Disney World PF Gathering and Tips for Disney Mania!

[ZapperZ]

Compare to these people (especially the Yeti man), I'm just a lousy amateur Disney nut. :)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15369462.htm

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

From Zz's link -

''I was a beach bum,'' he [James McGowan, aka Yeti Man] says. Thirteen years ago he spotted her in a club and asked her to dance. Talk about heart leaping left side to right side. When the dance ended James told Simone, ''You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. You're going to have my son.'' Simone answered, ''I know I am.''

Now that's a pickup line - and it worked.

 

[Cyrus]

Look what I ran into looking at pictures of Andy Warhol...

 

[ZapperZ]

Look what I ran into looking at pictures of Andy Warhol...

One can actually buy this print. It costs between $150 to $350, depending on the quality of the frame. Don't ask me how I would know such a thing.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Oh no...

They are now cutting out all "smoking" references in cartoons, at least in the UK.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/21/odd.tomandjerry.reut/index.html

I know, and can appreciate, parents wanting to shield their children from certain influences. However, because of this, the rest of us usually are deprived of getting the complete, orginal versions of cartoons that we love. For the longest time, Warner Brothers would not re-release old footage of Merry Mellodies that had rather politically-incorrect references. It is only in the last 4 years or so with the start of the release of Volume 1 of Golden Collection series are these long-unseen classics finally being released on DVD.

This probably is the same reason why Disney still refuses to re-release Song of the South, even after several pleas. Rhett Wickham of the Laughing Place wrote an excellent article a while back on why Disney is making a big mistake by not addressing this part of their past.

http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID510300.asp

There are ways to address this, but it should not be done by pretending it doesn't exist.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

I've always liked, and try to collect, pins that have the Fab 5 in them. However, maybe it's the print, or the image shown on the web doesn't do it justice, but this Mission Space pin of the Fab 5 astronauts looks UGLY! Awful colors, and pretty boring for such a major attraction.

[PLAIN]http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10905027.jpg

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

I've always liked, and try to collect, pins that have the Fab 5 in them. However, maybe it's the print, or the image shown on the web doesn't do it justice, but this Mission Space pin of the Fab 5 astronauts looks UGLY! Awful colors, and pretty boring for such a major attraction.

Yeah, I agree, they should have put more thought into it. It is an unattractive pin. But then some people will buy it regardless.

 

[ZapperZ]

For those of us who do not have the opportunity (yet!) to visit Disneyland Paris, we can only live vicariously through the trip reports of others. This is one such trip report, with outstanding pictures and commentaries.

http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID510670.asp

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

The secret Walt Disney commercials.

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2986

What the House of Mouse had to do during their early, struggling years.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

So, take a guess on what was the most watched TV show in the US last Friday night? Go on, take a guess.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2006-08-29T043649Z_01_N28378093_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-DISNEY-DC.XML

The "Cheetah Girls 2" blew everyone away, and it continues to draw large audience even during its multiple showings since then.

As much as I like Disney, I just don't think I can get into this one, and the "High School Musical" stuff. Sitting just 5 minutes through The Cheetah Girls 2 was worse than pulling teeth! That was as much as I could take before I had to go find another episode of Trading Spaces or Project Runway.

:)

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

. . . , we can only live vicariously through the trip reports of others.

Or in the case of PFers, this thread.

 

[ZapperZ]

Or in the case of PFers, this thread.

I sure hope so! :)

Speaking of living vicariously, it looks like Ernesto will not be affecting my travel at all.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT05/refresh/AL0506W_sm2+gif/150953W_sm.gif

While the Orlando area is still expecting a lot of rain and wind by tonight, it isn't going to be as intense as expected, and so far, all news reports out of Disney seems to indicate that, except for the water parks and a few theme parks closing a bit earlier than usual, things are business as usual. Considering that they have had to withstand Category 4 hurricanes before, this Ernesto here would be a breeze! <pun intended>

Unfortunately, 2 people in our party are supposed to fly out to Orlando some time this evening. So that had to be rescheduled to tomorrow afternoon. I'm glad that I didn't plan on flying out till Saturday.

