Merry Christmas Post

Happy December Disney Fans!!!

Your Disney fan Patrick here writing to you today from beautiful Las Vegas, NV where I'm spending two weeks with my family RVing, gambling, exploring, and all around having a good time. I'll be spending Christmas, New Years, and my parent's anniversary while out here in the deserty west. Alas, however, this trip Disneyland will not be happening, but that's okay. It'll be there for future trips I'm sure.

Speaking of Disneyland, I have been seeing video ads on YouTube highlighting the new Downtown Disney District in Anaheim. Looking at the ads and maps of the district, I get a sense the area will be a smaller but still just as active version of the Disney Springs in Orlando. It's nice to see Disney expanding all of it's parks to bring joy to all of it's guests. Looking at the map, Downtown Disney is right off of the Grand Californian resort and hosts many places to shop and eat and enjoy a little Disney magic without necessarily needing a ticket.

New Downtown Disneyland District

Part of the magic of Disney ... Even in places where you don't have to pay they still give you magic!

In other news, the year is beginning to wrap up and I celebrate two years of having this blog!! Two years of Disney musings, movies, and general magical posts. As I stated in a previous month I am going to take this blog in a new direction for 2016. I'm excited to get 2016 underway for my Disney and Dinner series. Every month I will bring you a new menu inspired by a Disney movie with recipes, pictures on preparing and a few friends helping me out. We'll be sharing our thoughts on the food and movie and fellowship. I'll start out 2016 with January's movie Lilo and Stitch, featuring an easy At Home Luau with Kalua Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Asian Slaw. 

Well kids ... It's been a wonderful year and we're getting ever closer to the big 2017 friend trip to Walt Disney World!! In the meantime I hope you enjoy the holidays and I would like to leave you with this little clip from a VHS I used to watch every December growing up ... I leave you with the opening of Disney's 1982 video A Disney Christmas Gift

Happy Holidays Disney Fans and remember 

Make It A Magical Holiday -- Pat A. 

A Thankful Post

Happy chilly November Disney Friends!!

Another month is flying by and the end of the year is quickly approaching. It also means a time to spend with family (either biological or chosen) over good food, good times, and good conversation. For me that'll mean spending time with my good friends at an Orphan's Thanksgiving (a term I used to use when I cooked and invited people over that weren't able to be with their families during Turkey Day). Much as I like to cook I also love to hand over the reins to someone else as well and just sit back and enjoy the day off from it all.

I'm very curious to all of you readers out there with the blog. What makes you thankful? What Disney movie or park or experience has made you thankful?

Here's my Disney Thankful Post:

In 1966 two newlyweds traveled to Disneyland to celebrate their honeymoon with the bride's parents also attending. The two would later have a couple of children, one of whom is the publisher of this blog. Thus starts the beginning of a Disney fan in training and the perfect situation for raising a Disney Kid.

In 1985 a family would travel down from Ontario, Oregon to Anaheim in two motorhomes and the family would stay in the Disneyland RV Park *now I believe it's the Anaheim RV Park* and spend what seemed like forever exploring the park on multiple days, as well as going to Universal Studios, and shopping. The best part of the RV park was being able to see the fireworks from the motorhome. This was the first visit for me and the start of a Disney fanatic life!

Two years later in 1987, the same family would travel to Florida for a business trip and yes you guessed it ... a visit to Walt Disney World resort. At that time there were only two parks, Magic Kingdom and my favorite Epcot Center; Downtown Disney was called the Disney Village and the only water park was Disney's River Country.

Nine years later in 1996, the youngest in the family, now a freshman in high school, is given a chance to travel with his high school choir and band to perform in the Magical Musical Days at Disney (how many of you are alum of that program??). The band proudly walked down Main Street while the choir sang on the Carnation Stage ... What fond memories that brings back.

The next year in 1997, back to Florida for another business trip with the family, but this time with a high school buddy coming as well. By this time, Disney had built Disney/MGM studios and opened up what would become another favorite ride, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It was in the middle of October and waits never exceeded 5 minutes!! Fast Pass was barely introduced but, at that time not needed.

Flash forward to 1999, Senior year of high school and the final experience of Magical, Musical Days in Disneyland. The high school choir would go back to the Carnation Stage and a final spring break trip with high school friends to Disney.

