Tiggerific Tuesday Trivia

Disney writers made up a college - Medfield College- and used it in many movies from The Absent Minded Professor in 1961 to Flubber in 1997.

My favorite part of this bit of trivia - next time you're on the Journey into Imagination with Figment, keep your eyes posted - in one of the rooms is a lettermen jacket for Medfield College!

I couldn't get a good picture of it (noticed it too late), so instead, I'll leave you with this:

*Medfield trivia mentioned in Disney Trivia from the Vault.  The book is filled with tons of great knowledge from Disney archivist Dave Smith. The Imagination connection I found myself!*

What a Week!

Last week was a BIG week in our house -

First, Zachary slipped and got his 1st black eye...  Just following in his brother's footsteps!

Then, later in the week, Noah somehow jammed his fingers in a tube slide and BROKE TWO fingers.  And, do you know what happens when a 3 year old breaks two fingers?

That cast goes up PAST his elbow.. apparently kids tend to slip right out of the regular cast, so to ensure proper healing, he's stuck in that for 3 weeks!

Luckily, "Mickey Mouse sent him a get well present" of 3 die-cast Disney buses that we picked up on our last trip :)

On Friday, we celebrated my Zachary's 1st birthday.  I can't believe it!  We had a family party yesterday and, of course, it was a Mickey Mouse theme!

And, I've been working nights, weekends, and early mornings, but blogging should get back to regularly scheduled posts soon.  Hopefully!

Time flies when you're having fun!

Just for Fun: The Disney Bathroom Situation

By: Rebecca Farrell (Follow me on Twitter @RMZFarrell)

I’ve been seeing a lot of coverage lately about the new Rapunzel restrooms/rest area in the Magic Kingdom, recently opened as part of the Fantasyland expansion.  I don’t think that I’ve ever seen so much excitement over toilets. Now, these are DISNEY toilets, so of course they are fairly extraordinary – right? I’ll give you my verdict after my early May park visit.

In the interim, it got me thinking about my favorite Disney bathroom break spots and I wanted to share some with you.

Resort Bathrooms

Folks, my hubby insists that I pack our own toilet paper (TP) from home for use in our resort guest room, even when we stay at a deluxe resort. Apparently his tush is too sensitive for the environmentally-friendly paper that Disney has taken to stocking in their hotel properties. I never had an issue with the tissue, but some folks might want to plan accordingly.

            Best Resort (Public) Restroom

·         Grand Floridian lobby level – Located near the Grand Floridian Café on the ground level, these restrooms are spacious, well maintained and luxurious by most standards

Worst Resort (Public) Restroom

·         Polynesian Great Ceremonial house second level – Located opposite Ohana and servicing two restaurants and a bar, these restrooms are often over-crowded, out of supplies and have a line/wait

Park Bathrooms

Personally, I don’t care if the place I go to do my business is fancy – I just want it to be clean. This is a difficult thing to do, especially on weekends when parks are crowded. Following are a few of my favorite restrooms in each park as well as hidden gems to check out on your next trip.

            Magic Kingdom – Hidden Gem

·         The restrooms behind Casey’s Corner closest to the First Aid station are often deserted and very clean.

Magic Kingdom – Avoid

·         The restrooms located between City Hall and the Fire Station, as they are at the very front of the park, are the most crowded and dirty. Walk a little further down Main Street USA to check out the hidden gem instead.

Magic Kingdom – Honorable Mention

·         The restrooms located inside the passage that connects Frontierland and Adventureland (close to the Country Bears) provide some much needed shade for waiting party members and generally are not too crowded unless there’s a tour group coming through.

EPCOT – Hidden Gem

·         Although a bit out of the way, the restrooms located between the park EXIT (via Future World) and the bus depot are often deserted. A bit out of the way as you’re entering the park, but a great pit stop if a bus ride back to your resort is on tap.

EPCOT – Avoid

·         In World Showcase, the restrooms located in the China pavilion service both the table service and counter service restaurant and are always crowded and dirty.

EPCOT – Honorable Mention

·         In Future World, there are restrooms located in the Imagination pavilion to the FAR right past the entrance to Figment. Never crowded and always clean!

Animal Kingdom – Hidden Gem

·         The restrooms located near the exit of Finding Nemo: The Musical are often deserted during show times, but avoid them when the show lets out.

