Why I Oughta...

It has been two-and-a-half years since I added a photo to my online [coaster collection] with the last one posted was in Summer of 2021 when I added the Riviera Resort down at Walt Disney World to my collection .  Earlier this year, we stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland Resort and either from the hotel room or from the lounge by the pool, I found and came away with this lovely disposable coaster.  One side features the letters G C H.  The reverse is a flower and leaves. The title tells the story of this being the 15th piece of Disney Parks ephemera in the form of coasters from restaurants and resorts.   This is the third Disneyland Resort Coaster; with a Disneyland Hotel one and the Lamplight Lounge Pixar coasters already being posted in the collection.   Here's the Full Disney Parks coaster list: The full Disney list includes: 1. The standard one you see in your rooms @  Walt Disney World resort hotels . 2. This  black and white one from the original Disneyland

Over the years, I've made a small little catalog of Disney Parks Maps from various visits here on the blog.  I'm drawn to various forms of Disney Parks ephemera and have posted some photos online here, mostly so I can remember them and...throw out the actual map.  Here's the tag of all the Parks Maps posts .   And, here's another collection of posts all showing various Disney Parks ephemera .  The last time I shared a Disney Parks map was from 2019 when we went to the opening season of Star Wars Galaxy Edge in Disneyland Park .   Below, is the latest parks map showing the 50th Anniversary of the Magic Kingdom showing Cinderella's Castle on the front.   Below is an inside look that shows the 'Now Programming' for the Tron ride in Tomorrowland. Below is one of the inside spreads featuring the details of "The World's Most Magical Celebration" for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom. For the rest of the catalog of Disney

Back in November, I posted a photo of what I called a pair of "underutilized" Disney MagicBands .  I wrote about how they weren't able to "live their best life" because our trip was cut short.  In a post a week earlier where I posted a photo of Pooh Bear as a 50th Anniversary statue , I talked about how we didn't see too many of those statues due to "unforeseen circumstances".  But, in those posts, I didn't really talk about what we *did* do on our trip.  Besides going to a couple of parks and having some good drinks at my favorite restaurant on Disney property (more on that in a different post, I think), Nat and I were down there for the Run Disney Wine & Dine Race Weekend.   Both Nat and I were set to run the 5K, but she was also running another, much longer race.  I was happy to just do the 5K.  Here, below is my bib.   Our race started in the rain and thankfully we had ponchos.  We stood out there for a couple of hours, waiting in the c

I was thumbing through a Disney World 50th Anniversary coffee table book at the Downers Grove Library last week and I was (of course) drawn to the early days pages.  From the land acquisition (Walt was involved then) to the opening of the Preview Center, the ephemera that they show is pretty interesting.  One of the standouts was this Florida Disney World balloon logo that features the Disney World glove as the center of the Mickey ear balloons. They've moved away from the Vacation Kingdom monicker, but with the 50th Anniversary merchandise that came out this fall, it seems that (at least part of) Disney is leaning into nostalgia.  

These two Disney MagicBands (Orange Bird on the left for him and Epcot Construction Walls on the right for her) barely had a chance.  They got all gussied up and didn't get to live their best life.  Sure, they rode the Magic Express and rode the boat from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom.  But, they had so much more planned for their journey.  These MagicBand stickers are different than the ones we've used in the past, but they seemed to work just fine.  Here's hoping they'll get to live their best life one day. I've posted photos of some of our MagicBands over the years here on the blog including some of the original version (without the circle bump-out in the middle) here with Mary Poppins and Bert in 2016 and with Monorail Orange in 2016 , too.  And the full boxed versions in 2015 and 2014 .  

A couple of months ago, I posted some new coasters for the collection that were from Oga's Cantina in Black Spire Outpost in Disney's Hollywood Studios .  Those were the 37th coasters and 13th Disney-specific coasters.  I mentioned that the rise of parks ephemera in the form of drink coasters is a really nice trend. Today's post is featuring a new Disney coaster from their new (at least to us) resort called Disney's Riviera Resort.  On the ground floor, near the pool, there's a great lounge called Bar Riva .  It is like eating indoors outdoors.  Or, eating outdoors indoors.  The food was good, the place looks great.  And...they have custom coasters that are oval and include this RR-logo that you can find in various places around the resort . This makes 14 Disney coaster sets (thanks, Lamplight Lounge and Oga's Cantina for having to say 'sets') that I've documented on the blog for the collection. The full Disney list includes: 1. The standard one yo

One of the trends that I'm really enjoying in Disney Parks is the additional of some restaurant-specific Disney Parks ephemera in the shape of custom coasters.  I've documented a few of these over the years here on the blog as part of the Coaster Collection .   The last Disney one that I posted was back in 2019 when I shared one from Aulani .   This post is about some coasters from Oga's Cantina in the Black Spire Outpost on the Out Rim planet of Batuu.  Or, you could say it is located in the Star Wars Land inside of Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida.  Either way, you'd be right.  And, if you're interested, check out the full story on the place here on the Wookiepedia .   As for the rest of the Disney-related coasters in the collection, here's the rundown of the (now) 13 kinds 1 . The full Disney list includes: 1. The standard one you see in your rooms @ Walt Disney World resort hotels . 2. This black and white one from the original Disneyland Resort Ho

