Characters: Pluto

I have many pictures with Pluto.  He is one of the "Fab Five" and is about lots in the parks.  And he also likes playing with me, as Pluto and Figaro play together in animated films.  Although both of them can be a little mean at times, they generally get on a lot better than the standard image of dog and cat.

I've had lots of fun with Pluto in the Disney parks.  Sometimes he has put me in his mouth but I know he isn't going to eat me (it helps that I know he can't close his mouth).  Sometimes he puts me on top of his snout.  And here he is balancing me on top of my human Andrew's head.

You can probably recognise that the picture was taken at Liberty Tree Tavern during one of the character meals they do there.  You can also see I am wearing a nice name badge my humans had made for me.  I wear it sometimes to please them even though everyone should know who I am - and most do.

It's now about 6 weeks until Mikki goes back to Walt Disney World.

6 weeks during which she can cuddle me.

Prrrrr.

Characters: Alice

Here I am in Walt Disney World with Alice, as in "Alice in Wonderland" (except she's actually in Epcot but let's not worry about that).

Alice was very nice and gave me a little cuddle.  She was a little worried because it seemed she had a cat of her own called Dinah, but she was asleep and Alice didn't want to wake her up.  But I couldn't see any other cats around sleeping so I think we were all right.

I'm not sure Alice was terribly good at the English accent.  That's one of the difficulties for the "face" characters in the parks.  I am sure they all do their best but some can't quite fool real English people that they are young English schoolgirls.

My human Andrew tells me "Alice in Wonderland" was one of the Disney movies he never saw in the cinema as a child.  He only occasionally saw clips during the "Disney Time" shows the BBC used to have every bank holiday.  So he had no real idea of the Disney version of "Alice" until long after he had read the original book.  In fact he remembers he didn't see it until he had had the book (and "Through the Looking Glass") read to him as bedtime stories and then he had grown up enough to read them himself.  So he never really took to the Disney version.

I'm glad he never read "Pinocchio".

Prrr

Characters: Bolt

There doesn't seem to be much happening in our village at the moment (raining today) so I thought it's time for more pictures of me with other Disney characters to hep us all think of nice times in sunny Wallt Disney World.  Here I am with the characters from "Bolt".

At first, I wasn't too sure about the film, "Bolt".  Yes, there were lots of exciting bits (especially at the beginning and the end) and there were lots of cute bits.  But the main character was a d*g and they had a black and white cat who wasn't Disney's established star.  But eventually the charm and cuteness got through to me - and I realised Mittens was a rather different character from Figaro.  So when we finally met I was able to talk abut the fun of appearing as a character in the parks (something Figaro hasn't managed yet).  It was, of course, rather devastating when Mittens was later withdrawn from park service after allegations of scaring guests (see my Post on 16 January 2009 - don't know why I didn't put the picture up then). Perhaps there was just a little too much black on Mittens' face.

This picture was taken in 2008 when "Bolt" was new in cinemas and they had the latest characters in what had been the Animation building at the Studios.  It's a bit of a shame characters from there recent films don't last.  Perhaps poor Bolt, Mittens and Rhino also suffer from not being Pixar characters. I suppose classic quality will out.

Oh, here's another picture.  See, I wasn't turning my back on the d*g all the time.

Still raining here in England.  At least we haven't had a hurricane.  But I still need a cuddle.

Prrrr.

Down Memory Lane: 1989

Here's some pictures my humans thought I should share.  They're from their trip to Walt Disney World in 1989 (can you believe their third trip!!).

This first one is of Mickey Mouse in a spacesuit outfit visiting guests at breakfast in what was then called the "Stargate Cafe" (since renamed "Electric Umbrella").  Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale all used to visit that restaurant and play with diners.  And here's the special point:  nobody had to book and nobody had to pay more for their food.  In fact, so little fuss was made of the visits that my humans didn't know they happened until they experienced it.  Andrew recalls the first he knew about it was when Pluto stood behind him and let his tongue drop onto Andrew's face from over his head.

Elsewhere in EPCOT Center (as it then was), you could meet Figment being carried round by his friend, the Dreamfinder.  Perhaps I'll look out a picture of them for another time.

My second picture this time is of Spaceship Earth in all its original glory.  This view is now crowded with lots of distracting new stuff.  Inside, the commentary was by Walter Cronkite and the music included "Tomorrow's Child".

To the left and right were "Communicore":  beautiful, cool, relaxed places full of interesting displays.

I suppose I have to add that another change is that there appear to be a lot fewer people around than now.  You can't really blame Disney for wanting to get the best return for all the money spent on the place (or can you?).

One of the really special things about my humans' 1989 trip to Walt Disney World was that they hired a video camera.  It was a big thing that took full sized VHS tapes and produced them to PAL standards (that took a lot of finding).  So here's my first attempt to put a video on my Blog.  It's taken in the Magic Kingdom and shows the lagoon or "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" taken from the "Skyway". Both of those attractions had, of course, disappeared long before the latest revamp of Fantasyland.  The quality may not be that good but it is a little bit of history.

Ancient history, actually.  As you probably already realised, this isn't "memory lane" for me at all.  It is long before I even met my humans.