Cars at the Disney Animation Resort

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Life got crazy. But here is a video that I put together for my stay at the Disney Art of Animation Resort. More specifically the Cars section. I'll take you on a tour inside and out.

Cars at Disney's Animation Resort


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The Art of Animation Resort

Recently I had the great opportunity to go and stay at the new Art of Animation Resort in the Walt Disney World Resort. The resort is located in an area adjacent to the Pop Century Resort. It actually once occupied unfinished buildings that were intended to be part of the Pop Century featuring the early 20th century. When the economy crashed it was left unfinished and abandoned for years, and yet in plain view of guests staying at the Pop, complete with a bridge leading across the pond to it. These former buildings are now what will become the Little Mermaid section of the new resort (as of yet unfinished) and will look similar in style to those of the Pop and All Stars. The finished sections of the resort are the suites, which can accommodate up to 6 individuals.





These three areas are Finding Nemo, which is the smallest of the three.









It houses the largest resort pool on property and has hyrdophonic speakers where you can hear music underwater, including occasional characters from the movie talking.


I heard clips from the Nemo ride at Epcot, and "Fish are Friends" from Finding Nemo the musical. What I found interesting is that even after hours, when the music outside is all shut off as of 2am in the morning the music and effects were still going strong under the water.
It a lot of fun including giant jellyfish water showers, and a splash play area around Nemo and Marlins anemone.





The second area is that of Cars and the Cozy Cone. The Cozy Cone houses a small private quiet pool.


The third area, which opened the day before I arrived, is the Lion King area. The Lion King area has no pool but a large elephant graveyard play area.






When checking in the desk attendant did an excellent job telling about where we would stay by keeping in in the story of the suites that we were in. Using terms and cheesy puns that relate to that movie. I had the pleasure to stay in Cars, and more specifically Matters Tow yard.





Each building has an Iconic character/location that welcomes you into the building. Mine just happened to be Matter. The others were Luigi and Guido at their tire shop and Lighting and Sally at the Wheel Well Hotel.





I'm honestly glad I got to stay in Cars, I've seen photos of the Nemo suites and in my opinion they are just to loud and busy for my liking. the Cars rooms were very simple and utilitarian and all themed to be the Cozy Cone.





The lights lining the hallways were upside down cones, and the room numbers were on interstate symbols. Inside the rooms the carpet had cones on them.





and all the lamps and lampshades were cones.
the tv stand and kitchenette were done to look like a tool chest that you would find in garage.





the coffee table was a map to Radiator Springs. the Sofa looked like a seat you would find in a classic sports car.


Built into the counter tops on in the master bedroom are postcards that fooled me more than once trying to pick them up.
The room is divided into four sections. The main living area , the master bedroom, the master bathroom and the guest bathroom.


The living area feature a dining area that has a table as well as a living area that has a coffee table, tv sofa and kitchenette.


Here is the cool part. the table is designed to look like Maters garage. it has a thick tall section it's attached to on the wall. the reason for this is, if you pull down this section with the provided handles you will discover a bed.


When lowered the reading lights automatically turn on and an image of a sleeping Matter on the backboard.
In the living area the couch also converts into a bed. I did not have the chance to sleep on the couch bed, but I did on the table. I found it to be very comfortable, But not nearly as comfortable as the master bed. The guest bath is in the main living area with a sliding door to close off from the main area and a door to close off the sink from the toilet and shower.


The mirrors in this bathroom and in the master feature a very fun carwash sign around the mirror. This bathroom also features the Tub/shower complete with a fun shower curtain showing Red the firetruck washing off Lightning.



The Master bedroom features it's own tv and one of the most comfortable beds i've slept on in a hotel. There isn't anything fancy in this room besides the saftey cone lamps and the painting of lightning and sally driving through the countryside.


The master bath is larger and is one room with no dividers like the guest. The shower here features a sliding glass door.



The area between the three buildings that made up cars features a road complete with powerlines street lamps and all the major characters of Radiator Springs, sans Red, and The Model T.





I enjoyed walking through this area. It really set a fun tone and made you feel like you were really there.














The center area was the offices for the Cozy Cone that led into the pool area.





At night the neon was all lit and It looks amazing. The Cozy Cone sign rotates as well at night and it's neon lights up the area.






















Overall I really enjoyed my stay here and really enjoyed the story that they set for their guest. I would defiantly stay here again and would recommend it. It is a bit pricer to stay in the suites than your usual value resorts. It cost me 250 per night. But if you go with a group of six you can easily split that up and make it affordable.

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Step Inside the World of Belle Through Her Magic Mirror at Magic Kingdom...

The Mythos Burger

Hi everybody here is another review for you. This time it's a food review. Please bare with me as I experiment and try new things to find what works the best. The reason I say this is because in this video my film devices took and amplified the ambient noise in Mythos. So it's a little hard to hear me from time to time. But with that being said, this video is a review of Mythos. Which is a restaurant located in the Lost Continent island of Universal's Islands of Adventure. I've heard good things about their burger so I decided to give it a try. I've been to Mythos several times, it is rated one of if not the highest theme park restaurant in the world. Give it a check out. Also, if you guys like these reviews let me know! If you have suggestions feel free to send them my way too. Thanks and enjoy.

