Pioneer founders

Among Minnie’s many talents, including artistic, publishing and culinary exploits, is her fascination with her Mouse heritage. Much of the genealogy that she has uncovered is mounted on her living room wall. These photographs of her ancestors show just how much Minnie has explored her past and loves her family, and there are some very famous mice in this lineage. Included on the wall are Sheikh Manni El Mousri, Florence Micingale, Mather and May Mousesmith, Daniel Toon, Milo Mouse and Mabeline VanMouse, Milieus and Maris O’Mouse, Mathilda Mousebjörg and Merik Mouström, Merry and Marley Mousill and Princess Marie DuMouse are all framed alongside closer family relations.

With the shuttering of Mickey’s Toontown Fair, these photographs from Minnie’s Country House were removed from public display. But chances are, they aren’t too far from Minnie’s heart.

Fresh handmade corn tortillas

October is the perfect time to think about food and Epcot. The World Showcase promenade is peppered with kiosks for the International Food and Wine Festival and the air is filled with the deliciously tempting scents of the amazing dishes. That is all well and good, but last October, I also took time to investigate the newly refurbished and redesigned La Cantina de San Angel.My wife and I wanted to get a broad taste of the restaurant, so rather than choosing a standard water or Coca-Cola, we opted for the Agua Fresca and a bottle of Sidral. My wife like the fruit infused water, but did not feel the Agua Fresca was worth the extra cost. As for my Sidral, I was thoroughly pleased with this apple soda, although again I was not entirely sold on the rationale for the upcharge above regular beverages.For our meals, my wife and I selected the Tacos de Carne and Tacos de Pollo. Each meal came with three small tacos on homemade corn tortillas, lime, Pico de Gallo and tortilla chips. I have heard complaints about no true side dishes, but the tortilla chips and salsa made for a fine supplemental dish in my mind and stomach. Also, some have taken issue with the handmade tortillas, but we both found these to be closer to traditional tortillas than anything else we had tasted in a restaurant before. It may take some getting used to for those unfamiliar with them, but it was as if one of our family friends had made them for us and shipped them to World Showcase.As for the meat of the tacos, they were both excellent. The marinated chicken was succulent and flavorful and we both gave it two thumbs up. As for the grilled beef, my wife thought it had a good flavor but was too dry, whereas I thought it tasted just fine. Then again, I do tend to like my meat a bit dryer. The only real concern for these two entrees again comes back to the price points at which they are presented. For the cost of each meal I would have expected two side, the tortilla chips and perhaps either rice or beans, or both.La Cantina de San Angel has a new feature, before the massive renovations seating was only available in outdoor seating venues. Now, as the story supports that the La Hacienda is a house where guests have stopped by for a meal, La Cantina patrons have a choice of seating outside along the shores of World Showcase Lagoon or inside La Hacienda, at least during the day. The ability to dine inside truly takes the sting out of the midday sun and allows guests to take in the simple elegance of a Mexican Hacienda.

Overall, my wife and I enjoyed our meal at La Cantina de San Angel, but the bill gave us indigestion. The restaurant has been filed away in my memory as a location that I would love to try again, with a note reminding me that it was not as economical as most Mexican restaurants I frequent. I recommend everyone giving the restaurant a try, provided the cost of a meal here isn’t going to leave a sour taste in your mouth.

You can’t get this view anymore

An April 1989 press photo of Hollywood Boulevard at Disney-MGM Studios.

“And this is my favorite view of the Chinese Theater. You can’t get this view anymore, you may be aware of that. But I hope that we will get this view again sometime soon.”

