Month: March 2017

Disney Introduces Na’vi Translator for Pandora – The World of Avatar

Walt Disney World will sell a “Na’vi Translator” when it opens Pandora: The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in May.

Visitors using the translator can learn how to pronounce 90 Na’vi words using interchangeable translation cards. The devices will also light up at night.

The Avatar land will depict Pandora, the mythical moon where the fictional Na’vi people live in the 2009 movie “Avatar.”

The Na’vi Translator Device costs $19.99. It will come packaged with 15 translation cards. The device has a clasp that extends up to 12 inches and can be attached to a belt or backpack.

Additional translation cards will be sold in trading card packs, each containing eight randomly selected cards. Other cards will be sold in trading card packs for $6.99 each. Each pack will contain 8 randomly selected cards.

There are a total of 90 trading cards to collect.

Disney said when selecting words and phrases, creators thought about the most essential words necessary to explore another country here on this planet.

Disney merchandise product developer Cody Hampton partnered with Lightstorm Entertainment and Dr. Paul Frommer, creator of the Na’vi language for “Avatar,” to acquire audio recordings of spoken Na’vi words for the translator.

From The Orlando Sentinel

New My Disney Experience app Launches, Makes Planning Walt Disney World Vacations Even Easier

As Disney fans know, the My Disney Experience app is a one-stop shop for all things Walt Disney World from viewing park hours, purchasing tickets and merchandise, making FastPass+ selections, getting turn by turn directions, accessing vacation photos and sharing them through Disney PhotoPass and much more.

The enhanced My Disney Experience app features a look and feel to make planning and enjoying your Walt Disney World Resort vacation easier than ever.

The new My Disney Experience mobile app opens right to the park maps to help you find attractions, restaurants, restrooms and more. It makes it easier for you to navigate through our parks so you can spend more time enjoying the magic of Walt Disney World Resort. A new section called “Spotlight” highlights new park experiences and entertainment offerings to help you find out the latest and greatest happenings at the parks.

And when you stay at one of the Disney resorts, you will be able to use the new feature called “My Resort Dashboard,” which gives you access to your resort reservation details all in one place, including the ability to see room number, theme, building and floor once you have your room assignment. “My Resort Dashboard” even gives you directions to your resort using Disney transportation options, a map showing you the location of your room and a link to directly call the Resort Front Desk if you need further assistance during your stay.

For guests who enjoy visiting our other Disney Parks around the world, the new My Disney Experience app now features the same look and feel as our other park apps, making the mobile experience seamless across the globe.

To check out all of these exciting new app features, take a look at this short video!

The My Disney Experience app and MagicBand still work together seamlessly, allowing you to effortlessly connect all your vacation choices from the My Disney Experience app to your MagicBand.

 

Disney Institute Hosts Customer Experience Summit

Disney Institute will be hosting its Customer Experience Summit at Walt Disney World® Resort. For decades, Disney has strived for excellence in the art of customer service, ensuring the guest is at the heart of everything. This one-of-a kind event will give participants a peek behind the unique brand of Disney magic and help transform the way they think about their own customer experience.

The Customer Experience Summit will take place at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa from May 23-26, 2017. The multi-day summit is a fully immersive learning event that will offer attendees a first-hand look at Disney business insights and best practices in leadership, service and employee engagement. Given this critical customer experience framework, guests will be inspired and enabled to adapt it to their own role or organization.

Disney senior executives will share real-world examples of how they bring the Disney approach to life every day. The Summit keynote speakers include:

  • George A. Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort
  • Rachel Hutter, vice president of worldwide safety and health, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
  • Paul Richardson, senior vice president of human resources, ESPN
  • Beth Scott, vice president of food and beverage experience planning & integration, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

“Building on the success of our inaugural CX Summit last year, I am excited to host our next event for participants to learn key insights from Disney executives on how Disney Parks consistently exceeds Guest expectations,” said Jeff James, vice president and general manager of Disney Institute.  “This year’s summit will include even more learning experiences with Disney executives from our parks and resorts operation teams.”

