Quick Disney Questions

Ok, so I am short on time tonight so I will do some rapid fire Disney questions for you all.  Without further delay, here we go!

Question #1 – David O. wrote in to ask, “Hi Brad.  Have you ever stayed at the Contemporary Resort?  If so did you like it, could you recommend it?  Is there anything to do there that you can’t do at any of the other Disney Resorts?  Thanks in advance for your help!”

Thanks for your question Dave.  Yes sir I most certainly have stayed at the Contemporary Resort, both the regular part of the resort as well as Bay Lake Towers, which is the Disney Vacation Club part of the resort.  To begin, a monorail line runs right through the middle of the Contemporary making it probably one of the best things about this resort.  You will never get tired of seeing the monorails pass by on the “highway in the sky”, and neither will your kids.  Chef Mickeys Character Dining is housed in the Contemporary and I always tell people that they have to do at least one meal, preferably breakfast, at Chef Mickeys, especially if they have kids.  Great food at a great value and you get to take picutres with all of the characters.  The rest of the resort is mostly average.  The arcade is ok – not much different than any other Disney Arcade.  The shops are ok as well.  Again not much different than any other Disney Resort.  The pools are ok as well.  I much prefer the Polynesians pools or the Animal Kingdoms pools to the Contemporary’s.  So overall, I would recommend the Contemporary based upon the monorail, the food, and the atmosphere.  Oh and it is also within walking distance to the Magic Kingdom for the times when there are long waits for buses.  Thanks again for writing in Dave!

 

Here is a view of the Grand Concourse from the Contemporary Resort

 

Here is Chef Mickey coming right to the table to greet the guests!  Kids eat this up – literally!

Question #2 – Paula W. wrote in to ask, “Hi Brad!  Great blog!  You seem to be extremely knowledgeable about all things Disney, so I have a question for you.  How long should we plan to stay at Disney World in order to see all of the major attractions at all of the parks.  It will be myself, my husband, and 2 teen agers.  Thank you!”

Well Paula, I get this question a lot and I always have to preface my answer with this – to me It’s A Small World is a “major attraction” that I must ride every time, but to many others the song alone will keep them away from it.  So my warning to you here is, your mileage may vary.  Ok, so I always tell people that a 7 day stay is always great for people to see about everything that you would want to see at Disney World.  There are 4 parks, so here is my thinking – I spend 2 days at the Magic Kingdom – I spend 2 days at Epcot – I spend 2 days at Disneys Hollywood Studios – and I spend 1 day at Animal Kingdom.  This ensure me that I get plenty of rides on the biggies like Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Mission Space, The Maelstorm at Norway, Innoventions, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Rockin Rollercoaster, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Expedition Everest, and the Kilamanjaro Safaris.  Again, I highly recommend that you but the Burnbaum Official Guide to Walt Disney World at any bookstore and mark off the rides you might be interested in.  This will help you to know where things are and when to ride them, as well as how to make the most of FastPass.  Thanks again for writing in.

 

Well I apologize for having to keep this one short but with school starting in a few weeks, I have to ensure that I am prepared for it!  Thanks again for your time this evening and I hope that if you have any Disney questions for me that you will do like these fine folks did and email me or leave a comment on the blog and I’ll get your questions answered as soon as possible!  I’ll see ya back here again real soon and I hope you have a truly magical day!

Favorite Disney Villians

So we all have our favorite Disney theme park.  We all have our favorite Disney food that we love.  We all have our favorite Disney Princess (here is a huge shout out for Ariel!).  But I don’t think we often think about who our favorite Disney Villain might be.

 

Now there is a table full of nastiness!!  The magical animators at Disney and Pixar have given us so many great choices for villains over the years.  When I think of the “big four” films – Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and The Best, and The Lion King, I think of four villains who I absolutely love to hate!  No I have to fess up and say right off the bat that my all time favorite villain just recently became a Disney property, and that would be Darth Vader:

 

Ok so maybe he’s not so menacing when he takes some time off to enjoy a ride at the parks, but he sure was very scary to me as I was growing up.  His story of redemption will stay with me all of my days.

