A new 3D show entitled “Mickey’’s PhilharMAGIC” is set to replace Legend of the Lion King in the Magic Kingdom. This show is slated to open in the late Summer/early Fall of 2003. The show will star Mickey Mouse as he takes guests through the history of Disney music and movies. As with other 3D movies in Walt Disney World, the show will be packed with effects including fiber obtics, fog, special lighting, and a motion-base floor similar to the one found in Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.

Thanks to wdwmagic.com for the info.

Major news for the programming community! Alan Kay and his team are leaving the Walt Disney Company. Kay and his fellow programmers have been working at Disney on their new flavor of programming called Squeak (www.squeak.org), which is a derivative of Smalltalk. The group is leaving due to the recent cutbacks at Disney which have affected their plans.

Alan Kay has had a long history in the computer industry, starting at Xerox where he helped in creating a foundation for what we know today as the personal computer. Squeak has been his latest project and roughly 95% of what he had planned to complete at Disney is now done.

Innoventions currently has a small section devoted to Squeak where Disney’’s game Sub-Blast, written in Squeak, (also available at disney.com) is demonstrated as well as a small information screen on Squeak. With Kay and his team leaving Disney, I have a feeling that this section of Innoventions will be replaced shortly as well.

Georgia Institute of Technology, where I go to school, is currently one of the leading universities when it comes to using and teaching Squeak mostly due to the efforts of professor Mark Guzdial. In fact, you”ll be hard pressed to find another university that uses it nearly as much. The Squeak group is planning on staying together and continue developing and I wouldn”t be surprised if they ended up coming to Tech.

Prior to the release of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney has released an interactive digital book version of the movie, narrated by none other than main character Milo Thatch himself, Michael J. Fox. The book will be available through Friday at Random House and Radio Disney‘’s web sites.

Atlantis already has a spin-off television series in the works entitled, Team Atlantis. Roughly six episodes are already complete, with another 33 or so in the works. The show will feature all the same voice talents as the movie minus Michael J. Fox, who will be replaced by a man named James Taylor. The program will premiere in 2002.