Everyone wants to be a pirate!

I like fast rides like Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I like fun rides like the Mad Tea Party and the Jungle Cruise. But hands down my favorite ride at any Disney park is Pirates of the Caribbean. I have wanted to write about this attraction for a long time but I could never figure out why I love this ride. Well, December 15th was Pirate’s 40th anniversary so I thought this would be the perfect time to wax poetic about why I never miss this attraction no matter how long the line is.

The truth is I don’t know why I love this ride. It is not the only ride that uses audio-animatronic characters. It is not the only ride that uses a boat. It is not the only dark ride. The best I can say is that it is the only ride that has pirates, not historically accurate, mean killers, but fun swashbuckling scallywags. I have always liked pirates (who doesn’t?) and often dressed up as a pirate for Halloween. As an adult, acting like a pirate is discouraged, but deep inside I wish I could be as free and fun-loving as a pirate (without the slaying and stealing, of course.)

I don’t know if that is the real reason I love Pirates of the Caribbean and I have decided I’m not going to worry about why it is my favorite. I’m just going to ride it every chance I get. Happiness squared.

Goofy Video: Walt Disney was very involved in the creation of Pirates of the Caribbean and that may be why it is so popular. If you want to hear Walt Disney talk about his ideas for this attraction check out this five minute YouTube video. After watching it I liked the attraction even more. It is amazing how much work goes into making these rides.

Before I get to my answers I have a question for you. Do you like the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas? If your answer is no, if you thought it was the worst movie ever made, than skip the Haunted Mansion until January. Because this overlay is a complete remake. Disney changed out everything. From the intro, to the elevator ride, to the hallway, to the scenes viewed from the doom buggies, everything is different.

I am blah about the movie. It’s okay but I would not pick it to watch by myself. It happens to be one of my husband’s favorite movies so I have seen it many times. Therefore, while I wasn’t thrilled before I went on the attraction, I wasn’t repulsed.

Okay, enough stalling. Is it good? I would say yes. They did a wonderful job of bringing the story and the characters to life. It is very different but I actually enjoyed the changes more than I enjoy the movie. I would recommend everyone see it once, unless you absolutely despise the movie, so you can form your own opinion.

I only had one problem with the overlay and if you visit the park this December you won’t have this problem. I rode the attraction in September and even though Jack and his friends live in Halloweentown there is nothing about the overlay that made me think of Halloween. There are pumpkins but they are decorated for Christmas. It felt a little odd being immersed in Christmas in September. I’m sure that the discomfort I felt would disappear if I saw it again in December.

So take a chance. If you are visiting Disneyland go see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay at the Haunted Mansion. It may become your favorite seasonal event or you may look forward to the 999 happy haunts taking back their home in January. Either way you’re sure to have a spooky time. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: If you want to have unique Christmas photos for your cards then stand in line and have your picture taken with the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack, Sally, and others can be found outside the Haunted Mansion all season long. Jack is even in his Santa costume. Scary and merry!

Image from Disney Parks Blog

I love to fly but I know most people don’t and I don’t blame them. Between crowded airplanes, delayed flights, mediocre in-flight food, and TSA, flying can be a real drag. But cheer up! Mickey Mouse is bringing the magic back to flying.

WestJet (an airline I had not heard of) has added a magical airplane to their fleet. It is called the “Magic Plane” and features Sorcerer Mickey on the tail. If I saw that as I was waiting to board I would be grinning like a fool. If I knew I was flying on the Magic Plane I would be uncontrollably giddy. The magic is not just on the outside, the inside of the plane is also decorated. It looks so cool!

I am not brand loyal when I fly. I pick an airline based on price and time of departure. But if I could guarantee that I was going to be on that plane I would definitely fly WestJet. I would love it if the food was good, too, but I’m not sure even Sorcerer Mickey is that powerful. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: If you are flying to Orlando and staying on property at Walt Disney World be sure you use the Magical Express. You will be whisked away to your resort and you won’t have to deal with your luggage. That’s what I call magic.

Image from www.spoonful.com

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I hope everyone has wonderful plans. I always liked Thanksgiving when I was a child because lots of relatives came to our house and we got to have food that I loved, but only ate once or twice a year. My brother and I were the only kids at the table and we got to sit with the adults. However, if you have a lot of children coming to your house for Thanksgiving it might be more fun for them to have their own area so they don’t have to listen to the boring adults talk all night.

