Halloween: Disney Style

It's come to that time of year again in the Disney parks all over the world- Halloween. Every Disney park worldwide has their own different festival for Halloween, all featuring unique and fascinating features. Disney World in Florida features Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party for the youngsters (for an additional entrance fee) which offers Trick-or-Treating spots for the kids, special character meet-and-greets, and two spectacular shows. The first is the Villain's Mix-and-Mingle, a 7 minute high energy dance show followed by a chance to meet the villains. During the show Maleficent welcomes the guests and gets the show under way and then other Disney villains join her on stage (and new this year is the amazing Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog). The show gets better every year, this year featuring the entire front of the stage being engulfed in green flames, flash pots, and a much bigger pyrotechnic finale. Then once the end comes near Magic Kingdom presents Hallo-Wishes, a fireworks show featuring new versions of several classic Disney songs. I wouldn't pay extra to get in I don't think, but it would be well worth it if you have small children.
Disneyland in California features similar things including the mind-boggling, eye-popping Halloween Screams fireworks show, however new this year it's only being shown at the Halloween party which costs extra which has many people upset, but it's well worth a watch. Seeing Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas fly over Sleeping Beauty's castle is fantastic and the effects that happen all over the sky will blow your mind!
Hong Kong Disneyland features a pretty unique to-do which in itself wants to make me hop on a plane. The Glow in the Park parade is amazing just to see video of. The leader of the parade is a float with a giant animatronic Jack Skellington atop it but he can bend over to look at the audience! All the other floats feature similar things, Maleficent rides with Chernabog from Fantasia and it is simply amazing. They then have the Nightmare in the Sky fireworks show, which isn't as impressive as you would expect from Hong Kong Disneyland but still would be worth a watch live.
Tokyo Disney and Disneysea have multiple shows that are simply incredible. Mysterious Masquerade in Disneysea features all the classic characters trying to figure out what artifact is possessing guests and it is interesting to watch. The Tokyo Disneyland has a parade/show combo where the villains take over the Disney good-guys' Halloween bash and it's full of lots of fire.
All in all Disney knows how to throw a party, and if you get a chance to visit any of these places I'd highly recommend it!

Murphy's Law

Last summer in Disneyland, Fantasmic! was supposed to be graced with the addition of a 45 foot tall fire-breathing dragon. Well after the passing of the Summer Nighttastic even on September 1st, the dragon finally appeared after an entire summer of technical difficulties. The night she premiered the aptly named Murphy (after Murphy's Law that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) she didn't even breathe fire, but she was just as magnificent as ever. The following night she breathed fire and it was a magnificent sight to behold. However, during Saturday (the 28th)'s performance of the show, Murphy again proved to us that the law remains true and collapsed during the show


This is the scene now:


Murphy is now out of the show indefinitely until they can figure out all that's wrong with her. See Disney hired an outside company (that typically takes care of their animatronic figures) to build Murphy, however this has proven to be a mistake. I can only hope that Murphy has a speedy return to the show and that Disney doesn't decide to just remove her permanently.

King Kong 360-3D!

As many theme park goers know, Universal Studios Hollywood had a giant fire back in 2008 and lost the beloved King Kong attraction that was featured on the Backlot Tour. Well good news and bad news: Good news: Kong is now back! Bad news: It's not a new animatronic situation, it's a 3D movie that your tram rides through. I'm not sure how I feel about this because everything that happens on the tour is supposed to be real and in your face and riding through a 3D movie just does not seem as in-my-face as a giant animatronic Kong coming after you. Plus do you just hold the glasses with you the entire tram ride and use them that one time? It seems more of an inconvenience to me but we'll see how it plays out I suppose, the attractions open now and I'm hoping to see some video soon.

3-D!

Ok, so I know it's the "in thing" right now but the 3D movie fad has now gotten entirely too old. Seeing a 3D movie used to mean something to me- when you go to places like Disney World/Land and Universal Studios they're 3D movies truly immerse you in the movie- characters literally leap off the screen, effects happen to your seats and around the theater, and the whole experience is simply mind-blowing. However, now Hollywood has it's hands on "3D" technology, which consists of making the movie appear to be off of the screen because you're wearing silly looking glasses that you paid 3-4 bucks extra for. There's nothing immersive at all. The filmmakers simply add a layer to the film to make it seem "different" but if you take the glasses off you simply see the 2D version those smart movie-goers saw who paid 3 dollars less than you. That's another thing- you shouldn't be able to do that if it's truly 3D. Go to Disney World and watch Mickey's Philharmagic and take your 3D glasses off- you can't focus and everything is distorted. The glasses take you to the world of the movie. The 3D movies that come out in every movie theater across the globe take you to the concession stand to buy some popcorn because you're bored of the lack of 3D effects. It's a ploy to make money and now everyone's doing it- Disney is re-releasing both Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King in 3D later this year because of the fad. This is a disgrace, and a sure sign the 3D fad has gone too far...

