The Disney Animation Building; That's Where We Were!

Each and every Monday we challenge our readers to guess "Where Are We?" based on a random picture taken somewhere at the Disneyland Resort.  We thrive on challenging, so the pictures can be anywhere at The Resort: Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, or Downtown Disney and the hotels.

We had loads of correct guesses yesterday!  After a few weeks with very few correct shots at our pictures we decided to bring the difficulty down a little bit and see if we can get some more good guesses going.  And we have to say, it worked like a charm!  Lots more guesses and almost all of them correct!  It wasn't a really difficult picture if you spend any normal amount of time at the Disneyland Resort, and it was awesome to see so many people get so excited that they were finally able to answer one of our challenges.  Glad you guys all had such fun yesterday!

That said, this week's photo challenge spot can be found in Disney California Adventure Park, in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, inside the entrance/exit of the Disney Animation Building:

You can spot this well-known fairy tale adage just as you walk inside the entrance to the Disney Animation Building on your right.  There are even a few Hidden Mickeys inside the decoration surrounding the words for those with a very keen eye!

As always, we like to give a shout-out to everyone who came by and guessed, so here they in order of guess and by Twitter (or commenter) name:

• HmSchoolDisney
• ashleydisneylv
• Mindy
• DisGeekPaul
• Ajackieo
• Tracy
• DisneyAmanda3
• Elizabeth
• Ian
• P.T.

And there you have it, our correct guessers for this week!  Thanks to everyone who took a shot at it.  Even if you're not right, everyone should take a guess; you've got nothing to lose!

We'll be back next week with another brand-new spot for our readers to take a crack at!  In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for a spot you'd like for us to do, or a picture of your own that you would like to submit for us to use, drop us a line at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com.  We love having reader submissions and would love to take a look at whatever spots you might have that you'd like to see here.

Until next week, keep those peepers open and be sure and take in all of the little details all over Disneyland; you never know what little details you might see that you never have before.

Where at the Disneyland Resort Are We? - Magical Mystery Mondays

We truly love Mondays because that means it's time for our weekly "guessing game" segment!  We enjoy interacting with our readers throughout the day as they plan along with us, and we think we have a really good one for you guys this week.  The last few weeks have proven fairly difficult for you guys, so we decided to try and make it somewhat easier so we can post a lot of names in our results tomorrow!

If you're not familiar with our "Magical Mystery Mondays" concept yet, each and every week we come across loads of spots around Disneyland Resort we think would make great picture opportunities, and each and every week we challenge you, our readers, to attempt to guess just where at The Resort we were when we took our pictures.  Some are easy, and some are hard, but we think it's a great way for us to get you involved and commenting on our blog, and people seem to enjoy doing it.

So, do you know where this particular picture was taken at the Disneyland Resort?

If you think you know where it is, let us know!  There are a few really easy ways to do so:

• Leave us a comment here! (probably the best way to do it) 
• Send us a Direct Message on our Twitter account @DaysInThePark 
• Drop us an email at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com 

We try to keep your answers hidden as best that we can so that more people get a chance to guess, so if you'll help us along by submitting your answers "on the sly" we'd much appreciate it!  We like to keep it going as long as we can and give everyone a shot.

We'll be back tomorrow morning to post up all the people who guessed correctly and give you the exact spot where this was taken.

Have fun, don't take it too seriously, and let the guesses fly!

The Beast's Library - That's Where We Were!

Each and every Monday we challenge our readers to guess "Where Are We?" based on a random picture taken somewhere at the Disneyland Resort.  We thrive on challenging, so the pictures can be anywhere at The Resort: Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, or Downtown Disney and the hotels.

We think that this week's may have shown itself to be a little too hardcore.  We've noticed as the weeks have gone on that when people don't really know where a spot is, they don't offer up guesses (for the most part).  And yesterday's picture offered up very few guesses in spite of being viewed many times.  We're happy to say though, that we did in fact get one correct guess so the streak of having at least one each week we've been doing this has been kept alive!

