Hello Dear Readers! Our Pressing Matters for today include a few events for now and a few for planning on later — Here are today’s topics:
Explorers Wanted • Animal Stars • Guacamole Anyone?
• Railway Festivals • Giada • Disneyland Resort Merchandise Events
Disney is looking for explorers to check out their new Facebook Animal Kingdom game:
Disney Interactive’s new Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers, a social game inspired by The Walt Disney Company's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, is now live on Facebook. Developed by Disney Social Games, Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers is a hidden object game that provides players with a social, ecologically minded play experience where players can create and nurture their own wildlife preserve and search for hidden objects in spectacular natural settings from the Rocky Mountains, to the Amazon Rainforest, to the Australian Outback. Two of the game's locations will be particularly familiar to Disney fans, as Harambe and Anandapur draw inspiration directly from Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park.
To try out the new Animal Kingdom game, visit this link.
The annual Pet Expo is going to be at the OC Fair & Event Center April 20th — 22nd, the theme is A Salute To Hollywood Pets, so you know some famous furry stars are going to show up:
A Salute to Hollywood Pets — At America’s Family Pet Expo at the OC Fair and Event Center we emphasize the importance of responsible pet care of a wide variety of pets, teach the principles of proper pet selection and training, offer a vast array of fine pet products, promote pet adoptions, and help people to better understand and appreciate all the wonderful ways in which pets make our lives better. Join us in our celebration of pets! Pet Expo is full of amazing pet education, pet shows and entertainment. Check out the Pet Stars of today as they take the Hollywood Pets Stage and then join them in their booths for a meet and greet as well as pawtographs:
• Uggie from The Artist and Water for Elephants
• Suzie Q. who portrays “Jim” on Mike & Molly
• Chloe & Papi, the lead dogs in the “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” films
• Brigitte who plays “Stella” on Modern Family
• Lambchop who plays Yakult on Surburgatory
• Charlie the Cat from A.N.T. Farm
• Billie who plays “Owen” on Austin & Ally on The Disney Channel
Kristi Yamaguchi will also be there to sign her new children’s book on Saturday, April 21 from 1:30 PM — 3:00 PM:
Olympic Gold Medalist, New York Times bestselling author and Dancing with the Stars Champion, Kristi Yamaguchi, will be making a stage appearance and meet and greet at the OC Pet Expo, to sign her new children’s book, “It’s a Big World, Little Pig” the sequel to her inspirational children’s tale, “Dream Big, Little Pig”.
Dates and times for the Pet Expo are: Friday, April 20th: 10:00 AM — 6:00 PM | Saturday, April 21st: 10:00 AM — 7:00 PM | Sunday, April 22nd: 10:00 AM — 6:00 PM, and The OC Fair & Event Center is located at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa, CA. For more information, visit this link.
Avocados are delicious and they’re good for you too, so why not celebrate that with an outing to Fallbrook’s Avocado Festival:
On Sunday, April 15th, head to Downtown Fallbrook where you will find all things avocado at the annual Avocado Festival. There are activities for the whole family, Arts & Crafts • Farmer's Market • Food Courts • Refreshment Gardens • Live Entertainment • Guacamole Contests • Children's Activities • and much, much more!
The Avocado Festival takes place on Sunday, April 15th from 9:00 AM — 5:00 PM. To get to the festival from the Los Angeles & Orange County areas, take the 5 Freeway South — exit Highway 76 East. Travel east to Mission Road (S-13), and turn left (north) to Fallbrook on South Mission Road. This will take you into Fallbrook and to the festival area. For more information, visit this link.
There are a couple of railroad festivals coming up. The first takes place just a little north of Disneyland in Fullerton and a famous Disneyland train car is scheduled to make a rare appearance:
After a three-year hiatus in Fullerton, Railroad Days is returning to the mainline and is expected to be bigger and better than ever. Come join the fun from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on May 5th & 6th at the Fullerton Train Station located at 120 E. Santa Fe Avenue in Fullerton. Community supporters and regional railroads have stepped up in large numbers to create an expansive FREE community event. Now in its 12th year, Railroad Days is presented by the Southern California Railway Plaza Association to honor Fullerton's founding and historic rail connection with extensive train exhibits and tours, a scenic garden railroad, and more than 8,000 square feet of layouts created by 13 modular groups in all scales -- Z to G -- to delight families and rail fans of all ages.
An all-star lineup of featured participants will provide rail equipment for tours, including: Disneyland Railroad's Presidential Coach “Lilly Belle,” an observation car named for Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian. The elegant Victorian-décor car will be combined for the first time since 1974 with Carolwood Pacific's coach for passengers and baggage that was designed by Disney Imagineers at Walt’s request.
For more information, visit this link.
