Congratulations to Amanda G., winner of our February riddle. Amanda knew that Beast gave Belle his magic mirror so she could always remember him. Thanks to everyone who read the riddle and entered. Be sure to read the March riddle and enter for another chance to win.
Everyone knows the Muppets. This group of fuzzy, goggle-eyed puppets has been delighting audiences worldwide since even before the debut of the Muppet show in 1976. The Muppets were “born” when Jim and his future wife Jane Nebel created a five minute puppet show on a Washington TV station called “Sam and Friends.” Famous Muppet “Kermit” was conceived from a character on the show, but he nowhere resembled the famous frog we know today.
Jim Henson was much like Walt Disney – a dreamer and a doer. Walt created a magical world of cartoon characters and fairytales, Jim’s magical world consisted of lovable, cuddly puppets. And like Walt, Jim brought out the best in his workers and was an inspiration to all who knew him. Even at home with his five children; Jim was as playful and good-natured as the Muppets he conceived.
The other day while I was watching the news I saw a story highlighting a new trend that truly saddens me. I am referring to the trend of tween girls posting videos of themselves online asking if they are pretty or ugly. I went online, watched some of the videos, and read several of the comments posted under them. One nasty comment said “Yikes….. just had to stifle my vomit…” That was how I felt as I read the majority of the comments and watched some of the videos. I heard these girls saying things that I thought when I was younger, almost verbatim, about people calling them ugly and their insecure thoughts of themselves. Many of the comments were profane, mean, and downright hateful. One said that one of the girls was “a hideous grotesque demonic looking monstrosity.” However, some were even more disgusting; inappropriate to say to anyone of any age, but pedophilic due to the age of the girls. I found one comment that encouraged a girl to “just go ahead and end your life.” The more I watched the videos and read the comments, the more I knew that I needed to speak up.
We had just returned from Disney’s Hollywood Studios after a sneak-peak at the new Disney movie, John Carter. This special advanced look is offered only to DVC (Disney Vacation Club) members this weekend. No electronic devices were allowed, so if you had one, you left it with security to pick up after the show. Since both I and my wife are Sci-Fi buffs, we were excited about seeing this new entry. Shown at the Premier Theater, we arrived a half hour before ShowTime, and received our “Goodie Bag” with among other items, our 3D glasses.
For those not in the know, John Carter is the protagonist in the series of Sci-Fi books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan. The books, eleven in all are called “Barsoom” which is the name the people of Mars call their planet. Although these books were written by Burroughs in the early part of the 20th century, it had major influences in future works of science fiction. The fictional character of John Carter is first introduced in the novel “A Princess of Mars” which is the first book in the series. The years covered in this first book are between 1866 and 1876. The Disney film follows closely to the storyline of this book.
Photo Credit: www.wired.com
Should those who are powerful come to the aid of those who are vulnerable even if that aid is unwanted? What if that aid produces more harm than good? Those are some of the questions Mary Norton asked in her 1952 novel, The Borrowers, on which Disney’s newest release, The Secret World of Arrietty, is based. Arrietty opened in North America on February 17, 2012 to largely favorable reviews.
Feb 28 (29), 2012
PhotoCredit:Walt Disney
Couple of things – happy birthday to me and happy one more Disney day to you! I can’t believe I am writing this from 35k feet and didn’t extend my trip one day so I could be part of the “magic” … but I trust there will be plenty of pictures to go around!
Anyway, I know I’m generally the TV guy and all, but I hope you will forgive me if I stray away from the media just a bit today because I feel like I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what a truly wonderful experience the Walt Disney World Princess Half Marathon was. (I’m not THAT much of a couch potato, thank you very much!)
Photo Credit: Disneyrewards.com
As a rule, I don’t open unsolicited credit card offers. They go straight to the trash. But when I recently received one with mouse ears on the envelope, I made an exception. I’ve previously discussed my experience as a Disney Visa card holder . The offer I recently received was to upgrade to the new Disney Premier Visa.
Looking through the information I received, I saw that the difference between the Premier card and the one I currently I have is that I would get Disney Dream Reward Dollars for 2 percent of my purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, and Disney locations instead of the 1 percent the standard card offers. This is pretty significant, as most of my charges are in those categories. This would almost double the Disney Dream Reward Dollars I would get.
Another new feature on the Premier card is that in addition to redeeming the Dream Reward Dollars for a Disney gift card, I could also use them to help pay for airline travel on any airline. This is particularly appealing this year as my kids don’t want to go to Disney World . If we don’t go to a Disney destination, there will be a significant part of my normal vacation savings that I won’t be able to use. With the Premier card, I can still use my Dream Reward Dollars even if we don’t go to a Disney park.
There are also a few new designs for the cards, but that wasn’t that big a deal to me. So what was the catch? Ah, there it was at the very end of the brochure—a $49 annual fee. The standard Disney Visa has no annual fee. Another rule I have is that I won’t have a card with an annual fee. Why pay for the “privilege” of giving your business to the credit card company?
But I have to make an exception here. After doing a little quick math in my head, I figured that the extra 1 percent in Dream Reward Dollars on groceries, gas, and restaurants would amount to $15 a month or so, maybe even $20. That’s around $200 a year more. Allowing for the $49 in annual fees, I’m still earning over $100 a year extra for my vacation.
But wait—there’s more! If I acted now, for the first three months I had my Premier card, I would earn a whopping 5 percent in Dream Reward Dollars for gas, groceries, and restaurants. That alone would cover the first couple years of annual fees.
