It looks like a goddess chop-shop around here! There’s even one goddess that’s accompanied by a (no doubt) sacred cow. She may be the only one that isn’t scattered about, legs over here, torso over there… I know better than to just assume these are random idols. Disney must have researched this! Someday, I’m going to figure out who all these goddesses are. I’ll get back to all uh y’all on that!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. A sacred gateway and the goddess of “flow”
2. Temple at the foot of (Disney’s) Everest
3. Goddess In The Garden – Disney’s Animal Kingdom
4. Front row everest!
5. Tree of Life: the giraffe

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. A Southwest Florida after dinner treat
2. How to catch a snook at sunset
3. Illuminating look at EPCOT
4. Not quite done with EPCOT’s fountain show
5. Rookery Bay Sunset – Naples, Florida

Even if you’ve only been reading My Mobile Adventures *~*~* for a short time, you know that I’m not a fan of the “Disney fairies”, Tinker Bell’s alleged little friends from her alleged home of Pixie Hollow [see 5 Ways Disney has defiled Tinkerbell]. Still, I like to think that my prejudices still leave room for giving credit where credit is due. The Pixie Hollow display outside the butterfly house at EPCOT this past spring was a study in how to make great topiaries. Even without facial expressions, the artists who create these masterpieces manage to convey personality and emotion in every piece they created in this garden. I’m going to shut up now and just let you look. Brava, bravo, bravi Disney horticulture team!

So, whaddaya think? Pretty darn good, huh?

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. 2008 Flower & Garden Festival: Statues and Topiaries
2. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums
3. Flower and Garden Festival Surprise
4. Of Mice and Mutts – Disney’s Flower and Garden Festival
5. 2008 Flower & Garden Festival: Miscellaneous Garden Features

Good thing it’s Wordless Wednesday –

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Southwest Florida needs some rain
2. Sunset at Algiers, Sanibel Island, Florida
3. A favorite Florida sunset
4. Graffiti bridge in Southwest Florida
5. Blind Pass Sunrise, Sanibel Island, Florida

A few weeks ago, I went shelling at Blind Pass around sunset. The tide was pretty low, and people were able to wade knee-high into the Pass. I stood on the Sanibel side and was interested in some kids who were playing on the jetty over on the Captiva side – fishing, horsing around, one of them striking a fencing pose with his fishing pole.

All the while, there was a guy in the Pass casting and reeling, casting and reeling. His friend kept encouraging him, even though he wasn’t getting anything. Suddenly, he had a bite! Instead of focusing on the kid, I focused on the Fishing Dude. When he finally reeled it in, he called to his friend, “Man I wish I had a camera!”

“Hey, over here!” I hollered from the shore. “I’ve got a camera!” Whereupon the Fishing Dude held his snook aloft like a trophy and I took the shot.

After they’d clambered out of the water, I asked for Fishing Dude’s email address so I could get the photos to him somehow. I ended up putting them into a set on my Flickr account and sending him the link.

Here’s that set of photos in slide show format, untouched – I didn’t even put a watermark on them, in case Fishing Dude wanted to download any of them. Hope you all enjoy!

SUBSCRIBERS: if you do not see a Flickr slide show beneath this sentence, please click through to the blog

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Catch a wave on Fort Myers Beach
2. The beach at Blind Pass, Captiva Island
3. Of sand, surf and skateboards on Sanibel Island
4. Piles at the Pass
5. Fiishing at sunset

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Shady glade on the rose walk
2. Making my way up the Rose Walk
3. Heading up the Rose Walk at EPCOT
4. Flower and Garden Festival Surprise
5. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums

This year’s Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT featured outdoor living spaces set in a Tuscan garden. There was a grove of olive trees spread with slate-gray gravel, in the center of which stood Diana, mistress of the hunt. You might remember Diana. She was featured at the end of the drunken Bacchus scene in Disney’s Fantasia. She shot an arrow into the twilight sky, which burst with stars. However, she looked a wee bit different than pictured here; in the film, she was fully clothed

After a bit of research, I am unable to determine why Diana was chosen to grace the Tuscan garden. She’s not especially connected to Tuscany. In fact, most of the known shrines to Diana in Italy stand significantly further south. This will have to remain a mystery – perhaps it’s simply a random selection by the CM who themed the garden.

