Disney Merchandise at Tuesday Morning

I don't go to "Tuesday Morning" usually, but a friend told us that there were a few good quality and "cheap" Disney merchandise on sale there. So like any Disney fanatics who has run out of room to store even more Disney stuff, we had to go and take a look. And lo and behold, there were a number of Disney stuff that weren't bad at all, and certainly at prices that were quite acceptable.

The first is this set of dessert plates. They were Christmas plates, and so, were also on sale on top of their low prices already. They are actually quite attractive because they have that vintage look. I could find 4 different types there, so I don't know if the whole set has more than just these. The regular price is $4.99 per plate, but with the 50% off on all Christmas items, I paid $2.49 a piece. Not a bad deal at all.

We then found a bunch of mugs. This is the one we bought (since we collect Donald). It is $4.99 each. There were other mugs with Pluto and Minnie.

Then there were these travel mugs. All of them are made of ceramics with rubber lids. They look like they are well made, with double-walled insulation. They were $7.99 a piece.

All in all, not a bad deal for these things.

Zz.

Baby Race During Disney Cruise

I'm sure they have this on all the cruise ship, but this one is hysterical.

This was the baby race held during our last cruise on the Disney Dream. It was a riot! Baby Matthew was torturing not just his parents, but most of the audience as well!




Zz.

2011 Disney Christmas Day Parade

Did you watch this year's Disney Christmas Day parade? You did? How was it? I didn't. I wrote 2 years ago that I'm done with watching this sham of a "parade". There's very little parade, and too much stuff that I am not interested in. My guess is, it hasn't changed, so there is no reason for me to watch it anymore.

I'm just glad that the parade they normally hold at the theme parks don't have breaks such as this where someone goes on stage and perform while the rest of the parade either stops, or get passed by. When you advertise something as a "parade", one would think that the BIGGEST part of the show should be..... er .... let me think about this ...... hang on .... I know, THE PARADE ITSELF!

But then again, isn't this what you get when you watch American Idol, where the actual singing competition is actually quite short? Or for that matter, the Olympics telecast, where the actual sporting competition is a minor percentage of the air time?

Zz.

The Magic, The Memories, And You (2011 Holiday Edition)

I posted a few days ago of the many "faces" of Cinderella Castle during the Magic, The Memories, And You show during the 2011 holiday season. Well, here's the video that we took that evening during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.




Zz.

Merry Christmas!

Zz.

Rock star mickey

On sale at Target.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and a wonderful Holidays to everyone!

This is the enormous tree in the lobby of the Grand Floridian.

Zz.

Mickey stockings

Mickey Christmas stocking on sale 50% off at menards.

Random WDW Picture

This is from this year's Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights, with the new light sequence for the canopy over Streets of San Francisco.

Zz.

More On Disney's Plan For "Swampy"

Another article on the successful app game "Where's My Water?" from Disney and their intention to turn this into a franchise.

Swampy’s popularity both inside and outside Disney has paved the way for his migration into other media. According to Bart Decrem, Where’s The Water merchandise will soon see the light of day, and Disney.com and YouTube will be partnering up for a string of Swampy backstory videos. He offered no specifics on when that multimedia push will kick off, but he did mention in passing that he appreciates Rovio’s sense for “doing things at the right time.”

This is consistent with an earlier report that will try to expand Swampy's reach into other areas.

Zz.

Tink And Carl In Disney Dream Virtual Porthole

Remember that I posted a few days ago of photos of the virtual porthole on the Disney Dream cruise ship? I said that I thought Carl from Up going up the porthole was the best one of the whole lot. Now you can judge for yourself. I've uploaded a video of Tink and Carl (thanks to Wally for the video) as seen in the virtual porthole.




Zz.

The Many Faces of Cinderella Castle

The most amazing aspect of The Magic, The Memories, and You show at the Magic Kingdom is the amazing display on Cinderella Castle, where there castle turns into a variety of colors and themes. You should have seen the video of this show, especially the one with the holiday tag on it, since I've highlighted it on here. If not, just wait a bit, and I'll upload the one that we took during our last trip to WDW barely a week ago.

Anyway, I snapped quite a few photos of the castle during this show, with the holiday tag. So here are the many faces of Cindy's castle during The Magic, The Memories, and You, with the holiday tag.

 

BTW, has ANYONE ever seen him/herself, or people that he/she knows, during one of these shows?

Zz.

