Editor's Report
Page 1 of 1

"I think someone has left the shower running"

On Wednesday, September 15, the rarest of events occurred, Walt Disney World was closed. Hurricane Floyd threatened the Lake Buena Vista area and Disney officials responded by closing early on Tuesday and announcing the closing of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom for Wednesday. Fortunately, Floyd did not hit the area very hard and Disney was able to open Animal Kingdom for resort guests on Wednesday. By Thursday all parks were back at full operation.  There were some semi-horror stories for guests who had to be evacuated out of their hotels as a flooding precaution, but all in all, the World escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for North Carolina and other eastern states where almost 40 people have died and thousands were still without power as of Sunday. Our prayers are with all of the victims of Hurricane Floyd.

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about the end of summer. At Disneyland that meant the green walls were going up. And up they are! The west entrance tunnel and all the entrance turnstiles on the west side are closed. Town Square is behind green walls. The Mickey floral is behind green walls. The Autopia is behind green walls. You get the picture. But 3,000 miles away the end of summer means the start of a celebration as the walls begin to come down. October 1 starts the 15-month long Millennium Celebration at Walt Disney World. According to reports the new Illuminations will soft open on Saturday, September 25th and everything else is coming together as well. If you haven't heard of the Millennium Celebration, get the whole story from Disney.com. For some recent construction pictures, visit the photos section of the The Disney World Future Club at Yahoo.

If you're new to LaughingPlace.com you may have seen that button at the top of the screen that reads "Random Link" and wondered what it does. In addition to news and information, LaughingPlace.com provides a huge directory of Disney websites, over 970 sites, in fact. Click on Random Link and we'll show you the details - rating, categories and a short description - on one of those sites. If you like what's described, click the URL and you'll be whisked away. If it doesn't look interesting, click on "Choose Another Site" and try again. Give it a try, you're sure to find an interesting surprise.

After a brief interruption, Disneyexpert has resumed his reign as the king of trivia by once again winning the trivia contest last week. Congratulations! Check out this week's contest on The Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World. Also don't forget this week's online poll which asks the question "How much Disney stuff is in your home?"

-- Doobie Moseley (September 20, 1999)