Sure it seems like a conceptual idea that would never work in real life, but this bathtub is actually completely functional, not to mention totally awesome -or at least, it would be if the creator actually finished the project. BoingBoing is trying to track down leads to find out if it was ever completed or not. If you have any information, share your knowledge in their comments section.

Link Via BoingBoing

Sure we all have things we resent our parents for, but it takes a lot to truly be a bad parent, especially to be named as one of the top ten terrible parents. While many of the cases are heart-breaking stories of abuse, some are just sickening displays of poor parental values -like the mother who bought her seven year-old a boob job. It makes you wish for a change in child abuse laws.

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Nine-year-old Jonny Mizzone can play the banjo! On fiddle, you hear his 12-year-old brother Robbie, and 14-year-old Tommy accompanies them on guitar. The song is Ralph Stanley’s “How Mountain Girls Can Love.” You can see more of the brothers at the YouTube channel Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. Link -via reddit

(YouTube Link)

This young champion of justice is named Riley, and she’s sick and tired of all the toy marketing gimmicks that keep girls from buying the superhero toys that they really like.

Watch as she explains what all the pink at the toy stores really means, and I’m sure you’ll agree that she is totally right. Let girls enjoy their superhero toys already, or Riley’s going to grow up and take you all down!

–via ComicsAlliance

From the remark about the hostages in Iran, I suspect this is from 1979 or 1980. The younger son grew up to host a website dedicated to photobombs. -Thanks, Comedy Wizard!

Of course, that’s not the only bizarre animal/human story friendship story. Cracked has five more and they are all equally fascinating.

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Now here’s an impressive kid’s playset. Cia of DeerDot made this impressive four-story structure for her son to play with so he could play Mario brothers without actually turning on a gaming system. The detailed pictures at the link are definitely worth a look, so be sure you click away.

Link Via CraftZine

The Boy Scouts Of America are looking to recruit the future Ron Swanson’s of the world, but you don’t need a beard to join, you just need the desire to “be one with the wild” (their campaign slogan). Only time will tell whether their ads, featuring kids with epic beards, will increase their numbers or scare the wits out of potential recruits!

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Halloween may be over, but that doesn’t make these eight month old twins playing the role of Goose and Maverick any less cute. Of course, the jet stroller is an unbelievably cute accessory.

Via Laughing Squid

We already posted our own round up of cute kid’s costumes, but The Mary Sue has their own gallery and the pictures are simply precious. My personal favorite is this adorable little Cabbage Patch Doll.

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Slowly snacking on Halloween candy every few hours, day after day, keeps your teeth bathed in enamel-corroding acid, the byproduct of bacteria feeding on sugar and other carbohydrates in your mouth. This leads to dental caries, or cavities.

So I guess even if you’re a candy stealer, it’s still better to steal it all in one night than stretch your thievery out.

Link Via The Mary Sue

I remember seeing stacks of these awful things on the shelves when I was a youngster, and hearing parents say things like “look for the ones that say non-flammable” and “well, at least you can use the mask”, as their kids stifled tears over their terribly disappointing selection of flimsy plastic costumes.

Browse through this gallery of awfulness and see just how good kids have it these days when it comes to Halloween costumes.

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Kansas City Schools have a program called No More Bullies, in which program volunteers, accompanied by trained dogs, teach kids about fairness, compassion, and integrity for one hour a day over five days. “The animals are the glue that helps the children stay focused and understand the message,” says Jo Dean Hearn, an ex-teacher who developed the program. “Children can easily identify with an animal. And it’s easy for them to transition when we ask them to consider how an animal feels (if ill treated) to how the kid sitting near them feels (if poorly treated).”

It’s a great program that’s showing promising results, and it isn’t the only one. Check out the rest of the story on The Week. Link

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Image Via bearexposed [Flickr]

The Skyway

Most visitors to Disneyland before the mid-nineties will remember this attraction, even if they never rode it. After all, an aerial gondola ride that went through the Matterhorn was something that was pretty easy to remember. The ride was built in 1956 and while plenty of similar rides exist in parks around the country these days, at the time, it was the first aerial ropeway in the U.S. In fact, the Skyway was actually built before the Matterhorn, which had to be built around the pre-existing gondola ride.

While the ride was very popular in that it allowed guests to view the entire park from above, it was closed in 1994 because the Matterhorn battery supports started to show stress cracks. In addition, prior to the closing of the ride, someone jumped out and while he ended up OK, the incident was certainly not something Disney executives wanted to repeat. Fixing the machinery and updating the ride to become ADA compliant and safer would have been outrageously expensive, so the ride was closed all together.

The hole in the Matterhorn is now covered up and the Tomorrowland station has been torn down, but the Fantasyland station is still sitting around empty.

