EPCOT Center and Walt Disney World Coloring Books

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Dis-LEE

Guest Contributor: Nick Maglio

Yes. Coloring books. I just found these in the garage last week. I’m not sure why, when or where I bought these, but it was likely in the early 1990s, when I was buying anything reasonably priced that reminded me of Disney World.

And I love the covers. Especially this one featuring Figment and Dreamfinder. While I don’t know what year this is from for sure, it was likely before 1994, when Epcot Center became Epcot ’94.

 

  

Another great cover.

In 1998, the Mile Long Bar closed, and became part of Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.



  

I wonder if I have any crayons laying around somewhere…

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Beautiful Disneyland Postcards featuring Attractions

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Dis-LEE

Guest Contributor: Nick Maglio

I picked these 3 Disneyland postcards up from one vendor recently. Usually I wouldn’t buy postcards without someone’s vacation writings, but the man offered 3 postcards for $2, so I went for it. Plus they were in beautiful condition.

The first 2 are from between 1956 and 1966.

“Guests entering the Magic Kingdom are greeted  by a floral Mickey Mouse and the Santa Fe and Disneyland Depot where a scaled down model of a passenger train of another era puffs out of the station to take them on a scenic tour of Disneyland.”
Each postcard has a logo, representing the land it’s from. This one is for Main Street, USA.
The Jungle Cruise is never actually mentioned by name on this next postcard!
“Elephant Bathing Pool“
“Far from civilization, in the remote jungles of Asia, an explorer’s boat cruises past Indian elephants at play in their sacred bathing pool-one of the many thrills that await jungle travelers in the wonder world of Adventureland.
This last piece is a postcard/booklet from 1967. Adventure thru Inner Space: Presented by Monsanto opened in 1967 as part of the new Tomorrowland, and closed in 1985.

The cover of the booklet is the postcard.

“A view of Monsanto Company’s attraction “Adventure Thru Inner Space” in Disneyland. Located in the newly expanded Tomorrowland, the futuristic building houses a ride through the inner space of a snowflake, in a vehicle called an “Atomobile”. The rider feels the unusual illusion of shrinking to the size of the atom.”
The first half of the book is a look at the ride.
The second half is a look at the products of Monsanto and some of “its many costumers.”
Facts about Monsanto.
The back cover.
I hope you’ve enjoyed your Adventure thru Disleelandia today.
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BOOK REVIEW: Poster Art of the Disney Parks

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Dis-LEE
Authors: Daniel Handke and Vanessa Hunt

ISBN: 1423124111

On Sale: 09/11/2012

Price: $40.00 US / $44.00 CAN
Ages: All

Imprint: Disney Editions

Description: Anyone who has ever walked through the gates at a Disney Park knows that there is a magical experience waiting to be had on the other side. Poster Art of the Disney Parks is a tribute to the colorful attraction posters depicting all the wonderful rides and shows created for Guests by the Imagineers.
Review: This is a beautifully illustrated 146-page large format book with high gloss paper. The images of attraction posters are clear and bright. A feast for the eyes, to be sure!
After the introduction by Tony Baxter, there are 9 chapters: Here You Leave Today…, Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, New Orleans Square and Liberty Square, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Disney California Adventure. The book ends with some acknowledgements and an Index by Artist.
What I like about how the chapters are broken down is that each covers the best of the poster art from all Parks around the world. This isn’t just a North American peek at the posters, but truly an International look.
So just what will you find inside the pages of Poster Art of the Disney Parks? Tony Baxter, in his introduction, says: “Many of the reproductions presented in this book qualify as great illustrations, while others define the word ‘poster’…” I couldn’t agree more!
Walt Disney intended the entrance to Disneyland to be like the lobby of a theatre, and so we understand why he lined the walls with attraction posters. They were meant to whet the appetite of the attendee for what was to come.
Each chapter has a few pages of text to explain something about the area of the Park represented, and some stories about the posters therein. This part of the book is valuable for Disney fans everywhere! Another feature of the book that I appreciated was the pages and pages of proposed attraction posters that never made it to the silk-screening process. We get a nice look at the rough layouts.
I’ll conclude my review with some fun facts:
  • Disneyland used silk-screening to render each poster, but Walt Disney World favored a 4-color lithography process.
  • An average poster could have 60 colors, take a month to complete, and cost over $30,000 just in the labor alone!
  • The poster program ended in the 1990’s but started up again in 2001 for the Tokyo DisneySea Park, thanks to the digital age.
Those are just a few of the fascinating facts you’ll learn in this book.
I’d give this one 5 out of 5 stars, which I hardly ever do! Normally, there is always something that the publisher could improve on, or something else that could have been included. But honestly, I can’t think of one thing that could have made this book any better!

