Chatting with Jack

They were pretty good actors as well. Look at Megan's sheer joy at being among them. This is what I feel like when I read the Star Wars EU.

Nightmare Before Xmas

 Finally, it's time to show off our first night at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween!

 And for the FIRST TIME EVER that year, they had Jack and Sally do photo ops with the guests!

I waited 4 hours in line and was STILL the 20th person in line. Behind me was INSANE. It was already out the gate with folks lining up for a chance to meet them.

Video coming up next.

Country Bears (4)

Country Bears (3)

It felt like an old school "Showbiz Biz Pizza" or "Chuck E Cheese" show.

Country Bears (2)

Country Bears (1)

Next up we went to the Country Bear show (regardless of my sister's warnings, not to go)

Here's a few videos from the show.

Big Thunder Mountain

(WDW) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (HD POV Front) Magic Kingdom, Orland...

Star Wars: The Lost Jedi

In my continuing search for EU fiction I was able to uncover yet ANOTHER RPG book that went under the radar on a lot of fan sites. The Lost Jedi is a combination of 2 stories released only in the UK by a different publisher.

I was lucky enough to come across it while making sure I have a complete RPG set. Once again, my collection seems more and more "complete" I'm hoping to have excessive bragging rights about this once I get to DragonCon later this year.

C-ya!

May Movie preview

May's right around the corner so it's time we started talking about what movies are worth seeing in theaters next month!

 Amazing Spiderman 2

In my opinion, having 3 bad guys in one movie means they couldn't come up with a good story so they're going to fill it up with action and hope everyone won't notice.

Megan will drag me to this one but I'll be skeptical for sure.

 Maleficent

The reason behind the making of this movie in the first place confuses me. But with Angelina Jolie as the star, my wife may not be dragging me to this dud.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Half of me wants to see this movie while the other half is screaming to get away. I'm not sure if combing the cast from 2 different films (that don't fit in the same universe) is such a good idea. But we'll see how it goes regardless.

Any comments or other movies coming out next month that I missed? Lemme know in the post!

Hitler upset over Disney's announcement retconning the Star Wars Expande...

Couldn't have said it better myself Hitler!

R.I.P. Star Wars EU

So the other show finally dropped tidy as Lucasfilm announced they're shooting their old faithful fans in the head by trashing the entire EU.

This news coming right after I captured what I believe is the last piece of EU Fiction I got today which was "Cantina Communications" by John Chesterland.

Figures.

Star Wars was dead in the late 80's and it was the wonderful EU books that breathed life back in a series that was fading to obscurity.

But all Disney cares about is money. Not hardcore Star Wars fans.

So after Dark Horse finishes their run in 2014 and Fantasy Flight finishes their Age of the Rebellion series shortly thereafter I will officially be done with Star Wars.

The EU was what I loved most about it and now that it's gone, I'm gone too.

Have fun counting how many "hidden Mickey's" are in Episode 7 folks, this Disney Empire isn't fit for a Rebel like me.   

It's a Small World (4)

That should about do it for the weekend. C-ya folks!

It's a Small World (3)

It's a Small World (2)

It's a Small World (1)

Can't think of a better way to end the week than with "Small World" videos where the song will continually be with you for the rest of the weekend!

You're welcome!

More Gaston's Tavern (2)

And here's what a Lafeau Brew looks like. (we got the special cups)

More Gaston's Tavern (1)

I forgot to post these videos earlier. But here's what the inside looked like.

Pooh aftermath

My excitement of seeing Mr Toad after the ride. I had more to say on the matter and Megan let me talk for 30 seconds until telling me she'd turned the camera off.

Mr Toad on Winnie the Pooh ride!

Last year I spoke about how Mr Toad could be seen on the Winnie the Pooh ride. SO when we went, I wanted to see it for myself.

Here ya go!

Stiches Great Escape

We did Stitch's Great Esacpe and I know why it gets low grades on Disney World fan sites. The "experience" show isn't all that good and leaves a lot to be desired. If your kid loves Stitch he may enjoy this once. But after that, I doubt it's good for anything else.

