MouseStation 230 – Collected short subjects
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Run time 0:47:12
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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).
We’ve put together a new listener survey to help us learn more about you and what you like most about this podcast. This one is much more targeted than the old Podtrac survey. Please take a few minutes to fill it out and let us know what you think.
If you want to contribute a story for our Magical Moment segment (and possible inclusion in the Cast Place column here on MousePlanet), you can 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
Today’s show is sponsored by Owner’s Locker, a great service that gives you a place to leave your vacation-only stuff until your next trip to visit the Mouse.
The cost of an Owner’s Locker isn’t quite as high when you think about the per-bag fees that many airlines are now charging. It’s a risk-free trial, so why not give it a try? Mike just added a second locker to his account.
Also, if you have any great ideas for how to use an Owner’s Locker, if you’ve signed up and are anticipating using your locker, or if you have already used your locker, send us an email or call our voicemail and let us know what you think!
Major podcast announcement
Before we got into the show, we had to make an announcement that we probably like as little as you do. Because of the combined pressures of making this show while trying to hold down our day jobs, have personal lives and get at least a couple of hours of sleep each night, we’re going to have to cut back on the number of shows that we do. We had been hoping to wait for the complete results of our new listener feedback survey that we just set live two weeks ago, but a couple of developments last week made it necessary for us to cut back before the complete results are in. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t fill the survey out anyway, since we still want to make sure that our remaining shows will best address your needs.
Starting this week we’re going to go to two shows a week, on Tuesday and Thursday. We’re planning to do the Collected Short Subjects on Tuesday and the weekly feature on Thursday. Listener Feedback will appear in a shortened form at the end of each show, and may occasionally be an entire feature show. The MousePlanetWatch News, unfortunately, will be a casualty of this cutback. However, the Walt Disney Company News segment is the only real portion of this show that’s not already available online in the text portion of MousePlanet. Both Park Updates are available on Mondays, and many of the stories that break after they’re published often appear during the week in featured blog posts linked from the MousePlanet home page and are always covered in the following week’s Updates. We’d like to know what kind of interest there is in Mark continuing to put together the Walt Disney Company News, but as an additional weekly column on the MousePlanet site. If there’s sufficient interest to support readership of such a column, we’ll see if we can set it up. If there aren’t enough people that would read it, then Mark just gets a little more time to sleep each week. Send us your opinion either way by email or by calling the toll-free feedback line at 1-866-939-2278.
We know that you like the four shows each week. We like them, too. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to continue to produce them, at least not for the immediate future. Please let us know what you think of this change by sending us email or by calling the toll-free feedback line at 1-866-939-2278.
Tip of the Week
This week’s Tip of the Week comes from Brian, who recommends buying postcards of the Disney characters before you leave on your trip, then have characters sign the card with their photo on it. Mark also noted that you can use postcards bought at Walt Disney World, as well. You can also use pictures from the Disney page-a-day calendar.
Mark also shared the idea that you can grab pictures of all characters from whatever source, then put them into a small notebook and have characters sign the page opposite their picture. You can them get a photo of the characters signing and post that into the book along with the autograph.
Featured Attraction
This week we look at the Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Mark noted that this is the only parade at any Disney park that actually ends where it finishes, with the parade route being a big circle. The parade also shows some learning since the Tapestry of Nations/Tapestry of Dreams Parade from Epcot, where the puppets on performers’ backs caused a great deal of pain for the performers. This parade has puppets, but they’re on wheels and are pushed by cast members, who don’t have to carry the weight on their backs.
On Mark’s last trip, he also used the parade to serve as a rolling roadblock to get him out of the park. The only problem was that he had to listen to the same piece of music over and over again.
Review System Spotlight
This week we look at Sunshine Seasons at the Epcot’s The Land pavilion. Our MousePlanet readers really like Sunshine Seasons, rating it 4.1 out of five planets. Our featured review this week is by amc1217 of San Antonio, TX.
amc really likes the eatery, except for the crowds. amc wasn’t thrilled with the Chinese plate, but loved the Turkey and Muenster Focaccia sandwich.
Mark and Mike have eaten at Sunshine Season a couple of times, and both have eaten there solo many times. They both really like the food there. Mark is pretty sure that he hasn’t had any problems with the Chinese food there.
You can also find Sunshine Seasons in our Park Guide.
Ask the Kid
This week’s question came from Mary Tesch from Seymour, WI, who asked Mark’s son: If you could have dinner with any character, who would it be and where would you like to have dinner with them?
Mark’s son selected Crystal Palace to meet Roger Rabbit, and to eat dinner with Mickey at Chef Mickey’s.
Magical Moment
This week’s Magical Moment came from listener Liana and Paul Barrie of the Window to the Magic podcast, who told their story to Steven Ng at Paul’s Yamabuki meet during the NFFC convention a couple of weeks ago. Paul and Liana got to sit at a table with X. Atencio at the Be Our Guest dinner. X. told a number of great stories during dinner. They even got invited up to the Pirates of the Caribbean suite at the Disneyland Hotel, where X. and his wife Mo graciously hosted the group from the dinner table.
Mark wishes that he could go to the NFFC convention in Florida this year, as he has heard that they will get a special event at the Adventurer’s Club after the club closes to the public. However, he’ll be at a family event that weekend.
Last Week on MousePlanet
We continued our experiment in telling you what you may have missed on the MousePlanet site last week if you’re not visiting regularly, with Andrew Rich down at MousePlanet Global Headquarters. Let us know what you think about this segment!
Listener Feedback
Berdo was disappointed that we’re cutting the show back to twice a week, and just hopes that the show isn’t going away completely.
Dave in San Francisco came up with a hilarious take on a new show for Disney’s Animal Kingdom called Finding Simba: Festival of the Lion Fish.
Feedback and Other Stuff
We’ve put together a new listener survey to help us learn more about you and what you like most about this podcast. This one is much more targeted than the old Podtrac survey. Please take a few minutes to fill it out and let us know what you think.
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!
Wrapping up
Don’t forget to go to the iTunes podcast directory and give us a good rating for the combined feed!
You can get your MousePlanet (or MouseStation) swag from the MousePlanet CafePress store and the brand-new MouseStation CafePress store.
Also remember to go out to our main podcast page and poke a pin into our Frappr map.
Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
Thank you for listening!