Virtual Porthole on the Disney Dream

One of the most fascinating thing about the new Disney Dream cruise ship is the virtual portholes that are available in the inside staterooms. This is what we had on our last cruise about a week ago. Besides having a live camera looking at the front of the ship, periodically, there were various Disney characters that made their brief appearance on the virtual portholes. You have to be ready just at the right time to capture them.

This is the virtual porthole when we were docked, I think, at Nassau.

And here are the various characters that I managed to capture with my camera. Some appeared for a long-enough time to snap a few shots, but others were quite fleeting.

The first one is Peach from Finding Nemo

This is the lovable Pooh Bear

Goofy also made his appearance

Gimini Cricket was difficult to capture because he was moving pretty fast, and was there only for a very short period of time.

But the best of the whole lot that I did see has to be Carl from Up. The multicolored balloons appeared first, floating upwards, and then you see Carl floating up with it. I wasn't fast enough to capture the balloons, but got most of Carl.

It was a fun cruise even if we just stayed in our room! :)

Zz.

Don't Buy From These People

At the risk of giving them more free advertisement than they deserve, I'm going to rant against these people.

On the last day of our stay at SSR, this piece of crap was slipped through our door. I am certain that they did not get Disney's permission to do this, and that means that they were trespassing on Disney property to do their deed. Furthermore, there have been reports that some of these are scams that try to get your credit card info.

I took a picture of it so that you guys are aware of it. I've had these slipped through our doors when we've been there on previous visits. If these "Pizza Plus" people are reading this (assuming they actually RUN a pizza business and not another scam), here's something I would like to ask you: Why would I want to patronize a business that I know is shady and did not care that they are trespassing on another business's property? And you want my credit card info as well? Next, you'd think I won a big pile of money from Nigeria!

BTW, a trace of the phone number on the flyer gives this info:


Steph & Andy's Pizza Plus
3492 Polynesian Isle Blvd
Kissimmee, FL-34746

Needless to say, I have zero intention of going there for anything.

Zz.

Disney Fanatics, Please Temper Your Enthusiasm

Sometime, as Disney fans, and fans that visit the parks a few times a year, we tend to know almost everything that's going on in the parks. This includes not only the lyrics to various music, but also the spiel given at various attractions. This is especially true for the several attractions such as the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror, and to some extent, Jungle Cruise. I've often seen other guests who recited along with the audio tracks on these attractions, and they were certainly loud enough to be heard by the immediate guests surrounding them.

Unfortunately, we also tend to forget that there are folks who are going on these attractions for the first time. These guests want to hear and experience what they paid for. They didn't pay to hear other guests reciting to them the audio tracks of the attraction. Not only can this be annoying, it is also distracting. What is worse is guests that can't just shut up during such attraction. I've been in the library of ToT attraction, and had people yapping away while the Rod Serling-like voice was setting up the whole attraction for the guests. Not only is this annoying, it also made it difficult to hear, which ruins the whole set up of the attraction. The same is true for the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion. Oh, I've been known to utter a few words along the way here and there (".... to find a way out!!"). But to recite the entire spiel and ruin it for other guests?

Zz.

Fort Wilderness Christmas Decorations

Walking through Ft. Wilderness you can see many elaborately decorated camp sires.

DVC Merry Mixer 12/13/11

A scene from a very busy Merry Mixer, held at World Showcase.

D23 M & M Summary

Overall, pretty good. First morning presentations were interesting. It rained during Candlelight and into MK parade time. Second day - Castle tour good but short. Backstage at Event & Holiday services, and the parade barn, was good. Everything at AK was good: private safari, reception at Flame Tree, and dinner at Camp MM. Ended the night with a private bus ride for 3 of us direct to the resort bus stop. Worth the money.

Sent via BlackBerry

D23 Dinner Special Guest

This is Ron Schnieder, the voice of the original Dreamfinder.

D23 Dinner

More from the dinner at Camp Minnie Mickey with Guitar Dan. A cool night now. Dinner was great.

D23 Dinner at Camp M & M

Starting dinner at Camp Minnie Mickey.

D23 Reception Scene 2

Another scene from the reception at Flame Tree. Really dark now. All the birds have gone home.

D23 Flame Tree Reception

Almost dark. Reception at Flame Tree with wine & hors d'euvres.

About ready to leave

We are chilling out and waiting for out fastpass time for you story mania before we leave for the airport. Our 10-day vacation/cruise is almost over. :-(

D23 Castle Tour

The fireplace with a hidden mickey in a fireworks display on the back wall.