Beginning May 14, The Edna Mode Experience returns to Disney’s Hollywood Studios as part of a reimagined Pixar Place, where you’ll also encounter Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Frozone, and Sulley from “Monsters, Inc.”
Disney Cast Member Arrested for Taking “Up the Skirt” Photos of Guests
Every year, millions of Disney fans travel to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort to experience wholesome, family-friendly entertainment. So many Guests love the sense of safety and harmony that exists within the “Disney Bubble,” and it is a big reason why Guests continue to come back to the Parks year after year.
This is the reason why it is so terrifying to learn of some incredibly criminal behavior that has been occurring at Walt Disney World Resort. It has been announced that Orange County deputies have arrested a Disney Cast Member after it was revealed he had taken hundreds of nonconsensual lude photos of Guests at Walt Disney World.
Visiting Walt Disney World Resort should be a safe experience for every Guest. Unfortunately, hundreds of Guests have unknowingly been the victim of a Cast Member. Jorge Diazvega, 26, has been working at Walt Disney World for at least six years. At the time of the arrest, Diazvega was working at Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. This shop is located within Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
On March 31, 2023, one Guest was visiting Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities when they witnessed Diazvega record an “upskirt video of a female Guests.” This report was immediately taken over by the Orange County deputies, who arrived at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to interview Diazvega.
It was revealed that Diazvega has over 5oo videos up the skirts or dresses of Walt Disney World Resort Guests on his device. He described his recordings as a “guilty pleasure” that he used for “sexual gratification.”
This information was enough for police to arrest Diazvega in late March. He was charged with video voyeurism and was released on a $2,500 bond days after his arrest. As of now, Diazvega is out of prison, and his case is still pending. The Walt Disney Company has confirmed that Diazvega does not work for the company anymore.
Disney100 Pressed Pennies Now Available at EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Port Orleans Resort
Via wdwnt.com
Disney100 pressed pennies are now available at EPCOT, as well as at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.
Disney100 Pressed Pennies at EPCOT
With Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary recently ending its 18-month-long celebration, we are starting to see Disney100 merchandise taking its place. All around the parks, the Disney100 pressed pennies have slowly been replacing the 50th Anniversary ones.
At EPCOT, over at The Seas with Nemo & Friends gift shop, we spotted the new Disney100 pressed pennies. The pennies feature Remy from “Ratatouille”, Figment from “Journey into Imagination with Figment”, Nemo and Dory from “Finding Nemo”, and Ariel and Flounder from “The Little Mermaid”.
Over at World Traveler, which is the merchandise shop over at the International Gateway, we spotted another machine with Disney100 pressed pennies.
Lumiere and Cogsworth from “Beauty and the Beast” are featured on this pressed penny.
Lumiere and Cogsworth are the only Disney100 pressed penny at this machine, but you can also collect a Mulan penny or Mickey on a postcard from China penny featuring the old EPCOT logo.
Over at Port of Entry, we spotted another penny machine with a Disney100 penny.
Grogu, or Baby Yoda, from “The Mandalorian” is featured on his own Disney100 penny.
Next door at World Traveler, the pressed penny machine has a Disney100 design featuring Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket and Baby Groot.
The Disney100 pressed penny design in this machine features Anna, Elsa, and Olaf from “Frozen.”
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Park hopping to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you’ll find this pressed penny machine in Oscar’s Super Service near the main entrance.
The Disney100 penny features a dapper-looking Kermit the Frog.
Disney100 Pressed Pennies at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
Lastly, at Disney’s Port Orleans – Riverside, a penny machine is in Jackson Square Gifts & Desires.
The new design in this machine features Princess Tiana in her human form and Prince Naveen in his frog form.
Check out the full list with locations of Disney100 pressed pennies at Walt Disney World Resort.
Former Imagineer Confirms ‘Elee’, A Large Creature That Could Carry Guests Around Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Was Scrapped Due to Budget
Via wdwnt.com
On Twitter, former Walt Disney Imagineer Frank Mezzatesta confirmed that Disney scrapped plans to create a large creature that could carry guests around Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge due to budget concerns.