Although I did study Italian briefly in school, that was many years ago so I needed to take a photo of this phrase written in the round on the patio. It was the word “piovana”, which I’d never heard before, that was baffling me. When I got to a computer, I googled it. “Cisterna di acqua piovana” means “reservoir of rain water”. I guess the implication here is that the reservoir is sunken into the ground. I’ve heard that’s a bad thing to do with your rainwater if you’re going to consume it in some way, but I guess if you’re only going to use it to water the plants and you don’t actually drink it or bathe in it or use it to cook, then it is probably ok.

So far we’ve only seen a sign with a reference to “acqua” or “water”. Now we’re going to see the actual water. You may have to click the picture and view it in a larger size to see. Here it is – a fountain mounted on a wall of ivy, in the shape of a ram’s head. See that trickle coming out of his mouth? That’s water! I know, it’s barely a trickle but it is actual, genuine water! There was much more to this outdoor living space, but I will save those photographs for another day.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums
2. Flower and Garden Festival Surprise
3. 2008 Flower & Garden Festival: Miscellaneous Garden Features
4. Masterful topiaries at the International Flower & Garden Festival
5. Lost scenes from the Jungle Cruise

One night during my May whirlwind weekend trip to Walt Disney World, my brother, the infamous “Chez Bro”, had a surprise for us. He’d hired a boat to take us out on a cruise from Disney’s Contemporary resort on Bay Lake over to the Seven Seas Lagoon, where we would watch Wishes from out on the water. After we’d had dinner at The Wave, we met some of our local Orlando-area cousins up in the Contemporary’s lounge for a drink, and then we proceeded to the Contemporary’s dock. Our skipper met us there with a cooler full of soft drinks and a basket of snacks. It was a fairly warm night, no need for a jacket. The skipper guided us under the monorail bridge and then over the water bridge that passes over the road leading to and from the front entrance of the Contemporary (the road actually passes under the water!). Soon we were floating in the middle of the Seven Seas Lagoon. We could see the light parade floating in the distance but by time we caught up with it, the show was over and the barges were dark.

After a while, the fireworks started and they were spectacular! Here, you can see the castle is lit in blue, lurking behind the train station. Mostly, our skipper tried to float us into a position where we could see the castle off to one side, but sometimes we listed away – this was one of those times.

Here, we’ve righted our position, and you can see the castle again, this time in lavender. I took many, many pictures but it was difficult to get clean shots due to the movement of the boat. These two were the best of the bunch. It was a wonderful experience and I’d certainly love to have the opportunity to do it again.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Sugar-frosted reflection at the Magic Kingdom
2. WISHES fireworks
3. Staked out our spot for #Disney’s WISHES fireworks
4. Give Kids The World REALLY Needs Your Help!
5. Hidden Mickey in full bloom

Back in the early days of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there was an attraction called Discovery River Boats, the purpose of which wasn’t really so much entertainment as it was to taxi the guests around the park via the river that winds around Discovery Island. There was a dock in Asia and another close to the entrance of the park, just after you emerge from the Oasis. These docks have been repurposed since the attraction shut down. The one in Asia is now a shaded sitting area to rest or eat, and the other one is a character meet-and-greet spot.

