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Week before last, I took a stroll deep into the swamp – the Six Mile Cypress Slough here in Fort Myers – and I heard a familiar sound. After looking around for a bit, I found him. He’s a pileated “Woody” woodpecker, with a ruby red crest on his head. Isn’t he beautiful? What a treat! Actually, I did even better than this – I got about a 10 second video of him before he moved around to the other side of the tree and out of sight. Sorry it isn’t longer, but that’s wildlife for ya – always doing just as they please, leaving us photographers fumbling to get something decent. I hope I see him again sometime when I go back. Enjoy!

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Just a random collection of photographs today, taken in EPCOT’s Mexico pavilion. Mexico has long been a favorite of mine, ever since I discovered the frozen mango margaritas there! But there are other things that make Mexico special, too. Here are just a few:

After I’m gone, please bring chocolate

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More Disney Valentine cards have been discovered at the local supermarket. First up – Phineas & Ferb!

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SNOW! In Southwest Florida???, originally uploaded by Erin aka Tink*~*~*.

This was stuck in the "OUT" box of my phone. It’s a decal stuck to the window of my local Starbucks. I thought it looked cool with the low-slung clouds as a backdrop.

Sent from my Nokia N97

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The winter edition of the Mickey Monitor has arrived and I just can’t believe it’s the end of November already! The holidays are fast upon us now. Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and before you know it, Christmas will be here.

I have ONE more fling at Walt Disney World planned before my Annual Pass expires. I’ll be meeting some special folks from out of town in early December and we’re looking forward to just hanging out, taking in the sights, sharing a cup or three of mulled wine and getting a case of the Ho-Ho-Hos in the Happiest Place On Earth. Stay tuned, because you know I’ll be mobile blogging the trip (and, I might add, I have an annual pass to the Universal parks now, too – double the fun!)

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Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter have worked together on some strange films – Sweeney Todd, The Corpse Bride and recently, Disney’s update to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Alice in Wonderland. It’s not surprising that they’ve frequently worked together. Just as Johnny Depp has been making his career out of playing idiosyncratic characters, Helena Bonham Carter seems to be making a career out of playing mean girls. Her ongoing turn as Bellatrix LeStrange in the Harry Potter series seems destined to cement her image in our minds as a wild-eyed (not to mention the hair!) hellion bent on evil and destruction.

I’m looking forward to seeing her reprise the role when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 hits the theaters next week. Here she is pictured as the Red Queen on a few pieces of merchandise found at MouseGear in Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park. I like the trick of the red heart superimposed over her lips. The heart makes it appear as though she is pursing, but if you look closely at the line of her lips, they are in repose and not pursed at all. Neat trick!

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As mentioned last week, I’ll be heading off to Orlando (very SOON!). After a two year hiatus, I am very much looking forward to visiting the Universal parks once more, particularly Islands of Adventure, where the new Harry Potter-themed land has been open for several months now.

This photo of the sign for the “Lucky Monkey” shop was taken close to the entrance of the Universal Islands of Adventure theme park. I always thought the monkey on this shop sign was very cute, and I wished he was for sale. I think I want him! Maybe I could reconstruct him out of Tinker Toys or something like that – what do you think? I think he’d make a fine addition to my toy basket

Here are a few more scenes from Universal Islands of Adventure that I think you’ll enjoy –

OK, well that’s it – the next time you see a picture of the Universal parks here on this blog should be sometime late next week – I will be mobile photo blogging LIVE from Walt Disney World and Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure starting Saturday October 23rd. So, stay tuned!

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A trek to Orlando is in my near future, and for the first time since 2007, the plan is to visit the Universal parks for a few days while I’m there. A passel of old pals from The Loverly Isle of Long (New York) will be coming down to take in the sights at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I can’t wait to see them and experience the new adventure with them! So, to honor the upcoming reunion at Universal and my excited anticipation of finally visiting Harry Potter, here are a few shots from 2007, just in time for Ruby Tuesday

“Mama” welcomes us to The Open Arms Hotel with – you guessed it! – open arms

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There are many benefits to shopping, especially while on vacation. In addition to flooding the brain with pleasurable endorphins (like chocolate), shopping can deliver some important inspirational messages. Next time you are in Walt Disney World, why not shop for inspiration? There are a variety of uplifting messages to be had in the T-shirt section of MouseGear alone!



Inspirational Message: BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!



