Why I Oughta...

The last time I posted about a Disney Pin was back in November of last year , but as we were sorting out some of our traders vs. keepers, I came across some of the finds that the kids had secured sometime between last fall and now.  I'll post a few of these over the next few days, starting with these two:  a Pumba one on the left.  And a Stitch one on the right.  Both of these are, surprisingly, not scrappers.  They have nice edges, strongly-printed backs and clear writing on the reverse.  They also are super smooth on the front with evenly-applied enamel. The Pumba one is a cast member exclusive pin with a "Hidden Mickey" but the Stitch one appears to be one that was either part of a collection sold at a store or maybe in a blind bag.  Neither of them are very rare - based on the prices they're fetching on eBay.

I don't know exactly what I was doing - maybe waiting for Nat or trying to find some shade.  Or both.  But, I found myself face-to-face with a tree that had this plaque right underneath it on the entrance side of the World Showcase at the Epcot Center on our most recent trip.  This is right behind the Refreshment Port and that little body of water you see in the background is the pond/lake/lagoon that is normally done up with the flower quilt during the Flower and Garden show.   But, back to that tree.  And the plaque.  Here's a close-up of it: It is a Quercus virginiana - a Live Oak.  The plaque at Epcot reads: Native to Southeast United States This stately tree measures its lifetime in centuries.  A massive tree, the "Live Oak" can reach a height of 60 feet with 100-foot spread.  The wood is very strong and hard, making it one of the heaviest of North American trees.   Those of you paying attention know this isn't the first time I've post

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.  Birding is a prime example.  A y

I've posted about Walt Disney World Transportation Cards in the past here on the blog.  They're cards that are given out by Transportation cast members (boat captains, bus drivers, monorail pilots and what-have-yous) to guests at seemingly random intervals.  In December of 2016, I posted about how we scored a pile of them from a boat captain on our way back to the Wilderness Lodge .  And in August of last year, I posted a Friendship Boat card that one of the kids was given on a ride to the Hollywood Studios .  And most recently, on January 1st of this year, I posted a photo of the coolest (at least to me!) Transportation Card:  the Electrical Water Pageant . Today, I'm sharing another card in the series:  the Motor Cruiser.  This is the boat that takes people to/from the Magic Kingdom and what I think might be my favorite Disney Resort Hotel - The Wilderness Lodge.   And this might be my favorite boat?  It has these big windows that they usually have wide open and ther

Starting the year out the right way:  celebrating vintage Walt Disney World with this Electrical Water Pageant Transportation Collector Card. I've posted about these in the past.  Here's one from the Friendship Boat that we received leaving the Yacht Club dock as we headed towards Hollywood Studios.  And here's a post from December of 2016 (can't say "last year" any more?!?!) showing a set we received from a captain on our way to the Wilderness Lodge . This one is kinda odd, isn't it?  I mean...it isn't exactly transportation, right?  You can't ride on it?  I guess it does move, but if that was the only requirement, they'd offer cards for things like horses that you can't ride or some of the other maintenance vehicles?  Maybe they do?!?!

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 .

Do you guys follow Boyfriends of Instagram ?  Besides all the pizza nerdery that I follow on (as the kids say...) Insta, my favorite account *has* to be Boyfriends of Instagram .  For those of you new to this handle, it is a place where people share images and videos of people forced to take ridiculous instagram photos of their girlfriend/spouse/partner/friend/etc. So, when I came across this weird situation right in front of Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom down at Walt Disney World, I knew that I had witnessed a 'Boyfriends of Instagram' moment myself! Check out what this Dad (I'm assuming??) is doing to get *that* special photo of his daughter in her big, Princess dress.   This is taking place up the ramps that are open sometimes, like right in front of the opening that you take to go 'under' the Castle.  During a super busy time.  You can see all the other people just walking past trying to experience the Castle.  All the while....Dad is being a

That's a shot of Nat and I on the Tower of Terror down in Orlando at Walt Disney World.  It was taken at mile 10 of the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  And it was the first time that I had ever been on the ride.   Under normal circumstances, I would have been able to fend off the pressure from Nat to ride on something like this, but perhaps it was the half-marathon brain fog that weakened me and dropped my defenses.  I pity the person who had to sit in my seat after we left.  I was soaked at this point from the humidity and my back was starting to seize up.  I left a pool of sweat behind, I'm sure.  You can also see the other people to Nat's right that were running the race, too.  The dude looks like he's reading his phone, though?  Total pro move, I guess?

