In the Beginning (Take 2)...

When I started this blog, one of my first posts was about the 1971 Walt Disney World license plates and how they basically started license plate production for Disney. I have also mentioned how they were among the first license plates that we purchased once we found that they were available on ebay. These, however, were not the first plates that I bought for my collection. In all truth, I was dragged into Disney license plate collecting kicking and screaming. My brother and father had been collecting them for years, replacing the coffee mug collection with license plates. At the time of my discharge from the U.S. Navy in 2001 I moved back home to be with my family. This was when I discovered just how fanatical dad and Shaun (my younger brother) were about these license plates. Honestly, I had no interest whatsoever in beginning a collection, I figured they had more than enough for all of us. What I did want, though, was a license plate to put on the front of my car. I had seen it in my brother's collection and thought it was really cool. He informed me that they were no longer available in the parks and that I would have to try to find one on ebay. I would like to tell you that it was some high dollar and really rare plate, but that's not the case. The license plate I wanted was this one:

I loved the design of it, the color, the layout, basically everything about it. It also incorporated two of my favorite things in all of WDW, the monorail and Epcot. It didn't take too much looking to locate one of these plates, and if my memory serves me correctly it didn't cost me much more than 8 or 10 dollars with shipping. For a very long time that was the only license plate I owned and I was quite happy that way. The following summer, though, we went back to WDW on a big family vacation. During our wanderings we kept coming across rack after rack of license plates (apparently this was a big time for production). Dad and Shaun would grab theirs and automatically they would turn to me and tell me that I needed to pick one up too. Before I knew what was going on I had reluctantly bought 7-10 new license plates. I think I came back from that trip with 12 license plates total. Once we were back home I realized that I had inadvertently laid the groundwork for a collection of my own, so I figured I would go ahead and start looking more seriously at the auctions and start doing some research. From that point on it almost became like a competition to see who could acquire the most license plates the fastest. I really got my dad mad at me when I beat him out for this little beauty:

What he didn't know, though, was that in the same auction I had been going after another plate as well:

My dad never did get the blue and white 1971 plate, but the person that was running the auction sent me three of the all blue misprints, which I gave a copy of to both dad and Shaun. Before I knew it I had amassed a collection of about 100-125 plates, many of them hard to find, such as this one:


Although it was almost like a competition between the three of us, Disney license plate collecting actually brought the three of us closer together. We would sort the collections, catalog them, try to find out what we were missing, and surf auctions together. I still have that beat up Epcot license plate (it spent 4 years on the front of my car), but I also bought another one to add to the collection. I can't imagine my life now without my collection, it's brought me so much joy and really gave me a great way to bond with my father and brother. For Disney it all started with a mouse, but for me it all started with a license plate.

Cruisin'...

One of the things that I have always wanted to do but have never been able to is to take a Disney cruise. The ships look absolutely beautiful, exuding both the flair of Disney and the traditional look of early cruise liners. Having watched all of the different specials on the Travel Channel and various other networks, I am just chomping at the bit to set sail on one of these magnificent vessels. I can only imagine what it must be like to board one of the ships and get underway to the various ports of call, and to eventually arrive at Castaway Cay. The idea of Castaway Cay itself makes the trip so appealing. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity yet to enjoy one of these cruises, but I do have a selection of DCL license plates to tide me over until that day. Enjoy!!!

Wants and Needs...

When I started collecting Disney License Plates, I had absolutely no idea just what was out there. My dad had been buying license plates in the parks, but we didn't know that the history and offerings ran so much deeper than the merchandise racks of the Disney theme parks. We didn't know anything of variants, cmo plates, commemoratives, or anything else related to Disney license plates. When we discovered ebay and the wealth of offerings therein, it opened up a whole new world to us. We also discovered Steve Garner's site and realized that we were really missing out on a whole load of license plates that we never even knew existed. It was there that we learned of the 1971 blue and green plates and all of their variations and errors. We also learned what variants are and that cast member only plates were really cool.

While we have been collecting plates for a very long time, like every collector there are plates that we just haven't been able to get our hands on. In this post I am going to focus on the license plates that I have been looking for to add to my collection. These are mainly license plates that I haven't seen anywhere but on Steve's site. If anyone has any good information about where I can get these license plates, feel free to let me know, I would be very appreciative.


Now this, of course, is my absolute favorites list, and I know that the odds of me getting my hands on these particular plates are pretty slim if at all. I'm also well aware that these are some of the more expensive plates out there. These plates would be a great addition to any collection, and I truly hope some day to add them to mine.

Have a great Disney week!!!!

The Disney Vacation Club

My brother actually gave me the idea for this week's post, so I want to thank him because I was really stumped about what to post. I also apologize for being a little late with this one, lots of family stuff going on lately.

Anywho, my brother called me up on Sunday to go to the park with him and his family (that meant that I would get to spend some quality time with my Goddaughter, Gracie). I jumped out of the house and headed on down to the park. It what then that my brother told me that he and his wife had just bought into the Disney Vacation Club with the Animal Kingdom Lodge as their home resort. Admittedly, as much as I love Disney, I have no real knowledge of the DVC and what a membership entails. Needless to say for those DVC veterans out there, I was ready to buy one of my own when he got done telling me all about it.