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

It llooks like Ernesto was a short-lived Hurricane, and will stay a tropical storm then change to depression as long as it remains over land. Flooding may be a problem in many areas.

Avoid Charlotte on Friday and probably Philadelphia too.

Our summer is ending cooler and wetter than usual.

This thread is turning into the combined Disney & Weather Channel

 

[ZapperZ]

Yeah, I agree, they should have put more thought into it. It is an unattractive pin. But then some people will buy it regardless.

Hey, I think I found an antidote for that ugly pin! Not only that, I think Moonbie may have kittens after she sees this!

I just got wind of this set today. It calls itself the "Disney Signature Collection - Chip 'N Dale". So I'm guessing that there will be more of such collection, and this is the first one. It's a 4-pin box set, and it contains the cutest collection of Chip 'N Dale pins! It will be released on Sept. 6th. at WDW.

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/109050773.jpg

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/109050772.jpg

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/109050774.jpg

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/109050771.jpg

Adorable!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Whoa!

I've never read this before, so it was a total surprise. The late Stephan J. Gould, a prominent biologist, once wrote an homage to none other than Mickey Mouse!

http://www.towson.edu/~sallen/COURSES/311/ESSAYS/MM.html

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Looks like Ernesto is finally out of the area, although the Orlando area still has periods of heavy showers today, but nothing unusual.

For those who braved the rain on Wed., they were rewarded with an almost empty theme park - a GREAT day to be at Walt Disney World! Just look at these two pictures taken by an Orlando Sentinel photographer.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_weather_hurricane/2006/08/room_for_more_t.html#more

Zz. <2 more days!>

 

[ZapperZ]

Hum... it looks like Disney's high-tech biometric entrance system had at least one very interested party - the US Government!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/news21/20060831/ts_news21/walt_disney_world_the_governments_1

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

With Labor Day coming up in a few days, Disney has released several pins for this occassion.

These two pins have been released at Disneyland Resort.

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10904556.jpg

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10904303.jpg

And the sole pin that has been released for this occasion at WDW

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/LaborDay.jpg

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Welp, I'm all packed and ready to go (I actually could sleep last night - amazing!). A car will pick us up to the airport in less than a couple of hours.

There are two special items on this trip. First, on Tuesday morning, we will be doing the 2-hour Segway tour at Epcot. We did a brief intro to using the Segway last June, where I got on it for about a couple of minutes. Since I didn't fall off it, unlike George Bush, I thought it might be fun to do the full tour on it. So this time, we will be doing an hour of it indoors (supposedly climbing up hills and going around obstacles) and then, if it doesn't rain, we will go around the World Showcase at Epcot.

Then starting on the 8th and running through till the 10th, it's the annual, largest pin event at WDW, to be held at the World Showplace in Epcot. This year's theme is "http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/event?id=13544"" This will be the 2nd pin event that we are attending, so this time, we won't be so "ga ga" over the whole thing, and won't make the same mistakes that we did last year. We are already ensured of receiving several Random Selection pins when we get there, and can't wait to see all the goodies that we will get as part of attending this event. BTW, the event will be open to the public on Sunday the 10th at 11:00 am.

I'll try to post daily reports and pictures whenever I can. And oh, Moonbie, we will be having Breakfast at Cape May on Monday. Hopefully we'll get to see the characters that you had breakfast with last time. :)

See you at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

Have a Safe and Happy trip.

Pin event, eh? You wild and crazy guy!

 

[ZapperZ]

Pin event, eh? You wild and crazy guy!

Yup! That's me! :)

Greetings from the Happiest Place on Earth!

We made it safely, and are now at our "home" at Disney's Old Key West. This is the first time we're staying here, and we made a couple of wrong turns trying to find our building. It is the oldest Disney Vacation Club resort, and it certainly looks like it is well "grown" in.

After we unpack, we're heading straight to the Animal Kingdom to meet up with friends who are already here. I'm starving like mad, though. I'm ready to eat a dinosaur!

Will report more with pictures later.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Sounds like you're already having a great time! Wish I was there instead of sitting here writing this grant. At least it's appropriately gloomy outside so I don't miss being stuck inside, but that only leaves me more sleepy and in need of sunshine.

