In our house, our favorite “Disney movie” is Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse In Living Color. It’s not exactly a movie per se, but this collection of shorts is as long as a full-length movie so who am I to argue when my kids say “My favorite Disney movie is the Mickey cartoons!” Starting with “The Band Concert” from 1935 and going through my daughter’s favorite “Brave Little Tailor” from 1938, this is the collection of Mickey Mouse shorts that I grew up with and I am so happy that my kids have discovered it as well. But, what does this have to do with today’s Mickey? Well, other than a couple shorts (including the awesome Runaway Brain) in the 80s and 90s, Mickey hasn’t been the star of a cartoon short since 1953′s “The Simple Things”…until now.

Yesterday, Disney announced that Mickey, along with some of his pals, will be coming back to the cartoon short format to star in 19 2D cartoons that will air on Disney Channel, Disney.com and the WATCH Disney Channel app. The cartoons start airing on June 28th, but Disney posted a preview of the series on Disney.com

Croissant de Triomphe – Mickey Mouse and FriendsWhen Minnie’s cafe runs out of croissants, Mickey must deliver them to her fast!

via Disney

I finally had a chance to watch the short today and I am impressed. The animation and storyline are reminiscent of the shorts from the 1930s, but they definitely have a modern flair to them. There were some great references for adults as well as a couple references to classic Disney icons that the kids should recognize right away. And if you’re a fan of hunting for “Hidden Mickeys”, you won’t be disappointed!

I can’t wait to see the rest of the series when it premieres at the end of June and quite honestly feel like it’s about time for Mickey to get back to his roots!

What do you think? Are you excited for these new cartoon shorts to air?

After lunch, it was time for a look at some  of the new things coming out of Disney Animation Studios and once again, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures.

Inside Walt Disney Animation Studios Today
The session started with “Tangled Ever After”, the short that takes us into the excitement of Rapunzel and Flynn’s wedding day. We had seen this in the theater when it was in front of Beauty and the Beast 3D, but it was good to see it again.

Darrin Butters and Chris Buck came out to give us a sneak peek into Frozen, coming in 2013. Frozen, based on “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen, is the story of two sisters, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) and Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and Anna’s journey to save their kingdom from eternal winter. We were also introduced to Olaf, a snowman, who provides some comic relief. The early images we saw from the film as well as the live performance of one of the movie’s songs definitely got me excited to see this movie – it looks like it’s going to be gorgeous!

Next we heard from Kristina Reed and Patrick Osborne about the upcoming short, Paperman. If you haven’t heard about Paperman, it is about a lonely young New Yorker who, on his morning commute, has a chance encounter with a woman who may be the girl of his dreams. The big news here though is that for the first time ever, CG and 2-D handdrawn animation come together to produce one truly beautiful piece of filmmaking. Kristina and Patrick walked us through a little bit of the process for how the film was made and then treated us to a screening of the entire short. It will be showing in front of Wreck-It Ralph, so make sure to go check it out – it’s really impressive!

The session wrapped up with Clark Spencer, the producer of Wreck-It Ralph giving us a deeper peek into the worlds of Wreck-It Ralph. We were treated to 10 minutes or so of the finished animation (part of which is in the trailer) and then we saw concept art from the 4 different video game worlds seen in the movie – the 8-bit world of Fix-It Felix, Grand Central station-inspired “Game Central” Station, the sharp, hyper-realistic world of Hero’s Duty and the sweet cartoony world of Sugar Rush. Rich Moore provided us with a pretty funny glimpse into the extensive “research” the team had to do to ensure they got the candy-coated world of Sugar Rush EXACTLY right.

Best Animation You’ve Never Seen
Don Hahn and Dave Bossert joined us to show us some rare and “never-seen” animation clips. For the majority of us in the room, none of these clips were all that new, but it was great to revisit the “Cranium Command” pre-show, the “Back to Neverland”   opening for the Animation show at MGM Studios and some of the great Peter Pan peanut butter commercials from the 50s.

The one clip I had never seen was truly bizarre – an early concept for Fantasia 2000′s “Pomp and Circumstance” section where all the Disney princesses and princes were visited by storks delivering babies.

And possibly the only big screen peek Disney will ever let us see – the entire clip of James Baskett singing “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” from the Song of the South.

