URSULA ARRIVES

Hey everyone,

Out in Disneyland, they are putting the finishing touches on the new Little Mermaid ride. The ride will be coming to Florida as a part of the new Fantasyland expansion as well. The California ride opens in June so we'll be riding it when we go out in Sept for the Disneyland half marathon!!

Check out this video of the GIANT Ursula animatronic as she arrives!

NEW HERSHEY COASTER????

Rumors are starting to fly as to what HersheyPark has up its sleeves for 2011. Some are talking about a 12th coaster. Nothing is official yet, but it may be like the Griffon at Busch Gardens. It's a diving coaster that some suspect would go into Comet Hollow. Check it out.......



Pretty cool, huh? Check out the newspaper article with more details here.........

WORLD OF COLOR

Hey everyone,

The music you are listening to on the blog right now is from Disney's new spectacular water show WORLD OF COLOR. It's out at California Adventure Park so we'll have to save our pennies to get out there soon. I have been watching the videos and listening to the music all week as it gets ready for the official debut on June 11. Check out the videos below to see what I am all excited about!!!!!!!!!!!!


The Official Tv Commercial for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color water show!



Building WORLD OF COLOR



Preparation....




Opening of the show....



FULL SHOW PART I



FULL SHOW PART II




FULL SHOW PART III

Hope you enjoyed watching. Don't you want to go and see it?!?!?!!?

Love ya,

Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

TALKING MICKEY!!!

Hey everyone,

Have you heard the news?!?!? Mickey Mouse is now talking to people in the park!! Mickey Mouse has been meeting people in Disneyland the past few weeks and he is talking to the guests and even speaking their name. Check out the videos below to see. Hopefully he'll be talking to Josh and Ethan when they go down this summer!!







Love,
Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

SMALL WORLD HISTORY

Hey everyone,

Disneyland just fixed their Small World ride and added some new characters. See if you can spot them in this video. It gives a history of the ride and what they've done out in California. Hope you all get a chance to see it someday. Enjoy!!

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

DAY AT MAGIC KINGDOM....IN MINIATURE???

Hey everyone,

Check this cool video out. It is a day at the Magic Kingdom, but something is different. It seems like it is a miniature or model of the park.....but it's not. It's called a new filming technique called "tilt shifting." Here is the filmaker's remarks about how he did it:

This type of project has never been attempted at Disney Parks. How’d you make it work?

It was a lot of trial and error. My first two or three trips out of the box I was like, ‘This is not going to work.’ It’s a combination of your height on the scene and in the Magic Kingdom Park there’s just not a lot of fixed platforms where you can lock a camera off for five minutes without it moving. But there’s also lightning and consistency of exposure. We started this in the middle of summer and if you start a sequence and a little cloud comes by, you need to start it over again because the clouds darken the scene so much. So, it was very trial and error. This was on the job training for me. Nikon makes three tilt-shift lenses, they’re basically architectural lenses and we’re using them in a diametrically opposed application than what they’re built for. They’re built to actually allow you to increase the focal plane in a scene and make everything in focus. For tilt-shift, we turn them the opposite way and back tilt the focal plane so that hardly anything is in focus. And that creates that miniaturation effect.

Sounds a little complicated, but ENJOY!!!!! Let me know what you think!!



Love,
Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

DISNEYLAND HALLOWEEN SCREAMS!!

Hey everyone,

Check out this video from Disneyland's Halloween Fireworks show. Looks REALLY COOL!! It started Sept 26 and will run through Halloween. The all-new fireworks spooktacular will haunt the nighttime sky throughout the Halloween season. “Master of Scare-omonies” Jack Skellington, from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, appears in a flash at Sleeping Beauty Castle and presides over the Halloween pyrotechnics extravaganza as haunting melodies fill the air. Classic Disney villains like Maleficent, Ursula the Sea Witch and Oogie Boogie join in the “spirit” of the celebration, and even Zero, Jack’s faithful ghost dog, makes an appearance.
Enjoy!

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

DISNEY PARK NEWS

Hey everyone,

At the D23 Expo this year in CA, Disney had a BIG display/exhibit showing all the new things coming to Disney parks around the world. Enter into the exhibit and check things out!

