A Christmas Carol

Jonathan and I ran across this display at Disney's Hollywood Studios the other day.

I'm all for cheesy cardboard cut outs 'stick your head in here' type of thing. I think Disney should do way more of them. You know everybody will stick their head in anything! (get your mind of out of the gutter!)

You can tell by the photo, but Jim Carrey's eyes actually move from right to left very slowly.

Christmas in November

It's not like "Christmas in November" is anything unheard of, but I'm honestly not really in the mood yet.

At Studios we ran into this giant greeting card (to hype up the movie The Christmas Carol - which Jonathan saw with out me, b/c I'm not in the mood yet!).

Since Jonathan thinks I'm the biggest scrooge ever, he found it appropriate that I was all excited to see the inside writing on the card. *groan*

The card is in the back by the Backlot Tour and the giant bottle of Coke.

Fashion Police

I went out in public looking like this.

In my defense, it was 7pm and it was really dark outside. And all I was doing was jogging around the block.

Why dirty another pair of socks right ... right?

Love at first sight ...

Have you ever been clothes shopping, and you put something on in the dressing room and it's one of those {hallelujah choir singing} "aha!" moments?

Well, that was me yesterday at Old Navy.  I put on a cotton dress, and it fit me perfectly.  Nothing EVER fits me perfectly.  And it's so soft, flowy and comfy.

I debated on wearing it out of the store (and never taking it off ... EVER), but I decided against it.

But I'm wearing it right now ... and I just can't bear to take it off.  I should be wearing grungy clothes to clean the house, but I'm sitting here in a cotton dress.

I {heart} it.

Did I mention I bought it for $3?!?3

Boo!

View from my front door.

I can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks inbetween those 2 houses.

Happy Halloween!

This was probably Halloween '93.

My mom was equipment manager for the Oswego, IL youth tackle football for a couple years (my brother would've been in 6th grade at this time), so my friend Julie and I wore FULL football pads this halloween.

Both our brothers played football, and we both coached poms/cheerleading for football, so we were around football all the time. I know I was curious about all the equipment the boys always wore. Thankfully, we both fit into some left over 8th grade football gear.

Those butt pads are not comfy at all!

Funny ha ha ...

So I work with this guy, and he's hilarious.  He's one of those people that is witty and kind-of weird (but in a funny) way 24/7.

He started e-mailing jokes out a couple days ago, and I just had to steal them and claim them as my own!

From a Southwest Airlines employee: "Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with two small children, decide now which one you love more."

 

Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroobounces us to the terminal”.

Tiana's Showboat Jubilee

Jonathan and I saw the very first Tiana's Showboat Jubilee at the Magic Kingdom this afternoon!

All the characters and dancers parade (New Orleans style) from the Diamond Horseshoe Revue over to the riverboat. The riverboat is all decorated with yellow, green and purple banners.

At the front of the riverboat is Louie, the trumpet playing alligator. Tiana and Prince Naveen are up top (we didn't get a good photo of them). Half way during the show the "bad guy" Dr. Facilier (Fas - Ill - E - A) appears on the top of the boat and sings a song. Dr. Facilier was my favorite!

We stood on that wooden walkway in Frontierland to watch the show. Standing next to the wooden shack (if you're on the wooden walkway, you'll know that I mean) or on the bridge by Splash Mountain would've been better spots.

All in all, very cool show! The music rocks ... and I'm sure the movie will rock as well!

The math doesn't lie.

Me - a shower = lookin' hot at Walmart

And OF COURSE I ran into somebody I know.

Where are you luxo?!?

Disney’s Hollywood Studios … why do you force me to waste all my time?!?

Jonathan heard about this luxo lamp that comes out of the brick wall and does a little dance (or something).

(A luxo lamp is the lamp in the Pixar logo. You know, the one that hops out and crushes the “I” in Pixar …)

We’ve gone to Studios at least 3 times, stood in front of this brick wall for what seemed like forever …

… and nothing. The luxo lamp either doesn’t exist, or it just never works.

BLT

Just some random photos of my stay at the new Disney Vacation Club Resort, Bay Lake Tower (which is an add on to the Contemporary Resort).

Jonathan and I spent most of our time swimming in their awesome pool with our friends Jerry and Kelly.

Normally I would say “go check out Bay Lake Tower!”, but this is the only Disney resort that doesn’t allow random visitors. If you’ve not staying there, you’re not getting in.

So I feel pretty special that I got to stay there right before it opened.

We Built This City ...

A couple weeks ago Jonathan and I were walking around the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, when the Eat to the Beat concert was starting. It was perfect timing – no waiting in a massive line.

And it was Starship, and they ROCKED! You may recognize their #1 cheeseball hit, “We Built This City (on rock and roll)”. They also sang “Sara”, “Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now” and some other song I’ve never heard. I would’ve paid to go to this concert, it was that good.

Why the random photo of the crowd? See that lady standing up (not in the cute black and white dress ... the one kind-of hunched over ...

She was dancing, and swaying, and looking quite HILARIOUS the entire concert. I think I watched her 1/2 the time, and I watched Starship the other 1/2.

Roy & Minnie

This might be my new favorite photo. I was pretty proud of myself when I saw the outcome.

Thank you little tri pod and night time feature on my camera!

Photo taken at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom (hence the orange and purple lights in the background)

Happy Halloween!

Friday night Jonathan and I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom.

