August 24, 2010
Yesterday, TheDisneyChick wrote a follow-up to an earlier article about the various miscreants and misanthropes one is bound to encounter at Disney World (or any theme park or, really, any public place). In her current article, she identifies more such misfits.
Reigning rudely in this pantheon of pukes, according to the Disney Chick, is the jerkface.
You've all met jerkfaces. They are the people who lack external sensors. They're unaware (or aware but indifferent) that their behavior embarrasses, infuriates, or disgusts the folks around them.
A jerkface, for instance, smokes in non-smoking areas, throws items at animals, or wears shorts meant for a person of far less girth. Acknowledging them encourages them. Fortunately, however, they tend to be loners, unlike another specimen identified by the Disney Chick, namely, the Neon Army, members of which move en masse through the park, often garbed in identical silly shirts, and convinced everyone else is there that day to help them celebrate their special occasion or class trip.
To the Disney Chick's pantheon, I would add a new deity: the stop-shorter. These people, most of the time, move briskly and reliably, but then, for reasons perhaps we mortals are not meant to know, they stop-short, becoming biological boulders in the previously smooth stream of guest traffic. A jerkface, at least, announces himself; a stop-shorter can strike anywhere, at any time.
PS. You might wonder if the subject of the previous headline, the 'ride wimp', is also part of this pantheon. Technicall, no: the 'ride wimp' is quite closely related to the 'reluctant rider', but unlike the wimp, the rider will actually board the ride, suffer through it, then spend the rest of the day in a passive-aggressive snit. The ride wimp, having not ridden the ride, usually has a better attitude.
TheDisneyChick has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 15 edition for Line Losers: Profiling the People in Line.
MORE: The Disney Chick
Admit it: you were (or are) a ride wimp. I'm a double-tense ride wimp, past and present, starting as a child afraid to climb aboard Snow White's Scary Adventures (I've conquered that particular fear) and continuing into my dotage with an illogical aversion to Tower of Terror.
Nancy Bobby, writing for Chip and Co., a snazzy, chronically updated site that covers every conceivable Disney topic, posted an article today about the rides that haunt like Heffalump the nightmares of most ride wimps.
I'm soothed, somewhat, to see that I'm not alone in my terror of the Tower. Nancy herself doesn't ride the Tower, nor does she ride Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I'm with her on that one, too.
Nancy mentions the typical thrill rides at each Disney park that give some people pause: Splash Mountain, Test Track, Expedition Everest, and more. I've ridden them all, and now I'm feeling pretty action-hero about it. Nancy discusses Epcot's Mission: SPACE in depth, perhaps because that ride generates the most press about its G-force perils and occasional barf bag landings. I've ridden the 'kiddie' version. Once. It didn't seem to spin and I barely felt A-force pressure, let alone the crushing G-force. I did press my button when instructed and the mission appeared to be successful.
You've heard of all the rides in Nancy's article and you've probably ridden most of them, but her ride wimp 'spin' makes it interesting even for those now curling their lips in disgust over my confessions.
PS. Does the name 'Nancy Bobby' ring a bell? It's probably because she just got hullabaloo a couple hours ago for an article about Disney dining that she published on her own site, The Affordable Mouse. But that doesn't make it Nancy Bobby Day.
MORE: Chip and Co. (Nancy Bobby)
Every so often, a friend, acquaintance, or complete stranger gets the ridiculous idea in their head to ask me questions about Disney, usually in the context of planning their first vacation.
Some of the questions are always about the dining plans.
For many people, Disney dining plans are not intuitive. The plans have subtle differences, numerous regulations, and infuriating 'gotchas' (such as being charged two table-service credits for a large in-room pizza delivery). It takes awhile before neophytes figure out what is or is not included with their plan, and whether it makes sense to buy one of them in the first place.
The Web has plenty of explanations about the dining plans. The current good place to start is "Disney Dining Plans 101" written yesterday by Nancy Bobby of the useful site, TheAffordableMouse. Nancy uses the fewest possible words, nicely formatted into chunky sections, to describe the absolute minimum you need to know about buying and using a Disney dining plan.
In future articles, Nancy plans to delve deeper into the different types of dining plan (quick service, basic, deluxe, etc.), and her site bristles with lots of other great advice for the budget-conscious.
