Welcome Home

Welcome Home. Those words bring a tear to my eye every time I hear them. How about you? If you don't know what I'm talking about, every time a Disney Vacation Club Member visits a resort and checks in, the Cast Members wish them a warm "Welcome Home!" Disney has a way of making each and every visitor feel special, this welcome is how they get to me. So my question to you is, once you've left Disney, how do you prevent that homesick feeling?

The Ballad of Nessie

In the bonny blue Highlands

Where the bagpipes play
Lives the creature called Nessie
But it wasn’t always this way...

The Ballad of Nessie is the short film which plays after the Winnie the Pooh movie that came out in 2011. If you haven’t seen this treat, please do, it really is lovingly done!
Nessie lives in a pond in the moors of Glenkeane, which is a shout out to long-time Disney animator Glen Keane. The short is narrated by Billy Connolly and directed by Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters, who used hand drawn animation, which I believe, makes this short such a lovely gem. You can tell immediately that this is a very special piece of animation, a lot of love went into the making of this.

In Scotland, lives a sweet and shy Nessie monster. She and her rubber duck are forcibly removed from their lovely little watering hole by a greedy land developer. Nessie searches high and low for a replacement home, but to no avail. (Boy, this sounds like so many of the stories one hears today) Nessie’s grief finally becomes overwhelming and uncontrollable and she begins to cry. She cries and cries, she can’t stop crying until she sheds so many tears that she floods the lowlands, accidentally providing the perfect home for herself and her rubber ducky. Loch Ness, in case you didn't guess!

My Favorite Martian!

Pleakley, of Lilo and Stitch fame, is an alien from a species known as the Plorgonarians. He is a former member of the Galactic Federation and is a partner in crime, so to speak, and friend with Jumba; the mad scientist who created Stitch, experiment number 626.Agent Wendy Pleakley, he calls himself Wendy at times, worked for the “Galactic Federation”, and acted as its expert on the planet Earth, which he knew little about. Pleakley reluctantly becomes Dr. Jumba Jookiba’s partner when they were forced to capture Experiment 626 (Stitch). They become friends and roommates when the two became stranded on Earth.

Oh Pleakley, how you pull at my heart strings! What is it about you that makes me grin like a kid in love every time I see you? Is it your lovely eye? Your jaundiced yellow color, so much like my own? Perhaps it’s your wardrobe. You wear the uniform of the Galactic Federation when on official business, but when you kick back here on Earth, you get down in your mu’umu’u and don a wig on occasion. I love that you enjoy dressing up in women’s clothing, that your identity is ambiguous to everyone but yourself. You know how to enjoy life, you are a friend to all and you are a DVC member!

I Dig Dug

Hello! Nick, Disney Musing's husband here, doing a guest appearance. DM is too busy reading "The Hunger Games" trilogy, so I thought I'd jump in and post.

Sorry to anyone who came across this title and thought I was referring to the popular 1980's video game, "Dig Dug", but, now that you're here, please stick around.

Lately, I've been talking about movies that have a special meaning in my life over at the Disleelandia blog, such as "A Bug's Life", and "Bambi". (If you go and look for them, they haven't been posted yet, but please check back there daily to see them when they do. Plug, plug. Send the money via PayPal, Lee).

The Pixar animated movie "Up" has a special meaning to the two of us. We saw it on our 10th Anniversary.

As dog lovers, we fell in love with Dug, the Golden Retriever, who can "talk" via a special dog collar, a creation by his evil owner. I bought this plush Dug for my wife from the Disney Store.

Press his paw, where it says PRESS HERE, and he says several things, such as "Are you a dog, too?", "Hi there!", "My name is Dug, I have just met you and I looove you!" , "Will you be my master?", "A ball, a ball! Oh boy! A ball!", "I can bark! (Barks) And here is howling! (Howls)" and "I am a great tracker, my pack sent me on a mission all by myself. Have you seen a bird?"



Here he is looking for a bird.


Hmm, maybe over here?

Now he's called in our dog, Shnelly to help him find the bird.



If you find the bird, please let us know!

Spring is Coming...

WALL-E is soaking up the earliest rays of the season, while Eve searches for signs of life; and finds them!

WALL-E plays around, trying to get Eve's attention with some dried flowers. She is touched, but continues to search for the first signs of Spring! As we all do.

Spring is Coming...

And already we have a caterpillar taking over the garden!

Flea Markets

We are lucky to live in a small state that has a culture of weekday and weekend fleamarkets, for example:

BELVIDERE - SAT & SUN
BERLIN - THURS THRU SUN
COLUMBUS - THURS THROUGH SUN
DORCHESTER - SAT & SUN
EDISON - TUESDAYS
ENGLISHTOWN - SAT & SUN
FARMINGDALE - FRI, SAT & SUN
GILLETTE - SUNDAYS
LAMBERTVILLE - WED, SAT & SUN
MANAHAWKIN - FRI, SAT & SUN
MEYERSVILLE - SUNDAYS
MONTCLAIR - TUES & FRI
MT ARLINGTON - SUNDAYS
NESHANIC STATION - SUNDAYS
NEW BRUNSWICK - FRI, SAT & SUN
NEW EGYPT - WED & SUN
NEWARK - SAT & SUN
NORTH BERGEN - SUNDAYS
PATTERSON - EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE
PERTH AMBOY - THURSDAYS
PISCATAWAY - SUNDAYS
PLEASANTVILLE - FRI, SAT, SUN & MON
RAHWAY - WED & FRI
TRENTON - SAT & SUN
VINCETOWN - SUNDAYS
VINELAND - FRI, SAT & SUN
WATCHUNG - FRI, SAT & SUN
WOODSTOWN - TUES & SAT
These are to name but a few! I'm sure there are other states out there that love to flea market like we do; but as a state, we are pretty serious about it.

Every weekend we get together with friends and head out to our local markets to search for hidden treasures and bring home fruit and vegetables. Once in a while, we are able to finish a collection we've started! Our friend Jill found the last pin in a series that she needed! The price was right!
If you enjoy looking for vintage Disney finds and love searching for new stuff as well, check your local flea markets, church bazaars and other weekly sales. The chances are good you'll run across a treasure!

Who Wears Hats? continued...

Send in your photos!

Brandy Leigh sent in these photos of her daughter, mother and herself sporting their Disney head gear. Don't they look great? It's nice to see that Brandy Leigh has started her daughter off on the right track!
Here's a pic of Lee of Disleelandia and his lovely wife sporting their Disney head gear.
Friend of the blog, Gaylin sent a couple of fun photos of her hats! I don't know what she did to deserve being put in the stocks.
Thanks to everyone for submitting their awesome hat photos!

Who Wears Hats?

Who wears hats at Disney?


All sorts of people. From the traditional Mickey Mouse Ears to the much more elaborate birthday cake hats, dinosaur hats and more; hats are surely a popular fashion statement at the parks.

So how do you choose just one?

Therein lies my dilemma! Head covering choices are endless. I go into the little shops and test out various models, all of which are awesome, and always wind up leaving empty handed. I envy the visitors I see walking around proudly bearing their hats triumphantly for all to see. They made their choice, and they are enjoying every moment of it.


On more than one occasion, I have regretted leaving a hat behind! At least we can say that we have photos of our modeling sessions. So what do you wear?