Disney takes another pass at Vegas with filming of ‘Witch Mountain’

By Joe Schoenmann (contact)

Monday, May 12, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The Disney-fication of Las Vegas was a short-lived ’90s phenomenon meant to ensnare Baby Boomer parents by giving their children things to do at video arcades, theme parks and rides.

The trend ended, but that doesn’t mean the real Disney and Vegas are necessarily a bad mix.

In late May and early June, Disney moviemakers plan to use the 62-year-old Ferguson Motel, 1028 East Fremont Street, as the setting for part of “Race To Witch Mountain.”

The new version of 1975’s “Escape To Witch Mountain” will star former professional wrestler “The Rock,” aka Dwayne Johnson, as well as Cheech Marin, who famously feigned smoking marijuana for top-selling comic albums in the 1970s with partner Tommy Chong.

Perhaps because of the innocent special effects — imagine an RV flying through the sky toward Witch Mountain — the original movie touched a nerve with pre-teens in the ’70s and spawned 1978’s “Return From Witch Mountain.”

But will today’s super-hipster kids buy into a flick about two kids with magical powers pursued by an evildoer who wants to use those powers for ill deeds? Maybe the question should be, will their nostalgia-craving parents buy in?

•••

Refusing to back down from a progressive initiative in the face of an economic downturn, the Las Vegas City Council last week ratified a resolution to establish a Green Building Special Revenue Fund.

Under the measure, the city will collect a percentage of franchise fees levied on providers of gas, electricity and solid waste collection. Specifically, 25 percent of any incremental increase in the aggregate amount of franchise fees — over the amount collected in 2007 — will be deposited in the fund.

The fund, never to exceed $2.5 million annually, will go toward the increased cost of new LEED-certified public buildings, renovation/maintenance of public green buildings and education programs, as well as future green-building incentives.

•••

The monstrous T-Rex, the elevator down to Africa, even the live sharks, rays and horseshoe crabs swimming in an open-air tank are enough for most kids.

But some kids need more.

And more is coming to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, 900 North Las Vegas Boulevard,

The City Council ratified a new lease agreement with the museum — the current lease is $1 per year until 2045 and can be renewed before then — that allows the museum to build an addition.

That addition will be on a patio in the museum’s northern portion and will house a permanent Egyptian exhibit, said Marilyn Gillespie, museum director.

“We think it’s going to be a great draw and very exciting for school kids,” Gillespie said.