The shortest route

There has been a lot of talk and speculation around the entertainment and Disney communities about the delay of Avatar’s three sequels, with the subsequent conversations revolving around the delay and/or death of Avatarland coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The follow-up to this is the rumors, when paired with bringing Imagineer Kathy Magnum, Cars Land’s lead designer, to Walt Disney World is that Cars Land is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

I’ve previously talked about my thoughts of Avatarland and Cars Land coming to Walt Disney World, which means that those should probably be required reading before moving forward with this article. Go ahead, I’ll wait. For those of you who didn’t jump away, the basics are that I was cautiously optimistic about Avatarland, the basic wait and see what designs were revealed before passing judgment, while I felt that Cars Land would be better served by staying unique to Disney California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios building up a wider selection of mid-ranged attractions.

Have I changed my mind since I’ve written those editorials? Not really. I’m still in the wait and see for Avatarland, although now it is a wait and see if it is even on the drawing boards any longer. As for Cars Land, I stand by the statement that it doesn’t need to copied for Walt Disney World.

With Pandora potentially being shelved, and no real designs to discuss or lament, my main concerns is what lies ahead for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Of the four parks in Walt Disney World, I still feel like Disney’s Animal Kingdom has the largest need for an injection of new experiences. If the plans to move Festival of the Lion King to Harambe and character meet-and-greets to what is currently the shop Beastly Bazaar, then that leaves a massive gap of land to be developed in the footprint of Camp Minnie-Mickey. The idea of Australia has been batted around for the past couple of years, and as great as that could be, I’d still like to see something from the realm of fictional or mythical creatures come to the park. That doesn’t mean I would only accept an expansion that included elements of the never-built Beastly Kingdom, but I’d love to see a land constructed around that line of thought.

Meanwhile, in a park far, far away, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is looking to add a massive land dedicated to a single animated feature. Don’t get me wrong, I cannot wait to get out to Cars Land in Disney California Adventure and I understand that the loss of tourism for Disneyland would be lessened by the fact that Cars Land couldn’t open in Disney’s Hollywood Studios before 2015. However, I still think there are so many other entertainment properties to dive into that would be better suited and offer new experiences for a film/music/television theme park. Could Cars Land be the death knell for the Studio Backlot Tour and Lights, Motors, Action!? Possibly. There is a lot to explore here, both in terms of potential losses and additions, but I am keeping with the theme of wait and see until something is announced before I denounce or praise the next move for this park.

If you gleam anything from this article I hope it is that we shouldn’t be jumping to any conclusions just yet. No matter what you believe should or shouldn’t be done in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you can still hold onto those dreams until Walt Disney World makes an announcement and puts plans in motion. Remember all those who lamented at the idea of an Avatarland? As it may turn out those fears could have been unfounded. So, let the better measures of your patience win out here, and let’s be cautiously optimistic together about what comes next for Walt Disney World!

The shelf scene was getting humdrum

It’s rare that I serve up an item from Walt Disney World that isn’t delicious or perfect to fit into a certain type of meal dynamic, such as feeding that picky eater. However, I’ve realized that if I don’t pass on the meals that haven’t been great, then I have left the door wide open for someone else to a dish that is subpar. With that in mind, I want to head down to the Main Street Bakery this morning for a breakfast offering that doesn’t quite hit it out of the park.

I love banana bread and I love bread pudding, so when I saw that the Main Street Bakery offered up a Banana Bread Pudding, I got very, very excited. Each serving of the pudding is cooked and served individually and has the appearance of an oversized muffin or cupcake that has been dusted with powdered sugar. This preparation makes the outer crust, the layer outside of the ramekin, thick and crunchy, so much so that it this portion of the Banana Bread Pudding was almost inedible and it was a fight just to cut into it with my plastic knife.

Once past this outer shell, the steaming blend of banana bread pudding was pretty tasty. It had the sweetness you’d expect, along with the pieces of banana and the hint of cinnamon. Unlike other bread puddings around Walt Disney World, the interior of this pudding doesn’t really have distinguishing components, but is rather a large cup of sweet, gooey mush.

I may be spoiled by Sunshine Seasons’ Croissant Berry Bread Pudding, but between the not-so-edible shell and somewhat redeeming concoction filling, I’m not the biggest fan of the Banana Bread Pudding from the Main Street Bakery. If you happen upon the bakery and think this looks just too good to pass up, by all means give it a shot. For my Main Street breakfast though, I’ll be sticking with the Cinnamon Roll.

We're ready to go right now

Epcot will celebrate its 30th anniversary in a little less than a month. We’re going to be looking at the history of the park, originally known as EPCOT Center, over the next several weeks in anticipation of the occasion. To start out we’re going to explore this blueprint of the park, or planned park, in 1981.

First things first, beyond the original names of the pavilions being posted, there are two that you may not recognize. In case the layout seems unfamiliar, Futureprobe was one of the first designations for the attraction better known as Horizons. The other that may mystify is Transarama 2000. This is obviously World of Motion, but I have to admit that this name is a new one even for me. As far as I knew, World of Motion had always been World of Motion.

Elsewhere around Future World, you can see the layout for The Living Seas, even though it wouldn’t open until 1986. There are also plots set aside for three other future pavilions. One would become the Wonders of Life pavilion, now the festival center for Flower & Garden and Food & Wine events, while another would be tapped as part of The Land’s expansion when Soarin’ came to town in 2005. The space between The Land and The Living Seas has never been developed for guest experiences.

Some of you have heard me discuss the dichotomy between Future World East and Future World West. That is, how the natural, flowing sciences of Future World West are characterized by the movement of water, asymmetrical plant life, and the circular, smooth planters and walkways of the area. Meanwhile, hard angles, sharper plants, and no water in sight are representative of hard sciences found in Future World East. If you need a better vantage point, this blueprint gives you all the exploration you need!