 

I’d like to thank Disney Publishing Worldwide for sending me this preview copy.
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Trip Report: The Daily Loot – Days 5 and 6

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Trip Report: Walt Disney World

by

Guest Blogger: Gaylin

Day 5 loot

It seemed like a good day to head over to the Animal Kingdom as it’s usually a good shopping day for me. Today was a two-purchase day; One ornament is another present for a friend and the other ornament is actually an antenna topper. More Christmas product was added in the stores overnight and more decorations were added to the Park and the Resort.

Day 6 Loot

Wow, I am really NOT doing a good job on spending money! This package of Disney Princess tattoos will get split between two friends with kids and the notepad is for me which has a magnet strip on the back to attach it to the fridge.

Today was Magic Kingdom in the morning, a nap in the afternoon and the evening at Epcot. The crowd levels had dropped quite a bit overnight, I guess everyone had to get their kids back to school.

Be sure to read the entire series by clicking the links below:

The Daily Loot – Days One and Two

The Daily Loot – Days Three and Four

The Daily Loot – Days Five and Six

Posted in Collectibles, Merchandise, Trip Report, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vinylmation Classic Collection

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Contributor: Nick Maglio

I long for the days when Disney would release Vinylmation Series I have no interest in at all! But They keep coming out with wave after wave of character Vinyls that I can’t resist! This is without a doubt the set I want the most figures from since I fell for Vinylmation. The Classic Collection features black and white figures from the earliest days of some of our favorite Disney characters, as well as other underutilized cast members, and a couple that I really am not familiar with.

The box

The only figures I have no interest in are the pig and the goat. The chaser is none other than Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!

 I bought 4 to start with, and here’s who I got: Clara Cluck’s first appearance was the 1934 Mickey Mouse short, “Orphan’s Benefit”.

She comes with a removable hat. In fact, please note, the hats for the figures come in a separate little bag.

 The series is by Disney artist Eric Caszatt

Horace Horsecollar made his debut way back in the 1929 short, “The Plowboy”, where he played Mickey’s horse.

I mentioned that the hats come in separate bags above for a very good reason. I didn’t notice Horace came with a tiny hat…and threw it out! I could not find it anywhere! If I get another, I will use this one as a trader.

Clarabelle Cow goes all the way back to the Mickey Mouse cartoon  “Plane Crazy” in 1928.

Clarabelle doesn’t come with a hat, but does have a 3D tail.

Last but not least, we have Dippy Dawg.

Who, you may ask, is Dippy Dawg? Dippy Dawg was the name that animators gave to a new character who first appeared in “Mickey’s Revue” in 1932 . He would go through several changes, and wouldn’t get his true name, Goofy, until “Orphan’s Benefit” in 1934.

His very awesome detachable hat!

I plan on getting more of this series!

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Trip Report: The Daily Loot – Days 3 and 4

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Trip Report: Walt Disney World

by

Guest Blogger: Gaylin

Day 3 loot

The next morning (Sunday) I decided to head back to Downtown Disney first-thing to see the rest of the booths before the crowds built up. Again it was a great morning. If you are a collector of Disney music, I highly recommend this ‘Classically Disney’ CD; since I have been home I have listened to it quite a bit, I even loaded it on my computer at work. The little snowman Disney pin in this photo was a trade, and then I decided I didn’t really like it and it went back in my pocket to be traded again. I always pick up a scarf (as mentioned before) when I go to Disney. There was quite a selection of scarves this year, unfortunately they were very thin and the cost had gone up. I finally found this black/grey one; it has some weight to it and is a nice addition to my collection. The bowl is a present for a friend’s little boy.

Again, I went back to the resort, put the loot away in the loot drawer – hey, doesn’t everyone set aside one drawer for treasure! Then I had a nap and went over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. I didn’t do any shopping but I did have a great time. I had one of the best Jungle Cruise captains ever.

Day 4 loot

Okay, this is the first blurry one, obviously not a big shopping day.

A hair band and some barrettes. I spent the daytime at Epcot. As it was the last day of the Food and Wine Festival, it was necessary that I go to the Ireland kiosk for flourless chocolate lava cake with Bailey’s ganache! Best dessert ever. It was over 30C (86F), the crowds were heavy (Veteran’s Day holiday). I was glad to be on my own so I could slip through the crowds with ease. I decided to see if the crowds were smaller elsewhere, so I caught a boat to Hollywood Studios to see the light-up of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. This is something not to be missed, I admit I teared up; it is overwhelming in the best possible way. I will blame the long, tiring day for the blurry photo!

