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Walking for a Difference at Disneyland
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Aug 13, 2025
In this heartwarming episode of Daps Magic (the Podcast), Mr. Daps takes you behind the scenes of the 2025 CHOC Walk in the Park at the Disneyland Resort. Join us as we relive the excitement and inspiration of a morning where over 7,000 walkers came together to raise nearly $3 million for the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. From the welcoming words of Disneyland Ambassadors Jada and Raul, CHOC Walk host David Sidoni, Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum, and CHOC/Rady Children’s Health Co-President Kimberly Chavalas Cripe—to the inspiring presence of CHOC Walk Ambassador Belle—you’ll hear the magic and mission that make this event so special. Mr. Daps also shares his personal reasons for walking and how you can support CHOC year-round. Whether you’ve participated before or are thinking about joining next year’s Team Daps Magic, this episode is a reminder that small steps can make a big difference for kids in need. Support this year's efforts at: chocwalk.org/dapsmagic (https://www.chocwalk.org/dapsmagic)
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[Music]
0:27
Welcome to DAPS Magic the podcast. I'm Mr. your daps. Since 2004, DAPS Magic
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has been a place for people to celebrate Disney and positive stuff. We have a blast doing that. We love Disney. We
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love people. And we love making new friends in the realm of Disney and positive stuff. That's what this podcast
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is all about. We have conversations that we hope will lead to deeper conversations with you, our friend and
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our listener. We'd love to continue the conversation on social media, our Patreon, or our Facebook group. We
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recognize that these conversations are much more fun when we have them with friends. We hope that you will join
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them. We also hope that you will take a moment to leave us a positive review wherever you happen to listen to Dap's
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Magic the podcast.
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On August 3rd, 2025, the Chalkwalk in the Park took place at the Disneyland Resort very early. Over 7,000 supporters
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of the Children's Hospital of Orange County walked through the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Parks to
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raise money and awareness for this very important local organization. This is an organization that has its roots with the
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visionaries of people that include Walt Disney, also his friend Walter not, and
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other local leaders who wanted to make sure that the Orange County area took care of its younger citizens. At the
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time of this recording, this year's Chalkwalk has raised nearly $3 million.
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I think it's $2.9 million as walkers joined the Chalkwalk ambassador named
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Belle in walking through the parks.
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[Music] The morning of Chalkwalk, well, it starts very early for the DAPs Magic
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team. This meant many of us were getting up at 1 2 in the morning. I know one team member actually drove, I think, 90
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mi, 60 mi, something like that. But they came from the Inland Empire to get to the parks by 3:15 so we could be in the
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parking lot, I guess, is what I should say because the parking lot actually opened at 3:30 and we want to be among
2:45
the first people to make it into Disneyland for this special event. But that meant little sleep the night
2:51
before. Everybody was at the parking lot and our whole team had congregated by 4:00 a.m. This is the point where I kind
2:58
of veered off and went and did my media stuff and connected with the media team so that we could go cover the actual
3:04
event. But the rest of our team, well, they were getting there at about 4:00 a.m. waiting by the main gate to get
3:10
into Disneyland for that extra special moment of walking down Main Street as
3:16
the music's playing and DJ Wendy is uh hyping up the crowd and you see lots of
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different things happening around you that the average guest on a normal day at Disneyland just doesn't see. It is
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very weird to walk into Disneyland for the very first time of the day and it's dark but the lights are all on down at
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the end of the street. You see a stage with with bunting and decorations and uh
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DJ Wendy as I mentioned before. This time was a little bit special because well extra special I should say because
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as we walked down Main Street, the media gets led in first a few minutes before the rest of the the uh walkers. But
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walking down Main Street, you have the music, you have the things you expect to see, and then off to the right at the
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entrance of Tomorrowland was a massive hot air balloon that was decorated for
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Disneyland's 70th resort celebration. And this is perfect because just weeks
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before, Disneyland had celebrated its official 70th birthday on July 17th. And since May, the Disneyland Resort has
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been celebrating its 70th anniversary celebration that's going to continue through next summer. None of us realized
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that we would be getting to see this hot air balloon, though. And as we came up into the hub area and got our spots on
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either side of Main Street as members of the media, you could see not only the
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massive balloon, but occasionally they would uh have to reheat it to keep it inflated. And so you'd see the fire
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shooting up inside of it. And obviously, this is probably 4:35, 4:40 in the
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morning, so it's dark. and it would just light up the whole area with this golden glow that really was something special.