This week's particularly nasty photo challenge can be found in Disney California Adventure Park, in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, inside the Disney Animation Building, in the Sorcerer's Workshop area, inside The Beast's Library:

As you're entering the library, you can't help but notice the fireplace which adorns the front wall where The Beast's Rose is housed inside its glass case.  Bracketing either side of the fireplace are two columns, and at the head (top) of both columns you will find, well, these little "beasts".  We even circled exactly where they are so that the next time you're inside The Library, you can look them up for yourselves!

As always, we like to give a shout-out to everyone who came by and guessed, so here they in order of guess and by Twitter (or commenter) name:

• FindingMickey (Twitter)

And there you have it, our correct guesser for this week; just the one!  Thanks to everyone who took a shot at it.  Even if you're not right, everyone should take a guess; you've got nothing to lose!

We'll be back next week with another brand-new spot for our readers to take a crack at!  In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for a spot you'd like for us to do, or a picture of your own that you would like to submit for us to use, drop us a line at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com.  We love having reader submissions and would love to take a look at whatever spots you might have that you'd like to see here.

Until next week, keep those peepers open and be sure and take in all of the little details all over Disneyland; you never know what little details you might see that you never have before.

Where at the Disneyland Resort Are We? - Magical Mystery Mondays

We sure missed posting last week!  But illnesses have been running rampant among our little group of writers here so we're just going to pretend that last week didn't happen on general principal.  We cry pardon to everyone out there who may have come looking for one of our spots to guess and found nothing.

But it's a new Monday and we're back!  If you're not familiar with our "Magical Mystery Mondays" concept yet, each and every week we come across loads of spots around Disneyland Resort we think would make great picture opportunities, and each and every week we challenge you, our readers, to attempt to guess just where at The Resort we were when we took our pictures.  Some are easy, and some are hard, but we think it's a great way for us to get you involved and commenting on our blog, and people seem to enjoy doing it.

We've been sitting on this particular one for a while (you can tell because it still has an old font attached to it!), and figured it was finally time to use it.  We're not really sure about the difficulty on this one; we think it could be a pretty difficult one, but we've been surprised many times before by the seemingly vast knowledge of our readers, so you just never know.  We're sure we'll be surprised on this one just like we are on so many others, and that's awesome!

So, do you know where we took this picture?

If you think you know where it is, let us know!  There are a few really easy ways to do so:

• Leave us a comment here! (probably the best way to do it) 
• Send us a Direct Message on our Twitter account @DaysInThePark 
• Drop us an email at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com 

We try to keep your answers hidden as best that we can so that more people get a chance to guess, so if you'll help us along by submitting your answers "on the sly" we'd much appreciate it!  We like to keep it going as long as we can and give everyone a shot.

We'll be back tomorrow morning to post up all the people who guessed correctly and give you the exact spot where this was taken.

Have fun, don't take it too seriously, and let the guesses fly!

Magical Mystery Mondays - Where At Disneyland Are We?

It's Monday!  One of our favorite days of the week because we get to challenge you.  Our Monday morning pictures have proven quite popular in the past, and we're still finding lots of spots at the Disneyland Resort we like and want to share, so we're just going to keep doing it!

Each and every week we spend at least one day at Disneyland, and each and every week we find at least one spot we like to share with our readers and offer you the chance to guess where we took the picture.  Some of them are easy, some of them are hard, but based on the number of people we have guessing on a weekly basis, people love playing guessing games.  It's a great way for us to get you involved and commenting on our blog more.

So, do you know where she took this picture?

If you think you know where it is, let us know! Leave us a comment here (probably the best way to do it), send us a Direct Message on our Twitter account @DaysInThePark, or drop us an email at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com; that way your answer sort of remains hidden and more people get a chance to guess. We like to keep it going as long as we can and give everyone a shot.

We'll be back tomorrow morning to post up all the people who guessed correctly and give you the spot where this was taken. Have fun, don't take it too seriously, and let the guesses fly!

---

We're back with the solution to yesterday's challenge!

We had quite possibly the most guesses we've had yet yesterday, and they were almost unanimously correct!  Apparently we didn't make it quite hard enough this week.  We're only kidding!  It was great to have so many guesses coming in and it was great to constantly be telling people, "Yes, you're right!"

This week's shot can be found inside the Disney Animation Building in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot in Disney California Adventure Park; in particular, inside the "Sorcerer's Workshop" in the Animation Building.  The Workshop is split into three areas, and this hand can be found pointing the way out of Ursula's Grotto near the exit back into the building's main lobby.

We always like to throw a little shout-out to those who actually did get the correct answer.  Like we said, we had several correct guesses this week.  They were, in order of correct guess and by Twitter name:

• iampumpkinqueen
• Mrsthatcher26
• AffairsbyAmy
• FindingMickey
• Vicki_Icesocks
• Robinpoppins
• Granuaille
• Copy_Pixie
• Chilebob

Awesome job this week, everyone!  We'll be back next week with another picture for you guys to take a crack at. In the meantime, if you have any spots that you know of that you would like for us to use, let us know! You can contact us and have us take a picture of your spot ourselves (and credit you with the idea, of course!), or feel free to drop us a line at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com if you have a picture yourself you'd like for us to use.

Thanks for playing along with us! And always keep your peepers open for those "little details"; you never know what you might see.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Friday Nights In The Park

One of our favorite times to hang out at the Disneyland Resort is on Friday nights. We don't get to do it nearly as often as we'd like to; normally Sunday is our day out.  But just like in High School when the mall was the place to be and hang out, on Friday nights we think that The Park is where all the cool cats should get together and hang out.  And that's just what we did a couple of weeks ago.  We spent the entire evening in Disney California Adventure Park, snapping off random photos of everything we did, and these are some of the ones we liked the most.  Hope you enjoy!

The new Disney California Adventure Park entrance

"Mirror, Mirror..." - The Sorcerer's Workshop

Ariel's Grotto - Paradise Pier

It's Tough To Be A Bug - "a bug's land"

Hidden Mickey in the now removed Engine Ears Toys

It's Monstro! - Storybook Land Canal Boats

"Who, Me?" - Mark on board the Mad Tea Party

"Almost" Wordless Wednesday:

Well, we do call this "almost" Wordless.  We've spent quite a bit of time the last couple of weeks just wandering The Parks and taking pictures.  These are some of the nearly 300 we took this past weekend.  We're only too happy to share.  Hope you enjoy them!

You can smell spring in the air

Loving the new animation loop in the Disney Animation Building

"Why, yes we are!"

"Yes, I'll have one diabetic coma, please."

Tale as old as time...

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Were you talking to me?"

---

Days In The ParkCast - Episode 2

Show Notes:
Originally recorded: 3/27/2011
Final editing done: 3/30/2011
Hosted by: Chad Elliott & Mark Treiger

Intro featuring music by George Thorogood and the Destroyers “Any Town USA” – (music from music.mevio.com; Music Alley)
Park construction and attraction updates
- The new Disney California Adventure entrance
- Sunshine Plaza and the Carthay Circle Theater
- Disney Junior
- Disney Animation Building
- Ursula comes home to The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Goofy’s Sky School has an opening date!
- The reopening of Critter Country
- The reopening and a new menu at the Hungry Bear Restaurant
Steakhouse 55!
Hidden Mickey segment
Soarin’ Over California
Outro featuring music by Bowling For Soup “Friends Chicks Guitars” – (music from music.mevio.com; Music Alley

Listen Now:

The Saturday Slow-Down: Character Close-Up

The last time we took a Saturday Slow-Down...

...we were approaching the ends of the Disney Animation Building and the Animation Academy.  Today, we're going to wrap up our tour of the building and spend some time checking out the awesome spectacle of the Character Close-Up room.

What makes the Character Close-Up work so well is the Zoetrope.  Awesome to watch, awesomely difficult for us to pronounce.

