It looks like the Cinderalla suite is vacant no more. A Michigan family that gave itself a Walt Disney World vacation for Christmas this year got an additional gift on Thursday. They were randomly chosen to recieve the key to the brand-new guest suite at Cinderella Castle.
Lisa and Jim Fouch and their children Brad, 16, and Hannah, 8, were randomly picked to be the first family to have the castle to themselves for the night. How did they win? Apparently, Disney has a computer that randomly draws its winners. This award happened to be for the debut castle stay to whoever was sitting in seat eight in row two of simulator four in the Star Tours ride at Disney-MGM Studios at 10 a.m. Thursday.

That was 16 year old Brad who was sitting in that seat. Talk about the right place at the right time!
The Fouches were staying at Disney’s All Star Resort, and Thursday night was going to be their last until they got a chance to make Disney World history by being the first family to stay in the Cinderella Suite. Congratulations to the Fouches for being the lucky winners!

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We here at imagineears.com understand how important your vacation is at the Magic Kingdom. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a reminder service so you’ll remember everything you need for your vacation, plus helpful tips for your stay at Disney. This reminder service will also include exclusive information to all who decide to use this free service from Imagineears. You can also use this for anything else you can think of, birthdays, meetings or any special date that you need to remember! Please check back often for this fantasmic service coming at you soon!

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Carland: Next Disney California Adventure E Ticket and surrounding development retheme and “Placemaking”. Hopefully in the ugly and boring Route 66 area of Disney California Adventure.

New Urban Development: Could be any big city in America, but likely Chicago, Seattle, or the Northeast as a location not immediately served by Disneyland or Walt Disney World.

Toy Story Live: Traveling show for civic arenas and auditoriums, kind of like current Disney On Ice.

Pirate Themed Adventure: This looks like the image Al Lutz conjured up in his last Miceage update regarding the new Pirates of the Caribbean miniland at Hong Kong Disneyland. There’s just no way that could be Disneyland’s new
Tom Sawyer Island after they get done with that Pirates Lair thing this winter/spring.

Concept for new Disney theme park: This doesn’t look like Shanghai. I would think this is a new concept in Disney parks meant for mid-sized markets like Australia, Singapore, Brazil, etc. Rumor was Shanghai was to be a Disneyland style park.

New Nighttime Water Spectacular: This has to be Disney California Adventure and the new lagoon show Al Lutz has mentioned is coming to Anaheim. Maybe a clone goes to Disney Animal Kingdom as well?

Toy Story Midway Mania: This is clearly Disney California Adventure and MGM Disney Studios. This is it,
it matches up with everything Al Lutz has told us about this new ride with the magic flashlights and interactive cars and 3-D glasses and such. This is under construction in both Disney California Adventure and MGM Disney Studios.

Monsters Inc.: This Dark Ride is clearly Tokyo Disneyland. Al Lutz has mentioned the Tokyo version of Monsters Inc. currently being built in their Tomorrowland uses the same technology as our Midway Mania. This is under construction in Tokyo as we type.

All images above are pulled from the Annual Report from Disney which includes concept artwork for future attractions and shows.

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New talking head technology used in Mickey’s Magic Show (Disney Live!) for Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy is expected to be used in the Dream Along With Mickey show. View video clip of Mickey’s Magic Show at DisneyLive.com on Disney Online.

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Disney’s Pirate and Princess PartyEvent Dates:

• Jan. 22, 26 & 29
• Feb. 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 23 & 26
• Mar. 2, 5 & 8 7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Become a pirate or a princess in the place where dreams come true! Grab your adventure map and treasure pouch as you embark on a quest through Magic Kingdom Park for chocolate doubloons and royal beads. Immerse yourself in pirate coves and princess courts. Be dazzled by the new Disney’s Enchanted Adventures Parade. Experience the Magic, Music and Mayhem fireworks spectacular. If you wish, you can even come to the party dressed in your favorite pirate or princess costume*!

All of this, plus use of some of the most popular Magic Kingdom attractions, will provide you with a night of adventure to remember and “treasure” forever.

