Tag Archives: Saturdays With Nick

Sonny Eclipse – Tomorrowland Superstar

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RM-Starlight-CafeWelcome to another edition of Saturdays With Nick!  The weekend is finally here and it’s time to clean the house, bathe the dog, mow the lawn, relax a bit and enjoy Labor Day Weekend!  Nick’s talking about Sonny Eclipse today!  Have you caught Sonny’s show in Tomorrowland?  If not, this will give you the scoop and make you want to check out this out-of-this-world lounge singer’s act.

Sonny Eclipse – Tomorrowland Superstar

By Nick

On almost every trip to Walt Disney World we have at least one meal at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom.

To be honest, there are several quick service eateries in the Magic Kingdom with better food, in our opinion.

So what brings us back time and again?
The “live” entertainment in the form of Sonny Eclipse.

Sonny, “The Biggest Little Star in the Galaxy” can be found daily in the Starlight Lounge at Cosmic Ray’s.

He can be found there nightly too! In fact, it seems like the guy never leaves!

That is probably because Sonny is an audio-animatronic alien who has come all the way from his hometown of Yew Nork City on the planet Zork to entertain us on his Astro Organ, which sometimes plays all on it’s own. He is accompanied by a group of invisible background singers, The Space Angels.

Sonny tells jokes in between his eclectic mix of song selections, which include such intergalactic classics as “Planetary Boogie” and “Gravity”, which are entertaining and educational. The entire show is on a loop which lasts about 25 minutes.

RM-Sonny-Eclipse

If you are in Tomorrowland, stop in to Cosmic Ray’s and check out Sonny’s show. You may just wind up singing “Yew Nork, Yew Nork” the rest of the day instead of “Small World.”

This article’s original version (and many more of Nick’s Disney adventures) can be found here:  Disney Musings Blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, On Instagram, On Pinterest.  Follow along as Nick, Barbie, and a host of friends share all their Disney fun.

Walt Disney World Water Park Memorabilia

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Typhoon-Lagoon-BoatHere we are in the dog days of summer (what kind of expression is that, anyway?).  I don’t know about where you are, but in these parts it is HOT!  Like seven-inches-from-the sun-hot.  We don’t have a pool at our house and I have to confess, I’ve never been to a Disney World water park before.  This post from Disney Musings got my attention though!  Imagine how much fun those Disney World vacationers are having at Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon!!!  What a great way to beat the August heat?  Enjoy a cool, refreshing episode of Saturdays With Nick, everyone and have a great weekend!

Walt Disney World Water Park Memorabilia

by Nick

I haven’t been to the Disney water parks in years, since the mid 90′s, in fact, which is when these buttons and brochures are from.

The first button is from my favorite of the 2 parks, Typhoon Lagoon.

Opened in 1989, it is the home of the World’s largest outdoor wave pool, which is just awesome. The lazy river is also wonderful.

Another thing I love about Typhoon Lagoon is the back story. I feel that the stories that Imagineering came up with for it’s attractions in the late 80′s and early 90′s were very strong. This, of course, may just be nostalgia, as it coincides with my earliest visits.

As the story goes, the park was created by a typhoon that wreaked havoc upon a formerly pristine tropical paradise. Ships, fishing gear and surfboards are strewn about where the storm flung them. The centerpiece of the park is “Miss Tilly,” a shrimp boat impaled upon a mountain named “Mount Mayday” that erupts a 50 foot geyser of water every half hour.

I’ve actually been lucky enough to be directly under this when it went off, a thrilling experience.

There are also many slides, which aren’t really my thing.

I only went to Blizzard Beach once. It wasn’t a bad park, but it was more of a water slide park. So given the choice between the 2, Typhoon wins hands down.

Opened in 1995, Blizzard Beach also has a fun, although, in my opinion, a bit forced, back story.

It seems a freak snowstorm hit the area, leading to the construction of Florida’s first ski resort. Naturally, the snow didn’t last long, leaving behind a collection of waterlogged but snow-less ski jumps and chair lifts. The failed resort was in the process of closing for good when an alligator was seen sliding down a flume and splashing into a pool of water, screaming “Yahoo!” Thus the “ski resort” was reborn as a water park, with the alligator, named Ice Gator (maybe they could have come up with something a little more original than that?) as the mascot.

Doing this post has really made me want to get back to Typhoon Lagoon, and I will hopefully get there on one of my future trips!

To see more of Nick’s adventures, follow him on social media here:   Disney Musings Blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, On Instagram, On Pinterest.

 

Disneyana: Limited Edition Viking Vinylmation

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Troll-in-NorwayHappy Saturday Disney Fans!  Having just returned from Norway, a little something (or I should say someone) caught my eye over at Disney Musings when I was looking for a Saturdays With Nick article to share with you.  Trolls!  I always suspected the many trolls in the Norway pavilion were a way to tie Norwegian folklore into the country’s little corner of Epcot and that trolls wouln’t be as plentiful in the actual country of Norway.  I was wrong!  Trolls abound in Norway!  Fat trolls, skinny trolls, trolls that climb on rocks, tough trolls, sissy trolls, even trolls with chicken pox…oh, wait…sorry, got carried away. (Bonus points if you known what just happened there!)  Sure, they’re in souvenir shops, but in a lot of other places as well.  Nick made a great find and, as he tends to do, a great bargain for this particular addition to his Disneyana collection…

Disneyana:  Limited Edition Viking Vinylmation

 By Nick

Why am I posing with a family of strangers holding this Vinylmation?

This is a funny but true story, and I have pictures to prove it!

While in Walt Disney World in 2012, we stopped in to The Puffin’s Roost, the shop at Epcot’s Norway Pavilion.

They had a really great Viking Hat, with Mickey ears.

Making this an even cooler collectible, was the exclusive viking Vinylmation figure that came with it.

His shield on his back. There is a tiny little scuff mark on his helmet, no doubt from when he was in some battle!

AND it’s limited to 1000 pieces. 2 artists names on this figure, Doug Strayer and Maria Clapsis.

AND, it was marked down, from, if memory serves from $60 to $20!
While considering this purchase, another family was also looking at the hat, but they just wanted the hat, they had no interest in the Vinylmation Viking. In fact, they had no clue as to what Vinylmation was.

Shocking, I know.

While the hat was funny, the truth was, neither my wife or I would wear it often enough to justify just the effort of getting it home.

But I wanted the Viking.

As we were contemplating our next move, the family decided they would buy the hat. SO I offered to split the cost, if they were willing to part with the Vinyl Viking. They were!

Making the deal even better was the fact that as a Premium Annual Passholder, I got a 20% discount. So we each got what we wanted for a fraction of the original price!

A happy ending for all at the Happiest Place on Earth!

So many Disney treasures in Nick and Barbie’s collection!  To see more, follow them on all their social medias!!!  Disney Musings Blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, On Instagram, On Pinterest.

 

McDonalds Bambi Happy Meal Set

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In the past I’ve given Nick a hard time over what a huge Bambi fan he is (and I’ll probably do it again in the future), but Bambi is certainly a movie packed with many adorable characters…and sadness…and murder.  But I digress.  Who knew that once upon a time, Happy Meals contained such cute and durable Disney toys?  Do they still do that?  Are any of you in-the-know?  What other cool stuff from Happy Meals is out there?

McDonalds Bambi Happy Meal Set

I picked this Bambi McDonalds Happy Meal Set up at the Columbus Flea Market in New Jersey for $2! They were released in 1988.

Friend Owl

 
I’ve always wondered why Friend Owl never had a proper name like the other woodland creatures. Unless Friend is his first name.

Thumper has some paint wear.

Flower. All the toys were pretty dirty, and even though I gave them a bath, there are some spots that won’t come clean. But for being 25 years old, they are still in decent shape.

Bambi is being shy.

Here he comes. Do you think he knows he has a butterfly on his tail?

And there he goes.

For more posts about other Bambi items in my collection, you can search our archives at Disney Musings.

You can also follow the adventures of Nick and Barbie on your favorite social media sites:

 

You can listen to Nick (and Dave and me) talking Disney on The Disney Exchange Podcast.