Disney World

Wall-E,” the movie about a trash- compacting robot, may end a slide in U.S. box-office sales for Walt Disney Co. and its Pixar animation studio.The film, opening in about 4,000 theaters today, probably will exceed Pixar’s 2007 release “Ratatouille,” which garnered $47 million in its first weekend, according to Steve Mason, an analyst in Los Angeles at FantasyMoguls.com, a box-office Web site. He estimated weekend sales of $55 million.

Disney, which bought Pixar in 2006, needs a hit to climb from last place among the largest studios in 2008 U.S. sales.The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” missed Box Office Mojo LLC’s $86.9 million estimate last month, taking in $55 million in its opening weekend. Through June 22, Disney’s domestic ticket sales dropped 36 percent to $457.4 million, according to the Burbank, California-based film tracker.

Wall-E’ translates well around the world because of the physical comedy and emotional aspects,” Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, said in an interview. “Nothing binds it to the United States. It’s a creative project that will work in 100 countries around the world.”

The movie from “Finding Nemo” creator Andrew Stanton follows Wall-E, short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth- Class, who clears garbage left by humans who fled the planet to live on space ships. He falls in love with another robot, Eve, the Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator sent to Earth to look for signs of life.

`Love Story’

The film may take in as much as $210 million in ticket sales during its U.S. run, said David Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, who recommends shares of Burbank, California-based Disney and doesn’t own them. That would pass the $206 million of “Ratatouille,” according to Internet Movie Database Inc., a unit of Amazon.com Inc. that provides film data.

Wall-E’ boasts the best love story I’ve seen in 2008,” said Gitesh Pandya, editor of industry newsletter BoxOfficeGuru.com in New York. “Word of mouth will be terrific with all ages and this will last a long time.”

Disney, the second-largest U.S. media company, rose 4 cents to $31.57 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have slipped 2.2 percent this year, compared with a 13 percent drop in the S&P 500 Index.

2003 Peak

Since 2003’s Finding Nemo,” the No. 2 animated film of all time according to Box Office Mojo, each Pixar release has produced lower U.S. box-office sales, a benchmark for subsequent sales of DVDs and television revenue.

U.S. box office is the most important factor in anticipating all the other ancillary revenue streams,” said David Davis, founder of Arpeggio Partners LLC, a Santa Monica, California-based consultant to Hollywood studios. “It’s not the only factor, but it’s the best indicator.”

U.S. box-office sales for Pixar, which Disney bought for $8.06 billion, peaked in 2003 with “Finding Nemo,” which was produced for $94 million and took in $340 million, according to Internet Movie Database.Ratatouille” cost $150 million, while “Wall-E” cost $120 million, IMDB said.

The jury is still out” on the Pixar purchase, said Tuna Amobi, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s in New York who recommends Disney shares and doesn’t own them. “It was a hefty price, no doubt about it. Disney is looking at it as a marathon, not a sprint.”

Fewer Films

Since buying Pixar, Disney has cut film production overall, betting it could boost profit by making fewer, more popular movies. Last year, filmed entertainment generated profit of $1.2 billion, a sixfold increase over two years, on slightly lower sales of $7.49 billion.

The company produced 13 films last year, down from 17 in 2005, and will release 11 in 2008.

This year is proving tougher. Through the first half of fiscal 2008, studio profit rose 6.5 percent to $891 million, while sales gained 6.7 percent to $4.46 billion. For the year ending in September, the unit’s profit is likely to fall 1 percent to $1.19 billion, as sales dip 1.8 percent to $7.36 billion, according to Michael Nathanson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York.

Robert Iger, Disney’s chief executive officer, said last month at an investor conference that Hollywood makes too many movies.

It shouldn’t surprise anybody in the business why there is so much failure and why the returns on investment are so modest,” Iger said.

The following table ranks Pixar movies by their worldwide box-office sales. Figures are in millions of dollars.

