August 19, 2010
Few people who visit Disney shell out for the pricy Backstage Magic tour. Justin Gehring not only shelled out but wrote about what he saw in his blog, RinseFirst.
For those unfamiliar with Disney's Behind the Scenes tour, it's a 6-7 hour trek behind-the-scenes at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, including a descent into the famous utilidors, tunnels that snake beneath the Magic Kingdom and provide clandestine access to all areas of the park for employees.
One perk of the tour, as Justin describes it, is being able to cut in line with your tour guide for immediate access to the rides and attractions that are part of the tour. One such 'cut' was at the Jungle Cruise, where Justin's tour guide took the group on a special, private cruise to explain aspects of the ride not revealed to mere mortals, such as why the water always looks so dirty.
Justin also learned about Disney's emergency evacuation plans, enjoyed lunch in Liberty Square with his group, and of course, explored the tunnels.
The Backstage Tour is expensive (about $240 person) but for Disney addicts it's a bargain. Justin's report, with its many tantalizing details, will whet your appetite and help unlimber your wallet.
MORE: Rinse First (Justin Gehring)
3:53 PM
Disney Everywhere
I'm a sucker for Disney history. Behind-the-scenes stuff, too. Learning what happens in the back enhances the enjoyment of what happens out front.
So I was thrilled today to 'find' Didier Ghez's blog, DisneyBooks, which he describes, in part, as '[i]nteresting discoveries about Disney history...'. Just the type of blog I will slavishly read!
Didier's latest post is a review of Charles Solomon's forthcoming book, Tale As Old As Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast. The book is scheduled for publication on August 30, but Didier got his copy early from the publisher, Disney Editions.
According to Didier, Solomon's book presents an in-depth history of the Beauty and the Beast project, enhanced by interviews with many of the people involved and, of course, pictures, lots of pictures, including concept art never seen before.
You can pre-order the book from Amazon for $26.40, discounted from the cover price of $40.00.
MORE: Disney Books (Didier Ghez)
If you visited Disney World in the 1970s, you may remember Fantasyland's Mickey Mouse Revue, an E-ticket attraction held in the same building that now hosts the popular Mickey's PhilharMagic.
Amy Eastman of GrowingUpDisney reminisces about the Revue, with copious quotes from an old interview with Bill Justice, the Imagineer who designed the attraction. Disney closed the Revue in September 1980 and shipped it to Tokyo Disneyland, where it had a long run from 1983 to 2009 when the PhilharMagic closed it down for good.
I remember being captivated by the Mickey Mouse Revue when I saw it many times as a child. Nowadays, of course, it would be seen as nothing but a pale precursor to the grander, technologically dazzling PhilharMagic (in 3D!), but those old attractions never really lose their pixie dust for those who saw them in their prime.
Want to see it for yourself? YouTube has a poor quality video of a 1971 performance. How sweet and innocent were those days!
GrowingUpDisney has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 14 edition for There's a Disney App for That.
MORE: GrowingUpDisney (Amy Eastman)
Bruce at UnknownMagicWithinWaltDisneyWorld has always, I think, had his ears on, and now he's got them open, too.
He recently wrote about the music park guests hear virtually non-stop inside every Disney park (and the public areas of many resorts, too). According to Bruce, the ubiquity of the music often turns it into 'white noise' - something always there but not always noticed.
As an example, Bruce mentions the different tracks Disney plays in each land of the Magic Kingdom. You hear drums in Adventureland, a fife and drum band in Liberty Square, and so on. First-time guests may hear that special music, and even veterans may hear it upon first entering a land. But then it fades. The music is still there, playing endlessly in its loop, but it fades for most of us because, well, it plays endlessly.
Next time you're in Disney, do what Bruce suggests: stop and listen. The music you'll suddenly hear is another in the multitude of techniques used, subtly in this case, to immerse you in the magical world of Disney.
UnknownMagic has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 17 edition for In Which We Learn the Disney Significance of 24,142 and also Disney World Humor: Laugh It or Leave It.
