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October 6, 2020 By Samantha Davis-Friedman Leave a Comment

Virtual pin event celebrates twenty years of Disney pins

Pin collecting and trading have always been popular traditions at Disney Parks. On Nov. 13 and 14, 2020, collectors can participate in the first-ever virtual pin event – Celebrating Twenty Years of Disney Pins.

Celebrating Twenty Years of Disney Pins, virtual pin event
Images courtesy of Disney Parks Blog
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Disney, Event, Merchandise Tagged With: 20th anniversary, Celebrating Twenty Years of Disney Pins, Disney, Emerald, Pin collecting, pin trading, pins, virtual event, Virtual pin event

December 26, 2019 By Brittani Tuttle Leave a Comment

New Year’s pin trading event to be held at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

This year’s New Year’s Eve celebration at Walt Disney World will feature a new pin trading opportunity at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

pin trading
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Event, Holiday, Merchandise, Slider, Theme Parks, Walt Disney World Tagged With: 2020, commemorative pin, Disney World, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney's Animal Kingdom, featured, New Year's Eve, nye, pin trading, pins, Walt Disney World, wdw

February 14, 2019 By Brittani Tuttle Leave a Comment

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay celebrating 60th anniversary all March long

Guests visiting Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will have even more to enjoy when its 60th Anniversary Celebration kicks off on March 1 with a concert and fireworks display.

busch gardens tampa bay
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s 60th Anniversary Celebration has a lot in store for park guests.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Busch Gardens, Event, Food, Merchandise, Slider, Theme Parks Tagged With: 60th anniversary, Busch Gardens, busch gardens tampa, busch gardens tampa bay, Event, featured, Food, Food & Wine Festival, Merchandise, pin trading, Theme Parks, tigris, year of beer

February 20, 2018 By Brittani Tuttle 2 Comments

SeaWorld Orlando officially starts guest pin trading this weekend

seaworld
Pin Trading is coming to SeaWorld Orlando this weekend. Photo courtesy of SeaWorld Orlando.

SeaWorld Orlando will officially start guest pin trading for the first time this Saturday, Feb. 24. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Animals, Merchandise, SeaWorld Orlando, Slider, Theme Parks Tagged With: Ambassador, animals, featured, Merchandise, Orlando, Pass Member, pin trading, pins, SeaWorld, SeaWorld Orlando, Theme Parks

February 7, 2018 By Banks Lee Leave a Comment

Expansion Drive podcast – Super Bowl celebration, Star Wars news and SeaWorld pin trading

Join hosts Mike and Didi as they bring you news and discussion about everything fun, including theme parks, video games, television, movies, music and more. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Expansion Drive, Movies, Music, Slider, Sports, Television, Theme Parks Tagged With: discussion, expansion drive, news, Philadelphia Eagles, pin trading, podcast, SeaWorld, Star Wars, Super Bowl

December 27, 2013 By Banks Lee 1 Comment

Photo Finds: tumblers & grumblers edition – character breakfasts, updates: Dec. 24, 2013

gospel singers at epcot

By John Kurowski

Come celebrate 15 years of awe-inspiring feats of daring do at Cirque du Soleil then head over to Seuss Landing for some breakfast with a green, furry grouch. Plus let off some steam at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, celebrate a movie premiere, or two, and see why Pin Trading really should be considered for an Olympic Sport. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Photo Finds Tagged With: attractions, character breakfast, Cinderella, Cirque du Soleil, Disney, Disney's Hollywood Studios, featured, Florida, fun, Grinch (Fictional Character), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, news, Orlando, Photograph (Literary Genre), pin trading, theme park, Travel, Universal Orlando, Video

May 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Mold-A-Rama, Disney and old Florida will highlight collectibles show at Fantasy of Flight

Theme Park Connection, Mickey, Disneyana, Fantasy of Flight

On Sunday, June 9, 2013 memorabilia dealers from around the country and local legends will gather for a one day collectibles show at Fantasy of Flight. The Florida Vintage Travel Collectibles Show is a celebration of vintage travel memorabilia from the history of travel and vacations in Florida. The show will showcase airline, old Florida, Disneyana and airline memorabilia along with souvenirs and relics from the Florida’s most famous attractions. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Disney, Event, Merchandise Tagged With: airline, Disneyana, Fantasy of Flight, old florida, pin trading, Theme Park Connection

May 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

Disney's Hollywood Studios Celebrates 20 Years – Video, Photos, and Imagineer Talk Summary

Hollywood Studios

Today, May 1, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. When it opened two decades ago as the Disney-MGM Studios, it was Walt Disney World’s third theme park rand revolved around the idea of television and movie-making.

In honor of the 20th anniversary, Disney held a special rope-drop ceremony this morning at 8 a.m. featuring vice president of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Rilous Carter, and a few of their Citizens of Hollywood “streetmosphere” characters:

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios You can click the panoramic image above to enlarge it.

Imagineering Talks Studios History

Walt Disney ImagineersFollowing the opening festivities, guests were invited to attend talks delivered by Walt Disney Imagineers Bob Weis, Tom Fitzgerald, and Eric Jacobson (pictured here with Disney’s Hollywood  Studios vice president Rilous Carter), all of whom worked on the creation of the now 20-year-old theme park. The sessions were given in the Premiere Theater and featured the history of how the park came to be, focusing on imagery of the park’s design and construction processes.

Unfortunately, no recording or photography was allowed during the sessions, so while we can’t bring you a video, we can offer a summary of what was discussed.

