There has been plenty of coverage of Disney’s American Idol Experience attraction over the last few months (including gracing the cover of one of our recent issues), but now it’s time for the real thing. American Idol Season 9 auditions are coming to Orlando’s Amway Arena this week. Registration takes place on July 7 and [...]

Here’s what’s happening around the tourist areas of Central Florida for July 4 this year. Magic Kingdom “Celebrate America Fireworks” will fill the sky at 9 pm. July 4 (guests who’d like to begin the celebratory weekend a day early can enjoy the special fireworks on July 3 at 9 p.m.). After the fireworks, guests [...]

Star Wars Weekends has come and gone for another year. I didn’t get to go as much as I would have liked this year. We visited on the first day and showed you some pictures and videos of the Celebrity Motorcade and the Star Wars dance-off known as Hyperspace Hoopla. Here we present some pictures [...]

The Summer 2009 issue of Orlando Attractions Magazine is now available for preview and pre-order. It’s our first quarterly issue and the first of our new and improved editions featuring nearly 20% more pages, thicker paper, more high-quality photography, and more articles than ever before. Feature articles in this issue include: • COVER STORY: Hitch a [...]

Following American Idol winner Kris Allen’s motorcade and song today at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, he popped in on the 11:00 a.m. performance of The American Idol Experience attraction, offering advice to the three park guests who were singing in the show. He also timidly announced that show’s winner who would advance on to the finale [...]

This is the second post in a series from Disney’s Hollywood Studios in which American Idol winner Kris Allen arrived today via motorcade and answered a few fan questions from the screaming crowd. Allen appears to be quite a laid-back, quiet guy who has now been thrust into superstardom by way of his winning the [...]

American Idol winner Kris Allen previously exclaimed that he was “going to Disney World” and today he did, in fact, appear at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. He arrived via motorcade down the park’s main street, Hollywood Boulevard, greeted by hundreds of fans. He ultimatedly made his way onto a stage in front of The American Idol [...]

Moments after becoming the newest American Idol, Kris Allen let the world know that he would be “going to Disney World.” Now we’ve found out that he’ll be making an appearance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on May 29 at 10 a.m. in a celebrity motorcade. There’s no word yet as to whether he’ll sing at [...]

One of the most popular (and most entertaining) parts of the annual Star Wars Weekends events at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the day-ending performance of Hyperspace Hoopla. The highlight of this character-filled show is the Dance-Off with the Star Wars Stars during which characters from the Star Wars universe have a chance to bust a move [...]

Today was the first day for Star Wars Weekends 2009 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As always, a popular part of the galactic festivities was the Star Wars Parade /Celebrity Motorcade featuring Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok), Ray Park (Darth Maul), James Arnold Taylor (voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars), Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka Tano in [...]

Up, the latest film from Disney/Pixar, will be released nationwide one week from today. Here’s a quick look at the new meet-and-greet at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with the film’s stars Carl, Russell, and Dug. It’s located within the The Magic of Disney Animation attraction. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf4Ovzz-WsY

Star Wars Weekends starts tomorrow, May 22, 2009, at Hollywood Studios. It will run each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 22 to June 14. More than 50 characters and celebrities from the entire saga will be on hand for autographs, pictures, motorcades, Q&A sessions and more. Characters More than 50 characters will join the [...]

Just hours before America voted Kris Allen the new American Idol and he announced he was going to Disney World – performers, stars, and Idol alums walked the red carpet outside the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and talked about The American Idol Experience attraction in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Recent rumors that have circulated online point to a new “living” animatronic character that may be showing up soon at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Luxo Jr., the mascot of Pixar Animation Studios, is rumored to be the next installment in Disney’s ongoing Living Character Initiative, joining the company of Lucky the Dinosaur, the Muppet Mobile Lab, [...]

By Derrik J. Lang, AP; Photo of The American Idol Experience stage by Matt Roseboom LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kris Allen or Adam Lambert won’t just be crowned the next “American Idol” — one of them is going to Disney World. Whichever singer wins will shout the famous phrase “I’m going to Disney World!” in [...]

Characters from the new Disney-Pixar animated comedy Up made a surprise visit today, May 14, 2009 to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The three characters – Russell, an eight-year-old wilderness explorer; Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old balloon salesman; and Dug, a dog – are seen here posing in front of the park’s Sorcerer Hat. Beginning tomorrow, Friday, May 15, [...]

The Democrat and Chronicle newspaper out of Rochester, N.Y. has a good story about one of its former citizens, Tim Trombitas. But you may know him better as Vladimir Pooey, one of the Streetmosphere characters at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Who knew he used to be famous as Ranger Bob, was a football star, a disc [...]

The popular Disney’s Hollywood Studios attraction Toy Story Mania is coming to the Nintendo Wii home video game system in September Here are a few images and videos depicting the gameplay, which should seem very familiar to anyone who has been on the ride. Thanks to @KlayMan2007 for the video link.

Club Penguin characters Rockhopper and Blue Penguin made their first appearance in a Disney theme park at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World on April 30, 2009: httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uT-mX3nwuw You can download standard and high-definition copies of this video in our Video section. Rockhopper, the pirate penguin, and Blue Penguin have several scheduled meet-and-greet times [...]

Today, May 1, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. When it opened two decades ago as the Disney-MGM Studios, it was Walt Disney World’s third theme park rand revolved around the idea of television and movie-making. In honor of the 20th anniversary, Disney held a special rope-drop ceremony this morning at 8 [...]