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© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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Hong Kong. Tokyo. Paris. Orlando. Anaheim. Everywhere there’s a collection of Disney theme parks, there’s also a castle. The one in Orlando is Cinderella’s Castle; her tale is told in the form of mosaic tile murals covering the walls of the castle archway. Cinderella’s Castle houses a restaurant, a beauty salon and even overnight accommodations for some lucky guests who are periodically chosen at random for a castle sleep-over in the newly built luxury suite. The castle also provides entertainment. Characters romp and sing on the outdoor stage just beyond the park’s hub, and at night fireworks dance high in the skies above the castles turrets and towers.

Also at night, the castle is lit in brilliant colors that morph and change with such elegance, one can remain seated for hours just staring at the transformation. As if the castle were not pretty enough on a normal night, imagine how it looks during the holiday season with over 200,000 LED lights simulating a sparkling coating of ice. A brief stage show provides a magical lead-in for the transformation. Several Disney characters have gathered and are attempting to decide how the castle should be decorated for the holidays, and ultimately agree that since it is her home, Cinderella should be the one to decide.

When consulted, Cinderella proclaims her wish to see the castle dressed for the holidays with all the shine and twinkle of her own glass slipper. Her Fairy Godmother comes along to see that it happens, recruiting the audience to help Cinderella’s wish come true. For the remainder of the night, the castle appears to be encased in ice (or perhaps a sugar-frosting, as I’ve observed before).

For those who want to know more about Cinderella’s Castle at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, just visit Wikipedia or AllEars.Net to get more details.

 

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A few weeks ago while strolling through EPCOT, I happened upon the Port of Entry store, located in World Showcase Plaza just as you are starting to head up the UK, France, etc side. It was all done up for Christmas with garland strung along the roof line. However, I spied something else Christmas-y about the store…

The windows of the store were all dressed up for Christmas too, with signs that depict Christmas shopping activities as they would occur in some of the countries represented around EPCOT’s World Showcase. There’s the tall pagoda in Japan – red for Christmas, instead of its customary blue:

Here we have Eiffel Tower, poodle and fashionably-dressed lady shopper – I’m thinking this is France:

Finally, we have my favorite. There aren’t many clues here, but the man is holding a red shopping bag with a white star-shaped snowflake design on it. Having grown up in New York City and Long Island, I cannot help but be reminded of the holiday Christmas shopping bags from Macy’s, home of the Miracle on 34th Street and sponsor of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

(yes, ok, I know – the chimneys on the rooftops in the background probably indicate London, but I like my Noo Yawk scenario better!)

And speaking of New York, I finally got here! It only took three tries over the course of four days. The blizzard that hit New York last weekend sure took its toll on air travel. I’m glad to be here but it’s bitterly cold, and there is snow and ice everywhere! I think I’ll stay in and bake cookies for Santa.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday – ho, ho, ho!

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It’s an excellent time of year to participate in Mary’s Ruby Tuesday meme – there’s a predominance of red things in the stores and catalogs due to the rapidly approaching Christmas holiday. Still, there’s always red stuff abounding, if you just keep an eye out for it.

Making an effort to be on a fresh fruit kick lately. It’s not really an effort when the strawberries are as delicious as these were!


I found these in a catalog called Acorn. One of my nieces collects rubber duckies, but I have the feeling they’ve overtaken her life, so I’m going to pass on buying these… however if she really OOOs and Ahhs over them, I will of course turn sucka immediately


This was weird – I was in Tarzhay (my fancy way of pronouncing "Target") when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a pirate nutcracker with his very own… nutcracker!

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First one friend posted that he would be in Disney World mid-December and then another friend said she would be there, too. And then, yet another friend texted me last night to let me know there was a behind-the-scenes special on HGTV, all about decorating Disney World for Christmas. The sight of the sparkly, shimmery castle was too much for me. I hopped online, saw that I had enough points for two free nights at the Swan, and booked it before I could think twice.

Looking forward to seeing my friends. Looking forward to Holidays Around The World at EPCOT. Looking forward to seeing the sparkly, shimmery castle at the Magic Kingdom!

Speaking of booking free nights at the Swan, someone wrote and asked me what that was all about. I do it through the Starwood American Express card. You can redeem the points for hotel stays. If anyone out there is interested in this card, please shoot me an email – BellTinkR at gmail dot com – so I can refer you!

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This year, Walt Disney World has decided to discontinue their famous “Lights of Winter” display at EPCOT, no doubt disappointing many thousands of fans who were counting on a visit to this display as being one of the highlights of their holiday trip.

The official reason that Disney has given for discontinuing this tradition is that the technology used is obsolete, and also that the display isn’t very “green”. Both of those are valid reasons, but I don’t for a minute believe that either was THE reason the decision was made. Of course, it must be all about the Benjamins. They must be saving a staggering amount in kilowatt hours and therefore money, by shutting down the display. As with every big corporation, decisions like this and the closure of Pleasure Island are ultimately about what is no longer profitable.

I feel pretty lucky that I went to MouseFest near Christmas time in 2006 with some of my Disney internet freak friends (waves *Hi!* to the Disney internet freaks, hopes they wave back ). I was able to get a few photographs of the “Lights of Winter”, which didn’t turn out bad, considering I didn’t know any more then than I do now about what all those buttons are for on my camera. Enjoy!

 



 



 

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It’s not too late – you can still order me a Christmas present! You’ll have to select express shipping if you want me to have it by Christmas, though…

Last time we talked about Amazon Wish Lists, it was “Cyber Monday”, the virtual equivalent of “Black Friday”, whereby everyone is supposed to go berserk with their credit cards, thus doing their part as Americans and patriots to stimulate the economy. Let it not be said that I don’t pull my weight for Uncle Sam! I have scrubbed my Amazon Wish List until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building [ /Miss Hannigan]

(have you ever seen the top of the Chrysler Building? I have! The company I work for used to have offices in Grand Central Towers in NYC. It was fun to look out the window and see the cars and gargoyle ornaments sticking out of the top of the building, glinting and gleaming and, well, SHINING in the sun)

Enough foolishiness – on with the list!

Stuff Still On My Amazon Wish List

Photo/Negative/Slide Scanner
I have a boatload of photos from my former life upon the wicked stage, plus slides of me at age 22 starring as Julie Jordan in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. I would love to scan them and share them online. I think this gadget from Canon can help! There are other gadgets out there that only do either one or the other (photos or slides/negatives) but not both, like this one does. A little pricey, not surprised it is still on the list.

Extra Cell Phone Battery
Want to hear something funny? Someone selected the fancy charger that can charge both the phone AND an extra battery at the same time – but didn’t buy the extra battery! So I still need one of these for my Nokia E71 mobile device. I find that using the device for mobile photo blogging can really drain the battery. I do carry a battery charger (it’s a device filled with AA batteries, and the juice is transferred to the phone) but that takes a while, and meanwhile photo ops are passing you by. Having an extra battery will be much better!

Harry Potter, Years 1-5 Limited Edition “box set”
Yep, the Harry Potter box set – or, in this case, steamer trunk set – still on the list. Only, I’ve been told that the HD version won’t work with my DVD player, so I’ve replaced it with this “regular” version. I do still have somewhat of a nagging guilt-feeling about this one. You KNOW that when the next film comes out on DVD, they will think of some other, clever way to package them, and I’ll have to have that one, too. I’m such a brat, aren’t I?

Pixar’s WALL-E on DVD
I am hoping to add this DVD of Disney-Pixar’s WALL-E to my collection and have a movie night real soon! Never saw it in the movie theater. That’s pretty typical for me. I sometimes wonder if I went to the movies more often, would my DVD collection be quite so large? I’m not sure… probably, yes, it would be exactly as large as it is now.

Stuff People Bought For Me Already

I think this is what happens when much-doted-upon nieces grow up and have their own money….

