All Things Disney - Except Movies

Teri and I enjoyed five week-long stays at Walt Disney World. We were planning a longer trip for our 25th anniversary but she wound up dying of congestive heart failure in April after suffering a mild stroke followed by a seizure. I was unaware of WDW Magazine. Why didn't anybody tell me? Today I learned about it via a Facebook ad and I immediately subscribed. Oh boy!

 
Because I'm not a weirdo European I didn't know a 5k is only 3.1 miles. I would have guessed it was like 4 something.

I've only been jogging a week and I'm pretty sure I could already jog for 2 out of 3 miles. I'm certain that's good enough to not come in last...I've seen some of people who do these 5k's.

I think it would be fun to do one of the Disney 5k's when they come back. Lots of times the path goes through the back of epcot and it would be cool to see parts you can't see from a normal day in the park.
 
:hatsoff: to you. I rarely make it to an actual jog on the treadmill.
I walk really fast, and usually get in close to 3 miles, but I'm sure my lungs would bleed if I jogged for a whole mile.
 
:hatsoff: to you. I rarely make it to an actual jog on the treadmill.
I walk really fast, and usually get in close to 3 miles, but I'm sure my lungs would bleed if I jogged for a whole mile.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not jogging full miles yet. But I am doing multiple 0.3 miles jogs during my 6 mile walk. I jog for about half of each mile. When I was just walking my mile times were around the 18 minute mark. Now that I'm jogging a bit they have dropped to between 13-16 minutes.
 
Well, who was I kidding? I can't stay away from Disney. I'm up at my motel now and today will be an epcot day. I'm only doing 1 night this time. I may or may not go to a park tomorrow before I drive home, we'll see how I feel in the morning.
 
It was a fun 28 hours of Disney. I hadn't been to the parks since 9.21. Over a month is an eternity.

I went to epcot yesterday and did:

Spaceship Earth
Nemo
Saw my manatees (of course)
The Land
Awesome Planet
Figment
and I checked out the World Showplace.

Awesome Planet is some short movie in the the pavillion where The Land is. It was fine, nothing special. World Showplace is a section over by Canada that is usually used for corporate events but they turned it into a place with a bunch of food booths and a very small shop. It was nice to see but since I don't really buy stuff in the parks it was kinda worthless to me.

Today I went to Animal Kingdom at opening. I skipped Flight of Passage since there was already a line but got to do Navi River Journey as a walk on twice since all the rope drop people go straight to FoP. I also did Kilimanjaro Safari and Everest before heading home. Animal Kingdom is always a blast.

The lines really weren't all that bad compared to the videos I've been watching. But then again it was the middle of the week and I did skip a lot of the main attractions like Test Track and FoP.
 
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Facebook is filled with complaints from people who have been to Walt Disney World recently and were very upset to learn that many shows and attractions are temporarily closed. JHDK can give us a detailed report on what is open and what is not.
 
I'm a crazy person. I was in Disney this morning and since I've been home I've spent hours watching various Youtubes of people walking around the parks. Hah.

Facebook is filled with complaints from people who have been to Walt Disney World recently and were very upset to learn that many shows and attractions are temporarily closed. JHDK can give us a detailed report on what is open and what is not.

I was watching the Orlando local news from my motel room last night and they had a guy on who was the voice of the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor talking about how he and a bunch of other actors were laid off this week as part of the 28,000 layoffs Disney announced at the start of October.

There is plenty missing from all the parks. Some of the ones that come right to mind are:

The Beauty and the Beast and Indiana Jones shows in Hollywood Studios.

Those have been mainstays of HS forever and it's weird they are not there anymore. I really hope they come back some day. There are a ton of other examples but I don't find it too detrimental to my overall enjoyment in the parks. The lack of fireworks at night is perhaps the biggest thing I miss.

However, in Animal Kingdom it is noticeable. Before Avatar Land that park was known as a "half day park". Now I'm not sure I ever agreed with that but I get it. They have two major shows that have not been running since WDW reopened: The Lion King and Finding Nemo. The Lion King was an amazing show and I really do miss it.

Also in AK, there was the African band that was amazing. It wasn't a stage show, just a band playing out in the open, and now it's gone. They do have boats go by every hour or so with characters and another boat with a band but it's not the same. It is cool though, just not as cool. AK also had this performer on both leg and arm stilts called Divine. She was great and it was always a treat to be lucky enough to see her because she would be walking around at random places and times. I miss Divine.

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It’s the end of an era. The Radio Disney network will shut down early in 2021 – a decision that comes a few weeks after the Walt Disney Company announced a vast reorganisation of its media and entertainment divisions as it shifts focus to streaming.

Over 30 employees will be affected by the imminent closure of Radio Disney, which the American group states is a consequence of a “fast-evolving media environment that provides more personalised music choices than ever to a generation of young consumers.”

The Latin-American division of the radio network will continue to broadcast, since it is a separate operation to Radio Disney and Radio Disney Country.

Radio Disney was founded in 1996, a time when some 91% of children under 12 in the US listened to the radio each week, according to the New York Times. During its 25 years on air, the radio network helped launch the careers of artists such as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Hilary Duff. Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and the Jonas Brothers also benefited from the huge popularity of Radio Disney. By 2005, it was available across 97% of the US thanks to over 50 terrestrial radio stations and through SiriusXM satellite radio.

