To Independence Day... And Beyond! July 2022 Exercise Challenge

[sophy1996]

30-minute walk

555/1400

Interesting info, Elizabeth Smith! I looked into Disney World War II history awhile back. Disney Studios produced more than 1,200 insignias for military units. Just about every character was used. Here's an article showing some of the various designs. And here's an interesting article about the WASP insignia, which was a Disney design based on a Roald Dahl character.

 

[Oneanne]

No color changes, but our team is on the verge of Amber! Keep up the good work!

Did you know that during WWII, Walt Disney Studios was commandeered by the US military? This move, plus the loss of many employees of the Walt Disney company to the service, really hampered film production. But Walt tried to be as supportive as he could anyway, and allowed the use of Disney characters, free of charge, to be mascots for of the military and decorations for airplanes. Walt produced shorts to encourage the purchase of war bonds and support of the troops. The 1943 feature film “Victory Through Air Power” promoted the use of long range bombers to win the war and was probably the most significant contribution of Walt Disney to the war effort. It wasn't exactly a box office hit, but it did make an impression on the Allied commanders, so for that reason it was a success.
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While I was looking at the topic for today, I found out that the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA just opened an exhibit called The Walt Disney Studios and World War II. The exhibit debuted at the Walt Disney Family Museum last year and features over 550 different historical artifacts from this time in the Walt Disney Company's history.

Of course, there are some problems with the propaganda films that Disney produced during WWII, and many of those issues are outlined in this article from Smithsonian Magazine.

This period of Disney history is not one of the more popular, but I personally find it fascinating!

I have a stay-cation coming up the first week of August and made note of the exhibit at Museum of Flight, as I had forgotten about it. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago I went to a local event called 'Mouse Meet' where the organizers bring in different guest speakers and one of the sessions I went to was a Disney Historian who specialized in the stories about the plane logos and Disney Artists helping to design them. It wasn't something I was particularly interested in going in, but turned out to be really interesting.

 

[Oneanne]

+20

140/465

Slowly, slowly...

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

30-minute walk

555/1400

Interesting info, Elizabeth Smith! I looked into Disney World War II history awhile back. Disney Studios produced more than 1,200 insignias for military units. Just about every character was used. Here's an article showing some of the various designs. And here's an interesting article about the WASP insignia, which was a Disney design based on a Roald Dahl character.

Thanks for sharing that! I really love those insignia designs.

 

[Raya]

Speaking of Walt and his patriotic efforts - I got to attend a screening of Walt's films for soldiers "Cleanliness Brings Health" at NIH/NLM. There's definitely some racist ideas but you can watch the whole film (it's only 16 minutes) here at 40:56: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-100961822-vid

 

[Bethislucy]

Adding 83 mins for Tuesday 306/1400.

If y'all could send some pixie dust my way I would appreciate. My family Dr called and had to reschedule my pre op stuff with her which is throwing everything up in the air. She can fit me in today but that means the surgery is too far out (by 2 days) and it has to be moved if they can. I'm not mad it may be early because I'm tired of my foot hurting all the time but I'm worried I'm going to go today for nothing because they can't get the surgery scheduled sooner and then not only will it be pushed back but I'll waste the money on todays apt. Thanks for letting me vent a little I'm not normally a worry but this is stressing me a little bit.

 

[Raya]

Adding 83 mins for Tuesday 306/1400.

If y'all could send some pixie dust my way I would appreciate. My family Dr called and had to reschedule my pre op stuff with her which is throwing everything up in the air. She can fit me in today but that means the surgery is too far out (by 2 days) and it has to be moved if they can. I'm not mad it may be early because I'm tired of my foot hurting all the time but I'm worried I'm going to go today for nothing because they can't get the surgery scheduled sooner and then not only will it be pushed back but I'll waste the money on todays apt. Thanks for letting me vent a little I'm not normally a worry but this is stressing me a little bit.

Doctor stuff is so fustrating! I hope you can watch videos and concentrate on Disney Joy until you know how it's all going to work out.

 

[sophy1996]

Adding 83 mins for Tuesday 306/1400.

If y'all could send some pixie dust my way I would appreciate. My family Dr called and had to reschedule my pre op stuff with her which is throwing everything up in the air. She can fit me in today but that means the surgery is too far out (by 2 days) and it has to be moved if they can. I'm not mad it may be early because I'm tired of my foot hurting all the time but I'm worried I'm going to go today for nothing because they can't get the surgery scheduled sooner and then not only will it be pushed back but I'll waste the money on todays apt. Thanks for letting me vent a little I'm not normally a worry but this is stressing me a little bit.

Sending you best wishes and pixie dust. Totally understandable to be stressed about medical problems, especially when you’re in pain. Hope it gets resolved as you want it to!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Adding 83 mins for Tuesday 306/1400.

If y'all could send some pixie dust my way I would appreciate. My family Dr called and had to reschedule my pre op stuff with her which is throwing everything up in the air. She can fit me in today but that means the surgery is too far out (by 2 days) and it has to be moved if they can. I'm not mad it may be early because I'm tired of my foot hurting all the time but I'm worried I'm going to go today for nothing because they can't get the surgery scheduled sooner and then not only will it be pushed back but I'll waste the money on todays apt. Thanks for letting me vent a little I'm not normally a worry but this is stressing me a little bit.

 

[Oneanne]

Adding 83 mins for Tuesday 306/1400.

If y'all could send some pixie dust my way I would appreciate. My family Dr called and had to reschedule my pre op stuff with her which is throwing everything up in the air. She can fit me in today but that means the surgery is too far out (by 2 days) and it has to be moved if they can. I'm not mad it may be early because I'm tired of my foot hurting all the time but I'm worried I'm going to go today for nothing because they can't get the surgery scheduled sooner and then not only will it be pushed back but I'll waste the money on todays apt. Thanks for letting me vent a little I'm not normally a worry but this is stressing me a little bit.

 

[sophy1996]

60-minute Pilates class

615/1400

 

[Bethislucy]

Thanks everyone. I think it's all squared away now with a new surgery date of Aug 1. I'm hoping my family dr got everything done they need she didn't have a lot of info to go on either. So hopefully it all works out. Thank you again.

Just adding 35 mins for yesterday with all the craziness I didn't get to do everything. 341/1400.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

No individual color changes to report just yet, but the TEAM reached Amber Waves! Yippee!

Today, let's talk about the 1957 movie, Johnny Tremain!

This is a movie based off the 1944 book of the same name by author Esther Forbes. The story is set in the lead up to the Revolutionary war and its purpose was to impress upon its audience the importance of the struggle for American Liberties and freedoms! Hal Stalmaster starred as Johnny in the film, and interacted with key figures of America's founding such as Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. The movie also featured a stirring Disney anthem titled "The Sons of Liberty."

I'm fairly confident my class watched this in Social Studies in middle school. This song is so catchy.

Walt selected a portion of Johnny Tremain to be included in the first half of a May, 1957 Disneyland TV show episode called “The Liberty Story.” It was paired with the cartoon short “Ben and Me,” about Ben Franklin and the beginning of the Revolutionary War in Philadelphia. "Ben and Me" can be found on YouTube. Oddly, I don't think either "Johnny Tremain" or "Ben and Me" are on Disney+.

When Walt was introducing "The Liberty Story" program, he also announced the plans for a Liberty Street expansion to come to Disneyland, but that never materialized. I'm sure you can guess what that idea evolved into, but we'll talk about it later.

 

[Bethislucy]

Adding 64 mins for yesterday 405/1400

 

[Raya]

35 minutes in new shoes. it was like running on pillows y'all. so soft, so cushiony. There's nothing like fresh shoes.

318/650 - 49% <-- so close!

 

[sophy1996]

+130

745/1400

 

[PollyannaMom]

Mon-7/11 - 20
Tue-7/12 - 50
Wed-7/13 (skipped - went to the movies with DH & DS)
Thu-7/14 - 25
Fri-7/15 - 20

250/600

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

Hooray for color changes! Bethislucy and PollyannaMom have reached Amber Waves! sophy1996 and I have reached Great Plains Green!

I wish I had minutes to add today, but I feel weepy and unmotivated. LOL. It's one of those days that I feel like crying over everything. I just saw a comic about two cats and it made me teary eyed.

Anyway, I thought I'd pick up from last time. The Liberty Street expansion that never materialized in Disneyland eventually became the inspiration for Liberty Square in WDW. Something new I learned about Liberty Square is that the "Liberty Tree" featured therein has 13 branches with 13 lanterns hanging from it to represent the 13 original colonies. The 100+ year old oak tree was moved from six miles away on Disney’s Florida property to the square.

Liberty Square also features the restaurant Liberty Tree Tavern, which has one of my favorite desserts on property, the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. Yum. While Liberty Square has no restrooms in order to be accurate to the time period it represents, Liberty Tree Tavern has one upstairs for guests to use, but it is technically just outside of the land's perimeter. The restaurant has six themed rooms, each one based off a figure in American history: Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross, George Washington, John Paul Jones, Thomas Jefferson and Paul Revere.

In 2016 a show starring Sam Eagle, called “Muppets Present Great Moments In American History” premiered in Liberty Square, from the windows above The Hall of Presidents. It stopped running daily in 2019, but is brought back occasionally during holiday seasons, especially ones with a patriotic theme, like President’s Day and July 4th.

 

[PollyannaMom]

@Elizabeth Smith - Can't partial quote on my phone, but wanted to both sad the first part of your post and "love" the trivia part. - I knew there was a bathroom in the upstairs of the restaurant, but I never knew it was purposely over the edge so as not to really be in Liberty Square! And I have seen the Muppets do their thing there.

As for the weepies - I've had those days too! (I've been known to cry at McDonald's commercials.) - Sometimes you just need to put in a sad movie and let it all out.

 

[sophy1996]

50 minutes of walking

795/1400

We saw the last regularly scheduled day of the Muppets show in 2019. Quite cute!