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Then a little bit later, probably closer to five, I didn't actually pay attention to exactly when this happened, but the
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music gets even more excited and you see this throng of people coming up Main
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Street, USA as the walkers with their signs and their their outfits. Some of
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them wear the chalkwalk shirts. Others dress up separately in uh different themed outfits and different reasonings
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for uh the representation, I guess, of their team. That's what they're doing. And among those walkers is the DAPS
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Magic team. I did have a sign between me and the team, so I couldn't actually see them. Thankfully, uh Jill, one of my
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media reps, was helpful and got us pictures and video of Team Daps Magic, which is always close to the front. We
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always try to make that effort to be extra supportive and start the morning off correctly and uh and that's just an
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exciting way to do it. It it gets the team together on this common mission of hey, we're going to get this spot in the
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front left. We're going to do it together. It's going to be a lot of fun. And and that's what happened. So that
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happens around 5:00. The opening ceremony this year was a little bit earlier than some years. Everything this
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part of the day got bumped up a little bit, which was great. Um, and when it was first announced, I was like, "Oh,
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everything's earlier." But then once it actually happened and I was going through the details for our team and
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everybody meeting up in the morning, I was like, "Oh, we always get there at 4 anyway." So, just the morning has been
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uh truncated, I guess you could say, and they squished more things into um the
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earlier hours of the chalkwalk. And I I think that was a good call because it gave the walkers more time to make their
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way through the parks and be done before the parks opened later in the morning.
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So 5:15, this is when everything officially kicks off. This is the big
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main uh I guess it's it's not really a presentation, but it's it's and it's not a show, but it's the opening moment. And
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this is where you get to look a little bit behind the curtain and hear the heart of the leadership and the
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Chalkwalk ambassador uh for what Chalkwalk is and what exactly it's
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supporting. And so during this opening moment, you have the Disneyland ambassadors, Jada and Raul. They come up
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and they kind of act as the the welcomers for this event. And if you
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haven't met Jada and Rule, I really hope you get to before their term is over or maybe after their term is over. But they
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are two of the nicest, kindest people you're ever going to meet. They always have something that's uh positive to
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say. They're always interested in, at least when I've talked to them, they're always interested in what's going on, what are you doing with your day, how
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are you doing, uh things like that. But they're also passionate about what they do and they're passionate about chalk.
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They work very hard to represent the cast members and the executives, all of
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the people that work at the Disneyland Resort. Um, basically they represent them around the world. They've been
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going on tours with this hot air balloon uh this spring it's look like and you can see that on their social media. But
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uh for this morning the focus really was celebrating and supporting the
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Children's Hospital of Orange County. So they introduce the host of the morning who is uh David Sedoni. He's been doing
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this, I think, for like 20 years. Um, he's an energetic guy. He's great. He was in the Newsies uh movie, I believe
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it was, years ago as a kid. And um and he just brings a really fun and positive
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energy to the morning that uh compliments everything else is going on from DJ Wendy to everybody else. So, he
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gets the crowd going and then introduces the Anaheim mayor and she she says what
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she's going to say and how important that Chock is to the city of Anaheim and to Orange County in general. And
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following her, the Disneyland Resort President Thomas Masloom, who's just been in the role for a couple months, comes up and also the Chalk Radies
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Children Health co-president Kimberly Shavealis Kripe comes up as well. It is.
