Just Renewed my D23 Membership

I just renewed my Membership to D23, Disney's Official Fan Club. Why am I a member of D23? Because it's a way to get the opportunity to participate in a few fun Disney-related things, and things that are official functions of the Walt Disney Company. I have been a member of D23 since day one of its launch!

I'm also a member of the Disneyana Fan Club (which was known as the National Fantasy Fan Club, until recently), which has been around since 1984 and was started by and is currently run by Disney fans. They have a big Convention in July every year, and they hold it just down the street from Disneyland. I'm going to their Convention this year, too!

This is the song, "Quack, Quack, Quack, Donald Duck", sung by Jimmie Dodd of the "Mickey Mouse Club". I like to listen to this song over and over, because it puts me in a good mood! Speaking of good moods, I went to Disneyland last night, which inspired me to post more from my collection and add them to this blog. I even bought something last night- I'll do a post on that soon!

A Window on Main Street

This is one of the windows on Main Street at Disneyland. I took this photo a while back. Notice Mickey, Donald and Goofy as Band Members standing on a Bandstand. The cool thing about Main Street at Disneyland and Walt Disney World is that they always change the displays in the windows, to keep it interesting.

Cinderella, The Prince, and Mice at Disneyland

This is Cinderella, The Prince, and a couple of Mice at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I took this photograph. They all seem to be plotting their next move. The photo was taken in The Plaza near Plaza Gardens.

Clarabelle Cow from Walt Disney Classic Collection

This is Clarabelle Cow in a scene from the Walt Disney classic short, "Symphony Hour" featuring Clarabelle Cow playing the violin. This was a great series put out by Walt Disney Classics Collection- one of their first big series. I got this piece from a huge Walt Disney Company employee sale over ten years ago- and she's still looking good! Other characters in the series are Pete, Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck. I don't have all the pieces- I had Mickey Mouse, but alas, I sold him a while back (to help pay some bills). Oh, well, you can't have everything, right? (or if you do, you need a huge place to STORE everything, and that's just crazy and expensive). I've learned to enjoy my Disney things by pulling some things out of the closet and displaying them for my guests (while putting other things back away or selling them).

"Food Rocks" from The Land at EPCOT

This is "Food Rocks" from The Land Pavillion at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World. In listening to the music of this attraction, you will see what kind of music was popular at the time this attraction was created. Ton Loc is "Fud Rapper", and you'll see a fish that definitely sounds and looks like Cher in her "Mermaids" movie days. I really like "Pita Gabriel". Is that really Little Richard's voice in this attraction? This attraction is now gone, but it was fun while it lasted.

The Haunted Mansion sculpture by Robert Olszewski

This is a sculpture of The Haunted Mansion by Robert Olszewski. I bought this at Disneyland a few years ago, and it is quite amazingly detailed. It also has a light treatment- flick a switch and you see what the Mansion looks like at night.

Disneyland's Haunted Mansion has a unique exterior look compared to the Haunted Mansions found at other Disney theme parks around the world (in Florida, Tokyo, Paris, etc.). This sculpture is a replica of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, which was the first Haunted Mansion built by Disney. The Haunted Mansion exterior building appeared at Disneyland first in 1963, and opened as an attraction in 1969.

During the winter holidays, Disneyland changes the exterior and show of The Haunted Mansion. Starting in November, the Mansion becomes "Haunted Mansion Holiday" and features the characters from Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas".

Robert Olszewski has a Disneyland Collection where he is in the process of sculpting every single attraction (and building) inside of Disneyland in Anaheim. He has an amazing collection, which can be seen at his website, www.olszewskistudios.com.

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, colorful certificate comes with your membership. You get inside Disney information and historical Disney information as part of your membership to this magical club. They've held several fun events that I've attended. It's good that they have so many activities for members- nobody could possibly attend all of them!

The Three Caballeros Walt Disney Classics Collection Figures

These are The Three Caballeros from the Walt Disney classic film by the same name (from 1945). Shown here are Jose Carioca, Donald Duck and Panchito. I wanted these figures ever since I knew of their existence, and I bought all three of them on Ebay a few years ago. They bring me joy!

Disneyland Working Cast Member 50th Anniversary Pin

This is the pin that Disneyland gave to working Cast Members on July 17, 2005, on Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. I got this pin, because I worked that day in the Cast Costuming Department! Working at Disneyland is fun, but it is work! I like the nice little appreciation perks that they give you as a Cast Member. I will work for either Disneyland or Walt Disney World again in the future!

The Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, by Walt Disney Classic Collection

This is a sculpture of the Magic Mirror from the Disney classic film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", produced by The Walt Disney Classic Collection. It's a cool mirror, with the slave's face in the mirror. This piece is incredibly detailed, with the signs of the zodiac all around the mirror (looking at this thing, it makes you go back and watch the movie to see if THAT mirror had all these things-and it did!)

Disneyland Guide- Fall-Winter 1972-73

This is one of the great Disneyland Guides that they used to give out at Disneyland when you paid for your Disneyland tickets. Inside was a guide to Disneyland, including a brief description of all of the rides and attractions and a layout of each land. The design of this guide remained pretty consistent through the years, until it was discontinued. This guide is for Fall-Winter 1972-73, and features the (then) brand-new County Bear Jamboree on the cover.

Disney One Day Passport

This is a one-day Disney Passport to any Disney theme park in America. It's a "Park Hopper" ticket that could be used at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort for all theme parks. I got this ticket for free at Disney's Shareholder Meeting back in the early '90's, and was one of the last times that Disney gave away passports to its shareholders who attended their annual meetings. (They argued that if you could buy a share for $30 and get a free ticket worth about $55, that it wasn't good business sense. I say that they were looking at this all wrong. If you are willing to travel all the way to Anaheim on a work day and miss work in order to attend a Disney Shareholder's meeting, the least that they could do is to give the shareholder/attendees some free tickets. I know this- if they were to have paid people for their time for their traveling to that meeting and for the time that they spent attending the meeting- it would amount to something. They certainly pay those directors a lot of money and stock options to attend the meetings). Anyway, isn't it a beautiful ticket? You can see the logos of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Epcot and The Disney-MGM Studios on this ticket. The cool thing about this ticket was that it did not expire until the date used.

Sorcerer Mickey Watch by Fantasma

I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite watches! It shows Mickey Mouse as Sorcerer Mickey. This watch gets really colorful in the sunlight, and Mickey appears. When there's no sunlight or when you hold the watch at an angle so that the light won't shine on it, you can see the actual face of the watch underneath the crystal, and you can see the time. This watch really gets attention when worn. I bought this watch at The Disney Store at the Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills Mall when the store was still there. Alas, the store is gone, but I still have my watch!

The Three Caballeros Pin

This is a Disneyland Cast Member pin that I got a few years back while working at the Park. It's the Three Caballeros: Jose Carioca, Panchito, and Donald Duck!