The Disney Store 25th Anniversary Ornament Set

by: Nick

The Disney Store celebrated it's 25th anniversary on March 28th, 2012, and my wife and I were at our local store to celebrate. We picked up a few items including this ornament set.


Jiminy Cricket.


Sorcerer Mickey.


Pinocchio.


Tinker Bell


Buzz Lightyear.


Minnie Mouse.



Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, along with a Certificate of Authenticity for each individual ornament, which is limited to 2500!



The original price was $79.50, and everything was 25% off, plus we had a $20 discount from pre-ordering The Muppets Blu-Ray.



It was a great day, and this set reminds me of how much I love the Disney Store, a piece of the magic close to home!

Merry Christmas!

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?

Flea Market Find: Winnie the Pooh Breakfast Tea

By Nick

I picked this Winnie the Pooh honey and tea set up at the Columbus Flea Market recently for $5.
My wife is a honey lover, and I thought she’d love this, especially the honey pot.

 

I mean “Hunny Pot”.

I’m not sure what “honey syrup” is, and neither my wife or I have been adventurous enough to find out. The tea is pretty good, though.

The real star of this show is the Hunny Pot though. 

 

So cute!

So, who’s up for a spot of tea?

A Disney Vacation with Lots of Character

By Gaylin

In November 2012 I went on a Disney World vacation on my own.

Being solo meant I could take time to do things I haven't done before, like go back to the resort in the afternoon for a nap! It also meant that I could go line up for character photos without someone pulling on my arm to go on a ride or to see a show.

My first afternoon I went over to Epcot and voila, no line-up for Belle. If the Beast is with her the line up can get long quite quickly. For some reason she was all on her own so I even got to chat with
her for a moment.

 

Walking through the World Showcase all the way around the other side, I came across Duffy the Disney Bear. While I am not a big fan of the bear, a friend of mine is so I got in the short line and got this shot. I like the "Canada" in the background!

A couple of days later I was back at Epcot and decided to go into the Character Spot for a few photos. The original location of the Spot was under renovation so there was a temporary location set up with a great backdrop of Epcot. Here I got 3 photos, me with Mickey, Pluto and Minnie. Also while I was in the not very long line-up I got to chat with a great family and help them get their daughter to look up when it was her turn to get her photo taken.

 

Notice I even did the toe pointing like Minnie, I am so darn cool . . .

The Magic Kingdom was my next stop and this photo with Stitch. While there was a bit of a line-up, Stitch was being very entertaining and made it worth the wait.

And this is what happens when Stitch takes over your camera!!! The hand you see on my shoulder is Stitch’s attendant, she was laughing really hard at his antics. I sort of wish she showed up in the photo, oh well.

Then it was on to the new photo area in Fantasyland called Storybook Circus. As you can see from the very pink lighting, the lights are set for the Photopass cameras, not my point & shoot camera. I did the toe point for my photo with Daisy, she didn’t.

It looks like both Minnie and I are having pink hot flashes, we weren’t, honest.

And the Great Goofini! I complimented him on the revamp of his roller coaster, he was pleased. Thumbs Up!

I am not sure what kind of magician Donald is supposed to be, he was number 1 and I was thumbs up.

And over at the Animal Kingdom, you can now get your photo with Russell and Doug. This photo is a little blurry but I still love it.

At the Animal Kingdom when you are leaving Discovery Island and heading to Dinoland there is the Character Landing, the characters are always from Winnie the Pooh and this day they had on their Christmas garb. I was once told to always get my photo taken with Pooh because he makes everyone look skinny! At the Character Landing they rotate characters in and out for breaks so there is always characters there, waiting just for you.

Eeyore is so very huggable.

Tigger couldn’t make up his mind if we were dancing or posing so we ended up with a bit of both.

And there are my character tales for November 2012. I always get a few character photos and highly recommend that other people do as well, there has been a few times I have paid the big bucks for a Photopass picture just because it was so darn good. Usually I am happy enough with the photo that shows up on my camera, after all, I am on vacation and looking happy is what counts.

December '14 Walt Disney World Trip Report: Part 7

By Nick

Friday, December 12th 

Last day.
We brought our luggage to bag check and headed for the Magic Kingdom early, as we had an 810am Advanced Dining Reservation at the Crystal Palace.

On the way up Main Street we stopped for several PhotoPass photographers, as we were determined to get the most out of Memory Maker.

Jill, Josh, Tinker Bell, me, and Barbie

As we approached the hub, I saw a young man getting up from a kneel. He had just proposed! I had heard of many people doing and seeing this, but this was a first. All the people paying attention applauded and shouted congratulations. It was an awesome start to the day!

Note in the background, there was filming going on for the Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration. I asked a cast member who was on stage, and they said they thought it was Ariana Grande. Interestingly, I watched the show on Christmas Day, and didn't notice this stage setup at all.

Breakfast at the Crystal Palace was not only delicious, but it is with the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood!

As I mentioned in Part 4, Jill really likes Tigger.

We made our way back down Main Street to the Town Square Theater to visit with Mickey Mouse.

We were a bit early, and the line for Tinker Bell was only a few minutes, so we were shrunk down to Tink size and brought to Pixie Hollow.

We then used our FastPass+ for Mickey, who asked if we were familiar with the Haunted Mansion and the Hitchhiking Ghosts, which we of course said we were. He then asked if we'd like to pose like them!

We spent the rest of the morning riding rides, and heading for Pirates through Liberty Square when we saw a queue for the Haunted Mansion! As the Mansion was supposed to be down for refurb during our entire stay, this was a very pleasant surprise, so we got in the reasonable 15 minute line.

Next, Pirates, followed by a Dole Whip Swirl.

This was my first try of a Dole Whip Swirl. I'd got Pineapple mixed with Vanilla at Barbie's request, as she thinks the straight up Dole Whip is too sweet. The swirl WAS better, and I'll only eat it that way going forward!

We decided to head back to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch at Roaring Forks, their counter service restaurant, and relax for a couple of hours before Magical Express was scheduled to take us to the airport.

We all dozed on and off by the fire. Finally it was time to say goodbye to the beautiful lodge.

Thank you for following along, and have a safe and Happy New Year!

If you missed past parts: 
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4- Part 5 - Part 6