Random WDW Picture

Mr Toad, found in the Haunted Mansion Pet Cemetery.

Zz.

Disney Dream Cruise with Food Network

Some of us won't be home at this time, so it may be time to set up the DVR for this one.

This one-hour special brings together some of Food Network's favorite hosts for a vacation like no other. The Kitchen's Jeff Mauro and Katie Lee, Chopped's Amanda Freitag, and Guy's Grocery Games' Melissa d'Arabian, along with their families and friends, set sail on The Disney Dream cruise ship for three days of sun, fun and food. Go behind the scenes as the hosts go where no cameras have gone before — the inner workings of the ship's galleys, the kitchens, where The Dream's talented chefs prepare food for thousands every day. And no cruise would be complete without surf, sand and, of course, incredible meals.

Airing dates:

Fri, March 27, 8|7c
Sat, March 28 3a|2c
Sat, April 4 12|11c

Zz.

Major Differences Between Disneyland and Walt Disney World Experiences

This is a nice article that sums up the differences in experience at Disneyland in CA, and Walt Disney World in FL.

The size of WDW is, to me, an advantage, as I had stated a while back. There is just this lack of a "buffer" between the unorganized, real world and the theme park at Disneyland. Whereas at WDW, the size allows it to force the guests to emotionally, or psychologically separate themselves, consciously or unconsciously, from that real world. And certainly, WDW is a resort in the truest sense.

Zz.

New Chicago Disney Store Pins

... or at least, they are new to me since I haven't seen them before.

Thanks go Anne for finding these. Supposedly, one pin can be found at the Michigan Ave. store, while the other is at the State Street store. I do not know if it is going to be that way, or even both can be found at both stores eventually.

Zz.

8 Walt Disney Quotes That Are Actually Fake

.. at least according to this article.

The 8 quotes listed here that were attributed to Walt are:

1. If you can dream it, you can do it.
2. Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever.
3. The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.
4. The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.
5. You can't just let nature run wild.
6. Leadership shows judgment, wisdom, personal appeal and proven competence.
7. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.
8. The very things that hold you down are going to lift you up.

I must admit that I am familiar with only the first one, and may have had the inkling that it was from Walt.


Now we know.

Zz.

A Disney Monorail For Sale On E-Bay

So, anyone bidding for this one?

Happily though, thanks to the Internet, you can now purchase quite possibly the next best thing – one of Walt Disney World’s monorail cars. It’s listed up for sale on eBay, and according to the seller, it’s the only Disney monorail to make it into private ownership. It will cost you a pretty penny though. Bidding starts at $160,000. 

I'd like to see someone covert this into a diner! :)

Zz.

"Frozen 2" Is A Go!

Bob Iger has just announced at the shareholders meeting that the sequel to "Frozen" has officially been given the green light.

This is really not that surprising, is it? :)

Zz.

Post-Mortem On "John Carter"

One would think that one  would let bleeding dog lie, but not in this case. An article on Forbes is discussing what could have possibly gone wrong with the $250 million "John Carter", 3 years after it was originally released.

Yes, Princess of Mars was among the first modern fantasy adventure stories. Yes, every fantastical adventure to explode into theaters over the last several decades, from Star Wars to Avatar, from Planet of the Apes to Army of Darkness, owes something to the groundbreaking fantasy fiction on which John Carter was based. But that’s not common knowledge and the film’s marketing gave you little idea of the film’s historical pedigree. For reasons that I dare not speculate upon, the marketing for John Carter was painfully generic and outright bland, with one uninspiring trailer after another. We saw a straight-faced bare-chested white male hero played by a relative unknown, a desert landscape, various alien creatures, and a damsel-in-distress to be rescued and romanced. To audiences that had perhaps grown up on the various would-be rip-offs of this specific source material, they had little reason to think they were seeing anything other than Generic Blockbuster: The Movie.

Certainly, the Disney Studios were in a major turmoil at that time, and right off the bat, the promotion of this film was not very original at all. I think if it wasn't a Disney film, I would not have gone out and seen it.

Still, I wonder if many in Hollywood will actually learn from this debacle.

Zz.

Toy Story Mania and Soarin' at WDW are being upgraded

WDWMagic reports that Toy Story Mania will be getting a third track

The hugely popular Toy Story Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios has faced long waits and high FastPass+ demand since opening, and work began in October of last year on refitting Soundstage One as an additional track. You can read more about the project from our original article last year.

In a related post  Disney confirmed that Soarin' at WDW will be getting a 3rd concourse and an upgraded projection system.  Hope they can find a way to clean the screen more often.

Can You Visit Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland CA, and Walt Disney World All In ONE Day?

This couple from San Diego certainly did!

Michael, 49, and Diane Greening, 51, traveled from San Diego to Tokyo, California and Orlando to hit up three Disney theme parks in just one day.

They, of course, had to make use of the fact that the US lags Japan as far as the time/day is concerned.

Still, did they get to do anything much at those parks? They certainly didn't get to do much at WDW since they arrived right before closing. And really, if I get to go to Tokyo Disneyland, I'll be staying in Japan for at least a week since I want to see quite a bit more of the country.

Zz.

Pirates sail again

According to this post at DIS News, the 5th Pirates of the Caribbean movie, titled "Dead Men Tell No Tales", is in production.

 Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth Pirates film and will bring back several of the original cast. Johnny Depp stars at Captain Jack Sparrow, along with Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs and Stephen Graham as Scrum.

The film is scheduled for release in July, 2015.

The Transformation of Disney's Animal Kingdom

Orlando Sentinel has a story on the current improvements being made to Disney's Animal Kingdom to transform it into an all-day theme park.

All of the construction, of course, is part of a bigger picture.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is undergoing the changes in order to offer guests a true full-day experience. The park typically closes by 7 p.m. and as early as 5 p.m.

With the addition of a "nighttime spectacular" and an Avatar area that is positioned to engage guests after the sun sets, Animal Kingdom will be on par with the other three theme parks at Walt Disney World.

Of course, this is exciting to die-hard Disney fans. The nighttime show should rival the World of Colors at Disney's California Adventure, but I hope they make it so that it fits in with the thematic concept of Animal Kingdom theme park.

Zz.

Random WDW Picture

No, don't hum the soundtrack! Don't hum the sound track! No, don't, DON'T! Oh no!! No! Now look what you've done! That's gonna be stuck in my head all day long!

Zz.

Richard Petty Driving Experience To Close

The Richard Petty Driving Experience at WDW will close at the end of June this year. Supposedly, Disney is planning to use the location for transportation improvement. This is not too far off since MK parking is often full during its most popular days.

Zz.

2015 DVC Merry Member Mixer Dates

This is probably more for my record than anything else. The 2015 DVC Merry Member Mixer dates have been released.

Nov. 24, 2015
Dec. 1, 2015
Dec 8, 2015
Dec 15, 2015.

We missed the one last year because the week we were there, they had a DVC Association meeting instead. So we didn't get all the freebies and trinkets that they gave out at the Mixers. We were not happy.

Zz.

Can't get into Beaches and Cream?

Now that Disney has made it difficult to go to Beaches and Cream without adding it to your advance project plan, there are some alternatives to consider.  DISNews has this post about other options which include using the walk-up window at B&C and heading over to the Boardwalk.

Walt Disney World veterans know that there may be no better place on property to grab a burger and ice cream than Beaches and Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club resort. They also know that because of this it is very difficult to get a table, and since Disney has recently started accepting Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) for Beaches and Cream, it has been much more difficult to walk up and get a table.

Just across Crescent Lake from the Yacht and Beach Club is the Boardwalk resort, with many options for dining that don’t fill up as frequently as Beaches and Cream .

Valentine's Day Mickey and Minnie

Found at a local grocery store (Jewel) near me, just in time for Valentine's day.

Zz.

Goobye, Sorcerer Hat

... I'll miss you.

Zz.

Did Disney Encourage You To Become A Scientist or Engineer?

We all know that what makes the Walt Disney World theme park different than not only other theme parks, but also other Disney theme parks, is that they actually have a very strong educational component to them. At Epcot and at Animal Kingdom, there are attempts to educate the public on various aspects of Biology, Ecology, Environment, Engineering, and Science. The two pavilions of Innoventions at Epcot are filled with such activities.

Still, I've often wondered if there are actually tangible effects out of all these. It is fine to say that you are educating people while they are having fun at a theme park, but where are the evidence that all these actually have a beneficial effects?

I think this is the first time I've actually read about something at a Disney theme park that encouraged someone to purse a career in science. Adam Ruben, a popular, and hilarious writer at Science, recounts his push into studying biology after a visit as a kid to "Living With the Land" attraction, or what was then called "Listen to the Land".

In one essay, I recalled a 1989 trip to Walt Disney World’s EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center near Orlando, Florida. That’s when I first rode “Listen to the Land,” a slow boat tour through futuristic greenhouses in which plants sprouted from Styrofoam, hung from floating rails, and thrived in symbiosis with tilapia farms. “It was the perfect field,” I wrote, “the implementation of technology to treat a widespread problem like world hunger.” (Somehow this response was not sufficient to admit me to a certain high-profile college whose name I won’t mention, not that I’m bitter. Let’s just say it starts with an “H,” and it’s in the Boston area, and it’s not Hult International Business School, Hebrew College, or Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.)

There was something about those plants, something inherently cool about the fact that you could grow lettuce in a nutrient broth or engineer a 9-pound lemon. It recalled similarly impressive horticultural achievements, like the hot dog tree from Big Top Pee-wee. And so, 8 years after my seminal visit to the “Happiest Place without Earth,” I applied to bioengineering programs with dreams of working in a futuristic greenhouse. (Later I’d drop the “engineering” part of bioengineering because, as I’ve said, engineering was too hard.)

In any case, I'm very much interested to read any other accounts similar to this. Or maybe you have a story with an opposite effect, that after visiting a Disney theme park, it turned you AWAY from doing science or engineering! :)

Zz.

The Psychology Behind The Popularity of "Frozen"

Here's a conversation with two psychologist on why "Frozen" became so popular. Who would have thought that one of the reasons is that it had no witch!

My 4-year-old daughter told me that she also liked that it didn't have a witch. 

I wouldn't have thought that until she said it, but it made me more thoughtful about all the other movies -- great movies -- that have scary witches and themes in them.

This was something that little kids under 5 aren't going to have nightmares about. 

Zz.