An Orlando man who was convicted of molesting multiple underage Guests at Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort in 2019 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison according to ClickOrlando, a local news station in the Central Florida area.
James Anthony Jones, 53, was first arrested Jones was first arrested on October 17, 2019, and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim between 12 and 15 years old after he molested two children at Magic Kingdom. Orange County deputies said that the first victim was with her mother at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe inside the park when a man later identified as Jones inappropriately touched the young girl.
Records show that surveillance cameras captured the incident. Shortly thereafter, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies received another report involving a man with a similar description to the one in the Christmas shop. This time, an incident occurred in the preshow area of the Haunted Mansion attraction in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom.
Later that evening, the man was located–still at Magic Kingdom–and Cast Members played a role in helping authorities by identifying the man.
Following the incidents, Disney released a statement, calling Jones’s actions “unacceptable.”
Then in November 2019, after two more victims were identified, Jones faced additional charges.
James Anthony Jones was later convicted and received his sentence this month. The judge presiding over the sentencing in the case gave the Florida man a 15-year prison sentence, but according to court records, Jones will receive credit for the 867 days already served. He was also designated as a sex offender as part of the conviction and sentencing.
At this time, we cannot confirm what started the fire but it may have had something to do with the nightly firework show, “Disney Enchantment”, which the Magic Kingdom offers.
We will continue to monitor the situation and update our story as more information comes out.
As you can see, the fire was on top of the show building that houses Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid at the Magic Kingdom. This ride was added as a part of the huge Fantasyland expansion Disney constructed a few years back.
The Walt Disney Imagineering project team will soon celebrate a significant milestone on the construction of the TRON Lightcycle / Run attraction, as Guests at Magic Kingdom Park will be getting their first glimpses of ride vehicles on the track!
As we begin the next phase of ride testing, we’ll soon start a process known as “push/pull,” where sections of the seven-vehicle train are slowly moved through the entire ride track. Once the track is completely ready, trains will begin launch tests at incremental speeds, with the team eventually working their way up to full-speed launches.
All of this exciting progress will be visible to our Guests in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom Park as trains make their way out of the launch zone and underneath the attraction’s iconic canopy.
Check out this new video for a behind-the-scenes look from Executive Ride Engineer, Jerold Kaplan, as the team prepares for this important milestone.
Disney announced that they would be retheming the Splash Mountain theme park attraction, (located in both Disney World and Disneyland) from the controversial film, Song of the South to the 2009 film, The Princess and the Frog.
Ever since, Disney Parks have been removing references to Song of the South and Splash Mountain. In August 2020, Disneyland Resort quietly removed the famous song, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, which is also played throughout Splash Mountain, from the Disneyland Resort esplanade music loop — the courtyard area in between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Now, Disney World has removed “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from the Festival of Fantasy parade soundtrack.
Splash Mountain is currently located at both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. The attraction is based off of the film, Song of the South, which is extremely controversial as many deem it racist.
In fact, the movie considered by many as the most controversial and notorious film in Disney’s history. Because of this, it was never made available on home video in the U.S. and is currently missing from Disney’s streaming service, Disney+.
Song of the South is a mix of live-action and animation and features an older African-American plantation laborer named Uncle Remus who tells stories to a young white boy. Groups including the NAACP protested the film’s initial release.
Within Splash Mountain, you can spot many of the characters from Song of the South, including Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear, as well as hear the iconic song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”. However, as Disney strives towards diversity and inclusion, the Parks have been removing references to Song of the South.
The first was Disneyland Resort, whom decided to remove “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from the esplanade loop. When this occurred, a Disneyland official explained “The removal of the song from Downtown Disney’s background music is part of a continuous process to deliver an environment that features stories that are relevant and inclusive.”
Now, it seems those efforts are continuing on the East Coast as the song, which originated from Song of the South and is played during the Disney Parks attraction, Splash Mountain, has been removed from the Festival of the Fantasy parade.
The fan-favorite Festival of Fantasy parade returned to Magic Kingdom today, March 9, but the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” reference did not.
In a live stream video from EarsomEmporium with Genevieve, you can watch the return of Festival of Fantasy parade, which has removed the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” song, which was heard towards the end of the parade as the Mickey Mouse float approached.
Right as Donald Duck approaches on his float, you can hear the “Mickey Mouse March”, which used to turn into “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, but that no longer occurs and instead, it is replaced with music. Take a listen in the video below:
For comparison, you can watch our video of Festival of Fantasy from prior to the ongoing pandemic, which included the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”. You can hear it in the final unit, which includes “Mickey Mouse March”, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, “When You Wish Upon a Star”, “I’ve Got No Strings”, Whistle While You Work”, “When I See an Elephant Fly”.
This section begins at approximately the 13:00 mark in our video below when the Mickey Mouse float approaches our team.
Disneyland Paris also recently removed the song from its Disney Stars on Parade.
As of right now, Disney has not yet made an announcement on when Splash Mountain would be rethemed to The Princess and the Frog, and the attraction remains open to the public at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.
Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire returned to Walt Disney World after a month-long closure due to the ongoing pandemic. The castle stage show, which used to be referred to as Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, is a fan-favorite stage and takes place in front of Cinderella Castle multiple times per day.
During one performance of the stage show, Princess Elena of Avalor had a misstep and fell down, flat on her face.
In a video shared to TikTok, as Guests gathered around Cinderella Castle to catch a performance of Mickey’s Friendship Faire, Princess Elena of Avalor had an unfortunate misstep and fell flat on her face.
Princess Snow White went rushing over to Elena and helped her back up to her feet as the show continued on.
Luckily it seems that Princess Elena was not injured as she got up shortly after her fall and continued on with the show. We also want to note that it is unclear when exactly this happened, but reports have come in stating it occurred back in 2018, prior to the ongoing pandemic.
