Monday Topics: Looking Back at Disney – The Back Side

April 25, 2016 by Mike Ellis

W E E K F O U R

LOOKING BACK AT DISNEY

Our friends over at Love Our Crazy Life have asked some of their blogging friends (like me) to participate in a Blogging Challenge. So for four weeks in April, on every Monday morning, I will be covering a different Disney-related topic. You can click the link above to find all of the other participants and their entries. Enjoy!

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The Back Side

I struggled with this topic, so it was fortunate for me that it came last in the series! I thought of doing a comparison of Disney then and now, but that would take too much time. I thought of doing a pictorial of me in 1972 at Walt Disney World versus me in modern times. But I have too few images for such a post. So what to do?

Why not do the unexpected, or inexplicable? So welcome to my post that looks at the back side of Disney!

Back Side of Sleeping Beauty Castle (Disneyland model)

Disney Legend and Imagineer Herb Ryman designed Disneyland’s iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle. Now, the infamous story of how this castle got turned around may be apocryphal, or it may be true, but it certainly is entertaining. Herb says:

“One thing that he (Walt) insisted upon was that there be a very, very conspicuous castle, because the castle is going to be the symbol of this whole place. Fred Joerger had done a beautiful model of this castle. When I saw it I said, ‘I don’t like it.’ So I took a look at the castle model, grabbed a hold of the upper portion of the model, and turned it around so that the back of the upper portion now faced the front. ‘Dick said, ‘Now, Herbie, quit playing with it. Put it back. He said ‘Walt’s going to be here any minute, and Walt won’t like it. Turn it around. Put it back.’”

But time ran out and Walt saw the altered version. And loved it! So the whole thing was built around the wrong way. So when you visit Disneyland and take a picture of the front of the castle, your picture will turn out backwards!

Back Side of Water (Jungle Cruise)

I’m constantly amazed at how many times Disney is able to get us excited about simple and common things. Millions of us take pictures of trash cans just because they are color-coded to the Land they are in. Many of us enjoy a bus ride, even though we have to wait too long to get on one and they take forever to get anywhere!

And then there is the back side of water.

A simple gag line from a corny attraction has caused more cameras to click and more people to groan than any other naturally occurring substance in the World!

Back Side of Disney Cruise Ships (Disney Wonder)

Each of the ships in the Disney Cruise Line have a distinctive character tableau attached to the back. Historically, most sailing ships would stick a figure on the front, such as Pirate ships. But Disney just had to be different!

They are almost impossible to see from the ship themselves, so take your pictures before you board. I guess Disney just wants to give those ocean-going tailgaters something to look at!

Back Side of Disney Clothing (Mickey T-shirt)

OK, that’s just rude! But I’m sure Mickey is just being playful as he takes a backwards peek at us. There are many different designs in this theme, showing us the back of characters instead of just another view of the more familiar fronts.

But be careful: You may not know if you’re coming or going when wearing one of these!

And there you have my look back at the back side of Disney. I wonder who else would have thought of this angle for Looking Back at Disney?!

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My Top 5 Disneyland60 Moments from 2015

December 31, 2015 by Mike Ellis

My Top 5 Disneyland60 Moments from 2015

By Mike Ellis.

Hello everyone, and welcome to our Top 5 Disneyland60 Moments from 2015! I hope that 2015 has been a great year for you, and that 2016 is an even better year than this one! This has been a hard year for my family, as I wrote about in my post “When Life Invades Disney“, but I am going to be optimistic and tell you that I expect 2016 to be a much better year than this one! So today, I’m going to pull for you my top 5 moments from our trip to Disneyland for Disneyland60 this past July!

Moment #1: The Disneyland60 Photo

On the actual birthday of Disneyland, July 17th, we were able to be at the park! It was a big thrill for myself and Sophie; having Stephanie and Shane and their baby to be there also made it special. The only thing that I missed was not having Cindy there with us. That’s okay, though, the 50th birthday of the Magic Kingdom is in just a few years, I’ll make sure we are there for that one to celebrate in style!

Moment #2: Riding all the Attractions we did!

That morning, we arrived early enough that the park was just getting going, and were able to get in to Disneyland with not much fuss. I was, to be honest, a little surprised, because I remember how crazy packed the Magic Kingdom had been for the 40th Birthday just a few years earlier. So we arrived, and looked in the gift shops briefly on Main Street, but then we started riding attractions. We must have ridden 10 or 15 attractions — rides like the Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, and others — within the first couple of hours of being there — well before the 10AM presentation that they had to celebrate the park and the occasion. It was incredible how many rides we just walked right onto.

Moment #3: World of Color

We saw the World of Color the night before the anniversary — so, on July 16th. This was a special World of Color, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, Mickey Mouse, and even an appearance by Walt Disney. I had a Periscope session for this, as well as for Moment #4 and Moment #5.

Moment #4: Fantasmic

On July 18, we had reservations at the River Belle Terrace to enjoy dinner and get preferred seating for Fantasmic. The meal was incredible, but alas, the show was cancelled that night due to rain. However, on the 20th, Stephanie, Shane and myself went over to see the show on our own, and the video below is my Periscope video of the showing, which is why it isn’t 16×9. I hope you enjoy!

Moment #5: Disneyland Fireworks

Within minutes of the Fantasmic show ending, the Disneyland fireworks were being presented. Rather than try to get over by the Castle and possibly miss getting a good spot for the fireworks, we decided to stay where we were and watch them from that location. I think it was a good decision, and I have this video as well to share with you! Once again, it was recorded as my Periscope session, so that’s why it isn’t 16×9. Enjoy!

