Tragic Kingdom: Disneyland's haunted parking structure of terror

The suicide last night at Disneyland's Mickey & Friends parking structure adds an unintended real-life macabre twist to the park's Halloween Time celebration. Attractions including Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion have been tricked out in special Halloween themes. How many parents, while walking their kids to the escalators on their way from their cars to the trams that lead into the Magic Kingdom, will spin tales of the ghosts that haunt the parking structure?

Fun facts: The garage holds 10,500 car and was the world’s largest parking structure when it was constructed in 1998. It may still be. the last Disneyland suicide we reported was in 2008.

Another suicide at Disneyland

A man committed suicide yesterday by leaping from an upper floor at the Mickey & Friends parking structure at Disneyland. Anaheim Police say the unidentified man, believed to be in his forties or early fifties, jumped from the southwest corner of the structure and was found around 8:45 p.m. Police spokesman Rick Martinez said the man didn't carry any identification on him but did leave a suicide note.

Mickey & Friends is Disneyland's main parking structure. The rooftop level is called "Minnie."

At least they didn't add mouse ears: Disneyland customizes worker's Islamic head covering

Disneyland, known for its strict dresscode for its "cast member" workers, is allowing a company intern to wear her religious hijab headscarf to work, after first banishing her to the stockroom.

But it's a special, Disneyfied hijab.

Noor Abdallah was hired as a vacation planner over the phone. When the 22-year-old arrived at Disneyland for orientation, she was asked by she didn't mention the hijab (a Muslim expression of faith) and told she would have to take a position with less guest interaction, working in the stockroom until a "customized uniform" could be made, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

She was told that making the customized uniform would take about five months, That's about the length of her internship.

In the meantime, she's wearing a beret over the hijab.

The woman is not Imane Boudial, who filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August. Imane wants to wear her hijab to work in the Storyteller's Restaurant at Disneyland's Grand Californian Hotel.

Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown said in a statement:

"Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a long history of accommodating a variety of religious requests from cast members of all faiths -- with more than 200 accommodations made over the last three years and this instance was no different."

Disneyland's fire-breathing dragon snuffed

We reported in June of last year that the debut of Maleficent, the 40-foot-tall, 10,000 pound mechanical automated fire-breathing dragon from Sleeping Beauty, in Summer Nightastic, Disneyland's big summer update of its spectacular Fantasmic light, water and fireworks show, would be delayed for weeks because its head fell off and its neck snapped during rehearsals.

Today Disneyland officials confirmed Maleficent is now out of the show indefinitely, after it collapsed during Saturday night's show (as seen in top photo).

Amid fight over mosque, Disney girl challenges The Mouse

Disneyland refers to its employees as "cast members," with a dress code that's been relaxed over the past fifty years but remains relatively strict. The "Disney look" is meant to ensure all teh guests feel comfortable around all the cast members. Female cast members can wear small stud or smaller hoop earrings; men may not wear earrings. Fingernails that are long, dirty or painted in a color that is not natural are not allowed. Hair must be of a natural color, looking natural even if it's not the natural color. Makeup must be only on women, minimal, and natural-looking. Visible tattoos are expressly forbidden. Male cast members are still forbidden from having long hair, sideburns can't pass the earlobes, and mustaches can't extend beyond the corners of the employee's mouth.

This week, a cast member challenged the dress code.

Imane Boudial filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in downtown Los Angeles yesterday.

Imane is 26 and a hostess at the Storyteller's Restaurant in Disneyland's Grand Californian Hotel. She's claiming discrimination because she was sent home for wearing her hijab head scarf covering to work.

Imane says she's been sent home four times times-- without pay.


A Disneyland spokeswoman says Imane's been offered a chance to work with the head covering (a Muslim expression of faith) away from customers while Disneyland tries to find a compromise that would allow her to cover her head in a way that fits with her "on stage"hostess uniform.

Imane Boudial has worked at Disneyland for two and a half years, but didn't try to wear the hijab to work until this past weekend.

The immigrant from Morocco has been in the United States for five years. After she became a U.S. citizen in June, she decided to challenge Disney's dress code.

She says:

"The Constitution tells me I can be Muslim, and I can wear the head scarf.

"Who is Disney to tell me I cannot?"

Readers back Donald Duck groper

A woman from Pennsylvania is suing Disney, claiming she was groped at its Epcot Center by a cast member dressed in a Donald Duck costume.