Nokia Sync and Charge
This is the cool charger for my Nokia E-71 mobile device. I can charge both the phone an extra battery in it at the same time. Additionally, it acts as a cradle for synchronizing with whatever desktop software is appropriate. I’m really excited that someone picked this off the list for me – I believe that one should take the time and trouble to find out what the recipient really WANTS, and clearly someone took the trouble in this case. w00t!

Screen Protectors and A Skin!
More accessories for my Nokia E-71. One thing I really miss about the Crackberry is that there are accessories, including a rubberized easy-to-grip skin, freely available in Best Buy and the like. Nokia, not so much, so I’m happy to see that this was selected from the list. As for the screen protectors, the ones that I have now are generic cut-to-fit. I’ve made mistakes and wasted sheets of this stuff on more than one occasion, so it will be nice to have something that is made to order.

OMG, NFW, It’s DONNY OSMOND! *faints*
Do you know how LONG this has been on my list? Yeah, I know, Donny Osmond – how 70s of me. So, sue me! This is the album with Soldier of Love on it. That’s the song that was on the radio for a while and nobody knew who it was. Mr. Osmond wanted to prove that if he released a single under his own name, DJs would ignore it and hate it sound unheard, but if it was anonymous, it would get played and be liked. It was, and it still is! For a long time, this CD was not available. You can see that the album art isn’t available at all, although if you view it on Amazon’s site, miraculously a photo of Donny is there. I guess the person who ordered it for me hit the Wish List at just the right moment, because I didn’t even know that it HAD become available! Double w00t!

And last but not least… a little feminist theology
Did you know that “sophia” is Greek for “wisdom”? And “philo” is one of the Greek words for “love”. So “philosophy” is “the love of wisdom”. Little known but fun facts about Tink *~*~* – I am ever the seeker, and I don’t believe that God is male. She’s probably really pissed off that people believe that of Her. Seriously, if you ask me, “Is God male, or is God female?”, I will reply, “Both and neither”. God is. That’s all. None of that stops me, however, from searching for the feminine face of God (yes, I read that book, too). A lot of my library is dedicated to God and religion and trying to understand how patriarchy, misogyny and subjugation could possibly have happened in this best of all possible worlds…. I’m still trying to figure it out, but if you want to see the basis of my current theory, you need to read my Valentine’s Day Essay

OK, that’s the Wish List report. I’ve had some fun on Amazon this year, trying to figure out “Gee, if I click one of my OWN links, do I still get a whopping (and thus far, theoretical) three cents?” I’ve also sharpened my paltry HTML skills trying to get the rectangles placed where I want them in relation to the text. Finally, I’m starting to get REALLY excited about Christmas, now that I know that there will be a few things under the tree for me that I REALLY wanted!

So….. what’s on YOUR wish list? Don’t be shy! Leave a comment and let us all know your heart’s desire!

© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

RED Stuff From Out And About Today

(a Ruby Tuesday post)

I had to go to the doctor today to get something that will kill this evil sinus infection from hell. On the way back, I stopped to look at the price of gas – would you look at this? If it keeps falling like this, could we possibly hit double digits any time soon? The sign just happened to be printed red.

I headed to my local Publix supermarket, to get my prescription from the doctor filled. In the vestibule where all the shopping carts are stored hangs this poster depicting the logo for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team. Football is definitely bigger in Florida than it was on Long Island; in fact, it may actually qualify as the state religion of Florida.

Ah, there’s my target – the Publix Pharmacy. I’ve got to fill this here prescription for a Z-pak full of anti-biotic goodness. Doesn’t Publix look pretty? They go rather berserk with it all – there are wrapped “gifts” and cute penguins in Santa hats strewn on the shelves and garlands of paper candy canes arching over the ends of the aisles. Very festive!

When I got home, I went to collect the mail from the mailbox and spied a package sitting at the front door. I could not imagine who it was from, but braved the perils of the wasps (yes, they are at it AGAIN, but that’s another story for another day) to go collect it. Much to my surprise, it was from Alaska! I’d forgotten that Gayle had asked me for my snail mail address – I provided it, and then promptly put it out of my mind. Oooo, gifty-treats! I wonder what it is?

Inside the card with the deranged chihuahua on the front is some of the prettiest handwriting I’ve ever seen. Here’s part of the note from Gayle – whatever is inside the box is directed at the “Sanibel Crawlers” – that’s me, Gary, Tootie and the Snowbirds. I reach in and start pulling out small objects wrapped in newspapers…

Oh, too cool – we each get our very own shot glass – booty from Alaska, with mooses on them (yes I know that the plural of “moose” is “moose” but I like saying “mooses” – it’s kinda like “operculii”, ok?).

So, Crawlers – here’s what I’m envisioning. We all take our Alaskan shot glasses on the next crawl with us, and have the bartender make a pitcher of… something. Kamikazes? And we’ll drink to our blogger friend Gayle in Alaska. Sound like a plan?

Oh and I’m looking forward to reading the newspaper from Alaska, too!

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Osborne Lights, Disney’s Hollywood Studios

(a Manic Monday post)

There’s one in nearly every neighborhood. You know the one I’m talking about. The house that goes WAY overboard every year. So it was with the Osborne family of Arkansas. Their hobby of doing bigger and better Christmas lights each year caused lots of traffic, which displeased the neighbors enough to seek a legal remedy to the problem.

Somehow, Disney got word of this and decided to relocate the Osborne family’s lights to their then-called Disney-MGM Studios. The lights now live in the Streets of America area, and Disney actually starts putting them up in the early fall, since there is so much to hang.

Without further ado, I present some photos I took of the Osborne lights on December 8th 2006. Click any photo to see a larger version on Flickr (choose All Sizes, then Original)

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Santa in the Sky! at the Tween Waters Inn, Captiva, Florida

(a post)

As promised this past Ruby Tuesday, here’s the “Santa Series” from the Tween Waters Inn, Captiva Island, Southwest Florida. It was a gorgeous, blue-sky Thanksgiving Day, and I very much enjoyed seeing “Tweenies” all gussied up it its Christmas finery. Hope you enjoy!

Old Captiva House is the restaurant at the Inn. The Crow’s Nest is more of a bar/lounge atmosphere, and they sometimes have live music on the weekends.

Santa has climbed a palm tree in order to get a better view of the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico. Down low in the photo, between the palms, you can see a dot. That dot is a para-sailor. I think I need to try that!

Santa shields his eyes against the afternoon sun to gaze calmly down upon a small knot of concerned citizens who have gathered at the foot of the palm tree to beg him to “come down, Santa – come down!”. I can just tell from the look on his face, he’s got absolutely NO intention of coming down any time soon! Why would he? It’s a great view!

In this photo, if you click through to the bigger version on Flickr, you can see the infamous “Tweenie-Cam” between the two front hooves of the last reindeer on the left. It’s mounted on the chimney. Wanna see it from the other end? Click below and enjoy!

CLICK ME to see the Gulf of Mexico LIVE from the Infamous Tweenie-Cam!

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RED STUFF from the Tween Waters Inn, Captiva Island, Florida
(a Ruby Tuesday post)

I guess we are officially in the season where RED STUFF abounds.  Yes, it’s Christmas time, and the decorations are going up rapidly all over the place.  Here are some shots taken on Thanksgiving Day last week at the Tween Waters Inn on Captiva Island in Southwest Florida.

SNOWMEN er, PEOPLE
There were a couple of festive snowmen on the path from the parking lot to the restaurant.  Amazingly, they seem impervious to the Florida sunshine, and they do not melt!

TOYLAND

THE RESTAURANT

THE TREE

THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
There isn’t really any red in this, but I just had to include it.

I’m saving a series of Santas found at Tweenies for Skywatch Friday… stay tuned!

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