So, needless to say, I signed up for the Disney Premier Visa. I look forward to the extra vacation savings with my new card.
Photo Credit: Derek Hoffman (@TheDisneyMBA)
I recently downloaded an audiobook on iTunes titled “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Not only is the message fascinating, but the narrator reminds me of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” character from those Dos Equis commercials.
Photo Credit: www.disneyworld.com
Walt Disney once said…” Let’s not lose sight of one thing; that it all started with a Mouse” and while this poignant statement may be true, the real success of Disney’s company was Walt’s success in taking the primitive medium of animation and transforming it into a highly developed art form. When Walt first started his company, animation was in its infancy and was at best crude. Characters at the time had no personality and were merely stick figures that danced across the screen. Early audiences did not take the “Cartoons” seriously and no one thought they would amount to anything more than fillers for the main attraction.
Hearing how Disney has touched different lives is always interesting and fun. Most of us have great stories of how Disney has had an impact on our lives. For one mother of four, it went much deeper. Rhonda – owner of ‘Walt’s Basement’ found herself in a terrible situation.
“Unexpectedly, it was Disney that saved my life as an adult. In the late nineties, I found myself in an abusive marriage after the birth of my third daughter. My ex had moved us to Florida for what he said would be a good job, yet nothing materialized when we arrived. We were homeless, having run out of money shortly before the baby came, and living with only the assistance of various churches and host families.”
Recently there has been credible speculation that a new Disney feature is in work, tentatively titled “Saving Mr. Banks” 
starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Meryl Streep as Mary Poppins author, P.L. Travers. The script is about how Walt acquired the rights to the book for adaptation to the screen. Ironically, though the film raked in five Academy awards including Best Original Song and Score, Travers loathed the picture, and in particular, its animated sequences.
Just another rainy Sunday afternoon in Knox-vegas, TN so I’m unspooling yee olde faithful DVR and I got to thinking.
I’m not sure I’m proud of it but I classify myself as an “above average” consumer of media. Maybe it has something to do with what I do for a living (TV producer). I can rationalize that it’s “research” (insert laugh track). Either way, the fact of the matter is – I watch a lot of TV, go to plenty of movies, play my fair share of games and, much like you friendly reader, am always trolling this ever-crazy Internet machine.
I recently received an offer from Disney. They would send me a free $25 gift card if I would call the number they gave me and listen to a 10-minute presentation on the Disney Vacation Club. Never one to pass up anything free, I took them up on this offer.
I’ve looked at DVC before. I really do like the concept of owning a little piece of Disney World. And with us going there every year, it sounds like it might save us money in the long run. But every time I’ve considered buying into DVC, I’ve never been able to see the cost savings. At the time I received my offer, they were offering discounts of up to $20 per point purchased. If there was ever a time to buy into it, this was it.
I have come to learn that Target has a lot of Disney items for the home. I like to take at least a weekly walk-through at my local Target to discover any new items. I have been hearing from other Disney enthusiasts about new Disney items for the bathroom. My Target has the following:
Mickey Mouse shower curtain $19.99
Mickey Mouse shower curtain hooks $9.99
(Also saw Cars shower curtain hooks)
Mickey Mouse hand towel $7.99
Mickey Mouse bath towel $9.99
Mickey Mouse bath rug $19.99
Mickey Mouse soap pump $9.99
Photo Courtesy of Elantrice H.
Even though I’m a Disney fanatic, I can objectively say that The Walt Disney Company consistently develops some of the best advertising campaigns on television. From a technical standpoint, they could be used by any college-level marketing class as a road map for success in the industry.
While the ads they use across all business units (e.g. movies, consumer products, etc.) are tremendously effective, I think some of the best Disney commercials are the ones that promote their vacation destinations (e.g. the Walt Disney World Resort, the Disneyland Resort, the Disney Cruise Line, etc.). In those commercials, they understand how to create an emotional trigger without having a corny sales pitch.
There is a common thread amongst the people I’ve interviewed who are pursuing Disney; they tend to be involved with other Disney pursuits as well. Such is the case for Todd Perlmutter, co-host of the Disney Film Project Podcast along with wife, and Briana and Ryan who both are contributing bloggers here at the DDL. Each week they take a different Disney movie, watch it, and record a show about it, and tell secrets and background about it as well.
“It’s a lot of fun to do and very important to give back to the Disney community” says Todd. “I’m also a blogger and occasional developer for TouringPlans.com. Writing is something I really love to do, and writing about Disney makes it that much better. I also help keep the plumbing going at The Disney Driven Life as their resident tech guy. My official title there is Chief Technical Officer, but I’m a lot friendlier than that makes me sound.”
Over 100 million people can’t be wrong, so it’s official. Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots is the most watched TV show in U.S. history (estimated at 111.3 million people).
Now that the big game is behind us, it’s time to celebrate the season in which networks beg for our attention with new episodes from our favorite shows. That’s right! It’s SWEEPS! And ABC is no different. They want your eyeballs on both the network and online. This month they are hoping to get just that from fans of one of ABCs favorite families, Modern Family.
On a weekly shopping trip to Target, I discovered new Disney items in the home section. I was very excited about this find and wanted to share the news with others. The price point was $19.95. The items observed were as follows:
I purchased the jewelry tree and I am satisfied with it. It holds my necklaces, bracelets and earrings that have a long post or hoops. I did not choose the earring stand because I wanted the flexibility to place more than just earrings on something.