Disney Vacation Blog

Archive for July, 2009


Obama - The New President in “The Hall”

Jul 26, 2009 Author: admin | Filed under: Disney

This July 4th weekend, Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom celebrated the re-opening of the Hall of Presidents with the “inauguration” of our 44th president, Barack Obama, into the attraction. The concept of change, popular during our president’s campaign, was not one ignored by Disney Imagineers. After closing last October to begin renovations and the add President Obama to the historical lineup, guests of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will now be treated to a brand new technologically-advanced experience.

Working with brand new audio-visual and “Audio-Animatronic” technology, the Imagineers revamped the 23 minute long attraction to represent a new era in American history. The Hall of Presidents, which educates visitors about the good and bad times of our country’s past through an educational video and narrations by animatronic figures of past presidents, features a new video presentation narrated by actor Morgan Freeman. Along with the figure of the first black president, Barack Obama, The Hall of Presidents now includes a speech by our nation’s first president, George Washington.

President Obama was actively involved in his participation with the Hall of Presidents team. Videos of Obama recording his voice-over work from the White House can be found on various internet sites and the president’s thoughts on the American dream, as well as the audio of his presidential oath, will be featured in the updated presentation.

The realism of the Obama figure is thanks to the director of sculpting at Disney Imagineering, Valerie Edwards. The 21 year veteran is the apprentice of Disney legend Blaine Gibson, the man responsible for sculpting most of the figures in the Hall of Presidents. Edwards studied hundreds of photos and hours of video in order to capture ever physical attribute and nuance of our president’s look and personality.

If you would like to see the “re-Imagineered” Hall of Presidents, you’re going to need tickets to the Magic Kindgom, and what better place to purchase them than with DWTickets.com? Discount Disney tickets and tickets to other Orlando theme parks can be purchased directly online or by calling us at our toll-free number!

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Baby Boom hits SeaWorld Discovery Cove’s Dolphin Population

Jul 21, 2009 Author: admin | Filed under: Disney

Discovery Cove is booming with baby dolphins - just this month, four Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were born. Above, twelve year-old Clipper, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at Discovery Cove, swims together with her newborn male calf. The calf will get a name shortly, usually about a month after birth.

Discovery Cove is a family adventure where guests enjoy a one-of-a-kind opportunity to swim with dolphins, snorkel with rays and tropical fish, hand-feed exotic birds and relax on pristine beaches.

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The swearing in of new United States Citizens is always an emotional story. But when it happens at at Disney theme park, there is a little extra magic added to the ceremony. This year over 1000 new American citizens were welcomed to the country in a moving ceremony. Then they and their families were the first official audiences to see the newly revised Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom

Among those naturalized today were 25 employees of the Walt Disney World resort. Among them was Nicolas Graefe. His story is similar to so many of those who seek US citizenship, but as you might expect, with a Disney twist.

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Nicolas (pictured above getting filmed by Disney) lived in Germany when he saw pictures of the 1976 Walt Disney World Parade in a comic book and fell in love with the Disney theme parks. In 1990 he worked at EPCOT as a cultural representative. Then he came back to work for Disney in 1998 when he met his future wife. Now he works for Disney in EPCOT food & beverage. This moment obviously meant quite a bit to Graefe, and he called it “one of his best Disney memories ever.”

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After the families had a chance to see the revised Hall Of Presidents, I had a few minutes to speak with Kathy Rogers of Walt Disney Imagineering and Sr. Show Producer for this update. It was a roundtable style interview, so you’ll also hear Leigh Caldwell of Themeparkmom.com and Jeff Kober of MousePlanet.

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High Flying Fireworks Act at SeaWorld

Jul 5, 2009 Author: admin | Filed under: Disney, Sea World, SeaWorld Orlando

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If you’re heading out to your neighborhood fireworks display tomorrow or even one of the Disney parks, you can still sneak in another show by going to SeaWorld Orlando tonight for their special fireworks display. In the above photo technician Andrew Hage checks the connections of several fireworks at the top of SeaWorld’s 400-foot-tall Sky Tower. In the distance is Manta, the park’s all-new flying roller coaster.

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4th of July Fireworks at the Magic Kingdom

Jul 5, 2009 Author: admin | Filed under: Disney, Magic Kingdom

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Spent the night of July the 3rd at the Magic Kingdom to see their 4th of July Fireworks one night early. For anyone going tonight, you might want to get on the road now to see it yourself. I got some great photos, but there is no way to appreciate this show via photos or video.

The show producer uses fireworks like paint and punctuation and they surround you front, back, and sides with all the pyrotechnics you could possibly fit into 17 minutes. Plus, since its Disney, there’s a great story and fabulous music to go along with it.

The crowds last night were pretty crazy, but Disney had a pretty decent Guest Control plan in place. Where we were, on the Tomorrowland side of the hub, cast members made announcements about how guest control would work between the end of fireworks and the parade, so everyone was aware of where to go.

Basically, everyone in the Magic Kingdom was routed through Fantasyland or Tomorrowland down to where the old Galaxy Theater was located. From there the crowds went backstage into a parking lot and then out into Town Square. Alas, there were still a few bottlenecks, but for the most part, moving bodies around kept traffic flowing between the fireworks and the aprade.

We took our time and wandered around a few stores to let the crowds thin down before before heading out ourselves. A good strategy if you’re going tonight.

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