Day 268: My Disney Collection V5

Hello all! It's time for another edition of My Disney Collection. Again, as I said last time, you should have this down, but if you're just joining us, here's the basics: I write a blog called Everyday Disney, and I try to write everyday. If I can't write I go back and make it up, but in reality I have one blog post for every day of the year. Either way, I have several series of posts going on, one about my favorite Youtube Videos, one on my favorite Disney things and then this one. The My Disney Collection Series, which now has FIVE parts, and if you haven't seen the others or want a refresher, here's the previous ones!  (V1 V2 V3 V4). Just click one of links right there.

This volume of the My Disney Collection series focuses around something that all of us Disney Parks fans seem to have: a pin collection. Like everyone else I have a whole bunch of pins, and I won't be able to talk about every single one, but I will show you them all and mention a few of my favorites.

We'll start with a transition set from the last Disney Collection Volume, Epcot pins. Now back when I went to the D23 Expo in 2011 I was able to get my hands on some awesome pins, including these two beauties right here. The one on the left if a Walt Disney Imagineering pin. I have no clue if there's any importance otherwise to it, but it's beautiful and I like to think it's special. The other is a 1980's pin that I picked up. Equally beautiful, and certainly one of my more treasured pieces.

Speaking of the D23 Expo, that's where I got these next couple of pins. You can see my Disney Geek pin right there, which I actually used as a part of my FBLA speech my senior year. And below you can see my D23 Expo pin as well as my treasured 1st visit to Disneyland pin. I've always wanted one of those, and now I have one!

Back to Epcot pins, since I have a lot of those. Of course, as you could tell from the last post, I got just about all I could from the 30th anniversary merchandise, and that certainly includes pins. They had a mystery set of 30th anniversary pins with Figment, so I have the Living Seas pin and the Horizons pin from that. Below is a special one I picked up back in July 2013 when there was still a bit of stuff left from the celebration. It's one of my favorite pins because it opens and on the inside you have the characters standing looking at the globe from Illuminations and the saying "To all who come to this place of joy, hope and friendship, Welcome" from the dedication of Epcot. 

Next is another set of pins I got at D23, which was put out by Walt Disney Imagineering. My brother has the entire set of Epcot Symbol pins but I just got this one, which I really do adore. I mean, I do love Spaceship Earth, after all.

Finally getting out of some of the Epcot stuff, I have a collection of Holiday pins. My family often times would go to Disney for Thanksgiving, and that means that Holiday pins are out, and sometimes they have pins specifically for thanksgiving as well. I almost always get the pin from Old Key West, because doing anything else would just seem wrong. 

Then we move on to the next shadow box, which is also pretty much completely filled with pins. Below you can see a few of my favorites as well, including my Mickey Aviator Pin, the Elle Badge from Up (Honestly my favorite pin of all time) and my I Mickey New York pin that I got from the Disney Store in New York when I went in 2012. 

And then we come to our last specific set I'll talk about, although there are tons of other pins that I have. Back in November 2012 I was searching for one set of pins (actually I had been searching in January as well), and I just wasn't finding them. After searching all of January I just figured they weren't made anymore and gave up. But then my parents went on Tower of Terror. Now my brother and I generally just sit that one out and instead go around taking pictures or go on Star Tours or something. Well it just so happened that we headed into the store at the end of ToT that time and we were over by the pins when he goes "Hey Lizzie, it's Han Solo!" and I was like "WHAT" and he was like "Look" and he pointed right at that pin down below this. He had found the sole Han Solo pin (lol...no pun intended). Of course I bought the entire set right away and have loved them ever since. Can't get much better than Han and Leia and Chewie on Pirates! 

And that concludes the pins. Down below you can see my entire three shadowboxes. The third one is new, since I officially ran out of room in the first two after my trip in July, so now I have a third. It's kind of interesting trying to get them all to fit, both in the boxes and then on my shelves, but I make it work. Pins are never a bad thing, after all.

If there's a pin you'd like to see more closely, just let me know and I'd be happy to share a picture with you! 

In the next volume of my Disney Collection I'll share the Disney in my closet, which honestly has gone from zero to tons in the last year or so. It's actually kind of ridiculous. And then after that I honestly don't know what I'll do, but it will be December, so most likely it will be a holiday edition! You don't know me at all if you don't think I don't have Disney Christmas Decorations! 

