#Would I have celebrated Galaxy's Edge or would the parks fan in me still been pissed at its existence in Disneyland proper

[disneydreamlights]

I’ve been thinking back throughout January 2021 and it’s lowkey absurd just how much of a comfort media SW has become for me.

Not because it is because in hindsight it’s stupidly obvious. We have one of the only fully fleshed out corruption arcs, the ultimate Heather(tm) type of character at least twice over to the point that the idea of one of them not resonating with me would’ve been a joke, a romance that embodies too many of my tropes, and a storyline that feels so in line with the messages that brought me into KH in the first place it was really only inevitable I’d be at least invested in this series.

But sometimes I really think about how much I went off about hating Star Wars since 2010 all over my different internet profiles and its just wild how I could go from hating SW on principle to being like “Hey um actually this wasn’t half bad like it’s not my favorite thing ever but I am getting some enjoyment” to “Well I guess this is where my brain latched onto we’re going to be in this for a month” to “ANAKIN” over the course of probably six or so months is so funny to me since I think I knew right from the start I actually liked this series (even the bad ones, for the most part) I just absolutely refused to admit it. Like is anything here high quality for modern standards? No probably not but I like them and that’s what matters.

#personal stuff #This feels very random but I've been thinking about the three panic attacks I've had in the last month #And how all three times after the initial attack subsided and I could think again it's been writing Anakin that's grounded me and brought me #back to the point where I didn't feel like I was going to spiral again into another one #It's funny because I'd normally haha how the mighty have fallen but I'm just glad it happened #Also while I'm in the tags I sometimes think about how I'd almost watched SW in high school #It was probably a little after the first thing that actually made me think about SW as something that could be interesting #(Some post a mututal reblogged back in like 2012 I don't remember it now) #And my dad and I were spending the afternoon at home while my sister and mom were doing something they needed to do #And my dad was going through Netflix to try to find something for us to watch since that was the point TV and modern pop culture started to #lose their appeal to me completely because I was getting more gratification from fanfiction and/or writing so my dad trying to find #something that I wanted to watch was just immensely difficult (as hard as it is now honestly but we spend less time alone at home now) #And he asked me if I was interested in Star Wars and despite having had my curiosity in the series briefly piqued because of that post I #said no I wasn't because he doesn't like SW at all and I didn't want to like the series because my family didn't and we moved on and put on #something else or we played Halo or something that I don't really remember now #And I just think about that interaction sometimes like...what would have happened differently had I gotten into the series then #Had I said ''Okay let's watch the first Star Wars it might be fun'' #Would I have celebrated Galaxy's Edge or would the parks fan in me still been pissed at its existence in Disneyland proper #Perhaps I'd be a lot more open with my family of what I like in SW and less conscious of my interest in the prequel era #Would I even be a prequel stan? Or would I be one of those ''OT only'' people with no regard for Padme or Anakin #Like maybe I would've just watched the movies and called it a night #It's like when I think about how I could've gotten into KH at age eight with CoM I don't regret the timing of when I got into it #But a part of me can't help but wonder ''What if?'' #Sometimes I go off in the tags as much as I go off in the main post and you know what? It's fine

[oh-boy-me]

I just read both the australia and museum post and the chaos levels are top tier, but like imagine the chaos that ensues if lord diavolo discovers about amusment parks and immediately just buys tickets to disneyland. Lucifer is basically the dad trying not to loose his children(lord diavolo included). Lord diavolo wanting to ride a loopy rollercoaster and just having the time of his life! (Also I highkey see diavolo ordering lucifer to make a disneyland in devildom tbh) Also mouse ear headbands!

This..... this took forever

Hey there anon!  Sorry it took literally a year to answer this!  If you’re still into Obey Me, I hope this was a pleasant surprise.

Also for the first time ever a scenario post is being put under the cut for length purposes.  This scenario is 2.6k words Jesus

Please note that the last time I went to Disney was in 2015, so anything that’s newer than that is taken from the extensive reading of Disney advice blogs I read in preparation for this post.  Anything older than that is likely from experience.

Also, I tried my best to keep this spoiler free for the attractions that can be affected by it.

--

So the Devildom DOES have the concept of amusement parks.  I slept on this ask for so long that we’ve learned about Devil’s Coast.  It seems to be more akin to a smaller-scale theme park, though.  Small-ish.  I’m used to NYC idk what constitutes as small.

Something like Disney World is on such a larger scale!!  When Diavolo heard about that, he knew they had to go.

They are going to Disney World in Orlando because it’s the only one I’ve been to.

Lucifer is REALLY getting tired of these field trips, but there would be no weird animals, and there would be no sobering lessons on global extinction events at a family-friendly amusement park.  He.  He can handle this.

Solomon has actually been banned from all Walt Disney theme parks.  We’re talking blacklist-level banned.  He’s barred from ever entering any Disney park ever again.  However, this was back in 1976, so this must be, like, his son or something, right?  There’s no way this is the same guy.  Thought the security guard who let him in.

What did Solomon do to get banned?  When asked, he only gave a curious hum.  “Yeah, I wonder.”

The place is split into four parks, so they’ll spend one day in each.

Barbatos continued to flex his power as the only one in the group with a brain cell, being sure to get them all fast passes.  He even set time back just for the passes while they were booking the rides they wanted to cut the lines for, so if they don’t get used he’s going to be very snippy.

Also for convenience sake this is taking place in an AU where everything is the same but COVID doesn’t exist to shut down some rides and attractions.

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

MC and Simeon basically have to coerce Lucifer into letting everyone run free instead of making them all line up with a walking rope all day.  He relents on the condition that everyone checks in periodically so he can at least know they haven’t killed anyone.

Nobody will check in except for maybe Beelzebub and those at Purgatory Hall.

Levi immediately gathered his fellow Star Wars fans (which basically meant calling over Mammon Belphie and Asmo and then pulling in two unsuspecting people suddenly given the title of “Star Wars fan”), and made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge.  There’s a LOT to do there and damn it if he wasn’t going to hit all of it.

First up for their group is the interactive Millennium Falcon Smuggler���s Run.  They fail the mission.  Levi’s pretty pissed, but everyone agrees that it was fun nonetheless.  They really felt like they were doing a mission in the Falcon!  Plus, the gameplay element was totally up the alley of most of this group.  Simeon does feel a little nauseous from Luke’s jerky steering, though.

Did you know that Diavolo loves Toy Story?  He does.  He’s very much enjoying the Slinky roller coaster with Barbatos.

Barbatos would rather be spending time at the shows and performances, but oh no god forbid we don’t get an autograph from Doc McStuffins.  Lucifer please come find him and save him.

Lucifer somehow wandered into the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.  He wants out.  Barbatos please come find him and save him.

In general, Lucifer isn’t a fan of these sorts of places, so honestly he’s just hiding from the others and waiting for today to be over.  Barbatos told him that there are parks that don’t revolve around rides and characters, and he’s holding out for those.

Luckily for them Diavolo wants to do LITERALLY everything, and that does include the shows, so Barbatos and Lucifer can have at least some fun today

Levi, Asmo, and Beel are about to start their relay for getting character autographs when Satan shows up out of nowhere and starts dragging everyone over to the Tower of Terror.  Solomon bars all attempts to flee on a certain Avatar of Greed’s side.

The line to the Tower is so long, and honestly?  Satan feels like the ride didn’t live up to the literal hour they waited to get on.  Like yeah it was fun, but way too short.

He voices those thoughts, and Levi, who Satan knows is afraid of heights, is pretty fucking livid and drags him to Rock n Rollercoaster as revenge.  Satan hates roller coasters.

As for the others, Asmo and Luke have a lot of fun on the thrill rides.  Mammon and Simeon do not.  Beel is a little spooked by them but still manages to have fun, while Belphie and Solomon think they’re alright.

Eventually, Simeon gets too sick to move, and they assign him to Luke.  They say it’s because he’s too short to ride some of the rides (even though he’s literally not, screw you guys.)

Barbatos messes with time a lil bit so they can enjoy the Fantasmic Show and Fireworks to wrap the day up.

Levi is very jealous of Diavolo’s Doc McStuffins autograph.  Somehow Asmo has Buzz Lightyear’s number.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Satan is vibrating

He literally instantly sprints to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  And good for him; that’s something best done while the sun isn’t high up.  The whole gang actually agrees to check that one out, and while Satan isn’t thrilled to be within 50 feet of Lucifer, he’s glad Simeon is there because he remembers how his presence lured animals out in Australia.

Simeon also finds himself pulled along the trails by Satan and parents watch in horror as a gorilla gives him a friendly pat on the back.

If you didn’t know, Animal Kingdom is divided into the two continents of Asia and Africa, as well as the secret eighth continent Avatar (2009).  Diavolo heard great things about the Flight of Passage ride, but he totally forgot to tell Barbatos about it, so they’re stuck on a three hour wait line now.

Levi takes Luke on the Everest roller coaster because Simeon saw it in the distance and looked like he was about to cry.  Levi wouldn’t shut up about how the yeti effect needs to be fixed and Solomon had to explain that the effect literally couldn’t support itself.

Simeon, having escaped a roller coaster for the first and only time on this trip, grabs lunch with Lucifer and Solomon and they enjoy the Lion King performance together.  Solomon’s the only one of them who’s seen the movie, but the others still found it fun.  Solomon keeps making up random plot points that don’t exist, though.  Remember when Simba was captured by pirates?

Mammon found the Bugs Life show very scary.  Normally Asmo would laugh at him, but he’s afraid of any bug he’s never seen before and at least Mammon was afraid of the things that were supposed to get you.  They agree that bugs are still not their friends.

Satan has many things to say about the Dinosaur ride and most of them aren’t good.  Belphie thought it was pretty ok, though.  Lucifer can’t believe there was a sobering lesson on a global extinction event at this family-friendly amusement park.

