Random Snow Rant

Ok, I just need to vent a little. I don't do this very often, so please bear with me.

The east cost of the USA has gotten 4 storms in the last 3 months. The first one was right before Christmas, I was not in school, it was not a big deal. I actually had fun in that storm, made some snowmen, it was a good time. These last three storms....not so fun. The last three storms have been in the last 3 to 4 weeks, which happen to coincide with the field experience that I have to do for this semester. Today, Friday, should be my 4th field experience at Chester Community Charter, but it was canceled due to snow. I have only gone to the school once!! I have to make up all of the days I have missed, so I am going over my spring break next week to make all of them up because that is the only time I have available to make up days. But, as luck would have it, the weather people are calling for some more snow in the middle of next week! INSANITY!!!!!!

*breathes* ok, I feel a little better now, thank you for putting up with my little rant, just had to get that out. Now, time to move on to more fun things, like Disney!!

New Party Game from Disney Interactive Studios

A press release has been recently issued by Disney Interactive Studios regarding a new Mystery Party Game. The following is the press release sent to me by DIS:

Disney Interactive Studios Announces Original Mystery Party Game - Disney Guilty Party

Burbank, Calif. - (February 24, 2010) - There's been a crime... can you follow the clues to find the Guilty Party? Disney Interactive Studios today announces Disney Guilty Party, a family-friendly mystery party game being developed exclusively for the Wii(TM) Console. Created by Wideload Games, Disney Interactive Studios' Chicago development studio, Guilty Party is scheduled for release in the second half of 2010.

Guilty Party tells the trilling tale of the Dickens Detective Agency as they solve crimes set in motion by the master criminal known as Mr. Valentine. Up to four players can solve crimes in a variety of locations all over the world to unlock the secrets of Mr. Valentine's grand scheme.

Guilty Party offers both cooperative and competitive gameplay for all ages. Players choose a detective and take turns exploring the environment to uncover clues to discover the culprit's identity. When players have enough evidence, they can accuse their prime suspect and try to solve the case.

"Mysteries are one of the world's most beloved form of storytelling, and Guilty Party brings mysteries to Wii in a way that the whole family can play together," says Tom Kang studio head and general manager, Wideload Games. "Everyone loves a good mystery, especially when they get to be the detective."

Players step into the shoes of the Dickens family and work together to explore the crime scenes and play mini-games to collect clues and interrogate suspects. Guilty Party transforms the Wii Remote(TM) into classic detective tools: a magnifying glass, a flashlight, a lock-pick, a fingerprint kit, and more. Players then discuss and piece together the clues in their detective notebooks to deduce the identity of the culprit.

The Dickens family tracks Mr. Valentine across the globe, from a high-speed train to a leaky aquarium to many other locations to solve new mysteries. Once the mysteries are solved, players can play again with a new set of clues, suspects, and mini-games with a different experience every time. It takes more than quick reflexes to win, it also takes quick wits.

"We're packing an amazing amount of play-time into a single game," said Patrick Curry, game director, Wideload Games. "Guilty Party is a bit like a board game, since families can play each mystery over and over again and never have the same experience twice."

Guilty Party is the first new franchise developed by Wideload Games for Disney Interactive Studios. The game's characters and locations are inspired by classic detective lore, with the storytelling, unique humor and art style that have distinguished Wideload Games. Guilty Party will have players applying logic to solve the mysteries while laughing at the wacky cast of characters, situations and animated scenes.

"Wideload Games is a leader in unique creative games that keep players entertained and amused for hours," said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. "Guilty Party was a natural fit for Disney and the beneficial working relationship led to the highly creative studio joining our portfolio of talented studios."

In September 2009, Disney Interactive Studios acquired Wideload Games and studio founder Alexander Seropian took on the role of vice president of creative at Disney Interactive Studios in Glendale, Calif.

Disney Guilty Party is Rating Pending by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

About Wideload Games

Wideload Games, a development studio of Disney Interactive Studios, focuses on creating interactive entertainment with original intellectual property and humor as an underlying theme. Based in Chicago, Wideload Games was founded as an independent studio in 2003 and acquired by Disney Interactive Studios in 2009. Wideload's first game published for Disney Interactive Studios in the original mystery party game, Disney Guilty Party. For more information, log on to http://www.wideload.com.

About Disney Interactive Studios

Disney Interactive Studios, part of Disney Interactive Media Group, is the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS). Disney Interactive Studios self publishes and distributes a broad profile of multi-platform video games, mobile games and interactive entertainment worldwide. The company also licenses properties and works directly with other interactive game publishers to bring products for all ages to market. Disney Interactive Studios is based in Glendale, California, and has internal development studios around the world. For more information, log on to http://www.disneyinteractivestudios.com.

(c) Disney. Product name, release date, and features may be subject to change.

Sea World Accident Update

Information has come out today that says that the trainer of Tilly, a male whale, was the trainer that was killed. The incident occurred during a small audience lunch exhibit. The trainer was rubbing the whale when he grabbed her long ponytail and dragged her underwater for several minutes. It is believed that the trainer died from mainly drowning and some trauma from being pulled around by the whale. This is not the first death that has been associated with this whale. Tilly has been put temporarily in an isolation tank.

Any other developments on this story can be found here on The True Disney Fan.

Condolences

The True Disney Fan would like to send their deepest condolences to the family and coworkers of the Sea World Trainer who lost their life today in Orlando.

Earlier today during the killer whale show in Sea World Orlando, as the trainer was giving the beginning talk about what the show was about, a killer whale grabbed the trainer and proceeded to thrash her about. She was pulled from the water, but could not be revived. The show is closed until further notice pending an investigation. The attack has also prompted the closing of other killer whale shows throughout the country in other Sea World parks, including San Diego. It has not been said what will happen to the whale, who was named Tilly and brought to the Orlando park from the Vancouver in 1991 for 1.5 million dollars. Both the whale and trainer were veteran showmen.

Again, we send our deepest condolences to the relatives and coworker family of the trainer. Check in with The True Disney Fan for any updates on this story.

Live Alice Event Today!

Sorry this is coming so late friends!! I just got back from a craaaaazy student teaching day and just was able to check my email to find this awesome info in my inbox!

Today at 5pm Pacific (That is 8pm EST for all of my fellow east coasters), there is a HUGE event to promote Alice in Wonderland on Myspace. This Live Fan event will have music performances from groups such as 3OH!3, Metro Station, Never Shout Never, Kerli, and I have also heard something about a special appearance from a certain amazing director....that may have something to do with this movie.....

This is going to be a great event and if you are excited to see Alice in Wonderland on March 5th, this is sure to get you even more psyched!! So remember, 5pm Pacific (8pm EST) tonight on the myspace page! You can access the myspace page by clicking here.

Special thanks to Irene from Fanscape for this info and for the following trailer! Enjoy!


Trailer #5

Alice in Wonderland | MySpace Video

Alice in Wonderland Game Preview

The awesome people at Disney Interactive have contacted me again with some sneak peeks for all of you great readers! The sneak peeks this time: Screen Shots and Video from the upcoming Nintendo Wii and DS game, Alice in Wonderland! Set to debut in stores on March 2nd, just days before the Tim Burton movie comes to theaters, this game will put you right in the action as Alice travels back to Wonderland and fights her way to defeating the Red Queen!

Here are some pictures from the DS version of the game:
These next few pictures are screen shots from the Wii version of the Alice:



And, just to top it all off- Preview Videos for both games!!





I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of the upcoming Alice in Wonderland Video Game! Thank you to Disney Interactive Studios for sending me this great info to share and don't forget to check out the Wii and DS games, coming out on March 2nd, and of course Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in theaters March 5th.

Weekly DDL Post

This week's post is all about the new surprises coming this summer to Walt Disney World! Don't know about them yet?? Well What are ya waiting for?! Read all about it at http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!

The True Disney Fan would like to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day!! Spend the day being with your loved ones, do something extra special for your special someone and don't forget, while today is an extra special day to show your love, it is not the only day to show you love someone! May today and every day be your Valentine's Day!

A new site full of Craaaazyness!

In honor of the passing of the 120 day mark until Chris' and my Disney trip, I thought I would share with you all our latest project:

The Many Adventures of the Vacation Nerds

Chris thought of the name, I just made it Disney related, hee hee!

This new blog is one that both Chris and I are writing about our vacations together. Since we live so far away, the only times we have seen each other are on vacations. So when we do see each other, we have gone lots of different places and seen different stuff. We thought we would share these vacationing experiences with everyone, possibly inspiring other people to have adventures and visit new places!

I will still make Major updates on here about my Disney trip and vacations but for all the details, visit vacationnerds.wordpress.com.

Breaking Records with Cans

Ok, so I have been soooo out of the loop recently, I did not even know about the Celebrate Volunteers Live Cast until about a half hour of it happening! But I rearranged my schedule (not like that was hard, being snowed in by over 3o inches of snow) and was able to watch the live broadcast in its entirety!

And Oh Boy What a Broadcast!! Ty Pennington, Kermit, Tom Staggs, Sweetums, the Fab 5...Everyone was present! They had some volunteers parade in who had already one their Give a Day, Get a Day service. There were a ton of them to be sure! They announced that a few, including a family in my home state of Delaware, could not make it due to the snow, I felt so bad for them!

After recognizing the volunteers, they talked about the celebrations and how, after only 6 weeks, there have already been over 600,000 people who have signed up for volunteering, over half of the alloted tickets! So, I guess here's my main question....What is going to happen after that 1 million? At this rate, we will hit 1 million by about Easter, if not before, so what happens after that? Do we just not have a celebration until the end of the year? Highly Unlikely. I know that Disney had to have come up with some kind of plan for if this happened, so I will be very curious to see what this plan is. Personally, I would LOVE to see the Year of a Million Dreams come back! Yea, I know it won't, but I can dream, can't I?