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It's interesting right now because it's the Children's Hospital of Orange County, but they recently merged with a
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Children's Hospital hospital in San Diego. And so it looks like they're
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called Rady's Children Health. I don't know what their end name is going to be, but uh I'm just going off what's on the
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website right now. So it's Chalk and it's also Raidy's Children's Health co-president. And she's co-president
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with I believe a guy down in San Diego at uh Radio's Children. Um, I don't know
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it all yet. We'll figure it out. Hopefully by next year we'll know exactly what's going on and I will feel confident talking about it. Currently, I
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don't. Anyway, they had wonderful words. It's wonderful to hear how much uh Thomas Masloom cares about the
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community, about the children, and also the has that uh recognition of the
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importance that Disney has in this equation of helping the children of Orange County and helping Chalk really
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make a difference because at the end of the day, if if we don't do it and if they don't do it, who is going to? And
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that's really something that's important about the Chalkwalk is it's very easy to
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look at it and just think, "Hey, I get to walk through the parks early. I get to see characters you don't normally see
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early before the parks open. I get to go places sometimes that guests don't get to go. Like last year, the Chalkwalk,
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cuz every year is different. Last year, the Chalkwalk went backstage and guests got to see uh parts of I think it was
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the Magic Happens parade backstage and some other fun things as they're wandering around." Um, that was the Disneyland side. But, um, Thomas really
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brings the heart of of I feel like what Walt Disney envisioned, uh, over 60
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years ago when they were working on dreaming up and creating the Children's Hospital of Orange County. And uh, and
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Kimberly does the same as well. She lives it, she breathes it, she's there every day. She sees the importance of
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what Chock does. And she also sees the importance of the partnership with Disneyland and Disney as they help
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support Shock and make it a place that kids don't just go to
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get care uh for for medical purposes, but they also get care for their
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emotions and they get care for their well-being uh in ways that just don't
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necessarily happen at a normal hospital. So, you know, there's special offerings
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that happen at Chalk, whether it's Turtle Talk with with Crush at Chalk, which they have the attraction in the
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hospital for kids, which is amazing. They also have Mickey and Minnie greeting or visiting very frequently and
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and other special magical things that only Disney could bring to that hospital. But even beyond Disney, the
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people that work at Chock really try to make sure that the children that are at
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Chock and their families can still be kids, can still live life as kids and
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have reasons to smile and have games to play and and reasons to be happy. And
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then they also really work on supporting the family members as well and helping them through what it can only be
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described as the most terrifying time of your life because nobody wants to see their kid go to the hospital. Uh that's
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just terrifying. I don't even have kids but when my dog goes to the vet for something bad, it's not fun. It's it's
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terrifying. So uh both of them shared their hearts and it was a very special thing to hear and to see. And and then
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the highlight really of this opening moment was the Chalkwalk ambassador Belle who uh just completed I think it
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was last year her um battle with cancer at Chalk and rang that bell and was able
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to go. But uh you know I could talk about this probably all day. Instead I'm
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going to let you listen to this and you can experience what we experienced thanks to our friend Johnny who uh
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recorded this for us. But listen to this opening moment and see if you can feel
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the excitement, the passion, the heart, not of just the the people on the stage,
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but the people around us as we prepare to walk through Disneyland, then Disney
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California Adventure, and then this year it was back. We also got to walk through Downtown Disney for the 2025 Chalkwalk
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in the Park. Take a listen. My chalk walk friends, how we doing out
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there? Make a whole lot of noise. We are at the Disneyland Resort. How we feeling?
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Yes. Like I said, my name is DJ Wendy and I have some very important people that I want to bring up to this stage
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right now. They are our Disneyland ambassadors. Please, warm welcome for
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Raul and Jada.
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[Music] Good morning everyone. How's everyone doing today?
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Well, on behalf of everyone at Disneyland Resort, welcome to 2205 Chalkwalk in the Park.
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Let's hear it. We It is great to be here today and we are thrilled to get to welcome you as both family and friends
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to Disneyland and Chalk, an enduring relationship that continues to support our local community.
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That's right. All right. And that relation started with Walt Disney himself when he was on the founding board in the 1960s for Chalk Hospital.
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It was he was extremely passionate about having a uh hospital in the local community that was here around
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Disneyland Park to help with all the kids that were facing, you know, illnesses, critical illnesses out here.
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That's right. And the Disneyland Shock Partnership have of course continued over the years. It was in 1990 that the
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first Disneyland Shockwalk Community Walk took place with nearly 1,000 community members walking to raise
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funds. So to all of you who are here today making it happen, once again, a huge,
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huge thank you. So give yourselves a round of applause, everybody.
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Well, over its 33y year history, Chalk and Disneyland Collaboration has raised more than $46 million. And yeah, that's
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right. $46 million. And it has the distinction of being one of the most unique pediatric fundraisers in the
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nation. Yeah. And in 2002, that walk changed
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here to this location, this beautiful park, Disneyland Resort, and became Chalkwalk in the Park. And we're so
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happy to have you all here with us this morning. And so, we are so grateful and we want to thank all of you for being here. But
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now, we are delighted to welcome a very special guest who's going to help us get us warmed up and ready for today's walk.
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So, please help me welcome the official host of today's jockw walk, Mr. David.
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[Applause] Thank you. Thank you. How are you maniacs doing? It's still dark.
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[Applause] Oh my goodness. How about a hand for real and cheetah? They're like They're
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like walking cups of espresso. We love having them here. Are you guys ready to go?
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Well, you know, over three decades, Chalk has been bringing such incredible value to our community, hope, and
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optimism and promise. And of course, we love all that stuff here at the Disneyland Resort. And we're so excited
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to have you guys here. You guys giving back to your community today. Make some noise for yourselves.
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It's such an honor and a privilege to be here again. And I'm so glad to see all you smiling faces. And let me see those
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banners. Put them up, gang. Let me see. All right. Well, we uh would like to thank some
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incredible people who helped us out today. Of course, we would like to uh start with going over all of our
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sponsors that are here today. I know some of you out there are out there. We start with our proud presenting sponsor,
16:45
and that's everyone here from the Disneyland Resort. How many Disney folks out there? Huh? Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going
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to go through the list of sponsors and if you are affiliated with the sponsor, make some noise so everyone around you
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can know. But everyone else, hold your applause till the end. We got it. Great. We're going to start with our gold sponsors. First up, Chick-fil-A of
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Orange County. We've also got our friends from KTLA that I saw earlier. Where's the cameraman? He's got to make
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some noise. There they are making noise. our silver sponsors, apartments.com or heck, anyone who's ever used
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apartments.com, make some noise. Uh, and then we've got Bondai Namco Foundation
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of America, Beer Homes, Dream Haven, and Honda or any Honda owners, make noise.
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Wonderful. And then our bronze sponsors today, we've got Advente Corporation,
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Aviana Healthcare, Chartis, Edward Jones. Anyone here from Edward Jones?
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Look for the people with the money. Uh and then we've got uh Food Allergy Institute, Hub International Insurance
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Services, Laughing Place, one person from Laughing Place. Don't know if you
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heard him back there at the train station, but he's right here. And then we've got uh McCarthy Building
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Companies, Niagara Cares, Prime Providers, QSC LLC,
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Schools First Credit Union. Anyone ever use Schools First? Yay. Er, teachers, the Shannon D. Lund
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Foundation, and Wright Ford Young and Company. Now, you can make some noise for all the sponsors.
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We have some very special guests to help kick off the chalk walk today. And I'd like to bring our first one up for you right now. Please welcome the mayor of
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Anaheim, Ashley Aken. [Applause] [Music]
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Good morning, Chuck Walkers. How are you guys doing this morning?
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Thank you so much for taking some time to visit my hometown of Anaheim. Not a bad place to be, right? Not a bad local
18:53
park to grow up with. Thank you so much for everyone being here and supporting this amazing cause. Anaheim is very
19:01
lucky in that we have 30 million people that come from all over the world to
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visit this special place every year and we are get going to get to see it in
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quite a unique way this morning before the sun comes up alone in the park. How
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many people get that opportunity? Not many. So, thank you so much for being
19:22
here. I can't wait. Be safe out there. Make sure you drink your water in all of the water stations. And thank you for
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walking for a cause. As a mom of three kids, I can tell you nobody wants to
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bring their child and young one to the hospital. No mother wants to check out
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of a hospital and not be able to take their baby with them. But if you are in
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that circumstance, how lucky in Orange County are we to have Chuck Hospital?
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So, while you guys are out there getting your steps in, know that you're really making a difference in famil family's
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lives, in children's lives, and that is going to be my motivation for today. So,
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thank you for being here. Have a great walk. [Applause] Thank you so much, Mayor. How about
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that? The mayor of Anaheim. And we are so proud and excited and privileged and
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honored to have wonderful people here representing the city. And we've got two more special guests for you right now.
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Please put your hands together for the co-president and CEO of Rainy Children's Health, Kim Kripe, and the president of
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the Disneyland Resort, Thomas Maslo.
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[Music]
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Well, good morning everyone and welcome to the Chalkwalk in the Park.
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This is such a very special event for all of us here at the Disneyland Resort and I can't tell you how much we
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appreciate all of you coming out so bright and early with families and friends for such a great cause. And Kim,
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thank you for joining me. Look at this. Look at this side. Isn't it a great morning already? My goodness, Thomas, this is so
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thrilling. Thank all of you for being here with us this morning. And Thomas, I want to welcome you to your very first
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chalk walk in the park. chalk walk in the park. So awesome to have you here. We're so
21:19
excited to uh to celebrate with you. So thank thanks each and every one of you for being here. Chalk actually
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celebrated its 60th anniversary this past year. It's been an amazing year for us. And then earlier this year, we
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actually announced the merger of Chalk and Ray Children's Hospital San Diego.
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Together, we are creating one of the most preeminent pediatric health care systems in our country. We're
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transforming pediatric care, advancing our research and education, and so much
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more. But Thomas, I understand you are celebrating a major milestone as well.
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Yep, that's right, Kim. We're celebrating seven years of the happiest place on earth. Seven years.
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And it is such an important milestone for us. Think about this. For seven decades, we've created
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happiness, but not just in our parks in our community and at places like Chuck.
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And as you said, Kim, I am so excited because folks, this is my very first
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Chuckw walk. And I heard from so many of our cast members who participated year
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after year. And of course, we have a ton of Disney volunteers who support Jock
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throughout the year because we love Jock and we love when we're part of making
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kids and families happy. Well, Thomas, on behalf of everyone at Chock and Ray Children's Health, thank
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you and the Disneyland Resort for all you do for us. You know, Walt Disney
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himself had the vision of making sure Orange County was home to a children's hospital. one of his illustrators
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actually created our beloved Choco Bear. And so Disney has been a part of our
23:03
story from the very beginning. And this walk is just one more example of how you
23:09
support us and what our partnership can create together. So we're very, very grateful.
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You may not know, but over 2.5 million children live in this immediate area. So
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Orange County and the five surrounding counties. and we are they are each and every day for any child that might need
23:29
our services and we could not do the kinds of things we do without the generosity of our partnerships and all
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of you make things possible at Chalk. So, not only do we provide world-class
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medical care, we have so many important support services like art therapy, music
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therapy, we have a resident dog, Lois and Thomas Pluto, came by and said hello
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to Lotus this week and visited our patients. So, you're so important to us as are all of you are part of our chalk
24:02
story and we thank you. Well, we couldn't do this without you. That's just the fact. We could not do
24:08
this without you. We are so grateful for the heart and dedication you all bring
24:15
for Jock. You know, your support is so crucial for the children and the
24:23
families when they need it most. I want to thank you all for showing up. Thank
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you for giving back. And thank you for being part of something so meaningful. I
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think you all deserve a round of applause. Come on, give yourself a round of applause. Thank you.
24:40
So, I echo Thomas's gratitude. Thank you for being here with us this morning. And I want to give a huge shout out to all
24:47
of the Chalk Defenders of Childhood. Our team is here today. Your amazing
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dedication, the way you show up each and every day and care for and heal children is just remarkable. Whether you're in
25:00
our two hospitals, our 26 primary care locations, and 82 specialty clinics,
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thank you for all you do. And in closing, Thomas, I want to thank you again and thank the Disneyland Resort
25:12
for all you do for Chalk and our community. Have a great walk, everyone. Thank you.
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[Music] Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, Kim. We're going to have him stay up here because I
25:23
know everyone out there has a chalk story. Raise your hand. Make some noise if you've got a chalk story.
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I've got one as well. And I've got a special one for you today. It's our 2025 Chalkwalk Ambassador. Please welcome
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BI and her family.
25:48
Good morning everyone and welcome to Chalkwalk 2025.
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It is my favorite day at my favorite place on Earth. As I look out and see all of your beautiful faces. I want you
26:01
to know that you are a part of changing the lives of thousands of children. You
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have done an amazing job in raising money and awareness for chalk. Give yourself a round of applause.
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Just two years ago, I rolled into the chalk walk in a wheelchair with my team bellsburg.
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[Music] [Applause] Just four months after being diagnosed
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with stage 4 neurobblastoma high- risk cancer. This year with 17 months of
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treatment behind me, I am walking every step and this time I'm cancer free.
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A special shout out to the incredible oncology team at Chock who have become a part of my second family and saved my
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life. [Applause]
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Now that's just my story, but look around. There is thousands more.
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Everyone here today is walking as a part of someone's story. And all these stories are connected by one powerful
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thread. Hope. Every step today is in honor of those stories. So let's walk
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together. Let's walk for hope. and let's walk for Chalk. [Applause]
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Thank you, Belle. And we've got more exciting guest, Belle, just for you. Uh, I'm going to bring out my boss. So,
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everyone, can you make some noise for Mickey and Minnie Mouse?
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[Music]
27:43
I'm so excited to have Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse here with me today. Now, uh, and Mickey and Minnie are all
27:48
dressed for the 78th birthday, but they are nothing if not concerned about everyone's safety. So, uh, we'd like to
27:55
do a little warm up with everybody. So, you guys start stretching out and we're going to take a quick picture here.
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Let's get everybody organized for a photo. Okay. So, you guys in the audience can start
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doing head rolls right now. [Music] All right. Mickey Minnie, you guys
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ready? You guys ready to warm them up now? Wendy, I think we're ready to warm them up now. Okay, everybody.
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Okay, everybody. Put one arm up in the air. Now, stretch it to the side.
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Other side. Now put them both up.