But when I think of the animated movies, it becomes very hard for me to pick a favorite villain.  So maybe it will help me to pick a favorite by talking it out.  So here we go:

 

Ursula really was a nasty old bitty wasn’t she?  Clearly even though the story doesn’t show it, I would bet that she had spent years trying to get in the good graces of King Triton but never being able to, so she turned to the evil side.  Seducing Ariel to give away her voice to be able to be with he human man was all too easy for Ursula to do, but of course, in the end, she totally underestimated the power of true love.  Prince Eric used his ship as a Ginsu knife and luckily for us that was the end of Ursula.  All in all, Ursula was totally unlikeable, but I just don’t see her as being the most evil out of all of the villains of the big 4.  If I had to give her a grade from 1 to 4, even though The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney animated feature, Ursula would rate as my number 4 villian.  Sorry Ursula, but your just not tops on my villainous list!

 

Jafar and Iago his parrot represent greed in all of its forms.  Jafar wasn’t really asking for much was he – the lamp, to marry Jasmine against her will, own the entire kingdom, overthrow the Sultan, and be the most powerful genie in the universe!  Come on Jafar, you need to upgrade you want list!  Jafar was not afraid to use his power to get what he wanted.  From the beginning of the film when he duped many thieves into trying to enter the Cave of Wonders to get the lamp for him, Jafar proved that there was little he would not do to get what he wanted.  When Aladdin showed up, his plans were put on hold, and Jafar was not having any of that.  Jafar was willing to play on the fears of people to make them cower, and that was always scary.  When he turned into a massive snake to try to kill Aladdin, you just knew that he was a villain through and through.  I always felt that Iago took something away from Jafar though.  Why would this all powerful villain continue to hang out with such a loser like Iago?  Now I know that Iago was meant for comic relief, but to me, he just made Jafar look dumb.  Besides, we had the genie for all the comedy we ever needed in the film. Gaston suffers the same thing with LaFue, which even means “fool” in French!  So for the final rating for Jafar, he falls into my number 2 spot.  That leaves my #1 and my #2 spots open.  Let’s keep going – this is devilishly fun!

 

Did you know that nobody bites like Gaston?  I didn’t either!  Nobody thinks more of Gaston than ole Gaston himself!  When it comes to ego, Gaston seems to have gotten it all.  Gaston, like Jafar, was very used to getting his way, and pretty much anything he wanted.  He was loved and revered by every person in his quaint little village, everyone that is except Belle.  Belle and her father were just never meant to fit in with the town folk.  Belle loved her books and tales of love, and her dad was the ultimate tinkerer who didn’t have much time for people.  They just wanted to be left alone really.  Then you have the Beast, who some would include in their list of villains.  Now I don’t consider the Beast a villain,  He was just a spoiled brat when needed to learn to love.  He never had malice in his heart and he never meant to hurt anyone.  So while Gaston was a scorned lover, he really wasn’t much of a villain to me.  Again, like Iago, LaFue just made Gaston look dumb.  Now in Gastons case, you would never accuse him of being anywhere near intelligent, so LaFue doesn’t hurt Gaston as much as Iago did Jafar, but Jafar was far more villianeous, so that means that Gaston falls in the number 3 spot on my list.

 

Which makes Scar my all time #1 Disney villain, and boy does he earn it.  Were you like me – did you tear up when Mufasa died?  There was poor little Simba nudging up against his dad and trying to get him to wake up, but of course by then Mufasa was gone.  But Scar could care less.  Right in the middle of Simbas pain and sorrow, Scar comes in and tells Simba to run away and never return because he had killed Mufasa!  How low can you go Scar?  That was just cold!  Plus Scar knew how to deal with bumbling idiot sidekicks like the hyenas – he ruled over them and always let them knew that they were inferior to him.  Scar simply embodies everything about evil.  Even his song “Be Prepared” reeks of evil, but I still love to sing along with it.

