Tidbits From the Land of The Mouse

As has been well-documented, one of the things I enjoy most at the Disneyland Resort is the hunt for Hidden Mickeys.  Truth be told though, as much as I may write about it, it really does make up a very small portion of what I enjoy at the Park.  Truth even more be told (so wrong!), I kind of don't even think about it anymore.  I've sort of trained myself just to be looking.  Typically when I go I will have a short list in mind of ones I have already seen that I need to photo (if I pass them) or a new one I've heard about online or something, but I'm usually too busy standing in lines or eating (or walking!) to really think about it much.

I know, and accept, that a lot of people just don't get the whole thing.  Seems silly or superfluous or whatever.  And that's fine.  But it's my blog, and I'll write about whatever the heck I want.

But for those who might actually care, there are two main reasons I hunt for them:

1. It's just something fun to do.  It's something fun to do while you're just wandering around.  Much better in my opinion than watching other dads yelling at their kids, or listening to kids yelling, or listening to whoever yelling.  There's a lot of yelling at Disneyland, don't ya know?
2. The competitor in me wants, in the face of all odds stacked against me, to be the first to spot any given Mickey in the Park. 

Now, the truth is, I suppose it would be really hard to judge who was the first to find a Mickey.  I accept that someone, at the very least the Imagineers who placed it there to begin (you geniuses, you!), has probably seen it before.

But I can do the next best thing, and that's check it against the Yellow Book (Steven M. Barrett's guide), or the Hidden Mickey's Guide website, or my personal favorite, FindingMickey.com by Rosemary & Neil Garcia.  I figure if I check it against these two (who seem to know the most) and they don't have it, I may at least get in prime position of being credited as the person who found it.

Hopefully you'll see where this is going.  On a trip recently I spotted a Mickey somewhere in Disneyland that I can't find listed anywhere in any book or any website.  I have submitted it to both websites, and I have in fact heard back from both of them.  I got an email from Steven Barrett last week that said he would personally check into it next time he was at Disneyland (not sure when that will be), and I heard back from Rosemary & Neil today (they live very near Disneyland) saying they had been to the park yesterday to check it out, confirmed it, took a picture, and are going to put it on their website and credit me with the find.

I won't give too much away yet about where it is and all, but you can bank that when it does go up and gets posted, I'll put it here post-haste.

The competitor in me is pretty happy this morning.  Ah, the little things.

It Won't Be Long Now ... Roll Tide.

Are you ready, Crimson Nation?

Around The Blogs: More Than I Should Bear

One of the things that I love most about my wife is her ability to teach.  She's an amazing teacher.  And she's not only an amazing teacher while she's in the classroom (she teaches AP English) but she's an amazing teacher while she's in the home. 

I love writing, but it's only with her help that I'm able to write, and blog, as frequently as I do.  If it were left up to me I wouldn't.  I'm too self-conscious about myself and my abilities (despite having been told the opposite on many occasions) to put myself out there.  For me, the proof would be in the pudding.  I'd have to have a bazillion hits and a quadrillion followers to consider myself a success.  And I so don't. 

But she taught me a lesson a long time ago, and that is this:  You don't write for others, you write for yourself.  Like any other art, writing is a form of self-expression.  It shouldn't be done from any ulterior motives or out of any sense of pride or arrogance, but simply because you want to.  Your willingness to put yourself out there, and put your feelings out there is an important human interaction.  You bare your soul (sometimes serious, sometimes not), but you do it for yourself.  And as long as you are happy with that, well then that's just okay.  Should anyone care to accompany you, well then that's just okay, too.

I wish I could say the following was just a simple case of nepotism, but it's not.  My wife is an amazing writer.  Brilliant, in point of fact.  And it's due to her beginning to blog that mine even exists now. 

Y'all check her out. 

More Than I Should Bear

Take Me To My Happy Place!

It's just been one of those weekends.  I don't like death.  Don't do very well with it.  But there have been two to deal with to some extent this weekend (one for me, and one for my wife).  As such, the quest to find something to bring me back to a place of contentment has been priority #1 this afternoon (even as my wife is still away at one funeral). 