The Sorcerer Mickey Hat

The most crowd-pleasing moment of the talk came when the Imagineers were flipping through slides of the park nearing completion and came across a picture of the park’s full-size replica of Graumann’s Chinese Theater, prior to being blocked by the giant Sorcerer Mickey Hat that was built directly in front of it back in 2000. Upon seeing the image, Imagineer Bob Weis quickly commented, “And this is my favorite view of the Chinese Theater. You can’t get this view anymore. You may be aware of that. But I hope that we will get this view again some time soon.” (The picture below is our photo from today – not the one shown in the presentation.)

Hollywood Studios Chinese TheaterLoud applause and cheers erupted from the Disney fan-filled audience, as the removal of the hat has been called for by many fans since its installation. Imagineer Eric Jacobson followed the applause by joking, “I see there’s mixed opinions on that. I’ll be taking some names on the way out. We’ll have a little sign up sheet.”

Later in the presentation, the Imagineers ran through photo slides of some of the most recent major additions to the park including the Tower of Terror, Fantasmic, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, calling out each attraction by name as it appeared on the screens. Then came an image of the Sorcerer Mickey Hat, at which point the Imagineers said nothing and simply moved on to the next slide, much to the delight of the audience.

Could the obvious disdain for the Sorcerer Hat by these Imagineers mean that it is actually on its way out? Maybe not any time soon, but at least we know that some of the top Imagineers have the same negative feelings about it that many (most?) Disney fans do.

Other Notable Moments

The Imagineer session lasted a little over an hour and mainly covered the creation of the most basic elements of the park. Images were shown of the various facades that line the park’s versions of Hollywood and Sunset Blvd., paired with photos of the real buildings that inspired each one in Hollywood, Calif.  Imagineer Bob Weis made note of the fact that Hollywood, Calif. in real life during the ’80s was not the nicest place to be and the version of Hollywood depicted in Disney’s Hollywood Studios is an idealized version, much in the same way that the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street USA doesn’t really exist.

Backlot TourEarly concepts described for the still-running, though often-altered Backlot Tour included a “Dailies Theater,” in which daily clips from ongoing movie productions would be shown – until the Imagineers realized they couldn’t legally show those clips.

Instead, the version of the Backlot Tour that opened with the park included peeks into the movie-making process through short films. The Imagineers noted that, at the time, “making-of” features weren’t as common as they are today, so showing the movie-making process was a treat for park guests.

To illustrate this, the audience today was shown three short films that were seen daily when the park first opened. They showed a short film called The Lottery starring Bette Midler, which was shot in the New York section of the park. They also mentioned that originally, the New York streets were not designed for foot traffic but were instead part of the Backlot Tour tram route.

Also shown to the audience today was “Michael and Mickey,” directed by Jerry Rees and featuring Michael Eisner, Mickey Mouse, Roger Rabbit, Chernabog, and various other characters piling into a movie theater. This short combined live-action and 2-D animation in a similar style as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. It was used in the park as an introduction to movie trailers for upcoming Disney films.

Finally, a few other celebrity clips introducing different aspects of movie-making were shown to today’s  crowd, including a hilarious back-and-forth routine featuring Mel Gibson and Pee-Wee Herman dubbing over each others’ lines, demonstrating the automatic dialogue replacement (ADR) process.  

Overall, it was the Imagineers’ intent in designing Disney’s Hollywood Studios to capture the feeling and magic of the 10% of television and movie-making that is the most interesting and fun, without boring park guests with the 90% that is far less interesting.

One final interesting note from today’s talk was that 20 years ago, many movie studios did not realize how valuable their movie props were and, according to the Imagineers, several original Star Wars props could at one time be found simply sitting on shelves as park decorations – that is, before someone realized they should probably be housed safely in a museum somewhere. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Disney, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Event, Movies, Television, Theme Parks, Travel Tagged With: 20, anniversary, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Imagineer, pin trading, Sorcerer Mickey Hat

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

FX Show this weekend features celebrities, collectibles and more

fx2008

The annual FX! International Show is back at the Orange County Convention Center this weekend. This is the 20th year for the show.

The show runs Friday through Sunday. Most of the hall consists of dealers selling various collectable toys and action figures and comics from your childhood up to some not yet widely released stuff. You’ll find just about every kind of toy collectible here.

In addition to the toys, you’ll find many other happenings, such as comic book artists signings, a celebrity poker tournament, parties, costume contests, panel discussions and many celebrities. The guests range from true celebrities to some years-gone-by stars. You can even meet Scott Schwartz, the kid who got his tongue frozen on a flagpole in A Christmas Story.

Some of the top stars scheduled are Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek, James Marsters from Buffy and Angel, Julie Benz from Buffy and Dexter, Ray Park from Star Wars, Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek, the Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner and James Kyson Lee from Heroes. Visit the FX Web site for a full list of guests and events.

For Disneyana fans, there will be an official Disney pin trading event with seven exclusive designs available (see below). Pin trading will take place on the second floor mezzanine on Friday from 2 to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. They’re also touting a special display by Terry Higgins, “the foremost collector of Haunted Mansion pins in the world”, although I know a certain Disney podcaster and magazine publisher who may have him beat, or at least tied.

dispins

Disney fans may also want to check out the U.S. launch of Disney’s Stitch Experiment 626 Project Custom Art Tour. Some of the most popular Urban Vinyl artists will be on hand to show off their custom interpretations of a special DIY 10″ Stitch figure. Guests will be able to purchase limited exclusive minis of the Stitches created by the attending artists.

FX! International runs from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $25 per day. I suggest going on Friday if you want to buy hard to find exclusive items, going on Saturday if you just want to enjoy the show and most of the special events, and going on Sunday if you want the best deals on merchandise. Three-day passes are also available for $50.

Check our Photo Gallery from last year’s FX show. Check back next week for photos from this year’s show.

Filed Under: Disney, Event, Movies, Television Tagged With: celebrities, Disney, Event, FX Show, FX! International, Orange County Convention Center, pin trading

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