There is apparently an entire set of these small, annual passholder buttons that you can/could have scored at the 2017 Food and Wine Festival at Epcot Center this fall.  Eight of them , in fact.  Alas, we have just this one that we picked up at the Light Lab .  I'll stick it on the pin board along with some of the other "non-pin" Disney Pins like this "Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse" button we scored on a visit to the parks on Mickey's birthday last year and the  @wdwtoday Twitter button I posted about yesterday . 

We ran into the @wdwtoday folks at the half marathon expo where they were handing out these buttons - which I'm not totally sure I understand.  Didn't stop me from grabbing one, though. Is this a button that *they* wear?  Or...am I supposed to wear it in the parks to tell people that I'm tweeting things?  

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.

During a recent trip, we finally found time to sit down and have a beverage in the Abracadabar on Disney's Boardwalk where they have these neat, custom coasters.  It doesn't do any magic tricks or illusions like the "posters" on the wall, but it is cute to see the top hat as cocktail glass being used here, isn't it?   Full [Coaster Collection] is here .  Including this new one, I'm up to 20 total coasters in the collection and 9 (and counting) Disney-specific coasters including this one from the Boathouse , the Flying Fish restaurant , the Skipper Canteen , Raglan Road restaurant in Disney Springs,   the Disneyland Hotel and Walt Disney World resort hotels  as well as the *new* Walt Disney World resort hotel version .

The King of the Ball Tossers came home with this It's a small world pin from a trip earlier this year.  We have a few IASW-based pins, but they're mostly modeled on the little kids in the ride.   This is genuinely one that *he* picked out.  Without any of our help.  Which...I think was a surprise to everyone.   One of the projects I have on my list to kick off is pin boards hung up in the house.  Maybe in the basement?  Or in the kids' rooms?

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 .

I had this experience riding the monorail from the Polynesian earlier this fall.  We had just finished breakfast and I had to split to do something without the family, so I rolled into the monorail sans stroller, sans diaper bag, sans kids, sans wife.  And had the whole thing to myself.   Weird.  But quite delightful at the same time.  

I almost got to half a million.  Pretty sure that's the most points I've ever scored on the ride.  That puts me at Level 5: Ranger First Class .  But that's not the best part.  The Bird broke 10K for the first time.  She's getting better aiming and scoring points on Space Ranger Spin.   To infinity...and beyond!

You can't roll a stroller into a Disney World hotel and not have someone hand you a Mickey the Mouse sticker.  But a Minnie sticker?  Hmmm....think this was the first and only time one of the kids scored these.  She's the same size as the normal Mickey ones, but has a yellow background instead of the standard white.  You can add this to the list of 'free' things that you can score at Walt Disney World.  The most recent one that I posted about was this Honorary Custodian sticker that one of the kids received for picking up some garbage. These things aren't HUGE (or Yuuuuge...if you'd prefer), but they do make for nice little moments for families that don't cost any money down at Disney.  Here's my list that I've chronicled on the blog. This "honorary custodian" sticker from the Cast member who takes out the trash A Friendship Boat Transportation card The Babe was an Honorary Jungle Cruise Skipper and got a badge, but I don't

Some of the best fireworks at Walt Disney World are clearly New Year's Eve.  And  we've seen those from our room at the Polynesian Village Resort .  I posted about that experience  here  and  here .   That show has ruined me for just about any other fireworks show .   The second best?  Might be Hallowishes that they put on during  Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party .   We went to the party one night, but we also were staying at the Grand Floridian during another night that they hosted the party and we did not attend.  We did, however, head down to the pier to catch the show from near the water and it was pretty great.  Perimeter fireworks were still great - not quite as great as being dead-on from the Polynesian - and light up the waterfront.  There was a small crowd down on the end of the pier, but we stayed next to Narcoossee's and were able to enjoy them all by ourselves.   We've experienced the various fireworks shows from Bay Lake Tower, but

We walked from the Grand Floridian to the Polynesian one morning recently for breakfast at Kona Cafe and on that walk, we came across this large Tiki.  He is outside one of the Longhouses, just a bit west of the Grand Ceremonial House.  In what is seemingly a random location.  But, he is big.  And angry looking.  And something that makes your stay at the Poly just a little.bit.more special.  I've written about the Tiki Room at DLR here .  And I've posted photos of some of the other art at the Polynesian including this painting  and this print that we picked up in Boutiki .