Tales From The Mouse House Disneyland Podcast...Episode 72

Welcome to Tales From The Mouse House Disneyland podcast EPISODE 72! Wow, another audio episode for your Disney enjoyment! Well, we had a lot of fun on this episode, but also....well, in our Host Chat segment, ONE of us kind of goes off on a rant (ok, it was ME - Al). Couldn't be helped. I had something to get off my chest and thought it should be shared. Ok, before you actually listen to the show, I'll put up a bit of a warning. I vent about Disney's D23 a bit because of recent events, and not so recent events. I thought long and hard before including that on our show, but I thought that it wouldn't be right if we only shared the great things about Disney (and trust us, there are a LOT of great and awesome things about Disney...) and swallowed our opinions on the things we thought don't work. That would be a huge disservice to you and to us. We may offend some, but you know what? We are all about being TRUE to ourselves and delivering an HONEST show to you. Doing anything else would be wrong, even if that means offending some folks, and ruining our chances at being included in Disney sponsored events. If lying to you and to ourselves is what it takes to be invited to those events, then I guess we'll relegate ourselves to never being included! 

California Adventure's Wold Of Color

Ok, on with the FUN stuff. On this episode, Joyce reviews one of our favorite additions to Disney California Adventure - The World Of Color. We still remember when they drained Paradise Bay and constructed the jets and things...it was awesome. Then, when they actually began testing them...well, you'll have to tune in to find THAT out! Hey, can't give away EVERYTHING, can I?? 

Then, in Food Reviews, I cover a cool out of the way place in Disneyland's Critter Country that we overlooked for YEARS! Walked past it hundreds of times and NEVER saw it...until our last visit. Suffice it to say, Harbour Galley is one of the neatest places to grab some grub that you never saw! They even have a great deck to relax on that gives you a terrific view of the Rivers Of America, where you can watch the Mark Twain and the Columbia lazily sail on by. Oh, and you'll have to tune in to hear about an AWESOME little known spot by Harbour Galley where you can watch a LOT of fun in action!

Harbour Galley

As we shared on episode 71, we've added to our Hidden Treasures segment. Instead of just sharing the awesome little gems in and around the Resort that we feel are true Hidden Treasures, we're going to start sharing lots of other things too, like audio clips, music, that sort of thing, that WE feel enhances that Disney Magic and furthers our cause to spread the Disney Love to as many as we can! Plus...we launched a new "contest" where you can win your very own copy of David W. Smith's In The Shadow Of The Matterhorn: Stories about Life, Love and Laughter at Disneyland audiobook! 

Win YOUR audiobook copy!

Hey, if YOU'RE in need of a great travel agent, why not give our sponsor, Randy Crane from Mouse Ear Vacations a holler! I bet he can make YOUR vacation a MAGICAL one! Visit Randy at www.randyc-mouseearvacations.com 

As always, If you’d like to send in comments for the show, you can send us an email to talespodcast@cox.net, leave us voicemail on the Hotline at 304-TALES23, leave us feedback in iTunes or leave comments for us on our Twitter account @talespodcast. Heck, you can even find us on FaceBook, just search for Tales From The House House - Disneyland podcast! If you'd like to listen to the show, you can find it on iTunes, on our podcast site at talescast.com, the direct episode link: Episode 72, or on Stitcher Radio now! Just visit www.stitcher.com and search for Tales From The Mouse House - Disneyland Podcast!


Thanks for making us part of your Disney experience and remember…

Nothing to do with the episode...she's just CUTE!

"Make It A Mickey Day!" ~~ Al & Joyce

Happiest Blog On Earth...Walter Elias Disney



Walt Disney and a Friend!

Today is December 5th. For a lot of people, an ordinary, average everyday sort of day. For many, it marks the point in the year where it's officially time to freak out about Christmas shopping! And then there are those of us who look at this day differently. We see December 5th as a very auspicious day in the...well, in the Happiness "industry"! See, an inspirational visionary was born on December 5, 1901 - Walt Disney

Now, this isn't going to be a history lesson, or a biographical piece, so I won't delve into WHO Walt was, but I will tell you WHAT he means to me. It's only fitting that I pay tribute to him. After all, I owe a LOT to him really. Over the course of his amazing life, Walt created most of the greatest memories for a great many people, through his animated movies, TV shows and of course, his beloved Parks. I know for me personally, Disneyland has changed my life, for the better of course!

 By now, most of you know my story: I didn't make my first visit to Disneyland until 2007. After that point, well, pretty difficult to imagine life WITHOUT Disneyland. For so many reasons, I owe Walt Disney a debt. By creating his wonderful Disneyland, Walt helped me find that inner child that I had once thought gone. Disneyland also created a huge bond between Joyce and me (not that we were EVER in danger of growing apart, trust me! We're soul mates!!), it gave us a HUGE common thread, something we could both dive head-first into TOGETHER. Up to that point, Joyce's fixation with Disney was a mystery to me. After that point, well, let's just say our house definitely looks like a place where true Disney lovers live! But it's more than just a fanaticism for an icon with us. Much more. Through Disney, and Disneyland, we have met some of the most awesome people - people who we are very proud to call friends, no, not friends...FAMILY.

Walt and the Main Street Station

Without even knowing me, Walt Disney also gave me a new purpose in my life. I truly believe in the Magic Walt Disney created. Magic he dearly loved to spread to others. In fact, both Joyce and I believe in that Magic so deeply that we built our now fairly popular podcast around it. I say popular not out of ego, but out of thanks to those of you who enjoy the Magic we share! We've built our mission statement, not just for the podcast but for every aspect of our "Disney Life" to reflect the sincere love we have for Disney and Disneyland, and the fond desire to spread that Magic to as many people as we can. And through this mission, we've met other Disney minded people, like Mr. Daps, Lisa Robertson, Randy Crane, Jason Gordon...and so many, many more, that we've realized that the word friend just doesn't cut it! They're our family.

So, as the world laments about the quickly fading number of days of shopping left until Christmas, some of us celebrate the birth of a man who, without knowing, improved the lives of so many others, including me! Happy Birthday Uncle Walt...and thank you for the Magic! ~~ Al



Happiest Blog On Earth...A Wonderful Cause

Hey gang, 
As many of you already know, my wonderful daughter Amanda is attending college back east for a career in the medical field. She has a terrific giving spirit and has participated in many awesome causes. 

Well, she recently contact Joyce and me and told us all about this exceptionally heroic cause she is now spear-heading, to help increase the awareness of the global health crisis in the world we live in. So, to help raise some much needed money for this, she and her fellow Med-Students have started a totally awesome venture...Joyce and I had the honor of being her first customers, and we'll be launching a trivia contest soon to share some of these Disney inspired gems with some lucky winners! So, to tell you a bit more about this wonderful cause, here's Amanda:


The Master of Science in Anesthesia class of 2014 out of Cleveland, Ohio has begun a project to raise money to provide pulse oximeters to hospitals in economic hardship, but on a larger scale the mission is to also raise awareness for the shortfalls in global health. The LIFEBOX campaign has become the philanthropy initiative for the ASA and AAAA this year and MSA programs around the country are raising money to donate to the betterment of patient care. Lifebox is an organization that produces portable pulse oximeters and donates them along with training and user guides as well as the World Health Organizations standards for patient care.

Badge Clips Make GREAT Holiday Gifts!

Our program, headed by the philanthropy chair Amanda Kessel, is selling retractable badge clips adorned with the colorful array of drug caps we pop off in the OR. We have spent weeks gathering caps and decorating our badge clips to bring to you a spectrum of creative designs (and yes, we attempted and occasionally succeeded in making some more masculine for the gentlemen out there). The clips will be sold for $5/piece and 100% of the proceeds will be going directly to Lifebox. We will be selling the clips at our respective rotation sites up until March when our philanthropy year ends, at which point our progress will be presented at the AAAA meeting in Florida.

In trying to create a design that would appeal to the masses we thought to ourselves; what symbol could be universal so that everyone would want a piece to carry with them daily. DISNEY OF COURSE. Itʼs not just that Mickey is a symbol of that youthful imagination and magic we know so well, but cʼmon theyʼre adorable and oh so colorful! Besides that, the Walt Disney Company also propagates the message of making lasting and positive changes in communities throughout the world, something that you would be contributing to directly with your purchase!
For more information on Lifebox, you can visit their website at www.lifebox.org. Online donations can be made on the site BUT if you do decide to take this route we only get credit if you include Case Cleveland MSA Program in the comments section of the donation.

Any other questions can be directed to Amanda Kessel by email at alk69@case.edu . Thank you for your support!
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”- Gandhi