Doctor Who at Walt Disney World

By: Nick

Back in 2006, my friend Todd told me I should check out a show on BBC America called Doctor Who. 

Doctor Who? 

I watched that when I was a kid, sort of. I remembered some guy with a scarf running up and down hallways with a silver robot dog, over and over again, it seemed.

I didn't pay attention.

About a year later, flipping through the channels, my wife and I came upon BBC America, and Doctor Who. Nothing else was on, so we watched. Then another came on. Then a third. We were hooked.

VERY briefly, The Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He travels through time and space in his ship, the Tardis. He can regenerate his body when he is close to death. He is awesome.

I rented, then bought, all of the episodes since the show came back to the BBC in 2005 after a long hiatus. I started buying Doctor Who Magazine. I even started watching the old classic episodes from the 1960's-1980's, the TV Movie from 1996, and even listening to podcasts dedicated to what has become my favorite television show. 

Jump ahead to January 2013, and I'm at the United Kingdom Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase, and I discover they are carrying Doctor Who merchandise! I only actually own a couple of things. A Tardis bank,  a few books, and a lovely Tardis mug that friends brought me all the way from Scotland (thank you again Catherine!).

I could go overboard buying, I could, but I already spend a large sum of money on Disney, and I have (a little) sense to focus.

On our most recent trip to Walt Disney World, we stopped in the UK, and discovered even more Doctor Who merch!

Tee-shirts,  posters, books, mugs, etc.

No doubt gearing up and taking advantage of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, which just so happens to be today!

I did buy the Tardis tee-shirt pictured in the upper left hand corner of the picture below.

Happy 50th Doctor Who, and I hope there are many more to come!

The Ink and Paint Shop at Disney's Art of Animation Resort

By: Nick

On our last trip to Walt Disney World, we stayed at the Art of Animation Resort. For those not familiar, this is Disney's newest value resort. It is easily the most Disney and Pixar themed of all the resorts on Walt Disney World property.

It's 4 themed areas are from the animated classics:

"Cars"

"The Lion King"

"Finding Nemo"

 
"The Little Mermaid"

The shop there, Ink and Paint, can be accessed directly from outside, or from the main, lobby, Animation Hall.

The main lobby is pretty fantastic.

Let's go into the shop.

Ink and paint props throughout, including the display racks.

D-tech.

This store sells a lot of the standard stuff you'll find at most of the other retail locations throughout property, but it's worth a look, just for the colorful and fun presentation, just as all of Art of Animation is worth visiting, even if you aren't staying there.


This article was originally posted on the Tips From the Disney Diva and Devos Blog.

Vancouver to Alaska on the Disney Wonder, 8/26 - 9/2 2013 : Part 8

By: Gaylin 

September 2, 2013
Disney Cruise - docking in Vancouver

On the day you dock back in Vancouver, breakfast is early and in the restaurants. We were back in Parrot Cay, as evidenced by the colourful table setting!

And the breakfast menu!

In truth I don't remember what I had . . . totally forgot to take photos. We were all too busy talking to each other about the cruise about how long it would take us to get home. Life in general. We laughed a lot and at the end of it all, we hugged a lot as well. I think the best part of the cruise for me was the people we met. Our dinner 'ladies' were awesome as were Fitzroy and Megan our servers.

We then went to the atrium and waited until the called group purple. The luggage tags are colour coded and you just wait for your colour to be called. We walked off the ship (so sad) and waded through a large room full of luggage to find ours and then walked out, easiest customs agents ever!

Right outside this dock area we got a cab back to my apartment. It was very anticlimactic having such a short ride home and 'what do you mean, no more Disney!'.

I thought you would all get a laugh out of the amount of toiletries the room host left for us! I will be Disney clean for a very long time to come. Well, I may be nice and give some of it away.

 

As always at the end of a vacation, I take a photo of all my souvenirs or as I like to call it - loot photos! As you can see, I didn't spend much money while on this cruise. The selection in the stores wasn't that great or I certainly would have. Disney shopping is the only kind of shopping I really like to do.

 
I hope you have all enjoyed my ramblings on our cruise! I know I have enjoyed sharing our trip with all of you.
See Ya Real Soon!

For previous installments, please type in Vancouver into the search bar to the right.

Vancouver to Alaska on the Disney Wonder, 8/26 - 9/2 2013 : Part 7

By: Gaylin 

September 1, 2013
Day at sea, Disney cruise to Alaska

We are motoring home to Vancouver! Another lovely day.

 We started out with breakfast at Tritons as I couldn't face another buffet. I started with fruit, yogurt and breakfast grits, yum!

And continued with bacon and a freshly made omelette. It was a nice way to start our day.

We had fully intended to go back to the room for a bit and then head to Studio Sea for the dessert making demonstration. I found out that as long as neither of us drinks and we both behave like adults (Tyler is 16) then we were allowed to the food demonstrations - if we sat in the back. As it turned out we didn't get to see the dessert making, we both fell asleep! Napping in the morning, must be on a cruise.