 A few days ago, I posted a retro photo from a family trip to the Vacation Kingdom back in the early 1980's and wondered both where (inside the park(s)) it was taken and also, what these little tags on our clothes were for during our visit to the parks.   I was maybe four or five years old.  And that would make my middle sisters age 6 and age 12 or so.    It didn't take long to turn up this listing on eBay that shows a "Lost Parent" paper tag that they say is from Disneyland. Source via Ebay listing.  This is NOT my listing, not my tag.  Original here . Now, if I zoom waaaaaaaay in on our original photo, it sure seems to be Mickey and Minnie in this pose on the tag.  Have a look here: So, we're wearing "Lost Parent" tags.  The back of those ( via that *same* eBay listing ) looks like this: Source via this eBay listing.  Not my tag, not my photo.   Pretty interesting to think how much they de-prioritized the telephone number on the form isn't it? 

Walt’s Favorites pic.twitter.com/rhBjQrbwtI — Matt (@HorizonsOne) July 28, 2019 Found this stuff from the Walt Disney Family Museum  via a tweet from @HorizonsOne here  that I thought was worth shining a light on with a blog post. This is a handwritten list of "favorites" from Walt Disney in terms of what he wanted to eat - and the note says that he did this to help his housekeeper Thelma Howard .  The "Jello - All Flavors with Pieces of Fruit" is the one that jumps out to me.   Don't know why...but I love everything about this.  I posted about another little display from the Walt Disney Family Museum that we saw at the Carthay Circle Restaurant in Disney's California Adventure from our trip in January this year. 

We picked up this copy of Life Magazine that features the opening day of Walt Disney World in Florida on the cover.  Being Disney people and vintage/Antique Mall people, this seemed like a good fit for us.  There's a lot of little things to note on the cover including the front row of characters (See Pooh Bear's costume?) The inside headline is all about the east coast move:  "Disney Moves East" with Mickey the Mouse leading the marching band down MainStreet USA. The biggest spread of photos is below and is from this pretty unique angle starting with the Rivers of America and Frontierland in the foreground and you can see the Seven Seas Lagoon in the background.  A few things to note - Frontierland really just had a cul-de-sac and didn't go over to where Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain are today.  And the show buildings where Peter Pan and Philharmagic are located ARE HUGE.  Likely due to the perspective, but still. Filing this under both [ V

Documenting this here on the blog as part of my Disney Parks ephemera collection.  This is the Disneyland Park Map from July 2019 when they opened Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and features a couple of people piloting the Millenium Falcon.  A little bit over a month ago, I posted the map for Disneyland Park and Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris .  This Spring, I posted a photo the map and guide celebrating the 35th anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea . At the beginning of 2019, I posted the Holiday park map for Disney's California Adventure . And one with snowflakes from Disneyland in Anaheim .  In 2017, I posted the special Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party guide and map from the Magic Kingdom.  The first Disney Parks maps that I shared were back in the Spring of 2017 with both guides/maps from Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea .  

I've posted some Disney Parks maps on the blog here over the years.  Mostly for posterity sake and because the parks have been doing a nice job of tailoring the maps to specific windows in time.  Most recently, I shared this Tokyo DisneySea map and guide that celebrates the 35th anniversary of that overall park.  And earlier this year, I posted a holiday-themed parks map from Disney California Adventure and a similarly-holiday-themed one from Disneyland .  And here's one from a Halloween-time Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party . Today's post shows off a map (or as they call it a "Guide to the 2 Disney Parks" at Disneyland Paris.  The cover shows the dates of January 7th --> June 28th of this year and features some legacy Disney Parks characters (Mickey the Mouse, Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear) and the two new, shiny objects:  Marvel (Spiderman) and Star Wars (Darth Vader). Inside, there's a double-sided map.  First for Disneyland Park - which i

In the past couple of posts, I've talked about my trip to Tokyo DisneySea.  Today, I'm sharing a look at the Park Map that they were giving out while I was there.   During the month of February, they were having a 35th Birthday party for the resort.  Or as they call it their '35th Happiest Celebration! Grand Finale'.  Compare this with the park map I picked up on my first trip to Tokyo DisneySea a few years ago .   DisneySea is much younger than 35 years.  It opened on September 4, 2001 , so it hasn't even reached 20 years old yet, but the 'resort' - which includes Disneyland - opened back in 1983.   I've added this post to the [ Disney Parks Maps ] tag page here  where you can see the rest of the parks maps that I've shared including the most recent two from Anaheim that were holiday-themed earlier this year.  