FANTASYLAND EXPANSION DETAILS

Hey everyone,

Check this video out. It is the official announcement of the Fantasyland expansion. It was announced at the D23 Expo in CA last week. It was the first official expo for Disney fans in the D23 club. Pop Pop is now a member of that club.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

TOY STORY MANIA SECRETS REVEALED

Hey everyone,

I know some of you have already been on the Toy Story Mania ride this summer and others will be going next year. Well, here are some secrets to the ride. (I don't think these work for the upcoming Wii game that is coming out.) Have fun reading through them and maybe remember these hints for the next time you ride.

Toy Story Mania has secrets to getting a high score and below you will find the keys to revealing some targets worth a lot of points. Many of these strategies require cooperation between you and the person in the vehicle with you. Additionally, it helps if both of you have good practice at the attraction as some require good accuracy and quick speed.

To help differentiate between the single player and two-player strategies, we've used colors to distinguish between the two. Red indicates the strategy is for one player, while yellow indicates it's best achieved with two players.

Hamm and Eggs
In the lower left or right corner (depending on the screen you are facing) is a hen house. Shoot the fox that is on top of the hen house (500 points) and then shoot the chickens that come out of the house very quickly (worth 1000 and 2000 points) and repeat this process the entire round.

Green Army Men Shoot Camp

A few seconds into the start of the round there will be two plates worth 2000 points that will shoot up into the air. If both you and your teammate hit both plates then a slew of other plates will appear with high point values will pop up.

Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop
There are two clouds located in the upper left and upper right corners of the screen with about 5 balloons to pop on them. Shoot four of the five balloons in each of the hovering clouds before popping the fifth and final balloons at the same time as your partner. If the last balloon on each cloud is popped at the same time (usually requires both players to coordinate), the falling balloons will be worth 2000 points each. There is about a second or two window to pop the last balloon on one cloud after the other cloud's last balloon is popped.

Shooting the low point flowers releases higher point bees.

Buzz Lightyear's Flying Tossers
If you hit all the aliens in the ship (8 aliens, worth 100 each) before even one can re-spawn, the ship launches to reveal a "monster" who opens his mouth and lets you rapid fire in your rings for 500 pts, then 1,000 pts a shot. Do this early so you can repeat the process again. Aim at 1,000 or 2,000 or the 5,000 point rocketships on the side during this quiet time, but come back to the monster when he's ready.

Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery
In the beginning of the round, there are a number of targets that when you shoot them spawn new targets. If you and your teammate can shoot each target once, then each target will disappear, and the screen will explode to reveal new bullseyes worth 1000 and 2000 points.

Shoot a plunger into the saloon doors. A bunny will pop out, and so will about 8 targets on top of the building. Four are worth 500, and the others are 1000.

In the mine carts scene, after the first three carts come by, hit the bat on top that appears for 1000 points. Then hit the mine carts again and then hit the new bat that is worth 5000. If you can hit that bat too, then all the mine carts that come out will be worth 5000 points.

In the finale of the game, there is a large target. Hit the target repeatedly as fast as you can for point values of 500, 1000 and 2000.

NEW FANTASYLAND???

Hey everyone,

There are rumors out there that Disney is planning a MAJOR expansion of Fantasyland in Orlando. A mystery blueprint has been leaked on the internet and has some AMAZING new things including: Be Our Guest/Gaston's Restaurant, new double Dumbo ride, Voyage of the Little Mermaid ride, Cinderella, Belle and Aurora attractions, and Pixie Hallow.

You can see an enlarged blueprint at this link: (click on the blueprint to make it larger.)

http://i31.tinypic.com/r2q9dt.jpg

Fact or fiction? We'll just have to wait and see.

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

MANTA

Hey everyone,

Manta is the new roller coaster at Sea World opening this summer.  Not sure if any of you are getting to Sea World soon, but thought you would like to take a look at a great new ride!!  As you walk in the line, you pass through and under a huge tank with over 300 manta rays.   Looks REALLY cool.  Check it out!!

Love,

Uncle Shawn & Uncle Ted

DISNEY 2009 CELEBRATION

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know what DisneyWorld will be celebrating next year. They will be celebrating YOU!!! That's right, YOU!! And as a special present, Disney is letting people in the park FREE on their birthday. You can register your birthday and get other information here.

Check out the video which announces the celebration.




