Winnie the Pooh on TV then and in the parks now

Some time ago, as part of his long series of videos explaining the evolution of Disney characters in the parks, Disney Dan devoted one such video to Winnie the Pooh:

In this case, however, in addition to the Disney parks, Disney Dan also devotes part of the video to Winnie the Pooh as seen on the old Disney Channel show, Welcome To Pooh Corner:

Pooh looks relatively slimmed down as you can see. As the video also points out, this show foreshadows the usage of articulated designs in costumes, which in recent years has started to be used in the parks more frequently, particularly in stage shows, like those in front of the castle at WDW's Magic Kingdom. Pooh, like all the characters in the show, has the ability to move his eyes and his mouth through mechanical means inside the costume to allow for more interaction.

Back to the parks, the most recent Pooh costume, the one seen in the parks today, which has been seen since 1999, looks like this:

He doesn't look nearly as chubby as he once did, but he is still pretty cuddly and cute.

I kind of thought that his costume was similar, if not necessarily identical, to the costume on Pooh Corner, mainly in the build of his relatively slim physique, which admittedly is a little chubbier than on the show, as well as his larger head, but his head is nowhere near as big as it once was way back when.

Throw in a "live" version of this character, used for traveling shows, with an articulated head allowing him to blink his eyes and talk, and you have even more of a throwback to the Pooh costume of old:

I personally feel that these two Pooh costumes owe a great deal to the Winnie the Pooh that was once seen on Welcome To Pooh Corner. They may not have as small a head as I thought, as he did on Pooh Corner, but the resemblance is relatively uncanny (except for the eyes).

Goofy at the parks needs an update

At the Disney parks, Goofy has gone without a major update since 1978. He has remained largely the same for over forty years! This video shows a brief history of the Goofy costume in the parks through the years:

Anyway, the costume has largely remained the same since 1978. The only changes made to the Goofy costume since then came in 1999, to remove his eyelashes and shrink his pupils slightly. Here are some comparison shots:

Anyway, since Mickey and Donald's costumes have radically changed at least twice since then, I feel it's time for Goofy's costume to evolve as well.

The main alteration is mainly to his face, which is to look more in line with the old cartoons from whence he originated, although the rest of his body looks the same as before. Here's an image of the cartoon Goofy to give you an idea:

As you can see, the eyes are much larger than in the parks. And here's the basic design of what I was thinking (sorry for how bad it is; it was made with MS Paint):

In the meantime, after I had shared the idea on discussion boards and chat spaces of the Disney Wiki site, someone else refined the proposed look. And here's what that looks like:

Just so you know, that's not my original concept, so credit goes out to whoever it was that did think of it. I commend that person for refining the look a lot more accurately. I like that a lot better.

Anyway, it's time for the costume to evolve. I hope they do it someday.

My 2019 D23 cosplay gallery, part two

Here now is the gallery of Disney cosplays I got from my second and last day at D23. You can look at the day one gallery here. Once again, that's me as Willie the Giant. I did end up seeing a few characters from the package films. Enjoy!

 1980s Minnie and Daisy, as seen on the cover of the Disney album "Totally Minnie"

Christopher Robin? 

 This man decked out his electric cart to look like not just a pirate ship, but one decked out in lights, like that float in the Electrical Parade!

Ichabod Crane and Katrina Von Tassel, from the Sleepy Hollow scene of one package film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Carl and Ellie Fredricksen selling balloons to Snow White and Dopey 

Jose Carioca, who also originated from a package film and would appear in at least two

Aqua and Kairi from the Kingdom Hearts games

 Mick Vader?

 The Prosecutor from the "Wind In the Willows" segment of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The back half of that one electric cart-turned-light-up pirate ship float. That skull on the back actually talks, just like in the Pirates ride!

There you have it, my galleries of cosplayers from D23 2019. Once more, I will once again try to make the trip in 2021, and once again, I have an idea for who it should be. It was actually supposed to be something for this trip, but I decided on Willie the Giant instead. Incidentally, my sister was going to dress as the chief weasel, Smarty (or sometimes Wise Guy) from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but at the last second, she dressed as a character from the Haunted Mansion instead. She plans to dress as Smarty in 2021, and I will dress as what I was thinking of for a while: one of the other weasels, presumably the one in the blue and white-striped shirt and propeller cap and wields a club with a nail in it. I believe his name is Stupid. One of these times, we should try and go for all three days, not just two.

Anyway, see you next time!

My 2019 D23 cosplay gallery, part one

Once again, I attended D23 for 2019, for which I have dressed up as Willie the Giant from the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of Fun and Fancy Free (luckily, I was not the only one to dress as a character from a package film). My mother dressed as Mad Madam Mim (as she did in 2017) and my father was Merlin, and my sister was another character from the Haunted Mansion, this time the singing Brunhilde-type ghost in the graveyard scene toward the end of the ride.

Once again also, I went for only two days instead of three. Seeing people dressed up, as we were, is always a highlight for my trips to conventions, D23 or otherwise, and I have taken so many pictures of such that, once again, I could not fit them into one page. Thus, I will be putting up two posts, one for each of the two days I went. I will include myself and my father, but this is mostly for other cosplayers that I saw. This post here is for the first day. Enjoy!

The Haunted Mansion was the "full attraction" costume of this event. 

 The Walt and Mickey statue at Disneyland, known as "Partners".

 Mickey Mouse as a hipster

 Some of the dolls in Small World

 Donald, Minnie and Goofy on those glowing balls of light from the closing of Disneyland's Paint the Night parade

Sully and Boo as Jedi Knights and BB-8 as Mike Wazowski 

Tramp and Peg

A comparison shot between me and the character I'm dressed as. This man on the left is J.B. Kaufman, who wrote a book on Fun and Fancy Free, which I bought (that image of Willie is taken from the book). He also wrote other Disney books, some of which I own, including a great one on Pinocchio, which I own because Pinocchio is one of my most favorite Disney movies ever, and another on Snow White, which I don't own, but have checked out from the library.

That's my father dressed as Merlin in this ride vehicle, taken from Epcot's former Living Seas pavilion, which has since been overhauled and given a Nemo theme some time ago. 

 Peter Pan, Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse all as Boba Fett

 Sully and Boo done up in balloons!

That's the first day. Go here for day two!