The month isn't over, so here's today's Frumpstagram post with the title "Regal." Honestly nothing is more grand than Club 33!

Here's today's Disney History: 2009: The final performance at the Adventurers Club at Pleasure Island, Florida takes place as part of Congaloosh 2009 (a weekend long convention to celebrate the popular Adventurers Club). 

Have a magical day!

Day 267: The Art of Disney

I think I've decided that this week I'm just going to do a bunch of Pinterest stuff. There's just so much on the internet that I see that really makes my life so much better when I'm sitting and working. It's what I do during my breaks, go on Pinterest or Tumblr, and they really do bring in a lot of Disney to my life.

Today's topic, another one of my Disney boards: The Art of Disney.

To start us off, let's have some Peter Pan, in honor or Once Upon a Time, of course!

And then some Princess artwork. I'm pretty sure that I will have the third one on my wall in a frame someday because I really do just love it that much, although the first one and the one from Tangled are absolutely beautiful too. 

And to finish it off, you have to have a little bit of Mickey Mouse, right? I personally think this one is pretty adorable.

That's about all for today though. It's been rather quiet around here, so that's probably why this is a Pinterest week, but who knows. Obviously I own none of the above artwork, and just like I should put a disclaimer on that for you. 

And Frumpstagram! Here's one that narrates "adventure!" 

Here's today's Disney History: 1936: Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets and the original voice of Kermit the Frog, is born James Maury Henson in Greenville, Mississippi. Henson first named his puppets, "Muppets" in 1954 while working as a producer of the Washington, D.C. TV show, Sam and Friends. Henson was the leading force behind the Muppets long run in the television series Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and films such as the Muppet Movie and creator of advanced puppets for projects like Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Return of the Jedi. Sadly in May 1990, Henson passed away suddenly at the age of 53 while in negotiations to sell his company to Disney. He was named a Disney Legend in 2011. 

Have a magical day!

Day 266: Drop Tests!

Just the other day (today actually because that's when I did the statistics) I talked about how there is always something new at Walt Disney World, and one of the newest attractions that is scheduled to open sometime next year is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. So today brings some amazing news that has to do with this particular attraction! Today Imagineers performed their first drop test of the cars, meaning that it's the first time they ran them out of the station with their own gravity!

I'm pretty excited for this attraction, since I saw some of the first previews of it back in 2011 at the D23 Expo. Gosh that feels like such a long time ago now...and it is! But you do get the idea. Originally it sounded like this was going to be open for when I would be there with the band, but sadly from what we heard the last time we were there it won't be open until later in the year. That's alright though I suppose, I'm still very excited for it all!

Some have commented that it's just like Big Thunder Mountain, and I just wanted to touch on that too. It is a similar theme, but it's completely different at the same time! From what I understand it's almost like a Splash Mountain format, with a storyline included throughout the entire attraction featuring the dwarves. Plus, the vehicles feature some of the most advanced ride technology, making it possible for each car to swing back and forth throughout the attraction. Meaning that it should be quite the interesting ride when it's all finished.

That's about it for today though since I just spent all that time working on the former blog posts and I still have those two left from the weekend and some homework to do!

Frumpstagram today asked for a picture that was "breaktaking," and there was only one thought in my mind as to what it would be: the view from the top of Bay Lake Tower. I even included that panorama I took in July because it's seriously awesome!

Here's today's Disney History: 2001: A new attraction "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream," showing memorabila about Walt Disney's career and heritage to the public for the first time, officially opens at Disney-MGM in Florida. The attraction has been in soft-openings for the last few days and will officially be dedicated October 1 for the start of Walt Disney World's 100 years of Magic Celebration.

Have a magical day!

Day 265: The Laugh Floor

It's been a long time since I spent like 6 hours organizing my Pinterest boards so that I had different ones for just about everything Disney. Yeah, I think my current number of Disney boards is 17? I might be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that's how many I have at the moment.

So sometimes I'll talk about what's on my Disney Truths board, or the Disney Geek board. Once I even talked about what was on my Disney Store board and all the things I wanted to buy. But when it comes to the stranger, unexpected Disney boards, one is missing: The Laugh Floor.

