Disney Character Encounter

I am working on two weeks of Disney withdrawal.  I don't even have all of my pictures sorted.

What I loved the most this time was character meet and greets.  Being an adult, I never got into the idea that I had to run around on a character hunt just to stand in line and get a picture.   Well somehow, someone at Disney must have realized that Character pictures are cool because between 2007 and two weeks ago, Disney completely changed character encounters inside the parks.

There is always character dining, which is a good way to see characters, especially some of the harder ones.  With the Disney Dining Plan it is not hard to do and it doesn't seem as expensive.  Yes you pay but with the dining plan you pay 25% less b/c you pay up front.  This trip we did the O'hana Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch, Chef Mickeys and the Garden Grill.  For those that don't know, I am a monstrous Stitch Fan and I was so worried I would get passed over for being an adult, I told my server about it.  She laughed at me and said, he will stop at every table, no worries.  I could have come straight home I was so happy about Stitch.  But then it was only Tuesday.

The Disney Mobile app for Verison phones helped a lot.  You could look up your characters and find out where they were appearing.  What part of the park and how long they would be there.  You have to be a Verison Customer to use it, I think but it worked well, especially with que wait times. (More on this later)

Taking their queue from Mickey's Toon Town Fair (now closed) in EPCOT there is now the EPOCT Character Spot.  A place where you can meet 5 classic characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto) get your pictures take with either your own camera or with Photo Pass and get autographs. It is inside and cool.  The characters have their own backgrounds and each station has a photo pass photographer.  It is of course targeted at kids but enough adults go through that they don't think you have lost your mind.   It was so fun even David got in the pictures.

The characters that seemed the most popular with adults where Phineas and Ferb in Hollywood studios.  We found their appearance on the mobile app and their que did not seem too long.  Standing listening to the music and watching the encounters in front of us, we realized that the adults out numbered the kids by a wide margin.  Funny.

I did use my autograph book but only at character dinning.  It just seemed cumbersome any other time.

To recap:  We saw Phineas and Ferb, Mickey (x3), Minnie (x2), Pluto (x2), Goofy (x2), Donald (x2), Pooh, Daisy, Lilo, Stitch (x2), Chip and Dale, Baloue, King Louie and Marie (from the Aristocats).

Weird side note - the character spots in the World Showcase did not have photopass photographers.

TARDIS Card

For a long time, I have wanted to do some Fandom Cards. Several years ago, I made some Twilight and Harry Potter cards for the Young Adult Literature Track Craft Hour. The time is right do some additional cards. This weekend, I made this:



More to come.

Exercise the Craft Demon

Sometimes I get an idea for a craft and I have to work it out! I have been trying to come up with unique different ideas to help a friend promote her book. Just something unexpected. Janine Spendlove sent me some promotional post cards for her books. What can I do with these, other than pass them out to my friends? I can do this:

1. Lay the post cards out randomly on a scanner and scan them to make one sheet of paper and print.














2. Use that scanned print for the cover paper on an altered composition book













Some how the postcards don't look as random as they did on the scanner bed. I will have to fix that next time.

DIY Disney Autograph Book

Methodology: Make an inexpensive book for Disney Characters to sign, that can be disassembled after the vacation for scrapbooking purposes.

Supplies:

12x12 White Cardstock - you get 4 autograph pages per piece of cardstock.

Chip Board

Disney Themed Scrapbook Paper

Ribbons

2 Split Rings

Glue Stick

Hole-Punch

Ruler

Rolling Pin

12x12 Paper Trimmer

Heavy Duty Paper Trimmer

Using the Paper Trimmer cut your cardstock to 7 inches first. Cut the 7 x 12 piece into three 4-inch pages. Take the left over piece and cut it to 7 inches and then cut one 4-inch piece. Repeat with each card stock sheet until you get the desired number of pages.

Using a heavy duty paper trimmer cut the Chipboard into two 5x8 pieces. Using the hole-punch and ruler punch holes in the “pages” within 1-inch of the end. Punch coordinating holes in the Chip Board, insuring the holes will allow the split rings to pass through and close.