I was strolling through some old pictures this afternoon when I came across the one you see above you right now.  It's one of my favorite pictures of all time.  I'm not very photogenic.  I accept that.  In fact, I typically hate taking pictures period.  But something about this one (excluding the subject matter) has always made it a favorite of mine.  At any rate, it was taken on December 19, 2008 on my tenth wedding anniversary while my wife and I were celebrating at The Mirage in Las Vegas.  Kind of apropos, no?

At the time this picture was taken, I had just been really introduced to the Beatles' music the summer before.  Now, I do pride myself on being educated to a large degree (no pun intended), and I like to think myself pretty well-rounded at any rate.  So of course I knew who the Beatles were, and I already had a pretty healthy respect for their place in musical history without really knowing much of what they did (I've since come to find out that I knew a lot more of their music than I thought I did).  But a friend had introduced me to their 'Love' CD during that summer (basically the soundtrack for the entire show), and since it was our 10th anniversary and we did want to do Vegas fancy, I figured that taking my wife to see a show (a Cirque show, no less!) called 'Love' was probably just the way to go. 

Sparing all the boring and often gory details, suffice to say that the Beatles have since become my favorite band.  I listen to them.  A lot.  When the remastered boxed set came out in conjunction with The Beatles: Rock Band on 9*9*09, well, you get the idea.

I've indulged myself in my fair share of conversations about the Beatles over the past couple of years, and I've found that people are pretty much divided equally over three spheres:  the Beatles are overrated, ambivalence, and the Beatles are the greatest band ever.  There really doesn't seem to be much gray area at all.  But that ain't what this is about.

Rather, it's about just being happy.  The truth is, I could probably come up with about a thousand reasons (okay, exaggeration I admit) why I like the Beatles.  Why I think they're great.  Blah Blah Blah.  But all of those reasons aren't why I like them.  I'm a firm believer that sometimes humans just need something to make them smile; something to make them happy.  Something to click for them.  The Beatles do that for me.  It really is that simplistic.

When I'm having a dreary day and I hear "Here Comes The Sun", I can't help but feel a little bit brighter.  When I'm driving down the street and "Hey Jude" comes on, and all the people in the car start singing I can't help but laugh.  When I hear "All You Need Is Love" I think about my wife.  The list could go on and on.  But that would be boring.

The point is this; I can't help but wonder what kind of a world it might be if everyone had something, just that one something, that just clicked for them and made them happy.  Something that wasn't predicated on rhyme or reason.  Something they could just enjoy without other people making them feel foolish or whatever for doing so.  I'm content knowing that this makes me happy simply because it does.

What makes you happy?

Random Acts of Randomness on the Web : Why Is The Rum Gone?

Because they can't all be serious posts...

I just wish I could figure out the whole Teletubbies and Pikachu thing.  o.O

Around the Blogs: Disney Parks Blog

I know I've mentioned the Disney Parks Blog at some point in another blog (maybe the one about Star Tours?), but they threw up another one last night that got my attention and I figured it belonged here.

I was really stoked to see it because Disney typically eschews any "official" stance or whatever regarding the Hidden Mickeys.  So it was really quite cool to see them actually do a blog post on their website about it. 

The post itself is here:  What is Your Favorite Hidden Mickey?

And I've included the video in their post as well.  It was actually informational to me, too.  I think I've seen roughly 80 of the Mickeys or so at this point, but about half of the ones in the video I was unaware of.  Kind of odd for them to give them away like that, but I'll take what I can get.  And if you do follow the link, pay special attention to commenter #30. 

The Romance Was Thick That Night...

I love my wife.  No doubt about it.  I know that she knows it, and I fervently hope that others who know us can see it.  If not, send me an anonymous comment and your complaints will be dealt with swiftly.

But although I love my wife, the whole idea of "romance" and "being romantic" is, I confess, sometimes lost on me.  The whole "guy thing" and not understanding is actually quite true.  We're wired so differently that sometimes I don't know whether I'm coming or going.  The things that I would think would drive her wild fall flat, and then sometimes the little things I do, which make no romantic sense to me whatsoever, earn me massive brownie points.  And if I manage somehow in my idiocy to string them together, look out!

I may be completely off base here, but I think that often times what romance really boils down to is sacrifice.  Giving of oneself to please another.  Giving up something you want for something that they want.  Doing something you wouldn't normally do because it's not really your "style" because you know it will make theirs more important than yours.

