During the past couple of weeks reports began surfacing about impending staff cuts at The Walt Disney Company, and by the end of the week the cuts became official as nine veteran animators from the hand drawn animation team were let go.

Tom Bancroft, a former Disney animator, tweeted out the names of the animators from his personal account on April 11. Several online sites also listed the names. The veteran hand drawn artists who lost their jobs are: Nik Ranieri, Ruben Aquino, Frans Vischer, Russ Edmonds, Brian Ferguson, Jamie Lopez and Dan Tanaka.

Registration for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend opened at noon on April 9, and within hours the brand new Walt Disney World 10K was sold out. In addition to the 10K, the Family Fun Run 5K is also sold out. At press time the Dopey Challenge was at 99 percent capacity.

Earlier this week, Harrison "Buzz" Price received what Tom Staggs, Chairman of the Walt Disney Parks & Resorts calls "the highest honor from Disney Parks and Resorts" - a window on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland.

Disney's Animal Kingdom - the largest animal theme park in the world - opened to the public on Earth Day, April 22, 1998. This year marks the park's 15th anniversary and there's a "wild" celebration planned.