Take one piece of the chip board and cover it with glue stick. Place your desired piece of paper on the glue side of the chip board and press HARD using the rolling pin. You will need to let this set. Trim off excess paper. Once you have it secured using the holes in the chip board as your guide cut holes in the paper. Repeat with the other piece of chip board. Remember to designate one as the front cover and one as the back cover and decorate accordingly.

Decorate the front of your book. Feed the split rings through the back cover, pages and finally the cover and snap closed. Tie ribbons on the split rings to decorate.

A Years worth of Con Wrap Up

I finally have some time and brain cells to make a post con blog. 2011 Con was very different for me, simply because I went from being an Eternal Member to being a Track Director.

A very good friend of mine asked me this question: "Why did you take your favorite vacation and turn it into a job?" I have been asked this question a lot, in a lot of different ways.

The answer to that question is complicated and easy at the same time. I have never had enough faith in myself to accomplish anything big. Others in my life have faith in me and believe in me. But I never do. When this directorship was offered to me, it scared me. I mean it *scared* me. Failure flashed before my eyes and I had not even accepted the position. And for some reason I decided on the spot, that I was going to accept the challenge and I was going to give it 100% effort. If I failed, I failed but I was going to try.

So with a not so hidden lack of confidence I attended my first directors meeting. I knew a sum total of two people personally in that room of directors. I forgot what being the newbie/freshman/rookie felt like. I was the "kiddy girl". People said, "oh you are taking on the kiddy track! LOL" Nice. Perfect. Standing on the edge of the ultimate insiders club looking in.

Refusing to be forted, I dug into my new job. With some help and lots of luck, I put together a staff. With several re-directs and edits between January and July we hashed out a Track schedule. Sometimes I felt like I was driving blind, sometimes I felt just fine. Sometime I did the right thing, sometimes I did the complete opposite.

The week before convention I was an uptight bundle of nerves on the edge. The ultimate unknown. I had 6 days of uncharted waters staring me in the face. 7 people relying on me to be the boss and 45,000 people looking at my schedule. My newly Loyal KT parents helped ease the transition along with a great staff. Thursday was a total FUBAR. Friday was different. I was nervous, yes but I wasn't afraid to fail. I had made the best plan possible and we were fixing to execute that plan. That is all I could do and I knew it. Friday, Saturday and Sunday went by in a busy, crazy blur. I was blown away by full panels and excited kids. Thankful parents. Fantastic Panelists. No one exploded into flames. No one got arrested. No children were abandoned. It wasn't perfect but it was better than I expected.

Monday felt like a day in slow motion. The last panels, track wrap up, packing out the room. Dead Dog. By this time unknowns be damned, I was eating my free meal and I was going to like it. I sat at a table full of people I didn't know and I didn't care.

Dave: You were my partner in crime the whole way. Never saying no, never accepting failure. Always being supportive with out being enabling. Three Words: Gummy Bear Lamps. Love you.

Suz: You were my sounding board. You kept me straight, didn't put up with my crap and knew when to take my phone away. You took care of more than I could have ever hoped for. Thanks and much love.

Cookie and Barrie: Thank you for supporting me even though you didn't understand why. Breakfast was never so wonderful as it was with you.

Bev and Jason: Your hospitality every two months is greatly appreciated. I still owe you some kind of casserole.

David G: Thanks for holding my hand, putting up with my worrying and letting me work things out for myself.

Now, it starts all over again, I hope.

Star Wars Themed Crafts

During Dragon Con, I will be a panelist on "It's a Craft" on the Star Wars at Dragon Con Fan Track. I was asked to post pictures here for future referral which I am more than happy to do.

Instruction Sheets:

Scrabble Tiles

Altered Journals

Zombie Apocalypse - how are you going to eat?

In my continuing blog series on the impending Zombie Apocalypse, I found an item I thought could be useful. One thing you have to count on when it comes to Zombies is you have to be able to travel fast. That also assumes you must be able to travel light. I have found something that fits that bill.

The Light My Fire Spork. You can find them on the web here.

Davo found mine at an outlet mall for me. I take my lunch most days so it is currently very useful. I have one big one and two smaller ones.