Disneyland Resort's "Storyteller's Cafe" Button with Chip and Dale

This is a button from the Storyteller's Cafe at Disney's Grand Californian Resort and Spa. As you can see, the button features Walt Disney's Chip and Dale dancing in the woods. Of course, the Storyteller's Cafe logo is on the button.

"America the Beautiful" Circle Vision 360 Music

The musical soundtrack to the film, "America the Beautiful", the Circle Vision 360 film that used to be at Disneyland from the late sixties til the early eighties, can be found on this fantastic album from Disney: "A Musical History of Disneyland". This music, typical of music in any Disney venture, really can set some atmosphere. I'm listening to this music as I type this now! The music is from regions all over the United States. If you've seen this movie a zillion times, like I did when I was a teenager, you can't help but have visions of what's going on as you listen to it. This particular track in the set is almost 18 minutes long! This music set is one of the best that I have in my fantastic, magical collection of Disneyana!

The Disney Store Challenge 1994 Exclusive Watch

This is a rare, exclusive and very nice watch that I received when I was working at The Disney Store in the Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills Mall in Los Angeles back in 1994. All of the Cast Members at our store won the watch because our team made 424% of the goal set by the Company for sales of the video, "The Return of Jafar", which was the direct-to-video sequel to Disney's "Aladdin" animated feature. We worked very hard at our store to promote this video by simply spreading awareness. With some creativity and ingenuity (and the free poster that you got when you purchased the video, along with the $5 gift certificate), we created excitement for our store guests. All the while, our excellent Store Managers (including Ted, Maricela, David and Stephanie) set our goal high from the start, and made us believe that we could do it! We finished Number 1 in the Disney Store 1994 Challenge for "The Return of Jafar"! The fruits of our labor: this watch, featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, all in a 50's cool convertible car. Wow! In addition, each Cast Member also got an excellent jacket with this same design (to be seen on this blog at a later date) and a party at the now-defunct Ed Debevick's diner in Beverly Hills! Our Store, Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills #471, got a plaque saying that we were #1! Those were the good 'ole days at The Disney Store!

If you would like to purchase this extremely rare Disney watch, I am willing to part with it for $700 plus shipping.

D23 Pin "Up All Night"

This is the pin that was given to D23 guests at their special screening of the Disney/Pixar movie "Up" at the El Capitain Theater in Hollywood, California. The screening was held on the eve of the film's national release. The film was shown in 3-D, and all guests were able to get a free popcorn and a free drink. This was a fun night, and this pin commemorates it! The film was great. This event was the first official event for members of D23. In addition to the pin, all the guests who attended also received a balloon upon their exit. It was a colorful bunch of people crossing the street with their balloons after the film was over!

D23 Disney Archives Tour Sold Out In Less Than 2 Minutes

I am a member of D23, the Official Community of Disney Fans. I just tried to register for the tour of the Disney Studio and the Archives, and I was unable to make a reservation (I was able to get on the waiting list, though). I swear, in less than 2 minutes, the waiting list filled up for both dates that they had available! Unbelieveable! I hope that I can get in for one of the two dates on the wait list....They should have more than just those 2 dates!

Carnation Cafe Photos

These are photos from the "Carnation Cafe" at Disneyland. I like to eat at Carnation Cafe, especially for breakfast. It's outdoors, it's old-fashioned, and it's the perfect place to have breakfast at Disneyland (their lunch is pretty good, too). As a matter of fact, I think that it's the only place inside Disneyland Park that has a breakfast menu. Carnation used to be a big Ice Cream company with sponsorship at Disneyland. Today you don't see any Carnation products anywhere- but Disneyland still uses the name for this cafe. The red and white colors used in the cafe were the signature colors for the old ice cream company.

GAF Talking View Master Reels of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins

This is a set of GAF Talking View Master Reels for Walt Disney's classic feature film, "Mary Poppins". This was a Christmas present that Santa Claus brought to our home around 1972. Mary Poppins is my favorite Disney movie (and my favorite movie of all movies, for that matter). I don't really remember looking at these particular reels very much, but I'd probably enjoy them more now (I'm thinking about buying myself a Talking View Master).

