March 2023 – Page 13 – A Walk With The Mouse

Elon Musk Has Words for Disney

Posted on March 10, 2023March 10, 2023 by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has made his opinion on the Walt Disney Company crystal clear. Musk recently made headlines when he acquired the social media company Twitter at a steep price point of $44 billion. Since then, Musk has called out Disney and Apple, two of Twitter’s biggest advertisers.

Elon Musk is one of the most powerful people in the world. Musk is a businessman, investor, and visionary who is worth an estimated $196 billion. He is incredibly accomplished in his field, and holds positions including founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX, the CEO and product architect of Tesla, and the founder of The Boring Company. According to Forbes’s real-time billionaires list, Musk is the second-wealthiest person in the world.

Musk is known for his involvement in many incredibly lucrative endeavors. This is why some of the public was confused when he purchased Twitter four months ago. Twitter is not incredibly lucrative these days, despite the steel price point Musk paid for it. The Twitter financial situation has gotten worse for Musk, whose personality is very polarizing to the public. Since buying the company, Twitter’s advertising revenue has been basically cut in half.

The Walt Disney Company has continued to buy advertisements on the platform. Musk called out Disney and Apple to thank them for their continued support as the two biggest remaining marketers on the app. He expressed his gratitude for the Walt Disney Co on Tuesday, March 8, at the 2023 Morgan Stanley Technology Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco. At the conference, he explained that companies like Disney are going to help make Twitter lucrative once again and keep free speech alive.

At the conference, Musk explained, “There have been a few bumps in the road, but this is to be expected… Now we have the opportunity to grow [Twitter] into something spectacular. I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but I think we have a shot at being cash flow positive in the second quarter.”

It is yet to be determined if Disney will appreciate being called out. Elon Musk is incredibly controversial, and to be associated as his supporter is not a great look for the company. Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has received backlash for his leadership methods as well as his changes to the application. Only time will tell the future of Elon Musk’s relationship with the Walt Disney Company.

Disney World Announces Widespread Cancellations, Issues Statement

Posted on March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 by Mathew Corn Disney Parks, Disney Resorts

Walt Disney World Resort has issued widespread cancellations for a popular Resort.

Walt Disney World is home to four magically immersive theme parks– Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom– as well as two water parks– Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park– and the Disney Springs shopping and dining district. If all that weren’t enough, there are also more than 25 Resorts for Disney World Guests to stay at.

When you stay on-site at a Disney World Resort hotel, you’re completely immersed in the magic from the moment you wake up in the morning to the time you go to sleep at night.

While we think about Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Hotel, and others when discussing Disney Resorts, one luxury hotel is reportedly failing miserably.

Disney recently issued a statement that it would be canceling “voyages” for the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser beginning this fall. Except for Holiday weeks, Disney is now canceling originally-scheduled voyages and only providing two voyages per week. This is being done because of the low occupancy experienced at the Star Wars hotel.

Disney’s official statement can be read below:

“You may notice the schedule has been modified to provide two voyages per week, except for holiday weeks where we may have three voyages. We’ve been learning a lot during our first year of operation and have adjusted voyage dates to meet the needs of our Guests.”

The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser immolates a cruise ship in space. Disney World Guests can explore the ship and enjoy a two-night, three-day “cruise,” which includes a stop at Batuu to experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The immersive land includes two rides: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run.

Though the idea for an immersive Star Wars Disney Resort hotel was received with much anticipation, Guests grew sour on the idea once they learned the price point– more than $4,000 for two Guests for two nights– and what it entailed.

Disney has seen meager crowds, especially over the last few months, for the hotel, and this led the company to the decision to cancel previous plans and move forward with just two voyages per week instead of more.

Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Recently Spotted Filming at Magic Kingdom

Posted on March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

For the Disney fans out there who don’t know, Josh D’Amaro is the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. That means he “oversees the global hub where Disney stories, characters and franchises come to life,” as according to the Walt Disney Company.

Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products is an incredibly wide branch of the Walt Disney Company’s operations. It’s made up of Disney’s travel and leisure experiences, consisting of multiple theme parks in America, Asia, and Europe, the Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Vacation Club, and more. This branch also includes the entirety of Disney’s consumer products, such as toys, clothing, home goods, entertainment, and even e-commerce.

So, every Disney theme park and water park, every Resort hotel, every vacation destination with Disney’s name on it, all of the Disney Signature Experiences, and every single Disney product you see in the department store falls under Josh D’Amaro’s supervision.

This includes Walt Disney World Resort (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT), Disneyland Resort (Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure), Disneyland Paris, the Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and Shanghai Disneyland.

In short, being the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products is a big job, but it’s not the only thing he does! Josh D’Amaro often appears in different Disney documentaries and videos shown during Cast Member training.

