Disney Girls

 These Disney girls have something to say about that!

Finding Dory

Coming in June 2016  (not nearly soon enough!):

  Finding Dory ,
the Disney-Pixar sequel to Finding Nemo (2003), featuring Dory and her family!

Real Life Disney: Olaf

(Walt Disney Studios)

Festival of Fantasy

This is the name of the new parade that will debut at the Walt Disney' World's Magic Kingdom park this spring, which will feature this wonderful 'steampunk' Maleficent Dragon:

Pictures: Walt Disney World/Orlando Sentinel

Disney-Maleficent-float-Festival-of-Fantasy

I can hardly wait!!

And just in case you haven't heard  ...

"Maleficent"

... Starring Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, will be released July 2, 2014. It looks to be incredible!

Photo: Disney

Maleficent trailer

Disney Look-Alikes

 Jack-Jack (The Incredibles), all grown-up

 Linguini (Ratatouille)

Sid (Toy Story)

Disney Picture of the Day

Doesn't it look as though Pluto's friend is actually smiling?

Happy Birthday, Pluto!

So There!

I just love this:

DisneyBounding

I recently learned a new term: DisneyBounding

This is when you dress up as a Disney character using modern clothes out of your closet  (and not store-bought costumes).

Here are some examples:

 Cinderella, before the ball:

Marie, Aristocat:

 Donald:

And Drizella and Anastasia, the step-sisters of you-know-who: 

There is even a Facebook page: 

    Facebook:DisneyBound

  

Happy Birthday, Donald!

Toy Story Characters

I dunno if this is true ... so if someone knows, plmk, before I try it and make a bigger-than-usual fool of myself.

Kthanx!

Disney Princess # 11

Merida, the red-headed lassie from "Brave" is going to be the 11th  Disney Princess.
 

 She will join:

Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, and Rapunzel as an official Disney princess.

Photo: Disney

 Photo: Definitely NOT Disney!

Real Life Disney: Tow Mater

Disney Mater:

 

Real Life Maters:

 

My Morning at the Animal Kingdom

I finally got over to The Animal Kingdom to ride the 'new'  Kilimanjaro Safari . I really liked it. It seemed slightly longer, had more animals including the zebras (yay), and no, I did not miss the ride spiel about Little Red vs the poachers at all.

Photo:Disney

After exiting the ride, we stopped over at the gorilla viewing area as we usually do, and this time there was quite a crowd gathered. One of the big bachelors (male) was, um, sitting at the edge of the ledge taking care of some monkey business.  The hubby says "If he reaches around behind him, RUN." Well, yeah, I already knew this!  So the big guy finishes and as he's standing, he lifts his bottom up in the air and MOONS us! The crowd collectively gasps, so of course, he does it again. Then he walked over to the rocks and as he reached the top, before sitting with his back to the crowd, moons us again!  What a show.

Photo:Disney

As we were heading over to the Asia area to ride Expedtion:Everest, out of the bushes come a mother and father duck with two itty-bitty ducklings. They were an instant attraction with most folks making way for the ducklings, but a few kids kept trying to catch/touch them. A couple of CMs took up escort duty and the ducks made it safely to the bushes on the other side of the walkway.

After riding Everest, we walked through Dinoland to see the American crocodile. It was sunning itself, mouth open, at the pond's edge. As we watched, it closed its mouth, turned its head, opened mouth again. I do believe that's the 1st time I've seen it move!

Then - the highlight of my day! Dug and Russell were at a Character Spot near "Tough to be a Bug", so of course I got in line with all the kids. Got a big hug from Dug and did the Wilderness Explorer bird-hand gesture with Russell!
 "The wilderness must be explored! CAW-CAW! RAAWWRR"

Photo: AllEars/Steve Barrett

PS: I still miss Tarzan Rocks!

Confession # 19: I Love Dug

Pluto has long held the position of my favorite Disney character. He never spoke - except for two brief words *Trivia alert*, so he had to rely on a multitude of facial expressions and body language. 

But now I must confess: Dug the dog (from "UP") has equalled Pluto's place in my affections.

Who could resist those eyes! That nose. The voice. ("I have just met you and I Laaahve you!"

 The making of Dug the Dog

Meet Dug

*Trivia: the two words spoken by Pluto: "Kiss me"

Happy Birthday, Pluto!!

Confession # 14: My Favorite Disney Character

... is not Mickey or Minnie.

It's Pluto.

Because he does not speak - except for two words* in a 1931 cartoon,"The Moose Hunt", Pluto has to be very expressive in his actions and facial expressions.



And in "Mickey's Kangaroo", Pluto has a voice, although it's just his thoughts:

* Those two words: "Kiss Me"

Real Life Disney: Pooh and Friends

Tinkerbell's Flight

Tinkerbell has been making her night flight in the MK at WDW since July 3, 1985.

She was originally supposed to fly as only a holiday/seasonal spectacle, but the crowd response was so immediately positive, she has been flying for 25 years now at WDW (at DL since 1961).

When we took our 1st Keys to the Kingdom Tour, our wonderful guide (Matthew) gave us a quite a bit of interesting background info on Tink's flight (like what happens if she meets a headwind).

Real Life Disney: Timon & Pumbaa