On Super Bowl Sunday I announced to my family: "I am ready to go into the belly of the beast."The beast in question: Walt Disney World's resort booking system. I love Disney World. It's my all-time favorite vacation destination.

I do not love its reservations system, however. For nearly every one of my vacations there, the reservations process has been miserable. This time might have been the worst, though. To book three rooms each, at two resorts (a total of six reservations, in other words) took hours. I missed the Super Bowl because of it.

I called the reservations line at 4:53 p.m. At 6:05 - one hour and 12 minutes later - my reservation was finally complete. I had to give my credit card number at least six times. I had to give the names of the people in my party, their addresses, their email addresses, umpteen times.

But that wasn't all. Since we've stayed at Disney World before, the reservations system already contained information about us. It turns out that much of it was misinformation - incorrect addresses, incorrect names. It was a mess.

Then, to top it off, the reservation clerk - who couldn't have been more courteous and pleasant - told me that she couldn't find the rate I had seen just 12 hours earlier at www.disneyworld.com. The only available rooms were more expensive - a lot more expensive. I looked on my computer as we talked, and it seemed true: The lower-priced rooms weren't showing up. That seemed peculiar, given that our trip is nine months away.

I booked the more expensive rooms. Then, after hanging up, I brooded. I went back online and found the rooms I wanted at the original, cheaper price. What was up with that?

At 7:43 I called back. I got another agent, who was even more courteous and pleasant. She managed to book the lower rates, but in doing so she had to correct every one of the reservations I'd made just two hours earlier. Names, addresses, titles were still wrong, but in different ways.

The agent was apologetic in the extreme, and efficient, but it took her a long time to fix things, including seemingly endless stretches when she put me on hold while she consulted with the higher-ups in guest services. Finally, at 9:47, the reservation was straightened out. "I just want to give you a big ole hug," the agent said.

Now, Disney World veterans may be asking: Why didn't I just book the rooms online? Here's why: because of a little-known fact. If you are a AAA member, you can get 10 percent off the price of rooms at Disney resort properties (it doesn't work for packages, just room-only reservations). But you can only get the discount by calling; it's not available online. And with three rooms for a total of five nights, that 10 percent added up to a lot of money.

Was it worth 3 hours and 16 minutes of my time? Right now, I'm not sure. On my first call, as the agent and I waited for the computer system to register information, she'd say, cheerfully, "Mickey's working on your reservation."C'mon, Mickey! As the chipper public face of a mega corporation, you can do better.

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With a pop of confetti and the drop of a banner from atop the CHOC Children’s construction site, Disneyland Resort today announced a $5 million donation to CHOC in support of the “Change CHOC, Change the World” comprehensive fund-raising campaign.

The gift includes sponsorship of the lobby in the seven-story tower, slated to open in spring 2013. The tower will house new pediatric services and will incorporate the most advanced design and safety principles of any children’s hospital in the country. Disney Imagineers are busy helping to create an inviting lobby space sprinkled with special Disney touches to complement the hospital’s serene healing environment for children and their families.

“Disney makes magical moments for millions of people every day, and it’s especially important for us to provide some Disney magic to support children during difficult times,” said George A. Kalogridis, Disneyland Resort president. “On behalf of our 22,000 cast members and their families, who live in this community, I am honored to show our support for CHOC as together we build a community where children have the best opportunity to be healthy and happy.”

“Thanks to this generous $5 million gift, our ‘Change CHOC, Change the World’ campaign has surpassed the $100 million milestone,” said Kim Cripe, president and CEO of CHOC Children’s. “We are extremely fortunate to enjoy such a strong partnership with the Disneyland Resort, who understands there’s no higher purpose to philanthropy than to change, to heal and to save the life of a child.”

During this morning’s celebration, Cripe and Kalogridis joined Mickey Mouse, Disney Ambassador Jolie Hales, and 14-year-old CHOC patient Tommy Conforti, CHOC’s Campaign Ambassador, to announce the gift.

Disneyland Resort and CHOC have been part of the fabric of Orange County since Walt Disney first formed a bond with the hospital in 1960, when he was appointed as one of the founding members of CHOC’s executive council. That support continues today with Disneyland Resort President George A. Kalogridis serving on CHOC’s board of directors. For the past 21 years, the Resort has played host to the hospital’s biggest annual fundraiser — the CHOC Walk in the Park — where 15,000 participants stroll through Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks to raise funds. In 2011, walkers raised more than $1.5 million, which included $240,000 from the Disney VoluntEARS walk team and other Resort-sponsored initiatives. Many Disney cast members have a tradition of volunteering their time and talent at CHOC and our beloved characters often can be found visiting the hospital’s young patients.