Even though it seemed like we had just had breakfast, off we went for lunch at the buffet. I admit, I couldn't get myself to eat the crawdad, maybe if it had been hot, since it was served cold, it was kind of icky.

Planes was showing that afternoon but neither of us was interested. We wanted to spend our time on the ship, since tomorrow it was home.
There is a small deck on the back of the ship where we had intended to spend some time but just after we got there, a couple of cast members showed up to power wash it! We then wandered the halls, peeking in rooms much more luxurious than ours while the cleaning staff had the doors propped open. Wow, some of those rooms are big! Beautifully panelled, large decks - if I ever do cruise again, I would hope to afford a bigger room.

After that, we had our last visit to the coffee shop. I have no idea what I was drinking, it was a cold coffee drink and was dessert in a cup.

Our last dinner was at Parrot Cay. We had a lot of fun again with our servers and the lovely ladies that were our dinner companions. It does show how big the ship is, we only saw the dinner ladies once outside of meal time! Mind you they had a room with a veranda and spent a lot of time there.

This turned out to be one of the best meals for me in the whole cruise. Red snapper with potatoes & veggies in a tomato sauce. It was divine! As you can see . . . I had started eating before I remembered to take a photo.

I was hoping to get an interesting dessert for the last meal but got a cup of chocolate mousse that was barely chocolate flavoured.
That was when we had the inspired idea to order a Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bar!!! YUM. I love them. Ended my dinner quite well.

We then raced off to the Walt Disney Theatre for the live performance of Dreams. What an amazing show, all about reaching for your dreams.

The show ended at 9:30 and we had to get to our room to get our baggage out in the hall on time. They give you a full list of instructions on what to do with your baggage, you get baggage tags that are colour coded. Bags that you don't want to carry off ship yourself must be outside the stateroom between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30. We made it just in time!

One last walk around deck before bed, one last sit down and talk for awhile in 'our' chairs on the 10 floor landing. Soon it will all be a memory.

Please stop back tomorrow for the final part of Gaylin's Alaskan Cruise! 
For previous installments, please type in Vancouver into the search bar to the right.

Frozen: Storybook Deluxe App Review

Disney's newest Animated Feature film Frozen won't be out in the United States until November 27th, but you can get the Frozen: Storybook Deluxe, compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and optimized for iPhone 5, now!
The Frozen: Storybook Deluxe App is $6.99

In “Frozen,” fearless optimist Anna teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encouraging Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna’s sister, Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter.

The storybook features lovely illustrations, tappable animation, film quotes, a few surprises, and short clips from the actual film.

Be sure to tap around the illustrations.

Storytelling Options: Read on your own, record your own voice, or listen to the narration that accompanies this retelling of Frozen.

Experience two sides of the story from Anna's or Elsa's viewpoint by rotating your i-devise!

As for games:
You can create your own snowflakes and ice castles with frosty drawing tools, then insert the image into a snow-globe scene, which is what I did here with a rather rudimentary castle drawing!

I have to be honest, I could only figure out how to insert the castle, and not, say, this snowflake I made.

In the puzzles section, match the shapes to those on the left, and drag them over to remove them, revealing the illustration.

 Games can be accessed from within the story as well by clicking either the snowglobe or puzzle icon when they appear.

I didn't know anything about this story. It's beautiful. The animation, the music, the story. Beautiful.

Obviously, if you don't want to know too much about the movie "Frozen" before seeing it, you may want to wait until after it's release to read the story. But in the meantime, you can enjoy the games.

Disney Musings would like to thank Disney Publishing for providing this app for review.

Mickey Mouse as Steamboat Willie WDCC Figure

By: Nick

Congratulations on Your 85th, Mickey Mouse!

85 years ago, "Steamboat Willie" premiered at Universal's Colony Theater in New York City. While "Plane Crazy" was the actual 1st Mickey test screened on May 15 1928, and "Gallopin' Gaucho" was completed, but unreleased due to the lack of a distributor, November 18, 1928 is considered the birth of Mickey Mouse.

I thought I'd share this special piece today to celebrate Mickey in his most important theatrical debut.

This is the Walt Disney Classic Collection Charter Member 5th Anniversary sculpture, released in 1997. It was sent as each Charter Member renewed for their fifth consecutive year.

The wheel turns!

The tail is metal, the legs and feet are pewter.

Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse!

Through the Years with Mickey Mouse

Tomorrow is Mickey Mouse's 85th Birthday, so I thought I'd share pictures of Barbie and me with the Main Mouse himself from our Disney vacations. As a bonus, you get to see the drastic weight roller coaster I've taken myself on through the years!

From our first trip to Walt Disney World together, September 2006.

Disney World, January 2007.

From our first trip to Disneyland, February 2008.

Disneyland, 2009.

Disneyland, 2010. I'd lost 80 pounds.

Back to Disney World, January, 2011.

On the Disney Dream, May, 2012.

Walt Disney World, January 2013.

And finally, from our most recent trip, October, 2013.

I've changed so much, and Mickey has stayed the same!