Mythos Burger Review


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Vinylmation Park 9 reviews

I have recently posted a few new videos to my YouTube page. Two of these videos are unboxing reviews for Vinylmation park 9. One for the standard box and another for the topper box. Check them out. Also in addition Park 10 is out. I do not plan on buying any of these and posting reviews simply because I'm not interested in them due to the fact they are solely focused on Disneyland Paris.

Vinylmation Park 9

Vinylmation Park 9 Topper


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Bear in the Big Blue House DSMC

Here is an oldie but a goodie.  Like I said before, I really miss Bear.

‘Glow With the Show’ Mickey ears will soon interact with Fantasmic! at Disneyland | Inside the Magic

‘Glow With the Show’ Mickey ears will soon interact with Fantasmic! at Disneyland | Inside the Magic:

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Swampy the Gator to meet and greet with Walt Disney World guests, going from “Where’s My Water?” to water parks | Inside the Magic

Swampy the Gator to meet and greet with Walt Disney World guests, going from “Where’s My Water?” to water parks | Inside the Magic:

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My video review of the new Park 9 Vinylmations fresh out of the box.

The Lion King wing and room at Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Walt Di...

Inside The Lion King wing and rooms of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, as Walt Disney World opens third hotel phase | Inside the Magic

Inside The Lion King wing and rooms of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, as Walt Disney World opens third hotel phase | Inside the Magic:

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A really cool unboxing review I did for Vinylmation Park 2 is uploading now to YouTube.  I will post it here as soon as it's done processing.   This was an experiment with iMovie on IPad2.  Filmed and edited completly on the device.  It was actually fun and easy once I got the hang of the program.  It has it's limitations, but it's also quite versatile for a mobile application.

Joss Whedon to Write & Direct Avengers 2 | Avengers | News | Marvel.com

Joss Whedon to Write & Direct Avengers 2 | Avengers | News | Marvel.com:

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Disney Kathy Mangum: The creative executive behind Disneyland's "Cars Land" has been given a new assignment at Walt Disney World - OrlandoSentinel.com

Disney Kathy Mangum: The creative executive behind Disneyland's "Cars Land" has been given a new assignment at Walt Disney World - OrlandoSentinel.com:

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Orange Bird Returns

That's right folks, an oldie is back. I'm a little late on the band wagon with this but as of April 2012, Orange Bird has returned to the Sunshine Terrace at the Magic Kingdom. Who is Orange Bird? Well he was originally conceived in cooperation with the Florida Citrus Growers and Disney to promote their products and sponsorship of the terrace. At one time the bird was even a walk and meet and greet character, which has since "flew" the coup. A quick Google search for that brings up images of two different versions. One with a fuzzy head and one with a smooth shinny head. Chances are you won't be seeing him again in character form any time soon. You can however currently see the original Orange Bird figure, which was lost for years and found stashed in a drawer at Imagineering. It is now fully restored and sits atop the soft serve/juice machines greeting thirsty patrons. Much like Figment was created in association with Kodak, Disney now retain all rights to this orange headed fowl. In fact, Figment has been embraced and adopted by Disney Imagineering. Why the sudden resurgence of Orange Bird? Well a "little birdie" has informed me that recently, representatives from Tokyo Disneyland were digging through the archives and discovered the obscured and forgotten Orange Bird. They loved him and due to their interest in using him, it was discovered that he now fully belonged to the company. Expect to see lots of merchandise for him out their soon if you haven't already. If he is really popular, perhaps Tokyo will get a new Orange Bird character to meet guests. As far as I know that process hasn't happened yet. But Tokyo Disney Sea is where Duffy originated from. What I find cool is that Sunshine Terrace now has a retro looking attraction poster featuring Orange Bird in the train tunnel leading to and from Main Street. I expect to see a lot of Orange Bird at the D23 Expo next year,



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Jurassic Park Island has always been......

