Why I Oughta...

 ChatGPT:  sure thing.  How's this? I mean...come on. So let us celebrate this grand invention, The Carousel of Progress and its intention. Here, here.   

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.  

I was thumbing through a book that Nat bought for her Dad for Christmas about the early years of Disneyland and came across this caption for one of the photos.  Talks about how Walt Disney and his early Imagineers (which, I'm not so sure were actually called that at the time) had a favorite restaurant:  the Tam O'Shanter.  The caption reads:  "Opened in 1922 and designed by Hollywood art director Harry Oliver, the Scottish-themed Tam O'Shanter in Los Feliz was one of Walt's and his Imagineers' favorite restaurants.  His regular table was number 31, and the eatery still has autographed sketches by studio artists hanging in its lobby.  Oliver's fantasy architecture, which was popular during the 1920's and plentiful in the area, would influence the designs of buildings in Disneyland." The DisneyFoodBlog has a proper review up about the place and includes some photos of Disney art, including a piece that was drawn by the man, himself .  Neat.

I was out walking one morning and came across this little garden railway.  It is not too far from our house, but I've never come across it before, despite walking around for the past few years.  It totally reminds me of the Epcot garden train that is just outside the Germany Pavilion - I've posted a photo of that railway here . This setup isn't huge - maybe eight feet by six feet and has a couple of switches and fie buildings.  There is no locomotive or rolling stock out, so I'm guessing that they run this seasonally.  The pond is a nice touch, too.  There's a little bench for kids to sit in on the far left of the photo above, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that this is a grandpa's house/railway that he runs with his grandkids. I *think* this is O Gauge - or thereabouts - and not a big garden train nor a train the size of Walt Disney's where you could ' ride aboard '.  There are a few cars from the Carolwood Pacific Railw...

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. 

There are a ton of familiar details at Disneyland Park.  The hub layout.  The castle...that is kind of a combination of Disneyland's castle at Disney World's scale.  But, I noticed one little detail that is different.  They don't two-finger point.  This is a photo I took of this Cast Member who was directing people around Disneyland Park.  I was sitting at a restaurant waiting for Nat and was able to watch this guy tell people where to go and what-have-you.  After seeing him one-finger point for about five minutes, I had to snap a photo. What's the two-finger point?  From Travel + Leisure : Disney is all about the details.  Sure, every Disney fan knows that the rides, snacks, and the parks themselves are meticulously designed and maintained so visitors can be delighted at every turn, but did you know that this very thoughtful mentality also extends to the park’s staff as well?  Take, for example, the fact that Disney park empl...

There are these lovely little entrance plaques at some Disney parks that feature a quote from Walt Disney at the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim.  As you walk through the entrance tunnels, you can look up/over and see these and smile and remember that the whole thing was in one dude's mind.  Pretty amazing. I posted the one at the Magic Kingdom in Florida here on the blog back in 2016.  This one, in Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris is a bit different.  First, the dual language thing, of course.  But also the phrases are different. Magic Kingdom : ...and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy.  Disneyland Park: ...and enter worlds of history, discovery and ageless fantasy. 

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 - whi...

I came across this little display and sign inside of the City Hall in the townsquare at the end of Main Street USA at Disneyland Park on our trip.  It is titled "Yesterday" and speaks to the idea of nostalgia.  Written/said by Imagineer Bruce Gordon.  I had never heard of him, but he was an Imagineer who died pretty young - at the age of 56 - back in 2007 .  His work includes the creation of Splash Mountain, the 1998 renovation of Tomorrowland, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Tarzan's Treehouse. Some Disney purists might look at his resume and think he's, ah...associated with some terrible projects.  The 1998 Tomorrowland renovation was panned .  The Tarzan Treehouse conversion from Swiss Family Robinson certainly has detractors.  Same with the Nemo submarine voyage.  Changes to "classic rides". But, this Mercury News piece - which ranks the best and worst Disney ride/attraction makeovers lists ...

On our recent trip to Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort, we had a dinner at the Carthay Circle Lounge.  NOT at the restaurant, but downstairs in the lounge that doesn't require reservations.  We waited in a short line, then were lead into the outer lounge space - that doubles as kind of the lobby - for the upstairs restaurant.  We were *just* outside of the formal lounge, but had nice plush chairs and a little table.  Nat had a cocktail, I had a beer flight and we ate a bunch of the small plates. But, none of that was the star.  Nope.  That's because right beside our table was a display case that had all these Donald Duck products in it.  And if you look closely, the consumer products are all in almost perfect mint condition.  There's Cheese Quackers from Nabisco that has a nice Donald Duck-tie-in.  But then there's just a bunch of random products that they appear to have slapped the Donald Duck name/brand on.  ...

A couple of days ago, I posted a photo of #188 Walt Disney Comics and Stories book featuring Donald Duck and his nephews .  Inside the book were stories about Donald Duck, The li'l Bad Wolf, " and of course Mickey the Mouse in "The Case of the Hungry Ghost".  I haven't read any of them yet, but will get to them soon (I hope!).  In the meantime, I flipped through the book and came across the advertisement you see above at the top of this post for Disneyland "View-Master". The photo at the top of this post is via Google's Photoscan app .  The one at the bottom of the post is just directly from my phone.  There's pros/cons with each one.  Here's a link to the photoscan version on Google Photos that is full-size that you can zoom in/around on if you want the details. There are a few other ads worth sharing, but for now, let's focus on this Disneyland one.  This is from May of 1956 - just ten months after the July 1955 grand opening o...

