Category Archives: Disney World Disney Parks
So long, Mr. Sherman…
I was devastated to hear that Richard Sherman passed yesterday.
If you don’t know who he is, the short version: gifted half of the songwriting team (with his brother, Robert B. Sherman, who predeceased him) behind such long-standing classics as “It’s a Small World,” the music of Mary Poppins (“Feed the Birds” was my “time for night-night!” song when I was like four), and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” (Carousel of Progress). His songs were integral to my childhood, and Nathan, Charles and I were lucky enough to get to meet him—and have him sign the copy of my childhood It’s a Small World album—at a Kritzerland event back in 2014. I was so excited to meet him I could barely talk. I recall being absolutely overcome (I don’t fangirl easily but this was massive).
Charles took this photo, and I love it, because we’re holding hands there. Just a testament to what a warm, lovely person Richard was.
He was a lovely, gracious, and Read the rest of this entry
When your friends have you figured out …
My friend Suzanne got me this necklace as a Christmas present. I love it … to death.
Recently my friend Suzanne sent me a present I wasn’t expecting. I was thrilled when I opened the gift and discovered a necklace featuring my favorite character in Disney’s Haunted Mansion’s Stretching Portraits—a young girl suspended on a rope over a hungry alligator.
The four portraits in the Stretching Room and Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
According to themeparktourist.com, this pretty girl in a precarious situation has a name: Daisy de la Cruz (you can read about everyone in the mansion here—this article is about Disneyland’s version, but in the Stretching Room, the WDW portraits are identical): https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20120507/6634/characters-disneylands-haunted-mansion
So, why is she my favorite? I’ve always identified with her: like me, she was always optimistic, always hopeful, always waiting for something to go her way—without really understanding that she can hope all she wants, but fate has other plans for her, and mostly scary ones.
Suzanne got this at the Etsy store League of Shadows. Everything is handmade, and so their stock rotates and changes frequently. As I write this, they don’t have these necklaces, but they have lots of other cool stuff. If you’re looking for something unique for yourself or another, it’s worth putting them on your list of places to check out. They’re located here: https://www.leagueofshadows.org/
What the hell is Disney Bounding and can it be practical?
Me and Melissa at the Farewell Brunch at The Attic at Disney’s Boardwalk. I’m in my Alice in Wonderland Disney Bound. She made her dress herself!
Let’s face it—we Disney fanatics love to play dress up. Disney Bounding—the art of dressing to suggest your favorite character without copying it directly—hit my radar shortly after, a few years ago, the Disney Parks didn’t want adults going to the parks in costumes that were too close to the “real thing,” which might confuse guests (truth be told, it was probably around way before that, but that’s when I became aware of it).
I’d been to the parks a few times and seen some pretty amazing and creative outfits, but they were mostly pieces that Read the rest of this entry
THIS WRITING LIFE EPISODE 8: TOTAL BRAIN ERASURE
So…writers are thinking. All the time. How do we turn that off? Here’s one way to do it on Episode 8: Total Brain Erasure! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/68NnQlQahm0
Keep in mind that just about any location you love that gets you to relax and focus on other activities besides writing will work. While I’ll say the vacation was incredibly effective in turning off my brain–as most Disney vacations are for me–I will say that cutting down the several hours of video I had while trying to tell an effective story in under five minutes was more than just a little challenging! Have fun!
Disney urban ghost story legends on Dave’s Disney View!
Have you ever seen anything creepy in Disney World?
I had a blast sharing some lesser-known urban ghost story legends of the Disney Parks on Dave’s Disney View! Tom Sawyer Island ghosts, weirdness in Animal Kingdom and much more. You can listen here: http://disneyview.blogspot.com/2017/04/episodes-281-282-urban-legends-at.html
Supposedly, there’s an area of the Animal Kingdom savanna where the animals won’t go.
The top of the Contemporary. There are rumors of spirits falling past the windows below.
Disney Parks Fans: THRILL RIDE, new fiction from Bruce Kimmel
As you all know, I love books about the Disney Parks — but I’m especially excited about fiction set in or having to do with the Disney Parks. I just found a new one called Thrill Ride by Bruce Kimmel.
From the jacket description:
“1957. What if Walt Disney wanted a time-travel ride for his recently opened Disneyland, a peek into a city of the future and what it might hold – a thrilling ride. What if he had an Imagineer he felt could come up with what that future might hold and how the ride might work? What if that Imagineer, not wanting to merely posit what the future might hold, figures out a way to travel to the future to see exactly what it might hold?
Thrill Ride takes the reader on exactly that journey, from the Los Angeles of 1957 sixty years into the far-off future of 2017. What our time traveler finds there, who he meets, and whether he can actually get back to his own time, well, that’s the tale. So, climb aboard and come along on a fanciful thrill ride filled with humor, suspense, and surprises.”
I pre-ordered this and I got a signed surprise! HOW COOL IS THIS INSCRIPTION?
Richard Sherman (yes, THE Richard Sherman) says of Thrill Ride, “Kimmel does it again! He takes us on an unbelievable thrill ride that’s so believable that you forget it’s just make believe. When it’s over, you not only appreciate what was in the past but you also appreciate all that we have now. Bravo Bruce!”
Here’s me with Richard Sherman at a Sherman Brothers-themed Kritzerland Musical Revue at the Triad in NYC, November 15, 2014. I just about cried when he signed my favorite childhood album!
I’ll be writing a review of this as soon as I get the chance to read it (which I hope is soon; I have stacks and piles and more stacks and piles). If you’re interested in picking this up, you can order it anywhere you get books, however, it’s available at the author’s website here, and on Amazon here.