Inspirational Message: HELP OTHERS!



Inspirational Message: IT ALL STARTED WITH A MOUSE!

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Disney prides itself on attention to detail and authenticity. Each attraction in a Disney park is themed to evoke a place, an era, a culture that is unique and instantly recognizable.

Here are some shots taken in the queue for the Kilimanjaro Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando. The real Kilimanjaro is a mountain in a national park in Tanzania, just over the border from Kenya. The Serengeti is close by.

Yep, I’d say Disney did a good job with the authenticity – it’s definitely Africa hot in Orlando much of the year, especially in the summer! Make sure you’ve got something cool to drink while waiting in the queue.

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I love this sign because it is so colorful and because it has a “hidden” Mickey. The EPCOT Character spot is located just across the breezeway from Innoventions West in Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park. You’ll be able to find all the most beloved classic Disney characters there – Mickey and Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip ‘n’ Dale are all waiting to meet you! So, when you get to EPCOT, hang a right when you get to the fountain that dances to fabulous music and you’re there. Everybody neat and pretty? Don’t forget your autograph book!

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I went to dinner with some friends on Saturday night – they gave me the choice of venue, so I selected the newly-opened Sea Star Cafe on Sanibel Island. It’s located where Ellington’s used to be, at the Sanibel Inn. When we first arrived, it was after 6:00 PM and there weren’t any other cars in the parking lot. We thought perhaps it was an indicator that the restaurant was not being kindly received, but later on, our waitress reminded us that it’s off season and what few tourists do make it to the island in the summer want to be on the beach as long as there’s daylight. Sunset doesn’t really occur until after 8:00 PM – and the sunsets are amazing down here in the summer time, so I don’t blame those tourists one bit for delaying the dinner hour! There’s a sample menu posted here, but it doesn’t show the wine list or mixed drinks. If memory serves, I ordered a Sanibel Iced Tea, pictured at left, but I don’t remember what was in it – clearly, something that makes it look like a sunset! It was cold and fruity and delicious.

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I am pretty much a Tinkerbell purist. With the exception of my “Mornings aren’t magical” coffee mug, I am generally a devotee of the original shot-glass sized Tink from the original 1953 classic film Peter Pan. Whenever I’ve purchased Tinkabilia, which has been frequent as you can imagine, I’ve stuck with classic Tink, whose magical mystique is unbesmirched by corporate greed and the march of time.

Well, I guess Disney has decided that they haven’t heaped enough indignities upon my beloved favorite Disney character.  Thus far, their list of crimes against her is as follows:

5 Ways Disney has defiled Tinkerbell

1. They re-drew her. CGI – ’nuff said.
2. They’ve converted her into a maintenance woman. Disney has insisted that the “Tinker” in Tinkerbell means “one who fixes things”.  Please.  Everyone knows that “tinker” REALLY means, “the sound a bell makes”.  Duh.
3. They’ve fabricated a contradictory back-story for her. Disney needs to fire whomever came up with this absurd “Pixie Hollow” back-story, populated with little fairy friends.  Oh but wait – it’s making money . This back-story would never happen.  In fact, it never DID happen. Tinkerbell hangs with the Lost Boys.  Always has, always will.



4. They’ve made her speak. English, even.  See “the sound a bell makes”, above.  That’s as close to describing her voice as we mere mortals have ever been able to come. It’s like trying to describe the sound of a dog whistle – everyone knows you are lying because humans cannot hear the sound of a dog whistle.
5. And the latest, most heinous of all crimes against faith, trust and pixie dust – Disney hath made Tinkerbell a person-sized face character in the parks.  Now I ask you, how are all the children, both young and old, supposed to believe that this face character is the real Tinkbell, when everyone knows that the REAL Tinkerbell is so small, she fits in the palm of Peter’s hand?  Are we therefore to believe that Peter must be a giant? Preposterous!

And yet, it’s this very most heinous of all crimes which Disney intends to perpetuate with the making of this “live action romantic comedy” film.  Just read this article, and then read all the comments that follow.  This is what Disney hath wrought upon poor Tink.  Oh, the indignity of it all.  O, the humanity!

Elizabeth Banks to Play Tinkerbell in Disney’s Live Action Romantic Comedy ‘Tink’.