Image Via ATIS547 [Flickr]

Country Bear Jamboree

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m particularly sad this one is gone. Opened in 1972, the Country Bear Jamboree was a stage show performed by animatronic critters –mostly bears. The attraction was so popular, it even was given a special Christmas show to entertain guests and inspired a movie that was released in 2002. A year before the movie was released though, the attraction was removed to make room for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride.

If you are hoping that the bears come back, there are rumors that the attraction may open at California Adventure sometime, but these stories have not been confirmed as of yet.

Image Via Loren Javier [Flickr]

Flying Saucers

This ride, built in 1961, sounds pretty fun as it’s a little like riding on an air hockey puck. Essentially, you got to play bumper cars on hover cars. The vehicles featured an air cushion that was pushed off the ground by forceful gusts of air from the surface under the cars and while the ride seemed to be pretty popular, it was too expensive to operate and only allowed a few guests to participate at a time. That’s why it was cut only five years later, only to be replaced by the Tomorrowland Stage.

If you’re cursing the Imagineers for removing such a cool ride before you got to experience it, there’s good news. This idea is going to be reworked to fit a Cars theme and Luigi’s Roamin’ Tires at California Adventure is all set to open in 2012.

Image Via arbyreed [Flickr]

Tomorrowland Boats and the Submarine Voyage

The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage might be the current occupant of Tomorrowland’s Mermaid Lagoon, but it is the third incarnation of rides in the area. In fact, the first ride in the lagoon, Tomorrowland Boats, was actually the first permanent attraction to be removed from the park. Opening a little after opening day, then renamed and closed within a year, the boats suffered from unreliable engines that often left visitors stuck in the middle of the lagoon.

Of course, Disney wasn’t about to leave that space open long, so within a few years, the Submarine Voyage was opened to the public. The ride explored an undersea world filled with mermaids, a sea serpent and other realistic and imaginary marine life. The ride was a big enough deal that it was actually one of the first attractions to require an E ticket.

In the mid-sixties, the lagoon was even decked out with real women in mermaid costumes sitting on the rocks and periodically performing synchronized swimming routines. Unfortunately, a few gents actually tried swimming out to meet these mystical maidens and some of the mermaids raised health concerns related to being submerged in the dirty water on a daily basis, so the act only lasted a few years.

The Submarine Voyage lasted quite a while longer, but as rides began improving more and more, kids started to get bored with the attraction and the cost of upkeeping the vessels and underwater creatures just wasn’t worth the investment. The ride closed for good in 1998, with Disneyland president Paul Pressler promising a new attraction would be opened by 2003. Originally, the powers that be intended to create a ride based on the Disney film Atlantis, but when that movie bombed, the lagoon sat empty for years, until it was finally drained in 2005 for the creation of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

Images Via Olivander and Tom Simpson [Flickr]

The PeopleMover and Rocket Rods

Opening in 1967, the PeopleMover was intended to show a futuristic alternative version of public transportation. The ride used a moving sidewalk to get people up to the right speed before they boarded open air cars that ran on a high track, allowing them to see the attractions of Tomorrowland.

When the ride was closed in 1995, it sat vacant for years before it was replaced with the Rocket Rods, which were Disney’s attempt at using the PeopleMover track for something else.

Essentially, the ride took a similar look at the area as the PeopleMover, only it raced through the track. Because Disney couldn’t find a sponsor for the ride though, they tried to keep costs down as much as possible, refusing to bank the corners, which resulted in the ride having to slow down drastically every time it turned. These sudden speed changes also led to problems with the computer system and the ride broke down just about every day. Within two years, the ride was scrapped and the track now sits empty. While there are rumors that the PeopleMover will return, Disney execs have stated that if they do, it will be a major investment on the company’s part because the ride will have to be revamped drastically to make it compliant with modern ADA and safety regulations.

Image Via Distraction Limited [Flickr]

The Mule Pack and Rainbow Caverns Mine Train

Here’s one I always thought sounded cool even though I never got to do it myself. The Mule Pack gave kids and adults a chance to ride real mules up the mountains, forests and deserts of Frontierland. When the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train ride opened in the space that is now Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the mules and trains could operate the hillsides at the same time.

The mule ride was closed in 1973 though, and three years later, the train ride (renamed the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland) was closed to make way for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. For more information on the transition, check out our Neatorama Facts about the ride.

Image Via fivequinns [Flickr]

Rocket to the Moon and Mission to Mars

Back in 1955, it was amazing to imagine man being able to actually travel to the moon, but the Rocket to the Moon attraction allowed guests to imagine flying in a rocket ship that was on its way to our nearest neighbor in the sky. The project was as realistic as Imagineers could hope at the time and they even worked with NASA to ensure it was as authentic as possible.

