ESPN Wide World Of Sports Grill Has New Has New Evening Schedule
As Walt Disney World prepares for the late February official unveiling of the rebranded ESPN Wide World of Sports, the sports complex's ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill will officially begin new hours on February 26th. Aside from its daytime hours focused around activities at the complex, the Grill will offer evening hours Thursday through Monday from 5-10 p.m.
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 29, 2010
Disney Cancer Center To Open
The image of a sun-splashed beach, the sound of water cascading into a pool, the touch of warm wood paneling reminded Marla Zack of everything except cancer.
That was the point.
Inside the nearly completed $36 million Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, everything - from the waterwall greeting patients when they enter the rotunda, to the painting and meditation garden - was designed to help ease the mind, heal the body and comfort the soul.
"It's wonderful. I like that it's so personal," said Zack, 45, a breast-cancer patient who toured the Burbank center on Wednesday.
Named for Roy and Patricia Disney, who donated $10 million to the project, the four-story building offers all-in-one outpatient services that focus on both Eastern and Western styles of medicine.
"Women who are treated for breast cancer, for example, may experience hot flashes," said Dr. Lisa Schwartz, director for the center's Integrated Medicine Program, which includes yoga, massage and nutritional counseling.
"Acupuncture is very effective in treating hot flashes, and we have that to offer too," Schwartz said.
The center officially opens on Feb. 8 and is billed as the most comprehensive of its kind in the San Fernando Valley.
Though he died in December of stomach cancer at age 79, much of Roy E. Disney's influence is infused in the new building, such as water and ocean imagery, a
symbol of life that also represents his love of the sea.The nephew of the legendary Walt Disney - who died of lung cancer - Roy E. Disney was a prominent executive in The Walt Disney Co.
His son, Roy P. Disney, toured the center Wednesday and said he was touched that so much thought went into every inch of the building.
"Having just experienced (cancer) in my family this building takes on a new meaning for me," he said. "Cancer is frightening. Disneyland is one of those places that gives more than it takes. This is that kind of building."
Local entertainment nstudios and the community all pitched in as well to help raise the money for the center, said Patricia Modrzejewski, president of the Providence Saint Joseph Foundation.
The goal behind the center was to cut the time patients spend traveling among facilities to receive a variety of treatments, said Dr. Raul Mena, medical director of cancer services at Providence Saint Joseph.
"It's an amazing experience just to walk through the doors of this building," Mena said.
Of the 1.6 million people nationwide who are expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year, the majority are expected to survive, Mena said.
"However, those (who survive) carry the scars of terror," he said. "This building is dedicated to making them whole again."
Also among the center's services:
A cancer program for patients ages 18 to 39, an group that is often overlooked during traditional treatments.
A radiology unit, created by Royal Philips Electronics, that includes an "ambient experience." Patients can control the lighting, sounds, music and video in their rooms.
The John C. & Lowry Hench Library, offer patients and family members a quiet place to research their illnesses and learn about clinical trials.
A personal appearance boutique that will help patients in need of wigs, prosthetics and special cosmetics to treat and manage side effects of cancer and treatments.
"So much thought and dedication has gone into every detail of the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center to help patients triumph over cancer," Barry Wolfman, chief executive of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, said in a statement.
"Thanks to the contributions of our donors - the Disney family in particular - and to the vision of our clinical team, we're proud to open our new cancer center to serve our community, close to home."
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 29, 2010
No More Bloom For Pirates
British actor Orlando Bloom has confirmed he has quit the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.
The Brit played Will Turner in the first three movies and bosses but he won't be a part of a planned fourth film, which will start shooting this spring in Hawaii.
Movie love interest Keira Knightley announced her "pirating days are over" in 2008, prompting speculation that Bloom would walk the plank behind her.
And now he has revealed he will not be starring alongside Johnny Depp in 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
He says, "I think Will is sort of swimming around with the fish at the bottom of the ocean. I had a great time making those movies. I just really wanted to do different things."
But Bloom can't wait to see the latest Pirates sequel, which will be directed by Nine and Chicago filmmaker Rob Marshall: "I think it's going to be great. Whatever Johnny does, I think it's fantastic.
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"I think he's (Marshall) an amazing director. I think it will be a very interesting fit, because Johnny is musical anyway and I'm sure that something really beautiful will come out of it."
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 28, 2010
WDW Sued For Death Of Worker
Walt Disney World is being sued by the mother of a monorail driver who was killed in an accident.