I sometimes find myself wishing that attraction still existed. It can be very pleasant to float along in a boat at Disney World, a peaceful respite during a busy day. And then I get a shot like this one, and I realize that it would not have been possible with boats running around disturbing the reflections.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Stalking the big, red “hidden” Mickey heads at EPCOT
2. Towers and tails – a twilight perspective
3. Shrine by a quiet stream in Anandapur
4. Illuminating look at EPCOT
5. Crest O’ The Wave – scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk

Last Thursday (05-27-2010) was the “full flower moon” according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. The moon was orange and huge as it hovered over the Gulf of Mexico. This is how it looked as seen from the beach at Gulfside City Park on Sanibel Island – more commonly known to locals as “Algiers”.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Sunset at Algiers, Sanibel Island, Florida
2. Sunset on Algiers beach, Sanibel Island
3. Full moon over Fort Myers Beach
4. A little beach readong on Sanibel Island
5. Gulfside City Park’ Sanibel Island

Look, it’s a hippo! He’s either hungry, or else bored….

Sometimes when I’m out and about and taking photos with the camera phone, I’m too busy photographing to mobile blog. I know that sounds strange but consider: can you send email and take pictures with your phone at the same exact time? I can’t. In fact, I’m not sure there’s a camera phone that CAN do that. So if I start emailing, which can take 30-60 seconds depending on the size of the shot, I cannot keep on taking pictures while that’s going on, and sometimes miss a good shot. Therefore, I will sometimes just keep on taking pics and then forget to scroll back and start sending!

That’s what happened with some shots I took on the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom last week. I just kept snapping and snapping and then when we got off the boat it was off to another adventure and I never sent them. I love the animatronics on the Jungle Cruise -they still look great and some of them are very realistic. I think Disney especially did the hippo and the littler elephants really well.

This isn’t an animatronic anything. It’s part of the stone ruins that you pass before entering the temple. I call her “the goddess”. I’m not even sure why I think this is a “her” – just a hunch, I guess. She’s one of my favorite things in the Magic Kingdom

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Jungle cruise antics
2. Crest O’ The Wave – scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk
3. *snif* The Lodge Ladies Cruise has come to an end!
4. More scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk
5. Scenes from the Tuscan garden

I was sitting on a bench in the Canada section of EPCOT’s World Showcase. A Disney Cast Member came along, sweeping up. Suddenly, he was not using the broom to sweep up garbage any more. He was dunking the broom in a pail of water and using it to draw a Mickey head on the pavement !

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Shopportunity knocks: from whimsical to bizarre
2. Canada’s magical mystery shoes – the plot thickens
3. Flower and Garden Festival Surprise
4. Stalking the big, red “hidden” Mickey heads at EPCOT
5. Broom-and-water Mickey head

EPCOT’s rose walk has the only bench that I know of in any of the Disney theme parks that has a market umbrella installed next to it. The umbrella is a testament to the fact that it’s a rare thing to find a shady spot along rose walk. There are two places where trees throw shade JUST off the walkway. Even if you can’t sit in that shade, it still brings a smidgen of relief just to look at it on a hot day.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. A surprise on the rose walk
2. Heading up the Rose Walk at EPCOT
3. Making my way up the Rose Walk
4. PHOTO ADDED – The Shady Glade
5. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums

A shrine made of stone sits by a quiet stream at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Anandapur is the name of the fictional village. In the real world, outside the 42 square miles upon which Disney built his Florida empire, there are two places called Anandapur. One of them is in India, and the other is in Bangladesh.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Tigers of The Royal Forest of Anandapur, Disney’s Animal Kingdom
2. Mystic mountain mirrored
3. Towers and tails – a twilight perspective
4. View across China’s pond at EPCOT
5. Stalking the big, red “hidden” Mickey heads at EPCOT

the sun has gone to bed and so must I…

Sent from my Nokia N97

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. How to catch a snook at sunset
2. Golden time on Sanibel Island
3. A Southwest Florida after dinner treat
4. Sanibel Island Fishing Pier LIVE
5. Beached starfiish near the Sanibel fishing pier

I can’t believe I lived in New York most of my life and didn’t know this!

Two Ladies in the Harbor, September 2006

“Sha la la la la la la la….” yep, apparently she’s a Jersey Girl!”