After we landed on the moon in 1969 though, the ride started seeming less and less exciting, so Disney refurbished the ride so the ultimate destination would now be Mars. Designers once again worked with NASA to ensure the attraction was realistic and the Mission to Mars opened to the public in 1975. By the nineties though, space exploration wasn’t nearly as far-fetched as it was in earlier decades, so the attraction was closed in 1992 to make way for an ambitious new Tomorrowland project that would include a number of exciting new rides. Unfortunately, Disneyland Paris started going into serious debt at the same time, so most of the Tomorrowland changes were canned permanently. The Mission to Mars building sat open until 1998 when it was opened as a restaurant, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port –personally, I’d rather take a simulated trip to Mars than eat some subpar pizza.

Image Via bearexposed [Flickr]

Do any of you miss these long-gone attractions? And those of you who visit Disney World or the other parks, do you have any closed rides you were particularly fond of?

Sources: Wikipedia #1,#2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

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Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:

Neatorama Facts: Splash Mountain
Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion
Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle
Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean
Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise
Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain
Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room
Neatorama Facts: Christmas at Disneyland
Neatorama Facts: It’s a Small World
Neatorama Facts: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Neatorama Facts: Star Tours

I don’t know about you guys, but just seeing this picture makes me want to visit Singapore’s Changi Airport where fliers can take the easy way to the bottom of the terminal with these delightful slides. If you’re a slide enthusiast or just curious what other weird places could install slides, don’t miss this great Oddee article.

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Tomorrow’s Pioneers

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If you love American television programming, but wish you could use it to teach your children the perils of the evil Western fascist dogs, then Tomorrow’s Pioneers might just be your new favorite kids show. The show features a female host and a few costumed characters, including a knock-off Mickey Mouse character, entertaining children with ideas of antisemitism, anti-Americanism and Islamic extremism. As if that weren’t enough, many of the costumed characters are martyred, most notably, the Mickey Mouse character is killed by an Israeli interrogator, providing youngsters with a deep, long-standing hatred for Palestine’s sworn enemies. Nothing like getting your propaganda into your kid’s minds before they’re too old to think for themselves.

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Boohbah

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If you thought the Teletubbies were strange, just wait until you get a load of this show that their creator released after it. According to their website, the Boohbahs are “five magical atoms of power” who live in a Boohball, which is a glowing white ball that can travel from country to country whenever a child calls it. The Boohball features a spinning recharging pod where the Boohbahs can recharge their energy through the laughter of children they play with. Since this show was made for kids between the ages of three and five, I’m going to go ahead and say this show is actually just supposed to entertain kids with bright colors and weird effects –just like the Teletubbies, since all of that background story is way beyond the scope of any kids in their demographic.

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Oobi

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Technically these are puppets, but really, it’s a show about hands wearing eyes and occasionally tufts of hair. The hands don’t ever use complete sentences, but just enough words to express what they need to make themselves understood. While I could see how that idea could be helpful for toddlers who have the same language barriers, seeing creepy hand puppets holding things in their mouth and whispering “guess” is surprisingly unsettling for most adults –myself included.

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Ludwig

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This one might be utterly bizarre like many of the other shows on this list, but at least it’s incredibly adorable. The basic story involves Ludwig, a forest-dwelling crystal that plays music and will periodically sprout arms, legs or gadgets out of his sides as needed, interacting with the other animals in the forest as a narrator (the only person who talks in the series) describes the action. After seeing some of the other shows here, I think we can all agree that there are a lot worse things your kids could be watching.

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LazyTown

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This Icelandic show features a lethargic town that is made entirely of puppets who love junk food and video games. The only exceptions are the villain, Robbie Rotten, the mayor’s niece who is new to town, Stephanie, and a fitness superhero who lives in a blimp above town, Sporticus. Stephanie and Sporticus make it their personal mission to inspire the residents to become more active and healthy, but lazy and anti-social Robbie Rotten wants to put a stop to their actions and fill the town with more junk food. Of course, the irony is that in trying to stop the heroes of the show, Robbie Rotten spends more energy than any other character on the program.

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Yo Gabba Gabba!

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You’ve probably already seen this show, or at least some of its characters, but if you’ve never paid attention to the program, you might not think a few dancing singing monsters are really all that weird for a typical kid’s show. But what makes this program particularly bizarre are some of the lessons they try to teach kids through song, for example, “Don’t Bite Your Friends,” and “All My Friends Are Insects.” Of course, with guest stars like Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, Weezer, and Elija Wood, it’s not entirely surprising that this show has enough quirky humor needed to appeal to adult viewers.

