tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33658352254774919592024-03-05T21:14:01.293-05:00The Maz Disney BlogThe Maz Disney Blog is a place where I can share my views and explortions into the History and Future of the Walt Disney Company. Walter E. Disney was a truly unique person who made all around him better.Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-461821673803803482017-07-28T10:13:00.000-05:002017-07-28T10:13:53.918-05:00Star Wars Forces of Destiny<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Disney never ceases to amaze. They are currently running a great new Initiative called, Star Wars Forces of Destiny. This is a new drive to bring to light new inspiring stories from iconic Star Wars characters. And true to Disney there are so many levels to this announcement.<br />
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The first level is the most visual, in fact they grabbed my attention and then led me to find this great new offering from Disney/LucasFilm. There are 8 shorts on <a href="http://partners.disney.com/star-wars-forces-of-destiny" target="_blank">Disney Site</a> that are really very good. <i>"The Choices we make,the actions we take, moments both big and small shape us into Forces of Destiny."</i> This is the tagline that opens each of the animated shorts. What follows is 2-3 minutes of pure Star Wars goodness.<br />
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<i>Fans will be excited to discover that talent from across Star Wars films and animated TV series reprise their roles for the Forces of Destiny shorts: Daisy Ridley as Rey, Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso, Tiya Sircar as Sabine Wren, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, John Boyega as Finn, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata and more.</i></blockquote>
The shorts are all very well made and are being shown on the Disney Channel and the above link. Each tells a real quick story that has that Tagline as the core premise. It's the decisions we make that shape our lives.<br />
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Now to the second level of what I think Disney is doing here. As you can see from the voice talent there are a lot of the female leads mentioned. This is due to the fact all of these stories available right now are based on Female characters, of which, Star Wars and Disney excels. Each female character decides and acts on their own with confidence and determination. This is doubly smart for Disney as they get extra fans looking at Star Wars. As a big Star Wars fan, I'll watch anything that comes out regardless of the lead. Give me a Rhodian as the lead and I'd be fine. But what happens with these great girls/women is that we get a lot of girls and women who might not focused on the Star Wars universe yet. Extra ticket sales and merchandise $$$ down the road. Another quick note, no-where on the page or in the trailers, unless I missed it, does anyone address how the lead roles in these shorts are all female. <br />
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And now to the Third level of Disney Ingenuity, the toys...and other items. After doing a little bit more clicking around I found the toys and books and such. They need to pay for it somehow and making money is one of their goals. Starting out, the books look great. Readers for the younger kids, maybe 5-11 years. And again a change in that they are mainly girl characters again, getting the girls into the Star Wars. Each of the ladies have their own movable action figures. There are also a number of supporting characters. <br />
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This again shows how well the marriage of Lucasfilms and Disney has worked out for the better. I'm looking forward to whatever comes next! </div>
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May the Force be With You...</div>
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PostScript: When looking this up, be aware the there is a D&D version of a SW games called Star Wars Force AND Destiny. Cool, but not the same thing.</div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-33443797063958710742017-06-26T15:04:00.000-05:002017-06-26T15:04:04.637-05:00The Dapper Dan's of Disneyland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_h1vfy7LfP8MbWisz6vZAmqtu_vvTAOAfaE_7u5jZtyIfjV5Vj7kO1KtkQ_ZHwQaozC45jgKri24g-0EtSxJ25-YQ4wmWh3Xg87Y5rTeixkKUVICLu4eAb-3Xjz0WzeTrE-swGntBzTB/s1600/Dapper+Dans.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1089" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_h1vfy7LfP8MbWisz6vZAmqtu_vvTAOAfaE_7u5jZtyIfjV5Vj7kO1KtkQ_ZHwQaozC45jgKri24g-0EtSxJ25-YQ4wmWh3Xg87Y5rTeixkKUVICLu4eAb-3Xjz0WzeTrE-swGntBzTB/s320/Dapper+Dans.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1GTFkU_4ZLiw-z1FYp_GIo2544sI3dhY61q1-3zNWjY6V-rQY793I6xH4kn9zfVtBUS7SnMEEtnHOoqCW2sis-QO3-l3xRAygVwBfWL51ranvOu6C2zMyIeuFjQ14GMVPOmFSXS7TfC4F/s1600/corner-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="640" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1GTFkU_4ZLiw-z1FYp_GIo2544sI3dhY61q1-3zNWjY6V-rQY793I6xH4kn9zfVtBUS7SnMEEtnHOoqCW2sis-QO3-l3xRAygVwBfWL51ranvOu6C2zMyIeuFjQ14GMVPOmFSXS7TfC4F/s320/corner-04.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One of the truly magical and most nostalgic of the entertainment offered at the Magic Kingdom, whether east or west, are the Dapper Dan's. This is the turn-of -the-century Barbershop Quartet that find their home on Main Street and <em>always</em> gather a crowd when they perform. They can be found anywhere on Main Street but it looks like in Disneyland, they have a small area set aside for them to perform. I assume, but the sign was a giveaway. This is located down Main Street on the left, right past the Coca Cola store in the Corner Café. Very similar to Casey's Corner of WDW in most respects. A great place to get a drink or some food and take a break. Having the Dapper Dan's show up and begin was a greatly appreciated bonus. During their show they interact with the crowd as they sing a lot of the standard Barbershop songs: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsR2PncFDZ7BiBOIW_VD_DFYi-Vh8B1Gn1OHc96B31fvASBuBGBaOpQC3J-IGaWBLhE1pH__pLRoGdAxC3rinKSBkQ4eHW2Phjd3eUxmc6CTsdsPDdJQX07OsNZcfLyKULkQjNm14pdZ14/s1600/dapper-dans-gallery02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="652" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsR2PncFDZ7BiBOIW_VD_DFYi-Vh8B1Gn1OHc96B31fvASBuBGBaOpQC3J-IGaWBLhE1pH__pLRoGdAxC3rinKSBkQ4eHW2Phjd3eUxmc6CTsdsPDdJQX07OsNZcfLyKULkQjNm14pdZ14/s320/dapper-dans-gallery02.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="clear: left; display: inline !important; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">“Yankee Doodle Dandy”</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">“Strolling Through the Park”</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">“Mr. Sandman”</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">“If You’re Happy and You Know It”</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">“Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And many more. Along with the great song library, the Dan's would have a variety of talents in addition to the singing. A favorite instrument is the Organ Chime. Think "Mr. Sand Man" as to what those chimes might sound like. Also, I was surprised with another talent that I had not seen up until our trip to Disneyland. They Tap Dance! It was a really fun show! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D<a href="https://disneyland.disney.go.com/entertainment/disneyland/dapper-dans/" target="_blank">apper Dan's of Disneyland Link</a></span>Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-58595201965611321982017-01-16T23:52:00.000-05:002017-01-17T23:19:29.201-05:00Carousel of Progress C.S.I.: The Missing Person Case<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzIRNF6bkzpWhI7xkKjfPFoMGOyAGX0Dcvu01jyMMh7i_60QF2tAB3qaCf2gd9anTJQbxh8Yi4BI70qfdluDMQv8iXDFji4LMjhPelbYLga5iQAPTJoTA1NGl8DUJQcsv6D3SQTG6oDaS/s1600/cop_csi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzIRNF6bkzpWhI7xkKjfPFoMGOyAGX0Dcvu01jyMMh7i_60QF2tAB3qaCf2gd9anTJQbxh8Yi4BI70qfdluDMQv8iXDFji4LMjhPelbYLga5iQAPTJoTA1NGl8DUJQcsv6D3SQTG6oDaS/s200/cop_csi.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">Reported Crime: Missing Person</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Location: Magic Kingdom's Carousel of Progress</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">First Officer on Scene: Tom Morrow</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">This is a Case I was given by Capt. Capos, that I thought right off, Open and Shut. There is no way the Disney Imagineers and storytellers could make a mistake in leaving no reference to identify a character in an attraction, but I was oh, so, wrong. The crime was a missing person, a child no less. From this point forward we are referring to the victim here as Jane Doe. According to Officer Morrow, "She was there in one scene and gone in the next. And for the rest of the show for that matter." I told Tom to slow down and start from the top.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">He glanced down at his pad and began. "It appears our Jane Doe was seen in the very first scene of the Hit Disney show Carousel of Progress." He went on, "I'm sure you've seen the show, it's been going on for over 50 years. It has those four scenes that follow a family through time." He looked up from his notes, "Here's where it gets odd. They start out in the first scene with a family of 5 and an older family member. You know, each scene it's the family and like a grandmother or grandfather or even an uncle. This time it was the Grandmother, The Father, Mother, Little Girl (our Jane Doe), the Son, James, and the older Daughter, Patricia. And then as soon as the 5 hours of wash was done...BAM... the little girl is gone. They never see her again. She never makes it out of the 1900's"</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Morrow continues, "We have a picture of her from a witnesses phone and as you can see all looks normal. No stress in the house, all seems calm. There might be an issue with son viewing risqué material over in the parlor, but otherwise, normal."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Eg96Yp_-kguvF0-PyCMLhYyN6atszgAhrbRseLiMsqexdoeOnqZmYdsKHN_GebdX9EUiYJ-o8QK9jYyWm_i8xnJX9GSTFPcZBIuGbebfkuu0k0jt02sZR-CFENgWV0GTt2VxDEhhjfbO/s1600/JAne+Doe.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Eg96Yp_-kguvF0-PyCMLhYyN6atszgAhrbRseLiMsqexdoeOnqZmYdsKHN_GebdX9EUiYJ-o8QK9jYyWm_i8xnJX9GSTFPcZBIuGbebfkuu0k0jt02sZR-CFENgWV0GTt2VxDEhhjfbO/s320/JAne+Doe.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I asked Officer Morrow why the other children had names yet this little girl has none? He just laughed, "I've been asking all the witnesses the same question, but no one knows. All of the members of this show have a name, all except that little girl. Those futuristic looking cast members that direct people to sit down and stand up have name tags, and even that bum Uncle of theirs, Orville, has a name. S%*T, even the dog, Rover has a name." I told Morrow to calm down and watch his language on the job. He had nothing else so I released him from the scene. I took a couple more pictures and headed to the lab.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Some things to note, our Jane Doe looks to be dressed properly for 1900 and as they had not developed life-like Animatronics at that time, she has to be a real girl. After checking many sources including Disney Wiki, Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, (side note, WikiLeaks auto-corrected to the way it looks here. Can you say it is here to stay?) and a lot of Disney attraction information sites. The father, mother, son and older daughter appear in all scenes as themselves and not as other families as it was thought early on in the investigation. So now we are at a great big Nothing and it looks like we have an open case that needs more research. Could it just be an oversight on the Imagineers side and the girl was just put in there to turn the washer crank? I hope not. It seems so cruel.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Do you have any ideas?</span> Leave any tips below in the comments! We'll talk reward after I see the tip...<br />
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<br />Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-23040231241083798212016-11-20T10:05:00.000-05:002016-11-20T10:06:43.171-05:00The Gray Tray Lottery at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">One of the things I really like about WDW is the way they can take the simplest thing and make it great. This past October we discovered how they can make a mistake magical by doing a thing that we did not have a clue to. Totally random.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">We were eating at Cosmic Rays Starlight Café, this is the place with Sonny Eclipse and his great show. I ordered my food, don't forget to go on either side of the register, and went up to the counter to wait for it. Today it was this crazy new creation, pulled-pork on a cheeseburger. Yeah, that was on the menu and it was great.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">So as I'm waiting I can see the tray getting loaded up and then brought over to me. And at this point it's just a normal everyday tray in my eyes. I'd have to say I did not even notice it other than to register that I was not carrying the food and drink in my hands. As I was turning, the Cast Member was holding out a Mickey straw. You know the type, the plastic straw in the shape of a Mickey head. Like when you add 70 cents to your drink price at most counter services, you get it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdx1j4RYlblmUQ-qxLtZ2cnqSbRhoX6IE8gYgeQWgl81FyvlUM4wBnLMYN4aaoXM3xxMLAZSnTCCjwXn_iCYSQ4_H32P76gM1WmB9lfwPIDz2bSyyP_HjktlAVaI8yixoOzozk2NHapAq/s1600/straw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdx1j4RYlblmUQ-qxLtZ2cnqSbRhoX6IE8gYgeQWgl81FyvlUM4wBnLMYN4aaoXM3xxMLAZSnTCCjwXn_iCYSQ4_H32P76gM1WmB9lfwPIDz2bSyyP_HjktlAVaI8yixoOzozk2NHapAq/s200/straw.jpg" width="132" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">Well, as it turns out, I had won the Gray Tray Lottery. Out of the hundreds of brown or blue trays it seems that there is only 1 gray tray. The customer that gets that tray also gets the lottery prize of one Mickey straw. Very cool! It's a small thing but on a hot, long day, it's nice to get that kind of surprise. I'm thinking probably one of 3 things happened to start this fun play with guests. </span><br />
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<li><span style="color: black;">Just a mistake in the delivery of new trays when they unpacked them. One the wrong color.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Or, a guest just walked one over from another restaurant. Maybe from the Lunching pad? </span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">Or, the marketing machine is a lot bigger and smarter than we think and this was a directive from upper mgmt. that was determined for $0.00, you have a chance to make a guest smile.</span></li>
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<em><strong><span style="color: black;">Whichever way it is</span></strong></em></div>
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<strong><em><span style="color: black;">May you someday, get the Gray Tray.</span></em></strong></div>
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-82284793825055208652016-08-11T23:10:00.000-05:002016-08-11T23:10:10.123-05:00The Ice Cream Maker and Star Wars...Yes, Star Wars<div style="text-align: center;">
We were down in the parks in late June and had a great time checking out the Star Wars Launch Bay. There were so many things to see in there. Movie props and costumes and awesome artwork. The detail was out of this world...literally. Look at what they use for the legs of the Video Game tables. Yep, that's a Power Droid.</div>
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As you walk through to the store area on your left is a screened in "closet" that holds a lot of Knick Knacks from the Star Wars Universe.</div>
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As you let your eyes wander over this area you see the head of one of the robots on Star Tours. Boba Fett's Rocket pack. A thermal Detonator, C3PO's arm and more. What I could not make sense of was the white item on the top right shelf. Tough to see from the above pictures, but look below.</div>