So there you have it folks, my all time top 4 Disney villains of all time.  As much as I love all of the Pixar movies, I simply could not come up with any villains that were very memorable.  Sid from Toy Story was laughable.  The sharks from Nemo had scary moments but ultimately ended up being likable.  Scar, like Darth Vader, didn’t think twice about killing people to get where he wanted to be, and also like Vader, that was his downfall.

Thanks for joining me as we detailed the more villainous side of the World of Disney.  Oh and did you know that Disney was seriously considering at one time created an entire theme park around the Disney villains?  Would you like to spend time in a theme park that was totally themed to villains?  I think it would be very cool and quite different from anything else that Disney owns.  Here’s hoping that it sees the light of day sometime soon.

I’ll see ya back here again real soon as I answer more of your questions and list out more top lists of different Disney subjects!  Thanks and have a magical day!

Christmas In July At Disney World! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Who doesn’t absolutely love Christmas right?  All the beautiful colors, the weather, the holiday food, presents, and everyone being in a happy, festive mood!  If only it could be Christmas every day!

Christmastime is especially amazing at Disney World, and to celebrate Christmas in July, I thought I would share some pictures and stories of Christmas at Disney World to get you in the holiday spirit.  So let’s get started!!

 

Seeing the castle with snow and ice on it truly brings the majesty of the season to life.  This is truly a sight that you must see to believe.  It takes the breath right away from kids (and many adults too!).  There are many Christmas shows that take place in front of the castle as well so keep your eyes out for those as they always play most of the holiday classic songs that you love so well, and having a huge group of people “caroling” is great to take part in.

 

Every single park gets in on the act of dressing up for Christmas, and Epcot is no exception.  The amazing part to being in Epcot at Christmastime is to be able to see how all of the represented countries celebrate Christmas.  You will get to taste their holiday food, desserts, and beverages as well as see Christmas trees decorated with their own native ornaments.  You will also get to hear Christmas music that they play in their own countries as well.  Here you can see a topiary Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy greeting you as you enter the park.

It wouldn’t be a blog post from me if it didn’t include a food reference right?  Disney World has so many different holiday treats that you could spend a week trying different ones and you still would not have tried them all!  Here you can see their Christmas Tree cupcake with a candy cane sticking out of it!  Oh my!  Disney serves the absolute best and the most rich hot chocolate I have ever had the pleasure of drinking.  It is warm, chocolatey, minty, and even though it may be hot outside, it is always just the right temperature to warm your heart and put you in the Christmas spirit!  I have tried Christmas pretzels, Christmas funnel cakes, Christmas cookies of course, Christmas fudge, and many different types and flavors of Christmas cookies.  Of course everything is diet and you will not gain a pound no matter how much of it you eat.  At least that is what I tell myself before gorging myself each time!

 

Believe it or not this picture is a gingerbread house!  Each and every hotel on Disney property builds and displays their very own massive gingerbread house that is themed in the style of the hotel.  You can get very close to them and take pictures as well as try a sample of the gingerbread that was used to make the house.  These houses are full of Disney details and they are all fully built out on the inside as well and fully furnished.  Oh and everything is edible as well!  If you have the time, you should take buses to as many of the hotels as you can and see these gingerbread houses for yourself.  You will thank me when you are done and have eaten 20 pounds of gingerbread!

 

I will finish of our Christmas In July at Disney World post talking about all of the millions of Christmas inspired merchandise that is available at all of the hotels and parks.  If you can think of it, Disney has a Christmas version of it for sale.  Of course they sell traditional Christmas ornaments all throughout the parks.  They have Christmas pins, which are pictured here for you.  The buckets that they sell popcorn in are themed for Christmas.  There are Christmas t-shirts and other items of clothing.  Needless to say, if you love Christmas (and Christmas stuff) as much as I do, going to Disney at Christmastime is totally dangerous for your wallet.

I hope you have enjoyed our chilly trip to Florida in July and I hope I have been able to share a little of that Disney Christmas spirit with you.  I will leave you with a few more pictures of various Christmas items you can buy.  Happy Early Holiday and I’ll see ya back here again real soon!

Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii

So right after I hit the lottery. which should be any day now I hope, I am going to charter a private plane for my family and we are going to head to Disney’s Aulani resort in Hawaii.