Sometimes it's just not enough to put all the funny Disney stuff with all the other funny stuff. It get's lost, and when you really want to laugh at something Disney related, you don't want to sit and search through everything else. And so I have The Laugh Floor, cleverly named after the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. I thought it was funny AND made a lot of sense.

Just like I've done with some of my other posts, I'll just share a thing or two from the board every once in a great while. Pinterest is a huge portion of my life, so I see a lot of awesome stuff on there that's just too good not to share.

This first one directly relates to this blog. I mean, I am a Disney blogger now, after all:

And then to brighten your day, we have to have some Tangled: 

Ahh Zachary Levi. You never stop being awesome.

Oh, and eventually you'll figure this one out: 

And here's some more Frumstagram!!! Today's picture is inspired by the prompt "hidden mickey" but I just love this picture too much! 

Here's today's Disney History: 1964: Nurse-turned actress, comedienne, writer, director, television producer and daytime television hose Bonnie Hunt is born in Chicago, Illinois. Her Disney voice credits include Dolly in Toy Story 3, Sally in the 2006 Cars, Flint in the 2001 Monsters Inc., and Roise in the 1999 A Bug's Life. 

Have a magical day!

Day 264: La Peri

To be honest, I've been waiting to write this blog post since I started college. I got into Wind Ensemble, which I may or may not have mentioned a number of weeks ago, and when we got our music there was this one piece that I knew I just had to blog about. Of course, my family does read my blog, and I wanted the song to be a surprise for them, so I couldn't blog about it until now.

Well, tonight was our concert, and here we go! Please enjoy our opening selection, as performed by the St. Norbert College Wind Ensemble: La Peri.

Sound familiar? It should. Huh, I wonder where a Frence song like this might come into play at Walt Disney World? How about Impressions de France! Just skip ahead to minute 16 and wait a few seconds. You'll hear it!

So yes, as you can imagine I was really quite excited that we were playing a song, my first song in college as a matter of fact, that has such a connection to Disney. It just works out perfectly for this blog too! Just goes to show that really is a little bit of Disney everyday! 

And here's today's Frumpstagram! It's the title of Attraction Photo, and my brother nails it every time.

Here's today's Disney History: 1959: Stand-up comedian, impressionist and television/voice actor Dave Coulier is born in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Most famous for the role of Joey Gladstone on the sitcom Full House, his Disney Channel credits include The Thirteenth Year and The Even Stevens Movie. His ABC-TV credits include both the series America's Funniest People and The World's Funniest Videos. 

Have a magical day!

Day 263: Africa

It seems that college brings a wealth of new experiences. I guess that's pretty normal, but it also brings up a whole bunch of new ideas for blog posts! It's great!

Today's brand new thing? A trip to Africa. No, I didn't go to Africa today (although that would seriously be awesome). No, the music department here is planning a trip to South Africa this coming summer, and that's pretty awesome. Granted, it is 3500 dollars, which is a heck of a lot of money and I probably won't be going, but that doesn't mean it's awesome.

I, of course, am not going. There is no way in the world I'm going to give up my trip to Disney even for a trip to Africa. Those who are, as I call them, Non-Disney obsessed, don't get it. Why go to the same place 25 times in a row when you could go somewhere like Africa? Those that are Disney obsessed understand. They know that one doesn't go back to the same Disney World every single time. Everything is always changing down there, and that's half the reason it's always so magical!

The truth is, in 24 trips, even I have yet to see everything. Let's calculate this out for a minute: I've spent approximately over 200 days of my life at Walt Disney World, as my usual trip length is 10 days, but there were several times I only went for three or four or so on and so forth, meaning that 200 is probably a more accurate number than 240. That seems like a lot of time, now doesn't it? I mean, honestly, that's a long time even for me since like I said, I'm normally only there for around 10 days at a time.

But here's just a small portion of the things I have yet to experience at the Walt Disney World Resort:

I have stayed at several resorts including Old Key West, the Boardwalk, The Grand Floridian, the Contemporary and Fort Wilderness, but here's the list of resorts I have yet to stay at at the Walt Disney World Resort: Saratoga Springs, Disney's Wilderness Lodge, The Polynesian, The Yacht Club, The Beach Club, Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans, The Swan & The Dolphin, All Star Music & Sports and the Art of Animation. Yeah, there's a lot of them. And that's just resorts.

