Big Controversy Over Small World

I'm a big fan of the "It's A Small World" attraction at the Disney parks; I even have a Squidoo lens about it. So as you can imagine, I have been following the latest controversy over this innocuous ride with much interest. It all started with this MiceAge article, in which Al Lutz talked about rumored changes to the classic attraction, including the addition of Disney characters to some of the scenes, and the replacement of the rain forest scene with a patriotic tribute to the United States.

The article ruffled a lot of feathers, including Kevin L. Blair, son of the late Mary Blair. (I have a Squidoo lens about her too!) This letter was posted on the Re-Imagineering blog, from Kevin to Disney executives, urging them not to tamper with Mary Blair's "Children of the World" theme. (Be sure to read the discussion comments which follow - some interesting points are raised, both pro and con.)

Kevin L. Blair's letter, along with comments from many fans, generated a response from Marty Sklar, The Walt Disney Company's international ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering, found here on The Disney Blog. (Be sure to read John Frost's initial thoughts on Marty's letter, found in the first Comment after the letter.)

The rumored enhancements have instigated the creation of Save the Rainforest, Save the Small World. This web site is an attempt to convince The Walt Disney Company to do the right thing, and contains contact information for those who wish to write to the company and express their displeasure in these changes.

Additional links to articles and web pages on this topic:

• John Frost provides additional thoughts about Marty Sklar's letter


• From the Re-Imagineering blog, The World Of Animation Speaks includes comments about the proposed changes from many famous people from the Animation industry.


• The Disney Gossip blog claims to have the real story behind the changes to the beloved attraction, and it doesn't have a happy ending.


• Disney archivist Dave Smith pipes in with his opinion in these letters to LaughingPlace.com. And John Frost has a frosty response on The Disney Blog.


• 2719 Hyperion's Jeff Pepper takes a step back and makes some level-headed observations about the entire debate.

My thoughts on all this? I believe that the idea that an attraction can be plussed by throwing Disney characters into it shows a huge lack of creativity and imagination from a company that is supposed to excel in those concepts. Sure, the characters are popular, but they are already all over the place, and too much of a good thing is not usually good. (It's sad that The Walt Disney Company hasn't learned its lesson from "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.") What's next, updating the Hall of Presidents, replacing George W with the real Goofy? There are other ways to plus an attraction, perhaps throwing in a few special effects, like they did with the Jungle Cruise renovations. No characters slipped in there, but the pirhana effect was a big hit.

And then there's the rumor about the Imagineers destroying the rainforest scene to replace it with that tribute to America. If that is true, then I am simply amazed that the WDC cannot see what a PR nightmare that would create. Besides the symbolic ecological implications from a company that pretends to be so green, I've always thought of that scene, with its flamboyant cat and alligator, as a mini-tribute to the gay community. I wouldn't be surprised if the destruction of those characters ruffled a few rainbow-colored feathers as well.

Sunday Morning Squidooing

I took some time to update a few of my Squidoo lenses this morning:

• It's A Small World: I added some information about the tribute to Joyce Carlson, who recently passed away. This happens to be my highest-ranked lens, but I can't figure out why. A lot of the traffic it gets seems to be related to people looking for music and/or lyrics from the attraction.
• Mary Blair: I just made a few minor updates, correcting some wording and adding an end date for the "Art and Flair" exhibit going on now at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.
• Walt Disney World Shopping: I added information about the WDW shops in the Orlando International Airport, plus information on mickeysurplus, another WDW artifact seller on eBay. This lens is personally my biggest disappointment. It has links to what I think is a lot of useful WDW shopping information, yet for some reason, Google has stopped indexing it. I can't even find a direct link to it if I google "squidoo shopwdw"! I wish I could find out why Google is ignoring it.
  

Christmas At Walt Disney World

I can't believe it has already been over a month since my Christmas trip. I had wanted to write about it sooner, but life has been busy ever since I got back.

In general, this was one of my better trips to the World. I had a wonderful time with the MouseFest activities, and met so many nice people! I also got to take the "Behind the Seeds" tour at Epcot's The Land pavilion. The tour was just ok - I don't think I learned that much more than what I'd heard on the boat ride through the greenhouses, but it was neat being able to see the plants and growing methods up-close.

I managed to see every one of my "Must See's"! Here's what I thought about each:

• The refurbished Haunted Mansion: I got to experience this twice, and I must say, they did an amazing job on it. I loved all the new effects and the modified storyline.


• The new Golden Dream montage in The American Adventure: I saw this late in the trip, after several days with not enough sleep. I hate to admit this, but I slept through most of the show. I did wake up when Golden Dreams started. I'm not sure if it was because I had just woken up, but it seemed like there were just too many images coming at me too quickly. I'll have to try this again after a good night's sleep.


• "National Treasures," the new American Heritage Gallery exhibit: I was a little disappointed in this - there weren't many more items on exhibit here than what I'd seen in the online descriptions. And the lighting was very dim, making it more difficult to see what was there. I guess I was expecting more.


• The new "O Canada!" movie: I saw this twice, and really enjoyed it. Martin Short's humor made the experience much more fun, very different from its beautiful but more serious predecessor.


