Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor Clock

Brave Little Tailor Tuesday!

On the last couple Tuesdays I discussed 2 items I bought way back in 1996 from the Official Disneyana Convention, a mug and a hat. Today I'd like to share a resin clock I purchased on eBay, also from the convention.

Mickey as the Brave Little Tailor measures 5 1/4 inches high from the bottom of the base to the tip of his feather.

The clock battery has expired, and needs to be replaced.

Like the mug, this clock is limited to 2000 pieces.

I also have an ornament from the convention, which I originally purchased in 1996, which I will share in a future post.

Interview with Disney Historian Jim Korkis - Part 2

In Part One of my interview with Jim Korkis, he discussed his book "Who's Afraid of the Song of the South? And Other Forbidden Disney Stories" and "The Revised Vault of Walt" . In Part 2 he talks about how he got started as a Disney Historian. Or, should I say, THE Disney Historian?!
As we begin, I had just asked Jim how he got started:

A Bonus Dapper Day at Disneyland

My wife and I took a trip to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim in February of this year.

Originally, we were supposed to be there from February 20th thru to the 24th, but Mother Nature had other plans for us.
We were walking back to our resort, the Grand Californian, after breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel, when I got a text from our airline saying our flight had been cancelled due to a snow storm in Denver, Colorado, where we had connecting flights. Immediately upon return to our room, I was on the phone trying to get a different flight. The only thing available was the next day. While I started the search for another room, my wife went to guest services, and added another day to our park tickets.

We got another room at the Paradise Pier Hotel, across the street from the Grand Californian. After check in, we headed right back to Disney California Adventure. When we got there, we noticed many guests were dressed in vintage clothing from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

It turned out that this was an unofficial event known as Dapper Day. From the Dapper Day website:
Started spring of 2011, DAPPER DAY organizes fashionable gatherings at The Disney Resorts in LA, Orlando, and Paris: a spring, all-day event, and a fall "evening affair." For the 21+ crowd there's our periodic cocktail party "FOLLY" held at exceptional venues around LA throughout the year.
It was pretty awesome! If we'd known, we absolutely would have dressed for the occasion.

This event is particularly suited (no pun intended) for Disney California Adventure, as the park has a nostalgic feel throughout.

In fact, the characters here even dress Dapper, in costumes only available at Disney California Adventure. Note our "flight home" clothing. Not awesome.

My wife Googled Dapper Day. In addition to the official website, there was a link to a pin on eBay. It even said Dapper Day pin in the description! We went to Elias and Co, on Buena Vista Street, and found the pin. Upon closer inspection, we realized it says nothing about Dapper Day, but as it's Mickey and Goofy dressed as Dapper Dans, we bought it anyway to commemorate the day. It was $12.95.

Upon returning home, we checked the website again, and this is indeed Disney's official pin commemorating the day. So if you are into dressing in vintage clothes for fun, and your next Disney park trip coincides with one of the events, get Dapper!

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

My wife, friends Kandi and John, and I had a late lunch at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in the Norway Pavilion of Epcot on our last trip to Walt Disney World.

Our meal started with a photo with Belle.

The meal includes a complimentary imaging package including 4 prints size 4" x 6" and one 6" x 8" print in a Disney Princesses themed folder. Additional photos may be purchased. One image package per group of four paying guests, 2 packages for groups of 5-8 guests and 3 packages for groups of 9-12 guests. The package was delivered during our lunch.

The Royal Feast begins with "A Taste of Norway" which includes sliced deli meats, seafood, and a grand selection of prepared salads and cheeses.

I could have just had the food offered on this buffet and been happy. There was plenty to choose from. The fish dishes were excellent.

Adult Entrees:
Traditional Kjottkake -Norwegian meatballs served with Mashed Potatoes, seasonal Vegetables, and Lingonberry Sauce
Oven-roasted Chicken Breast - with fennel hash, tomato jam and chive oil
Open-faced Beef Sandwich - thinly sliced beef sirloin, wild mushroom-onion ragout, Jarlsberg cheese served with your choice of soup
Open-faced Chicken Sandwich - on Sourdough Bread with Tomatoes, Arugula, Bacon, Mushroom Vinaigrette, Jarlsberg cheese, and Lingonberry Mayonnaise, served with your choice of soup
Seared Salmon Cakes - with pickled root vegetable, remoulade and your choice of soup
Mushroom Stuffed Pasta - with Swiss chard, over-roasted shiitakes and parmesan cream

Barbie and I had the traditional Kjottkake, John the Beef. I cannot recall what Kandi had, but we all enjoyed our meals.

Kids Meals:
Meatballs-with Mashed Potatoes and Corn
Hot Dog- with corn
Pizza - with mozzarella
Grilled Chicken Breast - served with vegetables and roasted potatoes
Cheese Ravioli - served with tomato sauce
Salmon - served with vegetables and roasted potatoes
Dessert, and Choice of 1% milk, small Bottled Water or Juice
Soft Drinks Available Upon Request
Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, Sprite, Minute Maid light pomegranate lemonade, Barq's root beer
Glowing Character Punch - Minute Maid Light Lemonade Punch served in a souvenir cup with a glowing Disney character Light $6.49

Dessert plate was delicious and included:
Sweet and Savory Chocolate Mousse
Traditional Rice Cream - topped with Strawberry Sauce
Apple Cake with cardamom whipped cream

While not as elegant perhaps as a meal at Cinderella Castle, this is less expensive, the food is very good, and you meet several Princesses. The Princesses on our visit (besides Belle), were Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).You may get different Princesses at different times, including Jasmine, Mulan and Mary Poppins (who I was unaware is a Princess!)

