Follow Friday - Disney Tourist Blog

For those of you that so faithfully follow my blogs (come on, you know you do), you may have discovered a few things about me:
1. I love my Bug.
2. I love all things Disney.
3. I love photography.

For my first Follow Friday, I reference my Bug while introducing you to his mama.  For my second, we're going to look at the next two items on the above list:  Disney and photography.

I made my first trip to Walt Disney World in 1979.  I don't remember the trip (I was a year old), but my family says I've been obsessed and in love ever since.  Even after moving away from Florida, my family continued to make yearly visits to WDW until 1999-2000.  There was a small gap between trips, as I fully entered adulthood, and was responsible for paying for my own trips, but by the mid-2000s, my yearly trips were back on (or, as in the case of 2011, thrice-yearly visits).

I've been taking photos since I was a child, as well.  I remember, at an early age, getting ahold of my dad's old 110 camera to take pictures while on vacation.  By the time I was a teenager, I had a fancy 35mm.  It was just a point-and-shoot, but at $235, it was fancy for me.  Packed away in boxes, I have 1000s of images from various trips and events in my life.
In March of 2003, I was out of work, and stumbled into a job working in a private photo lab.  That temporary position filling photo orders turned into an extended job printing orders, which turned into photography lessons, which turned into time behind the camera at real photo shoots, which turned into several shoots of my own, which turned into money to start buying my own professional photography equipment.  I now do freelance work for a local newspaper, I still shoot for the company that taught me all I know, and I've started my own photography business.

One thing I've always wanted to do more of is take pictures at amusement parks, specifically Disney parks.  I'm usually so enthralled in the aspect of just BEING there that I forget about the large, overly-packed camera bag on my back (I tend to bring everything.  Including the kitchen sink.  Actually, two of them).  Then I get back to the house, and realize that I've got 30 photos to cover 10-12 hours spent at the park.  A few months ago, I tried spending a day at the Magic Kingdom with nothing but my point-and-shoot.  I definitely had more photos at the end of the day, but none of them were what I really wanted.

What to do.....?

Then, it happened.
In the course of browsing some of the many (and I do mean MANY) Disney websites, podcasts and blogs that I frequent, I stumbled across one I'd never seen before.  A blog on Disney....and photography!

Tom Bricker is an amazing photographer who puts his talent strictly into the art of capturing moments at Disney theme parks (and all that go with them).  He's also very good at explaining why he took that shot, how he took it, and whether it turned out the way he wanted.  He gives tips, hints, advice and warnings with both knowledge and humor.  He has, in the short space of about 2 weeks, become my photography hero.

Please check Tom out at Disney Tourist Blog.  If all you do is look at the photos, you will have given yourself a gift.

Day 10 - Anything you want about 90s Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel.

BRING BACK MICKEY MOUSE!
Really, that sums it all up.

Disney has always been a company of greatness, even when the world didn't recognize it yet.  Technologically and creatively advanced, the Disney company has wowed children and adults alike for almost 100 years.  Walt Disney once famously said, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."  Mickey Mouse was not the first of Walt's beloved characters (see Alice, Oswald and Mortimer), but he will always be the iconic one.  Mickey Mouse is Disney, and Disney is Mickey Mouse.

As my previous posts have shown, I have been a fan of a wide variety of Disney projects over the years.  From Welcome to Pooh Corner and Dumbo's Circus to Mousterpiece Theatre and Flash Forward to Kim Possible and TaleSpin, I have enjoyed things all along the spectrum of works known collectively as Disney.  From the day the Disney Channel first aired, there was hardly a day that went by where I didn't watch something, even if it was only a few shorts minutes of DTV.  But then the new millenium hit.

Over the pasts ten years, it has seemed to me (and not only me) that the Disney company has done just what Walt warned against.  They have forgotten the Mouse that started it all.  Gone are the classic cartoons of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald and Daisy.  Gone are the modern cartoons of more recent characters, like DuckTales, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New School, and TaleSpin.  In their place are Phineas and Ferb, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Hannah Montana.