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Skywatch: Two Ladies In The Harbor
2. Orange moon over “Algiers” Beach, Sanibel Island
3. Of sand, surf and skateboards on Sanibel Island
4. Golden time on Sanibel Island
5. Portrait of a militant sheller

A few years back, I was treading the path up to Camp Minnie Mickey at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I took a look to my right as I was passing over the stream and I saw this waterfall spewing forth from a pile of… hey wait just a minute! That’s no ordinary pile of rocks. That looks like a dinosaur – a stegosaurus, as a matter of fact! You know, the one that mildly resembles a rhinoceros, only with a bunch of armor all over, and a stand-up collar. Look at the water gushing through those TEETH! It can’t be a mistake; the Imagineers had to have built it that way on purpose. But why? Why build a stegosaurus waterfall on the path to Camp Minnie Mickey?

Well, some people say that it’s not a stegosaurus at all. Some people say that Camp Minnie Mickey was originally supposed to be the site of a “land” in the Animal Kingdom where mythological creatures dwell and that our stegosaurus waterfall was actually supposed to be a fire-breathing dragon. I totally believe that there was originally supposed to be a “Beastly Kingdom” where Camp Minnie Mickey now stands, but no way is that a dragon. It’s very obviously a stegosaurus!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Dinosaur Week: Is this Chester or Hester?
2. Dinosaur Week: giant Lego monsters!
3. A petulant poser in the Pangani Forest
4. Tree of Life: the giraffe
5. Mystery shoes in EPCOT’s Canada

My head was still swimming with the mysteries I’d learned about torri gates and goddesses as I browsed my photos yesterday in search of a Wednesday offering. My eyes came to rest on a photo of the giraffe by the waterfall. This is one of the scenes carved into the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Each time I visit this theme park, I can spend an hour or more just wandering the paths that wind around the Tree. I find this area to be an oasis of sorts, far removed from the noisy crowds. The only sounds are the soothing rush of the waterfalls and occasional bird calls.

Curious, I fired up google and entered “giraffe symbolism” and found that some traditions believe that giraffes possess superior vision and perceptiveness. There seem to be two factors that influence this belief. One, the giraffe is very tall and can therefore see further into the distance than other animals can. It is said that if the giraffe is your totem (animal spirit guide), then your ability to see into the future is enhanced. Two, the giraffe has a third horn, but it is hidden beneath a flap of skin just above the eyes. This is said to represent inner perception.

Combined with the “flow” of the nearby waterfall, I’m finding that I rather like the idea of a giraffe spirit guide! Now if only Rafiki would come and tell me my future!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Scenes from The Tree of Life
2. Flowers by the Tree of Life
3. A petulant poser in the Pangani Forest
4. Dinosaur Week: rock-o-saurus?
5. Mystery shoes in EPCOT’s Canada

Long time readers might remember that I once posted about shoes I’d discovered in the O, Canada! pavilion at EPCOT. I was at Walt Disney World one fine day last spring with my friend Debbie who happened to spot the shoes lying on a rocky ledge into which water from the falls poured. You can click here to see some photos. If you read a few of the comments, you will understand that Disney Cast Members who work in the O, Canada! pavilion seem to know all about the shoes and indicate that they will take the secret to their graves.

By the way, the next time I visited was December, and the shoes weren’t there, but I found another strange item in an out-of-the-way place. I guess you never know what’s going to pop up next in O, Canada!

When comparing pictures in this post to those in the post from last year, you can see that last time the shoes were perched on the craggy ledge of the cliff. However, this time the shoes are bobbing perilously in a shallow pool that has formed on another section of the ledge. How, I wondered, did the shoes get into the pool? Did one of Florida’s exotic water fowl land there and knock them in? Were they transported by human hands? Telepathy? Mice? Yes, mice. Haven’t you seen Cinderella? If they can sew a ball gown, they’d have no problem moving a pair of shoes!

