Walt – 50 Years Ago

I absolutely love this picture:

Can you believe that this picture was taken over 50 years ago?  Walt certainly looked like he was in the height of his glory surrounded by many of the amazing characters that he brought to life.  I kind of like the “old school” Mickey costume as well.  Nowadays, Disney has created a new Mickey costume where the eyes open and shut and he can now talk and his mouth even moves while he is talking.

Of course, Cinderella Castle is in the background.  When I first saw this castle, I could not believe how small it actually is!  I know this was the first castle Disney ever created, and it certainly shows when you get up very close to it.  Sleeping Beauty Castle is so much larger and just looks more like a castle to me, but then again, I am a Disney World kind of guy since that is where we have been going for most of our lives.

Everyone always loves to talk about “What would Walt Do?” if he were still alive today, and I too love to join in those conversations.  Walt said many times that he always wanted things in the park to be kept fresh and new.  Many people interpret that to mean that Walt wanted everything kept very clean, but in truth, Walt felt that when an attraction began to get stale, it would be time to put something new in its place.

This thought process does not sit very well with people who have been going to the theme parks for many years.  They get used to the park being a certain way and they get attached to certain attractions, and they want everything to stay the same.  I am not one of those people.  Sure I miss Mr. Toads Wild Ride, but I have to admit that I like Pooh’s ride much more.  I miss 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, but I am sure that when I get a chance to see the new Fantasyland in October that I will love it more than 20,000 Leagues.

Change does not sit well with everyone, I understand that, but if things never changed, we wouldn’t have all the great rides and shows that we have today.  I have heard people say that if Disney ever took out the Carousel of Progress that they would stop buying Annual Passes and stop going to the parks totally.  Well, I would certainly miss that ride, especially since Walt played a major role in its creation, but I am sure that they would replace it with something very cool, and we will always have video of the ride to watch, just like we do of Mr. Toads Wild Ride and 20,000 Leagues (thank you YouTube!).

What do you think?  Do you prefer that the parks never change, or are you like me and you roll with the changes and like all of the new things that come to the parks?  Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see ya here again real soon!  I hope you have a Zippedy-Do-Da day!

D23 Expo News

 

All this weekend, something called the D23 Expo is taking place out in Disneyland.  D23 is a very special club for Disney Fanatics and it allows them to take part in seminars, shows, and panels where information about all aspects of new things happening all over Disney is shared.  This year, lots of very cool news has been given out about many of the new projects that Disney has coming out over the next few years, so I thought tonight I would share what I have learned so far with you.

“The Good Dinosaur” Movie – Disney has a new movie coming out called “The Good Dinosaur”.  The premise is what if the asteroid that hit Earth and destroyed all of the dinosaurs actually missed the Earth all together?  Sounds interesting and the premise is very unique for the dinosaur genre of film.

Pixar’s “Inside Out” Film –  Here the premise is that we will actually spend the larger part of the movie inside a young girls mind and witness the interplay of her emotions as things happen to her in the real world.  You know, with every Pixar film I say “No way is that movie going to be good or make any money.”  Then I go see the film, love it, and eat my words.  So I am sure that “Inside Out” will be the same way, but I have to say that at the outset, this film just doesn’t sound all that appealing to me.  We will have to wait to see the film to know for sure, but Pixar always finds a way to make great films out of the weirdest ideas.

 

 

Pixars “Finding Dory” – This sequel to Finding Nemo is sure to be a huge hit as Dory was a fan favorite in the first film and many of its memorable lines were credited to Dory and her ability to forget anything within a moments notice.  This time Dory is on a search for her own family.  Marlin returns from the original movie.  I have to say that Finding Nemo was probably the most beautiful of all of the Pixar films to me, with the ocean looking almost lifelike in high definition.  If this film looks anything like the original, and Dory has many funny lines again, this will also be another huge hit for the story tellers at Pixar.

“Toy Story of Terror” – I do not know much of anything about this movie other than the original cast of Toy Story go on an adventure during a stormy night at an old thrill ride at an old motel.  I’m sure we will be hearing tons more about this movie as the Halloween season closes in on us.

