Jentasmic: Rides I’d Like to See

I’m definitely not the only one who feels like Disney’s Hollywood Studios could use a few new dark rides. So this week’s Jentasmic! column at StudiosCentral throws out a few ideas for rides I’d like to see, and asks for your ideas.

So…..what dark rides would I like to see at the Studios? Well, my first thoughts were of dark rides based on some of my favorite old Hollywood films, but I don’t think we’d see Walt Disney World adding attractions based on Sunset Boulevard or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes anytime soon (even leaving aside the licensing issues). But given the wealth of material in the Disney vaults, aren’t there classic films that could provide the basis for more dark rides at the Studios? Absolutely.

Head on over to StudiosCentral to read the rest and join in the conversation….

Pixar Items on eBay to Benefit Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

Want to scoop up some Pixar collectibles while doing a little good for your fellow human beings? Lee Unrich, co-director of films including Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2, is auctioning off a number of collectibles, including Toy Story 3 posters signed by Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, and other members of the cast. Most interesting to me are a couple items ending fairly soon: A Monsters Inc crew gift of Jones Soda and an extremely rare Toy Story crew gift fossil watch.

A special baseball hat tip to my friend Hayden for mentioning this on Facebook!

Jentasmic: Haiti on my Mind

It’s not a feel-good, magical topic. But I was so heartbroken yesterday about the ongoing crisis in Haiti that I couldn’t think about anything else when I sat down to write my Jentasmic column this week for Studios Central. So, I put my newly-developed skills in reading and finding the SEC filings of public companies to work, and did a little analysis of what the $100,000 contribution from The Walt Disney Company really means in the context of their corporate finances.

The Walt Disney Company has donated $100,000 to the Red Cross International Fund, to support Haiti’s earthquake relief efforts. This is a good thing. A number of companies are contributing to relief efforts, and I hope they will continue to do so. Google, for example, has gotten a good bit of press for its pledge of $1,000,000.

But what does this look like as a percentage of the company’s resources? What would it mean if each of us personally took this as an example, and planned our own donations accordingly? What if we wanted to give at least as generously to Haiti earthquake relief as Disney has, based on our own personal financial means?

Let’s consider an average 4-person Florida household, whose median income in 2009 was $71,124, according to the US Census. What donation would they give to support Haiti relief efforts, if they used the same proportion as what Disney has given?

Go see what the math tells us. And think about whether you can give at least $0.20 to help out in Haiti. If you can, check out this list at the New York Times, and pick the charity that speaks most closely to your heart.

I’m glad to see that Disney’s also making resources available to Cast Members with loved ones in Haiti.

Star Wars Burlesque

So wrong I just had to link to it. Check out more at Daily Obsessional.

Kudos to The Princess and the Frog

Amazing what one finds when cleaning out the old blogreader in the post-holiday lull! The Feministing blog has a nice piece about The Princess and the Frog, going so far as to call it a feminist fairytale.

The more rumors I heard about Disney’s Tiana, the more I was turned off. But as finals week died down and the reviews came in from trusted peers, I decided to look past the whole princess/amphibian bit to see for myself what the first black princess was really all about.And… I really enjoyed myself. That’s because the themes of entrepreneurship and division of labor in the household were so crucial to the film it was kryptonite for any red-blooded feminist. The idea that men can and should play a role in food preparation and that women can own their own business while building viable, healthy relationships was so groundbreaking for a movie with the word “princess” in the title. For this, Disney deserves their props.

I second that emotion.

****SPOILER ALERT*****

The Princess and the Frog busts open the old “someday my prince will come.” Instead, we are given a heroine who many of us can identify with, who wishes on a star, while still saving her tips in coffee cans to work towards that dream. We’re shown a relationship between equals, where she teaches him to work, and he teaches her to dance. And despite the hard work and pragmatism, we’re still treated to a healthy dose of voodoo magic, including one of the most enjoyable villains in recent years.

I can’t help but believe that the increased scrutiny Disney reasonably expected for their first African-American princess led to an improved process in character development. But however this came about, I’m glad it did.

Give a Day, Get a Disney Day: Launch Day Troubles

The much-anticipated Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion launched yesterday….and apparently, plenty of people like myself sat at their web browsers trying, and failing, to sign up for volunteer opportunities. One can only hope (and reasonably assume) that this is due to a heavier response than anticipated, but still unfortunately can lead to frustrated Guests. Here’s a snippet from the Disney Parks Blog yesterday:

We prepared for this launch based on similar programs in the past. However, the large numbers of guests attempting to register for volunteer service in the program has created periodic slowdowns in the network, resulting in difficulty in completing the registration process.

“Similar programs in the past,” hmm. I’m not quite sure what experience they would have been relying on here….can anybody shed light?

Most interesting to me though is this sentence, which follows shortly after:

Be assured that new volunteer opportunities are being added to the HandsOn Network daily, and we will not hit the 1 million ticket milestone this weekend.

Um, this weekend? I would like to think the author is being facetious, but something tells me this isn’t the case. How quickly are they actually planning to run through that million ticket milestone?

While Guests may be frustrated now, potential PR difficulties around this promotion could become greater if they run out of tickets quickly and potential volunteers decide they don’t want to put in hours without that perk, or if potential Guests who otherwise could not afford a day at Disney are locked out of the promotion despite trying to register on the very first day it opens.

Now who was it yesterday that wrote that Disney should consider expanding this program? Some chick over at Studios Central, I believe.

Everybody Wants the Space Toys

Long before the Christmas clearance sales, this Pez dispenser display at our local supermarket was sold out of Buzz Lightyear, and had plenty of the Woody version, perfectly echoing the anxieties of our cowboy hero as he feels his place threatened in Andy’s heart, and that moment in the 1950s when space toys pushed their wild west counterparts out of the way.

Sorry, Woody. I blame Sputnik.

Rufus Attacks!

Is it just me, or is that our favorite naked mole rat today on icanhascheeseburger?

Some 2010 Advice to Disney Parks

This week’s Jentasmic! column at Studios Central features a bit of unsolicited advice for the management of Disney Parks. A tidbit, just for starters:

Beware the deep discounts. Park attendance is high at Disney Parks, but at what cost? The deep discounts on hotels are cutting into the profit margins, and it’s not clear whether Guest spending on food and souvenirs in such uncertain economic times can justify the erosion of that profit margin, or the long-term impact on Guest expectations for future deals. (One exception: The bonus 3-month extension for Annual Pass renewals is a smart way to reward some of the company’s most loyal customers, and should be continued.) Some would argue that without these deep discounts, Disney’s at risk for losing market share to other theme parks (especially Universal), but I’m not convinced.

Head on over to Hochbergville to read the rest….