Love,
Uncle Shawn & Mr. Ted

WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

Hi everyone,

As many of you know already, Universal Studios is building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It is due to open sometime in 2010. Construction has begun and many decisions have been made by the fans!! A recent poll ended with the decision of calling the restaurant the Three Broomsticks. Here is what it will look like:



There is lots more informaiton at the Universal site here. Look in the upper right hand corner to answer the latest poll deciding what to call a drink at the Three Broomsticks: Butterbeer or Pumpkin Juice.

Check out other construction photos, video and artist's pictures below.

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Mr. Ted

CONSTRUCTION VIDEO

FUN AT ADVENTURE PARK

Hey everyone,

Check out all the Lowe kids at Adventure Park last Sunday. (We just got back from the beach so we were away from the computer.)

Everyone had a GREAT time! Roller Coaster, Go Karts, Water Wars (Using slingshots to launch water balloons), Mini Golf, Bumper Boats, Rock Climbing and High Ropes course. They did it all.

Amy said that everyone tried everything! Eric was a pro at the high ropes. Emily and Adam rode the roller coaster at least a dozen times. Brandon loved getting drenched on the bumper boats. Adam did the rock climbing, but liked "riding" down best. And everyone enjoyed driving their own cars on the Go Kart track. (Can you believe Emiy will be driving soon?!?!)

Enjoy the pictures!

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Mr. Ted

DISNEYWORLD FEBRUARY 2008

Hi everyone,

We got back from DisneyWorld last Friday and Aunt Amy and her family came home on Saturday. Grandmom and Pop Pop are still there til the end of the week. Lucky ducks!!

We had a great time with Uncle Ted's mom and dad. They have not been there for about 30 years. Lots has changed. We had fun taking them around and showing them the parks. We even ran out of time and never got to MGM.......oops Hollywood Studios now.

We stayed at the All Stars Music. Our building was Calypso theme.

It was Uncle Ted's mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary. We went to the Coral Reef restaurant where they had a menu printed with different pictures we emailed down before the trip. We sat by the BIG aquarium window and while we were eating our salads, two scuba divers swam up the window and put up a sign wishing them a happy anniversary. The whole restaurant clapped for them. Very fun!!

We were also celebrating Ted's mom's 60th birthday. He surprised her with a Segway tour of EPCOT. She wore a button most days at the park and so many people wished her a happy birthday. She even got a free lunch at a hot dog stand from a very friendly Disney employee.

We also caught up with Emily, Brandon, Eric, Adam, Aunt Amy, Uncle Steve and their Grandmom Lowe. We all rode the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom. It was the first time for most of them. I get scared every time!! I think there were a few scared with me too!!

Can you see Emily driving in just 3 years. Lookin' very cool!!

Uncle Ted and I realized that we have never ridden the teacups together. I must have as a kid but don't remember. We'll hang on, here we go!!!!!!!!!!

And lastly, while we were down there, Pop Pop was honored as the Veteran of the Day at the Magic Kingdom. He was honored at the flag lowering ceremony where a brass band played and then we all were marching in a parade down MAIN STREET!! Very cool. He got a nice certificate and even a special pin!! Congratulations Pop Pop!! We are all very proud of you.

(I know it's sideways. I am working to fix it if I can.)

We are already anxious to start planning our next trip down!! Hope everyone had a great time just like we did.

Love you,

Uncle Shawn & Mr. Ted

HERSHEYPARK

Hey everyone,

Well, I hope you all are rested after our fun days at Hershey!! We had so much fun. I think everyone got on a new ride at some point. Adam and Josh got on the SooperDooperLooper for the first time and loved it!! Adam got on the Comet too but said it was too rickety. Brandon got on the Great Bear for the first time and liked it enough to ride again, but the line was too long. Next year Brandon!!

I think Eric got on the Lightning Racer for the first time and liked it too. Emily's been on a lot of rides already but she was the first to go down the "toilet bowl." That was lots of fun. Some of us rode the Rodeo for the first time and the Reeses Cup Challenge too. Ethan got on a few rides so we'll wait a few years to get him on the coasters.

As always, I love the Great Bear and the Wildcat.

If you have pictures you want to share, please email them to Uncle Shawn. I did not take my camera when Josh and Ethan were there and would love pictures if Aunt Kate has them.

ENJOY!!

Love,
Uncle Shawn & Mr. Ted







Trailblazer



Coal Cracker


Kissing Tower


Kissing Tower



Wave Swinger











Monorail




Monorail


Monorail