Avatar, Part 3 (A.K.A. Yet Another Rant on James Cameron)

Ok so James Cameron has officially made me angry! Ok, so many people will agree he has done this before now but now it has gone too far- yet again! Avatar 3D is STILL in theatres, but the movie has been on DVD for a month. WHY?!?!?!?! The movie is not so spectacular that it just needs to always be in theatres. That's ridiculous. Especially now that we can all buy it so we can watch it whenever we want...why should we go pay $12 to go see it in 3D when it's not all that more spectacular in 3D. Oh and also a commercial for a special type of TV came on today boasting that James Cameron's Avatar was a movie that broke ground for several types of film-making...this my friends is actually incorrect. The same technology was used in ALL 3 of the Lord of the Rings movies- and the thing is the LOTR movies looked more believable than Avatar- the mix of CGI in the LOTR looked stunning but Avatar's mix of CGI and humans just looked fake. Everything was supposed to be flawlessly mixed, but it wasn't. Now the movie itself is not horrible, just not perfect like everyone makes it out to be. James Cameron- quit now, please?

Public Restrooms

Ok so this is a post I really should not have to make but obviously here at EKU I do... Men's restrooms- a place for men to take care of their business, clean it, and get out. It is NOT a place to take care of your business and allow everyone else to observe it. I seriously went into a restroom today and found every single urinal full of that ever-so-lovable bodily fluid. I went through and flushed them all...was it that hard? No! If we all took two more seconds in the restroom to do what our father's taught us at age three then the restroom's not only would be more pleasant to look at, but they wouldn't smell like pee either- which is just disgusting to have blasted in your face as you open the door to relieve yourself. Let's grow up, boys...please?

Disney Deaths

So far us Disney Dorks have been hit really hard with 3 tragic deaths of three iconic Disney legends since the May of last year. On May 18th last year Wayne Allwine- a.k.a. the voice of Mickey Mouse- passed away. Speculations have of course risen that Disney has already begun looking for a replacement (of course released like the next day) but so far I have heard nothing. Mickey is still silent for the time being. Of course the second death was slightly more tragic- Walt's nephew, the famous, Roy Disney passed away on December 16th. Of course one of the main names left in the Disney family this was an incredibly depressing thing to hear, though everything stayed basically the same as far as Disney's staff, so that's good. Finally the third Disney Death in recent times is Mr. Eddie Carroll passed away April 6th. Carroll of course being the voice of Jiminy Cricket since 1973 will dearly be missed, especially in the theme parks where he tended to reign more prominent. There has been a lot of tragedy in Disney of late and I hope everything will work out. And things are indeed looking up because June 11th is the premiere of Disneyland's World of Color show at California Adventure, so be on the look out for more info on that coming soon.

Harry Potter World

Ok, so I have really mixed feelings about this upcoming section of Unversal Orlando's Islands of Adventure Park. Near the back of The Lost Continent section of the park, they are set to open Harry Potter World this summer. Now honestly my feelings about this are mostly negative unfortunetly- does Harry Potter really deserve his own mini-theme park? I think not. He's got 7 books and 8 movies and about a million video game counter-parts and even multiple book spin-offs...he does not need a theme park. A lot of people's response to this would be: what about Mickey Mouse? He has all that crap, why does he have his own park- my answer is this: he doesn't. He is a character at a Disney theme park, just because he happens to be the main emphasis does not mean he has his own theme park. Now I admit I enjoyed Harry Potter for a while, but then his books got so damn boring I quit reading them and I haven't bothered to see the last couple movies because the books were so boring I saw no point in paying money to see them acted out. My other main negative thing is they are tearing down the park's iconic roller-coaster in order to build a Harry Potter related one. That's right coaster maniacs- Dueling Dragons is going to be no longer- they're getting rid of it to theme it to Harry Potter dragons and are starting from scratch. This you just don't f***ing do my friends- that coaster was world-renouned for it's amazing-ness and they are just tearing it down for Harry F***ing Potter. WOOO! NOT! Now the good thing (only one of them!) is the technology that's going into the exploring Hogwarts ride is phenomenal- it's a robotic arm that can flip you, twist you, shake you, and essentially make you fly without an airplane and that is pretty awesome- so that's one (count it- ONE) thing I'm looking forward to with this "world." I'm not sure how J.K. Rowling got the Harry Potter theme park contract but it's not really something I'm looking forward to a whole lot...

