Why I Oughta...

The two resorts at the Tokyo Disney Resort are connected with a Monorail that circles the property.  It makes a stop at a train station in between the two parks and to be honest, I've only been on this monorail twice and both times I did the same route:  DisneySea Station --> Disneyland Station.  So, I'm not totally sure where else it runs to and how long the route is, but I thought I'd share my experience. The trip between the two parks is a really nice experience and one that is totally on-theme.  You exit DisneySea and head out to the station.  Buying your one-way ticket at a machine, then you get through the turnstiles and head upstairs to the platform.  A few minutes later...the monorail arrives. And it is full of Mickey Heads.  The outside windows are Mickeys. And so are the handles you use when you are stuck standing as the train moves. Pretty simple, but adds so much to the experience. There was this one last touch in the car I was in:  a "

Having now recently posted about seeing *in real life* the Disneyland Roses in Anaheim and one of the espalier'd trees/shrubs in Fantasyland, I've now think it is worth creating a curated post about all the trees/plants that I've cared enough about in Disney Parks to post about here on the blog.  Consider this my "Growing in Disney Parks" roundup.  Before I get to the posts I've created, in searching about some of the trees, I came across this site: Plants of Disneyland .  Pretty incredible stuff - including a nice look at the Belgian Fence espalier that I posted about last week.    Here's the archives related to plants inside of and around Disney Parks on the blog: 1.  Disneyland Roses .  In a bed near the Disneyland Resort Gateway along Harbor Blvd in Anaheim.  2.  A Belgian Fence Espalier at Disneyland .  Turns out it is made out of Firethorn.    3.  A beautiful Life Oak tree at Epcot in the World Showcase .  4.  There's an inc

Back in March of 2017, I posted a photo of a Storm Trooper Easter Egg-shaped Disney pin that one of the kids traded for on a trip down to WDW.  In that post , I mentioned that the Storm Trooper was one of six pins in the set.  Welp, recently, I was cleaning out my office closet and came across a little bag of Disney pins that included these two:  Darth Vader and Chewie egg-shaped pins.  That puts us at 50% of the set and gives us some new targets on our next trips:  find the rest of these: 1.  R2-D2 2.  C-3PO 3.  Boba Fett If you look closely, I'm pretty sure you can figure out that the Vader one is a scrapper .  The enamel is a little low in spots and that silver post on the left side of his mouth (our right) is standing out from the pin.  For now, I'll put these two on the pin board in the garage and keep a mental reminder of the other three. 

Here comes #32 in the [ coaster collection ] here on the blog with this one from Disney's Contemporary Resort that features the neat retro-ish logo with the monorail running right through the hotel.  The most recent coaster I posted was one from Half Acre Brewery . This is also the #10 of the collection that relates to Disney.  10/32 or 31% are Disney-related with the most recent one from Enzo's Hideaway that I posted back in April of this year .  I found this in a pile of coasters that I had stashed in my office closet after cleaning it out over the Thanksgiving break.  It is now sitting on my desk along with a few others and will get used for a while before being discarded. The ten Disney-related ones include: 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

We picked up this Flower and Garden-specific Passholder car magnet from Epcot on a trip down there earlier this year.  Pretty cute Mickey with a butterfly on his nose, right?  We've put these Passholder magnets on our car in the past, but they always get ripped off by people.  I'm going to put this on my car this week and we'll see how long it lasts.  Any guesses?  I'll set the over/under at 14.5 days. 

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the first Disney Pin Board that I hung in the garage .  Today, you can see the larger pin board that I hung above it in vertical orientation.  This one is about 2.5x the size of the original board and can hold A LOT of pins.  Two weeks ago, I picked up a couple of these large-scale cork boards at a garage sale for $0.50 a piece.  And they threw in another smaller one that I might or might not use (depends on how far we get with our current volume of pins).  I decided to put this one *above* the first pin board mostly because it is out of reach of the kids.  I contemplated putting it right next to the first, full board, but because of where our stairs are located, that would have put this second board right within reach of the kids.  The downside is that I hung this with screws.  I learned from hanging the first one that once full of pins, these boards get really heavy.  And that means that there's no way of hanging these things that will work -

After years of collecting, trading and buying Disney pins, it felt like finally time to begin to take them out of their various Ziplock bags and boxes and put them out in a place that we can enjoy them.  What you see above is the first Disney Pin Board that holds a variety of pins that the kids and I have collected over the years.  This board came from a garage sale and if you look closely, you can get a sense for where our collection is *going*.  Hint...look up.  More on that in a different post. If you care to investigate, you can click here to see the Google Photos version of this photo .  There, you can zoom all the way in and figure out what is what.  Try to find the "Pooh Bear Collection"!?!