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For those children of the 60's and 70's, that item is none other than a handy dandy electric ice cream maker. I showed the kids and we had a chuckle about the Imagineers trying to slip one past us. Well, Quinn just sent me a text that shows that the DHS Imagineers are wiser and greater than we can possibly imagine. I can keep talking, but watch the video below, it explains how great this prop is.</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3zxesxhCbWA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3zxesxhCbWA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Holy S#*T that is beyond cool. As you saw, that was Willrow Hood running to get that Ice Cream maker to safety. Hats off to the Imagineers at DHS and to the story writers at Lucasfilms for creating such a complete backstory for a guy we saw for just 2 seconds in a run-by scen. Well Done.. </div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-89241164685644066712015-07-28T22:20:00.000-05:002015-07-28T22:20:21.841-05:00A Small Piece of the Puzzle that is Walt Disney: W.W. IAs you might have seen from the blog, I have a large interest in all things Disney. But the thing that I really live for is finding another piece of the puzzle that made up Walter Elias Disney and everything he created.<br />
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This piece of the puzzle was actually discovered by accident as I was heading home from a trip to WDW. I stopped at my parents in New Bern, NC and their local town's culture center was having a WWI re-enactor demonstration. Dad and I went to kill the time and it was actually pretty good. <br />
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A few gentlemen were dressed up as soldiers from that era. There was a lot of equipment on display and a couple of rooms with some great exhibits including a trench set-up. <br />
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Along the walls there were some great posters from the time. Patriotic and volunteer seeking posters. One that really stood out for me was this one. <br />
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As most of you that read this blog know, Walt entered WWI as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross because he was too young to enter any of the armed services. Part of the movie in One Man's Dream in Disney Hollywood Studios has Walt telling this story himself. <br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>"My Brother had joined the Navy, so I wanted to join
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>well, I was still a year too young,
I was 16.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally this kid come in to me
really excited. He said, 'There's something...there's something just forming
here that you and I can get in.' <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said,
'What is it?' <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, "An
ambulance unit.'"</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent over to France as an Ambulance Driver and arrived just as the war was winding down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As you can read on the poster they were looking for men over 31 years of age which means to old to fight in the military. And with Walt's story we can easily believe they would take a couple of 16 year olds to young to fight, especially in that part of the century. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So this small piece of the Puzzle that was Walt Disney might not have come from a Disney source, but it does add depth to the story of Walt.</span></div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-2063700224186896502015-03-09T23:37:00.001-05:002015-03-09T23:37:09.738-05:00Finding the Letter 'Q' at Disney.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black;">I'm going to categorize this post as a Challenge Post. A relatively new but good friend of mine, Charlotte, challenged me to write about the Letter <strong>Q</strong> and how it applies to Disney. Now <a href="http://www.cameragirlonthego.com/" target="_blank">Charlotte</a> is a great blogger in her own right and must of known this was going to be hard. Challenge on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Okay, so <strong>Q</strong> in Disney. Well, lets start with Walt Disney World and the <strong>Q</strong>'s we might find there. I hope this is not cheating but hey, look at that, I just did a post on the <strong>Q</strong>ueue lines at WDW. That's a great <strong>Q</strong> word and here's a link to that post:</span><br />
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<a href="http://themazdisneyblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Q</strong>ueue Entertainment</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQn7qhDx2JNm7uT1HrVc4BKJSFG8ozfBNNWybdf-4k8YNo9y2EDWVk4V0epB9zjdDbnskJGVTjyaeHhZX2CHFGLiPqXJPeyLPcWVGL0QVT19aTLe8lI10xunfDDykRf0dVt0qJkwmP2Dmu/s1600/look-for-the-flame-tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQn7qhDx2JNm7uT1HrVc4BKJSFG8ozfBNNWybdf-4k8YNo9y2EDWVk4V0epB9zjdDbnskJGVTjyaeHhZX2CHFGLiPqXJPeyLPcWVGL0QVT19aTLe8lI10xunfDDykRf0dVt0qJkwmP2Dmu/s1600/look-for-the-flame-tree.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXY_7dnMQKvIrBlTSzIFC5ijR_JTDV7J_KeA1b3NSXgRi9mbxIczKsxDzktiTHd3UEFen5PDV39OmcPa5unE80hakncJ9TziZ5OS6SA1UlFQ51fCz8SP1xqR3ij-XEPmVEgoQZeOe0Wfyb/s1600/P1050588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXY_7dnMQKvIrBlTSzIFC5ijR_JTDV7J_KeA1b3NSXgRi9mbxIczKsxDzktiTHd3UEFen5PDV39OmcPa5unE80hakncJ9TziZ5OS6SA1UlFQ51fCz8SP1xqR3ij-XEPmVEgoQZeOe0Wfyb/s1600/P1050588.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;">The next <strong>Q</strong> I came up with in WDW has to be the <strong>Q</strong>uick Service Dining(QSD). Which, opposed to the Table service is a great, cheaper way to get a meal. There are some really great themed <strong>Q</strong>SD's in the parks, hotels and Downtown Disney. My favorites right now are; Epcot: Sunshine Seasons, The Pork Chop and Beet salad are a great combo. MK: Columbia Harbor House, I always get the Tuna sandwich, but a lobster roll is on the horizon. DHS: I have no favorite here, look for a post on this down the road. AK: Flametree Barbecue, they have a great chicken and rib combo and the pulled pork is tasty. DTD: Earl of Sandwich. This did take a dip in popularity when I saw it's a chain and they have them on the rest stops of the Fl. Turnpike. For a Hotel <strong>Q</strong>S, I'll go with the Pop Food Court, they have a great selection.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_5JMt0Mg_ILvUB-aHpsGJs7zeGEhYF0FmPw37g_UhqxiMiHPewo8HzZof9m1kBQS3SbOnWghln3C2SSqcin-xSH2VnlQ1Qzd3OSS53XLLbWUJsBGoAEdFlT11PrEtJ0-jOhS5GLgqy7JE/s1600/DisneyQuest-601x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_5JMt0Mg_ILvUB-aHpsGJs7zeGEhYF0FmPw37g_UhqxiMiHPewo8HzZof9m1kBQS3SbOnWghln3C2SSqcin-xSH2VnlQ1Qzd3OSS53XLLbWUJsBGoAEdFlT11PrEtJ0-jOhS5GLgqy7JE/s1600/DisneyQuest-601x450.jpg" height="96" width="200" /></a> <span style="color: black;">Moving on we can stay in DTD and walk over to the West Side and go to Disney <strong>Q</strong>uest. We were there a couple of years ago and had a great time. Disney <strong>Q</strong>uest is the Arcade, game, ride and family center that was suppose to change the entertainment world. We're still waiting for the one we were promised in Center City Philly. Disney <strong>Q</strong>uest is a multi-floor complex that would be so much more awesome if not for the fact that it is within a short bus ride of 4 very fun amusement parks. That being said it is a very fun place with a lot of good family games and activities</span>. <a href="https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/downtown-disney/disney-quest-indoor-interactive-theme-park/" target="_blank">Disney <strong>Q</strong>uest</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDfZ7U9t5TZ45tHrasxKI7um2nBlLRHx6Nqj2KPVpRLbxPIIVqj0ST87Yl2CTK0_uyMmhlmk9lCK9uXZaIm7-A1fTwaYrrhNhe3v10IUt8Lz0myMWObaYSQlUPOMGqJeCwFTJ424mL3ns/s1600/IMG_3008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDfZ7U9t5TZ45tHrasxKI7um2nBlLRHx6Nqj2KPVpRLbxPIIVqj0ST87Yl2CTK0_uyMmhlmk9lCK9uXZaIm7-A1fTwaYrrhNhe3v10IUt8Lz0myMWObaYSQlUPOMGqJeCwFTJ424mL3ns/s1600/IMG_3008.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="color: black;">The next <strong>Q</strong> is someone we have all seen if not taken advantage and used their talents. I am of course referring to the <strong>Q</strong>uick Sketch Artists. These folks can be found all over the parks. The one location that I know is a regular for these great artists is in the MK, across the bridge from the Crystal Palace, behind the Christmas Store in that outdoor covered area. These are great memories to take home form the parks. We are so glad we had done these when the kids were smaller. Also, not a sketch, but there are the other artists that use scissors to make the shadow boxes of the kids. They are pretty <strong>Q</strong>uick.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJjMDalYkjmWLpXsyla02T3CMQvyeKEbJREIIUQT0A-CWom8t3gE1naYNpP3iCIK3BCUXGh_g8lgje89UuRTihyphenhyphen3huGkNlFiwNAvTky7QrjqFaC8VapRu1wqUTFz713egNOb5Qc5RS_axd/s1600/$(KGrHqZ%2C!pIFHHFRnkl8BRzr2FHZ2Q~~60_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJjMDalYkjmWLpXsyla02T3CMQvyeKEbJREIIUQT0A-CWom8t3gE1naYNpP3iCIK3BCUXGh_g8lgje89UuRTihyphenhyphen3huGkNlFiwNAvTky7QrjqFaC8VapRu1wqUTFz713egNOb5Qc5RS_axd/s1600/$(KGrHqZ%2C!pIFHHFRnkl8BRzr2FHZ2Q~~60_12.jpg" height="192" width="200" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqZNIslBQyAT00vhoykNb6i6n3IUIS6AYkN0nzRELezits9KevIZcJJXGhC4z0tj50CzbQE_UdTZ9tMEMhRwOc_dC_qoVu-uuThtTOgglyarWDCqowP6u5F_TELAeZYO71Wu_4ifNVmkDo/s1600/$2_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqZNIslBQyAT00vhoykNb6i6n3IUIS6AYkN0nzRELezits9KevIZcJJXGhC4z0tj50CzbQE_UdTZ9tMEMhRwOc_dC_qoVu-uuThtTOgglyarWDCqowP6u5F_TELAeZYO71Wu_4ifNVmkDo/s1600/$2_12.jpg" height="200" width="156" /></span></a><span style="color: black;">Now for a stroll through the huge cast party of all of the Disney Characters over the years and who do we have. Well, <strong>Q</strong>uasimodo jumps right out. After him we have <strong>Q</strong>uackerJack an insane toy maker bad guy from the Darkwing Duck series. And then, we have the <strong>Q</strong>ueens. <strong>Q</strong>ueen Athena who we found out later was Ariel's deceased mom. <strong>Q</strong>ueen Grimhilde which was the name of the Evil Queen in Snow White. <strong>Q</strong>ueen Leah, the mother of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, and <strong>Q</strong>ueen Miranda form Sophie the First. <strong>Q</strong>ueen Mousetoria from the Great Mouse Detective. A more recent <strong>Q</strong>ueen would be <strong>Q</strong>ueen Narissa from Enchanted and <strong>Q</strong>ueen Clarion the queen of the fairies. And of course the boil pot of rage the <strong>Q</strong>ueen of Hearts. And of course...best for last...<strong>Q</strong>ueen Elsa.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_CooEuoPntpFBCF6tES9VmLVyvCdsZ6XhL59qHgU5a7bkUX3jLoPlz0Iac05W2tctbJ98i3NkE3zmcqLP7wCkVcSchcqQB1jC7G8Jq2Cy-Tr8Hl891aRFxskOI-cR34af9FBRNZrg1XX/s1600/1$_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_CooEuoPntpFBCF6tES9VmLVyvCdsZ6XhL59qHgU5a7bkUX3jLoPlz0Iac05W2tctbJ98i3NkE3zmcqLP7wCkVcSchcqQB1jC7G8Jq2Cy-Tr8Hl891aRFxskOI-cR34af9FBRNZrg1XX/s1600/1$_12.jpg" height="184" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: black;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFczEiNGUeYaABWY6fMBjToWLQV1DGU_26twhIuIcZeg2dD3Y-FG-MR7hHCw-mZ5EiEkK0iOAgqnXKqKaYg8kh9OW8CZFQkYAV76f03pTLG63lQtuwEwlWXKbPRRoazKxMowUB_7C4SEs2/s1600/$3_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFczEiNGUeYaABWY6fMBjToWLQV1DGU_26twhIuIcZeg2dD3Y-FG-MR7hHCw-mZ5EiEkK0iOAgqnXKqKaYg8kh9OW8CZFQkYAV76f03pTLG63lQtuwEwlWXKbPRRoazKxMowUB_7C4SEs2/s1600/$3_12.jpg" height="152" width="200" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: black;">So that's my tour of the <strong>Q</strong>'s of Disney. Thanks for joining me on this quite quintessential journey of the letter. What did I miss? Comment below and let me know! Stay tuned for the Letter Z.</span>Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-30626859981294278882015-01-27T15:29:00.001-05:002015-01-27T15:41:59.758-05:00WDW Interactive Queue Entertainment; What's next?As I've mentioned in previous posts, YouTube is your friend. I was watching a recent video that showed the new Interactive Queue Entertainment updates that were made to the Peter Pan attraction at WDW.<br />
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<span style="color: black;">The things they come up with are great and always an improvement on the past. The shadows are sooooo sharp and you can't really tell the difference of the animation and the guest. Tinkerbelle in the bedroom is very cool as is the clap, Pixie Dust room. I can't wait to try those things out.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The Disney Imagineers have been busy with these great side projects that has been going on for a decade or more. There had to be someone, somewhere in Disney Mgmt. who asked, "How can we improve the Guest's experience in the parks?" Or better yet, "How to make the guy that just spent a lot of $$$ forget that he is on a long line?" Either way, the ideas they've come up with have been really good.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">To explain further, I'm not talking about pre-show movies like they have in Muppets or Monster Inc., but the activities or entertainment to help you enjoy your Stand-By Line experience. And, as far as I've determined, there are three main type of these Interactive Queue Experiences(IQE). The first is the large animatronic kind of distraction. Buzz Lightyear and Mr. Potato Head are two great examples. As well as Stitch.</span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;">The second type of IQE's are the physical kinds of activities like the games and the touch-me or better yet, waving activities. The new things on Peter Pan are a great example of this. I think the Soarin' Queue might have been the first kind and wow have they come a long way since. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has some great ones.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The third kind of IQE is the general overall look of the attraction kind of queue. Almost every ride queue at a Disney park has a great overall look. There is so much detail packed into a regular line area that for 30 years nothing was really needed to be done to improve the line standing situation. Think of walking through Pirates or Splash Mountain or even the Jungle Cruise's queue. Those queue's with no electronic help at all are pretty awesome. Take a look below at us walking through the Splash Mountain line once we go inside. You totally believe that your moving from our world and going underground and getting ready to enter the world of Briar Fox and all his friends and enemies. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Same with Pirates. That fort is one of the most realistic areas on property. Another thing to note is the music. Every attraction queue has it's own music. On second thought, every pathway and restaurant has their own theme music, that's how immersive Disney Imagineers make it. In my opinion, audio is just as important as visuals in almost every form of entertainment.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The Magic Kingdom in particular is being taken over by these Queue upgrades. There are now IQE's on Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs, Little Mermaid and Dumbo.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The question now, is what's next? Of the remaining attractions that have extensive lines in the Magic Kingdom, there are 3 really good candidates. My thinking is that these 3 attractions, Pirates, Splash Mountain, and the Jungle Cruise are the next to get an IQE. All 3 of them are kind of already set up for it in that they have inside controlled areas.</span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Pirates could be as easy as including some animatronic characters on the Queue. How about a pirate in a cell? It would react to people passing by and talk. Or perhaps windows out to the harbor from the fort as we walk through it showing the approaching pirates. If the guys playing chess where not on the Fastpass line I'd say animate them. Seems like a waste if people are speeding by it on fastpass.