We like the responses the story got from readers of The Daily Mail in England and Orlando's Channel 13 website. Not a lot of sympathy for the plaintiff:

UK:

I would have just smacked his beak and stamped on his webbed feet.
- Sugarbell, Wolverhampton

Did she ever wonder about the cast member inside? Donald is 5"1 at his highest, how many men do you know that are that small, or is she claiming that a woman molested her???? in those outfits you have tunnel vision, and lose most of your senses. Just sombody trying to make a fast buck
- Holly, Northampton

How pathetic, when is this whole 'claims' culture going to end? Flashbacks and 'digestive' problems - come on - who are you trying to kid?!
- Jane, London

He's welcome to touch both of my breasts for £32,000.
- George, Brighton

Naughty Donald!!
Another one on the bandwagon!! Fancy having to stand up in court and accusing Donald Duck of molesting you. This is too funny!!
- Nick, Birmingham

Surely the Duck deserves anonymity until the case is over?
- kerry livermore, London, England


Florida:

jdoe wrote:
What a load. This cant be real. What a white trash low-life to try and say that a guy in a full costume touched you. You can barely see in those things, let alone the fact that most of the disney cast member emloyees are homosexual, not being offensive, it is actually true.

John wrote:
Give me a break, all this woman wants is money for nothing at all. More than likely she thinks Disney will roll over and play dead. I hope they go to court and the judge throws out this frivilous law suit and then puts her in jail for contempt of court! Why 2 years later? This is a SCAM nothing more.

Allie wrote:
Ok who is paying her bill's is she on welfare. or is it just 6 diffrent baby's daddys.

gloria wrote:
Bear ..I doubt if you would've gotten away with decking a Disney character. You must have run away really fast

Ocean wrote: J
ust one more Crock of " _hit" again with someone looking for a payoff. He could sure do alot of groping with those gloves on. The best part is she is so devastated she can't work,GIVE ME A BREAK!

John L. wrote:
Roast that sucker. MAKE HIM WELL DONE.

Thapper wrote:
This case isn't what it's quacked up to be. Sounds like this lady is a little Goofy. Did Huey, Dewie and Louie dress up like Michael Jackson and molest her kids?

Bear wrote:
My wife was groped by one of the Disney Chipmunks in 1980, I decked his butt. He first grabbed her breast while we were taking a posed photo and she thought it may have been an accidental touch until he grabbed her butt before moving away. So I hit him once, really hard. I think he got the message.

Jim wrote:
I hope hippo lady gets what she deserves- a prison sentence for perjury and a bill from Disney lawyers for defending this rediculous lawsuit.

Keep your job wrote:
No freer lonch for you phony. Can't peform your job liar That suit Donald is so big , he couldn't feel an apple in his hands if he wanted to. Did you perform anything else in those two years ? phony.

ric wrote:
What did he do? Rip her breast off so she can't strip anymore?

alice wrote:
HE HAD A PARTNER "DAISY"YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE. POOR DONALD

Cathy wrote:
What a bunch of hooey. Another citizen wanting a FREE LUNCH. Two years and she cannot work. GARBAGE.You and your lawyer should be thrown out of court and charged for the aggravation you caused. Get a life and move on.. You make us all SICK...FREELOADER..You are a disgrace to your family. Steve wrote: Now she can't perform her job? How hard is it to say, "Would you like fries with that?"

Roger Ortkiese wrote:
Two years this women has took to sue the disney corp. Come on lady. Another unwarranted law suit. That will most likely just raise the price of admisson for the rest of us. Like we can afford it now..

Anna wrote:
Has this woman ever worn one of those costumes? You can barely see & there is no way the person could have felt anything. She sounds like a person who has emotional issues and should seek counseling. Donald Duck’ accused of groping woman at Epcot?????????????

Molly wrote:
What a moron.....those characters touch people all day long...she just wants "lifetime passes"!!!

Give Me a Brek wrote:
First of all, Donald is never alone. He is with escorts that watch his every move. Second, Donald is usually a woman because they can't find many men that small. Third, these characters have very limited field of vision and touch. It's next to impossible to 'grope' anybody in these costumes. Third, why did she wait two years?? Why did she not report it immediately? Because it never happened.

Disneyland's D23 cut to every two years

The D23 Expo, Disneyland's answer to Comic-Con, was such a flop in its debut last September that it won't take place at all this year.

The Disney people announced today that the fan convention will take place August 19th to 21st, 2011 at the Anaheim Convention Center across the street from Disneyland, and continue as a biennial event.

Subbing this year will be a look back called "Destination D," September 24th and 25th, focusing on "Disneyland '55" and the park's opening 55 years ago.


