Walt Disney World - Oct 2008

Disney World - Oct 2008, a set on Flickr.

Celebrating Halloween...Disney Style...The Magic Kingdom in 2008...

Disneyland - Halloween 2010

Disneyland - Oct 2010, a set on Flickr.

Pics from last year's Halloween Trip to Disneyland...!!!

Madonna Music Monday - 10/17/2011

Well it looks like Fall has finally hit Chicago. The wind is blowing, the leaves are falling off the trees, there's that chill in the air. It's actually a great time. I love those crisp Fall days. Walking on leaf covered grass. One of my favorite trips I ever had was a trip to Boston around Thanksgiving time for my birthday. Walking the Harvard campus on a sunny Fall day was just amazing and its a memory I hold very dear to my heart.

So in the spirit of the season, I thought I would share a Madonna, autumn themed video. The song/video is actually a sequel to another Madonna video, Take A Bow. In that video, Madonna falls in love with a Matador that breaks her heart. In the sequel, Madonna expresses her pain and warns the Matador that he will regret the heart-ache he caused and that one day he'll regret his actions. So here is Madonna singing the beuatiful (visually & lyrically) song You'll See, from the album Something To Remember, a collection of Madonna ballads. Enjoy!


Madonna - You'll See Official Music Video HD



John

Trip Report - Walt Disney World - 07/20/11 - Part One

Today is day four of our trip. We are mid-way thru our vacation. And I am sick. I now have a sore throat and a cold. Did I catch a cold on the flight down to Orlando? Did I catch it from the hundreds of children at Disney World. Was it because I was in extreme hot weather, then cooled off in air conditioned attractions, restaurants and the resort room? Either way, I am sick. I guess it was bound to happen on one of my Disney trips. The best thing I can do is find some good cold medicine and put it to use. I was lucky to find cough drops at the sundries counter at the entrance of Disney's Hollywood Studios. But I need stronger stuff. Luckily I found some at the gift shop at Pop Century. Hopefully I won't suffer for long. But for today, its time to spend more time at the Magic Kingdom. Here we go!

Well its another hot, sunny day at Disney World. Which I could deal with if I didn't have this cold. Oh well. Well, the first order of the day is to get as many Fantasyland rides done today. So we get to the park shortly after opening and we head straight to Peter Pan. There's already a 20 minute wait, so we jump in line. It actually goes by pretty fast. Its one of my favorite rides at the Magic Kingdom. And I wanted my nephew to experience this classic ride. We had a great time. Next we went to Dumbo.

One of the great things about riding Dumbo, you get to see the Magic Kingdom from a great vantage point. Also, with the current Fantasyland expansion construction going on, by riding Dumbo, you get to peak over the construction walls to see the progress going on. Well, that progress is looking GREAT! Beast's Castle is looking great. The new Circus area is looking great too. Here is video I shot showing the progress of the Fantasyland expansion:

After riding Dumbo, I checked out some of the artwork of the upcoming Fantasyland expansion that is posted on the construction walls. If Disney completes all their expansion plans, Fantasyland is going to be AMAZING! Here are a few pictures of what the expansion is promising:

After Dumbo, we headed towards the Mad Tea Cups. We get in line. We are let into the ride and find a cup and get in. But then we hear an announcement that the ride has shut down. We don't know what happened. All of a sudden it was working, and now it wasn't. Oh well, we'll come back went the ride is running again. So he head to the Winnie the Pooh ride. While I like this ride, I was interested about the upgrades that were done to the queuing area of this attraction. Wow, was I in for a shock.

