The Hidden Mouse

There's another guide book (The Hidden Mouse, paperback 118 pgs) available about the Hidden Mickeys of the Disneyland Resort. For those of you who do not know about this phenomenon, Disney Imagineers often place a silhouette of Mickey's head within an attraction or elsewhere in the Disney Parks. The majority of the hidden Mickeys take the shape of three circles. A larger circle for the head and two smaller circles for the ears. What makes tracking down hidden Mickeys difficult is that they are often in places or areas that are not easily visible and Disney has no official list of where they are located. Documentation and cataloguing are left up to the fans.

The Hidden Mouse is not the first book to catalogue Hidden Mickeys. Stephen Barrett's Hidden Mickey's has been out for a number of years and has gone through several editions and covers multiple parks. So, since we have two books covering virtually the same subject, a side by side comparison is in order.

Page Count: Hidden Mickeys - 96 pgs; Hidden Mouse - 118 pgs (both books are in paperback)

Photos: Hidden Mickeys - none; Hidden Mouse - at least one color photo per page

Coverage: Both books cover Disneyland, DCA, Downtown Disney and Park Hotels

Writing Style: Barrett's Hidden Mickey's is written as a scavenger hunt leading you on a path through each land. This book reads better if you're standing in Disneyland. Joyce's Hidden Mouse is written in an informative style. He also includes some hidden Mickeys that probably should not be included and gives well thought-out reasoning why. Joyce also includes trivia about attractions.

It'll probably come down to readers choice on which book to buy, but I tended to enjoy The Hidden Mouse better due to the photos.

Three New Disneyland Books

Greetings everyone. I just got back from a trip to Disneyland which was all decorated for Halloween. The Halloween Screams fireworks show was the best pyrotechnic display since the 50th celebration, but the Ghost Galaxy overlay on Space Mountain was just so-so. Anyway, I picked up three new books.

The first is Disneyland Challenge (seen above). This spiral-bound paperback book comes in at 128 pages. It's part guidebook and part trivia challenge. It's an interesting read but I feel that the Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland is a better book.

Next up is Finding Nemo in the Disney Theme Parks. This was an interesting concept. The authors go from Park to Park to see how the characters from Finding Nemo are used in attractions. (paperback; 24 pages)

And, finally we have Windows On Main Street (paperback; 24 pages). A book that is long overdue. As any Disney fan knows, those names that appear on the windows of the shops on Main St. are real people. Quite often the description features a play on words or a personal hobby of the person being inshrined. This book contains photos of the windows and description of the persons contribution to Disney and the story behind the window. The back of the book also contains a map of Disneyland and Walt Disney World where each window is located. But, on the downside, the book is incomplete. The map lists 63 different windows at Disneyland, but the book only details about half of those. (An even worse ratio for Walt Disney World.) Also, the photo quality of the windows is horrible. Quite often there is shadow or glare across the window so the description is not readable.

Walt Disney Family Museum Preview

I had an opportunity on Sunday to visit The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco through the D23 Preview weekend. Here's my first impressions, both good and bad:

Signage: Being a Northern California native, I knew how to get to the Presidio without any problems. But, once on the grounds, direction signage for the museum is almost non-existent. Driving directions provided by the Museum web site just link you directly to the Presidio web site which weren't that good. Once you find the museum, the sign out front is pretty small. (I realize this isn't Disneyland and I shouldn't be looking for some gigantic landmark such as Space Mountain to find my way. I just feel this is an area that needs improvement.)

Parking: Tons of free, self-parking right in front of the Museum.

Staff: During our visit there was was a ton of very friendly and informed staff members on hand. The Museum also did an excellent job with the pacing. Never at any time did I feel that I couldn't view any of the exhibits and displays due to crowding.

The Building: The Museum is housed in three old barrack buildings that were constructed in the 1890s. While the outside of the buildings show charming simplicity in their brick structure, the inside is completely modern. The buildings are also interconnected, so you never have to leave one building to enter another. At one point, you walk along a hallway with a glass wall and an absolutely stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was absolutely perfect during our visit offering a breathtaking view.

The Displays: Having a very extensive Disney book collection, I often see the same photographs over and over. I would estimate that for every one photo I recognized in the Museum, there were 10 that I had never seen before. The displays also range from traditional museum displays to very high-tech, user interactive. The Museum is laid out in a timeline of Walt Disney's life. And, as with any timeline, no time travel is allowed. (You can't skip rooms). My favorite room has to be the era between mid 1950s to mid 1960s (Mickey Mouse Club, NY World's Fair, Disneyland, etc.)

Gift Shop: This is probably my only really true negative. While the Gift Shop was stocked with very unique items, I over heard the employees say several times "That's our last one" or "We're sold out". Also, the companion book for the Museum will not be available until mid-October. This is an area that will need some fine tuning right away.

I'll definitely be going back.

The Disney Song Encyclopedia

I added another book to my ever-growing collection - The Disney Song Encyclopedia (Harback: 350 pages). I'm a sucker for reference books, so when I saw that this title was available I knew I'd need to pick up a copy.

I've just begun to make my way through it's pages, but so far it doesn't disappoint. This book contains every single song used in a Disney production, (shorts, full-length animated, live action, theme park and Broadway shows from 1930 to present day - at least I assume it's every single song. I'm going to have to take the authors word on that one.) Songs, of course, are listed in alphabetical order with each entry containing notes about who wrote the music and lyrics, where the song appeared (some songs have been used multiple times) and any historical notes behind the song.

But, it doesn't stop there. The back of the book is loaded with appendices:

Appendix A: Alternate Song Titles

Appendix B: Song Writers Directory

Appendix C: Sources and Songs

Appendix D: Guide To Recordings, Videos And DVDs

Appendix E: Academy Awards For Disney Songs and Scores

Keep Your Childhood Toys!

It's no secret that I'm an eBay fanatic. One of the things you quickly discover, is that your childhood starts flashing before your eyes. I can't tell you how many times I've stumbled upon an item I used to have from my childhood. Some of the listed items are in horrible condition while others appear brand new. But, it still brings the same response - Why did I get rid of it? Well, sometimes I got rid of those toys by choice. Other times, it was so completely destroyed from hours of play, or misuse, that it had to be discarded. (I melted an entire set of plastic cars in our backyard incinerator. Of course, there's also the time I cut the head off an army man by using a razor blade. Also, cut the tip of my finger off too. But, I digress).

One of the things that I've still held on to from childhood are my Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars collections. I started collecting Hot Wheels the first year they were available - 1967. I continued this hobby into the early 1970s. I treated my Hot Wheels very well. (Unlike Sid from Toy Story). I never took them outside and only played with them in my Hot Wheels sets. I actually got annoyed when other kids would smash their cars together. Sometime in the late 1970's my Hot Wheels went into deep storage in mom's attic. When I got my own home, versus an apartment, mom said it was time to get your stuff out of the attic. So, the Hot Wheels moved into storage in my own home.

Sometime around the year 2000, I decided to price my collection. I figured 30 years had gone by, and some of the cars were sure to have gone up in value. I was shocked to find out that I was sitting on a rare 1967 White Enamel Redline Custom Camaro. At the time, I didn't do anything with that car. It just continued to stay in storage.

Recently, I got to thinking about selling the car. I starting doing my homework, reading price guides, talking to other collectors, scouring the internet. Any type of collector will tell you that research is SO important whether you're a buyer or seller.

Well, today I finally sold the Camaro. Being a gentleman, I can't devulge what I sold it for. But, I can tell you it's time to go shopping for a new camera.

Postcards From The Disney Gallery

This postcard is from a series that were available in the Disney Gallery. (For those that do not know, the Disney Gallery was located on the second floor above Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square in Disneyland). The original series of twenty cards were produced to commemorate the artwork that was on sale. I don't know if you can really call these postcards. They were produced in a wide variety of non-standard (square, rectangle and very small) shapes, and printed on lighter weight stock than regular postcards. But, they do contain a stamp-box in the upper right corner, so I guess they're technically postcards.

I'm slowing making my way in acquiring all of these cards.

SHAG Does Haunted Mansion

SHAG, or more commonly known to his parents as Josh Agle, has created another series of postcards for Disneyland. This set of 14 cards (13 unique images - you get two of the card pictured above) comes packaged in a cool looking tin. Those of you with good memories might remember he did three postcards for the Tiki Room anniversary and a variety of images for Disneyland's 50th anniversary. Just click thru to see the other images in this group.