It's the Little Things... "Wreck-It-Ralph" Penny Presser

The Wreck-It Ralph penny presser - the Star Trader - Tomorrowland - Disneyland Park

We realize that we probably sound like a broken record saying it, and to be honest, we don't even remember if we swiped it from someone else or coined it on our own (we'll go with coined it on our own since it sounds better and sounds more intelligent), but when it comes to The Parks, it truly is about "the little things". Throw Space Mountain and Splash Mountain into a random field, and what do you have? Two awesome attractions in the middle of a field! Throw them into Disneyland and what do you have? Two awesome attractions inside the Happiest Place on Earth, which just happens to be decorated to the hilt and is an absolutely amazing place to wander around. See the difference? It's all about the little touches and little things you see all over that really stand out and will stay with you long after you've gone.

One of our favorite collectibles, or souvenirs inside The Parks, are the penny pressers. Even if you've never been to Disneyland before, they're certainly nothing new, and you can find them just about anywhere people are selling souvenirs. For all I know Pilot truck stops may have them these days... In case you're not familiar though, the concept is simple. You drop a couple of quarters into the machine, and a penny you're willing to sacrifice to the cause, turn a handle a few times, and your penny magically gets smushed, stretched, and imprinted with a little artwork commemorating your location or whatever it is that you're doing. Simple and easy souvenir, and easily stored too!

These things are everywhere around The Parks, and they even sell little books for you to keep all the ones you collect from the different attractions, restaurants, shops, and everywhere else inside. It's a neat, fun little thing to do and you can even turn it into a game: "How many penny pressers are there inside The Parks and can you find them all?" might be a fun one to play! No. Seriously. There are entire websites dedicated to these things people, and anytime someone finds a new one or a new one is introduced, it's a big deal. No. Seriously.

Although we're not huge penny pressers (is that a verb?) around here, we do indeed have a favorite presser inside The Park! This particular one was introduced when Disneyland started a Wreck-It Ralph Meet and Greet to hone in on the popularity of the movie when it was released, and when the Starcade was transformed to have a little mini-video game arcade inside, this little beauty came along with it; for the video game nerds, our very own Wreck-It Ralph penny presser, shaped just like Fix-It Felix's apartment building! And if that wasn't enough, for our fifty cents we could smush up our pennies to show pictures of either Ralph, Felix, or my own personal favorite, Vanellope on them! And yes, I do own a Vanellope penny, if I could just find it.

While many penny pressers around The Parks do have different styles they're shaped in, or themes according to where they are located, this particular presser always stood out to us not just because of its subject matter, which is pretty darn cool and close to our hearts, but because of the "little things". It would have been super easy to just throw another presser together, slap a Ralph logo on it, and place it inside the arcade and it still would have made a pretty penny (pun totally intended). In this case, however, someone decided to go that extra mile and design it in such a way that it evoked a fantastic memory from the movie and, like we said earlier up top, it stayed with us long after we'd gone after seeing it for the first time. In fact, we'd just assumed that it had gone away with the Meet and Greet when it was done, so imagine our surprise and glee this past weekend when we saw it still alive and well while walking through the Starcade after riding Space Mountain.

It's the "little things", all over, that really make The Parks special. It's true, and we will continue to espouse it as long as people are here reading about it. Probably longer.

What are some of your favorite things from around the Disneyland Resort?

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You Never Know... Tomorrowland

I've long said that one of the greatest things about The Parks is that you simply never know what you're going to come across, or what treasures you may stumble across and see, when you least expect it. Sometimes they're things which just have you yelling out to yourself "That's so cool!", or they may be things which just leave you shaking your head, laughing, or a combination of the two. But if your peepers aren't open, you won't see them for sure, so pay attention!

Last Sunday's trip into Disneyland yielded a couple such gems which I wanted to share with the readers today, and I think that you'll agree that they both belong in the "You Never Know..." category!


