My latest eBay purchase:

Anti-Disney's America Button

Yes, it has to do with the failed Disney's America project from the early 1990s.

Disney theme parks will often repurpose music and themes among properties on opposite coasts. For example, as I've already written, in 1985 Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Parade soundtrack was tweaked to be used by Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom as the tune for Mickey's Street Parade.

Recently, we've seen this type of repurposing in soundtrack once again with Disney's promotion for Summer Nightastic. This seasonal event started in Summer 2009 as an all-encompassing theme of pre-exisiting shows bundled under the same brand name ("Nightastic") to help Disneyland push their summer activities, as they didn't have any new rides or attractions to promote.

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I recently got a new hat, thanks to my friend Branden who visited Walt Disney World not too long ago. I had seen this hat show up on some theme park blogs, so I asked him to track it down while at the Magic Kingdom.

My new Monorail Hat!

It's orange and black and features an iconic Spanish phrase on the front: "Por favor manténganse se alejado de las puertas." As any Disney theme park fan will recognize, this is the safety spiel that plays when boarding the monorail.

Can you say this?

I've written about this spiel before, ironically when I tracked down a t-shirt with the same phrase. Here's the audio for the safety spiel, recorded by "the Voice of Disneyland", Jack Wagner:

Audio: "Please stand clear…"

Jack passed away in 1995, but he still is the "voice" of the monorail safety message at the parks. I also use this audio on my phone as my ringtone. Yes, I'm a dork.

Hi Mickey!

Incidentally, the hat is part of Disney's "Vintage 1928 Collection", which has a worn and distressed look… thus the built-in rips and tears on the hat. Very cool!

On Sunday we gathered with some friends at an Oscars party. One of the requirements in attending this party was to bring a food item that was themed to a nominee.

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Amy & I did some brainstorming and worked on a cake that looked like the house from Disney/Pixar's Up. We called it the 'Up'cake (as in, "cupcake"), and it took home the prize for most creative entry. Continue Reading…

This is a photo of the family riding Test Track at Epcot over the holidays.

Test Track PhotoPass Photo

I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but it isn't really a great location of a photo opportunity like this. There's nothing really happening… other than my sister and bro-in-law pretending that they each have a steering wheel!

My Dad looks like he's sleep, my Mom is squinting in the backseat, Amy looks bored, and I think I'm trying to read the text off the dashboard from the front passenger seat.

Talk about Disney thrills!