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!!!

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!

The First Three...and the three that didn't make it...

As it stands right now there are almost 20 resorts at Walt Disney World, and that's only if you don't count all of the Vacation Club Villas that are available to guests. It wasn't always that way though. When Walt Disney World opened in 1971 there were only three resorts to choose from. The Polynesian Village Resort, Contemporary Resort, and Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground were completed in time for the grand opening, and for quite some time they were the only on-site option for guests to the Florida property.









Most people know the basic time line of development for other resorts at WDW, and many can quote verbatim opening dates and the exact year that Disney started differentiating between Deluxe, Moderate, and Value resorts. What many people don't know, however, is that there were resorts that were already planned, locations picked out, and plans drawn up, that were never built. These resorts were to have amazing theming and access to the monorail. As a matter of fact, if you look at early pictures of the property around Seven Seas Lagoon you can see the square of land that was already developed for Disney's Asian Resort.


This was to be the first of the monorail line expansion resorts, but plans for it were canceled. This resort was even featured in Walt Disney World literature available in the early 1970s. There was a resort built on the site that was planned for this resort. The Grand Floridian, opened in 1988, occupies the land originally developed for The Asian Resort.

The second resort that was scrapped was Disney's Venetian Resort.


This resort was to be built between the Contemporary Resort and the Transportation and Ticket Center on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon. It was to be themed after Venice, Italy, and was to be connected to the monorail line. This project was scrapped and enjoyed a short rebirth during the 80s and 90s when the concept for the Mediterranean Resort was developed. This was also scrapped although land had been cleared for its development.

The third resort was the Persian Resort.


This resort was to be built not on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon, but on Bay Lake. Early concept drawings of it had a monorail spur line running from the resort to Tomorrowland. This resort was also scrapped.

Although these resorts never came to be, they have become a part of Disney Lore and a very serious point of speculation and discussion by many Disney fans. I will leave you with an aerial view of the area surrounding Seven Seas Lagoon from the early 70s. See if you can pick out where these resorts were supposed to go.


Till next time, have a great Disney day!!!!!

The Other Side of the World...

One of the things that I have learned in my license plate collecting is this: The bigger the resort, the more license plates. Where Walt Disney World has had literally hundreds of license plates produced for it, there have been but a fraction of that number that have been produced for the park that started it all, Disneyland in California. This week I have decided to leave Walt Disney World for a little while and share some of my Disneyland license plates. These are not all, but rather just a sampling of what can be found for WDW's older but smaller sibling.






The last one was actually sent to me as a free bonus for an auction that I won on ebay, so I can't really complain about the condition. Till next time have a great Disney day!!!

Diamonds in the Rough...

In a previous post I talked about mistakes that have been made with some of the license plates that have made their way into the hands of the general public. The most notable ones have been the mistakes that were made on the 1970 WDW pre-opening license plates:



These are just two of the error plates that made their way into circulation. There are others such as the green mis-cut, which has no white printing and is a little longer than the plate above with the edge of another plate attached to it. There is also a double plate that has been found as well as several other mis-cuts. Steve Garner has some great pictures of these errors on his website if you would like to see them.

The main subject of this post, however, is a little gem that was discovered by my younger brother while searching for license plates on one of his WDW vacations. We have developed the habit of looking through literally every single license plate on every rack we come across just in case there are any variants in the pile. It was during one of these searches that my brother ran across this plate:


For the sake of comparison, here is what it's supposed to look like:


The error on my brother's plate, although pretty obvious, is made all the more interesting when it's observed first-hand. Not only is there an error on the Mickey, but all of the black print on the license plate is shifted over to the left. This being an aluminum plate, all of the lettering is raised when the plate is stamped, and the lettering for the word "STUDIOS" is shifted in such a manner that the lettering itself sits on the flat of the plate while the raised sections remain blank. In my opinion this plate is truly a rare find in that it's one of those errors that's just a glitch in the printing process that may not have been duplicated more than a couple of times, making this license plate a true "Diamond in the Rough."

Now, as a bonus for making everyone wait so long for a new post, I want to share another Disney MGM Studios license plate. This was a cast member only issue many years ago. The special thing about this license plate is not that it was only issued to cast members, but that it was also issued with a letter from Dick Nunis thanking them for all of their hard work. This is not by any means the norm with Disney license plates, cast member or otherwise. Normally they are simply issued en masse to the public or the cast members or to the appropriate group in the case of opening team and other exclusive commemorative plates. This plate is one of the true gems of my collection as I was able to not only acquire the plate but also the original copy of the letter that was issued with it:





I truly hope you enjoyed this post and I hope that I can get back to a somewhat regular posting schedule again very soon. Till next time, Have a wonderful Disney day!!!

Even Cast Members Get Left Out...

As I've posted here before, there have been many license plates that are produced specifically for cast members. These license plates are not available to the public except through auction sites like ebay, and sometimes through more esoteric channels (a friend of a friend of a friend knows a guy...). Some of these license plates are very highly sought after and the prices of these plates have soared into the hundreds of dollars on very regular occasions.

There are times when being a cast member isn't even enough. Disney has, on numerous occasions, gone even deeper and separated specific groups of cast members from the rest. These specific groups have, much to their good fortune, been the recipients of some very hard to find license plates. Who are these cast member groups? What makes them so special?

The groups that I am speaking of are the Opening Teams. Cast members who are in some way associated with the opening of a new resort, attraction, or even a park. Disney has established a history of producing Opening Team license plates which are distributed only to these cast members. This means a limited number are produced and distributed, oftentimes making these license plates more valuable than even other cast member plates. If you are a collector and you have to good fortune to run across one of these for a decent price, buy it, they don't show up very often.