Event Highlights:

• Pirate coves and princess courts
  • Beads and chocolate treasure giveaways
  • Interactive activities including Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Tutorial and Jasmine’s Royal Guard Recruitment
  • Character meet and greets and adventurous atmospheres
• Disney’s Enchanted Adventures Parade
• Magic, Music and Mayhem fireworks spectacular
• Dream Along With Mickey castle stage show
• Some of the most popular Magic Kingdom attractions

Advance Price**:
Ages 10 and over: $36.95 + tax
Ages 3-9: $29.95 + tax

Day of Event Price:
Ages 10 and over: $42.95 + tax
Ages 3-9: $35.95 + tax

Buy tickets online or call (407) W-DISNEY (934-7639)

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Magic Kingdom:

• Splash Mountain®: Closed for Refurbishment [January 23, 2007 to January 27, 2007]
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Closed for Refurbishment [January 28, 2007 to February 11, 2007]
• Tomorrowland® Indy Speedway: Closed for Refurbishment [until February 15th, 2007]
• Liberty Square Riverboat: Closed for Refurbishment [February 27, 2007 to March 1, 2007]

EPCOT:

• Body Wars: Operates Seasonally; Temporarily Closed
• Cranium Command: Operates Seasonally; Temporarily Closed
• EL Rio del Tiempo: Closed for Refurbishment [to April 1, 2007]
• The Making of Me: Operates Seasonally; Temporarily Closed

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon: Closed for Refurbishment [to March 17th, 2007]

ANIMAL KINGDOM:

• Kali River Rapids®: Closed for Refurbishment [February 5, 2007 to February 9, 2007]

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The ImagineEars staff is working around the clock to make a unique and innovative Disney fan site. In the coming months you may expect to see some truly revolutionary ways to help make your Disney World vacation planning easier and more enjoyable as well as other unique features added to our site. So while we’re working, feel free to check out our site and register (not required though) to become a member of our forum, The Imagine Nation!

We look forward to making your experience here the best that we possibly can here at Imagineears.com, Enjoy your visit and again, please don’t hesitate to contact us to let us know what kind of enhancements you would like to see added to the site and we’ll do our best to make it happen!

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To better your Disney Experience here at imagineears.com, we’ve added a new highlighting feature to the search result pages on imagineears.com. When searching for anything on imagineears.com you’ll notice that all the keywords you searched for will now be hightligted in green making it much easier to find what your looking for. Take a test drive for yourself by clicking here! Please don’t hesitate to contact us to let us know what kind of enhancements you would like to see added to Imagineears!

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Check out the latest photos of the Royal suite inside of the castle at Walt Disney World! Quite impressive to say the least we must say here at imagineears! Click on any of the photos for a larger view, enjoy!

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With the report of the current “Tigger accused of hitting a teen” incident at Walt Disney World, it is time we all get some perspective and recognize that at a place the size of Walt Disney World with thousands of guests visiting everyday; accidents will unfortunately and inevitably occur. This incident clearly appears to be just that, an unfortunate accident. Disney remains the gold standard when it comes to guest service and safety. Safety is absolutely paramount, which my son, a former Cast Member can certainly attest to. Disney Cast Members are fiercely devoted to upholding Disney standards and what I find ironic is that it seems that because of Disney’s ability to continue to uphold the highest standards of guest service they are unfairly scrutinized anytime an accident occurs.

After reading, re-reading and watching the video story of Tigger being accused of hitting a teen, what is strangely absent from this family’s side of the story was whether or not they had approached any Disney Cast Member immediately after the event occurred to inform them of this incident. Had a Disney Cast Member or management been made aware of this, they would have rallied to assist them as I have witnessed them do many times before.

The family claims that they simply want an apology from Disney. Having been to Walt Disney World more than 30 times, my family has never personally experienced any such incident with a Disney character. However, let me give you just a few examples of how Disney has “apologized” to my family over the years for incidents that were much more minor. During one visit our hotel room had a strange odor when we checked in, we told the hotel front desk, they immediately changed our room as well as our 2^nd room so that my family and I would still have a connecting door and when we returned from the park that night there was a basket of cookies in both rooms in apology for the inconvenience. Another time, my son sat on the curb at the Magic Kingdom to wait for the afternoon parade and there happened to be a patch of wet tar which ruined his shorts. I went to guest services simply to alert them that they should block that area off to prevent anyone else from sitting there and with deepest apologies they escorted us into the Emporium at the park, allowed my son to choose a new pair of shorts and paid for them. How about one more just for good measure? My dad’s sun glasses fell out of his pocket on Space Mountain, he reported the loss at guest services, even though he figured it was a long shot that they would turn up. By the time we arrived back home, they had shipped my Dad’s sunglasses to him. Ok, that one is not really an apology, but it’s just one of the great stories showing how important guest service is to Disney.

My point is that if in fact, all this family truly wants is an apology from Disney they could have saved themselves all of the trouble of hiring an attorney and going on television, they could have simply told someone at Disney who would have showered them with apologies right then and there!

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