Texas child actor Ike Eisenmann was only 13 years old when he shot to stardom after taking on the role of the harmonica playing orphan alien, Tony -- who uses his psychic abilities and cunning kid smarts to find his way home -- in Disney's 1975 fantasy film, "Escape to Witch Mountain."
Ike Eisenmann was cast alongside Eddie Albert as the helpful dude with an R.V., Jason O'Day ... and of course, Kim Richards (yes, the one from "The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills") as the telepathic sister sidekick, Tia.
Ike went on to act in the 1978 sequel, "Return from Witch Mountain," and can even be spotted in the 2009 remake, "Race to Witch Mountain," featuring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Disney is taking its first steps to reopen their parks in none other than China next week -- and the takeaway/possible road map for what's to come is simple ... lots of slower lines.
New China TV documented an in-depth tour given by the VP of Operations, Andrew Bolstein, which showed how the park plans to safely operate Monday -- when they'll reopen their doors to the public. Bottom line ... social distancing will be key, literally everywhere.
Right from the get-go, ticketholders will have to wait in line with markers on the ground of where NOT to stand, which automatically creates a distance between people of about a meter or so. Going in, they gotta be wearing face masks, have their temperature checked ... and also present updated medical records essentially proving they're coronavirus-free.
But wait, there's more ... waiting. Once inside, there are a lot more markers on the ground, where people are supposed to stay as they navigate the park. The rides are kinda the same deal -- everyone is spaced out, and they'll even load people onto cars via every other row.
What that means ... each ride will have less people on it than it can normally carry (in order to maintain the appropriate social distancing), so to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney fans might have to wait a lifetime and a half going forward ... more so than usual.
It's unclear if Disneyland (Anaheim) and Disney World (Orlando) will adopt similar measures if/when they decide to restart the breakers, but it's likely their plan will be similar.
Might not be a better time to get on that Fast Pass plan. Yipeee!!!
Walt Disney World is locked up tight as a drum during the coronavirus pandemic, but apparently that wasn't tight enough for a dude to make Discovery Island his home.
The Alabama man, 42-year-old Richard McGuire, was arrested after Disney security eyed him camping out on the island.
Here's the thing. Discovery Island has been closed since 1999. Disney has changed its use of a wildlife park, but the various buildings on the island have remained intact. He was staying in one of the buildings when security found him.
McGuire was camping on the Island since Tuesday, but at some point, security realized something was up. They pulled out their bullhorns and ordered him to come out, but there was no response. The effort was then buttressed with boats, a helicopter and foot patrol.
McGuire said he was "unaware" he was trespassing, despite the numerous "No Trespassing" signs plastered near the island.
The Alabama resident now faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge. Even worse, he's been banned from all Disney parks.
Florida will partially re-open Monday, but it's unclear when Disney World will be back in business. It's been closed since March 16.
Baby Yoda, The Hulk and Mickey Mouse are coming to the rescue ... Disney is selling character face masks to protect kids, slow the coronavirus spread and donate to charity.
The Walt Disney Co. just announced the launch of a new line of face coverings for children and adults ... the masks feature some of Disney's most popular characters, and proceeds from sales are going to a medical supplies charity.
The non-medical, reusable cloth masks come in 4-packs for $19.99 ... and the Mouse House says it's going to donate up to $1 million in proceeds to MedShare, a nonprofit that delivers medical equipment and supplies across the globe. Disney will also donate 1 million masks to the charity.
As you know ... the CDC is strongly recommending masks and face coverings to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Disney says the pandemic is a challenging time for families and wearing any type of mask can be daunting, but it hopes the cloth character face masks will comfort folks and ease the transition to the new normal.
Hopefully, the masks do the trick ... children across the world are getting really sick with a rare inflammatory disease that has been linked to COVID-19.
It's a scary time for everyone ... but a Disney character mask might bring some joy to kids and adults.
LeBron James' first assist in a post-coronavirus pandemic NBA could be from none other than Mickey Mouse... 'cause the league's looking into finishing its season at Disney World!
The NBA is in talks with the resort about resuming play there ... with The Athletic's Shams Charania reporting Disney has already offered up its property to the Association.
Of course, the venue makes a ton of sense for the NBA ... the resort has several on-site basketball courts -- including a few that are already equipped for television broadcast.
The Disney property also has enough hotel rooms -- and, clearly, enough entertainment -- to comfortably quarantine players and staffers while the league self-isolates during its resumption of play.