As time passed and the real world took hold, the next trip would happen until 2006. The parent's decide to go back to Disneyland to celebrate 40 years together!! This time the oldest sibling brings his family as well. Grandpa, Grandma, Brother, Sister-in-Law, and Nephew all in once place together sharing an experience at the Happiest Place on Earth.

More time passes and it was time for a return trip to Florida and Walt Disney World taking place in 2013. This time with parent's and a partner in tow. The week is spent reliving childhood fun and experiencing new and wonderful sites since the last trip (and that's a lot considering it was 16 years since the last trip!!). This also creates a new resolve to move to Florida and pursue a career with Disney World.

I'm sure by now you've guessed all these travels are my trips to the Disney parks. I'm thankful for every trip as I have experienced the magic with family and friends. I'm thankful that Disney has taught us to keep believing in magic. And I'm thankful for the opportunity to explore more options into not only visiting *again the next trip in 2017* but also thankful for reawakening a passion in me to strive for something career-wise. I'm thankful to be able to share this passion for Disney with all of you as well.

Next month I will be traveling out west to Las Vegas and I hope I will be able to spend a couple of days in Anaheim and take pictures of Disneyland to share with you all. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you my Disney Friends and as always.

Make It A Magical and Thankful Day

Patrick A

October 2015

Hello Disney Fans!!

I know it seems odd to do another update quickly on the heels of my last ... But it's a new month, a new day, and a good time to give a quick update on this blog. Forgive me if this seems to be a rather short post ...

At the end of the year I'll be traveling out to Las Vegas for about 17 days to spend Christmas with my family (I've not been able to spend Christmas with them for about 5 years) and all in all have a general good time.  Well ... that is quite a long time to stay in one place and it would seem a shame to be so close to Los Angeles and not zip over for a few days.  So ... it sounds like we may be spending a day or two in Disneyland and California Adventures park!!  I'll have my computer and be sure to upload photos and post here if and when it happens *let's hope it does!!*

In the new year I'm going to run an experiment with some friends and report on this blog. While I'm sure this isn't a new idea and there are lots of ideas for Disney Parties on the Web and on sites like Pinterest, I've decided to give a year over to creating a Disney and Dinner party for friends. Each month I'll pick a Disney movie and create a menu around that movie. To keep the focus rather tight I'm going to stick with Disney and Pixar movies, so sorry fans of Marvel and Studio Ghibli. But if the coming year of Disney and Dinners is successful, then maybe I can expand into those movies.

The Disney and Dinner series will include information and history on movies (SPOILER: there will be repeats from earlier reviews) as well as the menu and recipes for each item I've created.  I will strive for variety as choose films and create menus of course ... Take a lot of pictures!

Again I'm going to keep this blog post short for the month.  I hope you are enjoying the fall colors as much as I am and preparing for Halloween.  Those of you traveling to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party ... Safe travels.  Have a safe and happy Halloween Disney fans.

Make it a Magical Day
Patrick A.

Wow ... A Crazy Long Summer Post

Hello Disney Fans!!

Well true to form ... Summer activities took up a lot of time and here I am again sitting in Starbucks thinking about what to write on.  And I must confess ... with everything going on this summer ... I'm still struggling.

First off I am sad to announce that my partner and I have decided to call it quits after three years... Sad news indeed but like many things in my life I look at this as a move for the best.  This doesn't change plans for a 2017 trip in September at all mainly because I've already got a good head start on the money being set aside for it and it's an open invite to friends who wish to go.  But more on that later.

Much like you would expect, breaking up took it's toll on my emotions and I started thinking about what would make me happy.  In true Disney Fan fashion I took a look through my DVD collection to see what would cheer me up.  I'm sure I've mentioned my DVD collection in previous posts and really what gives me joy is owning not just many of the more popular films such as the Princess films and popular live actions like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but also many that are rarer to today's audiences.  Eventually I decided on The Aristocats.  The story of the well-bred Duchess and her three kittens Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse, the scheming butler Edgar getting rid of the cats to inherit a fortune, and with the help of Thomas O'Malley the Alley Cat and his friends their return to Paris.

There isn't much reference made to The Aristocats now that you can find anywhere really in the parks ... At least not that I've been able to track down (if the changes I'll be sure to update in future posts).  So really it may be a harder video to find.  But ... whenever I'm sad the film reminds me of my very first cat ... who I named Thomas O'Malley (or Malley for short).  Watching the film I then started to dig in a bit more as I normally do and realized so many wonderful details that drew me to the film; such as music being composed by the Sherman Brothers (the very same team that composed music for Mary Poppins & Bedknobs and Broomsticks) and I found this to be one of the first films where the main characters have a single parent, but unlike most films, the single parent is the mother not the father.

Voice talent wise, Aristocats has voices many of us have come to recognize in the pantheon of recording artists.  Duchess is voiced by Eva Gabor (Miss Bianca from The Rescuers series), Thomas O'Malley voiced by good ole Papa Bear Baloo, Phil Harris.  There's also a multitude of talent in the supporting characters as well like Roquefort the mouse voiced by the same master of voices as Kaa and Winnie the Pooh Sterling Holloway, and the Shun Gon the Siamese Cat voiced by Paul Winchell (many of you may know him as the voice of Tigger), and the biggest surprise to me was Billy Boss the Russian Cat voiced by the distinctive bass of Thurl Ravenscroft (yes THE Grim Grinning Ghost himself).

You see all ... Disney is a source of happiness for me as I know it is for many of you.  This post may be a bit on the meandering side but ... Today I just wanted to let things out and show my appreciation for All Things Disney as I know you share it with me.  No pictures today ... No filler ... Just the written word.  I hope you guys are still out there reading and enjoying this blog.  It gives me a lot of joy writing down my thoughts for you even if they are a little self-indulgent.

For now I will say ...

Have a Magical Fall Day
Patrick A

Disneyland 60th Celebration

Happy Almost Summer Disney Fans!!!

Warmer weather is upon us here in Columbus meaning ... Very high humidity and flash rainstorms.  It also means the start of some amazing events happening that only summer can bring.  The local theater organization here in Columbus hosts a summer movie series every summer, where for a $5 ticket you can go to the beautiful gem of the Ohio Theater (normally reserved for the symphony, opera, and traveling Broadway tours) and see a movie on the big screen just like the old days!!  We get to watch movies and hear the old organ all throughout the summer time!!  It also signals a weekend of artisan work, live music and food all around the riverfront area of Downtown Columbus, lovingly called Art Fest (Check it out here http://columbusartsfestival.org/).

It also means the kick off into National Pride month and you know I'm all for a good celebration.  This year I am fortunate enough to get to take part in two different Pride celebrations here in Ohio.  Next weekend (also during my birthday) I am privileged to represent the Ohio Gay Pride Pageantry system as the current Miss Columbus Gay Pride and twirl about in the biggest outdoor drag show and Pride celebration I've ever seen, appropriately names Dragapalooza.  Afterwards in July, I'll be taking part in the first ever Mansfield Gay Pride ... Yes that's right Mansfield, Ohio is hosting it's very first Gay Pride celebration!!  Being able to say I am a part is truly what gives me pride as a person, gay man, and drag queen!!

Needless to say summertime always excites me because of all the happenings including ... TRAVEL!!!!!  This summer also marks the 60th Diamond Anniversary of Disneyland ... the place where it all began!!!  So many fond memories of going to Disneyland growing up and the start of my belief in Disney Magic.  Now ... I will admit that this will be a nostalgic post and that means yes indeed ... I'll be telling you a Disney story.  Let me take you back to one of my first memories of Disneyland:

I would say this was probably back in the 1980's though the actual year I can't really remember.  This was a family roadtrip ... Imagine it ... two RVs and three families of parents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  You could say it was a little hectic and crazy to say the least, especially with cousins ranging in age from 9 to 3 on the way to Disneyland.  When we finally arrived in Anaheim, we didn't end up staying in Disneyland Hotel but the Disneyland RV park (yes there was a Disneyland RV Park).  I can still remember getting up in the morning and walking to the Disneyland Hotel coffee shop for breakfast (to get there we had to walk about two blocks one of which had a strawberry field, I can still smell the strawberries ripening in the summer sun).  Well ... My parents taught me that vacations are meant to slow down and enjoy, which when you're a kid at the age of 4 so close to Disneyland just doesn't happen.  See we had a normal pattern we followed when we went on vacation to Disney: The day we arrived it was normally around afternoon or early evening so we didn't do Disney right off (didn't make sense to spend the money on a ticket for a partial day I guess), instead we went to the Disneyland Hotel and had dinner.  After we got done eating, the kids would get a roll of quarters from the parents and go play with these R/C cars and boats on the Disneyland Hotel property.

I believe this is the area where you could find the R/C fun area. 

The next day, breakfast and then catching a monorail into Tomorrowland.  While I very much enjoyed going to the main gate and getting the experience of walking up Main Street before entering into the park proper, Going to the Monorail Station made me even more excited because of the view it gave of my favorite ride in the entire park, Submarin Voyage.

Favorite view

From there the day started with all the joy that Disneyland can give.  Eating, riding, shows (yes I do remember going on the Carousel of Progress while it was till in Disneyland), and then the parades, the music of the Main Street Electrical Parade still makes me smile.  Sometimes we would stay for the fireworks while in the park or sometimes, we'd beat the crowd out of the park and go back to the RVs where we could see the firework show from the park (normally sitting out in the front of the RVs).  The trip would also include other excursions like Universal Studios, the beach, Knott's Berry Farm and of course shopping at the many malls in LA.  But we always came back to Disneyland and we had many trips back: Family trips, Anniversaries (my parent's spent their honeymoon there 50 years ago!!), and even a few trips in high school with the Magical Music Days.  But those first trips are what really sparked it all for me and later sparked more trips to Disney World.  

Well everyone, I admit this time I didn't do my research to see what is upcoming with Disney.  So I apologize for not being on top of that.  But ... I would love to hear your first memories of Disneyland or Disney World.  What was your first trip to the park like?  Where and when did you go??  Let me know in the comments below and as always ... 

Make It A Magical Day -- Pat A 

The Kingdom Keepers -- May 2015

Happy May and Mother's Day Disney Fans!!

It seems as though Spring made a quick appearance before giving way to Summer here in Columbus and I'm definitely ready for the warm weather!

Summer time is on its way and for many that means travel!! I know many of you lucky ones will be traveling with your families to the Disney Parks soon for Disney Vacation Magic; I have two responses to that: 1. Have a wonderfully magic trip and 2. Do you have room for another traveler??  Anyone?  No?  Oh okay ... I'll sit this year out.

Following a new format of making this an all things Disney blog, I've chosen to write on an awesome series of books involving Disney characters, parks, attractions and even the fight of Good vs. Evil ... But first ... a little background ...

In my last post I wrote a little about one of my favorite pastimes: Reading.  After graduating from College of Idaho in Caldwell, I moved to Spokane, WA to take some time to myself and develop myself as a singer and person.  On top of developing my voice and singing with the Spokane/Coeur D'Alene Opera, I also learned what it meant to navigate a day job.  Achieving the balance of singing, work, and social time ... Well that was a task.  It also taught me what it meant to stand your ground and take what chances offered to you when they arose.  As you can imagine money wasn't always abundant and that meant learning how to go without certain things.  In my case, it meant living without Cable TV.

Now I know many of you probably just did a collective, how-on-earth-did-you-survive gasp at that last sentence.  As tough is it may have sounded, after the first several months I found I enjoyed going without cable for a variety of reasons.  I had access to the Interwebs so getting information through that media was easy enough.  I also lived near a store (that I would later work at) called Hastings Entertainment; Hastings dealt with new and used CDs, DVD rentals and sales, and new and used books.  My basement room was contained enough that I was able to close the door, turn on a movie or music and relax.  Sometimes it meant studying a score of an opera with the recording, becoming familiar with roles that I could (or wanted to) sing, watching a DVD or playing my Playstation, but more often it meant spending time in silence and reading.  And I read many amazing books from the Outlander series to non-fiction books about the life of opera singers, composers, and entrepreneurs.

Fast forward five years: I've just graduated with my Masters from Ohio State and now ... time for another day job while starting a voice studio and finding various gigs and groups needing a tenor.  While I did have cable living in the student housing at OSU, afterwards I was again in the same boat: working a day job in retail, singing for my supper on the side, and learning that spending time in my apartment meant enjoying silence which again, led me to start reading more and more.

My love of reading naturally brings me to this month's Disney Blog subject:

The Kingdom Keeper series!!! 

