D23: Free Members-Only Gift with Issue 3

 

Technorati Tags: Disney Twenty-Three, Disneyana

D23: Free “Gift” with Issue 2 of Disney Twenty-Three Magazine

Well, I got a ring at the doorbell and it was our postal carrier.  She had couple very familiar boxes in her hand.  They were the same box that our welcome packet and premier issue of Disney Twenty-Three magazine showed up in.

Personally, I felt it was way too early for the second issue to arrive, but who am I to argue.

When I tore open the box, I was greeted with a small envelope:

I opened up the envelope and found a small folded up item.  According to the fine print on the envelope, it’s a reproduction of the 1955 “Acres of Fun” Disneyland Souvenir fan from the Walt Disney Archive Collection:

The item opens up to form a fan:

This was highly unexpected.  Granted it isn’t an item of great monetary worth but it’s something that is really nice with it’s reproductions of originally 1955 artwork from the attractions that were in Disneyland during it’s first year.

This will definitely find a place in my cabinet of Disney collectibles.

Technorati Tags: Disneyana, D23, Disney Twenty-Three

Highlighting a New Day

[Ed. Note:  I'm doing another post about my Thomas Kinkade painting because I apparently am getting a lot of traffic to my blog due to a lot of people Google Searching for info about this particular painting.  I felt I should give those folk a little something]

Back in November, I purchased the Thomas Kinkade painting A New   Day at Cinderella Castle.  We were given the option of having the painting Master Highlighted which we partook since it was just a nominal extra charge.

Originally, the Master Highlighter was supposed to be in town during the time we were in Orlando for MouseFest.  Mother Nature had  something to say about that and the ice storm that we faced coming home prevented her from showing up.  So, we were able to reschedule and attend.

Other than the fact that we were sitting in the middle of the mall (our local Kinkade Gallery is in the mall), it was a pretty cool thing to see.

When the highlighter started working, just little bits of paint were added in very strategic places.  After a short bit, it was awesome how the little touches made the areas that were highlighted pop. 

The process was only about 15-30 minutes, but we didn't regret it.

Technorati Tags: Disneyana

Hidden Treasures from my Attic: World Hopper 1995 Part II

Well, I'm going to blame this on the late hour in which I wrote my previous post.  In reality the post was published at 1AM, but I wanted to make sure it fell on the day that I actually started writing it so I updated the time and date stamp before publishing (one of the cool features of Blogger!).

I focused so much on telling the story about how I acquired the ticket and a few details of the trip, I didn't get into anything else I wanted to say.  My body was fighting me and trying to go to sleep.

I know many people complain about the way we enter the parks today.  You have a biometric scanner that reads one or two fingers worth of prints and you slide your ticket (paper or plastic versions) through a device that reads it for validity.  It seems like every other person has problems getting their card read.  In my trip in September of this year, it seemed like my Annual Pass needed two passes through the machine before it would be read properly.

Well, just think if the method employed in 1995 was still in place today.

Firstly, as Lou Mongello mentioned in his comment in my previous post, you had to get a picture taken for the ticket.  This was the "authentication method" employed at the time.  This made the process of purchasing a ticket much like the process of getting your driver's license at the Department of Motor Vehicles.  Except, the picture on your ticket was far more grainy and unflattering.  Somehow it made a super-model look like one of the Seven Dwarfs.

Throughput at the parks is much higher now than it was in 1995 (based on personal observations).  The lines that would be involved to purchase tickets would be horrendous and I'm sure put many a park guest in a bad mood before they could even get in the parks.

Secondly, when you went through the turnstiles, The ticket had to be stamped and punched.  I forgot why the stamping AND punching was necessary. 

Each ticket had to be touched as the picture is looked at and then stamped and punched.  But this was only the first time you entered a park for the day.  The rest of the day, you just had to present the ticket for inspection to enter the same or another park.