The Walt Disney Company also has a long history of supporting children’s hospitals. Through Disney’s wishes and hospital programs, the company helps bring happiness, hope and laughter to those who need it most. This month, Disney is expanding its annual care-package program and sharing Disney products and experiences with more than 450 hospitals in the U.S., 110 children’s hospitals and hospices in Europe and 25 children’s hospitals in Latin America.

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Michael Habersetzer, a junior in mechanical engineering, grew up as a Disney fanatic. In November of 2011, he found out he would travel with a group of students to engineer a Disney dream. The Disney Imagineering ImagiNations competition started 20 years ago and has selected teams of students to compete to create a Disney park experience that tells a story, integrates stimulating design and can entertain a wide audience.

N.C. State has consistently sent teams to compete in the finals in Glendale, Calif., and the Habersetzer and his team members won with their project, "The Mind of Molly Mouse."In the past, groups of four students proposed project designs for rides and theme-park attractions. Previous NCSU teams designed "Fantasia: the Lost Symphony," and original ride, "Mickey's Quest to Magma Mountain."

According to Brian Gaudio, team member and junior in environmental design in architecture, this year's competition was the first to provide a prompt for teams. "We were all asked to imagine the year 3011 and design an entertainment experience in the future," Gaudio said.

The team, competing against groups from Carnegie Mellon University, Cal Poly Panoma, UC Berkley, Savannah College of Art and Design and Utah State, developed an original storyline for Disney's proposed lunar resort, and following the narrative of Mickey Mouse descendent Molly Mouse fighting against evil, super-computer nemesis, Archillion.

The team created a story based on good versus evil, with the heroine Molly Mouse traveling from the occupied Archillion City to the virtuous world Preclarium to protect it from Archillion, In the process, she reimposing good in Archillion City, according to Habersetzer. The experience culminates with a battle scene and a restoration of peace.

Kyle Thompson, a senior in aerospace engineering, said the experience depicts a highly technologically developed space society that receives a fresh installment of creativity that was lost in the future. The team got together in September 2011 to work on their application to the competition. Out of 130, the NCSU crew was selected with five other teams to compete in the finals. In the weeks leading up the competition in Disneyland, the team worked day and night to prepare for the challenge. Taking class off last week, the team shadowed Disney engineers and creative developers to get a glimpse of the story telling process.

According to Habersetzer, this week of learning was far more impactful than a semester of lectures.
"The imaginations competition is absolutely inspiring and it's great getting to meet some of the most talented and creative people in the world," Habersetzer said. "The Disney company is one of the best, if not the best, storytelling companies in the world. Getting to look into that process has been amazing."
The glimpse into Disney taught the team about the significance of collaboration in the creative workplace. In addition to the design process, the multi-disciplinary effort includes persuasive and illustrative writing, engineering and product marketing. For Andy Park, junior in environmental design in architecture and team leader, this multi-disciplinary dialog was a strength for the team. "We've been able to complement each other's strength and build off ideas to make a cohesive project," Park said.

The collaborative effort paid off for the team, and as first-place winners, they'll enjoy $3,000 in prize money. However, for Habersetzer, the team already had the feeling of triumph before the final awards ceremony. "Looking at how far we've come, we were selected out of 130 to compete in the finals," Habersetzer said. "Reflecting on that, I feel like we already won."Now with first place, Habersetzer's Disney dream is no longer a figment of his imagination.

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This year, Disneyland Paris will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, and some exciting new shows will arrive at the park as part of the celebration. The two nighttime shows, Disney Dreams and Disney Magic on Parade, will debut in April as the park marks its 20th year of operation.

“Disney Dreams” will combine elements from Walt Disney World and Disneyland’s “The Magic, The Memories, and You” show, as well as Disney California Adventure’s nighttime spectacular “World of Color.” The show, which will follow the adventures of Peter Pan’s shadow as it interacts with over a dozen classic Disney and Pixar films, will feature castle projections, water screens, dancing fountains, pyrotechnic displays, and laser effects. 30-foot tall water screens installed in the moats in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle will play Disney animated scenes set to an original score, while video projections will play on the castle itself. Some of the classic stories that guests can expect to see in the new show include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, Toy Story, Lilo & Stitch, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, The Princess and the Frog, Tron, and Tangled.

The current Disneyland Paris daytime parade, “Once Upon a Dream,” will be revamped to become the nighttime parade “Disney Magic on Parade.” The parade will feature all-new music, costumes, and choreography, as well as new first and last floats. Beginning the parade will be two carriages carrying Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, along with their princes. The grand finale float will feature Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters in Sorcerer’s Apprentice-inspired costumes.

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Ugh - and yes it is never a good thing when a meteorologist starts a forecast with the word "ugh" (is that even a word)!

This is reminding me of things I type in the summer...it may rain ... it may not.  The good news if you listened to my weather forecast on Magic 24.7 yesterday is that I am a little less convinced we will see any shower activity at all today.  Computer models were differing in this last night so I waited as long as I could and just did my best ... it is nice when it comes out the RIGHT way especially for you vacationers.

The forecast continues to be problematic though as a couple of disturbances will graze the area - and a front will wash out over us.  All of these things increase our moisture and give us a CHANCE (just a chance) for shower activity - though it would likely be late.  Right now the BEST chance of showers looks to be Sunday night into Monday but again - that could easily change when you read this tomorrow.  So let's keep things in the short term shall we?

For today depending when you read this you will (and I say WILL with a great deal of confidence) see some fog out there.  Coupled with the wildfire smoke depending where you are going to be driving there could be some hazardous visibility issues when it comes to driving.  The fog should get up out of here soon after sunrise and by 9am we will be in the clear.  Another warm day (above average) will be with us today and that trend will continue into the weekend even with increased cloud cover.  Expect highs in the upper 70s the next two days and we will flirt with 80 by Saturday and Sunday.

And just like that we may be waving goodbye to winter friends :-) ... I mean it really has been mild for most of us throughout the country (he says as Denver gets pounded with snow).  Lows won't get much below 60 (think 58/59) through Sunday - so anyone from say Green Bay visiting to watch the Super Bowl will likely be in shorts their entire vacation!

Enjoy your day and remember - as I told my mom one day - this is the best job in the world because you can be wrong every day and not be fired ... :-)!  I kid I kid.  But Mother Nature, she's a fickle lady my friends so always keep your eye to the skies!

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Back in 2000, Disney made a rare change to their longstanding dress code by allowing male employees to come to work with mustaches. Up until then, the park expected all male workers to show up fresh-shaven and baby smooth, just like Prince Charming.

Allowing mustaches seemed like an odd choice then, and does so even more now. Disneyland is famous for its fastidious dress code (unnatural hair colors, tattoos and piercings are anathema to their brand), but since when is a mustache more appropriate than a beard?

Sure, Walt Disney wore a mustache; same with Tom Selleck and the Monopoly man, but mustaches are also associated with smarmy club owners from the 1970’s, and for any non-hipster under the age of 65, they’re sharply out of style. Beards, on the other hand, call to mind woodsiness, Brett Keisel, “The Old Man and the Sea” and Santa. Why draw a line? It’s still hard to say.

Now, 12 years after legalizing mustaches, Disney is giving another inch—correction — another quarter inch — to its male employees. Starting February 3, men will be allowed to show up to work with a beard or goatee, so long as the hair doesn’t exceed one forth of an inch in length. Soul patches, however, are still strictly banned at Disney, as they should be everywhere. The L.A. Times explains Disney’s follicular culture:

The same is true if the omnibus driver looks like Howie Mandel. We’ll look forward to seeing what they start allowing in 2024. Maybe muttonchops, or very short haircuts for women.
 

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The Walt Disney Company recently released a new product called the “Waves Mickey Mouse Tee for Adults”. As Pitchfork points out, the Waves shirt is a graphic tee that uses the cover of Joy Division’s debut 1979 album Unknown Pleasures. In the Disney version the wave through the middle of the image is reshaped into three circles, making the iconic Mickey Mouse shape. The Disney Store site writes of the shirt: “Inspired by the iconic sleeve of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album, this Waves Mickey Mouse Tee incorporates Mickey's image within the graphic of the pulse of a star. That's appropriate given few stars have made bigger waves than Mickey!”

The shirt seems to be the only band inspired shirt on the site, so apparently there are some influential hipsters working in Disney’s clothing design department. The best part is that the shirt (which is only sold online and at Disneyland or World) is available online as an XXL only. So apparently Disney thinks that anyone who loves Joy Division and Mickey Mouse must be obese.

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Showing his lighter side, US President Barack Obama, who visited Disneyland in Florida to announce his new tourism policy, said his two daughters would envy him for being at the popular tourist destination.

"It is great to be here. It is rare that I get to do something that Sasha and Malia envy me for," Obama said at the top of his remarks as he announced his new tourism policy in the presence of some 150 tourists in Disneyland yesterday.

"That doesn't happen very often. Maybe for once they'll actually ask me at dinner how my day went," Obama said. However, it is unlikely that Obama had dinner with his two daughters last night as he went to New York from Florida where he attended a few fund raisers for him and arrived here only around mid-night.

While Mickey Mouse was nowhere to be seen, Obama said he looked forward to meeting him.  "I confess, I am excited to see Mickey. It's always nice to meet a world leader who has bigger ears than me," he said, amidst a big round of laughter from the audience.

Obama spoke in the middle of the kingdom's faux late 19th-century Main Street, against a backdrop of Cinderella's blue-spired castle and a cloudless blue sky on a gorgeous day.

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Standing before a sun-splashed Cinderella’s castle, President Barack Obama on Thursday called for America to become the world’s top travel destination with a program that could significantly increase tourism to South Florida.

“America is open for business,” Obama announced at Walt Disney World near Orlando. “We want to welcome you,” he said. The president also issued an executive order speeding visitor visas for Brazil and China and took additional steps that include promoting national parks and adding business executives to a tourism advisory board.

The goal is to significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States. The White House said that more than 1 million jobs could be created over the next decade, according to industry projections, if the U.S. increases its share of the international travel market.

“The more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. It’s that simple,” Obama said. Tourism is a key component of Florida’s economy, and tourism jobs have rebounded far more quickly in South Florida than jobs in most other industries.

The region’s $13 billion hospitality industry employs about 182,000 people in South Florida, according to federal figures, amounting to about 10 percent of Broward’s workforce and 12 percent of Miami-Dade’s. That does not include employees of the retail industry, much of which depends on tourism dollars. In 2010, the hospitality industry accounted for about 5 percent of the region’s $260 billion economy, though adding in foreign dollars in real estate, auto purchases, and shopping would make that amount bigger.

Nationally, the White House said the travel and tourism industry represent 2.7 percent of gross domestic product and 7.5 million jobs in 2010. But the U.S. share of spending by international travelers fell from 17 percent to 11 percent between 2000 and 2010, due to increased competition and changes in global development, as well as security measures imposed after Sept. 11, 2001, according to the White House.

Beyond the economic case, Obama’s trip to Florida was the latest bid by the White House and his campaign to steal a share of the spotlight from Republicans vying for the GOP presidential nomination in this battleground state. The Florida Republican primary takes place on Jan. 31.

The president’s speech Thursday was far different from a 2009 appearance when he urged companies not to plan meetings in luxury resorts after an AIG subsidiary spent more than $440,000 on a meeting shortly after the firm was bailed out by taxpayers. Since then, industry representatives have met frequently with the White House to emphasize the importance of tourism to the economy, and officials from tourism organizations, retail-trade groups, and American Airlines applauded Thursday’s announcement. Under nearly all previous administrations, tourism promotion has been left to regional agencies and the private sector.

In 2010, President Obama signed the Tourism Promotion Act, an industry-led imitative establishing a public-private partnership to promote the U.S. as a destination. Funding for a $200 million campaign slated for launch later this year comes from a $14 per person fee charged to visitors from visa-waiver countries.

His directive to increase visitor visa processing capacity by 40 percent in Brazil by the end of 2012 and cut the time period for visa interviews could have an “immediate and significant” impact on South Florida’s economy, where Brazilians spent more than $1.5 billion in 2010 alone, said local tourism officials.

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The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim will host the 26th annual AIDS Walk on Sunday, May 6. The AIDS Services Foundation (ASF) of Orange County is expecting more than five thousand advocates, supporters and volunteer fundraisers to attend and take part in the enchanted path through Downtown Disney, Disney California Adventure and Disneyland park, scheduled to commence at 7:00 a.m.

The 2012 AIDS Walk Orange County is a 5 km (3.2 mile) venture that has been made possible with the proceeds from numerous nonprofit organizations that make services available to people living in Orange County who have been impacted by the disease. This event is recognized as being a valuable tool of public outreach and education for the concerns surrounding AIDS. As a corporate sponsor for ASF since 2000, Disneyland’s VoluntEARS have provided volunteer assistance and have also played a part as walkers during this event.

"ASF is thrilled and humbled to be returning to the Disneyland Resort for AIDS Walk 2012. We received such amazing feedback about the location from last year's walkers and volunteers. And the experience for our clients in attendance was emotionally overwhelming," said Philip Yaeger, executive director of ASF. "One of our clients remarked, while standing among a crowd of thousands on Main Street, USA, at Disneyland, that he now knew he was not alone in his fight against AIDS."

Originally held at Mason Park in Irvine in 1987, the walk has found its way to several locations and has raised more than $14 million in donations to assist those affected by HIV/AIDS in Orange County over the last 25 years. "We raised nearly 25 percent more for AIDS Walk in 2011 because the event was held at the Disneyland Resort," commented Chris Bragg, event organizer and ASF director of events, "We're certain that the experience for all of our walkers will be even better this year!"

Founded in 1985, the AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County annually assists more than 1,600 women, men and children who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. They provide transportation, emergency financial assistance, food, HIV testing, housing, and HIV prevention and education programs.

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