Animal Kingdom – Avoid

·         The restrooms in Rainforest Café are often clean, but are reserved for those eating at the restaurant, which I don’t recommend.

Animal Kingdom – Honorable Mention

·         The restrooms in Harambe Village are often busy, but are well maintained and an ideal pit stop prior to riding Kilimanjaro Safaris or when exiting the parks after a long day.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Hidden Gem

·         The restrooms located in the Animation Courtyard are a little off the beaten path and never crowded.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Avoid

·         The restrooms located near the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular exit and to the left of Sounds Dangerous are often neglected from a cleanliness standpoint and can be crowded when these attractions let out at different times during the day.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Honorable Mention

·         Despite being located adjacent to the park’s most popular attraction – Toy Story Midway Mania – the restrooms in Pixar Place almost never have a line and are well stocked. Be sure to make a pit stop before waiting in that 90 minute line for TSMM.

So there you have it, readers. My two cents on some of the best restrooms that Walt Disney World has to offer.  As mentioned above, I’ll be sure to rate and review the Rapunzel rest area during my upcoming trip and since I’ll be 17 weeks pregnant when we hit the parks, I’m sure that I’ll have even more tips and advice to share.

Tiggerific Tuesday Trivia!

Just like the Windows on Main Street, U.S.A., the stores (and some windows) at Disney's Hollywood Studios are no different!  Located on Hollywood Boulevard, this store is different than the Disney windows in that it isn't representing Disney Imagineers!

Adrian and Edith's

Head to Toe

"Costumes of the Stars"

Adrian Greenberg and Edith Head were two of classic Hollywood's costume designers.  Adrian is best known for designing Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers for the Wizard of Oz and Edith won 8 academy awards out of 35 nominations - more than any other woman in her time.  She worked extensively with Albert Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and eventually designed the first female uniform for the U.S. Coast Guard!  Edith was known for being much more subdued than her contemporaries like Adrian!

(info from Wiki and Studios Central.com - thanks Matt!)

Limited Time Boy Bands

Throughout 2013, Disney is having "Limited Time Magic" - special shows, events, characters for short periods of time.  Most 'events' are for a week, though a renewed version of the Main Street Trolley show will continue for nearly 2 months.

When I first heard the announcement of this campaign, they sent out the glimmer of hope that one of the weeks would be the Dapper Dans singing popular songs from "Boy Bands."  I was instantly excited about that - I know many scoffed at the ridiculousness of that, but boy bands and barbershop quartet? Talk about a win!

*For those that don't know me that well - my neighbors in college had a barbershop quartet.  It's now college and Disney nostalgia for me!  Plus, I've been a boy-band fan since my NKOTB in elementary school*

So, when I heard that it just so happened that my week would be Dapper Dans singing Boy Bands? You KNOW I had to make that happen!

If you've never seen the Dapper Dans, you're totally missing out.  They're barbershop, which I guess isn't everyone's thing, but at Disney, they should be.  Check out some of their standard set:

Our final park day, and our full Magic Kingdom day, we headed to Casey's Corner for lunch and while our slow poke of a 3 year old was eating his hot dog and Z was having a meltdown, I grabbed Z, put him in the sling, and headed down the street to hear the Dapper Dans do their thing.

And it was amazing.

Excuse the cellphone quality video - it's all I had on me - but it's worth a watch.  Enjoy the Dapper Dans singing music of the boy bands (and probably some other stuff)!

Do you watch the Dapper Dans? Did you get to see their boy band special?

Disney Recommendations

My Disney Recommendations

By: Rebecca Farrell (Follow me on Twitter @RMZFarrell)

Whenever people ask me for advice about Disney (and this happens often), I have a list of favorites that I offer them.  And since I love to offer up my advice, I thought I’d share those favorites with you, dear readers. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments below.

Note: Anywhere there’s an “N/A”, I have no personal frame of reference because I haven’t experienced anything in the category.