“Saving Mr. Banks” – As I have posted on my blog before, “Saving Mr. Banks” is the story of how Walt Disney struggled with, and eventually won over, P.L. Travers and got her to let Walt make the Mary Poppins Movie.  This is my most anticipated movie of the year and December can’t get here soon enough for me because I want very badly to see this movie.  I love Mary Poppins and I can’t wait to get a glimpse of Walt in action.

The last thing I will mention here tonight is that there was a little tease for what Disney is currently working on in the Star Wars Universe.  Take a look at this picture and tell me if anything you see tells you anything about what they may be working on:

Do you see the box that has “Orange Harvest” painted on it?  Well if you are a true die hard Star Wars fan like me, you know that Return of the Jedi was referred to as “Blue Harvest” when George Lucas was making the film so that anyone who saw them working on it would think that were making a movie called Blue Harvest and not actually working on Return of the Jedi.  So Orange Harvest could possibly be the pseudonym for the next working Star Wars movie!  We all know that Disney is working on a bunch of new Star Wars movies, so I would if this has anything to do with a new Star Wars land at the theme parks?  We can only hope right?  Sign me up for anything new that is Star Wars themed at any of the Disney parks.  I have heard that the first new Star Wars thing we would see in the parks will be a Star Wars themed restaurant over at Disney Hollywood Studios park.  Not exactly Star Wars land mind you, but I will take it anyway.

Well as always, thank you for coming by and spending a little magical time with me.  Disney has so many new and exciting things going on that it is impossible to list them all here in a single post, so I will spread out more information in future posts to come.

I hope you have a very magical day and I’ll see ya back here again real soon for some more Disney News coming out of the D23 Expo.

 

Rock N Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith

 

If your looking for an amazing thrill ride, some awesome music, and a chance to turn upside down several times in a row, than look no further than Disney’s Hollywood Studios and turn your attention towards “Rock N Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith”.

 

Even before you get inside the building where the actual ride is, this attraction just drips with coolness.  Check out the upside-down car that hangs over the entryway:

 

Once you enter the queue line, you will soon be inside “G-Force” records (get the joke there?) in the hopes of getting a chance to see Aerosmith, who are inside laying down some tracks for their latest album.

 

You are then ushered in to see the band who graciously offer to take you with them to their next concert, but of course your going to be needing a massive stretch limo since there are so many people.  So the doors to the studio open and you find yourself behind the studio in an alley where right before your eyes you see a massive limo take off, going from 0-65 in less than 2 seconds!!!

 

Yes that blur is the limo taking off!  You better not blink or you will miss it entirely.  Once you get inside your own limo, the music starts and it is in your face literally!  You see you have huge speakers that are inside the headrest of the limo so you are going to be hearing Aerosmith like you have never heard them before.

 

After the extremely quick take off, you will be thrown all around downtown Los Angeles on your way to the Aerosmith concert.  This ride is a steel rollercoaster and take it from me when I say that it is probably the smoothest ride you will ever take on a steel coaster.  There is no jerking around or smashing your head against the headrests here.  Disney did an amazing job making this ride of the funnest, and most thrilling rides ever created.

It helps if you love Aerosmiths music like I do because here you will be serenaded with a new version of “Love In An Elevator” titled “Love In A Rollercoaster”!  Unfortunately the ride is a little short in less than 2 minutes you will be at the concert venue where you will exit the limo and then rush out to get back in line all over again!

Rock N Rollercoaster is definitely a ride that you will want to get FastPasses for early in the morning.  It is the second most popular ride at the Disney Hollywood Studios, behind only Tower of Terror.  I always urge people to get to this ride early, get your FastPass, then get in the regular line and ride it right away.  Luckily it is located right next to the Tower of Terror so after your first ride on Rock N Rollercoaster, you can rush over to the Tower and get a ride in there as well.

 

Rock N Rollercoaster in a “Must Ride” for anyone who loves thrills, loves Aerosmiths music, and who loves to scream a lot!  It will take up upside down 4 times and travels at a high rate of speed as it travels through the loops and curves of Downtown LA.  Do not miss this trip!

Thanks for coming by for a ride on the Rock n Rollercoaster this evening!  It was a blast!  I’ll see ya back here real soon!

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