Nothing is too far out for founder of Rainforest restaurants
From eastvalleytribune.com:
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MINNEAPOLIS РSteven Schussler, the brash entrepreneur who founded Rainforest Caf̩, has not had a winning restaurant concept in more than a decade.
But he hasn’t lost his ability to shock, entertain and, ultimately, to raise millions of dollars for his fairytale-like ideas.
This month, RED Development, a major developer of open-air shopping centers, agreed to build Schussler’s themed restaurant concepts in more than 30 locations across the country, in a deal valued at more than $100 million.
Designed to overstimulate the senses, the concepts include a Chinese restaurant with statues from China’s Qing dynasty; a Parisian jazz club with a giant airplane descending from the ceiling; a restaurant with Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and a hot dog stand with more than 3,000 types of mustard.
Now, Schussler is on a roll again. A year ago, he made $7.6 million when he sold 80 percent of his dinosaur-themed restaurant, T-Rex, to Houstonbased Landry’s Restaurants. And ground has broken on two of Schussler’s restaurants — T-Rex and Asian-themed Yak & Yeti — at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Classic Disney Moments Captured on Canvas
From yahoo.com:
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The authorized Disney Fine Art Gallery will be exhibiting over 20 new Disney Fine Art pieces along with original paintings starring some of your favorite Disney Characters. Sanders CC will be launching a new website www.sanderscc.com which will be hosting over 200 Disney Fine Art pieces available for purchase. The new website showcases all of your favorite Disney Classic Film moments such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Mickey Mouse, and Pirates of the Caribbean staring Captain Jack Sparrow. Limited editions range in size.
Animal Kingdom night time show?? Rumors abound.
From laughingplace.com:
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Rumors on the laughingplace.com boards are mentioning a possible nighttime parade at Disney’s Animal Kingdom called “Rivers of Light” which may appear sometime in 2008. Supposedly the park will have a special “Nighttime Kingdom” theme as part of a DAK After Dark campaign. Could be sheer rumor — but makes sense to try and expand park hours into the evening. Fireworks are a “no go” at DAK due to the animals, but a nighttime parade with water and fire? Sounds like a winner.
Heeeres Michael: Eisner as host
From miamiherald.com:
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It is difficult to figure out why Michael Eisner would want to be a talk-show host. For one thing, hes got a billion dollars. Literally — Forbes magazine says so. For another, he worries himself sick that he’ll flub something on camera, no matter how wildly improbable — like, say, mixing up the name of a shrimp-dumpling dish with a famous war crime.
“Oh yeah, when I was on Martha Stewarts show, I was cooking shrimp shao mai and I was really afraid I was going to say shrimp My Lai”, Eisner recalls. “I kept saying the name to myself to get it right. It was kind of silly to have me on there anyway. Cooking is not my forte. But I did have an advantage — the guy before me was doing worms and compost.”
Eisner is considerably more adept at analyzing business and entertainment — and, especially, the business of entertainment — than he is at making dumplings, so his CNBC talk show Conversations With Michael Eisner sticks pretty much to those topics with guests ranging from from stars like John Travolta to corporate honchos like Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. An episode he taped earlier this month during a visit to South Florida, including interviews with Gloria Estefan and Micky Arison, airs at 9 tonight.
Still, it seems an odd place to find the guy who spent two decades rebuilding Disney from a floundering film studio into a $50 billion global entertainment empire before walking away from an acrimonious dispute with stockholders two years ago.
Well, I did have some experience. I hosted The Wonderful World Of Disney for 20 years, Eisner teases. “Seriously, what am I gonna do? Play golf? Sit on an island somewhere? Its not my personality.
Bringing Dole Whip Home
My latest video podcast is a step-by-step video guide to making the ever-popular Dole Whip treat at home.
http://www.pyro.tv/channels/6/38911/
iPod-Friendly:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/insidethemagic/DoleWhip-iPod.mp4
540p MP4:
http://www.distantcreations.com/insidethemagic/archive/content/DoleWhip-540p.mp4