Say hi to the characters at Cape May for me.

 

[ZapperZ]

Sounds like you're already having a great time! Wish I was there instead of sitting here writing this grant. At least it's appropriately gloomy outside so I don't miss being stuck inside, but that only leaves me more sleepy and in need of sunshine.

Say hi to the characters at Cape May for me.

We will. I'm sure, like us, they'll miss you.

BTW, I have your "birthday pin".

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10945561.jpg

You'll have to wait a bit longer in getting it, because we intend to have everything shipped home with all of the pins we will be getting from the pin event. If not, we'll have overweight luggage like what we had last year, and we're not paying the airlines another $50 for it.

We spent a lovely evening exploring the resort. Here's a picture just outside of our room.

They have a lovely, Key West-themed restaurant called Olivia. The food was quite good. Next to the restaurant is the main pool area (they have a total of 3). Next to the pool, there's this dolphin sculpture display area.
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n320/zapperz/IMG_4643.jpg

It's a very nice resort, but somehow, I think I miss Saratoga Springs. There's a boat loading area for people who want to go Downtown Disney, but you can't walk to there from here.

I'm off to bed to rest up for tomorrow.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Started the day by having breakfast at our resort. It was a perfect outdoor breakfast, right by the boat launch area from OKW to Downtown Disney.

Spent the morning and a bit of early afternoon at Disney/MGM Studios. They were busy, but not too busy. So we were able to get on practically everything we wanted without too much of a wait.

Started with Tower of Terror. Even with Everest, I still consider Tower of Terror to be my most favorite attraction. So we did it twice in the morning. There was hardly any wait.

We then did Rock 'n Rollercoaster and we got to sit right in the very front car. It was certainly a screamer. We didn't get to do this last June, so we're glad we got to do it this time. Might go back and ride this again later in the week.
After that, we went into the Disney Animation academy, and I got to learn how to draw Mickey again! It came out better than last January. I'll post a picture of what I drew later. This is a picture of the studio where you sit down and learn how to draw different Disney character.

We then had lunch at Sci Fi Dine-In theater, even though we didn't make any researvation. We only had to wait about 10 mins for our "car".

We then walk around the streets of America, and they're well along in putting up lights for the Osborne Spectacle of Lights.

We then did the Backlot Tour, something we haven't done since they removed those houses. So this is the so-called special effects show they have at the beginning. Here, one of the audience volunteer is being drenched with tons of water.

This next one, of course, is the familiar scene where you got your water, fire, and earthquack.

We're resting for the afternoon, and will take the boat to Downtown Disney tonight. It will be an early evening for us since tomorrow will start rather early with a very early breakfast at Cape May with the characters.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

The late afternoon and evening were wet and drizzly at WDW. So we didn't do much other than walk around Downtown Disney. Did quite a bit of pin trading and managed to trade a few cast lanyard pins that we were looking for. It was a good haul. We also scoured through World of Disney looking at things that they had that we might want. We'll get them later in the week once we have decided a large enough quantity to ship home - we get 10% off on most purchases at World of Disney with our annual passes.

We had dinner at Portobello, again with no advance reservation. I would not recommend the minnestrone. However, their red snapper special was delicious. I would have preferred to eat at Fulton's, but they looked very full even from the outside.

Tomorrow will be Epcot day. We will start off with character breakfast at Cape May, and then continue the rest of the day at Epcot. We plan on doing Soarin' and Test Track a few times during this trip, so this will commence tomorrow.

Zz.

 

[Evo]

It's just not fair, I would give anything to be there!

At least I can live vicariously through you.

 

[ZapperZ]

It's just not fair, I would give anything to be there!

At least I can live vicariously through you.

You should have come with us this time, Evo. Other than meeting up with a few friends here, we have no one else to play "tour guide" with. And we would have kept you occupied for as long as you wanted.

:)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

A very long day today. We started at Disney's Beach Club with our breakfast with the characters at Cape May. Moonbie should find something familiar here.

The food was OK, but the characters were a lot of fun! Here, Minnie decided to join us at our table.

When she heard that two of our friends are late, she then scribbled a message for the two of them.

After breakfast, we went to Epcot. As expected, throughout the whole day Epcot was not busy at all! We did Soarin' twice.

