Disney Acquires Togetherville: Smart, and Maybe Creepy

Disney acquired the Togetherville social networking site this week, which is probably a great move for profits, and convenient for parents of young kids. But it also raises all sorts of red flags about potential data-mining privacy violations. From my StudiosCentral Jentasmic! column this morning:

Remember that rumor some time back that characters in the park might someday remember your name and your number of previous visits, based on data stored in a specialized wrist band? Well, if this were integrated with Togetherville and Facebook, Mickey might also happen to know that you hit a new high score yesterday on Pixel Purge, and that your Dad’s sciatica has been acting up.

And of course, let’s not forget that anything ABC or ESPN knows, Disney knows. So, Mickey might want to know what you thought about the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy that you watched last night on your web browser, or the Celtics game.

I remember in the early dot com wave, you could tell who the most powerful person in the room was, because usually he (yes, usually he) would be wearing board shorts and flip flops to the executive committee meeting. Today, I’ll bet you can tell who the most powerful person in the room is by figuring out who has the least (true, personal) information available about them online.

When Will Walt Disney World Add Another Park?

Blue Sky Disney has an interesting article today, speculating about roadmaps for new parks at Disney resort areas worldwide. The bottom line? We won’t see additional “gates” at any of the existing resorts for another decade.

Through the latter part of this decade we’ll look forward to shoring up the state-side parks(DCA in particular), Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland will focus on expanding their current offerings before any plans get approved for more fun factories. Think of it as repairing a fleet of cars that have been abused for a decade before you go out and buy a new series of cars. Lots of refurbishment and expansion ahead of us friends…

The most interesting sentence to me:

When [WDW resort hotels] start approaching Disneyland levels (above 90 percent) then you’ll see the executives in Team Disney Burbank start putting those blue sky plans on the front burner.

Um, about that . . . doesn’t seem to me that’s likely anytime soon, especially if you include DVC (there seems to have been a recent glut of Saratoga Springs rooms on the market lately). And hey, Pop Century Legendary Years, anyone? Apparently occupancy rates at WDW haven’t even been high enough to convince Disney to finish building it.

The article has good analysis and interesting speculations. And don’t miss the comment, there’s some good conversation going on there too.

More MP3s at Disneyland Paris Music Site

Does my Palm Pilot remind me to check the Disneyland Paris Music Site for new files every two weeks? Yes. Am I a geek? Yes indeed. And it pays off . . . today I found new files in two places:

• Their “Music” page, which updates every two weeks, now has “Good Morning Walt Disney Studios Show Music” and “Steamboat Willie” album music.
• Their “Bonus” page, which updates periodically but seemingly without any pattern, now has “Oasis Theme Area Music” (which I couldn’t seem to download properly) and the full ride music for “Soarin’ Over California”

Mickey News Reports New Section for Disney Studios Paris

Mickey News reports progress on the Paris version of Tower of Terror, plus a new section of the Disney Studios park there, including new attractions themed to Pixar films “Finding Nemo” and “Cars,” slated to open in 2007. From the article:

 The Turtle Twister attraction will be a rollercoaster attraction that features a dark interior part to the experience and a brief outside experience. The ride will be set ‘under the sea’ with Nemo and all his friends and the scenery will reflect that of the film Finding Nemo. The outside part of the attraction presumably will be when your turtle shell carriage ‘jumps out of the sea’ (like surfacing for air). The carriages will spin and be designed, as I said, like a turtle shell, hence the name Turtle Twister.

I can hear the soundtrack now. . . .”first you were like, whoa! Then you were like, whoa!! And then you were like, whoa.”

It’s a Great Big Brotherly Tomorrow

Interesting article from newsinitiative.org on Walt Disney World: The Government’s Tomorrowland?