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By Michael - June 25th, 2009 By now, probably every blog out there has covered the death today of singer Michael Jackson. While I won’t pretend to be much of a fan of Jackson – at least of anything he’s done in the last 25 years – it is shocking and somewhat jarring to have a figure that was such a massive phenomenon during one’s childhood disappear. Despite Jackson’s more-than-questionable behavior of the last decade or so, it’s hard not to believe that he never had a chance. Perhaps I’m over-sensitive to this since it overlaps with my work, but it never fails to amaze or infuriate me how much parents can screw up their own kids’ lives.
Anyway, we’re not here for my psychoanalysis. The reason Jackson has appeared on every Disney blog this evening is that he himself was perhaps the most famous Disney fan in the world. Renowned for his constant trips to Disney parks in various odd disguises, and his propensity for renting entire floors of Disney World resorts, Jackson modeled many aspects of his own Neverland Ranch after Disneyland. He was also a prolific collector of Disneyana; recent auction catalogues reveal a wealth of Disney-related items including many major pieces created specifically for Jackson by Disney animators and Imagineers.
Jackson’s most obvious Disney connection is Captain E.O., the 3-D science-fiction film that played in EPCOT from 1986 until 1994 and in Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris during the same time frame. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by George Lucas, the film is even more bizarre in retrospect but certainly captures the feeling of the era in which it was created. You can find links to Captain E.O. on nearly every other Disney blog this evening, so I thought I’d re-post this video from 1986; taken from that year’s Very Merry Christmas Parade, it features a segment with parade host Ben Vereen previewing the new EPCOT attraction.
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By Michael - June 24th, 2009  What’s behind castle #1? Breaking, from Reuters, also reported by the Wall Street Journal:
HONG KONG, June 25 (Reuters) – Hong Kong has reached a deal with the Walt Disney Co (DIS) to expand the local Disney theme park, seen as necessary to bolster the park’s long-term prospects against a Shanghai rival, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The agreement is expected to be announced by June 30, with details of the deal to be laid out to local legislators in a special meeting, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported.
A spokeswoman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, which oversees the Disneyland project, confirmed to Reuters that a special meeting had been called, but disclosed no specifics.
The report said the deal was expected to be worth HK$7 billion ($903.3 million) of which HK$4 billion would be used for expansion.
The size of Hong Kong Disneyland, the smallest of Disney’s magic kingdoms, is expected to almost double, with construction to begin within a year, pending approval from the city’s legislative council in July, the newspaper reported.
Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary John Tsang travelled to Los Angeles in May, where he met senior Disney executives. The trip is seen to have paved the way for the breakthrough after Disney earlier said it would stall any expansion amid the credit crunch.
There was no immediate response from Tsang’s office.
When contacted by Reuters, a Disney official in the United States said discussions are ongoing, without giving any specifics.
The Walt Disney Co (DIS) earlier indicated it would likely invest more capital in Hong Kong Disneyland and allow the Hong Kong government to convert its loans to equity to maintain its majority share of the theme park, a source involved in their talks told Reuters earlier.
The Hong Kong government, which owns 57 percent of the underperforming resort, desperately needs the expansion to boost flagging attendance, with a much larger rival Disneyland expected to be built in Shanghai in 2014 that could draw much visitor traffic from the burgeoning mainland China market.
“At this stage, we have to support the expansion otherwise it will be very difficult to compete with Shanghai in five to six years time,” said legislator Fred Li of the Democratic Party, who said his party backed the expansion as long as Disney boosted its financial transparency in future on attendance figures.
(Additional reporting by Gina Keating in Los Angeles) (Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Chris Lewis and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Well, that’s exciting. Now I want details! What expansions are we really getting? That rumored north woods version of Frontierland? The voodoo-themed Haunted Mansion? The flume-ride Pirates of the Caribbean? Hopefully we’ll find out on the 30th.
It’ll also be interesting to see what the HK$3 billion that isn’t going towards expansion will be used for.
I just can’t believe that the deal is finally done. Remember that this back and forth has been going on for years now, and just a few short months ago Disney fired the Imagineers working on the project because the Hong Kong government had stalled the project once too many.
And let’s not overlook one intriguing aspect of the article – it seems that the idea of an impending Shanghai Disneyland has become common and accepted knowledge. 2014? Would it be too much to ask that they finish the existing parks first?
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By Michael - June 24th, 2009 It looks like public previews did, in fact, begin today at the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents. A fairly detailed report has been posted on the WDWMagic boards, and it gives a sense of the show’s flow. It certainly sounds like an improvement, and it’s exciting to see Mr. Lincoln get back to his roots.
What’s really interesting is the report that Bob Iger and Jay Rasulo attended the 5 p.m. show today with Magic Kingdom V.P. Phil Holmes; while it’s impressive that Iger made the trip to Orlando to check out the show, it’s unknown whether setting foot in a theme park caused Rasulo’s face to melt like the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark or whether any photos were taken to actually confirm the existence of Phil Holmes.
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By Michael - June 24th, 2009 I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it – or if anyone has ever noticed it – but a while ago I added social networking bookmarks at the bottom of each post. The links – you can see what they are when you roll over them with your mouse – allow you to bookmark the story at various networking sites, and also allow you to email or print the stories.
I’ve just added the ability to subscribe to an RSS feed for the story, and to link the story on Twitter. But most importantly, I’ve added a custom link to an exciting new site I’ve discovered recently.
A couple of weeks ago, I started getting links to various stories from a site called DisMarks. It turns out that this new site, still in beta testing, is kind of like Digg for Disney-related sites. You can submit stories you enjoy, and people can vote them up if they like them as well. It’s a great way to find the cream of the crop of Disney blog and news stories for the day. I recommend that everyone go register and check out the site; the more people that take part in these sites, the better the quality of the results.
Also, obviously, if any of you particularly enjoy one of our posts here please do us a favor and click that little link to share it with the world. Enjoy!
UPDATE: I never thought I’d do this, but you can now follow our posts and updates on Twitter. Sigh. Just search for ProgressCityUSA and subscribe.
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By Michael - June 23rd, 2009 
This little sketch comes from 1965; it’s concept art for Space Mountain, which was then under development for Disneyland’s New Tomorrowland. The ride, of course, wouldn’t open until 1975, and then only in Florida. It wouldn’t appear at Disneyland until 1977.
I have absolutely no profound reason to post this piece, aside from the fact that I just thought it was a neat little sketch. Also, I never fail to find it surprising that they were working on Space Mountain way back in 1965.
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