CA Adventure

They got a new entrance!! YAY!! Can't wait to see it soon :)

New Turnstiles Open at Disney California Adventure Park Today

As we’ve been sharing here on the Disney Parks Blog, there are even more changes coming for Disney California Adventure park over the next year – especially toward the front of the park. Today guests can see the first bit of this exciting makeover as we’ve just unveiled the brand-new turnstiles that will welcome them each day.

Inspired by the iconic Pan Pacific Auditorium, the turnstiles will set the stage for the new Disney California Adventure park entrance. Buena Vista Street will transport guests to Los Angeles as Walt Disney found it when he first arrived in California, with buildings inspired by structures that existed during the 1920s and ‘30s – including the Pan Pacific Auditorium. A landmark structure in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, the auditorium was the premiere location for indoor public events until it closed after almost 40 years in 1972.

Designed by the Los Angeles architectural firm Wurdeman and Becket, the auditorium itself was a modest wooden structure with seating for only 6,000 people; however, the building’s façade was hailed as one of the finest examples of Streamline Moderne architecture in the United States. The four stylized towers and flagpoles were meant to evoke upswept aircraft fins.
One of the principal architects on the Pan Pacific Auditorium, Welton Becket, was a neighbor of Walt Disney’s and went on to become very influential in future Disney projects. It was Becket who suggested to Walt that he use his own artists – not an architectural firm – to design, plan and build Disneyland, and it was this advice that led to the creation of WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering). Later, Welton Becket Associates (formed in 1949 after Walter Wurdeman’s death) designed Disney’s Contemporary Hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort, though Becket himself did not live to see it completed.

On May 1, 1989, a nearly full-size replica of the Pan Pacific Auditorium façade opened as the main entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Sadly, little more than three weeks later on May 24, the original building was destroyed in a fire.

As Buena Vista Street continues to take shape at Disney California Adventure park, there are more exciting transformations that will be taking place. On Sunday, the Golden Gate Bridge, which guests now pass underneath when entering the park, will begin to make way for a re-creation of the historic Glendale-Hyperion

The original blog here.

Thank God for Dexter :)

Can't wait... CAN YOU?!

Gpa and Bro

My mom found quite a few cool things yesterday when she was going through some of my grandpa's things - one of them was his enlistment picture:



She thinks my brother looks like him. Kyle's Senior Picture:



What do you think!?

Michigan Print

Ry found this cool site - Society6. They have some awesome art on the site. A top choice for us right now is the Michigan Art in the 50 and 50 project.



The 50 and 50 project, curated by Dan Cassaro, attempts to construct a handsome new way of looking at the United States. Fifty designers, one per state, have illustrated their state motto: a kind of designer's atlas.



What are your favorites?!

Recycled Hand Planes

Patagonia Cardiff just received a batch of hand planes from Enjoy. They use recycled foam from ReRip and Patagonia's own recycled Regulator Rubber to build them. Here is a link to their site for more info: http://www.enjoyhandplanes.com/

Snow Day in SD

Our polar bears enjoyed a snow day yesterday thanks to over 90 generous donations to our animal care wish list. http://sandiegozoo.org/wis​hlist





Our three polar bears were greeted by 18 tons of snow and lots of smiling donors when they walked into their exhibit yesterday. Kalluk, the male, quickly bounded to the top of one snow mound and spread himself flat as a pancake, rubbing and wiggling in the snow. Females Tatqiq and Chinook started digging in the snow and eating the icy treat that filled their habitat. Soon, they were wrestling with each other, diving into their pool and belly-crawling across the slippery ice. The bears even found some of their other toys and buried them in holes they dug in the snow.




More than 90 donors contributed a total of $5100 to our online Animal Care Wish List ( http://sandiegozoo.org/wis​hlist ) to provide the special enrichment activity for the bears. The wish list is like an online gift registry for animals at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park.




Polar Bear Plunge was renovated in 2010 to show how polar bears live in the Arctic and addresses the threats they're facing due to climate change. Guests have the chance to walk in the paw prints of the largest bears on Earth and learn how they survive in the harsh Arctic climate, what -and how much - they eat and how humans can improve the species' chances of survival.

Treadmill Walkin'

Getting the dogs to run on a treadmill happened almost naturally. Two of the dogs were rescued from a house fire. To help them all bond we walked them daily. I was using the treadmill when one of them started jumping on it with me, then the second one did. I kept trying to push them off but eventually let them walk with me on it. After a while when I finished walking the 2 dogs kept walking without me. The third one finally gave it a try after watching his pack members. Now they really love it.