I've written about the Carolwood Pacific Railroad twice before on the blog here.  First, was in 2016 when we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge Villas - which has a Carolwood Pacific Room adjacent to the lobby .  In the room, there's a bunch of Carolwood Pacific stuff, but the centerpiece is pair of actual cars that came from rolling stock.  Then in December, I posted a photograph from that same room that showed Walt himself operating the locomotive (Steam!) with a few folks on board the Carolwood Pacific.  This post features a photo that I took inside of One Man's Dream at Hollywood Studios .  The description accompanying the photo of Walt oiling the steam locomotive metions that that their home was in HOlmby Hills.  Here's a Curbed LA post about the property (which, I think has a house that was built in 2001 and NOT the home that Walt lived in.  But...does mention the Carolwood Pacific).  I've been fascinated by model trains (thanks, Dad!...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of a Walt Disney quote from a construction sign .  Today is another.  This one rings true, doesn't it?  Or maybe is just a massive an understatement from Walt himself.   This is from the same wall that the "everybody needs deadlines" quote sign that adorned the Disney Skyliner Station construction site outside the backdoor of Epcot at the International Gateway.  You can peek at this post and see that the signs are the same theme. "I believe in being an innovator." -Walt Disney Full archive of the Walt Disney World construction signs (cleverly sponsored by Stanley Black and Decker) featuring quotes from Walt Disney can be found here.   This is the seventh in the collection. One other thing that they've added to the construction wall since we were last there is this Disney Skyliner sign that shows some of the art on the gondolas and the map of the Skyliner. Nat and I were talking and she pointed out someth...

I've posted a bunch of Walt Disney quotes that have appeared on Disney World construction signs (sponsored by Stanley!) over the past year or so.  This one is another one that we spotted on the walk from the Boardwalk to Disney's Hollywood Studios - right outside the Disney Skyway station construction zone. "I've wanted to do things; I wanted to build things, to get something going." -Walt Disney 

This is one of the Walt Disney quotes that seems to resonate really strongly with me.  These are, of course, posted on construction walls around WDW.  And I've documented them over the past few years.   The first one that I can find in the archives is this one that reads "Everyone needs deadlines" and was placed on the construction walls outside of the International Gateway .  I posted it in July of last year.   These are nice ways to dress up construction walls and in a cute way keep Walt's legacy alive.   But this one about standing still... Between my wandering mind and my intense focus on different subjects at specific intervals in time, I really feel that this is something that hits home.  Now....I'm not talking about standing still in the sense of being 'out there'.  Nat will tell you...I'm a homebody.  But, in terms of not repeating the things we do everyday and learning more about different things.  Bi...

"What I have learned from the animal world, and what everyone will learn who studies it, is a renewed sense of kinship with the earth and all its inhabitants." - Walt Disney #WaltWednesday pic.twitter.com/PpzodqQUL7 — Walt Disney Archives (@TWDCArchives) January 17, 2018 I've been thinking a lot lately about our #newoldbackyard and the critters that inhabit it and pass through it.  While there's been some bad experiences (Lizzie got skunk'd!), we've been trying to encourage some good experiences (with the feeders and what-have-yous).  With Spring just around the corner, my attention is going to shift to our first full season of gardening in our new house.  Hopefully, with the right plantings, we'll find even more friends visiting us - and we'll have that sense of kinship with the earth - like Walt says.

Yesterday, I posted another in the series of Walt Disney quotes on construction signs down at Walt Disney World in Florida.  All of them are sponsored by Stanley.  Today...here's another one.  This one hits me right in the belly because it is a big part of the reason why we keep going back:  The joy that I get to share with my children.  Together.   This now has become a 'thing' on the blog where I can document the various versions of the construction signs at WDW.  This one, in particular was located on the same walk as this other longer Walt quote where the Skyway construction is going on outside of Hollywood Studios.   Here   are   a   few   others .

We spotted this sign on the walk from the Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios that features the longest Walt Disney quote of all of the signs that I've documented here on the blog.   And sums up the whole " Disney Bubble " phenomenon. Here are a few others .

Came across another one of these construction signs that includes a quote from Walt Disney on the walls of a job site inside of WDW.  I've posted two of these before including this one about deadlines and this one about curiosity .   This one was on the backside of Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom in an area that I think was where the crane was located as they installed Christmas lights. Unlike those other ones that were outside of Epcot, this one is definitely Fantasyland-themed and is appropriate for the place it is hung. This one, too, is sponsored by Stanley, which I continue to think is a nice sponsorship integration for both parties.

Another in the series of Walt Disney World construction signs that feature a quote from Walt Disney himself.  This one was on the walls outside of Disney's Hollywood Studios in the area where they are building the skyway near the walkway to the Boardwalk. This is the third of these signs I've featured here.  First one here .  Second one here . This one, too, is sponsored by Stanley.  You can find out the details of the sponsorship (which I find pretty clever!) in this post .