Recently, however, the Chairman was spotted in Magic Kingdom, and he was clearly filming something. Immediately, fans began to wonder what he was filming for.

One Reddit user spoke up about what they hoped it was, writing, “God I hope it’s a new Disney plus show cause the park content dried up real quick on there.” This comment quickly received a lot of attention due to how many fans agreed with the sentiment.

Another Reddit user revealed something more realistic, writing, “He films quite a lot for internal company videos btw. We hear from him quite frequently now.”

Walt Disney World Announces Big Change to TRON Lightcycle / Run Ahead of Opening

Posted on March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 by Mathew Corn Disney Parks, Magic Kingdom

Guests have waited patiently for Magic Kingdom’s newest attraction, TRON Lightcycle / Run, to open at the Walt Disney World Resort since 2018, and soon it finally will… With a major change that just debuted on the Disney Parks Blog.

Set to be one of the fastest rollercoasters offered at any Disney Park, the predecessor to TRON Lightcycle Power Run at Shanghai Disneyland will bring Guests into the Disney sci-fi film TRON: Legacy (2010). In both TRON (1982) and this sequel, the Flynn family grapples with obstacles in a digitized gaming playground known as The Grid, where “users” on Team Blue compete against antagonists from the interface’s Team Orange in simulated combat via games such as Lightcycle racing, allowing them to “speed across a world with no horizons in a high-stakes race.”

When the ride opened at China’s second Disney theme park in lieu of Space Mountain to great success, plans began to transfer it to Florida just two years later. Once again, Disney Parks and Walt Disney Imagineering have brought this completely pixelated mode of transportation into the real world, this time at Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland.

Despite extended delays due to the Covid-10 pandemic lockdown in 2020, construction is now nearly complete. In addition, Walt Disney World Cast Members have already experienced the nearly finished rollercoaster attraction through Cast Previews, with the ride fully opening to all Guests on April 4 of this year.

While some riders have criticized the ride for its lack of accessible seating, others praise the unique special effects like projection mapping and screen technology, which combine with immersive onboard audio to create a better-themed entertainment experience. However, further controversy arose over the ride’s use of a sponsor.

For instance, the Enterprise rental car company logo appears on the main queue entrance sign, causing some fans to claim it dampens the ride’s immersion with ties to our reality. Now, Disney has taken that corporate connection one step further with a new post-show experience.

a green lightcycle with black accents behind a barrier in the tron queue

Although the queue’s Hall of Opponents features two other teams in addition to Blue and Orange, previous competitors Team Yellow and Team Red, it’s Team Green that shows up in the post-show exit, which has intrigued Guests due to its connection to the Enterprise sponsor.

Presented by Enterprise, the Team Green space will include displays relaying the “culture, capabilities, and values of Enterprise” along with the “impressive programming” for the team’s real-life Green Lightcycle, “the latest and “most-advanced iteration to join the competition.” Furthermore, alongside this dynamic photo opportunity, the post-show will share rotating backstories for all twelve Team Members for Users to enjoy on future visits to the Grid.

Family Names Child After Disney Character as “A Joke”

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

Unique baby names are a big trend right now. More and more, parents want their children to have a name that no one else has. One family wanted to name their children “fun and unique” names based 0n the parent’s personalities. Their six children now have names inspired by dad’s boxing hobby and mom’s Disney obsession.

Pippa and Luke Tinskey knew that they wanted all of their children to have original names. They have Rocky-Tyson, who is three, who is named after the character Rocky Balbo and heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Hatton, who is six, is named after British boxing legend Ricky Hatton. Joel-Scofield, who is 15, is named after Joel Madden, the singer of the band Good Charlotte, and Michael Schofield, a character from the TV show Prison Break. Autumn-Kyle, who is 13, and Sara-Lileigh, who is 11, were both named by their nanny Sara Houghton.

When it came to naming the couple’s four-year-old daughter, they knew they wanted it to be something Disney-inspired. Pippa is a Disney fan, and the couple had a long list of names that they were considering for their baby girl. One of the names was ‘Bambi,’ which is the name of the deer from the 1942 Disney movie of the same name. The couple started using the name as a joke, but it eventually stuck. Mother Pippa explained, “I also knew I was going to have a Disney name for one of them and Bambi was on a list of ridiculous names, as a bit of a joke, but it just stuck.”

Bambi is certainly a unique name for a little girl. Pippa and Luke say that many people don’t usually believe that that is actually her name. They say, “Some people still don’t believe that’s actually her name… To be honest, she’s such a feral child – we should have called her Mowgli.”

Pippa and Luke aren’t the only couples who like the unusual name Bambi for a girl. Influencer and Love Island star Molly Mae and her partner Tommy Fury announced that her child is also named Bambi. Who knows, maybe Bambi will join names like Jasmine, Belle, Jesse, and Tiana on the list of most popular Disney baby names!