• The Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico Pavilion: I experienced this twice, too. Although I liked it, I still missed the original El Rio Del Tiempo theme song.


• The refurbished Spaceship Earth (maybe): It sounded like my chance of seeing this was slim, but they began holding soft openings during my trip, and I actually got to ride it twice! Without spoiling it, I'll just say I loved the improvements made to the first half of the ride, and was bored by the second half. We'll have to wait and see whether they do anything else to spice it up.


• The Harlem Gospel Choir at the Disney/MGM Studio's Theater of the Stars: I found it amusing that they kept calling themselves "world famous," like they were trying to convince the audience of that. But I did enjoy their energetic, heartfelt performance. Nice to see WDW making an effort to bring in some new acts during the holiday season!


• The Laugh Floor Comedy Club: I only saw this once. I love this technology they have developed for the Living Character Initiative, and found the show funny and fresh. But what I hated was that I felt nervous the entire show that I might get selected - I prefer to be entertained more than being part of the entertainment.


• The new Christmas parade (during Mickeys' Very Merry Christmas Party): I saw both runs of this parade durint MVMCP. It was good, but really didn't feel much different from the previous version. The new music seemed nice, but I don't even remember it now. I can't understand why they didn't have the music available for purchase, seems like pretty poor planning.


• Finding Nemo, The Musical (so I can take photos this time): I did get to see this and take pictures without getting yelled at. We were seated pretty far back, tbough, so I couldn't get any closeups of the characters.


• Dream-Along With Mickey (to see the new articulated faces): This technology is so cool! The characters with their moving mouths and blinking eyes look so lifelike! They were using these hi-tech heads in at least one other place as well, but I can't remember exactly where. It seems like it was during MVMCP, perhaps on the Christmas Parade floats, or Mickey's Twas the Night Before Christmas show?

And I almost forgot - here is a link to my trip photo gallery.

WDW Planning (Part 3)

The planning continues. Most important was finding Daniel a park hopper ticket for the week. I didn't want to wait and get a ticket at the parks due to the extra cost. My first thought was to buy the ticket at the local Disney Store, but then I read that the Borders Perks program offered tickets at an even cheaper price. All I had to do is join Borders Rewards and then sign up for Perks a week later. After shipping and handling, I only managed to save about $9, but what the heck, every buck counts!

I also called to get my Disney Dining Experience card, a discount card for Florida residents and annual passholders. $65 gets you a 20% discount for a year in many restaurants throughout the WDW resort. The card used to have to be ordered in advance of the trip, but when I called this time, I was told that the rules had changed, and I could now purchase the card at any WDW Guest Relations desk. So this todo item was moved to the "after I arrive" list. I did try to arrange an Advanced Dining Reservation for Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The earliest seating I could get was 9pm! I hope this isn't a sign that we'll have problems getting table service meals all week.

My biggest disappointment was finding out that a newly-renovated Spaceship Earth would not open by the time I arrive. Apparently they ran into some difficulties with the renovations and have delayed reopening until early next year. I recently heard on Ricky Brigante's Inside The Magic podcast that Spaceship Earth might open for guest testing on December 5th, so I have a slim chance of maybe getting to experience it. I guess that's better than no chance at all, which is what chance I have to take a Segway tour. I called to sign up for one, but both the Epcot tour and the new Fort Wilderness tour were completely booked for my entire trip.

On the plus side, it was announced that the Harlem Gospel Choir would be performing in the Disney/MGM Studios in December. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing them! I have also spent some time learning more about the various MouseFest activities. There are so many meets, but it does look like it could be a lot of fun. I recently joined the Tagrel community and have sat in on a couple of MouseFest-related chats. They seem like a fun, crazy group of people. I just hope I can fit in.

My updated "Must See's" (in no particular order):

• The refurbished Haunted Mansion;


• The new Golden Dream montage in The American Adventure;


• "National Treasures," the new American Heritage Gallery exhibit;


• The new "O Canada!" movie;


• The Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico Pavilion;


• The refurbished Spaceship Earth (maybe);


• The Harlem Gospel Choir at the Disney/MGM Studio's Theater of the Stars;


• The Laugh Floor Comedy Club;


• The new Christmas parade (during Mickeys' Very Merry Christmas Party);


• Finding Nemo, The Musical (so I can take photos this time);


• Dream-Along With Mickey (to see the new articulated faces).

SquidWho?

Ever since Squidoo announced their SquidWho site, I have been thinking about who I could build a fanpage about. It finally hit me who I should start with: Mary Blair, Disney Legend and my favorite Disney artist. I spent a few hours scouring the web for information on Mary and samples of her artwork. I published the results here. It still needs a bit of work, but hopefully it points to some interesting web pages.

And while I was at it, I also added some information to my Walt Disney World shopping lens. It seemed to be popular earlier in the fall, but lately interest in it has waned. Maybe the Christmas season will stir up more interest in WDW shopping.

WDW Planning (Part 2)

I am continuing to look at what I can do during my December trip to WDW. I travel there frequently enough that I have done most of the common touristy things, and I am always looking for a couple of new activities to make my experience there more interesting.

I'll be there during the pre-Christmas season, so I'm looking forward to some of the Christmas activities, like the Candlelight Processional and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I also enjoy the special holiday tag on Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, so I expect I'll be viewing that at least a couple of times. Sadly, I recently heard that the Country Bear Christmas Special will not be back this year. It wasn't there last year, either, and I really do miss this holiday attraction.

On the bright side, I will be there during MouseFest! In addition to attending some of the meets that they have planned, I am also hoping to meet some of the people that create the web sites and podcasts that I spend so much time with. I am a bit on the shy side, so I'm not sure how well this will work out. But how could MouseFest not be fun, hanging out with fellow Disney Geeks in my favorite place on Earth?

On a previous solo trip, I took Keys to the Kingdom tour in the Magic Kingdom, and enjoyed it immensely. I am looking at booking another tour or two this trip, perhaps Behind the Seeds or Around the World At Epcot. My friend Daniel will be with me this time for most of the trip, and he's not much into the tours. I'll have to try to schedule around him.

My updated "Must See's" (in no particular order):

• The refurbished Haunted Mansion;


• The new Golden Dream montage in The American Adventure;


• "National Treasures," the new American Heritage Gallery exhibit;


• The new "O Canada!" movie;


• The Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico Pavilion;


• The refurbished Spaceship Earth (including the new Project Tomorrow post show);


• The Laugh Floor Comedy Club;


• The new Christmas parade (during Mickeys' Very Merry Christmas Party);


• Finding Nemo, The Musical (so I can take photos this time);


• Dream-Along With Mickey (to see the new articulated faces).

Time To Start Planning!

My much anticipated Walt Disney World Annual Pass Exchange Certificate arrived in the mail today! I had ordered it last Monday for my upcoming December trip. Its arrival means I can really start planning the rest of the trip - booking a room, arranging flights, etc.

I'm not used to doing all this so early; usually I book about a month out from when I plan to travel. However, when I tried that for my trip last December, I was unable to get a reasonably priced room (like one much less than a few hundred dollars per night) at a Disney resort for the days that I wanted. This year I decided to book early and prevent that from happening again.

After some difficulties logging into the Passholder web site with my Exchange Certificate (the trick seems to be to enter only the last 4 digits of the last group of numbers), I managed to snag a room at the passholder rate of $59/night. Next step is to book my flight. I have to decide whether I want to drive all the way up to Albany Airport just to use a Southwest credit from last year, or fly on JetBlue from the much more convenient Stewart Field.

I've also begun my list of new "Must See's" (in no particular order):

• The refurbished Haunted Mansion;


• The new Golden Dream montage in The American Adventure;


• "National Treasures," the new American Heritage Gallery exhibit;


• The new "O Canada!" movie;


• The Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico Pavilion;


• The refurbished Spaceship Earth (including the new Project Tomorrow post show);


• The Muppet Mobile Lab [Update: this is only at Epcot for a couple of weeks, after which it will be shipped to Hong Kong Disneyland. Maybe I can catch it there next year!];


• The Laugh Floor Comedy Club;


• The Country Bear Christmas Special (rumor has it that it will be back);


• Finding Nemo, The Musical (so I can take photos this time);


• Dream-Along With Mickey (to see the new articulated faces).

Any other suggestions?

A Birthday at Walt Disney World

The Disney Blog is running a little contest, and to enter, I have chosen to describe a birthday that I spent at Walt Disney World.

Mine was September, 2002. My friend Daniel was unemployed at the time, I was dealing with a very stressful work project, so we both needed a bit of an escape. We didn't plan to travel there explicitly for my birthday (I would normally prefer that the day just pass by quietly), but Daniel decided that he was going to try to make it a memorable one. With all that extra time on his hands, he scoured the Internet looking for fun WDW birthday things to do. And decided to do every one of them. Well, not every one, but he did try to fit a few into the day.

Of course, it all didn't go as planned. He requested that a birthday card be delivered to the room, and it didn't arrive that day, or the next, or the next... Daniel can be pretty persistent, and kept at them. Balloons and a card were finally delivered on the day we were to depart. I got to enjoy them for about 10 minutes before we checked out. I remember trying to give the balloons away at the Ticket and Transportation Center parking lot, but no one wanted any part of them ("no one" meaning the parents, of course).

We started off the day at the Disney/MGM Studios, where Daniel made sure that I got an "It's My Birthday!" pin. We enjoyed the park until after lunchtime, when we suddenly had to make a detour over to the Grand Floridian. Daniel surprised me with a wonderful chocolate cake from the GF's bakery. He had ordered it a few days before, and understood that they would deliver it to our resort room. However, for some reason, they wouldn't deliver it, hence the sudden side trip. We couldn't carry the cake around with us all day, so we had to eat the entire thing right then and there.

Did I mention that we were scheduled to attend the Ice Cream Social at the Garden Grill an hour later? With our bellies full of cake, facing an early dinner at Alfredo's, there was just no way we could have all that ice cream too, so we cancelled that. We had a great dinner at Alfredo's, though, which included a birthday cannoli and being serenaded by all the Italian waiters. A wonderful ending to a memorable day!