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The Jungle Cruise has a lot of great things to look at and read while your on line. But on crowded days when they open up that back area of the line, it can get boring. The extra line is so long, there's a water fountain at the other end of it before your turn and come back. Maybe a bank of two way radios where you can listen into conversations between "imagineered" skippers? Or some of the Under the Sea crab like technology in a form suitable for the Jungle Cruise. I could also see holographic maps of the Jungle and a electronic version of the deceased remote control boats. Same kind of screens and controls like Space Mountain, but a jungle course where you can drive boats. Or imagine the car driving game from Post-show at Test Track but mounted on the wall.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Splash Mountain is another attraction that has a substantial line that sometimes backs up. With two distinct areas in this queue, there are a lot of things that can be added to take the guest's mind off the wait. The outdoor section as you go around the switch backs could have some interactive activities but they must somehow match the really nice landscaping they have back there. As much as I don't want people to just look down out there, a similar game like the iPad like gem game as they have on the Seven dwarfs queue would work well. Maybe something like catch the Briar Fox. Another idea would be to use the trees involving the birds of the story to get people to look around. As you go inside and down into the tunnel to where the logs are docked, the entire left wall can be utilized in an number of different ways. Touch screens and various other 3D holographic games themed to Splash. It'll be fun.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">So what do you think? What is the next attraction to get one of these Interactive Queue Entertainment makeovers? I only discussed the Magic Kingdom in this post and plan on talking about others down the road.</span> Thanks to<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRIVd5Ci1bTQqJB_T4q_Jgg" target="_blank"> WDWNews Today</a> and Ricky at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/InsideTheMagic" target="_blank">Inside the Magic</a> for some of the YouTube help.</div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-36111769668213529652014-12-17T01:17:00.000-05:002015-01-21T22:43:01.046-05:00A Disney Holiday Blast from the Past<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">When the holidays come around each year we have many things
to look forward to and be thankful <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
families, the colorful decorations, and of course the expected visit from our
Jolly old friend, St. Nick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the most dear
yearly traditions over the holiday season is watching the over abundance of
Holiday themed TV shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
re-arranged many a schedule going back to from when I was 6 years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always making sure I was able to watch
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>or "The Year Without a Santa" or "Frosty" or
"It's a Charlie Brown Christmas" and there are so many more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Many of these great shows were released in the 60's and 70's
with a lot of wannabe's that are still coming out even today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What you might not know is that there was a
definite precursor to this fun family tradition that goes back to the
1930's.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walt Disney and Silly Symphonies
came out with two great little Christmas themed shorts that really did set the
bar for the holiday animation to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>"Santa's Workshop" (1932) and "The Night Before
Christmas" (1933).</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Silly Symphony shorts came about after Walt and his Mickey
Mouse short music director thought how well the public would receive great
music synched with animation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the
creation of the Skeleton Dance (1929), they were off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were 75 Silly Symphony shorts produced
by 1939 and many follow up shorts similar, up through 2000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the things that stands out when you
see the title cells is that all of the Silly Symphony are presented by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mickey Mouse.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"Santa's Workshop" was released in Dec. 1932 and
was directed by Wilfred Jackson and runs about 7 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the animators listed some more well-known
names stand out;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Les Clark, Norm
Ferguson and Fred Moore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Art Babbit was
also was listed and although I know he was an animator, I really only heard his
named mentioned as a big organizer when the Disney Studio went
union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not the first animated
short in color, but it was one of the first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Disney company had released their first color short that same year,
"Flowers and Trees".</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Santa's Workshop starts out as almost everyone's childhood
dream of what Santa's North Pole headquarters would look like with the bundles
of mail from the kids being delivered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What's more important to my history degree trained mind is this is how
the people of 1932 viewed Santa's workshop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This becomes apparent pretty quickly as we view Santa's Elves
getting the reindeer ready for their flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As one Elf is shoveling hay into one stall, another is shoveling Reindeer
manure out of another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we watch this
today we get the giggles from the kid once they figure out what is going
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A child in 1932 would have
overlooked this as the norm and in fact being odd if that did not happen.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">As we watch Santa's elves getting ready in the stables along
with the reindeer the sled needs a good cleaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"The
Merry, Merry men of the Midnight Sun", </i>they sing.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then onto the Who's Good or
Bad room where Santa gets to read the various letters from the good and not so
good little boys and girls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then onto
the Toy Factory which is filled with all kinds of wondrous machinery and other
goodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could really have used the
checkerboard paint a couple of months ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The tour of the factory continues until we catch up to Santa
and the perhaps only iffy point of the short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As Santa is testing dollies, a black faced version of a doll comes down
and gives Santa a "Mammy " before stamping herself OK and moving on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, the mindset of the '30's.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also liked the World War 1 version of the toy tank
as opposed to the more popular turret version we are used to seeing as it had not been invented
yet in real life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The parade into
Santa's sack does have a couple stereotypical race moments but I don't think
they detract from the effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final
scene has Santa waving goodbye to his elves as he guides his sleigh into the
sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This almost matches the Polar
Express in it's Santa departure scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we see Santa and his reindeer fly past the Man in the Moon, we can
only wonder how his night is going to go.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Well, Walt was not one to wait long for a sequel and almost
to the day one year later, "The Night Before Christmas" (1933) was
released. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wlfred Jackson also directed
and the usual list of animators were listed in the credits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This wonderful short is a little over 8
minutes and picks up where we left off above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">With the musical
version of Clement Clarke Moore's famous poem playing in the background we
enter a house of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We follow the
lyrics of the song as they describe what we see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is not a lot of straying from the
script until Santa enters the house. There were some great scenes and some gags
certainly stick out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears that
Santa is given the job of bringing the Christmas tree and all it's
fixin's.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as we saw the parade into
the bag in "Santa's Workshop", we see the toys on the way out of the bag and to the
tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None match what was loaded in the first cartoon, but
some the new Toy gags are great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I especially
like the way the soldiers are using cannon to put ornaments on the tree.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/clf5E3o72Dk" width="315"></iframe><br /></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">All the toys and Santa make so much noise that the children
all wake up, all 8 of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as
the toys heard the kids awake, they did the familiar Toy Story scramble to get back into
their original positions and boxes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
the children begin to play with their new toys we see Santa flying off into the
distance again and hear the famous line that end that really great poem,
<em>"Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night."</em><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perfect.</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you're looking for something so old that it's new to you
and your kids I really recommend these two great Silly Symphony shorts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could make these two shorts the opening
shorts on your next holiday movie night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It'll be a fun, holiday, blast from the past.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I want to thank the people over at the </span><a href="http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Disney_Wiki"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Disney Wiki</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> for some of
this great information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks also to </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ36qkzomkmukBqwE9qhcuw"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Bodolydia</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
over on Facebook.</span></div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-26287043703183240042014-11-30T22:23:00.002-05:002014-11-30T22:25:01.667-05:00Disney Cruise Line Tortuga Rum Company in Nassau, BI<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekHHqpTHHD5J5BG51NVgb9QttVDWvBdzsdZiDWlsLtMmxByX9bHJbmBLqmwry1wihAkED_D6VcklHGxQMSBX68lc1iiWtjKY6N0yEh_agBy5banGdc1ggiwtkon-FzSzz1-VyWM3ml2Hh/s1600/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="http://www.tortugarumcakes.com/#&panel1-1" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekHHqpTHHD5J5BG51NVgb9QttVDWvBdzsdZiDWlsLtMmxByX9bHJbmBLqmwry1wihAkED_D6VcklHGxQMSBX68lc1iiWtjKY6N0yEh_agBy5banGdc1ggiwtkon-FzSzz1-VyWM3ml2Hh/s1600/logo.png" height="49" title="http://www.tortugarumcakes.com/#&panel1-1" width="200" /></a>One of the parts of the Disney Cruise line you don't hear too much about are the activities and locations in Nassau for cruises that have that stop on their itinerary. I'm guessing it's because this experience is shared by many cruise lines and general vacationers. Well whatever it is, I just wanted to tell you about a place that in our two trips to Nassau was a must do for us. The first time by request, the second time the only reason we got off the ship.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7r8kWkUVG9TV1SuFvN3tMMg47M1VUydsJ2lcmG2OimIbyq67W9hvZoS23LvmG1SktDX3u4bdOCqmG5k1CBKXsoCQxkFTIx9TO342GCdY0wjWynQxphCNeCtKAX13XfMmIWQvXU7lLIU8J/s1600/IMG_4498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7r8kWkUVG9TV1SuFvN3tMMg47M1VUydsJ2lcmG2OimIbyq67W9hvZoS23LvmG1SktDX3u4bdOCqmG5k1CBKXsoCQxkFTIx9TO342GCdY0wjWynQxphCNeCtKAX13XfMmIWQvXU7lLIU8J/s1600/IMG_4498.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvy1OhsLx6WybhOKhTvvClRpmsmsh6AMvdry6ndw9qISef1VFo1fukadEnbxPW3NfaClmsNMyiqlMi9NDIL5Ep6tn6boHtte11ggy9i0q_XeyLQUZhqRDeNAgfhXdK-fca7s2GVFsZslBJ/s1600/Capture-1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvy1OhsLx6WybhOKhTvvClRpmsmsh6AMvdry6ndw9qISef1VFo1fukadEnbxPW3NfaClmsNMyiqlMi9NDIL5Ep6tn6boHtte11ggy9i0q_XeyLQUZhqRDeNAgfhXdK-fca7s2GVFsZslBJ/s1600/Capture-1.PNG" height="153" width="200" /></a> Our first cruise on a Disney ship was in 2011 and we were on the Disney Dream, it was a blast. We had never been on a cruise before and on this itinerary we stopped in Nassau for a day and Castaway Cay for two days and one day at sea. We also had never been on the island of Nassau before so we did not have any set plans. In fact the only thing we had set was a visit to the Tortuga Rum Cake factory. Lesley's friend at work almost insisted. He wanted a bottle of the flavored rum. So we figured that and the Straw Factory, a local tourist stop for gifts would be our Nassau excursion for the day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSdmzadbHa2TmtgGNYVHGQAXjz7ELaiZqF02SD9-ZEoyC13fF5Je-wHIs1TcA9RM1g7qZx_EJMryhFN5LP4br_sAL5yr_U6C7kPuF39p6pR6_zypDK434xmgSTRUmGegFxePncPHoYFFC/s1600/IMG_2869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSdmzadbHa2TmtgGNYVHGQAXjz7ELaiZqF02SD9-ZEoyC13fF5Je-wHIs1TcA9RM1g7qZx_EJMryhFN5LP4br_sAL5yr_U6C7kPuF39p6pR6_zypDK434xmgSTRUmGegFxePncPHoYFFC/s1600/IMG_2869.JPG" height="187" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8q-cW0YmR-0dCSNyJs8D7U4UaDZVIsJy0DlGzqihLx4eCTgwVM-t2iF41Wgiom0VVLvS9SkrPUUGs2_hMOtMa8qqBQUi1PUY8Yxc8UiDEFukz5pGhhzxiGNlZtd8T5kq9ET-gUCD7Bj9/s1600/IMG_2867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8q-cW0YmR-0dCSNyJs8D7U4UaDZVIsJy0DlGzqihLx4eCTgwVM-t2iF41Wgiom0VVLvS9SkrPUUGs2_hMOtMa8qqBQUi1PUY8Yxc8UiDEFukz5pGhhzxiGNlZtd8T5kq9ET-gUCD7Bj9/s1600/IMG_2867.JPG" height="200" width="77" /></a>I did some research and the Tortuga Rum Cake factory is well know chain in the Caribbean. They've got bakeries in the Caymans, Jamaica, Barbados and of course Nassau. We were asked by a friend to stop there and get them a bottle of rum which they only sell at the stores. They've got some great flavored rums. Pineapple, vanilla, mango, pineapple and more.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIN_lOeraUzqZC6CYh3O4F1oZdSM-fcsVb5Dku29o3EbK65T-UT5BSTz_U_SnRtr9n0ts1qAHEemjWlbUeZ1U2NE5CP0Yzo91UP-IF0dklhWSIkWPrt5VVoLybdXYrGIYUbdjifurFAal/s1600/IMG_2872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIN_lOeraUzqZC6CYh3O4F1oZdSM-fcsVb5Dku29o3EbK65T-UT5BSTz_U_SnRtr9n0ts1qAHEemjWlbUeZ1U2NE5CP0Yzo91UP-IF0dklhWSIkWPrt5VVoLybdXYrGIYUbdjifurFAal/s1600/IMG_2872.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>The store itself is not far from the boat. Maybe 3/4 of a mile as the crow flies. It is on the corner of Frederick and Bay, right next to the Burger King. You won't be able to walk past the Pirate standing outside their door. It's amazing how many rum based products you can find in there. Along with the rum cake, there was, of course, rum. Many bottles of different flavors. We bought Vanilla flavored rum for Lesley's friends and the sampler pack of rum and rum cakes for us. They also had coffee and various marinades, barbecue hot sauces. A real foodies destination. <br />