Now, granted, in 1995 there weren't bag check stations, so I don't know if the time to get into the parks today compared to 1995 would be a wash.  If you have a bag in this day and age, it can take some time to get through the "rubber glove" inspection and get through the turnstiles.  So, the extra time it took in 1995 could actually be the same amount of time as today or quicker.

But the biggest complaint I had about the old way was that the ticket was made out of paper and was meant to be folded in half.  I was always concerned about it's safety. 

I don't think that many people have paper tickets anymore.  If you are staying at a resort and have purchased a Magic Your Way package, your room key is your ticket into the parks and it's plastic.  I'm not sure if those people who purchase their tickets at the parks get a paper or plastic ticket.  I do remember at Disneyland we had the option of paying extra to get a plastic ticket. 

I know holders of an Annual Pass have a paper ticket.  I'm also concerned about the disintegration of my Annual Pass just like I was with my ticket from 1995.

All in all, I think Disney has made great strides in the right direction since 1995 when it comes to getting people into the parks.

Technorati Tags: Hidden Treasures, Disneyana

Hidden Treasures from my Attic: World Hopper 1995

A few weeks ago I was going through a trunk that my parents gave me when I moved out of Houston.  Inside this trunk was a bunch of hanging file folders that originated from one of my many file cabinets that have come and gone over the years.

I was digging through this trunk because I was looking for a team picture from high school and was hoping that it might have been hiding in one of those file folders.  It was a common hiding place for things that I wanted safely kept.

Inside one of the folders I found a bunch of Disney related stuff from my trip to Walt Disney World in 1995.  I had taken a trip to Orlando in July 1995 to participate in a National Competition for the academic fraternity Phi Beta Lambda.  I only had to be there for one 2 hour test and an award ceremony to see how I performed.

So, for the rest of the trip I had planned hanging out at Disney World.

It just so happened that the first day I was there was the 4th of July.   Otherwise known as one of the craziest days at Disney World.

I went to go buy my ticket into the park and was immediately stopped by the fact that my bank was having technical difficulties and my debit card couldn't be authorized. 

So, there I was standing at the ticket counter and couldn't pay with my card.  Fortunately, I had enough money in my wallet to pay the piper.  Unfortunately, that left me with no cash for the rest of the trip.

I only got to ride two attractions that night before the fireworks.  That was Space Mountain (1 hour wait) and Alien Encounter.  The fireworks were awesome but the thing that stuck in my mind the most was the terrific thunderstorm that came down right after the fireworks.  I was soaked to the bone and being that I hate being wet and walking the parks, I immediately started making my way back to the front of the park.

Nothing stinks more than being sopping wet and standing in the monorail.  I was only wearing thin soccer shorts and a tank top.  Both of which were soaked.  I'm sure I was making quite a sight of myself on the monorail as my teeth were chattering as my body tried to keep itself warm.

The only other park I went to on the trip was EPCOT.  People I had met at the competition had told me that MGM Studios wasn't worth my time so I didn't waste my time.  We did spend a night at Pleasure Island but that was pretty much my trip. 

I had to go two days with no food because that is how long it took to get the situation with my Debit Card straightened out and I had no other money because I blew it all on my ticket into Disney.

So, ultimately, I have no pictures, just some foggy memories and my non-Expiring World Hopper Ticket from 1995.  I had purchased the non-Expiring ticket because I was sure it would only be a short amount of time before I got back to Walt Disney World.  That short amount of time turned into 11 years.  So, now the ticket has just become a fine memento that has been sitting in a folder in a box in my closet.

Technorati Tags: Disneyana, Hidden Treasures

Hidden Treasures From My Attic: The New Mickey Mouse Club

You know that feeling you get when you reach into your coat pocket and find money that has probably lay there hidden since the last time you wore that coat?  Well that is how I felt this past holiday weekend.

My parents came up for Thanksgiving and didn't come empty handed.  As part of the process of knowing that their kids are not coming home again, they are whittling their possessions down so that one day they will be able to live in a much smaller abode.