Stephanie and I don't get to spend a whole lot of time together with just the two of us.  After years of trying to "cheap" our way through things, we've finally come to the realization that we have to do what we have to do to get time away from our children.  Even if it means (GASP!) paying a babysitter.  It had been so long since we had been out that we both thought a night in the park; no, scratch that, we both thought a night in THE Park (Disneyland) was just what the doctor ordered.

We did the normal ride thing, and the normal dinner thing, and so on, but then I got in my head to do something that I had never done in the 14 years that I have been with my girl.  We rode the carousel.  And I think that may have been when it dawned on me: 

The thing that horrifies me

may be just the thing that makes my wife the happiest.

Maybe I do kind of understand this romance thing after all.

"From that day on, if I was goin' somewhere, I was runnin'"

Summer's gone, and with it soon will go my stress.  Well, at least about some things.

Don't get me wrong.  While I love summers and the amount of time I get to spend with my family (both the wife and kids), the months are hard.  Being someone wired the way that I am only makes it harder sometimes.  Without all the boring details, looking back on the last couple of months produces moments of glee as well as moments of sheer horror.  Okay, maybe I exaggerate.  But there were days that weren't fun.  Sho 'nuff.

The truth is, though, that none of us are immune to these moments of stress and worry.  I'm not an enigma or the exception to the rule.  I am in fact the rule.  But as time has wound down this summer I've found myself drawn back more and more to this one verse; or rather, part of it:

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."(Hebrews 12:1c)

Life is a race.  It's something that's long and hard, and full of stones being pelted at us (sometimes metaphorical and maybe sometimes real).  But it takes a person of real character to be able to persevere and to continue to run when we're unwilling, and sometimes feeling unable, to do so.

I think maybe that's part of the beauty of Forrest.  And I can't help but love the imagery in this movie the more and more that I see it.  Life can sometimes do a pretty darn good job of crippling us.  It can make us stiff and unable (or unwilling) to move sometimes.  It can throw things at us that hurt.  Big time. 

But we have a cheerleader.  Truth is, sometimes we're so busy wallowing in ourselves that we can't see the truth that we probably have many cheerleaders encouraging us on.  And once we start moving, no matter what's behind us, the shackles that are binding us down and keeping us from reaching our full potential will burst from our legs, the dust will rise from our moving feet, and we'll leave our problems behind.  We'll be amazed at our own resiliency and what we are able to accomplish.  We just have to keep runnin'. 

Star Tours: Special Edition

A quick stroll through Tomorrowland (who are we kidding?  a quick stroll through Tomorrowland?!) netted me the above picture a couple of weeks ago.  Blending Disneyland and Star Wars together was pure genius!  No doubt in my mind that George Lucas did it especially for me.

In a weird twist of fate, the first time I ever rode 'Star Tours' was at Walt Disney World (and not Disneyland).  Point of fact, many of the rides I now love so much at Disneyland I first rode in Florida.  Funny how that works.

At any rate, 'Star Tours' was a staple of my trips into Disneyland.  The ride was always fun, the kids loved it, and the lines were almost always short (gone are those days, I would imagine).  But as most people know by now, the "old" has passed and the "new" is coming fairly soon, and in 3D-HD no less!

While there is a ton of debate from nerds like me as to whether the ride needed updating (for many, it is borderline hypocrisy to change it), I have to confess myself extremely excited about it.  As much as I loved the old one, let's be honest, it was horribly outdated.  Classic, yes.  Loved, yes.  Outdated?  You betcha.  So as sad as I am to see the one I grew up knowing about leaving, I'm ready for whatever they throw at me.  It's Disney.  How bad can it be?

A couple of weeks ago Disney Parks Blog posted the following video that will be in the queue for the new ride.  Enjoy!  It might be nice to see Alderaan before Vader gets a hold of it.  And I can't help but loving how they kept the "old ride" feel to it.  Star Tours wouldn't be the same without those chimes.

Mickeys - Sunshine Plaza

Been a few days, and nothing really fetching my interest in terms of blogging today, so I'll do another Mickeys blog.