The price of this meal varies based on the time of year, peak seasons vs regular season, and even on the day of the week weekday vs weekend. The general price ranges for this meal are $41.53-$50.05 for adults and $25.55-$28.75 for children ages 3-9. Tax is included, but a gratuity is not a standard, non-alcoholic beverage and desserts are included.

Arbor Day at the Disney Parks‏

Throughout Disney Parks and Resorts, trees are being maintained and kept healthy by caring men and women; Disney's own Arborists. They provide care to thousands of trees that keep the Disney properties beautiful year round. Today is their day. Thank you for making Disney the lovely place it is!

It has been over 135 years since J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day. His idea of setting aside a special day for planting a tree has never been so important. Celebrate Arbor Day in your community. Plant a tree! Plant many trees! It is an act of optimism and kindness, a labor of love and a commitment to our earth and atmosphere. And it will make you feel great! You will get that Disney feeling in your heart, what's better than that?

Thumper In Our Garden!

One morning a couple of years ago I looked out my kitchen window, and there was a rabbit in our garden.

That was new. Then I realized it was Thumper from Bambi!

My wife bought this garden ornament from the Disney Store.

 

Do we have more Disney in the garden? Stop back soon to find out!

Drinks are on me!

Guest Writer Wednesday

Drinks are on me!
By: Gaylin

I love the following three mugs. I like clear glass mugs so these were all easy choices for me.

The first one I got was at the store coming off the Tower of Terror. Did I tell you that I won't let myself buy a ride souvenir unless I go on the ride? It was difficult to talk myself into going on the ToT the first time but I do like it now! (note I said like, not love!)

This mug has the logo on the front in green and even though I have never put this mug in a dishwasher, the green logo is starting to peel off. I have stopped using the mug for this reason. One of the L's and one of the O's are nearly gone, darn.

The HTH is cut into the glass all the way around so it won't be wearing off.

The next one is one that I got while having lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. This was before it was so hard to get into that restaurant, one day at the Magic Kingdom we walked up to the podium for the restaurant and asked "can we have lunch here if we are willing to eat late?", sure enough we got a 1:30 reservation!

If you ordered a Bibbity Bobbity Brew, (a milkshake) you got this souvenir glass mug to take home. Same basic shape of mug as the ToT one, but not frosted and the logo on the front has not peeled one little bit and I use this one quite often.

And finally on my last trip, I found this one, tucked in the corner of a shelf at the Arribas Brothers shop at Downtown Disney. It was on sale for 40% off so I grabbed it quick. It is not the same size and shape as the other ones but it quite nice. And it was the 4th to last one available. They had only been made for the 40th Anniversary and were selling them out as old stock. Glad I got one.

Mickey's Brave Little Tailor Disneyana Hat

Brave Little Tailor Tuesdays!

Last Tuesday I discussed the 1996 Disneyana Convention, and showed the mug I purchased a few weeks after the convention ended. Today, let's take a look at the hat...

I'm not a hat guy, but had to have this one, for the awesome Mickey Brave Little Tailor.

 

The official Disneyana Logo.

Goofy's Hat Co.

Made in the USA! WOW! Sadly, that comes as a surprise!

It's really just an awesome hat in general. Next Tuesday I'll be sharing a really great item I picked up on eBay. And for even more great hats, check out this post by my wife! And if that weren't enough, check out this post for pics of our friends in hats!

Happy Earth Day and Happy 15th Anniversary, Animal Kingdom!

Happy Earth Day, and what else is going on? Today is also the day Disney is celebrating Animal Kingdom's 15th Anniversary. Here are some facts about the Animal Kingdom that might interest you: The Animal Kingdom Project was announced June 5, 1995. Ground was broken in August 1995 and the Grand Opening was held on April 22, 1998. Since 1995, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund has devoted more than $6 million to conservation efforts around the world and has supported more than 230 projects.

The Animal Kingdom is about 580 acres, with approximately 250 species represented by over 1,000 animals living there. The park is five times the size of the Magic Kingdom, making it the largest Disney Theme Park in the world.

To keep 1,000 animals takes about four tons of food a day (that’s a 4 1/2 year supply for the average person). More than 2,000 pounds of vegetation is fed to the animals every day, and many varieties of worms are provided; including mealworms, red wigglers, night crawlers and wax worms. 40,000 in a week! Dieticians order 80,000 crickets per month as part of the healthy diet for the animals.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is home to the largest groups of African elephants  and Nile hippos in North America. Animal Kingdom scientists have discovered two new vocalizations never before reported in elephants. The arrival of a black rhino calf born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom made him one of only 250 worldwide.

The number of species that have reproduced since the park opened is 116.

Animal Programs veterinarians have successfully performed surgery on a tarantula spider, placed an artificial eye in a fish and removed a golf ball from a confused snake rescued at a Disney golf course. The Animal Programs team performs more than 600 wellness checks per year.

Sixty dump trucks of dirt were delivered to Disney’s Animal Kingdom construction site every day for two years straight, equaling 4.4 million cubic yards of dirt.

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Harambe is Swahili for coming together. Kilimanjaro Safari is named for a mountain in Tanzania. It is the largest attraction ever created by Disney. In fact, the entire Magic Kingdom Park can fit inside! Pangani Trail is Swahili for place of enchantment.

Did you know that The Tree of Life is 145 feet tall and its leafy branches spread 160 feet? It is topped with more than 103,000 semi-transparent, multi-colored green leaves that actually blow in the wind. Ten artists and three Imagineers worked full-time for 18 months to create the 325 animal carvings on The Tree of Life. Sculptors had between six and 10 hours to create the finished image before the plaster hardened.

(thank you to allears.net, funrivia.com and disneytrivia.net  for these fun facts)