My parents know about my blog and my fascination with Disney.  So, on this trip up from Texas, they came baring Disney treasures.  These treasures have been hiding in a closet in my dad's office for years, and years.

I'm trying to think of how to make these into some frequent posts, but I decided to show one off today.  It's the LP Album of The All New Mickey Mouse Club. 

This isn't the Mickey Mouse Club that were launching pads for some modern day pop stars, but one that was on the air when I was a child in the 1970's.  Unfortunately, the "Bonus" poster listed on the cover as being inside has long been lost.

The copyright date on this album is MCMLXXVII.  Which, if my Roman Number-to-Arabic Number translation is correct will be 1977.

According to the Wikipedia article on The Mickey Mouse Club, there was a revival of the Mickey Mouse Club in 1977 which was the first re-imagineering of it since the original series that Walt created in the 1950's

In the 1970s, Walt Disney Productions revived the concept but modernized the show cosmetically, with a disco re-recording of the theme song and minority cast members. The sets, though colored, were simplistic, lacking the fine artwork of the original. Like the original, nearly each day's episode included a vintage cartoon, though usually color ones from the late 1930s and onward.

- Wikipedia, The Mickey Mouse Club

Also according to Wikipedia, the series debuted in January 1977 and by June of that year was canceled due to it's failure to succeed.  They tried to repackage the show in re-release in September 1977, but it still didn't seem to catch on.  Once again, I think this may be the Disco Effect.  Try to go Disco, kill the product.

The interesting thing I learned from the article is that Disney has released on DVD both the 1950's version of the show and the 1990's version, but the 1970's version has seemed to have gone the way of the dodo.

The reason I was drawn to posting about this particular album was that the cover shows a very young Lisa Welchel was a member of the cast.  For those who don't recognize the name she went on to eventually star as the very rich and snobby Blair Warner on that highly popular sitcom of the 1980's The Facts of Life.

The pictures I have included with this post are the front and back of the album cover, as well as, two graphics from the liner notes.  I didn't want to include a scan of the entire liner notes because some copyright holders get upset when you include the lyrics of songs on web pages.

Finally, I apologize if I stepped outside of the Grumpy's Hollow box a bit too much and delved into other blogger's territory with this post (i.e. 2719 Hyperion).  This was in my possession and I just felt it needed to be blogged about.  Oh, by the way, it's not easy to scan an album cover.

Technorati Tags: The All New Mickey Mouse Club, Disneyana

Disneyana: Trouble with Trivets

As they would say on Monty Python's Flying Circus, "now for something completely different".....

Apparently, the Disney Store is starting to sell a bit more stuff that one would expect to find in the World of Disney.  Some of that stuff is kitchenware. 

I was going to write a quick post about this nice trivet my wife picked up at the Disney Store a week or so ago.  There is a bunch of kitchenware in this black & white motif and we needed a new trivet to replace the one I accidentally broke when putting dishes away from the dishwasher.  One of the bowls slipped out of my hand and bounced off the trivet and cracked it.

Well, before I could write the post to show off the new trivet, my wife accidentally cracked this one.  This time it was a bottle of seasoning that did in the trivet. 

Moral of the story, don't store your trivets, if made of breakable substances, anywhere near cabinets.

Technorati Tags: Disneyana

A New Day has Arrived

Over the weekend, we got that our 25.5" x 34" oil on canvas giclee painting of A New Day at the Cinderella Castle was available for pickup.  I had showcased in this previous post.

I must say, that it was much bigger, in person, than I expected and it was quite exhausting carrying in all the way to the car from the top floor of the mall.  I should mention that it seems like the mall has seen a pickup of foot traffic the weekend before Thanksgiving so we had to park a good ways away from the door.  I guess a bunch of people are trying to get an early start on their Christmas shopping.

I drive a 1997 Toyota 4Runner and even with a nicely sized space I have with that vehicle when the seats are down, we still must've looked like a couple of idiots as we tried to figure out how best to get the painting into the car without damaging.  All I had running through my mind was accidentally punching a hole through the canvas like Steve Wynn did with his Picaso.

