25 Days: Disney and USO Open Welcome Center in Orlando International

I've written before about the Disney Hires Heroes Program here (which is reportedly 6500 vet employees strong now) and why it touched my heart so much. Well, they've done it again with the opening of a new USO Welcome Center in the Orlando International Airport. Disney donated $100,000 and helped design the space that will be used by military members and their families traveling through the airport. The first people staffing the Welcome Center are Disney Cast Members volunteers. It's not about the money, $100,000 is a drop in the bucket to the Walt Disney Company, but it's about the heart involved.

We've been at war almost as long as my high school senior son has been alive. It's not the most intense conflict we've ever been engaged in, in terms of number of military personnel involved, but that doesn't make it any less difficult on military members and their families. And the nature of the conflict has led to a huge number of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder cases, with suicide rates among today's vets at historic highs. And we, as a society, have largely forgotten this war is even happening. We've forgotten those fighting it. And that's dangerous and sad.

I know from my father's experience returning from Vietnam how difficult it can be to transition to civilian life. I know how difficult PTSD can be for a family. I can only imagine the stress on a family of having a father and husband or wife and mother fighting overseas. Disney isn't curing any of those problems, but they are helping. Simply building this space lets our service members know they haven't been forgotten, and that they are being recognized and thanked by one of the largest and most iconic American corporations.

These heroes aren't getting the ticker tape parades they deserve. But they are getting smiles from VoluntEARS and a dose of Disney Magic. And that makes me happy.

30 Days: Avatar Land Lands in the "Official Guide"

Looks like Disney is feeling pretty good about getting Pandora--The World of Avatar open next year. The Birnbaum Official Guide, which is produced with the cooperation and under the guidance of the Walt Disney Company, has included descriptions of Avatarland's two attractions in the 2017 book.The new section of Animal Kingdom, under construction for what seems like forever, is said to be scheduled to open "by mid- to late 2017," though the usual caveats about the unpredictability of construction timelines is also included.

I'll include the photo of the Official Guide's page copied from the Laughing Place blog, because who ever heard of copyright, right? Anyhow, you can read all about the two new attractions there. They sound fun and the entire new "land" sounds like it will be a visual masterpiece, especially at night.

I'm no fan of the Avatar movie, but I'm very much looking forward to this!

33 Days: Disney Eyeing Twitter Acquisition

This just struck me as interesting given how much time I personally spend on DisTwitter now. Wouldn't it be funny if they actually owned Twitter?

The Walt Disney Company is among several looking to acquire Twitter. Microsoft is also apparently interested. Twitter has a market value of $16 billion, so it would be a deal nearly on a scale of the purchase of ABC. That's a lot of dough, even for Disney.

Disney is looking to shore up distribution outlets in a world where more and more people are "cutting the cord" with cable, and Twitter is trying to position itself as a content provider as well as social media outlet, so maybe there are some synergies (OOO, I used a fancy business word).

But I also read that a Twitter bosrd member is also on the Disneyboard, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that this is a trial balloon meant to increase interest in and inflate the price of Twitter. We'll just have to see, I guess.

37 Days: New Disney Patents

I wrote a couple weeks ago about Disney filing a patent application for dron.....I mean "Flying Robots" that would launch fireworks and other goodies into the sky during park shows. Well, apparently it's Patent Application Season, because I've seen news of two more pop up this week, and both are just as cool as the Flying Fireworks Robots.

The first patent involves a projector that would essentially theme a space (like a resort room) in any way Disney desires. The application is very technical and goes pretty far over my head, but it looks like a lamp or ceiling fixture would be fitted with apparatus allowing animated objects to appear around the space and, along with integrated audio, turn the room into an immersive, themed experience. As I understand it, it would be a lot like virtual reality games but your room would take the place of wearing VR goggles.

The possibilities are huge, both for good and, well, a bit evil. According to the Orlando Business Journal article,

The patent also looks at including a tracking camera that can be programmed to remember a user's facial features and then change the imagery to that person's settings — or in another case can be used to wake up a child by projecting images onto their bed.

Waking a child by projecting images onto his or her bed? That could be way too much fun.....

The second patent is an attempt to make animatronics, especially faces of speaking human animatronic figures, more life-like. The Imagineers have for decades been able to make very real seeming figures, such as those in the Hall of Presidents, but when they speak, the movement of the figures' mouths tend to give them away as robots. The most recent fix for this problem has been to leave the figure's head kind of a blank slate and project a moving, speaking image onto it. This works great on Buzz in is Space Ranger Spin, but apparently not as well on the new Frozen attraction in Epcot's Norway pavilion. No matter how well done, we are looking at two very different technologies and the realism isn't quite there.