If you're anything like us and have been to Disney Parks from time to time, your kids have probably been covered in various character stickers from cast members.  Most often these days, those stickers are coming from cast members (salespeople) who are manning Disney Vacation Club kiosks in the parks and in/around the resort hotels/property. The stickers that are most common are of just Mickey the Mouse himself.  Either of his head by itself of his whole body .  There are other, what I'll call 'more rare' stickers that you can get inside the parks and I've chronicled some of those.  Most recently, we were given this 'Honorary Aviator' sticker from the guys at Soarin' in DCA .  Job-specific roles on the cast have stickers, too.  Here's one from a custodian .  And one from a Monorail pilot .  And we were given this Minnie Mouse sticker somewhere in the parks - which is less common than Mickey. However, during our stay at Aulani in Hawaii, we cam

A couple of weeks back, I added a photo of the Holiday Season Disneyland Park map to the collection here on the blog and today, I'm adding the companion Christmas/Holiday Season Disney California Adventure Parks map.  You see Minnie and Mickey in their winter gear in from of a big Christmas tree in the cover photo.  The holiday decorations at DCA are fine, but they're not quite as special as the ones at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  The vintage tinsel-laden decor that they put up in Orlando is the best in any of the parks. The full series of posts showing off various Disney Parks maps including both Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland along with some seasonal/special holiday party maps from the Magic Kingdom can be found here .

Have we talked about Aulani?  A little bit on the blog, right?  Welp, here's a coaster that I added to the [ coaster collection ] here on the blog from the Aulani Resort in Hawaii.   This is the 35th coaster in the collection and follows the most recent addition of #34 from the Lamplight Lounge at Disney's California Adventure .  This is the 12th Disney-related coaster in t he collection - which means more than 1/3rd of them are Disney-themed. The full Disney list includes: 1. The standard one you see in your rooms @ Walt Disney World resort hotels . 2. This black and white one from the original Disneyland Resort Hotel . 3. This *new* Walt Disney World resort hotel version that updates the look of #1 above. 4. One from the Irish pub Raglan Road restaurant in Disney Springs. 5. From inside the Magic Kingdom comes this one from the Skipper Canteen . 6. Right outside the Boardwalk Inn Hotel is where we got this coaster from the Flying Fish restaurant . 7. Back in D

Just to make things simple here for the record keeper at the 'official' coaster collection archives, I'm calling this just one coaster.  You can see a bunch of coasters in the photos of this post and one side of them are all different, but just to keep things simple here, let's call this one coaster. And that coaster is pretty neat:  it is from the new (at least kinda new) Lamplight Lounge at Disney California Adventure. As I've posted over time, we're lounge people when it comes to Disney parks and dining.  After taking some advice from Pam at the BoG Podcast, we've sought out more and more lounges.  They don't require ADRs and you can get pretty good food in an atmosphere that we can enjoy and the kids can tolerate. This place - the Lamplight Lounge - is called a 'lounge', but it also takes ADRs.  Or at least reservations via the Disneyland mobile app - which is a bit different than WDW ADRs.  But, you get it, right?  Also, the food is

Putting this photo here in the ole' online diary to note the inclusion of this seasonal Parks Map.  I've posted other Disney Parks maps/guides including both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea here .  And a guide for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party from 2017 here .  Over the past ten days or so, I've posted some items from our recent trip to DLR but really didn't mention the trip. We've been to Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Park a few times over the years, but this trip was just a little interlude before a larger Disney-centric vacation.  We stayed for a few nights and spent a good chunk of the days at the Parks in Anaheim.  Would we do things differently?  I think so, but we decided to try something new and NOT take my own advice.  What was that advice? From this post on Disneyland in 2016, I said : If you get a chance, stay at the Disneyland Hotel at the Disneyland Resort. They really drape themselves in Walt and the place is themed to Di

Another day and another post on something we picked up at a Disney Park.  This continues the last few posts about items at Disneyland Resort.  Above is a Mickey Mouse "Honorary Aviator" sticker that they give out in the Soarin' line at Disney's California Adventure.  It is bigger than the normal "Mickey Stickers" that they hand out all over and is the size of the celebration buttons. This is a little different than the 'job role' stickers like the other WDW-related ones we've picked up including a  Honorary Custodian  or  WDW Monorail Pilot .  It is ride-related and includes Mickey, so not sure where exactly to put it. But, that doesn't matter.  Get it next time you ride Soarin' in DCA. Full list of items that are free from Disney Parks: This "Honorary Aviator" Mickey the Mouse sticker (that's the size of a button) from the Soarin' queue.   A cute set of  Lightning McQueen and Stanley Disney California Advent

Everyone always talks about how much Disney park visits cost.  And they do, indeed, cost quite a bit.  But, there's value all around if you look for it.  Most of the time, that value comes from spending quality time with your family.  Some other times, that value comes from the little things that you can pick up/get/do around the parks. I've written about these various 'freebies' around the parks here on the blog.  Full list is below.  Today, is the second day in a row posting about one of these things and they're both transportation-related.  These in the photo at the top are from Disney's California Adventure and are available at Radiator Springs Racers in Carsland.  If you ask the cast member, you can choose between Lightning McQueen and Stanley.  With three kids, we were able to get both! The kids wore these (the boy on his hat, the girls on their lanyards) all day.  Disneyland Resort does NOT do pin trading like they do at Walt Disney World (it is ha