Our family has never been to Hawaii before, but from all of the pictures that I have seen of the resort so far, I know that we would absolutely love it.  So I can’t do a review of the resort for you.  I can’t even tell you much about it.  So instead I will just show you some of the awesome pictures I have of Aulani and we can stare at them together and dream!  Here you go!  Enjoy!

A Disney Cool Down

Gawrsh, it sure is hot outside these days!  Just going outside to bring in the mail caused me to lose 5 pounds just in lost sweat!  What is a poor fella to do to beat the heat?

Go to Disney you say?  Well of course that is the answer!  Disney has so many different ways to cool down, so let’s take a quick look at just a few of them shall we?

Let’s begin at Disney’s Blizzard Beach and the tallest fastest water slide of them all, Summit Plummet:

Summit Plummet stands 120 feet tall and sees you travelling at speeds close to 55 miles per hour, making it one of the worlds fastest free fall water slides.  Oh and you should expect the worlds largest power wedgie when you finally reach the bottom of the slide!  Ouch!  Summit Plummet scares you as you climb the many stairs it takes to get to the top.  You constantly hears the screams of the riders who go before you, but once you get to the top, there is no turning back!  Simply hold on to your bathing suit, cross your legs, and throw yourself downward and enjoy the cold, refreshing waters of this monster water slide.

Next up is the Crushin Gusher at Typhoon Lagoon:

 

Have you ever ridden a “water rollercoaster”?  Well that is exactly what the Crushin Gusher is.  Once you enter the tube to ride, you are thrown into the slide and there are massive jets that gush water behind you which propels you forward.  This in turn actually allows you to go up hills and then of course come back down hills with quite a bit of speed.  If you are looking to get absolutely soaked, this is the ride for you!  From the minute you sit down on the tube, the water starts gushing around you and you will be soaking wet for the rest of the day.  This is another great ride to battle a hot Florida day!

Of course every Disney Resort Hotel has at least one massive pool that you can enjoy whenever the moment strikes you.  Here is one of the larger pools at the Polynesian Resort which is just a blast to swim around in:

 

And finally there are the old standbys of the attractions at the parks that offer ways for you to get drenched and cool off, such as Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, Kali River Rapids at the Animal Kingdom, and Pirates of the Caribben (ok you have to have a boat full of larger sized adults to get wet on this one, but it is possible!)

I hope you have enjoyed our cool down session at the Disney Resort today, and I’ll see ya back here real soon!  Have a magical day!

Le’ts Ride Splash Mountain!

 

There just isn’t anything better than a nice cool refreshing ride on Splash Mountain on a hot 90+ degree Florida day!

 

They need to change this sign to read “You WILL Get Wet!”  That’s all part of the great charm of Splash Mountain though.  When it is extremely hot outside, you really want to get wet, but not so wet that it gets uncomfortable, and that’s the kind of wet that you get on Splash Mountain.

I love the theme and story of the ride as well.  Recently, I was surprised to know just how few people knew that Splash Mountain is based on the Disney movie, The Song of The South.

 

And of course the movie was based off of the Uncle Remus story books.  These books told many folklore type stories with Uncle Remus, a now freed slave in the South, and the affect he had on the children that came to him to have him tell them stories.  Walt made the movie knowing that it could be controversial, but of course that never stopped Walt from doing something he truly wanted to do.  It is incredibly hard to even watch the movie today as you cannot just go out and buy it in the stores.  Disney pulled the very early VHS copies of the movie and have never released it on DVD or BluRay.  When asked recently, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that they never plan to release it because of the racial backlash that would soon follow the release.

I have seen the movie and I managed to buy a bootleg copy of the film.  I do have to say that the movie really isn’t offensive if you view it as it was meant to be viewed, and that is with the context that slavery is over when the film begins and Uncle Remus is a free man.  Uncle Remus does still talk like a stereotypical slave would and I can understand that might be offensive to some people.  I will also say that the movie is a little bit boring in the beginning and doesn’t really pick up until the animated animals come into play, meaning Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear.

