1982 was the “Dawn of a New Disney Era” as EPCOT Center was born. I was 14. It was an incredible time. We were in the middle of some sort of crazy golden age of entertainment, at least as far as an adolescent boy was concerned I was unaware of the struggles Disney was going […]
The Pilgrim’s Journey and the Walt Disney Family Museum
The Walt Disney Family Museum closes in just under three hours and I’m still exploring the lobby. It includes a setting from the Disneyland firehouse apartment, portraits of Walt’s two daughters by someone named Norman Rockwell, and hundreds of personal awards and trophies. The staff – dressed in red button-up sweaters that are part Walt […]
4 Theme Park Musical Moments from Pixar in Concert
The concept is a bit strange. Pay a hundred bucks for the right to dress up in nice clothes and go to a theater to watch a full orchestra play background music from cartoons. It’s even crazier when you’re a theme park fan and you spend half the time relating various peripheral melodies to your […]
What if Disneyland Arrived 60 Years Too Late?
Try to imagine, just for a moment, a giant space monster punching Father Time right in the teeth. A punch hard enough to jar loose sixty years. A half-dozen meaningless decades. A skip on the record player of history. Now imagine that this cataclysmic punch occurred in 1901. History shrugs it off. Life finds a […]
Two Amazing Theme Park Performances Hiding in Plain Sight
Most of us when we go to the movies are there to actually watch the movie. I mean, I like cup holders and adolescent groping as much as the next guy. But if I’m going to spend the yearly wage of a Nike factory worker to sit in a darkened room for two hours, I want […]
The Secret Origins of Trader Sam’s: Has Disney Raised the Tiki Bar?
Click HERE to read part one of this series to learn all about the history of the Tiki movement and how it fits in with Disney. What is the sound of paradise? Softly crashing waves? Gentle trade winds carrying the sweet smells of hibiscus and coconut? Far off ukulele playing an exotically relaxing tune? Or […]
Animal Kingdom’s Latest Delicious Treat is… Poop
A while back, I praised Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter for creating the perfect theme park food crossover. Famous fictional food in a theme park is something Disney has never quite mastered, though they do allow you to eat famous fictional mice for every meal of the day. But now that bare-bones approach is about […]
The Man Who Invented Paradise: The Secret History of Disney’s Tiki Room & Trader Sam’s
Don’t get ahead of yourself but part two of this series can be found HERE. Upon hitting the scene in 2011 The Disneyland Hotel’s Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar became an instant hit. How could it not be? After all, it combines several things Disney does extremely well: heavily themed environments, clever special effects and […]
The WDW46 Challenge – Parkeology Rides Again
This week, a lucky quirk in scheduling has paved the way for another Parkeology run at the WDW46 Challenge. On Thursday, Ted will leave snow-swept Chicago en route to sunny Florida, arriving just in time to join Shane on an attempt to ride all 46 rides at Walt Disney World in a single day this Friday, May 29th, […]