November 30, 2009
I know it’s been slow lately, but it seems like Halloween was only a couple of weeks ago, and I’m still getting over it. Then, Thanksgiving showed up, and now the holiday season is here. Where did all of the time go!?
To make things a tad bit more hectic, I’m having random computer crashes (it’s the dreaded Blue Screen of Death). Could it be the brand-new RAM that I recently installed? I don’t know; I’m not a computer guru.
But, despite the busy time, I did manage to finally finish the Sleeping Beauty Castle Holiday Pop-Up Card, which I’ve been trying to get approval from Disney for over a year. Whew! So, download it, and take your time with this delicate holiday project.
November 15, 2009
For many years, I’ve had a special thanks logo on the site. When I began my contract with Disney, I had to remove third-party advertising. When the contract ended, the logo came back. I’m speaking, of course, of the Disneyana.com logo. It used to sit at the foot of the website, but has found a new home in the sidebar (scroll down a little). I’ve probably mentioned Disneyana.com very briefly a couple of times in the past, but I thought I’d mention it again.
November 4, 2009
When I was last at Disneyland, I received a card good for $8 towards a child’s ticket to the Princess and the Frog. Since most child movie tickets cost less than $8, it translates into a free ticket. Everyone who purchased an in-park item ($10 minimum, I think), got one of these cards.
This thing has been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks while I think of someone to give it to. I thought of giving it to my Sister, but I don’t think there is a participating theater nearby. Then, today, I thought “why not give it away online?” The card isn’t needed, just the code on the reverse side, and it’s been quite a while since we’ve had any sort of contest. So, why not have a mini contest?
November 2, 2009
I just recieved an interesting email from David Occhino, designer of the Mansion 3.0 & Mansion Cryptbats fonts. He noticed that my death certificate is #1001. If you look in the lower-right corner of the certificate, you’ll see that it is numbered ’0-001-001′. It turns out that each certificate has its own unique number.
For the two folks who have lucky numbers 999 (0-000-999) and 1000 (0-001-000), David is offering a FREE copy of his Mansion 3.0 font! To get the free font set (I just bought mine last night), email David a copy of the PDF certificate. You can contact him through his website, David Occhino Design, and the file must be unaltered. No fakes!
November 2, 2009
Okay, if you’re not a Disney theme park fan, you probably don’t get the title of this post. It’s a joke about the attractions’ Spanish safety spiel telling guests to “remain seated please.” I’m listening to Windows to Sky’s rendition of the Haunted Mansion/Grim Grinning Ghosts as I write this, and that line is in the audio track. It’s funny because it starts off reciting the mansion’s Spanish spiel, jumps to “cinnamon toast and tacos are on the floor,” and finishes in Spanish again. Great stuff!
That brings me to some late great Haunted Mansion finds. During the Halloween week, I am typically focused on nothing other than Doorless Chambers and decorating the front porch. It’s not until later that I find (or re-discover) Internet goodies. This year, I found all-mansion items.
Ray Keim, over at Haunted Dimensions, has a last-minute mini New Orleans Haunted Mansion paper model. Mini versions of his other models are coming within the next year.
Keith LuBrant has a jazzed-up guitar version of Grim Grinning Ghosts. It’s a must-have mp3.
The Mousetalgia team discusses Hallowen Time at the Disneyland Resort and has an exclusive interview with Kat Cressida, the voice of the black widow bride. Listen to episode #52 now!
David Occhino has updated his Mansion font to version 3.0. It features 18 styles and 4 variants, giving a wide array of chilling visual features to the classic Haunted Mansion typeface! His free Mansion Cryptbats (introduced during his participation in the 2009 Doorless Chambers event) is also available.
David’s Mansion Cryptbats have been popular. Not only have they been used in the creation of Louie Mantia’s “Eerie Eyes” wallpaper, but they’ve been used in the creation of a unique death certificate for DoomBuggies.com. Fill out the simple form, and the website spits back a custom-made Haunted Mansion death certificate PDF.
November 1, 2009
Well, I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween! I know I had fun. With the end of this year’s Doorless Chambers event, the trick-or-treat page has been taken down. But, don’t worry; Jack Skeelington’s coffin sleigh and the other models have been added to the rest of the paper models.
Now that it’s all over, it’s time to take everything down and get back to our normal routine. The Haunted Experience will return to the Disney Experience either today or tomorrow.
"Your site is Amazing !! I love it, my whole computer is completely 'Disney-tized'. This by far is the best and only website I would go to for anything Disney for my computer. The icons and mouse cursors are my favorite. I've been following this website for years now and I'm soooo thrilled you have decided to release the icon and mouse cursor archives!! Thank you so much for all your hard work, you do an AMAZING job!!"
--Gina