The Disney people have way low expectations for Destination D. They'll stage it in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel. Panels and presentations are set to include "Disney Undiscovered," never-built projects and attractions, and "Weird Disney," showcasing little-known facts, people and places in Disneyland history.

Tickets for Destination D and next year's expo go on sale this summer.

Captain EO: A child molester in Disneyland?

A little over an hour ago, Captain EO returned to Disneyland.

The 17-minute science fiction musical starring Michael Jackson opened for a "limited engagement" at the Tomorrowland Theatre at 10 a.m., replacing Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which closed Jan. 3.


Captain EO was launched at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland in 1986, when Jacko was calling himself "The King of Pop," and had the power to rope in Francis Ford Coppola as director and executive producer George Lucas-- a few years before he became better known as a freakish oddity and alleged child molester.

The $30 million 3-D film closed in 1997, but after Jacko's death last summer and the subsequent wiping clean of his pedophiliac slate, the Disney people decided to listen to the fans asking for its return, dust off the film canisters and rake in some more dough.

A Disney spokesman says the film will run "as long as it remains popular."

Police seek Disney Tower of Terror groper

Police in Anaheim, California are looking for a man who allegedly groped a woman on the Tower of Terror ride in the Disneyland Resort's California Adventure park. A woman says she was on the ride with her daughter Friday night when someone grabbed her breast when the lights dimmed. She says she believes she was grabbed by someone sitting to her left, but that it could have been someone else.

Security staff gave investigators a photo taken of the victim on the ride before the lights went out. Police say they're trying to identify the person to her left in the photo.


The incident brings to light the phenomenon that "Disneyland," which aficionados recognize to be the Magic Kingdom park, is now considered to encompass the entire area around the park, including the hotels and the inferior California Adventure park that was built in what was once the Disneyland parking lot.

Lost fans wash up on Tom Sawyer's Island

The folks who run Disneyland are witnessing the fallout from their decision three years ago to dilute the classic timelessness of Tom Sawyer's Island with product-placement promotion for its Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. A petition by fans of the television series Lost for a show-themed Disney attraction has led to suggestions that the Tom Sawyer refuge is the obvious location.

The online petition is not slick by any means. In fact, in its address to "Televsion and Disnet Fans," it's not even spellchecked:

"LOST is one of the best television series to ever be broadcast on television. Disney should give this awesome show it's due and create a LOST Island attraction at one of it's Disney theme parks. Just think of the locations that can be immortalized in a Disney location.

- The Frozen Donkey Wheel behind the Orchid Station testing chamber.
- The Swan station and Hatch ride
- A submarine ride to Palu Ferry.
- Dharmaville Barracks.
- Smoke monster
- Ruins
- Jacob's Cabin
- The Egyptian Statue and Jacob's Lair"


The petition is closing in on two thousand signatures even though the Lost television series does not appeal to kids or, beyond the "Thumb Guy," wide popular culture. Its network, ABC, is owned by The Walt Disney Company, however, and there is a chance that someone within the corporate structure tought it a good way to drum up publicity for the show as it nears its finale in May (deliberately throwing in the misspellings to appear more grassroots).


The knock of sacred Mickey Mouse, Tom Sawyer and Uncle Walt Disney can also be placed in a wider context. The latest promotions for the show parody da Vinci's portrait of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.

Disrael: M-I-C-K-E-Y N-E-V-E-R F-O-R-G-E-T

Our Man Elli in Israel checks in with some historic Disney news: The Walt Disney Company will produce, for the first time, original Hebrew-language shows in Israel. The Disney Channel began airing in Israel this year and has been so successful, it's begun joint production with Herzliya Studios on two original programs to air there.


So let's put aside all that talk about old Uncle Walt being an antisemite. Yes, in the 1930s he was sympathetic to the pro-Nazi German American Bund, and allegedly showed up at a meeting or two, and yes, legend has it that he, alone among all studio heads, met with Hitler's filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl when she was looking for work in Hollywood, and yes, legend has it he told her he admired her work that hiring her would hurt the brand, and yes, there were lots of Jew gags in the animated shorts Walt approved (like the scene in the original "The Three Little Pigs" in which the Big Bad Wolf comes to the door dressed as a stereotypical Jewish peddler, yes--- in any case, there's always Eisner and Iger... oy!

UPDATE: Our Man Elli reminds us we can't put aside Uncle Walt's record, and adds this from the Israel News Network: "The announcement is bitter irony for Hamas, which was forced to stop its anti-Israel children’s programs, featuring Disney characters, after the company threatened to sue it for copyright infringement. Hamas used characters similar to Mickey Mouse, among others, to air material that often incited Arab children to become martyrs when they grow up.

