It's never too early to start planning!

It's coming!! It may be over four months away, but Disney's given us a little taste of what's to come at this year's Food and Wine festival!

From September 27th through November 11th, you can snack and sip your way around the World Showcase. It's always a great time and probably my favorite time of the year to visit Epcot.

This year they're adding in a Scotland booth, so i'm willing to bet we're going to see a little Haggis this year. They're also bringing back Brazil with it's uhmayzing mahi mahi. (Now who do I talk to about getting the Puerto Rico booth back with those medianoches?) I'm als
o holding out hope that they'll bring the Nanaimo Bars back to Canada.

This year also marks the return of the celebrity chefs that seemed to be lacking this year. I'm particularly excited that they'll be hosting one of the baby deens and ROBERT IRVINE! Hopefully this year i'll be able to time myself correctly and not miss his presentation by twenty minutes. Ugh.

Then there's the bands. It seems like the usual line up, i'm kind of intrigued to maybe see the Spin Doctors. They've got everything ranging from the Pointer Sisters to Boyz II Men, to Hanson. Last year we were magically transported to 1993 after a long day of drinking courtesy of Smash Mouth.

OH AND THE BOG! The cranberry bog!

In the meantime, I'll be heading off to MGM and Epcot this weekend for the opening of Star Wars Weekends and the closing of the Flower and Garden festival, so expect some good stuff from that!

Figment must really love cheesey old movies...

I've got a trip report to write about the whirl wind birthday weekend I just took part in, but i've had this one stashed away in the back of my head for quite some time and I'm afraid that recapping my weekend will just tire me out further, so here we go;

Any Disney fan can tell you about hidden mickeys. What I really love coming across is the little nods that are hidden here and there to other Disney attractions, movies, characters, or even little inside jokes. In movies and films, these are usually called easter eggs. I prefer the term coined by the guys over at Communicore. Five legged goat. A couple years ago I started realizing exactly how many science related five legged goats have been crammed into Journey Into Imagination with Figment. AND I LOVE IT. I get a big smile every time I find another.

The fact of the matter is, this ride is a shell of it's former self. I still love it though, still ride it faithfully. I've just found other little quirks to amuse myself with.

Some of them are pretty obvious. As you walk into the queue, you see the portraits of Nigel Channing, Wayne Salinski, and Professer Brainard. (We'll leave this as just professor as he's had two different incarnations. Even if we do have the later Robin Williams character portrayed in the Imagination Institute. Go watch the original. It's better.) Nearby, Professor Brainard's robotic assistant Weebo (aka the little mermaid) is on display, along with Wayne's magnifying helmet. As you walk through, if you check out the doors, you can hear the shrinking machine warming up and see the bits of flubber bouncing around in storage. If you look across the way, you'll see a door marked Dean Higgins. This was one of the first I picked out.

Here's the deal, I credit my step mother for my ability to pick out the goats hidden throughout this ride. She introduced me to a lot of great old Disney movies. A handful of them can then be credited to her teenage crush on Kurt Russell. Dean  Higgins is the Dean of Medfield College. This is not only where Professer Brainard is employed...it's also attended by one Mr. Dexter Riley, portrayed by a young Kurt Russell.



 Basically it's this trilogy of movies where Dexter gets himself in all kinds of zany situations after science experiments go wrong...but more on that later. Medfield is not to be confused with Midvale. Home of Merlin Jones. It wasn't until this trip that I heard Merlin being paged over the intercom on our way to board the ride vehicles. Merlin (Tommy Kirk) Is the Star of The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and The Monkey's Uncle. Another pair of zany science movies that Disney put out years ago. I prefer these, but that's probably because Annette plays Merlin's leading lady. But again...more on that later.

As the ride kicks off, you soon pass by another hidden gem that's a little more well known. Paying homage to the ride's better days, you'll see the door marked Dean Finder. Get it? Dean Finder? Dreamfinder?

*See Below

After the room with the train, comes the treasure box of hidden goodies. I first noticed this when we rode by and I saw a small little spotlight pointing towards something on the floor. There, just outside a giant computer room was a pair of red converse chuck taylors. The first of the Dexter Riley movie's was called The Computer Wore Tennis shoes. Slowly I picked up on the other things. Above the shoes is a sign that reads "No Tennis Shoes Allowed". Just to the side of that reads the name plates for the occupants of the Computer Room. Both Dexter and Merlin's names are there, along with a couple other characters from the
movies. And then behind the window is a coat rack, with a red and white Medfield Letterman's jacket
hanging from it.