I think they are now painting themselves into a corner. I’ve read that the reason we have no Princess Giselleface character in the parks is because they’d have to find X many clones of Amy Adams. For animated characters, you can easily explain differences in the way they appear in person versus on film – “Oh, everyone looks different when they are drawn.” But you cannot explain why the face character in the park is obviously not the same person as the live action character on screen. Can you imagine the dismay, the anguish, the tears, when little children who’ve seen the “live action romantic comedy” are presented with an obviously FAKE face character Tinkerbell in the parks? Kids are not stupid, you know. They have the ability to suspend disbelief, but eventually they will see that Tink in the parks is bogus. And once they see that, they will start looking at the other characters with the same critical eye.

I predict the downfall of the character meet!

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Last Friday, I drove out past Sanibel Island and crossed Blind Pass over to Captiva Island. At the end of Captiva, there’s a resort called South Seas, which has conference facilities. I was there to get some safety training for beach cleanup volunteers – want to be prepared in case the Gulf oil spill makes its way to the Lee Island Coast of Florida. The drive looks short-ish on the map, but is made longer by the 35 mile per hour speed limit (maximum) that’s enforced on both islands. Pretty scenery is the saving grace – I wasn’t suffering at all!

The course was four hours long and it was taught by a trainer from the Ostego Bay Oil Spill Co-Op and a trainer from OSHA – Occupational Safety & Health Administration. There were several different segments that explained the sensitivity of the Gulf coast, especially in the estuaries, the types of hazards that can be encountered in the environment that’s being cleaned, protective gear worn by cleanup workers, and the procedures they follow to maximize safety and minimize damage to people, wildlife, the environment and property.

As conference facilities go – and I’ve been in a lot of them – South Seas has a lot going for it. First, location – a sub-tropical island really cannot be beat. The grounds are nicely landscaped with tropical flowering shrubs and swaying palms. The conference facilities are not all worn out and tired-looking. They are clearly well-maintained. The air conditioning in the conference center was neither too strong nor too weak – just right for people wearing shorts and tank tops. And the final thing to recommend South Seas – REAL iced tea was served, and there were candy jars on every table filled with “Made In The USA” mints.

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I enjoy the ambiance at McT’s. It starts with the outside decor – they’ve got a beached dingy with tall sea grasses growing out of holes it its bottom, a dolphin sculpture and a tropically-decorated Adirondack chair at the front door. Inside, it’s kind of like walking into an undersea cavern – cool and shady, the whimsical mood is set by fantasy-tinged paintings on the walls and the twinkling “stars” strung over the bar. There’s a big blue crab over the bar, too. I like the way the artist just painted the crab’s feet right on top of the air conditioning duct.

There are other things painted on the walls and ceiling, including a couple of mermaids. One of the mermaids is framed on the wall beside the door to the Tavern. I’m a sucker for blue and yellow together, so this is my favorite scene in the whole bar. In this photo, you can see a bit of glare on the lower left of the frame – that’s coming from the glass in the door. As I was taking this photo, one of the wait staff passed by and remarked that she believed the owner’s wife is the artist who creates these paintings, and that she’d just been in recently to freshen them up a bit.

So, how’s the food? you ask. McT’s serves home-made potato chips that would be pretty hard to beat. They are pretty much inhaled as soon as the basket hits the table. Here’s my McT’s lunch of choice – fresh Gulf shrimp, just grilled plain, on a bed of romaine with Caesar dressing on the side. There are all kinds of ways to prepare shrimp, but I like it just grilled because you can really taste how fresh it is that way. To wet the whistle – after all, this is supposed to be a bar crawl – we have a Yellowbird, the official fru-fru drink of the Sunday Sanibel Bar Crawlers and Militant Shellers Association (TM). This is a wonderful libation made from amaretto, rum and pineapple juice, usually garnished with a cherry and an orange slice. The orange slice is typically the first thing ingested.

Overall, I’d say we all enjoy our stops at McT’s, and I’m looking forward to more in the future. Now, if only they had a pool…

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This week, it’s been 2 years since I joined Ruby Tuesday, a photo meme hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. To commemorate the occasion, here’s my first-ever Ruby Tuesday post – from June 24th, 2008! OH – and I have since seen this film, and I believe the cute little red car’s name is Lightning McQueen

Hey, guess what? I lied to you guys yesterday, but I didn’t mean to. I forgot that it was going to be Tuesday today, and I did not intend to continue Flower & Garden Festival stuff because it is my very first RUBY Tuesday! I found out about it from The Teach – in fact, I think she might be the inventor and sole proprietor of Ruby Tuesday.