<br />
We just had the last Rum Cake the other day, so sad. But it lasted well. As the added bonus, the shop is very close to the Straw Factory as well. So your day is not a total waste if you head out to the Rum Cake Factory. If we end up back in Nassau, you can be sure we'll be stopping here. Or at one of their other locations; Miami, Jamaica, Barbados, and St. Lucia.<br />
<br />
If you've been at any of these locations or received this as a gift, leave a comment below. I really want to hear about it.Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-24700429244872731622014-10-19T22:48:00.001-05:002014-10-19T22:48:40.162-05:00Disney Park Details. Disney Hollywood Studios, Unclaimed Luggage.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0tEXvl4GCht7obJ99arn-TQNGdpzJBcDgu3i6LLoGnJiQq-axc3smBVHxPx5d07I4zqtURrCATkqbBvAZffqnCjIkjG6EOcbVWF1m1_z5vQrJhNWlTDAVTdub2ismuJCB8E9fT-RgwCk7/s1600/IMG_5206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0tEXvl4GCht7obJ99arn-TQNGdpzJBcDgu3i6LLoGnJiQq-axc3smBVHxPx5d07I4zqtURrCATkqbBvAZffqnCjIkjG6EOcbVWF1m1_z5vQrJhNWlTDAVTdub2ismuJCB8E9fT-RgwCk7/s1600/IMG_5206.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking toward Hollywood Blvd.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black;">One of my favorite things to do in the parks is to take pictures of everything. My thinking is that once your home you can take a look at all of those pictures and catch some great detail or fact or a piece of the story. Well here is a great detail. As we were walking down Sunset Blvd. at the Disney Hollywood Studios we came across some luggage in front of the Villains Vogue shop. That place has some really great stuff.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisNVd5MRBFNajMmnQHRFKrPDrfIVSLo96AF0YHtzVx9IGEGyE9gSGVCvNCaBk0LRt7E-qqPD2WSlBYIDxp8KI-DzJKkVAXxa7PoJnRW0lfiFrCLwkMR9dFKKPSS5gk4H8L3SApGQvtxBO/s1600/IMG_5207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisNVd5MRBFNajMmnQHRFKrPDrfIVSLo96AF0YHtzVx9IGEGyE9gSGVCvNCaBk0LRt7E-qqPD2WSlBYIDxp8KI-DzJKkVAXxa7PoJnRW0lfiFrCLwkMR9dFKKPSS5gk4H8L3SApGQvtxBO/s1600/IMG_5207.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: black;">My first thought about the luggage as I tried to move it was that perhaps this was a permanent prop for the Streetmosphere performers who often do shows around there. I've seen their version of the dating game show here and I've also seen the guys from Public Works set up near here. There were labels on the bags so I shot a picture of that also hoping that I would have time down the road to figure out if there is a story here or if it is random. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> I'm happy to say we've got a winner here. A definite tie in to what is going on further down Sunset Blvd. As you can see from the luggage tag we've got a gentleman with the name of Gilbert London. Well, with a little research I found the connection. <em>"Caroline Crosson was a glamorous aspiring actress, and Gilbert London was one of her many male admirers."</em> And both were at the Hollywood Tower hotel that fateful night. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUTP01r7aPYSECAFHle7c-V2sTvMWEU2FdFLCPqOhxQ0lSmUAuy-2-jOZEbzI7OGryDQH5jHpxlF-RqvxmymBYQUWNWRb6RqmYIiFadFFh8XQNrbe-N5PoxcER3uGWxz0L5UECmPgD7fq/s1600/IMG_5207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUTP01r7aPYSECAFHle7c-V2sTvMWEU2FdFLCPqOhxQ0lSmUAuy-2-jOZEbzI7OGryDQH5jHpxlF-RqvxmymBYQUWNWRb6RqmYIiFadFFh8XQNrbe-N5PoxcER3uGWxz0L5UECmPgD7fq/s1600/IMG_5207.JPG" height="200" width="195" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">That's right, Gilbert was the well dressed gentleman on the Fated Elevator. I was only able to find one source on this that gave more information than just naming the characters. That was a</span><a href="http://traveltips.usatoday.com/story-hollywood-tower-hotel-104193.html" target="_blank"> USA Today</a> <span style="color: black;">article, so you can take that with a grain of salt. If what the article says is true, this was a really bad night to finally get that date with Ms. Crosson.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> Now the question; why is Mr. London's luggage down the street from the hotel? This is close to the Cab stand, could they have been behind that night? Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Here is an extra bonus. Note the Phone #, 4-1031. I'm not sure about the 4. Maybe # 4 of 5 people in the elevator that night. 1031 makes sense in that it was on October 31 that those 5 people perished.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> When I find these details I like the satisfaction of knowing how well facts and details are laid out around the parks. It's kind of the thrill of the new discovery. What have you seen or found while at the Disney parks that ties into a story? Leave a comment and let me know. This stuff is great and Jackie, I'll abstain when you use your version of this picture in your Where in the Parks game.</span><br />
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-34324160843254696992014-10-12T22:27:00.000-05:002014-10-12T22:27:28.832-05:00Staying On-Site or Off-Site, That is the Question...<span style="font-size: large;">O</span>ne of the biggest questions I'm asked about going to Walt Disney World is where do I stay, on or off property. Well this trip I did both and I thought it would be a perfect time to do the comparison. I stayed three nights at the Disney Value resort All-Star Movie resort. The last two nights I stayed at the Gateway Ramada located on 192. <br />
Let's start with location, check out this map. Note how you can see both hotels in the same shot. At the bottom left of the picture is the Ramada and it is about 1/4 mile down from the exit onto World drive from 192. The <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.mapquest.com/embed?hk=5-blhxVA1G" style="height: 270px; width: 450px;"></iframe>All-Star Resort is the hotel at the top right of this picture. So as the crow fly's very close location wise. If you have a car it's a wash. If not, then you are kind of limited if your staying off-site. They do have a shuttle, but it only goes to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The thinking there is that you can take bus to other parks from those two parks. At the resort you have the buses. However, at the All-Star movies, you are at the end of the stops for the busses from all parks except for the Magic Kingdom. So they do get crowded and sometimes take a little while.<br />
Next category is room size and accessories. I'll let the pictures do the job here. The first two are, of course the All-Star Movies. The room was nice and well decorated. There was a slight smell, but eh. I<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRy9dxJdzdlSlkw2Tv60jysCFRZPJV_KFRnLLJoMEMOVpNLqbSLMYKUTqMlT147W-BKlbmEFdZPUZ_9VQ6cFzHq9wl-8a6zkPNFfckUGjLYSDyi9KeLB4dvVRTl_Ug0DuWKKtV3mrIxFTN/s1600/IMG_4576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRy9dxJdzdlSlkw2Tv60jysCFRZPJV_KFRnLLJoMEMOVpNLqbSLMYKUTqMlT147W-BKlbmEFdZPUZ_9VQ6cFzHq9wl-8a6zkPNFfckUGjLYSDyi9KeLB4dvVRTl_Ug0DuWKKtV3mrIxFTN/s1600/IMG_4576.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkSkshuhKQuPfzGB5GSqIkNl8Dbc01Gi8aSzF8sp3uh09_ubgpbKqd8oBRHN4eDYlBPvbSa6Lk7deRgkNeyvJSExeNLVfgWzpfN3kpo6pKyiv1QganodX93z8fiovJAouyoYHEvdJenvQ/s1600/IMG_4577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkSkshuhKQuPfzGB5GSqIkNl8Dbc01Gi8aSzF8sp3uh09_ubgpbKqd8oBRHN4eDYlBPvbSa6Lk7deRgkNeyvJSExeNLVfgWzpfN3kpo6pKyiv1QganodX93z8fiovJAouyoYHEvdJenvQ/s1600/IMG_4577.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></span></a>did not get a picture of the bathroom, but it is past the TV, through the curtain. This was my first night so the room is still in good shape. Fridge is under the TV. The rooms at the AS Movies are all outside entry. The food options are pretty large. From a full service food court that has cooked to packaged food options. Also a selection of snacks in the gift store. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtUlyrlrd6SHBnhgsiP6yfsW4FV-YmgrjkEymhtdixyUSC54k3CPhyqFAqBEsVln5ayNMuexw0DRQ8wCthnDlmiwe_-ifyMf10-gJbagIuSgvZhQ09yLFEugcp8qbxwwX2Cx4IzWDK1pm/s1600/IMG_4897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtUlyrlrd6SHBnhgsiP6yfsW4FV-YmgrjkEymhtdixyUSC54k3CPhyqFAqBEsVln5ayNMuexw0DRQ8wCthnDlmiwe_-ifyMf10-gJbagIuSgvZhQ09yLFEugcp8qbxwwX2Cx4IzWDK1pm/s1600/IMG_4897.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQfFL99BFoVnbDmxjRnWbdleTuHlfuTfq0bAIc0HraMAKa5-hbGspVhxLn6zeH66qUj0vV_21aNG5MTW9aVLAVaXVFQimEnVupFo0DCgx3jL1J_ORfo6NBaIjubCRYhPSuVF2dQ3x9ZySH/s1600/IMG_4895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQfFL99BFoVnbDmxjRnWbdleTuHlfuTfq0bAIc0HraMAKa5-hbGspVhxLn6zeH66qUj0vV_21aNG5MTW9aVLAVaXVFQimEnVupFo0DCgx3jL1J_ORfo6NBaIjubCRYhPSuVF2dQ3x9ZySH/s1600/IMG_4895.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></span></a>Before I go any further I have one note to make about the Ramada Gateway hotel. There are really two hotels in one on this property. There is the tower and the motel. The motel itself is a little run down and truly shows the age of the place. The tower was renovated about 8 years ago and is great. Where the motel has your door opening to the outside, the tower has hallways. The room itself is really nice. Here are a couple pictures. The TV here had 3 HBO's and Comedy central and of course both had Stacey. There was also a ton of outlets in the Ramada. They have a Restaurant in the lobby, a BBQ place. And they had a snack bar/Ice Cream counter where you could get cereal, chips, and other snacks. The other big difference was the kitchen area that had a small sink and fridge and a microwave.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW1vjyRwUQZUkqkV3unwvzM2_fuKFrlMBP4YH0XQ4ZQ35duTipGP1ftyBSvm5wDg7km5m_gyQS981LYPN9HJjPu8RC7HriP7hfBthbHGADmav11CJWRutY_-N4_z9jxmEy1mL1kE8N2xe/s1600/IMG_4894.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW1vjyRwUQZUkqkV3unwvzM2_fuKFrlMBP4YH0XQ4ZQ35duTipGP1ftyBSvm5wDg7km5m_gyQS981LYPN9HJjPu8RC7HriP7hfBthbHGADmav11CJWRutY_-N4_z9jxmEy1mL1kE8N2xe/s1600/IMG_4894.JPG" height="200" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a>There is always something about taking leftovers back to the room but not being able to heat them up. Very conducive to only taking desserts back and that does not bode well for the diet. And to keep the comparisons going the towels were much bigger and softer at the Ramada. The same goes for the soap and shampoo at least in my opinion. The Front Desk staff is somewhat limited at the Ramada as opposed to the AS Movies, so you need to be a lot more self-sufficient. There are a lot of fast food and mini super markets right nearby and getting on and off 192 is no issue. </div>
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So I've left the biggest difference for last. The price per night. The AS Movie was, for me this trip, due to Jimmy working his magic, $119 a night. The Ramada was $58 a night. The determining factor for me is how long will I be in the hotel. A trip like this one where I was meeting up with different people throughout the trip meant I would be spending very little time at the hotel. Although, it made it much easier to coordinate meets we were running by being on site. So it was worth the extra price. If I had no events like that I would have stayed the whole time off-site. True, I do not get to take advantage of EMH, but I can work around that easy enough.</div>
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It all comes down to doing your research and reading all the reviews you can about the off-site hotels. I like the Disboards and forum boards like the most, but Tripadvisor is not bad.</div>
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-43821850233029251002014-10-11T12:39:00.000-05:002014-10-11T12:41:32.579-05:00Country Bear Jamboree CSI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLwBFHC993tR3M3n_YNpbWjzvsW9ABKwZW5q34RTjVpMN_GoY8SwAfyfgaNCWXJnj__43uPVD6rzTlIIZRYvumpVe0LJY5YbRuSK45q_X94hIlMGnnhtgO1DxTLGSRe6J9PPG44XIYYsf/s1600/cbjcsi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLwBFHC993tR3M3n_YNpbWjzvsW9ABKwZW5q34RTjVpMN_GoY8SwAfyfgaNCWXJnj__43uPVD6rzTlIIZRYvumpVe0LJY5YbRuSK45q_X94hIlMGnnhtgO1DxTLGSRe6J9PPG44XIYYsf/s1600/cbjcsi.png" height="95" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">One of my favorite old time attractions at the Magic Kingdom is The Country Bear Jamboree. This, to me, is the epitome of what Walt Disney had in mind for an attraction. Something that both young and old can appreciate and cramming as much animatronics as possible into one show and making it work and appear seamless.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">As I mentioned I really like this attraction and on this last trip there were a lot of changes since my last visit. Nothing major, but for a Disney Nerd such as myself, enough to have me re-examining the entire show. That usually is my go to answer when I get asked the question that I'm sure you get all the time, "How do you go back to the same parks and do the same rides all the time?" They're always changing them up. However, that will be a later post, we have a more serious question today, that needs an answer.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCwWSexEveROTu81252QYXV2pTxp4MADs9ocly5vihK6W9nWO5YE0NwMTD244LQzVk0EAxkR1ZR6M6yOievVV-Fd-8F3Snt3ryC6-4kEoeY966sXR_I9l4FLVTSDHNun8PNOdJFQPOlyF/s1600/IMG_4618.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCwWSexEveROTu81252QYXV2pTxp4MADs9ocly5vihK6W9nWO5YE0NwMTD244LQzVk0EAxkR1ZR6M6yOievVV-Fd-8F3Snt3ryC6-4kEoeY966sXR_I9l4FLVTSDHNun8PNOdJFQPOlyF/s1600/IMG_4618.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcUdyNu-YjAgCF4iQ1t3Y3G-o07ipqsHkNkDU6PaWtP4Y0IDzIg-tdJMyzvOSg8hB77Yle4gP21M877yh17m3gEUyXI5HmPXsLxAlLa1m1_Jd2XUvPXASDLBAcYruIhWKW9JLd5XWyB-7/s1600/IMG_4619+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcUdyNu-YjAgCF4iQ1t3Y3G-o07ipqsHkNkDU6PaWtP4Y0IDzIg-tdJMyzvOSg8hB77Yle4gP21M877yh17m3gEUyXI5HmPXsLxAlLa1m1_Jd2XUvPXASDLBAcYruIhWKW9JLd5XWyB-7/s1600/IMG_4619+-+Copy.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="color: black;">The crime scene was spotted as we were walking through Frontierland. As you approach the Country Bear Jamboree (CBJ) building you notice the colorful sign announcing the attraction and as you let your eyes wander up you note a beautiful rack of antlers on the second floor balcony. As your eyes pan back, you are affronted with what could only be described as terribly grizzly scene...to either side of the bone white antlers, splayed out and nailed to the outside of that building, where two full-sized, adult, brown bear skins</span><span style="color: black;">.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Once you get over the horror of the barbearitty of this kind of display, you start asking the questions. What is up with that? Did those bears lose a fight? Ex-band members? What in the storyline of the attraction could account for that kind of taste in outdoor décor?</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">We interviewed the usual suspects, the CBJ cast members with no luck. Most were un-committal but one did give us the brush off as in saying, "Don't dig too deep, you won't like what you find." Or it was just that he was busy parking baby strollers. And as far as getting information from Melvin, Buff, and Max, well, they just kept repeating themselves no matter how many times we came back to talk to them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">So here is the mystery to solve. Was there fowl play involved? (all chickens refused comment) Are those Bear skins a warning to a Pirate band of Bears out there somewhere? Or was that something that bear fans of the Country Bears put into their wills for after they're dead? Kinda like the whole sprinkling your ashes over WDW when super-fans die? I'll continue my research, but what do you think? Comment below and let me know. I really want to hear your thoughts on this.</span>Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-5144743797656373182014-04-10T22:42:00.003-05:002014-04-10T22:45:04.182-05:00Mickey's Mini Garden, The Dragon Fruit Souvenir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7JnKCAWILKC81sGImU73V83j8ZxDMVqTSuGDmZ25pu5GMSW0Gwql1vf3Yeij_Z7i5Qxei2YNWefLFkp4JxbZLwJISZPDHEweBaHGnMeEoNRrYCzH18OlqwTtM_O23BGpBnjO8SaM1_89I/s1600/IMG_4235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7JnKCAWILKC81sGImU73V83j8ZxDMVqTSuGDmZ25pu5GMSW0Gwql1vf3Yeij_Z7i5Qxei2YNWefLFkp4JxbZLwJISZPDHEweBaHGnMeEoNRrYCzH18OlqwTtM_O23BGpBnjO8SaM1_89I/s1600/IMG_4235.JPG" height="200" width="127" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">In all the years of going to Walt Disney World parks probably one of the best souvenirs that we've ever taken away has to be something that's actually alive and still is after three years. What I'm referring to is the Dragon Fruit plant that my son Quinn used some of his souvenir money for at the Land in Epcot.