Movie          Year      Budget      U.S.        Worldwide
Total         Total
Finding Nemo   2003    $94      $340          $865
Incredibles    2004         92        261           631
Ratatouille    2007        150        206           621
Monsters Inc.  2001      115        256           525
Toy Story 2    1999        90        246           485
Cars           2006         120        244           462
Bug’s Life     1998          45        163           363
Toy Story      1995         30        192           362

Disney teamed up with the World Science Festival on Saturday with a show about the science that goes into that old Disney magic. Like most Disney productions, it was very professional and very kid-friendly. Of course the show also doubled as a giant advertisement for Disney theme parks, but I guess that comes with the territory.

And there was science — physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and environmental science. The imagineers (imagination + engineers, get it?) brought out a roller coaster simulator to show how G-force works to put the thrills into the ride and keep the rider in his seat, even when hanging upside down.

Liquid nitrogen and a giant air blaster pushed out fog. The creepy atmosphere was aided by dark lighting, a cemetery scene and eerie music, helping to illustrate how a blend of science and art goes into all the special effects.

N.Y.U.’s Skirball Center auditorium was too small for real fireworks, but the imagineers were able to demonstrate how they get different colors into the shooting explosions by adding various elements like copper and strontium.

Audience members could also see how live human beings provide the movements and gestures for animated characters like skeleton pirates. Other volunteers took an elephant-sized G.P.S. tracking device and trekked out to Washington Square Park, while the audience tracked their movements via satellite.

What was great about these demonstrations is that they showed kids that sometimes science can be used to produce the things they love — wild rides, engaging stories, beautiful art and more.

Outside, there was a Disney animatronic dinosaur as well as the Magic School Bus and dozens of demonstrations, experiments, cartoon characters and scientifically-minded entertainments — at least before the thunderstorms started.

For more details about the festival, check out John Tierney’s blog. What’s your favorite Disney special effect?

Cue the pixie dust.
Walt Disney Animation is taking direct aim at little girls with a business initiative called Disney Fairies whose long-awaited star is finally ready for her small screen debut.
John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, announced the much delayed “Tinker Bell” DVD on Friday, the first original title in a series of company-wide animation initiatives meant to capitalize on the fairy and princess craze among little girls.

“Tinker Bell,” the first character to take wing from the Disney Fairy canon, is scheduled for direct-to-DVD release in late October, after being pushed back a year due to reported production complications. In this particular 2008 incarnation, Tink actually has a voice (actress Mae Whitman, although at one point Disney announced that Brittany Murphy would play Tink), and a lovely pair of iridescent wings:

Word has it that Tinker Bell’s wings cost a pretty penny, too. At least $50 million, in addition to a key executive’s job, two dozen versions of the script and a dozen different directors, according to Variety.

The female character’s success should be an interesting test for Lasseter, whose Pixar animated films over the past decade have largely catered to boys. Consider the upcoming robot tale “Wall-E” (June 27), and earlier blockbusters “Cars,” “Bugs,” and “Monsters, Inc.” Somehow Pixar and parent company Disney have managed to largely overlook a marketplace filled with little girls fixated on princesses and fairies.

Disney Animation hasn’t introduced any new animated girl-centric titles and characters — such as “The Little Mermaid” (1989), Princess Jasmine in “Aladdin” (1992), “Pocahontas” (1995) and “Mulan” (1998) — in close to a decade. (Even “Enchanted,” which was live action, was released just last year.)

But Disney’s animated princess hiatus is about to change, both with the so-called Disney Fairies initiative and when Disney Feature Animation releases theatrically “The Princess and the Frog” (Christmas 2009) and “Rapunzel” (Christmas 2010).

Until then, it will be hard for parents to avoid the Disney Fairies juggernaut, which the Walt Disney Company promises to incorporate across its many divisions, including Disney Consumer Products, Disney Publishing, Disney Interactive Studios, Disney on Ice, Disney Parks and Resorts, and Disney Online.

And with that, Disney’s finally going full-bore with faith, trust and pixie dust.