Cool display of mechanics though.

Monster's Inc Laugh Floor

Megan's joke: What's it called when Batman leaves church early? Christian Bale!

Happy Easter!

Is it just me or is having Easter land on 4/20 awkward?

Space Mountain!

I've NEVER ridden Space Mountain before in all my trips to Disney World. Isn't that strange?! I don't even know what the reason is for that? We just kept missing it whenever we went, but not this year!

It was a fun ride, though I was a little scared because of my height. Being as it was in the dark I felt like the beams weren't that far from my head!

STILL Unhappy!

After the Buzz ride, we did the Astro Orbiter, which is always a fun ride. But watch how Megan's STILL sore over the Buzz ride! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Buzz Lightyear Victory!

For some reason I do really well on the shoot'em rides than Megan. Which doesn't make her happy. Ha ha ha!

Alice Pic

Say! Look who we ran into when we got off the ride! Though Megan tells me she loves Alice, she insisted on being beside the White Rabbit in this photo but I didn't mind. I still had a blonde on my arm while she was chasing white rabbits!

Tea Cups

Megan loves this ride. Guess it was my trade-off for making her ride the Barnstormer with me.

The Barnstormer

I don't think Megan wanted to ride this, but I can't resist a kiddie roller coaster for some reason.

Barnstormer Great Goofini POV Front Row Ride, Storybook Circus, Fantasyl...

Dumbo Circus (4)

Dumbo Circus (3)

Dumbo Circus (2)

Dumbo Circus (1)

 Our next stop was at Dumbo's NEW Circus.

 Megan loves Dumbo so she was extremely happy to see this place.

 It looks nice but maybe I would've been more impressed if I were a kid.

Videos coming up soon!

Be Our Guest (3)

Be Our Guest (2)

Be Our Guest (1)

Be Our Guest Restaurant

 We sat in the West Wing that was dark, but taking picutres of it with the flash on just doesn't do it justice.

See what I mean? That's supposed to be a holographic rose in the picture, ruined by flash.

Oh well. I have videos to so you later on today though that'll look at lot better.

Flipped Off

So for years I've been filming stuff trusty Flip video camera and it's served me well this whole time. So the other day I went online to look for an app to my Flip camera and couldn't find one. Slightly disappointed I went online to look up their website and see if they had anything available.

That's when I found out these cameras have been discontinued since 2011??

What the frag happened to the deal with Cisco for 590 million dollars which told us there would be bigger and better things to come!? And have I really been using outdated electronics for so long?

Well... I AM still writing on a blog so I guess so.

Dang. I need to go out and buy a Go Pro.

Maul: Lockdown Review

It's been a few months since I've finished this book and only now do I have the time to write a short review about it.

From the author of Death Troopers, Joe Schreiber takes "Lockdown" in the same direction of dark horror. I love his writing style and in typical EU it contacts to so many other star wars media tie-ins.

*SPOILERS*
A villain from Star Wars Bounty Hunter appears in the book, giving more detail about the characters background before her  eventual demise in the game. They also tie-in a few past Maul stories as well as continue the story of Darth Plagieus in this book.

The best thing was at the beginning of the book where Maul fights a Vong in the prison. Of course they don't describe the alien race as only "not being seen in the Force" and a mention of his "living" staff. Awesome stuff for the Star Wars Fanboy to enjoy.

*END OF SPOILERS*

Overall, Maul was a wonderful book and I'm said it was be thrown to the "garbage heap" by the Story Group next year because of it's many connections to the rest of the EU. Oh well, what do I care right? It's not like I'm going to be watching any of that Disney crap anyway.

C-ya folks!

Little Mermaid Ride (7)

Little Mermaid Ride (6)

Little Mermaid Ride (5)

Little Mermaid Ride (4)

Little Mermaid Ride (3)

Little Mermaid Ride (2)

Little Mermaid Ride (1)

Today I'm posting all the videos Megan made me take of the Little Mermaid Ride!

(hooray)

Gaston Tavern Pics!

 Here's what the inside looked like.

 And here I am enjoying a frosty mug!

And Megan, showing me up with this pic.

Gaston's Tavern

The Belle Experience (5)

The end result.

The Belle Experience (4)

A quick shot at Lumiere before we left the show. I couldn't film the show because....WE WERE IN IT!

They choose people out of the crowd to reenact scenes from the movie. I was chosen to be a knight and Megan was Belle's horse.

She loved every minute of it.

The Belle Experience (3)

I love the look on her face here.

The Belle Experience (2)

She LOVED this place.

The Belle Experience (1)

One of the things Megan was looking forward to was doing "Enchanted Tales with Belle" a "Beauty and the Beast" themed show that was a part of their new expansion in Fantasy Land.

I'll be posting videos on it throughout the day.

Another nail in the EU coffin

 

With the latest new of Peter Mayhew returning as Chewbacca for Episode 7, it's pretty much set in stone now that the EU will be totally obliterated. The only thing stopping them from "officially" announcing the death of the EU is their contract with Dark Horse, which expires at the end of this year.

Though rest assured once 2015 starts Disney will denounce ALL of Dark Horse comics and most of the Star Wars EU that's been made over the past 30 years and start all over again (but with one less fan in their corner)

In other news, the Disney big wigs announced that filming for Episode 7 has already begun, but script issues continues to plague the film. Not exactly something you want to hear at this point. Will it become a total disaster? I doubt it, yet a part of me now cheers for it to flop now that I'm off the Star Wars Disney wagon.

I won't go all negative on the movie. I just won't see it in theaters....and you might neither if they can't make the Dec 2015 deadline in time!

Disney Castle at Halloween

 Megan took these photos and they look great.

It's amazing the transformation that takes place after dusk.

Main Street Halloween

This is what Main Street looks like for Halloween. I'll be posting a few pics of the castle later today.

Welcome to the Magic Kingdome!

And finally we get to Megan's favorite place, the Magic Kingdome. You can even hear in her voice how excited she is to be there.

....or is that morning crankiness I hear in her voice?

German Caramel Shop

I know I spoke about it in the past but here's some video of how amazing that caramel shop is in Germany. If you notice the girl's scooping FRESH caramel from the vat. The smell was unbelievable too!

Simply an amazing place to visit.

Done and done.

I now have the complete set of Fantasy Flight Star Wars RPG's, solidifying my EU collection (as far as I know) at 100% complete!

I'll start reading thru them this summer. And I'll keep my eye out for other EU material I don't have but at the moment, I think that's it!

BONZAI!!

Thought I'd give you an example of how Megan's able to ignore me completely now when we're in public.

Desserts and Champagne Taste Test

Desserts and Champagne

 Our final stop at the Food and Wine was Desserts and Champagne.

Where I just HAD to try the Frozen S'More!

Find out s'more with our upcoming video!

Morocco Rocks!

Bonus vid of me having fun in the Morocco shop!

Magic Lamp (2)

Magic Lamp (1)

I found this in Morocco at Epcot. I even let Megan hold it so she could make a wish.

See what she wished for in the upcoming vid.

New Zealand Taste Test

New Zealand

 Ok, all tom-foolery aside, let's get back to the Food and Wine Festival. Today we're talking about NEw Zealand.

Where I had the best dish yet! A lamb meatball with spicy tomato chutney.

Megan wouldn't even touch it but you can decide for yourself if you would in our upcoming video!

My New Job!!

As you know, I've gained a little popularity over the last couple of years with my YouTube videos on board games. Particularly the "Zombies!!!" games from Twilight Creations Inc. You'll also remember I funded their past KickStarter project and was able to provide several ideas and feedback in designing their game.

Well after a few months of getting to know me, this company's made me an offer to come on board as a Game Consultant for their company and get this?! I don't have to move either! Sure I'll have to travel up to Wisconsin every so often for meetings but other than that I can work in the comfort of my own home doing the thing I love best!

I'm so happy for this opportunity and if you know what day it is than you know I'm not telling the truth about this.

Have a good day folks!