Lord almighty, I am SO ready for this vacation! It’s been an intense couple months at home and work, and I am completely utterly ready to walk down that jetway at MCO, stop off at the World of Disney store for a quick pin-trading fix, and jump into my rental car heading for dinner at Downtown Disney. And then yes indeed ladies and gentlemen, I will be spending 5 days hopping around the theme parks, with plenty of time stalking the Star Wars stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
I am taking a vacation for real, which for me means no laptop! No Palm Pilot! No Crackberry! Okay well I just lied to you about the last part…my Crackberry and I shall not be parted. However, I will be resisting the urge to blog or send (much) email, and will instead immerse myself in the land of Dole Whip and Mickey ears. I’ll be back in about a week, hopefully with fun stories and pictures to share. See ya real soon!
June 18, 2008
Following up on their previous post on the best Disneyland attraction ever, SF Gate now has an article on the three worst. And whaddya know? I’m not the only one who can’t stand The Country Bears!
2. Country Bear Jamboree: I’m sorry, but these bears (especially this one) always creeped me out, even when I was 7 years old. I hate the way they sing. I hate the way they move. I hate that they have no pants. They made a horrible film based on this ride, which thankfully I didn’t have to review. Even Christopher Walken couldn’t make the Country Bear Jamboree look cool.
Can I get an amen, somebody?
June 18, 2008
I have been staying relatively spoiler-free for the new Toy Story Mania attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but coudn’t resist reading Brady MacDonald’s piece on beating John Lassiter on the sister attraction at Disney’s California Adventure. It even includes info on an Easter Egg, which I’ll bring along to Orlando tomorrow (along with a host of others I found on the interweb, since Google is my friend).
Mouse Planet staff writer Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix showed me the secret to unleashing a shower of 2,000-point balloons in the Bo Peep dart-toss game. The trick: shoot four of the five balloons in each of the hovering clouds before popping the fifth and final balloons at the same time as your partner. Teamwork triggers similar bonus-point deluges in the Green Army Men game and the Saloon scene.
I know the lines for this attraction will be insane, I do not care a whit, I can hardly wait!
June 18, 2008
From GraphJam, a blog way funnier than it has a right to be!
June 18, 2008
Yes, Lisa and I keep on podcasting…whether anybody wants us to or not! Cuz hey, we’re having a blast and that’s the real point of this thing, y’know? I’m not exactly planning to become independently wealthy by blabbering on about Disney to unsuspecting random strangers. (Though I did have quite the pleasant conversation this afternoon with a colleague who said he’d heard I was going to Disney soon, and mentioned he was going next month…and got way more info than he’d probably bargained for!)
Anyway…our episode this week is about my Pal Mickey’s fashion requirements, and some ideas for fun (and sometimes maybe just a tad subversive) t-shirts. And oh yeah, I think there might be a little tangent about Olivia Newton John at some point. Ya never know.
There have also been a couple other episodes since the last time I posted about the podcast on Broke Hoedown, and we’re planning to keep morphing this thing into a slightly more structured show. You can keep up with us by subscribing either through RSS or iTunes.
June 17, 2008
I know, I know, you need another Disney guidebook like you need a hole in the head. But honestly, if you ‘re irreverent enough to enjoy Broke Hoedown, I really think you need to take a look at Queens in the Kingdom. I’ve written about this book for this week’s book review feature over at Imaginerding. A snippet of the article:
Queens in the Kingdom is an overview of Disney Parks worldwide, plus the Disney Cruise Line. Predictably, the Orlando and Anaheim locations comprise the vast majority of the content, with brief teasers about Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. There are also brief reviews of other nearby attractions in Southern California and Orlando. Most Walt Disney World and Disneyland attractions are reviewed, as are many resorts and restaurants, with “Fairy Facts” dispersed liberally throughout the guide. Were it not for this guide, I might never have known that the Indiana Jones figure in the Indiana Jones Adventure attraction has nipples, and perhaps the world is a richer place because they have shared this information with us all.
June 16, 2008
Just spotted this headine on the DIS News:
Maybe I’m still too groggy from a long day yesterday, but my first response was “what, they’re cutting back on the number of AA figs? Are electricity rates really rising that quickly?”
But no, it’s not actually the animatronics they may be cutting back on, it’s the Imagineers that create the animatronics.
An internal memo to Disney’s Imagineering staff has surfaced and indicates that the company will be using outside vendors to build future animatronic figures.
The June 12 memo was authored by Bruce Vaughn (Chief Creative Executive), Craig Russell (Chief Development and Delivery Executive), and Kevin Eld (Vice President of Disney Creative Production.
Marilyn Waters, Imagineering spokesperson, confirmed that outsourcing is being sought as a means to alleviate the demands placed on the in-house staff. What has not been addressed are concerns that this will lead to cutbacks in the Imagineering staff.
I happen to believe that outsourcing isn’t good for the long-term creativity and teamwork of Imagineering. So, here’s hoping that the use of outside vendors will be extremely limited.
June 14, 2008
I don’t think I have to tell you that Graduation Days are always emotional. But somehow, this has come as a surprise to me. Sure, I knew high school and college graduations were emotional, but I had no idea that I’d be weeping the moment my kid walked out the door this morning, heading for his last day of elementary school…and I can hardly describe what it was like to watch him graduate today with the rest of his class.
So, how fabulous is it that today I won two pairs of Mickey ears through the Year of a Million Dreams? I’d mailed those little postcards daily for months, and in fact had recently given up on the whole endeavor. But this morning, as my husband stepped out the door to drive our son to that last day of sixth grade, he called out to me, “Honey, did you order something from Disney? Because if not, I think you’ve just won something!”
The day’s festivities are not quite over…there’s still a graduation party tonight, and our weekend is full of roller derby, Gay Pride, and Fathers’ Day events. But right now we’re enjoying a little quiet family time. My husband and I tap away at our laptops, our son plays on his brand new Wii, a pair of Mickey dream ears topping off his graduation day outfit. The back of the ears reads, “Live Your Dreams,” and yes indeed I am.
June 13, 2008
