The Hard Rock brand has experienced mixed fortunes in western Mexico: the Puerto Vallarta cafe is a popular hang-out but the eatery and live performance venue in Guadalajara’s Centro Magno mall closed after less than three years in business.

An eyewitness account of the storm in Manzanillo revealed impressive community preparation: “Never have there been seen so many electricity trucks on the boulevard waiting, which they were at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. Windows of restaurants and stores were taped and sandbags piled up in front of Office Depot in readiness,” said Freda Rumford, a British resident of the resort and editor of Manzanillo Sun E magazine.

A new ruling means dozens of families may soon be able to return to the beachfront land where they have worked for more than three decades.

Disney Cruise Lines has put Vallarta back on its schedule. The Disney Wonder will berth in the port each Wednesday from September 25 for the following seven months.  According to some sources, the line suspended stops in the port in February due of a perceived lack of security. The Disney Wonder will dock in Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan before its Vallarta call.

The Hilton hotel chain has signed an agreement with Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe to build and operate a hotel in Puerto Vallarta that will be ready by the second trimester of 2012. The hotel will be located close to the airport and have 259 rooms, as well as pools, a gym and a business center.

Puerto Vallarta will host the World Economic Forum on Latin America, from April 16-18 next year, while the Young Global Leaders Annual Summit 2012 will be held as part of the meeting in Nuevo Vallarta from April 14-16.