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Have any of you looked at shows you watched as a kid, or shows your kids watch now, and found yourself asking WTF? If so, share your favorite weird kid shows in the comments.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted some pretty amazing dreams during their existence, but naturally, some of those wishes are most certainly more incredible than others. Cracked has a fantastic list of some of the most awesome wishes the group has ever granted. Take, for example, Eric’s wish to become a superhero:

Spider-Man called asking for his help. Spidey alerted Erik that the dreaded Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy, a new supervillain duo (played by Edgar Hansen and Jake Anderson from The Deadliest Catch), were terrorizing the people of Seattle. They’d captured the Seattle Sounders MLS team and were holding them hostage in their own locker room. Spider-Man explained that he was busy, and he knew that Erik was really just the secret identity of the superhero Electron Boy, so he begged Eric for his help in saving the day…

Read more about Eric’s wish and the rest of these incredible dreams at the link.

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You might remember my post from a week ago featuring a precious baby dressed as The Doctor, at the time, I had no info on where the image came from. But thanks to your comments, I now know that the WhoBaby actually has her own blog, Flickr account and Twitter account filled with even more adorable pictures. If you want more, there is plenty more to see, so enjoy!

It’s uncanny how much your parents change as you grow up. Can I get an “amen”? -via Breakfast Links

If you’ve been looking for some paper dolls to play with that are actually designed for adults instead of kiddos, then BuzzFeed has a great collection of them for your paper-playing pleasure. Time to get printing!

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I know school’s about to start (if it hasn’t already), but just in case you want to provide them with a few last educational activities at home, this geode egg project is a good way to get them interested in the science of crystallization.

Link Via Craftzine

I’m sure we can all agree that it’s important to keep kids safe from the big dangers of this world, but there is certainly a line between safety and stupidity and many schools these days have jumped right over that border. Cracked ha a great list of the most idiotic things schools are doing in the name of safety, including making them wear electric tracking bracelets, banning all photography and preventing all physical contact. Read about the rest over at the link.

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I know a lot of our readers were born a lot earlier than I was, but for those of you raised in the nineties, this BuzzFeed article has a lot of funny ways to prove it that you will find yourself nodding your head to in agreement.

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This Tron Light Cycle scooter just might be the ultimate kid’s toy for those aspiring to raise their children with proper reverence for all things geek. I don’t know about you guys, but I wish I had one when I was a youngster. Unfortunately, it’s only a concept at this point, but let’s hope it moves in to production soon.

Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

(Edit by Alex 8/25/11) See also: PlasmaBike over at the NeatoShop

If you’ve been to Disneyland in the last twenty years, then you’re almost certainly familiar with Splash Mountain. Even if you refuse to ride the massive log ride, you probably at least rode the train through the tunnel that shows the happy ending of the ride. But did you know the ride is based on a movie that has never been released on home video because it’s considered too offensive? Or that the reason there are so many familiar faces inside is because the imagineers salvaged the characters for another attraction? There’s plenty more fun trivia like this inside this edition of our Neatorama Facts series.

Image Via OpenThreads [Flickr]

Trying To Make a Splash

The Zip-a-Dee River Run was originally conceived of as a way to start attracting more people over to the often empty Bear Country area of the park, which was renamed Critter Country after Splash Mountain was opened. Unfortunately, the project quickly ballooned over budget, becoming one of the most expensive projects the Imagineering team had worked on up until that point. To help reduce the cost as much as possible, the team decided to use previously existing animatronic animals from the recently closed America Sings attraction. Even then, the ride still ended up costing $75 million to complete.

Although CEO Michael Eisner kept pushing for the ride to be based on the film Splash, imagineers had long planned to base the ride on the live action/animation film Song of the South and they refused to be moved on that point. In honor of Eisner’s ignored contributions, they did decide to change the name of the ride from the Zip-a-Dee River Run to Splash Mountain.

Strangely, despite the fact that one of the most popular Disney rides was based on Song of the South, the company has still refused to release the title to American home video or DVD because their executives believe the content is offensive to black people. While Uncle Remus is the character believed to be the most offensive and was left out of the ride as well, his presence can be felt in the queue area; a variety of his quotes can be found throughout the barn-themed line area, all the way up to the loading area.

Images Via Express Monorail and PrincessAshley [Flickr]

America Sings Again

Because first Splash Mountain incorporated the characters from America Sings, the Disneyland ride has the most animatronic characters in their version of the ride –a total of 105. While the main characters were specifically created for the new ride, all of the rest were rescued from the closed attraction. All but a handful of the characters from America Sings were used in Splash Mountain; two of the other characters were already hijacked and reskinned for use in Star Tours and one was saved to help teach new imagineers how the technology works.

While the characters may have already been dressed for the occasion, the America Sings animatronics had to be completely reprogrammed and synched with the ride. It took imagineers over 80 hours to rework each figure to fit in their new home. After months of hard work, the characters can now carry out 45 seconds of movement and dialogue before they loop back to the beginning of their programming sequence.

