We’re gearing up for the excitement of the 60th Anniversary Kickoff this weekend, and folks are starting to check into hotels and find out their schedules today. The rain rain rain might come down down down or we might have Walt’s Weather, but MiceChat will be there there to show you what’s going on all the way, no matter what happens. One thing I learned from the Cast Preview of Disneyland Forever: bring hankies.

Let’s start on the other coast:

Stores Springs Anew

Disney Springs at Downtown Disney Orlando will have quite a few one-of-a-kind experiences, as we’ve talked about previously, but will also have some familiar places for locals to visit that we can find in our local malls, including Pandora, Tommy Bahama, UGG, L’Occitane en Provence, Zara, Lilly Pulitzer, UNIQLO and Edward Beiner as well as unique eateries like Sprinkles (those famous cupcakes) with, of course, a cupcake ATM, also the East Coast version of The Edison, just called Edison here, with a fantastical industrial gothic take on a restaurant, bar and cabaret. Some Mannequins, some Adventurers’ Club, some “I’m too young to remember either of those, but wow, this drink is good.”. Vivoli Gelateria: get your dessert on first, then have a nice panini and espresso drink.  Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Blaze Pizza chain opens its newest link here. There’s one by where I’m staying in South Gate and it’s faboo. Build-your-own pizza, s’mores on cream crackers that the family swears by and blood orange lemonade that’s even better when mixed with iced tea. They make the indy pizzas in front of you and fire them up in 180 seconds, done. Love it.

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The concept art for Disney Springs shows a whole new vibe for the heart of Downtown Disney.

Losing StormRider, Finding Dory

Oriental Land Company released two (small) images yesterday and a release stating that they’d be replacing Tokyo DisneySea’s StormRider with an attraction based on Finding Dory, the upcoming megahit Pixar movie. In the attraction (everything on earth subject to change forever) guests will board a submarine and be shrunk down to the size of a fish. They’ll meet many characters, including new ones from the film, which comes out Spring of 2016. The attraction, which will make its debut at Port Discovery in Spring of 2017, is being animated by the same crew as the film, so the character transition will be seamless from film to attraction. It’ll have age and height restrictions, sadly, but that’s just the way it is when you’re working with moving parts. Don’t worry, under-three’s. It’ll be worth the wait!

Artist's rendering. Disney/Pixar.
Artist’s rendering. Disney/Pixar.

 

TIME Magazine: “Disney Hates Your Selfie Sticks”

So does everybody else.

TIME Magazine: “The Kids Love That Disney!”

Also, according to TIME and The Orlando Sentinel, there’s a thing called DisneyBounding! It took them a while to catch on to the craze, don’t you think?!

Leslie Kay’s DisneyBound, where the whole thing pretty much started.

Haven’t heard of Disney Bounding? If you know this already, just bear with me. You wear normal clothes to the parks (or wherever), but those clothes are kind of a “hidden salute” to your favorite character. It isn’t a costume, it’s more subtle. it’s a lot of fun!

BestFamilyDisneyBoundEver

For example, here’s Erika Kurzawa and her family. They’re DisneyBounding! Hubby is Christopher Robin, Erika is Pooh, and the kids are Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet! It’s subtle, and if you’re not looking for it, you probably wouldn’t even notice it. I think it’s pretty cool. Are any of you Disney Bounders? Would love to see your photos below.

Mickey is Everywhere

One of my husband’s passions is sneakers. As a size 17, he can’t wear many of the ones he admires. he can wear Oakleys and Nikes, mostly. Sneakers Magazine did a full-color spread this month on the new designs VANS is doing with Disney. Back in the day, we’d go to the fabric store, pick out a sturdy fabric with a design we liked, then take it to the little hole-in-the-wall VANS store, so close to the beach people would shake sand off their feet when they came inside. They’d take that material and make shoes out of it. Of course I had Mickey Mouse. And the other 12-year-olds made fun of me for liking baby stuff. I didn’t care then and I still don’t. And I still like baby stuff. VANS is now in a giant building on Katella with two huge buses in front (but it still has a cool checkerboard design out front, no longer hand-painted) and you can’t bring in a couple of yards of fabric and get customs any more, but with designs this cool, you’re not going to need to:

