Why I Oughta...

Back at the end of July, I posted a photo of a Walt Disney quote that they've hung on some construction walls at WDW in Orlando .  Here's another one that caught my eye.  Again, kudos to Stanley for the sponsorship that seems apt for the place/time/space in terms of sponsoring some of the construction work going on and to the imagineers for turning what would normally be an eyesore into something worth taking a minute to take in while walking towards the International Gateway behind Epcot. As for the quote itself, I'm drawn to it because of that word 'curious'.  Something that when I hear someone say, I always perk up and tune in to what they're talking about.  I've done hundreds of interviews for hiring folks (doing some these days to hire people for our team) and when describing themselves, if I hear 'curious' as part of the description, that always makes me sit up in my chair.

As seen on a construction wall at the International Gateway , where they are putting in the new Skyway station .  Pretty clever sponsorship from the folks at Stanley Tools.  From t he Stanley sponsorship page  - that may need to be updated based on Lights, Motors, Action going away : Official Tool Provider of the Walt Disney World Resort, with over 200 branded signs in 40 Disney properties. This 10-year alliance includes branding, business-to-business and special program elements. STANLEY is one of a select group of alliance partners. The partnership includes construction wall signage throughout Walt Disney World Resort. STANLEY, DEWALT and MAC logos are featured at the Walt Disney World Speedway, and STANLEY, MAC, Proto and Vidmar products outfit the Lights, Motors, Action garage and the test track queue line and ride.

Last week, I posted a photo of the Tokyo DisneySea pin that I picked up on my trip there for one of the girl's collection.  Today, here's the companion Tokyo Disneyland pin for the other girl.  They're very close in terms of looks and this was, as far as I could tell the only version of the park-centric pins that were available.  (at least in the store I was in at DisneySea) The cards on these are plastic, so that's a big difference between these Tokyo Disney pins and the domestic ones sold in the US parks.  Also, the backs are quite different as each of these has the specific park listed on the backs, which is kind of neat.  I bought another pin (non-park-specific) and that back is different than these, so I'm thinking that the park-specific ones have their own stamped backs.

Mickey the Mouse was born on November 18th, 1928.  And we happened to be in the parks on November 18th of 2016.  As we walked in, they handed out these cute pins.  They're all over eBay for up to $7 a piece, which is nuts.  Ours will be on the girls pin boards where they'll be right in line with their other pins they've collected/traded for over the years.

Last Friday, I posted some images from the Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge from the trainroom that featured Walt's Carolwood Pacific line .  In looking through some photos from that same visit, I found this one above that shows Walt himself riding the very Carolwood Pacific line.  Sure, the train line and track layout is neat, but look at that berm?!?  And all the variation in his elevations.   According to Forbes , it was four acres (and they apparently built a new massive house in 2001), so he had plenty of space to spread out.  A guy can wish, right?

If you find yourself down in Orlando at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, take a moment to head over to the Villas - which have been recently renamed the Boulder Creek Villas - and go to the "train room".  There, you'll see a bunch of stuff from the Carolwood Pacific train line.  That's the line that ran in Walt Disney's backyard.   They have two of the cars there that you can check out: I took some other photos of the train room (it is a neat space with a roaring fireplace and lots of comfy chairs) that I'll post at some point.  But these two cars, and the box they're in - which has a tramp art style to it - are the stars of the show.  Take the ten minutes after your meal in the Lodge to wander over to the Villas to check them out.  Neat stuff.

For the second year in a row, we participated in Reddit's Disney Gift Exchange with the girls being the 'intended audience' of the gifts being sent and received.   Here's my post from last year's exchange where we gave away some Peter Pan and Wendy gear to a Redditor .   I'll post the details of what we 'gave' at some point, but here's the details on what we were sent.  I posted the full note here on RedditGifts, so you can see the full story .  Our "Santa" was super thoughtful and asked a bunch of questions.  Turns out, they were in couple in Kansas who are Disney fans (just like us) but don't have kids, so they loved (so they said!) being paired up with our girls.   The day the box arrived, we let the girls open it.  And on top was a sweet little note from their pal Mickey: And under the little tote bag was this bounty!   Ermahgerd ! Tons of stuff for both girls.  They were in heaven! And some pins f

I'm a sucker for Disney stuff.  And with our two girls getting into Legos and being totally addicted to anything in a 'blind bag', there might not be something that is more addictive in our house than these Lego Disney Mini Figures.   There's a set of 18 different Disney characters in what I think everyone is presuming is the first edition of multiple editions that came out earlier this year. We've been picking up blind bags here and there, but I also went on eBay and bought a dozen bags.  The girls have begun to go through them, but we're no where near the full set.  No Ariel so far.  And like three Captain Hook's?!?! But, we did get Ursula that you can see down below.  She's pretty great! The whole Disney Vinylmation thing ran it's own course and we stopped buying them, but these feel different.  With a Mini Figure display in the works, these seem like something that the girls can get after.  If a second edition/season comes out (which

Spotted this font and logo treatment for "Mister Fantasy" on the side of the vending machine that was spitting out Italian Serie A Soccer balls in the main Plaza in Cortona. Looks familiar, doesn't it?

