At Disney's California Adventure today the brand new Silly Symphony Swings were open and operating. The swings have been under construction ever since the Orange Stinger Swings closed. This opening may not be permanent and could just be a "soft opening" for testing today.
Here is a picture of the entrance to the Silly Symphony Swings across the way from Pizza Oom Mow Mow. On the official Disneyland site for DCA the ride is still listed as "Opening Spring 2010."
New for the Silly Symphony Swings compared to the Orange Stinger Swings are the two entrance lines. One line on the right side is the traditional entrance and the line on the left is for tandem swings (see picture above) for a parent to ride on a double seated swing with their child. The tandem swings are for children who wish to ride but are not taller than 48 inches (but are at least 40 inches tall). This line allows them to ride with an adult on the same swing. There are about 7-8 tandem swings on the ride which allows that line to move fairly quickly.
The ride itself is very similar to the previous version but instead of buzzing sounds from bees in an orange the Mickey conducted band plays the William Tell Overture. The ride is fairly quick and only lasts about 2 minutes but it is very enjoyable and offers much improved views of the park compared to the Orange Stinger.
This ride may not be fully open yet but was open today and should be open and operating on a permanent basis in the near future.
In the fall of last year, Disney made headlines after it bought Marvel Comics which includes superhero characters like Spiderman, Iron Man, and X-Men. When Iron Man 2 was released in theaters this year, I started to notice Marvel items in Disney stores. This past weekend I found some Marvel merchandise at Star Traders in Tomorrowland. To be honest, I'm not really that excited about it. When I think of Marvel, I think of Universal Studios because I usually see superhero merchandise at their theme park. It was strange to stumble across these at the happiest place on earth.
What do you think? Are you excited about seeing Marvel stuff at Disneyland? I guess maybe if they start to combine Mickey and other Disney characters with it more like they do with Star Wars items, it'll fit in better.
But I'm not sure, I used to go to Universal Studios in Hollywood frequently and for now it's still pretty weird to see Spiderman toys in the same store as Mickey Mouse ones.
Check out these purses I put on the New Disney Merch page!
They are selling Dooney & Bourke Disney purses at stores at the Disneyland Resort. The purses are very nice but because of the brand name, they are very expensive.
There are a variety of them to pick from...
I was really excited when I got one for my birthday from my fiance!
Disneyland is a great place to celebrate a birthday! For the last few years, Disneyland has been my destination for my special day and here are a couple of the reasons why.
1. The Birthday Button-
At multiple locations, you can pick up a birthday button to wear around the park. These are fun because all the cast members and characters that notice your button wish you a happy birthday! Sometimes the cast members even go out of their way to do something special for you. For example, a cast member once gave me fastpasses! I got a button for my little sister when she was visiting and she loved it because during the Pixar Play Parade all the characters would come up and say happy birthday to her. You can get these buttons for free at several spots around the park- info booths, guest relations, and at the shops.
2. Fun places to dine-
There are a lot of great places to get your birthday meal at the Disneyland Resort. One of the best places is the Blue Bayou Restaurant. At this restaurant, you get to dine under twinkling stars and watch the Pirate of the Caribbean boats go by. For birthdays, they'll usually bring you a fun dessert after the meal!
For my birthdays, I usually like to do a Character Breakfast. They have several of them to pick from at the Disneyland Resort. The Character Dining restaurants at the hotels don't require park entry so you can go there for a birthday meal without having to buy tickets. This year I did the "Minnie & Friends- Breakfast in the Park" at the Plaza Inn. Character Dining is a lot of fun because while you enjoy your meal, different Disney characters visit your table! Sometimes the characters even sit down and interact with you! Chip sat down at our table and played with our napkins!
3. Cake!
At a couple of the bakeries at Disneyland and at California Adventure, you can actually get a small birthday cake. They have a princess and a pirate version. For my cake this year, my fiance got me three of the princess cakes and we put them together! The cakes come in little treasure chests that you can keep afterward and also come with a toy mirror!
Here is the princess version of the cake. You can get these at several of the Disneyland bakeries and certain restaurants.
We put three together and it looked great!
So if you or a friend have a birthday coming up and are looking for a fun place to go, check out Disneyland! It's a great place for celebrating!
So the Mrs. Fields I saw at Downtown Disney was only there for Mother's Day. A few days after, I saw that it was once again Handimals. At Handimals, children can make animal art using their handprints.
Being from San Antonio, I am a big Spurs basketball fan! I was very sad when they lost to the Phoenix Suns in the Playoffs. The Suns are now playing the Lakers and because I want to continue to root against the Suns, I'm cheering on the Lakers. Even though I now live in the Los Angeles area, I have never been a Laker fan. Last year though, I found out that their star player, Kobe Bryant, is a big fan of Disneyland. He has a house in Orange County and has been seen at Disneyland a lot. One time when I was at the park, a cast member told me that we had just missed Kobe because he had been there the day before!
Kobe Bryant told the Orange County Register some of his favorite Disneyland rides to go on with his family:
When I’m with my oldest daughter, it’s Splash Mountain. When I’m with my youngest daughter, it’s Peter Pan. And when I’m with my wife, it’s Space Mountain.”