They're just small little nods, but they make me smile. On the way out, during the room that's inhabited by an army of little figments doing various things, there's one final little hidden nod to the old ride. If you look, you'll see a figment flying on a hang glider made from sheet music. On the sheet music is the notes to one little spark, and in the top right corner is the silhouette of the dreamcatcher.

I do miss the old ride, but it's these little touches that keep me happy. Though, truth be told, I'm still holding out hope and praying for the day that they rip up the floorboards, reveal the old track, and bring it back to it's former glory.

Hey...a girl can dream.

*I shamelessly stole this picture from the interwebs because I can NEVER get a good shot of it. Let me know if it's yours so I can credit, plz!!

Net Gen is coming.... whether we like it or not.

It seems like it's been ages now that the rumors of Disney's next gen program have been swirling about. Over the last several months, we've seen things starting to actually happen at the parks. The Fastpass+ testing started taking place, the new turnstiles went up, and now they've started switching out AP passes. I had noticed on our trip in early March that those in our party who had purchased their tickets that day had the new plastic cards. Shortly after that, they opened up the Odyssey in Epcot as a sort of base camp for AP holders to convert their passes.

Before and After

Gone are the days of the flimsy paper cards we've been forced to deal with for years. (And really, Thank God.) They're pretty nifty and you're even given the chase to choose which of four out of the five "fab five" that you want on your pass. If you opt for the AP or Premiere, there's a little red strip on the back that indicates that you're in for the free parking that comes along with those passes. The only thing i've used it for thus far is entrance into the park, but the little spinning light and the sound it makes when you go in is cute. Another little touch of Disney magic.

As I mentioned, they've got a pretty nifty set up in Epcot for you to switch out your pass. As our passes were up for renewal, and I had done mine online, we acquired our new passes at the ticket windows before heading into the park. We did, however, make a stop by the old restaurant to check it out since we'd heard rumor that they had a lot of nifty old Disney artifacts on display.

Upon entering, one of the first things you find on display are the soon to come MyMagic bands. I'll admit, i've been dreading these things. As with any Disney rumor, you hear several different versions of the same story. But in this case, regardless of the telling, these things seemed to spell bad news for passholders. The one thing i'd heard over and over again, was that Passholders would be very limited in their number of fast passes per day as compared to those staying in a Disney resort. We're talking limitation to two or three passes per day. You'd have the option to keep your regular card
pass (which would allow you access to as many fp's a day as the tickets always have) but if you switch to the band, your card is inactive and you're no longer able to use it.

I spoke with the guy showing off the magic bands. He assured me that by using the band, you'd have the same access to fast passes that you would have had before. He mentioned you'd also have the ability to reserve spots for viewing fireworks and parades. I would imagine this would only work on a pretty limited first come first serve basis, i'm intrigued to see how that one would play out. He also pointed out that you'd be able to easily switch the fast passes you have. Say you get a FP for the Space Ranger Spin. When you get your FP, the line is 45 minutes long. When you return to ride, you notice that the line is now 10 minutes long. You would have the option to access your smart phone and switch it to another ride and opt in to just wait the shorter line.

They're not the most attractive thing in the world, but they're pretty light weight. Apparently they're made to ventilate so it's not ungodly uncomfortable on your wrist in the hot florida sun. You also get to choose your own color, so that's a plus.  If you check out the picture, the colored part is capable of being peeled off, making it able to fit a child or someone with a smaller wrist. I'd seen someone compare them to crocs you wear on your wrist, but they're really not all that awful. I think the biggest problem would be remembering the darn thing every time you go. And it's not like it's locked onto your wrist. Personally, I can imagine that i'd put it around my bag strap or something similar. And it's key to remember that it's not something that's being forced on you. It's completely optional and you can keep your card if you'd prefer.

Now, onto the Disney treasures....

Is this who I think it is? :-D

An old doll AA from It's a Small World's final scene.

One of the Shrunken Ned's Junior Jungle Boats.
Are these things still  there? I nearly forgot about them

This shot totally sucks, but a former member of the now gone Kitchen  Krakpots!

Hello, old friend. <3