The program ended with the unveiling of the sculpture that now holds the World Record for the largest structure made out of canned foods. Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover Home Edition, along with the Fab 5, sent balloons flying to reveal the structure. It has more than 115,000 cans and took about 500 hours to complete. The structure will be up until about 3pm today and then will be taken down and the cans distributed to shelters in Miami, Orlando and Atlanta.

To see pictures and a time lapse video of the structure, visit the Disney Parks Blog.

Disney Costumes Done Right

This past Halloween, I had posted some pictures from when I was younger and the costumes that I had dressed up in. Though I do not go out trick-or-treating anymore, I still enjoy dressing up, just for the fun of it. As I've gotten older, I usually dress up as a witch because I have a costume like that readily available (and no smart alecks, this is not because it is my every day attire). There is one costume that I have always wanted though, wanting to keep with the scary Halloween theme and also wanting to give a touch of Disney magic. My dream costume: Maleficent! I have looked at them before, but had been turned away by the price of adult costumes....that is until I looked on buydisneycostumes.com.

First off, the website it very easy to navigate, with all of the specific tabs on the side of the page, including links for specific character costumes. When I clicked on Adult Disney Costumes and saw the prices, I was pleasantly surprised by the value and variety of available costumes. I looked down the page at all of the costumes and was so excited to see a Maleficent costume among them. After checking out the site a little more, I decided that this costume was the way to go. I gave them my information and waited anxiously!

I did not have to wait long! The costume was at my door in about 3 business days from ordering! It came in a costume bag, like one you would get in a costume store. The costume is very well put together and, besides minor bends in the "Maleficent Horns" caused by shipping, the costume arrived in excellent condition! (The bends in the horns were easily fixed after sitting under some heavy books a little while!) (Also, that picture of the costume is NOT me, you will have to wait til Halloween to see it!)

I was very pleased with the service and quick response I received from everyone at buydisneycostumes.com. I was very impressed with their variety and, for all my International friends, they ship to over 200 countries! If you are looking for a Disney costume for yourself or your children, I really think that buydisneycostumes.com is the way to go!

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, I have an article about a popular fast food chain that is becoming extinct on the Disney property. Read about it here: http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/archives/2570

Coloring Fun!

I have been on a coloring kick lately, just got some new crayons and I've been going to town, its a fun stress reliever, especially since mostly I'm coloring Disney pictures! Just thought I would share some great Celebration Disney pictures I found on the Disney site with everyone! It seems like a good thing to do, with the East Coast of the US (aka, right where I live) getting smacked with a huge snow storm!

Coloring sheets!

Those coloring sheets can be found on the Disney site along with downloads of the Celebrate you song and other fun stuff! Check it out!

Where have I been?????

I have honestly been wondering about this question myself lately!

I first want to apologize to all of my great readers for not having anything posted recently here. Thank you for being so patient with me! Because of your great patience, I thought I would let you know why I have been less active recently and how I have been.

The first reason of course is school.....it always gets in the way of the important stuff.....I started that a few weeks back and unlike my last semester when I had at least 1 day off per week, I do not have that this semester. I have class Monday through Thursday and on Fridays, starting this week, I will be teaching from 9 to 3 at Chester Community Charter. I am looking forward to this even though there is a lot of work involved. I found out that this is my very last field placement before student teaching next spring....wow is that never wracking!! Oh, and pile on top of that the 4 PRAXIS tests that I have to take and pass by December......yikes......

My health has been doing quite well recently. The fiasco I was going through with my medication has been subdued for at least a while and I have my medicine and am doing quite well on it! I have been so well I have actually started to regularly work out about 3 times a week at the gym at school. It is great fun and quite relaxing. Get to listen to my Disney music and bike around, its a great time!

My honors class has been taking up quite a bit of time. I am still writing my paper on something Disney related, I just haven't been able to pinpoint what I want to write about as of yet. At this point, I am contemplating doing the paper I was going to work on this summer, which is examining Walt Disney's vision of EPCOT and seeing how realistic and possible it would be for today's society. That will give me some more time to brainstorm on the other topic I am going to cover for my last paper. I have also been working on creating a blog for my Honors class. We need to get our name out more, so I figured one of the best ways to do that would be a blog. Once I have done some work on that, I will post a link to it from here so you can see what Neumann University Honors is all about.

My radio show on Sorcerer Radio, Sorcom Review, is still going very strong, as is my Neumann Radio show Imagine the Magic. Still having so much fun with those, I really enjoy the radio!

With all of this craziness around me, I was finding it difficult to fit in the things I really want to do: Write on my blog and talk Disney! I am going to try a lot harder to put this in though, I find it so relaxing to talk about Disney, I think it would really help me balance the other stuff I have to do. I do have lots of stuff to write about and I will work to get it all posted.

Again, thank you for your patience with a crazy college student, you all are awesome!!

Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse!!

P.S. Keep your eyes open for something that Chris and I have in the works as well.....

Weekly DDL Post

This weeks post on the Disney Driven Life is about the next moves of a mister Tim Burton......very interesting indeed.....Check it out at http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/archives/2533

You can also read another small bits of rumors that I have posted this week at http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/archives/2544

Enjoy!