It was our 3rd time attending, so we didn’t feel a need to go nuts. We just ran around and got candy. Lots and lots of candy. I didn’t realize how much we had until I poured it into a bowl. I took a bowl you would normally use to make a batch of cookies. We have to overflowing bowls of candy.

So much for trying to lose a few pounds …

I used a tri pod to steady my little digital camera to take these night time shots.

Jonathan was dying to leave (it was past midnight), but it's not every day that you're inside the Magic Kingdom at night when barely anybody else was there. I was going to take full advantage!

D23: Pook-a-looz

Holy moly - how cute are these things?!?

I guess you can't see them very well from this photo, but google "Pook-a-looz".  You won't be disappointed.

D23: The Boys

The final thing we did on Day 1 was see a screening of the documentary The Boys. The movie was about the Sherman Brothers (also Disney Legends). 

I’m always shocked to find out that most people don’t know who the Sherman Brothers are. They’ve been writing songs for Disney for over 50 years. They have since retired, but Richard Sherman was at the movie screening. After the movie, he played the piano and sang about 9 songs for us! He’s 81 years old, and he knew all his songs by heart. 

He was amazing. It’s not every day that the song writer who sat in Walt’s office and played “Feed the Birds” for him plays a mini concert for you.

If you’re unfamiliar with the name “Sherman Brothers”, you will know their songs. They wrote the songs and lyrics for Mary Poppins, Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (not a Disney movie), It’s a Small World, Winnie the Pooh and Parent Trap. They also wrote a bunch of songs for Annette Funicello when she was a teen star.

The movie was really interesting. These brothers wrote songs together for many, many years. But the movie chronicled their personal lives, where they were not friends at all. Just recently Richard Sherman’s son met Robert Sherman’s son for the first time in 40 years!!! They got to talking, and decided to make this movie together.

Currently, Richard Sherman (the one who sang for us) lives in Beverly Hills and Robert Sherman lives in London. They still do not contact each other. They didn’t have a big fight or anything. They were just never really friendly at all. All those years they worked so well together all day, then went home to their families and their families never had any contact at all. It seemed kind-of bizarre, and it made for an interesting story and a great movie.

So day 1 of D23 came to an end. There is no way we will top this day! I mean, we saw Richard Sherman play piano and sing … that’s simply amazing. There is no way we can top this day … or can we?!?

Lucky the Dinosaur

Lucky the Dinosaur is the first walk around animatronic figure Disney made. I think he made his debut in 2006-ish.

I met him once at Animal Kingdom, but this time you could walk next to him and touch him. Good stuff!

Wall-E and Guido

There was a large room at the D23 expo full of new rides and stuff for all the theme parks. Inside we got to meet the life size Wall-E and Lucky the Dinosaur.

They also had a life size Guido and Luigi from Cars. I assume they will be a part of the new Cars Land at Disneyland.

Guido is just so cute!

D23 - Day 1 cont ...

After the Legends ceremony we got to take photos with Wall-E and the turtle from the classic Disneyland Electrical Light Parade.

While we were waiting to see Lucky, Jonathan pokes me and says, “Hey look who it is!!!” Well, there are people everywhere, so I have no idea what he’s talking about. I figured he was pointing out a Disney Legend or something.

Turns out, Paul Scheer, who I loved on Best Week Ever was right in front of us. My first celebrity sighting ever! I made a quick decision to just get his autograph and not take my photo with him. I figured taking a photo would draw attention to myself and him. Now I wish I would’ve gotten my photo taken with him … oh well.

D23 - Day 1

Day 1 was special to Jonathan.  They were doing the Disney Legends ceremony open to to the public for the first time ever.  To be named a “Disney Legend” is a huge deal.  They started the award in 1987, and there are only about 200 people who have won.  Basically it’s awarded to anybody who is a pretty big deal in Disney history.  Jonathan has read many books about Disney Legends, and he was super excited to see the presentation.

People who have won in the past are:  animators who worked with Walt Disney on all those old movies, the 2 “kids” who always seemed to play brothers in all those ‘60s movies (Swiss Family Robinson, Shaggy Dog, Old Yeller), Tim Allen, Steve Martin, Imagineers who designed and built Disneyland, etc.  This year we saw about 10 people win the award including:  the current voices of Donald and Goofy (their acceptance speeches were HILARIOUS!), all the Golden Girls (only Betty White attended, and her speech was hilarious as well), the Imagineer who’s head is Madame Leotta inside the Haunted Mansion ride (her real name is Leotta) and Robin Williams.  He’s a wild guy!

 After the ceremony, while the thousands of people were trying to get their cameras and cell phones back (b/c they confiscated them), we hung around inside the theater.  There we ran into X. Atencio (he worked with Walt Disney and he wrote the theme songs for both Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion).  He’s a Disney Legend!

We also ran into Kathryn Beaumont - the original voice for Alice (Alice in Wonderland) AND Wendy (Peter Pan).  We also got autographs from Mary Costa, who was the voice of Sleeping Beauty.

What an awesome presentation and we got 3 autographs!

Oh, and before the presentation we got to see 30 minutes of the new Princess and the Frog movie and Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls and the voice of the main character in the movie) sang a song.  She was great and the movie looks hilarious!  During the entire D23 expo we kept seeing pieces of Princess and the Frog, I think I’ve seen pretty much the entire movie.  I guess I’ll have to wait until December to see the entire movie in the correct order.