Disney

ORLANDO, Fla.--If you've seen the Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas shows Ka, Love or O, you've probably been led to expect that every one of the company's performances is full of wonderful technical achievements.

The truth is that it doesn't take that much technology to make a great Cirque show, as the folks who put together La Nouba, the Cirque's show here, explained to me Tuesday.

When it launched in late 1998, La Nouba was just the third permanent Cirque show, after Mystere and O. But it was the first to get its own … Read more

Disney has begun showing full-length movies online, beginning with Finding Nemo, the studio said Tuesday.

It's the first time Disney has done so, and it's notable as such, but don't confuse the move with a full-on YouTubization of the company. Each movie will only be available for a few days after they air on ABC's Saturday-night TV show Wonderful World of Disney. Finding Nemo, for example, can be watched online through June 13, Disney said.

It's free, but don't expect a full-immersion cinema experience.

The movies are available through a "watch now" … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Only the mouse appears to thrive in a music sector pulverized by digital technology.

As the top four recording companies continue to see CD sales shrink and as they scurry to find profitable business models in the digital age, Walt Disney Records has grown 40 percent from last year according to Matt Fitz-Henry, the label's director of New Media.

Fitz-Henry, who spoke at a panel session at the iHollywood Conference on Monday, said that it's no secret how the company has found success in such a gloomy environment.

"What everybody in the music business is now … Read more

ANIMAL KINGDOM, Fla.--And so it begins.

For the third year in a row, I've set out for a lengthy journey through one of the United States' major geographic regions. It's time for Road Trip 2008, several thousand miles of traveling the American South.

Last year it was the Southwest, and in 2006 it was the Pacific Northwest.

And since I've started this trip in Orlando, there's only one way to really begin: total immersion in Disney World.

That's why at about 9 p.m. Sunday--after checking into my hotel and getting situated, I jumped … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--It's hard for me to believe, but in only three days, I'll be hopping on a plane and heading east for the beginning of Road Trip 2008, my journey through the American South to write about and photograph many of the region's most interesting destinations.

One of the very first stops will be Disney World, in Orlando, Fla., and over the last few days, I've noticed that there are at least a couple of new applications that can help people like me get ready for the total immersion experience that is a visit to Florida'… Read more

Too cheap to take your kids on a vacation to Orlando to see Disney World? Now you can just load up Google Earth instead.

This morning, users of the software mapping tool will find a brand new layer that features an experience Bruce Polderman, Google Earth's product manager, says "pushed the user experience of both 3D models and KML to new heights." The layer has the entire theme park modeled in 3D, right down to some of the tiniest details like trees, food carts, and even park maps the size of a stop sign.

Not everything in … Read more

Talk about cross-promotion.

One of the closest things to Disney World's Orlando, Fla., home, is NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This is relevant because on Friday, it was announced that among the objects expected to be blasted into the sky with the planned Saturday launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is a figurine of Toy Story space ranger Buzz Lightyear.

Disney World, of course, is where the new Toy Story Mania ride has just opened.

The idea behind putting Buzz Lightyear aboard the Space Shuttle has to do with the "Toys in Space" initiative NASA and Disney … Read more