The ride uses a ton of animatronic animals that were previously in an old ride Disney dismantled called America Sings.  They repainted most of those animals and re-used them in Splash Mountain.  The story of Splash Mountain sees Brer Rabbit growing tired of his home in the Briar Patch and he is longing to go out and see the world.  Of course Brer Fox and Brer Bear and just waiting to catch him the minute he leaves.

 

There are many other animals that play a part in the story that live in Chik-A-Pin Hill as well.

 

Brer Rabbit eventually gets caught and Brer Fox decides it would be best if he just ate Brer Rabbit.  But then Brer Rabbit out foxes Brer Fox by begging him not to throw him in the Briar Patch, which of course Brer Fox does and that of course is where Brer Rabbit lives, so Brer Fox is really setting Brer Rabbit free!  

 

The ride of course is your typical log flume ride where you actually are riding logs down the Chik-A-Pin river that flows through town and ends up dropping you, along with Brer Rabbit, right into the Briar Patch, which is a 10 story drop straight down the waterfall where you end up getting wet.

Lately, there has been this new trend popping up where people have started doing all kinds of funny things as they get their picture taken on the ride.  Here, a set of riders get the guy in the front wet before he has even went down the hill with their water bottles:

 

Here, some people bored with the ride break out their Connect 4 game and their Jenga game and have a quick game before they drop down the hill:

 

And of course it wouldn’t be a ride without a proper marriage proposal would it?

 

I love the music, the themeing, and of course the ride itself so very much, that it ranks right up there in my top 5 rides of all time at Disney World.  As a tip, the best time to ride Splash Mountain is later at night as the lines die down.  It also seems that many people don’t like getting wet later at night, so you should take advantage of the shorter lines at night like we always do.

Splash Mountain is a great way to have a Zippedy-Doo-dah day at the Magic Kingdom, and soon you will find you can’t get that song out of your head.

Saving Mr. Banks Movie

Happy Sunday to all my Disney friends!  If you are in the theme parks today I certainly hope that you have brought your water spray fans with you because it is a hot one out there today!

So how many of you love Mary Poppins?  I know that I do.  Did you know that many people think that Mary Poppins came to the Banks house to save the children from a miserable childhood?  Well the truth is, she came to actually save Mr. Banks from himself and his selfish ways.

The story of how Disney came to make Mary Poppins is a truly fascinating one and thankfully Disney has made a film about it.  For those of us who absolutely love all things Disney, this movie is a must see.  I have put a link to the movie trailer at the end of this post, so please take a few minutes to watch this movie trailer, and I guarantee if you love Disney and Mark Poppins you will come away from this trailer with chills.

My chills came because while Tom Hanks is not the splitting image of Walt Disney, his surroundings certainly are the Disneyland of Walt’s time and that gave me chills.  It opened a kind of window into a time and place that existed before I was alive and gave me a glimpse of the Walt that I wished I could have known.  P.L. Travers was totally set against Disney making the movie because she feared that Walt would turn Mary Poppins into Tinkerbell.  Walt and P.L. bashed their heads into one another at every turn and getting the movie made was no easy thing.  Watching Saving Mr. Banks will most certainly make you enjoy Mary Poppins all the more I am sure.

I am so excited for this movie because it gives you a chance to see Disneyland from that time period in color!  It gives you a glimpse into the life of Walt Disney that so very few of us ever get to see.  It shows us the famous Sherman Brothers making all of the beloved music from the film. And it shows us the human side of Walt who comes to learn just how much Mary Poppins meant to P.L. Travers.

Saving Mr. Banks comes out around Christmas time of this year and I hate wishing my life away, but I simply cannot wait to watch this film.

Please enjoy this movie trailer and I thank Inside The Magic for hosting this trailer on YouTube.  If you have not been going to Inside The Magic, you very well should be because this is the premier site to learn all the latest news about Disney.  Have a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4YWsT1ckgo

Disney And Wonka Question

Hello again my Disney friends!  Tonight’s question is so absolutely huge that it requires it’s very own blog post!  In fact, you might say that this question is so very awesome that it wins the Golden Ticket!

