Mousetacular: More Disney December 2011 Fan Meets

Shortly after my posts about All Ears December to Remember and WDW Today Reunion, I received a note from the folks at Mousetacular to let me know about their December 2011 Disney fan meets. Mousetacular’s offerings are a bit on the higher end than the other meets I’ve mentioned, as all involve meals and sometimes souvenirs.

I’m glad there’s plenty of room in the cottage industry of Disney fan businesses to support a variety of events. While I’ve still got my eye on that ticket to the All Ears Toy Story Mania event, I’m glad to know that Mousetacular has a similar event planned the next day. The Mousetacular price is a bit higher, and it’s not entirely clear to me how much that’s a matter of business model (e.g. sponsorships, profit margins), or of different plans for catering and/or other aspects of the events, which I know can significantly affect costs.

And of course, all this makes me nostalgic for MouseFest, when I could just go to one web site and find out about all the meets that various groups were having. Mind you, I seem to recall that there couldn’t be a fee associated with any meets held under the MouseFest umbrella, so the meets were a little different. But there was a certain convenience and unity to having a central organizing focus for all the meets, and I miss that.

At any rate . . . I’ll be there in December, at some variety of events. Just 162 days to go!

Remixed Donald Duck Theme

The lyrics include the N-word, which I just can’t get comfortable with. But the mix is outstanding. Props to Ganderson360.

You Kids Don’t Know How Good You’ve Got It!

This week in my Jentasmic! column at StudiosCentral:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the 1970s lately, as I’ve been working on a panel for the upcoming ConnectiCon convention, Middle-aged Geeks Tell All! In preparing for this panel, I’ve been running back through my childhood favorites, both on TV and in the movies. And thinking back, I’m surprised at how little Disney entertainment was available, especially compared to the media saturation of today.

I remember tuning into Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights, watching Tinkerbell fly over Sleeping Beauty Castle in the opening credits. I remember cartoons and branded Disney characters being on the show from time to time, but just as often it would be a live-action feature, which (in my eyes at least) usually seemed to have nothing to do with Disney. Maybe it would be a movie, split up across two weeks (The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit! Monkeys, Go Home!). Maybe it would be a nature program, in which case I’d probably go looking for Star Trek re-runs instead. The opening credits often felt like a bait-and-switch. But every now and then there was a special: Julie Andrews at Disneyland! Disney Parade! It felt like opening up the Cracker Jack box and finding a real toy, instead of those lousy tattoos.

Disney Channel? TiVo? Disney Afternoon? A 1970s youngster knew not of these things.

 

 

Head on over to StudiosCentral to read the rest. And tell me about walking up hill six miles to school, wouldya? Why, I remember tying an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time . . .

All Ears December to Remember Fan Meets 2011

Okay, I booked flights for my next Disney trip just knowing about Reunion . . . but now I’ve discovered that AllEars.net also has a great line-up of meets this December 8-11, 2011.

But I probably shouldn’t have even said anything . . . because some of these events have very limited capacity and I don’t want y’all buying up the tickets before I have a chance! Tickets go on sale sometime in July.

I’m really glad to see both fan meets will be in town, in part because they’re operating with different business models. For Reunion, there are significant benefits to booking through the event sponsor, as you get tickets to a special reception, and you can buy tickets for hard-ticket events before the general public. But if like me, you’re using frequent flier miles and staying in your own time share, this means that booking through any travel agent isn’t really an option. So, I’m glad there’s another option now with AllEars, where I can just obsessively check my email and other electronic feeds to see when tickets go on sale, and hope I get in early enough.

Checking now . . . and now . . . and now . . .

Anti-gay Banners Flown Over Gay Days at Disney World

From WESH.com:

The Florida Family Association is boycotting [Gay Days at Walt Disney World, June 4-5]. The group is spending $7,000 to fly banners for two days near Disney warning unsuspecting families, “They’re about to be thrust into a crowd of thousands reveling in gay pride.”

Hmm. Is there someone we could convince to fly banners warning us when crowd levels are higher than anticipated, or Space Mountain is down, or Kilimanjaro Safaris is closing early, or other such factors? Clearly any of these interfere with park touring far more than a bunch of people hanging out in red shirts, especially since (rumor has it) the late-night partying keeps crowd levels fairly low at rope drop.

But on a more serious note: If you haven’t been to Gay Days and wonder what they’re really like, try listening to a few people who have. (I haven’t been yet myself, and receiving happy photos from a friend over the weekend strengthened my resolve to get there one of these years!)

Jentasmic! Disney Handbags I’d Like to See

Handbags are my obsession, and these days they might just be my primary vice. So, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that I’ve got a wish list for designer collaborations I’d like to see, themed to attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

At the top of my list is a popular designer heavily influenced by Japanese kawaii culture:

Tokidoki Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Collection.Tokidoki‘s my current favorite handbag company, for their whimsical prints and imaginative characters. They’re often at their best when pairing disparate elements, as you see in their logo (a heart-and-crossbones). In fact, Disney’s already borrowed heavily from Tokidoki’s style with the “nerd” bags you’ve probably seen on Disney campus, which some fans have affectionately dubbed “Mickeydoki.” Tokidoki and Disney already have one collaboration, on merchandise themed to Marvel characters, suggesting that the necessary business ties already exist and they’ve likely developed some knowledge of lessons learned and successes from the collaboration. So why not take it the next step? Love Aerosmith, love Tokidoki, hellooo. . . .

Head on over to Studios Central to read the rest.