Goodbye to The Disneyland Annual Pass

     Every night in my house it's the same question, "what are we going to do for dinner?".  With 5 people all having very different tastes and likes of food, it's not easy.   The list of semi-acceptable foods has gotten very short over the years, and you could say we are in a rut.  

    Limited supply and lack of choices makes for a dull and less exciting dinner experience in our household.  So my invested in some new cooking technology (yes there is such a thing.  Its amazing what you can get in an oven now-a-days) in hopes that we will be able to expand the horizons of the family.  will this work and can we get everyone to try new foods and expand the menu, who knows.  But it will be worth the the try, even if we just add one more dish.

    Even companies have to try new things, whether we like it or not it may be for the best (how's that for a transition). 

    Disney recently announced the end of the Annual Pass (AP) for it's Disneyland Park in California.  This has it's AP holds up in arms, and why not.  Something that they are very proud of and many have been a part of for several year is now gone. If this happened to me I would feel the same way, but taking the 100 foot view, I do understand why they are doing this... sort of.

    As Jim Hill puts it, "Disneyland is the world's most famous reginal theme park."  What he means by that is, most of the people who visit Disneyland are local Californians, and by local I mean with in the Las Angles reginal area.  They keep the turnstiles turning, and the lines long at the attractions.  So what's the downside you might ask?  The answer is, as much as the AP ticket is a guaranteed income, it is a limited income.  Most AP holders, when visiting, are not buying up additional merchandise from the stores, and may not be eating at the restaurants (and if they do it's at a discounted rate).  That is a big loss in revenue.  As must as Disney loves their AP holders, they need to keep the lights on as well.

    Now how does Disneyland fix this and increase revenue?  That is then million dollar question.  I do think they will (once they reopen) create a new Annual Pass for locals, but it will probably offer different perks and be structured very differently.  They also have to devise a wat to get people from further out to come and visit the park.  That become the real test of marketing.  Just like trying to get my family to try and eat new foods.  You can put the offers and promotions out there, but will people take to them and like it, only time will tell.

Disney Plus the Muppets!

     I notice recently its become harder to remember certain things (though if you ask my wife she'll tell you this isn't new).  I'm not sure if it because I am getting older, I have a lot going on in my life, some other underlying issue, or a combination of all the above.  What ever the case maybe, some things are not coming to my mind as fast as they use to be or at all; names, places, what I was suppose to pick up at the grocery store, the list can go on.

    As time goes on we all forget certain things, details, sounds, names, events, recipes.  That's ok, it happens even to the best of us.  It's also ok to get or give reminders to ourselves or other to help us over these moments.  Now-a-days we have the internet to be able to look everything and almost anything up.  

    "What day did Walt Disney World open up?" Friday October 1st, 1971 (I only needed to look up the day of the week).

    "Who sings Rainbow Connection?" Kermit the Frog.

    The internet has helped us remember or revisit a lot of things from the past we may have forgotten.  Something we all soon will be able to relive (or experience for the first time) is the original Muppet Show (1976-1981).  With the help of many lawyers locked in offices over a long period of time, Disney was able to clear the streaming rights to this Disney Legend Jim Henson original show. 

    On Friday February 19th (after watching the latest episode of WandaVision) you will be able to access all 5 seasons of The Muppet Show (Nothing has been said about the specials yet).  Seasons 1-3 were released on DVD several years ago, but the last two never were.  There was even a time that the Odyssey Network (a collaboration of Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, now it's just the Hallmark Channel) would run the Muppet Show.  But that ended around the year 2000.  This TV gem has not full been seen by many (too many) generations and as odd as it may seem, it's a big deal.

    Why is it such a big deal?

    It has yet to be determined if the shows will be edited in any for or fashion.  This is not something new for the Muppets unfortunately.  The VHS/DVD releases of many of their specials have had to been edited from this original form to omit certain scenes.  This was done for legal reasons.  The Henson company would acquire the necessary rights for songs or movie scenes to be used on broadcast television, but never worked out the rights to have these songs or scenes to be reproduced on VHS, DVD, Blue Ray, streaming services (VHS only came out that year and the rest didn't exist in 1976). 

    Disney was able to clear the rights for the first 3 seasons of the Muppet Show to be reproduced on DVD, but for some reason never cleared seasons 4 or 5.  Now it has seemed they were able to do so for all 5 seasons to use on Disney+.  This not only includes the use of songs, but the celebrity appearances as well (Excuse me Mr Hamill, could you please sign this paper saying it's ok for us to put another show on Disney+ with you in it).

    I wondered for a while what Disney had planned for the Muppets, and if they were going to keep them around at all.  To put that much effort into clearing all the issues and bringing all 5 season to Disney+ make me think Disney is keeping the Muppets around for a long time and have more things planned for them.

    I loved watching The Muppet Show on TV back in the 80s, and now I will sit with my family and enjoy it again.

The Mental Health of Scarlet Witch

     Recently I came upon some small containers of Super Glue, and I decided to try and fix some of my kids' broken toys.  Things like PVC figures that have lost limbs or heads, Disney Infinity figures with the same problem, and my daughter's prize possession her Kingdoms Heart key blade (she just bought it in October and her brothers broke it already). 

    For the most part, I feel I was successful in fixing their damaged items.  Even though they may break them again or other items, this makes me feel accomplished.  And with the numerous items I have repairs, only once did I glue my fingers to what I was fixing.

    Damaged good have different ways of being repaired, and sadly there are the few that can never be put back together again.  Much like people.  Some have dealt with pains in their life that it has "damaged" them (even if we cannot see it).  Are their ways to help repair these damages, many times yes but not always.

    I bring up this topic because of the new Disney+ show, WandaVision. I do not know what the overall story for this show will be (I am writing this the Thursday before the show debuts).  I am going on (and this is where I get my topic form) the notion that Wanda (aka:Scarlet Witch) has created an alternate realty and had trapped herself inside of it.  Even if this isn't the case, it has happened in the Marvel comics before (see: House of M) but go with me here either way.

    Why would Wanda create an alternate universe and trap herself inside?

Spoilers ahead:

    Lets take a moment and look at what we've witnessed this character go through since we first met her in Avengers: Age of Ultron.  She lost her parents during a bombing raid on Sokovia.  Her and Pietro (her brother/ Quicksilver) volunteered to join Hydra who preformed experiments on them with the help of the Mind Stone in Loki's scepter (see the MCU's first Avengers movie).  After joining the Avengers to save Sokovia, her brother (while saving Hawkeye) was murdered by Ultron.  She a soulmate and fell in love with an artificial lifeform/ android named Vision who was also created with the help of the Mind Stone.  When the Avenger's found out about Thanos and his plan for the Infinity Stones it was determined the stone had to be destroyed.  Of course the only one who could do this is Wanda.  Though the Avengers did try and separate Vision from the stone, Wanda had to face to destroy the stone while it was still attached to her beloved Vision.  BUT Thanos did reverse this action (see Avengers: Infinity War for the explanation of how) only to rip the Stone from Vision's head right in front of Wanda.

    I bring all of this up, not to get away from today's topic, but to bring you up to speed on where we are at with Wanda Maximoff (aka: Scarlet Witch).  With all the tragedy she has seen in her life, is there any reason she would want to escape?  The theory I have heard is because of all that she has gone through, using her powers, Wanda creates an alternate universe to escape into and bring back her beloved Vision where they could love happily ever after.  Of course this being a TV show (the first to be produced by Marvel Studios, not the now defunct Marvel Television) other things happen to create a new adventure.

    I really am looking forward to this show and will be watching the day it premieres.  

    On a more somber note; many people in the real word who have experienced tragedy in their life do sometimes withdraw into their own "world."  These people who deal with mental health issues in their life need to be remembered and talked about.  If my presumed storyline of WandaVision is true, I hope it helps open the door and start conversations about mental health and how we can help those who carry this cross in their lives.  But even if it does not have this story line, we should start the conversations and see how we can help those who struggle with mental health issues.

    Until next time, enjoy the MCU's WandaVision!

A Little Bit About Soul and the New Year

    It's that time of the year.  A time that only happens once every year.  A new year is upon us and it's a time that most people use to start fresh.  Many people try and start exercising and getting in shape, or a promise to be more involved in the community, or some other resolution.  It is often a time though that instead of looking back we use it as a time to look forward.

    With the world that we are living in currently, and all the craziness that is happening, we need some forward thinking.  Sometimes we need to look forward to remind ourselves to focus on the positing or good.  And at times, it is ok to escape from the world around us and get lost in our favorite movie, TV show, book, or something else (maybe a podcast). 

    This past weekend I watched Pixar's Soul.  One of the key messages of that movie is not to take the little things in life for granted, and not to let life pass you by.  Something else that was not as pronounced was being kind to others.  You may ask why this is important, and as the movie shows it, you never know what kind of impact you may have on their life.  A simple act of kindness could go unnoticed, or can have a profound effect on that person... maybe even on you as well.  

    With out giving too much away, Joe's (the main character voiced by Jamie Foxx) simple acts of kindness towards 22 (Tina Fey's character) has unintentional but positive long term ramifications on  22 and himself. Also seeing 22's reactions to things that we consider small little pointless or everyday events opened Joe's eyes to how there is more to life then what he was focused on.  

    Again, I don't want to give too much away incase you have not seen this movie yet.

    Take a moment, to forget about all the stresses in life and take in a few moments of enjoyment.  It will probably be good for you in the long run.  Don't worry about the stresses in life that you are putting off, they will still be there when you are done relaxing.  But maybe your mind will be a little more refreshed and they will not seem so bad when you get back t dealing with them.

    If you haven't seen Pixar's Soul yet, I would recommend it.  The story is very profound, the music is delightful (if you appreciate Jazz), and the animation is remarkable.  

    Some other movies to look forward to this year; Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca, and Encanto are all animated movies that Disney will be bringing us this year.  I hope some if not all of them bring us lots of enjoyment in this coming year.