 

Jeremy S. from Michigan wrote in to ask me the mother of all questions – “Hi Brad.  Do you know why Disney has not bought out the rights to Willy Wonka yet?”

This question is such a great one, I think I’m going to bust!

 

Many times this very question has run through my mind.  My goodness, the possibilities for Disney owning the Wonka license are endless.  Can you imagine what the Disney Imagineers could do if they built an actual Chocolate Room – a room where everything you see is edible?!

Well I love my readers so very much that I actually sent this question in to The Disney Company to get their take on it.  Here is what they said:

“Disney has no official comment on anything related to the Wonka license.”

Well of course they don’t!  And I knew this was the answer I would get.  So I dug a little deeper and spoke to a great friend of mine who does work for Disney but will remain nameless.  My friend told me some interesting things about Disney and Wonka:

“Disney has never truly pursued the Wonka license.  A while back when the new Tim Burton Wonka movie was being made the idea was thrown around about maybe we should look into all things Wonka, and a small team was formed to do just that.  This team soon began running into roadblock after roadblock when all they were trying to find out was who currently owns the rights to the property.  It seems that one company owns the movie rights, another company owns the rights to the music, another company owns the rights to make food bearing the Wonka name, and finally there is a holding company who handles all of the litigation from the original creator, who tends to sue everyone anytime anything is done with the license.  So I think you can see that it would be almost impossible for Disney to buy it outright, so therefore the team was disbanded and the idea died on the vine.”

Ugh!  I remember reading a story a while back about the reason there was no Willy Wonka toys when the remake movie was made was because they could not get the rights to make them.  So that story ties in to what my friend is telling me as well.  

What an absolute shame!  Disney would be able to pretty much print money with the Wonka license.  They could easily create the Chocolate Room in full size and charge people to go in and take out as much candy as they could carry.  They could easily create a water ride based upon the Wonkatania boat ride from the film as well, but of course they would have to leave out all of the scary parts.  Of course Disney would be able to create a restaurant based on all of the Wonka food items that currently exist as well.  You know that a Wonka candy store would be another easy way to print money as well!

The world of Wonka would easily give Disney an entire land that would allow them to really challenge the new Harry Potter land at Universal Studios Orlando.  Universal is in the midst of adding to the Harry Potter land, and the New Fantasyland that Disney has built just isn’t enough to sway people from going to Universal, and Disney simply hates it when people leave their parks to go to any other theme park.  When you leave, you take your money with you see, and Disney wants your money at their parks.  So acquiring the Wonka license and brand would be absolutely huge for Disney.

I mean come on, Disney has acquired Marvel, Pixar, and recently Lucas Arts and Star Wars, each of these which are many times larger than the simple Wonka brand, so you can’t tell me that the mega lawyers that Disney has to have couldn’t figure this one out right?

From this day on, every time I go to Disney I am going to leave a comment card and tell them to get on buying the Wonka brand before Universal does.  I have to say that if Universal bought and created a Wonka land, that would be the thing that would make Universal a must see for me whenever we travel to Florida, and Disney does not want that to happen for sure?

What do you think?  Do you think Disney is missing the Wonkatania boat on this one?  Are you at all interested in any of the things I mentioned in this post, such as a Wonka Chocolate Room attraction, or the Wonkatania Boat Ride, and even a candy store?   Is there anything else that I might have missed here when thinking about the things that Disney could do with the brand?

Now that I think about it, Disney could even jump on the Golden Ticket bandwagon and offer free trips to the park by finding the Golden Tickets in Wonka bars right!!!  Man, the possibilities are endless here for whoever ends up with this brand!

Thanks for the great questions Jeremy and I hope that one day we can all visit the Wonka Land in Disney World and share a Scrupdidillyumptous bar together!

I’ll see ya back here real soon, and please don’t feed the Oompa Loompas on your way out!

Disney Collecting

One aspect of my love for Disney that I just realized that I have not shared much on this blog is that of collecting.  When it comes to Disney, pretty much everything is collectible, and I’m not kidding when I say everything.  For example, I have seen a popcorn box that was sold at the opening day of Disneyland sell in an auction for over $35,000!  That sounds a little crazy but there are people out there, me included, who are fanatical about Disney and will pay the big bucks for special collectibles.

