Enjoy the magic of Walt Disney World all year long with Celebrations magazine! Receive 6 issues for $25.90* (save nearly 30% off the cover price!) *U.S. residents only. To order outside the United States, please visit www.celebrationspress.com. PLUS you’ll receive a FREE gift: IllumiNations: A Magical Keepsake. Your FREE IllumiNations Booklet takes you on a pictorial tour of one of the most magical nighttime experiences to be found at Walt Disney World: IllumiNations at Epcot, and will arrive with your next regular issue (March/April). Subscribe online at www.celebrationspress.com. Cover Photography © Tim Foster The Changing Seasons of Disney Florida may offer a more temperate climate than other parts of the country (where snowy winters are the norm), but the last couple of years have seen a fair number of cold snaps take hold of the Sunshine State. But for now the temperatures are climbing back to normal (and hopefully will stay there), and Walt Disney World is still a great place to visit to escape those brutal northern winters. But that’s not to say that the changing of the seasons aren’t a part of the Disney experience. Even on warm December evenings, you’ll find it snowing on Main Street U.S.A., and as the holidays drift off into the distance, we can now look forward to the coming of Spring with Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival. But Florida is best known (season-wise) for its hot summers…the better to enjoy those dips in the ocean or, if you’re at Disney, those wonderfully themed water parks and resort pools. And of course, the Fall brings out the bright oranges and yellows of the changing leaves as Halloween takes over at the Magic Kingdom, and Epcot ushers in the changing seasons with the International Food & Wine Festival. The fact is, though most people associate Walt Disney World with hot summer days and sometimes-brutal heat waves (and yes, that predictable late afternoon summer thunderstorm!), all of the seasons are celebrated in this wondrous land. It certainly helps when the temperature drops outside, but even if the sun is beating down on you in early Spring or late Fall, you can still celebrate the seasons in true Disney style through its many festivals and events. But with all of that being said (and I’m writing this knowing that we still have plenty of winter ahead!), it’s nice to start thinking about the Flower & Garden Festival and the promise of warmer days ahead! Enjoy the magic! Tim Foster 3 · Celebrations Disney News innie Mouse has made Disney History. The famous Mmouse received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Minnie Mouse Heads to Fame in Southern California. The sidewalk star was un- veiled on Monday, January 22, recognizing the iconic status Hollywood and the Reveal of of the world-famous mouse who made her film debut in 1928’s Steamboat Willy. Before she left on her grand Hollywood adventure, Min- Her Star on the Hollywood nie was celebrated with a special send-off from Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Flor- Walk of Fame ida. The send-off celebration took place Sunday, January 21, at 1 p.m. ET. 4 · Celebrations teem and the success achieved by our two creative busi- New Cirque Du Soleil Show nesses throughout the past two decades with La Nouba,” said Tiffany Rende, Senior Vice President, Corporate Alli- ances and Operating Participants, The Walt Disney Corpora- For Disney Springs In tion. “We look forward to our continued collaboration with Cirque du Soleil in developing this new show that will honor Development Disney animation’s rich history.” After paying homage to some of entertainment’s great- irque du Soleil Entertainment Group and Walt Disney est artists, such as The Beatles and Michael Jackson, Cirque CParks and Resorts announce the renewal of their long- du Soleil will leap into the iconic world of Disney. lasting relationship with the creation of a brand- Daniel Lamarre, President and CEO of Cirque du new show to premiere at Disney Springs. The Soleil Entertainment Group, added “We are two entertainment companies first teamed incredibly inspired by Disney’s immense up to bring La Nouba to the stage in 1998. creative universe. We are convinced that Twenty years later, Cirque du Soleil Enter- bringing Disney’s magic to life on stage will tainment Group and Walt Disney Parks touch audiences and bring them back to and Resorts are working together on a their childhood.” new project. The curtain will close on La Nouba on Dec. The new show created by Cirque du Soleil 31, 2017. Since its première, La Nouba has en- in collaboration with Disney will draw its in- tertained more than 11 million guests and has spiration from Disney’s heritage of animation. It performed close to 9,000 shows. There have been will celebrate Disney’s legacy of storytelling in Cirque du over 2.8 million flips in the PowerTrack act and the ward- Soleil’s signature way, with a tribute to the one-of a kind robe department has handled over 21 million costumes craftsmanship that makes Disney so extraordinary. and headpieces. Tickets are still available here to watch the “This long-standing relationship is built on mutual es- show before it takes its final bow. Photos ©Disney 5 · Celebrations It’s All In the Numbers even Dwarfs. 101 Dalmatians. Three Little Pigs. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. SNumbers have certainly played a big part in Disney’s cinematic history (quick, name all seven dwarfs!), but many folks don’t realize that numbers play a significant (though oft-overlooked) role in the parks as well. And not just in attraction names (with all apologies to the Three Caballeros at Mexico’s Gran Fiesta tour), but in the smallest of details found throughout all of the parks; details that may seem innocu- ous at first but in fact are clever inside jokes or veiled references to an historic date. Let’s begin with something as innocent as house numbers. Most of us have one, and by and large they don’t mean anything. (For example, even though my house by Tim Foster number is 308, it doesn’t mean I was born on March 8!) But at Walt Disney World it’s a different story. Given that the Imagineers needed to put house numbers on many of the buildings throughout the parks (particularly the Magic Kingdom), and given that they’ll never miss a chance to infuse some humor or historic authenticity into the smallest of details, you’ll find that the house numbers you see actually carry some significance. Most famously, you’ll find that the buildings that line the streets from Liberty Square all the way through Frontierland have numbers that are in fact years; in- dicating the time periods when those buildings would have existed. Walking from Liberty Square through Frontierland toward Splash Mountain is like traveling through time, with the buildings in Liberty Square numbered in the 1700s (begin- ning with the Hall of Presidents bearing the number 1787, the year the U.S. Constitu- tion was ratified) and those in Frontierland representing those in the 1800s (many buildings have two-digit numbers, the trick is to put an “18” in front of it, and just like that you’ve travelled back in time!) Tim Foster is the creator of You’ll also find some references to significant dates in Disney history on Main Celebrations magazine and Street U.S.A., such as a plaque over the door of the Emporium Gallery that reads the author of the Guide to the Magic book series, which “Established in 1901” (the year Walt Disney was born). According to its sign, the Em- includes the Guide to the Magic porium itself was established in 1863, but the derivation of that year is a bit more for Kids and the Deluxe Guide to complicated. According to the fictitious back-story, that was the year the Empo- the Magic Autograph & Sticker rium was established by its founder, Osh Popham. But why 1863? It turns out that Book. Tim is also the creator of Disney had released a film called Summer Magic in 1963 (one hundred years later the www.celebrationspress.com if you don’t want to do the math), which told the story of a Boston widow and her website. children who took up residence in a small town in Maine. The film also starred Burl Ives (of “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” fame) as…you can see where this is going… none other than Osh Popham. But that’s just the beginning. You’ll also find lots of references to opening dates throughout the parks, disguised as seemingly random numbers on signs and other decorative items. For example, the Starport Seven-Five sign you see on the Tomor- rowland Transit Authority PeopleMover as you enter Space Mountain is a reference to 1975, the year Space Mountain opened. Over at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, you used to be able to see a more obscure reference to a significant date. Be- fore it was recently removed during a renovation, you could find a small painting of Stitch zipping through space in a tiny ship with some alien writing on the side. This writing (which used the same alphabet seen in Stitch’s Great Escape! and on 6 · Celebrations the newspapers being sold by the robot newspaper vendor While you’re in Hollywood Studios, why not take a jour- at the entrance to the TTA) spelled out 1972, the year that ney on Star Tours? While you’re making your way through the building that houses the attraction opened.