Of course when the calendar turns to September, I can't help but think of Halloween! And now, more than ever, the Disney parks celebrate in their own, not-so-scary way. Last year, the Disneyland Resort started HalloweenTime and this year the Magic Kingdom got decked out in Halloween glory. For some time the parks have made a big success out of celebrating Christmas. Now the parks are focused on turning Halloween in to another reason to visit your favorite Disney destination. So the Disney calendar goes from summer to Halloween to Christmas. Now if only there was a holiday in the early part of the new year, Disney could get behind. Perhaps Valentine's cruises along the Rivers of America? Or turn the river water green in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.(Wait, too late). Honestly neither of these celebrations have the mass-appeal of Halloween or Christmas, so the first quarter of the new calander year has become the new time to open new attractions or promotions. Last year Walt Disney World moved their annual press event to January and unveiled Finding Nemo: The Musical as well as The Seas with Nemo and Friends to the world(even though these attractions soft opened earlier). This year expect Disney to highlight the second year of a million dreams and discuss what the future of Disney parks looks like. Disney used to do this annual press onslaught in October to get the company through the post-summer duldrums. But with Halloween becoming a new force to be reckoned with, January is now the time the company uses to promote itself. And if the January media events do not get enough attention, February always brings the Super Bowl commercial(we are pretending the 2005 mistake didn't happen)
Quick Takes:
Media Networks: Well ABC's 2007 fall season started today and we won't know how ABC's combo of Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor until tomorrow. But let's just say ABC couldn't wait for the season to start. They had a miserable summer, and you don't have to look far to see what I mean. On Sunday, ABC finished in fourth place. Hopefully the CW won't catch up.
Consumer Products: If Martin Short's 360 ode to Canada wasn't convincing enough, there are some new tasty reason to visit the nation, Sobeys and Disney announced they are unveiling nearly 100 Disney branded food products that meat tha nation's Health Check program criteria. So if you want to try some new Mickey burgers or Buzz Lightyear carrotts visit Canada. If you want to eat branded food in the states, I am sure they will be serving these healthy foods at Le Cellier soon :)
Studio Entertainment: Rascal Flatts has been a huge Disney success that you might not be aware of. Their last two albums went quadruple platinum and their next album, "Still Feels Good" drops tomorrow. Disney has had great success with their little country label that could, Lyric Street. Hopefully their success will continue and Rascal Flatts will win many CMA awards which just happen to air on ABC on Wednesday, November 7th.
Video of the Day: With all the talk of Disney getting tighter with Lucas, I thought I would point out that one division of Disney had recently been working with Lucas. You might say that this clip is cooler than the other side of the pillow.