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.