Bob Weis, Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering
1 May 2009

Hold near and dear

Everyone has dreams about activities they want to share with their families at Walt Disney World. I’m no exception. There are plenty of places I want to stay with my wife, tours I can’t wait to take her on and meals we need to share, but some of the greatest moments of anticipation are withheld for the times I get to spend with my father at Walt Disney World.The stories of my dad at Walt Disney World, or stories of how he convinced us to spend more time at the Vacation Kingdom, would give you the perfect image of a child at heart. While he may appear as gruff, the more he speaks about Walt Disney World or the more time he spends around the parks and resorts, the more the man I remember from my childhood appears. In just a little under two weeks, my dad and I are taking our first father-son trip since I’ve been married.

One tap are a bunch of great meals and activities, including a couple of rounds of golf. My father introduced me to golf in my late teens, and while I only play once or twice a year, the times when I get to play with my dad are some of my favorites. It will be the first time either of us will have a chance to play at Walt Disney World, and we’ll be playing on the original 1971 courses. I fully expect to have some of the worst rounds of my life, but I’m going to enjoy every minute.

Sure, I have a lot of data collecting and research to do for the Gazette while I am there, but it will be the moments I share with my dad that I’ll cherish most. When I was a child he passed along information about why things were in the parks, show me the best place for a nap (as a child it was the arcade behind the France pavilion) and showed me the best ways to navigate through the parks. My aunt used to say I was the best tour guide who didn’t work for Disney and my father was the reason I could do all of those things. This trip, I’ll get to show him details and the best way through parks he’s not as familiar with.

We all have are guiding forces into why we love Walt Disney World and why we know what we do, and we all have moments we hold dear and moments we can’t wait to create. While the moments I spend with my wife are the ones I know will flourish as we grow a family together, it is creating new memories with my father, the man who showed me the Disney way, that I am most looking forward to in the coming weeks (Oh, and I hope to spend some time with some of you along the way, and you’ll get to meet the man who set my path in motion, who you have to thank for the Main Street Gazette.).

What are some of the can’t wait to create memories you have?

Disney This Week - 10 April 2010

A joint venture from the minds behind Touring Plans and Studios Central launched this week. If you want to keep up with the galactic happenings of Star Tours refurbishment, then check out Star Tours 2 Live!

Amanda Tinney takes Disney Every Day readers along to Top of the World to sample the fare, grab some dessert and indulge in an adult beverage or two.

Last spring I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Ridley Pearson, well, Pearson is back in Walt Disney World. Thomas Smith catches up with the author on the Disney Parks Blog and gets the scoop on Power Play and Kingdom Keepers Quest.

In this week’s edition of Retro 71, Richard brings an iconic ticket image to the world of fashion at DesignerLand.

Sam Gennawey presents some amazing panoramic postcards from 1950s Disneyland for readers of SamLand’s Disney Adventures.

Over at DF’82, Fiona Doyle breaks down the Euro Disneyland Railroad carriage by carriage.

Andy Jackson brings one of my favorite International Food and Wine Festival recipes home when he prepares South Korea’s Lettuce Wraps with Roast Pork and Kimchi Slaw for Eating (and Drinking) around the World.

The Disney Food Blog samples an English Bulldog, AJ Wolfe has promised me that isn’t as inhumane as it sounds.

The connection between Fantasia and the Contemporary Resort is explored by Shawn Slater at DisneyShawn.

In the long forgotten department, George Taylor discusses Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters and Tar Heel Bread on Imaginerding.

Silent Saturday - Test Track, Odyssey and Mexico (January 2010)

Pegasus

If you want to find a piece of EPCOT Center history, don’t go looking around Epcot. Instead, head over to Backlot Express in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where the outline of a familiar vehicle rests high upon a shelf.

Known as a hoverlift, the vehicle was central to the Mesa Verde scene of Horizons. While I don’t believe this is the same vehicle as the hoverlift named Pegasus that rested on the launch pad in the orange scented harvesting scene, it is likely that it was part of the modeling or molding process for the vehicle.

While displays featuring the forty year history of Walt Disney World are few and far between, save for what can be found in One Man’s Dream, it is nice to find these remnants still fill spaces around the parks.

Touchdown

It’s one of the few times during the year when sports happen to be just about everywhere you look. From NCAA March Madness to The Masters for the PGA, from the first pitches of the MLB to the NBA Playoffs tipping off, sporting events are dominating television screens everywhere. With that thought in mind, I thought we’d take a quick trip through All-Star Sports today to see what type of athletic antics the resort is up to…

M-I-C-K-E-Y

When you think of snack foods at Walt Disney World, the mind is inexplicably drawn to popcorn, Dole Whips and ice cream carts. Tucked within those carts are the marquee Mickey bars.

Once upon a time, the Mickey’s head on a stick ice cream bars were similar to the Mickey’s Parade Mickey Mouse Bars from Good Humor. These bars featured two shades of ice cream, one for the face and the other for the eyes, nose and mouth. But these snacks that smile have since been replaced with Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream Bars from Nestle.In the current incarnation, the Mickey bars are shaped like a typical hidden or décor Mickey. That is one large circle with two smaller circles placed atop the main circle for ears. The construction of the bar includes vanilla ice cream that has been coated with a thick layer of chocolate. The image of the Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream Bar is eye-candy for the stomach and has been featured on everything from Mr. Potato Head accessories, scrapbooking material, and even a child’s food playset. But how do the bars taste?The first bite has to be one of the ears, not only because it is the logical place to start, but because the idea of chomping off an ear appeals to our darker sides. Just ask the chocolate Easter bunnies! The first bite has a satisfying crunch as the chocolate shell shatters for the first time. The further into the bar you go, the more the chocolate melts, presenting the sensation of a bite of ice cream with chocolate syrup in your mouth. While the chocolate does sweat and begin to melt as you make your way through the ice cream bar, it does contain the ice cream, which can melt rapidly in the Florida heat, which is a definite plus.Overall, the Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream Bars are a treat, a rite of passage for first time guests and a fond staple for the park going veterans. A hot day in the parks and a Mickey shaped ice cream, it doesn’t get much better than that!

Great national experiment

Once upon a time, the roll call of presidents within the Hall of Presidents did not conclude with an address from the current Commander in Chief. When the attraction was revamped and refreshed in 1993, a new narration was recorded by Maya Angelou. More importantly, the sitting chief executive, President Bill Clinton, became the first president to record a short speech that would be included within the Hall of Presidents presentation.After overcoming the impediments of approaching and gaining the interest of President Clinton’s staff, piquing the president’s interest, and recognizing that the recording would be happening on the schedule of world events and not the Imagineers’ timetable, a tentative date was set to record the session in September of 1993. Walt Disney Imagineering sent a team of five to Washington, D.C., where other obstacles reared their heads, from schedule shifting, to room acoustics and assignments and even last minute changes to language in the scripted speech.

The team, which included Rich Rothschild, H.F. Crane, Brian Jolley, Greg Krueger and Justin Segal, toured through several rooms of The White House on 2 September 1993, where the meaning of a living museum took hold. Starting with The Roosevelt Room (featuring artifacts from the lives of both Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt), the team moved from the original slotted space to the Diplomatic Reception Room (home to Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats), then to the Red Room, before settling in, and hoping for the availability of, the Library. Filled with presidential gifts, including those brought from WDI, and volumes bound with the words of Twain, Thoreau, and Cooper, the Library would be where President Clinton would record his address.Glitches would continue to ensue on recording day, 3 September 1993, but all would be overcome by the time the president arrived to record his speech. The final, Clintonized oration would be recorded with a time a hair under one minute and fifteen seconds, perfectly aligning itself with the previously laid down audio track. The recording would require two takes, based upon President Bill Clinton’s request, with body movements and language being recorded during the first take.

The nerve-wracking plotting and planning culminated in a whirlwind recording session that no one on the Walt Disney Imagineering band would forget. The Hall of Presidents would reopen on 18 November 1993, with the latest Audio-Animatronics presidential figure and the first recording of the sitting chief executive. When President Bill Clinton took to the attraction’s stage he did so not only with the title of Commander in Chief, but also Honorary Imagineer.

Guardian of the mountain

There is a wide array of attractions throughout Walt Disney World. Everything from film, both with and without enhancements, to reproductional walk-throughs, rollercoasters and omnimovers are all used in the storytelling presented throughout the parks. Yet, if I am being totally honest with myself it has always been the Audio-Animatronics that have drawn me inspired awe within my inner child. Since its unveiling, my favorite Audio-Animatronics figure has been Expedition Everest’s yeti.

Sure, the redhead from Pirates of the Caribbean turns heads and John in Carousel of Progress tells tales just like my own father could, but there is something about the yeti that has always intrigued me. I must admit I had a fascination with the creature before the attraction was created, but seeing the twenty-two foot tall yeti lash out at my passing tea train for the first time reignited my curiosity for the beast.When Expedition Everest officially opened on April 7, 2006, the entire attraction was a marvel of the amusement industry with three separate structures and the most advanced Audio-Animatronics figure ever developed. The hydraulic yeti was able to move five feet horizontally and two feet up and down with the 259,000 pounds of force, or the power of a 747-400 plane. It was, for the first several months of Expedition Everest’s existence, quite the sight to behold.

Damage to the structural foundation of the yeti’s assembly, due to force we discussed above, an alternative yeti was activated in the attraction. Dubbed “B” Mode, the majority of the yeti’s life has been spent in suspended animation, a condition where he resides in a static state with strobe effects creating the false sense of motion for guest traveling aboard Expedition Everest’s trains. While still able to startle passengers, the strobe effects lack the swinging and swiping motions that caused guest to take pause when passing by the creature’s cave. Given the nickname of Disco Yeti, this incarnation of the attraction has been in place since the attraction’s foundation problems began.Even with only the strobes illuminating the creature, the form of the yeti still cut a stunning silhouette offering brief glimpses of the beast, not unlike the fleeting photographs and evidence found in the Yeti Museum, part of the Expedition Everest queue. Currently, however, even the motionless yeti figure has been covered by a dark tarp. Rumors of the yeti’s fate, from a swiping paw to full-blown recovery of motion, permeate message boards everywhere, but without hard evidence it is unclear what is to become of the snow-covered beast.

From the footprint castings provided by Joshua Gates and Destination Truth, to the claw marks present in the snow and down to the nitty-gritty details hashed out by Joe Rohde and his team when crafting the creature, the yeti is as indelible to the Forbidden Mountain as the tea trains that carry guests along the mountainous route. Since the attraction rose from Asia in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the yeti has had a storied tale that can only be matched by its real world narrative. I, for one, wait impatiently and with great anticipation for the return of this remarkable Audio-Animatronics figure.

Disney This Week - 3 April 2011

Fiona Doyle explores the connection between France, the Statue of Liberty, and Disneyland Paris’ Liberty Arcade for DF’82.

Progress City, U.S.A. and Michael Crawford have a great concept piece from Universe of Energy.

Also in the great buildings of Future World department, Chris Fore pours through a vintage World of Motion – General Motors brochure that is sure to bring back memories for Yet Another Disney Blog readers.

Matt Hochberg discusses how the Tower of Terror is becoming environmentally friendly on Studios Central.

Over at The Disney Food Blog, AJ Wolfe has announced her five favorite treats to take back home when she leaves Walt Disney World.

Jeff Heimbuch sits down with Steve Alcorn to chat about The American Adventure for Disney Dispatch.

At Only WDWorld, Jamie Collins showcases his top six favorite attraction vehicles.

Melissa Loflin and Makin’ Memories talk about a fantastic display that can be found in the Main Street Fire Station.

Silent Saturday - O. I. Cyhu (January 2011)

The score stood four to two

We’ve talked before about the Casey’s Corner and the Mudville references based upon the Ernest Thayer poem. Today, we’re going back to Casey’s to check the box score of the game Mudville home game.The score of 4 – 2 comes directly from the first stanza of Thayer’s most notable piece. The poem originally ran in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888. It would take Thayer some time to garner credit for the writing, however, as he was a modest man and had signed the work under his nickname of Phin.

The other interesting tidbit to take away from the scoreboard is the name of the field. Notice that there is no name given to the visitors, as the original work did not name them, but nor did the poem feature a name for the Mudville field. So, where does the name come from? Simple, while the world knows of Thayer’s piece as Casey at the Bat, it also has a longer title, Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888.

While there are many questions surrounding Casey at the Bat, such as who was Casey based upon and were there two teams that were home to the Mudville nine and the visiting team, two things are for certain. The score in the bottom of the ninth stuck and Casey struck out that day.

Fuel for thought

Test Track offers a nice glimpse into the kinetic world of vehicle testing. There is, however, so much more to the history and romance of traveling down the open road. This too is touch upon at Test Track, if only briefly and, even then, only for the curious.

Scattered about the Test Track courtyard area, where most guest attempt to decide between Stand By or Single Rider queues and gather their Fastpasses for their proving grounds tour later in the day, there are a collection of panels. Each of the eight displays is double-sided, featuring a promotional reminder about Inside Track, the showroom/gift shop, on one side and an informational panel on the other. These educational, and sometimes entertaining, sheets cover topics ranging from the history and future of automobiles, to the design processes and even songs about heading on down the road.

While these displays are not the flashiest element of Test Track (Did you miss the car zooming around the banked turn overhead? I didn’t think so.), they are some of the most enlightening peeks the pavilion has to offer into the world of transportation.

Cool through and through

As an educator who seeks to develop the whole child, from social emotional skills to physical and mental growth, one aspect I have been keenly aware of is the health and dietary habits of the children in my care. Balanced meals and proper nutrition are crucial, not only for children, but for teenagers and adults as well. That said, I am flying in the face of all my nutritional beliefs today when I offer up to you a single suggestion… When in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, be sure to spend part of your morning at Starring Rolls Café!

Starring Rolls Café is situated at the corner of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards, tucked just beside and behind the Brown Derby. Inside there is a fine selection of pastries and even a couple of sandwiches or sushi rolls if happen by later in the day, but the real joy here is indulging early in the day. The small bakery is able to provide a wide array of coffee beverages to help peel those eyelids open, should Rock ‘N’ RollerCoaster not be a strong enough stimulant for you. The coffee is nice, and the pastries or sandwiches are fine, but the real reason to halt your touring midmorning is the massive sweets tucked inside of the cooler case.

















Cupcakes, brownies, and other sinfully sweet creations filled the chilled bakery case of Starring Rolls. Many of these items, including the Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake, have been reviewed previously on the Main Street Gazette, but I don’t feel as if I am going out on a limb when I say I could easily, and happily recommend any single treat from Starring Rolls Café. Almost all of the items available from the display case are large enough to share with another guest or two, and are rich enough that sharing is perhaps the preferred manner of consumption.

Starches and sugars for breakfast certainly do not constitute the breakfast of champions, but I am going to let you in on a little secret. Chances are, if you happen to find yourself at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you are on vacation! Go ahead and let go for one morning. A typical break for me comes after I have played a round at Toy Story Midway Mania, when I pull in for a pit stop before continuing on the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Rock ‘N’ RollerCoaster. However, I leave the timing of your breakfast break in your hands. My only word of caution is that morning lines at Starring Rolls Café can get long quickly with other sweet craving guests, so the early you arrive the better.

















Sure, there are plenty of breakfast sandwich, Mickey waffle, bacon, potato and egg eateries and table service restaurants serving hearty dishes throughout Walt Disney World and most mornings these would be my recommendation. Every once in a while, just as a treat, I highly recommend talking to the kid hiding inside and having a cupcake for breakfast!