In this video, he talks about his own favorite ride and an experience at California Adventure:
Here is a video of Kobe Bryant at Disneyland last year after the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic and won the NBA Championship.
I will always be a Spurs fan! But I must admit, I think how much Kobe likes Disneyland is pretty cool!
It's my birthday so I won't be doing much of a post today, but here are some pictures from some past birthday fun!
Goodies from birthday brunch at Goofy's Kitchen last year
My sisters made me this cake in 08. The candles are lined up to be shaped like Mickey!
Disneyland visit on my bday last year
At end of this month, as a birthday treat I'll be going to Disney World for a few days! I am very excited! I'll try to start posting some stuff about Disney World soon! I've only been there once for a short time and the park is pretty new to me so if you have any tips or pictures you'd like to share, comment below or email nerissa@sodisney.com!
It's been a while since my last post, but I have been doing some work on the blog site!
You can now reach this site by simply going to www.sodisney.com!
You can still reach it by going to the blogspot address but you can also just go to sodisney.com.
I've also added some pages to the blog- "About So Disney" and "New Disney Merch." I will be updating the "New Disney Merch" page whenever I find any cool new Disney merchandise.
Check it out!
So for today's post, I thought I would do something a little different just for fun!
I would like to introduce you to Lotso, short for Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear.
He is one of the new characters from the upcoming Toy Story 3 movie. You can find him at Disneyland stores, Disney stores at the mall, and online. He is very soft and smells like strawberries. Check out these commercials for him from a long time ago. Did you have a Lotso when you were small?
Here is a Japanese commercial for him:
Okay, okay, so those commercials are great but they aren't actually real. They were made by Disney to promote this very huggable bear. Lotso seems very nice and he smells like strawberries!
Well, after getting our own Lotso, some friends and I are starting to debate whether or not he is in fact a nice bear. On Facebook, I joined a group who likes Lotso and it seems that there are several people who are questioning if this bear is actually a new friend to the toys of Toy Story or if he is actually a villain (much like the Prospector in Toy Story 2). We keep looking at our stuffed Lotso and thinking, "But you smell like strawberries! You couldn't be bad." But our last trip to Disneyland brought up some doubts on whether or not we should trust this bear! Let's play detective and check out the evidence below....
Exhibit 1:
There is a new trading pin that I found that has Lotso on it.
The pin says he is a hugger but look at his face! Why does he look so angry and mean?!
Exhibit 2 & 3:
Lotso is now in the Pixar Play Parade so I brought our stuffed Lotso bear with me to watch it. While we were standing there, one of the green army men (you can see him in the picture below) came up to me and pointed at the bear and said, "Don't trust him! Just so you know."
Why would he tell me not to trust him? Could Lotso really be the villain? The green army man told me he was not trustworthy. Could this cute bear really be bad? He looks so friendly in his cutout in front of Toy Story Mania.
Exhibit 4:
Finally, on our way out of California Adventure one of the Photopass Cast Members saw the stuffed Lotso and said, "You got Lotso! But you haven't seen the movie, how do you know he's not a villain? I heard he's a villain!" To that all I could think of saying was "But he smells like strawberries" and then I let her smell our stuffed Lotso.
So this new character, Lots-O'-Huggin', seems to have a bad reputation! Maybe he's a character who does an evil deed but redeems himself at the end? I guess I'll have to wait and see for myself on June 18th when Toy Story 3 is released! All the evidence seems to be pointing at him being bad, but he seems so nice and he smells like strawberries and I really like our stuffed Lotso!
So I'm curious to hear what you all think. Do you think Lotso is good or bad? Please comment or email happiestplace6@gmail.com and let me know!
So this past Friday, me and my fiance did one of the Wine Walks that are a part of the Disney Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure. There are three different wine/beer tasting walks you can choose from. There is the California Classics Wine Walk, Viva Italia Wine Walk, and the Craft Beer Walk. We enjoy our California wine so we went for the California Classics.
The price for the walk is $10 which pays for tasting 4 wines. After paying for the walk, they gave us each a passport with four spots you get stamped as you try each wine. There are four booths that each represent a different California wine region. The passport you are given has information on the four regions you can taste from, Sonoma County, Napa Valley, Central Coast, and Paso Robles. We decided to sample one from each region for our four tastings.
Me with my passport and some wine from Central Coast
I was especially excited when I saw that you could try Fairy Tale by Iron Horse Celebration Cuvee at the Sonoma County booth. This sparkling wine is made exclusively for Disney and it is one of the wines you can pick for your Disney Wedding toast! Since we are currently planning our Disney wedding, we both had it as one of our samples.
It was good and we enjoyed it. It was our favorite of the wines we got to try! We weren't sure if we liked it better than Magicale Brachetto, however, which is another wine that we have only been able to find at the Disneyland Resort. It was not available for tasting at this wine walk since it is not a California wine but we have tried it in the past. You can actually purchase a whole bottle of it at the Disneyland Hotel! For the Food and Wine Festival, you can also purchase a bottle of it at the Wine Seller at Festival Showplace.
