Spring Carnival - Part 3

This is the final part to my series of posts on Tokyo DisneySea's Spring Carnival event. The first four photos show "Fantasia Gardens" which was a temporary setup in the American Waterfront section of the park.


The Tower of Terror can be seen in the background of this next pic.

The shot below features the dancing mushrooms from Fantasia's "Nutcracker Suite." We can also see thistles (dressed as Russian Cossacks) dancing with the the orchids from the same sequence.

Here's a topiary of Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Next we have Jasmine's Garden from the Arabian Coast section of the park.

The park's double decker carousel can be seen in the background of this next pic.

This topiary of Jasmine was placed on top of a fountain that normally has terra cotta tigers around it's base. For this special event, the tigers were all replaced with versions that feature Genie.

I hope everyone enjoyed this "Spring Carnival" series of posts. I'm not sure yet where we'll visit in my next post. Anaheim? Orlando? Tokyo? Paris?

Spring Carnival - Part 2 and 200th Post!

This is my 200th post.....I never thought I'd make it this far! I guess I can stop now. Well, there is a Part 3 to this series, so maybe one more post after this and then I can retire.

Today for Part 2, we have more photos from Tokyo Disneyland's Spring Carnival event. These flower carts were in the Mediterranean Harbor area, near the park's entrance archway.


Here's a close up of the floral picture on Mickey and Pluto's cart.


Donald's flower cart was shaped like a boat.


These two carts were actually inside the entrance archway, underneath the park's Mira Costa Hotel.

This Mickey head was covered in succulent plants. (I posted a close-up shot of this last year.)

These flowers were sitting outside of the Portofino Cafe.

There is some major layering going on in this last picture. It was taken on a bridge. The green metal seen just on the other side of the wrought iron is another bridge that the DisneySea Electric Railway travels over. The red bridge beyond that is for both pedestrian traffic and the American Waterfront vehicles. The real Tokyo Bay can also be seen (faintly) just beyond that bridge, and then on the left is the S.S. Columbia.

In the final part to this series, we'll visit Fantasia Gardens and Jasmine's Garden!

(Happy Birthday, Dad!)

Spring Carnival - Part 1

Since today is the very first day of Spring, let's take a look at Tokyo DisneySea's Spring Carnival event. These pictures were taken in the park's Mediterranean Harbor area in 2008. That's a topiary of Jiminy Cricket on the right.


The "25" represents the 25th anniversary of the Tokyo Disney Resort. Technically, it didn't become the "Tokyo Disney Resort" until 2001 when Tokyo DisneySea opened, but it was the 25th anniversary of the opening of Tokyo Disneyland.

Here are Pinocchio and Gepetto during the day......

....and at night.

Next, we have the Blue Fairy getting ready to work her magic. (The ruins in the background are supposed to be ancient Roman Aqueducts.)

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These floral vignettes are only on display during the park's Spring Carnival event which runs from April through June. This year will mark the fourth year for this special event.

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Happy First Day of Spring, everyone!

St. Patrick's Day at Walt Disney World - 1970's

Today we have a couple shots from what I believe to be a St. Patrick's Day parade at Walt Disney World in the early 1970's.

Here's a close up of Mickey and Minnie. If this wasn't a St. Patrick's Day parade, I would like to know why they were both dressed all in green. After all, Disneyland used to have a St. Patrick's Day parade, once upon a time. Does anyone know for sure if Walt Disney World used to have one too? .

Also from the same parade, is this shot of Liberty Square's Fife and Drum Corps. The color in this photo is so much better than the previous shot.....I'm not sure why. A lot of my vintage Walt Disney World slides have a weird, hazy, faded color to them. I was able to color correct some of the slides, but there are some that I wasn't able to do very much with. Maybe I just don't have the right software!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

E.J. Peaker In Mary Blair-Land

Hey Osmonds, it's E.J. Peaker.....THE MOVIE STAR, and she's ready for The Love Bug Parade on Main Street! She left home right after lunch, but she should've left right after breakfast, because The Love Bug Parade was actually last year.


Did I hear somebody out there ask, "Who's E.J. Peaker?" Well, do you remember seeing "Hello Dolly?" Do you remember Miss Molly's Dress Shop? Remember Minnie Fay, the assistant? Well, that was E.J. Peaker....THE MOVIE STAR! Here we see her standing in front of the large Mary Blair mural, which was in Tomorrowland from 1967 to 1987. This was a publicity shot for "The Wonderful World of Disney" episode entitled, "Disneyland Showtime."

This show originally aired in March of 1970 and would sometimes show up in later years on "Vault Disney" on the Disney Channel. The episode can be watched here on YouTube.

Here's a better shot of the mural....it also shows which part of the mural she's standing in front of in the publicity photo above.

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Here's another shot, taken from the other direction.

There's a kind of walk you walk, when the world's undone you. There's a kind of walk you walk when the neighbors shun you. Just watch the show and you'll understand....she's simply too groovy for words.

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Oh yeah, the episode also shows her singing on The Tomorrowland Stage and The Mark Twain Steamboat. You'll also see the Kids of the Kingdom sing, "This Land Is Your Land" while riding extinct attractions like the Skyway, the Pack Mules, Nature's Wonderland Mine Train, and the Keel Boats. At the end of the show, everyone rides through the newly opened Haunted Mansion, which makes E.J. feel kind of "creepy all over!"

Snow White's Blind Date With Rob Lowe

Do you have ten minutes to spare? Do you want to watch a train wreck?


Maybe "wreck" is a little too strong of a word, but what I'm referring to is the Alan Carr ("Grease") produced opening number for the Oscars, 21 years ago. You'll see Snow White shake hands with Tom Hanks, dance alongside her "blind date," Rob Lowe, sing a special version of "Proud Mary," attempt some Tina Turner moves, bump and grind in a lineup of chorus boys, and share the stage with Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Vincent Price, Dorothy Lamour, Cyd Charisse and Alice Faye. Did I mention that the number also features Merv Griffin singing, "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts?"


The number ends with Snow White coming out in a dress that rivals a Disneyland Electrical Parade float, while at the same time donning a headdress in the shape of Grauman's Chinese Theater....which Lily Tomlin ends up hiding inside of! Do you think I'm making this up? Have I completely lost you all at this point? Well, you can watch a clip of the whole thing here, but watch it soon if you have any interest because many of the YouTube listings for this that I have seen in the past have been removed because of copyright infringement. Disney even sued the Academy over the use of Snow White's likeness without their permission and defamation of the Snow White character. They later accepted an apology and a settlement that the footage never be aired or seen again.

Here's what a New York Times article dated March 31, 1989 had to say about that lawsuit:

"The Walt Disney Company filed suit Thursday against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, alleging unauthorized use of its Snow White character in what it called an unflattering opening number of the nationally televised Oscar awards ceremony Wednesday night. The suit, filed in United States District Court, alleges copyright infringement of the Snow White character, unfair competition and violation of the state anti-dilution law, which protects the value of a trademark. The show began with an actress dressed as Snow White being interviewed in the lobby of the Shrine Auditorium, and then following a chorus to the stage. The actress then sang spoofs of popular songs rewritten with Oscar-oriented lyrics. The show was broadcast live on ABC. Bruce Davis, the academy's executive administrator, declined comment on the suit, saying, ''Not only do we not have any comment, but we haven't even seen it.''"

A few months later, the incident was parodied by a certain artist.....

Happy Oscar Weekend, everyone!