What is The Optimist?

What or who is The Optimist?  Well, if you have been looking at various Disney websites lately, you will know that this is a new alternative reality game (ARG) that Disney has launched as we get closer to the D23 Expo in August.  This ARG began with a young woman named Amelia, who has found some of her grandfather, Carlos’, documents as she was going through some of his belongings after his death.  Among these documents are lots of letters, photos, and other correspondence that link Carlos to the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, especially the It’s a Small World attraction.  Amelia knows that Carlos was a writer and that Disney was interesting one of his works called “Orbit’s Story.”  We do not have a clue as to the plot of this story yet. There have been other links to the fair as well.  In particular, there is a website for a Michael T. Lott, who also “worked” at the fair.  You can actually correspond with the websites and call the phone numbers to hear from the people involved in the various projects upon which Carlos was supposed to have worked.  There are many nods to Disney history past and present, and it has been great fun to discover what the next step in the game will be.  There is a mystery surrounding the game because there are different codes and secret project names that we do not know yet.  Once we know the secret codes, then more information will be learned, and we will be closer to figuring out what Carlos’ link to Disney and the Fair was. 

This game is fun because all of the players are just fellow Disney history nerds like myself who enjoy researching the potential leads that will help to discover what Carlos was up to.  It is fun to stay in character and really play along.  For example, the reference to M.T. Lott is actually not a real company; it was a dummy corporation that Walt Disney set up in order to buy the land that was needed for the Florida Project.  There are lots of anachronisms in the game too, but it is more fun to play the game and solve the mystery than point out the flaws.  All in all, I think that this game is leading up to marketing for the new Brad Bird Tomorrowland movie that will hit theaters in 2014.  If that is the case, this is a great advertising strategy because it lets people get excited and have fun researching Disney’s past.  I can’t wait to see what new twists are thrown at us as the game continues.  So, if you are interested, you can go to http://storyorbit.com/ in order to check out the game so far.  Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!

From Walt Disney Imagineering:

The worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy were only the beginning...

Walter Elias Disney was an optimist who believed in creating a living blueprint for the future. He and his Imagineers - those creative and skilled professional wizards who combine imagination and engineering - made fantasy into reality and built the magic of the Disney Theme Parks.

But, what if that was just the beginning?  Amelia, a young filmmaker, has stumbled upon a revolutionary secret...and she needs your help. Collaborate with other curious individuals around the globe to solve a mystery that traverses the web, Disneyland® Park, and beyond before culminating at the D23 Expo.

Join Amelia and explore Walt Disney’s secrets of Tomorrow…

Splashing Around at Typhoon Lagoon

On our recent trip to Walt Disney World, we decided to try something new and completely different.  After forty plus trips to the World, this might sound impossible, but indeed, there are still experiences that we have not had at WDW.  On this particular trip, we decided to visit one of the Disney water parks.  After some research, we decided to give Typhoon Lagoon a try, and we were not disappointed at all! 

            In order to give ourselves enough time, we decided to get to the park before it opened in the morning, and this turned out to be an excellent idea.  We queued up at the entrance along with several other families.  We did not know this at the time, but you can bring in ice chests with drinks and food as long as you do not bring in anything that is glass.  We had a plan for entering the park.  I would go and scout out a coveted shady seat, and my husband, Mark, was going to seek out a locker to rent.  We wanted to put our dry clothes in a locker so that they would not get sandy or wet during our time at the park.  When we entered the park, Mark went to retrieve the locker, and I headed over to the rope that was blocking the entrance to the lounge chair area.  After a few minutes, the rope was dropped, and then everyone dashed for the chairs.  We were lucky to find two chairs in the shade, and we set up our stuff, which included some extra towels and water.  Then, we were off to ride some of the rides before the lines became too long later in the day.  I am not a thrill ride kind of person, so we stuck to the raft rides and the family raft rides.  These were fun, and I highly recommend that you ride them early before the line is too long.  I would not have waited in a long line in the blazing sun on the hot wooden stairs for a one-minute raft ride.  Don’t get me wrong; the ride was fun, but it would not have been worth a thirty-minute or longer wait. 

