Disney World

With frosty mugs of Butterbeer raised in a toast, Universal Studios Hollywood officials announced plans Tuesday to bring the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the California theme park. Details were limited but officials did say the California park would see a Hogwarts Castle and visitors would ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the marquee attraction at the Florida park. Wizarding World will be built within the existing California theme park, but it was unclear if the new land might be located at least partially on the studio's back lot. > Photos: Top 10 Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides and attractions Wizarding World proved an instant hit when it opened in June 2010 at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

The first phase of the multi-stage unveiling of the Fantasyland makeover has moved into "soft opening" mode in advance of an official unveiling later this month at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Photos: Fantasyland expansion at the Magic Kingdom Three years in the making, the new Fantasyland at Orlando's Walt Disney World resort adds a Little Mermaid dark ride and a Seven Dwarfs roller coaster while updating the classic Dumbo ride and recreating the village from "Beauty and the Beast.

At first I thought it was too early to look ahead at the new attractions coming to U.S. theme parks in 2013, but then I realized a number of big rides have already been announced and many more are already in the planning stages. > Photos: Most anticipated new U.S. theme park rides for 2013 It already seems like 2013 is shaping up as a good year for ride enthusiasts and theme park fans. Big industry players have announced major projects, and several smaller parks are planning to roll out significant additions.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning snagged his second Most Valuable Player Award in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, but he also scored another milestone: He will be the fifth football star to twice have declared, "I'm going to Disney World !" after the Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 in Indianapolis. Manning will appear today at the Orlando theme park for one day only at 1:20 p.m. (Eastern) for a Super Bowl MVP Parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.

The list of potential buyers for the Dodgers — should Major League Baseball or a divorce court force a sale — features all the usual suspects. Forbes 400 types who have amassed personal fortunes large enough to afford every sports fan's dream. That includes men such as Eli Broad and Tom Gores, who do not have much experience when it comes to owning a team. The scenario sounds familiar to Robert Kraft, who purchased the New England Patriots in 1994 after years of cheering from the stands.

Movie stars, TV actors, rock singers, fashion models and professional athletes need a vacation just like everybody else. But when you're more famous than Mickey Mouse, it's not as easy to blend in with the crowd -- even at Disney World. Photos : See celebrities at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom To navigate the vast resort and avoid hassles from overzealous fans, celebrities trade front-of-the-line VIP treatment from Disney World for a few snapshots inside the Orlando theme parks that show up in celebrity magazines and on entertainment shows.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning snagged his second Most Valuable Player Award in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, but he also scored another milestone: He will be the fifth football star to twice have declared, "I'm going to Disney World !" after the Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 in Indianapolis. Manning will appear today at the Orlando theme park for one day only at 1:20 p.m. (Eastern) for a Super Bowl MVP Parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.

A chemical fire that broke out Wednesday near Disney World's Magic Kingdom sent 14 employees to the hospital for exposure to fumes but did not affect the theme park, company officials said. The fire started in an oven being used to make boat bumpers.

From La Quinta -- After a couple of years of walking under ladders and having black cats cross his path, golfer Bobby Gates took firm hold of a four-leaf clover Monday. He shot a final-round 66 in the PGA Tour qualifying event at PGA West's Jack Nicklaus Course, assuring himself of a top-25 finish, a PGA Tour card and admission into most of the top events in 2012. In golf's version of the Death Valley Marathon, Gates had survived. After six rounds in six days in California desert weather that had varied from a wind tunnel to a picture postcard — often on the same hole — the 25-year-old Texan had reversed a personal trend that had put him in the running for golf's Calamity Jane Award.

The Scene: The premiere of "Dick Tracy" Thursday at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The screening was at Pleasure Island, the party afterward at the Disney-MGM Studios theme park. Why Orlando? California may be the Disney empire's home, but Orlando is the New Rome. Who Was There: Between 3,000 and 5,000 guests; no one had an exact body count. On hand were the film's producer-director-star, Warren Beatty; co-stars including Dustin Hoffman, Estelle Parsons, Michael J.

President Obama wants to make it easier for foreign tourists to come to the United States without making it easier for terrorists to get in. Speaking to a crowd at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Obama announced new initiatives to increase travel and tourism in the United States, including one that will make it easier for tourists from Brazil and China to get visas to visit. As first reported this morning by the Orlando Sentinel , the new executive order signed by Obama calls for a 40% increase in processing capacity in both countries over the next year.

With frosty mugs of Butterbeer raised in a toast, Universal Studios Hollywood officials announced plans Tuesday to bring the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the California theme park. Details were limited but officials did say the California park would see a Hogwarts Castle and visitors would ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the marquee attraction at the Florida park. Wizarding World will be built within the existing California theme park, but it was unclear if the new land might be located at least partially on the studio's back lot. > Photos: Top 10 Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides and attractions Wizarding World proved an instant hit when it opened in June 2010 at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

From La Quinta -- After a couple of years of walking under ladders and having black cats cross his path, golfer Bobby Gates took firm hold of a four-leaf clover Monday. He shot a final-round 66 in the PGA Tour qualifying event at PGA West's Jack Nicklaus Course, assuring himself of a top-25 finish, a PGA Tour card and admission into most of the top events in 2012. In golf's version of the Death Valley Marathon, Gates had survived. After six rounds in six days in California desert weather that had varied from a wind tunnel to a picture postcard — often on the same hole — the 25-year-old Texan had reversed a personal trend that had put him in the running for golf's Calamity Jane Award.

At first I thought it was too early to look ahead at the new attractions coming to U.S. theme parks in 2013, but then I realized a number of big rides have already been announced and many more are already in the planning stages. > Photos: Most anticipated new U.S. theme park rides for 2013 It already seems like 2013 is shaping up as a good year for ride enthusiasts and theme park fans. Big industry players have announced major projects, and several smaller parks are planning to roll out significant additions.

Reporting from Ko Olina, Oahu - My 11-year-old daughter, Hannah, has wanted to visit Hawaii since Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" movie came out in 2002. The wacky animated movie about a Hawaiian girl who adopts a pet that turns out to be an alien was filled with surfing, hula dancing and exotic locales. But mostly it was about ohana - the Hawaiian word for "family. " So when we arrived at Disney's new Aulani hotel in Hawaii it seemed like a no-brainer that we'd find Lilo and Stitch here to welcome Hannah to the tropical paradise that filled her dreams and imagination.

Breaking a wicked stepmother's curse, Disneyland's fairytale princesses will be whisked away from their crowded one-room temporary home in 2013 and magically transported to a spacious new storybook village more befitting of their royal lineage. Blame Rapunzel for the extreme home makeover after Disney's newest princess moved into her own brand-new Fantasyland home in 2010 and immediately drew hour-plus lines to her "Tangled" meet-and-greet location. In a fit of jealous rage, Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty demanded an upgrade from their windowless, doorless and roofless slapdash digs in an old converted theater.

It's hardly a small world after all at the Hilton and Waldorf Astoria located within the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. These hotels have a head-spinning 1,500 rooms between them, with pools, a nature preserve, golf courses, restaurants and spas. Now they also have a cool summer deal that offers guests a  free theme park ticket for every two-night stay.  The deal: The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and Waldorf Astoria Orlando award one adult single-day ticket to a Disney World theme park for every two nights (two tickets for a four-night stay, three tickets for a six-night stay, and so on)