Where In The World

Following up on last Saturday's Where In The World, let's review. We've had three suggestions on where these particular pieces of neon could be found. They were The Electric Umbrella, the Space Mountain Tunnel and Mission: Space. Now first, let me say, thank you to each person who has ventured a guess. Secondly, let me suggest that you look in another park.

While you're looking, let's consider another. This next offering is not only an installment of Where In The World, but also a glimpse at a new segment of work that I am working on. I call it "Disney as Art". But more on that later.

Now, consider this.

More to follow...

Another Year Older

It's odd, this year. Not that it has been a long standing tradition, but for the past two years, I have spent my birthday in Walt Disney World. In 2007 I was joined by my wife and other members of my family to celebrate turning,

As with any good trip to Disney, there was plenty of food to be had. We ate dinner at Le Chefs de France, The Yatchsman Steakhouse, Boma's, Mama Melrose's, and The Rose & Crown. My birthday dinner, at the steakhouse, was topped off with a Illuminations Fireworks Cruise.

Now, let Doc give you two tips. One, The Yatchsman Steakhouse is probably one of the top five restaurants on Disney property. Splurge. Have dinner there. Trust me on this. I recommend the rib-eye, medium rare. And two, you have not experienced Illuminations until you have seen it from the water. If you can have my friend from Passamaquoddy along for the ride to narrate the story, yes, there is a story to Reflections of Earth, all the better.

In 2008 I celebrated my birthday with friends in the Magic Kingdom. Among them, Ryan Wilson of the Main Street Gazette, Glenn Whelan of Passamaquoddy, and the godfather of Disney Geeks, Lou Mongello. There was no big deal made of the event, other than it was big deal to me to spend time in my one of my favorite places on Earth with some of my favorite people on Earth.

So, back to the premise of this post. It's odd this year. On the year that I could get into Walt Disney World on my birthday for free, I am not going. Whoa! It has taken a bit of getting used to that fact. And it will be tough missing my friends who will be gathering later in the month for the Studio 20 event. But, I suppose I'll get by. Because...

I'm Going To Vegas Baby!

For this year's anniversary of my entrance into the world (thank you mom), I will celebrating in Las Vegas with my daughter and her boyfriend. Now, as with any trip that involves me, there will be plenty of food. So far we have reservations at Canaletto in the Venetian, the Social House at Treasure Island, Joe's Seafood in the Forum Shops at Caesar's, and for my birthday dinner, we'll be enjoying the fountain show at the Bellagio from our table at the Eiffel Tower in Paris Las Vegas. Oh, we also plan on picking up a burger at BLT Burger at the Mirage, and I am sure we'll discover a few other places where we can enjoy some in-between meal snacks.

Oh, and I need to mention, that while we're there, we'll be seeing Cirque du Soleil "Love." This is the fireworks cruise for 2009! My daughter called me as she was leaving the show last year and said, "Dad, we have got to this." So, we are. And...Paul McCartney is at the Hard Rock Las Vegas our first night there. Yes, we are looking into tickets.

If you plan on being in Vegas, and see me walking down the street, taking pictures of all the lights, stop and say hello.

Okay, I won't look quite like that, but, you get the general idea.

More to follow...

Disney World After Dark: A Mountain

A long time ago when I was a child, I remember a story titled, "The Boy and The Moon." I don't remember much about the story, except that in it a little boy would set and cry at the moon, saying, "The moon, the moon, I want the moon." He would say this over and over, and would plead with his father to give him the moon. At the end of the story the father granted the child's wish and gave it to him and boy went and lived on the moon. The boy was so happy. But, of course, the father was sad. From then on the father would go out each night and look at the moon and visit with his son. Even though he was sad, he was happy too, because he knew that his son was happy.

That is the story as best as I can remember it. I have searched for a copy for years now. I knew it, not from a book, but from a 78 rpm record that played on our family console stereo. The record has long since dissappeared. Knowing that "Google is our friend" I have searched there. Nothing. I had hoped it may have been one of Aesop's Fables, but it is not. Not that I have found at any rate.

