Lou Mongello's "102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World" E-Book

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?  I at first smile, and thank the person because they had already jumped their first hurdle, knowing they have to plan.  I would then give them my standard answer, which is a great toolbox of resources.  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.  I’m happy to say that after today I can add Lou Mongello’s, “102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World” to that list of must-haves to plan a successful and economical trip to WDW.

For those that don’t know who Lou is, in a word, it all started with Trivia.  The Walt Disney Trivia Books Volumes 1 & 2 to be exact.  Lou also produces and stars in one of the best podcasts for Disney Park fans available today, The WDWRadio Show.  I have been listening since show #1 and am proud to be a Pod-Person and 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.  When it comes to traveling to Walt Disney 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. 

“102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World” is a book that all people travelling to WDW should own.  In a nutshell, no matter your skill level in planning a trip to WDW, this book will save you money.  And that’s also Lou's money-back guarantee.  After reading it, I heartily agree.  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.

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. 

 

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 website, listen to the Podcast and go get “102 Ways to Save Money For And At Walt Disney World”.

 

Besides, how can you doubt a Face like this?

Youtube Disney Gold: Walt Disney Product Placement...even in 1936?

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 GABRIEL ANTINOUS for this Youtube Gold.

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.

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. 

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 Vintage Disney section of Ebay 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? 
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.