The new fees airlines have begun charging passengers who check a second bag aren’t just aggravating travelers — they are causing headaches for Walt Disney World and its Magical Express airport shuttle-and-luggage service.

The problem

The fees are complicating Magical Express’ early baggage-check service, which encourages departing guests to check in for their flights and drop off their luggage in their hotel before leaving the giant resort.

Disney then has those customers — along with other hotel guests who are unable or choose not to use the resort check-in option — bused to Orlando International Airport.

Disney offers Magical Express for free to its hotel guests, using the service as way to keep those guests on company property longer by eliminating the need for visitors to rent a car and sparing them from long airport check-in lines at the end of their vacation. But because it doesn’t charge for the shuttle or the baggage service, Disney World does not have an obvious way to collect the new baggage-check fees — as much as $25 a person — from guests who want to check two bags through Magical Express on the way home.

The changes have already caused some confusion at Disney hotels. Disney says it has continued to allow departing guests to check two pieces of luggage at their hotels, but some employees when questioned this week said their understanding was that people flying home on an airline with a second-bag fee have to check that second bag by themselves at the airport.

The complications could grow further if more U.S. carriers follow American Airlines’ lead and charge passengers to check their first piece of luggage, too. On June 15, American will begin charging $15 for the first checked bag.

The solution

Temporary: Disney says it and the company it contracts with to run the luggage service, Orlando-based Bags Inc., have worked out agreements with the airlines to temporarily waive the luggage fees for guests who use the remote check-in service. But those agreements end this week. Starting Sunday, Disney says, guests who want to check their luggage before leaving their hotels will first have to contact a Bags Inc. call center and pay the appropriate luggage charges over the phone.

Permanent: Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty says the company is still trying to devise a permanent solution. Disney and Bags are considering installing payment registers at the airline check-in counters in each Disney hotel, so guests could pay their baggage fees directly. That would spare guests from having to pay the fees over the phone by credit card or from having to check a second bag themselves at OIA. But Prunty said Disney is weighing several possibilities.

What are the hurdles?

*Effect on speed. Having to process baggage payments for departing guests could gum up the airline check-in process at Disney’s hotels, where lines can already be long on busy mornings. About one in five Disney guests who use the Magical Express baggage check-in option surrenders more than one piece of luggage, and roughly 1 million bags a year are now checked early at Disney hotels, bypassing the usual check-in process at Orlando International. “When it’s free, obviously the transaction time is much quicker,” said Craig Mateer, president of Bags Inc.

*Lack of standards. The fee schedules for checked luggage vary from airline to airline. Amounts range from $10 to $25 a bag each way. Also, some airlines exempt certain passengers, such as high-level frequent fliers or passengers traveling on more expensive fares. It can even make a difference if the passenger checked in for the flight online or in person.

*Communication. Disney wants to ensure that its employees and guests are aware of the changes as the system continues to evolve. Disney is in the midst of updating its Magical Express materials — such as letters to preregistered guests, in-room booklets and Web-site information — to reflect the new policies. “The important piece is communication,” Prunty said.

What others are doing

Some other local locations that offer similar airline check-in services — such as the Orange County Convention Center and several hotels owned by International Drive hotelier Harris Rosen — have already begun charging departing guests the new luggage fees. But it has been easier for them because they already charge guests to use Bags Inc. service for their flights home. Guests at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, for instance, pay $10 a person to check their bags at the hotel before heading to OIA. Mateer says Bags Inc. is also working with the cruise lines that offer onboard airline check-in programs at Port Canaveral; some of them are already testing new payment systems.

Going to Disneyland is a fantasy for most kids…but working there isn’t always Fantasy Land. Brandon Pinto, whose screen name is Brandon Hillock, is an actor who appeared in “Veronica Mars.” He’s also a life-long Disneyland fan. He always dreamed of working there, and eventually did, landing a job playing the “Jack Sparrow” character Johnny Depp made so famous in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Pinto tells all in this month’s Los Angeles Magazine, providing a rare look inside the Magic Kingdom.

Turns out women get a little frisky with Jack.

“I would…get offers from women in my ear: ‘Anything you want, just find me.’ I had a girl who had turned 18 the day before. She was with a high school group, and she wrote down her room number at the Downtown Disney hotel. I had a lady hump my leg one day in the park.”

Pinto writes about his “training”:

‘Don’t be flirtatious,’ they told us. ‘See women as trouble.’ And they said as far as alcohol goes, don’t even mention drinking. But the Pirates of the Caribbean song is all about drinking, and they’re drinking all along the ride. So I eventually broke that rule, because it would have taken me out of character. When parents took pictures, I’d say, ‘Everyone say “rum,”‘ and the parents loved it. The kids would just ask, ‘What’s rum?’”

Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of…mom.

Every once in a while, I realize “Hey, I’ve never done that!” while in the theme parks, and it happened the other day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Out-of-town guests suggested eating at Hollywood & Vine, and I realized I had never given the buffet-style restaurant a try.Well, I might just have a new favorite restaurant at the Studios.
It is a cafeteria-style buffet, but your cafeteria never served food like this. Everything in it seemed to have a special touch. The wide varieties of salads, for example, had ingredients like cranberries or walnuts or roasted red peppers. Just little things like that to lift them from basic fare to something special.
There were several choices of high-quality meats, too. The roast beef was delicious, and thankfully, was available medium or well-done. (I like my meat good and dead.) The accompanying wine sauce was delicious, too.
Parents, don’t worry: The kids assortment had the usual chicken nuggets, etc. But it also featured some delicious meatballs that I snuck onto my plate when the grownups with me weren’t looking.
Desserts were delicious … a trifle-like strawberry-shortcake offering, a berry cobbler with soft-serve ice cream or a hot vanilla sauce, mini Key lime pie tarts… There was chocolate mousse, but alas, that ran out before I could get some. My only quibble, in fact, was that is was never refilled.
The nitty-gritty details after the jump.
The food is all-you-can-eat, so for $24.99, you can get a good deal if you’re a big eater. Even if your appetite isn’t huge, the quality of the food makes it worth it. Kids pay $12.99.
The menu changes from day to day, but always includes fresh fish, carved meat, a selection of salads and that dessert bar. Also, non-alcholic beverages are included in the price.
Hollywood & Vine is located right next to the Prime-Time Cafe, toward the front of the park.
I would make reservations. Right up until closing time, the place was mobbed. (Must be everyone else already knew how good it is.) As always, Disney restaurant reservations can be made at 407-WDW-DINE or in the parks at the restaurant or at a Guest Relations location.

More than 400 aspiring teen pop stars crooned and danced on stage as part of auditions for Disney Channel’s music talent show “Hannah Montana - The Big Pop Star Dream” at a mall here. The contest was held at the MGF Mega City Mall in Gurgaon Saturday evening. The teens sang and danced to the beats of hit Bollywood numbers and songs from Disney Channel’s Original movies - “High School Musical” and “High School Musical 2″.

The MGF Mega City, a sprawling shopping mall in the satellite township near New Delhi, was packed to capacity. The children aged between 7 to 12 wore make up and were given props to perform on the stage decked up like a concert space - complete with strobe lights and smoke screens.

The Hannah Montana show, one of the highest rated shows on Disney Channel with the largest viewership in the age group of 7-16, is about an ordinary not-so-good looking girl Miley Stuart in Malibu, California, who goes to school during the day and gets a makeover as pop star Hannah Montana at night. She lives with her brother and widowed father, Robby, a song-writer. No one in college knows that she is Hannah Montana. It is a musical with a fairy tale plot.

A statement by Disney Channel said nearly 100,000 children had registered for the talent hunt show in four cities - Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Altogether, 1,600 aspiring pop idols will be handpicked from four cities, of whom four will be selected for the clinching round. The first round has been held in Kolkata. The auditions, recorded by the Disney team, will be screened by Anoushka Manchanda of the all-women’s pop group, Viva.