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Now shake them like you just don't care. Okay, now everybody put your hands
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forward just a little bit. Lean forward. Now give your neighbor a nice shoulder
28:49
rub. [Music]
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Okay, I think we're ready to go. Um, so you guys head over to your pace
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car right down there. Everyone else, here's what we're going to do. We're just about ready to start. Remember,
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it's the jock walk in the park where no jogging, no running. Stay safe. There's
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lots of Disney magic along the way. We like to thank you all. We're so grateful for you guys making such a positive
29:21
impact today. I got to make sure. Are we ready to go, everybody? What do we think?
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I can't hear you back in the train station. Are you ready to start walking?
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All right, we're going to count it down in three,
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two, one. [Music] [Applause]
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Thank you for joining us. [Music]
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So once we had the opening moment and the confetti shoots off into the air,
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that's really where the second part, I guess you could say, of the fun starts. So there's first is getting there,
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getting ready and preparing with that opening moment for this 5K through
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Disneyland and Disney California Adventure and then Downtown Disney District. Then Confetti goes off and
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confetti goes off multiple times like they have different corrals that happen throughout the the opening moments,
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opening time. uh the different groups all get to experience the confetti
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moment which is great cuz they hold them back after you know a few I don't know 1500,000 2,000 I don't know
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each group though gets to experience that magical moment so it's not just the people up in front then you head into
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the parks this here the walk went through Adventure Land first and then back through Star Wars Galaxy's Edge
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then back which this part was cool through Frontier Land into Fantasy Land,
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over around the Matter Horn, into Tomorrowland, then backstage across Main Street, and then we made the the walk
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across to Disney California Adventure. There were a ton of characters. It was really fun to see, you know, Jack
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Sparrow and um I'm trying to think of all the different ones we saw. Jack Sparrow, Chewbacca, uh
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Aladdin, Jasmine, uh all three, uh Wonderland friends from
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Madhatter, Alice, and uh the White Rabbit, we saw Buzz Lightyear, we saw
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Darth Vader, we saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, obviously, and uh Red. Don't
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forget Red, she was uh with Jack Sparrow as well. And then you go all around Disneyland first. Then you get water as
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you're just about to leave Disneyland. Then you head on into Disney California Adventure. We were greeted by Oswald.
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Made our way down Hollywood Boulevard into the Hollywood Backlot area. And on the stage, you either saw Goofy or
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Powerline Max, which was really cool. They were uh both dressed for the Goofy
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movie, which is appropriate with the 30th anniversary. And then you make your way around the Hollywood backlot past uh
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Hyperion Theater into Avengers Campus. Uh when we went through there was Ms. Marvel and Captain America in there.
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Then you go up back to the parade route. Make that left. Make another left.
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There's Mater greeting you as you head into Cars Land. Further into Cars Land, you saw Lightning McQueen. Then you went
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into uh San Francisco. Like they really took you everywhere. Then up the parade route over and oh and as you went up to
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the parade route just before you turn left to go into Pixar pier they had the trash can trio which was awesome. We
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also saw them this last Sunday. I would love if we saw them many times more. As much as I love the green army men trash
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can trio are some of the best entertainment offerings I think Disneyland resorts ever had. And if you
33:13
haven't seen them, look for them on our YouTube page. You will love them. But it's basically three guys that look like
33:19
like they're in custodial and they come out with trash cans and then they start playing them as drums and it's
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fantastic. The show's only, you know, 5 10 minutes long, but totally worth catching. Always a lot of fun. End of
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it, they're like, "All right, back to work." And they go back and disappear into wherever it is they go. Um, I wish
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this was around all the time. I also wish it was around very like sporadic and random places. Like how cool would
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it be if they just randomly popped up in I don't know Small World Mall one day and then um maybe Hollywood backlots
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another day. Like there's they fit anywhere because custodial that that outfit fits anywhere. So anyway, there's
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my tangent on the trash can trio. Check out the video if you haven't seen them. And if you see them in the parks, stop
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and take a listen. Like they're a lot of fun to watch. So we go up into Pixar uh pier down through the pier. There was a
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uh magic key spot where you could take pictures. They had the opening float for better together parade which that was
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its last day. We have the video of that up as well. And uh and then you make your way. What do we do next? Oh, yeah.