The Summit will also offer guests exclusive field experiences throughout the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, where they will observe a world-renowned customer experience environment in action. Participants will get a chance to see the operation through the eyes of a Cast Member to enhance their perspective on service delivery. During these special experiences guests will:

  • Be immersed in the underground world beneath Magic Kingdom® Park to experience the supportive environment that enables Cast Members to serve their guests.
  • Gain insider knowledge of unique products and services that cast provide to guests and experience several of Disney’s most renowned attractions.
  • Discover how the guest experience has evolved through customer touchpoints during an enchanting visit to Be Our Guest Restaurant in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom® Park.
  • Adventure behind the scenes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park to learn how systems can help to ensure the consistent delivery of exceptional service to guests.

For more details and to register, visit: DisneyInstitute.com. Registration fees include conference materials, guided field experiences within the operation and select meals.

To find upcoming Disney Institute business training and professional development experiences offered at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida and the Disneyland®Resort in California, visit: DisneyInstituteCourses.com.

About Disney Institute
As the trusted, authoritative voice on the Disney approach to customer experience, Disney Institute uses business insights and time-tested examples from Disney parks and resorts worldwide to inspire individuals and organizations to enhance their own customer experience using Disney principles as their guide.

For nearly three decades, Disney Institute has helped professionals discover ways to positively impact their organizations and the customers they serve through immersion in leadership, service and employee engagement. Unique to Disney Institute is the opportunity to go behind the scenes in a “living laboratory” to observe first-hand how Disney methodologies are operationalized and how they can be adapted and applied to any work environment.

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex Celebrates 20 Years

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex celebrated its 20th anniversary on Tuesday, March 28th. Disney Sports executives Maribeth Bisienere and Faron Kelley marked the occasion with a special on-field moment during the Atlanta Braves-Baltimore Orioles spring training game at the sports complex.

Reggie Williams, former Cincinnati Bengals star and founding executive of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Braves game, which also featured 20th anniversary merchandise and music and trivia from 1997.

Since its opening on March 28, 1997, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex has remained a preeminent multi-sport facility for professional, collegiate and youth sports events of all levels, from AAU Basketball National Championships to the NFL Pro Bowl Week.

In its 20-year history the sports complex has hosted more than three million athletes, including some of the biggest names in sports – Muhammad Ali, Venus and Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Shaquille O’Neal, Tom Brady, Lionel Messi and Mia Hamm. The complex hosts 100 annual athletic and entertainment events featuring 70 different sports and over the years has hosted major events such as NFL Pro Bowl Week (2017), the Invictus Games (2016), the inaugural World Baseball Classic (2006) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp (2002-2008).

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex was one of the first major sports facilities in the country, blazing a new trail in youth sports tourism. In its wake, countless other youth sports complexes have emerged around the country to meet the increasing demand, as 27-percent of all travel taken in the U.S. is solely for organized sporting events.* ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and others comprise what is now an estimated $7 billion youth sports industry.*

While the celebration kicked off on March 28, there will be more tributes throughout the year to commemorate the anniversary and emphasize the positive impact of youth sports. Additionally, there will be new sports-related initiatives announced that will continue Disney’s long-standing support of youth sports nationally and that will continue to drive tourism in Central Florida for the next 20 years and beyond.

*Data sourced from a May 2014 National Association of Sports Commission Study

– See more at: http://disneysportsnews.com/releases/2017/03/28/espn-wide-world-of-sports-complex-celebrates-20-years/#sthash.Rd3W502Y.dpuf

Disney Announces Wreck-It Ralph 2 Title

Disney’s sequel to its 2012 Oscar-nominated animated comedy Wreck-It Ralph officially has a title and a release date. Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 is headed to the big screen on March 9, 2018, the studio announced Tuesday night during its presentation at CinemaCon.

John C. Reilly (Ralph), Sarah Silverman (Vanellope von Schweetz), Jack McBrayer (Fix-It Felix), and Jane Lynch (Sergeant Calhoun) will all reprise their roles in the sequel. Fresh off their Oscar win for Zootopia, Rich Moore, who directed the first film, and Phil Johnston, who co-wrote the story, will direct the Ralph Breaks the Internet; producer Clark Spencer is also returning.

