Today, January 13th, is our 31st Wedding Anniversary! I can’t help but think of some of the firsts we embarked on together, way back then. Like our first stay at Walt Disney World which lasted 14 nights and 15 days. A long time but well worth the expense! The year was 2006 and we were there to celebrate our 16th Wedding Anniversary.
We stayed at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort and were blown away by the theming! I remember being particularly taken with this lighting fixture on the wall. It was just beside the window to the right as you entered through the door:
Funny story: When I decided to film the room, we turned on all of the lights, including this popcorn box fixture. As I panned the room, I passed the fixture, and it looked like any other light with no image apparent.
You can see how it looked by viewing the image below:
Where’d the popcorn imagery go? It was cool to discover that when you turn it on, the picture disappears! But if you stare long enough, you can just make out the popcorn image.
The trick, or optical illusion, is achieved because the metal screen is perforated with small holes. When light shines through, it blurs the image, fooling your eyes into seeing only white. An opaque plastic sleeve is fitted behind the metal screen to further diffuse the light.
The above picture shows the back of the fixture. You can see where the wire protrudes from the fixture. This would have been connected to the power wires in a hexagon electrical box. But now it has been retrofitted with a cord and plug. But not up to code, as you can see!
Old School plug with no ground. The safety just keeps getting better!
So how did I come to obtain this piece of the All-Star Movies Resort? Well, it’s surprisingly easy to steal fixtures when you travel with a complete set of tools!
Only kidding! Actually, move forward to probably sometime around 2015. I arrive at that year because it seems that All-Star Movies finished a complete renovation sometime in 2013, so it is likely props and furnishings would have been sold off after that time. I was browsing in an Antique Mall in Belleville, ON. In a back room I saw, not one, but two of these lights lying on the floor! I instantly remembered them from my first Disney Resort stay and just had to have one. I wanted both, but I couldn’t afford that at the time! I paid $100.00 CAN for one and have regretted not finding the money to buy the other ever since.
I’ve been looking for years through my archives for the video footage mentioned earlier but just couldn’t locate it… until yesterday! Just in time to edit it into this post. So without further ado, here it is:
This is in my Top Five Disney Finds!
And after I put the film camera down, my wife took this picture:
AFTERWARD: I found old advertising signage for a Concession Stand in Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanic Museum in MI. Notice the shape? It seems Disney was not the only one to use the iconic popcorn bucket to please and entice customers!