Be sure to read the entire series by clicking the links below:

The Daily Loot – Days One and Two

The Daily Loot – Days Three and Four

The Daily Loot – Days Five and Six

Posted in Clothing, Collectibles, Jewellery, Merchandise, Music, Pins, Trip Report, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW – Disney Trivia from the Vault

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Dis-LEE
Author: Dave Smith
ISBN: 1423153707

On Sale: 06/26/2012
Price: $9.99 US / $10.99 CAN
Ages: 12 and up

Imprint: Disney Editions

Description: Beginning with the July 1983 issue of Disney Channel Magazine, Dave Smith began answering Disney trivia questions from viewers of the Disney Channel. “Ask Dave” questions have come from Disney enthusiasts the world over, and have covered topics ranging from Cinderella’s last name (Tremaine) to the number of triangles covering the surface of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth (11,324 facets comprising 954 triangles.) Over 1,100 questions have been fielded by Dave Smith, the now-retired Chief Archivist of The Walt Disney Company, and this book is a compendium of the most interesting and revealing of those queries.
Review: The book starts with a one-page introduction by Dave Smith himself. He talks about the early beginnings of his connection with our Disney questions as the Chief Archivist of the Walt Disney Archives. He drifted from one publication to another until finally resting on the Internet on the D23 Web site, we he can be found now.
But many books have come out of Dave’s congenial willingness to answer an unending stream of Disney questions! The latest of which is this one: Disney Trivia from the Vault.

After this brief introduction, Dave just dives right in with the first question, and doesn’t stop until the last page. There are no pictures in this book and no appendix, but the book is divided into 8 sections. I’ll list them for you, with one teaser for each:

Animated Features – Did Richard Chamberlain have anything to do with the Little Mermaid? Animated Shorts – Did Walt Disney ever draw Mickey Mouse for the screen? Disneyland – How many babies have been born at Disneyland? Live-Action Films – Were the Nannies in the street in Mary Poppins women or men? Publications – What year did Scrooge McDuck first appear in a Disney comic? Television – What was the movie in which Kurt Russell starred as a young rebel soldier? Walt Disney World – Pluto belonged to two other owners before Mickey. Who were they? Walt Disney – Is it true that ‘Disney’ is a changed version of Walt’s family’s original name?

I hope these 8 teasers have whet your appetite for this book!

I’d give this book a 3.5 stars out of 5 for the serious Disney fan, just because many of the facts given have been available before. But for casual or new Disney fans I would raise the score to a 4. The book is a treasure trove from the man who knows all, so should be on the bookshelf and in the hands of anyone who has ever asked a Disney question!
I’d like to thank Disney Publishing Worldwide for sending me this preview copy.
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Trip Report: The Daily Loot – Days 1 and 2

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Dis-LEE
Trip Report: Walt Disney World

by

Guest Blogger: Gaylin

Whenever I get home from a Disney vacation, I unpack all my souvenirs, presents, treats, etc and take a ‘loot’ photo. That way there is one photo for every vacation where I can see what I bought for others or myself and can know what year/trip any item came from.

This vacation I decided to do something different. Every evening when I got back to the hotel (Pop Century, room 6134), I took a photo of whatever I bought that day. I apologize that some of the photos in this series of Trip Reports are blurry, I was often very tired by the time I got back and just snapped a photo without checking the quality!

The first evening that I arrived, at 6:30 p.m. EST (having been awake since 3 a.m. PST) my main focus was food. So I dropped my bags in the room and caught a bus to Downtown Disney. After shoveling chicken and mashed potatoes and crème brulee in my mouth (Wolfgang Puck’s Express), I went to do some shopping. I quickly realized I was way too tired to deal with the Friday night crowds and bought one thing and went back to the resort to go to sleep.

Day 1 Loot

Dory!

The pin is to go with the Dory tattoo I got 3 weeks before I went on this trip.

Day 2 loot

The next day I went to the Festival of Masters art weekend at Downtown Disney and was overwhelmed with the amount of artist vendors booths (over 240) the sidewalk chalk artists, and the craft booths. It was a very impressive event. Also, Downtown Disney = shopping!