In comparison to the 105 animatronics at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom only has 68 animatronics and Tokyo Disneyland has about the same number. In case you’re wondering, there is no Splash Mountain at Disneyland Paris because the designers agreed the weather was a bad fit for a water-splashing log ride.

A Simple Story From A Time Long Ago

While the live-action story lines aren’t used in Splash Mountain, many of the Br’er Rabbit tales from the film are. When you get on the ride, you are soon put on a conveyor belt that brings you up the side of the mountain. The main characters can be seen, but mostly you’re just serenaded by unseen voices singing “How Do You Do?” before you drop down the first small dip nicknamed “Slippin’ Falls.” You’re then whisked inside the mountain where you are entrenched in a cartoon version of Georgia circa 1870.

Once inside, you see the source of the singing, the geese, frogs and opossums cheerfully saying hello through song. You also see Br’er Rabbit mocking Br’er Bear just before you go down the next small drop, leading to the Rainbow Caverns filled with more characters, this time singing “Ev’rybody’s Got A Laughing Place.”

In the movie, Br’er Rabbit gets caught in a tar blob that was disguised to look like a little person, but since the “tar baby” was considered to have questionable undertones, the ride shows Br’er Fox catching the sly rabbit in the honey of a bee hive instead. The mood in the ride turns somber and the characters start to sing “Burrow’s Lament” and your log starts climbing up the large hill. You pass between two vultures who taught your impending doom and see Br’er Rabbit about to be eaten by Br’er Fox.

In the movie, Br’er Rabbit convinces the fox to throw him into his home in the brier patch using reverse psychology, so after taking the huge dive down “Doo-Dah Landing,” you’re suddenly immersed in a happy land of critters singing “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.” You see Br’er Rabbit relaxing at home with his family and Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox fighting off a hungry alligator.

Before arriving at the loading area, you’re shown a preview of the photo that was taken during the plunge as Professor Barnaby Owl describes the looks on the rider’s faces.

Image Via Loren Javier [Flickr]

Differences Between The Parks

Overall, the Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom’s versions of the rides are fairly similar, except that the Disney World logs feature a lap bar, likely added after a rider died after trying to get out while the ride was moving. The Disney World version also has slightly different music, as the Southern style of Disneyland’s Critter Country ride was determined to not be a perfect fit for the Magic Kingdom’s version, which was located in Frontierland. As a result, the music is a bit more country-music styled.

The Tokyo version looks largely the same as the others, but it features the country music soundtrack from Disney World with reworded lyrics and the dialogue is split between English and Japanese. The scenes are also put in a different order. This park has the highest drop of the three parks, letting riders fall 60 feet instead of 52 feet. Interestingly, the Japanese version is also the driest, as this version was specially designed to limit the size of the splash. If you want to stay dry at the other parks, all you can do is try to get on a log with a lot of kids, as the more your log weighs, the more water you’ll get soaked with.

Image Via vmpyr_david [Flickr]

Sweet Southern Sounds

You might not realize it when you’re on the ride, but some serious celebrities gave their voices to the characters.  A few background characters with famous voices include: Br’er Owl by Woody Allen, Br’er Frog by Humphrey Bogart, Br’er Turkey by Keanu Reeves and Br’er Frog by James Avery (aka Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air). Only one voice from the original movie was used, and that is Nick Stewart who voices Br’er Bear. As for the two main characters, they were both voiced by Jess Harnell, who is better known for his role as Wakko Warner on Animaniacs and as the most recent announcer for America’s Funniest Videos. Many of the other characters and the final song, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” were voiced by imagineers and Disneyland cast members who just happened to be working at the park when the ride was being designed.

The only song that Disney paid people outside the company to work on was “How Do You Do?” This number was recorded especially for the ride by a 29-piece group called The Floozies. The bullfrogs singing this number are all performed by members of this band, with one notable exception. The frog with the deep bass voice was voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft who also voiced Tony the Tiger and was one of the lead singers for a variety of other Disney rides, including The Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion.

Image Via Express Monorail [Flickr]

Switching the “Sp” for a “F”

While I’m sure some of you are already familiar with why the ride is sometimes called “Flash Mountain,” let me go ahead and corrupt you innocent readers who don’t know about this phenomenon. Because the ride has a huge climax that is viewable by visitors not yet on the ride at the same time guest’s photos are snapped, more than a few women (and men) have decided to flash the camera during the log drop. While Disney is usually pretty good about deleting these images before they get out, at one point an employee managed to steal a number of them and upload them on to the internet. It’s almost impossible for anyone to steal these images from the park now, due to heightened security measures, but even so, a lot of women still bare it all on the drop –only to get escorted off the premises shortly after landing.

