A Collection of Short Subjects

October 29, 2007 by MouseStation Crew

MouseStation 80 – Collected short subjects

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Send in your suggestions, comments or tips via our email feedback
form or via voicemail on our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278).
You can also make suggestions by replying to this post.

If you want to contribute a story for our Monday Magical Moment segment (and
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either use our email Magical Moment story
form or the toll-free feedback line. (We love it when you use the voice
mail system, because then we can play your call on the show!)

Thanks to our sponsor, and a contest

Today’s show is sponsored by Owner’s
Locker, a new service that gives you a place to leave your vacation-only
stuff until your next trip to visit the Mouse.

This week, we read the contest entry from Pat Toohill, who decided that he
would use his Owner’s Locker to store a rain kit: raingear to wear, board
games, laundry detergent for doing laundry during foul weather, and surprises
for his kids. He’d also use it for his Pal Mickey because he can’t stand it
when he’s away from the park.

That’s an extremely inventive entry, but we think that there’s still some
room to improve on it! Send in your entry today!

Don’t forget that you’ve got until midnight on Halloween to send
in your ideas on what you would do with an Owner’s Locker. John will again
select his favorite, and he’ll join us on the November 5 show to announce
our next winner!

Tip of the Week

Instead of a tip, this week we played a conversation that Mark had with Charles
Stovall about the second Year of a Million Dreams.

Charles and Mark talked about the new prizes for the promotion’s second year:

The Disneyland Dream Suite
A trip to Disney Parks Around the World
A VIP experience at the theatrical premiere of High School
Musical 3
Tethered balloon experiences at both Disneyland Park
and Epcot
Getting Castaway Cay to yourself for a day
An Adventures by Disney trip
Four trips in four years: Walt Disney World, Disneyland, a Disney Cruise
and an Adventures by Disney trip
Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Imagineer for a Day

Mark thought that the value of the big prizes for 2008 is bigger than those
for 2007, but Charles thinks that they’re about the same.

There are special experiences at just about every special event at Walt Disney
World and Disneyland.

Charles’ favorite among the new prizes this year is the day at Castaway Cay.
(Of course, as a cast member, he’s not eligible.)

Charles said that you should just plan your vacation as you would normally
and then you might get a surprise part-way through your trip.

Mark brought up his discussions with Mike about whether or not the prizes overshadow
the day-to-day magic created by the cast members and asked Charles whether there
is an increase in the amount of Magical Moments and Take Fives. Charles said
that the entire celebration grew out of the Magical Moments and Take Fives,
and that the prizes are over and above the cast member-created experiences.

After the conversation, Mike noted that he’s still not a fan of the promotion.
Mike said that it causes people to be disapponted when they don’t win anything.
Mark noted that people are also disappointed when they don’t win the lottery,
and they actually have a better chance of winning something from Year of a Million
Dreams.

Mike then jumped to the promotion-of-the-year celebration angle of the continuation,
but Mark didn’t want to get into that topic this week.

Mike admitted that he was glad that they were finally finishing Walt’s apartment
at Disneyland, and agreed that his favorite prize would be the day at Castaway
Cay. He and Mark discussed how that prize would work logistically.

Featured attraction

This week, we look at Dumbo the Flying Elephant in Fantasyland at Disneyland
Park and Adventureland at Walt Disney World‘s
Magic Kingdom.

Mark noted that his Keys to the Kingdom tour guide said that the Dumbo attraction
had been built for the opening of EuroDisneyland and a new copy was built
before EuroDisneyland opened, but the Walt Disney World attraction was updated
in 1993 and EuroDisneyland was opened in 1992 so that can’t be. It looks like
the story was probably correct, but the one originally targeted for Paris
was installed at Disneyland in 1990. This means that Mark’s Keys to the Kingdom
tour guide needs to update his tour spiel.

Mark also noted that Dumbo is the only attraction that President Harry S
Truman refused to ride, as the elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party
and Truman did not want a photo of him in an elephant ride vehicle in the
newspapers.

Mike mentioned that Mark used the number of Dumbo ride vehicles with orange
hats in the first mini-MouseAdventure in Florida at MouseFest 2005, and that
it was unfair to Mike’s color-blind friend that was helping to beta-test the
game.

Review system spotlight

This week’s spotlight focuses on Pizzafari at on Discovery Island at Disney’s
Animal Kingdom. MousePlanet readers like Pizzafari, rating
it 3.8 out of five planets on the strength of 9 reviews. Our featured
review this week is a 5-planet review by amc1217 of San Antonio, TX.

amc loved Pizzafari so much that they ate there repeatedly, getting the pepperoni
pizza and the Italian deli sub.

Mark thinks that it’s OK, though he’s not a big fan of Walt Disney World
pizza. They’re OK, but not really pizza. Mike agrees that the pizza isn’t
outstanding, but argued that the pizza at the BoardWalk pizza window is great.
Mark agreed that it was pretty good, but that it still didn’t match up with
New York pizza. Mark and Mike then got into a disagreement about New York
pizza vs. Chicago pizza.

Somehow, Mark & Mike forgot to talk about the fabulous decor at Pizzafari,
so they probably need to revisit the restaurant on a future show.

You can also find Pizzafari in our Park Guide.

Ask the Kid

This week’s question comes from listener George, who asked: “Hey Kid,
What’s your favourite form of Disney transportation and why?”

Mark’s son would try to include the Tomorrowland Transit Authority if allowed,
otherwise he’d pick the monorail. He likes the TTA because it gives you a
really good view of Space Mountain and a great view of the park. He likes
the monorail because it gives you a good view of the hotels and the park.
He also loves riding in the cockpit of the monorail.

To submit your own questions for “Ask the Kid,” send
us your question to ask Mark’s son.

Magical Moment

This week’s moment came from listener Chad.

Chad experienced multiple Magical Moments at Disney’s Animal Kingdom when
they repeatedly kept running into a cast member who went out of his way to
make sure that they got to see all of the great shows at the park, getting
them great seats for each.

Mike, of course, focused on them seeing the Lion King show, but eventually
agreed that the cast member’s efforts were the most important part.

Mike talked about checking in a special family while working at Pop Century,
then ran into them a couple of days later on Disney transportation, then again
a couple of days later when working Extra Magic Hours at a theme park.

Feedback and MouseFest

Send us feedback via email or by
calling our toll-free feedback line at 1-866-939-2278. Don’t forget that we
love voicemails because then we can put your voice on the show!

Don’t forget that you’ve only got until Wednesday to get your entry in for
our second Owner’s Locker contest!

We’re looking for volunteer greeters for the Mega Mouse Meet. If you’re interested
in helping out, email Mark or post
to our MousePad
sticky thread.

We also wanted to remind you that we have now scheduled our MouseFest meet
for the podcasts. The MouseStation Hustle-tini Meet will begin at 5:30 p.m.
at Classic Concoctions in the Everything Pop food court at Disney’s Pop Century
Resort for Bluetinis to get our nerve up to get up and boogie. We’ll make
sure that we’re in the lobby before 6 p.m. so that we can do The Hustle, then
return to Classic Concoctions or elsewhere to record some more for the podcast.
For more information on the Hustle-tini or any other MousePlanet-sponsored
meet at MouseFest, check out our MouseFest
information page. If you’ve got any ideas on what might make a cool MouseStation
T-shirt for MouseFest, let Mark know!

Wrapping up

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