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We went down into uh past uh
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into Grizzly Peak, I guess, and past the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which was getting ready for Halloween and the
34:36
Villains Grove thing. So that was closed on your left, but then you get down where the plane is and by the Grizzly
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Peak airfield and there you either got to see Launchpad or you got to see Chip and Dale in the Rescue Rangers outfits
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which was awesome. We saw Chip and Dale and they might have been I don't know
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between either the Goofy Movie characters or Rescue Rangers and Ducttales. Those might have been the
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most popular characters just from anecdotally observing the people walking
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up and getting pictures and waiting in lines for them. I loved it because all of these are from my childhood and I
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think they need more love all the time and I would love to see more Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers and more importantly
35:19
more ducttales because you can never have too much ducttails. Anyway, then we
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made our way back out of the park through that kind of gate behind Saurin around the world into Downtown Disney
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down through Downtown Disney and then down by the park parkside market. Uh that is where the closing gate
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whatever of of balloons was and they had the Disneyland ambassadors there and a
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couple other people that were uh I think David might have been there too that were cheering people on as they came in through the uh closing moment. And then
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there were some things you could do uh related to chalk in the the lawn there and like uh Choco Bear was there as
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well. And it just made for a fantastic morning that we were done earlier than
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normal too because we started earlier that m left you time to not only get breakfast in Downtown Disney if you
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wanted, but you could also go hang out in the parks and basically rope drop way easier and uh get your day going at
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Disneyland. And I think Disney California Adventure opened earlier than it normally does on Chalkwalk. So, it
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just added more to the day and you really didn't lose anything other than waiting time, which is the hardest
36:32
anyway because when you're waiting, you're losing energy and you're losing that enthusiasm. And so, I I thought it
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was fantastically done. But the end of the day, it's not just
36:44
about the fun. It's not just about the uh the characters and hanging out with friends and
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all of the fun magical things that we got to experience. Oh, I forgot. There was also a band that played uh in
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Disneyland that was a lot of fun that um played over uh Hungry Bear Barbecue
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Jamberee. But it's not about all of those things. It really comes down to
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when we walk for the chalkwalk, we're walking because we can do something that's bigger than ourselves. We can
37:15
make a difference in the community. We can make a difference for a community that maybe we're not even technically a
37:21
part of. Like we had people coming from uh out of out of town that, you know, I
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know we had one team member that flew down for this and this is the second year he's done that. and I think it's absolutely incredible that he comes down
37:33
to support the Children's Hospital of Orange County and to experience this morning with us and um and make a
37:40
difference. And then we had other people that drove in from out of town. We had two team members that didn't walk with
37:45
us, but that were from out of state as well. And we've had people from out of state participate in the uh the event
37:51
through the years as well. And it really comes down to recognizing that every
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effort we make and every dollar we spend is a vote for the type of the world that
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we want to live in. And and for me, that's a world where we are kind to each
38:09
other. That's a world where we take care of the kids that can't take care of themselves because really, are there any
38:14
more vulnerable people in the world than than a sick kid? And that's a world also
38:20
where it isn't just about surviving, it's about thriving. And and that's something that Disney really brings to
38:26
the table and Chalk really brings to the table as well is you're not just getting by. Disney is trying to create a wow
38:33
experience. Chalk for itself is trying to create a wow
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hospital experience. That's a very difficult concept to grasp sometimes,
38:44
but at the end of the day, Chalk is really trying to create an experience
38:50
where kids come out still being kids. Kids go through it still being kids. They also get the medical care they
38:56
need, the emotional care they need, whatever it is that they need, Chock is going to do their best to take care of
39:03
that. And when I think about all of the things that we get to do and we do do on
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a daily basis, how many of these organizations or these efforts
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have that noble of an outcome? How many things do you do as you go about your
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daily lives? Do you walk back at the end of it and go, you know what? I just made
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somebody's life better because I invested a little time, a little effort, a little bit of money. We all raised
39:34
money. I think we've raised a little over 3,000 as a team. I'd love to get it to 5,000 as a team, but
39:41
there's something very noble and it feels really good to know that at the
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end of the day, we put a little effort in and we are really making a huge
39:52
effort for the people that are receiving the outcome of that effort. So,
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we get to go hang out at Disneyland. We get to go walk through Disneyland at 5:15 in the morning. Because of that,
40:07
about $3 million were raised and that is directly helping
40:13
kids get life-saving treatment. Or maybe it's not life-saving treatment, but it's it's
40:19
life helping treatment. And that's that's such a huge
40:25
return on investment. When I think of ROI on my my investments of efforts, money, and and time, that's something I
40:32
really love to see us making a difference with. And that's something that I hope as time goes by we make an
40:38
even bigger difference with because you never know that might be your kid. That be my might be my future kid. That was
40:45
my dad as a kid. He had a thing called Perthy's disease as a kid and he basically lived in a Shriner's hospital.
