Ehapa in Germany launched a new magazine in January: Tooor!. It focuses around the FIFA World Cup 2006, which starts in Germany on 9 June.

The 70-page magazine is targeted at 8 to 14-year old Disney and football fans. It has many soccer-related editorials, including player portraits, highlights of the World Cup, tips from football professionals, and much more. More »

A new street in a residential area of the city of Almere in the Netherlands has been named after the legendary Donald Duck comic book artist Carl Barks. More »

When Hong Kong Disneyland was filled to capacity by 11:30am today, an angry mob of parents tried to force their way into the park after the gates were closed. Furious crowds pushed and grabbed on to fences. Some lifted their children over the fences into the park and others climbed over themselves.

After a lot of rumours it is now official that Disney acquires Pixar for $7.4 billion. I think this is a great deal for both companies. I was disappointed a few years ago when Michael Eisner let go of Disney’s contract with Pixar, but now it looks like Disney will continue to distribute Pixar’s films as it has for the last 12 years.

I’m a big fan of the Disney Treasures DVD series by Leonard Maltin, and this superb new book by David Gerstein is as equally well researched and put together. I must admit that I had actually never heard of the Disney pages in Good Housekeeping Magazine that are collected in this volume, but I’m glad to have them now in this collection as they are just simply wonderful. More »

Andy Mooney

In this great article from CMO Magazine, Andy Mooney, chairman of Disney Consumer Products, talks about his introduction of active licensing at DCP. Unlike before his arrival at the company in 1999, their product managers now work closely with developers and licensees on the design of new Disney-branded products and new categories, such as Disney Princess, W.i.t.c.h., and the recently introduced Disney Fairies. More »

This week the new Mount Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida pre-opens for cast members. Disney also launched a new website for the attraction: www.disneyeverest.com.

This week Egmont Ehapa in Germany launches the new title Disney Fairies.

The first issue of this new monthly series comes out on 17 January. The artwork of the series is based on the children books from Gail Carson Levine. Disney Fairies takes the reader back to the land of Tinkerbell, Neverland, in a series of new fairy tale stories.

The magic magazine is targetted at girls aged 7 to 9. The first 44-page issue (sold for €2,70 in Germany) had a printrun of 140,000.