Lunar New Year Celebration set for Feb. 8-13 at California Adventures

From the Disney Parks Blog

Come celebrate the Year of the Snake when Happy Lunar New Year Celebration returns as part of “Limited Time Magic,” February 8-11 February 8-13 – this year at Disney California Adventure park! Lunar New Year is a time when Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures celebrate the sun and moon beginning their journeys for another year.

Can Abrams fix the mess that Lucas made of Star Wars?

“After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have been wrapped up, and at long last everyone can exhale and properly share the word with an excited Internet. Yes, J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay,” according to the Star Wars website.

Batman treats a blind Chinese activist to a day at Disneyland

From Contactmusic.com

Batman Begins star Christian Bale treated blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng to a family day out on Sunday (20Jan13) by taking him to Disneyland in California.

New indie film captures the dark side of Disney as a family man unravels

“A film from Sundance’s artsy “Next” series is drawing buzz and raising eyebrows. Billed as Kafkaesque, the movie “Escape from Tomorrow,” which I haven’t seen, was apparently assembled on the sly with footage taken at Disneyland. In black and white images, director Randy Moore portrays the theme park as a hell hole, according to the New York Post.

Why did an Anaheim undercover cop run over a Disneyland cast member?

Disney cast member run over by undercover cop

“A Disney cast member is in the hospital after being struck by the vehicle of an undercover cop as she was leaving the park,” according to KTLA.

The accident happened at around 10 pm, on Monday night.  A cast member witnessed the accident and reported in a comment on the KTLA article that “This was not a u turn. This is NOT the victims fault. The driver was turning left from magic way onto Disneyland drive and hit her while she was in the crosswalk. I am the witness and I was feet from her in the crosswalk myself. Please report the news correctly. The officer is at fault!”

Disneyland’s upcoming Fantasy Faire won’t include Merida, from Brave

Sorry – Merida won’t be part of the upcoming Fantasy Faire at Disneyland

California Adventure’s Blue Sky Cellar closed yesterday for its latest update and will reopen January 19 to feature artwork and models for our next experience, Fantasy Faire at Disneyland park, according to the Disney Parks Blog.

Fantasy Faire – which opens in spring 2013 – will be an enchanting village square where guests will be immersed in the stories of their favorite Disney princesses.  The greeting pathway usually features 3 Disney Princesses at any given time, including some of the following favorites:

Celebrate New Orleans at Disneyland’s Bayou Bash, starting on 1/18

Disneyland is launching their annual New Orleans Bayou Bash again, starting on January 18.  I was in New Orleans over seven years ago, when the city was wrecked by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.  The first part of the city to reopen for business was Bourbon Street – and while the real French Quarter was nothing like the one at Disneyland, I got to see the inspiration for Disney’s French Quarter.  Now you can have fun and celebrate the spirit of New Orleans at Disneyland, again…

From: the Disney Parks Blog:

Michael Colglazier is the Disneyland Resort’s new President

Michael Colglazier, new Disneyland President. Picture Courtesy of Flickr.

Key Leadership Changes Announced at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

BURBANK, Calif. (Jan. 9, 2013) – Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Tom Staggs today announced key leadership changes across one of the world’s leading providers of family travel and leisure experiences to better position the organization for growth. Effective Feb. 1, Meg Crofton will fully assume her global role as president, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations, U.S. and France – a position she has held since July 2011 – while concurrently serving as president of Walt Disney World. With Meg’s transition complete, George A. Kalogridis is named president of the Walt Disney World Resort, and Michael Colglazier is named president of the Disneyland Resort. Both Kalogridis and Colglazier’s roles are also effective Feb. 1.

Disneyland passholder offer is $35 for a show, a sandwich and a cup of fritos

Picture Courtesy of the Golden Horseshoe Facebook Page

Ok, so here is the deal.  Disneyland is offering special deals to their Annual Passholders, which you may read about here.

Their latest deal is “a salute to the Frontierland stage show that opened with the park in 1955 and ran into the ’80s. It is selling dinner shows to annual pass-holders for $35. The package includes ham or roast beef sandwiches, like in the old days when the Golden Horseshoe saloon had table service, plus a souvenir cup filled with Fritos. (Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante near the saloon was once the site of Casa de Fritos.),” according to the Press Enterprise.

Wow.  $35 for a sandwich and a cup of Fritos?  And some sort of stage show?  Good grief!  How is that a special offer?  Here are the details courtesy of Disney:

A look at Knott’s Berry Farm’s restaurants’ food safety record

Picture Courtesy of the Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant’s Facebook Page

A few weeks ago we took a look at the health inspection record of Disney’s top restaurants – and it was somewhat shocking.  Even the new hard to get into Carthay Circle restaurant, at California Adventures, had two major food safety violations when it was inspected on Nov. 29, 2012.

Now it’s time to have a look at the food safety record of the restaurants and eateries at Knott’s Berry Farm.  Let’s see if they’re any better…and keep in mind the fact that Orange County’s Supervisors chose a few years ago not to use letter-grade health ratings at our restaurants, which is why you will never know how bad a restaurant really is unless you click here and look up their food safety inspection records.

And what better place to start our food safety review of Knott’s than their famous Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant! They were inspected by the Orange County Health Care Agency on August 22, 2012, and here is what those intrepid inspectors found: