November 18, 2012: Show me your mug.

Woo Hoo! Our friends, the Roses, called this evening to let us know that they picked up a Belle mug and a Gaston mug at Be Our Guest, the new restaurant in the Fantasyland expansion. To top even that, Mrs. Rose tells me that her son, Lincoln, was able to dance with Belle. Well played, Lincoln, well played. People wonder how we can go to Walt Disney World so often. The answer is simple; it’s different every time. We have never had the same trip twice. There are things that we do every time, there are things we have not done since the first trip and there are things that are no longer there or things that have been added since our last trip (June, 2012). You can see it all so slow down and tell yourself, “I’ll just have to come back.” This leads to the magic mantra of the Hammond household, NBD. Our friends know what that means; I’ll explain it to the rest of you later.

The excuse of excuses, the prime excuse, the underlying reason for everything else we talk about… today is Mickey Mouse’s birthday. On November 18, 1928, Mickey starred in the first cartoon with synchronized sound, “Steamboat Willie.” Even though this was the third Mickey Mouse cartoon, this is considered the birth of Mickey Mouse and was definitely the first appearance of Minnie Mouse. As you might guess, there are many moments down through the years celebrating Mickey’s birthday and you can celebrate it every time that you visit WDW. My suggestion, go to the Magic Kingdom and visit the “Partners” statue in front of Cinderella Castle. Walt and Mickey are holding hands and Walt points down Mainstreet, USA saying, “Look at all the happy people.”

Walt loved space. Walt loved progress and he was devoted to the drive to the future and the space program. Walt named Pluto after the discovery of the “former” planet. There are various space themed attractions that have been present in the past and are present today at WDW.

On this day in 1923, Alan B. Shepard, jr. was born. Shepard was in space on the Mercury 3 mission and Apollo 14, the foll0w-up to the ill-fated Apollo 13. Shepard was the only one of the Mercury 7 to get to walk on the Moon. Adm. Shepard appeared in the video, “The Opening of EPCOT,” in the Treasury series. I’m pretty sure this was on “Vault Disney” on the Disney Channel, a show that we greatly miss. So go to EPCOT, do Mission Space and Spaceship Earth and remember America’s first man in space, Alan Shepard.

                                   Some of our favorite days at EPCOT have been rainy days.

Let’s end up the day with a little Pixar love, and in this house there is a lot of Pixar love to go around. November 18, 1968 is the birthday of Owen Wilson, the voice of Lightning McQueen in Cars and Cars II. You can go to Hollywood Studios, meet Lightning McQueen and get your picture taken with him and Tow-Mater. We did, we’re glad we did, and you will be too.

You can also see Lightning at the Art of Animation resort.

Remember, your best excuse is always: waiting for your dreams to come true.