So overall, we had a good time at the Wine Walk. The four tastings you get are about the equivalent of one glass of wine so if you are at the festival at California Adventure and want to try a glass of wine, consider doing a wine walk! You'll get to try four different wines instead of just one for about the same cost.
To end this post, here's a picture of a Disney cartoon chef who really loves both food and wine! Remy from Ratatouille! Thanks, bmariposa21, for the suggestion!
Toy Story 3 is coming to theaters on June 18th! As it gets closer, Disney is starting to advertise the film more and more at California Adventure and around the Disneyland Resort.
Outside the AMC theaters in Downtown Disney, they have banners advertising the movie.
At California Adventure, they are changing Toy Story Mania to include new characters from the movie. They are doing this to Toy Story Mania at Disney World as well. A game called Rex & Trixie's Dino Darts will be replacing Bo-Peep's Baaa-loon Pop.
Also, a new character has been added to California Adventure's Pixar Play Parade! The character's name is Lotso, short for Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear!
Finally, just past Toy Story Mania, there is a display set up where you can take your picture inside of a toy box!
I'm pretty excited for Toy Story 3. I love the first two films and am looking forward to seeing Buzz and Woody and the gang back on the big screen!
There's a small building in Downtown Disney that seems to have a new vendor in it every week. Usually the businesses that use the building do not seem to last long. The last thing that was there was called "Handimals" where kids could create paintings of animals using their handprint. Before that it was Compass Books newstand and then a cupcake shop. Tonight I saw that it was now a Mrs. Fields!
At first I thought it was just for Mother's Day, but it had advertisements all over the building.
How long do you think Mrs. Fields will last? I like Mrs. Fields' cookies and since it's a recognizable chain I think it could last a while. I hope it does!
Today, I read an article in the LA Times about what happens after hours at Disneyland. I thought it was really interesting to read about what happens after we all leave!
In the article, they mention the many cats that live at Disneyland that come out at night and help remove rodents. (Mickey and Minnie Mouse are safe, don't worry!) I actually knew about the cats before because I sometimes see them at the park during the day. I've talked to cast members who have names for some of the different cats they see routinely. One of the places I've seen cats a few times is Storybook Land.
The article also includes information about all the work that gets done after the park closes. When you think about all the little details such as the flowers and the paint and how clean the park is, it's all thanks to those 600 or so employees that work overnight to keep it that way! Click on the link below to read the LA Times article:
For Christmas last year, me and my fiance got a Disneyland shirt for my sister Bianca's cat, Hermione. I like to think that maybe Hermione has a 2nd cousin who works at Disneyland keeping out those rodents!
Hermione in her Disneyland shirt
My sister's cute dog Brody and Hermione in her Disneyland Shirt
At Disney World, the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase has a ride called the Gran Fiesta Tour that stars the Three Caballeros. Since it's Cinco De Mayo, here's a video of a music number from the film The Three Caballeros!
You can also find the three caballeros in the Mexico scene of the It's A Small World ride at Disneyland.
Scarlett Johansson, from the upcoming film Iron Man 2, loves to go to Disneyland for vacations! According to Britain's Daily Record Newspaper, she says that the tourists are so interested in the park that they don't really notice a Hollywood star. She explains that she prefers Disneyland over places like Cabo:
“There are certain places I won’t go, because I don’t want to end up photographed in a bikini. But I go to Disneyland... At Disneyland, you are not the main attraction – and that’s the best part.”
Pictured Above: A couple years ago Johansson was in one of the pictures from the Disney Dream Portrait Series by Annie Leibovitz for Disney's Year of a Million Dreams campaign. Johansson was Cinderella in the photo called "Where Every Cinderella Story Comes True."
Read more about what Scarlett Johansson said about Disneyland at All Headline News: Scarlett Johansson Link
For the Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure this year, the Wine Seller and Festival Gift Shop is located in the Festival Showplace. Inside the shop was a lot of nice festival themed merchandise. Check out these pictures of some of the merchandise they sell:
This set of Food and Wine Coasters are available for Annual Passholders.
Chef Jackets and hats
Chef Jackets for kids
Food and Wine festival wineglasses
Framed corks of wines featured at the festival.
There is also the Wine Seller in the gift shop where there is a selection of wine for purchase. You can buy a bottle here and then they will send it to the Guest Relations/Lost and Found located outside the park for you to pick up as you are leaving. (They cannot have you walking around the park with a wine bottle!) They even had some signed bottles that were sold at the same price as a regular bottle of the same wine. I was excited about the Lasseter bottles signed by John Lasseter!
We got a bottle of the Lasseter Rose' signed by Lasseter. We picked it up at Guest Relations after our visit to the park.
There was a little bit of a wait because some of the people in line were actually there for the Lost and Found and it took them a while to describe their items. But our bottle was worth the wait!
To finish off today's post, here's a picture of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets! You can see him at MuppetVision 3D at California Adventure.