Needless to say, we got it home safely and it's now propped up on the mantle over the fireplace (is there any other place one would find a mantle).  The space over the mantle is all stained cabinet-grade wood and I'm trying to figure out how best to hang this painting without doing a lot of damage to the wood on the wall.

This would be the best time to elaborate that I may be very handy at fixing mechanical things that are not working right, but when it comes to decorating, I am terrible.  I put more holes in walls trying to hang curtain rods and pictures that I care and that is with drywall.  This is with wood.  I can just see me turning the wood panel into Swiss Cheese as I try to properly hang the picture.

So, if any of my readers have any experience hanging pictures on this kind of surface and would like to offer some advice, I'm all "ears".  Please leave a comment and help me out.  I don't know how long I have before my wife takes matters into her own hands.

As I became aware of in my last post, people have their opinions about Mr. Kinkade, his ethics, and his paintings.  These feelings run both positive and negative. 

My wife and I were drawn to this painting and we would've still purchased it even if it was hanging in The Art of Disney with the signature of some obscure artist on it. 

This wasn't a purchase made for investment purposes and made without any belief that it will ever give us any kind of compensation other than happiness when we look at it.  If I wanted to invest my money, I'd consult a financial analyst and put my money in more traditional financial instruments....haha.  I'm getting dizzy from the heights as I stand on this soapbox, so I'm getting down now.

I just felt that I should let people know that my purchase has arrived and we love looking at it while we fast forward through commercials on our DVR.

For those who are stumbling across this post due to Google Searches, I feel I should let you know that the lady who owns the Gallery we purchased ours through told us that this painting is now sold out.  We had acquired painting #498 out of 690.

One may still be able to find it through an Art of Disney but that I cannot say for sure because this painting was a "Gallery Proof" which means, according to the Thomas Kinkade literature, "This edition is restricted for exclusive distribution through Signature Galleries and Thomas Kinkade Corporate Galleries".  I don't think The Art of Disney is an "official" Kinkade Gallery, so it may not be available through them.

So, if you are one of those people who have stopped by on your hunt for this painting, good luck.  I hope you track one down.

The picture in this post, is of the painting propped on our mantel.

Technorati Tags: Disneyana, Thomas Kinkade, A New Day at Cinderella Castle

Disneyana Alert: New Kinkade Print....Cinderella Castle

Way before we went on our trip to Disney World in September, the wife and I made our usual swing through the Thomas Kinkade shop at our local mall.  I know that he has his detractors, but we really like his work.  Especially, the Christmas stuff.

Well, awhile back we had seen the piece he did for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary and we were inquiring about whether or not it could still be found.  The owner did some calling around and found that it could still be purchases at the Art of Disney stores at Disney World and Disneyland (which we found to be true in our June trip to Disneyland).

At the same time, she told us about the new piece he had been commissioned to create for Disney World.  She took our information down and told us she'd call when there was anything to tell but it probably wouldn't be until October. 

Well, we got the call about a week ago, but due to my wife's chaotic work schedule we didn't get to go until today.

Well, let me say, we were impressed.  We actually have a place over our fireplace that is designed to showcase a piece of art.  We had planned, from the beginning, that it would be a piece of Disney art that would be hung there.  We were hoping it would be one of the Kinkade pieces (this new one or the Disneyland 50th Anniversary print) or a Beauty & the Beast inspired painting acquired from the Art of Disney store.

This print is a limited edition, numbered print and is on canvas and comes framed. 

Needless to say, Grumpy's name is on this and should be hanging this sucker over the mantle in 3-4 weeks when we get it from the artist (the limited edition ones are getting signed).

Technorati Tags: Disneyana, Thomas Kinkade

Free Disney SWAG: I want my Birthday Button

You are getting the AWESOME thrill of celebrating your Birthday at Walt Disney World.  How many people can say that?  Your wife/husband/parent/significant other has planned some special character breakfasts (or other meals) to celebrate the anniversary of your birth.  What could make it more special?

