MouseStation 176 – Collected short subjects
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Run time 0:33:21
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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 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.
We’ve been able to talk John Van Meter into both extending and enhancing the Owner’s Locker Free Starter Kit promotion, exclusively for MousePlanet readers and MouseStation listeners! From now through April 30, when you select “I Heard About it on MousePlanet” in the “How did you hear about Owner’s Locker?” drop-down box, Owner’s Locker will send you a shopping list and you can choose up to $50 worth of items to be in your locker when it’s first delivered for free! If you’d like something that’s not on the list, you can contact them and they’ll work it out with you. This is a great way to both get your big purple storage locker and possibly avoid that first-day shopping trip at the same time!
If you signed up for your locker during the first month of the promotion, don’t worry! We’ve gotten John to agree to give you a $50 shopping spree, as well!
Lori Lofgren wrote in to ask a question and provide an idea about Owner’s Locker. She’s considering trying out an Owner’s Locker on her next trip and was wondering about getting a copy of the shopping list, since it doesn’t appear on the Owner’s Locker web site. It’s not there because the promotion is only for MouseStation listeners, not the general public, and we don’t want to tip them off that we’re giving such a great deal to our listeners. But if you contact John at Owner’s Locker, he’ll be able to help you out. Plus, he’s willing to get you $50 worth of just about anything that you can get at Wal-Mart to put in your locker.
Lori’s tip is that she always brings a fluffy bath mat-style rug and suction cup accessories for the tub areas in the bathroom. The bath mat helps with the hard tile floors and the suction cup accessories help with the limited places to put toiletries needed in the shower.
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!
Tip of the Week
This week’s Tip of the Week comes from listener Paul from Abilene, TX who suggested that, at the end of the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, follow the sign for the restrooms to the left. That left turn will take you directly to the restrooms that open up to the main path across Caribbean Plaza from the back entrance to Pecos Bill’s Cafe and the entrance to El Pirata y el Perico. It allows you to skip the gift shop after the Pirates ride, which is one of the larger attraction gift shops. This can really help you get out of the attraction quickly and on to the rest of you visit, especially if you are headed to Splash Mountain or the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.. (Send in your own tip now!)
Mark kind of likes looking through the Pirates gift shop, so he doesn’t really mind the delay. Mike usually isn’t in a rush and doesn’t mine walking through the gift shop anyway. If you’re in a rush, though, it’ll probably help you.
Ask the Experts
Dan the Light Man called in with another Ask the Experts question, this time asking about the sounds outside the Haunted Mansion that seemed to have disappeared the last time that he visited. The segment quickly turned into “Stump the Doofuses” when neither Mark nor Mike could come up with a good answer. Mike has only noticed the sounds at night, not during the day. Mark didn’t pay close enough attention the last couple of times there. Maybe we need to merge “Ask the Experts,” “Stump the Hosts” and maybe “What in the (Disney) World?” into one segment called “Stump the Doofuses.”
Around the Station
This week, Sean took an idea from Mike at the Vegas meet and ran with it. Then he walked back and drew it for us.
Things get a little out of hand in the latest strip from Sean Jones. Mark really likes the safety goggles. Click on the strip for a larger image.
Sean is working on another strip, and we hope that he completes it in time for us to record it for next week.
We’ve now set up a page dedicated to archiving all of the “@ The Station” strips to make it easy for you to find them.
Review System Spotlight
This week we take a look at the Backstage Magic Tour in the new guided tours section of the MousePlanet user reviews system. The one MousePlanet reader who has rated it so far really likes Backstage Magic, rating it 4 out of five planets. The featured (and only) review this week is by RizzotheRat80 of Chicago, IL.
RizzotheRat80 gave a really good overview of what the tour currently covers (as of October), and recommends it for anyone who wants to find out more about some of the inner workings of the parks.
Mark took the tour in 1996, and it appears that a few things have changed since he last took it. You used to be able to stand under Body Wars while it ran, though they seem to have added the holiday and floral departments. He also got to go to the animation annex behind the Studios and paint a cel.
Mike last took the tour the year before the animation department closed, but he didn’t get to paint a cel. He did see the holiday and floral departments, but they didn’t get to watch any parades.
Mark finally got to see the Epcot costuming department during the UnDISCOVERed Future World tour that he took back in October.
Don’t forget to review any tours that you’ve taken in the new Walt Disney World and Disneyland guided tour sections of our user review system. And keep an eye out for the upcoming park guide pages for the tours, as well.
Ask the Kid
Jeff Peterson of Ramona, California asked Mark’s son: What did your father tell you not to say on the podcast?
Mark’s son started answering, then the microphone nysteriously went dead and didn’t turn on again until he was done answering.
Actually, it was a bit of a joke answer that Mark and his son came up with before recording. There really isn’t much that’s off limits aside from identifying information.
Magical Moment
This week’s Magical Moment comes in a voicemail from listener Liana from Simi Valley. (Send in your moment now!)
Liana was lucky enough to find the Dream Squad on Valentine’s Day handing out passes to the Disneyland Dream Time event, featuring a party at Big Thunder Ranch, followed by an extra hour in the park. Since she, her husband and her daughter weren’t going to be able to stay that late, they decided to pay the reward forward and handed their lanyards to a couple who were ecstatic to receive them.
Feedback and Other Stuff
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
On Sunday, Mark will be walking to raise money for the March of Dimes for the third time. Please consider supporting him. The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.
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Thanks to our West Coast correspondent Andrew Rich, and audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
Thank you for listening!