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLz8bhoozv9WAT0etnBZnJkx_vI_laIZTCEzRTYLCvFVGFnXODBt62A8keMyoXr8N_uT_Ug4XuXlTOMYLiQV3yTlM9ZPouaibrKOSIGa7zeBxOxUj61LCDgmlwt3XVK7e2nBdpFVY_J2l/s1600/Mickey's%2BMini%2BGarden%2B-%2BTransplant%2B02%2B(01-13).jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLz8bhoozv9WAT0etnBZnJkx_vI_laIZTCEzRTYLCvFVGFnXODBt62A8keMyoXr8N_uT_Ug4XuXlTOMYLiQV3yTlM9ZPouaibrKOSIGa7zeBxOxUj61LCDgmlwt3XVK7e2nBdpFVY_J2l/s1600/Mickey's+Mini+Garden+-+Transplant+02+(01-13).jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Right across from the travel desk at the entrance to Soarin' is a small store kiosk. They always have these really cool clear boxes of what looks like clear gel with a little small plants sprout, that is for sale. Each plant is cloned from one original plant behind the scenes in the Land building. Each one goes for about $10.00, at least at the time we bought it, and there were a lot of varieties. Most of these plants are found in the greenhouse. They have a binder at the counter that has each of the plants that are for sale on an info sheet so you can get details before you buy your plant. Quinn really liked the idea of the </span><span style="color: black;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFo7HLGNgfvVajdDYAleYwFNyC7J69K4jdOCT3CKANt0ONbh7a-e-bKEKVqn4D087dtUEtaEBAW2iBSM03Pg2gpelnyN_hAgUH8rVfLJMl0Fh3nRjvLHbUwpVGJMRnL8BlamFRVKHmEIWE/s1600/IMG_4240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFo7HLGNgfvVajdDYAleYwFNyC7J69K4jdOCT3CKANt0ONbh7a-e-bKEKVqn4D087dtUEtaEBAW2iBSM03Pg2gpelnyN_hAgUH8rVfLJMl0Fh3nRjvLHbUwpVGJMRnL8BlamFRVKHmEIWE/s1600/IMG_4240.JPG" height="173" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;">dragon fruit plant, so that's what he got. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">One time when we were on the tour of the greenhouse we saw how they created the cloned plants to use for these cool "Mini-Gardens". The one of the container is a borrowed pic to show what it looks like. Our pic did not make it due to a bad camera at the time. Thanks to the <a href="http://www.mainstgazette.com/" target="_blank">Main Street Gazette</a>.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMJ1q2kBu6y7V5zBKi5XhpiSiPBAC4Vcfk46Yt3wNzd5ZGIz693rkRu_23sGEW_OYgL6CSBSyFCvCCxcBCo8RxV2lFJcyi3Z0HwXq10tbANu1BRfd1WRd9p8qGmg67LhJJ8RseoCMuGam/s1600/IMG_4237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMJ1q2kBu6y7V5zBKi5XhpiSiPBAC4Vcfk46Yt3wNzd5ZGIz693rkRu_23sGEW_OYgL6CSBSyFCvCCxcBCo8RxV2lFJcyi3Z0HwXq10tbANu1BRfd1WRd9p8qGmg67LhJJ8RseoCMuGam/s1600/IMG_4237.JPG" height="152" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Another good side effect of the nutrition gel that's packed around the plant fragment is that it gives you some time until you need to transplant the plant. We did not actually transplant it until about three months later. It survived fine. Quinn did the transplanting and I watched and all seemed well and the plant took off from the beginning. It's a really weird plant in that it grows in a lot of different ways and kind of reminds me of an Aloe Vera plant. We follow the directions, indirect sunlight, water, fertilizer and after a year and 1/2 it was about four or 5 inches tall with three or four off shoots.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjew_xxCqcIpxaZ2IN1vK-83VJ9Z1loAz9552J94loziI56FVmAuVuHDDlT8OrebWt6ATcMTPu8k5HEmBm4TdypyZQ5hRNnNqO9zth_gzv4Uf3P611-TIgVyr-qYbliH4IjPcHKocQgIs6p/s1600/IMG_4241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjew_xxCqcIpxaZ2IN1vK-83VJ9Z1loAz9552J94loziI56FVmAuVuHDDlT8OrebWt6ATcMTPu8k5HEmBm4TdypyZQ5hRNnNqO9zth_gzv4Uf3P611-TIgVyr-qYbliH4IjPcHKocQgIs6p/s1600/IMG_4241.JPG" height="184" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;">Last year we went back to WDW and went on the tour of the greenhouse in the Land again. Quinn had taken pictures of his plant on his phone and brought them with us.(Could not find them for this post, will keep looking) In the course of the tour, because he had told our tour guide and showed him the pictures he made it a point two crossed paths with the Cast Member that was responsible for creating those souvenirs. Quinn was very proud to show her his pictures of the dragon fruit plant. She actually seemed impressed and then went further to say that most people's plants don't really last more than a year. She were really made Quinn's day with that comment.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAdMMdZqEuReKoV3VWNaIUO2DYVHHC18EB5F5POHglloKDggiBjAFjU6DhXZJTu-tCfQ09kWDuq9C_fvq4CzdCx4yPecMUOoTOKMYQd1YkOsW20VYrhNmzfll2VORjw5q_RAv3ylKcujBv/s1600/IMG_4246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"></span></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAdMMdZqEuReKoV3VWNaIUO2DYVHHC18EB5F5POHglloKDggiBjAFjU6DhXZJTu-tCfQ09kWDuq9C_fvq4CzdCx4yPecMUOoTOKMYQd1YkOsW20VYrhNmzfll2VORjw5q_RAv3ylKcujBv/s1600/IMG_4246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAdMMdZqEuReKoV3VWNaIUO2DYVHHC18EB5F5POHglloKDggiBjAFjU6DhXZJTu-tCfQ09kWDuq9C_fvq4CzdCx4yPecMUOoTOKMYQd1YkOsW20VYrhNmzfll2VORjw5q_RAv3ylKcujBv/s1600/IMG_4246.JPG" height="185" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">So it's a little over three years later since we've planted the dragon fruit plant and it has grown incredibly. Unfortunately it has grown horizontally and we're still trying to figure out how to keep it in check. It seems very fragile where the branches connect so we try not to move it around too much and that's why it has gotten a little out of control. The girl at Epcot told us that once we make it 5 years the plant should begin to flower. Once it does then we need to do some research about self pollinating so the plant can eventually grow fruit.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZOGzzXHLXRfJMSUbsuwsX8zChpQdpj71-rIV-AW1ojxFyiL9uzM1Vf3lt8iL5c4qMlYcIVKnbHlWgF7thXYvHPfN_5DUYy3EaumbYCu7l-jHTrushBG5mgSkqpRHJ-02KmVfZLD1ncxB/s1600/IMG_2475%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZOGzzXHLXRfJMSUbsuwsX8zChpQdpj71-rIV-AW1ojxFyiL9uzM1Vf3lt8iL5c4qMlYcIVKnbHlWgF7thXYvHPfN_5DUYy3EaumbYCu7l-jHTrushBG5mgSkqpRHJ-02KmVfZLD1ncxB/s1600/IMG_2475%5B1%5D.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIy2atahKWLCuHUpma_SbfgMu_WJ3470KbcXw0VViJ06QDaLkjokcTkPZ1LTzmz3UWp4aKinjEoWGMAJG4uzDfYdpIIOo0LnhJ-1CK6fgstjbpe2JKF-fkcWpKFxWrvAxnolqQjXNt7Mzg/s1600/IMG_2476%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIy2atahKWLCuHUpma_SbfgMu_WJ3470KbcXw0VViJ06QDaLkjokcTkPZ1LTzmz3UWp4aKinjEoWGMAJG4uzDfYdpIIOo0LnhJ-1CK6fgstjbpe2JKF-fkcWpKFxWrvAxnolqQjXNt7Mzg/s1600/IMG_2476%5B1%5D.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="color: black;">Just to give you an idea of what a dragon fruit, fruit looks like, here is one we got at the store the other day and as for the taste and consistency goes, it tastes like a pear and felt like eating a kiwi. A very good experience all around. We discovered the secret of eating kiwi this year and that you cut it in half and use a spoon to spoon out the fruit. No more messy peeling of the kiwi. Same process worked well for the dragon fruit. We can't wait until our plant gives us fruit like this. Although I am not holding my breath. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Have you ever bought a Mickey's Mini-Garden while at WDW? If so please leave a comment and let me know how it went the last time we were down, a much sure if it was that they were just out of them, but there were no fruit plants and I can't remember the exact name, but it was a fern that the leaves closed when you touched it. Very cool. So let us know if you tried any of the plants.</span>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria;">One of the biggest questions I get from the followers of
this blog and the podcast shows we do is how to start planning for a trip to
Walt Disney World?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I at first smile, and
thank the person because they had already jumped their first hurdle, knowing
they have to plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would then give
them my standard answer, which is a great toolbox of resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Get a Park Guide like the Unofficial Guide to
WDW, register with Touring Plans.com, check out the information and especially
the menus on ALLEARS.net and use the services of a free Disney sponsored travel agent to make your
reservations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m happy to say that
after today I can add Lou Mongello’s, <a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/shop/102-ways-save-money-walt-disney-world/" target="_blank">“102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World”</a> to that list of must-haves to plan a <em>successful </em>and <em>economical</em> trip to WDW.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAO1RbZdRr13akCOUCkw_YpGDF7pZrXr22MZdsdHGNHkXIrczl0Nl3ppthciBcO1GS7ukY5NFTv-njy8zkBkdhrlwr1fgAGbTkv4w6ZSR9p6ML3bwBhNzjBi9TzVtSYwzLri_wN3TsjnS/s1600/wdw-radio-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAO1RbZdRr13akCOUCkw_YpGDF7pZrXr22MZdsdHGNHkXIrczl0Nl3ppthciBcO1GS7ukY5NFTv-njy8zkBkdhrlwr1fgAGbTkv4w6ZSR9p6ML3bwBhNzjBi9TzVtSYwzLri_wN3TsjnS/s1600/wdw-radio-logo.png" /></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="color: black;">For those that don’t know who Lou is, in a word, it all
started with Trivia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Walt
Disney </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-World-Trivia-Book/dp/1887140492" target="_blank">Trivia Books Volumes 1</a> <span style="color: black;">& <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-World-Trivia-Book/dp/1887140638/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y" target="_blank">2</a> to be exact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lou also produces and stars in one of the
best podcasts for Disney Park fans available today, The <a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/" target="_blank">WDWRadio Show</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="color: black;">I have been listening since show #1 and am proud to be a Pod-Person and </span></span><span style="color: black;">I might sound like a homer, but you only have
to see that he’s won the Best Travel Podcast award from 2007-2012 to know other
people share my opinion of the guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
it comes to traveling to Walt Disney</span> World, Lou’s done it all. Great story about the name of the book ala Lou. At WDW, the Cast Members have code numbers they use for radio calls to get important information across fast. You might have heard that a Code 101 was a ride down. Therefore a code 102, is the ride is back working and everyone is happy again. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/shop/102-ways-save-money-walt-disney-world/" target="_blank">“102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World”</a> </span><span style="color: black;">is a book that all people travelling to WDW
should own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a nutshell, no matter
your skill level in planning a trip to WDW, this book will save you money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s also Lou's money-back guarantee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After reading it, I heartily agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The book itself is an E-book which can be downloaded to any of your smart devices. Lou really takes advantage of today's technology by providing links to his shows that further explain the point he was making in the book. Not too mention the fact that taking the E-book with you is as easy as taking your phone. The book itself is broken up into logical sections that pre-date your trip for the planning process and then up to and into the parks. This book has clues, hints and money saving tips at every page swipe. Some really great pictures and trivia also.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Xhy08mOjhLaq2JXvqFDXwhd0GYVZ9VnNCH6b7VAEbd23IAOjyY02jnUrGS4Dbem-BsUNvmwDnaNqq-mu_wV_o8ckNu-gM49oVkgYCFsqqi5leihyV8QjRWZh1mVfB5ZMeHtAh-00og-F/s1600/102-Ways-pages-1200px.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Xhy08mOjhLaq2JXvqFDXwhd0GYVZ9VnNCH6b7VAEbd23IAOjyY02jnUrGS4Dbem-BsUNvmwDnaNqq-mu_wV_o8ckNu-gM49oVkgYCFsqqi5leihyV8QjRWZh1mVfB5ZMeHtAh-00og-F/s1600/102-Ways-pages-1200px.png" height="184" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria;">I wish I could go over the entire book page by page for you, but I don't think Lou would like that too much. However, I think I might be able to get away with talking about a couple of the sections that really impressed me. The first couple chapters will tell you how to get better prices on hotels, airfare and car rentals. The section on what questions to ask to determine if the Dining Plan is for you is true gold. As are the bonus 40 tips on true free-bees while your at the parks. Lou even goes so far as to point out how to save money on souvenirs' by addressing the ample Penny press machines located everywhere. Truly, every page in this E-book will save you valuable time and money. And who is not made happier by getting a deal and using you short vacation time to it's utmost. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7a9hyjtzlOR9ftlCQgFzhp5jnauHNvLMiZgAg6bgL-vP-nSxISsrXlgEOFoFz0IdlcbpkOHK6U0n-BHXo8agO0P7tzS9kuwExy6SYb7qRcVVd9r_f0pBnP4S4aUG0wqi74mRJYHdKz_g-/s1600/Headshot-UPDATED.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="color: black;">In closing, my thoughts are, where was this book 20 years ago when we really began visiting the parks on at least a yearly basis. All of the tricks and tips I have learned over that time through mistakes, trial and error, and good advice from friends are all in this book. Every page swipe turned up another trick that I thought I, and only I, had discovered. Kind of re-assuring in way that I have fine-tuned my trips to make sure we get the best bang of our buck. If you have a trip planned or are even thinking about it, you should really consider getting your self a copy of this E-book or recommend it to a friend. Lou is someone that you can trust to make sure you have a great trip to WDW, check out his</span> <a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/" target="_blank">website,</a> <span style="color: black;">listen to the </span><a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/category/podcasts/" target="_blank">Podcast</a> <span style="color: black;">and go get </span><a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/shop/102-ways-save-money-walt-disney-world/" target="_blank">“102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World”</a><span style="color: black;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="color: black;">Besides, how can you doubt a Face like this?</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7a9hyjtzlOR9ftlCQgFzhp5jnauHNvLMiZgAg6bgL-vP-nSxISsrXlgEOFoFz0IdlcbpkOHK6U0n-BHXo8agO0P7tzS9kuwExy6SYb7qRcVVd9r_f0pBnP4S4aUG0wqi74mRJYHdKz_g-/s1600/Headshot-UPDATED.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7a9hyjtzlOR9ftlCQgFzhp5jnauHNvLMiZgAg6bgL-vP-nSxISsrXlgEOFoFz0IdlcbpkOHK6U0n-BHXo8agO0P7tzS9kuwExy6SYb7qRcVVd9r_f0pBnP4S4aUG0wqi74mRJYHdKz_g-/s1600/Headshot-UPDATED.png" height="200" width="194" /></a></div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-7NHegW9WT5Y%2FUzdp1oGt8uI%2FAAAAAAAABoE%2FunmKA49UMgA%2Fs1600%2FHeadshot-UPDATED.png&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7a9hyjtzlOR9ftlCQgFzhp5jnauHNvLMiZgAg6bgL-vP-nSxISsrXlgEOFoFz0IdlcbpkOHK6U0n-BHXo8agO0P7tzS9kuwExy6SYb7qRcVVd9r_f0pBnP4S4aUG0wqi74mRJYHdKz_g-/s1600/Headshot-UPDATED.png" -->Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-88923907352892052752014-03-04T22:00:00.001-05:002015-03-09T20:29:22.996-05:00Youtube Disney Gold: Walt Disney Product Placement...even in 1936?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL7imUD2E-JC8OYkn7qoWwfenxiV7T16sQRYjNqPX4NM3ZlO6Poq_Ovwdw8RSOOD0ePa7soq_CW_0-eV05svAXuExclttpe-TFxLblIe3_2NMHCpA7tgsnuUgDCZXMMTGa7KLq1wyVGsrl/s1600/youtubegold.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL7imUD2E-JC8OYkn7qoWwfenxiV7T16sQRYjNqPX4NM3ZlO6Poq_Ovwdw8RSOOD0ePa7soq_CW_0-eV05svAXuExclttpe-TFxLblIe3_2NMHCpA7tgsnuUgDCZXMMTGa7KLq1wyVGsrl/s1600/youtubegold.gif" /></a>I am really happy to be doing a Youtube Disney Gold post again. It's been such a long time, but people keep feeding Youtube videos. I wanted to talk about a clip I came across the other day. I was randomly flipping around the TV and came across Buddy Ebson dancing in an old movie and he was wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt. This was a movie from 1936 called Broadway Melody. If the name sounds familiar, you might remember it as the movie that Gene Kelly sang Dancing in the Rain in, but you would be wrong. If you go into IMDB there are a number of listings for Broadway Melody. Each title supplemented by the date. There is a movie named Broadway Melody for the years 1929, 1936, 1940 and 1952(This was the Gene Kelly version). The one I am talking about is the 1936 version of Broadway Melody with the very young song and dance man, Buddy Ebson. I was lucky enough to find the exact clip I needed on Youtube. Thanks to <a class="g-hovercard yt-uix-sessionlink yt-user-name " data-name="watch" data-sessionlink="feature=watch&ei=aiYWU-jXMtGc8QbNxYCYAw" data-ytid="UCfjdy8-dEOjANNMGfc-MYkQ" dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Shurayuki18481?feature=watch" style="border: 0px currentColor; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">GABRIEL ANTINOUS</a> for this Youtube Gold.<br />
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The dance scene above is really well done and each of the actors are very good dancers and singers. This being a Disney Blog however, we need that Disney hook and if you watched the above I'm sure you saw it. Buddy Ebson is wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt or sweater and for some reason that really caught my eye the first time I watched this. In three seconds as many thoughts went through my head. My first thought was how could they have gotten what looks like a modern t-shirt back into a movie like that. The Mickey pose and artwork is a dead ringer for shirts today. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirRdRH_uB7uXOznPVbl0DvwHU3oumQv5mllNZRRosGB_pSTNgI7cLOg14FSYT1-2uki4GpmJpK5iGv3xHpfYTxNtOiIyYZy8EQwt7jcHJgAWJmjNIjCjnWOkW1BbaeCbTMg1mEcUbONXL4/s1600/images-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirRdRH_uB7uXOznPVbl0DvwHU3oumQv5mllNZRRosGB_pSTNgI7cLOg14FSYT1-2uki4GpmJpK5iGv3xHpfYTxNtOiIyYZy8EQwt7jcHJgAWJmjNIjCjnWOkW1BbaeCbTMg1mEcUbONXL4/s1600/images-1.jpg" /></a></div>
My second thought was well, Buddy worked with Walt on the Dancing Man animatronic, was that before this movie and Buddy had a souvenir from working with Walt. My final thought in that couple second burst was that maybe Mickey was just that famous in 1936 that they were selling shirts or sweaters even then. As far as the movie went it was normal in 1936 to see a young man wearing a Mickey shirt. Hmmm. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYdOGX4uUhckV-vzFJnuwu6ck9_doFMbrWdBKQIc5X2sXYw8SRhMfB_DNvJXSvYMysDVuQbJtYOAtMB27tl_6xyv7aOtHw0PX1ee8SnxTEb7Bmr15wUK3o48rzizDc0s8ga9qLSLay87Ge/s1600/$T2eC16J,!y0E9s2S5)dGBSEQ08k9Mg~~60_57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYdOGX4uUhckV-vzFJnuwu6ck9_doFMbrWdBKQIc5X2sXYw8SRhMfB_DNvJXSvYMysDVuQbJtYOAtMB27tl_6xyv7aOtHw0PX1ee8SnxTEb7Bmr15wUK3o48rzizDc0s8ga9qLSLay87Ge/s1600/$T2eC16J,!y0E9s2S5)dGBSEQ08k9Mg~~60_57.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>After some light research I think thought number three might be right. By 1936, Mickey had appeared in over 90 shorts, not too shabby. You should see the <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=vintage+disney&_osacat=139&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xvintage+disney+1930%27s&_nkw=vintage+disney+1930%27s&_sacat=139" target="_blank">Vintage Disney section of Ebay</a> there are a lot of items that are there and of them about 90 are from the 1930's. A lot of different items that shows how popular Mickey was. The items vary from figurines to brushes, from silverware with a mickey them to cereal boxes. Take a look at this cereal box from 1936. It's the back of a Post Toasties box with Mickey and the gang in full glory. Note the figure at the bottom of the box. It's a cut out figure that you can collect. They advertise that there were different characters to cut out. Is this perhaps where the mad dash to the Cereal Aisle at the supermarket started? <br />
So it really looks like the only reason the Buddy is wearing that shirt is that Mickey was so popular at the time and it was what the common thing for the lounging young guy to be wearing. This was a nice little trip through some great Vintage Mickey stuff. I still think there might be more to this, so I'll keep my eyes open and update this down the road if necessary.<br />
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-40417951426538086042013-11-24T22:52:00.000-05:002013-11-24T22:52:27.992-05:00Adventures in Podcasting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPF0glXKj7bcbQ9Vl0UCBXIRJyH2ZY5srQfSICgjT5FAeerZ54nCJ_fgnnyuh4j4PCsiOemgHvMvMfNzPoklDnngG9s9T8P7QoHlwF9kZ_tUQzTgGbmEqwAg5zoj1Q2WIzxHsg5wEW-Lli/s1600/untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPF0glXKj7bcbQ9Vl0UCBXIRJyH2ZY5srQfSICgjT5FAeerZ54nCJ_fgnnyuh4j4PCsiOemgHvMvMfNzPoklDnngG9s9T8P7QoHlwF9kZ_tUQzTgGbmEqwAg5zoj1Q2WIzxHsg5wEW-Lli/s200/untitled.png" width="100" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">What is a podcast? If I had a nickel for every time... I never knew what a podcast was until around 2005. A podcast is an audio recording that is made public for all to listen to. Most shows are not that basic and they vary from very plain to the well produced podcasts. I mainly have always listened to Disney Themed podcasts, but you can find a show on almost any topic now a days.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> I found both the <a href="http://wdwtoday.com/">WDW Today</a> guys and Ricky from the <a href="http://www.insidethemagic.net/">Inside the Magic Show</a> at about the same time. I've listened to hundreds of shows and still do. Mostly all Disney themed. Many of the shows over the years have stopped recording, but those that continue are great. Along with the above, I spend my time listening to the <a href="http://beourguestpodcast.com/">Be Our Guest Podcast</a> crew, Lou Mongello and his<a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/"> WDW Radio show</a> and the group over at the <a href="http://www.disunplugged.com/">DisUnplugged</a>.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">In the past year and a half I have found my way on to the other side of the microphone as a Podcaster. The kids of course, by contact, also listened to a lot of Disney themed </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnLanFBY8LhM_QfZehQlkaSZt4Cm_Flc4hwqz0pZzi89RzSqg1knewvCuNM1asFqkdl8aohmiME7eyPwwF8Khcafb4D39jzYvBlG7pxi35dotmbIZ5lkoaiyL337GrdudzQZgtMGje02_v/s1600/WGTWDW_Logo-a-500x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnLanFBY8LhM_QfZehQlkaSZt4Cm_Flc4hwqz0pZzi89RzSqg1knewvCuNM1asFqkdl8aohmiME7eyPwwF8Khcafb4D39jzYvBlG7pxi35dotmbIZ5lkoaiyL337GrdudzQZgtMGje02_v/s200/WGTWDW_Logo-a-500x500.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">podcasts and about 2 years ago we were talking about what we would say if we had our own podcast. Well we talked about it over and over and decided to give it a try and the <a href="http://wgtwdw.podbean.com/">"We're Going to Walt Disney World" Podcast</a> was born. We're getting ready to record our 38th show and have had a blast recording. We've been lucky enough to have had a friend of ours from England join us. George adds a great perspective to the show. We do a lot of different segments led by our Wheel of Attraction. This is a great segment where we spin a great big carnival wheel with Disney Attractions on it. We talk about whatever it lands on. This show is fun because Quinn, Hope and George run and think up the segments and give their great teenage perspective to the show. I'm the Tech Guy, a true up and coming Mike Newell and try to keep the show on track. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzWBZtA0eVZP1Bq95OrTLBcytOa5hupseYDAOIAK4DhpZH1qQXGh96MEsG827tzDTvPEmqSsdVSX2_rtfRNqgaudXxQk2modFYJJK7ZPP83dk77PbwNFAIOHwPo1-gsJFO0E6KpMzMPlb/s1600/logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzWBZtA0eVZP1Bq95OrTLBcytOa5hupseYDAOIAK4DhpZH1qQXGh96MEsG827tzDTvPEmqSsdVSX2_rtfRNqgaudXxQk2modFYJJK7ZPP83dk77PbwNFAIOHwPo1-gsJFO0E6KpMzMPlb/s200/logo.jpg" width="183" /></span></a><span style="color: black;">More recently, in the last 3 months, I have become involved with a second podcast, <a href="http://thedisneynerdspodcast.podbean.com/">The Disney Nerds Podcast</a>. This show came about with 4 people on a Facebook group called of all things the Disney Nerd Group. We were amazed at the amount of info being posted in the group that were great history and park tips. A couple of the groups members approached me as a "Tech guy" and I got involved. We're a show of 4 and have guest hosts take turns joining us. We discuss all things Disney in a conversation format with a lot of honest opinions. This show is 10 shows old but is more consistent and comes out, usually on Wednesday. Jimmy, Farrah, Tom and I and our guests really have a good time discussing anything Disney. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">I really enjoy podcasting. The ability to be able to help out other people with information that we have learned through experience is great. So let me know what you think in the comments below. Is there a Podcast that you listen to? Have you heard one of our shows? What do you think? We really want to know.</span><br />
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-91482536732242700202013-11-21T23:19:00.000-05:002013-11-21T23:19:20.640-05:00The Sad News of Diane Disneys PassingOnce in a while you have a sad day. This past week we had one of those days with the news of the passing of Diane Disney Miller. She was a person of distinction and opinion and the staunch protector of the Legacy of her parents. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family. <br />
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-27779276380623348972013-11-20T00:05:00.000-05:002013-11-20T00:05:00.569-05:00Eureka, the Disney Stoveworks have been Confirmed<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">About five years ago I approached you and a number of my friends in the Disney community looking for information about Walt Disney and the Miniature Stoves he would make.</span><br />
<a href="http://themazdisneyblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/disney-stoveworks.html" target="_blank">My post from 2009, The Disney Stoveworks</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I had a Eureka moment the other night while I was looking for information on Granny's Farm, the miniature house that Walt put together way back when. The current interview I am working on for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walts-People-Talking-Disney-Artists/dp/1413478670/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384900725&sr=1-1&keywords=walt%27s+people">Walt's People</a>, Harper Goff, talks a lot about this period in the company. While looking for more information on this I came across the Stove information I have been searching for. In an article about Walt's fascination with Miniatures, a couple of paragraphs were written especially for me:</span><br />
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<em><span style="color: black;">Walt painstakingly crafted a pint-sized potbellied stove for the caboose as well. “I had a pattern made up, and it turned out so cute with the grate, shaker and door, and all the little working parts, I became intrigued with the idea,” Walt wrote. “I had a few made up: one was bronze, another black, and I even made a gold one! Then we made more and started painting them in motifs that fitted the period at the turn of the century.”</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: black;"><img align="right" alt="" class="image-on-right" src="http://www.waltdisney.org/sites/default/files/miniatures_korkis2.jpg" style="height: 231px; width: 147px;" />Each of these 5 1/2" inch tall stoves had a different design, and eventually about one hundred were made. Walt gave some to friends, and even sent some to an antique gift shop in New York where, to Walt’s delight, Mrs. Thorne herself purchased two to add to her renowned collection, the same collection that had inspired Walt’s hobby. They sold for $25 each and Walt made no special effort to market them or make a profit. He was just curious to see if there was any interest and by 1957, the supply was depleted.</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: black;">“It has been fun making them and others appreciate them, too, so all in all, I feel well repaid,” said Walt.</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_48428063"> </a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><a href="http://www.waltdisney.org/content/miniature-worlds-walt">Here's the full post, The Miniature World of Walt</a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><a href="http://./">.</a>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">After reading this I
am left with two thoughts. The first is satisfaction in being able to
confirm what Richard Todd said in that interview I transcribed in 2008. I
really love all aspects of the history of things. I get the big warm and
fuzzy when you can match up information through different sources. So I
was bummed to have only Mr. Todd mention this in a passing question in an
interview and no other mention of it in all of my searches. Of course
this fell off my active radar, but the passive picked it up and question,
resolved. </span><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The second thought
is, okay, he made about 100 of these stoves. Why have I or anyone I
talked to in 2009-2010 never heard of this? I would think the value on
one of these would be a little bit more than $25. I'm thinking more like
$2,500. I'll have to put this search back into the active mode for a
little while and see what else might be out there. FYI, I just checked
EBay and no luck.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-71836601584568717602013-11-19T00:07:00.002-05:002013-11-19T00:07:52.337-05:00Sad to See You Go Sid Cahuenga<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black;">I read the news today and could not believe it. Sid Cahuenga's Antiques and Curios has closed and the contents of the store are being moved to the AFI Shop at the end of the Back-Lot Tour. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Sid's was a very cool place to stop and check out. It was right before the turnstiles as you exited the park on your right. Sid's had a lot of great autographed pictures and other objects. Some of the names that were on display were very impress, as were the prices.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">The other reason we stopped at Sid's was the Trivia board that was on the porch. If you could answer all of the questions, you were awarded a WDW Certificate. We've only gotten one of those. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">From what I read, Sid's location will be a new MyMagic+ service center. Goodbye Sid, see you around town...or not. To hear more about the history of Sid Cahuenga's check out </span><a href="http://www.wdwradio.com/2012/10/sid-cahuenga-disney-hollywood-studios-trivia-contest-show-297-october-21-2012/#.UorsXX8o4dU" target="_blank">Lou Mongello's show # 297</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">3 of 7</span></div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-79772342660439106352013-11-18T00:05:00.000-05:002013-11-18T00:05:00.519-05:00Disney Tech Check: Watching World of Color and Glow with the Show Hats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Even though I'm going to use YouTube to illustrate my points, I could not really categorize this post as a YouTube Disney Gold Post, so I felt a new Post Category was required. This will be the first of a series of posts called the Disney Tech Check. These posts will cover all the new technology that is introduced by the Disney company and how it effects our visits to the parks and how we experience Disney entertainment. <br />