"Anti-Israel groups previously have tried to boycott Disney, which 10 years ago set up its Millennium exhibition in Florida and referred to Jerusalem as 'the capital of the millennium' and the 'heart of the Israeli people..' The Arab League had tried to boycott Disney until Saudi Prince Walid ibn Talal, who was a large shareholder of Euro Disney said, 'If we boycott Disney, Israel will win because it will impact our image negatively in the United States.'"

EO? Uh-oh! Jacko returning to Disneyland

Now that he's safely dead and can't possibly touch any children, Michael Jackson is being brought back to Disneyland. The Walt Disney Company confirmed, after months of denials, that they're jumping on the Dead Jacko bandwagon jump-started by the This Is It movie and will bring the 23-year-old Captain EO 3D mini-movie to Tomorrowland in February.

The 17-minute Captain EO cost about $30 million, was executive produced by George Lucas, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featured Anjelica Huston as the evil Supreme Leader-- and Jacko in the title role. It featuring lasers, smoke and stars that extend over the seat in front of you. We saw it at Tokyo Disneyland and recall it as being pretty impressive. But that was 20 years ago. The attraction was close din 1998, around the time Jacko was better known as a freak than pop star.

They say it will be a limited engagement. We'll see.

Coincidence that the announcement comes two days after the death of traditionalist Roy E. Disney? We'll see.

The first of many tributes to Roy Disney

Not even the magical Disneyland could make it through the holiday season a step ahead of the grim, grinning Celebrity Reaper of 2009 who has taken far too many influential, beloved and important pop culture figures and given us too much fodder from which to choose for our Death of The Day column. This morning, Roy Disney has passed onto another magic kingdom, and already the tributes are pouring in through the Tabloid Baby transom: This one from leading Disneyana expert, Los Angeles historian and Hollywood Thoughts blogger LA Dodger Jon:

Many like to tell the story about how Roy Disney’s Uncle Walt once referred to him as his “idiot nephew.” This writer prefers to remember Roy Disney, Jr as a savior for the body of work that his uncle – and father – built over a half century.

In 1984 it looked all but certain that the Walt Disney Studios was headed towards a hostile takeover. The studio, its library and the beloved theme parks would have all been dismantled, split apart and/or spun off. It’s because of Roy that you’re not passing through the gates of the Anaheim M&M’s Magical Kingdom… or a Disney World that’s been snapped-up by a giant Beatrice-like mega corp…


Thanks to Roy Disney’s efforts, Frank Wells and Michael Eisner were hired and the Disney company averted disaster and thrived.

While it’s not wholly wrong to view the Disney outfit itself as a mega corporation these days, it’s hard to argue about the contribution they’ve made to art… and a whole lot of childhood memories.

I’m happy to take the hit for sounding schmaltzy, but I’m also a dad that’s pleased he has family fare to watch in the theatre with his son… or still gets excited packing the family in the car for a fun ride at the theme park.

Thanks, Roy.

ROY DISNEY DEAD

Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney and a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company (which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his Uncle Walt founded) has died at age 79. A consultant for the company, Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors and a thorn in the side of many successors, he helped revive the animation department but is perhaps best known for organizing the ousting of two top Disney executives: Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law) in 1984 and Michael Eisner in 2005. Roy began working with the company in 1954 and was the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved with the company.

Roy died this morning. He had been battling cancer.

Exclusive! Disneyland's Christmas playlist

If you've ever wondered the exact song titles, artists and arrangements of the holiday music piped along Disneyland's Main Street USA, a Disneyphile with a Shazam application on his iPhone took the time to identify the entire Disneyland music loop. The list below is sending many people to downloading sites to customize their own Christmas music playlists.

(click list to enlarge)

Disneyland: Black to the future? Or past?

A year after the election of Barack Obama, Disneyland officially inaugurated its first black princess with the debut of Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! starring Princess Tiana from the new animated feature, The Princess and The Frog.


Singing and dancing and performing from the Mark Twain riverboat along the Rivers of America and culminating in a second line march into New Orleans Square, the spectacle is, as the daily program, promises, a "toe tappin,' hand-clappin' riverboat extravaganza" that veers perilously and surprisingly toward the coonin' and buffoonin' of another era and a Showboat of another era. The actress lip-synching to the recorded tracks plays it broad-- way broad, and the happy shining stereotypes, including a gravel-throated crocodile trumpeter named Louis-- are in your face. Equally controversial is that the prince Tiana is paired up with, appears to be white, or Indian, or Middle Eastern, but most definitely not a black man. It all seems to tarnish Tiana's achievement, and while she may become a favorite of little black girls, the setup could lead to serious questions from black boys.

Stevie Wonder

Any irony in all this? While the show tapped and clapped along New Orleans Square, Stevie Wonder was in the plaza at the end of Main Street with Sleeping Beauty's castle behind him, dressed in red and performing "What Christmas Means To Me" for an ABC Christmas Day special.

Disney decides to mess with Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is getting a cynical and potentially dangerous makeover from Walt Disney's successors, as they fear the iconic beloved symbol of childhood innocence is more of a corporate symbol than beloved character to a generation raised on the Disney Channel.

The New York Times reports on two parallel efforts within the Walt Disney Compamy organization to make Mickey Mouse more Miley Cyrus. The first is a new video game, Epic Mickey, "in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning...

"In many ways, it is a return to Mickey at his creation. When the character made its debut in 'Steamboat Willie' in 1928, he was the Bart Simpson of his time: an uninhibited rabble-rouser who got into fistfights, played tricks on his friends (pity Clarabelle Cow) and, later, was amorously aggressive with Minnie.

"Epic Mickey, designed for Nintendo’s Wii console, is set in a 'cartoon wasteland' where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations live. The chief inhabitant is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character Walt Disney created in 1927 as a precursor to Mickey but ultimately abandoned in a dispute with Universal Studios. In the game, Oswald has become bitter and envious of Mickey’s popularity. The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a 'twisted, broken, dangerous' version of Disneyland’s 'It’s a Small World.' Using paint and thinner thrown from a magic paintbrush, Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot overlord, gain the trust of Oswald and save the day."


Meanwhile, Disney "has quietly embarked on an even larger project to rethink the character’s personality, from the way Mickey walks and talks to the way he appears on the Disney Channel and how children interact with him on the Web — even what his house looks like at Disney World."

Disney announced this week that after 20 years of negotiations, the Chinese government has given the okay to open a Disneyland in Shanghai. The China move is seen as another reason they're tampering with their symbol.

What next?

Kind of a dragon: Star missing from debut of Disneyland's summer night spectacular

Disneyana Update: Summer Nightastic, Disneyland's big summer update of its spectacular Fantasmic light, water and fireworks show debuts tonight without its star attraction. Maleficent, the 40-foot-tall, 10,000 pound mechanical automated fire-breathing dragon from Sleeping Beauty, won't be making it to the show until later this summer if at all. Reports say its head fell off and its neck snapped during rehearsals.


The good news: It's officially summer at Disneyland.

Mickey Mouse is dead

Wayne Allwine, who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for more than three decades, has died at 62.

The Walt Disney voiceover artist was also an Emmy Award-winning former sound effects editor and foley artist. He married Russi Taylor in 1991.

She was the voice of Minnie Mouse.


Wayne was only the third person to voice Mickey Mouse. His first appearance as Mickey was voicing the animated lead-ins for The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977. His first appearance as Mickey for a theatrical release was in the 1983 featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol.

He died of complications of diabetes Monday morning at UCLA Medical Center.

A Tabloid Baby shout out and condolences to Jon Crowley.

It's a product placement world, after all

We told you earlier this month last week that the Disney people had gone ahead with their plan to bespoil Disneyland's It's A Small World attraction, a shrine to world peace and tribute to the innocence of children across the globe, with cynical movie-tie in product placement that puts Ben Silverman and 30 Rock to shame. A visit to It's A Small World over the weekend revealed a ride that's quite different in intent and atmosphere from our first trip through 45 years ago at the New York World's Fair-- and not only because of the new, sturdy wide-ass boats that ferry the audience along the animatronic canal. What was once a tribute to world unity is now invaded by jarring Disney movie characters and promotion. Most egregiously, the view of one of the ride's highlights-- the three hula dancers of Hawaii-- is actually blocked by Lilo & Stitch dolls bobbing on a surfboard. Also disturbing and distracting is the new penultimate display, a tribute not to the world but to America, with Hollywood klieg lights standing between tableaus of farmland and Tom Hanks' Toy Story character on the way to the finale room (known to insiders as "Heaven") where the children in white versions of their native garb, sing in unison, in English. The message is lost.

All in all, a mistake. Below are the ones we caught. Apologies to Donald and Pinocchio if they were already there:

Alice in Wonderland

Cinderella


Pinocchio


Aladdin


Mulan


Three Caballeros


The Little Mermaid


Finding Nemo


Lilo & Stitch


Toy Story