The first item up on our list was this little number that we stumbled across in the Star Trader in Disneyland Park. Back in the day, the Star Trader was basically split into two sections; one for shopping, and one for gaming which was aptly named the Starcade. Over the years, as arcade games have fallen a little bit more and more out of vogue, the Starcade basically disappeared in the form in which we all knew it until Disney released Wreck-It-Ralph, which of course, in our humble opinion, drew attention back to arcades in a way that hadn't been done in years. As part of their Meet and Greet with Ralph and Vanellope, the Star Trader installed several arcade machines from the 80's as a part of the greet (including a custom-made Fix It Felix machine) so that fans could enjoy a little gaming as well as meeting their favorite characters. It proved so popular that since the Meet and Greet was lifted, Disneyland went ahead and left the machines inside that portion of the Star Trader, as well as adding in and scattering other arcade machines and pinball machines all over the place so fans can play and shop all in one spot.

Which leads us to Cyclone (pictured above)! Although I have to say I don't really have any actual recollection of this machine from the 80's, it is quintessentially the 80's, and you have to look no further than the front row of the roller coaster on the game's marquee to see why; it doesn't get more 80's than Ron and Nancy Reagan (and dog - what was that dog's name?!) in the front row of the coaster, yelling and screaming and having a great. Oh democracy and Cold War! Oh wait, yes it does get more 80's, and I amend my previous statement! It doesn't get more 80's than Ron and Nancy Reagan, complete with red "Say No to Drugs" t-shirt, now does it kiddies?


Our second discovery was also in Tomorrowland near Red Rockett's Pizza Port; this nice little Coca-Cola refreshment stand. Now, we fully admit that someone else might have more information on this one, and if so, please let us know what's up in the comments! It's obviously a Coca-Cola stand, but what really caught our eye was the fact that we're not really sure what language, or symbols, it's written in! Is it martian? English from the very distant future? We're dumbfounded, but apparently it's "hypercool" because, you know, "cool" simply isn't enough. It's beyond "cool". It's "HYPERcool".

But whatever it is, or whatever it's intended to be, it definitely grabbed our attention as we walked by, and dare we say it, definitely made us want to stop off for a Coke and smile! If only someone had been there to take our order...

And that's it for this time's "You Never Know..." Like we say every time we go into The Parks, "open them eyes" because you never know what strange, silly, odd, and even "hypercool" things you may come across.

And remember kids, "Say No to Drugs"; Ron, Nancy, and their terrified dog say so.

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Random Ramblings Around The Park - "Almost" Wordless Wednesday

The fun continues! We just can't get enough these days of our random strolls (and totally random picture taking with our phones), so we're letting the magic continue this week with another batch of goodies and fun we had last weekend while at the Disneyland Resort.  People keep letting us know that they really enjoy our "cell shots", so we're just going to keep doing them.  We hope that you like what we came up with this week.  Enjoy!

Mickey floating across the facade of the Star Trader

We keep making our way to The Harbour Galley for some reason. The curse of the Gorton's Fisherman?

Rocky's got nothing on Horace

Indeed

Mark's all tuckered out from all that walking!

Playing 'Kinect Disneyland Adventures' on the Xbox 360 while AT Disneyland. We're almost positive there's a paradox of some sort going on here...

Tonight the roles of Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall will be played by Mark Treiger and a chicken

"Put away that camera, peasant!"

Pathing Around The Park: Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square

It's that time! Time to start "pathing" our way around The Park again. When we last were strolling, we had just finished winding our way from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland by one of our favorite routes.  It's another month, and time for another one of our favorite paths; this time we'll be picking up from where we left off at the entrance to Tomorrowland and carrying on to the next stop on our usual route, New Orleans Square.

Few of our trips into Tomorrowland are complete without stops at the following attractions.  They are "must-dos" in our book and most Days In The Park will find us riding almost all of these, especially now that we've become halfway decent at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Mr. Lightyear has an amazing attraction named after him in which you sit in your very own XP-40 Star Cruiser, armed with nothing more than a badly-sighted laser gun, charged with tackling and taking down the Evil Emperor Zurg (sworn enemy of the galactic alliance) and all of his Double-A battery-stealing minions.  It's an awesome ride, and a great way to get out of the heat on hot summer days, and an even greater way to show your kids just who's the boss around here.  You point your laser gun and shoot; simple, right?  But totally awesome!  Who has the highest score in your family?