Moving on to World Showcase, the never-built pavilion of Africa sits where we now have only the Refreshment Outpost is now. Also, Italy has an outline slated for Future Expansion. What was meant to be a boat ride through Italy would, over 25 years later, bring down the back wall of the pavilion and become a the restaurant, Via Napoli.

There were nine plots measured out for future pavilions around the World Showcase Promenade. Six have never been utilized for pavilions. Of the three that have been developed, one would become Morocco in 1984, a second became Norway in 1988, and 1990 welcomed Epcot’s second gate, the International Gateway.

The map is tantalizing mixture of past and dreams for the future with a dash of design. With everything from traffic flows, planters, parking areas, and behind the scenes structures, I couldn’t help but making sure I shared this with all of you. What corner of this Epcot entices you the most or sets your memories in motion?

Approaching the Transportation and Ticket Center

There was once a central hub to Walt Disney World. Guests visiting resorts, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or many of the Vacation Kingdom’s recreation areas crossed through this one spot. Yet, over time, the Transportation and Ticket Center has lost some of its connectivity to the rest of the resort area and is not a required destination for many guests. It is still utilized by thousands of guests every day, however, which means it is still important.

First off, let’s just be clear with one another, I don’t believe that the Transportation and Ticket Center, known to many as the TTC, will ever be the center of the Walt Disney World universe that it once was. There are too many resorts, parks, and entertainment districts spread across an area twice the size of Manhattan, and I don’t believe Disney will ever connect all of these locations to one spot, whether by monorail, peoplemover, or other means of transportation. Just taking a look at how much the TTC would have to expand to enable such a massive influx of guests and vehicles is enough to know that this will never happen.

On the flip side of the argument, the Transportation and Ticket Center isn’t going anywhere. The Seven Seas Lagoon isn’t going to magically be filled in and become the Magic Kingdom’s parking lot, Disney does believe in aesthetics after all, so the park will always be in need of parking for guests not staying on property. The Magic Kingdom monorail loop and ferries to and from the park require a home port for the same section of outside guests, or guests who like to use their personal vehicles to get around, which adds to the need for the TTC.

Walt Disney World hasn’t totally abandoned the place as a transportation limbo. Sure, guests aren’t lining up here to get their photos taken for their annual passes, in part because photos are no longer required on annual passes, but there are plenty of signs that Disney is trying to keep the TTC relevant. A coffee and pastry stand was added several years back, the parking lot received new section names for the first time in forty years (I’m not thrilled with this, but it does show that Walt Disney World is paying attention), and even the Cast Members who reside here place out games and activities to make the passage of time guests are waiting for the ferry or monorail a bit more bearable. Which begs the question, why does it still feel like a no man’s land?

You can’t force every guest to pass through this central point in Walt Disney World, as the logistics discussion above pointed out, and why would you want to? But shouldn’t it still have a feel of some place that guests want to be? For me, I believe, it comes back down to those early aesthetics that Disney was so prone to utilizing. The monorail beams don’t look as spic and span clean as they once did. The design of the buildings once felt like the buildings of tomorrow, but the cotton-candy color scheme of the structures does do anything to add emotion to the space. And all the spaces in between, once filled with charming topiaries, are now just vacant lots of land.

I don’t know what can be done to wipe forty years of usage off of the monorail beams, short of replacing them, which I would never ask Disney to do, but giving the area a strong identity is simple. Bing back the topiaries, with a view of the Magic Kingdom in the distance, these whimsical sculptures are just as much a part of the coming attractions experience as the posters in the Walt Disney World Railroad, Main Street, U.S.A. Station tunnels. The hard angles of the monorail stations create some perfect plant beds, take on some of the greenery and add in some plants with varied textures and colors. As for the monorail stations themselves, maybe it’s time for a fresh coat of paint, something with pizazz, not sickly-sweet violets and blues. While we’re at it, let’s remove buildings that aren’t being used by guests, like that empty covered area near the entrance to the ferries, once used for photographs, now just an empty cavern or some of the never used ticket booths. Once these areas are opened up, they would be the perfect place for a small garden with benches or a preview center, anything is better than empty, under-utilized buildings that guests have to work their way around for no apparent reason.

I don’t have all the answers for the Transportation and Ticket Center. I’ll be honest, I probably don’t understand most of the problems with this area well enough to know what needs to change. What I do know is that I have loved this hub for ferries, monorails, trams, tickets, and busses since I was a little boy, and I just want to see it shine again. If that means making some educated guesses into what could sparkle it up again, then I’ll take my best shots. It may be just a pass-through for most guests, but shouldn’t the most insignificant corners of Walt Disney World be where the talents of the resort burn brightest?

Disney This Week - 2 September 2012

AJ Wolfe serves up some Modern Mixology at The Disney Food Blog.

Eating (and Drinking) around the World and Andy Jackson wish La Cava del Tequila a happy birthday.

Sarah Holodick samples the Cuban from Cafe Rix for Eating WDW.

Spins the World and Jeremy Morrison talk The Handwich. What else is there to say.

Melissa Loflin offers up a rather unique paper product from Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge at Makin’ Memories.

Disney on Wheels takes Melissa Knight to Tony’s Town Square.

The real life inspiration behind Keystone Clothiers is explored by Matt Hochberg at Studios Central.

Adam and Andrew provide more information about one of the residents of Living With the Land at the Disney Hipster Blog.

George Taylor breaks down the history of Magic Kingdom maps for Imaginerding.

Parkeology and Shane Lindsay head back to the simpler times when the House of Magic was the place to be.

Silent Saturday - The Backside of Water (October 2010)