USA Network hit a ratings speed bump last week on its dominant run of the summer ratings charts as Disney Channel last week tied the "Characters Welcome" network for top honors. Disney, on the strength of the season four premiere of hit show Hannah Montana, averaged 2.7 million viewers, finishing in a first place tie with USA during the week of July 5 to July 11, according to an Disney-ABC TV analysis of Nielsen data. USA had won the previous five summer 2010 weekly ratings races.

TNT finished third for the week with 2.4 million viewers followed by History and ABC Family Channel, with both networks averaging 1.8 million watchers. Nick-At-Nite, Fox News and ESPN (all tied with 1.7 million viewers), A&E (1.5 million viewers) and Syfy (1.4 million) rounded out the top 10. NBA star LeBron James' much ballyhooed July 8 The Decision special on ESPN drew nearly 10 million viewers to finish as the most watched show during the week among all key audience demos, according to Turner Research.

Although he was physically and mentally exhausted from the preparation for the opening of Disneyland (just four days after this party), Walt Disney decided to celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary at that very special location.

It was a warm July evening. After a long day of inspecting the park with his small flip notepad where he dutifully made notations of things to be changed or addressed, Walt ended his day by waiting cheerfully at the front gate to greet his guests to his new magic kingdom.

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Available for purchase only on July 17, 2010, is this special D55 with the day’s date premium embroidery on any standard pair of mouse ears. They will be available at a limited number of retail locations including Main Street Mad Hatter, Fantasyland Mad Hatter, Gag Factory, Star Trader, World of Disney and Greetings from California. There is a limit of five per guest, available while supplies last. The ears will retail for $21.95 plus tax.

On July 17 only, Annual Passholders will also receive free basic embroidery on any purchased ears with a limit of five per passholder. 55 Years of Magic Premium EarsBeginning on July 18 through July 30 (or while supplies last), there will be a special alternate ‘55 Years of Magic’ premium embroidery option at select retail locations including those mentioned above. These special edition ears are also limited to five per guest.

The planned Disneyland Park in Shanghai will break ground as early as November, one year after the project was approved by the central government in 2009, sources close to the project said on Wednesday. "The chosen area to build the future Disney World Resort, formerly an area scattered with homes and farms, has been cleared for construction," said a villager surnamed Ge, who lives in a nearby village that failed to become part of the amusement park.

"There has been huge change in this area in the past half year. After relocation, there are only four or five houses still standing on the spacious plot of land. Apparently, they have not reached a deal with the government over relocation compensation," he said.

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Walt Disney plans to rapidly expand its language schools across mainland China with the aim of teaching English to 150,000 children by 2015, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

After a successful trial phase that began in 2008, the number of schools will expand from 11 to 148 in five years, Russell Hampton, president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, told the Financial Times in an interview in Los Angeles.

"It is a very sizeable opportunity, something that can deliver operating earnings of well over 100 million dollars in the next five years," Hampton said. The schools are part of expansion plans in China that are to be crowned by the entertainment giant opening its first mainland theme park in Shanghai, expected in 2014.

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Tokyo Disneyland has recently reopened the Captain EO attraction at the park, which stars the late Michael Jackson in a 3D movie. The attraction will run at the park for a limited time, through June 30, 2011. The attraction was open at the park between 1987 and 1996. Captain EO has also reopened at both the Disneyland park in California and at the Epcot theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

You might have guessed that the day was sponsored by a Fibre Paper and Packaging company, but they weren't all seaworthy.

When Shaun Knudsen and Abe Ott launched their two-person, brown-and-yellow, banana slug-themed boat, Slug O'War, into Lake Sacajawea it promptly capsized, sending Knudsen and Ott into the water.

After another failed attempt with a two-person crew, Captain Ott came up with a better plan — turn it into a solo mission. 'I put so much time and effort into this, I was not going to give up that easy,' Ott said.

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A version of the recently opened Disney California Adventure show "World of Color" will be projected onto the USS Midway Museum at Navy Pier July 22-25 and shown online. In each of the four cities of the World of Color Road Show, specially produced animation will be projected onto a familiar landmark, using a mixture of special effects, high-tech projections and.

A storytelling theme presented in "World of Color" The theme of the San Diego stop will be "Water," illustrated by scenes from such Disney films "The Little Mermaid" and "Finding Nemo," Disneyland Resort officials announced Thursday.

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Once upon a time, parents and grandparents just packed up the car and took the kids to Disney World. But soon, they'll be able to live there and take their grandkids to Disney World 24/7 without waiting in line. The Orlando, Fla., folks who create our fantasy entertainment environments are now creating living environments for baby boomers.

Rich boomers, that is. Walt Disney World is back in the real estate business, this time with a series of high end, luxury homes in a gated community priced from $1.5 million to --- gulp -- $8 million. The homes will be in Orlando, within the 40 square miles of Disney's thriving theme parks. The developments will be fashioned as resort communities with special ties to Disney World parks -- private VIP tours of the parks, plus holiday home decorating, grocery delivery from an on-call concierge service, a fitness facility and spa.

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Walt Disney World in Florida has a late-summer offer for families. Select a ticket-and-room package and get the dining plan for free.Deal: The magic number for the Magic Your Way package with free dining is four — two adults and two children.

The Free Disney Dining Plan with this offer includes one sit-down meal, one quick-service meal and one snack per day for four at more than 100 restaurants at Walt Disney World.To take advantage of this deal, you must reserve a room at one of the resort’s moderate-priced hotels that comes with Magic Your Way Base Tickets that admit each family member into one of four theme parks per day, including Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Prices for a five-night package start at $1,843, plus taxes and airfare. The minimum stay is three nights, and the maximum is 10.When:

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