Diavolo is still in line.  Barbatos abandons him.  He accompanies Luke to the kiddie fossil thing and actually finds it more tolerable.  Oh yeah that’s the other secret ninth continent, Dinoland.

Beel and Belphie spend most of the day together at the various petting zoos.  Belphie comes back knowing more than he ever wanted to about conservation.  He thought Rafiki’s Planet Watch was going to be about watching other planets, not this one!

Asmo gets very interested in the costumes of the performers, as well as the parrots in the bird show.  He could probably make some really colorful designs with those as inspiration.

Nearby, Mammon runs into Kevin and squawks in surprise.  The zoo staff spend the next two hours trying to find the bird that escaped.

Diavolo says the ride was worth it, don’t worry.

Honestly this park has a lot of stuff that wouldn’t translate well to a funny scenario post so this part might be a little short compared to the others.  I can only talk about a zoo for so long.

Anyone remember the Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D show?  Apparently it closed in 2016 to make room for more Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, at the center of it all there’s the Tree of Life, which is really pretty all day.  Lucifer is thrilled to have a decently obvious meet-up place, too.  They get to catch the brief awakening show at night.

They’re very bummed to learn the Rivers of Light show isn’t happening anymore, so Levi pulls it up on his phone so they can watch it in spirit.

Then Satan learns about the Wilderness Explorers badges and the others spend the rest of the time preventing too much collateral damage over the fact that nobody told him.

Day 3: Epcot

Finally, Lucifer thinks.  Boo, Luke thinks.

Beel didn’t expect this park to be that interesting to him (he’s much more into the wonder and immersion of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), but then he learned about the restaurants.  China, Norway, France, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Japan, Canada--Canada?  Huh.  Canada.  There’s so many different restaurants from so many cuisines to try, and yeah he knows that it’s definitely not the same as going to the place and it’s overpriced (sorry Lucifer), but it’s all right there.  He makes certain to take MC on a deluxe Epcot restaurant tour.

Oh yeah MC.  That’s the first time we’ve heard from them in a while.  They’re doing whatever you want them to I guess.

Levi buys so much from the Japanese gift shops that he has to go back to the hotel for a bit to drop his bags off.

Satan and Diavolo aren’t much better, but their stashes are more varied.

Also, Diavolo found Mouse Gear, and bought everyone a pair of ears.  Lucifer says that everyone has to keep them on because it’s what Lord Diavolo wants, but he is by far the most upset about them.  Mammon snaps a picture and Lucifer throws his DDD into the lake.

Asmo and Belphie decide they’re gonna take it easy this day, and they nab Solomon and Barbatos for some exhibition hopping.

Luke finds Mission Space and please father no Simeon thought he was safe he thought he was safe here no please

Aside from that, though, Luke honestly finds this part of the park boring.  He’d have been more interested in these attractions elsewhere, but as a kid he’s in Disney for roller coasters and Mickey Mouse.

Simeon is very grateful that Luke doesn’t have much that he wants to do, because it means that he can enjoy the Gran Fiesta and Living with the Land boat rides and have a single moment where he doesn’t feel like he’s about to be sick.  He’s not even afraid of the rides; he just gets motion sick easily.

Asmo makes sure to see the Chinese acrobat show, and Mammon catches that with the show-hopping gang since there isn’t much he wants to do here either.

Epcot has alcohol and Solomon hasn’t been able to drink in ages so he really wants to spend some time doing that with MC.  No demons allowed, thank you very much.  He doesn’t hold his liquor as well as he’d like you to believe, but he just gets really talkative when drunk so it’s ok.

Epcot is a nice day to take a breather and Lucifer and Barbatos definitely needed a breather before tomorrow.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This is the day Diavolo has been waiting for.  The crème de la crop, the best park for kids and kids in a future king of the Devildom’s body.

Also I feel like now is a good time to mention that this probably isn’t a reasonable order of events because I don’t remember the map layout of these places idk Disney city planning

This time.  This time, Levi, Asmo and Beel are gonna get those autographs, dammit.  Levi doesn’t even know who half of these characters are but hell if he’s not getting their autograph.

Mammon actually really loves the mascots too, but he’s embarrassed about it so he’ll only try to get one if he can use the guise of MC wanting one.  MC, please help him out

Belphie isn’t big on rides, but he does have a soft spot for the more retro ones like Dumbo and Seven Dwarves.  And like I said before, Beel loves Magic Kingdom for its wonder.  So Belphie is perfectly happy being led (read: piggybacked) around by Beel today, because their favorite attractions match up pretty well here.

Actually, Beel’s favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch, but.  RIP Stitch’s Great Escape ride 2004-2018

Diavolo and Lucifer take a moment to enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and they reflect on how much the Human World is always changing and how much about it they still don’t know.  It really does make them think, like.  Grandma found the VR games at Christmas!  The Devildom doesn’t have grandmas!

Mammon is terrified of the Haunted Mansion ride, and Satan has literally never felt so much schadenfreude in his life.

Mammon’s afraid of most rides to be fair, but he likes water rides, so Levi eventually takes pity on him and they go on Splash Mountain together more than once.

The Peter Pan ride broke down

Luke wanted to go on Space Mountain and Simeon was the only one around, so.  RIP Simeon ????-2021

Diavolo was That Guy.  If you know, you know.

Beel accidentally spun the teacups way too fast.  Not even Solomon got out of that one unscathed.

Following that, Solomon manages to drag Barbatos onto the Jungle Cruise while Lucifer is busy.  What is Lucifer busy with?  Riding the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride over and over until he hits every single target and gets a perfect score at a Disney ride, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.  Anyway, Barbatos finds it really charming and Solomon finds it a nice break that he didn’t know he needed.

While looking for a food place that sells water for a reasonable price, a kid runs up to Asmo asking for a picture and autograph.  He’s kind of confused, but goes along with it to make the kid happy.

Turns out, Asmo’s so naturally charming that they mistook him for a prince.  Other groups see that family and follow suit.  Mammon eventually catches wind of it and shows up to charge a fee.  The parents are pretty sure Disney doesn’t charge fees like that, but their kids really want a pic with Asmo so they hand over the two bucks.  (“Oh it’s so low” come on Mammon’s not a dick to children.)

And that’s the story of how Mammon and Asmo ended up in Disney Jail.  You’re very much not allowed to pretend to be a cast member and then charge money for it.  Lucifer has to bail them out as their “guardian,” and as punishment they aren’t allowed to opt out of It’s a Small World.

Small World isn’t that bad imho, and those like Diavolo, Satan, Simeon, and Levi would like it a lot.  But Lucifer has been playing parent all day, Belphie does not like the noise, and Solomon has literally been on this ride at least fifty times.  Very mixed feelings on this one, but it feels fitting to end with that and a fireworks show.

All in all though this wasn’t the worst trip Lucifer’s been on (cue everyone applauding for some reason).

Barbatos by far had the least fun of them all because for four days he was stuck in a park where the mascot is a fucking rodent and he wasn’t allowed to annihilate Mickey Mouse where he stood

“Disneyland Devildom when” “Lord Diavolo, no”

Masterlist

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #my favorite park is def epcot and my favorite ride is def splash mountain #also my sister helped me out by reminding me about animal kingdom but most of her photos were of random birds

[xxfanfiction-emo-trinityxx]

His Smile Will Keep You Safe - Chapter Nine

Word Count: 5 684

It seemed as if after the incidence with the stolen bus, fate seemed to have turned around for you. Most of the drive was during the night, Bill driving, and later Lucas. It felt good to be sleeping in your own bed again after all the excitement during the past days.

It amused you, yet let your heart swell, when you realized that by now you had taken the bunk bed on the bus as “your own bed”. It gave you the feeling to have grown into the team even more.

When you woke up in the morning, the bus had already parked at the venue, and the rest of the day went by as all the other days, which you had spent preparing concerts.

But the concert that night was different from anything you had ever experienced. It was not only the crowd, all of them well aware how lucky they were that the bands had gotten their equipment back, and therefore celebrating even harder than any crowd before.

It was also the musicians on stage.

Jay had a wide grin etched into his face the entire time, and even Dallon, who preferred wearing his cool stage persona mask, could not help but break into happy smiles time and time again.

It was a relief to see everybody so happy and grateful for this unexpected bit of luck, which the crew seemed to have caught, and for a while you even forgot that you were not doing so fine yourself.

After the show, everyone helped clearing the venue, and loading the bus. Dallon and Ryan used the time to meet fans, sign autographs, and take pictures. Whenever you walked past them, carrying a heavy box filled with cables, or a case holding instruments, Ryan’s eyes quickly met yours, and he shot you one of his beautiful smiles before he turned back to the person he was talking to.

After the bus had taken off, this time it was Lars who had to drive, everyone else met in the small lounge area. You ended up squeezed between Luis and Lisa, both of them laughing happily, and you felt like tonight you were stuck in a bubble of happiness, of carefreeness. Even the heavy and suffocating feeling around your heart which you had noticed acting up during the day was gone all of a sudden, and you were more than willing to make the most out of the time without the dark shadow over your head.

It had been a couple of days, if not longer, since all, or rather most of the crew had come together, just for the sake of having a good time.

The “Three Beats” had, in a fit of party spirit, bought snacks and sodas for everybody, successfully catering the little get together. In the end you were not even really sure what everyone had been talking about. All you remembered were that at one point Bill had declared his undying love for his younger brother Charlie, and then almost got into a fight with Luis, who insisted he loved Charlie more. The most amazing thing about the interaction was that neither of them had been drunk, or on any drugs, for that matter, yet everyone felt high on the endorphins that were still flooding through their systems.

It was about two in the morning, when the bus pulled to the side of the street and came to a halt. Most people considered this the signal to go to bed, but you were too bubbly to be even thinking about sleep. So, pulling on a pullover and your shoes, you climbed out of the bus, deciding you needed some fresh air.