“To take these characters we love and have them enter the enormous world of the internet has given us so much to explore,” Moore said in a statement. “Our production team has been hard at work designing a world that takes something we all think we know – the internet – but shows it in a whole new, imaginative way.”

The sequel will add several new characters, but will still focus on the relationship between the lumbering and lovable demolition expert and the sassy racecar driver from the first film. ” At the center of this film, as in the first one, is the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope, two once-outcasts, who in each other, found true friendship,” Johnston said in a statement.

From Entertainment Weekly

Magic Kingdom Moving Security Screening Areas on April 3rd

There have been rumors for a while now that the Magic Kingdom would be moving its security screening areas away from the park entrance.  Several websites and guests have seen work being done preparing for the change, indicating that the change was imminent.  According to multiple sources Walt Disney World announced that the new screening procedures will go into effect this coming Monday, April 3rd.

According to Disney, guests taking busses and watercraft will be screened at new checkpoints in front of the park. Guests at the Transportation and Ticket Center will be screened after departing from the parking tram, but before boarding the monorail or ferryboat to the park. Additional screening points are being added before monorail boarding at the Magic Kingdom area resorts.

D23’s Magical Screening Series: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in Florida

GOLD MEMBER EVENT
Saturday May 13, 2017
AMC Disney Springs 24
$25 per person (plus $5 processing fee).
Click below to purchase tickets.
Add reminder to calendar
Get Your Tickets Here
Not a Gold Member? Join

OVERVIEW
Celebrate 50 years of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction during a D23-exclusive presentation with Disney Legend Marty Sklar, followed by a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) at AMC Disney Springs 24 at Walt Disney World Resort!

DETAILS
Experience begins at 10 a.m. at AMC Disney Springs 24. Check-in will begin at 9:15 a.m. Please do not arrive before 9:15 a.m.

Available to Gold and Gold Family Members
You will be required to show a photo ID. Members will be required to show their D23 Membership Card.

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for D23!” As we await the May 26 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, D23 Members are invited to celebrate some of Disney’s most notorious rascals, scoundrels, villains, and knaves at the Walt Disney World Resort!

First, if ye come seekin’ the history of salty ol’ pirates, you come to the proper place! Join us as Disney Legend Marty Sklar, former vice chairman and principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, makes an appearance in Florida and charts our course for an adventure through 50 years of Pirates of the Caribbean. During this special presentation, Marty will tell fascinating tales from the making and evolution of the quintessential Disney attraction, which debuted at Disneyland park in 1967 and inspired the Pirates of the Caribbean live-action film series. Discover the secrets behind the attraction’s artistry and development with barrels full of artwork, photography, and other rare material no landlubber will want to miss!

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Attendees will then set sail and enjoy the Academy Award®-nominated Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) on the big screen! The swashbuckling feature follows the adventures of Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), and Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), as they join forces against Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and his crew, who are cursed aboard the legendary Black Pearl.

This installment of D23’s Magical Screening Series will also include an exclusive gift, created just for you, that you won’t want to miss.

NOTE
D23 Gold Members may reserve a ticket for themselves and one (1) guest; D23 Gold Family Members may reserve tickets for themselves and up to three (3) guests. Due to the nature of the experience, all attendees must be 10 years of age or older to partake in this D23’s Magical Screening Series installment. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is rated PG-13 for action/adventure violence; parents are strongly cautioned. D23 Members will be required to provide their membership number when reserving tickets. Tickets may be picked up only with a valid photo ID AND D23 MEMBERSHIP CARD. D23 Members who do not bring their membership card may not be admitted to the event. Ticketed members who do not attend the event forfeit their place as well as all experiences, benefits, and gifts associated with the event. All D23 Special Events are subject to change without notice. There are no cancellations or refunds, and tickets are not transferable. Video or audio recording of any kind will not be permitted during the presentation and screening. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Filming, photography, and other recording will take place at Walt Disney World during the event you will be attending. The Walt Disney Company will be taking photos and filming at AMC Disney Springs 24 located at 1500 Buena Vista Dr., Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830. By entering the premises, you irrevocably consent to and authorize The Walt Disney Company, its affiliates, successors, and assigns (collectively “Producer”), to photograph you, make sound recordings of you, and use such photographs and recordings throughout the world, for any purpose whatsoever in perpetuity, including, but not limited to, television broadcasts and home entertainment products, including, but not limited to, home video and DVD. All such photographs and sound recordings will be the sole property of Producer.

