Swiss Family Suites

On April 30, the Magic Kingdom's Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse will be closed to begin its conversion into a Disney Vacation Club property.

Pirates vs. Princesses

The Pirate & Princess Party returns to the Magic Kingdom this summer for several days in August and September. It is expected that the pirates will win again this year.

Night of Joy -- Rockin' the Park for Jesus

Disney has announced the list of performers for the annual Night of Joy Christian-music event at the Magic Kingdom, beginning September 7 at 7:30 p.m. Headlining the event will be the celebrated, award-winning chants of the Monks of St. Sebastian Straight-Arrow Choir. Pat Robertson's "Rappin' Rob" extravaganza will serve as a finale to the event.

While we're on the subject, tickets are still available for the annual Night of Darkness Anti-Christian-music event at the Magic Kingdom, beginning June 6 at 6:66 p.m. Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, and the reunited Osmond brothers will perform.

Mouse and Found

The Mouse Planet Web site -- usually viciously on top of current Disneyland news -- yesterday finally noted that Disneyland's Lost Children center moved to the Baby Care Center, thwarting the park's plan to make young Mouse Planet readers stay lost.

A Wild Investment

The Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund has announced the purchase (along with two partners) of some 3,000 acres of land in Brazil. This land is the habitat of the endangered Lear's macaw, so named for its large eyes and habit of staring at female macaws with its tongue hanging out of its mouth. The land was purchased both for the preservation of the macaw's habitat and for the construction of Club Macaw, and extensive dining, dancing, and theme park experience planned to encircle the 1,000 acres that will be left undeveloped.

The Flat Frog

Disney has announced a return to traditional animation with The Frog Prince. This tale of amphibian romance is not only a resurrection of tradition, but also a Disney first in many ways. This is going to be Disney's first animated feature starring a princess of African descent, and the first featuring both interspecies (princess and frog) and interracial (princess and Frenchman) romance.

When asked about how Disney would produce the film given that they had released all of their 2D animators, a Disney spokesperson responded, "Oh, that won't be a problem. Most of those animators wouldn't even think of working for another studio and are just sitting in their apartments waiting for us to call. They love Disney and can't wait to return to the benefits, security, and management-free creative independence they have come to expect from Disney traditional animation."

Meet the Who?

Characters from the Meet the Robinsons have been spotted at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, trying to pose for photos, signing autographs that cause readers to wrinkle their brows, and just generally confusing guests who have no idea who they are.

Get in early!

This just in -- apparently some people in Disneyland management are none too pleased with Congress' pulling back Daylight Saving Time by three weeks. As sort of a "quiet protest" over the situation, starting tomorrow Disneyland will be rewarding everyone who refuses to change their watches by letting them into Disneyland one hour before the posted opening time!

Enjoy!

Pizza Sally

Quoting from an ABC "Eyewitness News" report:

Many Floridians say they see something on a pizza pan that's nothing short of magical. And now, hundreds of Disney fans are flocking to an east Orlando house to get a peek.

Apparently, they're serving something special at the cafeteria of Pu Elementary. On Ash Wednesday, a school employee was washing and scrubbing a sheet pan when she noticed something.

"On the third rinse I started watching it, trying to discover what it was," she recalled.

So moved by the discovery, she took the pan to her manager, who said, "I know it's something good for this community, and especially for this school."

What the women saw was an image that is unmistakable to them. It drew so much attention the pan was moved to a nearby home, where it has become the center of what almost amounts to a shrine.

"It's Sally from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," said one visiting Disney fan. "At first I thought it was Snow White, but the long neck, the full hair -- it has to be Sally."

Another of the Disney faithful said, "I think it's incredible. It's real Disney magic. I'm no lawyer, but I think it's probably a copyright violation, too. I don't know what they're going to do about that."

More than 200 came to see "Sally" on Thursday, and dozens more arrived on Friday. A meeting with Disney lawyers was planned for Friday evening.

Bring on the green!