            After the raft rides, we settled into Castaway Creek, which is a lazy river that winds around the entire park. This was the highlight of the water park for me. It was so relaxing just to kick back and float around in the tube. There was so much shade and vegetation that you did not even feel too warm.  As we floated around the park, we could catch a glimpse of some of the rides, and we could listen to the 1930s and 40s music that was being piped in.  All in all, this attraction was my favorite! 

            Now, if you are adventurous, there are many more slides to ride, and we watched a few people splash down from them.  There is also a Shark Reef where you can swim across a very cold 30-foot span of water to catch a glimpse of various fish.  When you get in line, the cast members give you a snorkel and a pair of goggles that you can use as you slowly swim across the pool.  This experience was not for me, so we did not try our luck with the fish. However, we did visit the underwater viewing tank where you could catch a glimpse of the fish as they swam along.  That was close enough for me!

            Before returning to the lazy river, we took a spin in the wave pool.  I have never been in a wave pool before, and I was not adequately prepared for the strength of the waves that came at us.  Even though I braced myself, I was sent careening over the concrete bottom of the pool, and I sustained some minor scrapes and cuts as a result.  Word of warning: if you have little ones, stay in the very shallow section of this wave pool!  Those waves are very strong, and they could easily pull a grown person several feet while under water.  I can only imagine how that might scare a small child.  
          All in all, Typhoon Lagoon was fun and relaxing.  I am not a thrill seeker, so I enjoyed floating around in the inner tube on Castaway Creek.  If you would like to experience more slides and excitement, then Blizzard Beach might be for you.  If you have time, give Typhoon Lagoon a try; it was a refreshing way to spend part of our last two days at WDW.  Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!

May the Force Be with You!

If you head to Disney’s Hollywood Studios during the last few weekends in May or the first few weekends in June, you will be able to experience Star Wars Weekends.  During these four weekends, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is transformed into a battleground between the Dark Side and the Rebel Alliance.  There are character encounter opportunities as well as a chance to meet various Star Wars celebrities from the six feature films as well as the Clone Wars animated series.  If you arrive at the park very, very early in the morning, you might be able to snag a coveted wristband to get an autograph from one of these celebrities.  These wristbands are hard to acquire because die-hard fans queue up the night before in order to have some quality time with their favorite actors from the Star Wars universe.

            We have been attending Star Wars weekends since 2006, and this year we were able to visit the Studios during the fourth and final weekend.   We are actually still in Walt Disney World as I am writing this article in the lobby of the Pop Century Resort!  This year, Star Wars Weekends did not disappoint.  We were able to attend all of the various shows that allow you to get a glimpse into the world of voice acting as well as meet the celebrities that attended this weekend.  We saw Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mayhew, James Arnold Taylor, and Ashley Eckstein.  We watched the Star Wars parade, attended the Behind the Force Show, the Talk Show, the James Arnold Taylor show, and finally, the crown jewel, the Hyperspace Hoopla.  All of the shows were well put together, and James Arnold Taylor was a very gracious host.  He is a voice actor known for many characters, and he plays Obi Wan on the Clone Wars Animated Series.  At the end of the day, we camped out to wait for the Hyperspace Hoopla, which is basically a dance party or a dance off between the good guys and the bad guys of the Star Wars universe.  Have you ever wanted to see Darth Maul break dance or Chewy bust a move?  Well, here is your opportunity to see the Star Wars characters as you have never seen them before.  The best part of the whole event included the Harlem Shake led by C3PO.  Words cannot do this event justice; you have to see it to believe it, and there are many videos online to aid you in this pursuit!  Well, we still have a few more days at the Vacation Kingdom of the World, and reservations at Sanaa await us this evening, so have a magical day, and keep moving forward!