Family, travel, mom blog | Theme Park Mom (Leigh Caldwell)

Walt Disney World has announced that its Summer Nightastic! entertainment will run from June 6 through Aug. 14, 2010.

The part of Summer Nightastic! many Disney fans are most excited about is the return of the beloved Main Street Electrical Parade in the Magic Kingdom.

There will also be a new Magic Kingdom fireworks show, as well as a new drop sequence and special lighting effects at the Tower of Terror in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

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Walt Disney World rolled out a green “turf” carpet last week to open the re-imagined ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. I was lucky enough to be part of camera clicking crew at this spectacle. You can read about the celebrity athletes I saw and the improvements at the complex in my story on Gadling.

The signs have been changed to include the words “ESPN,” and many of the changes are company culture stuff – ESPN President George Bodenheimer said the complex now “feels like ESPN.”

But there’s some cool, new stuff here that will make your experience at ESPN Wide World of Sports more fun, especially for young athletes:

First, the complex now has dozens of high-definition cameras to record all the action in the fieldhouses and on the playing fields. Highlight reels compiled from the day’s games will be shown both at the complex and back in your room if you are staying on Disney property. The highlight reels use SportsCenter graphics and wipes, and I think they will really make your kids feel like they are in the pros.

The new Playstation Pavilion at the ESPN Wide World of Sports

The Playstation Pavilion is now open, adjacent to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Cafe quick service restaurant. There are 17 stations to play Playstation games, and some of the games will be available to play here before they are even sold in stores. Disney is calling this area a “wait buster.” It is designed to be used by young athletes when they have an hour or two between games or training sessions.

And Champion has opened a Custom Tee Center, which is also adjacent to the cafe. Here, you can take the T-shirt from your event and have it customized with more than 50 designs. The customizations cost $2 to $5 and take 15 minutes. In addition to the permanent location for Champion’s Custom Tees, there will be a mobile set-up that can move around the complex to be close to the action.

More than 600,000 people have volunteered or signed up to volunteer for the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion in the first six weeks of January 2010. Tom Staggs, chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts, announced that impressive number this morning at a media event at Walt Disney World, where he was joined by Kermit the Frog.

“Give a Day, Get a Disney Day,” allows people from the United States and Canada to select an approved volunteer activity through the Hands-On Network, give of their time and get a 1-day ticket to a Disney Park in return. Disney has said that the goal is to inspire 1 million people to volunteer this year.

“Our dream at HandsOn Network is for everyone to recognize their power to make a difference. Disney is helping us make that dream a reality, a million times over,” said Michelle Nunn, co-founder of the HandsOn Network.

Disney brought in volunteering families from 48 states and Puerto Rico to take part in volunteer activities today with Disney Channel stars Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas.

They also unveiled a gigantic sculpture made out of cans of food and featuring four familiar faces:

So what does all this hoopla mean for you? Well, it means you’d better hurry up and volunteer if you want to get your hands on one of those free Walt Disney World or Disneyland tickets this year!

To promote Disney’s “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” promotion, a huge sculpture made from cans of food was unveiled to the media today in a ceremony at EPCOT.

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto were on hand to raise the balloons concealing the sculpture behind the stage. They were joined by Extreme Home Makeover host Ty Pennington, who used his ever present bullhorn to urge the crowd to “raise the balloons.”

Here are some facts about this larger-than-life attention getter:

• 115,000 cans were used to build the structure. That’s 44 tons of food — enough to provide 70,000 meals to the needy.
• It took four days and more than 500 hours to build the mammoth wall.
• If all the cans used were stacked on top of each other, the top can would be more than a mile above the summit of Mt. Everest. And we’re not talking about the Disney version, we’re talking about the real 29,000 foot mountain.
• Guinness World Records authenticated the wall as the largest canned food structure ever created. The previous record-holder had a mere 54,000 cans.

• Mickey Mouse’s head was shaped from cans of black olives.
• Pluto’s eyes are made of sliced pineapple cans.
• Goofy’s face features cans of Atlantic salmon.
• Donald Duck’s hat is made of cans of tuna.
• All of the characters’ pupils were constructed of pans of popcorn.
• The structure is being dismantled today, and the food will be trucked to food banks in Central Florida, Miami and Atlanta.

“Give a Day, Get a Disney Day,” offers volunteers who participate in qualifying activities a free visit to a Disney park during 2010.