The landscape was barren, not much to see, especially at night. The bus had halted directly in front of a huge bridge, which immediately drew your interest towards it. Slowly, lazily rather than carefully, you walked onto the bridge. The balustrade was broad, almost three feet, making it hard to look over the edge to see what was right beneath you. From what you could tell, it crossed a wide, but not deep valley.

In the silver light of the slim crescent moon, you saw a small brook run along the rocks and sand, bushes and flowers.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

The question startled you, but almost as soon as your mind had processed the words, you recognized the voice to be Ryan’s. You turned to him and smiled gently.

“Very,” you agreed.

“I love empty landscapes at night,” he confessed, propping his hands on the balustrade, and lifting himself up, until he was seated on the broad, metal railing. “It makes everything seem so far away, as if nothing could ever come and catch me.”

“Like running away, but not really having to,” you mumbled.

You leant your elbows on the balustrade, and rested your chin in your hands.

For a while both Ryan and you were listening to the sounds of the night, to the gentle wind in the dry bushes, to the crickets in the grass. The headlights of the bus had been turned off, and the road was deserted, no cars approaching, not even in the distance.

“Join me?”

You looked up at Ryan, who had turned to look at you, holding out his hand for you to take, offering you to sit next to him. Imitating his actions from earlier, you climbed onto the balustrade, and settled down, dangling your feet off the edge, just like he did.

“If you would have told me that I spend the night sitting on a random bridge somewhere in the nowhere two months ago, I would have told you that you confuse me with somebody else,” you randomly mentioned, wondering about your life back then.

Right now it seemed impossible that your real life, your everyday life was at an office, with regular working hours, a home you returned to every evening, and a restaurant where you picked up your food at least three times a week. It seemed so boring, and you wondered how you had been able to stand it for so long.

Ryan did not respond to your statement, only hummed in agreement. He sat so close to you that you could feel his jacket brush against you every now and then, and sometimes he shifted a little, until he eventually sat so close to you, that your knees were touching. He leant back, leaning on his hands, head in his neck, and looked up to the sky.

“Sometimes as a kid I wondered if anybody ever tried counting the stars,” he remembered, making you smile.

“Did you? Try to count them, I mean,” you asked.

“No, or rather, well, yes, but I gave up at about twenty,” he told you, making you giggle. “Hey! At least that was the moment I knew that there were more than twenty stars!”

“How much did you freak out when you found out that not all of these dots in the sky are stars, but also planets and galaxies and moons, or just some space station,” you wondered laughing.

“A lot, I guess,” he replied, turning to look at you.

You had leant your head back as well, looking into the cloudless sky.

“Do you think there is life out there?”

He gave your question a few seconds of thought before answering.

“Not the kind of alien life as we know from movies, if that’s what you mean,” he contemplated, “but just considering how many galaxies are out there, and all these galaxies have so many solar systems… I mean it’s unlikely that there isn’t anything out there. And if not now, there definitely will in the future.”

You nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s what I think too,” you agreed.

After a few moments of silence, you turned to look at Ryan. The silver light of the moon made his skin look pale. His eyes glimmered in the dim light as he looked up at the sky, marvelling at the wonders of nature, and his hair, reflecting the white light on the blue strands, was hanging into his neck.

When Ryan noticed you were watching him, he sat up straight, and looked back at you.

“Everything alright,” he asked concerned, making you smile.

“Yeah, I just- I’m fine,” you answered, tearing your gaze away from him.

Slowly you started to feel cold. The clear night sky allowed the heat of the day to escape into the vastness of space, and you started to feel tired, adding to the slight shivers that ran down your spine.

“I’m getting cold, I think I’ll go back to the bus,” you eventually announced, even though you wished the moment would never end.

“Here, take this.”

Quicker than you were able to register what he was doing, Ryan had taken off the leather jacket he was wearing, and had pulled it over your shoulders. Immediately the warm and familiar smell of him engulfed you, and you would have almost sighed at the comfort it brought you.

Scooting even closer to you, Ryan wrapped his arm around your shoulder, and pulled you into his side, resting his chin on top of your head.

You had expected your heart to do some sort of excited cartwheel or something, but instead, you felt yourself relaxing against him. He was so warm, and you could hear his heartbeat. With Ryan you felt safe, even when you were sitting on the balustrade of a bridge. With him you were safe. Sleepily you closed your eyes.

~*~

After the night you had spent on the bridge, it felt like the relationship between Ryan and you had started to shift. Insecure gazes and nervous smiles turned into comfortable winks and relaxed conversations. There was a tension between the two of you, had been for a while now, but it felt as if both of you had acknowledged the mutual attraction at the same time, turning the “if” into a mere question of “when”.

Personally you were not really certain what exactly it was, that followed the “when”, was it a confession, a kiss, a relationship even? But you tried not to overthink it too much, and instead to go with the flow.

And it was a nice flow, it was refreshing and exciting, yet safe and just perfect, and you did not mind it anymore that Ryan’s chocolate brown eyes, and his breath taking smile drew you in closer and closer, day by day.

It was a lovely Thursday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa, the first week of September. The insufferable hot weather had given way to warm days, and refreshing nights, and you found yourself enjoying the change. Finally your clothes were not sticking to your body anymore as soon as you left the bus and took a step outside, under the clear blue sky. Instead the warm air gently engulfed your body, promising to take you to amazing places.

So it was understandable that Dallon and Ryan felt repulsed to spend the afternoon in a radio studio to give an interview, but they had little say in the matter. Lucas had offered you to join them, so you could take pictures for the band’s social media, and the radio company, as soon as they realized you were a photographer, immediately asked if they could have one or two pictures for their website.

You had never been in a radio studio before, so you were quite excited when the young man, who had picked you up at the entrance, lead you to the studio. Admittedly it was less cramped than you had imagined. The room you had been lead into was not the recording studio yet, but a control room from which you were able to look through a huge window into the studio, where a moderator was just announcing a traffic jam. He was standing at a table, eyes fixed on one of two screens, speaking into a microphone. To his left, a wide window let in the sunshine, and a few plants were lined along the windowsill. As far as you could tell there was a sofa next to the door, and a coffee machine stood on a sideboard in the corner of the room.

When the moderator was finished with the traffic announcement, he looked through the window and waved his colleague to come in, who encouraged Dallon, Ryan, and you to follow him.

After everyone had introduced themselves, the moderator, a middle-aged man called Joseph, explained what kind of questions he was going to ask, and how Dallon and Ryan had to speak into their mics.

You spent the few minutes standing around in the background, soaking in this new environment curiously. Joseph explained that while they were playing music, everyone was able to talk freely in this room, but as soon as he turned on the microphones, everything they said would be sent out on air.

While the men were discussing a few more details you started photographing. At first you captured the studio, then you took a few snaps out of the window, before turning to your friends, and focusing the camera on them. After all, it was you job to document them most of all.

After a couple of minutes, Joseph gave the signal that he wanted to go on air, and everyone except for him, Dallon, Ryan, and you left the room.

Joseph did some cheerful announcement, introducing the band, and telling the listeners a little bit about the band’s background before he started with his questions. In the beginning they were like pretty much any other interview questions, asking how tour had been so far, what show had been the most fun to play, and which songs they enjoyed playing live the least.

“Now, a big part of the tour, which most people never get to see, is being carried by your crew, right,” Joseph asked, making Dallon and Ryan nod violently.

“Of course, without the crew, there’d be no tour, we’d be lost,” Dallon agreed.

“So how many peeps are you on tour with?”

“Ahm, it’s the two of us, plus “Three Beats”, Lucas, our tour manager, Lars, who does the lights, Lisa, who sells merch, (y/n) for photography, and Bill, who is basically the girl for everything,” Dallon listed, counting along with his fingers, “So ten people.”

“Is that a lot?”

“For a band our size, yes,” Dallon laughed, “We’ve also been touring with just two other people, that worked too. Having a person just for lights, and our own photographer is real luxury already!”

“And I heard (y/n), who by the way is kneeling on the floor by the window taking pictures of us right now, was a last minute addition to the team, is that right?”

This time it was Ryan who answered. “Yeah, Martin, the photographer our label had assigned us, broke his arm two days before we took off, so we needed an emergency replacement.”

“And, is she doing a good job,” Joseph asked grinning, making Ryan and Dallon laugh.

“Definitely,” they booth agreed in unison.

“She’s taking really amazing pictures every night. Actually all the pictures on our band’s Instagram page, since the beginning of tour, have been taken by her” Dallon added.

“And she puts up with our bullshit, which means a lot,” Ryan laughed, sending you a wide grin, that you returned, while you captured his expression on your camera with the slight pressing of a button.

“You gonna keep her then?”

“If they let us, of course,” Dallon shrugged smilingly.

“Oh that’s no problem, we’ll just kidnap her,” Ryan joked, making everyone in the room giggle.

“Totally, that’s a deal,” Dallon agreed.

~*~

Several days and shows later, on Sunday, you found yourselves in Colorado Springs. The weather pretty much was still the same, sunny, warm, and perfect for an afternoon in the park, but as almost every day, work was calling. With a small sigh you left the later summer air, and stepped into the hotel, where Lucas was already collecting the keys and making room arrangements. Since there were four rooms, he decided the “Three Beats” should share one, while him, Bill, and Dallon would share the other room with three beds.

“And I guess that leaves (y/n) with Lisa,” he threw you a key with a tag, “And Lars with Ryan.”

You nodded at Lisa, as if to agree on the arrangement, but she did not see, instead she was sharing a glance with Lars before her attention directed itself to you, and she walked over.

“Hey,” she greeted, and you could tell immediately that she was about to ask a favour, “would you mind sharing a room with Ryan, instead of me?”

You shrugged, pretending to be indifferent towards that suggestion, but in reality your heart had started speeding up. In all of the five weeks you had not shared a room with Ryan yet, and immediately your mind came up with all sort of unlikely scenarios that would end up with you and Ryan getting together.