Why not make their table even more special by making it first a craft table and then a dinner table? They’ll love coming to your house when they get to make Thanksgiving decorations for the dinner table and color fun place mats. So click here for great Thanksgiving kids crafts from spoonful.com. You’ll be surrounded by grateful kids and their parents. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: Have you ever thought about visiting the Disney Parks for Thanksgiving? Lots of the restaurants in the parks and resorts have special menus and seating times to celebrate the day. You can have all the fun of Disney and Thanksgiving and not have to slave away in the kitchen. Just make sure you tip your wait staff well to show your gratitude. They are working so you can have a great Disney trip.

The current restaurant in the Morocco Pavilion, Restaurant Marrakesh, is a wonderful restaurant filled with great flavors, but it is table service and when you are in the restaurant you can’t see any of the pavilion. The new restaurant, Spice Road Table, will have lots of outdoor seating, perfect for enjoying the flavors of Morocco while you watch IllumiNations. I love that they are providing more seating for this wonderful show. I often skip it because I can’t find a good place to wait for and watch the display. I look forward to enjoying great food and a great evening extravaganza. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: A cool souvenir to buy in the Morocco Pavilion is a necklace that has your name written on the shell in Arabic. However, if you don’t want the necklace you can ask one of the Cast Members in the pavilion, who are all from Morocco, to write your name in Arabic in your autograph book. It is beautiful to see and a great free keepsake. Maybe while you are waiting you could ask them what their favorite Moroccan food is. Then you could try it at the Spice Road Table when it opens.

Image from Disney Insider

I don’t know what to think about the movie Maleficent. She is my favorite Disney villain because she is really evil. In Sleeping Beauty she causes major havoc because of a small slight. This always worked for me. Prince Phillip is good and noble and Maleficent is mean and evil. I like knowing where the lines are drawn.

Now my favorite villain is getting her own movie and we’ll learn how she became evil, mean, wicked, bad, and nasty (thank you, Smothers Brothers for the adjectives.) Angelina Jolie is playing Maleficent and I am sure she will to do an amazing job.

But I am torn. I liked Maleficent being a villain. I don’t need to know how she became one. Plus, unless they are changing the basic story we know she doesn’t live in the end. So either they are changing the end or this is going to be hard to watch. Or maybe we feel her inevitable death is justified. I just don’t know what I think about all this.

There have been other movies where the bad guy takes the lead role. Wicked may be the most popular, but Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III basically tell the story of the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of Darth Vader. I haven’t seen or read Wicked but I really hated the first three Star Wars movies.

If you would like to watch the trailer for Maleficent click here. I loved the trailer and thought everyone was playing their roles perfectly. However, I learned nothing about how the story is going to be told so I still don’t know what to think. It is not coming out until May 2014 so I’ll have time to learn more. I wish Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather (she was always my favorite) could give me a hint before then.  Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: Is Maleficent your favorite Disney villain? Unlike a lot of  Disney villians that only come to the parks occasionally you can see Maleficent most nights at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. She is the live-action villain in Fantasmic! that Mickey Mouse has to battle at the end of the show. My favorite part of Fantasmic! is when she turns from human to dragon. It is really impressive. I am glad the good guys win.

Okay, so my Mickey sketch looks a lot like this.

Can you draw? Whenever anyone ever asked me that I always said, no. I told them I couldn’t even draw good stick figures. I wasn’t being modest. I thought it was true. I was terrible at drawing. So imagine my surprise when I learned to sketch at The Magic of Disney Animation at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While it was true that my Mickey Mouse wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t horrible either. I learned that I may not be able to draw, but I could sketch something that made me happy.

In honor of Mickey Mouse’s birthday, he is 85 years old today, I encourage everyone to try sketching Mickey Mouse. To help you do this well click on this video from spoonful.com and get a lesson from the experts. The nice part about learning from a video instead of being there in person is you can watch the animator over and over until you understand what he is doing. The goal here is not to draw the best looking Mickey Mouse ever. It is to sketch a Mickey Mouse face that makes you happy. I think if you are being creative but you are not happy then you are doing it wrong. And Mickey’s birthday is definitely a day to be happy. Happiness squared.

Goofy Craft: Once you have sketched Mickey Mouse don’t put your creation in a drawer. Turn it into a birthday card, or a place mat, or put it in your Disney scrapbook. If you see it a lot you’ll be encouraged to do more, and the more you sketch the better you’ll get. Remember this, if I, a non-drawer, can sketch, than you can do it, too.

Image from Disney Parks Blog

Thor is once again in the theaters. I haven’t seen it yet, but I can’t wait to. I like Iron Man more than Thor, but this movie is an extension of The Avengers which I thought was awesome and I don’t want to miss the rest of the story.

For those of you who are Thor fans you can now meet the Nordic god at Innoventions in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. This is also the home of Iron Man Tech. If Disney keeps this up they’ll have to rename Innoventions Shield HQ (and how cool would that be!) Before you meet Thor you can see props from the movies, Asgardian treasures brought to Earth for your viewing pleasure. You then pass through the Bifrost (if you don’t know what that is watch the first Thor movie) and meet Thor in all his godly glory.

I think this sounds like fun. I have a limited knowledge of Thor, but this is not your average meet and greet. You can talk to Thor and ask him questions. I’d ask him who his favorite Disney character was. You also have a chance to lift his hammer. I doubt I’d be able to do this since the Incredible Hulk couldn’t lift it, but it would be fun to try. The best part would be getting your picture taken with him. I’d do a cool Avengers pose (even though I learned at Iron Man Tech that I will never be a cool Avenger).

For more information check out this video from touringplans.com. They say the line is really long so I suggest showing up early if you want to meet Thor and still spend time in the rest of the park. I did the same thing for Iron Man Tech and only waited for fifteen minutes. You’ve been warned.

I was glad that Disney bought Marvel and wondered how they were going to incorporate the characters into the parks. I think they are doing a fine job. I hope Captain America and Hawkeye join Shield HG, I mean Innoventions, soon. Happiness squared.

Goofy Craft: For those of you who love Thor but can’t make it to Disneyland you can have fun with these printables from spoonful.com. I like the wings you can add to your hat. Perfect for when you are having a tough day at school or work and want some godly power.

Image from www.amazon.com

When I was a kid my favorite channel on cable was the Disney Channel and for awhile my favorite show on the Disney Channel was Five Mile Creek. Did you ever see this TV show? It ran from 1983 to 1985 and was about a group of people running a stage coach station in the wilds of Australia. It was a very popular show on the Disney Channel and I never missed an episode.

Some shows that we watch as kids we enjoy but they do not influence us much. Others press into the back of our minds and wait to become important many years later. Obviously I am a Disney fan so the Disney Channel influenced my adult life, but Five Mile Creek also had an impact I was not aware of.

A few years ago a friend and I wrote a western together. She hadn’t seen or read a lot of westerns so I rented Five Mile Creek on VHS for her to watch. As I rewatched it for the first time in twenty-five years it seemed really similar to the a Louis L’Amour book we were using as inspiration for our story. When I got to the credits I saw something I’d never noticed before, at least consciously. Five Mile Creek was based on The Cherokee Trail, the Louis L’Amour book we were using.

I was surprised to learn this because except for the stage coach and the women our story was completely different, but it was obvious that Five Mile Creek and the Disney Channel and influenced my ideas for the project. Knowing this didn’t depress me. Instead it encouraged me. I wanted to write a story as fun as Five Mile Creek. I think we succeeded.

So today, I encourage you to take a look at your childhood entertainment. Walt Disney believed that everyone should explore the world as children do and I agree. Maybe there is a TV show or a book that could be the solution or inspiration you need to finish a project. Maybe something that you loved as a child is waiting for you to rediscover it. Happiness squared.

Goofy Quote: (I’m sure this is why I read so many books. No, I probably just like to read.)

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” Walt Disney

Image from Disney Parks Blog

I waited until Halloween was over before I started talking about Christmas. I am a big believer in keeping Christmas in December, but the Disney parks get the season started in November so I will follow their lead. After all lots of guests want to experience the Disney parks at Christmastime and they wouldn’t all fit in one month. So let the season begin.

Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom are doing something this year that has never be done before. The Jungle Cruise is getting a Christmas overlay. I think this is a fun idea. Even explorers celebrate Christmas. I look forward to seeing the decorations and I am really looking forward to hearing new puns. The number one reason I ride the Jungle Cruise is for the puns. Show me the back side of water and I crack up. Introduce me to Dr. Presume and I laugh until I cry. I hope these new Christmas puns are the worst ever. I may just die from laughter.

So let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas, and remember, don’t shoot the messenger. Happiness Squared.

Goofy Tip: As much as people wish Christmas would stop encroaching on the rest of the year if you plan to visit the Disney parks (especially Walt Disney World) during the Christmas season you should be making reservations and buying tickets now. The holiday season is one of the busiest times to visit the parks and if you want to see all the great events than start planning today. Or, put a note on your calendar next May or June to plan for Christmas 2014.