So, my search for the story continues.

This photo of the moon over Expedition Everest reminds me of this story and my memory of it. I hope it may inspire some memory from your childhood.

More to follow...

Where In The World

As you may, or may not recall, the last installment of Where In The World was rather difficult. In fact, I received a thank you note from the nice folks at Disney because of its level of difficulty. It seems their reservations office received a spike in their call volume due to people booking reservations for the sole purpose of finding the prior elusive location.

Okay, maybe not, but it could have happened.

Onward, let's try another something somewhere. My personal opinion, this one is not nearly as difficult as the last one.
Have fun and there will be,

More to follow...

Disney World After Dark: The Monorail

I believe that it has been written before that the parks at Walt Disney World have a different atmosphere once the sun goes down. The Imagineering Field Guide teaches us about the WDI disciplines in the Imagineering 101 portion of the book. In it we read, “Lighting Design puts all the hard work the rest of us have done on our shows and attractions into the best night. Lighting designers are also responsible for the specifying all of the themed lighting fixtures found in the parks. As our lighting designers are fond of telling us, ‘without lights, it’s radio!’” At night, the parks can take on an almost dreamlike quality.

Now, a little about the monorails.

There are currently 12 Mark VI monorails trains operating in Walt Disney World. They are distinguished by the color stripe that runs the length of the 203.5 foot train. The colors are black, blue, coral, gold, green, lime, orange, pink, purple, red, silver and yellow.

Did you know that if you alphabetize the colors of the trains, then take the first letter from each color, and place those letters in reverse alphabetical order, it spells absolutely nothing. I am just sayin’…

More to follow…

Editor's Note: I use this particular photograph as the wallpaper on my laptop.

Neighbors

Moving forward, The Disney Obsession will begin to explore other parts of Doc's World. No fear, there will be Disney, but from time to time I'll be writing about other things. As hard as it may be to comprehend, there are other things in life besides Disney. Not many come to mind right off hand, but I know there are some.

Now, that was not true, several things come to mind. But in particular, today I want to share about a new neighbor that is moving in. I was working in the back yard yesterday, trimming shrubs, pulling weeds, and dreaming of my own personal "Storybookland" in a corner of the yard. I can't manage the canal boats mind you, but I do think I could manage a miniature vignette. So, I dream about that while I work in the yard. Belle's village perhaps.

So anyway, I was working in the yard and thinking all that needs to be done over the next few weeks. Mrs. Doc and I will plant some flowers in containers scattered about and we're considering a small recession garden in area once occupied by a framed awning. The awning is no longer but the frame remains and we have a climbing rose bush trained up one of the four legs. I was working on this today and looking up, noticed a birds nest constructed between the leg and the house. I stepped back and stood still for a while to give the bird a chance to return. In about 5 minutes, along came a robin. Soon, it will be plural.

Meet our new neighbor!

P.s. I noticed that things have finally begun to thaw in Passamaquoddy.

Moving On...

I feel that before concluding something, all loose ends must be tied up. With that in mind, I need to revisit a Where In The World photograph that was posted back on first on December 6th and then again on January 17th. You may recall what I am referring to. It was:

The closest we came to an answer on this was on January 18th when my brother Doc Terminus (we were separated at birth) said, "yeah.. a stumpy one... Looks like a train signal or boat thingiemajiggy..." Well, it is a boat thingiemajiggy. If fact, you would see it if you were boarding one of these.

Now, that it concluded. Thanks for playing.

And speaking of conclusions. This period of long waits between posts is now concluded. That is not to say that I'll have something of any real interest posted every week; no, there may still be some gaps for things like vacations, the occasional trip, and the really important things such as periods of occasional laziness. Yes, it happens. Shocking, I know. But, I am going to renew my efforts, even if that effort only consists of photograph.

So, thanks for sticking with me and look forward to something in the next few days for there will certainly be...

More to follow...