Why I Oughta...

One of the things that I was surprised by was how prominent the Easter holiday was present at the Disney Parks in Tokyo.   Based on this story from 2015, the idea of celebrating Easter is fairly new to Japan  and brands were just starting to package their products with special Easter packaging.  Fast forward two years and you'll see that they've totally embraced Easter at the Disney Parks! From J apanInfo.com from 2015 : With Japan easily getting interested in foreign holidays, and celebrating them in their own unique way, it is surprising to notice, that Easter has so far not being targeted by brands and companies as one would suggest it might do. DisneySea went all-in on Easter.  And they did a really spectacular job! Most of the Easter-related displays were in the part of the park called American Waterfront, so perhaps having most of this stuff displayed there was purposeful?  They also had this big display at the entrance to the park, for all to see. He

As I mentioned yesterday in a post , I spent a few days recently in Tokyo.  Part of that trip included an escape to see both Disney parks located there of course.  Yeah...I went to Tokyo.  And I went to their two Disney parks.  The first park I visited was Tokyo DisneySea.  Pretty incredible place and unlike any other Disney Park I've ever been to.  Over a bunch of posts, I'll share more of that experience including some of the things I saw and rode.  But for now?  Take a look at their Carousel.  It is back in the far corner of the park in the Arabian Coast land that features the Agrabah Marketplace and flying carpets from Aladdin. But that carousel?  First, it is two stories tall.  And then they've built this beautiful building around it.  Just magnificent. Here's the ride listing from the official Tokyo DisneySea site .  They list both the ride duration (2.5 minutes), the capacity (190 persons) and the number of mounts (126).  That's something that the d

I experienced the one that I think everyone likely does:  having to raise the shower head up to actually my height. But, also this one:  a sky lounge.   We were up there on a Sunday night and it was still packed.  Couples, groups.  And us.  Three American dudes and a Canadian.  I had 3/4 of a beer before I had to call it a night.  Loads of fun and quite a few deposits into the memory bank.

The Bird scored this "Future of the Force" badge after she went through Jedi Training.  Her older sister?   Not interested.  Well...that's not true.  She *was* interested.  If it was a private exercise with no one looking.  And on her own terms.  If that was the case?  She'd be all over it. But this should not come as a surprise if you've been following along.  This is the same exercise we went through when I posted about our visit to Raglan Road at Disney Springs .  The Bird danced on stage.  The Babe?  Not so much.

The last construction update that I shared on our New Old Farmhouse was way back in early March when I showed the audio/visual 'chases' that were put in the walls to carry all the various cable-ing back to the basement.   Well, a lot has happened since then.  But let's start with what came after the chases.  The crew put in insulation.  We had a pretty cool mix of foam, batts and blown-in.  Different product for different applications.  As soon as the insulation went in, the street noise went to almost zero.  It was nuts.  After that?  What you see in this photo.  The drywall was hung. For the first time, the rooms took shape and we could get a sense for the light values in each room.  Exciting stuff.  If you're following along with Nat on the insta (as the kids say these days, right?), then you know where we are today and what's been done since I snapped this photo above.  Exciting times! Also, for those following along at home, I've covered other drywa

We were in Magic Kingdom recently and on our way out one morning, we saw this 2 horse coach charging right up Main Street USA.  This is a vehicle that we had never seen before.  And a few quick searches on the Googles, I think I've discovered that it is a rare sight? I've written in the past about meeting the Main Street USA Characters.  The latest of those posts featuring Bea Starr - who is the Chairwoman of the Main Street USA Thespian Society - is here from earlier this year . But this is the first time, I think, I've written about the vehicles of Main Street USA.  Turns out, it is a pretty common topic for various Disney World outlets to cover.   Here's Touring Plans page .   Here's MousePlanet's vehicle page . Just peek at this wiki listing of various Main Street USA vehicles .  They even have photos. The horse-drawn vehicles in that post and in the official Disney World posting about Main Street USA vehicles show the usual horse-drawn trolley

Recently, we were up in Wisconsin just puttering around town when I spotted a sign for 'Auction Today' coming out of the gas station.  I followed a few other signs back into this light industrial park and arrived at this place:  Blue Toad Auctions.  Nat and the kids were with me, so I just left the car running, begged for forgiveness and hopped in to check things out.  The auctions take place on Saturdays at 10 am with a 'preview' session starting at 9 am.  I got there about 10:15 and the auction was already running. The place has seating for more than 100 people and has items displayed up front and down the sides of the building.  The auctioneer was moving fast and getting people to bid on the various items.  The day I was there, the place seemed VERY heavy in sports memorabilia.  And very little antiques and what appeared to be almost no furniture.  Perhaps that's how it always is?  If so, this might not be for us. Nat and I have had luck at the Shipsh