Walt Disney Classics featuring Ludwig Von Drake

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Imagine you’re in school, or you’re back in school, and you go to your geography class for the first time, and standing at the head of the class is a duck. That is a pretty wild imagination you have!

But all things are possible in Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color!

This awesome figurines is from the Walt Disney Classics Collection

Titled Wonderful World of Color: Didactic Duck, this is from 2007, the production mark on the bottom is Captain Hook’s hook.

OK, maybe you’re wondering what ‘didactic’ means? The definition: In the manner of a teacher, particularly so as to treat someone in a patronizing way.

Hmm, Ludwig Von Drake – patronizing? Yeah, OK. I can’t argue with that!

Some of the “plussings” are metal glasses frames with acrylic lenses.

The globe is made of porcelain and actually spins

  

The globe stand is made of metal

Oh, gosh, look at the time, gotta run! You know how ducks can be if you’re late for their class! And if you want to practice your penmanship to impress the teacher, you may want to check out this chalk board officially sanctioned by Drake himself!

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Disneyland 1968 Park Map

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Dis-LEE

In today’s post, I’d like to share a very special item. It’s a 1968 park map which measures 45″ x 29 3/4″ and is beautifully rendered:

Walt Disney’s opening day dedication speech

Beautiful colors and details

The Disneyland hotel was connected to the park via Monorail

Great to see one of the most often overlooked characters, Humphrey the Bear, along with a bear buddy, prominently featured in the upper left hand corner.

Mickey’s center stage welcoming guests

The Tomorrowland  of today looks very different

I hope you’ve enjoyed this great piece of Theme Park merchandise!

Posted in Artwork, Attractions, Collectibles, Disneyland, Ephemera, Theme Parks | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Disneyland 1972-1973 Guide

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Everyone likes a good Guide Book! Today we have the Fall-Winter 1972-73 Disneyland Guide! The booklet is presented by INA Insurance, “The Insurance Company of North America”.

The cover is of The Country Bears:

Apparently, INA sponsored the “Carefree Corner”, Disneyland’s official information and registration center, located on Main Street, U.S.A.

An explanation of Ticket Books is up next, with a few pages of what tickets cover which attractions.

Then we have a map of each individual land and a list of all the shops, restaurants, and attractions.

Bear Country replaced the Indian Village in 1972, and was changed once again in 1988 to Critter Country.

In the center, an overall map of the park

For contents, we have Food and Refreshments:

Next we have Shops and Stores, which seems somewhat redundant to me:

Finally, the entertainment calendar
 
Back cover, with more information about INA:

So now if you invent time travel and go back to 1972 or 1973, you’ll know what’s going on at Disneyland! And obviously, if you intend to go back in time, you’ll visit The Happiest Place on Earth, right?

Oh, and you may need a ticket book, so check out this link for a 1972 Disneyland Ticket Book!

Posted in Books, Collectibles, Disneyland, Ephemera, Theme Parks | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Disneyland 1972 Ticket Book

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Ticket books were used from July 18, 1955, the official opening day to the public, when there was a Main Gate admission price and each ride or attraction cost between 10¢ and 35¢ in cash. Disney introduced lettered tickets in October 1955, because people felt they were being “nickeled and dimed”.

The “D” tickets were added in 1956, and the famous “E” ticket was introduced in June 1959 after the opening of the Matterhorn, Monorail, and Submarine attractions. Lettered tickets were phased out in the early 80’s in favor of the all-inclusive admission pricing we have today.

As with most ticket books you’ll find on the market, the “E” tickets for the premium attractions, are usually all gone. This is the case with this book too.

It’s interesting to see what value Disney deemed a ride to be, and to see the attractions that are no longer there.

Not many attractions were given the “B” status. The “A”s have also been used, but I can’t really imagine what is below “Swiss Family Tree House” for excitement.

A checklist for all the attractions!

I’m not sure what general admission was, but $5.95 for 15 Adventures seems pretty reasonable to me! Adjusting for inflation, that would be approximately $32 today.

For another great piece of ephemera from 1972 Disneyland, check out the post: Disneyland 1972-73 Fall/ Winter guide.

Posted in Attractions, Collectibles, Disneyland, Ephemera, Theme Parks | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Vintage WDW License Plates

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Nick Maglio is a frequent contributor to this blog, and he just found these license plates in his garage. He’s had them since the early to mid 90’s and has just found them again. And he’s going to share them with us!

The first 2 are from his first visit to Walt Disney World in 1992:

   20th Anniversary of WDW = 1991

     Epcot was still Epcot Center

These next two plates are from 1996. Nick was at the Magic Kingdom on October 1st, 1996, during its 25th Anniversary.

     Nick likes anniversaries!

This next one is from the “Company D” store, a shop for Disney Cast Members. I was a Disney Store Cast Member at that time.

     CMO stands for Cast Member Only

That concludes our post on license plates. Thanks for reading and… HONK if you love Disney!

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BOOK REVIEW: Discovering German with Walt Disney

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Blogger: Nick Maglio


My wife spotted this at “The World’s Largest Garage Sale” at the Allentown Fairgrounds in Allentown, Pennsylvania recently for $3. It was published in 1992 by Harrap.

It contains 1000 German words illustrated!


It takes classic Disney comic strip illustrations, isolates just one panel, and identifies specific things in each image in both German and English.


As a bonus, it includes the complete strip the highlighted image is taken from, and presents it in German and English as well.


