have my Disney Encyclopedia, Disney A to Z, which I plan to keep up,” said Smith. “Even now, we update it every month on the Disney website. I will continue doing that.”
Smith started the archives after being approached by Walt Disney’s family, including Roy O. Disney — Walt’s brother — four years after Walt’s death in 1966, to preserve the history of Walt Disney.

“It grew from that into, ‘We need to preserve the history of the whole organization,’ ” Smith said.

That included going back and documenting the early history of the plans for what eventually became Disneyland, and the people who helped Walt realize his dream for an innovative theme park that became the foundation for the Disneyland Resort.

Smith says that archiving company histories is important to American culture and society.
“Business in the U.S. has been a very important part of the whole culture of our country, especially in the last 100 years. I feel it is important for these businesses to preserve their history and to make it available for those who are curious about how they became successful,” Smith said.

In retirement, Smith says he plans to travel. He brags that he has been to all 11 Disney theme parks. He hopes to visit the one planned for Shanghai when it opens. Smith also plans to continue making appearances at Disney fan conventions.

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Video of Disney Archives founder who retires today

Video Highlights of Mickey’s Halloween Party

via disneyparks.disney.go.com

Here is a video of highlights from Mickey’s Halloween Party from the Disney Parks Blog posted here for your convenience.

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Video Highlights of Mickey’s Halloween Party

Happy 55th Disneyland Hotel!

Here's the article and photos as reported by the OC Register:

The Disneyland Hotel celebrated Tuesday the 55th anniversary of opening, which came about three months after the park began. 

The venue was the first major hotel in Orange County, opening with just 104 rooms. Now, the hotel has 969 rooms and is owned by the Disney company. 

Disney released a 1961 photo, showing the Monorail track that was expanded to take guests between the park and the hotel.

On Tuesday, Disneyland Hotel employees celebrated the birthday with a cake that is a replica of the hotel. The cake was kept behind the scenes.

Photos courtesy of Disneyland Resort.

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Happy 55th Disneyland Hotel!