I came across this print from Shag ( Josh Agle ) at Boutiki and it caught my attention because it reminds me of this Tiki Room one by Joey Chou that we picked up last year .  This one (above) doesn't have the Dole Whip reference, but is still pretty cute. The back reads: "On hot summer days, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room offers a magical, cooling, and calming oasis for the Disneyland guest.  Unchanged since 1963, the Tiki Room still gets kids to squeal in delight and adults to relive their childhood."

Where in the World is this?   If you guessed it was right at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, you'd be wrong.  This is a replica that is set up in One Man's Dream inside of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy.  Don't mind if I do.

We picked up this Limited Edition Annual Passholder "Commemorative Collection" Pin.  This was released on April 1st and is the 2nd in the quarterly series that Disney puts out for Annual Passholders.  The back says that this is limited to 3000 total pins and I'm not sure how they distribute these to the various locations in all four parks plus Disney Springs. This one features Figment and Epcot and has "Est. 1982" on a shield behind Figment. We found this one at the Frontier Trading Post in Frontierland .  Well...it is kinda on the way to Frontierland from Liberty Square. We were in that store trading pins with the girls at the end of March when a crazy-pin-person in front of us in line asked the cast member in the store if the Annual Passholder pins were in yet, and the cast member said they'd be getting them on the following day. I didn't even know that these AP pins were a *thing*, but then once I did, I made it a mission to get there early

If you pause for a moment as you go under the elevated train tracks as you enter the Magic Kingdom and look to your left or right, you'll come across some vintage posters hung up that represent various rides around the parks.  This one, featuring Carousel of Progress - was one of about four that I spied on our last trip.  *This one*, however, was worth the stop and photo.  Why?  Because..."It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." What's that?  Oh...nothing.  Just one of my favorite experiences at the Magic Kingdom.  Sure, the last 'scene' needs updating, but with the oncoming rush of various VR headsets in the news these days, dare I say that what is old is new again?  Could they just update the clothing and claim the thing that the kid and grandma are wearing on their heads are just Virtual Reality headsets from Samsung? The little plaque below the poster reads: The carousel of progress first premiered at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.  Th

The folks at Disney are always conducting consumer research on a wide variety of topics.  Everything from parks experiences to transportation to hotels and amenities.  In fact, earlier this year, a big part of the online Disney community was up in arms because of a few survey questions that probed on the consumer's willingness to pay for things like in-room Wi-fi and the Disney Magic Express bus transportation from MCO to the Disney Resorts in Florida.   We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel earlier this year, but have also stayed at the Poly and Bay Lake Tower in Orlando at Walt Disney World in the past months, so I am not sure which visit this specific survey is tied to, but it focused on 'amenities'.   The survey opened with questions about how important things like coffee makers, refrigerators, a digital safe, hdtv, usb plugs, night lights, open shelving vs. drawers, etc.  They asked on a scale of 'not desirable at all' to 'extremely desirable'.  Th

Spotted this Zootopia wrap on the Orange Monorail down at the Walt Disney World Resort in late March.  Having talked about this with Nat, we're both *so* happy that this movie was good AND that it is doing so well.  Often times, you don't get both.  Good on Disney for promoting the movie on the Monorail around the Magic Kingdom on the resort line. And, while we're talking about Zootopia, if you have 45 minutes, watch this documentary on the making of the movie.  ( update on 4/19/16...this movie has been switched to private.  So..it doesn't work any more! )

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 Disney itself.  Not far-away polynesia or 1920's New Jersey Shore.  But Disney.  Walt and Mickey.  Mickey and Walt. I posted a photo from the Tangaroa Terrace restaurant featuring Walt and the Tiki Room Birds before, but here above is the telephone and internet information guide that they leave on the nightstands.  When you open it all the way up, you get this cool photo of the man himself sitting as his desk with a Donald Duck standing there while he yammers away on the phone.  Pretty clever way to bring some history from the archives back to everyday use.  The touches - including the headboard (which I'll get to!) are just spectacular.  Can you get a cheaper room at one of the "Good Neighbor" hotels right across the street from Disneyland?  Sure you can.  But you can't match the magic of being in the Disneyland Hotel i