jedimaster1227

(Continued) Wow. See the Hunchback of Notre Dame? Notice the costumes' third eyes. Did you know they played the Phantom of the Opera at the Mainstreet Cinema and had a walk around Phantom character? And the opening of Alice in Wonderland (at Disneyland) had this wonderful White Rabbit costume. Walt fixes the rabbit's mask several times in the video... An oversized clown in an undersized Herbie. And then there were these... Creepy! Did you know you used to be able to fish at Disneyland's Tom Swayer Island and keep all you caught? A souvenir for if you caught something. This used to exist. They used to do Pancake Races down Mainstreet. #winning This was one character that wasn't used after the night the photo was taken. Then Tim O'Day came out to share a story about getting Baby New Year to fly off of the Matterhorn for New Years Eve at Disneyland. After telling us the story, he shared archived footage that actually proved the story true. Awesome. Did you know Goofy could waterski? Apparently so can Donald. The floating outhouse... For Elissa. This is the life... Plastic. A rare sight, I'm sure. They used to have the Three Caballeros as walk around characters in Adventureland. Who or what is the character on the far left? America on Parade. Oy boy... You... Think ME beautiful? Dolly World. Not even sure... Turtle Power! Remember this? "They ruined it!" This is definitely from before my time. This one too. ATTACK!!! Yay! Spectromen! Here we go... Steven Clark creating a magical moment. Chicken nuggets. Classy. Mork and Mindy. I'm king of the world!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take part in the D23 Great Disney Scavenger Hunt and the Destination D Walt Disney World 40th. The event had a ton of memorable panels, a great deal of funny moments, and a few excellent surprises thrown into the mix. I'll post these photos in three batches, so let's start with the first! So in starting the event, we participated in D23's Great Disney Scavenger Hunt. One of our earliest Epcot tasks was to ride Gran Fiesta Tour and find several clues. We were asked what city was closest to the band at the exit mural. We were asked what the artisan's task was... And then there were tons of unscrambling questions that required us to count letters and words to find an unscrambled name or theme. In this question's case, the word was discover. Another counting question found in Pecos Bill's. Its not as easy as it looks! Did you know that this is the Disney family crest on Cinderella's Castle? That evening, I attended (in addition to Jack, pup and digidoc) a private dinner with Disney Legend, Marty Sklar. I had met Marty back in 2007 for Celebration 25, but it was great to reconnect with him and hear more of his incredible stories... Especially the one about how he got RCA to sponsor Space Mountain. The following day, the convention aspect of the weekend, Destination D began. Located in the Fantasia Ballroom of the Contemporary Resort, we had to queue for about 20 minutes before we were allowed in. Despite queuing later than most, we got pretty fantastic seats in the front-left section of the ballroom. The logo is reminiscent of the one used for the Destination D Disneyland event... The presentations (as you'll see much of here) were all of top notch quality and showed many unseen or forgotten photos and video from the resort's history. Mainstreet framework. A little more done... Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads. It's time to start! The D23 Armchair Archivist Josh Turchetta kicked off the show with an amusing episode focusing on D23's head, Steven Clark. He showed some embarrassing yet charming photos of Steven when he worked at Walt Disney World... The two have some great onstage chemistry that allowed for some very funny moments! Steven Clark told us about his experiences as a guest and eventually an employee at the Walt Disney World Resort, which was fascinating. His D23 renewal letter came in the mail... And then they did a quick plug for the D23 Expo taking place this August, which I'll also be going to! And then a plug for the upcoming D23 Rocketeer event at the El Capitan. I love this movie! And then to kick off the event, things were handed off to the Walt Disney World Resort's first Ambassador. Hello! "We actually found your original application for the job." It gets better... A sign of the times, I guess. They showed a few rare photos of Roy at the Magic Kingdom. And then it came time for what ended up being one of my favorite panels of weekend. Becky Cline was picked by Dave Smith to replace him following his retirement from the Disney Archives. Paul F. Anderson is an archivist whose focus has been on Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company for over forty years. Most recently, his work has been featured in the form of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Now its time for some Weird Disney. Words can't possibly describe... This needed a second look. ??? ... ...? No comment. Presented without comment. We were told a story of how several little people were hired to dress up like Pinochio and sit atop the theater marquee. According to our hosts, the characters were given libations and by the end of the red carpet experience, they weren't wearing their costumes. This how this story in the paper was supposed to look... Here's how it came out. An ad for Fantasia lacked discretion. "Put a sweater on her!" And so it was done.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/05/enchanted-tiki-room-classic-attraction-transforms-this-summer/