Michael Jackson's Pinocchio Display Created by Walt Disney World Display

This is a display of a scene from "Pinocchio", created by Walt Disney World Display for Michael Jackson. This unique work of art, which is owned by pop singer Michael Jackson, was on display at the Julien's Auctions display of Michael Jackson's things from Neverland Ranch. I had heard about this display, and I'm glad that I got to see it last week. In this scene, like in Walt Disney's classic animated feature, "Pinocchio", the Blue Fairy comes and grants Gepetto's wish. She says, "Little puppet made of pine, wake! The gift of life is thine!", and all of a sudden, there's a bunch of sparkling lights around Pinocchio, and he starts to move and blink. Jiminy Cricket then says, "And look! There's Michael! Gosh, what they can't do these days!", as a little puppet of Michael Jackson also comes to life (in the "Smooth Criminal" suit and hat) and moonwalks. This display comes complete with music, lights, great scenery, character voices-it's like the displays that you see in the windows at The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, only better. To start the show, you have to push this blue button on the controls. I'm so glad that Michael Jackson called the auction off, because I'd hate for him to lose his cool Disney stuff!

D23 Charter Year Membership Certificate

This is the D23 Charter Year Membership Certificate for the D23 Community of Dinsey fans, available at Disneyshopping.com. This club is the official Disney Fans club, and this beautiful certificate comes with your membership. You get inside Disney information and historical Disney information as part of your membership to this magical club. I also got a poster for signing up early with the club- (but I haven't opened the poster yet, so I don't know what it is- I will post it here after I get it framed!). This new D23 club is even sponsoring a convention at Disneyland Resort in September- check out www.disney.com/D23 for details.

Disneyland Golden Autographs Book

This is a Disneyland Golden Autographs Book, sold during Disneyland's golden anniversary. Books like these are sold at Disneyland so that children and children-at-heart can get the autographs of their favorite Disney characters while they're at Disneyland. I use this particular book to get the autographs of celebrities that I meet around town (I live in Los Angeles, and only recently started using this book for celebrity autographs). Notice that Disney's "Fab Five" are featured on the cover- Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto.

The Disney Store Challenge 1995 Jeans Jacket

This is a jeans jacket that all of the Cast Members at The Disney Store #471 in Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills Plaza won for its 1995 Challenge. We won this nice, very unique jacket featuring Disney's "Fab Five" because our store did extremely well in the "sales over goal" category (which the Company set for us). Our store was #9 of all Disney Stores in the Company in sales over goal for the movie, "The Lion King" on VHS home video. How did we do it? We REALLY encouraged everyone to buy the video, and we talked to everyone who would listen. We also did extremely well in other video sales challenges. You know what? That store (where I worked for 4 years) is closed now- an apparent victim of the economy- although, to be fair, down in the same mall, there's a large new space that's blocked off that says, "Coming Soon- The Disney Store".

Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store Napkin

This is a nice napkin from Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store, located in Hollywood, CA next door to the El Capitain Theater. I had a banana split there about a month ago, and it was delicious! They have sandwiches (like BLT) and lots of choices of ice cream. There are celebrity photos and autographs on the wall. They also sell tons of Disney merchandise! This was an extra napkin that I decided to take home because I liked it.

Walt Disney Company's Annual Report 2008

This is The Walt Disney Company's Annual Report for 2008. This is the first hard-copy of the Annual Report that I've had in a few years- Disney encourages people to receive this report online. However, it's a pretty cool book to have, so I made a special request to get the real book sent to me. I like the pictures.

Disney had a pretty good year in 2008 financially, despite the recession. This book highlights Disney's businesses, and has pictures of Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, and, of course, Disney characters at Disney's theme parks. Disney also owns ABC Television, ESPN, Pixar, and a few other businesses as well.

Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort

This is the outside of the front of Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida. This Resort is also home to another Resort, the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, which is a Disney Vacation Club Resort. Check in for both Resorts is at the main reception area of the Wilderness Lodge. This is my favorite Resort at Walt Disney World- it's so beautiful. The Villas are way better than staying at the Inn- the rooms are bigger, even in a Studio accommodation. It's such a woodsy feeling when you stay at this Resort. You can take the free buses that they have to any of the Disney theme parks, or you can use their boat service to go to the Magic Kingdom or to any of the other nearby Resort Hotels (Contemporary Resort or the Fort Wilderness Campground). Behind this Resort is a lake and a very cool pool area, which has waterfalls, whirlpools, and even an geyser -"Old Unfaithful".

Photograph of the Snow White Grotto at Disneyland

This is a photograph of the Snow White Grotto at Disneyland. The Grotto is located on the right side of the Sleeping Beauty Castle (if looking at the Sleeping Beauty Castle from Main Street). The statues were given to Walt Disney years ago as a gift, and he decided to put them in the park. There was one challenge- the dwarfs and Snow White were made the same size. When the statues were installed, they placed Snow White higher up, and used "forced perspective" to make it seem like she was higher up than she really is. You can also hear Snow White singing, "I'm Wishing" every few minutes (and you can hear her echo in the Wishing Well, which sits just across from the Grotto).