The channel will fly the four semi-finalists to Mumbai to give them a complete Hannah Montana makeover and record the Hannah Montana title track in Hindi. The vignettes of these four semi finalists’ performances will then be aired on Disney Channel for an audience poll to select the Big Indian Pop Star.

“We want Indian kids to get a feel of the real Hannah Montana show. It allows Indian children to get an opportunity to express themselves and pursue their dreams. I am thrilled that so many children in India emulate Hannah Montana,” Antione Villeneuve, senior vice-president and managing director, Walt Disney Television International, said.

One lucky fan among the Disney Channel viewers who participates in the voting to select the final winner, will also win a chance to accompany the contest winner to meet Hannah Montana in the US.

When Disney releases ‘Sleeping Beauty’ this fall on Blu-ray, the studio is pulling out every trick in the book to ensure it lives up to its Platinum Series designation. To commemorate the release of the first animated classic in high definition, Disney will utilize both BD-Java and BD-Live functionality to provide the ultimate Blu-ray experience.Viewers will be able to chat with friends, over Disney’s protected network, using their laptop or PDA while watching the film. They’ll be able to insert customized video messages into the film, and then send those messages to friends via a “Movie Mail” feature. Additionally, viewers can get a group of friends together and play an online trivia game while watching the film, no matter where they are located.Once they are done playing with all the interactive features, viewers can check out new trailers or download free ringtones and wallpaper using the “reward points” they earned for checking out the above mentioned features. Bob Chapek, president of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment commented, “[Sleeping Beauty] will revolutionize the way people will interact with and view movies in the home. We pulled out all the stops in launching this technology.”

Walt Disney World, Fla. - In this kingdom of fantasy, there’s magic in reality, too.Birds, some of them thrillingly rare or unusual, come here to spend the summer or take a break in their travels. And silvery bass swirl the waters of Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, testing anglers’ patience and willingness to rise early.Bird-watching is an unexpected and lesser-known attraction at Walt Disney World, but it can delight as much as a twirl in a teacup, a wild ride down an Everest look-alike or a face-to-ears encounter with Mickey Mouse.Disney World lies below that great avian interstate, the Atlantic Flyway. Birds returning from wintering in Central and South America wing directly over Florida, some stopping there for spring and summer breeding, others continuing into the Northeast, Canada and the far north. “In Florida, you can look up, and there’s always something in the sky,” says Chris Newton, a bird and animal keeper in the aviary at Animal Kingdom. Birders with and without their binoculars can see dozens of species. One-third of Disney World’s 45 square miles is protected for wildlife. From a bird’s-eye view, the lakes, trees, grasslands - even the theme parks teeming with people - are an invitation to come on down.Waders, herons, land migrants, songbirds, raptors, rails and every species of egret have stopped or stayed at the park, according to Grenville Roles, curator of birds at Animal Kingdom.Mallards, egrets and ibises walk the paths beside parkgoers. Moochers of several species stalk the outside tables at restaurants, looking for leftovers. Perching birds prattle and sing in the shrubs and trees.To see less-familiar species, watchers generally need to leave the crowds behind. Binoculars and a field guide (try “National Geographic’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America”) are useful. Even without such gear, you’ll see plenty of birds.Renting a boat or kayak at the Contemporary Resort marina, crossing a short distance across Bay Lake and circling the shoreline of the former Discovery Island reveals a nursery. Hundreds of white ibis, egrets, herons, cormorants and others nest on the island, closed to the public when Animal Kingdom opened.A quiet walk among the trees in the farm area at Fort Wilderness Campground and Resort produces different delights. A northern parula warbler’s buzz-buzz-trill sounds from a low branch, a mockingbird tunes up, a brown thrasher snatches insects in a patch of lawn. The area is rustic but not unpeopled. Yet, walking farther along the paved paths turns up titmice, cedar waxwings and a great-crested flycatcher. Then, suddenly, a bald eagle wings overhead.Animal Kingdom offers unique opportunities for birders. Almost more parkland than theme park, it’s a habitat for a range of birds.“This is the biggest botanical collection to be developed in the Western Hemisphere in the last hundred years,” says Roles.Exotic birds show themselves on the self-guided Maharajah Jungle Trek through a manmade forest.Living peacefully in its savannah where the big cats roam are sarus cranes, at nearly 6 feet, tall enough for the NBA if only they could shoot. Northern orioles are orange flashes nearby. Java green peacocks strut. Bar-headed geese, which in their native Asia migrate over the Himalayas, peck contentedly in the short grass.For birders, the Red Pavilion is the trek’s E-ticket. An enclosed aviary, it has feeding stations that draw its nearly 100 resident exotics into the open. A laminated guide helps trekkers identify birds such as doves, rollers, plovers and the golden pheasant.“I don’t know how something that colorful can survive in the wild,” says Roles.)The beauty at hand has a purpose.The park is “the connecting point where we hope to inspire people to conservation action,” says Roles.