Relationships and Love

Not a very dorky subject, but one that is going though my mind nonetheless. Why do we have them? If someone you love just leaves after two years you're crushed and they move on. Why do we allow ourselves to do that? I'm not sure but I think that it should be simpler. I'm also not sure how to make it simpler. It just has to be hard I guess, and that's not fair. We get into these relationships, knowing it'll probably end, but then we get so in love and so sure it'll last forever and then it's gone and our original thought comes true, and it hurts bad. All I can say is "love songs suck and fairy-tales aren't true" -thanks to Bowling For Soup!!

Movies on TV

So riddle me this: why does watching a movie on TV take 45 minutes to an hour longer than simply watching the DVD? Commercials. That's why. But why are they so many commercials? Why do TV channels find it necesary to play 45 minutes of 30 second long advertisements? I know it's technically to "make money" but if they're really that hard-pressed for money, should they even be trying to play that movie? Should they even have a TV channel at all?! Snow White and the Seven Dwarves came on TV tonight...it is 83 minutes long; the TV version was 120. Lord of the Rings 3 is 3 and a half hours long by itself...the TV version was 5 hours!! WTF WHY?!? I guess it's just how life works and I'll probably never understand...

Avatar, Part 2

OK WTF PEOPLE?!? I just heard tell that James Cameron not only is planning the sequal to Avatar (as I mentioned in the last Avatar post) but now is writing a novel that is going to be the prequel to the movie. Seriously what the f*** is there to tell? "um...it's the future...my brother died...now I'm on a new planet..." That's like a one paragraph prequel...AND IT WAS IN THE MOVIE! Ok I didn't really have all that much of a problem with this movie until now, it has gone way too far.

Snow, part 2

Ok so here in Kentucky Mother Nature constantly shows her love for the Ohio Valley by blessing us with different weather conditions seemingly every few minutes. Now we are back under lots of snow all over the state- classes in college were canceled yesterday and today they were on a two hour delay (only it's not really a two hour delay, but that's a different rant). Honestly though it's not even all that bad out...a couple inches and a bit of a wind and that's all...roads are clear and sidewalks are mostly clear as well. I just kinda wish sometimes that good ol' Mother Nature could make her mind. And also...why does it have to be cold to snow?! I LOVE snow! I HATE the cold! Snow is so beautiful, but why does it have to be so doggone cold in order for it to happen? Oh well there's nothing I can do I suppose...

Avatar

Ok so honestly can someone tell me why the hell this movie is so good?!?!? I have seen it twice at this point and I still cannot see why people love it so much. The story was simply Dances with Wolves meet Pocohontas in space and the characters even looked like overgrown smurf versions of the Pocohontas characters. WTF?! The visual effects were ok I guess, other than the fact that so much of the movie was so obviously C.G. that it probably would have gone over in my head if the whole movie had been C.G. rather than trying to mix human people into the mix too because half the time the "humans" were computer generated as well. Now it's up for countless academy awards an I want to know WHY?!?!?!? There is nothing fabulous about this movie...it is simply OK. Plus there are thousands of reports stating that people want to kill themselves because they are either not on Pandora or not Na'vi. Ok once movies take people to this point I frown upon the human race...IT'S A MOVIE!!!! It's NOT real! Sheesh! Ok so honestly now, though it won't sound like it, i don't hate this movie, I simply find it OK, a good way to waste 3 hours of my life with mild entertainment...however I simply cannot fathom why planet Earth has gone completely ape over it. James Cameron, well done I suppose because you have topped all of your Titanic landmarks...you gonna try and top them in Avatar 2? Hey, that'd be a good sequel name: "Avatar 2: Top This, F***ers!!"

Reviving the Dorkiness!

HOLY CRAP! Why has it been so long since I've posted anything?!?!?

Well, I'l fill you in:

Basically a lot of crap happened and so it starts by saying we were snowed in for about a week and then there was our own theatre production of Oliver and I became a dad and so the last 8 months have been spent on that and I was paying attention to a ton of Disney news and now I'm at college with a crap-load of spare time and so hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the blog and (GASP!) that's the skinny!

Ok more posts soon hopefully...