Image Via Loren Javier [Flickr]

So, do you guys like the ride or is it too tall or too wet for you? Personally, I love the singing and the characters, but after being wet for over seven hours the last time I went on it, I haven’t been too eager to go back. Have any of you had similar experiences?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, Disneyland, Songofthesouth.net, Snopes

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Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:

Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion
Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle
Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean
Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise
Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain
Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room
Neatorama Facts: Christmas at Disneyland
Neatorama Facts: It’s a Small World
Neatorama Facts: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Neatorama Facts: Star Tours

If your kiddos are getting tired of boring old regular playdough colors, then try adding some sparkles to the black dough and they can suddenly play with space playdough. If you want to make your own, Fairy Dust Teaching has a great recipe.

Link Via Craftzine

If there’s one thing ridiculously rich people are good at, it’s wasting money. And this list of potential gifts for the world’s most spoiled children is equal parts depressing and hilarious. Just check out this $10,000 teddy bear made with black Tahitian pearl eyes, white alpaca fur and a 10k diamond necklace on a gold chain.

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If you want to make an attention-grabbing ad, you have to do something really outrageous these days. That being said, these 10 ads on Oddee -all featuring kids- are utterly disturbing.

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Pop Up books are largely considered children’s territory, but WebUrbanist has a great selection of 3D books that grown ups can enjoy too. I certainly would enjoy getting my hands on some of these. How about you guys?

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For those of you who like looking at adorable pictures of cuddly things, this BuzzFeed gallery featuring kids with their pets is simply precious. It certainly makes me want to cuddle up with my pup.

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Artist Jason Freeny isn’t content with viewing the exterior of some of our favorite toy characters, he wants to know what the insides of Care Bears and My Little Ponies look like. His depictions of the creation’s innards are delightful for biology-loving geeks and terrifying for children.

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Oddee has a great article featuring the World’s Youngest record holders for a variety of titles. While they range from shocking (the world’s youngest grandmother) to fascinating (the world’s youngest CEO). Perhaps the cutest though is the world’s youngest surfer:

Jaylan Amor is only two years old, but is already surfing the waves outside of Brisbane, Australia, and has secured multiple endorsements from surf shops. To catch a wave, his dad paddles him out to sea, then the two year old hops and rides the waves back into shore. Mr Amor isn’t worried if Jaylan falls, as the tike just swims back to his board and waits for daddy to help him back up.

Read about the rest at the link.

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Now that I’ve posted up all my Comic Con costume articles here and on Rue The Day, I’ve finally started looking the other photo galleries. While I’ve seen a few good ones here and there , I really didn’t feel like I missed anything major until I saw this adorable Dalek costume. If only it were possible to survey all of the convention at once.

Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

“Kids might be afraid or ashamed because they are delinquent with the library,” said NYPL official Jack Martin. “The idea of this program is to bring them back in.

Personally, I could have worked off over $100 worth of fines over one summer when I was a kiddo, but I know most youngsters aren’t as eager as I was.

Link Via Consumerist Image Via Wonderfully Complex [Flickr]

Link Image via cryptic_star [Flickr]

“We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance.”

Who knew lemonade could be so dangerous to the public health?

Link Via Consumerist Image Via ChocoladeHam [Flickr]

When I was a youngster, I thought firefighters were the coolest people alive…not because they were heroes, but because they got to slide down a pole to go to work. These days, while I respect the heck out of firefighters (anyone who lives in Southern California knows just how important they are), I have to say the people who own this house filled with slides might just be the coolest people on earth.

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Just in time for the release of the new Harry Potter movie, enjoy artist Brittney Lee’s great artwork made from paper trimmings. She’s made other works based on popular movies out side of the series too, just in case you aren’t a fan of the wizarding school series.

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There are plenty of online gaming sites for youngsters, but most parents would rather have their kids get off the computer and use their brains for more creative fronts. Tinkatolli wants to change all that by blending an online realm for children with creativity and real life projects. The result should keep kids entertained, mentally stimulated and improve their tinkering skills. I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait for the site to go public.

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Frugality is an important lesson to learn, but there is certainly a point where it becomes ridiculous. Over at Consumerist, there is a great roundup of the 16 most over-the-top tales of frugal fathers. To be fair, some aren’t nearly as bad as others, but when your dad is the type to have “hooked up the tv to an exercise bike so that we kids had to peddle to watch our cartoons. TV lost its charm quickly and we went outside to play,” you know your pop may have crossed the line -of course, that is a great way to get your kids to exercise.

Link Image Via Gliko [Flickr]

What happens when you switch a parent and a child’s head in a photograph? Pure creepiness and delightful family photos that won’t soon be forgotten, that’s what. Paul Ripke’s Kindsköpfe (“Grown Ups”) series is certainly worth taking a long look at.