Then we get around to restaurants. There are some parks where I have eaten at pretty much every restaurant. For instance, I'm fairly certain that I have eaten at every restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios at some point in my life, at least those that are still open. This doesn't go for every park though, I mean, at Magic Kingdom I have yet to eat at some of the summer-only restaurants, since I really have only been there in the summer twice (it will be three times in 2014). And don't even get me started with Epcot.

Attraction wise there's only three I haven't been on ever in my life, and I've talked about them previously: Tower of Terror (don't even think about it), Mission SPACE (Yeah...not happening) and Kali River Rapids (this is most likely for me to go on honestly). Other than that I believe I have been on every attraction that I could go on. BUT, here's the catch! I just got back from Florida a few months ago, right? Well already there are things that I have yet to see because they are brand new. For instance, just this week Princess Fairytale Hall opened, and I can't wait to see it come June! Plus there are plenty of attractions I haven't been on recently: Stitch's Great Escape, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Lights Motors Action, Malestrom, and the list goes on. It's crazy.

Actually, I decided to make this post even more interesting by doing some statistics with just the Magic Kingdom:

It would take you approximately 4.9 hours to just experience every attraction in the Magic Kingdom. That's without your average wait...so in other words the amount of time spent only on the attraction, as if you were able to just walk right on.

At this exact moment (Calculated at 4:35 on September 23, 2013), if you put all the wait times together, you'd have to wait approximately 8.6 hours to get ON attractions, and right now the highest wait time is 45 minutes for Space Mountain, a far cry from some of the busier seasons, where Space Mountain can get to be over two hours for just a wait time, and that means that the average wait time goes up overall (the average wait time as of right now is 19 minutes). This number does not include the wait time needed for character meet and greets.

Remember that those above numbers don't even include the time it takes to WALK from one attraction to another, which could be anywhere from 20-30 minutes to over an hour, depending on how quickly you walk.

After a heck of a lot of calculation and time spent on AllEars, I have finally figured that in order to try absolutely every thing in all the restaurants at Magic Kingdom you would spend approximately $3441.12 and have approximately 462 options to choose from. I got really picky with it though, and included every single different combination you could have, but only counted items such as fountain beverages once. It's not exact, but it's close enough to make a point this isn't including Crystal Palace (the buffet) or the fixed dinner price at Liberty Tree Tavern, which, if you eat at all four meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner for CP), adds $141.62+ to the cost. These numbers also don't include kids meals of any kind, and it also doesn't include the Starbucks that has recently taken up the space of the Main Street Bakery (that was just too hard to include). You'd also have to eat at 34 different establishments within the Magic Kingdom.

Throughout the Magic Kingdom you will have the opportunity to meet 40+ characters, including two versions of Princess Ariel and several duplicate characters within/without the restaurants. This ins't including the current and frequent Limited Time Magic Events of Long Lost Friends.

By adding up a bunch of videos on YouTube from the YouTuber I get my park music from, I came up with over 7 hours of just background music played throughout Magic Kingdom, and that's not including everything. It does include the Tomorrowland Music, Splash Mountain Queue Music and Adventureland Loop, but most of Fantasyland and most attractions are still missing, meaning that in reality it's at least double that amount in real life.

And finally since I'm getting sick of adding all these numbers and do have homework to do yet, you'd watch over 4.6 hours of shows and parades, including the Main Street Electrical Parade, The Dapper Dans and Wishes. This does NOT include the other 2.3 hours of holiday specific shows and parades you'd need to see as well, meaning that there are almost 7 hours of performances that you'd have to see before you see it all. Most happen multiple times a day though.

Oh, and just throwing it out there, there's also those two holiday parties you would need to attend as well in order to see everything the Magic Kingdom has to offer. I personally have only been to one, and that's Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

So, if we put this all together, in order to do everything at the Magic Kingdom you could TODAY, it would take you around 25 hours to experience it all. That's right. It's PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to experience everything in the Magic Kingdom within one day, and that number, 25 hours, is not including the time it takes to walk from one place to another, go through the gates, eat, bathroom breaks, waiting for character meet and greets, staking out a spot for a parade or fireworks show or multiple other events. It's also assuming you meet 40 different characters and spend 5 minutes with each one. Oh...and I didn't even touch on any of the 37 locations you can buy merchandise. Plus, this number is calculated that you'd go on each attraction once...meaning one time on Space Mountain, one time on Splash and Big Thunder and, thankfully, only one time on It's a Small World! Nor does it include anytime to stop and appreciate the area!