I do think there is something very strange afoot (no pun intended… ok, maybe just a little). What were the shoes doing there in the first place? Was there foul play involved (note I did not say “fowl” play, for that would make two allegedly unintended puns in a single paragraph, and we can’t have that)? How did all those Cast Members happen to show up at my blog MONTHS later to make cryptic remarks and never explain themselves or the secret of the shoes? Are these the SAME shoes I saw last year, or are they a different pair, owned and lost by a different doomed soul whose single misfortune was to have apparently wandered onto the wrong craggy rock!

What do YOU think?

What is the significance of Canada’s magical mystery shoes, and how did they get there?

Are they just a prop – official or unofficial – or are they the actual shoes of a real, live person?

Is it a guest prank? A Cast Member prank? Not a prank at all?

The plot – it thickens!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Mystery shoes in EPCOT’s Canada
2. On my way to visit the Canada mystery shoes
3. Always finding strange things in O, Canada!
4. The Canadian mystery shoes are back!
5. Nope. No Canadian mystery shoes this time.

Call me a child of the 60s who watched too many sitcoms, but I thought this cloud looked like a genie coming out of the bottle! The fact that it is happening on the World Showcase in Disney’s EPCOT, right above Morocco, has not escaped me – that’s where Aladdin and Jasmine usually hang out to sign autographs and have their pictures taken with the crowd. So maybe it IS the Disney genie!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Towers and tails – a twilight perspective
2. Illuminating look at EPCOT
3. What will YOU celebrate? at Disney’s EPCOT
4. Stalking the big, red “hidden” Mickey heads at EPCOT
5. Picture perfect on the rocks at Disney’s EPCOT

A gorilla on the “bachelor” side of the Pangani Forest in Disney’s Animal Kingdom decides to sulk and turns his back to the camera. Guests are instructed not to establish eye contact or gesture towards the male gorillas, as this can upset them. Someone broke the rules, and after a short period of agitated pacing, the gorilla decided to chill out next to the waterfall.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Mystery shoes in EPCOT’s Canada
2. The lowland gorilla
3. Dinosaur Week: rock-o-saurus?
4. Tree of Life: the giraffe
5. Crest O’ The Wave – scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk

http://MyMobileAdventures.com

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. What will YOU celebrate? at Disney’s EPCOT
2. Towers and tails – a twilight perspective
3. Not quite done with EPCOT’s fountain show
4. Spaceship Earth under the palms
5. Lighthouse and Spaceship Earth

http://MyMobileAdventures.com

A view of the Walt Disney World Dolphin resort from the World Showcase in EPCOT. The dolphin sculptures on top of the resort wave their tails in the air. One is obscured by the Eiffel Tower from the French pavilion. Perspective makes it seem as though the Eiffel Tower stands right alongside the resort.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Dolphin in the mist, Walt Disney World
2. Picture perfect on the rocks at Disney’s EPCOT
3. Spaceship Earth, far and near
4. Crest O’ The Wave – scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk
5. View across China’s pond at EPCOT

http://MyMobileAdventures.com

A reader wrote and asked me to opine about The Blue Dolphin, a small, lush resort on West Gulf Drive, Sanibel Island. I have visited my friend Christene of Our Vanilla Life when she has lodged there, and stayed overnight one time.

The Blue Dolphin sits on a stretch of West Gulf Drive that has been known for good shelling. About a half-mile down the beach is a place called “The Rocks”, where some wonderful things, including live tulips, have been known to congregate. The two units I’ve been inside were roomy and comfortable. Both had a separate bedroom, and a sleeper sofa in the “great room”.

I liked the front porch area at the unit Chris rents each year. The entire property is lushly landscaped; not only is it beautiful but it helps to provide some privacy. The only drawback is that it isn’t screened-in, so once the noseeums come out for the evening, you must abandon the area and scurry inside.

One of the things I like best about the Blue Dolphin is that some of the units have a back door. Right outside the door is a spigot to wash your feet and a shelf to lay out your shells to dry. And the back door leads right into the bathroom, so you just bring your wet, sandy self/children in that way instead of traipsing through the whole unit.