“Elee”, The Giant Star Wars Creature
Yesterday, Twitter user @DisneyProject shared this look at concept art from “Elee”:
The concept art by Jerry Rees shows Elee in more detail than we have ever seen her. Elee was initially designed as a large, mechanical creature that could roam Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with as many as six guests seated on her back.
Rees states that Elee was designed to be a relative to the Bantha, a wooly creature we first see in “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” in the deserts of Tatooine.
In response to seeing this detailed concept art, former Walt Disney Imagineer Frank Mezzatesta chimed in:
According to Mezzatesta, while he and his teammates worked on Elee for “like 2 years”, she ultimately was a casualty of budget limitations as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge neared completion. If you scan the QR code next to the concept art in the tweet, you can hear Rees speak hopefully that even though Elee was scrapped, maybe she will eventually appear in the parks. He states, “Galaxy’s Edge is going to be around for a long time”.
“The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” is a coffee-table book by Nerdist managing editor Amy Ratcliffe, who spoke to more than twenty people involved in the land’s creation. This includes Scott Trowbridge of Walt Disney Imagineering, who also provides the book’s foreword. The 256-page book includes more than 300 images, including concept art and descriptions of ideas that made it into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and some that were scrapped.
Margaret Kerrison, Managing Story Editor at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Story Lead for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge had this to say about Elee: “We liked the idea of a big beast lumbering through the land and having a very personal connection with you. So you would go up and pat her muzzle, and she would react to you. We really wanted to make you believe that Elee was a real creature. So you would go on rides. We actually had a path that went around the land. Mostly to the Resistance area and back in front of the garage; it was a circle.”
Rees spoke glowingly of the backstory he created for Elee and his desire to see her be a gentle giant that even small children could walk up to and interact with in Galaxy’s Edge.
In these pieces of concept art, you can see Elee interact with a child guest. Initial designs seemed to allow guests to feel the breath from Elee’s mouth and even have their cotton candy slurped up by the giant beast.
Imagineer Scott Trowbridge had this to say about the reasoning behind why Elee never fully materialized: “Elee was a creature that we designed and did a fair amount of work to figure out how we would bring her to life. lain McCaig did some designs for her. We just fell in love with those designs. We did some models and figured out how we could bring her to life technically, and then ultimately what we realized is, with the kind of population we expect in the land, we won’t really be able to have her feel authentic.”
Elee was one of many initial designs for the land that either got scrapped or essentially ended up behind a “paywall” that guests could only experience if they visited Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Barstool Founder Dave Portnoy Pretends to be Disney Cast Member
When wandering around Walt Disney World Resort, it is so fun to watch all of the iconic Disney characters walk around in costume. Character interactions are one of the best parts of visiting Disney Parks, and it is a central part of any Disney vacation. To help preserve the magic, Disney strictly enforces that no adult Guests should be wearing a costume within any Park unless it is at a special Halloween event. This is one of the reasons why fans were shocked to see Barstool founder and internet celebrity Dave Portnoy in a full Disney costume walking around the Parks.
Dave Portnoy is known on the internet as an incredibly wild and hilarious personality. He has garnered a massive fanbase for being the founder of the pop-culture blog Barstool Sports. His company has now become a source of sports content, celebrity gossip, and lots of entertaining podcast channels. Dave himself stars on some podcasts, including the popular celebrity gossip podcast Bff’s.
One of the main things that fans love Dave Portnoy for is his trademark “one bite pizza reviews.” On March 9, the internet celeb headed to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida to shoot a new Pizza review and film a bunch of content in the Parks. While he was there, he had some extra fun getting into character as a Disney Cast Member.
On Dave Portnoy’s personal TikTok account, @stoolpresidente, he shared a clip from inside the Park where he gives directions to a Guest while in costume. Fans found the clip hilarious, and it now has gone viral with over 133,300 likes. Disney fans sounded off in the comments joking around that Dave Portnoy had accepted a job as a Disney Cast Member. Others were quick to correct his one-finger point, saying “You need to point with two fingers. It’s the Disney way.”