Now I certainly don’t own anything like an original popcorn box, but I my wife and I do have a substantial collection of many things Disney and tonight I will share some of them with you.  It is very easy, and can even be affordable depending on what you choose to collect.

To begin, I love finding the odd and offbeat things to collect.  Not only are they more rare, they usually can even be really affordable.  For example, I own a key to the Haunted Mansion, shown here:

 

These were sold outside the Haunted Mansion for a short while and then mysteriously disappeared.  They have since shown back up a time or two, and they usually bring them back out during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween parties.  I just love being able to say that “I own a key to the Haunted Mansion.”  Now these won’t make you a million dollars on Ebay or anything, but they are quite the conversation piece, as many people have no idea that they even exist.

Now of course cel (or serical) animation from Disney movies are highly collectible, and we happen to have many different cels from many of the movies that we love.  Since my favorite movie is The Little Mermaid, here is a picture of my all time favorite cel that we own:

 

Cels can get really expensive really fast so it is best to buy them when they are first released.  In the after market the prices will skyrocket, sometime fetching more than 10 times the purchase price.  These are beautiful pieces of art though and they look great hanging in the different rooms of our home.

One of the things that we started collecting early on were the Disney Classics Collection pieces produced by Disney.  Man, these pieces are simply stunning to look at from any angle.  The amount of detail that goes into each piece is to be seen to be believed.  Here is a close up of the Captain Hook figure that was released a while ago:

 

You can see the fabric in Hooks coat, and the plumage in the feathers in his hat!  It is a gorgeous piece that we love to look at.  They sell these in sets as well, so you can get Peter Pan and of course Tinker Bell to go along with Hook.  The prices on these pieces range anywhere from $200 – $1000 depending on how large the piece actually is, and some, like Cinderella Castle, are downright huge!  But again, there are smaller pieces that are very affordable to help get your collection started.  These are pieces that you will cherish from the day you add them to your collection.

Ahh Disney hats!  There are as many different Disney hats out there as there are seconds in a lifetime.  And I think I might just own them all!  Of course you have to have a Goofy hat with the long ears.  Then everyone has to have a set of Mickey Mouse ears that are customized with your name and the year of your visit on them.  Oh and who can be without a Pirates of the Caribbean head band with ratty pirate hair hanging from it?

 

Hats are a very inexpensive way to start a Disney collection and the kids absolutely love them as well.  They are a great way for kids to express both themselves and show big love for the characters, movies, and rides that they like the most.

So these are just a few of the different collectible that I and my family get great pleasure in collecting.  But this doesn’t even scratch the surface.  Let’s see, there are pins and vinylmation, t-shits, balloons, badges, coins, posters, toys, and I could go on and on.  I will of course share more of them with you as time goes by.  

If you have any questions about any Disney Collectibles, I would be more than happy to help you. Just shoot me and email or leave a comment below the post and I’ll get right with you.

Thanks so much for sharing my collection habit with me tonight.  I’ll see ya back here again real soon as I answer some more of your Disney Questions. 

More Disney Questions? Yessiree!!!!!

Welcome back to another edition of “Brad please answer the question I asked you several weeks ago!!”  I do have to apologize to all of you who sent in questions awhile ago.  With the holidays I have been very busy, but now I will have time to focus on knocking out many of your questions.  So let’s get right to it as it seems that many of you are getting ready to head down to Disney World very soon.

Question #1 – Theresa O. asked, “Hi Brad!  Great blog!  Thanks for the “ride” on the Haunted Mansion in your earlier post.  I absolutely loved that what you posted was the ENTIRE RIDE!  Do you have any idea where I can find more rides that I can listen to?”

Well Theresa, I sure do know where you can find almost every ride at Disney World in either audio or video form.  Just head over to YouTube and in the search bar at the top type in “Walt Disney World Ride Throughs”.  You will find more videos than you can watch in a lifetime on YouTube.  In fact WDWFacts has every single piece of music that plays on all the rides and even the background music from the parks, so if you have something particular you want to hear, say like the “Yo Ho, Yo Ho Pirates Life for Me” song, you will easily find that there as well.  Happy hunting Theresa!