If you don’t feel like lounging by your unit, there’s a covered lounge area facing the Gulf where you can sit and read a book while enjoying the shade and the view. You may see dolphins hunting, or pelicans diving for their dinner, or else shore birds foraging in the surf. Or you may just close your eyes and let the rhythm of the waves lull you into a nice afternoon nap. You may not be able to bear to keep them closed for long, though – this is what your view is from the shady lounge area.

And then, there’s the sunset. Nothing compares!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. “The Rocks”, Sanibel Island
2. Playin’ hooky on Captiva Island: Great Blue Heron
3. Dolphin in the mist, Walt Disney World
4. Golden time on Sanibel Island
5. Of sand, surf and skateboards on Sanibel Island

http://MyMobileAdventures.com
 

The Boardwalk as seen from the plaza between the Swan and Dolphin resorts

Here’s that wedding pavilion I was telling you about last week; I think I’m standing in front of Disney’s Yacht Club

And speaking of the Yacht Club… as seen from the restaurant area of the Boardwalk

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Crest O’ The Wave – scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk
2. Lighthouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
3. Towers and tails – a twilight perspective
4. Scenes from The Blue Dolphin, Sanibel Island
5. Lego Sculpture at Downtown Disney: The Dragon

There’s a “wedding pavilion” on Disney’s Boardwalk – well, I’ve never seen a wedding happening there, but it is the PERFECT spot for one. It’s a beautiful wooden structure with some wonderfully detailed arches that make a perfect frame for pictures. Since the lake that the Boardwalk follows is crescent-shaped, you can stand at one end, where the pavilion is, and photograph the other end. Here’s what my camera saw when I stood there on a blustery day in December. Enjoy!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. More scenes from Disney’s Boardwalk
2. Catch a wave on Fort Myers Beach
3. Dolphin in the mist, Walt Disney World
4. Towers and tails – a twilight perspective
5. The beach at Blind Pass, Captiva Island

I love the banks of the lagoons at EPCOT during the International Flower and Garden Festival, because of the all the fun shapes planted into the flower beds. I’ve seen hearts, stars, half-moons and of course, “hidden” Mickey heads. Last spring, the landscaping included two huge, red “hidden” Mickey heads in these locations. One was very close to the glass pyramids that house the Imagination! attraction. The other was quite close to the butterfly house on the other side of the park. Here we go – enjoy!

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Hidden Mickey in full bloom
2. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums
3. View across China’s pond at EPCOT
4. What will YOU celebrate? at Disney’s EPCOT
5. Mickey heads on the carpet

In Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park, just across the walkway from the China pavilion in the World Showcase, there is a certain rock formation that is distinctive because it has a “doughnut hole” shape cut into it. Many of you reading this may recognize it. Here’s what it looks like on a normal day in May.

During the winter holiday season, that same rock formation gets dressed up in red, China’s favorite color – we discussed this yesterday! Here’s what the area looks like adorned with festive red lanterns.

And here’s what it looks like when you are standing in the exact right spot on the path – the “doughnut hole” perfectly frames a lovely young tree that grows on an island in the middle of World Showcase lagoon.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Illuminating look at EPCOT
2. “The Rocks”, Sanibel Island
3. What will YOU celebrate? at Disney’s EPCOT
4. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums
5. Pond visitor at EPCOT

During the winter time, even here in Florida it can be chilly and bleak. Right now, we’re having an unusually long cold snap, with temps plunging into the lower 30s at night and never making into the 60s during the day. So I went looking for outdoor, watery scenes full of flowers and color and spectacular skies for today’s post. Here’s EPCOT during the Flower and Garden Festival this past May (2009). The Festival will begin again in March – that’s only 2 months away! In the meantime, photographs and memories can keep us going until spring comes once more.

Subscribers bring me JOY!
You want me to be happy, don’t you?
DON’T YOU?