Those of you with a hankering for a bit of Irish may want to head for Walt Disney World on St. Patrick's day. In celebration, Downtown Disney's Raglan Road restaurant will feature an Irish theme all day long!

What's new in Italy?

We announced earlier that Epcot's L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante is getting the axe. Disney originally would only say that its replacement would be "a new Italian restaurant concept." Insiders are now saying that the "new concept" will be a large-scale Dominos Pizza, offering pizza delivery to any location in the park (including attractions!) in 30 minutes or less.

Muppet Mobile Labs

Last week, visitors to Disney's California Adventure got a chance to view the new Muppet Mobile Labs, a two-wheeled vehicle on which ride muppets Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker. The muppets performed a brief show during which they interacted with guest and conducted various experiments (for example, seeing which of a variety of dangerous contraptions Beaker could escape from before they exploded).

There were a number of technical problems that need to be worked out before this becomes a permanent addition to DCA. Apparently, the two (very short) puppeteers who work within the vehicle had a difficult time operating the puppets, responding to guests, and driving while simultaneously keeping their balance. Said one puppeteer, "Sure, a two-wheeled vehicle looks all cool and scientific, but it's a pain in the ass. If one of us so much as coughs, it falls over, and they take the repair costs out of our pay."

Look for Muppet Mobile Labs to appear on DCA's regular schedule sometime later this year (possibly with the addition of a third wheel).

Who golfs?

Walt Disney World has announced that the Eagle Pines golf course is going beneath the plow. Disney publicist Hans Gopher, when asked why one of the World's famous courses was being destroyed, replied, "There was a time when golf was a big draw for business people and conventioneers. But the world has moved on since then, and executives are a much younger group, less interested in the pastimes of their fathers."

Following through with this reasoning, Disney also announced that the golf course's former location would be used for the construction of a Four Seasons hotel in which every room contains a high-end computer connected to a server dedicated to Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other social networking and gaming applications more appealing to modern corporate America.

New addition to Pirates!

According to current rumor, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World will be modified again in 2007. Apparently, animatronic figures of the Dali Lama will be placed in both attractions. At Disneyland, the figure will appear in the bayou section, replacing the old man who sits in a rocking chair (a character that generates many complaints, in that some people think that the creaking of his aging joints sounds something like banjo music).

At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, "Dali" will appear at the very beginning of the cave section, "so as not to interfere with anything further into the attraction." Of course, this completely avoids the question of whether having this figure in the attraction makes sense at all.

So far as we were concerned, adding the Dali Lama to a Caribbean-themed pirate attraction made little sense, and we wondered what the heck Imagineering was thinking. After investigating this further, we discovered that, during a late-night telephone conversation, John Lasseter misunderstood a poorly pronounced "Tia Dalma," and when his orders came down the next day for the addition of the Dali Lama figure, nobody had the guts to stand up and say he was completely insane.

Go figure.

Disney's Olympic Spirit

Yesterday, the U.S. Olympic Committee's evaluation committee began their two-day visit to investiage whether the Disneyland Resort will be the U.S. candidate to host the 2016 Summer Games. This would be the first time in the history of the Olympics that a private corporation -- as opposed to a city -- hosted the games.

Said Claudia Fabulosa, Disney Olympic press liason, "We have high hopes for a positive result from the evaluation committee's visit. The Disneyland Resort is a wonderful, magical place, and by combining our magic with the magic of the Olympic games would truly create an ultra-magical synergy."

Disneyland Resort boasts facilities that could easily be repurposed for the Summer Games. There are copious accommodations, plenty of dining establishments, numerous bodies of water for use in swimming competitions, and Disney's California Adventure, which can be used to absorb crowds of people when other venues are full. A track and field stadium would need to be built, but Disney has already petitioned the city for permission to build such a stadium on land formerly earmarked for the building of low-income housing.

"We're very serious about this," said Fabulosa. "This isn't something that Disney is taking lightly and we aren't going to make fun of our Olympic heritage. There will be no discus throwing on Main Street, no marathons run on the PeopleMover track, and no fencing competitions in Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, maybe a little, but just for fun, not for medal contention."