Be a Galactic Hero!

Want to get a 999,999 on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin? I did. So I scoured the interwebs for tips on how to achieve this goal. This is what I found:

From OrlandoParksNews.blogspot.com

This guide tells you how to find some of the highest scoring targets in the ride. I found the robot arm to be easy to hit and it really does give you 100,000 points per hit.

From HiddenMickeys.org

Apparently, there is a secret target if you spin around after a round door. " imagine there's a 3-circle Mickey head. Shoot at where the right ear would be, and if you hit the target (you can actually see a white circle) you get 1 million points! "


I cannot confirm or deny if this is true but I will look for it next time. However, it is impossible to get a million points as the max you can get is 999,999


From DisneyEveryday.com

This one has a handy video giving you tips. Where to shoot, etc. It also shows just how quickly you can max out the score if you shoot wisely.

So after brushing up on some strategy, want to know how I did??

Yes, I am now a Galactic hero. Plus, I achieved this score in the very first room. Sure, I was helped a bit by a pause in the ride. My big tips. Aim for the second robot hand. Make sure you have control of the joystick, and hold down the trigger button (the gun will fire almost continuously, allowing you to score lots of points!).

Let me know when you, too, are a Galactic Hero!

Happy Birthday, Disneyland!

Oh, Disneyland. I miss you. Congratulations on your birthday and I can't wait to celebrate with you in person, whenever that may be.

Tubby Lil' Cubby All Stuffed with Fluff

I saw Winnie the Pooh this weekend, instead of a certain movie about a wizard. I am so happy with my choice. I brought along my original Eeyore stuffed animal, because it wasn't awkward enough to be the only adult without a child in the theatre. One woman even asked if I was there to see Winnie (I guess she thought either she or I were in the wrong theatre). 

I have been a Pooh and Eeyore fan since birth (the Eeyore that accompanied me was the very first stuffed animal that I ever had), and this movie did not disappoint. First, the animation was gorgeous. I  prefer hand drawn to computer animation. Winnie the Pooh made you feel like you fell into a storybook. The backgrounds were rich and looked like paintings. The characters were the ones you grew up with not the weird Super Sleuths versions. I especially loved the animation in the Backson song sequence. The chalk characters were the cutest. 

My one problem with the movie was the soundtrack. I disliked the sound of Zooey Deschanel voice in the songs. I think they could've done a better job with the female vocals. Other than that, the songs were memorable and fun. Very Winnie the Pooh. Especially the Backson song. I have to admit I have it in my iTunes now and I can't stop listening to it.

Whether you have a kid or are a kid at heart, whether you grew up with Winnie and friends or you didn't, you will enjoy this movie. You'll appreciate your friends more after and the world will be a happier place. Also you will suddenly want to hug every stuffed animal you see and eat honey. Just make sure you stay until the end of the credits!

Run time: 69 minutes

Preceded by The Ballad of Nessie

Disney Princess Makeup Tutorials

Recently, I have learned that YouTube is a wonderful source of just about everything. Especially makeup tutorials. I have never been good at makeup or hair (or most girly things for that matter) and thanks to some of these tutorials I am getting marginally better! Here are some of my favorites (some are best reserved for halloween and please never wear contact lenses not fitted to you by a doctor):

This one is not exactly a Disney Princess but I still like it (Tim Burton is at least Disney-related)