There are now various inter-active games that one can play as you go thru the ride line. There are kiddie drums, ball games and spinning wheels. I'm always amazed by the way Disney 'pluses' an attraction. They know how to pay attention to details. All the inter-active games tie in perfectly with the attraction. But the best part of the additions made to the queuing area are the magical 'honey walls' located right before you board the attraction. These honey walls are very cool. You can touch these digital walls and make images in them. And if you look hard enough, you can find various Pooh characters behind the walls. Pretty much, these are high-end touch screen walls. And these walls just add so much magic to this attraction. Here are some pics of people playing with these 'honey walls':

After we rode Winnie the Pooh, we decide to walk around the park to see what had a small wait time. We headed to the park hub and took some pics in front of the Castle. I took a look at my Disney World Lines app to see what had a small wait. It looks like Big Thunder Mountain has a small wait, so we decide to ride that. When we got in line, there was a 20 minute wait posted. But as soon as we got in line, I noticed that the lines were filled Brazilians. Now I know the wait will be longer.

After a 40 minute wait, we finally rode Big Thunder Mountain. I love this ride. I especially love it at night time. I hope we get to ride at night. After Thunder Mountain, we headed towards Splash Mountain to hopefully get some Fast Passes. As it turns out, we got lucky. Our Fast Passes, were good in a couple hours. So in the mean time, we rode the Jungle Cruise. I love the corny jokes of the Jungle Cruise.

After that, we headed towards back to Fantasyland to see if we could catch another performance of Philharmagic. As it turned, the next showing was starting in 5 minutes. By this time, the weather was getting really hot and we needed a cooling break. After Philharmagic, we rode It's A Small World, a great Disney classic. After Small World, we headed back to Splash Mountain to wait for our time to ride this attraction. Part of me loves the fact that most people don't know about Fast Pass or how to use it. I love to take that walk on the Fast Pass line, past all the people who are in the 'Standby Line', knowing that I know how to 'use the system'.

After Splash Mountain, we head to Space Mountain to get some Fast Passes to use later at night. As I was in line waiting to get my Fast Passes, I noticed that the guys in front of  me are taking a long time to get Fast Passes. Then I realize that they are Brazilian Tour Guides. And they are getting quite a few Fast Passes. Actually, 'a few' is an understatement. Here is a picture of how many Fast Passes the tour guide got:

It is now time for a mid-day break back at Pop Century. I need to take more drugs for my sore throat and cold. I need to take a swim to cool down. I need to take a break from the heat. Later in the evening, we have reservations for Crystal Palace and the Wishes Fireworks Viewing Party. I will cover that in Part Two of my trip report.

John

Madonna Music Monday - 10/10/2011

Well today I started a new life. I stopped drinking soda, I'm trying to eat better and I started working out. Today I joined a new, local gym. I then ran for 40 minutes and did 30 ab pull-ups. Yes I am tried. I just finished eating a salad with grill chicken. One step at a time.

So the whole time I was working out, I was thinking of one song. Burning Up by Madonna. Yes I know it's cliche and all, but it is fitting. You gotta burn in order to lose weight, right? So in the past, I have shared various versions of Madonna singing Burning Up. For today, I thought I would share something a bit different. In 2008, Madonna was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony, Iggy Pop & the Stooges performed two of Madonna's songs. So here is Iggy Pop singing Burning Up and Ray of Light. Enjoy!



John

Madonna Music Monday - 10/03/2011

Well if you haven't heard the big news today, it was announced that the artist performing at this year's Super Bowl Half-Time Show will be none other than MADONNA!!! I think this is perfect, for many reasons. First, Madonna is an artist with millions and millions of fans. She is loved by both men and women. She is an international artist, which is important since the Super Bowl is an event that is seen by the whole world. With over 25 years of making music, there is something for everyone. Plus Madonna will be releasing a new album later this year, if not early next year, so the Super Bowl appearance is a great promotion for her next album. Plus Madonna is sure to put on an amazing performance without the risk of doing something controversial. At 53, Madonna is about making great music, not noise. So for today's video, I selected this 'mega-mix' video to give us an idea what Madonna might perform for her Super Bowl concert. I can't wait for February 5th 2012 to get here any quicker!!! Enjoy!
Madonna - The Megamix 2011




John