MORE: The Affordable Mouse (Nancy Bobby)
I was never a big Disney pin collector. I've bought quite a few for my little boy, back when he was a little boy and not this strange teenager from Mars who has taken over my little boy's body, and I was given a lanyward full of them as one of the prizes for answering a bunch of questions correctly at the sadly defunct Who Wants to be a Millionnaire show at MGM (now Hollywood) Studios.
(I missed the one asking for David Bowie's real last name. Who would know such a thing?)
If you like Disney pins, or if you still have children unnoticed by the strange teenagers from Mars, then you'll want to add Marcio's DisneyPinOfTheDay site to your daily Disney digital commute. The pin today is Figment gazing longingly upward at a directional sign that points to Trade City, USA, a ticketed pin trading event ($115 per person) being held at Epcot from August 27-29.
Each day Marcio displays a new pin and its accompanying statistics, such as release date, edition size (how many pins were manufactured), retail price, and the all-important SKU.
As I've written here before, Marcio runs a network of Disney sites, including DisneyPictureOfTheDay and TodaysPastInDisneyHistory. And he does update them daily. How does he keep up?
I think he uses clones.
Marcio has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 14 edition for Disney World Picture of the Day - Every Day.
MORE: Disney Pin of the Day (Marcio)
8:58 AM
Disneyland, Disney World
The folks at Imagineering Disney have quite a bit of actual experience working as Disney artists, designers, and all-around creative types.
They also love Disney history and their gallery of Disney photos and concept art from yesteryear is a wonderful break from the present (and from reality). Most of the pictures feature Disneyland, but there's a substantial collection of Epcot photos, too. Click an image and you get a high-resolution shot that will fill your screen and short-circuit your senses.
ImagineeringDisney is not a blog for those who want the latest Disney discounts or the newest Disney trip report by the Clamerson Family. It's serious stuff for serious Disney fans. Recent articles, for example, have included a video demonstration of how to draw like an Imagineer and an analysis of why some Disney shows fail. I eat this stuff up like Old Forge pizza. If you've got the same appetite, you're going to love this blog.
But even if you don't, stop by to see the pretty vintage pictures.
(In the pretty vintage picture to your left, a giantess pulls chunks out of the pyramid in Epcot's Mexico Pavilion. Either that or it's an Imagineer working on a model.)
MORE: Imagineering Disney
7:28 AM
Disney Everywhere
Dean of the popular MyDisneyBlog wants you to sign a petition. It's not your typical petition, the kind a friend asks you to sign and you do it not because you care about the petition but because you don't want to lose your friend. No: this petition you'll want to sign.
Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself, and ahead of Dean, too.
Dean floated the idea of a Retro Disney channel on Twitter last Sunday night. The response, as if you couldn't guess, was overwhelmingly in favor. The channel might land on cable (though Dean is realistic about those odds), through a subscription service like Hulu, or as an app for the iPhone. Lots of possibilities.
For Disney to consider the idea, it must make good business sense, which in this case largely involves the number of people who would either watch such a channel or pay money to subscribe to it. If Disney sees thousands of names on a petition, they'll assume there are many thousands more prospective viewers unaware of the petition but still eager for the channel.
Dean is being smart. Before he floats a petition, he needs his infrastructure. He asks for volunteers to develop a webpage, write a press release, create graphics, and draft the petition itself. And, last but not least, he needs people to write articles about the project on their websites and blogs.
Ding! It's a phenomenal idea and I hope you get involved, too.
MORE: The Disney Blog (Dean)
Site News: Spread the Hullabaloo! Now It's Easy
I've been noticing a few retweets of the headlines here on Disney Dispatch. (Thank you!) To help that along, I've added a 'Share the Hullabaloo!' button at the end of each commentary. Roll over the button and a tiny menu pops up with choices for you to share the hullabaloo by e-mail, on Facebook, on Stumbleupon, and many others. Surely would appreciate you doing that every so often!
Yesterday, several of you tried to subscribe to the Disney Digest but forgot to include an e-mail address. If you subscribed and wonder why you haven't gotten anything - there's your explanation. I added some error code. Now, if you click the 'Sign Me Up' button without first entering an e-mail address, the script will curse you in three different languages and remind you to enter your address.
(Just kidding about the cursing. I was tempted, though.)