But America’s listening habits have changed since the ’90s – even if 92% of Americans still listen to the radio each week, according to Nielsen. This enthusiasm was also seen in the 12-17 age group, previously a target audience for Radio Disney, with a large majority (93%) listening to the radio at least once a month in 2019.

Focus on streaming

Despite that, the Walt Disney Company is aiming to refocus its activities to capitalise on the success of its streaming platforms, Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu. Although the group announced a net loss of US$2.8 billion for the 2020 fiscal year due to the covid-19 pandemic, this is somewhat mitigated by the 73.7 million fans who signed up to Disney+ – a figure that the group was hoping to reach by 2024.

“Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, we’ve continued to build on the incredible success of Disney+ as we grow our global direct-to-consumer businesses. The global reach of our full portfolio of direct-to-consumer services now exceeds an astounding 100 million paid subscriptions – a significant milestone and a reaffirmation of our DTC strategy, which we view as key to the future growth of our company,” Disney CEO, Bob Chapek said in August.

And it’s not over yet: the Walt Disney Company is preparing to launch a new Star-branded streaming service in 2021. This new platform will feature content from ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight and 20th Century Studios.
Disney-AFP-071220.jpg
 
I don't really care about Radio Disney. It's never been something I listen to. On my drives there I usually throw on a Phish show and it's about ending when I'm close to entering property. Then I throw on the Amazon Music Disney soundtrack when I'm about to enter the property. IDK, it just makes me feel good.

I need to get back to the parks btw...it's been since October. I'm currently blacked out until January 4th with my weekday select pass. I don't want to fight the crowds now anyway. It's the busiest now than ever since reopening. I plan to go back soon after Jan 4th.

I really do miss the parks though. Driving in always makes me smile and walking around them always makes me happy.

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Listing to Beauty and the Beast or whatever else when driving under this is truly delightful to me.

I'm super dorky. In my car, by myself, I say, outloud: "Hello Mickey, Hello Minne, Hello Pluto, Hello Goofy" when I drive under the arch. Unlike that stock photo, the arch I drive under has the 4 characters.
 
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Ok, thanks IndustrialH. Now you got me down a Disney music rabbit hole. This rambling post is your fault.

This is a modern one I love. Shakira kills it:



Then we get to my favorite modern Disney movie, Moana:



btw/epcot is adding a Muana area. It's not going to be a ride but a walkthrough area...we'll see what it winds up being.

Then we move on to the classics I grew up with:



And the best Disney movie ever also a top 5 all time over all movie:



Honorable mention to Little Mermaid:

 
It’s the end of an era. The Radio Disney network will shut down early in 2021 – a decision that comes a few weeks after the Walt Disney Company announced a vast reorganisation of its media and entertainment divisions as it shifts focus to streaming.

Over 30 employees will be affected by the imminent closure of Radio Disney, which the American group states is a consequence of a “fast-evolving media environment that provides more personalised music choices than ever to a generation of young consumers.”

The Latin-American division of the radio network will continue to broadcast, since it is a separate operation to Radio Disney and Radio Disney Country.

Radio Disney was founded in 1996, a time when some 91% of children under 12 in the US listened to the radio each week, according to the New York Times. During its 25 years on air, the radio network helped launch the careers of artists such as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Hilary Duff. Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and the Jonas Brothers also benefited from the huge popularity of Radio Disney. By 2005, it was available across 97% of the US thanks to over 50 terrestrial radio stations and through SiriusXM satellite radio.

But America’s listening habits have changed since the ’90s – even if 92% of Americans still listen to the radio each week, according to Nielsen. This enthusiasm was also seen in the 12-17 age group, previously a target audience for Radio Disney, with a large majority (93%) listening to the radio at least once a month in 2019.

Focus on streaming

Despite that, the Walt Disney Company is aiming to refocus its activities to capitalise on the success of its streaming platforms, Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu. Although the group announced a net loss of US$2.8 billion for the 2020 fiscal year due to the covid-19 pandemic, this is somewhat mitigated by the 73.7 million fans who signed up to Disney+ – a figure that the group was hoping to reach by 2024.

“Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, we’ve continued to build on the incredible success of Disney+ as we grow our global direct-to-consumer businesses. The global reach of our full portfolio of direct-to-consumer services now exceeds an astounding 100 million paid subscriptions – a significant milestone and a reaffirmation of our DTC strategy, which we view as key to the future growth of our company,” Disney CEO, Bob Chapek said in August.

And it’s not over yet: the Walt Disney Company is preparing to launch a new Star-branded streaming service in 2021. This new platform will feature content from ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight and 20th Century Studios.
Disney-AFP-071220.jpg
Maybe they should have hired Howard Stern.
 
Radio Disney Latin America is a separate entity and will continue to operate. Of course most of the songs are in Spanish, but.......

 
I'm all but 100% decided that I'll be heading up to Disney on Tuesday and spend one night at my favorite crappy motel.

Festival of the Arts just started at Epcot and Figment is the mascot of that festival. I love Figment so much. He is definitely in my top 5 favorite Disney characters. I may have to break my rule of never spending money in the parks during a solo trip and buy some sort of Figment art.

I'm looking forward to it. It'll be my first time since October. That's WAY too long a break. And park hopping is back! So in 2 days I'll likely be able to do all 4 parks.



1610205122063.webp
 
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Like the true crazy person I am, I've decided to drive up there tonight. I should get there around 2 or 3 am, go to sleep and be up and ready to go when epcot opens at 11.

I just took a nap and I'm pretty sure I won't fall asleep at the wheel so it's time to go to Disney!!!
 
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