Kidologist.com: Karl Bastian's Personal Site and Blog
Archive for Disney
January 23, 2012 at 2:05 pm · Filed under Adventures, Children's Ministry, Disney, Kidmin, Teaching
I just got home from a week at Walt Disney World after CPC Orlando. I was lucky enough to be at Magic Kingdom the same day as the President of the United States! (or was I?) When we entered the main gates we discovered that Main Street was closed to normal low class citizens such as myself and my family:
A nice wall said, “You are not important enough to get to see Main Street today.” (See the metal detector door?)
Secret Service agents and other White House personnel roamed around where we were unable to go. So how were we to get to the rides? We had to enter through a side gate and go around the ugly backstage of Main Street… not the best of circumstances… right?
But leave it to Disney to make a bad situation into something fun and unique!
Too bad a camera doesn’t capture sound (Apple, are you working on that?) There was lively music playing, employees with Micky gloves on waving us through, giant flags and floats from the parades to see.
Disney took what could have been a very negative situation and made it into something fun and festive!
They even set up some photo opportunities along the way:
Luke posed in front of a Treasure Float that was very shiny and glittery and…
I posed in front of a Giant Crocodile!
By just putting a little creativity and energy into it, they turned a boring walk through the backstage into a fun detour. Later, Main Street was open again, but we felt like we got to see some things that most visitors to Magic Kingdom don’t get to see… so it was special instead of a bummer.
(And we got to see President Obama later from the People Mover posing with the Royal Family in front of the Disney Castle, which was kinda cool!)
When things go bad in ministry, instead of considering it a negative – instead, think of it as an opportunity to be creative! People will end up thinking it was a special Sunday instead of a bummer if you just put a little time and creativity into creating an environment and experience that is unique.
BONUS: One of my pictures was Featured on MagicalTrash.com
August 12, 2011 at 12:44 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Creativity, DiscipleTown, Disney, Kidology, Teaching, Toybox Tales
I’m always on the look out for ministry tools in the most unusal of places… as I explain in the Kids Church Cookbook, you can’t wait until you NEED a ministry tool to looking for it, you must already have it when you think, “I wish I had a… oh! I do!” Because you are a collector of odd ball #kidmin things!
Well, on vacation I went to an antique outlet mall and saw this action figure from the semi-recent Disney release Prince of Persia (which was a pretty cool movie, by the way, if you didn’t see it.)
Now, if you’ve been a fan of ToyBoxTales.com you know I’m a collector of action figures and have a wall of them labeled by their usefulness in teaching videos. (The site now features Object Talks on the home page, the videos featured in DiscipleTown, the kids church curriculum I write, so search the archives for nearly 100 videos with action figures!)
I picked up this dude because I think he looks like he could be a Bible Character!
MY QUESTION TO YOU: Which Bible Character do YOU think Prince Dastan could play in a ToyBox Tale? And why? Who does he look like, biblically speaking?
March 2, 2009 at 10:11 am · Filed under Disney, Found on Web, Humor
For all those parents out there who have little boys obsessed with all things Cars. Now you can explain to your child how Cars can be alive:
Move over, Darth Vader, there is a new generation of half-machine; half-man! And his name is Lightening McQueen! Seems even grown-ups can still use their imaginations!
November 11, 2008 at 11:32 pm · Filed under Disney, Family, Luke
One of the highlights of our trip to California was getting to take our little boy to Disneyland for the first time. He has a Disneyland Sing-along DVD that his Aunt Meepa gave him, so he’s known where we were going as the days got closer. As I’m sure millions of other parents have experienced, the real joy of a Disney park is getting to watch a young child experience it.
The first “ride” was the shuttle from the parking garage and already Luke was all smiles and excited! His joy kept us going all day long.
Here we are at the first Photo-Op. I grew up close to Disneyland, so even though Walt Disney World is bigger and in some ways better, I still like Disneyland in California the best.
What fun to be showing my son around a place I came countless times as a child. Oh, the memories I have in this magical place, and its surprised me how much it looked exactly as I remembered it.
We had silly fun everywhere, even in the stores.
Of course, Mommy found the Tea Cups!
There are so many little things to explore. Walt sure knew kids.
One of our main goals was to meet Mickey Mouse. So when we found his house, Luke was beside himself with excitement!
Soon we were heading in to Mickey’s Mouse’s House!!
AND FINALLY, WE MET THE MAN! Er, THE MOUSE HIMSELF!!
But Mickey wouldn’t be so friendly if he found out that his dear Minnie had a thing for Luke! We got pictures with a bunch of the Disney characters, but I think the highlight for Luke was discovering Mickey’s car which he pointed out to me all by himself, “Mickey Mouse Car Daddy! Mickey Mouse Car!” as he ran over.
You can always count on Lukie McQueen to discover any cars!
Luke spent more time in Mickey’s car than he did with the Mouse himself!
Turns out there are lots of things to drive at Disneyland! Soon Luke was pointing out all the cars, and he went on Autopia over and over. (We had almost no lines the two days we went)
Finally, Luke got to be the driver and daddy the passenger. (Who helped a little)
This truly is the Happiest Place on Earth!
No where else can a two year old get to actually drive so many different types of vehicles. He was in heaven!
There’s just something about being behind the wheel for a boy of any age.
Luke was filled with gratitude and kisses all day long!
I’ve always enjoyed amusement parks but it’s such an incredible joy to experience Disneyland as a parent taking a child. I loved every second of it, even though my wallet and feet were sore by the end of the day, it was worth it. We’ll definitely be back in February! (When I go to CPC in San Diego)
