Happy Christmas!

I am traveling for the holidays so posting will be limited.

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Funny or Die: 1982 Tron Holiday Special

Most of your favorite characters are back!

Detailed Buena Vista Street Construction Timeline

The Orange County Register's Around Disney blog published a detailed timeline of expected construction milestones that will affect guest flow and traffic while Buena Vista Street is constructed:

Jan. 4:

Letter statues: Construction walls will start going up around the “California” letters statues in front of the park’s turnstiles. Crews plan to remove the statues. 

Sunshine Plaza: Inside the park, the walls will come out farther around the Sunshine Plaza, where a sunburst statue and fountain used to sit. The corridors will become narrower. 

June 1:

Corridor closed: The major corridor between Sunshine Plaza and the Grizzly River Run mountain, which veers right after the park entrance, will be closed. Visitors instead can get to “a bug’s land” and Pacific Wharf by going through the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and through “a bug’s land” back entrance by the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride.

July 31:

Shops and restaurants closed: Restaurants and a shop on the right side inside the entrance will be closed, as walls go up for more Buena Vista Street construction. The closures will be at: Baker’s Field Bakery, Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream and Engine-Ears Toys.

Aug. 29:

Entrance changes: Visitors will go through new turnstiles at the entrance. But they will be funneled right into a pathway behind the Soarin’ Over California ride to the Condor Flats area where they will enter the park. Most of the Sunshine Plaza area will be blocked, including the Greetings from California store. The entrance change is slated to stay until summer 2012.

While construction is underway at the entrance, new venues are set to open in the spring in the Paradise Pier area: The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Goofy’s Sky School and a dining-shopping complex. Opening dates have yet to be announced.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information, and most likely the dates will be changed. But it's an interesting look at what is sure to be an involved process.

Tron: Legacy Opens to Disappointing, but Not Disastrous $43 Million

Andre Dellamorte (who, for my money, is the only box office prognosticator that matters):

David Poland mentioned that all films that have opened to over $40 in December have done $200 Million domestically, so there is hope to keep alive, and this is Disney. The question is how much of a franchise picture is the film? Because it's quite possible that - regardless of the holidays - it drops 50% next weekend much like Narnia did. Disney's got $100 Million on lock for domestic at this point. Like a lot of pictures these days, worldwide is that number to satisfy. My bottom line is that I think the number isn't great because we've seen pictures open to this number and struggle to do much more than $100 or so.

I wrote earlier on Twitter that the film could drop 60% next weekend. But with the holidays that would be a disastrous drop. I think Disney can hope for something in the 30% - 40% range.

Tangled continues to perform well, even though it lost the majority of its 3D screens this weekend. But the ceiling is still $150 million.

UPDATE: The film received a "B+" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences. That's not great and doesn't bode well for continued legs.