If you’re planning a Disney vacation for spring break, there are two new Florida resident deals you can take advantage of to save money.

The first deal is the Wild for 3 pass, a 3-day theme park ticket Florida residents can purchase for only $99, plus tax. Tickets must be purchased by May 21, and used by May 24, 2012.

There are also several hotel discounts where Florida residents can book great room rates at select Disney Resort hotels for a majority of the nights from March 9 to June 14, including the All-Star Music Resort, with rates that start at $114 a night Sunday-Thursday for March 9-31.

For a full list of the hotels participating in this promotion, as well as complete offer details, please visit the Walt Disney World Special Offers page.

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New action figures featuring Disney characters playing characters from the Star Wars universe are due to arrive at Disney Parks in March. We first showed artwork of these figures in August 2010 (good things come to those who wait!). I spoke with Cody Hampton, developer for Toys and Games, to learn about their development.

“We’ve been working on the wave five figures for more than two years,” explained Cody. “We originally wanted to release them last year at Star Wars Weekends. With so much great new development for Star Tours: The Adventures Continue at that time, we pushed out [the action figures] release date to spring 2012. I’m thrilled to see these figures arriving soon as they are some of my favorites.”

Cody has been involved with development of the Disney character Star Wars action figures since series three. His favorite figure in the series is Donald Duck as the Clone Trooper, Commander Cody (how fitting!). I like Donald Duck’s nephews as Jawas (probably because I dressed like a Jawa for Halloween when I was five – still my favorite costume of all time).

Disney Design Group artist Mike Sullivan drew the first sketches for the characters in this series. Then senior character artist Casey Jones used those sketches to create the technical drawings shared with the manufacturer. Cody explained that collaboration between Disney and Lucasfilm was a key ingredient for success.

“The Lucasfilm team was great collaborative partners,” said Cody. “We first thought Stitch would be perfect to play the bounty hunter Cad Bane from ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ animated series because he had blue skin like Bane’s character. The Lucasfilm team suggested turning Goofy blue to play Bane and save Stitch for General Grievous. In the end, this worked better from a character design since Stitch has four arms like Grievous’ character.”

The figures will be released at locations in Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Unfortunately, they will not be available via the Disney Parks Online Store. If you aren’t visiting the parks soon, you can also contact Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Merchandise Guest Services at 1-877-560-6477 or email merchandiseguestservices@disney.go.com once they are released.

May the Force be with you!

New Star Wars Character Action Figures Arrive in March at Disney Parks by Steven Miller: Originally posted on the Disney Parks Blog

So far, there have only been a few subtle references to the short, including one from animator Patrick Osborne, who posted the following to his blog:

We’re finishing up a rather exciting project at Disney in the next few weeks. It’s been keeping me pretty busy and away from this blog. The short is called Paperman. Directed by John Kahrs, the short will be running the festival circuit next year. We’re very proud of this one and can’t wait to show the world.

Osborne also says Kristina Reed will produce, while Jeff Turley and Kyle Odermat are the art director and VFX supervisor, respectively.

So far, that’s all we know about Paperman, but we’ll be sure to keep you informed of any further news.

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So far, there have only been a few subtle references to the short, including one from animator Patrick Osborne, who posted the following to his blog:

We’re finishing up a rather exciting project at Disney in the next few weeks. It’s been keeping me pretty busy and away from this blog. The short is called Paperman. Directed by John Kahrs, the short will be running the festival circuit next year. We’re very proud of this one and can’t wait to show the world.

Osborne also says Kristina Reed will produce, while Jeff Turley and Kyle Odermat are the art director and VFX supervisor, respectively.

So far, that’s all we know about Paperman, but we’ll be sure to keep you informed of any further news.

Source

Exceeding expectations rather than simply satisfying them is the cornerstone of the Disney approach to customer service. Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service outlines how Disney Parks consistently delivers quality service to tens of millions of guests each year. How do we do this? By focusing not just on task, but also on “purpose.” The task of a custodian at Magic Kingdom Park is to keep the park clean, but his purpose is to make guests happy. That’s why you’ll see him providing directions, making small talk with families or even leading impromptu parades.

Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service gives many examples of Disney Institute clients that have used Disney best practices to improve the way they do business. It’s pretty compelling to see the results they enjoy when they find a common purpose – making customers happy.

‘Be Our Guest’…Once Again at Disney Parks by Stacey Thomson: Originally posted on the Disney Parks Blog