Animating the Disney Parks
After a quick break, we were treated to a talk with Tony Baxter, Tom Morris, and Eddie Sotto, who shared their memories of some of the original Imagineers, including Claude Coats, Mark Davis, Herb Ryman and John Hench. This was a very interesting session where each of the guys talked about how Walt picked some of his top people at the Studio to apply their film-making skills to the design and creation of Disneyland. I could have listened to these guys all evening, but unfortunately they had to end the session to get ready for the night’s entertainment.

Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix
There’s not much to say about the concert other than FANTASTIC! Dick Van Dyke still has the moves and knows how to entertain a crowd. He and his 3 Vantastix cohorts ran through a number of Disney and non-Disney songs and even had Dick’s new wife, Arlene, join them for a few songs, including “Moving on Up (to the East side)” a tribute to Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on The Jeffersons. It was a truly great way to spend the evening.

After the concert, they were screening the documentary “Walt and El Grupo”, but Colorado Dad and I were tired of sitting, so decided to head into the parks for a little while. The movie is fascinating for Disney history fans, but is a little slow in places, so best to watch in a comfy chair in front of your TV!

August already?! That means in just a week, Colorado Dad and I will be heading to Anaheim for a long weekend to celebrate 75 years of Disney Animation at D23′s Destination D event. For this week’s blog hop theme of “August Calendar Cover”, I thought I’d share one of my favorite moments from a previous Destination D – last year’s celebration of Walt Disney World’s 40th anniversary.

For anyone who visited EPCOT in the 80s, you’ll probably recognize this pair. Yep, that’s Figment and his pal, the Dreamfinder – the stars of the original Journey Into Imagination attraction. Fans have long asked (or maybe it was begged) for Disney to bring the duo back, so when Ron Schneider (the actor who played the DreamFinder character in the parks) and the original Figment puppet stepped out on stage to sing One Little Spark along with Richard Sherman, the crowd pretty much went nuts.

Who knows what kind of surprises await us at this year’s Destination D, but with sessions spanning the entire 75-year history of Disney animated features, I’m sure there will be something great. Can’t wait to see what happens!

Venture into the imagination of some other great Disney fans and follow along on today’s blog hop by clicking on the button below. If you have a great Disney picture to share, make sure to link up!

2012 marks the 75th anniversary of Disney’s first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937. But before venturing into feature films, the team of Disney animators kept busy with shorts starring that loveable every-Mouse name Mickey. My favorites come from the 1930s and 1940s, so this snowglobe celebrating The Wayward Canary (1932) holds a special place in my heart.

Thanks to Deb at Focused on the Magic for hosting another great Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Make sure to click through to see posts from all the other “hoppers” this week.

It’s been a week and a half since our trip to Marceline but the sights I saw and the people I met are still very fresh in my mind and will certainly remain so for a long time to come.

It was quite an experience to visit the town where Walt spent some of his childhood years and I think even now, more than a 100 years later, the town has that special quality that was such an influence and inspiration to Walt in his later years. A big part of that specialness is the current residents. Every single person we met was so welcoming and really made us feel like a part of the Marceline family. Kaye Malins, the director of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and her team of volunteers did a fabulous job making sure that we were all well taken care of and that we had a great time. If you ever find yourself in Missouri, I highly recommend making a stop in Marceline – you won’t be disappointed!

Of course the day wouldn’t have been possible without the work of the awesome D23 team. That team, along with several folks from the Walt Disney Archives made sure the day went smoothly from start to finish. The great thing about the team is that you can tell they are all big Disney fans themselves. They enjoy experiencing all these things just as much as we do, which I think is one of the reasons why the D23 events I’ve attended are always very special.

Another great thing about this event, and really ANY D23 event is just the opportunity to connect with other Disney fans. Other than Colorado Dad, I don’t have any other close friends that share my Disney obsession, so having events like these where I can meet other Disney fans in person is great. In Marceline, we were able to reconnect with some friends we’ve met before and we met several new people that I’m sure we’ll keep in touch with going forward.

