The Disney Frontier Blog

Looking for that perfect Disney present for the geek in your life? Check out these USB 2.0 Flash drives. I especially like the Steamboat Willie one. The site doesn’t say how or where to get them but it does say only 5,000 of each will be produced.

John has found some awesome videos of Disney Characters performing scenes from the classic 3D movie, Captain Eo.

Trust me, it’s a lot more interesting and entertaining then the title gives credit.

You can watch more from Rich using his YouTube Playlist.

Keane has created two videos that are worth a watch. The first is Illuminations (50 MB) and the second is the Osbourne Dancing Lights (13.5 MB). The IllumiNations is the collection of three different shows over three different years.

Businessweek has an article detailing Robert Iger and his immediate success. They are right to attribute some of the quick hits to Michael Eisner but they do a good job of showing the differences and hint at why they believe Iger will be successful going forward.

Iger recognized that the problem wasn’t the people running the show. It was the work environment–and he set about changing it. One of the first things Iger did was make the Monday morning meetings less autocratic. Where Eisner held court, Iger encourages a conversation. Even his office is more inviting. Out went the drabness of the Eisner years. In came airiness, family photos, and a cigar store Indian Iger found in the basement of the ABC building in New York. He hangs his suit jacket on it.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to listen to Robert Deuel, director of Public Relations for Disney’s Worldwide Sales & Travel Operations, give a presentation to the local chapter of the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America). He outlined the organizational structure of Disney departments and discussed his role in the 50th and the Year of a Million Dreams.

• He started as a street sweeper at Disneyland working his way through college. After a while, he was promoted to working on the Disneyland Railroad which meant his check came from Retlaw rather than Disney.
• He left Disney after graduating College. He worked for a few airlines before making his return.
• He described the Disney structure as broken into the following divisions: Disney Parks, Disney Studios, Disney/ABC Entertainment, Consumer Products (I’m paraphrasing on the exact names).
• The Happiest Homecoming on Earth 50th Anniversary was the first time that all the parks contributed to one large PR campaign. It was so successful, they created the Disney Parks brand and are again working in tandem on the Year of a Million Dreams.
• The Disney Parks brand may undergo a slight name tweak. It doesn’t do a good job of including the Disney Cruise line which is under its umbrella.
• “Where dreams come true” was actually coined by guests during focus groups. It came up, without the encouragement of Disney, multiple times and seemed a perfect fit.
• While Deuel and others in Disney were not convinced that bringing the pardoned turkeys to Disneyland was a good idea, it turned out to be a huge success. It received tons of media coverage from all over the world.

I did get the opportunity to ask him about blogs and bloggers. He said Disney is keenly aware of bloggers (and fan sites) but doesn’t have a strategy to interact with them. Disney thinks the fan enthusiasm is great and doesn’t want to interfere with that passion. He did express how this can create PR headaches. He specifically brought up the MiceAge article on Tom Sawyer Island. He was amazed at what that created from a press perspective considering it was just an idea. The way he made it sound, the idea never really received much traction in Disney and their were no plans to proceed. However, the blogging community made it sound like it was a full blow project (my words, not his).

He did have some prizes that were given out by way of a business card drawing. My name was pulled first. I won a small plush Mickey Mouse from the park. I was excited until I saw the prices that followed: a few USB thumb drives, a nice laptop bag and finally two sets of 2 day park hopper tickets for four. I was happy to win something but those tickets would have been nice.

Westcoaster.net has a ton of photos from Disneyland and DCA showing construction, rehab, and repainting.

Careerbuilder.com is running a contest where the winner gets to be cast member for a day. Entries must include an audition tape – I guess talent is required – and winners will enjoy a 4-day/3 night vacation along with their day job. Possible positions include: Pirate, Princess-in-Waiting, Jungle Cruise Skipper, Haunted Mansion Butler or Maid, and Parade Performer. I wonder if they would let you be one of the parade performers from the DCA Block Party – the ones that jump around on those pogo style stilts.

The contest runs from January 24th to February 20th. Each job position has its own page with a video of a cast member describing their job.

This PanaVue Slide (copyright Disney of course) shows the magic of watching fireworks over Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

If you’re at all interested in the history of Disney and/or Pixar, you should read this article. It recounts how Pixar came to be, and how its bumpy relationship with Disney ended with Disney buying.

P.S. A small but obvious correction to the last line of the article. Disney would have loved to get Pixar for $7.4 million as the author wrote. The actual number was $7.4 billion with a “b.”

Click To Play

I believe this is from Hong Kong Disneyland, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. If that’s the case, this would have been September 12th, 2005ish.

Video of the Phantom Manor attraction in Disneyland Paris (Euro Disney).

Copyright Disney

Nice shot of City Hall at night.

With every passing day in 2007, we get closer and closer to the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. As we all get more excited, everyone is in search of news about the movie. Here’s an example: Mousekingdom Blog discovered some POTC3 artwork over at Ain’t it Cool News. The artwork doesn’t show much, but it’s fun to look at.

Characters in the Dream Along with Disney stage show have been upgraded to have articulated heads including blinking eyes and moving mouths. This is awesome. A new level of realism to stage shows.