Click to Subscribe by email

CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

Related posts:

1. Getting ready for the Flower and Garden Festival
2. Flower and Garden Festival Surprise
3. Masterful topiaries at the International Flower & Garden Festival
4. 6 more sleeps till the Flower and Garden Festival!
5. Epcot Flower and Garden Festival – well, except for gardenias and magnolias!

Now that 2010 is almost upon us, it’s time to do a 2009 “Best Of” post. I get a kick out of “fun facts”, so this year I’m taking a statistical point of view. Let’s see what 2009 held!

My Mobile Adventures *~*~* Top 20 Posts of 2009

Posts are ranked according to how many visits they received during the 12-month period ranging from 12/29/2008 – 12/29/2009. Data gathered and presented by the WordPress Stats plugin.

1. Lego Sculpture at Downtown Disney: The Dragon
2. Colorful birds from Orlando, Florida
3. Disney’s Ladies in RED
4. My Top 5 FUNky Facts About Pelicans
5. “The Rocks”, Sanibel Island
6. More Disney Characters in RED
7. 7 Things To Do In Walt Disney World On Halloween (except THAT!)
8. “There once was a man from Nantucket…”
9. Yet More Disney Characters Who Wear RED
10. My “favorite” Disney red-head
11. A Disney Dance of the Hours
12. Of Mice and Mutts
13. Lighthouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
14. The Empress Lilly, Downtown Disney
15. Critters on the Castle: Kaa
16. Sanibel Island beach birds
17. Frog metamorphosis at Disney
18. About
19. Dancing mushrooms from Disney’s Fantasia
20. Mickey Mouse Chillaxin’ In Paradise

IN WITH THE OLD

Among my Top 20 Posts of 2009 are four posts which were originally published during 2008.

• 100% of these posts contain Disney-related content
• 50% of these posts were created for the Ruby Tuesday meme, and deal with the topic of Disney characters who wear the color red.
• Dark horse: my “About” page somehow squeaked into the Top 20. Who knew, huh?

SPEAKING OF MEMES…

• The Ruby Tuesday meme, created and managed by Mary The Teach, is responsible for prompting 35% of my Top 20 posts.  The runners up are:
  • Camera Critters (Saturdays, 23%)
  • The Wednesday Trifecta (22%)

  – of the three memes in which I’ve participated in on Wednesdays, Site Meter indicates that it is Outdoor Wednesday, created and managed by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer, that brings the most visitors.

  • The Monday Trifecta at 9%

  – Well, it’s actually a bi-fecta now, one of the memes having fallen prey to blogger burnout. None of them stands out as bringing in more traffic than the others.

  THE MORAL OF THE STORY: since I’ve been cutting back on meme participation – it was starting to feel like a “gotta” instead of a “wanna” – I should probably concentrate on my Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday memes, if I want to maintain decent levels of traffic.

  SPEAKING OF SITE METER…

  Lots of interesting information about your audience and how they get to your blog each day can be had from Site Meter.

  • Even though I do get a lot of traffic from the photo meme sites themselves, the vast majority of my traffic comes from Google searches. The memes just seem to provide an excellent prompt for what people are searching for.
  • I seem to have hit the nail on the head with several of my post titles in the Top 20. There are many, MANY searches for phrases like “facts about pelicans” and “Disney red characters”.
  • I get a chuckle every time I see that someone has searched on “there once was a man from Nantucket…”
  • Site Meter tells me that I get a lot more visits on the days I mobile blog than I do when I create meme-related posts that are not mobile blogged. This is especially true when I mobile blog from Disney. Visits on mobile blogging days tend to be from fewer unique visitors, yet those unique visitors show up multiple times throughout the day to check for updates. Each post has fewer visitors but collectively they add up for the day to be many more visits than on a regular blogging day.

  THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Services such as Site Meter can provide valuable insight into who your audience is, where they come from, why they’re visiting and why they return. Add to this a little intelligent SEO in post titles and repeat traffic ensues.

  EFFORT COUNTS… sort of!