I’m often asked if I feel like being a D23 member is worth the price. I’m a gold member, so also receive the magazine, which I love and look forward to every quarter, but the real value I get is from the events. It’s true that many of the events are in California, so we don’t get to attend many of them, but I’ve been able to attend at least 2 events per year and every one of them has been an awesome experience. For us, being D23 members is definitely worth it and we are looking forward to attending more events in the future.

Make sure to check out D23′s recap of the Journey to Marceline for lots of additional pictures showcasing more of the amazing town of Marceline! And don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2 of my trip report if you’ve missed them

In part 1 of my trip report, I covered the first half of the day, including our warm welcome by the students of Marceline, our trip to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and more.

After our yummy lunch, we had the opportunity to visit Marceline’s elementary school, aptly named Walt Disney Elementary. The school was built in 1960 and as part of it’s opening, Walt commissioned Disney artist (and Disney Legend) Bob Moore to create some original artwork that is still hanging in the school today. Walking into the school, you immediately know this is a special place.

The artwork extends into the gymnasium and covers all four walls with images from Goofy to Donald to Alice.

The school’s motto is “Where the magic of learning begins” which is perfect for a place with a very special past.

After visiting the school, we had a little bit of time to walk around Main St. Walt’s memories of the town and particularly it’s Main St., gave him inspiration when he was building his own Main St. at Disneyland and you can definitely see some similarities, and some familiar stores.

There were several shops selling antiques, jewelry and lots of Disney memorabilia. We had a great time browsing in the stores and talking to all of the Marceline folks. They were so welcoming and excited for us to be there. Almost everyone we spoke with had some personal story about meeting Walt on one of his trips back to town and it quickly became clear to us that Walt had a huge impact on this small community.

After our stroll along Main St., we headed to the Uptown Theater, where we were going to be treated to a screening of “So Dear To My Heart”, a movie that was influenced by Walt’s childhood years in Marceline. The theater has been used twice for Disney movie premieres and Walt visited in 1956 for the “Great Locomotive Chase” premiere. Before the movie started, we saw a skit done by “Walt” and “Ruth”, two Marceline children who spent the day as two of our hosts and were so sweet. Dave Smith, founder and Chief Archivist Emeritus of the Disney Archives, shared a few memories from his first visit to Marceline in 1971 and then we settled in to watch the movie.

The movie was cute – I hadn’t seen it for many, many years and was a nice afternoon break.

From there, we boarded the buses and headed out to the site of Walt’s childhood home. The house itself is privately owned and is not open for tours at this point, but close to the house is Walt’s “Dreaming Tree” – a favorite hangout for both Walt and Ruth and a spot that inspired Walt’s drawing and storytelling. “Walt” and “Ruth” introduced us to the Dreaming Tree and then another Marceline resident, Chris Ankeney, whose family has been in the area for 4 generations, shared some of her family’s memories of the Disney’s time in Marceline.

A short distance past the tree, Walt’s barn, where he first dabbled in entertainment by putting on a “circus” for his friends, has been restored. The barn has turned into a memorial of sorts, where Disney fans from all over the world have visited and left messages for Walt on the walls and beams.

Each one of us was encouraged to leave our own message or signature in the barn and we all did so while enjoying a glass of Missouri wine while watching the sunset. What a gorgeous area this was, and I could certainly see how the area must have been very inspiring for Walt. It was a great experience and a wonderful end to the day…although we weren’t done yet!

Our evening finally ended with a trip back to the center of town, where we were treated to a farewell dinner, Missouri-style. All the food was delicious and included roast beef, turkey, carrots, green beans and mashed potatoes. Dessert included peach cobbler and a chocolate pie, which I was told was an “icebox” pie. During dessert, a group of singers seranaded us with a song about Marceline that was sung during the opening of EPCOT. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Reluctantly, we said goodbye to our new friends from Marceline and boarded the buses for our trip back to Kansas City. The ride back was quiet and uneventful as everyone relaxed and, I’m sure, thought back over the amazing day spent in Marceline!

My final thoughts on the event are coming up in Part 3.

I have always been fascinated by Walt Disney and how he got started, so when D23 announced their tour to Marceline, MO, where Walt spent his childhood, I signed up as soon as I could. The trip was an amazing experience for Colorado Dad and I and I want to share a bit of our experience with you, so my next few posts will be dedicated to a trip report of our Journey to Marceline.

