The Buzz
Page 1 of 1

Hello and welcome to my column. I’m Benji and I’ll be your guide through the boundless realm of the Wonderful World of Disney. I know this is probably your first experience with this column, and its mine too.

Our top story this week is Disney announces a top secret attraction. The Disney community is shocked as Disney unveiled plans to open The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland Park. Although Disney dropped subtle hints that a new attraction was coming, such as installing a marquee for the attraction. Disney fans were caught by surprise when the company issued a press release announcing the attraction on Tuesday. Even more surprising is Disney decided to tack on the opening of the attraction to the gala celebration for the opening of Playhouse Disney- Live on Stage. I personally hope that the Pooh attraction will not be lost behind the media hoopla surrounding the opening of Playhouse Disney. Luckily Playhouse Disney features a Book of Pooh segment which Disney is relying on to increase interest in the silly old bear and bring guests to Disneyland park from California Adventure.

In other news, Walt Disney World celebrated the distribution of the 100 millionths fastpass signifying 60 millions of hours saved since the implementation of the program. This of course begs the question….Who Cares. Due to the impending war with Iraq plans for a 15 month celebration to commemorate the unique milestone have been canceled. In related news, Walt Disney World instituted a hiring freeze after management realized they had people to plan a ceremony celebrating the distribution of the 100 millionth fastpass. The announcement of the fastpass benchmark was obviously issued to bring attention to Walt Disney World to keep interest high even with the Orange terror alert. Nice try guys.

And we wrap up the news with this story from ABC. The Wonderful World of Disney’s presentation of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man starring Matthew Broderick received moderate ratings on Sunday. The ratings declined during the final hour of the program as it became clear that Matthew Broderick was not going to say, "Go Go Gadget Rollerskates". Many fans of Disney theme parks were disappointed to learn that the producers of the film decided to steal songs from the Main Street U.S.A. atmosphere music loop without giving credit. One of these stolen songs was "The Wells Fargo Wagon" which is known as The Union Bank of California Wagon" at Disneyland Park. Apparently Union Bank did not want to extend its sponsorship to the film.

Now for an editorial. The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily mine nor those of LaughingPlace.com its affiliated companies, readers, staff members, writers, and owners.

In January Disneyland Park premiered the royal princess fanfare. This charming cavalcade features your favorite princesses, trumpeters, dancers, horses, and cast members that pick up after the horses. This is a great addition to the park and the guests love it. But I do have on complaint. While I was being overwhelmed by magic and way too much pink, they began to play Once Upon A Dream from Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Now as I’m sure you all know how the song goes, but during the parade the invisible singers sang "The dream in your eyes is so familiar a dream" I thought I might be wrong, as I often am, but I picked up a copy of Sing-Along with Disney’s Princesses which includes the lyrics, proved me right. Now I hope there is a logical reason that the words were changed and that a simple mistake was not made. Perhaps Disney legal did not want to have to make sure that the gleam in Aurora’s eyes was actually familiar to all park guests. Perhaps the "g" key was broken on the arranger’s computer and was unable to type the word gleam. Or perhaps, the most likely answer is true, they changed the words to discourage Doobie and I from singing along. All kidding aside, if you find yourself at Disneyland Park during the run of the Royal Princess Fanfare, try and catch it. It is one of those special touches that only Disney can do.

Now I’d like to take a moment to talk about Playhouse Disney. As I mentioned in the news segment Playhouse Disney- Live on Stage will open at Disney’s California Adventure on April 11th. I have already started my research in preparation for Laughingplace’s award winning coverage of the opening festivities. Playhouse Disney is more than just a stage show, believe you me….its CD’s, Computer Games, DVD’s, a radio show, and a popular block of programming on Disney Channel. We are beginning to have our favorites within the playhouse Disney brand. Bear is a popular one here at the laughingplace.com offices. But there are aspects of playhouse Disney that still puzzle me.

1. Which dance is hipper, The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha, or PB&J Otters Noodle Dance?
2. If everything is in the Great Big Book of Everything…Why bother?
3. Why do the Wiggles wiggle?

Out of all of the shows on Playhouse Disney The Wiggles is the weirdest. Officially The Wiggles is an Australian group that sings and dances to original, upbeat songs promoting values and social behavior for preschoolers. Unofficially, the wiggles are kinda scary. Don’t watch them before you go to bed.

Well, it still has a few bugs in it, but that’s my column. I’d like to thank Doobie and Rebekah for letting me try this out, in addition to feeding me. And I’d like to thank you for reading. I’d like to wrap up with this week with a useless Disney fact: The Bare Necessities was the only song in the Jungle Book not written by the Sherman Bros.

• List of all editions of The Buzz