The fix in this patent application is based upon building animatronic muscle-like material underneath a "skin" so that when the muscles underneath the skin it looks like a human does when it speaks. The problem with the old animatronics was that the movement points, the pieces of robot that actually moved, were very visible.  This new system spreads the movement along an artificial muscle-like material so the face moves realistically. I think I grasp this concept better than the virtual reality projector, but it still leaves room for  being a tad creepy. I mean, just how life-like are we comfortable with our animatronics looking? Science fiction has delved into the idea of humanoid robots and it doesn't always end well, does it?

Still, all three of these new ideas are completely in keeping with Disney's history. I am thrilled to see the Walt Disney Company continuing to follow in the footsteps of its founders by keeping on the cutting edge of entertainment technology.

48 Days: Disney Dron.......I Mean Flying Robots

According to the DisKingdom blog Walt Disney has applied for a patent on "Air Delivered Special Effects." This would entail using drones, or as Disney calls them in the patent application, Flying Robots, to deliver a variety of special effects such as pyrotechnics, confetti and smoke. Imagineering is clearly trying to  "plus" the fireworks and even evidently daytime shows with drone....oops, I mean Flying Robot, launched effects. How cool would that be?

I can only imagine what they will able to do, but as the blog points out, one goal may be to elevate the performance of fireworks to expand the viewing area. If you launch your fireworks from a few hundred feet, they will explode that much higher and be visible from that much farther away.

Refuting The Top 14 Reasons Not To Go To Disney, Part 8

So I'm happily looking at my Facebook newsfeed the other day and one of those "Sponsored" things is up there. It's from a site called Viral Travel (which sounds like a bad idea on the face of it) and is entitled 13 Reasons Not To Go To Disney. Of course I bite. Sue me. So its about what I expect, the same things we Disney fans expect from you non-Disney fans-- crowds, expense, capitalism, yadda yadda yadda. The thing is, many of these criticisms are true to a large extent, but avoidable. I hate to see people get spoiled on the Disney I love because they go about the whole experience unprepared logistically or mentally for the realities of the place. I figured just for kicks to take the 13 reasons one by one (or two by two) and try to explain why they don't keep ME from the Magic. This part four, part one is here, two here, three here, four here, five here, six here, and seven here.

3. The souvenir shops are designed to make you take out a second mortgage.

See that cute little Mickey knickknack, the one that would look just perfect on your mantle next to your Tinker Bell spoon collection? That’ll be $80. Any decent shirts or other clothing items are about the same price, just because they have a mouse embroidered on them.

There are also all kinds of clever key chains, phone cases, handbags, hats, wallets, cheap plastic toys, stuffed animals, dress-up items, snow globes, license plate frames, and pretty much every other type of souvenir you can imagine, plus some you wish you never knew existed.

Getting caught up in the pin collecting and trading looks affordable at first, but those little pins start to add up to a small fortune in a hurry, especially when you find that ultra rare pin that portrays Winnie the Pooh making Captain Jack Sparrow walk the plank. Disney makes it tempting to just buy and buy stuff you don’t need.

As a guest in one of the park’s hotels, you can have the merchandise you buy sent to your room, free of charge, which encourages you to spend even more. If you don’t watch it, you’ll blow through your savings in no time and will leave the park penniless.

I'm thinking this writer is at least in part simply anti-capitalist. I imagine in that posting-about-the-evils-of-corporations-using-your-MacBook kinda way. A Hipster anti-capitalist. Gag me.

Yes, Walt Disney World exists to make money for the shareholders of the Disney corporation. If that bothers you, stay home. Or move to North Korea. Good bye.

For those of you who are left, yes, the massive collection of STUFF available for purchase in Disney's shops is astonishing. If you are any sort of Disney fan at all, you'll see lots you simply MUST have. Step back. You don't need it. Disney isn't evil for making these things available, they are catering to the desires of their guests, but you need to be smart. And strong :-)

There are a few ways to help yourself, and your family, resist the temptation to buy every pin, every t-shirt and every knick-knack you see. Planning. See, broken record. Decide before you leave on a budget for souvenirs and stick to it as best you can. One way to help, especially with children, is to buy Disney gift cards and use them exclusively for souvenirs and impulse buys. When the card is empty, you're done. Simple.