The Most Magical Place on Earth is reportedly one of a few options the NBA is kicking around ... with Las Vegas being another potential destination.
The league has continually looked for ways to resume games ... although everyone from Mark Cubanto Adam Silver has insisted play will NOT happen again until its safe for everybody in the league.
Demi Lovato opened up in a big way with her former castmates from the Disney show, "Sonny With a Chance" ... describing how a fellow castmate was her inspiration for going to rehab and how her eating disorder made it impossibly cold on the set.
Demi was part of a virtual chat between cast members of 'Sonny' and the spinoff, "So Random!," including Tiffany Thornton, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Sterling Knight, Dough Brochu, Matthew Scott Montgomery, Shayne Topp, Audrey Whitby and Damien Haas.
She reminisced about how Tiffany gave her the strength to enter rehab for the first time, saying, "When I went away to treatment for the first time, you were my biggest inspiration coming out of it because you dealt with all of those pressures of being a woman on TV."
Demi went on to say ... "I looked at that as, 'I wish I had that so bad.' Yes, I probably was happier in my head with whatever I looked like at the time. But, I'm so much happier now with the mentality that you have. I look back now and I'm like, man, it's a shame that we wasted any energy on what we wore on set."
She went on to talk about how she was miserable on the set, in part because she was sleep-deprived and overworked.
And then, she talked priorities... "I'm realizing that as I've gotten older because when I was young, when you start off in the industry as a 7-year-old, 8-year-old, you kind of value your self-worth with your success," she explained. "I have moments all the time where I'm like, Do I want to continue this? Or do I want to pull a Tiffany and move to Texas, have a family and have a farm."
And, there's this ... Demi fessed up as to why her dressing room was a sweltering 98 degrees ... "I had an eating disorder and I was underweight and freezing!"
And, while 'Sonny' is near and dear to Lovato's heart, it's not something that she would want to revisit.
Before leaving the chat, Demi dropped some sage words of advice for those who are following in the former child actress's footsteps ... "I would just say, speak up for your needs, always tell the people around you ... "If you're tired, tell them you're tired. If you're sick, be honest about being sick and not feeling good. Just speak up for yourself."
Child actor and Hollywood heir Jason Davis's cause of death was fentanyl ... according to the Medical Examiner.
L.A. County Medical Examiner documents show Jason died from the "effects of fentanyl." No other factors are listed in the report ... but it does say it was an accident.
TMZ broke the story ... Jason was found unresponsive in his bathroom on February 16. Law enforcement sources at the time told us there were items nearby that were consistent with heroin or opioid use ... including burnt tin foil and other paraphernalia.
Based on the ME's report ... the opioid would be fentanyl, and not heroin.
Jason -- known in Hollywood as the voice of Mikey Blumberg on the long-running Disney Channel show, "Recess" -- had battled addiction in the past. In 2011, he was busted and charged for allegedly having heroin on him. Those charges were eventually dropped.
He went on to co-found a charity called Cure Addiction Now, an org he was heavily involved with running. The voice actor was also known for being the grandson of the late Hollywood billionaire moguls, Marvin and Barbara Davis.
Monique Coleman says there's a perfectly good explanation why her old Disney Channel costar, Zac Efron, didn't join in on a big broadcast sing-along ... the almighty Wi-Fi signal.
We talked to the 'High School Musical' alum -- who was one of the former child stars in the hit DC movie series, and who performed "We're All In This Together" Thursday alongside Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and others -- and she told us why Zac was MIA during the nationally televised performance. Long story short ... dude's probably got a bad signal.
.@ZacEfron appeared on #DisneyFamilySingalong to introduce the star-studded rendition of “We’re All in This Together,” not performing himself due to being “Hunkered down in the middle of nowhere with patchy WiFi.” pic.twitter.com/u8z55dEB1y
Monique says Zac -- the lead man in the 'HSM' movies -- got on-board at the very last minute, and was only able to introduce the song from a fuzzy video he sent in. The reason he wasn't able to sing along with the crew is because he's likely in a remote part of the world with crappy Internet. Last she heard, ZE was in Papua New Guinea filming for his new Quibi show, "Killing Zac Efron" -- so yeah, he wasn't gonna risk a bad show.
More importantly than that, though, is the fact that Zac is one of the most down-to-earth celebs there is in the biz ... according to Monique, anyway. She says she's not surprised he didn't cave to the Disney pressure to get in on the sing-along ... and did what he realistically could.