  It was a difficult year in my day job. I was thrust into something completely new and different and it was a tough row to hoe, for a while there. As the year wore on, my job became more and more carnivorous, devouring my life.

  

  Here we can see that as the year wore on, less and less posts were making it into the Top 20 for the year. 40% of the Top 20 were posted in the first quarter of the year; 30% in the 2nd quarter and 10% in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter is not represented at all.There are a couple of reasons for this:

  • That’s the way it goes when you’re in corporate finance; the last quarter of the fiscal year is challenging and doesn’t leave much time or frankly energy for other endeavors.
  • But to be fair, the posts from the previous quarters and even the previous year have been hanging around longer and had a longer time to rack up search engine traffic.
  • Had I been able to put more effort into blogging as the year wore on – posting every day, visiting other blogs – I might have been able to do better, but realistically, this sort of measurement over a finite period of time renders more recent posts chronologically challenged.

  Now here’s something weird. Despite the traffic appearing to slow down, the number of subscribers I have has been steadily increasing all year. Take a look at these numbers from Feedburner -

  

  Despite not having the personal bandwidth necessary to visit other bloggers as much as I’d like to, I was still able to do a few things to gain exposure:

  • TweetMeme – I put the retweet button on my posts, and occasionally, someone actually pushes it!
  • TwitterFeed – I signed up for this and now every post I make is automatically tweeted
  • PicATheme – “elite” group of photobloggers/meme participants who posted to a group blog (group has since folded). While I was contributing there, I noticed some visitors who followed my link from there
  • WaltDisneyBoards.com – my feed automatically posts there to my very own forum. I get exposure, the owner gets Disney-related content. The fact that it is a forum means I can have conversations with the folks there; a busy thread will draw more and more people in, to see what the buzz is about, and many of them end up clicking through to the blog. If you are a Disney fan, I strongly suggest you check the place out. You will find a nice bunch of folks there to chat with about your favorite obsession.
  • Facebook – My Mobile Adventures *~*~* launched a fan page at the beginning of August. At this time, I’m not auto-posting there but I want to do that in the future. So far, I have about 70 fans; I have to assume there is some cross-over from my subscriber base, but a lot of them are real life friends and relatives who were not really aware that I blogged until I created the fan page and sent them an invite. So I gained a few subscribers there as well.

  MORAL OF THE STORY: Distribute your feed and mention your URL via multiple means. It all adds up to more exposure, more requests for the feed – more subscribers!

  CONCLUSION

  These are very modest numbers I’ve been describing. Had I not a day job, I would have the time and the energy to devote to creating more valuable content and publicizing the blog more widely, including those all-important fellow blogger connections. However, modest or not, I think the numbers show that taking action makes a positive impact.

  • There are many venues in which to take such actions – Twitter, Facebook, forums are all good places to promote what you’ve got to offer.
  • Use metrics tools like Site Meter and a stats plugin to observe and measure – what’s working, what’s not working, what’s standing still. The numbers tell a story!
  • Use SEO techniques to attract search engine traffic – name your photos and construct your post titles with SEO in mind.

  Even a blog that is “just for fun” can enjoy some success and steady improvement when a few simple actions are taken. I’m looking forward to more of the same in 2010, and I’m also looking forward to hearing about YOUR blogging insights.

  Happy New Year!

  CLICK to Subscribe by RSS
  Click to Subscribe by email

  SHARE this post:

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

  Related posts:

  1. The Best Of My Mobile Adventures 2008
  2. Attention Email Subscribers [My Mobile Adventures *~*~*]
  3. Posts missing – sorry!
  4. LIVE Mobile blogging from Walt Disney World starts Tues 5/12
  5. Speaking of “mobile” adventures
  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/12/my-mobile-adventures-top-20-posts-of-2009/feed 2 001-Meme-Related-Blog-Stats 002-Meme-Related-Blog-Stats-Pie-Chart 003-Top-20-Posts-By-Quarter-2009 004-Monthly-Subscriber-Volume-With-MoM-Variance email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati