Lisa Drops Her Son Off at Walt Disney World -164 of The Disney Exchange Podcast

The Disney Exchange is Lisa, Dave, and me Nick

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Have you heard the rumor about what they want to call Disney's Hollywood Studios?
Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
No?
Oh, Disney Cinemagine?
I prefer Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
What is your opinion?
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Lisa shares the highlights and lowlights of her recent trip to Walt Disney World, when she dropped her son off for his stint in the Disney College Program.

Megan, Raymond, Joseph, and Lisa

Our mascot, Flash.

The Wheel of Distiny topic this week: Have you seen the Lego Cinderella Castle, and would you consider buying it?

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Please stop back next week for Lisa's trip recap!

Rediscovering My Love of Legos

By Nick

Growing up, one of my favorite things to play with were Legos. As an "adult," I'd go to Lego stores with my buddy, Josh, who never stopped collecting and constructing Lego sets, and a couple of years ago he gave me a really generous gift, this Wall-E set.

I have spoken frequently on this blog and on my podcast about my love of Wall-E, so this was a wonderful surprise. I set the box up on a shelf with other Wall-E collectibles. I'd look at it frequently and would often say "I really need to get that put together.'

Then last weekend I was under the weather, and Barbie brought me home this K-2SO Lego set.
She and I had been talking about how cool we thought it was when we had seen them this past Christmas. Our Godson, Flynn, having received several as gifts.

She hoped this would rekindle my Lego interest and prompt me to construct Wall-E.

It did!

Clearly, this was a bigger challenge.

It took a few minutes to figure out they wanted me to use a little leaflet that was included to replace several steps from the manual, since everything is in graphics. It's like learning Lego language!

I used this plastic tub top to help separate pieces. I later developed a system of dividing by color, and used another box top to assist with that. Note Barbie's sewing mat.

Coming along.

It took 3 evenings to get this done, and I worked on it in the kitchen and living room.

Complete!

The neck, arms, eyes, and treads all move! And the front opens up too!

Yes, I am now hooked on Legos. In fact, I think I just heard the doorbell... it's the Darth Vader set I ordered from Amazon!

Thank you again Josh and Barbie!

Downtown Disney Friends

by Gaylin

I love going to Downtown Disney for more than just shopping, of course there is lots of good food as well and an amazing amount of theming as well. These are some of my favourite places to pose.

Can you find me? I am the one NOT made of Lego.

And here I am acting all goofy . . . get it? Goofy!

Just enjoying some sunshine with my friends.

Can't get in the photo with this guy, he is too high up. Wonder if he got a good photo of me?

Story Behind the Photo-Dragon Encounter

by Gaylin

I have always loved the Lego Store at Downtown Disney and all the Lego statues that are both inside and outside the store.

A few trips ago I asked for this photo to be taken, I wanted the Lego dragon to be eating my head . . . it almost works!

The 'View' at Downtown Disney

by Gaylin

While I was on vacation in May, I spent some time at Downtown Disney. It appears I have bad luck when it comes to choosing a time to visit WDW, a lot of the construction walls that were up when I was there are now down, and the stores are open. But me, I got to see construction walls . . . starting with the new Starbucks on the Westside.

And by the Cirque du Soleil there will be a food truck park. This hasn't opened yet but it has quite a big area to park in.

Behind these walls is more of the Food Truck Park. 

The Co-op looks like a great store, I would have loved to have seen it . . .

I have no idea what they are building with this huge crane near Fulton's or if it is a staging area for construction supplies to be brought in from the water rather than through Downtown.

 

As you can see, in front of T-Rex, it does look like a staging ground for construction supplies. If anyone knows if this is a staging area or a new build - let me know!

Behind Planet Hollywood is where the new parking lot is going in and it is huge! Most of the west side parking lot is closed for construction vehicles so if you need to park at Downtown - good luck.

Downtown Disney is going to be renamed Disney Springs at some point and this is the construction drawing of what that new parking structure is going to look like.

Here you can see that it is quite close to the Westside, here by Splitsville is about the centre of the parking structure.

This is the front of the World of Disney, where the other Starbucks is. Again, not open when I was there, opened shortly after I got home. I was quite surprised to see it sitting front and centre of the store. It is a walk-up location, no seating available. I wonder if the Starbucks craze ever ends, this location was chosen to make it easy to switch out to a Disney branded coffee shop or other food service area.

And finally, some silliness. Me and Lego Princess Sofie in the Lego store. Yep, she stayed still for a selfie!!!

And Cinderella for another selfie, she is so pretty and loves getting her picture taken.