Question #2 comes from Rob J.  He writes, “Cheers Brad!  My entire family really loves your blog and we look forward to all of your new posts.  In fact, my son is going to email you some of the pictures we took from our recent Disney Cruise to the Caribbean.  Speaking of Cruises, my question for you is this, what money saving tips would you have for us in taking another Cruise with Disney.  For instance, I did not know that “smoothie” drink were extra and my kids had like 10 of them at $5 a piece!  Ouch!  Any tips you have would be well appreciated!  Thanks and keep up the great work!”

Thanks Rob!  I always appreciate the kind words that everyone who writes in leaves for me.  I have always said that Disney fanatics are some of the nicest people I continue to meet!  Ok as far as Disney Cruise tips go, I do have a few that I give to everyone who are thinking about sailing again with Disney.  To begin with, the best time to book your second cruise with Disney is while your still on the boat during your first cruise!  Disney offers a great discount for booking ahead with them and they usually throw in like $250 of ship board credit for you as a bonus.  Plus you will get to pick exactly where you would like your room to be as well and you can pick which dining, early or late, that you would prefer.  Second, now that you have been on a cruise and have seen what the dress code is like, next time you can surely pack a lot less clothes.  I know I found that out after our first cruise as well.  Thirdly, On the day that you have planned to go to Castaway Cay, I advise everyone to get up very early and eat a very early breakfast, then head to the exit hall and be one of the first people off the ship.  This will ensure that you can get prime real estate down on the beach and pick the spot and type of chair that you want for the day.  It also ensures that you can get an inner tubes for the day as they tend to sell out very rapidly during the morning.  Next, when you meet your room cleaning staff on the very first day, ensure them that you will take care of them when it comes time to tip.  You will immediately notice them automatically leaving you extra towels, extra soap and shampoo, extra chocolates on your bed each night, and extra pillows for your bed.  If they know you will take care of them, they will take care of you.  The same goes for your dinner wait staff.  On our last cruise I told the waiter at the very first meal that I love steak and lobster, and the nights when they were served, he just automatically brought me out two of each both nights!  Now that is service!  Finally, have your camera ready and with you at all times.  That way you can enjoy your own pictures without having to buy more of the Disney taken pictures than you have to.  The Disney pictures are extremely expensive – great quality mind you – just very expensive!  Thanks for writing in.

The final question for tonight is from Tammy F. and she writes, “Hi Brad!  Love the blog, and please never stop writing about Disney.  I am surprised that you don’t work for Disney as much as you know and love all things Disney.  My question for you is this: my family is getting ready to head down to Disney in mid July.  What can we expect weather and crowd wise during this timeframe?  Thanks for your help in advance!

Well Tammy I wish I had better news for you but the truth is, you are going to find it very hot in Florida this time of year and since all schools are on summer break now, the crowd sizes can get out of control at times as well.  But never let that get you down because you and your family will be at the Happiest Place on Earth!  You just need to be very wise about using your fast passes, and remember to take my tip about leaving the parks at midday to either go back to your room and rest or go to the pool where you can relax and cool off.  Then head back to the park that has late extra magic hours and spend the rest of your evening there.  Please remember to take bottles of water with you to the park and refill them every time you stop to eat or are near a restroom which all have water fountains.  I know this sounds weird, but I also encourage people to take umbrellas with them.  Not for the rain, but because in essence you are bringing your own built in shade with you.  I have you have a truly magical time at Disney and thanks so much for writing in to me.

Well that’s going to wrap it up for todays question and answer session.  If you have any questions about Disney for me, please feel free to write me at komgenick2@hotmail.com and I promise I’ll read your questions and get them answered as soon as I can.  You guys truly are the best audience I can dream of having.  It just has brought me so much happiness to share my passion about Disney with all of you.  Thanks for taking the time to come here and read my ramblings and I’ll see ya back here again real soon!