I found a great You Tube video posted by <a href="http://www.insidethemagic.net/" target="_blank">Ricky Brigante from the Inside the Magic Podcast</a> and Disney Information Empire. Ricky has just posted a great HD video of the new show at Disneylands' World of Color nighttime show. It's the new Winter Dreams overlay with a lot of Frozen included for advertising I'm guessing. It looks like a really fun show. This is a great example tech video because you get to check out two great park technology innovations. The first is the World of Color show itself. The great coordination of water and lights and video is incredible. Ever since the show started, it's been incredible and I'd love to see it live someday. <br />
The second shot of new Disney technology is the recently introduced light up Mickey Ear hats or officially know as the Glow with the Show hats. These are the hats that have the light up ears that during certain Disney Park shows, the ears light up in sequence with the show. <br />
As you watch the show, or you can go right to time mark 20:20, the Buzz and Jessie scene, and watch that minute of video. That is a very good example of all of the above technologies all working seamlessly together.<br />
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The hats are around $25 and are becoming more and more available at the parks. The only complaint I've heard so far is that there might be times when you might feel a little lonely at some of these night time events. There still new and at $25 a hat not selling off the shelves. The word is at events like the above, the ears are given out for free. Leave me a comment if you know. I'll follow up down the road about how these actually work. </div>
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2 of 7</div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-78557364643698876582013-11-17T17:05:00.002-05:002013-11-17T19:36:42.620-05:00Maz Disney Book Review:Attention to Detail, a Look at Walt Disney World Parks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black;">One of the things I love the most about the WDW parks is the amount of detail that is designed into almost everything. Of course great details are expected on the large attractions, but at WDW the details are everywhere. From a period phone that talks to you in the Hat Shop at the Magic Kingdom to the Upside down game of Battleship at Disney Hollywood Studios. One of the best books around that shows us a lot of those details is </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1453699554/ref=cm_sw_su_dp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Attraction to Details: A Look at Walt Disney World Attractions</span></a><span style="color: black;">. This is a book compiled by Keith Black and Jackie Damon and has some of the coolest and most unique details found in the WDW parks, all with photos. The pictures are really bright and clear and show so much great detail. In their words:</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><em>"Through the use of photographs taken at the parks, we hope to bring awareness to the incredible work of Walt Disney and his Imagineers found throughout the parks at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. We seek to test your memory of the location of these details as well as give a little insight to their purpose and placement from our perspective and information we have gained over time. Our hope is to encourage others to pay attention to detail and in so doing gain further enjoyment of the parks."</em></span></div>
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The other great part of this book is that it provides photo scavenger hunts for the parks. <a href="http://through%20the%20use%20of%20photographs%20taken%20at%20the%20parks,%20we%20hope%20to%20bring%20awareness%20to%20the%20incredible%20work%20of%20walt%20disney%20and%20his%20imagineers%20found%20throughout%20the%20parks%20at%20the%20walt%20disney%20world%20resort%20in%20orlando,%20florida.%20%20we%20seek%20to%20test%20your%20memory%20of%20the%20location%20of%20these%20details%20as%20well%20as%20give%20a%20little%20insight%20to%20their%20purpose%20and%20placement%20from%20our%20perspective%20and%20information%20we%20have%20gained%20over%20time.%20our%20hope%20is%20to%20encourage%20others%20to%20pay%20attention%20to%20detail%20and%20in%20so%20doing%20gain%20further%20enjoyment%20of%20the%20parks./" target="_blank">Click Here for an example from their website</a>. I was lucky enough to be part of one of these scavenger hunts with some friends of mine in Oct. 2012. It was a actually run by both Keith and Jackie during the Be Our Guest Podcast's Epic October 2.0. It was a blast. Below is a pic of all of us that participated:<br />
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The scavenger hunt was restricted to the MK Monorail loop which meant it included the three hotels, the Ticket and Transportation Center and the Magic Kingdom stop, up to the Bag Search Tables. I can't find a picture of the cards we were given but each card had 5-6 numbered pictures per side. You were to find where the picture was and have all but one of the team photographed with it. We had a blast passing the other teams and looking for the clues. We had a two hour time limit. the Contemporary was the base. When we got back totals were tallied and we lost by one point. Go Figure.</div>
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The Detail orientated Duo of Keith and Jackie are getting ready to release Volume 2 and I can't wait. Check out the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1453699554/ref=cm_sw_su_dp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Attraction to Details: A Look at Walt Disney World Attractions</span></a> book and hunts either at that link on amazon or at their <a href="http://www.attentiontodetailbooks.com/" target="_blank">Home Site</a> and tell them I sent you. </div>
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1 of 7</div>
Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-51752432610334558882013-11-14T17:57:00.001-05:002013-11-14T17:57:31.398-05:007 Posts for 7 DaysHello my Disney friends. I've been more inconsistent as this Blog has grown older. My goal to get back on the Wagon is 7 posts in 7 days and then back onto a more consistent posting schedule.<br />
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I think a re-introduction might be in order. My name is Ed Mazzilli and I am a very big fan of all things Disney. I like to explore that interest through history, through listening and recording podcasts, through the parks, watching the movies and through this great Disney community on the internet. I am part of two Disney themed Podcasts, the "We're Going to WDW" Podcast and the Disney Nerds Podcast. I am also lucky enough to be part of a project and series of books called Walt's People. I transcribe interviews from paper or audio to digital text. I also keep track of a lot of great blogs, web sites and facebook pages, all Disney related. Anything to keep that Disney Spirit flowing.<br />
So here's for the 7 in 7 and look for number 1 very soon.Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-24931836004829421462013-09-03T19:50:00.000-05:002013-09-03T19:55:20.129-05:00The Maz Endless Summer Vacation Part 1(WGTWDW Podcast #35)<span style="color: black;">Here is some more commentary and pics from Show # 35. You can listen here or read. Thanks again for stopping by. Feel free to leave comments or questions</span><br />
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Show # 35
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<span style="color: black;">I want to start off by saying that we are really thankful we've been so lucky to travel as much this summer as we've done. We've had slim years and it's great to take advantage of this time now. Quinn will be starting college in a couple of years, so we decided to take advantage of the summer time to travel.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoFVZYPqhAniO_-jFgHHT97jz9oeCQ-UK2-JZ2C-4YAZszj6bM4xG6BoPLMdHLMJigt_iW2gdEuxaA8811F97vZE_jTpbzgmUdRgjbvirmWMSDGDElFsgPm5wOB73xjAQ_4oIjCVGAJuX/s1600/106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoFVZYPqhAniO_-jFgHHT97jz9oeCQ-UK2-JZ2C-4YAZszj6bM4xG6BoPLMdHLMJigt_iW2gdEuxaA8811F97vZE_jTpbzgmUdRgjbvirmWMSDGDElFsgPm5wOB73xjAQ_4oIjCVGAJuX/s200/106.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-3lDudWm31Ah6Is0tzkN4hVVnaC-EAMXr13LAthYQD8CX2uzHq6TuPJZq86PtuTOgeKLqqWaH7vpjTQeS2lVHA31h3PafM03yQB3kKmRUnR6pQIezLZxVjiVtbUMOtumayeVLtr1JVBz/s1600/IMG_2539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-3lDudWm31Ah6Is0tzkN4hVVnaC-EAMXr13LAthYQD8CX2uzHq6TuPJZq86PtuTOgeKLqqWaH7vpjTQeS2lVHA31h3PafM03yQB3kKmRUnR6pQIezLZxVjiVtbUMOtumayeVLtr1JVBz/s200/IMG_2539.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: black;">The Mazzilli Endless Summer officially started the weekend after the 4th of July. Lesley's company has a great company picnic at Hershey Park that weekend. We've been doing this for at least 10 years. We go with friends from college and make it a reunion weekend also. This year was the extra bonus for the Girls, One Direction was playing at Hershey stadium and they all had tickets.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiu8kvEgfZTWvw0xi5ZtQC4IFA8SBuDXx2wdzeXg_GQlvlfOOvkvn2kX02z-TEndNDevr37cyaqxeWDS9A1ev8QtOLkJDv5XTrXCSIYbqhUT1ZbllROUF4a9upM4XgkV9Lfo6oKlrDOtfk/s1600/103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiu8kvEgfZTWvw0xi5ZtQC4IFA8SBuDXx2wdzeXg_GQlvlfOOvkvn2kX02z-TEndNDevr37cyaqxeWDS9A1ev8QtOLkJDv5XTrXCSIYbqhUT1ZbllROUF4a9upM4XgkV9Lfo6oKlrDOtfk/s200/103.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53f8pdA95DDJFUl8QDUI9sVppM2biBVSzRB-GxU34GuA8HS0XlytmvbESQsMYofrPEWDDsFtW3GVSMdkCMt2P2IoMBYCzSa3U138RHrlXXyvQJJXsm5RUl9Em5lR-Pf0FmBWKN3a_PMTH/s1600/102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53f8pdA95DDJFUl8QDUI9sVppM2biBVSzRB-GxU34GuA8HS0XlytmvbESQsMYofrPEWDDsFtW3GVSMdkCMt2P2IoMBYCzSa3U138RHrlXXyvQJJXsm5RUl9Em5lR-Pf0FmBWKN3a_PMTH/s200/102.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><br />
<span style="color: black;">We drove out on Friday and went to Hershey park that night. That's our ride night. We've conceded long ago that the rides on Saturday are not worth the lines about 1/2 hour after the park opens. We usually pick two of the rides we could not get on the night before. For me it's</span> <span style="color: black;">Fahrenheit and StormRunner. We spend most of Saturday at the water park part of Hershey. A nice feature of the lunch is that you can go at 12:00 thru 6:00 as many times as you want. Great deal!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrrjsUNQhE4u9FdfwvpZYIhIjhCMzytGEfjo4HJ3q-4rbhV6QcWs_YzSYfCVJTKOvVhfsDZIsVFGzo-CiwaC0hL4-Gl1IES357OKDV5vwNkAWKHOglZRH9mTmN4BGXgB7anK97H2YU53Y/s1600/IMG_2538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrrjsUNQhE4u9FdfwvpZYIhIjhCMzytGEfjo4HJ3q-4rbhV6QcWs_YzSYfCVJTKOvVhfsDZIsVFGzo-CiwaC0hL4-Gl1IES357OKDV5vwNkAWKHOglZRH9mTmN4BGXgB7anK97H2YU53Y/s200/IMG_2538.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKM6oIW9YcZn_5BD9p3uUv4PUyI_a-CRMTaBFoOJ0FUXy_w58vIb3BgN6j4RzOjpKB7_OBeXCKHBVgC2UMKuTVphe3pgM29p7Vrf15gzQw1Qfeh7rJj0kuvIRlV3gzeQbu7agimdTsxnH_/s1600/108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKM6oIW9YcZn_5BD9p3uUv4PUyI_a-CRMTaBFoOJ0FUXy_w58vIb3BgN6j4RzOjpKB7_OBeXCKHBVgC2UMKuTVphe3pgM29p7Vrf15gzQw1Qfeh7rJj0kuvIRlV3gzeQbu7agimdTsxnH_/s200/108.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDUyZjC1rBwrBWwd3u___52Gga4mDwtPRwvLxeaQvDRx69S56VISoqX_QVXp06FIOoOrTBnVQDuJ7P2SxlldTcIjcGcItHX2ApH0FbZcWmeX3zesPIwaK8B94_24mIxcDN22m0hl-s_Ss/s1600/IMG_2551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDUyZjC1rBwrBWwd3u___52Gga4mDwtPRwvLxeaQvDRx69S56VISoqX_QVXp06FIOoOrTBnVQDuJ7P2SxlldTcIjcGcItHX2ApH0FbZcWmeX3zesPIwaK8B94_24mIxcDN22m0hl-s_Ss/s200/IMG_2551.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">We had a great couple days at the parks. The Girls all saw 1D and said the concert was great. The guys stayed at the park and then did the required tour through the chocolate factory before heading back to the hotel and then to home on Sunday. The plan is to get packed and then back on the road to Florida on Monday morning. We re-packed the van and got everything ready and set out the next morning at 4:00 am. One of the rules about driving down without my wife Lesley is that I cannot drive straight through. We need to stop, which we did in Brunswick</span> Ga. The next morning we slept all the way to 7am to make up for the day before and got back on the road.</span><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKUyeoHp9R1FVLH5gtmV49ocVeWuq07lfyXuAmtNERhm0Y3pAsWYQ3ZVJ7DsoPNW2XJQbzOD7lnI9daCguq06Cp3sd5kd6MD-JUMH_yz84I65tCQHici4LrvxjlxFHtBvq_QOUOwTfiEm/s1600/112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKUyeoHp9R1FVLH5gtmV49ocVeWuq07lfyXuAmtNERhm0Y3pAsWYQ3ZVJ7DsoPNW2XJQbzOD7lnI9daCguq06Cp3sd5kd6MD-JUMH_yz84I65tCQHici4LrvxjlxFHtBvq_QOUOwTfiEm/s200/112.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIEjU4wwAOQ-smIqIUeqgT4cjX0XU_9Ec0uZfPf6axm-ND_L7F9Jm60s3R0vRafMAH2AGpURswfUkzaVZLgVV3Ezwgl0CB-pZ87bY3UqSMXt-8hAcIoV5z2FqrB7v3Nz_7s6ocM4GHLusk/s1600/111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIEjU4wwAOQ-smIqIUeqgT4cjX0XU_9Ec0uZfPf6axm-ND_L7F9Jm60s3R0vRafMAH2AGpURswfUkzaVZLgVV3Ezwgl0CB-pZ87bY3UqSMXt-8hAcIoV5z2FqrB7v3Nz_7s6ocM4GHLusk/s200/111.JPG" width="150" /></a></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The plan for today was to stop in St. Augustine at the Disney Character outlet and then on to DTD. We would then get in the room until 4:00pm. The Outlet store was good but we made no big purchases this year. We did get a new Antenna Topper, </span><a href="http://www.magicalearscollectibles.com/Disney-Antenna-Topper--Cars-Land--Luigis-Flying-Tires_p_4984.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">Luigi's Tires</span></a><span style="color: black;">. The key-chain remote for the car was not working so no beeps to guide us back to the car in the parking lots. The antenna topper was key a couple times in finding the van. We always try to stop here or at the outlet store neat WDW each trip. We usually find a really great deal. They usually have the previous holidays stuff along with any movies that might have been big maybe a year earlier.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79pKTR4FQH69rtEU5b8I76IaDmaOPANYDL7LxoXSApkQUzALTwOJwbRqHWL2c8w7RptuC6GrVFaVhr3vtlXCBbUHrTM0oT6P3LGfRHDCLl3UCkGtZVBEN1wN9VJO4f4NJXSVwjZzRmeER/s1600/IMG_2582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79pKTR4FQH69rtEU5b8I76IaDmaOPANYDL7LxoXSApkQUzALTwOJwbRqHWL2c8w7RptuC6GrVFaVhr3vtlXCBbUHrTM0oT6P3LGfRHDCLl3UCkGtZVBEN1wN9VJO4f4NJXSVwjZzRmeER/s200/IMG_2582.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_6bjXBxpBB2o6z5wkuHFvALvc6OI3OzJA39zaVrSzZGcsWNHhbRxmEr1Uj-JP8vrcrQADcGcg_m0YFUSuOPsvmPOsHiDe3ZS2k38FG1f3Li6I742eWKPd0VPLAZ1zCQaXZ0tMrk8FuVW/s1600/IMG_2612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_6bjXBxpBB2o6z5wkuHFvALvc6OI3OzJA39zaVrSzZGcsWNHhbRxmEr1Uj-JP8vrcrQADcGcg_m0YFUSuOPsvmPOsHiDe3ZS2k38FG1f3Li6I742eWKPd0VPLAZ1zCQaXZ0tMrk8FuVW/s200/IMG_2612.JPG" width="200" /></a> <span style="color: black;">We got back on the road and our next stop was Downtown Disney. We did the regular walk-around the Marketplace and then took a walk to the West Side, something we have not done in a long time. It is so sad to walk through Pleasure Island and think of what it was at one time. I tried to explain to the kids how it was and how fun it was to celebrate New Years Eve every night. We walked all the way down to the new bowling alley, Splittsville. the place is incredible. We had plans to meet the BOGP guys later that week. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0jMLtzi_pOnxgGCFc3aCRgJD7zJr1YU0UZHldvuJY46jSt3qZ7NGnk_ZeWLzvd1GVoqc6_I71i2CccZckpajtttr6k7FTKGRUk90blJXd_TJv6d5-9dbvuCfhfpmPLaTAU41s_3UKD1c/s1600/IMG_2601.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0jMLtzi_pOnxgGCFc3aCRgJD7zJr1YU0UZHldvuJY46jSt3qZ7NGnk_ZeWLzvd1GVoqc6_I71i2CccZckpajtttr6k7FTKGRUk90blJXd_TJv6d5-9dbvuCfhfpmPLaTAU41s_3UKD1c/s200/IMG_2601.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScWO7TCzp_PghyunKzMTMEjAIvjwkYpRIoFz3KZnP0D_mCba9ApK9r0Y1ywwcBlySPVLaaZmXata9HrOUgomO1AEmOJ7tOw0Bd-WTjGP3TuQIZ3a_2L8v9QUzk_Sgw21UKhnwj7Pm5Xcj/s1600/IMG_2572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScWO7TCzp_PghyunKzMTMEjAIvjwkYpRIoFz3KZnP0D_mCba9ApK9r0Y1ywwcBlySPVLaaZmXata9HrOUgomO1AEmOJ7tOw0Bd-WTjGP3TuQIZ3a_2L8v9QUzk_Sgw21UKhnwj7Pm5Xcj/s200/IMG_2572.