I first heard about the Kingdom Keeper books through an online community appropriately called Addicted to Disney (Check them out on the official Addicted to Disney Facebook page) and are the work of author Ridley Pearson (http://ridleypearson.com/).  The seven book (plus two novels and a novella) series follows the adventures of the Disney parks after they close.  You see ... There's a war being waged between good and evil characters that Walt Disney envisioned and it's up to the Disney Host Interactive (Holographic guides that are able to interact with guests) Finn, Charlene, Willa, Maybeck, and Philby to help decide once and for all that the Good of Disney Magic will triumph over the Evil.  If you want to get more on the story well ... You're just going to have to pick up the books from your local library or bookstore to see what happens (sorry no spoilers). 

The First Seven of the Kingdom Keeper Series

What I enjoy about the series is Pearson includes any Disney character or attraction you can imagine; many characters make and appearance from classic Disney movies such as The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty, Pixar films like The Incredibles and characters from the Disney Attractions (my favorite of all, Madame Leota, even makes an appearance!!).  I have currently read the first seven books in the original series (The Kingdom Keepers proper) and started reading a transitional book, title The Syndrome.  According to the research I've been able to find Pearson's website, The Syndrome leads into the next series of books under the series titled The Return.  Another facet of the series I enjoy is that Pearson doesn't stick with just one land.  The first book starts at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, but as the holographic technology that powers the teens DHI expands to other parks on the resort in Florida, and eventually California and Disney Cruise Ships, so too, does the story and their adventures.  

Be sure to step into your local library or book store and pick up a copy of the series if you want to read about adventures in some of your favorite Disney places and attractions along with the DHI champions, or you can also purchase them through Pearson's site that I've included in this post.  

Another section I am going to start including in my post I'm simply titling This Month In Disney, where I will be highlighting things I've been hearing through the Mouse Vine ... So I give you the inaugural: 

This Month In Disney

On May 22nd, Disney releases Tomorrowland in theaters.  I'll be sure to have my ticket and share my thoughts in the future. 

Disney Parks have announced the Disney Dining Plan is back for 2015.  In the past from what I've seen, the plan was limited to so many nights stay at specific hotels on the resort.  Qualifying for it now requires booking a 6-night/7-day stay on the resort with purchase of tickets including Park Hopper or Water Park Option (for dates and other restrictions check out the Disney Website Here).  

And on a personal note I'm about 1/3 of the way to reaching my savings goal for the Disney Vacation in 2017 (where I hope I can meet some of you out in the parks).  

Alrighty everyone that does it for this month's blog.  Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there and as always ... 

Make It A Magical Day -- Pat A 

A little Disney Spring Cleaning!!

Happy Spring Disney Readers!!

As you may have seen I am not reviewing a movie this month.  I've had a bit of time to mull over some options and rather than keep my focus to just one Disney movie a month, I am going to turn this into an all things Disney blog!!

As you may know Disney is a driving force in my life and has been ever since I was 3.  Some of my earliest memories of going to Disneyland and Disney World helped create me into the performer and dreamer that I am today (Disney was quoted as saying "Adults are kids grown up anyway").  I think this blog would be better suited by broadening it's horizons to anything and everything Disney, which quite frankly will keep me writing for the rest of my life!!  So what Disney magic have I been letting into my life recently?  Read on Disney fans ...

Towards the start of the year I had decided I was going to start putting some feelers out and scope out some job opportunities with Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  I am exploring three different avenues of work: Show production, Hospitality and Event Planning, and Banking.  I've already put in some preliminary applications to get an idea as to the turnaround time of responses, and brushed off the dust on my resume so it can be seen.  There are such a multitude of jobs available that putting out feelers and networking will be an exciting adventure and challenge.

While prepping myself for a possible career path with Disney I picked up two awesome books from my local library: Disney U by Doug Lipp and Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell.  While I love to read I'm not big on books on business management or procedure; I tend to find them rather dry and hard to digest at times.  However for anyone working in business (which let's face it is almost everyone) I highly recommend these two books.  Both are broken down into sections that are pretty self-explanatory and refer back to earlier content as you progress through the chapters. I guess you could call it Disney Magic Homework.

Another addition to the book collection is Mickey's Gourmet Cookbook, a collection of recipes from Walt Disney World resort restaurants in the parks and hotels.  I had toyed with the idea of adding a recipe to go along with the movie of choice, and I still hope to feature recipes every now and again in this blog.  As I explore the recipes then I'll be sure to share them!!

A little Disney Kitchen Magic

Well everyone this blog post will remain rather short.  I would love for your ideas as to what you'd like to see in the future as well! Feel free to leave a post in the comments below and as always ...

Make it A Magical Day!

Patrick A