When you don’t know your shoe size

…send Santa a tracing of your foot!

Because ol' Chris really wanted some roller blades under the tree back in 1994.

John’s got some coloring to do…

John is working on our new park map. This is for the printed map you get here at the park, the one we offer for download on our website, plus it it will be utilized with our new HoliWatch system.

This was sitting on his desk yesterday…

I asked John if Santa was bringing him a new set of colored pencils for Christmas. Looks like he'll be wearing his current set down to the nubs coloring all these maps.

Here's a crop showing The Raven.


This is still in the "draft" stage, of course. We'll let you know when the final version is available.

So where are his mouse ears?

Matt and his family are vacationing in Orlando this week.

Baby Drew is spreading the word about that other family park…

Baby Drew at Disney World

Matt texted me some crazy message yesterday about getting his picture taken with Doogie Howser. The text included an inordinate number of exclamation points (which irritates me no end … and Matt knows it).

So there's story and a photo to come. But no extra exclamation points. Matt used them all up.

Let’s just hope …

…this isn't the company in charge of theming our new ride.

Poor Mike.

I asked him how construction is going.

Here's his silent reply:

Pirates Plunge?

 

“You’ll shoot your eye out!”

Say that famous phrase to Will and you'll get no response.

Because–somehow–Santa's grandson has never seen A Christmas Story.

WWRD?

Our discovery of this lapse in Will's education came early last year. Wayne, our Games Director, was planning a trip to Cleveland to view the latest plush offerings.

"Say hi to Ralphie!" I chirped.

Lots of grins around the conference table. Nearly everyone knew that portions of the movie involving Ralphie's house were shot in Cleveland. In fact, a museum had just opened in the house used for the exterior shots.

But not Will. His brow furrowed.

"Who's Ralphie?"

The room erupted.

You know: "You'll shoot your eye out!"

"Randy lay there like a slug; it was his only defense."

The Red Ryder BB gun.

"The Bumpus hounds!"

You'll get worms!

"The leg lamp! A major award!"

It was, well, mayhem.

Will went from looking confused to almost worried. He waited for the room to calm before asking:

"What are you talking about?"

Once again, everyone spoke at once. Only this time it was louder. As if shouting, "You know — A Christmas Story!" would somehow reach that portion of his brain that held forgotten memories.

Will shook his head, dazed. We moved on.

The next day, I brought in my family's DVD of the movie. I was certain when he saw Ralphie's round face he'd know what we were all talking about.

Nope.

I offered to let Will borrow our copy. Heck, he could keep it. Merry Christmas.

I checked this morning. Will still hasn't watched it.

His emailed response to my query: Unfortunately, I haven't watched it yet (sorry about not returning it). I guess I could be convinced to watch it given the appropriate pressure.

And so, dear readers, I turn to you. Surely one of you has the words of persuasion I somehow lack. Would you take a moment or two to post a comment for Will to read that might somehow convince him viewing A Christmas Story will right a terrible wrong?

Come on, give it a try.

I triple-dog dare you.

Pointy-toed elves?

Some very reasonable questions have been posed over the years in Letters to Santa:


Here, let's crop that a little tighter to make it easier to read:

Having saved so many remarkable letters from over the decades, we thought it would be fun to show one a day leading up to Christmas.

And maybe even an occasional envelope.