MORE: Unknown Magic Within Walt Disney World (Bruce)
Amanda Tinney's blog, Disney Every Day, has a 'Wordless Wednesday' feature: each Wednesday she posts a picture, without words, except for the title (which sparsely describes the picture).
Her current picture is interesting not so much for itself - it shows a T-shirt sold at Epcot's Mouse Gears - but for the implication of what's on the shirt.
This particular T-shirt, entitled I Fight in Heels, displays three Marvel super-heroines: the Scarlet Witch, Marvel Girl, and the Invisible Girl (all pleasingly drawn in Silver Age style).
Many people, myself included, have wondered when Disney would dive into the very deep character pool of Marvel Entertainment and how those violent, conflicted, often nasty characters would fit in with Mickey, Donald, and the rest of Disney's white bread 'n butter.
A Marvel-inspired T-shirt is a long way from a new Marvel ride or attraction, but it does suggest that Disney is slow-brewing plans for its new acquisitions.
I can't think of anything better to counter Universal's Harry Potter jackpot than the Marvel Universe.
By the way, I also can't think of better Disney pictures than those shared every Wednesday by Amanda. Last Wednesday she treated us to a shot of the 'Tinker Bell Sink', a sink of appropriate height for fairies, at Bay Lake Tower's Top of the World Lounge Restroom. Cool!
MORE: Disney Every Day (Amanda Tinney)
Sam Gennawey reviews Jeff Kurtti's recent book, Disneyland: From Once Upon a Time to Happily Ever After, on his site, SamLand's Disney Adventures, one of my favorite places to kick back and learn something about Disney I didn't know before.
As Sam describes it, Jeff's book has a clever (and enormously appealing) premise: Jeff takes a picture from Disneyland past, couples it with a picture from Disneyland present, and then discusses how and why things changed.
For example, the book's many pictures include a construction photo of Monstro from Storybook Land Canal Boats. The Imagineers originally intended guests to ride through Monstro's mouth on a water plume. Walt Disney had a better idea: why not turn Monstro around so guests would think he was swallowing them whole. That, as Jeff explains, is why the two photos of Monstro show him facing in different directions.
Jeff ought to know: he was the Creative Director for The Walt Disney Family Museum and now he works as a Consultant at Disney Theatrical Productions.
The retail price of the book is $7.95, but you'll have to hunt for it on-line. Amazon only has a single new copy (sold by 'Norsk Media') for $25.00, plus shipping. If you're in Disneyland, look for it there.
SamLand has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 17 edition for Down and Dirty on Reedy Creek.
MORE: SamLand's Disney Adventures (Sam Gennawey)
9:46 AM
Disney Everywhere
For many people, I suppose a Disney job is a dream job: but as with anything, familiarity breeds contempt, and I've often wondered whether the old gentleman (usually it's an old gentleman) who sits in the glass booth above It's a Small World really wants to wave at each boat as it passes beneath him. Maybe I'll be in that booth one day...
For Disney interns, however, these ruminations would elicit a youthful smirk. They love working for the Mouse, and many of them return summer after summer, not to wave at park guests, but to work in Disney's technical, financial, and creative nerve centers.
Yesterday's edition of the Disney Insider spotlights two students who just finished summer internships with Disney. Neither toiled and broiled in the parks: one designed graphics for Disney's Pixie Hollow game, the other created video content for Disney.com. Impressive internships!
In Disney's Day-in-the-Life feature, other interns describe what they do, and if you're a student who wants to apply for an internship yourself, Disney's got a page for that, too.
As for me, well, I'm too old, way too old, for a student internship, but I'm going to keep waving and hope someone at Disney notices.
MORE: Disney Insider
Site News: Disney Dispatch Growing Fast
Disney Dispatch is a week old today! Trumpets, horns ... yawns? Yes, well, it's exciting for me, and so is the news from Google Analytics that the site nears 1000 pageviews and has been trending steadily upwards. That's nothin' for the big Disney sites; but for this baby, it's time for trumpets and horns and, well, let's move on.
In other news: my Disney dining book, MouseMeals, is in the final stretch, with ink hitting the page soon, and a sister site to Disney Dispatch is in the works and may debut within a few weeks.
Enjoy today's hullabaloo!
