Dance Dance Revolution from Disney for the Wii is just Great !
You get to dance along with your favourite Disney Characters.

 

Cookie Jar Guide

Remember Your Grandma and those delicious Cookies she used to make?

And how sweet she was pretending not to notice when you took two instead of one !

Even now just the sight of a cookie jar makes my mouth water. I can still taste her cookies and smell that delicious smell drifting from the Kitchen.

Many cookie jar collectors would be so jealous of those antique cookie jars she kept the treats inside.

Cookie Jars of course originated in England and were originally used to store and keep crisp the spiced and honeyed biscuits from earlier times.

In the 20^th Century Cookie Jars really became a craze to collect – especially when Walt Disney began promoting Mickey Mouse and the combination of cookies and Mickey Mouse became quite irresistible to a whole generation of American and worldwide children.

Those early Mickey and Minnie jars are still avidly snapped up by cookie jar collectors (and I suspect still used to store cookies for new generations of kids.)

The most valuable Cookie jars for collectors are ones featuring early movie characters.

Cartoon characters like Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Clarabelle, Betty Boop, Donald Duck and the whole panoply of Disney favourites and other popular characters like Felix the Cat are very collectable and  have all graced the Jars as have many famous early movie stars and more recently film stars and entertainers like Elvis Presley, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

A whole fleet of Superheroes fiercely face unknown daners from the front of Grannies Cupboard  including Superman, Batman and right up to date heroes are still being collected.

These are some of the cookie jars worth looking out for:

Jars from  Dsney

All major characters

Quaker Oats

Aunt Jemima

Vandor Beatles  or Elvis Jars

Uncle Sam jars

Nightmare before Christmas is a modern favourite

Nursery Rhyme and fairy tale cookie jars make a lovely display

Disney Princess Jars are really popular

Modern Film Heroes like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean are collectable but many have been sold.

Some major collections have been sold at auction – Andy Warhols collection sold for $250,000 and he bought at regular stores ,flea markets and yard sales.(that must have been  quite a sight - Andy Warhol with an armful of Disney Princesses !)- actually . I wonder if he signed any of them ?

Here are some average recent Cookie Jar auction Prices :

Mickey Mouse Fireman  $25

Minnie Mouse $ 35

Donald Duck $20

Pluto Dining $150

Snow White $38

Lady and the Tramp $60

Haunted Mansion $90

Coca Cola $9

John Wayne  $55

Snoopy $32

Dr Seuss Cat $35

Tazmanian Devil $15

Vintage Old King Cole  $325

Vintage Pig $50

Shawnee Smiley Pig $15

Puppy Hound Dog  $10

McCoy Mammy Jar $52

Vintage Kraft Bear $20

King Frog $30

Starwars R2D2 $100

Cat Treats $4

 

 

Auction prices are usually higher than prices in fleamarkets,yard sales , car boot sales.

Vintage Cookie Jars are nearly always more expensive

.

 

Most Popular sections for collectors are :

Disney

Cats

Pigs

McCoy brand

Vintage Jars

Shawnee Jars

Disneyland Hong Kong to be expanded.
Following criticisms about the size of the Hong Kong Park,

(and a rather upset public after many were in the past refused entry on the Chinese New Year due to overcrowding)

Hong Kong Disney is to  have three new theme areas.
These will be called Mystic Point,Grizzly Trail and Toy Story Land.
This will expand the theme areas from four to seven areas with a construction cost of $450 Million

This should solve the overcrowding problems.

As Disneyland Hong Kong is the smallest Disneyland, this move is seen as also answering the proposed Disneyland Shanghai which will be a huge theme park scheduled to open in 2014

This is still in the negotiations and planning stages.

Mortimer Mouse - His Story

I was created by a really nice man - Mr Walt Disney.
Walt was an artist who was brought up in Kansas City Missouri.
When he grew up,Walt found work as a commercial Artist.

He was mostly working on Animated Shorts and cartoons.
Walts brother who was called Roy,joined with Walt and they
founded the Disney Studio in 1923 which is now called the Walt Disney Company
and employs lots of people (more than I can count) at lots of Big Theme Parks around the World.

So why do you not know my name ?
Quite simply , Walt was doodling on a train and looked down and there I was grinning back up at him !
Mrs Walt (Lillian) looked down and said - thats Cute !
and I was born

Gosh I had been trying to get on Walts notepad for years !
Anyway Walt said I will call him Mortimer Mouse.
Lillian looked again and suddenly my name was changed to MICKEY !