The colouring books are for a friend, I bought a 5 pack of mystery pins and these are the ones I traded and kept. The 2 small glass objects are art glass paperweights I bought from one of the many booths that were selling art glass. While I love art glass, there was a much better chance I would buy a couple of $5 paperweights instead of the $4000 chandelier. I didn’t think the chandelier would fit in my carry-on! The long chain on the table is a hand strung line of glass beads and mirrors to hang in a window to catch the light. The women in this booth were awesome and I had a great conversation with them as well as buying the chain. The box in the back contains a salt and pepper shaker set with the Nightmare characters on them for a friend.

The next thing I bought this day was:

A close up of the box

Isn’t this the cutest Tigger ever! It is from a new line of figurines by pop artist Romero Britto. Some of the figurines in this line were a bit weird looking to me but I love this Tigger. I haven’t taken it out of the box yet; I need to decide where his ‘home’ will be in my apartment. This figurine cost $22.00 with some up the bigger figs costing over $40.

I didn’t spend the whole day at Downtown Disney because the crowd level became huge, I was happy that I had gotten there first thing in the morning and had a chance to see a good percentage of what was there before the crowds built up. I took my loot back to the resort and then got on a bus to Epcot, where I spent the rest of the day enjoying the 3rd to last day of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. I had some treats but didn’t buy anything else.

Be sure to read the entire series by clicking the links below:

The Daily Loot – Days One and Two

The Daily Loot – Days Three and Four

The Daily Loot – Days Five and Six

Posted in Collectibles, Figurines, Merchandise, Trip Report, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

BOOK REVIEW – A Disney Sketchbook

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Dis-LEE
Author: Ken Shue
ISBN: 1423165691

On Sale: 10/09/2012
Price: $50.00 US / $55.00 CAN
Ages: 18-30 (Lee’s Notes: Or any Disney fan, of any age!)
Imprint: Disney Editions
Description: Imagine if one sketchbook had been passed down through the decades from one Disney animator to the next, with each one making a contribution before leaving it in the talented hands of another artist. That idea was the inspiration for A Disney Sketchbook. Films and shorts from throughout the history of the company are featured—beginning with Steamboat Willie and ending with Tangled—demonstrating the ingenuity and skill that have remained a constant at Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1928.
Review: So goes the official press release of this beautiful publication. Now I’m going to impartially gush about it for the rest of the post!
From the Foreword we learn that this book contains unprocessed, unlinked, unpainted, and un-rendered selections of Disney drawings. They come from the various stages of film development: Animation thumbnails, rough animation drawings, layout drawings, and other pieces used for story and visual development. And although the artists never thought of these drawings as stand-alone artwork, but only the means to tell a story, one can’t help but view them as one would a painting hanging in the finest art gallery!
These works have been organized in a rough chronological order, understanding that many of the films they represent overlapped in their production schedules.
So which artists are represented herein? A list: Ub Iwerks, Joe Grant, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg, Glen Keane, as well as many other Studio drawings and works by some unknown artists.
In the Introduction we find quotes from many Disney artists about how they approached their drawings. The text in this book is contained on only 4 pages, but what they contain is well worth the read.
On the Pages that follow, we find only bare drawings. No captions. No explanations. No credits. No… nothing. Just artwork. And I loved it! Part of the fun for any true Disney fan will be in trying to guess the film that the drawing is from. Actually, this is quite easy. But more challenging is trying to guess the Artist responsible! You’ll need to get your Disney Geek on to succeed in this!

Speaking of the pages, they are heavy card stock, much like a real sketchbook would be. It’s a real treat to turn these pages!

This is a great book to ‘read’ together as a family, with each age group getting something different out of it. I’d give this book 4.5 stars out of 5, only because some might prefer more text, however unnecessary it would be.
I’d like to thank Disney Publishing Worldwide for sending me this preview copy.
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Pixar’s WALL-E Piggy Bank

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Contributor: Nick Maglio

An unlikely hit, and one of my all time favorite movies was released by Pixar in 2008. The movie is Wall-E.

Wall-E is, at it’s heart, a movie about a blue collar worker, who carries a red lunchbox, and after a long day’s work just wants to come home to the woman he loves, enjoy his collections, and listen to a good show tune. Wall-E is essentially about me.

I have a few Wall-E items, and today I’d like to share this Disney Store exclusive bank.


This is a large bank, measuring 8″ high and 7″ wide

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Change slot on the back

The stopper is in the bottom

I wonder how much money Wall-E found in amongst all that junk?

Posted in Characters, Disney Store, Exclusive, Merchandise, Movies, Pixar | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment