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.