So here’s my first contribution. I believe this car was one of the stars of Pixar’s film called – wait for it! – Cars. But I am not 100% sure about that, because I have never seen the film.

There’s lots of other nifty red stuff in the background, too. This photo was taken at Disney-MGM Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the morning of May 26th 2008.

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Not sure what’s less reasonable – the expectation that there will be no sand in the sink AT THE BEACH, or the apparently unwillingness to comply on the part of persons unknown. Captured in the restroom at the Lighthouse Beach, Sanibel Island.

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How will a possible hurricane affect your Disney visit? | TheDailyDisney.com from OrlandoSentinel.com.

Recent article in the Orlando Sentinal’s Daily Disney blog reminded me of an autumn trip to see the Mouse a few years back that culminated in riding out a hurricane at the Port Orleans Riverside resort. I’d gone for a conference and at the end of the trip, did a couple of meets with folks from a couple of Disney message boards with whom I’d been carousing online for a few years.

Sometime during the week, I became aware that Hurricane Wilma was expected to blow through Florida. Now, this was the year before I moved here from New York. I’d been through one hurricane up on Long Island – that would have been Gloria in 1985. I knew that a hurricane could blow down trees and take out a home’s roof or crush a car – all manner of destruction. So I was aware that being outside or trying to travel would not be a good idea and that I’d better just hunker down in the event that Wilma DID strike.

We’d heard that the year before, when Hurricane Charley had come through, Disney had been wonderful to the guests, so I thought it was not going to be a problem. Well, I was wrong. I had one of the most negative experiences ever with Disney when Wilma struck on the morning we were supposed to check out. I still maintain that if a company won’t send their employees out in a storm, they should not toss their guests out on their butts during that same storm. Yet they fully expected me to check out on time, despite not wanting to send bell services out in the storm to get my bags.

There were other service failure type issues with Disney during Wilma. The moral of the story is, don’t depend upon Disney or any company for that matter, to do the right thing in the event of a catastrophe. We’d like to think most people and businesses would react with compassion and common sense, but that was not he case in this instance.

If you’re interested in reading about the rest of that trip, here’s a link to my old trip report site from before the blog –

http://www.tinkrbell.com/Vacations/Disney%20Vacations/OrlandoOctober2005/OrlandoOct2005Home.htm

I think the Wilma stuff starts on “Day 8″ and extends into “Day 9″

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I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to spit it out – the Stepford-stewardess-zombie dolls are GONE!

Intrepid readers may recall that I discovered these oddities during my March weekend in Walt Disney World while browsing the Tren-D boutique in Downtown Disney. If you missed it or don’t remember, you can click here to read about it – go ahead, we’ll wait…. oh good you’re back. Surely you can see that the “Stepford Stewardesses” are a little strange. Each doll is clad in identical dresses with identical accessories and identical stares… I suspected then that there was something a little creepy about them, and apparently I was right!

Look – they’re GONE! It’s like they just marched away. No trace of them whatsoever. Where did they go? What is their mission? Who is controlling them and their vacant little staring eyes? And where did all these over-sized chess pieces come from?

I began to roam the store in search of them. Surely they could not have wandered far! Disney does not allow their theming to just get up and walk off. Unless… unless the Stepford-stewardess-zombie dolls had actually taken control of the store and all the Cast Members in it!

No sooner did I have this terrifying thought, then the teeny tiny hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. I felt uncomfortable, like I was being watched… Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch, whereupon I came face to face with a site so horrifying, I nearly fled screaming in abject terror. For there, on a shelf in the corner stood…

NEXT WEEK: The Polka Dot dolls reveal all!

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I was taking photographs in and around Disney’s Boardwalk Inn when my camera ran out of juice. Fortunately, I had a set of fresh batteries with me, and scouted a place to sit down and swap them out. I found this chair and side table in the lobby of the Boardwalk.

