Cell phone holder from Disney Paris

Cell phone holder
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

Isn't this awesome? I kind of wish I'd thrown another one into my shopping basket, so I could actually use it. (Of course, if I did that as much as I think of it, I wouldn't be able to use my desk any more, as it would be too crowded with knick knacks.)

Ooooh, shiny!

Twirling light
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

Here's a few of the electronic toys I found at Paris Disney.

This first one is pretty keen. Seems that all of the parks have toys with about the same concept: push a button, and it lights up and twirls. They're a lot of fun to carry around after dark while you're actually running around the park.



Then this is your basic outer space zap gun. The tricky part with this guy was finding one in the pile that still worked! Most of them had been "tested" enough that evidently the batteries had worn out.



Now, here is the most interesting toy of the lot: if you've been to Disney World, you may have seen a suspiciously similar toy outside the Stitch's Great Escape ride. That one is finished in a metallic paint. This one is just repainted (or maybe more accurately, unpainted), and they even use a logo that's nearly like the SGE logo! This is probably something they have outside the Stitch Encounter ride at Paris. At some point, I'm actually gonna leave enough time to go INTO that darned park, and give you guys a full report, instead of just running out to the shopping mall and grabbing a bunch of stuff. Ah, well.



Aha, found it! Here's a piccie of the WDW toy. Note the similarities of the tag?

Supercollectors are annoying and stuff

Stitch Yoda and Emperor
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

You've PROBABLY seen these before. Ah, but have you?

If you collect Stitch stuffs, and you're even mildly aware of some little Science Fiction films known as the Star Wars saga, then you probably already have these adorable Stitch-as-Yoda and Stitch-as-Emperor Palpatine figures.

At least, that's what I thought, until Mr. Tikistitch's buddy Duncan asked us to poke around DRP to see if there was any Star Tours merch with the Paris logo on it. The sharp-eyed Mr. Tiki noticed first a pack of Star Tours action figures with the DRP logo on the box. Then I picked up these action figures and noticed that they, too, had a DRP logo on the card. And, significantly, it wasn't just a sticker, it was actually printed on the card.

We started mooching around the Star Tours section and shortly discovered that EVERY SINGLE PIECE included the DRP logo. That is, if you're a completist, even if you already owned every single piece, you would have to go to the Paris Disney resort and buy it all again, just to get that damn logo!!!

I snapped up the two Stitch figures, muttering darkly to myself. Oh, and the backs of the carded figures are also bilingual. Thing is, I was pretty jet-lagged, and if it weren't for the fact that Duncan is obsessive about this kind of thing, I would have been blissfully unaware of the variation. Stupid supercollectors.

The Stitchies have landed!

Plush DJ Stitch
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

Yup, my box from Disney Resort Paris finally caught up with me, so Mr. Tikistitch brang it in last night. THANKYOU, GERMAN POST OFFICE!

So, herewith some more detailed information. I'm starting with plushies, because, they're keen. This guy is a DJ Stitch. According to a chum, there was actually a full-sized DJ Stitch jamming on tunes at DL Paris last summer. (She got a hug from him - squee!) The plushie version is all set to jam, with an LP, DJ headphones, and kewl shades.



Also, we have a cutie Raincoat Stitch, for those grey spring days.



This Stitch wants you to have fun! But, number 10, and not 626???



This one is kind of neat, if you want to give a Stitch as a cadeau, here he is, already with his own gift bag!



And finally, for those who do not feel properly dressed unless they are head to to in Stitch, the Stitch ears top hat, and Stitch fuzzy slippers!

Stitch invades the Paris for You! book

Paris for You! book
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

This one is courtesy Mr. Tikistitch, since our first day in Paris I was too totally jet lagged to think of going through the pamphlet selection in our hotel to look for our fuzzy blue alien friend.

Anyways, this is the back cover of the book, which is basically a generic guide to Paris. What intrigues: doesn't it look like that Stitch is actually a picture of the Medicom life sized vinyl figure?

BTW, my Paris Disney finds are still languishing in Customs. Not sure what the hold up is.

Disneyland Paris Stitch Ceramics

Disneyland Paris Stitch Ceramics
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

Going to run down to join Jedi Con in a bit, but wanted to update on Paris Disney.

We flew into Paris-CDG Thursday morning, and, as our hotel was not ready for checkin, we stumbled out, groggy and jet lagged to Marne la Vallee, the metro stop for the Disney parks. It's awfully convvenient to take the metro to Euro Disney, though of the task of actually buying metro tickets, probably the less said the better. I am given to understand even the Parisiennes despise the new automatic ticket machines.

I've been to Paris Disney twice, but have yet to actually pay admission and enter one of the parks! Because we were so pressed for time this trip, we chose to instead to saunter around the shopping mall at the entrance while I swiftly tossed plush toys into the basket Mr. Tikistitch was holding. (He calls himself my "Chief Sherpa.")

We got back in time to finally check into our hotel, collapse for a couple of hours, and then dash out to dinner with some friends and a drive to see the sparkly Eiffel Tower. Then the next morning (at least I think it was morning, though jet lag was still in full force) after an aborted mission to find a cardboard box suitable for mailing, we shared lunch with some other chums, and then dashed to the train station to make our way to Dusseldorf for the con. (We had exactly ONE MINUTE to change trains in Cologne, toting all our luggage, which included not only my Paris findings but several copies of Gus and Duncan's extremely heavy book. I think this was a fairly awesome example of travel stud-ery.)

Anyways, last night at our arrival in Dusseldorf we hooked up with some jolly Swedish buddies, and after several beers, and then several more beers, and then just one more beer, we crashed for a few hours. I spent the morning trying to locate an empty cardboard box, and then a German post office, both missions finally being concluded successfully just in the last hour. My plushies are on their way home!

Oh, and the ceramics: From Disney Paris. Cute, huh? I took a couple of pictures before I shipped them home. Now I'm just hoping the German post office takes better care of them than I've experienced with France or the UK. Shipping from Europe is always a gamble.

Disneyland Paris Stitch

Disneyland Paris Stitch
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

Some may wonder if tiki has possibly fallen off Intarnets of late. But, NO!

Instead, we have been on a perilous seekrit mission to PARIS DISNEYLAND. We went to assess the Stitch-uation. Here is our booty!