Day 1272: It Works!

If you think my career in film started a couple of years ago when I made my first real Disney vlog, you'd be wrong.

I honestly don't remember when the first time I picked up a video camera was, but I certainly wasn't very old, and I remember the experience itself pretty well. In fact, my family constantly makes fun of me for the first video I took, since it's mostly just me whipping the camera around our room at Old Key West so quickly that it makes pretty much everyone who watches it sick unless you look away regularly. From there, I obviously gained a steadier hand and some vision as to what makes for a good video. 

That first camera I used, however, is almost as old as I am, and in fact, it's not even the camera in the above picture. It's an old Sony, just like the other video cameras we've gotten over the years (a number that's just rising to four...mostly because we all want to use the camera so much we can't share anymore), but it's also almost as old as I am...20 years old. My parents got it not long before my first trip to Walt Disney World in October of 1996 and it continued to record most of our trips until 2011 when we went to Disneyland, soon after which we decided it was time to upgrade to a new camera. 

We made the decision to upgrade largely because we believed the old video camera had finally died, and so it sat on a shelf in our kitchen, of all places, for the last four and a half years. Until the other night when I explained an idea for an upcoming video to my dad, which would require old footage that we literally haven't looked at in years. So, on a whim, we tried to use the playback on the old camera, and amazingly enough, it worked. 

After watching one of the tapes from my very first trip to Walt Disney World, we decided that maybe it would be best if we updated all this footage, which is actually decent high quality, to digital before the camera decides to die for good. There will definitely be updates and posts focused on memories I find as time goes on, since I'll be starting the transfer of the footage as soon as I get a disc drive to install programming on my computer (something I neglected to look at when I bought a new laptop) and have a system made for transferring old tapes to digital. 

All in all, I couldn't be happier that the camera does indeed work, because really, I was a sassy and adorable child, and who wouldn't want to see that? 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1177: For the Love of Nautical Blue

I sat at Barnes and Noble for a long while, on the floor, in front of a shelf filled with adult coloring books. The newest craze was brought to my attention this past Christmas when one of my former roommates gifted me an adult coloring book, and now I use my crayons and colored pencils far more often than I have in the past two years. I didn't intend to buy a coloring book at Barnes and Noble, but the nautical themes of one based on the ocean got my attention and didn't leave me alone...probably because forecasted snow and friends actually on the beach made me wish for warmer weather and a beautiful view.

I've always loved nautical things though, and somewhere along the line, probably when I was coloring a trio of seashells to catch the colors found on The Seas with Nemo and Friends, I realized that my love of all things nautical, including pirates, probably goes much further back than those around me might think.

I definitely still remember the old Living Seas at Epcot, with the attraction vehicles much similar to Spaceship Earth than those currently found on an adventure with Nemo, and the diver's tank that existed long before it was reintroduced a few years ago. My memories of the old Epcot, I've come to realize, are something I really should treasure, because for the young generation of Epcot lovers, I'm right on the cusp between those who really remember what Epcot used to be about and those who wish they did.

But my love of nautical things probably stems more from another location, one outside the parks. I talk about Old Key West as my home resort all the time, and I wish I could clearly express through words just how much it really is home. I honestly think I almost have more memories that occurred in the walls of a room at OKW than I do in my own home, and for those of you who have explored the resort as I have, you know just how nautical the place can get. It's not overly ocean-themed, but there is a lighthouse, and the gingerbread architecture of the conch republic really stands out amidst many of the other resorts at Walt Disney World. Growing up, and still today, I adore the corals and aquas and dark and light blues, I decorate with ships and seashells frequently, and I've built more than one house on the Sims with nautical themes. And just to prove that I did indeed spend a lot of my childhood at OKW, here's a picture of my Dad and I sitting on the balcony of our room.

I'm a bit taller now, but the balcony hasn't changed much.

Have a magical day!

Day 980: Remember When

My childhood at Disney World is largely focused around one song and one TV show. It hasn't been on the TVs there for years, but it's one of the most memorable things from when I was a kid. In fact, I still get the song stuck in my head from time to time, and that's just from memory! It's not like I listen to it every day!

This TV show? The Old Disney World Resort Loop. You probably remember it if you went to Disney World years ago:

Talk about blast from the past, right? Sometimes I honestly forget just how much has changed over the years, and yet I can go and look back at pictures from when I was a kid and some things don't even look familiar. I do suppose it's a good thing though. The Disney Parks were never intended to be completed, continuing to grow and expand year after year. I sometimes wonder what they'll look like even 15 years from now. Very different I suppose, especially as we head towards the 50th Anniversary! 

Oh gosh, i jsut got to the ToonTown part of the above video! ToonTown was so long ago already! Alright...not really. Only about four years. Also Aladdin and Jasmine in the parade and SpectroMagic! Even Fantasy in the Sky! 

Boy do I feel old now...and I'm only 20. I've seen so much Disney come and go! Crazy!

Do you remember any of the things in the video...or even the video itself? Let me know in the comments below! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 25 due to a tight schedule).

Day 846: Transformation...Sunday

While generally there's a Transformation Tuesday, that felt too mainstream for me. So why not Transformation Sunday, featuring some of the slides I've looked at with my family in the past couple of months! Why am I sharing them? It's actually something I haven't thought about in a while, but I realized that my Dad and I had talked about finding various slides we liked from the 1990's and 1980's and then finding those same shots and taking new ones. We thought it would be interesting!

But that won't be happening until June, and that's still over a month away, so for now, here's some of my favorite slides!

I've got a whole file of these things and there's plenty more slides to go through, so this is only the beginning! But these are just a few of my favorites. Every single one is a little bit different and definitely vintage! Bonus points if you can name where some of these shots were taken in the comments below! 

Have a magical day!

Day 769: Slides

Sorry Ashley, I'm not talking about the slides that you, for some reason, want to take on the airplane.

Nope, I'm talking about photography slides!

If you're as young as I am, you may not know exactly what I'm talking about...specifically because for some weird reason our generation just doesn't know much about the old technology that graced our world before we all had smart phones. Of course, smart phones are great. I have one that I use constantly (I actually just thought about it and had to go check Twitter before continuing to write...I apparently have problems).

Regardless, back in the day, back before you could take pictures constantly with phones, you had to take pictures differently, and one of those ways was by slide photography. I'm not totally up on how it all works (I guess I didn't think to ask Dad more about the process before writing this blog post), but, in the end, you use a slide projector to project each slide onto a screen.

When I was younger, the screen and the projector would just sort of hang in my closet and every so often we would pull it out and Mom and Dad would educate us on the "Old Ways of Disney." Since the screen and projector has moved out of my closet, we haven't really looked at slides anywhere near as often, but then again we used to watch video from Disney trips every Sunday and we haven't done that in ages either.

The point is, after quite some time, we finally pulled out the projector and spent (for me) two evenings looking through slides from anywhere between 1985 and 1993. It's always awesome to have a look back at what Walt Disney World used to be compared to what it is now. So I figured I would share a few of my "picceptions" with you!

Now, we looked at hundreds of slides so this is just a selection of what we saw, but I'm sure I'll share more in the future. Up above you can see Hollywood Studios as it will soon look again, hatless, The construction walls for Tower of Terror, Vintage Epcot (The left was taken in 1993 and the right in 1985), and finally the farewell sign from a 1985 Epcot Center! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This Blog Post was written on February 22, 2015).

Day 751: 1985

Of all the things that I enjoy, one of my favorites is to go through old Disney memorabilia with my Dad. You've heard about this before I'm sure, about how I'll spend hours staring at the old ticket books and listening to Dad tell me about the parks "back in the day," so the other night when I was down in the basement working on our new door decs, Dad was cleaning and brought me a wealth of new Disney stuff he'd found in a box or something. 

He apparently went to WDW in 1985, so not too long after Epcot opened, and this made me pretty darn excited. Walt Disney World is pretty different than what it was in 1985, so getting to look back and find all the different changes is pretty entertaining. And when I say he brought me a wealth of new stuff, I really mean a whole big pile. I scanned a few of the pieces to share here too! 

It's funny to think that the Entertainment Schedule for Epcot was a full 8 and a half by 11 sheet of paper, double sided, back in 1985. Now it's like a third of a sheet, double sided. Either that means they've downsized on performances or they've just figured out how to be more efficient. A little of both I believe. 

Dad also found his park maps from the trip, which it's one of those things where I would see them on the internet and wish that I had these old things. Now I do, I guess. 

Here we have a little other handout and you really wouldn't believe the number of brochures he has from this trip. They must of had at least 10 different ones. And there was only two parks! 

Dad also had a Magic Kingdom map, which looks pretty old school when thinking about it in this day and age. Just look at that thing! And as if that's not already enough, look at the pictures of the guests on the right! 

 In the giant pile of everything Dad found, he also came up with a Birnbaum Guide from his 1985 trip. I have the current 2015 version in my desk drawer, so we've got 30 years of difference here!

Here we have an old Walt Disney World Newspaper. This was actually the first thing my Dad brought out, but I had literally no idea this used to be a thing. Why isn't this a thing anymore? Ok, I know why this isn't a thing anymore, but it just feels so small town and homey and awesome. I want a Newspaper! 

And finally, this was part of yet another guidebook, although I believe this one was mostly centered around Magic Kingdom. Either way, I laughed a little about the "Tips for better Walt Disney World movies." I know how that feels little 1985 brochure, I know how that feels. 

Of course, there's a bunch of other stuff that I'm not sharing. There are a few pamphlets from the World of Motion, as well as all of the stuff on the inside of each of some of the things I just shared, but even I haven't had time to go through all of it. If I find something else that's really interesting I'll be sure to share though! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on January 24 due to a busy schedule).