Building the Disney Man Cave

This past spring break both of our kids had school trips planned. One traveled to Washington D.C. and the other to New York. My wife and I decided to take a weekend trip up to Andy's home state of Minnesota. On deck was a trip to the Mall of America, Ikea, The Container Store and what ever else suited us. Of course at the Mall we had to visit the Disney Store. Lots of neat things in there including a full size marionette of Pinocchio (with stings) that was for sale. I wanted to buy it but could not justify the cost. On our first night we returned to the Mall for dinner at "Cantina 1" A Mexican restaurant located on the top floor. The restaurant has windows facing into the mall, and earlier in the day when we walked by the food looked amazing. There was a huge mariachi statue outside the door. I had Emily take a picture of me with it on her phone and I sent it out to many of the team voice members. Some received the picture, some only the text, and some I don't think got it at all. Jonathan was texting me through dinner trying to figure out who I was.
To sum up "Cantina 1" the food did not live up to its appearance. I ordered Diablo chicken. Now even if you don't know Spanish, you only need to have eaten at other Mexican restaurants to know that when you see the word Diablo on the menu its going to be spicy. This dish was so bland Gordon Ramsey's head would have exploded. I questioned the waitress and she said that I had the correct dish. We will not go back. So that's the first part of a long over due trip report. Now to explain how the Disney Man Cave is coming together.


On day two of our trip we decided to travel over to Stillwater and browse the local antique shops. I was looking for Disney items and I discovered a lot of very interesting items, I made two purchases. The first being the Snow White LP you see framed on the wall here. In the 70's many record company's market their vinyl releases in photo discs. These were fully playable recordings that contained images under clear vinyl. The pressing I found does not have a single scratch on the album. The only little defect is on the album cover itself where someone has removed the original price sticker. This album was the inspiration for the wall leading down into the Disney Man Cave. Also in this first photo is the lithograph that Jonathan sent me for being the runner up in the AATM logo contest, the 2009 marathon photo collage, the poster I won at the "we go on meet", and my lanyard of Disney pins. Click the photos for greater detail. On the collage I am the forth runner in from the top right corner.


In the photo above I have framed the lithographs that came packaged in the Disney Treasures "Chronological Donald Duck Volumes 1-4" and a fifth from Disney Treasures "On the Front Lines" I am also including family photos from past trips.

In the picture below is the other purchase I made in Stillwater. From Pepsi Cola's 1977 Happy Birthday Mickey Glassware collection comes Donald Duck with his nephews, whom you can see reflected in the mirror. This collection featured the fab five and the other glasses where available. I had two reasons for only buying Donald. First is that I am collecting Donald stuff. The second is that the printing of the Mickey glass was smeared. Had it not been, I "might just might" have bought them all. Also in this photo is a Jim Shore Donald that my wife gave me for my Birthday last March. And of course my half marathon medal.


More Disney Man Cave updates will follow as things go up. But I can't close today without going back to Stillwater on more time. Stillwater has that old Main Street USA feeling to it. If you ever visit you'll really enjoy the shops, some are much larger inside than they appear outside and your sure to find something. For lunch you have to stop into Leo's Grill and Malt Shop. I had the Blackened Blue Burger, it was without any doubt the best burger I have ever had. So hey good things do come from my northern neighbor.