Jurassic park has always been one of my favorite franchises. I first read the novel way back when I was in middle school. It was in that same year that Spielberg, announced he was making the film. I'm even a fan of the popularly hatted Jurassic Park Three, because it took all the really cool parts from the first and second novels that were not used in the films and combined them together. As I'm sitting here playing and really enjoying Jurassic Park Builder on my ipad/iphone, which you can get free HERE, i recall how disappointed I was in Jurassic Park Island. It could have been something fantastic. When I heard about Islands of Adventure being built and that it was going to have a Jurassic Park Island, I was super stoked. This was my Harry Potter. When the park finally opened, as I said before, I was disappointed. Especially with its big attraction, Jurassic Park River Adventure. The robotics were cool and going through the big iconic Jurassic Park gates with the movie music playing and hearing "welcome to Jurassic Park" does set at very an exciting tone. However, there is something very off about it. You are in a boat and not a tracked SUV. Why oh why, did you go with a river boat ride Universal? Everybody wanted to ride in the tracked, Ford Explorer you saw in the movie and experience the movie and the Trex attack that we remembered. A boat ride that gets you wet is overkill. You have two other water rides in close proximity, Bluto's Bildge Rat Barges, and Duddly Do-Right's Rip Saw Falls. Plus I couldn't even ride the Pteranodon Flyers, what's the deal with that!? Having the visitors center was cool, but again I wanted to board the cars at its entrance just like in the film. Even the interior of the visitors center was lacking. It didn't look like the film, and there was no tour taking you through the labs with Mr. DNA. The lab was instead crammed into the lower level amid silly kid stations. Unfortunately, the cool dinosaurs on the attraction deteriorated fast. Not sure if that's due to the water, open sun, both or either. Regardless, I have been on the ride countless times only to be greeted by giant tacky tarps covering non functioning/damaged/refurbishing Dinos. So much potential was lost with this land. I look at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I see what could have been possible.
There are a few things I do like about it. The child's play area Camp Jurassic, is full of places you can climb explore and get lost. It has a lot of fun hidden GEMS located inside if you start looking. It also has some very cool coves and nooks that just are well designed and are fun to explore. I also enjoy the raptor hatching out of the egg at the visitors center even If it's not on the tour ride you saw in the film. And finally, my favorite thing is Triceratops Encounter, it's truly a nice way to make the whole area seem real. Never seen it before click HERE to see my video of it. It was closed for such a long time, but thanks to funds coming in due to Potter, Universal was able to afford to repair at least one Dino and have it open. It's unfortunately only open on really high attendance. You wouldn't even know it was there if you didn't know where to look. Next time your there look for the big flat rock that has a Triceratops fossil in it. You'll see a bar that looked like it use to say something on it. This is the entrance to the attraction. Maybe you'll get lucky and get to see it.
I still hold out hope that someday that Trex attack ride will be made, but unless the franchise gets risen from the dead I seriously doubt it.


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Noel MacNeal

Tonight I had the great opportunity to take a puppetry workshop from one of the masters and one of my idols Noel MacNeal. If you don't know who he is you can click his name and go to his site. Noel is an exceptionally fun, funny and talented puppeteer. He currently is working with Sesame Street and is in part responsible for training puppeteers for their sister shows in other countries. But what's the Disney connection you may ask? Noel is the one and only Bear, from Bear in the Big blue house.

Bear is a special part of my life and part of the reason I have a full time job today. Bear and me were close for several years. I have never met Noel in person, so tonight was a real treat. Noel has recently wrote a new book called 10 minute puppets. It's available HERE on Amazon. You should check it out. It's a book about making puppets but "not crafty". It's for people like you and me who aren't "the Martha Stewart type". Thanks Noel for a fun night, I learned a lot.
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

One of my favorite attractions when I was a child was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at the Magic Kingdom. It was always a treat when I got the opportunity to ride it. The reason for this is because it suffered from a very slow loading process and caused it to have a very long line. So as a result of this we often skipped it on
our summer trips. If you have had a chance to ride the Nemo subs at Disneyland it is the same ride system, but instead of a sub you ride the Nautilus.


I have recently been on this kick on trying to read classic novels that I have never read. Since I recently did a video on how to find the hidden nautilus in Pooh's tree and the new Mermaid ride will have tributes to it hidden in its cue, I decided to read 20,000 leagues under the sea. I loved the classic Disney film but haven't seen it in 15 years. So I decided to read the novel first and then watch the film.
I was surprised with the differences between the novel and film. However, the film still manages to stays true to the general theme and story. They both however end very differently. (SPOLIERS) The novel leaves it open to the possibility that Nemo survives by taking the nautilus into a swirling maelstrom while the film very clearly shows him die via a gun shot wound. Other differences include that Nemo reveals personal details about himself in the film while he is left in mystery in the novel. Apparently these details are revealed in a later novel by Jules Verne, called the Mysterious Island. In the novel, it is revealed that Nautilus' power source is that of electricity but in the film it's eluded to being nuclear. But the biggest change I was surprised to find out while reading the novel is that the Nautilus is never attacked by a giant squid. I know! That iconic scene is totally fabricated. The ship is attacked instead by several giant cuttlefish instead. This is a cuttlefish.

Isn't it .....scary? Yeah I think changing to one gigantic squid was a smart move and it allowed them to show off Ned Lands harpoon skills and save Captain from the clutches of the squid, which never happened in the book.
But here is a fun fact about the film. Nemo's organ resides in Disneyland. It has had a facelift and it's pipes replaced. Where is it you may ask? It is the pipe organ in the ballroom seen at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. Molds were taken of it and placed in consecutive Mansions later on. Here is an article from Doombuggies.comdiscussing the ballroom as well as the organ's history.