Goodbye, Disney. Forever.

It is with great sadness...

Alright, I'm just messing about.  I'm not really saying goodbye to Disney forever.  How crazy would I have to be?!

This blog, however, is saying goodbye to posts about Disneyland.  

I've been doing some research on blogging lately, and reading quite a bit about multi-blogging (maintaining several of these bad boys at once).  It just seems as though my efforts would be best served by maintaining some semblance of focus.  Since this blog deals quite substantially with family matters, my occasional outbursts of tomfoolery no doubt lend it a sort of imbalance.  At least, that's what I think.  Maybe nobody else cares.

But at any rate, I've decided to take my talents (at least those I associate with Disney) elsewhere.

In a collaborative effort with my wife (genius writer and proofreader that she is), Mark Treiger, and whoever else I can manage to talk into it, as of later today we'll be officially opening our own Disney blog -- 

Restaurants, Restrooms, and Rides, Oh My!:  Days In The Park  

Contrary to what some might believe (myself included), I know (because I've talked to you guys) that there are people reading my blog.  And they do like the Disney stuff.  You might not show up in my Followers, and you might not comment here, but your voices have been heard.  Rise up, my people!  Follow us over to our Disney blog!  And on the way stop by the Enchanted Tiki Room for a Pineapple Whip.  I hear they're scrumptious!

ºoº 

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.

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. 

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.

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)

The Never Ending Saga of an aspiring Space Ranger

Growing up, I knew that I was something special. I felt within the very core of my being a "force", if you will. At a very early age, I realized just what that "force" was when I watched Star Wars for the first time at the tender age of 2. What my parents were thinking taking such a mere babe to such a mind-numbingly influential flick is quite beyond me, but nevertheless it set me on a course towards which the end-result would undoubtedly be my attaining Jedi Knight, and later Master, status.

Alas, anyone who knows me will agree with me that this did not happen. Although Yoda and I share much in common (we both have hair in very odd places), the Jedi career never quite panned out.

So, in a stroke of genius I have recently decided to cut short my dream of becoming a Jedi in the hopes of becoming just like my other hero in life, Buzz Lightyear. What can be said about Buzz that hasn't been said before? Flashing lights and a nameplate on his chest. Rapidly expanding wings on his back. Yelling out "To Infinity, and Beyond!" on a moment's notice. And apparently if I follow his lead I can eventually have a reset button in my battery compartment that when pressed will immediately make me fluent in Spanish. It's not exactly C-3PO's "6 million forms of communication", but it's a start!

So without further ado, I immediately proceeded to Disneyland to begin my training with Buzz. As can be seen by the pictures I have provided as evidence, if my competition doesn't become somewhat stiffer, I should have no problems attaining the rank I so desire with Star Command.

taken at roughly 1600 hours, 03 May, 2010



taken at roughly 1615 hours, 03 May, 2010

So, as can be seen, we see significant improvement in score and use of trigger finger in a very short span of time. I can only surmise this means that I am indeed Space Ranger material, and I was born with an innate ability to rapidly shoot Emperor Zurg in the chest over and over again. Even Star Command's feeble attempt to throw me from my game by providing me with a weapon on which my laser was set a full 2 feet beneath my sights was useless and laughable.

So, I hope to continue to update this as time warrants. One can only hope that this dream, unlike my Jedi dream, will pan out and that one day I will be leading the charge alongside my friend Mr. Lightyear against the evil Emperor Zurg, sworn enemy of all we hold dear.

If not, I hear they are looking for a new elevator operator at the Hollywood Tower Hotel.