Each of those shows, in and of itself, does not flow against the current.  Again, there were many original series that I truly enjoyed.  But those earlier shows were intermixed with a good selection of programming related to Disney origins.

I believe the Disney company would do well to bring back some of the classics.  Not all day, everyday, but something as simple as a block of time one of two nights a week.  Bring back Vault Disney, bring back midnight showings of Zorro and The Ballad of Davy Crockett, bring back replays of the Walt Disney anthology series.

Bug, my 3-year-old cousin, is only just now learning who Mickey Mouse is.  THIS IS A PROBLEM!  I knew who Mickey Mouse was shortly after leaving the womb.  By 3, I was obsessed.  Now, not every child will become a Disneyphile.  But all, atleast is the US, should know who/what Disney is.

I want the Disney company to continue to flourish and grow, but they can't truly move forward without continuing to acknowledge their heritage.

Day 9 - Should they bring back shows from the 90s on Disney Channel like they have for Nickelodeon?

OMG, YES!  ABSOLUTELY YES!

Flash ForwardThe Famous Jett Jackson
The Jersey
So Weird
*Spellbinder
Ocean Girl
*DuckTales
*Good Morning, Mickey!
*The Ink and Paint Club
*Gummi Bears
The Adventure of Rin Tin Tin
*Aladdin
*Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers
*Darkwing Duck
*Donald's Quack Attack
*Mickey's Mouse Tracks
*The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
*TaleSpin
*The Magical World of Disney/Walt Disney Presents
*Mousterpiece Theater
*Avonlea

Starred (*) shows should be the first to come back.  These shows (except for Spellbinder) get closer to what I firmly believe the Disney Channel should stand for.

Day 8 - Who was your least favorite 90s Disney Channel actor/actress?

As much as I've tried to like Erik von Detten throughout the years, the boy just annoys me.  Don't get me wrong, he did a fantastic job as the voice of Sid Phillips in Toy Story, and I loved his characters in The Princess Diaries and Dinotopia.  But his pretty much ends right there.  Every other character I've ever seen him play is exactly the same.  There is no depth to his acting, and his characters (however lovable) come across as idiotic losers.  He needs to stick to voice acting, where he shines.

There weren't any actresses that I especially disliked.

Day 7 - Who was your favorite 90s Disney Channel actor/actress?

Actor:Honorable mentions: Zachary Ansley (The Journey of Natty Gann, Cowboys Don't Cry, Miracle on Interstate 880, Road to Avonlea), Zbych Trofimiuk (Spellbinder), Jeffrey Walker (Sky Trackers, Ocean Girl, Snowy River: The McGregor Saga, The Wayne Manifesto, Thunderstone), David Hoflin (Ocean Girl, The Lost World, Swimming Upstream), Zachary Bennett (All I Wanna Do, Road to Avonlea, By Way of the Stars, Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion), Eric Lively (Armed and Innocent, So Weird, A Mother's Fight for Justice, The Pact, Deep Winter, 24: The Redemption).

The actor from the Disney Channel that I would consider my favorite is one that continues to be my favorite, and with every role, continues to amaze me with his ability to portray a character.  Ben Foster (Flash Forward, The Laramie Project, Bang Bang, You're Dead, 3:10 to Yuma, The Messenger, Pandorum, The Mechanic) is one of the most prolific actors I've ever seen.  While he has done roles I didn't like, the were roles I would not have liked, no matter who was portraying them.  If those characters had any redeeming quality, it would be that they were portrayed by Ben Foster.

Actress:
Honorable mentions: Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible, Even Stevens, Looking for an Echo), Lindy Booth (The Famous Jett Jackson, October Road, The Philanthropist), Courtnee Draper (The Jersey, The Thirteenth Year, Veronica Mars), Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire, Raise Your Voice, Beauty & the Briefcase, American Dreams, Gossip Girl), Gema Zamprogna (Road to Avonlea, By Way of the Stars, The Challengers), Sarah Polley (Road to Avonlea, White Lies, Ramona), Marzena Godecki (Ocean Girl), Gosia Piotrowska (Spellbinder), Jewel Staite (Flash Forward, Da Vinci's Inquest, Higher Ground, Firefly, Serenity, Stargate: Atlantis, Cheats).

