I know it’s been a little slow around here lately, but I am knee-deep in client work, eBay scams, and all manners of Halloween preparations.

Speaking of Halloween, this is just a little reminder about Doorless Chambers. There is roughly 1 week left to sign up! The number of participants is a tad low this year, so let’s try to bulk up the numbers. You can see past participants in the Yearbooks section (you might find some leftover treats there!), and you can get access to some creative tools in the Workshop.

I’ve even been too busy to keep up with the year-long TDE celebration, which I’ve let fizzle out. Still, there have been some great Guest submissions on the Fan Board, and there are a few Halloween goodies coming out next month.

Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966. Reactions from around the world, in newspaper articles, editorial comment, and letters and telegrams present an appreciation of the joy, hope, and inspiration Walt provided to millions of people around the world.

Over a month ago, I wrote about the new Wishing Stars game for the iPhone. Now, while we’d all like to have fun playing a game at Disneyland, we don’t all have iPhones. We cannot afford one, we don’t have access to one, or we have yet to buy one. Bummer! What do you do? Well, how about a game that only requires a book?

I recently had a chance to review both of the Hidden Mickeys (4th Edition) and Disneyland’s Hidden Mickeys (2nd Edition) books, written by Steven M. Barrett. Hidden Mickeys covers Walt Disney World, and I’ve never been there, so I’m going to focus more on Disneyland’s Hidden Mickeys. Since they’re written and organized the same way, it will not make a difference.

Now, I haven’t had a chance to get down to Disneyland yet, so Part 1 of this review will focus on the book itself. I’ve seen the Hidden Mickeys books in stores before, but I’ve always dismissed them as being filled with dry facts. What I didn’t know is that it’s actually a game of sorts, a scavenger hunt if you will. Read More

Forty bucks, huh?

As a reminder, and as a notice to everyone new: please do not sell the paper models. It’s illegal, it violates the attached license agreement, and it violates at least two points in an official Disney contract. You WILL be reported.

Paper models are to remain FREE (hence, no selling!), and the Disney Experience has sole distribution rights (you can’t get them anywhere else). Selling on eBay takes advantage of those who don’t know they’re free. In this particular eBay listing, the seller has gone a step further and posted copyrighted photos from my Flickr account. Even the website name & logo and the copyright notice with my name are on the images. Don’t do that, either.

Thanks go to those who keep an eye out for such things and report them to me. If you do see a violation on any website, contact me. Violators will deal with me before dealing with Disney legal, and they don’t play around!

This prolific period of Walt’s life started with the installation of a scale model railroad on the grounds of his new home, an event that spurred him to develop Disneyland. Walt also created pioneering weekly television shows, and the studio continued creating both animated and live-action films, including the Academy Award™-winning Mary Poppins. Walt was also involved in developing new technologies for installations for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair. In the 1950s he announced his ideas for EPCOT, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

In a 15 year period, Walt created the templates for family television entertainment and outdoor family recreation while also infusing the promise of space exploration and urban planning with a sense of wonder and awe. From the Lilly Belle, the scale-model locomotive that Walt helped build and install on a half-mile track around his home, to the visionary plans for EPCOT, the exhibits in this gallery present a vivid look at the landscape of Walt’s imagination and achievements during the last 15 years of his life.

This post is a bit late because I never received the press release email. I’m one of the first on the mailing list, so how I got skipped over is beyond anyone. It happens; programs are not perfect.

Walt—who had a love of nature since his youth in Marceline—also ventured into live-action documentaries during the ‘40s and early ‘50s. The first of these was a nature documentary, Seal Island, a 27-minute account of the seasonal habits of seals that won the 1949 Academy Award™ for best two-reel documentary. Later documentaries in the series, “TrueLife Adventures” continued to focus on nature, while “People and Places” highlighted peoples and destinations around the world.

Exhibits in the gallery include some of the specialized equipment used in the production of the “True-Life Adventures” series.

What? I didn’t lie in my last post. The Disney Experience is gone! Well . . . until November.

Since I’ve been feverishly working on Halloween-related items, I am now into Halloween mode. The stores will soon carry costumes, candy, and sport spooky decor that I love so much. And, what better way to enhance the haunting season than by bringing out the Haunted Experience early.

Okay, now you can leave comments. How many of you panicked?