The second celebration of all things rail, will take place on May 19th & 20th at the Orange Empire Railway Museum’s Rail Fest and Knott’s Berry Farm will be a part of this one:
Enjoy an entire day of fun for the whole family. Ride trains and trolleys all day long, plus a special mini "Run One"* where you can "take the throttle" on a real railroad locomotive under the supervision of one of our instructors (* there is an extra charge for this activity). There will be live bluegrass music, a special parade of Los Angeles trolleys on our "Loop Line", children's bouncy tents, handcar rides, exhibits from the Knott's Berry Farm railroad as well as other special features. There will also be food vendors on site for lunch. Both trolleys and diesel powered trains will operate on the mainline!
This is a gated event, admission is $15.00 for adults, $10.00 children 5-11. This price includes unlimited rides on the trains and trolleys (with the exception of Run One which is an extra charge). Museum members have free admission. The Orange Empire Railway Museum is located at 2201 S. "A" St. in the city of Perris, CA. For more information, visit this link.
Everyone’s favorite Food Network star, Giada De Laurentiis will be making an appearance at the South Coast Plaza Williams-Sonoma store:
Join us at your local Williams-Sonoma store for a special book signing with Giada De Laurentiis. She will be signing copies of Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner. Space is limited to the first 400 ticketed customers. Please visit or call the South Coast Plaza location to purchase your books and secure a ticket. Giada will only be personalizing copies of Weeknights with Giada purchased at Williams-Sonoma. Proof of purchase required.
Giada will be signing her book on Saturday, May 5, 2012 at 12:00 PM at Williams-Sonoma — South Coast Plaza located at 3333 Bristol Street in Costa Mesa, CA, 92626. The phone number to call is (714) 751-1166.
Now, lets move on to some Disneyland merchandise news.
The first item is time-sensitive — if you have a grad planning on attending Grad Nite at the Disneyland resort this year, you can get a jump on the merchandise, select Grad Nite items are available for order through April 15th:
'Ears To You Class of 2012! Be sure to ear-mark this special occasion with our Grad Nite and Graduation themed merchandise created for the Class of 2012. Now through April 15, 2012, take advantage of a special opportunity to purchase a Grad Nite 2012 tee, Grad Nite 2012 Ladies Tee or Grad Nite 2012 Hoodie before they hit store shelves during Grad Nites.
For look at the tee and hoodie and to find a clickable link to order, visit this link.
I’m not sure why Robert Olszewski is appearing at Disneyland for the release of his newest sculpture, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, because the sculpture is based on a WDW attraction. I know Disneyland had a 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea walk-through, I loved that thing (especially the giant squid), so maybe that’s why. Nonetheless, Mr. Olszewski’s version of the Nautilus looks pretty cool:
While you may feel like you're going on a deep sea adventure, there's no need to hold your breath for this event. Miniaturist, Robert Olszewski will be appearing at the Disneyana Shop on May 5 to sign his new 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sculpture, inspired by the attraction vehicle originally found at Magic Kingdom® park at the Walt Disney World® Resort. Created in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Magic Kingdom® park, the submarine appears to ride through the ocean surface, just as it did in the film. Additionally a second attraction vehicle sits on stands behind this permanent submarine top. The second vehicle which is held in place with magnets allows you to take it off the base for closer examination and even offers the opportunity to separate the top of the submarine from the bottom exposing the internal attraction vehicle ride area.
The Robert Olszewski signing will take place on Saturday, May 5th, 2012, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at the Disneyana Shop in Disneyland. The sculpture will come with a first day of release plaque for all sculptures purchased on May 5th and will be available for $85, plus tax. The sculpture measures 6"W x 2 5/8"D x 3.25"H. For more information, visit this link.
We’ll end the column today with the last merchandise event of note, which is for all you Dooney & Bourke fans.
Their newest collection of purses is scheduled to make its debut with a signing by Dooney & Bourke Creative Director, Ian Ray and Disney Design Group Graphic Designer, Susan Foy on Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 2:00 PM — 5:00 PM at Disney Vault 28 in Downtown Disney:
Dooney & Bourke collectors and Disney fans, the wait is over, a couple of new collections are set to debut May 12 at Disney Vault 28 at the Disneyland Resort. First up, is the Retro collection, this new line will be available in a variety of popular silhouettes including a wristlet, mini barrel, tassel tote, satchel, letter carrier as well as an iPad case. Prices range from $78 - $268. The Retro collection will remain exclusive to the Disneyland Resort.
Another collection debuting the same day on both coasts (at Tren D and Disney Vault 28) is "Buttons." For more information on the Dooney & Bourke event, visit this link.
That’s it for this week, thanks for stopping by. I’ll leave you and say good-bye for now. In the mean time, if you want to know what I’m up to, you need to follow Pressing Matters on Twitter. You never know what you’ll see there — food, museums, shopping, Disneyland, Trains! Follow along as I search for the all the latest Pressing Matters & tweet about what I find:
| 