Link Via Laughing Squid

A kitty says meow, a lion says roar and a dog says woof. But what does Admiral Ackbar say? I know that if our daughter could pull this off, my husband would be as delighted as this dad is.

Link via [Geeks are Sexy]

It sounds strange, but it’s true. One of the vulgar humor site’s recent article dives in to five simple ways to make our kids smarter, which involve surprising simple things like starting school later, adding more windows to classrooms and taking kids out for a walk before they take a test. While the article is filled with typical Cracked humorous quips, it is surprisingly free of curse words, making me wonder what the site is up to these days.

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You have to wonder about the culture that creates a market for a toy like this. If you are afraid of your children using chemicals, why would you be interested in a chemistry set at all? Link -via The Daily What

1. Toy Tazer

There are toy guns, toy bow and arrow sets, toy swords and more, but somehow a toy tazer still seems to take things a touch too far –particularly considering the “Police Electric Baton Shock” actually gives out real shocks.  On the upside, it’s only $3.50, so it’s much cheaper than most kid’s toys.

2. The Kaba Kick

Russian Roulette is a ton of fun, but it’s unfortunately completely permanent. If you want to practice the game without those deadly consequences, then you’d better go ahead and start out with the Kaba Kick and the more gentle pink hippo kicks that replace bullets.

3. Cleaning Trolley

It’s totally normal for kids to pretend to do grown up jobs, after all, some kids play house, some play doctor, some play superhero and some play with chemistry sets, but who wants to be a janitor? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a better idea to push your kids towards an intellectual pursuit than a job in the cleaning industry.

4. Playmobile Security Checkpoint

This just might be one of the most popular terrible toys of all time. In fact, it has become sort of a strange collector’s item, accounting for the fact that it costs an incredible $175 on Amazon right now. That’s a pretty big rip off considering how inaccurate the toy is, I mean you can’t even take off the passenger’s shoes before they go through the checkpoint.

5. Peeing Dog

Maybe it’s just me, but part of the point of giving your kids a dog toy is to skirt the responsibility issues that come with giving your kids a real dog. Unfortunately, giving your little ones a dog toy that still pees in the house seems to negate that benefit. But hey, at least he looks cute.

6. Gelli Baff

I have to admit, I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, the gel turns the water into a nasty and disgusting goop and who wants their kids to bathe in something like that? On the other hand, anything that makes your kids want to take a bath is a good thing, right?

7. Pregnant Midge

Originally there was just Barbie, but then she met Ken and started making friends. Eventually Midge hit the scene, but once she got pregnant with Nicky, she just didn’t quite fit in with the partying Barbie crowd. These days, she’s mostly seen at home watching her three children and hoping some giant monster doesn’t come by to rip open her stomach to extract her newest baby.

8. Breast Feeding Doll

There’s nothing wrong with a little girl wanting to play mommy to her dolls, but when she starts breast feeding the toy, that’s when it becomes a problem. If you’re one of those handful of weirdos that thinks a little girl should know how to properly breastfeed an infant though, then this Bebe Gloton doll is just what you need to help make sure your little angel is 100% ready to have a little angel of her own.

9. The Punisher Shape Shifter

While in the box, this toy looks innocent enough, but this toy design just might be one of the most absurd I’ve ever seen. How could this toy actually get through design, research and marketing without anyone realizing just how ridiculous it is to have a giant “power pistol” coming from The Punisher’s groin or butt that shoots when you pull back on the sleeve.

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10. Buzz Lightyear Sippy Cup

There’s nothing outright wrong with the idea of creating a Buzz Lightyear sippy cup…that is, until you put the straw right where his groin should be. To be fair, if you rotate the lid around it’s not so dirty, but the fact that you can even set it up to look like this is still pretty moronic.

11. Harry Potter Vibrating Broom

Again, this toy doesn’t seem like a bad idea until you give a young girl something to stick between her legs –and then make that thing vibrate. It wasn’t long before sex shops and parents alike took notice and Amazon quickly pulled the item from their inventory. But before that happened, the site had some great reviews like “When my 12 year old daughter asked for this for her birthday, I kind of wondered if she was too old for it, but she seems to LOVE it. Her friends love it too! They play for hours in her bedroom with this great toy. They really seem to like the special effects it offers (the sound effects and vibrating). My oldest daughter (17) really likes it too! I recommend this for all children.”

What are your favorite terrible kid’s toys? Please share in the comments.

I know the Orlando Star Wars celebration is long past, but when I found this picture of two toddlers dressed up as droids for the convention, I couldn’t help but post it here to share it with all of my fellow Neatogeeks.