So, in honor of my brother and his new DVC membership, I want to give you an assortment of DVC license plates for this week. Unfortunately they all look pretty much the same so I'll throw in a few extras at the end just for a little change of pace!





I also want to give a big thanks to Steve Garner for helping me out with scans for the blog after I lost all of mine. Thank You Steve, you've been a tremendous help!

Three from Tokyo...

Disney really went all out when they decided to expand their offerings overseas, not just with the parks but with their license plates as well. While I have never had the opportunity to visit any of the properties other than Walt Disney World, I am optimistic that I will have the chance one day to visit all of them. In the meantime, however, we do have these wonderful license plates to tide us over. A different manufacturing process was used for these plates that I think allowed them to include a lot more detail than a lot of the plates that came before these. They actually appear to be a two piece plate with the front wrapped around a backer plate, a process not seen before in the plates produced for the U.S. parks. It could also just be a laminate, but I'm not about to take one of them apart to find out!!! This also has not been seen before for Paris, either. I am not really sure of the reasoning behind this...maybe they used a different manufacturer for the Tokyo plates. Disney has done laminated plates before, specifically the 100 year blue license plate, which I am including at the end of this post. We found that out after one of them sat on a car for about a year and it started peeling. Whatever the case may be these are really beautiful plates and make a great addition to any collection.





This is laminated plate that I was talking about:


A quick update on Jordan this week...

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support! Jordan is doing much better and has recovered his ability to swallow which means he is again able to eat regular food, although not in large quantities. He is also able to speak to some degree, mostly single words, but there is the occasional sentence in there. He asked for a brownie the other day, his first real sentence since his surgery. He is also due to start chemo and radiation in the next week or so. This will sap all of his strength, this much I remember from my father's battle with cancer, so please keep praying for Jordan and his family during this really rough time. Things are definitely getting better and the little guy is fighting, but there is a long road ahead for them!

Thank you all and I hope you have a wonderful Disney Week!!!!

Round Pegs in Square Holes...

One of the things that we can always be sure of when it comes to Disney is that they love to do things differently. While I have seen nonstandard license plates occasionally in my day to day driving experiences, I really didn't know what to think when Disney started churning out these oval shaped plates. To the best of my knowledge (which is suspect more often than not), Disney has not released any nonstandard plates to the general public, which means that once again the cast members get all the fun. There have been several of these oval shaped plates issued, all cast member only, covering subjects from anniversaries to charitable causes, as well as the first one listed here, which is basically a license plate recreation of a cast member name tag.




But the fun doesn't end there...nay nay I say. Disney also went ahead and issued variant plates among all this oval shaped goodness. The first one below isn't so much a variant because it was released concurrently with the tan one above, maybe because they wanted to give CMs a little variety or something. The second Disney Hand one is most definitely a variant, and I believe that there is another variant of it out there, but I don't own one and don't have a scan of one so you'll just have to take my word for it.




I really enjoy it when Disney shakes things up a little bit and throws a curveball out there. It keeps us collectors on our toes and gives us some good variety in our collections (and makes us spend a lot more money in the process). Till next time I hope you all have a terrific week, keep those prayers for Jordan going, they are definitely helping, and I want to wish you all a wonderful Disney Day!

Explanations, Apologies, and a need for prayer...

There are many, many reasons why I have neglected this blog for the last couple of months. I would like to take this chance to apologize to those of you who had been regular visitors for my lack of attention. My intention was never to let this remain dormant and neglected. The last few months have not been very kind to me and my family. As many of you may remember, I started a new job in early November. While I have been very happy in my new job, I have been faced with work hours that I never could have expected. These increased hours often put me getting home very late and leave me in not exactly the best frame of mind to blog. On top of that I also have lost my desktop machine, which had all of my scans of my license plates and other Disney items, so I'm currently trying to rebuild the collection of scans. These things mainly took place in December shortly after my last post. By far though, the most trying event has to do with my nephew Jordan. Jordan is 4 years old and was diagnosed last month with a cancerous brain tumor. He has had surgery to remove the tumor, which was at the base of his brain. He is currently still in the hospital and was recently transferred to Children's Hospital in New Orleans to continue his treatment, which will include chemotherapy and radiation. I would ask anyone who still visits here from time to time, please keep Jordan and his family in your prayers. As my brother told us in email last week, "things are looking up, but they're still looking uphill." I thank you all in advance for your prayers and consideration.

I would also like to address the state of this blog and it's future, both short and long-term. For the time being I will start adding new blog posts on every Saturday, so there will be at least one update per week. As things level out I hope to be able to increase to twice weekly updates. I cannot keep up with the pace that I set in the beginning, I no longer have that kind of time on my hands. I will, however, do what I can to resurrect this blog before it goes the way of the dodo. I wish you all the best and I hope to be able to report on happier subjects in my next update.