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LaughingPlace.com will be holding a 10th anniversary meet at the Disneyland Resort on December 6th. Everyone is welcome to attend what promises to be a very fun time. Details are below...

Sunday, December 6th 11a - 2p
Naples in Downtown Disney
Pizza, other light refreshments and soft drinks will be available

In addition we'll have all the other meet activities:
* Meet and greet game
* Golden Doobie Awards
* LaughingPlace.com meet-exclusive button
* Prizes and giveaways
* Special surprises???
* Most importantly, the chance to meet other LPers

The price is $27.50 for adults and $20 for children. As always, the tickets cover costs only, we don't make any money from this.

So we hope you'll all come and celebrate 10 years of LP with us!

Tickets can be purchased at:
Adult: http://www.laughingplacestore....3312.asp
Child: http://www.laughingplacestore....3313.asp

To discuss, please see the official meet topic:
http://mb.laughingplace.com/MS...-P-9.ASP

A few random thoughts from the first day of the D23 Expo

LaughingPlace.com turns 10 years old tomorrow. Of course, Doobie has a few thoughts.

Doobie looks at last month's Blu-Ray releases of Lost: The Complete First Season and Lost: The Complete Second Season.

Doobie reviews the new Mary Poppins 45th Anniversary 2-disc DVD which was released on January 27th.

Doobie reviews last month's Special Edition DVD release of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.

Doobie's look at this week's DVD release of his favorite television show, Lost: The Complete Fourth Season.

Doobie gives his take on the new DVD released today, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

A few months ago I explained why Epcot was my favorite Walt Disney World park. After a few months of reconsideration, I now have an update to that article. My favorite park is now Disney's Hollywood Studios, and here's why.

LaughingPlace.com turns 9 years old today. The most important thing I do in this yearly message is thank those who've made LP possible. This year will be no different. If you are a regular reader of LaughingPlace.com, I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the names below and thank them along with me.

First, thanks to our myriad of writers and photographers who contribute regularly and occasionally to the site. Over the past 12 months that list includes:

• Captain Jon: Podcaster
• Lindsay Cave: Regular Columnist, Photos and Tales from the Laughing Place
• FanBoy: Blogger and Podcaster
• Bob Gurr: Regular Columnist
• Kirby Holt: Regular Columnist
• Megan Kaplan: Occasional Columnist
• Tetsuya Kawamura: Occasional Columnist
• Lee MacDonald: Regular Columnist, Photos and Tales from the Laughing Place
• Greg Maletic: Regular Columnist and Blogger
• Jim Miles: Regular Columnist
• Julie and Mike Neal: Occasional Columnists
• Ken Pellman: Regular Columnist
• Scarlett Stahl: Occasional Columnist
• Jim VanOstenbridge: Games
  
• Bob Welbaum: Regular Columnist
• Mark Wharff: Trivia Contests
• Rhett Wickham: Regular Columnist

Special thanks to the Discussion Board moderators who do a wonderful job behind-the-scenes (and some wish to remain behind-the-scenes so I won't mention any names here). And right beside the official moderators I want to thank the de-facto LP Discussion Board gurus who've contributed since day one in many cases and really set the tone for the community. Again, I won't mention any names, but all the community regulars know who they are and I really appreciate all of you.

Once again, a special thanks to three long-time contributors - Dave Mastanich, Doug Marsh and Denise Owsley - who've done a great job of covering everything on the West Coast since Rebekah and I moved to Florida 4 1/2 years ago. I know those red carpet premieres are hard work, aren't they? Thanks also to John "Indigo" Frost who long ago moved on to his own very successful blog but who played a big part in getting LP off the ground nine years ago.

Thanks to the workers on the other side of LP, the LP Store, for their hard work - Linda Kaplan, Megan Kaplan, Mark Kaplan and Jonathan Kaplan (we're a family business :)

A big thanks to our advertisers, especially Mouse Ear Vacations and Howard Johnson: Anaheim for their long-time support. Without them there would be no LaughingPlace.com today.

Finally, thanks to my wife and partner in LP, Rebekah. Everyday my job is to work on Disney stuff and I get to do that at home and at Walt Disney World right alongside my wife. Dreams do come true.

LaughingPlace.com readers unwittingly gave us a very special birthday present this year. They started a topic on the Discussion Boards called Your best LP memories. When we started LP nine years ago we knew we could create a website that served the Disney fan community and helped us make a living. That was our goal. But the stuff in this topic was stuff we never expected to occur. Thanks so much for sharing, everyone. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so by clicking here.

On behalf of Rebekah, thank you everyone and we look forward to the big ONE - ZERO next year.

Doobie.

PS - I've done my very best not to leave anyone out above. If I have, please know it's not intentional. Drop me an email and I'll correct my mistake.

With the official opening of Toy Story Midway Mania today at Disney's California Adventure, it seemed like a good time for me to give my personal review of the new attraction. I've only been able to ride the Walt Disney World version but from everything I've been told, the ride itself is identical on both coasts. But as for the exterior and queue, I'll only be talking about the Florida version. So here it goes...

Disneyland the original is just that ... original. But now more than fifty years after its opening, it's no longer one-of-a-kind with four other Magic Kingdoms around the world and countless knockoffs from other companies. Similarly Disney's Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Disney's California Adventure are - to some extent - variations on themes that can be found elsewhere within and outside of Disney. But there is one park that is a big exception to that rule, my favorite Disney park (that I've visited), Epcot.

You'd think living right next door to Walt Disney World I'd get to ride all the rides all the time. But with it being so convenient I rarely get there early in the morning or late at night. That means I'm there when crowds are at their biggest and I'm usually only there for a few hours so FastPass often isn't a help. Consequently, with the exception of the Magic Kingdom with its after-hours parties, I rarely get on the big rides. But over the past month I've been able to ride just about all the coasters at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World so I decided to gather a list of my favorite Disney coasters (Note I've not been to any of the International Disney parks)

This afternoon Rebekah and I made our way to Animal Kingdom (for the first time in about two months!) to check out this year's Christmas decor and festivities and the newest Animal Kingdom restaurant - Anandapur Yak and Yeti. Located in Asia Yak and Yeti is Animal Kingdom's first table service restaurant located inside the park. It's owned and operated by Landry's, the same company that owns Rainforest Cafe.

I can't believe I haven't been to Animal Kingdom in well over a month! I last went before I left for vacation in late September. Hopefully I'll get there next week. In fact, with Christmas decor already starting to go up, the whirlwind that is the holidays is about to begin as we start the process of accumulating hundreds of holiday pictures (and more than a few videos) for LP Lotion. Should be fun....

In the past week since my last Living the Disney Life the biggest event has been our Daylight Savings Party...

Me and Rebekah before the Tower of Terror race

Living the Disney Life: Catching Up With D.M.

Once again it's been a while since since my last filing. Much of that time was spent on vacation in Washington, DC and Williamsburg, VA with my wife and her family. A wonderful time was had including a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge - perhaps competitors of Disney should they continue to pursue the themed hotels beyond Hawaii.

Since returning in early October I have been able to do some park visiting. Here are some highlights.

Living the Disney Life: Magic Kingdom and Epcot (September 18)

With the reopening of the Haunted Mansion Rebekah and I headed into the park late last Saturday night. But we got a call while waiting for the Monorail letting us know it was down. We went in anyway and waited but alas, it was not do be. My next chance to get there would be Tuesday the 18th (Rebekah went in on her own on Monday to ride it). We were able to get right in as there was no wait. Here are my impressions (Note: I'm not the most observant person in the world, so this isn't a comprehensive look. For a complete list of changes and video from the new ride, see LP Lotion)...

Living the Disney Life: Nature Trail, Garden Grill and HSM on Ice  (September 6-9)

September 6th - Nature Trail
I was at Wilderness Lodge walking around and saw a sign that said Nature Trail. I decided to find out exactly where it went. Almost immediately I felt like I was in another world. I was walking on a dirt road surrounded on the sides and overhead by trees. Soon enough I came to a sign with Ft. Wilderness being one of the options. I took that option and went further into what seemed to me to be the forest. The trail did turn to asphalt which was comforting and every now and then I could see a WDW bus pass on a road that was only a few yards away, but it felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. That if I were to break a leg it would take days for someone to find me. There were no lights at all and the sun was setting quickly. I even felt a few rain drops but thankfully those didn't last.

When I went to Epcot today I saw Spaceship Earth all the way back to its original form for the first time since my first visit in 1997. I've become so used to seeing something up there that it looks kind of funny. And it got me thinking about which one I actually preferred which got me thinking of how I'd rank all the Walt Disney World icons (including both for Epcot and both for Disney-MGM Studios). Here's how I'd count them down:

Chef Mickey's, Monsters and a Double Feature (September 4)

There aren't very many restaurants on WDW property that I've never been to, and after today there's one fewer. Today for lunch we made our first visit to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary. Some observations...

• The seating area is larger than I thought. Much of it hidden under the Monotrail track (duh!)
• We got there towards the end of the lunch service so that's a factor, but we saw the characters a lot! Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto were there and each came around 2-3 times.
• The food was better than I expected. I little bit better than most character meals.
• Lots of renovation going on at the Contemporary aside from the building going up next door. Some of the lobby is behind walls as is most of the open area in the 4th floor Grand Canyon Concourse. We'll have pics in our next WDW Update.

From there we headed to the Magic Kingdom to see the newly updated Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. The animation inside the theater has been changed and improved. It is definitely more interesting visually now. I also continue to be (pleasantly) surprised at how much the guests seem to get a kick out of the show. Afterwards we poked our heads into the new Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique location under the castle which is now in soft openings (again - pictures soon). Then we stepped behind the Castle where Rebekah pointed to the windows on the Castle that are a part of the Castle suite. She then described what it's like there from the inside. She can do that - she's been inside. I haven't. Lucky girl!

But that's enough Disney for way day because a double feature was awaiting us at home. To accommodate our good buddy Dave who wanted to watch the film Dave on our Slingbox, we decided to DVD it. First was newly released Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams (which Kirby reviewed here). I know but I'm not the target audience but I've somewhat enjoyed similar titles like Cinderella 2. But this one was not so good. Next was the classic Escape to Witch Mountain starring Kim Richards. I can't believe it took me this late into my life until I saw this film. As 70s Disney films go this was  pretty good one. The two young stars are so likeable. I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel.

With the conclusion of that we switched to the Angels game (no longer Disney owned) and concluded another great Disney day!

Doobie.