, Fab News – Everything is Opening at a Theme Park Near You

, Fab News – Everything is Opening at a Theme Park Near You

, Fab News – Everything is Opening at a Theme Park Near You

Other Openings

Big Doin’s this weekend at Disneyland, and you’re going to hear sooooo much about it over the next few days, but Six Flags is opening Twisted Colossus to guests on Saturday. Our awesome Norman Gidney was just there yesterday for a preview and will have great photos and all the news right here on MiceChat. Hey, did you see that completely amazing Joker animatronic from IAPPA?

We are at the IAAPA themed entertainment expo in Orlando today. Lots of fantastic things to see in this massive show, including this Sally dark ride for Six Six Flags.

Posted by MiceChat.com | The Happiest Place in Cyberspace… on Thursday, November 20, 2014

He went live today, too, at Six Flags Over Texas, in Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. It’s a motion-base 3D shooter with animatronics.

And if you find yourself exhausted after staying up all night at the mouse house, how about relaxing poolside . . .

resize_Knott's Soak City Wave Pool and Speed Slides

Knott’s Soak City water park opens daily for the 2015 season this Saturday, May 23 through Labor Day and Sept. 12 & Sept. 13. CANNONBALL!!!!!

Military Matters

Knott’s Berry Farm and Knott’s Soak City water park will be offering FREE admission to active, veteran and retired United States Military personnel Saturday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend (May 23-25). And if you make it to Knott’s on Sunday, you can enjoy the rare fireworks show on the farm as they light up the sky at 10pm.

Dick Van Dyke Wants You To Save Walt’s House

Dick Van Dyke Introduces Legends Events from The Walt Disney Birthplace on Vimeo.

The big Disney fans over at Legends Events have put together a series of events which will serve as fundraisers for Walt Disney’s Birthplace restoration and the launch of the Center for Early Childhood Creativity and Innovation.

If you can’t make it to one of their upcoming events, you have one week left to help push the current WDB fundraising campaign (for urgent exterior restoration) over the top. They are less than $12,000 away from the goal. We can ABSOLUTELY make this happen with your help folks! Here’s the link to the campaign (you can get some fantastic rewards too!):

Everywhere But Where Walt Was

He started his company and made his home here in California, and his first gem of a park, now celebrating its diamond anniversary, was built here. Though his grand plans spread elsewhere, it’s telling that his personal plans were centered around the mountains and deserts of his home. From Golden Oak to Carolwood, Buena Vista to Harbor and Katella, Smoke Tree to Independence Lake, California was Walt Disney country, no doubt about it. It’s the heart of the company still, where the headquarters is located. Even his ashes are buried here.

Walt Disney loved cruising. The Disney History Institute just unearthed some really lovely photographs of him on the Queen Mary during the voyage to Europe on his way to the premiere of Alice in Wonderland. His company, for a brief time, even owned the Queen Mary. Now, they have their own fleet of beautiful ships, and announced next year’s ports and destinations, including New York, Miami and Galveston, but none from Walt Disney’s home port of Los Angeles, California.

, Fab News – Everything is Opening at a Theme Park Near You

Bon voyage and see you at the sleepover!

 

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Shelly Valladolid
Shelly Valladolid, aka Fab, has been writing about Disney and theme parks for about two decades. She has written for various fan and pop culture sites, Disney Magazine and OCRegister.com and participated in several books, including Passporter's Disneyland and Southern California and Disney World Dreams. She was co-founder and president of the Orlando, Florida chapter of the NFFC (now Disneyana Fan Club). She taught a class on theme park history at a Southern California University. She is creator and co-owner of Jim Hill Media, one of the creators of MousePlanet and was a consultant on MSNBC, The Motley Fool and others about Disney and various media matters. She was a Heel wrestling manager on TV and a voice artist on the radio in Honolulu, HI, where she grew up. She has a blog and a podcast with her daughter, Mission:Breakout Obsessive Alice Hill. She and her husband, MiceChat columnist Noe Valladolid, live in Southern California with Alice.