This one is a really cute theme park look that was inspired by Walt Disney World

Spaceship Earth: An Architecture Paper

Photo: wdwlive.com

    Spaceship Earth is the Icon of the EPCOT Park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL. EPCOT (an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) opened in 1982 as the second theme park at Walt Disney World, making EPCOT a household name and Spaceship Earth an international icon.
    The world’s first complete Geodesic Sphere, Disney Imagineers (a term coined by Walt Disney as a combination of Imagination and Engineer) worked closely with Architect Buckminster Fuller. Fuller had invented the geodesic dome in the 1940s (and also introduced the term Spaceship Earth), however Disney Imagineers wanted to construct a full sphere, a feat that had never before been realized.
     For the geosphere, the same system of prefabricated triangles used to make Fuller’s domes was employed. In 26 months with 40,800 hours of labor, the Imagineers were able to create a self-supporting dome that rests on a circular platform with the remaining quarter of the sphere hanging from the base of platform. The entire dome could then be suspended eighteen feet above the ground using three sets of double legs that were arranged in a triangle.
    Over ten thousand triangles cover the sphere, giving it a unique look many compare to that of a golf-ball. The sphere is 164 feet in diameter and has a hidden gutter system within the triangles that prevents water from falling onto the park’s guests and channels it into World Showcase Lagoon. The geosphere has proven to be incredibly strong as well, with Spaceship Earth withstanding winds of 200 miles per hour.
    Spaceship Earth has over two million cubic of interior space, held within a waterproof inner sphere, that houses one of EPCOT’s flagship attractions, an omnimover ride also named Spaceship Earth. The ride Spaceship Earth is a journey through civilization and communications from the dawn of humanity through the age of the Internet and beyond.
    Spaceship Earth is a representation of the goals of EPCOT, promoting a global neighborhood and showcasing technology. It blends the two aspects of the park perfectly. The globe represents the World Showcase section of the park that promotes international unity while celebrating culture while embracing Future World’s focus on technology and innovation.
    Spaceship Earth has only seen a few exterior changes in its tenure as EPCOT’s icon. Stripes added to its supporting legs to echo the lines of the “Leave a Legacy” plaza have been removed, returning the legs to a light blue color. A Mickey Mouse arm holding a wand was added in 1999 for Walt Disney World’s Millennium Celebration. When first added the wand had giant numbers commemorating the upcoming year 2000. After the Millennium Celebration ended, the numbers were replaced with the word Epcot. Later, with the introduction of Siemen’s as a new corporate sponsor, the Mickey Mouse EPCOT wand was removed.

Photo: Jodi Beyer

DeCaro, Frank. "Style over Substance; Hey, Mickey, 'Auld Lang Syne' Already?(Style Desk)." The New York Times  (1999): NA.
Hench, John. Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show. New York City: Disney Editions, 2008.
Imagineers. "Future World Central."  The Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot. Ed. Jody Revenson. vols. New York City: Disney Editions, 2006. 28-39.
Pederson, R. A. The Epcot Explorer's Encyclopedia. Florida: Epcyclopedia Press, 2011.
"Spaceship Earth: Attraction at Epcot".  Lake Buena Vista, 2010. web page.  (2010):  Walt Disney Company. April 11 2011. <http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/attractions/spaceship-earth/>.
. Walt Disney World: Behind the Scenes. Andy Perrott. 2010.

Top 5 Villain Songs

Disney music has always been a big part of my life. I listen to it all the time. From music from the movies to music from the parks. I have a good collection of Disney music. This is a list of some of my all time favorite Disney Villain songs. They are in no particular order.

Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid)

This song makes Ursula one of the best Villains. I would trade my voice for legs if someone sang this at me (it would be a pretty bad deal too, I already have legs but y'all knew that).

Be Prepared (The Lion King)

Sign me up for your uprising! Nice use of Vocabulary, Scar (Quid pro quo, etc). When I was little I thought it said "A shiny new earring is tiptoeing nearer" so I would sing it as such.

The World's Greatest Criminal Mind (The Great Mouse Detective)

Vincent Price has a set of pipes! Just don't call Ratigan a Rat or you'll be cat food too.

Hellfire (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

This is one of the most emotionally charged Disney songs ever. It's dark, moody, and reveals so much about Frollo. I love the use of the Latin. This song is pushing it into the kid-unfriendly zone (some mature themes in this one) but for what they had to work with, Disney really made Victor Hugo's very R-rated classic as G as it could be.

The Mob Song (Beauty and the Beast)

Just try learning all the words to this song, it's harder than it seems. Some friends and I have made it our mission. The lyrics are amazing, complex, but fun and altogether very mob-y, allowing the Mob Song to narrowly beat "Friends on the Other Side" and "Mother Knows Best" from my Top 5.

Review: Disney's Enchanted Rose App

This is the first in a series of App reviews focusing on the iPhone and iPad. I chose the Enchanted Rose Beauty and the Beast promotional app for iPad. Released to inspire interest for the Diamond Edition Blu-Ray and DVD release for Beauty and the Beast, this app is cute but there isn't much to it.

