Under The Mouse Ears

by Sam 11.11.21 So you're walking around World Showcase with the whole family. You've got plans set on getting a margarita from Mexico, maybe seeing how long the line is for the Gran Fiesta ride. Perhaps you'll grab a yard at the Rose and Crown or watch that cool drum show in Japan. But hey wait a minute - what's this weird, gated off blue pavilion between England and Canada? It's hard to imagine now, but rounding the millennium mark was a very odd time in this country. With Y2K fast approaching, people literally didn't know what to do. The world pre-9/11 obviously had a certain kind of innocence to it that looking back, kind of clashes with the Disney we know today - especially post pandemic. Still, the mouse wasn't going to miss an opportunity to theme things out and make a little money off it. Enter the Epcot World Showcase Millennium Village. Check this out from our friends from The Kingdom Insider: https://thekingdominsider.com/35-epcot-35-countdown-da

by Sam 11.5.21 Although there aren't many left, 1971's opening of Walt Disney World offered guests to enjoy some attractions that were replicas of (or at least similar to) their counterpart in Disneyland. WDW's Magic Kingdom's original Fantasyland has some familiar faces - like Snow White, Peter Pan, Dumbo, etc.. but a few of those original rides are sadly no longer with us. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - a strange attraction based on the moderately successful animated feature, 1949's Wind In The Willows, was just that. I personally remember going on this ride in both 1984 and 1988 and being like "what is this? This is dumb. Who are these characters...?" Well it took a little longer than that, but Michael Eisner obviously agreed, and in 1998, closed the ride for good. Luckily, the internet offers no shortage of websites dedicated to Mr. Toad. And luckily you can still ride it in Disneyland all day long if you want. I've done this too in recent memory and

by Sam 11.3.21 Finally... a blog on plants, right! Ok, yeah I know. It's not the most interesting thing in the world but face it - everybody probably has some early memories of seeing the world famous Disney topiaries at Disneyland or Walt Disney World. In fact, even I remember looking out the window of a speeding monorail as a kid, thinking I was in some kind of technological future and seeing a giraffe cut out of a bush. It's the little things sometimes. If you've ever wondered about these structure's history... maybe about Walt's fascination with the 3000 year history of the topiary, check out this story and interview from our good friends at All Ears: https://allears.net/wdw-chronicles-the-history-of-disney-topiary/ Old school. While they are sometimes taken for granted today, Disney topiaries helped popularize the use of the art in the United States. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Disney topiaries, which are distinctly different than the traditional o

by Sam 10.29.21 Everybody has those rides that remind of them old school Disney World. Maybe it's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or Timekeeper... or if you're really old school, If You Had Wings or even Kitchen Kaberet. But it seems like everybody had one classic ride circled on their park maps and that was 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. The Jules Verne penned novel turned Disney hit film starring Kirk Douglas from 1954 was of course gonna end up in the newly built Disneyland first, right? But you might be surprised to learn that actually, the WDW-sister to the east only got the 'Submarine Voyage' treatment. Disneyland's Submarine Voyage In 1959, an ambitious expansion of Tomorrowland in Disneyland was completed, which included the addition of new attractions, including the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Monorail, and Submarine Voyage. "Commissioned" on June 6, 1959, in front of Richard Nixon, Walt Disney and his wife Lillian, and officers of the US Navy, the attraction ma