On This Day in Disney History: November 18th

Published November 18, 2013 by Disneyways.com

Nov18

On November 18th Actor Owen Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas. The year was 1968. Owen is the voice of Lightning McQueen in the movies Cars and Cars 2.
Actor Delroy Lindo is born in 1952 in London, England. He is the voice of Beta, a Rottweiler and member of Muntz’s pack of talking dogs in Disney-Pixar’s UP.

Actress Elizabeth Perkins, the voice of Coral in Disney’s 2003 Finding Nemo, is born in Queens, New York in 1960.

November 18, 1978:

This is the first year Mickey has an official birthday! We interviewed Jim Korkis for the Disney Parks Podcast recently. Jim is an amazing wealth of knowledge on all things historic with the Disney company. You can take a look at some of the books he has written all about Disney history HERE. You will definitely want to add them all to your collection if you haven’t already. During the podcast recording, Jim shared with us how there is controversy about what the actual date of Mickey’s birth truly is. However, as a general rule, Disney Archivist Dave Smith has declared that November 18, 1928, was the first general public appearance of Mickey Mouse … thus creating an “official” birth date. Have a magical day!!

Fun on 4 Wheels! “Move”-ies and Car Masters Weekend 2013

Published April 19, 2013 by Disneyways.com

Vroom Vroom!!

Here is a great Disney activity for Dad on Father’s Day, or anyone really, who is looking for fun on four wheels!

Car Masters Weekend is now in its third year. Downtown Disney West Side hosts a classic car show with a modern twist!

Car Masters Weekend
June 15 to June 16, 2013 – 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM

Featuring all things “Cars,” the event will showcase more than 150 classic, muscle and exotic…(what else?)…cars!

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You’ll also get a chance to meet “Cars 2″ stars Lightning McQueen, Mater and Finn McMissile.

Special appearances will be made by automotive designer Chip Foose

CHIP FOOSE

and Disney-Pixar “Cars” filmmaker Jay Ward.

JAY WARD

Cars fans may purchase tickets for a “Cars” & “Cars 2″ movie marathon at AMC Downtown Disney 24, “test drive” Ridemakerz “Cars” models, and enjoy caricatures, themed food and beverage, live entertainment and more. Entertainment subject to change.

Check out all that there is to see and do at Disney World’s official site – here.

Sounds like a great reason to put the pedal to the metal and cruise the open road towards this fun event if you are in the area!

Speaking of Cars – check out Reasons to Love Test Track 2.0 from Someone Who’s Lived it!

2013 Epcot Flower and Garden Festival Topiaries, Play Areas and More

Published January 31, 2013 by Disneyways.com

The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2013 will feature some new topiary displays and bring back some old favorites!

Topiaries at the front entrance will welcome us to Epcot in a very special way. This fantastic first topiary “scene” will feature the Fab Five, plus one! A 14-foot-tall topiary Goofy will “goof-up” an anniversary cake while Donald and Daisy play badminton. Mickey will fire up the grill, Pluto will swipe a link of hot dogs and Minnie will chill out on a colorful blanket of blossoms. Sounds like one of my family cook outs.

Can you imagine how cute these guys will look made out of plants??!!

fab 5

Illuminated Gardens – An after-dark enhancement will be given to some of the topiaries and gardens. Every night when the sun sets, many of the festival’s world-famous Disney topiaries and gardens will twinkle and shine in a new light. You can find these throughout World Showcase and Future World.

mike

Mike and Sully topiaries will be located on the Future World walkway.
Phineas and Ferb will be behind Spaceship Earth.

You will also want to look for Fawn’s Butterfly House. Eight fanciful fairy topiaries of Pixie Hollow, including Tinker Bell, Fawn, Vidia and Terrence will be located in the Butterfly House this year, and of course you’ll see real butterflies there too! I was lucky enough to get a picture of this guy last year – just as he was saying his first hello to the world.

An interactive play area on the Test Track walkway will be based on Radiator Springs. It will feature Lightning McQueen and Mater topiaries.

Here’s the photo of Lightning that I took last year.

A second interactive play area based on the new movie “OZ: The Great and Powerful. There will also be a “Oz Movie Garden” full of unusual plants inspired by the Land of Oz.

Note: Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with some of these locations. Epcot will have beautiful (free!) maps available at the very front of the park and in various places throughout.