I'll tell you what.....

FREE Stuff!

Let's face it.  Unless you are the lucky recipient of a hand out from the Year of a Million Dreams "Dream Team", you don't get that many free things at Walt Disney World.

But, there are a lot of people who don't know the treasure trove of buttons that can be had at the Guest Relations booths [ed.  You were one of them until 2006].  One such button is the Birthday Button.

All you have to do is go into the Guest Relations office at a theme park and say, "It's my Birthday" and they'll give you a birthday button.

You may be asking yourself, "So what?"

Well, if you aren't opposed to getting a little more pixie dust sprinkled on you and if you aren't scared of getting the occasional spotlight shone in your direction, it's a great thing.

It is quickly becoming a tradition that my wife and I will be at a Disney theme parks during the week of one of our birthdays.  We have celebrated my last two birthdays at WDW in September.  My wife got to spend hers in Disneyland this year and there is a good chance we might celebrate hers at WDW in 2008 instead of mine.

One of the things I really look forward to is the donning of my birthday buttons and getting a little bit of extra Disney Magic.

I always try to pin my button in some prominent location so that it is very clear that I am celebrating my birthday and can maximize the attention I get for wearing it. 

This adornment was one of the many ways that I'd annoy my wife.  The buttons are typically pinned to the straps of my backpack so that they are visible in the front, but don't put holes in my clothing (see the picture at the top of the post).  Well, as I take the backpack on and off, I'm often accidentally ripping the buttons off and/or impaling myself on the very sharp pin.

One of the things I quickly learned last year was that I was getting just as many well wishes from other theme park guests as I was getting from Cast Members and that was no insignificant amount of attention.

On this last trip, so many people were saying, "Happy Birthday", that I often missed it because I wasn't paying attention (picture taking).  My wife often would hit me to alert me so I could reply back.

This was noticeably different from when my wife wore her Birthday Button at Disneyland in June of this year. 

We have come to the conclusion that the sheer volume of Southern Californian locals at Disneyland park may be contributing to this.  When you are Walt Disney World you have far more people who have traveled to be there.  They see fellow guests with the Birthday button and know that person has traveled a ways to be here too (a safe assumption) and is celebrating something special so they want to contribute to the celebration in what little way they can.  When at Disneyland, it's pretty safe to assume most of the people you are running into are from Anaheim or the close vicinity.  So, I think they may not be as forthcoming with the congratulations because they just assume you are there neighbor and we all  know how friendly and communicative we are with our neighbors....haha.

Up until this year, you could actually get a different button at each of the theme parks.  But, as I so disappointingly found out (well a commenter on my Disneyland Trip Report pointed out that this had happened but I didn't want to believe them), they have gotten rid of the different buttons and only have one button.

The plus side of the new button is that they put your name on it.  This means instead of just getting a "Happy Birthday!" you get, "Happy Birthday Grumpwurst!".

As a tip:  Have them put a piece of clear tape over your name after they write it on the Button.  We had to make many trips to Guest Relations to get my name "reapplied".  It was my wife's brilliant idea to put the tape on there because the Florida humidity made it easy to wipe off.  Even when they used a permanent marker.  The tape made sure it stayed put.

On the downside, you lose the joy of collecting all the buttons. 

I can see this decision from Disney's Corporate Office standpoint.  Now they can have one generic button and they can mass produce and spread them out everywhere.  You don't run into problems where one park burns through their button supply faster than another.

I'm just a bit sad that's all, but hey it's your birthday and you want it to be Grumptastic don't ya!

So, get your button and wear it proudly.

You never know, you may, just like this Grump, get put in the spotlight at the Imagination Institute while one of the wonderful scientists gets everyone in line to sing you happy birthday!

Technorati Tags: Walt Disney World, Birthday, Buttons, Disneyana, Collectibles