September 4, 2010
I think there's an inverse relationship between saving money at Disney and enjoying the magic of Disney. You can take the urge to save too far. I've heard of folks who forbid their children from buying any souvenirs at Disney but instead dole out trinkets during the trip that they bought back home at Wal-Mart.
Then you have people like me who fork over twenty bucks for a ridiculous plastic mister.
To stake the middle ground, check out Dave Shute's series, "The Tightwad's Guide to Walt Disney World", on his efficiently named site, YourFirstVisit.
Dave has tips for saving money on travel, lodging, food, and more. Old hands won't find much new here, but I like how Dave organizes his material and how he seems to have left nothing out.
For example, he presents five options for buying food on-the-cheap even when it's not available on-the-cheap at your Disney resort. I wonder, though, at his suggestion to bring a suitcase full of food with you (since you can buy it much more cheaply at home) and then fill the suitcase with Disney souvenirs for the trip back (thus spending, and then some, the money you saved on food).
A real tightwad would borrow the suitcase from a friend, fill it with clearance and distressed food products, and then sell the suitcase on the curb while waiting for the Magical Express. Not sure what to tell the friend back home, though.
The rest of Dave's site is also quite good, especially for those on their first visit (duh!) to Disney.
MORE: Your First Visit (David Shute)
Since I just gave hullabaloo to my Disney Daddy, it's only fair I also give hullabaloo to my Disney Mom - all three of them.
The three Moms in question - Lisa, Marcy, and Suz - run a brand-new site called 3DLandMoms. Their plan, from what I can tell, is for each of them to produce (and star in) short, helpful videos about Disneyland from their unique perspectives. Each Mom maintains her own blog elsewhere, and it'll be interesting to see how their styles mesh in the melting pot of 3DLandMoms.
The site is sparse now, consisting solely of their first set of videos (top 5 lists), a biography for each Mom, and lots of Mom photos, including a shot of "Marcy and Suz on the floor at D23".
(Gosh, it's not what you think!)
It's always cool to find new Disney blogs a-bornin' - and based on the quality of the initial vidoes, this blog looks like it'll be growing up fast and growing up right.
PS. By the way, no offense meant in the title of this hullabaloo to the first and second Moms, both of whom I'm sure have charm equal to the third Mom.
MORE: 3 Disneyland Moms (Lisa, Marcy, Suz)
Well, I guess it's Chuck Lionberger, who makes it clear in the title of his blog, DisneyDaddy, that he is your Disney daddy, whether you like it or not.
Last Tuesday Chuck (it's a bit premature and a lot creepy for me to call him Dad) had tips for riding Space Mountain that would perhaps interest even professional wrestler Ric Flair, famous for his Space Mountain catch-phrase. For example, if you're riding with a nervous child, Chuck suggests seating that child in the middle of the space vehicle's three seats so that an adult sitting in the rear can keep a hand on the child's shoulder.
(I appreciate all the strangers who have sat behind me with their hands on my shoulder.)
In addition to his Space Mountain tips, Chuck runs frequent polls. His last poll invited readers to vote for their favorite Club Cool beverage. The results put the disgusting Beverly brand in third place, which makes me question who's reading this blog and voting in the polls.
All kidding aside, Chuck runs an active, quality blog with helpful tips (every Tuesday!), topical news, and interesting commentary enlivened by Chuck's trenchant wit. Thanks, Dad.
MORE: Disney Daddy (Chuck Lionberger)
DisneyFilmProject has an interesting premise: its creator, Ryan Kilpatrick, plans to watch and review every Disney film ever made, including the shorts, in chronological order. He just hit Bambi (chronologically, I mean, not with his car).
When you watch Bambi, it seems that the animators drew each frame effortlessly, and that Walt's vision for the movie was simple, pure, and firm. Think again.
Ryan reveals that Bambi was a struggle from start to finish. Walt was so concerned over a 'realistic portrayal' of the animals that he brought live deer into the studio and kept them in pens near the animators (a refreshing change from keeping the animators themselves in pens).
The animators (and Walt himself) struggled with how much realism the audience would accept and how much cute, folksy humor they would expect. The book upon which Bambi was based took a grim view of nature; the typical Disney audience, however, wanted to see animals rolling in fields of wildflowers, not scrabbling the frozen ground for seeds. How the animators resolved this conflict makes for fascinating history.
Much of Ryan's information is drawn from the book, Walt Disney's Bambi, by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, currently out-of-stock on Amazon but available from numerous marketplace sellers.
(Ryan has a review of the book on his site.)
MORE: Disney Film Project (Ryan Kilpatrick)
It's Saturday morning. On Saturday morning, the notion of rise and shine is noxious. The alarm clock is a screeching harpy. How to wake up chirping? Maybe music. Disney music! I've found lots for you.
The cleverly named site, SoundOfMagic, has enough Disney music to wake the dead, especially if they're after-living in the Haunted Mansion: a substantial portion of the site is devoted to a compilation of virtually every sound ever heard in the Haunted Mansion, including the soundtrack for the entire ride. I even found a short blooper reel of Paul Frees, the Mansion narrator, "tripping over his tongue", as the site owner puts it.
The site features music from every land in the Magic Kingdom, and from Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Disneyland Paris - no Animal Kingdom, unfortunately. I even found Vera Lynn's classic We'll Meet Again from his Tower of Terror section. How cool is that!
Some of my other favorites are the extended instrumentals from Epcot's Spaceship Earth. You hear snippets during the ride, but SoundOfMagic has them in their beautiful, soothing entirety.
The quality of all the music is phenomenal. You won't hear ambient crowd noise, amateurish pop 'n hiss, or anything but what Disney intended you to hear.
No soundtrack lasts forever, and I guess no site of soundtracks lasts forever, either. The site owner hasn't updated SoundOfMagic since September 2007. It's like a note held for a very long time.
But that doesn't matter. The music hasn't gotten old. Sample some for a ringtone or a computer chime or a wake-up symphony. I bet I could wake up chirping even on Monday morning with Vera Lynn in my ear.
MORE: Sound of Magic (Michael Balgavy)
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