California Adventure is typically the first park that I go into whenever I go, so it's a good start.

And as always, many have been intentionally left "unfound" for later addition.  

ºoº

"I'm the SMART Clark Griswold"

So, I have a friend who tells the following story:

One night, he was home with his wife watching 'National Lampoon's Vacation' for probably the umpteenth zillionth time.  He says he doesn't believe his wife really enjoys watching the movie, but he thinks it's more of a "pity viewing" than anything else.  

But at any rate, he claims that as the movie progressed and the antics of the lead character (a man named Clark Griswold who is wonderfully played by Chevy Chase, or so I hear) continued to spiral more and more out of control, that his wife kept looking back at him with a smirk on her face; one he characterized as being half-sympathy, half-revulsion, and only a quarter-loving.  Of course, my friend immediately got defensive and shot back at her, "What are you grinning at?  I'm nothing like him!  I'm the smart Clark Griswold."  

He tells me his wife then proceeded to laugh uncontrollably for the next fifteen minutes or so while he sat in stunned silence.

Now, never having seen the movie myself, I can't really say one way or the other whether her feelings about the matter are justified or not.  My friend is a great guy!  Loves his family!  Would do darn near anything he could to please them.  Does it make him seem crazed and lose his temper every so often?  Sure!  But it's only because he loves them.  But at any rate, he wanted me to pass on the following questions in the hopes that someone could clarify for him, once and for all, whether Clark is really as stupid and buffoonish as his wife has always said he was.  So here you go:

1. Who would not want to be seen in this beauty?  
2. Is driving across the country rather than flying really the preferred method of travel?  As Clark himself would say, "Getting there is half the fun.  You know that!"
3. Don't all children all over the world love a rousing rendition of 'Jimmy Crack Corn' with mom and dad?
4. "Kids, are you noticing all this plight?"  Isn't a trip into East St. Louis, in fact, worth it for the children's education and well-rounded being?
5. Is it really considered animal cruelty if the dog refuses to get into the car by himself?  Is Clark, in fact, a "dog-killer"?
6. This is not so much a question as a statement.  Anyone, and I mean anyone could have missed that "Road Closed" sign.  And jumping the Truckster 50 yards is indeed something to be proud of.
7. Does Clark in fact have, as stated to him, "manure for your brains"?
8. Wouldn't any other man, in his position, have offered to place Aunt Edna (who didn't even have the decency to die at home, but instead chose to on a vacation she imposed upon) in a night-deposit box like Clark did?  Which leads to #9...
9. When the wife gets pissed that Clark offered to put Aunt Edna in the night-deposit box (or ship her home via Federal Express), and basically insults and belittles him in front of the children, wouldn't any other man in Clark's position also jump naked into a pool with Christie Brinkley?
10. This really has nothing to do with Clark, but I've always wondered, can BBs in fact get lodged under the skin and lead to a very bad infection?

So there you have it.  My friend submits that Clark is in fact a loving, caring and nurturing father surrounded by a shrewish wife, imbecilic cousins and bratty kids who wouldn't know a good time if it jumped it and bit them.

What say you?

Feed Your Inner Geek!...

...Or your Outter Geek!  I really don't care which.  If you are at all interested in movies and you are at all interested in video games, you gotta get out there and watch this perfect amalgamation of the two. 

Do Not Pass Go.  Do Not Collect $200 (although you may want to swing by the bank and collect the roughly $10 or so it might cost to buy a ticket to this flick).  Just go see it.  You won't be sorry.

Where Were You, Skype?

As I sit in my bedroom some Saturday mornings and watch my children talk to their grandparents on the PC using Skype software, I can't help but smile and be happy that they have a way in which they can communicate with their grandparents, and see them to boot when they are so many thousands of miles away.

But at the same time I am filled with an inner-rage that is almost uncontainable.  A rage that demands of me that I put my fist through the computer screen and run about the room screaming like Godzilla as he is attacking Tokyo and the surrounding suburbs.

Where were you, Skype, when I needed you?  Where were you 14 years ago when I met my wife and I rang up hundreds of dollars in phone bills every month talking to my fiance on the phone?  Where were you when I needed to talk to my parents 20 years ago and couldn't because we couldn't afford the $10/minute phone calls?  Do you know what you've cost me over the years?  Do you have any idea what your laziness and procrastination to be developed and implemented have cost me?

I ought to punch you in your stupid Skype face, that's what I ought to do.  But ultimately what good would it do?  I just hope you're happy with yourself.  Thanks a lot, Skype.

**editors note:  of course, The Bangles have absolutely nothing to do with Skype.  I just really love their music**

Evangelism Is a Contact Sport

¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.  (Matt. 28)

"Blow 'em up, baby!"

Mickeys - Entrance Plaza

So after my last blog entry, I decided it might be time to go with something a little more lighthearted.  Disney (what else?)!

So comes the first of my blogs documenting the Mickeys we've found all over the parks.

I figure it best to start at the beginning, with some of the first ones that you can see entering the parks area, and work my way in. These are all found between the Disney Mickey & Friends Parking Structure (where you pick up the tram), through the security checkpoint that let you into the Entrance Plaza, and inside the Plaza itself between the two parks.

Nothing terribly difficult in finding these.  They are a large portion of the ones that are in this area.  I've intentionally left a few out so I have more to add later as I go back and take more photos.  But these are a good many of them.  Next time you're at the park, check 'em out!

ºoº

Feelin' Sappy (sung to the tune of 'Feeling Groovy')

Feeling sappy this morning.  Feeling a bit of age this morning.

I say that a lot, but it's usually followed swiftly by someone knocking me down to size.  "You're not old!", or "I'm old!", or "Come back and see me in 25 years and then tell me you're old".  Okay, so I readily admit in terms of actual years and mileage I have on me, I'm not especially old.  But, I refuse to be told how I can feel, and right now I feel old, consarned it all, you whippersnappers!

Truth is, today it was looking at my children that made me feel, well, maybe so not much old, but definitely aging.

I'm truly blessed to be able to spend so much time with them, and to have a wife who wanted one of us home with them so badly that she allows me to do so.  We both agreed long ago that it was my job to do so.  And I treat it as such.  Laundry, vacuuming, mopping, dishes, homework, dinner all fall in the domain of "Chad".  And truth is, I have struggled with that a lot over the years.  It's not the manliest of jobs, after all.  And many a night I've lain awake in bed listening to Stephanie sleeping while the guilt tried to eat me alive.

But over the past year or so I've really tried to slow it down and notice more and pay more attention to the little things.  Last week Michael started the 3rd Grade.  Nicholas, the 1st.  Little Lucas is only a couple of years away from being away from me, too.  If time continues to fly like this, they'll graduate tomorrow.

I think that Stephanie and I both realize that our "baby days" may be over.  We haven't officially called it quits on them, yet, but we're both older now and both beginning to realize that the "new phase" of our lives we always say we're getting ready to enter just may not involve raising anymore children.  It makes me sad.  I've enjoyed every minute that I've had with my babies, but I know that it can't last forever.  MJ will be a teenager before I know it, and God help me if I'm trying to raise teenagers and babies at the same time.

So I stood in the schoolyard this morning just watching all the children from so many families.  I could see Michael at the other end of the blacktop (all by himself in line because he doesn't really need me anymore) and Nicholas on the other, looking small and quiet in his first grade line.  He's growing up, too; can't deny it anymore.  And just when I thought the feelings couldn't consume me anymore, little Lucas walked up to me and asked me to pick him up, and he put his arms around me, kissed me on the cheek, and laid his head on my shoulder and told me he loved me.

Life may indeed be moving on, but I plan on draining it of every stinking minute that I can.

Michael right after his birth - 7/24/2002

Quite Possibly The World's Greatest 'Hide and Seek'

I've often been accused of having an obsessive-type personality. The people in my life who know me the best would probably have no problem whatsoever confirming this fact to any doubters who may still be out there.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite games in the world to play was 'Hide and Seek'. I've often regaled others (whether they wanted me to or not) with tales of playing differing varieties of the 'Hide and Seek' game into the wee hours of many a summer morning. In point of fact, even now, whenever I can play 'Hide and Seek' I'm more than willing to do so. At our annual youth lock-ins, more often than not, you'll find me in the thick of things with the rest of the teenagers whenever we play 'Hide and Seek' in the sanctuary of the church at roughly 2am. Not many things in this world could ever keep me awake past 2am. 'Hide and Seek' is one of them.