Resorts

 My husband outside of the Polynesian

Category	Gold Medal	Honorable Mention
Deluxe Resort	Polynesian	Boardwalk
Moderate Resort	Port Orleans French Quarter	N/A
Value Resort	N/A	N/A

Table Service Restaurants

Location	Gold Medal	Honorable Mention
Magic Kingdom	Cinderella’s Royal Table	Plaza Restaurant
EPCOT	Biergarten (Germany)	San Angel Inn (Mexico)
Animal Kingdom	Tusker House	Yaki and Yeti
Disney’s Hollywood Studios	Mama Melrose’s	Hollywood Brown Derby
Downtown Disney	Raglan Road	N/A
Deluxe Resort – Breakfast	Ohana (Polynesian)	Grand Floridian Café (Grand Floridian)
Deluxe Resort – Lunch	Kona Café	N/A
Deluxe Resort – Dinner	California Grill	Tie: The Wave (Contemporary) and Whispering Canyon Café (Wilderness Lodge)

Character Meals (Table Service)

Location	Gold Medal	Honorable Mention
Magic Kingdom	Cinderella’s Royal Table	Crystal Palace
EPCOT	N/A	N/A
Animal Kingdom	Tusker House	N/A
Disney’s Hollywood Studios	N/A	N/A
Downtown Disney	N/A	N/A
Deluxe Resort	Ohana (Polynesian)	N/A

Quick Service Restaurants

Pita combo platter at Tangerine Cafe (EPCOT)

Location	Gold Medal	Honorable Mention
Magic Kingdom	Columbia Harbor House	Pecos Bill’s (Special shout out to the Dole Whips at Aloha Isle)
EPCOT	Liberty Inn	Tangerine Café
Animal Kingdom	Flame Tree BBQ	Pizzafari
Disney’s Hollywood Studios	Backlot Express	Starring Rolls Café
Downtown Disney	N/A	N/A
Deluxe Resort	Captain Cooks (Polynesian)	Boardwalk Bakery (Boardwalk)
Moderate Resort	Sassagoula Float Works (Port Orleans French Quarter)	N/A
Value Resort	N/A	N/A

Theme Park Rides

Location	Gold Medal	Honorable Mention
Magic Kingdom	Pirates of the Caribbean	Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
EPCOT	Spaceship Earth	Living with the Land
Animal Kingdom	Kilimanjaro Safaris	Expedition Everest
Disney’s Hollywood Studios	Star Tours	Toy Story Midway Mania

Theme Park Attractions/Fireworks

Location	Gold Medal	Honorable Mention
Magic Kingdom	Wishes	Dapper Dans
EPCOT	IllumiNations	Tie: Off Kilter and The British Revolution (live entertainment)
Animal Kingdom	Finding Nemo: The Musical	Flights of Wonder
Disney’s Hollywood Studios	Mulch, Sweat and Shears	N/A

My Style of Limited Time Magic

Welcome to those of you joining me from The CanaDisney Blog and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 3rd stop on our Magical Blogorail.

When Disney first announced that 2013 would be the year of "Limited Time Magic," I didn't quite know what to expect. I was ridiculously excited about the prospect of the Dapper Dans singing music from Boy Bands. You probably can't imagine how excited I was when I realized that our week in the parks was Boy Band week.  

But, the real questions is - what would I do if I could plan my own Limited Time Magic?  

I would make the characters roam the parks. "Ride with Mickey" week or something.

It seems as though the Disneyland characters tend to be more interactive while those at WDW have their "spots" for meet and greets. But, I love seeing those commercials with the characters on the carousel or the barnstormer. Wouldn't that be awesome?

I know the problem - people can't meet guarantee they would get the chance to meet all their characters... though, that might convince more people to do character meals - guarantee to meet Mickey at Tusker House, etc...

Picture from Full House Wiki

And, while we've got the characters out there, we're bringing back some of the magic that may have only ever been for television but still seems awesome: Prince/Princess of the Day. Remember when Michelle Tanner pulled the sword from the stone and became Princess of the Day? Seriously - how are those two things related. Anyways- I would love for children to have the ability to be in the parades or join in with the Main Street Trolley Show.

I love the idea of the Family of the Day, but what if that privilege extended beyond Rope Drop?

Morning Welcome Show

So, it sort of boils down to - let's do Disney Full House style. What do you think?

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Days in the Park.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Pursuing the Magic

2nd Stop ~ The CanaDisney Blog

**3rd Stop ~ Disney Babies Blog

Final Stop ~ Days in the Park