Dave’s Disney view

 I arrived at Disney World on Wednesday, and spent a little time on the Boardwalk, then went to the Studios, and Epcot, before finally heading to Downtown Disney for a while.

Then, on Saturday after the hunt, I spent some time in the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom.

I give some thoughts about the time I spent doing that, and also talk about the restaurants that I checked out while I was there.

Plus, since I was staying at the Saratoga Springs resort, I give my thoughts on the property and the DVC experience. 

 On this episode, Curt and I recap our experiences, and you'll hear from Becky Cline - who now is the head of the Disney Archives - as she announces the results.

We didn't win (we came in at #264, with 425 points, right in the middle of the pack) but that's okay by us. It was a blast, and I'm ready to do it again!

Remember, you can see the all of the questions at http://disneypodcast.net/thehunt.htm 

May 12 & 13, 2011, the D23-sponsored scavenger hunt was on!! The Blathering Blatherskytes were represented by me and my friend Curt. We took on the hunt thusly: Day 1 - Magic Kingdom, Epcot - and Day 2 - Animal Kingdom, Studios.

 I have seen Weird Al perform many times at the parks. There was Grad Nite for me, and I saw several of his shows that evening. And then there was a night out at Pleasure Island where it was a giant sing-along; he did costume changes and had a really fun show.

I explore his history with the parks - though he is just a fan as I am. Also I play a clip from his song "Skipper Dan" which is a fun parody of the Jungle Cruise skippers.

[editor's note: I downloaded a copy when he made it available last year as a teaser. I use it here, but would hope that if you like it, you purchase a copy. If anyone has any objections to its use, please let me know] 

Dave made it to 50 shows. I take a few moments to reflect on my past shows, and ask for your input on the future. Plus, I am proud to announce my new site disneypodcast.net, which I hope will become a community site for great content. And, I talk about the upcoming Disney Scavenger Hunt. 

 On this week's show, I've got Disney news to share. I talk about the end of grad nite, a special event for high school seniors. I attended as a senior and worked it as cast member, and remember it fondly. I talk about the possible new DVC property that will be at Disney's Grand Floridian. Then its on to Star Tours 2.0 that will open in time for Star Wars weekends. I have a couple of quick takes on happenings, and then I get to a few interesting rumors involving the queue at Peter Pan - which likely will be getting an interactive makeover, the Tiki Room which is rumored to be going back to its original show, and a rumor about the Universal Studios. 

After Mickey's 60th birthday was over, Disney decided to re-theme Mickey's Birthdayland as Mickey's Starland. And later, it became Mickey's ToonTown Fair. I explore the changes that were made, and how the land evolved over time to become what we saw before it closed. 

 With the removal of ToonTown, I wanted to pay tribute to the original idea and how it came about. Mickey's Birthdayland was created to celebrate Mickey's 60th birthday and was only supposed to be be temporary. But it was fairly popular, and Disney realized that guests wanted to meet Mickey, and so expanded on the idea. I talk about this new land, and what it was all about. Please feel free to add your  

I actually do love to answer questions about Disney. Its fun to help others plan so they can enjoy the resort as much as I do. This podcast contains questions about miniature golf (cough! cough! be sure and check out my app in the itunes store), whether to stay on property or off, photopass, which fireworks show is the best, and a question about gay days in the parks. I also present an idea from a listener who suggests what you can say to CastMembers in each country in EPCOT. Discuss below!

You've heard me talk about playing miniature golf on my podcast.

I decided to make a fun little app so you can throw away those little pencils and scorecards. And do something more.

The app allows you to keep score of your mini golf game, save the scores for review, see the places you've played on a map, take photos without leaving the app - and best of all it allows you to be social: you can post pictures and notes to facebook and twitpic while you're playing!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mini-golf-scoring/id422779036?mt=8&ls=1

Available for $.99 for the iPhone/iPod Touch

But I also have a lite version available for free: 9 holes of scoring with no bells and whistles

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mini-golf-lite/id422776058?mt=8&ls=1