40:52
So similar uh for about a year. So he couldn't go play sports like he was big into football if I recall. And so he
41:00
couldn't go play sports. He couldn't go to band concerts. He couldn't be in theater during that year because he was
41:05
stuck laying on his side with a full-length cast on his leg. And
41:10
that couldn't have been fun. I think that was in the '60s. They didn't have something like chalk where you're having
41:16
Disney characters and attractions that you can experience. He basically, I
41:21
would guess, listen to music if they had it, could read probably. I don't know if
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they had TVs in their rooms at the time, but you know, it was a very not fun
41:31
period in his life. And that's something that uh we get to make a positive impact
41:38
impact on. We get to make it so it's not looked back on as a negative time in life. It was a difficult time perhaps
41:45
for people that go through chalk. But as I've gotten to know the ambassadors through the years and other people that have had kids at Chalk through the
41:51
years, you always hear how much they love Chalk, how much they loved the
41:57
staff at Chalk, and they look back at the time fondly, even if it was a
42:03
terrifying time and it was a difficult period in their life. And and that's something that I can get behind cuz that
42:09
means it's something that's making a positive difference in the world. And that's really what DAPS is all about.
42:15
Whether it's in the Disney community, whether it's in the geek community, we want to make the world a little bit more positive, a little bit better, and
42:22
that's what we get to do with Chalkwalk. The good news is though, you can still
42:28
help with this year's Chalkwalk. It may be over. It's been 2 weeks, I think, now. And the fundraising deadline for
42:37
this year's Chalkwalk is in September. In fact, it is on September 3rd of 2025.
42:44
So that means you can go to chalkwalk.org/dapsmagic and help us continue to raise funds for
42:51
this year's Chalkwalk. They're at 2.9 a little bit over $2.9 million that they've raised this year for the
42:57
Chalkwalk. Wouldn't it be great if we could help them get it to 3 million or above DAP's Magic or a little bit over
43:03
3,000 that we've raised for this year's Chalkwalk. We'd love to get that to 5,000 or even more. You can help us with
43:09
that. you know, whether it's a dollar, $5, $10, $100, $1,000, it doesn't
43:14
matter. Every dollar that you you invest and that you donate to the Children's
43:20
Hospital of Orange County through the Chalkwalk is making the world a little bit better, $1 at a time. And I think
43:27
that's a really great thing to do. So, I hope you'll consider it. And even if it's not something that you can do, totally get it. Please consider sharing
43:34
this podcast, sharing the link of chalkwalk.org/dapsmagic or /dapsmagic and saying, "Hey, we're we're trying to
43:40
get to this level so that we can all use whatever it is we do have to make a
43:45
difference together.
43:55
Thank you for listening to this episode of DAPs Magic the podcast. It's never too late to make a positive difference
44:01
in the world. It's also never too late to make a difference for Chalk. Throughout the year, there's going to be different opportunities that you can
44:07
help out. While we don't know what it is yet, keep your eyes on DAP's Magic for
44:12
next year's Chalkwalk date. Then, the moment we announce it, the moment we
44:17
have the team set up, please consider joining the team. Please consider walking with with us. If you can't walk
44:23
with us, you can be, I think they call it a sleeping bear, which means you just join the team. You get all the perks of being on the team. You just don't show
44:29
up on that morning. We'd love to have you, whatever it is that you choose to do. or if it's just sharing our link,
44:35
great thing as well. We always have a blast walking through the parks before they open and I'm not a morning person.
44:42
But I love this. I would never miss it. It is something that I really have loved
44:47
doing through the years and and I think you will, too. As we wrap up this episode, I'd like to remind you that
44:53
there are other ways to connect with us in our community. It's way more fun to celebrate Disney and positive stuff when
45:00
we do it together and when we do it as friends. So you can find our Facebook group, our Patreon, or you can join us
45:06
live on Tuesday nights for Geeks Corner. There is also a Patreon exclusive show right after Geeks Corner called Daps
45:14
After Dark that you can join us for with as well. Join us with
45:19
Anyway, join us for it. It's right after Geeks Corner. It's exclusive to our patrons and it's on patreon.com/dapsmagic.
45:27
We have a blast discussing the things that we love in a positive environment in all of these places. And we'd love to
45:33
do it with you. [Music]
45:48
Thank you again for listening to Daps Magic the podcast. I appreciate you. I appreciate your friendship and I also
45:54
appreciate your support. Make it a great week and keep kind
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[Applause] [Music]
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of
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la [Music]
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La [Music]