But DO budget for impulse buys. There are things for sale in the Disney parks that you simply won't find anywhere else. It's part of the fun of a Disney trip to find a few of these treasures and carry them home like the conquering hero. Splurge a little, but plan the splurge.

Disney Is Hiring Heroes

Haters beware, this post is going to be so pro-Disney, even pro-Walt Disney Company corporate, that you may just want to bail out now.

Disney has done something that hits me at home and makes me not just happy, but proud to be dropping thousands of dollars their way this summer. Today, Disney announced the Heroes Work Here initiative. Here's a short piece of the blog post from Disney explaining what the initiative entails,

Disney will:

• Provide at least 1,000 jobs, career opportunities for returning U.S. veterans over the next three years.
• Support military families, veterans transitioning into civilian life.
• Launch a national public awareness campaign to encourage job opportunities for veterans.

The logo alone almost brought tears to my eyes. Disney, built upon the story of imaginary heroes defeating imaginary villains, is recognizing real true-life heroes and the value they can bring. I'm thrilled at the way they go about explaining this, not as some welfare, let's all be kind to the poor dears, affirmative action program, but as a logical and smart business practice. Veterans are trained leaders, they know how to do the most with the least and they tend to have a strong work ethic. They have character, having volunteered for a duty that could very well have killed them or left them maimed for life. These are people you want working for you, and as a bonus for the Disney Company, they allow it to boast of having not only imaginary heroes like Prince Charming and Flynn Ryder greeting their guests, but real ones, ones the children can see are just like their fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. The value in that is unmeasurable.

My father is a Vietnam Vet. He came home to a country that acted ashamed of him. There were no parades. The movies made about him portrayed him as a psycho at best and a monster at worst. His fellow vets were spit on and called baby-killer. My mom told me my dad was a hero, but it took decades for the country and the culture to even grudgingly admit that he deserved some thanks. The toll that takes on a man, even one as strong as my dad, is hard for us who've not had to experience it to understand.

I remember when the first Gulf War started, my dad was glued to the TV until all hours of the night. I thought he was upset about the country getting involved in another war, and he was, but not for the reason I assumed. My dad said he was worried that if we got into another war, the men and women would be treated by the country on their return the way he was treated. He didn't want to see that happen to anyone else.

That never happened, the Gulf War vets were welcomed home as heroes and we have treated all our vets in the conflicts that followed the same way. Sure there are the throw-back anti-war folks, but even they haven't in large part attacked the vets. Good. We learned. But to see a company as huge as Disney, as much an integral part of our American cultural identity as Disney is, embrace veterans as valuable contributors to civilian society really made me proud.

Are you seeing this, Dad? I know it'll make you happy. And thanks to ALL the heroes, but especially mine.

Disney Dreamin'

While we are actually planning a for real trip to Walt Disney World later this year, and I got a new HUGE guide book to geek out over (thanks Heather and Chris), last night we were dreaming of a Disney Cruise. Disney, being a huge and diversified entertainment company, produces it's own DVDs to promote their parks and resorts and cruise line. I ordered the cruise DVD just for fun and it showed up last week, so last night we all three piled onto the couch to check it out. We popped popcorn, fixed adult (and a non-adult) beverages and clicked through all two-plus hours of what is, to be perfectly honest, a big commercial. But, as I said to a friend recently, Disney even manages to make their commercials fun. We laughed and "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed and our son shared his expertise on the subject of cruises with his two parents who've never been on one. It was a great night of family time brought to us by blatant commercialism.

As I've said, we love Disney. But we aren't naive about it. We know, even our son, that Disney is a huge mega-corporation created for the purpose of making money for its shareholders. The difference between us and those who despise The Walt "Biz"ney Company is that we are capitalists ourselves. We don't see the profit motive as a bad thing. I've worked in commissioned route sales for over 15 years. I have a very realistic and practical view of marketing. I've seen grand plans come and go, fail and succeed, but I've never seen anyone do what they do as well as the Walt Disney Company. I respect them as a business, and I love them as a consumer, and to me there is no contradiction there. When the characters from Wall-e and Up show up to help switch between scenes on the cruise line DVD, I smile, both because it is a great corporate tie-in and because it is honestly very cute and fun.

Disney is the success it is not because they take advantage of the basest elements of our culture and "trick" stupid people into throwing their money away at theme parks and cruise lines and movie theatres. Disney is the success it is because they deliver what they promise, magic. I can think of no better name for a 12-year old and his two parents happily sitting together to watch a two hour commercial. If that's not magic, nothing is.