This has to be one of the most fun ways to learn a language ever devised! Having the comic strips included is a bonus indeed, making it feel like you’re not laboring to learn at all. So if your life-long dream has been to learn German, why not pick up your very own copy?

If you like Book Reviews, please check out our review of a children’s book all about the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair.

So being as our review is over, it’s time to say: Auf Wiedersehen!

Posted in Books, Collectibles, Education, Ephemera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

BOOK REVIEW: A Visit to the New York World’s Fair

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Fans of all things Disney will no doubt know of the importance of the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair to Disney Theme Parks. It was at this fair, for which Disney created four shows, that the “Audio-Animatronics” and “People Mover” ride systems were designed and perfected.

So this children’s book is an interesting find. You may wonder if any of the Disney pavilions are included within its pages. Let’s have a look and see!

By Mary Pillsbury. Illustrated by Catherine Barnes

Published by Spertus Publishing Company in 1964

The book is filled with lovely illustrations but it doesn’t look like there are a lot of references to Disney right off.

But finally, as the pages are turned, a piece of Disney history is illustrated in this great book. Ford Motor Company presented “Ford’s Magic Skyway” (a WED, now Imagineering designed pavilion). It included an early prototype of what would become the People Mover ride system. The ride moved the audience through scenes featuring life-sized audio-animatronic Dinosaurs and cavemen.

Indeed, the book even refers to this as “a Walt Disney wonderland of Past, Present and Future“.

These same Dinos can still be seen today in Disneyland’s Railroad Primeval World diorama.

But wait, there’s more! Next came a look at “It’s a Small World”!

At the Pepsi Pavilion, “Pepsi Presents Walt Disney’s It’s a Small World – a Salute to UNICEF and the World’s Children” (whew!) was featured. I think we are all familiar with “It’s a Small World”, but if not, it features animated dolls representing the world’s children and animals, and a song by the Sherman Brothers which, if you’ve started to hum it, will be stuck in your head all day now.

Quote: “In each country they passed, thanks to Walt Disney, they saw animated figures of children dressed in picturesque costumes-and there were even the right animals for each country!”

And how much would you pay for this little “time machine”? It probably doesn’t matter as it is out of print and fairly rare to find, even on eBay or other Internet sites. But you got to preview right here!

See another unusual Book Review by clicking here. Teaser: Did you know Disney taught German?

Posted in Attractions, Books, Collectibles, Ephemera, Reviews, Theme Parks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

D23 Member Exclusive – Patch and Pin

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Dis-LEE

I recently found these items in a drawer while searching for something else. The first item is a Charter Member gift, but I don’t recall at what point I got it. Was it when I first joined or later?


I do know when I received the next item, however. It came with the Fall 2010 issue of D23 Magazine, which featured a wonderful article that I was just compelled to re-read, entitled “A World of Tomorrow: Inside Walt’s Last Dream”.

There are nine patches representing Epcot symbols, and they were randomly distributed to members.

The one I received represents the symbol of The Land Pavilion.


The back tells the stories of the symbols:


While I’m not a patch person, I can’t bring myself to sell this, as it represents one of my favorite pavilions, in my favorite Disney park, Epcot: Walt’s last dream.

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Mickey Mouse Posable Vinyl Doll by Schylling

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Dis-LEE
Guest Blogger: GAYLIN
It is a good thing people occasionally buy me presents because I don’t shop much and sometimes Mickeys arrive all nicely wrapped for me!
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These two toys are replicas and are quite lovely. I don’t have them on display at the moment since my dusting skills are rather lacking and neither of these is cleanable. The toy company name is Schylling and the boxes have both Disney and Schylling’s name on them. Both are from the Retro Disney Collection and while they are distributed from Massachusetts, they are made in China.
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They came in these great boxes:
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Doesn’t everyone need a Flex-E Fun Mickey!
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I didn’t think when I took this next photo but it sort of looks like Mickey is in a coffin:
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I do like how safely these are tucked away and as long as no silly children play with them, they shall stay safe forever! I am not sure why the Flex-E Fun toy has yellow hands, maybe because his feet are wooden.
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Look, they escaped the boxes! The wooden Flex-E Fun doll has a wooden body, hands and feet. The ears are felt and the arms are cotton-braided cord over flexible wire. His tail is just cotton cord. The vinyl doll is all vinyl (duh) except for his shorts.
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I love the hole cut in the shorts of the vinyl doll for the tail to stick out of.
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The profile on the Flex-E Fun doll is a bit odd, not the Mickey we know now but not really the original Mickey either.
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Both dolls have Disney and Schylling on the feet.
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Look our arms move, yahoo!!! And one of us can almost kick up our feet . . .
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I hope you like my rather original Mickey toys. I have yet to see them anywhere else but as they do seem mass-produced, I bet a lot of other people do have them.
Posted in Collectibles, Figurines | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wall-E at Work from The Disney Store

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Dis-LEE

This action figure of Wall-E comes from The Disney Store:

Included is a compacted hunk of trash. Which is fitting, because Wall-E is, after all, a Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class.

 

He stands about 4 inches high, with his neck extended. The coloring on this piece of merchandise is darker than most Wall-E models, which tend towards a more yellow shade than the rust hue used here.


Instead of moving along on his treads, this little guy rolls along on wheels:


At the end of a hard days work, Wall-E likes to relax, and enjoy the weather:


If it’s a nice day, I’m sure we all enjoy getting outside to soak up some sun. Wall-E certainly seems to get a charge out of it!

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