The lawsuit filed by lawyers for Christine Wuennenberg say Disney failed to follow monorail-safety procedures, which lead to the July crash that killed 21 year old Austin Wuennenberg.
Federal authorities cited Disney for workplace violations. The most serious citation was for failing to have a workplace free of hazards that could cause death or harm to workers.
One of the monorail's trains was changing tracks when it backed into a train with Wuennenberg at the controls.
Disney spokesman Bryan Malenius says he couldn't comment because of a pending, separate federal investigation. But he says the lawsuit "does not diminish our sympathy for the family."
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 26, 2010
Johnny Depp To Set Sail As Captain Jack Once Again
Captain Jack Sparrow will soon take to the seas again, and this time he is after the most sought-after treasure imaginable: the Fountain of Youth.
It was announced this week that the fourth installment of Disney's highly successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise will begin filming in Hawaii this summer. Johnny Depp once again plays the flamboyant Captain Jack, and Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as his adversary, Barbossa. However, costars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are not expected to return.
The film's story is loosely based on the 1987 pirate novel, "On Stranger Tides" by award-winning fantasy author Tim Powers. The book tells the story of a young man -- coincidentally named "Jack" -- who is captured by the pirate Blackbeard and forced to join in the search for the Fountain of Youth.
Ted Elliott, the co-writer of the first three "Pirates" movies, said that the story of the novel just happened to align with where they wanted to take the fourth film. He told Empire magazine, "We wanted to do a story about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, and Tim Powers wrote a book about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth... it just turns out that to do that story you would need that book."
Johnny Depp signed on to appear in the fourth movie in 2008, before there was a script. It was announced at the same time he would also be playing Tonto in a film version of "The Lone Ranger," but that project has been delayed until after "Pirates" is finished.
Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom have both said they had no desire to return for a fourth movie. Knightley said in an interview, "It was a completely fantastic experience, and it was an amazingly large portion of my life, but I don't think I need to go there again. I think that it's done." Also, the director of the original trilogy, Gore Verbinski, will not be coming back. He is being replaced by Rob Marshall, the director of "Chicago" and "Nine."
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is scheduled to dock into movie theaters on May 20th, 2011. Johnny Depp will next be seen as the Mad Hatter in director Tim Burton's new version "Alice in Wonderland" coming this March.
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 22, 2010
New Central Florida Park - Legoland
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 22, 2010
Pirates 4 To Be Filmed In Hawaii
Pirates traditionally swoop in and make off with the booty. But Disney's Pirates are expected to bring as much as $85 million in spending to Hawaii and create hundreds of jobs.A scene at the very end of the last Pirates movie is one of the few scenes shot in Hawaii. But production of the next Pirates flick will be based in Oahu.
"Short term it's going to bring awful lot of people to Hawaii as they film the movie. Number two, think of the publicity Hawaii will receive when they're filming and then as it is released in 2011," State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said.
"When a film comes, it's not just the people that work on the film that benefit. But the hotel industry, small mom and pop shops. Everyone from the top to the bottom, so we're very excited that Disney has made the decision to bring Pirates here to Hawaii," State Creative Industries Division Georja Skinner said
According to Governor Lingle Disney won't just be filming here, it'll be doing its post production work here as well.
"We're trying to build an industry of animation and video gaming and so on and to do that you need these big productions not to just wrap up filming and go back to California, but to do the post production work here, and I'm hopeful that this film is going to put us on that track," Lingle said.
Lingle says a lot of people worked very hard attracting the Pirates production. The promise of tax rebates, special hotel rates and other cost cutting incentives helped convince Disney to choose Hawaii over other locations. Just last month three of the five people working in the State Film Office were laid off victims of the state's budget crisis. But today the Creative Industries Division of the Department of Business and Economic Development says its renewed partnership with Disney is proof the state can still bring in big budget movies.
"With the reduction in the film office staff ... yes, it is a challenge. I mean there's no way around that. And our community, our production community really deserves a lot of accolades because big projects like this wouldn't even consider Hawaii regardless of how beautiful it is if we didn't have a quality production team behind us," Skinner said.
Disney has been filming in Hawaii since 1969 and has been such a good partner over the years it was given the "Film in Hawaii" award in 2001. The new Pirates' movie will be released in theatres during the summer of 2011.
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(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 20, 2010
Tim Burton To Remake Maleficent?