Now that Star Tours is once again open, all is right inside Tomorrowland.  "Star Wars" fanboys and fangirls, unite!  It's worth a trip into this Land if for no other reason than to give this new, updated attraction a spin.  Almost everyone is familiar with the older Star Tours attraction, so the premise is much the same.  But add in a new 3D-HD version, a new pilot, and up to 54 different ride possibilities made up of 11 different attraction elements (planets and characters), and it's a party in your Star Speeder!  But be warned, this one is known to cause some motion sickness.  If you're able to handle turbulence well, though, you can't afford to miss it.  We never do!

And what trip into Tomorrowland would be complete without a stop at arguably the galaxy's greatest store?  Welcome to the Star Trader, your one-stop place to shop for all of your "Star Wars" paraphernalia.  You can find everything from caps, t-shirts, plush all the way up to creating your own light-sabers.  A perfect place to stop and shop for souvenirs for the kiddies, or maybe that adult in your group who just refuses to grow up like Mark does with us.  And who could resist a life-size replica of an X-Wing Fighter?  Not us, say we!

And we've only just scratched this surface of this particular Land O'Plenty.  There is tons to do inside Tomorrowland, and we enjoy almost every bit of it.  Looking for a bit of Michael and some 80s cheese (oh, it's so gouda)?  Then check out the Captain EO Tribute.  Looking to blast through the galaxy and see the stars?  Hop on board Space Mountain, always a popular ride with everyone.  Hungry?  Head on over to Red Rockett's Pizza Port for, you guessed it, pizza or pasta.  Innoventions is always a great place to beat the heat with tons to see including the House of Tomorrow (today!) and Asimo the scary robot.  Not had quite enough "Star Wars" yet?  Check out the Tomorrowland Terrace and catch the Jedi Academy show, where your kids can be the stars and get actual Jedi lessons from actual Jedi and then fight an actual Darth Vader.  How cool is that?!  Not quite out of breath yet?  Take a ride and see if they ever find Nemo on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, or teach your kids the meaning of the phrase "burn rubber" and "eat my dust" on the fastest racing attraction in Tomorrowland, Autopia.

click on any of the photos for larger versions

Right about now we've sampled all of the best wares that Tomorrowland has to offer and we're ready to move on to our next adventure.  Where some people might think that Fantasyland might be the next logical stop (since we missed so much there before), we say nay!  Our next favorite place to unload ourselves is in actuality New Orleans Square.  And our favorite way to get there?  By hopping on board the Disneyland Railroad at the Tomorrowland Station, of course!

It may be totally old school, and we may in fact be able to walk faster than the train can carry us, but we absolutely love to ride the Railroad and we do so every chance we get.  Not only is it a great way to get around The Park and rest those weary feet of yours should you need to, but there's a show included.  We love "two-fer"s!  If you're riding the rails between Tomorrowland and Main Street, USA (the stop before New Orleans Square) you get a sneak peek at the Grand Canyon, Disneyland-style!  But wait, there's more!  You also get a sneak peek at the Grand Canyon, Jurassic-style with Primeval World.  Any time we're with the kids, they love hopping the train and seeing this particular part of The Park which, astoundingly enough, many people don't know about.  A ride and a show at the same time?  Can't be beat!

Next stop, the Main Street, USA station, but we're just going to sit tight and move right on through.  Still, while you're here, take a few minutes while you're waiting for the new passengers to load (and the old to unload) to stare down Main Street and just soak it all in.  It's one of our favorite vantage points inside The Park to just sit and people-watch, and you never know who (or what characters) you might see roaming around.

Next and last stop, New Orleans Square!  And that's where we quit pathing for this trip.  Next time, we'll roam around a bit and explore some of our favorite "haunts" (get it?) inside the Square, and who knows where we'll wind up next?  Well, we do, but you'll have to come back to find out.

Got a path of your own that you like to take from Tomorrowland?  Let us know because we'd love to discuss it with you.  And let us know if you enjoyed our little path.  That's the beauty of The Parks; so many different things to see and experience, and so many different ways to do it.

Until next time, keep pathing!