Besides, some Zac Efron is better than no Zac Efron -- at least that's how MC thinks the fans feel.
Walt Disney World employees are taking it on the chin, hard -- the theme park is about to furlough 43,000 workers as it remains closed due to the coronavirus.
Orlando's Magic Kingdom, which has been shut down since March 16, reached agreements with its workers' unions, and will make the layoffs effective April 19 ... according to Forbes. Most of the employees are security guards and other workers involved in operating the facilities.
The Mouse House says the laid-off workers will keep their health benefits up to one year -- and Disney has agreed to pay for coronavirus testing for any employees who need it.
Of course, it's still unclear when Disney will reopen gates at its parks around the world. The massive park will now be staffed by only 200 people with "essential duties."
Forbes says Disney World is the largest single-site employer in the country ... and the massive layoffs are expected to have a domino effect on the Central Florida economy ... where so many other industries depend on Disney being open to stay in business.
The "Most Magical Place on Earth" ... once upon a time.
Meghan Markle got back on the bike by narrating a Disney nature documentary, and take a listen ... she didn't skip a beat.
Disney+ just dropped the Disney Nature documentary, "Elephant," narrated by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex -- and the teaser just aired on 'GMA.' The doc, of course, is special to her. She's done a ton of work in the past to help elephants, and proceeds will go to help an org near and dear to her ... Elephant Without Borders.
Meghan narrates the migration of Shani and her family. The elephant family is tracked as they make a 1,000-mile, 8-month trek across Africa. Ya gotta listen reaaaal closely, 'cause it almost doesn't sound like Meghan. But, it's her.
Harry's lobbying clearly worked ... it wasn't long after that Meghan landed the narrating gig. BTW ... Disney Plus also dropped "Dolphin Reef" narrated by Natalie Portman.
Disney is making its most loyal fans happy by pausing payments for annual pass holders and refunding monthly payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
Here's the deal ... the Mouse House just announced it will no longer continue charging Annual Pass members while its parks remain closed due to the virus, and it's refunding scheduled monthly payments that were changed since the outbreak.
As we reported ... Disney pissed off a lot of people by continuing to charge Pass holders at a time when millions of folks are hurting for cash.
Disney posted an update to the annual pass holder payment policy Thursday, offering some much needed financial relief in a dark time. The policy flip will ease minds and wallets, and seek to undo some very bad optics.
Disney also says park pass holders who already paid in full for their annual passes can get a partial refund for the period the theme parks are closed.
The new policy kicks in this Sunday, when Disney says it will halt automatic payments and waive all upcoming monthly payments while the parks remain shuttered.
The refunds will apply to monthly payments made between March 14 and April 4. Once the parks reopen, Disney says payments will resume as scheduled.
Disney isn't letting its most loyal customers off the hook because its parks are closed -- they're still getting charged, but the company's trying to make good.
The Mouse House sent an e-mail to its Annual Pass members this week -- who, BTW, shell out big bucks for these passes each year -- telling them their scheduled monthly payments will continue like normal. Mind you, all Disney theme parks around the world are closed due to the pandemic.
It's a pretty crappy situation -- Disney doesn't give people the option of canceling and getting their money back ... at a time when a lot of people are hurting for cash. We've heard of one family being forced to shell out hundreds each month on their passes, despite asking to have their payment obligations paused or completely axed outright.
A Disney operator told them the same thing this e-mail is saying ... no way out, pony up. That, of course, puts a lot of people in a tough spot, as they struggle to make ends meet right now.
Disney is offering a consolation ... Pass Holders will get the days they're missing out on now tacked on to the end of their expiration date.
As for the cost ... a top-end annual pass at Disney World comes in at $1295 (before tax) and top-end at Disneyland is $1449 ... or just over $105 per month after a downpayment of $179.
Disney princesses and characters are getting hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic -- they're outta work and struggling to get by -- but not just because Disneyland is closed.
With governments banning gatherings large and small, there's simply no work for the folks who dress up as your favorite Disney princesses and movie characters ... and one group is about to lose a million bucks.
American Immersion Theatre + Princess Party tells TMZ ... they've had bookings canceled left and right, setting up a huge financial hit of about $200,000 for March and April alone, and as the pandemic drags on, they're estimating a loss of $1 million in gross income.
The troupe tells us this is normally the busiest time for events, but there are no more shows on the books this Spring and Summer, which spells doom for their 2,000 actors across 27 different cities.