The closest that we can come to describing it is that it is old, classic animation technique brought into the new century; if that's even correct.  We've probably all seen animators display "moving" characters using the flip technique; drawing characters on the corner of pieces of paper in different stages of movement and then "flipping" the corners of the paper to bring about the illusion of the drawings "moving".

The Zoetrope is the same principle in theory.  This might help explain it a little better:

So, that's how it works.  You can see in the top picture all the little Toy Story characters in different "motions".  Then the box begins spinning around at blazing speeds, begins a fast seizure-inducing strobe effect, and it looks like all the Toy Story character begin hopping, see-sawing, ball-rolling, lassoing and riding like the wind on Bullseye all over the place.  It's really neat to watch, not so easy to photograph (all you get is a white light like in Poltergeist which we should all stay away from at all costs).

Whee!

If you've ever been interested in animation at all, or how it works, then this is the room for you.  Even for people like us who have no real ties to drawing (and as shown in our Animation Academy article a few weeks back, we're not terribly good at it), it's a pretty cool place just to stand and watch, and the kids love it!  There's always someone hanging around watching it all go off.  Definitely worth seeing.

We usually spend about 10 minutes or so watching the Zoetrope do its thing, and if you're still with us at this point, you've almost hit the two hour mark in the building so far; all fun, mostly interactive, shaded and air-conditioned, and some of the best animation in the world.  How great was that?

We hope you've enjoyed our little soiree in the Animation Building.  As we said way back in the beginning, it's one of our favorite places to hang out in The Park.  They are currently reworking the clips and music shown in the lobby (so right now if you go in you're going to be treated to multi-colored panels and not much else, save a message saying they're being worked on), but that aside it's still one of our favorite places to be.  We hope that by showing you a little bit of each, if you have the chance, you'll give it a look and it will become one of your favorite places, too.

---

The Saturday Slow-Down: Animation Academy

Last time on the Saturday Slow-Down...

...we continued our wanderings in the Disney Animation Building in the Hollywood Backlot and spent some time in the Sorcerer's Workshop.  Today, we're going to continue our tour through the building and spend some time in another seriously cool room, the Animation Academy.

At the core of Disney is its animation.  For those who have even the tiniest bit of knowledge about the company's history, Disney began with animation, and there's no reason to believe it will ever play anything but a major role in everything that happens at The Parks, hand-drawn cells or computer-generated.

As such, the Animation Academy offers an excellent opportunity for you, the Park guest, to try your own hand at drawing some of The Park's most famous characters.  

After waiting outside the Academy in a little foyer (which provides an excellent location for watching more of those fantastic lobby movie clips we talked about a few weeks ago) you're ushered into a fairly large room (tons of cushioned seating available) where you pick up your artist's tablet, pencil and paper (waiting in your seat for you), and await your Cast Member's instructions.  

A Cast Member explains the process of the Animation Academy

It really is a simple process.  Your Cast Member (they rotate in and out every "show") "teaches" you how to draw whatever character is in rotation at that point.  The characters typically vary show by show.  We ourselves have done Chip, Tigger, Dopey, Pluto and Goofy just to name a few.  We've heard that they also from time to time do Jack Skellington and Roger Rabbit which we've just not been lucky enough to get yet.  And of course, they do all of the regulars such as Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy et al.

It, of course, works much like you would expect it to.  Your duly appointed Cast Member draws your character up on stage, step by step (it is projected up on a great big screen) and your goal is to follow them as closely as you can, hoping to garner something that even remotely resembles the work of stunning perfection that they've just drawn.  Needless to say, it doesn't always work out that way.

If you can tell who your drawing is supposed to be, then you've been successful

But, the show is all about fun.  If you're willing to go into it with a light-hearted attitude and just have fun with it, we can almost guarantee that you'll have a great time!  And it's pretty darn awesome that you get your own free piece of Disney artwork, all of your own making, that you get to take home with you.

Like the Sorcerer's Workshop, the Animation Academy is something that we typically ignored.  But since we started going in, it's something that we've typically tried to do on a regular basis, if for no other reason than to see what character we might wind up with this time. 