Plus there are a few other smaller experiences you can have that Disney doesn't even list normally on their website, such as watching Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Rays.

And this is just the Magic Kingdom. Still think that it isn't worth it to go to Walt Disney World or spend more than one day there? Yeah, I believe you should just go back and read that all over again. If it takes over an entire day to just experience everything in the Magic Kingdom ONCE, then just think about how long it would take to experience everything in three more parks, numerous resorts, two waterparks, a shopping district, golf courses, a sports center and more.

The point I'm getting at here is this: 200 days of my life is only a SHORT amount of time at Walt Disney World, especially since these statistics are for today specifically...not for 10 years ago when pretty much every attraction was different, meaning that the time I spent 10 years ago going on all these attractions is basically irrelevant because I have to do it all over again...plus I have just begun to explore New Fantasyland, which isn't even done yet.

So I'll be traveling to Walt Disney World time and time again to experience everything, which, by the way, is part of the reason for this trip in June! I'll be having a once in a lifetime chance to PERFORM at Walt Disney World! Obviously that's not included in the number up there either...meaning that it's certainly time well spent!

Oh...and if you're interested, I took approximately 3.6 hours determining all these statistics.

Today's Frumpstagram? Breakfast! Now, we all know that there is no breakfast food quite like those breakfast foods that are Mickey Shaped. I mean, they just taste better!

Here's today's Disney History: 1863: Writer and linguist Jacob Grimm dies at age 78 in Berlin, Germany. He and his brother Wilhelm (known as the Brothers Grimm) were the first to write down such classic folk tales as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. A philologist, jurist and mythologist, Jacob was 13 months older than his brother.

Have a magical day!

Day 262: Talk like a Pirate!

Arr my mateys, today be talk like a pirate day!

Now, if you're wonderin', this entire post is, indeed, in piarte. I found an online translator that turns this entire blog post from our common English into pirate. Now, if any o' this will make sense in t' end I have no idea, but we'll try. I mean, it be talk like a pirate day, after all!

I love talk like a pirate day! I mean, it's a whole day basically dedicated t' Pirates, and thar be a lot o' pirate thin's that I love. Growin' up, I did always love Pirates o' t' Caribbean, and although for some reason I don't really remember it as well from when I was younger than when I was a bit older, I still love the attraction. I think I really got into t' entire attraction not long after t' first Pirates movie came out, and now I certainly count it as a must see attraction (I mean, it be in every way a must see because it has a special connection t' Walt Disney).

But Disney be really gettin' into t' Tal like a Pirate day thin' too. I heard that they're doin' some Limited Time Magic with it too, and online thar was some awesome stuff. Like this from Oh My Disney:

And you know who else be a pirate and be awesome? You guessed it! Captain Hook! But obviously not t' Captain Hook from t' Disney Peter Pan, I'm talkin' Captain Hook from Once Upona  Time. So, t' continue celebratin' Talk Like a Pirate Day, here's some Captain Hook pictures (or Captain Swan, it's hard t' decide). Also, check out that sneak peak released today for Once Season 3!

You can watch t' sneak peak here, and you should watch it, trust me!

That last one though. It just never gets old. 

Thar's also this: 

And so, happy talk like a pirate day! Remember, thar's only 10 days port until t' season 3 premiere o' Once Upon a Time, and I, for one, can't wait! 

Today's Frumpstagram post was "ears," and we all know that me favorite pair o' ears be on Mickey Mouse. I mean, they're just so perfectly round and awesome. Plus I feel like it'd be weird and totally beside t' point t' pick t' ears o' anyone else. This be a Disney thin', after all.

And here's today's Disney History (Not in Pirate): 1966: Walt Disney gives what will turn out to be his last press conference. He speaks about the development of the Mineral King Ski Resort in Southern California. It will feature skiing, an alpine village, skating rink, hotels, dormitories for young people and restaurants. Disney's plans will quickly be put to a stop when critics and environmentalists feel the untouched land will be desecrated. 

Have a magical day!