Kidnap the Magic: Disneyland Christmas Ornaments

We can start thinking about Christmas decorations now, right?

One year, my Christmas decorations revolved around a Disneyland theme. Before you roll your eyes and go “Well, duh,” you should be aware that I choose a different decorating scheme every year, and usually it's color-based. For instance, this year, my colors are red, green, gold, and purple.

But one year, I just couldn't settle on a palette for some reason, so I went with Disneyland. I used all the various mouse-eared ornaments I've picked up at the park itself, tied loops of string to my die-cast ride vehicles to turn them into ornaments and since that wasn't enough to really fill out my tree...I made a bunch more. I made an entire set based on the Small World Promenade Wreaths, using 6” snowflake ornaments as backdrops. I gave those away to a friend some years ago, but I still have some others that I put together:

And I do mean put together. These ornaments are assemblages of elements. Disneyland is far from my only subject matter when it comes to creating ornaments like these,* but I'm sure it's the one you're interested in. They're actually pretty easy to make, if time-consuming...but you do need special materials that are not necessarily easy to acquire. Said materials are as follows:

It Came From the Fandom: The Disney Experience

I don't like doing one of these only three weeks after the last one, but it was just Halloween—my time and thoughts have been very occupied with matters other than this blog.

Anyway, this one is a lot of fun. The Disney Experience is a website dedicated to cataloguing creative resources for Disney fans. It's more addressed to general Disney fandom than the Disney theme park fandom specifically, but there is a lot of theme park related content, and crucially, the website treats it as its own facet of the Disney brand rather than making the common mistake of treating the parks as a mere spinoff of the film properties.

I want to call special attention to the paper model “kits” (actually downloadable PDF files) featured as their own category, as this is where the best theme park material is concentrated. If you have access to a color printer, a detailed, accurate model of the iconic Disney structure of your choice is within your reach!*

Other points of interest include:

• Paper dolls and other crafts that are not the elaborate models.
• Tools for customizing a personal computer with a Disney theme, including desktop wallpapers, mouse pointer sprites, and—my personal favorite—fonts!
• Special events and contests and whatnot.
• Validation for anyone who was worried that they were alone in their Disney obsession.

Poke around and see if you find anything you like!

* Provided, that is, your choice is one of the Castles, Haunted Mansions, Snow White's Wishing Well, the old Disneyland marquee...

Kidnap the Magic: Wonderland Leaves

With Easter less than a week away, you might be thinking about spring and summer decorating motifs for your home and garden. It's the season of leaves and flowers, and for some people, there's no need to be weird about it—real plants and/or realistic silk floral will be fine. But some of us might prefer something a little more...specific. More stylized. More relevant to our unique interests.

More like the art of Mary Blair, amirite?

 Mmmmmm...artistic...

Kidnap the Magic: NOS Holiday Wall Decoration

Don't you love New Orleans Square during the holidays? I do. It's totally gorgeous.

Oooooh!

Aaaaaaaahhhh!

Damn, I miss the Court of Angels.

These days, the lampposts receive arrays of décor like this:

Originally, though, they were decorated in a slightly more restrained fashion with the ornaments on and in a base of evergreen. That's how it was some years ago when I decided to try my own version of a New Orleans Square-style Christmas decoration, and that's what I'm going to instruct you in here. Since very few of us have 19th-Century vintage wrought-iron lampposts handy to hang things on, this can go on your wall or door, like a wreath. It's a very modular project, and no glue is involved so you can disassemble it after the holidays are over and perhaps try varying it up in years to come! You can find most of what you need at any big craft store such as Michael's or Jo-Ann's.

Kidnap the Magic: Small World Promenade Holiday Wreath

One of the most distinctive holiday decorating schemes at Disneyland can be found on the Small World Promenade. While Chester* rocks his Santa hat and colored lights, fourteen white wreaths themed to different countries and regions as depicted on the ride line the walkway, building anticipation via their familiar central insignia and “supporting casts” of witty ornaments.

I don't know who in Imagineering is responsible for this...but I like it! So much so that several years ago, I made a set of tree ornaments based on the wreaths, using snowflakes as the base (since I couldn't find white mini-wreaths at an economical price) and variously shaped sequins for the ornaments. But this is Kidnap the Magic, and I'm going to offer you a more ambitious project: An actual wreath decorated the same way as the ones in the park, scaled down just enough to fit comfortably in the average home.

Armchair Imagineering: Arts & Crafts Shop

 (I originally posted this piece on DeviantArt long before I thought about dedicating an entire blog to my Disneyland observations and insights. I thought this would be a good time to post it here, inasmuch as we're heading into the holiday season, a very crafty time of year.)

Disneyland is all about imagination. Imaginative people create. Therefore, what could be more natural than an arts & crafts shop right in the park? Indeed, various craft supply lines have been carried there in the past, only to be phased out in favor of more generic, perhaps more high-turnover merchandise. But the time is right to bring them back! “Craftiness” is on the rise, as attested by the success of websites such as Etsy and Pinterest, and searching “Disney” or “Disneyland” on any such site is bound to bring up thousands of examples of creative works by fans. Why not cater to them directly? Let the park inspire its guests, and let the guests indulge their inspirations right on the spot in a retail facility made for the purpose! Everyone wins!

Such a shop could be installed almost anywhere in the park—given the tendency to have the larger retail locations carry redundant lines of merchandise, it could very well take over space from the Emporium, Pioneer Mercantile, or Star Trader without reducing Disneyland's ability to carry the more conventional items. The Disney Showcase is another shop that seldom offers anything not available in other spots nearby, and its prime location at the corner where Town Square meets Main Street makes it a great, eye-catching place to promote the new concept. It offers space enough to display a wide variety of items and can support the do-it-yourself design kiosks mentioned further down.

What sorts of arts and crafts supplies would be included in this “wide variety of items?” Almost anything! One shelf could be devoted to sewing, with bolts of fabric, sewing patterns, thread, and notions. Another could offer scrapbooking papers and embellishments. A third could present plaster figurines and paints to decorate them. Window displays would show off examples of finished works. Each section would feature a decorative sculpture of an appropriately creative character—Rapunzel for paints and canvas, Geppetto for woodworking, Cinderella's mice for sewing. And of course, many of the products inside would be Disney-specific, featuring popular characters. Pre-packaged kits for everything from Princess doll clothes to model Cars would drive home the point and give overwhelmed newbie crafters a place to start.

The most exciting merchandise, however, would be craft supplies that evoke not just Disney animation and characters, but the very theme park the shop resides in. Disney films are mainstream—if you want a few yards of Sleeping Beauty fleece to make a blanket for a child's bed, you can get it at Jo-Ann's. But if you're agog at the sight of Sleeping Beauty Castle and want to render it in cross-stitch, the instructions to do so don't exist in the outside world (except, perhaps, if devised by one of the aforementioned Etsy crafters). At this shop, they would, along with numerous other ideas and supplies to create a piece of Disneyland at home.

If all this seems a bit too slanted toward adult guests, not to worry—there would be plenty here for children too. An “Imagination Station” consisting of two or three computer kiosks would allow kids (and adults) to choose from pre-existing graphical elements (e.g. Disney characters, background scenes, text) in order to compose a design which they could then have printed as a poster, tee-shirt, or other souvenir and pick up later in the day. Most magical of all would be daily lessons in creating a simple themed craft, hosted by a Cast Member...or even a face character! This event (like the similar character drawing lesson in California Adventure) would be free to participate in, but the smaller class size would necessitate advance sign-ups in order to prevent overcrowding. Between the scheduled lessons, the tables would be stocked with Disneyland-themed coloring pages and crayons, also free to use.

Hardcore fans of Disneyland tend to lament the homogenization of in-park merchandise and the over-reliance on film- and character-related items that can easily be found outside—the net effect of which seems to make Disneyland less special. Management prefers such things because their instant recognizability—even to first-time guests—makes them easy to move. By combining character imagery with unique lines of merchandise that play to popular, growing hobbies, a compromise that enhances both factors can be reached. Disneyland and its guests deserve an arts and crafts shop!

Kidnap the Magic: How to Be a Theme Park for Halloween

This is a first for this blog: a Kidnap the Magic entry about something other than a themed party! I have numerous Disneyland-related craft project ideas, some of which I've actually done, but I haven't shared any yet because I haven't yet gotten in the habit of photo-documenting my works in progress. I did get a few good pics of this one, though, and the time is definitely right!

So a couple years ago, I was fortunate enough to attend Mickey's Halloween Party, the separately ticketed event that runs at Disneyland during the Halloween season. It's pretty much the only time when adults are allowed to enter the park in full-on, unambiguous costumes, and boy, did the guests ever take advantage of the fact. Practically everyone there was in some kind of Disney character costume. Many were obviously store-bought, but quite a few more were just as obviously homemade. Some people even went as Disneyland characters, such as the Haunted Mansion's Tightrope Walker AKA Alligator Gal, or recognizable individual buccaneers from Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who showed up dressed as a ride, though.

I decided at the outset that I wanted to have a costume directly related to Disneyland, and not just to Disney's film library. When I hit on the idea of going as the “it's a small world” Clock Tower...I couldn't not do it. That's the sort of inspiration that strikes maybe once a year. Suddenly my head was full of ways to translate all those blocky shapes and clock gizmos into clothing on a human figure. I knew I had a winner.

I also knew I had my work cut out for me. The problem with choosing such an offbeat, niche-interest costume as the Clock Tower—or any other Disneyland icon that didn't originate in a movie—is that there are few to no pre-existing resources to help you out. From design to execution, you have to come up with it all yourself.

Wait...did I say “problem?” I meant invigorating challenge. There's a lot of satisfaction in creating your own unique costume and wearing it in a setting where it will be appreciated. If that sort of challenge sounds like your spinning cup of tea, read on while I walk you through the phases of my own such project.