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/05/curtain-rises-on-amc-dine-in-theatres-at-downtown-disney/

Knott's Berry Farm has sent us a press release about this year's Halloween Haunt, including the mazes and scare zones that will populate the event.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has sent us a new press release and accompanying photo about Cheetah Hunt's latest exciting milestone!

http://www.4-traders.com/COCA-COLA-4819/news/COCA-COLA-Great-Wolf-Resorts-Names-Coca-Cola-Official-Beverage-Partner-13623701/ Yay!

^^Sheikra, Cheetah Hunt (or Cheetaka when the graphics leaked) and Manta all suffered similar leaks in the months and weeks leading up to their respective reveals. I really don't think that in the long run, it matters. Especially because not everything you see in concept art ends up being true, i.e. Cheetaka (signage and all shown) as the official name of Cheetah Hunt.

^Now that looks awesome. This is something I could definitely see myself getting excited about... And working to get back to Busch Gardens Williamsburg all the sooner!

^I'm pretty if they move forward with another phase of the Wizarding World, Poseidon's Fury and Sinbad won't be there anymore, freeing up a good deal of space for new offerings.

NEWS: Universal Orlando announces 'Hollywood Drive-In Golf' 36-hole mini golf experience coming to CityWalk in 2012 http://media.universalorlando.com/newsreleases/detail.aspx?id=338

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-orlando-thrill-park-appeals-20110509,0,6160512.story

^Non-members cannot see those images.

^The point of a discussion forum is to engage in discussions about your views... The way you go about it is far too heated. If people wanted to respond to you, they would have. The fact that you are demanding an "adequate argument" comes off as a challenge, and not as friendly discussion. That kind of thing turns people off to replying. Egging people on to argue with you isn't the way to go about it. Try cooling your tone and being a little more respectful to the discussion of other's opinions, and the same will come to you. We're talking about theme parks here... There's no reason to argue!

^^Because there is no reason to provide you with an adequate argument... People are entitled to their opinions, as are you. Just because you don't agree with others, doesn't mean you have to rave on to sway them, or that they have to defend their beliefs. Respect others' thoughts and they will respect yours. There is no more reason for this discussion to continue as it is.

That rules out seven years of audience, plus any supercentenarians visiting... They won't be letting dinosaurs into the dinosaur attractions!

http://disney.go.com/disneyfans/insider/article/20110510

^I guess they just started publicizing it, as it showed up in my newsfeed as new information.

http://www.tradearabia.com/news/ttn_197990.html

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/2011/may/09/cedarfairfalfas050511tjxml

This report hereby has my approval!

Some fun perspective of SkyScreamer and a palm tree ... notice the globe at the top is only half a world away ... Sitting on these at 150' in the air ... well, what is the ONE WORD you would use to describe it? We're getting close to finishing off the topper - scene from this morning as workers work every day to get SkyScreamer opened by Memorial Day weekend! Oh, and did we tell you that the work going on is pretty HIGH?

^^^This is a scanned copy of one of the passholder mailings sent out via snail mail. ^I guess we'll find out when the preview happens... If it's not in print, I don't think they intend on ruining the surprise prematurely.

^I don't believe they've ever announced a preview that would take place before the grand opening for passholders. Traditionally, Busch Gardens does something similar to this with a period of ERT each weekend for pass holders after the opening itself. They did it for Sheikra when it opened, and again when Sheikra went floorless a few years later.

Knott's Berry Farm has sent us a press release regarding their upcoming Gospel Showcase.