(She did not like me as Mortimer)

In Calidfornia Walt met with his friend Ubl Werks and together they refined me into the most Famous Cartoon Character in the world.
This took ages and I got really hungry (humans have no idea of what to feed a cartoon character)
It was not until 1928 that Walt made me a Cartoon Cheese Sandwich ! I was famished ....
I guess it was my first movie that made me the humble Superstar I am today.
That was Steamboat Willie in which I played a slightly naughty deckhand on the riverboat.
Lillian made Walt change my image after that (although I rather liked it)
For instance I had a rather rogueish pointy nose and an ability to play Clarabells(the cow) teeth musically - anyhow I ended up with these big rounded ears and a very smart pair of white gloves
My eyes seemed to grow big and round and they dressed me in Red Shorts and Yellow Shoes.
Well I ask you - what sense of colour is that ?
(Oh and the gloves only had three fingers )
My better side won Walt and Lillian over and I changed character into the happy smiling lovable character that I am today.

Its an interesting life and I think I make thousands (if not millions) of children happy and I mean to go on doing just that for as long as children need me.

By the way that story about me scampering across Walts desk and inspiring him is just not true.
I was there all the time waiting for Walt to draw me !
You do still like me ? Even if I am not called Mortimer any more ?

photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: Thomas_Jung
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: kevindooley
photo credit: kris.hoet
photo credit: coconut wirelessMinnie Mouse Pictures from Flickr
Published under the Creative Commons Licence
All Photographers are credited.

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24152400@N08/3616029905/" title="billfromesm" target="_blank">billfromesm
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: xxstaceyxx
photo credit: davidbriodyMickey Mouse Photos from Flickr
Thanks to all who contributed
(You are individually credited !)
All photos are here under the Creative Commons License

Inspired by Toodles, Mickey's helpful pal on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show, Toodle-Ears offers kids 3 engaging activities -Mouseka-Dancing for dancing fun, Mickey Says to help them learn to follw instructions, and Time to Play to teach them the concept of time. Hats on for learning and fun.

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We are pleased to announce that we now offer character Disney Merchandise from Disney Marketplace Store
This extends the number of Mickey Mouse and other Disney Character items for you to see.
Just click on the small pictures on that page to see full details of each item.

For all you GUITAR and MICKEY MOUSE FANS we announce a new section in our store !
Yes there are now OFFICIAL Mickey Mouse Guitar Picks and some Great Mickey Mouse Guitar badges and Pins
The Mickey Mouse Guitar Pins are really colorful and look great.

They are really cute and no self respecting guitar-playing mickey mouse fan should be without one.
The Pins are really colorful and fun and there are several Mickey Mouse Guitar Picks to choose from
By the time you read this though there will be one less ..
I play Guitar too !

In 1986 Disney released a limited edition collection of Disney musical figurines from Disney Characters and from the Movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
This edition was limited to 19,750
Most are attached to the base but some just sit on the musical movement.
These were sold by mail order and have now become important Disneyana Collectables..

Like the Cinderella figurine above,the range has greatly expanded to include static figurines and even Swarovski figurines. The firm Favourites among Disney Musical Figurines remain Mickey,Minnie and The Princesses as subjects.

There are now special Christmas Figurines and figurines of multiple characters.

Other early Disney Musical figurines include:

Cinderella dancing with The Prince

(Plays A Dream is a wish your heart makes Your Heart Makes)

Bambi with Thumper  (Plays Little April Shower)
Dumbo and Mister Stork  (Plays Casey Junior)
Sleeping Beauty Aurora and woodland friends (Plays Once upon a Dream)
Peter Pan   (plays You can Fly)
Alice in Wonderland  (Plays All in the Golden Afternoon)
Lady and The Tramp eating dinner  (Plays Bella Notte)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  (Plays Heigh-Ho)Pinoccchio                 (PlaysWhen You wish upon a Star)
One Hundred and One Dalmatians  (Plays Playful Melody)
Sword in the Stone  (Plays Thats what makes the World go round)
Jungle Book  (PlaysThe Bare Necessities)
The Aristocats  (Plays That Darn Cat)
Robin Hood  (Plays Oo-De-Lally)
The Rescuers (Plays Someones waiting for You)
The Fox and The Hound  (Plays Best of Friends)
The Black Cauldron  (Plays Fflewddurs Theme)
The Great Mouse Detective  (Plays Worlds Greatest Criminal Mind)
Oliver and Company  (Plays Good Company)

Later Figurines include :

 

 

Tinkerbell

These Figure Packs allow children to recreate a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode! Each figure packincludes an articulated figure and friend! Mickey is ready to go fishing with Mr. Petebone, Minnieis ready to go to a birthday party with her friend Baby Elephant,Goofy is accompanied by Chip andDale, and Donald comes with his friend Sparky the lion. Each figure pack is packed with fun and kids will love to collect them all!

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[caption id="attachment_628" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="Captain Hook is happy to sign Autographs"][/caption]

Here are some of my photos of Disneyland Paris.
It really does look the same as the US Disney Parks.