 The game is modeled after "he loves me, he loves me not" but uses the Enchanted Rose for the flower. The graphics are nice, definitely modeled after the animation style of the movie. You can drag , simply poke, or shake the petals off (you actively shake to iPad, and you have to do it quite noticeably for it to register). Before you play, you get to select the name of your crush. To do this, you can select a facebook friend, enter a name yourself, or simply skip a name. After that step, you get to designate the gender of your beloved. This is where I had the most trouble. No matter how hard I poked "he", the app would nearly always give me "she" instead. That function should definitely work better.

The game is cute. But once again there is not much to it.My favorite way to take off the petals is by dragging off, it lends some realism to the game. In the end, Belle and the Beast are either united because "They loved you" or they are lonely because "They loved you not".

This is not a game that will occupy a child for very long. My ADD kicked in mid-game then I started to get fancy with my petal removal techniques. It is kind of fun to rapid fire poke at the rose to see how quickly you can destroy it. Shaking it is, once again, not a reliable method but also a dangerous thing to do with an expensive gadget. Especially if a child is the one doing the shaking.


I was excited to see that there was a trailer in the Extras section. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get any sound from the App. This makes the trailer decidedly less interesting. However, the resolution, even on the iPad, is great. If only I could get the sound to work. Also under the Extras option, there are links that can lead to kids buying the film, either from iTunes or the actual Blu-Ray disc. So beware little fingers making purchases from this app.

Overall, this is not a terrible app. It was free so I can't be angry about wasting any money on an app with some functioning issues. It occupied me for awhile, mostly watching the soundless trailer. It would be a good game for very little ones because there isn't a lot going on and they can learn motor control from the dragging. Also the involvement of Belle and the Beast is a good reward for a little tyke.

Disney has enough money and resources to make an app that works correctly and has sound. They, also, misspell Blu-Ray in the app. It is sad that they allowed this one out with the problems it has.

Pros: Free, good graphics, characters
Cons: not much too it, gender buttons don't work very well, sound won't work, kids could make purchases from the app

Character Training

Disney's Cryptozoo

    I have two seemingly very different passions. Disney is my foremost passion, one that I am very open sharing with the world. My other passion is Cryptozoology, the study of hidden animals. Surprisingly, there are many ways that my two passions overlap.
    You may be asking yourself how the two may be connected but they have been connected for around 50 years. One of the icons of Disneyland is the Matterhorn. Adding another layer of adventure to the already innovative “I’m going to fly out of this bobsled and die” ride is an encounter with an Abominable Snowman, a cryptid. This Yeti has been made into pins and merchandise. He has his own Vinylmation figurine. He is a Disneyland icon. He is not Disney’s only Yeti.
    At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, another mountain is an icon. Expedition Everest stole some if the spotlight from the Tree of Life. Everest is looming presence in DAK that pulls you in with an air of mystery and adventure. Screams emanate from the mountain as it expels a train. The source of this fear and energy is a Yeti. The Yeti or “Abominable Snowman” is a bipedal hominid believed to be a close cousin of the Bigfoot and a descendent of the Gigantopithicus. Interestingly, almost every culture on Earth has Bigfoot-like creature in their folklore and at DAK you can come face to face with one of them.
    The queue is an acting museum to the folklore and investigation surrounding the Yeti. As you wind around the exhibits look around and see how this creature seems to be a perfect blend of the biological and the spiritual. Will the Yeti ever be proved to exist? Probably not There is still much we do not know about the world around us and new species are discovered every day.
You can see many cryptids and former cryptids at DAK. If you are lucky enough to see an Okapi on your next Safari, you are looking at a former cryptid. The Western world scoffed at the idea of big brown horse with striped legs but it was only recognized in 1887. The logo of DAK features the real, the extinct, and the fantasy of the animal world. A parade of animals features a dragon, an elephant, a dinosaur, an antelope, and a unicorn. The next time you pull your car into a spot of the Unicorn Lot, think about the animals that were, are, and could be then look around and may just spot one.