Obviously, we spent quite a bit of time at The Land.

The 4-year old that's in our party joined the Jr. Chefs to learn how to bake cookies.

[cont. in next post]

 

[ZapperZ]

[cont. from previous post]

We then hopped on over to Test Track and did the single-rider line. While we were in line, they had a technical glitch, and that added about 10 minutes to our wait time.

After that, we went to get out Disney Visa charater greetings at Innoventions West. Mickey and Pluto were there to greet us. We took LOTS of pictures.

On the way to World Showcase, we stopped by the Coke's cool club and tried the different Coke products that they had.

As we were passing by Canada, Off Kilter was in mid performance and sounding as terrific as ever.

We stopped over at the UK pavilion and had pictures with Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. While we were waiting for our picture, Mary Poppins showed up and had pictures with her too!

Just our luck, Belle and the Beast were also there. More picture opportunities.

Needless to say, a very satisfying day. We're going to be resting at OKW this evening and hang around the pool (it's a wet, drizzly evening, it would appear). We have to get up early tomorrow for an early tour of Epcot on the Segway.

Zz.

 

[Evo]

So nice! Thanks for the pictures Zz!

 

[Pythagorean]

The only thing that I remember from Disney World was a tone emitter that changes its tone depending on how far you held your hand from the device. It was soooo awesome!

 

[ZapperZ]

The only thing that I remember from Disney World was a tone emitter that changes its tone depending on how far you held your hand from the device. It was soooo awesome!

I have no idea what that is. Was that something you did at Epcot? Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom? It may not even be around anymore today since they've change plenty of exhibits around here.

Zz.

 

[Pythagorean]

I have no idea what that is. Was that something you did at Epcot? Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom? It may not even be around anymore today since they've change plenty of exhibits around here.

Zz.

Yeah, it was in epcot center in Florida I believe (I've gone to both the California and the Florida one, but I was really young).

 

[ZapperZ]

Yeah, it was in epcot center in Florida I believe (I've gone to both the California and the Florida one, but I was really young).

Yeah, you must have not been there in a while, because they no longer call it "Epcot Center", just Epcot.

:)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Today was a FANTASTIC, MAGICAL day at WDW.

First, we started the morning by doing the Segway tour. The first hour started off with an intense lesson on using the Segway, including moving forward and backward, turning, going up and down a ramp, going in between cones without hitting them, etc. The 2nd hour was a lot of fun, we went around World Showcase, hitting every country and going in an out of various tricky path. The one in Japan was rather difficult, but all of us made it through. The instructor also gave us several trivia about each country. We got to take pictures by Italy.

We ended back where we started, in Innoventions. A special pin was given to everyone who completed the tour. Let me tell ya, it was one of the most fun activities we have ever done. Highly recommended!

We then had time to do Soarin' twice, before hopping over to the Magic Kingdom. On the way there, we got to sit in the monorail front car with the driver! It was very cool since I've never done that before. We took pictures from the very front, and the picture of the terrific cast member. As it so happens, I was wearing my "Please Stand Clear of the Door" t-shirt! The monorail driver's comment to me was "Well, that's the first time I saw that t-shirt!" :) It was a hoot! He then handed us a special "Monorail co-pilot" card, "authorized by Mickey Mouse". I was in heaven!

This is the view from the front as we were approaching the Contemporary.

This was our monorail driver

As expected, MK wasn't busy at all! We went straight to Pirates of the Caribbean, which we missed last June (both at Disneyland and MK) since it was still under rehab. There was practically no wait. We walked right up to the boat! The beginning was impressive, with the image of Davy Jones on the "mist", and there were a lot of inference to Captain Jack, and Jack did appear at 3 different locations. However, I think I was expecting a lot more (and from all news reports, the one at Disneyland seems to be a lot more extensive). So it was a slight letdown.

We then did Splash Mountain, my most favorite attraction at MK. Again, the wait wasn't very long at all, barely 10 minutes.

Here was my first, foolish attempt at getting a picture during the final plunge. It's a big shaky, as you can understand, because I was also hurrying trying to slip the camera under my shirt before the big splash.

[continue in next post.]