The experience began at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City so we had to get up bright and early to be ready to go. When we got there, a local television crew was busy interviewing Becky Cline, one of the Walt Disney Archive staff who would be joining the tour, so we joined the rest of the D23 fans who were standing in the background. After Becky’s interview was over, we checked in, got our breakfast to-go box and got on the bus, ready for our 2ish hour drive to Marceline.

Each of the buses was hosted by a Walt Disney Archives staff member as well as a D23 staff member and we were lucky enough to have the best (no, I’m not biased at ALL ) - Justin from the Archives and D23 staffer Jeffery (aka The Disney Geek) on our bus. During the trip, we were treated to some Disney shorts starting with the Laugh-O-Gram Studios “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Alice’s Wild West Show” through to the more recent “Runaway Brain” and one of my favorites, “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater”. After the cartoons, Justin asked us some trivia questions and gave away some cool prizes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to raise my hand among all the other Disney fans, so didn’t win anything

A few miles out of town, we saw the Marceline sign and the level of excitement on the bus raised up a couple notches. We rounded a bend in the road and were met with this

The entire elementary school had come out to welcome us, along with several other Marceline residents. Wow, this was totally unexpected and I’ll admit I got a little emotional. I could tell this was going to be a special day indeed.

After a quick restroom break, we all gathered in front of the local post office, aptly named the Walt Disney Post Office, where the Mayor of Marceline read a proclamation naming March 14th as D23 Day in Marceline! It was also announced that the post office of Marceline had just been awarded a special postmark by the postal service and it was going to be available for use for the first time that day. One lucky member of our D23 group was chosen to be the first person to get the stamp, but again, luck was not on my side, and I was not the chosen one.

After the speeches, our group was divided into two smaller groups, known as the “Engineers” and the Conductors” (a nod to Marceline’s long railroad history) and half of us went off toward the Walt Disney Hometown Museum while the rest of us stayed at the post office to get our special postmark.

After our group finished up at the post office, we walked across the town square toward the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. As we went, our tour guide Edna gave us a little bit of the history of the town. Marceline was founded as a railroad town, a stop for the Santa Fe railroad between Kansas City and Chicago. Although the trains no longer stop at the Marceline train depot, trains are still a huge part of the town’s culture and there are up to 70 trains that pass through town each day. We saw several of them pass through that day and it made it easy to see where Walt Disney’s love of trains may have started!

The building that houses the museum began it’s life as the city’s train depot but is now used 100% for the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. The museum started back in 2001 after Ruth Disney Beecher, Walt’s younger sister, passed away and her estate donated a large number of artifacts to the town of Marceline. Kaye Malin, who runs the museum, welcomed us and gave us a bit of an orientation before letting us explore on our own. During our orientation, we found out that Kaye has a very personal link to Walt Disney, whom she met as a young girl when he and Mrs. Disney stayed at her family’s home during his visit to dedicate Marceline’s town swimming pool in 1956. You can tell that meeting Walt had a big impact on Kaye and it was neat to hear all her stories about that time. I’ll leave her stories untold here as I hope you’re able to visit Marceline and speak with Kaye in person some day!

Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the museum itself, but we saw some really cool things including Walt’s school desk where he carved his initials, an original Midget Autopia car from Disneyland as well as a myriad of photos, letters, etc. that gave us an inside view into the Disney family. I was amazed to learn that Walt and his family only lived in Marceline for four years before moving to Kansas City, but his time there left a deep and lasting impression.

After our visit to the museum, we headed to the local Masonic temple for lunch, catered by Marceline resident, Debbie Foster. Lunch was simple yet delicious and included sandwiches, a vegetable beef stew that was the best I’ve ever had, and ice cream. While we ate, we were treated to a showing of “Marceline”, a documentary filmed by Andy and Sara Neitzert (who were there with us!). The film includes a series of interviews with several citizens of Marceline (many of whom we met in person) and gives us a glimpse into the town, the amazing people who live there and of course, it’s ties to Walt Disney. It was a great film and I really hope Andy and Sara find wider distribution for it.

In part two of my trip report, I’ll cover the Uptown theater, our visit to Walt’s Happy Place and the Dreaming Tree and why I love D23 events