WDW Cryptid Checklist
-    Yeti
-    Okapi
-    Unicorn (Lot)
-    Dragon (hint there are lots)
-    Nessie (hint at DTD)
-    Trolls
-    Ghosts (not a Cryptid but Paranormal)

To One Day Rule the World (Walt Disney World)

As a wee first-year (there are no freshMEN at a Women's College), I knew I would be a Political Science major. However, while perusing the course catalog, something caught my eye. There was a course called "Disneyland in American Culture", a seminar posted by the American Studies and Art History departments. I figured the best way to take this class that, frankly, was made for me, would be to major in one of those two departments. American Studies it was. But I knew I was going to be a PoliSci major.

So there I was, not even through Orientation and I was a double major. The logic? Well, I'll need the political knowledge to run the World and the knowledge of American Culture to get there and guide it along. Plus, I had my mind set to be a PoliSci major and I tend to do the things my mind gets set on.

Now, I am a second-semester senior who is double-majoring in PoliSci and American Studies. This should be the semester that I would be taking my fated "Disneyland" class but, alas, they are no longer offering it. So I picked a major for nothing (even though American Studies is still my favorite major, that's right I said it, PoliSci).

Throughout my years here at Wellesley, I have become known as that Disney Girl. Disney is my identifier (well, that and Republican but that's a different story) and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Girls come to me when they are planning a trip to Disney or Orlando in general. They ask me about the characters, the movies, the music, and the parks. I wouldn't have it any other way. Even though I never got to take my "Disneyland" course, I learned so much about Disney and it's place in American Culture simply by interacting with those around me (Twitter has been a great tool as well).

Not everyone here likes Disney. In fact, many despise it. They believe it teaches kids the wrong thing or undermines the Feminist movement or is just one giant consumeristic marketing ploy to exploit our childhoods for profit. They may all be right in some ways but they have taught me valuable lessons about how people experience and relate to Disney, things I can use to make it better.

However, in a world where women strive to be global leaders, my dreams of working at Disney are often brushed aside. Wellesley is a place for women who will. Women who will be secretary of state. Women who will be high-powered attorneys, innovative doctors, ground-breaking scientists, and world-changing activists. The woman most likely to be President of the United States is a Wellesley Woman.

As a college student, people always ask about my major(s) infer my life goals from that:
Them: So what's your major?
Me: I'm an American Studies and Political Science double major.
Them: Oh, you're going to be a politician?
Me: I'm hoping to work in Tourism, preferably Theme Parks.
Them: So you want to be a lawyer?
Me: I want to work at Walt Disney World.
Them: So you want to be a Politician?

Some wonder why I picked the majors I did if that's what I want to do, but I think I chose correctly. Now, if only I was in that "Disneyland" course right now.

The Beginnings an Addiction

Meet my beloved Eeyore. He was my very stuffed animal and I think my parents might regret giving him to me. I don't think they could've imagined what they started by giving their daughter a stuffed donkey. 

Eeyore was my first exposure to Disney and the addiction has grown ever since. I was not Eeyore's first owner, that honor belongs to my Aunt. I'm not sure how long he belonged to her before he became my security blanket, my best friend, and my enabler. I do know that he is OLD. He predates the "All New Materials" thing in toys. My Eeyore is stuffed with Shredded Clippings and Ground Nutshells. So he's pretty darn old.  

Eeyore goes almost everywhere with me. He's been to Disney, on cruises, across the U.S., to the doctor, etc. He's a world traveler as well. He's made appearances in the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, and Canada. He's been to Australia, saw the Sydney Opera House, went camping in the Outback and was toted around Ayer's Rock (Uluru). He is my constant travel companion, his head peeking out from my backpack. 

Eeyore is my rock. I know he will always be there to support me even though he is just a stuffed animal. Disney has always been there for me, too. Always making me happy and letting me forget my troubles, making it okay to live in a dreamworld and be a kid again. Even when I thought Disney let me down (when I didn't get the College Program), I ended up growing and learning with other opportunities (Thanks Disney for not accepting me!). 

My Obsession has grown ever since my parents gave me my Eeyore. Today, I have over 300 Eeyore related items (from stuffed animals to a toothbrush holder, decorative items to pins, etc) and countless Disney items as well. I go to the Parks at least 10 times a year (6 times this year already), and am now an annual passholder. I'm a D23 charter member. Disney is even the cornerstone to my career plans and I hope to spend my life continuing to feed my Disney addiction.