It bodes well for Alice in Wonderland that Disney are now reportedly lining up another revisionist re-take on one of their cartoon classics for Tim Burton to direct. Maleficent will be a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story that focuses on the Mistress of all Evil instead of that pretty somnambulist and her slightly creepy Prince Phillip.
The studio registered the domain name maleficentmovie.com some time last summer, so I�ve been waiting for news a while. Of course, until now I wasn�t entirely convinced it was going to be a live action picture - well, in so much as it will be live action, which I�m expecting will be probably to just the extent that Alice is - and not an animated spin-off, a la the Tinkerbell series or that Timon and Pumbaa picture.
One question is where this leaves Burton�s Dark Shadows, a film we had previously been told would shoot this year.
Producer Graham King told CHUD last week that there was not yet a finished Dark Shadows script. Seeing as there�s no scheduled release date for the picture, and that Johnny Depp could easily find another one of his nascent projects to slip into place, I�d think we�ll be on hold a while before Shadows goes before cameras.
The character of Maleficent is a Disney creation, the original storyline having an un-named evil fairy godmother. Since appearing in their Sleeping Beauty toon - in which she had some quite brilliantly grotesque sidekick-minions that I�d love to see in the Maleficent movie - she�s cropped up in the House of Mouse TV series and the Kingdom Hearts videogames, both times as the supreme evil mastermind behind the heroes� and heroines� suffering. Essentially, she�s the BIG Big Bad at Disney. As such, I�m not sure they�ll let the adult Maleficent be a sympathetic character and if she�s really going to be the film�s protagonist, I suspect we�ll have to go back in time a little, a la Wicked, and find out just why she�s grinding her axes.
"Up" Receives Two Critic Choice Awards
Disney Animator Loses House In Fire
A charitable fund has been established and donations can be sent to either of these two places to help the Stewarts get back on their feet:
Northview Bible Church
13521 N. Mill Road
Spokane, WA 99208
and
Chase Bank
12120 N. Division St.
Spokane, WA 99218
(Source: LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 15, 2010
Creating 110 new jobs, the 323 room hotel includes 11,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a restaurant, lounge and all-day dining. As the first hotel in Central Florida to open in 2010, this new Holiday Inn exemplifies the standards of the $1 billion Holiday Inn brand relaunch program. Announced in 2007, the relaunch program was established to create a more contemporary brand image, increase quality and drive consistency. The Holiday Inn in the Walt Disney World Resort� is located at 1805 Hotel Plaza Boulevard and is within walking distance of the Downtown Disney� Marketplace. The official grand opening for the hotel is scheduled for February 4, 2010. For reservations call 888-465-4329 or visit www.hiorlando.com
Walt Disney Company Helps Haiti
The Walt Disney Company announced today it will contribute $100,000 in humanitarian aid to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The donation will be provided to the Red Cross International Fund to support Haiti�s relief efforts.
�We at the Walt Disney Company are deeply saddened by this tragedy and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti and their loved ones, which include our Cast Members and employees�
�We at the Walt Disney Company are deeply saddened by this tragedy and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti and their loved ones, which include our Cast Members and employees,� said Robert A. Iger, president and CEO, The Walt Disney Company.
�We hope this donation will help the Red Cross to provide immediate aid and relief to the thousands of people affected by this terrible tragedy,� Mr. Iger added.
(Source:
LaughingPlace.com)
Jan 15, 2010
Is It The End For Hannah Montana?
A Disney Channel executive says the popular show starring Miley Cyrus is likely to shut down for good after filming its fourth season.
"You never know in this business ... but right now we're scheduled to wrap after shooting this new batch of episodes," Senior Vice President of Programming Adam Bonnett told the New York Post in its Friday edition.
A Disney spokeswoman confirmed his comments Friday but would not elaborate.
Production on season four is set to begin later this month, Bonnett said. Those episodes will start airing in late spring and continue through 2011.
Cyrus plays Miley Stewart, a high-school student who secretly leads a double life as pop star Hannah Montana. The fourth season will reflect the real-life struggle Cyrus is having about saying goodbye to the character that made her famous, the Post reports.
The current season is set to conclude in March with "a big one-hour event where we find out what Miley Stewart's decision is going to be," Bonnett said. "It's one of the things she's been wrestling with for months � whether it's time to make a decision to continue being Hannah Montana or just be a regular, ordinary girl."
"Hannah Montana" averages around 5 million viewers a week. A rep for Cyrus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Source: Yahoo News)
Jan 9, 2010