October 13, 2011
By Brent Dodge

The largest privately owned Block Party Bash Ball collection?

We all have dreams. Some are larger than life while others are, well, weird. Today we'll talk about a weird Disney dream I set out to become a reality.

Back in January of 2009 I came down to Walt Disney World with two of my friends I met on the College Program back in 2004. One day while they were being lazy at the resort I headed off to the Studios and watched Block Party Bash for the first time ever! I found the parade entertaining, but half way through one of the parade performers pulled me into the street to dance! Yes, I was probably the only person over four feet tall out there, BUT, I had a great time!

Little did I know that just minutes after this would happen my life would change forever. After we were asked to return to the crowd several Block Party Bash Balls flew through the air and I caught two and tucked them away in my backpack instantly.

The rest of the day I kept looking at them thinking how cool it'd be to get about twenty to fifty of these and use them to fill up Nerf guns! It was free ammo!

All those little dots are pieces of Heaven flying through the air in Block Party Bash Ball form

The following year I moved down to Florida (with my collection of two Block Party Bash Balls remaining in Wisconsin). I watched Block Party Bash shortly after moving down and once again fell in love with the parade! At the end of the parade I caught a few more Block Party Bash Balls and shared with viewers of this site that it'd be so cool to make a ball pit out of them. They whole heartedly agreed and sent me on a mission: to get enough Block Party Bash Balls to fill an entire ball pit!

The goal was set, but now was the tricky part. Actually going to the Studios on an almost daily basis to receive as many balls as possible. Three months (and about sixty balls) later, I received some heartbreaking news. Block Party Bash was scheduled to have its last run on January 1, 2011. My love of the parade caused me to be very sad over the news and I soon took a picture of my face in my current ball pit.

I know. Not very impressive.

So from that day until the final performance I would travel to the Studios almost every day at 3 with one goal in mind. Get at least eight Block Party Bash balls. I was doing good and by the time January 1st arrived I had more than 200 balls in my collection, but sadly, not enough for an entire ball pit. The dream began to fade away until two months later!

While talking to a random guest I discovered she was actually a cast member! And not just any cast member! She was in charge of Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage and worked with Disney Channel Rocks! I got so excited and told her about the ball pit I dreamed of one day having. She said she'd help me receive an entire barrel! Holy cow! Life doesn't get much more exciting than that!

Unfortunately, the managers of Block Party Bash couldn't receive permission to give away an entire barrel and once again the dream began to fade. A few months later Sunday Brunch writer Reuben gave me a call with the best news ever! Cast Connections, the Cast Member store, was selling zip lock bags of four Block Party Bash balls for only 50 cents!!! I ran over to the store and he let me in and right there on the spot my collection doubled in size and the dream was once again born!

I ran over to the store on a weekly basis with Cast Member friends until one day a Cast Member working at the store informed me that they had to raise the price to 60 cents because I showed there was a higher demand for the balls than they thought. That was alright by me!

Soon I had friends giving my Block Party Bash Balls for car ride payments, random gifts, and even to sit in the live studio audience for the W.E.D.nesday Show! Sadly, a few weeks ago I arrived for my weekly fix when one of the Cast Members pulled me aside to share the bad news. The Block Party Bash Balls were all sold out. They thanked me for entertaining them on a weekly basis and asked me for a picture of the ball pit in hopes that it was complete.

I pulled out my phone, and like a proud father, showed them a picture of my little success: a blown up pool full of 2,450+ Block Party Bash balls. What am I going to do with them? Just what I've always done. Sit back, relax, and smile knowing that I am probably the only person in the world that has a ball pit made out of a piece of Disney history.