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;">On the walk back to the Marketplace we stopped at the D Street store. This is a great place with a lo</span><span style="color: black;">t of cool things to buy. On top of that were the really cool decorations in there. I am convinced they inherited a lot of stuff from the since closed Adventurers Club (AC). And speaking of the AC we passed it twice and even though they've done their best to hide it, it is still there and very much missed. Before leaving DTD we stopped at Earl of Sandwich. This is still the best/cheapest sandwich on property, but alas, the restaurant has lost a little of it's sparkle. On the ride up from Palm Beach towards the end of our trip, we saw that they have Earls on the Fla Turnpike.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdG7g3TdKF11L7CSsMNLB-N1uBSIswh4Ug9ffPYM5okiQde10fZDbyrpQCG0yTrWQeavLmiaiCee_V_HZACfm3axL5ESiF3AVmiSFrvwDT1Ib_Cj-pOsdEAHvcugqb0tdjRg-YQjODEw-8/s1600/116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdG7g3TdKF11L7CSsMNLB-N1uBSIswh4Ug9ffPYM5okiQde10fZDbyrpQCG0yTrWQeavLmiaiCee_V_HZACfm3axL5ESiF3AVmiSFrvwDT1Ib_Cj-pOsdEAHvcugqb0tdjRg-YQjODEw-8/s200/116.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDgZnOShviQ2jpLKKusWYxOGcIdnsHoyDiZmF3vE7jAFS9gW788VXDznWpMn-JWaZ4bhXdGEQ0VWG1sBNoFbmU1Zigt77ZU2UTQWfNClJQrheYOgV1nTeBKZPqityjUJKj24T6AXdrohnc/s1600/114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDgZnOShviQ2jpLKKusWYxOGcIdnsHoyDiZmF3vE7jAFS9gW788VXDznWpMn-JWaZ4bhXdGEQ0VWG1sBNoFbmU1Zigt77ZU2UTQWfNClJQrheYOgV1nTeBKZPqityjUJKj24T6AXdrohnc/s200/114.JPG" width="150" /></a><span style="color: black;">Our next stop was to check-in to our hotel. We stayed at the Ramada Gateway and got such a great deal. We got a tower room with 2 queen beds, a kitchen area with fridge, microwave and sink separate from the bathroom. The tower rooms are about 5 years old and look great still. </span><span style="color: black;">We were on the second floor. These were inside hallway hotel rooms while the other half of the hotel was the outside two floor motel type rooms. I've stayed in both types. I only recommend the tower rooms. We paid $63 total a night. We had a really great stay. Parked right outside from the elevators, very close each night. Hotel had two pools, a Barbecue themed restaurant and a Ice Cream Counter outside the pool table and Ping Pong covered courtyard. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">They had a lot of Disney decorations around property. This place is 5 minutes, from the parking lot at DHS, no exaggeration. It is the first set of buildings you hit after getting off of World Drive going west. Plenty of fast-food places and other types of stores. CVS has everything and the fast-food is a change from the park food. I think we did KFC for one dinner. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Hope and I went to DHS that night. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipCuFM5E2YIXpwNFfx8xKrd6dLMFf7H_x4xmWF4JVQghf-mKlNzG91pQxotJGQqJjn65mAZzcUlm5uNnFmlVTv_Rmtr9aJL_Ek20gAY9XFnLNA6STuCdwtXyL8BhKoKW01WSuCtim4ne-F/s1600/118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipCuFM5E2YIXpwNFfx8xKrd6dLMFf7H_x4xmWF4JVQghf-mKlNzG91pQxotJGQqJjn65mAZzcUlm5uNnFmlVTv_Rmtr9aJL_Ek20gAY9XFnLNA6STuCdwtXyL8BhKoKW01WSuCtim4ne-F/s200/118.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCjTGQ7a4VSA8qppZhZ-MBpY7f1tJsg4TPT2JY8cFVIPs5aNL8NVe3t9lse4NjGsSiFE0Ob8u2-TFrJLONWOI3K0BbvpmWJAY8L-5EBpZrzjc8HufNKBd3TGHPNMvmWR25FivH4_RppyiO/s1600/117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCjTGQ7a4VSA8qppZhZ-MBpY7f1tJsg4TPT2JY8cFVIPs5aNL8NVe3t9lse4NjGsSiFE0Ob8u2-TFrJLONWOI3K0BbvpmWJAY8L-5EBpZrzjc8HufNKBd3TGHPNMvmWR25FivH4_RppyiO/s200/117.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><span style="color: black;">With Quinn coming back to the parks after the cruise and Palm Beach, he would be outside his 14 day ticket window if he went with us that night. So Hope got her time with Dad. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVdAZkGcI8VhrDGYDXDhTbNei8s9NWbwc8e5zlxwJju2DGBuJJpvB8FOkC4xCyjqAWKJEKCscx2Flr2tRuuwcbBTHMGpBJIlOhox13ojv084UqW1tNpFIrrfnu8RY2UlwvJ6d338plJlZ/s1600/IMG_2701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVdAZkGcI8VhrDGYDXDhTbNei8s9NWbwc8e5zlxwJju2DGBuJJpvB8FOkC4xCyjqAWKJEKCscx2Flr2tRuuwcbBTHMGpBJIlOhox13ojv084UqW1tNpFIrrfnu8RY2UlwvJ6d338plJlZ/s200/IMG_2701.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjz4Opx3CoRAqwBl_zDqCJJVUmGLbkg50F-A8Wlqtw08_D3Nc8OCwI_6mBQ23et9HZ-EJe6Ku3NS2iFEnggiYBavu5qzhWH_0-8Od3DV6zZJUN2MQsbKgtDrOY2XYDfyQmyCzg2NDVXFJ/s1600/IMG_2714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjz4Opx3CoRAqwBl_zDqCJJVUmGLbkg50F-A8Wlqtw08_D3Nc8OCwI_6mBQ23et9HZ-EJe6Ku3NS2iFEnggiYBavu5qzhWH_0-8Od3DV6zZJUN2MQsbKgtDrOY2XYDfyQmyCzg2NDVXFJ/s200/IMG_2714.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_7mbbAMOGym1Ta3_l-Ob2GmqIXtlbarp4WJrMl083JXvY75AD1NqwIiHs6C2_2nCpnt-hSBgGx2zc06UKuhM_hzIyvSdBv-Q5tcKnL-cL-tZ0Rln3j4xr-fUMidwuS71oRvgqg1nJMol/s1600/IMG_2683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_7mbbAMOGym1Ta3_l-Ob2GmqIXtlbarp4WJrMl083JXvY75AD1NqwIiHs6C2_2nCpnt-hSBgGx2zc06UKuhM_hzIyvSdBv-Q5tcKnL-cL-tZ0Rln3j4xr-fUMidwuS71oRvgqg1nJMol/s200/IMG_2683.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZqLdhSVENKtG-46UChoJ_rYjtw3nX4fYXYd4EmSUxzCHUAGyVM5ctivhQgJasuPkQM04Okf_WXiNTw4IBmuG2PF4cSAQtsRFUBx6s-OraLOpGteNpjYSkVjZO9r35tb-NWhGkwH4NDo1/s1600/IMG_2682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZqLdhSVENKtG-46UChoJ_rYjtw3nX4fYXYd4EmSUxzCHUAGyVM5ctivhQgJasuPkQM04Okf_WXiNTw4IBmuG2PF4cSAQtsRFUBx6s-OraLOpGteNpjYSkVjZO9r35tb-NWhGkwH4NDo1/s200/IMG_2682.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">Our main goal was the American Idol Finale</span> <span style="color: black;">show. That's where all of the days winners compete for an over-all winner. We were lucky to catch a great one. There were 5 people in the show, but we decided it was between two, and they were sisters. How about that. After a great show that was a lot more of a party than the day time shows, it came down to the two sisters. The younger one won. I really hope she takes advantage of that super audition pass that gets her to the front of the line the next time American Idol the TV show comes around. Getting to DHS late we kind of just bummed around. Fastpass for Tower and we went to the last show of Indiana Jones for the day. One of our new finds was the addition of the Walter crate and mirror to the pre-show of Muppets. Very cool seeing stuff like that. Now get rid of that 3D guy and put Walter on the stage.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsH0rtHd3ANO0xtKZNJGd7BoQZEdf1X03Ib9oIhSv4HDhd0O1Kv5Edf0j5zILUbI6ct601mYuC4_Wp4cVMpMSBUZHymKfm8PM9b4Jb2c5EuDtBdNeVfMbOZdsiq7oH_wrSVqDmsA9ExZLx/s1600/IMG_2759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsH0rtHd3ANO0xtKZNJGd7BoQZEdf1X03Ib9oIhSv4HDhd0O1Kv5Edf0j5zILUbI6ct601mYuC4_Wp4cVMpMSBUZHymKfm8PM9b4Jb2c5EuDtBdNeVfMbOZdsiq7oH_wrSVqDmsA9ExZLx/s200/IMG_2759.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-_VemXJgOiT_2qFVXTGqoQ7P2nNSZvvsr-aEXRNvK1VAhJkkSFBepURed0E67Qy-mDUMVEGDeuF8bpXLIy5Xg0wXU1X3-wtSkEmUrT2SDRc5ud_6wwG4D_8OV9qmKBkz2Wqrz2wwi5S9/s1600/IMG_2655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-_VemXJgOiT_2qFVXTGqoQ7P2nNSZvvsr-aEXRNvK1VAhJkkSFBepURed0E67Qy-mDUMVEGDeuF8bpXLIy5Xg0wXU1X3-wtSkEmUrT2SDRc5ud_6wwG4D_8OV9qmKBkz2Wqrz2wwi5S9/s200/IMG_2655.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">We also spent some time in the Animation Courtyard. Inside the area where you can line up for autographs there are a lot of computer station that let you play with color, audio and other aspects of animation. Hope and I spent some time on the console that once you answer some questions, determines what Disney character you are most like. For Hope it was Ariel. We looked back in pictures and I was Tarzan. We spent some more time walking around and shopping, but that was it for the night. The next morning we got up early and headed out to DHS again to get on the big rides we missed the night before...and we had Quinn with us. Quick note on Tickets. I had an AP card with RFID and the kids had paper tickets we had gotten from Undercover Tourist which were the old type. We needed to go to two different lines to get in the park. We took care of this at </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKG35akn3EYjSVi41753TTiayAdsFKdadmm1trpOjggWlqy-HhzMLfOQgu_BRGMEUeC9LCsItWeG4KdrR5i3ayKu5fACRj_QYl-yrKoxss1rGHvf7tgfakpergm5v-QW3bzdEQSiDbFx2/s1600/IMG_2823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKG35akn3EYjSVi41753TTiayAdsFKdadmm1trpOjggWlqy-HhzMLfOQgu_BRGMEUeC9LCsItWeG4KdrR5i3ayKu5fACRj_QYl-yrKoxss1rGHvf7tgfakpergm5v-QW3bzdEQSiDbFx2/s200/IMG_2823.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju1gLUpJM-UQcy6rZV56VRs8gIP9pEOI_o9QBPg1nh5ucz3_avJMbYH02q-2jEQNK4-JZq22jPH7du0YglwTS_euMOQDLppAQdGrzhBGMQqmbjr0m4DDU40YNREyptO9qWUpW1vxIJiQhB/s1600/IMG_2837.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju1gLUpJM-UQcy6rZV56VRs8gIP9pEOI_o9QBPg1nh5ucz3_avJMbYH02q-2jEQNK4-JZq22jPH7du0YglwTS_euMOQDLppAQdGrzhBGMQqmbjr0m4DDU40YNREyptO9qWUpW1vxIJiQhB/s200/IMG_2837.JPG" width="200" /></a>Guest Services and got them the newer cards. If your staying on property this can be done at your hotel. Our main DHS goal of the <span style="color: black;">day was the Extreme stunt show. We feel that if you have at least one major goal, you don't tend to wander around as much. The oddest thing of the day was the line we saw early on. We did the dash to Toy Story Mania fastpass and then had time to ride it. This was about 8:45. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"></span> <span style="color: black;">Our next stop would then be Rock n Roller coaster before the crowd gets heavy. There was a big line down Sunset that split at the two rides. The park was not officially open and this was the line waiting for 9:00. We did a quick 180 and headed to the GMR. We had a nice relaxing day at DHS. Went on everything we wanted to. Ate at the ABC Commissary. A big treat was a preview of, at the time, the new Lone Ranger movie. It was at the Sounds Dangerous theater and was about 15 minutes of clips from the movie. It played a big part in me wasting a couple hours to see it on the cruise. </span><span style="color: black;"> Very fun and we also got a souvenir button/pin. We stayed until closing and due to not going to Fantasmic, we were able to get on Muppets and Star Tours a couple of times. Back to the hotel for a swim and late dinner.
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The next day was our Magic Kingdom day. The goal of today was two-fold. First, we had BOG Rest. dinner ressies. Second, the kids wanted to try the new pirate game in Adventureland. We </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvvL2IBiH8l88l4kiiW86us4tesHStuL-qZUw3yVkn7gTjktNh7P8HxxnIGJjKu0wJMFYOEdd1IOdHaVEW9v03ovqZFtzZgxfoiMRGx6USAx2b0n2EGc-aUoovu6TOy3Z1KmLDniBIdvx/s1600/IMG_2841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvvL2IBiH8l88l4kiiW86us4tesHStuL-qZUw3yVkn7gTjktNh7P8HxxnIGJjKu0wJMFYOEdd1IOdHaVEW9v03ovqZFtzZgxfoiMRGx6USAx2b0n2EGc-aUoovu6TOy3Z1KmLDniBIdvx/s200/IMG_2841.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJrLyZB3kbrdZ3NLOqLitG81lYrYqX7dLRfKmeCq5V1UBueqi62W3T1NX8sfSDw_6-KJ5xKsOlm_BusloiRnZt6dEY9aLaemZs-Zmm8Ce_mVBAZY1JvpQkdREKA8e2-1s03xlHkHwOQRU/s1600/IMG_2885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJrLyZB3kbrdZ3NLOqLitG81lYrYqX7dLRfKmeCq5V1UBueqi62W3T1NX8sfSDw_6-KJ5xKsOlm_BusloiRnZt6dEY9aLaemZs-Zmm8Ce_mVBAZY1JvpQkdREKA8e2-1s03xlHkHwOQRU/s200/IMG_2885.JPG" style="cursor: move;" unselectable="on" width="174" /></span></a><span style="color: black;"> started the day and met a very special person on the way down Main Street. The M.S. Fire Chief. Quinn had taken off with our tickets for fastpasses, but Hope took a picture with him. This was our first time in the MK with the new fantasyland open. So after we met up with Quinn, we rode Space Mtn. and ran over to Fantasyland. It was great. We went right over to the Little Mermaid ride and rode it twice. The queue activity was awesome in it's simpleness fueled by high tech. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Every so often in the cave part of the queue, you pass all manners of ways at looking at a small crab on a pile of something specific. Through a porthole in the wall, through a picture frame, in a big glass jug and more. The game was simple, the animated crab would come out with an item. If it matched the items around him I think you did nothing. If he carries in something that does not belong, you'd wave your hand in front of the water and he'd take it off the screen. I've got some</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSUW7cwqshtEXVjmNL379dgZhtgwIfM7lEpk-yeyMLRThP6cNvhwDnbkam8qLKlhzmowc1Mn-4l4yqqx5HGY32yIcdbNyeqn0zz69trF4wYgHZWfeJhFFTKW_w5LSZkUgh2ZbVAXK96qU/s1600/IMG_2920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSUW7cwqshtEXVjmNL379dgZhtgwIfM7lEpk-yeyMLRThP6cNvhwDnbkam8qLKlhzmowc1Mn-4l4yqqx5HGY32yIcdbNyeqn0zz69trF4wYgHZWfeJhFFTKW_w5LSZkUgh2ZbVAXK96qU/s200/IMG_2920.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: black;">video I'll post after this. We again had a great day at the park with a</span> Crowd Calendar number of 9. We used the fastpasses and and did a lot of non-ride things as we counted down to dinner. The kids and I did the new Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas. This game is located in a little shack right past Pirates on the way to Frontierland. You scan your RFID Band or card and begin the game. There are five adventures and because the game keeps track of the ones you've done, you don't repeat them. We were lucky enough to do all 5 maps and had a great time. Perfect mix of Agent P at Epcot, the Sorcerer's game in MK and Pirates of course. Good mix. There were some very surprising effects, get ready to have a good time.rs<br />
We were then ready for dinner and made our way over to the Be Our Guest rest. We had such a good time here. <br />
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I am looking above and seeing how much I am typing. Listen to the show and I'll just post some more pictures here to cover the last two days of the Turf part of the trip.<br />
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Mazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3365835225477491959.post-74778046565532705022013-07-31T12:13:00.000-05:002013-07-31T12:17:13.981-05:00The MagicBands at WDW are Almost There!WE are back from our huge trip to Florida and I promise many posts to come. <br />
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As I was going through pictures I came across
three pictures I took at the Contemporary Hotel. I just want to make a quick comment
about them. We had gone down to Disney World and stayed at the Pop Century. We were
hoping to see if they were using the new magicbands there, unfortunately they were not
so we went to the parks normally. We used our tickets for the RFID entry so that was
kind of cool. However, when we were at the Contemporary on our MK park break, we stopped at the store in the concourse. I noticed that they already had T-shirts out for the Magicbands. We heard stories about how they would have decorations for the magic bands like they do for crocs. What did they call those, Niblets? Giblets? Jiblets?...whatever. What caught our eye was that they had these
three T-shirts which I have pictured here.<br />
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The first thought that came to mind was, <em>"Wow, just a little odd to be promoting a new technology in such a way. And, their not even available at every hotel yet."</em> Of course the second though was, <em>"it's disney so this new Tech must be tested out the butt and from what we saw last week, this is going to be your new identity when at WDW so let's make friends through merchandising."</em> In addition to the stuff we've been hearing about charges and park entry with the band, we discovered that you will now be storing your Test Track car and I assume anything else you can customize and save like Sum of All Thrills and anything else they come out with. I'm basing this on being able to store those things on Quinn's Room Card and my Annual Pass on this trip. We also saw many Scanning stations set up at various rides. Very scene appropriatly camouflaged of course. I think this one was Tower of Terror.<br />
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Back at the Contemporary, they also had different covers for the
magicbands. For example, you could make your band look like Minnie mouse polkadots or Mickey Mouse
colors. I can't wait to see what else comes out about with the Magic BandsMazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820163605778156417noreply@blogger.com2