STORY:
Disney's Seizing On Millennium Hype

Plans call for symphonies, extend park celebrations.

If you're thinking about attending New Year's Eve events at Disneyland or Walt Disney World, you had better think twice. Both parks are reportedly sold out for the evening. But leave it up to the folks at Disney to extend a one night celebration into 15 months and two symphonies.

Starting in October, Walt Disney World's Millennium Celebration will be clearly visible, if not in full force. Mickey Mouse's will put on his sorcerer costume stand on the top of the golf ball looking Spaceship Earth. The 240 foot tall Mickey will support a lighted sign that reads "2000" and can be seen almost anywhere in the Orlando theme park.

Two new shows will debut as well: "Tapestry of Nations" - 120 puppets some as high as 18 feet will march with drummers around the World Showcase Lagoon; and "Illuminations 2000" - A fireworks, water fountains, laser and light show around the Showcase Lagoon.

If you a legacy left for years to come, Disney is offering that too. 750,000 guests can leave digital portraits of themselves in a granite sculpture. Of course, it will cost each guest $35.

Disney CEO Michael Eisner has also commissioned two prominent American composers to write two symphonies that will premier in October. The oratories "Garden of Light" by Aaron Jay Kernis and "Four Seasons" by Michael Tork are going to be offered as "Disney's Millennium Symphonies and will be performed by the New York Philharmonic.

"The millennial transition is all about the passage of time," Eisner said in a press statement, "so we tried to find a way to commemorate this momentous event in a way that would be timeless. And nothing is more timeless than great music."

Expect to see a big media push for Disney's millennium celebration in August.

Source: Associated Press

DATE: 07/12/99

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