When you have three kids and a very picky husband, holiday times are not easy to organise.But this time we finally got it right. A trip aboard the Stena HSS ferry Explorer for all the family and a weekend stay in Wicklow surrounded by the county’s scenic beauty was just what we all needed.The diversity of Wicklow suited us all – with hilltops overlooking magnificent views and long sandy beaches, it really lived up to its title as the Garden of Ireland. The kids had plenty to keep them happy, with the National Sea Life Centre, amusements on the sea front at Bray and experiencing nature at first hand on Glenroe Farm.Travel on a family holiday is always hectic but going by ferry, Stena’s HSS, meant we simply packed everything we needed in the car and we were off, minus the headache of baggage check-in and endless queues that normally waits for us at the airport. The crossing from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire was part of the fun with lots onboard to keep the young ones entertained. It also gave time for us grown-ups to get into the holiday spirit. The crossing itself took just 99 minutes, then all we had to do was jump in the car – a half-hour drive to our hotel in Delgany.The 70-bedroom Glenview Hotel, with its own leisure club, is tastefully decorated in a modern style, and it makes the most of the views across its picturesque setting. We were tempted to stay and simply chill out but instead headed off to neighbouring Bray.The kids loved this traditional seaside resort. We went on walks along the beach and spent most of the afternoon at the amusements – there was even a miniature train making the mile-long trip along the seafront.We then ventured over to the National Sea life centre, with more than 20 different displays, each one stranger and more exotic than the last.By the evening we were all famished, and there was a great selection of places in Bray. In fact throughout the weekend there was an extensive choice of places to eat, it was always quite easy to locate a café or restaurant with friendly staff, where we could grab a bite if the kids were hungry.Next day, after an excellent breakfast in the hotel’s Woodland Restaurant we set off to Glenroe Farm in Kilcoole, where Irish soap Glenroe was filmed. It was a rare chance for the children to see farm animals up close and they especially loved the baby chicks. After a picnic lunch our next stop was Avoca – Ballykissangel to TV fans – home to the oldest working mill in Ireland.We were enthusiastically welcomed to watch the weaving process, which was fascinating, and the gift shop offered Avoca clothing and authentic Irish crafts, so we could take back a memento of our trip.Next stop was Wicklow’s historic gaol at Killmantin Hill, a new addition to the county’s tourist trail, although the prison’s been there since 1702. The exhibition covered fascinating events that really grabbed the attention of even our youngest.Then it was back to the hotel for dinner and to pack, ready for the early ferry the next day. It was a great stay, and there were many more things we could have done – from enjoying a walk through the stunning scenery, visiting historic homes like Powerscourt gardens, or checking out the shops.The trip was a definite success, the kids loved the time away and the huge variety Wicklow had to offer didn’t allow time for boredom.Stena Line has launched its new hotel breaks to Ireland brochure – prices from £250 for two people staying two nights in 3 and 4 star hotels, including ferry travel. Other Stena deals include kids-go-free offers, or staying three nights for the price of two. More information at www.stenaline.co.uk/hoteldeals, on 08705 747474 or from your local travel agent.