Disney Sports announced that the Walt Disney World Marathon course will be modified for the race to take runners not only though the four Walt Disney World theme parks, but also through the Walt Disney World Speedway and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex including Champion Stadium, a major-league style ballpark that the Atlanta Braves call home for spring training.

Other changes unique to the 20^th anniversary include extra entertainment along Mile 20, a specially designed 20^th anniversary Mickey Mouse medal and a new post-race party at Downtown Disney.

The 20^th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon will take place on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013. The 26.2-mile race will start outside Epcot and take runners to Magic Kingdom between miles 5 and 7. After Magic Kingdom between miles 8 and 9, marathoners will run on the high-banked one-mile track of the Walt Disney World Speedway, where stock cars, Indy cars and exotic supercars usually race. The course then continues on to Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park between miles 11 and 13 before turning into the ESPN Wide World of sports complex from miles 17 through 20. While inside ESPN, runners will dash around the track, jog through baseball fields and soccer fields before running through Champion Stadium itself, a major-league style ballpark. The marathon will then travel through Disney’s Hollywood Studios between miles 22 and 24, and finally finish with a run through Epcot from miles 25 to 26.

See the link in the show notes for the map of the course from Disney

Investigators said the tourist used the card to reserve a package that included a hotel, food and park tickets, worth over $7,000.

However, the card was rejected when Turner tried to check into the hotel last week.

He was arrested on Tuesday after Disney said they discovered the card was a fake.

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A Disney cruise ship has rescued four men found adrift on a small raft near Key West, Florida.

Disney Fantasy picked up the men -– who are believed to be Cuban refugees — while sailing from Florida to Grand Cayman yesterday (Sunday 27 May).
The men, who were spotted signalling for help, were brought aboard the ship and provided with medical attention, food and water, according to a statement from Disney.
What will happen to the men once they arrive on Grand Cayman remains unclear. In an email to Cruise Critic, a spokesperson from Disney addressed the future of the men indirectly, saying, “We have notified the U.S. Coast Guard of this rescue and we are working with the proper authorities to coordinate the debarkation of the group … It would be up to those authorities to determine next steps.”
The incident follows a rescue by Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas which picked up 23 Cuban refugees off Cozumel, Mexico, in April.

Some may try to compare this to an incident involving a Princess Cruise Line ship, but we here will just say that we feel any captain in the cruising industry would do their best at providing assistance to anyone in need while at sea.

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Disney Cruise Line Crewmember Shows Up in Photos Taken on Missing iPhone

Katy McCaffrey never thought she’d never see it again. That is, until photos of a crewmember began to show up in her Photo Stream, a virtual iCloud space that automatically pulls in shots taken with her iPhone.

McCaffrey sent them to Disney Cruise Line and on Tuesday put them on display for the world to see in a Facebook album titled “Stolen iPhone Adventures.” In one of the photos, a young man, who McCaffrey alleges stole the phone, poses arms-crossed on a cruise ship deck with a sunset in the background, his name badge pinned to his jacket. In other photos, the man happily poses with other Wonder crewmembers.

McCaffrey’s photo album has been shared by more than 3,500 people since she first uploaded it on Tuesday.

“I have alerted the officials of the Disney Cruise Line and forwarded them the photos. Hopefully I’ll get my phone back,” she wrote in an update to her friends. The cruise line quickly reached out to McCaffrey to try to make the situation right; the incident is under investigation, and the phone has been recovered from the crewmember. (A Disney Cruise Line spokeswoman told USA Today that the phone is still on Wonder; the line intends to return it upon the conclusion of the current cruise, a seven-night Alaska sailing that ends next Monday in Seattle.)

“We take matters of this nature very seriously,” Disney Cruise Line spokeswoman Rebecca Peddie told Cruise Critic. “We have placed the employee on administrative leave and restricted him from guest areas while we investigate [how the crewmember acquired the phone]. We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior.”

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Cruise Ship Departs With Dialysis Machine, but not the owner.

Lillian Hensley, her disabled daughter Christine and two other family members were set to depart for a five-day cruise to Jamaica onboard Carnival Destiny. Because her daughter requires nightly dialysis, the family checked in a portable dialysis machine and their luggage with a porter at the port. She had received authorization from Carnival beforehand to bring the machine onboard.

Carnival in a statement said that when Hensley notified the line she would be bringing a dialysis machine onboard, she indicated she would be hand-carrying it onto the ship — per the line’s standard procedures.

Carnival explained the move in today’s statement: “Given that it is imperative that Ms. Hensley have her dialysis equipment in order to sail, it was decided it would be in her best interest that she disembark the vessel.”

When the ship sailed away it took the dialysis machine and luggage with it. Hensley administered manual dialysis for two nights before finding a medical clinic. Carnival said it will deliver the dialysis machine to the Hensleys’ residence in Boynton Beach, Florida, when Carnival Destiny returns to Miami on Thursday.

In today’s statement, Carnival offered its apologies: “Carnival Cruise Lines sincerely apologizes for this most unfortunate situation and is providing everyone in the Hensley party with a full refund of their cruise fare, as well as a credit for a future five-day cruise with Carnival.”

Carnival has also offered to pay for any out-of-pocket medical expenses associated with any treatments necessary while Christine Hensley awaits the delivery of her supplies.