“Great,” Lisa handed you her key, and snatched the other one from your hand.

“Have you asked Ryan?”

As much as the idea excited you, it also scared you a little. Never before had Ryan and you been practically forced to spend several hours alone, even if they would be spent sleeping, and for some reason it felt as if your brain was already searching for ways out.

“He’s fine with it,” Lisa grinned, and turned around, walking straight over to Lars.

For the rest of the afternoon, your mind continued leading you back to the different possible and impossible scenarios that might occur later in the night. Would you find the courage to tell Ryan how much you liked him? Would you manage to steal some cuddles, like you had done earlier on tour? Or would he not like any of this? Would he be upset that he had to share a room with you?

~*~

It was supposed to be a show as any other so far, yet something seemed off that evening when you got out from backstage where you had spent the rest of the afternoon working on the photos, distracting yourself from your thoughts.

There seemed unusually few people around. From what you could see, it seemed as if only the first few rows, maybe thirty, or forty people, were filled. Furrowing your eyebrows, you climbed over the barricade to take a glimpse into the foyer, where the merch was being sold. Barely anybody seemed to be around.

You started feeling uneasy, and pulled out your mobile. Ten minutes until the “Three Beats” would go on. Where was everyone? Turning around you, spied Lars, who also had taken a look at his wrist watch. When he noticed your helpless and confused glances around the venue he waved you over.

Following his invitation, you leant against the console to be able to understand him better over the sound of music that was playing from the speakers.

“Why is it so empty,” he asked, leaning in to speak closer next to your ear.

“I don’t know! Is the show starting later today?”

He shrugged in response, so you turned away, desperate to find out why there were so few people, compared to all the other shows so far. The venue was not even filled to a quarter.

Flashing off your backstage pass to the security guard at the barricade, you climbed back over, and almost ran into Bill, who fanatically was punching his thumbs against his smartphone screen.

“Why are there so few people, where is everyone,” you asked, starting to feel panic rising in your chest.

You did not want the bands to see how empty the hall was. How would they feel if they saw that barely anyone had shown up?

Bill was quiet for a few seconds, still tapping on his screen. A deep sound, a mixture of a suppressed scream and a growl escaped the young man’s throat, and for a moment you got scared you had been too noisy, but then he basically pushed his phone into your face.

“We sold 50 tickets,” he told you, holding the screen so close to your nose that you had to lean back in order to read it properly. “50 tickets sold, out of 300.”

Taking the phone out of his hand, you took the time to read through the statistics that were displayed on the screen, and Bill was right.

You could tell he was bursting, uncertain what to do, when suddenly an idea came to your mind.

“Tell the people at the entrance not to check for tickets anymore, we’ll invite people from the street,” you suggested, handing the roadie back his phone.

At your suggestion he perked up.

“To fill the room? That’s better than having the bands play in front of an empty venue. Let’s do this. I’ll talk to security; you go and invite people in. Go!”

Nodding, you quickly climbed over the barricade yet again, and ran through the hall and out of the door, not caring about your camera punching into your side with every second step. Outside you stopped. The air had cooled down drastically since this noon, and you almost felt cold in the shorts you were wearing.

Looking around your heart sunk. This venue seemed to be in a part of town where people did not spend much time outside in the evening. A single car came down the street, but nowhere were any pedestrians in sight. But you had to find at least a few people somehow. So you looked down the street. A restaurant, a wash saloon, a bar and a gas station were in sight. And maybe you would find something else in one of the smaller streets.

As quickly as possible, you crossed the street, and speed walked to the restaurant. Taking a second to calm down, you pushed open the door. Inside it smelled of delicious food, and the golden light of candles welcomed you. Walking up to the counter, you smiled at one of the waiters.

“Hey,” you greeted, trying to sound as relaxed as possible, “I’m from the venue on the other side of the street, and there is a free concert tonight, and I was wondering if I could quickly tell your guests, in case anyone is interested.”

The waiter eyed you, the way your slightly sweaty strands of hair were sticking to your forehead, the shaved side, the camera around your shoulder.

“You can make a general announcement, but I would like you not to walk from table to table. Our guests come here for a good time, and we don’t want them to feel bothered during their meal.”

Eagerly you nodded.

“Thank you so much,” you smiled, before clearing your throat.

Damn. You were probably the worst person to do something like this. You had never been the most outgoing person, and speaking to a whole restaurant filled with strangers, asking them to come do you a favour, was definitely not your thing. But here you were so you might as well do it.

“Hello everyone,” you spoke up, swallowing as all eyes in the room suddenly focused on you, “I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but I would very much like to invite you to a show tonight, in the venue on the other side of the street! Entry is free for everyone, and there will be two life bands playing music for a few hours. If you feel curious, or want to mix up your evening, feel free to come over! We’re looking forward to seeing you there. Thank you for your attention!”

The looks that were thrown your way said more than a thousand words, and before you could feel embarrassed about what you just had done, you quickly walked over into the bar, repeating the game. In the wash saloon, you invited an elderly woman, who only laughed, as if you had told her a joke, and a young man, who only rolled his eyes. The gas station was, apart from the petrol pump attendant, entirely empty. Unluckily the small streets were deserted as well, no restaurants, no bars, no anything.

Your heart was beating anxiously as you walked back into the venue. Almost one and a half hours had passed since you had left there, all the time spent walking bigger and bigger circles through the streets surrounding the venue, but it was as everyone had decided to leave the town all of a sudden.

When you walked through the doors, you already heard Dallon singing. And the hall was still more than half empty. At the very back you spotted some middle aged men, who you recognized from the bar, but other than that nobody seemed to have taken up your invitation.

With shaking fingers you turned on your camera, and started snapping pictures. Both Dallon and Ryan on stage seemed not to mind that there were barely any people around. They made their music as always, pulled off their show as they were used to. But you knew them so well by now, that you noticed the lack of cheerfulness in Ryan’s drumming, and even Dallon’s overly confident stage persona seemed a little off today, but only to the trained eye. You were amazed how they pulled off the show, not at all seeming intimidated by the lack of people. Dallon even came off stage as he always did. But it felt strange none the less.

How bad it really was, you only figured out once all of you were back on the bus. The moment the door closed behind Dallon, the happy smiles in honest joy over the fans that had said their good byes, fell away, leaving behind a group of beaten people.

The “Three Beats” were used to the fact that barely anyone came to see them, but they felt terrible for Ryan and Dallon anyway. After all, the duo was headlining. Almost every evening they had at least two hundred people singing their songs back at them, and tonight, only a quarter of what they had hoped for had turned up.

Lucas was driving the bus back to the hotel, so it was impossible to say what kind of expression he was wearing, but Bill, Lars and Lisa all looked as helpless as you felt. You desperately wanted to cheer your friends up, make them laugh, smile, or at least distract them somehow, but anything that came to mind felt inappropriate.

Dallon was sitting in his seat, holding an envelope he had been giving and stared off into the air, while Ryan was clinging to a sheet of paper, on which someone had painted a beautiful portrait of the drummer. He was holding onto it so tightly that it started crumbling under his fingers, but you did not dare saying anything. Instead, unable to stand the tension any longer, you turned your head and looked out of the window.

Back in the hotel, everyone went back to their rooms without saying good night. You had been secretly looking forward to this evening the whole day since Lisa and you had changed rooms, but now you were insecure about what to do.

You had hoped to maybe steal some snuggles from Ryan, but now you were scared to even talk to him. He was quiet, did not even look at you once during the entire time, and while you knew it was his way to deal with the disappointment, you would have understood if he snapped at you.

When you stepped into the room, he walked over to the king sized bed and flopped down on it, face first. Standing in the room for a couple of seconds you decided to speak up eventually.

“Do you mind if I shower first,” you asked, and when you got no reaction, you decided that he seemed not to care.

A cold shower later, which rinsed off all the sweat and dust of the day, you already felt a little better. But Ryan was still lying on the bed when you walked back out of the bathroom.

“The shower’s free if you want,” you offered.

Not making a single sound, Ryan got up from the bed, and grabbed a small bag, which probably contained shampoo and all the other things he needed in the bathroom. He did not look at you once before he closed the bathroom door behind his back.

Sighing you sat down on the bed. The part of the blanket where Ryan had been laying was warm.

You hated this silence. You knew it was not because of you, but you hated it anyway. You hated seeing Ryan like this. You cleared your throat to chase away the suspicious itching, and rubbed your burning eyes.

What use would it be if you cried now? It would probably only upset Ryan.

Should you talk to him when he came back out? What should you say? “Nice show”, as if nothing had happened? That would be pretentious. “You played great today,” as if he wasn’t aware of it? “I’m sorry so few people came,” as if he had to be reminded?

By the time the water stopped running, and Ryan came out of the bathroom again, you still had not figured out what to say. He was wearing an oversized shirt, which made him look small and fragile, an impression which got underlined by the baggy sweatpants he had put on. His hair was hanging down on both sides of his face, wet strands, like a picture frame.

Before you could even say anything, even if it was just to ask how he was feeling, he had crawled onto the bed right next to you, and wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug, pulling you down with him. Surprised you hugged him back, not sure what exactly was happening. For a while both of you were quiet.

Slowly Ryan’s arms loosened around you, relaxing, but you made sure to keep holding onto him. In the silent room, the only thing you heard was his breathing, and distant traffic from outside.

With every inhale, you felt his chest rising up against yours, exchanging warmth between your bodies. Over time he started relaxing more, his head eventually resting on the pillow underneath him, and you adjusted carefully, trying to find a position in which you did not have to put so much effort into holding your head up either.

Eventually you ended up facing him, your arms wrapped around his middle, holding him close while his breath caught in your hair, and you gently moved your fingers over his shirt. Beneath it you could feel his skin slide against the fabric, muscle strands that reached down his back, and his ribs and spine.

A strange feeling of awareness overcame you, as if for the first time you understood how fascinating it was that life this complex existed, and holding it in your arms like this made your heart almost explode.

You had almost assumed Ryan had fallen asleep, when he suddenly spoke up.

“I’m sorry for ignoring you earlier,” he whispered so close to your forehead that you could have sworn his lips almost brushed against your skin.

“It’s okay,” you answered, soothingly running your hands up and down his back.

“No, it’s not. It’s not your fault this few people appeared, it’s not the fault of those who came either, it’s nobody’s fault really,” he sounded tired, and you understood what he wanted to say. “As a musician you have to be prepared that these things happen, it’s within the statistics. I just got too used to be playing for almost sold-out venues…”

“That’s not your fault, Ryan. Everyone’d get used to that. It’s okay to be disappointed, it’s human,” you whispered your reply, feeling how Ryan, who had tensed up, slowly started to relax into your arms again.

“I’m mostly disappointed in myself for having expectations that won’t always be fulfilled,” he mumbled from between his teeth.

“That’s normal, no reason to beat yourself up about it, you hear,” you tilted you head to look at him, “and it’s okay to be sad, or angry, or disappointed, sometimes. As long as you don’t let it eat away on you, it’s completely fine.”

Ryan looked at you, his chocolate eyes glowing almost whisky golden in the light of the lamp on the bedside table. For a long while you just looked at each other, studying each other’s faces, features, the little pattern in his eyes.

You noticed how towards the edge of his iris the brown turned darker until it was almost black, the little waves in his iris, the tiny wrinkles around the corner of his eyes, the long, brown lashes beating against his cheeks with every blink, and the gently swung form of his soft, pink lips.

“You are perfect.”

His words were merely a breath of air in the space between you, but you were certain to have understood him correctly. Smiling softly you shook your head.

“Far from it,” you disagreed.

“Not flawless, but the right amount of flawed to be not the kind of person who makes you feel uncomfortable to be around them. Just… perfectly imperfect,” Ryan whispered.

You watched his lips as he spoke, feeling the same urge to kiss him as you had had during the night which you had spent in the hotel lobby when the bus had gotten stolen. But instead of acting on it, you blinked slowly, feeling the exhaustion of the day claiming its tribute.

“Thank you,” you whispered back.

You felt your eye lids getting heavier and heavier with each blink, and your eyes stayed closed longer and longer, until they eventually stayed closed, and Ryan’s presence, his even breathing against your chest, and the warmth that sept into your body, lulled you into sleep.

“You’re perfect, and so, so beautiful,” he whispered, hoping you were tightly enough asleep to not have heard him.

Taglist (if you want to be added or taken off, please let me know):

General: @justawriterinprogress @jayloverthe3rd @robinruns @lookalivefrosty @butterfly-writes @a-tired-vampire @angelevansfalls

HSWKYS: @honimello

#ryan seaman x reader #ryan seaman x reader fluff #ryan seaman fluff #ryan seaman imagine #multi chapter #mulit chapter #fanfiction #fanfic #cute #fluffy #angst #his smile will keep you safe

[scruffyplayssonic]

My favourite movies of all the years I’ve been alive.

Back in August 2015, I watched a Youtube video by Jeremy of @cinema-sins, where he was answering fan questions. One question that he addressed was, “What is the best movie of every year that you’ve been alive?” While Jeremy thought this was a great question, he didn’t think one video would be long enough to explore it fully, and he wanted to find another way to answer it. This eventually was done through the Cinema Sins podcast, SinCast. Each week, the cast would discuss the movies of a certain year and then vote on which one they thought was the best, starting with 1975 in episode 14, and then working their way through another year each episode right up until episode 54, where they voted on the best movie for 2015. They then took a break for a few weeks to get caught up on some of last year’s movies that they hadn’t seen yet before finally tackling 2016 in this week’s podcast, episode 58. 

I did my own picks for my favourite movie of each year back in August 2015, when I first saw Jeremy’s Q and A video. I really liked that question and was inspired to try and name my own favourites from each year. So to celebrate the SinCast crew finally completing this task, I thought that I’d re-post my list, which is now updated to include 2015 and 2016. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to comment and/or argue about my choices. And thanks again to @cinema-sins, for providing me with laughs every week in the podcasts and videos they release. :)

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1982: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial This might be a bit of a cheat, since the film came out in June and I wasn’t born until October, but oh well. It’s still the same year.

1983: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi The first Star Wars movie I was around to see the cinematic release of, although I wouldn’t see it in cinemas (or at all, shamefully) for another 14 years.

1984: The Terminator The original was pretty chilling. This still gets me every time. “Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can’t be bargained with! It can’t be reasoned with! It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!”

1985: Back to the Future The beginning of what I still believe is the greatest movie trilogy of all time.

1986: Aliens More awesome from James Cameron.

1987: Spaceballs Well, it’s pretty funny. Plus I haven’t seen much else from this year, other than Lethal Weapon.

1988: Die Hard The original and quite possibly the best. More on that later.

1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade This was a tough one to pick, as Michael Keaton’s first Batman film, Licence to Kill, AND Back to the Future: Part II all came out this year. But it really has to be the onscreen chemistry of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery!

1990: Back to the Future: Part III At the time, I probably would have picked DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. Ahhh, nostalgia.

1991: Terminator 2: Judgement Day I’m sure most of you who know me saw this one coming. To this day it’s still my favourite movie of all time. Silence of the Lambs would probably get second place for this year.

1992: Batman Returns It was a hard choice between this and Aladdin, which was my favourite Disney cartoon for a very long time. But since it’s not in my dvd collection and Batman is… Honourable mention goes to A Muppet Christmas Carol, my favourite of the Muppet movies.

1993: The Fugitive Another tough choice, considering that Jurassic Park also came out in 1993. But I just love the battle of wits between Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

1994: The Lion King Another of Disney’s finest. No contest, although True Lies, Speed, and The Mask were all excellent films too.

1995: Goldeneye (007) This was another tough choice, and Die Hard with a Vengeance came very, VERY close. It’s hard to live up to the awesomeness of that first film, but the partnership with Samuel L. Jackson definitely pays off here. But Goldeneye was the first Bond film I saw in the cinema, and I remember that experience vividly. Pierce Brosnan remains my favourite Bond, even though the next three films he starred in didn’t quite live up to this one.

1996: Scream The Rock and Independence Day were my other main picks from this year, but Wes Craven made an instant classic with Scream, which inspired so many other movies and spoofs. If only they’d stopped after the first Scary Movie…

1997: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Special Edition) It’s a bit of a cheat, but technically the original Star Wars trilogy was re-released in cinemas that year with new “special edition” footage, which is when I first fell in love with the series. From original movies that came out in ‘97, it’s a toss up between Men in Black, Air Force One, and The Fifth Element.

1998: Rush Hour Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were hilarious in this one. The Mask of Zorro was another great movie, and Deep Impact, which was waaaaaay better than Armageddon. Of course, a Michael Bay film will be obsessed with making things go ka-boom. :P Yes, yes, I know The Rock was a Bay film too. So sue me.

1999: The Matrix Another of my very favourite movies. The effects, the plot, the action… it was just sensational. The Sixth Sense was another very clever movie, and Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me was hilarious! But… c'mon, The Matrix, man!

2000: The Whole Nine Yards I was still a big Friends fan at the time, so I loved Matthew Perry starring alongside Bruce Willis. There was also Gone in 60 Seconds, which is one of my favourite Nick Cage films, The Emperor’s New Groove, and of course, X-Men. And then there’s Mission: Impossible 2… hey, be nice. I watched this a lot when I was in Virginia and homesick for Australia :P

2001: Ocean’s Eleven Such a clever film with a great cast!

2002: The Bourne Identity Spider-Man came pretty close, but Matt Damon was amazing as Jason Bourne. ...well, that most recent movie was kind of hit or miss...

2003: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl Who would have ever guessed that a movie based on a Disneyland ride could be so good?

2004: The Incredibles It was a good year for animation - there was this one, Shrek 2, and Team America: World Police. National Treasure came out too, which I quite like.

2005: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire There was also The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (a huge improvement on the previous two movies), Batman Begins, and of course, Serenity; the movie that had Firefly fans screaming, “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” near the climax. :P

2006: V for Vendetta I just LOVE this film. Top performances from Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman and John Hurt. The Da Vinci Code was my second choice. Controversial it may be, and people tend to poo-poo Dan Brown a lot, but I loved this movie too. Tom Hanks was the perfect choice for Robert Langdon, and Ian McKellan was brilliant as always. Casino Royale also came out this year, which brought the 007 franchise back from oblivion.

2007: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I had to find a cinema playing this in English in Nanjing - no easy feat! But at least they didn’t butcher it like they did with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (my second pick, after I saw the uncut movie on DVD). Ocean’s Thirteen was pretty good too, if not as good as the original. And of course, The Bourne Ultimatum. I was on the edge of my seat for that one.

2008: The Dark Knight A no-brainer. One of the best films of the decade, let alone the year. Iron Man was a surprise hit too. Taken was great. Oh, and I quite liked Steve Carrell’s take on Get Smart, even if he didn’t quite capture the original magic of Don Adams.

2009: Up My favourite of all the Pixars. Angels & Demons was pretty good too, although not as good as the first movie. Plus Tom Hanks cut his hair - I thought his shaggy do in the first movie suited Robert Langdon better. :P Strange that I liked Angels & Demons better of the books but The Da Vinci Code better of the movies. Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes was great too.

2010: Kick-Ass This one was a surprise, but I loved the deconstruction of the traditional superhero movie they did here. And when I read the original comic, I loved the film even more for the improvements they made. Nicolas Cage was hilariously hammy, but the major star of this one was undoubtedly Chloe Grace Moretz as the tiny killing machine, Hit-Girl. After that, there was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and Toy Story 3.

2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 A fantastic end to a fantastic series. There was also Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which really surprised me. Excellent stuff there. The Adventures of Tintin - an amazing film that tricked me into forgetting it was animated and not live-action several times. Finally, The Muppets, which was such a fantastic return for some of my favourite childhood icons.

2012: The Avengers No surprise there. Honourable mentions go to The Cabin in the Woods, which is a delightfully insane deconstruction of horror movies, Looper, a film I still occasionally stay up late at night scratching my head in confusion over, and Skyfall, which is possibly Daniel Craig’s best Bond film so far. I also loved Wreck-It Ralph.

2013: White House Down This one was definitely the film I liked best from 2013 - and yes, that includes Frozen. You may charge with your flaming torches and pitchforks when ready. But what can I say? I love Die Hard, and this was basically Die Hard in the White House, yet it felt original enough to not just be a knock-off. The other ones I liked best would be the Marvels (Iron Man 3, the Wolverine and Thor: The Dark World), Kick-Ass 2, and Gravity, which was absolutely terrifying.

2014: Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel sure knows how to get my bum into the cinema - X-Men: Days of Future Past and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are up there, but Guardians wins out for pure fun (and the delightful company I had in the cinema <3). There was also The LEGO Movie, which I thought was very clever, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

2015: The Martian When I first made this list in August 2015, my prediction was that Jurassic World would be my favourite of the year. Nope, not by a long shot. The Martian was absolutely amazing - Matt Damon’s ability to keep the audience on the edge of their seats when he’s completely alone on the screen (and on the planet) is a major credit to him as an actor. Then of course we have Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation, and Terminator: Genisys. …no, really. Stop laughing, I really enjoyed it. :P And then there was Ex Machina, which was a really intriguing film that kept me guessing the entire time.

2016: Captain America: Civil War It’s no secret that I love my comic book movies, and this was definitely my favourite of last year. Civil War (the comic) was the first instance that got me intrigued enough to actually pick up and read a Marvel comic. It really raised an interesting question for me - just how accountable should superheroes be for what they do when fighting crime? Granted, the comic really went too far and made both Cap AND Iron Man look like total dicks, and I was relieved when the film managed to not use some of the more ridiculous ideas, such as a homocidal Robo-Thor-clone or a prison for superheroes in an alternate dimension that literally saps your will to live. On top of that, the film also introduced a fantastic Black Panther, and Tom Holland really nailed what Spider-Man should be. And that airport scene was worth the price of admission all by itself.

2017 (so far - I’ll update this at the end of the year): Passengers I’ve only seen two films so far this year, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was okay, but not great. I really enjoyed Passengers though, despite all the controversy it has surrounding it. It’s definitely not the same movie the trailers made it look like it was going to be though.

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I challenge any of my friends out there who are avid movie lovers to give this challenge a try - it’s not as easy as you’d think. Wikipedia is your friend though - just browse by “(insert year here) in film.” Comments telling me, “Yes, I love that film!” or, “Are you nuts? How could you forget THIS film?” are quite welcome. :)

[junker-town]

Forget San Diego and L.A., these are the StubHub Chargers

The Chargers, stuck between the city they left and a city that doesn’t want them, are finally where they should be.

T11n pronounces his name “Twin,” because he is a twin, and that’s an important part of his identity. It also means that there could conceivably be two large diehard Chargers fans barreling through this impromptu dance floor setup in the StubHub Center parking lot (and there are space considerations). He’s part of We Charge LA, one of Los Angeles’ largest Chargers fan groups, established long before the team moved. The Chargers may have an identity crisis, but T11n’s got an answer for that.

“Southern California, Boy,” he tells me. “Make sure you use that slogan, kid.” T11n explains what he means by doing some call-and-response with a nearby fan.

“What do we rep? 619, right?”

619 baby, one hundred.

“I'm 323, right?”

Yeah, that's all day.

“So what is it? Southern California. Southern California dog. Fuck LA Chargers. Fuck San Diego Chargers. Southern California Chargers, that's what the fuck the team name should be.”

A row of tailgates called Thunder Alley has fans from all over Southern California, many from San Diego, and it feels like a block party. But Thunder Alley used to be much bigger, according to Jeff Dotseth, a former pre- and post-game host on the Chargers’ flagship network. “Even on the worst days in San Diego, tailgate city would be six of these, and now it's one.”

Relocation has been costly to the fanbase. Shawn Walchef, a barbecue restaurant owner in San Diego, was near the forefront of the Save Our Bolts movement to keep the team. Most of the people who had joined him then have moved on now that the team is in L.A.

“Maybe 20 percent remains of the Save Our Bolts group. And that's pretty much the fanbase, too,” Walchef says. “I have friends, they're no longer Chargers fans. They gave me their shit. We're a Charger bar, we have Charger gear, memorabilia. People are like, 'Well, aren't you going to take down all your Charger gear?' Absolutely not.”

Walchef and Dotseth both commute up from San Diego to see the team. Walchef is a diehard among diehards — he was inducted into the Pro Football Ultimate Fan Association this year. They’re part of the winnowed but rock-solid core that still believes in the Chargers despite so many good reasons not to. The Chargers left San Diego with a whimper after accepting a deal that left neither fans, nor players, nor ownership completely happy. Walchef’s estimation is consistent: Every person I speak to says that somewhere between 70-80 percent of San Diego fans no longer support the team. The organization, meanwhile, arrived in L.A. to apathy and almost no fanfare after the Rams beat them to the market.

In many ways, the Chargers deserve this. They’ve had to strain to fill the StubHub Center, their 27,000-seat temporary home, which normally serves as the home to the MLS franchise LA Galaxy. It’s the very picture of the Chargers’ decades of uneven success and the tense relationship between fans and ownership. They are a cheap ticket in a small venue that is maybe 85 percent full and half-filled — at least — with fans of the other team.

For a team that’s no longer San Diego and not yet Los Angeles, these can’t be the Southern California Chargers, all due respect to T11n. These are the StubHub Chargers, a team borne by the players and the fans who stayed, and only them, in this space, for as long as it lasts. As ownership bides its time waiting for a new stadium, and now that so many supporters have left, the Chargers’ endless journey to find themselves continues in a strange place.

“And that's unfortunate,” Dotseth says. “When I walk through this, I see a lot of people trying to put on a brave face, but I see a lot of people who are really heartbroken that it's not the normal routine.”

Photo by Tom Antl

The Chargers had an identity crisis from the start.

No one can quite pin down exactly where the team name came from, but a tale goes that the team’s then-owner, Barron Hilton, of Hilton Hotels lineage, held a naming contest, opened a letter that suggested “Chargers,” and didn’t bother reading another. The name reminded him of the bugle calls at USC games imploring fans to yell, “Charge!” — or perhaps he liked the affiliation with the Carte Blanche credit card he was releasing at the time; it’s unclear.

A Charger was never specifically a horse or a lightning bolt, which is what was drawn on the team’s first official shield. There’s no particular reason why the team came to be colloquially known as the “Bolts.” “Thunder Alley” is only tangentially related to a name that is itself tangentially related to whatever a “Charger” actually is. To make the situation muddier, a lot of Chargers fans outside StubHub Center wear Lucha masks.

Stadiums have been the crucible for the Chargers’ troubles. Team owner Dean Spanos fought with the city of San Diego for roughly 15 years to get a new stadium built to replace Qualcomm Stadium, a place that even San Diego legend Dan Fouts called a dump. Among dozens of proposals, none were ever good enough for San Diego nor the Chargers, and eventually a long game of chicken led us to where we are now: For three years, the Chargers will play in the smallest NFL stadium since the Oakland Raiders moved out of 22,000-person Frank Youell Field in 1965.

It’s strange to think that the Chargers’ old home, Qualcomm, was once regarded as an architectural marvel. The stadium ran the gamut of bad sports stadium features: obstructed seats, bare concrete, and home team locker rooms that were worse than most of the visitors’ quarters in the NFL. However, it was also considered a shining example of brutalist architecture, a structure that conveys both strength and functionality. When it was opened in 1967, it was cutting-edge, a forerunner of the trend of multi-purpose stadiums that could accommodate both football and baseball.

Qualcomm — initially called San Diego Stadium, then lovingly dubbed Jack Murphy Stadium after the longtime San Diego Union Tribune columnist — had the largest parking lot in the NFL, which gave it an unrivaled tailgate scene, one that begat Thunder Alley. And when the place rocked, its efficient, vertical design made sure that it ROCKED. After the first game ever played there, commissioner Pete Rozelle said, “It might be the best stadium I’ve ever seen.”

There’s an easy metaphor to make here about how time makes all things obsolete, and how a deteriorating stadium mirrored the team’s own struggles. But what the team has become — 4-12 in 2015, 5-11 in 2016, and 0-4 through four weeks — has a lot more to do with Spanos. After taking over as owner for his father in 1994, the same year the Chargers made their only Super Bowl, the team quickly declined.

Photo by Tom Antl

The Chargers wouldn’t record a double digit-win season again until 2004. After a franchise-record 14 wins in 2006, Spanos fired head coach Marty Schottenheimer because of a quick playoff exit and rumored insubordination. Another decade of squandered rosters under Norv Turner and Mike McCoy have culminated in the Chargers having won just nine of their last 37 games. Since 2010, they’ve made the playoffs just once.

Spanos might have been a sympathetic figure, but he withdrew from the public eye as the team struggled and the prospects of a new stadium sank to nothing. In his place, he propped up a PR consultant, and then fans withdrew as well.

Home games came to be dominated by opposing crowds. The last game ever played at Qualcomm was an awkward and somber loss in which the team was booed. A year before, when the team was still facing relocation, the players lingered on the field, celebrated a 30-14 win with fans, and reflected on what San Diego had meant to them.

Quarterback Philip Rivers gave an impassioned farewell to San Diego at the end of the 2015 season, then couldn’t muster up the energy to do it again in 2016, admitting that the farewell had “come and gone” by that point. The weariness of the final year was mutually felt.

Two years ago, I talked to Chargers, Raiders, and Rams fans about their feelings toward their favorite teams as they threatened to move. One of those fans was Andy Glickman, a former TV writer who lived in L.A., and yet swore he would stop rooting for the Chargers if they moved out of San Diego. He followed through on the threat, and more. Now he is often actively rooting against the team.

“Maybe I was so disgruntled, even as a fan, that the groundwork was laid for being a hater,” Glickman said. “As everything kind of went on — they drafted Mike Williams, and then he got hurt, and then I laughed.”

Robert Carlson still roots for the Chargers, though he lives in the San Diego area. He worked at a healthcare company that was on the same street as the Chargers’ practice facility. It wasn’t an easy decision to stay a fan, however, and most of his friends gave them up. His father is so mad at Spanos that his relationship with his son has become strained.

“It was one of the things that we bonded over. Now it's not there as much, and it's sad,” Carlson said. “He just gets so angry and negative towards them, I can't have a conversation with him about it. It just brings me down. It stinks because I used to hang out with him every week.”

That the Chargers left San Diego specifically for Los Angeles may be the team’s most spiteful act of all. In his statement announcing his decision to relocate the franchise, Spanos used more words to praise L.A. than to say goodbye to San Diego and its fans. The Chargers made a Fight for L.A. ad to court Angelenos, an endeavor that has only seemed to be successful at alienating San Diego. Whatever the Chargers are, it isn’t the diverse group of smiling regular folks seen in the ad saying things like, “Fight for Burbank.”

“If you're from Philadelphia and I move the Eagles, and I call them the Boston Eagles, you're not going to like that,” Glickman said. “Philadelphia to Boston is what, 90 miles? That's even closer than San Diego to L.A. You wouldn't even think of doing that.

“If you're trying to court San Diego fans, then don't fucking call them the Los Angeles Chargers.”

Photo by Tom Antl

The experience at StubHub Center is, truthfully, really good. The small concourse means you can get in the stadium, get food, and go to your seats quickly. The tickets were relatively cheap for “nosebleed” seats that won’t make your nose bleed at all. Every seat leans out over the action on the field, and the worst seat might be considered mediocre at another NFL venue, but I doubt it’d even be that bad.

The PA announcer warns you before kickoff that the cannon that shoots off after every Chargers score is very loud, but — oh boy — will it scare the shit out of you when the team kicks a short field goal you were only peripherally paying attention to. StubHub can get loud, and — though, yes, as many if not more Chiefs fans showed up for the Week 3 matchup in Carson — the Chargers fans that showed up make it sound as raucous as a stadium four times its size before the opening kick.

Their excitement dies down as the Chiefs scoot out to a 14-0 lead, but that’s to be expected. No one is under any delusions that the Chargers aren’t a bad team right now. When Rivers throws two interceptions before completing his first pass, everyone acknowledges, rightfully, that he’s playing like crap. But Chargers fans are proud of their crappy team, buster. And frankly, they’re tired of how the media have portrayed the crowds at StubHub by tweeting photos of empty seats before kickoff (they’re right, those photos are unfair).

“I was watching Inside the NFL, and they were like, 'Oh it only holds 27,000, the players are used to playing in front of 70,000,’” Brett Atkins tells me. “And I'm like, You sonovabitches, you haven't even been here yet. Why don't you come down here and experience it before you start trashing it.”

Photo by Tom Antl

Sandy and Brett Atkins

Atkins and his wife, Sandy, bought season tickets. Brett became a fan because he started working in San Diego during the Chargers’ Super Bowl run in 1994. Sandy is actually a lifelong Raiders fan, but she wears a Chargers jersey nonetheless, and she cherishes her chances to study a number of NFL teams.

“Wearing a Chargers jersey as a lifelong Raiders fan, isn’t that sacrilegious?” I ask.

“No.”

“Yes,” Brett says.

“I'm a football fan,” Sandy says. “I like all of the teams. I thought the Seahawks played awesome in the preseason, and so did the Chargers. They're really good, close games. When are you going to get this chance to be so close up?”

It’s hard to coax the same vitriol for Qualcomm out of fans that media and ownership seemed to have. Shittiness can even elicit something like pride as long as it’s shared shittiness. Solidarity is forged out of trying circumstances. Nick Frost and Jeff Blauer went to Chargers games for years despite how angry the team made them, if only because they were together. They brought their sons to the Chiefs game.

“Here's my son who was conceived in old Jack Murphy stadium,” Blauer says, pointing to Kyle Blauer, who had walked up to the conversation from the other side of their car.

“What?”

“You didn't know that?”

“It was in a porta-potty,” Frost says.

They can’t deny that the Chargers have a better home right now. Frost took his father to the Week 2 home opener against the Dolphins and says that his old man was blown away.

“My dad — who had pretty good seats, he had press level seats when he was in San Diego — he sat down and went, 'man,'“ Frost says. “You're just right there. It's intimate. If we can get people to get out of their seats and cheer a little bit more, we'll be good.”

Photo by Tom Antl

From left to right, Nick Frost, Alex Frost, Jeff Blauer, Kyler Blauer

That intimacy is intentional. Soccer stadiums put fans closer to the action by design. Bruce Miller — a senior architect for Populous, a Kansas City design firm that has worked with MLS on six stadiums — explained to me that NFL stadiums need deep sidelines for dozens of players, officials and cameramen to stand and walk, so their first rows tend to be set back and up high. Soccer players, on the other hand, sit when they’re not playing, so the first row of fans can come up almost to the pitch.

“Soccer is really an incredible experience because of the fans,” Miller says. “They drive the energy in the building. They create a lot of noise. There isn't a lot of pumped in music going on because the fans are literally chanting and singing and playing drums the entire 90 minutes.”

The fans power the stadium in soccer stadiums, essentially, and they could power football stadiums if StubHub is an indication. For the start of the second half, I sneak down to the first row of the north end zone where Walchef, Dotseth, and many of the same people I had met earlier in Thunder Alley are sitting. From there, I was practically eye level with the players when they lined up on the field, and a shout away — maybe 10 feet — from back of the end zone.

Early in the fourth quarter, as the Chiefs were backed against us facing first-and-10 in a 17-10 game, the crowd was as loud as it had been at any point since kickoff. Linebacker Jahleel Addae pointed right at us — Walchef, Dotseth, Boltman, NFL Road Warrior, and me, half-assedly maintaining professional decorum — and waved his arms to implore us as we made eye contact and obliged.

Then Kareem Hunt ripped off a 20-yard gain to give the Chiefs a first down at the 26-yard line. To reiterate: The Chargers aren’t very good. But for a few moments, that was very easy to ignore, presuming it mattered in the first place. Down at the bottom, I saw fans and athletes commune without middlemen, in a space that they defined themselves.

Photo by Tom Antl

Frost says he’ll have season tickets for as long as the team is at StubHub. After that, he’s unsure whether he’ll be able to afford seats when the the Chargers move into Los Angeles Stadium with the Rams.

“I figure for three years, we're going to have a great time, and after that we're probably done,” Frost says, then points at a palm tree next to his car. “But this tree is ours. We own this spot.”

Los Angeles Stadium won’t just be a place to watch football. It’ll be part of a “sports and entertainment district” on top of the old Hollywood Park Racetrack that has been compared to an NFL version of Disney World. Around the stadium there will be a 300-room hotel, a 6,000-seat performance center, 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space, 2,500 homes, and 25 acres of parks, all on a 300-acre plot. It is by far the most expensive sports development project ever — one that, even when adjusted for inflation, could have bought Lambeau Field’s original construction costs 566 times over.

We know what the future holds. Al Michaels will fawn over the facility at some point early in the 2020 season, and then it will be fawned over again — probably by an in-his-prime Tony Romo — when it hosts Super Bowl LVI. Beyond that, you probably won’t notice that the Rams and Chargers are playing in perhaps the greatest sports arena ever built. You’ll be watching on TV, and that experience has remained largely unchanged for almost 80 years — 11 guys in one set of jerseys squaring off against 11 other guys in another set of jerseys on top of a flat green expanse.

Photo by Tom Antl

You almost certainly won’t be getting in Los Angeles Stadium. The price of tickets to an NFL game has increased by nearly 50 percent in the last 10 years, according to Statista — from $62.38 in 2006 to $92.98 in 2016 — with newer stadiums generally commanding higher prices. Last year, you could see the 2-14 49ers in two-year-old Levi’s Stadium for $139 a ticket, or the 12-4 Chiefs in 34-year-old Arrowhead Stadium for $128.

Or better, you could stay home for nothing. Los Angeles Stadium will be conveniently located 20 minutes from LAX and feature 260 suites decked in the latest in executive couture. It isn’t being built for Rams and Chargers fans. It is a $2.66 billion bug lamp for suckers.

For the Rams and Chargers, that may be just fine. They’re at one end of a transaction and that’s that. Dotseth argues that the NFL outgrew San Diego, and it’s hard to disagree: “We were not, as a community, ready to put down $25,000 for a personal seat license. We were not ready to pay $75 for parking. We wanted everything to stay 1983, and it wasn't going to do that.”

The next question is whether the NFL may be outgrowing the NFL. The Chargers and Rams have faced the most ridicule of any two teams this season for their stadium and attendance problems, but even the 49ers, owners of a state-of-the-art facility, can’t put people in the stands. The team screwed up in so many ways. To name three: It was built an hour of traffic-hell outside San Francisco; the turf was one of the worst in the league; and the designers never considered that fans might not want to sit under searing sunlight for four hours.

For decades now, NFL owners have behaved as if they were impervious to market shifts and largely stopped focusing on football as their product after they negotiated revenue sharing and a fat TV deal. The Levi’s Stadium fiasco illustrates that there is ceiling to how much fans will put up with, however — it took a while, but we found it — and it should make the league think about what the future is.

If the 49ers and their five Super Bowl titles can’t fill a brand-new, cathedral stadium, then what chance will the Rams and Chargers and their combined one championship have in a new market? And if more people aren’t showing up at games, then what will the effect be on TV viewers when the stands are empty and games even sound like no one cares?

Photo by Tom Antl

It’s time to consider what the StubHub Chargers have to say about all this. For the next three seasons, they are a fresh petri dish, an experiment in what the NFL could be if it thought about fans first. They are starting from scratch, with nothing to build a fanbase with except a beleaguered history, a cool lightning bolt logo, and the most unique stadium in the league.

The StubHub Chargers are in a place where no NFL franchise really wants to see themselves, but for the time being they are also one of the most precious things in sports: an honest-to-god underdog, a team that can say “nobody believes in us” and mean it. They are playing in Jerryworld’s diametric opposite, somehow both a product of the NFL’s empire and an affront to it.

With roughly five minutes left, the Chargers with the ball and still down 7 to the Chiefs, Dotseth turns to Walchef and says, “Hey Shawn, we’ve got Philip Rivers, five minutes, two timeouts. What more do you want?”

Someone behind him says, “If only Ken Whisenhunt was back on the sideline.”

“Give me Norv,” someone else says.

“Ryan Leaf.”

“Billy Joe Toliver.”

“Ooh, that’s a good one,” Dotseth says. Meanwhile, the Chargers get two first downs on penalties, the first when Rivers underthrows yet another pass down the sideline to draw pass interference.

I really want this weird Stubhub Experiment to work. In my mind, the Chargers are a team with squatters’ rights. They have the freedom of no equity. They abide by that set of no-rules that seems to only apply to people with nothing. And if only they could play this right, they would empower their fanbase and build a new generation of fan — because who hasn’t felt beat down and hard-lucked and hungry?

Miller, a Chiefs fan, tells me the next day he couldn’t tell the game was being played in a dinky stadium in an L.A. suburb. “If you hadn't reminded me, I would not have known it was a venue with 20,000 seats vs. 60,000,” he says. “On television it looked and felt loud, intense.”

So it seemed in-person, too, until the Chargers inevitably punted on fourth-and-21. A pair of good runs by Hunt gave the Chiefs third-and-1 when the Chargers finally took their second timeout. Chargers fans largely didn’t stay to see if they would get the stop. At the two-minute warning, after the Chiefs converted, StubHub was mostly empty, and maybe 80 percent of those left were fans of the away team.

Walchef tells me then that he never leaves a game early. He says he has seen too many weird Chargers games to possibly get up before the final whistle. And almost on cue, Hunt breaks off a 69-yard touchdown run through the biggest running lane of the day.

Walchef laughs and looks straight ahead. I ask what his expectations are now for the team, and he says “nothing.” When he opened his restaurant he stopped betting on football and the Chargers.

“Since then my relationship with the team has changed. I get the opportunity to hang out with Jeff and his kids. I get to hang out with my friends. I’ve stopped focusing on whether they win or they lose.

“But hopefully the team does start winning. And I hope when they do it’s in this stadium.”

[ropedropnet]

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

They’re going to bring this back to Food & Wine, right?

The biggest “news” since we last shared a helping of News Nuggets is the announcement of the details of Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival. This year’s festival runs 75 days from opening Aug. 31 through Nov. 1. It was also have 35 booths (“marketplaces”) this year. For more details, check out Disney’s press release about what’s to come.

Now, from the rest of the nuggets:

The New “Minnie Mouse Loves Dots” Collection is Now Available at UNIQLO at Disney Springs – In a surprise to no one, Elyssa has already picked up a few things from this collection.

The Rock Working with Disney Imagineering to Update The Jungle Cruise Attraction for Upcoming Film – I think I’m going to need Dwayne to skipper a boat for Elyssa and ,e before I can fully evaluate these changes. (Sadly, it looks like this rumor wasn’t true.)

New MagicBand 2 Colors Unveiled at Walt Disney World Resort – The headline for this article is weird, since it mentions the colors (which aren’t available separately), but the article is really about the custom designs.

New Mickey Mouse Celebration Cakes Coming Soon to Walt Disney World Resort – These look like monochrome versions of the Amorette’s Patisserie cakes, but are cheaper and available in the Disney restaurants.

Reservations Now Open for ‘The Music of Pixar LIVE!’ Dining Package at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Dining packages are all the rage. I wonder if this show will actually require on, though.

Incredibles Super Dance Party Being Replaced in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom; Limited Time Meet & Greet – I admit it: Elyssa & I have had fun at the Incredibles Dance Party in the past.

Celebration at the Top – Savor, Sip, and Sparkle extended to select Sundays through August 27, 2017 – No real surprise, here. I’m still not sure this event is something I’ll do, though.

Disney Store Introducing “Fantasyland Football” Theme Park Merchandise in Fall 2017 – I own a couple of the basketball shirts, so I hope they make the football ones as nice.

Mickey Mouse races around London in promotion of his new animated series “Mickey and the Roadster” – Adorable.

Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek to Reveal What’s Next at D23 Expo 2017 – It’ll be tough to top last year’s announcements. Maybe just some more details about things they’ve already talked about?

Alcoholic Milkshakes & Floats Arrive at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Just In Time for Summer – That’s one way to spend some time during the heat of the summer at The Studios.

Sound Lion now closed at Disney Springs – Huh. I actually wandered into the store the other week while waiting for Elyssa. I imagine it was tough to get the kind of volume necessary in “high end headphones” to cover the Springs rent.

Rumors point to a possible Haunted Mansion restaurant at Magic Kingdom – Friend of the site Ken Storey writes about the latest dining rumor.

Walt Disney World plans to deploy driverless shuttles in Florida – These seem inevitable, especially since Disney can just map every square inch of its property to plug into its driverless system.

WDW News Today Rumor about Walt Disney World Looking to Build Volcano-Themed Resort Hotel at the Magic Kingdom – I thought the rumor of the volacno coaster (I first heard from Jim Hill) was a little extreme, but this takes it up a notch.

This Mother’s Day, Pamper Mom at Disney Springs – If you’re going to be down at Disney World over Mother’s Day, maybe you want to check out a special gift for your mother.

Baby Groot & Star Lord of MARVEL’s Guardians of the Galaxy Now Meeting Guests at Walt Disney World – I enjoy Disney feeling out the edges of the Universal deal. That said, it’s not exactly Chris Patt meeting as Star Lord. (Baby Groot seems promising, though.) Here’s a video of the experience:

Disney Springs to host free yoga session ‘Yoga By the Springs’ for small group of guests – Again, if you’ll be at Disney World on May 9th and like yoga, why not give this a shot?

Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom to be Closed Summer/Fall 2017 for Refurbishment – All of September, and October, and the first half of November? That’s a long refurb.

Kenny the Pirates’s Rumor Round Up of the Character Changes at Walt Disney World – Moana seems like a natural fit for Adventureland. Also, Rey in the BB-8 meet-and-greet would be awesome, but the queue would need to get much bigger.

Paddlefish at Disney Springs Offering Unique Mother’s Day Special – $48 is a lot for a pasta dish, even if it has Lobster (though I probably pay that much for a good steak a few times a year).

Cake Decorating Experience at Amorette’s Patisserie Extended through August – It’s a “different” experience, but $129 is still more than I would value it.

Catch a Sneak Peek of Disney·Pixar’s ‘Cars 3’ Now at Disney Parks – You can just look at the Disney movie release schedule to see what’s coming up. (Thor after this, right?)

Member creates DVC Investment Calculator – Seeing the overall investment over the length of a contract can be pretty daunting.

May 2017 Monorail service adjustments – Check this out: “From 11:30am to 6:00pm on May 16, 17, 23 and 24, stops at the Contemporary will be switched to the Express Monorail line. During this period, the Resort Monorail will shuttle between the Polynesian, Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom only. The Express Monorail will make stops at the TTC, Contemporary and Magic Kingdom. ” I’m sure that won’t confuse anyone.

Savor a Taste of the Pacific Northwest at Geyser Point Bar & Grill – Nice little promotional video for Geyser Point. Unfortunately, the food and service don’t really live up to the location. (At least from out experience.) Maybe when Roaring Fork is back open, there will be less stress on Geyser Point and the service will improve.

Creators Ready ‘Happily Ever After’ for May 12 Debut at Magic Kingdom Park – I’m still apprehensive about this show, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s going to come together at the end. I’ll embed the preview video at the end of hte post.

Additional Backstage Viewing Area Being Opened for “Wishes” Farewell and “Happily Ever After” Debut at Magic Kingdom – Disney is anticipating a pretty big crowd for the end of Wishes and the start of Happily Ever After. I think they’re probably right to expect that.

Typhoon Lagoon closing for maintenance mid-May – Looks like you shouldn’t plan on visting Typhoon Lagoon on May 15 and 16.

Disney is about to revive one of its classic theme park ride systems – Has it really been 30 years since Disney built an all ages BOATRIDE in the US?

Fittings and Fairings Clothes and Notions – Between this and the Captain’s Grill, there’s a lot closed at the Yacht Club.

Disney World gondolas would connect parks, hotels, documents confirm – It really looks like this whole gondola system is going to happen, huh?

Rumors of Disney Creating Star Wars “Starship” Luxury Resort & Experience Attached to Disney’s Hollywood Studios – What’s interesting to me about this rumor is how far it’s spread. I’ve had a number of people I wouldn’t consider diehard Disney fans bring it up to me.

Frozen Summer Games Coming to Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park Starting May 26 – Interestingly, this is still the only place that you can meet Kristoff on Disney property.

Here’s the preview for Happily Ever After video I mentioned earlier. Seem you next time!

The post News Nuggets from Around Disney World appeared first on Rope Drop [dot] Net.

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