What special Disney moments will 2016 bring to our world? And what special Disney moments do you have from 2015 that you want to share with us? Hit us up, leave us a comment, shoot us an email, write on our Facebook Page, shoot us a tweet, or even give me a call! I’d love to hear about your favorite Disney moments from 2015! I hope that you all have a very happy and safe new year celebration and that you have a wonderful year ahead!

Mike’s Favorites: Carousel of Progress

December 15, 2015 by Mike Ellis

Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is one of my favorite shows!

My Favorites: Carousel of Progress

By Mike Ellis.

The other day it dawned on me that we haven’t been to Walt Disney World since June 2014! This past summer was when we went to Disneyland for the 60th Birthday, so it has now been roughly 18 months since our last trip to Walt Disney World. That’s crazy to think about, so as a result, these next series of posts are going to be looks at some of my favorite attractions, rides, shows, whatever you want to call them, at Walt Disney World. Today we kick it all off with a look back at the past and the “future” with the Carousel of Progress!

To me, CoP (as the Cast Members know it as) is as much about history as it is about entertainment. In each of the scenes, you experience what life was like in a certain segment of time in American history. While the actual year is not displayed, you can figure some things out. For example, in the opening scene, John talks about those Wright Brothers, so dates things at around 1902, 1903, somewhere in that timeframe. Then, in the next scene, if you look closely, you can see on the back of the Niagara Falls fan that he is using the year. That year, my friends, is 1926.

Of course, the biggest debate among Carousel of Progress fans is whether or not the ride should be updated, especially regarding the last scene, with the futuristic programmable ovens, virtual reality, and all of that. There are reasons for and against on both sides of the aisle for this one, but as for me, I’m of the opinion that it should not be updated. This attraction is one of the last that Walt Disney personally worked on, and to me, despite the words of Walt himself that the parks would never be completed, puts me in the camp of not changing this attraction any more than it has been in the past. But enough of what I think. What do you think? Should the Carousel of Progress be updated? Or should it stay just as it is? To be (updated) or not to be (updated), that my friends is the question! Please let me know by leaving us a comment, and thanks for stopping by today! To close us off, have a look at the attraction in it’s entirety, courtesy of bigfatpanda.com!

#Disneyland60 – Disneyland Forever!

July 15, 2015 by Mike Ellis

'DISNEYLAND FOREVER' SPARKLES IN THE NIGHT SKY -- 'Disneyland Forever,' a new fireworks spectacular at the Disneyland Resort, illuminates the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle. 'Disneyland Forever' transports guests into the worlds of beloved Disney and Disney•Pixar films through traditional pyrotechnics, innovative projection mapping technology and surprising special effects. (Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland Resort) — ‘DISNEYLAND FOREVER’ SPARKLES IN THE NIGHT SKY — ‘Disneyland Forever,’ a new fireworks spectacular at the Disneyland Resort, illuminates the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle. ‘Disneyland Forever’ transports guests into the worlds of beloved Disney and Disney•Pixar films through traditional pyrotechnics, innovative projection mapping technology and surprising special effects. (Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland Resort)

Hello my friends, and welcome to our the next post about some of the things that we are looking forward to at Disneyland. Today, we’re taking a look at Disneyland Forever, the new fireworks show! Some of you may know that I wasn’t always a fan of fireworks — the noises especially would really bother me, and also my daughter Sophie. However, now that we have incorporated simple ear plugs into our list of things we take to Disney, watching fireworks is really a lot of fun!

The Disneyland Forever fireworks show isn’t just fireworks, though. It’s special effects, it’s projections onto the screen, it’s all of that and more! I can’t wait until we get to see it! On Friday, July 17th and Saturday, July 18th, the show will be performed at 9:30PM, so we’ll be sure to watch it one of those nights. Since we are going to be Periscoping some of the events on the 17th, look for us to do this as well, and enjoy! Are you going to be at Disneyland this year? Let us know in the comments, and thanks for stopping by!

Counting Down to #Disneyland60 – World of Color!

July 13, 2015 by Mike Ellis

We’re counting down the days here at My Dreams of Disney to #Disneyland60 — the actual day of the 60th Birthday of Disneyland! There is a lot of excitement in the air, and over the next few days, I’m sharing with you one specific thing that I’m looking forward to on Friday, July 17, 2015!

World of Color – Celebrate new for #Disneyland60!

In honor of the Diamond Anniversary, Disney unveiled a new World of Color, titled Celebrate! I’ve been deliberately avoiding watching it on YouTube, but if you want to do so, click on the link to head over and watch. Normally I would embed it in the post, but I don’t want anyone to watch it there by mistake and be disappointed when they were looking forward to seeing it in person. In order to make sure that we can get a great view of the show, we have made a World of Color dining reservation at the Carthay Circle restaurant. We’ll be eating there on Thursday evening, and then have a preferred viewing location for the World of Color show later that night.

I’ve been witness to one World of Color show, when we visited two years ago and stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel, but that was an incredible show, capturing all of my imagination and touching me using water, fire, music, and video in ways I never experienced before. While I know that this is an entirely different show, I bet I will like it very much — despite the reviews I’m hearing that some people didn’t find it that good.

Thanks for stopping by today — we’re going to share another thing that I’m looking forward to tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Monday Topics: Looking Back at Disney – The Back Side

W E E K F O U R

The Back Side

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My Top 5 Disneyland60 Moments from 2015