It usually takes about a half hour to do the Animation Academy (between waiting and the actual "show).  So at this point, if you're still following us around and haven't dropped off, you've spent about an hour and 40 minutes in the building so far.  Are we having fun yet?

Next week, we'll move into the last room in the building, the Character Close-Up.  Only one week to go, and we hope you'll be here to wrap up our little tour with us!

Hidden Mickey(s)!

---

The Saturday Slow-Down: The Sorcerer's Workshop

Last time on the Saturday Slow-Down...

... we continued our meanderings in the Disney Animation Building in the Hollywood Backlot and spent some time talking to a sea turtle in The E.A.C.  Today, we're going to continue our tour through the building and spend some time in one of our favorite areas in the building, the Sorcerer's Workshop.

The Sorcerer's Workshop is actually broken up into three separate rooms, each with its own speciality:  The Magic Mirror Realm, Beast's Library, and Ursula's Grotto.

Inside the "Magic Mirror Realm", guests are treated to a whole host of animated type gadgetry on display.  Drawing tables are set aside for people to explore their own drawing and animating doodles, and the room is full of all sorts of devices made for exploring frame by frame animation from many of the most popular Disney animated classics.

Should you grow weary of all that doodling, a trip into "Beast's Library" might be in order; a room designed just like, you guessed it, Beast's library from Beauty and the Beast.

This is probably our favorite room in all of the workshop.  The room is filled with electronic "books" (you can see people "reading" them all around) designed to tell you which Disney character you are most like.  By answering a simple selection of questions about your personality, your book will magically tell you which character (male or female) you are most like.  The fun doesn't stop there, however.  If you've answered the questions honestly to begin with, you've likely found out which "good" character you are like.  We urge you pay attention to the last question, however, and answer it a little bit differently on subsequent readings.  You just might find out what "bad" character you are most like.  Then of course, answering differently as to whether you are a boy or girl opens up a whole new realm of possibilities.  We've spent many an hour just playing around with different combinations.  Plus, there is a camera attached to your little reading table that takes your picture as part of the whole process, which the kids seem to love almost as much as finding out what character they are for some reason.  

Oh, and every so often a storm rolls through, the room gets dark, and the picture of the prince is torn to shreds like we see it in the movie.  It's pretty cool stuff.

Lastly, once done with the library, a quick stroll through a dark hall will bring you into "Ursula's Grotto", a sound recording studio of sorts.

"Ursula's Grotto" is peppered all around with little alcoves people can go into, have their voices "stolen" from them (much like Ursula does to Ariel in The Little Mermaid), and used in different scenes from a few select Disney classics.  Ever wanted to be Scar or Simba from The Lion King?  Now's your chance.  Dreamed of singing along with the Seven Dwarfs?  Ursula will be only too happy to grant that wish for you.  There are a few others, but we don't want to spoil the whole thing.  It's easy to spend quite a bit of time in here just acting out all of the different options.  There are about three different singing ones, and three different talking ones if memory serves right.  And again, the kids love this one.  Just don't take it too seriously and let it ruin the fun.  We've learned since we began going in the Grotto that we sound nothing like Jeremy Irons or Jonathan Taylor Thomas, but we've accepted it and moved on.

The Sorcerer's Workshop is something that we actually missed out on for the longest time.  We knew it was there, but whenever we'd wander into the Animation Building we would kind of just ignore it.  But since the first time we went in, it's been a mainstay ever since.  We never go into the Animation Building without going in anymore, and we always have a lot of fun when we do, no matter how many times we've seen it all.  It comes highly recommended if you haven't already done it.

We usually spend a good half hour or so in the Workshop, so if you've followed our pattern up to this point, you've spent about an hour and 10 minutes in the building so far.  Not bad!  And the best part?  You've been in a nice, shady, cool building and gotten to see and interact with a lot of really cool stuff!  

Next week, we'll move on into the Animation Academy and do some artwork of our own.  We can't promise it'll be any good, but we'll do our best.

---