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Image via Thomas Hawk [Flickr]

A Last Minute Addition

One of Disney’s most iconic attractions actually started out as a last minute attraction to the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The team was already working on a number of exhibits for the fair, including the Magic Skyway, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and The Carousel of Progress, when the program manager for the fair reached out to Disney and asked him to creat a tribute to UNICEF.

Always up to a challenge, Disney agreed and asked Mary Blair, Marc Davis, Alice Davis and Gregory S. Marinello for help. Mary gave the ride its overall feel and whimsy and inspired the general character design. Marc designed the scenes and the specific characters, while his wife, Alice, designed the costumes. Gregory designed the clock face on the exterior. Walt oversaw the design of the doll’s faces, which were all made to be exactly the same in order to promote the concept that all around the world children are all the same deep down.

Image via Andy Castro [Flickr]

The original nickname of the ride was “the happiest cruise that ever sailed” and the ride was intended to showcase the national anthem for each country portrayed. Unfortunately, this ended up sounding like a terrible mess in practice, so he hired the Sherman Brothers, the same gents who wrote the theme song for the Tiki Room, to create a song that would unify the ride’s characters together. It was only after the boys came back with their masterpiece that the ride got its name.

To really bring a spirit of unity, children from all over the world were hired to sing the song for the official recording. A London church choir, a Roman school chorus and Mexican tv performers are some of the many voices heard on the soundtrack. In a striking gesture, Disney opted not to copyright the song at the urging of UNICEF and he declared that he gave it to the children of the world as a gift. It remains the only Disney creation to never be copyrighted.

A Smashing Success

At the fair, the ride was a huge hit and over 10 million ride tickets were sold in the two years the fair operated, resulting in a huge chunk of proceeds given to UNICEF. While the ride constantly had visitors, the mechanics of the boat ride allowed for lines to move quickly. The amazing capacity prompted the company to change their plans for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean attraction from a walk-through exhibit to a boat ride.

As soon as the World’s Fair was over, the ride was installed in the Anaheim park, opening for the first time on May 28, 1966. The attraction was installed rather quickly since it mostly just had to be moved from the World’s Fair back to Disneyland and put back together (all the original pieces were used in the current version). Still, some additions were needed to ensure it could survive as a permanent ride instead of a quick touring ride.

To commemorate the ride’s official opening, Disney invited children from around the world to attend the grand opening. He asked each of them to bring a container of water from a lake, ocean or river in their native country. Before the ride opened, the containers were emptied into the water of the attraction.

Each cruise lasts about 15 minutes and features over 300 costumed dolls singing the official song. Because there are now five Disneyland parks, all of which play the song on a constant loop, the song is estimated to be the most performed musical composition in the world. It’s estimated that more than 256 million people have ridden the cruse, which means it might just hold the record for “song to get stuck in the most people’s heads.”

Changing A Classic

Image via Armadillo444 [Flickr]

As you may have noticed through the Neatorama Facts series about Disneyland, the park always goes through renovations and no matter how minor they are, fans always cry foul. It’s A Small World went through a very serious renovation in 2009 and the reviews seem to be divided. While some of the changes were minor, like the enhancements to the water jets that push the boats through the ride and the replacement of the old boats, the big difference was the addition of over 30 Disney characters into the classic attraction’s scenes. The renovation also included a new “America” area, where there used to be a South American rain forest scene.

Personally, I find the added Disney characters to be subtle and their inclusion creates a fun game for guests to find all of the new characters. Here’s a video of the change for comparison:

Holiday Inspirations

It’s A Small World joins the Haunted Mansion in being one of the only rides to change on the inside and outside during the Christmas season. During this time of year, the children sing classic holiday songs, which are seamlessly blended in with the Small World theme. Each region is also adorned with the area’s traditional holiday décor. On the outside, the façade is just as impressive, adorned with tons of glowing Christmas lights.

Image via Andy Castro [Flickr]

A Few More Fun Tidbits:

• The Sherman Brothers claim to have written the song in response to the fear caused by the Cuban Missile Crisis, hence some of the less cuddly lyrics like “it’s a world of laughter, a world of tears, its a world of hopes, its a world of fears.”
• In reference to the song’s lyrics, which say, “there is just one moon and one golden sun,” there is at least one sun and one moon in every room of the ride.
• The official name of the waterway you travel down is the “Seven Seas Canal.”
• The golden accents on the building are actually 24-karat gold.

Do you guys like It’s A Small World, or does the catchy song drive you bananas? For those of you who are fans, what do you think about the Disney character additions? Are they a fun little enhancement or a distraction?

Sources: Wikipedia, National Institute For Health, Mental Floss, Disneyland and Little-Known Facts About Well-Known Places

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Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:

Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion

Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle

Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean

Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise

Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain

Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room

Neatorama Facts: Christmas at Disneyland