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You might think this is odd, but when it comes to leaving a Disney park, I plan my exit route around how many shops I can hit as I make my way toward the gate. (Long-time readers are feigning shock. Tink *~*~* – a shopper? No! Really? ;p ) There are a couple of reasons you should consider doing this, too. One, you are addicted to Disney merchandise, and even if you’re not buying, you’re still looking. Two, if it is a really hot day, the shops are your air conditioned refuge. Some of them are quite long, actually a series of shops strung together; you can get from one to the next without having to exit to the sidewalk. For instance, at the Magic Kingdom you can enter Casey’s at the rear where the bleachers and cartoons are, and walk clear down to the Emporium without ever having to leave the comfort of climate control.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there are major shops spaced out all around Discovery Island, so no matter which land you are coming from, you’re passing merchandise and cool air. The shopportunities are just too good to pass up, so you enter to see what you can see. Much of the merchandise will be similar to what you just saw in the last shop you were in, but once in a while you come across something unique, different…. ok, odd. Take this Pirate Tinkerbell pin as an example. Adorable, right? Well, yes – but only until you get close enough to realize that her eyes are these strange, glowing, neon blue blobs and it makes her look like a pod person ready to shed her humanoid form and take over the planet. I would have bought her, except that she gave me the willies!

Here’s another head-scratcher. We already knew that Ariel didn’t have legs until her dear Auntie Ursula gave her some in exchange for her lovely singing voice. What we didn’t know is that Ursula apparently reneged on the deal, for here we see that instead of legs, Ariel’s got a miniature theater under her skirt, complete with her own “mini-me” shown here in the boat with Prince Eric. The statue is very pretty but when you think about it, she’s actually floating legless above a rowboat and that’s just a tad bizarre. I passed on this one, too.

This t-shirt is a bit of a change of pace for Mickey. Normally, he’s friendly, charming, outgoing and always smiling. On this t-shirt, not so much. Mickey is depicted here running, with his hands flailing in the air, looking over his shoulder in abject terror. Clearly, someone – or someTHING – is chasing him. However, we cannot see that because the t-shirt ends just where a would-be pursuer would begin. We may never know what’s made poor Mickey take off like this, but judging from his face, it can’t be good! Still, this one is more edgy than strange, so there’s the possibility I’d buy it, just to be droll.

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Welcome to Dinosaur Week at My Mobile Adventures *~*~* As mentioned elsewhere, the only real reason it is Dinosaur Week is because I have pictures of dinosars to share Today’s offering comes from Downtown Disney. As many are aware, there is a Lego store there, and they’ve been displaying complex, life-sized Lego sculptures for many years. They are swapped out periodically, so sometimes you get a surprise on your next visit.

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Torii gates are associated with the Shinto and (later on) the Buddhist traditions in Japan. The purpose of a torri gate is to serve as a gateway to a sacred space. This one stands by the lagoon EPCOT. I’m not sure which side of the torri is supposed to be the sacred side – it’s either the Japan pavilion itself, or else it’s the lagoon. I think it’s the water – here’s why.

The Shinto-Buddhist goddess known in Japan as Benzaiten is closely associated with the torri, and is often depicted wearing one on her head. Based upon the Hindu goddess Sarasvati, she is the goddess of “flow”; according to Wikipedia, that would include “water, words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music”. I’d like to think it also includes the psychological definition of “flow” – to be so caught up in the task at hand, euphoria results. She is also associated with bestowing fortune.

Next time I’m in EPCOT, I need to look in the gift shop at the Japan pavilion and see if there is anything associated to Benzaiten in there. I want to read up on her – she sounds really interesting!

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My new favorite place for a Disney shopportunity is Tren-D, a new-ish high-end boutique attached to Team Mickey in Downtown Disney. This is where you will find some of the more… um, “interesting” Disney merchandise on property. I’d call the place a mix between “whimisical” and “edgy”. Perhaps that’s why Mickey has that look on his face – he’s a bit stunned, don’t you think? Certainly all the new “Alice” merchandise will fit here nicely.

Here is one of those “whimsical” things I was talking about. This is a human-sized statue of Mickey Mouse that’s been splatter-painted in bright primary colors. He stands sentinel between Tren-D and Team Mickey, gesturing for us to enter the boutique. Of course he wants us to go in – chances are very good that you will walk out of there sporting a lighter wallet and a high-end purse you didn’t know you needed and never imagined you’d fall in love with

They look like Stepford airline stewardesses but I believe they are actually supposed to represent Disneyland cast members from the early, early days. A single one of these effigies would have been sort of an art-deco tribute to Disneyana, a 20th century object d’art – but a collection of them all standing in a row, all looking exactly alike – well, it’s just creepy. I do like the quasi-psychedelic Mickey portrait, though He makes a nice backdrop.

I hope you enjoyed our Ruby Tuesday shopping trip!

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