Why I Oughta...

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

Continuing the tradition of being gifted sunflower seeds for my birthday each Spring, these three above are the varieties that are sitting on my desk right now. Here's a look at last year's packet . Here's the post showing off all the different varieties I planted last year in 2014 . Here's the post showing off some of the 2013 sunflowers already growing . And... here's a post from 2011 showing off some of the blooming flowers . Every other year, I knew right where these were going to go, but now that we're living down the street in Equation Boy/Man's place, I'm not quite sure where to put these.  I'm thinking that it might make sense to put them on the back fenceline?  The packets say to wait until May to plant them, so we'll know soon enough and as long as the birds/squirrels don't get to the seeds, hopefully we'll see some photos of them standing up strong this summer.  

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

Downtown Elmhurst just lost another business with the closing of Goalie's Goodies on the west side of York Street, just one block south of the tracks.  If you walk by it today, you'll see this brown papered-up window along with this small sign that says they're moving to River Forest.  Sad news for Elmhurst. I covered the opening of Goalie's Goodies here on the blog back in the end of April of 2013 .  So, she made it for just under three years in Elmhurst. For those of you following along, you'll remember that Goalie's Goodies took the spot of the short-lived Bleeding Heart Bakery . We shopped - what I'd call - regularly at Goalie's Goodies.  We'd buy packs of their corn for my Dad or for other gifts/parties.  And the girls just loved the stuff, so often times we'd have dinner at Pints or somewhere else, and we'd end up at Goalie's Goodies for a few tiny bags of Cheese corn. On her website , Debbie (who I think *is* the Goalie!

If you walk by Mimmo's pizza place on York Street in the Elmhurst City Centre today, you'll see the front window covered in black plastic wrap.  Are they closing?  It is pretty odd because they have a 'Drivers Wanted' sign still up in the window and the menu and other promotional posters all hung between the glass and the black plastic. Anyone have the details? (**Update on 4/19/16:  Heard from a source who is in the know that it looks like Mimmo's is being bought-out by another 'smallish family-owned pizza chain'.  So...it looks like this place will keep serving pizza and salads and such.  That's good for the City Centre.  Once it reopens, I'll be sure we give it a shot!) I don't think it is a remodel because the place was gutted and cleaned up right before they opened not all that long ago.  Unfortunately...we've NEVER been there.  Yep...maybe that's part of the reason for the black plastic.  Blame people like us who never patr

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! )