Enter the Wonderful World of Disney. I've always been a HUGE Disney fan. I grew up watching the movies and television shows. I grew up knowing the characters, singing the songs. Basically, I was just one huge Lame-O. To this day, if anyone asks me what my greatest vacation of all time was, I will immediately and without hesitation spew forth, "Disneyworld when I was 17." Try me. On second thought, don't. I don't do well under pressure.

When I met my wife and decided to move to California, I did indeed know that I would be living a scant 40 miles or so from the "original" Disney theme park (and this was before California Adventure existed). However, for the longest time the desire to go remained dormant. It wasn't until I had actually been living in Southern California for several years that I took my first trip into the park. It was roughly the same time that I first heard of the Hidden Mickey.

Without belaboring the point, at some time during last quarter century, workers/Imagineers began placing Hidden Mickeys all over the Disney properties. You can find them everywhere (in all the different parks, hotels, restaurants, etc.) and anywhere (I saw one outside a bathroom once). No place is safe. Anytime a new attraction is built, it's prime real estate for a new Mickey to show up. Some get moved from time to time, and some are removed from to time. You get the idea. There are little Mickey Mouses hidden all over the park, okay? Just gonna have to trust me on this one. ºoº See what I did there? Hid a Mickey right smack in the middle of my blog.

It's generally accepted that there are probably hundreds of the things all over the place, and that there is no "official" list. The closest is probably Hidden Mickeys (available at your friendly neighborhood Disneyland kiosk) by Steven M. Barrett, and even he doesn't have them all. Everyone has their own criteria for what they consider a "true" Hidden Mickey. Many of mine are on his list. Some are on his questionable list. Some aren't on any list at all. That's part of the fun of the game.

I try to answer the following questions when I look for Mickeys:

1. Is it in the general shape of a Mickey head (or in some cases a real picture of Mickey)?  Obvious, right?
2. Does it seem purposeful?

That's it.  All there is to it.  I know some people will argue whether something is or not, or whether it's a hidden Mickey, or a "decorative" one, but that's just part of the game.  And it's part of the fun.  Keeps me coming back.

Even so, they really failed to capture my imagination for the longest time. If I happened to see one, great. If I didn't, well no big deal, either. And for a long time, I didn't. It wasn't until I started going regularly when I began to get an annual pass annually (HA!) that I was bitten by the HM Bug. The Trifecta. My love for Disney, 'Hide and Seek' and my obsessive personality all came together and gave me a whole new outlook on life. Worlds collided. Planets divided. The world was fruitful and multiplied. Well, maybe not all that (except the last one, Google "overpopulation" and shudder) but it did begin to become a part of my Disneyland experiences on a much grander scale.

I "mentally" collected them for quite some time, but one particular day when I got on a roll (spotting several on my own with no clues or tips from anyone or anysite) I decided it might be fun to begin documenting them in photo form. Not just for myself, but for the kids (they love the idea of them, but often can't see them in time when we're on rides or whatever).

So without further ado, I present the first of what will probably be weekly blogs dedicated to the Mickeys in some shape or form.

I can by no means claim that I found all of these on my own.  I'll never say that I did.  Some of them came from a friend I go with fairly often (Mark, you know who you are!), and some of them came from online lists or other people as I was in the parks (Cast members and other Disney fans).  The two websites that I like the best are HiddenMickeysGuide.com and this one from a couple of huge fans, Finding Mickey.  However, a great many of them I did find all on my own as I wandered around the Park, and I'm especially proud of those.  I'll probably make special note of those as I post them.  

I'm not out to argue whether something is hidden or not.  I just wander around and look for Mickeys.  If you want to deem them hidden that's great, and if not, that's great, too.  I'm including pretty much whatever I see, and you can be the judge. 

I hope Disney lovers out there will appreciate it. All others, well, we honestly don't care what you think.

Peace.

Inside the loop of Screamin' - Fire Alarm in Tower of Terror Video

Breastplate on Pirates of the Caribbean - Mickey Shadow in Jack's Treasure Room

Riverboat Painting (shot from aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat)