Micky Ds Celebrates Mickey Mouse!

 The year was 1995. It was Disneyland's 40th Anniversary and McDonalds was helping to celebrate in a big way! 

McDonalds and Disney would enter into an official partnership the next year, but had already partnered up on various Happy Meal promotions in the previous years for films such as The Little Mermaid and The Lion King. The Happy Meal toys this time would be viewers shaped like parade floats for various Disneyland attractions. There were eight in all, and I happened to get all eight at once at a garage sale years ago!

Let's take a look, shall we?

 

First, we have Brer Bear in a Splash Mountain log!

...which it says on the other side!

And here is where you look in...

...to find this scene! (It was kind of tough to get shots of the slides)

Next we have Roger. I thought this was for Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.

The other side.

But it's actually for all of Toontown!

Benny the cab coming right at ya!

And here is the scene on the inside!

I was also wrong on this one. I thought this was obviously Peter Pan's Flight.

But it's actually Fantasmic!

Peter looks good in this shot.

And here is the Fantasmic scene!

Now, honestly, I didn't know what this was. I thought it could be actually from a parade, since MGM Studios had an Aladdin parade.

But it's really for Aladdin's Oasis! 

Let's look inside, shall we?

Ah, there we are. Apparently this was a pretty good production. 

Now, I knew THIS had to be from a parade...

...and it is! The real float was actually sent to Walt Disney World and became part of Festival of the Lion King!

Eye to eye...

And the float at Disneyland!

This one might be my favorite! Who doesn't love The Jungle Cruise?...and King Louie!

There's the Jungle Cruise logo!

And Louie coming right for us!

And the scene inside!

Now, when I bought it I thought that this might have been the Disneyland Railroad.

Wrong! It's Big Thunder Mountain!

With a very cute Pooh Bear driving!

And a nice scene inside!

Hey! Mickey! Look over here!

That's better! I understand Space Mountain can be distracting!

Get off the tracks!!!

Here's the inside scene! 

So there you have it! These are fun little trinkets that were probably fun to collect, but they have relatively little value other than historic and Disney Nerd appeal. Still, I like them! ...and I hope you've enjoyed them too!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

A Quick Sketch...

 This week I have an item that I got from my grandfather after he passed away. It's not valuable at all, but it means a lot to me. Let's take a look:

Yes, it's a "Jon Gnagy Learn to Draw Outfit!" Well, actually, it's part of one, since a lot of the pencils and stuff are missing...

As you can see, all that remains are the book, chalk, and a couple of pencils. I suppose the rest were used or just lost.

Here is the cover of the book, featuring Jon himself. Mr. Gnagy was a really big celebrity in his day. He appeared on TV starting in 1946 and taught people to draw using "simple shapes."

Here is his bio from the book...

...and some of his tips. The idea was that if you could draw simple circles, triangles and squares, you could draw amything. 

Taking the idea one step further...

And a quiz at the back of the book to see if you understood the theory.

By the way, I just found out that Mr. Gnagy lived to be 119! Maybe I should take up art!

As I said, none of this is particularly valuable. Millions of these kits have been sold, and apparently you can still purchase one. The valuable part is what I found in the paper stored under the pencils.

You see, my grandfather (who was a Baptist pastor all my life) was always interested in art. He started out his careers as a sheetmetal craftsman, but he told me he also took a correspondense cartooning course in the 30s. He got this kit in the early 50s. I found these in the kit:

Practice "swirls." Notice the little cartoon man he snuck in.

More practice...

Finally a few finished objects in chalk. Not bad, really. The sad thing is that these sketches are the only drawings that survive of his art. I guess preaching and raising three daughters took up too much of his time to continue the hobby. 

So, I hang onto his battered art kit. Once in a great while I take a look his drawing. I was named after him, so I kind of feel like I should protect his stuff- even the little stuff.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Building the Moonliner- Part Two

 Last week we featured part one of my quest to build a flying Moonliner model. This week we have part two! I hope you enjoy it!

I actually won a contest! This was from the DARS Classic model rocket competition. 

One of three successful flights! 

The Moonliner today!

After flying three times, now she sits on the shelf and looks pretty. 

By the way all of the DARS newsletters can be found at www.dars.org

Thanks for indulging me!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Building the Moonliner- Part One

 Years and years ago I edited the newsletter for my local rocket club, the Dallas Area Rocket Society (DARS). During this time, I was able to wed my love for Disneyland and rockets by building a working model of the TWA Moonliner. I wrote a two part article on that adventure, which I would like to pull from the archives (attic?) and share here. I hope you enjoy it! Here is part one!

That's it for this week! Next week we'll have the conclusion!

Until next time, Keep searching for treasure!