The theater company is used to working birthday parties, murder mysteries at restaurants and volunteering at hospitals ... but the virus' rapid spread is putting an end to all that.
American Immersion Theatre + Princess Party is hoping things start picking back up by June with some small birthdays before another wave of big events in September ... and in the meantime, they're booking about 7 virtual gigs a day where princesses and characters interact with kids virtually.
Still, the virtual gigs won't make up for the 150 events that are being canceled each week ... and it's a bad sign for the actors who count this as a full-time job.
Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.
Anna Faith and Lexie Grace, who went viral in 2014 for being "Frozen" lookalikes, say they feel awful for the kids who had a trip to the Mouse House or a birthday party scrapped by the virus.
Anna and Lexie say they're getting some offers to do personal bday wishes, and they put together a video for parents to show their kids at home, and it's free.
It's pretty bad over at the Los Angeles Princess Company too ... they tell us they're no longer working 6 to 10 parties per weekend, and everything for the next several weeks is canceled, meaning a loss of $500 to $1000 each weekend.
The company is going virtual as well ... offering FaceTime calls with their princesses, but it's just not enough and the small biz is frightened after 7 years of steady work.
Amazing Kids Parties is also feeling the pinch and getting creative ... they say parents are canceling their kids' parties, but looking for alternatives. AKP is now offering virtual meet-and-greets with princesses and other "at-home" birthday packs.
Bottom line ... all the Disney princesses are feeling like Rapunzel these days.
Disney lovers can still get a healthy dose of magic during quarantine -- it's just a watered-down, digital version, of course ... but hey, anything to beat those COVID-19 blues, right?
Turns out, the Mouse House has a YouTube channel dedicated to their theme park attractions -- specifically, an immersive version of them that can be enjoyed (partially, anyway) through a screen. Basically ... you can experience pretty much any ride via virtual reality.
It's sorta fascinating ... the YT channel has been racking up videos of pretty much all of their roller coasters and other rides that capture the entire journey with 360-degree cameras -- shot from inside the car itself, and which is adjustable so you can "look around."
If you have a VR headset, there's a way to hook it up and make the ride, if you will, all that much more real ... almost as if you were there yourself. You might have to use a bit of imagination though -- there's no motion-activated seats we're aware of to make it even closer to the real thing. Still though ... it's something to do, and it's a taste of Disney parks from home.
Looks like the VR ride videos are productions of both Disneyland and Disney World -- for the most part -- with rides like Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, The EPCOT Center and everything in between.
Palm Springs-native Alana Austin was only 19 years old when she landed the role of the girly cheerleader turned dirt bike bad boy, Andi Carson -- who poses as her brother and takes to the track while her brother is injured -- in the classic sibling-swapping 2001 Disney TV movie, "Motocrossed."
Alana Austin was helped out along the wild ride by her on-screen mom and confidant, Geneva, played by Mary-Margaret Humes, her biker brother, Andrew, played by Trever O'Brien ... and of course, the fierce French rival on two wheels, Rene Cartier, played by Michael Cunio.
Meghan Markle's officially back in Hollywood ... she's making her Disney debut nearly a year after Prince Harry lobbied the Mouse House's head honcho.
Disney announced Thursday it's releasing a new movie "narrated by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex." Yup, that's how Disney's marketing Meghan. She'll narrate "Disneynature's Elephant." Natalie Portman's also narrating "Dolphin Reef." The films drop April 3 on Disney Plus.
Two new movies, two unforgettable journeys. Start streaming Disneynature’s Elephant, narrated by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, and Disneynature’s Dolphin Reef, narrated by Natalie Portman, on April 3, only on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/N0yW0e7Lv6
Gotta give Prince Harry the assist on this one ... 'cause you'll recall there was a July 2019 video that started resurfacing in January, just days after Harry and Meghan announced the bombshell that they're stepping down as Royals.
In the video, you can see Harry chit-chatting with the former head of Disney, Bob Iger, at the "Lion King" premiere in London. You can hear Harry say, "You know she does voice-overs?" Iger responds with surprise, "Oh really? Ah ..."
JULY 2019
SkyNews / Getty
You can hear Iger say he didn't know that before Harry responds Meghan is "really interested." Moments later, you clearly hear someone say, "We'd love to try." Well, looks like Harry's bidding worked.
It's unclear how much Meghan's getting paid for this gig. But, one thing we know ... she agreed to do voice-over work for Disney in return for a donation to a charity she supports ... Elephants Without Borders.