Of all the actresses that I can think of that graced the screen during the Disney Channel's 1990s run, my absolute favorite has to be Emmy Rossum (Genius, Mystic River, The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, The Phantom of the Opera).  For the sake of my sanity, we will forget that the movie Dare was ever even filmed.

Day 6 - What was your least favorite show on the 90s Disney Channel?

I wasn't a big fan of the gameshows that were broadcast, though you could periodically find me watching Teen Win, Lose or Draw.  Disney also acquired some programming in the 90s that I didn't really care for, such as Brotherly Love and Growing Pains.  Again, I wasn't a big fan, but I didn't abjectly dislike them.  However, New Kids on the Block, the animated series, is a completely different horse.  Don't get me wrong.  I was, and still am, a HUGE fan of NKOTB.  I still have all my old cassette tapes, plus digital copies downloaded to my computer, phone and mp3 player.  But the animated series was absolutely ridiculous!  The voices were provided by outside voice actors, very little music was used in the show.  The plots were slapstick and stupid.  Ultimately, the show did nothing but hinder the group's already waning popularity.

Day 5 - What was your favorite show from the 90s Disney Channel?

Now we're getting into the fun part!!!

Movies:
Chips, The War Dog
Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Airborne (I hate to admit it, but I'll still watch this if I catch it on TV.  I had a thing for Shane McDermott)
The Whipping Boy (based on one of my all-time favorite books, The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman)
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
The Thirteenth Year
Smart House
Johnny Tsunami
Genius

Series:
I watched all of the following:
Flash Forward
Bug Juice
The Famous Jett Jackson
The Jersey
So Weird
The Mickey Mouse Club
Jeff Corwin show
Spellbinder
Ocean Girl
Ready or Not
The Torkelsons
DuckTales
Good Morning, Mickey!
The Ink and Paint Club
Gummi Bears
The Adventure of Rin Tin Tin
Aladdin
Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers
Darkwing Duck
Donald's Quack Attack
Mickey's Mouse Tracks
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
TaleSpin
The Magical World of Disney/Walt Disney Presents
Eerie, Indiana
Danger Bay

But my two absolute favorites during the 1990s were Mousterpiece Theater and Avonlea.

Mousterpiece Theater was a parody of the PBS show Masterpiece Theatre.  Hosted by George Plimpton, who background information on each part, the show featured classic Disney cartoons.  The show ran in the evenings, as it was geared toward older cartoon enthusiasts, as opposed to children.  I still have strong memories of sitting in my livingroon after the sun had gone down, and settling in for an evening with George and Mickey.

Avonlea (or Road to Avonlea) was a Canadian series produced in association with the Disney Channel, based on a series of books by L.M. Montgomery.  Set in the fictional town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, the show focused on the King family and those they interacted with.  The show had several characters from the original Anne of Green Gables movies (and was produced by the same company, Sullivan Entertainment), and took place after the character of Anne Shirley left PEI.  Like the Anne series, Avonlea was filmed in soft-focus, taught lessons without over-emphasizing them, and highlighted the innocence of life in the early 20th century, while still allowing the characters to discover their own independence and to be affected by the changing times.

As you can see, I was a Disney Channel girl!

10-day 90s Disney/Nickelodeon Blog Challenge

Now, here we have a blog challenge that is right up my alley.

The 10-day 90s Disney/Nickelodeon Blog Challenge

Day 1 - What was your favorite show from the 90s Nickelodeon?
Day 2 - What was your least favorite show from the 90s Nickelodeon?
Day 3 - Who was your favorite 90s Nickelodeon actor/actress?
Day 4 - Who was your least favorite 90s Nickelodeon actor/actress?
Day 5 - What was your favorite 90s Disney Channel show?
Day 6 - Who was your least favorite 90s Disney Channel show?
Day 7 - Who was your favorite 90s Disney Channel actor/actress?
Day 8 - Who was your least favorite 90s Disney Channel actor/actress?
Day 9 - Should they bring back shows from the 90s on Disney Channel like they have for Nickelodeon?
Day 10 - Anything you want about 90s Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel.