Theme Park Change puts a theme park twist on giving

Theme Park Change is a new charity that encourages theme park fans to donate to a great cause. Donors can give in amounts similar to what they would spend at an amusement park. For example, you can make a $5 donation which in an amusement park is about the price of a funnel cake. There are eight levels of giving that represent items ranging from a soda all the way up to a season pass.

All proceeds go to Project Angel Food, a charity whose mission is to care for men, women, and children afflicted with life-threatening illnesses like cancer and HIV/AIDS. Every person who donates $10 or more will be entered in a drawing where they could win theme park tickets and other prizes.

You can give through April 30th and read more about this program at Theme Park Change’s website. Also, here’s a video about the charity featuring Neil Patrick Harris.

Neil Patrick Harris lends voice to Disney ride

Disney California Adventure theme park has introduced a new ride recording for California Screamin’, featuring the voice of actor Neil Patrick Harris.

The official Disney Parks Blog says NPH’s new recordings are meant to emulate a classic carnival sideshow barker.

California Screamin’ is in the Paradise Pier section of Disney California Adventure. That part of the park has a classic boardwalk amusement park feel.

California Screamin’ is the longest and fastest ride at Disneyland Resort in California, with a 120-foot drop and top speeds of 58 miles per hour. The roller coaster is steel, though it is painted and styled to look like a classic wooden ride.

NPH’s love of Disney is well-documented. He has been a narrator during EPCOT’s holiday Candlelight Processional show in past years, and last month, he hosted an event celebrating Disney animatronics at the Disneyland Hotel.

He professes his love for theme parks in his Twitter profile, and he hinted on Twitter about his California Screamin’ involvement over the weekend.

You’re in good (smooth) hands with these air traffic controllers

I had high hopes for last night’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by a favorite of mine, Neil Patrick Harris, of Doogie Howser and How I Met Your Mother fame. The show was hit and miss (I’ll pause while all our over-30 readers muse on how SNL is not as good as it was back in the ’70s/’80s/’90s) but one of the funniest sketches had to be the one below about two “Southern belle” air traffic controllers, Fran and Freba (played by Harris and Kristen Wiig), who have impossibly long fingernails and a penchant for using hand lotion.

“You know the A toggle under the altimeter?” Fran asks an incoming flight that’s requesting assistance. “Just try ‘n jiggle it a little, ya know, like a toilet handle.”