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Dominates for the 2nd Straight Week

Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” waltzed into the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, earning an estimated $88 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

The live-action feature, starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Kevin Kline and Ian McKellen, has raked in more than $315 million in 10 days. In addition, “Beauty and the Beast” brought in more than $119 million overseas, bringing its worldwide total to more than $690 million.

“Power Rangers,” starring Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, Becky G. and Dacre Montgomery, had an impressive opening weekend, earning an estimated $40.5 million for a second place finish. “Kong: Skull Island” took third place with a $14.4 million haul.

“Life,” released last week and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson, had a disappointing fourth place finish, taking in an estimated $12.6 million.

Here are the top 10 movies from Friday through Sunday, with estimated weekend gross ticket sales:

  • 1 – Beauty and the Beast, $88 million
  • 2 – Power Rangers, $40.5 million
  • 3 – Kong: Skull Island, $14.4 million
  • 4 – Life, $12.6 million
  • 5 – Logan, $10.1 million
  • 6 – Get Out, $8.68 million
  • 7 – CHIPS, $7.6 million
  • 8 – The Shack, $3.78 million
  • 9 – The LEGO Batman Movie, $1.97 million
  • 10 – The Belko Experiment, $1.8 million

From ABC News

Walt Disney World Hotels Announce New Summer Offers

Three new offers were announced by Disney for travel this summer at Walt Disney World Resort.

Summer Room Offer

Book through July 14, 2017

Valid Travel Dates: May 28 through August 31, 2017

Additional per adult charges may apply if there are more than 2 adults per room at Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts.
The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited.
Savings based on the non-discounted price for the same room.
Advance reservations required.
Moderate and Deluxe suites may be available at a lesser discount.

Offer Restrictions
Cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
Length of stay requirements may apply.
Offer excludes the following room types: campsites, 3-bedroom villas, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort –The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.

Family Magic Summer Package

Book through July 14, 2017

Valid Travel Dates: Stays most Sunday through Thursday nights from June 11 through August 31, 2017

The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited.
Advance reservations are required.
Tickets are valid for one theme park day and must be used within 14 days of first use.
All Guests in the same room must be on the same package.

Offer Restrictions
Cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
Offer excludes campsites, 3-bedroom villas, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort—The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows.

Kid-Size Summer Vacation Package

Book through July 14, 2017

Valid Travel Dates: Stays most Sunday through Thursday nights from June 11 through August 31, 2017

Sample package price based on 2 adults and 1 child (ages 3 to 9).
The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited.
Advance reservations required.
Tickets are valid for one theme park per day and must be used within 14 days of first use.
All Guests in the same room must be on the same package.

Offer Restrictions
Cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.
Offer excludes campsites, 3-bedroom villas, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort –The Little Mermaid Standard Room and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows.

New ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Event Coming to Fort Wilderness This Halloween

Walt Disney World has announced a brand new event coming this Halloween to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground at Walt Disney World with the Headless Horseman.  The new seasonal event is inspired by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

The cost of the event is $22 per person for standard admission and $38 per person for premium admission.  The current dates for the event are as follows:

  • September 29 and 30
  • October 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29, 30 and 31

The special event that will take place from 8 – 10 PM. Guests attending the event will enjoy:

  • Exclusive limited edition event pin
  • Meet-and-greet with the Headless Horseman
  • Screening of the 1949 animated classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at the Tri-Circle D Ranch

Tickets can be booked for dates 180 days in advance.

Guest with premium admission will be allowed to sit in the first five rows for the film, will get priority access to meet the Headless Horseman, and also receive an additional goodie bag.

Guests can call 407-WDW-PLAY to reserve their tickets for this special Sleepy Hollow event.