One last item from our recent Antique Mall visit and this one, too, is Disney-related.  Unlike both the Disco record and the Disneyland tray , this WDW Mickey Mouse backscratcher was something that I couldn't live without. I never knew how much I had to scratch my back until this thing came into my life.  They're a dime a dozen (or more like $10 to $12) on Ebay, but this one was just a couple of bucks.  Thus, it came home with us. But, the other part of this that I was drawn to was what you see below:  The Globe Mickey. If you turn the backscratcher sideways, you'll see that there's a "Walt Disney Productions" printed on the backscratcher, which helps date it 1 . There's a hole on one end of the scratcher which is just screaming out for a nail to be used to hang this thing.  Maybe down in my shop?  Or maybe next to the pinboards in the garage? Also, it is clear that the Disney bug has struck me when it comes to vintage find hunting, rig

Just posting this here to mark the beginning of our Lego Disney Cinderella Castle build for the Summer.  Or what is officially called "Disney Castle Playset - By Lego" .  This is page three and, while we actually got to this spot about a week ago, I'm just getting around to posting now.  So, once we complete it, let's add seven days to the tracking.  Also, Step 3 is where we already ran into trouble.  Why?  Because why wouldn't a seven year old who has this Castle set in her bedroom for seven months open up bag one and tinker around.  The only problem?  When we sat down to do it together, we had to scavenge together parts from bag one that were littered across the various bins.  In some cases, we swapped in wrong color bricks.  Or two smaller bricks to make up the composite of a larger, spec'd one.  We're getting it done and I figure since most of this is the substructure/undercarriage, the colors don't matter so much because they'll be buried

We were at Hollywood Studios recently and it was very busy.  Very busy. That's fine with us because we don't spend all day in the parks, but it also means that the operations at the Parks pull out some of their lesser-used entertainment options.  In Hollywood Studios, that mean that we saw some of the "Citizens of Hollywood" .  On my way to the bathroom down by Tower of Terror, I saw this guy standing on the curb reading the newspaper (The Hollywood Star, btw).   Turns out, it was Jack Diamond - the talent agent .   He's not on Main Street USA, but I'm still counting him as one of the characters we've come across.  Here's the rest of the list from WDW: Honorable Christopher George Weaver , Mayor of Main Street USA Scoop Sanderson , Main Street Gazette Reporter, Town Councilman and Pin-thusiast Chief Smokey Miller , Chief of the Main Street Volunteer Fire Department, Mayor George Weaver's “right-hand man” Ms. Hildegard Olivia Hardin

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!) and - as you guys

Look at me.  All over the #PurpleWall at the Magic Kingdom .  Just give me a pair of Rose Gold ears and I'd be a hit, right?  Also, note that this was taken *right before* t hey updated/changed the #purplewall in Tomorrowland to be a bit more interesting.  Old school is the way I roll when it comes to Walt Disney World famous selfie spots.  

As seen on the dock outside of Disney's Contemporary Resort.  Looks a lot like what we see on Lake Elizabeth in Wisconsin.  There are so many things that we haven't done in the Vacation Kingdom, including fishing.  Who knows...maybe when the kids get older, we'll give this a shot.  When we were recently staying at the Boardwalk, we saw a family fishing off a pontoon boat right outside of the Boardwalk - and they kept reeling in fish after fish.  The Vacation Kingdom , indeed.  

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 something: 

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 

We stopped by the entrance to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge on a recent trip and the Babe was - understandably - excited about the new land.  Can't wait until 2019 when we'll have to make a trip back to take it all in as a family.

On a recent trip to the V acation Kingdom , the Bird traded for this pretty great Pooh Bear pin.  It is a good-sized circle with just the silhouette of Pooh on it.  I've posted this other 'safety-pin' Winnie the Pooh pin before on the blog .  The Bird has quite a good Pooh Bear collection on her board that this one will go. 

Here comes #27 in the [ coaster collection ] here on the blog.  This one is from a place called Enzo's Hideaway and Tunnel Bar - which happens to be down in Disney Springs.  And being as such, this one marks the 10th coaster that came from a Disney property as part of the collection.   The most recent Disney-related one was from the Abracadabar.   The other Disney ones are varied and include 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 . We had dinner down at Enzo's Hideaway recently and I'll give it a mixed review.  Cool place.  But, slow service and just ordinary food.  Cool coaster, though.

Here's another Disney pin that the kids traded for recently on a trip down to WDW.  Part of a recent series including this Pumba one and this Stitch one among others.  This one, acquired in the past six months is - as you can see - from 2001.  Now, what would possess someone to buy this pin back in 2001, hold on to it for 16+ years only to bring it back down to WDW and trade it away for, likely, some scrapper?  Just like this one from Disneyland that marks the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania back in 2008 , someone decided to part with their prized pin many years after the fact.  I kinda get the idea of bring back pins to trade, especially if you don't come very often.  As a kid, your tastes change year over year or what-have-you, so if you have a lanyard of pins that you don't care about, I can understand wanting to bring them back to swap them out.  But 15+ years?  Wouldn't you just want to keep this one as a part of history?  17 years mean that at the youngest

Yesterday, I posted two Disney pins (Pumba and Stitch) that we had acquired some time in the past 12 months and today is another pin from that same time frame.  I believe this one was traded by The Babe off of a cast member's lanyard, but I'm not certain of the exact vintage.  Looking around on the Dis Boards, it appears that there's some speculation that these "Magic Music Days" pins from Walt Disney World carry *some* value - to some folks, at least .  For us, I'll lump this one in with the Disney College Program pins that we traded for last Spring as pins that were given out to participants of an activity to only end up being traded for by my kids.    It is natural to wonder if these all (the Magic Music Days pin above and the College Program pins linked above ) are scrappers , right?  I mean...why would anyone dump those pins for something that you can find on a cast member's lanyard?  But, I know from scrappers.  Or at least, I think I have a