May 7, 2013: Hug me, I'm a teacher.

We had two last performances of Disney’s Aladdin, Jr. yesterday, one for Kindergarten / first grade and one for pre-school. It was awesome. We learned that sticking shoes out from under the stage curtain would result in uproarious laughter from preschoolers. We learned that you always have a dance party after the little kids’ performance. Several of our middle school students remember the dance party we had with them after Cinderella or Oklahoma. Finally, we learned that our most hyper students make the best dance partners for preschoolers. Think about it, it makes sense.

On this date in 1840, Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular classical music pieces in history. His Nutcracker Suite was adapted for use in Fantasia. “Once Upon A Dream” from Sleeping Beauty was based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty. Hollywood Studios again gang and, this time, The Great Movie Ride with its scene from Fantasia.

David Tomlinson is one of those actors that I have seen in movies for years but didn’t ask who he was. Always entertaining, Tomlinson’s credits include: Mary Poppins, The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Once again, The Great Movie Ride provides us with a scene from Mary Poppins.

As a kid, one of my favorite television shows was The Nightstalker. Carl Kolchak investigated stories with supernatural twists but could never prove the existence of the monsters he discovered. Darren McGavin, born on this day in 1922, played Carl but he has become far more famous for one of his turns on the big screen, the grumpy father in A Christmas Story (“Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie!”) McGavin also has several Disney titles under his belt including: The High Flying Spys, Donovan’s Kid, Hot Lead and Cold Feet and No Deposit, No Return. Let’s go to The Magic Kingdom and enjoy The Haunted Mansion where is easy to prove that there are at least 999 happy haunts.

Finally, today is National Teacher Day. In our family, I am a teacher, my wife, Deana is a teacher, her sister Kemra is a teacher, our sister-in-law Angela is a teacher and our cousin Cassandra is an administrator at the central office. That’s just in our county. So let’s go to the classroom I wish I had, EPCOT… all of it.

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