Monthly Archives: January 2012

It’s All About the Ears

4 Comments Posted by on January 30, 2012

Once upon a time you could get a pair of mouse ears in black or pink. And it was a godawful 80s pink that looking like you just drowned your eyeballs in Pepto Bismol.

So of course I had a pair.

Nowadays, they have ears for everything. Not just Mickey and Minnie too–like, everyone. And where do you go to find this wide selection of ears?

You can try the Mad Hatter!

On Main Street!

One on Main Street, one in Fantasyland by the Teacups.

Now I could have sworn I have a picture of the outside of the Mad Hatter, but it looks like I do not. So if I find it later, I’ll throw it in–okay?

The Wall o’ Ears can look a bit of intimidating

They're everywhere!

But I prefer the classic black. I actually kind of own too many mouse ears. I have a black pair that say “Mommy” from my Halloween costume this past year, I have a black set that say “MYWTM” that I unfortunately mistakenly bought in the wrong size (child rather than adult) so they sit rather weirdly on my head, I have a gold set from the 50th anniversary in 2005, and I have a Captain Mickey set from the cruise that for some reason I couldn’t live without. Oh, and also a set from the Mouse-In-Law.

Now what I’m living without is a place to put all of these. Short of sticking them on stuffed animals (which I’ve done), anyone have any ideas how to display them or something? They are currently sitting on top of our dresser and I think Kevin’s a little miffed about it.

He did tell me to stop buying them.

To be fair, he’s correct.

Anyway, you can get your name written on your ears (and many other hats).

Which takes place here

And I have to say, this is one “improvement” I do not care for. Back in the old days, you got your ears/hat and you could get your name written on them for free. The sewing machine was worked by the cast member who had to turn the hat inside out, write your name backwards, on a machine that only went down and left. It was truly impressive to watch a hat writer shove these things around and come out with perfect names in the same script every time.

Now it’s done by automated machine. The name is no longer free–a regular name in script is like $3 or you can get a premium name in two other fonts with whatever you want it to say, like “Happy Birthday Beauregard 2012” or “MYWTM” for a higher fee. The main problem, however, is that the new machines take for.ev.er. to write. And even if they have 2 or 3 machines going, you’re waiting for a year and a half to get yours done. If they could speed that up, I wouldn’t get so grumpy about it.

Not that I’m really grumpy. I mean, after all, they are mouse ears, but still. Grump.

Everything Else ,

That Genie’s Lamp

1 Comment Posted by on January 27, 2012

So back in the day, I posted about the stores in Adventureland, and one of the unknown (to me) things I saw back there was a genie’s lamp.

Out of order.

Bummer.

However, I went recently and guess what was back IN order?

No really, guess.

Heh.

The Lamp!

Yeah, Aladdin had to go into the Cave of Whatever It’s Called But It Will Kill You If You’re Not The Diamond In The Rough Or Something, but you my friends, YOU, can find it right there in Adventureland.

Needless to say, I had to stick in my 50 cents.

Because the sign said so

And really? 50 cents? But whatever.

I had hoped the lamp would spit out some kind of fortune card or something, but it did not. Instead, it lit up and flashed a lot.

This is your 50 cents' worth

And the genie, who was decidedly not Robin Williams, spoke to me.

Out loud, not just in my head.

The genie predicted that, among other things, I would become fabulously wealthy and I might want to seriously consider buying lottery tickets (done and DONE!). It also predicted that I would win the Superbowl as a starring athlete.

So look for me on the field y’all. Look HARD.

Okay, it didn’t say the Superbowl, but it was strongly implied.

All in all, did I feel like I got my 50 cents’ worth? Sure, why not? It’s Disneyland!

Adventureland

Blue Ribbon Bakery

3 Comments Posted by on January 25, 2012

So I need to blog this now because soon the Blue Ribbon Bakery as I know it (and as you will come to know it, ever so briefly in this post) will be gone. It shall be replaced with a newer, better bakery, or so they say.

Yeah, I took these pictures at night. At Christmas. Sue me.

The Blue Ribbon Bakery is about halfway down Main Street on the right. It’s actually located in a small space between the Gibson Girl ice cream parlor and the Carnation Cafe.

And here's the sign

Although it does not immediately look like it, the Blue Ribbon Bakery is on a corner. And if you turn left onto that corner, you’ll find a very nice bathroom.

If you've gotta go, hang a left here

The BRB serves standard bakery fare.

Cupcakes, cookies, rice crispy treats, etc.

It also has good hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls.

The BRB does not, however, have great crowd control. I mean, the line for the bakery items themselves isn’t too complicated.

waiting for baked items

But those people you see in the foreground are not actually waiting for baked items.

They are waiting for ice cream next door.

The line for ice cream

As I mentioned over on my post about the Gibson Girl ice cream parlor, there was very little room for an extended queue there, and it backed up into the bakery. Additionally, the Carnation Cafe–one of the better sit-down restaurants in my opinion–had a rather truncated outdoor-only seating arrangement.

No more. All bakery items are being moved to the Jolly Holiday Bakery (new on the hub, haven’t been there yet) and the space formerly known as the Blue Ribbon Bakery will now be indoor seating for both the Carnation Cafe and the ice cream parlor.

While I’m a little sad about the loss of Blue Ribbon, the space is badly needed for both the Carnation Cafe and the Gibson Girl parlor. Plus I think the Jolly Holiday bakery and cafe is going to be even better. You can’t stop progress, people. You just can’t.

Main Street

Santa’s Reindeer Roundup

3 Comments Posted by on January 23, 2012

Now that you’re in the holiday spirit…

Oh wait, what? You’re not? It’s January? Well, whatever. I’m still catching up on holiday posts.

Santa’s Reindeer Roundup is located in the Big Thunder Ranch area, and I posted a little bit about it before but I’m adding it now because we actually took Theo back there.

 

I have NO idea what that kid is doing

 

Outside of the trail there’s a sleigh that many people take pictures on and often some characters appear back there. It was closed when we were there.

 

It's actually a really beautiful sleigh

 

Anyway, back to the reindeer. The reindeer roundup is sponsored by Brawny paper towels.

Because when you’re cleaning up after a reindeer, you really don’t want to use bargain paper towels.

 

Brawny is not "the quicker picker-upper" however, so reindeer cleanup might be slow

 

There are real reindeer in the reindeer area!

 

The signs tell you who's in the pen

 

Theo loved them. He really wanted to pet them, but in the end was content to just wave at them.

 

HI REINDEER! I'M THEO!

 

I tried to get cute pictures of the reindeer, but they all turned out like this one.

 

Reindeer butts!

 

Ah well, the one facing the camera is cute.

I do have to say, I love the classic, woodsy, traditional feel of this place and its theming, so it was a little disappointing to see a barrier of cheesy cartoonish reindeer.

 

This is what I mean

 

But you can’t have everything.

Also back in this area is Santa’s house!

 

Santa lives in a rustic log cabin! In Disneyland!

 

The cool thing is that Santa is actually there during the day!

The bummer is that we weren’t there during the day, and Santa had already gone home–the North Pole home, I heard a cast member telling another child–for the night.

So I took a picture through the window.

 

Insert Santa here

 

I should Photoshop him in. Nobody would ever know.

Anyway, I fully intended to get a Theo-Santa picture back here, but it never happened. Luckily, there’s next year!!

 

Frontierland , ,

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