Inside the Magic - Show 97
Kal David, voice of Sonny Eclipse, Skipper Ben on Cosmic Ray’s, and Inside Disney History on Tomorrowland
February 11, 2007 - Show Length: 01:31:49

Description:
This week we feature special guest Kal David, voice of Sonny Eclipse! We’ll be talking all about his experience of becoming the voice behind this popular Tomorrowland animatronic. We’ll also listen to a song or two from Sonny himself. Skipper Ben is here with his own take on Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. While we’re in Tomorrowland, Mark Pearce joins us with this week’s Inside Disney History.

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The rumor that DisneyQuest in Downtown Disney was going to close first came last spring, 2006. The surfaced again last fall. Now I’m hearing them again. Some friends of my son invited him to a pirate party there yesterday, so I decided to tag along to take some pictures of the place, just in case the rumors turn out to be true.
We got there about 45 minutes before they opened and they were lined up to get in. It seemed to be busy to me. Granted it was a Saturday, but if they get this many people I don’t see why they’d close down. But then again, we got in free because one of the parents was a cast member, and I did see a lot of cast members going in and overheard something about them all using their passes before they expired.

On another note: It was the first time I had been on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride there. It was really fun. With the 3D screens all around you, it made me think this is how the new Toy Story ride at MGM will look like. Cool.
If you’d like to see the DisneyQuest pictures I took yesterday, visit http://mattboom.smugmug.com and click on Orlando, Florida.

From appleinsider.com:

The plan, which got underway last year, calls for the demolition of the historic but under-utilized Fun Factory building on the corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street in the city’s South Yarra suburb. Developers want to replace the structure with a three-building, mixed-use development complex comprised of ground level retail shops, a hotel and a high-rise apartment building.

According to design documents, a cubed-shaped Apple store, reminiscent of the company’s flagship location in San Francisco, would consume the largest chunk of space within the retail plaza. It would lay adjacent to both the hotel and apartment complex, interconnecting with those buildings at the podium level by a distinct and suspended translucent space frame characterized by circular, interconnecting rings.

The Melbourne site, if approved, would give way to just the second Apple-owned retail shop in Australia. Development planning for an initial location at 77 King Street in Sydney was confirmed for the first time earlier this week and said to be in the final stages. There, the iPod maker has proposed a three-story shop at the base of a sky-rise, clad by a similarly proportioned glass atrium along the frontal facade.

Looks amazing! More pictures at the AppleInsider website.

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This coaster is located at Cedar Point and was the highest and fastest until beaten by Kingda Ka in New Jersey. This is a stunning photo taken looking down from the summit. Riders begin their epic journey aboard this whopping 42-story screamer by securing themselves into ultra-cool trains that resemble top fuel dragsters. The train then moves into a “starting line” position, where it is launched forward, reaching 120 mph in approximately four seconds. The train then zooms straight up the 420-foot-tall hill on track that rotates 90 degrees, crests the coaster’s apex and then free falls back to Earth. But hold on, this isn’t your father’s roller coaster. As the train races 400 feet to the ground, the track twists an unbelievable 270 degrees – what a rush! Riders then return to the station to begin regaling their friends with stories of the greatest ride of their lives.

An official sequel to the traditional Rubik’s Cube is due out this summer.

From engadget.com:

The new cube keeps that 3 x 3 configuration and the iconic colored sides, but adds in electronic games including Light Speed, Rapid Recharge, Pattern Panic, Cube Catcher, Code Cracker and Multiplayer Madness. We’re not quite sure what these do, but we’re guessing most of them won’t be solvable via the tried-and-true sticker swapping method.

I’ll admit that I definitely tried the sticker swapping method on the original and while it works, it yields a bunch of dog-eared corners.  This new version may not have that “functionality” but at least you might be able to hack it!

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