As I sit here on the edge of a new decade, it seems like it only yesterday that we were freaking out about Y2K. Ten years have passed and we're still here. The sky hasn't fallen and Florida hasn't fell into the sea. . . not yet anyway.
In the months leading up to Y2K, Disney took all of the computer crashing, power outages and general mayhem predictions to heart. This time 12/30/99, there were crews moving gas generators to every traffic intersection. THe contingency to the contingency plans were being distributed . . . practically in book form. (You think I kidding, I am not). In contrast, I also worked at Universal Studios as an Entertainment Tech, I got to work on December 31 and was handed one sheet of paper. That was it. In a nutshell, Universal's plan was 1) shut down all the rides ten minutes till midnight. 2) If all hell doesn't break loose, restart the rides ten minutes after midnight.
In the first years of the new millenium brought a new CEO to the Walt Disney Company as Micheal Eisner stepped down, it was more like being pushed off the mountian. After years of lack luster job performance and multi-million dollar bonuses, the share holders, spearheaded by Roy E Disney, finally had enough and gave Eisner a vote of no confidence. . . basically, he was fired. Bob Iger steps in and take over the reins.
In 2001, 911 brought huge changes to the world of mouse. There had been a trend of scaling back security guards to save money. Some posts were eliminated. For a while, they tested a non-human security gate for cast entrances we refered to as the cheese shredder. Slide your ID through a code reader and the metal gates turn to let you in. It was a fifty chance that it'd work right. Fortunately there was living breathing person in a security 'cube' who could override the the gate. I'll admit, i actually forgot my ID one day and my Universal ID looked enough like the Disney one that he let me in.
After 911, all of that changed. Guest's bags started being checked. They replaced the security kiosks entering the back gates of the parks with what I call the 'Fort Knox style Security" gates. It consists of two lift gates and a massive pop up, stop you in your tracks if you try anything suspicious, solid steel gate/ barrier thing. I've also seen canine units added to the Disney patrol force. After 911 they actually had bomb dogs checking out each and every car entering the park's back gate. I remember doing my morning runs and driving past our version of 'Check point Charlie'. On various mornings I'd stop to watch for a while. At one point they even had a dog house out there for the bomb dog which I thought was kind of cute. It was at that moment I decided that if all hell was to break out in my country, i needed to be apart of the solution and not sit on the sidelines, so I joined the American Red Cross. And I've been doing that ever since.
The morning of 911, I was a coordinator for Epic (Indiana Jones) and I was supposed to have costume fittings all day. But As I sat in the greenroom with my cast and watched as the second plane hit the towers, costumes weren't important anymore. The cast went out and did one show that day, then they pretty much mutinied after that. Several of the guys said, " I refuse to go out and do a show where we shoot at people and blow things up when i just watched several thousand people die in a plane crash. Early after noon the decision was made to close all parks immediately. Everyone had gone home, except for one pocket of wardrobe people at Streetmosphere or Fantasmic! (I forget which one it was). My costuming managers forgot about them and never told them to go home. Security was pissed and so was the costumers. Gotta love a management team that forgets about thier cast. . . but more on that in another blog. :)
In 2002, Disney bought the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Saban Entertainment and soon there after they appeared at the Disney MGM Studios.
On Febuary 1, 2003 came another stop you in your footsteps disaster. Again I was doing my morning runs and kept waiting for the sonic booms from the Space Shuttle Columbia landing. It never came. It never came. I finally found a TV and heard the classic line 'Houston we have a problem." As i tried to do my work that day, I found every break room on property just so I could get snippets of news.
In 2004, after much on and off negotiations with the Henson Company, the stable of Muppet characters was bought by Disney. THe 3D Muppet movie at the studios has been in the park for years, but now Kermit, Miss Piggy and others have a perminate home with the Mouse.
The ecomonic recession has given Disney something to groan about. The last couple years in this first decade, Disney has had to resort to basically 'giving away the farm' to keep the cash strapped population coming back for more. Buy four nights at a resort get three nights free, free on your birthday and gift cards ranging from $200 to $750 (which just started for 2010), it'll be interesting to see what the reservations people can dream up next.
Hong Kong Disney opens in 2005 and from that point on, a large number of our college program kids (temporary employees Disney hires to work in the parks while they get a meager paycheck and college intership credits). We've had college program people for years, but the International College Program, or ICP's, add interesting cultural and language barriers. In 2009 we had a couple ICP's from asia that chased down and killed a duck out side of their Disney owned apartment complex. They had planned to eat it, but where immediately sent home instead.
I have found that we spend a lot of trying to de-confuse people about what things and places are called, but who can blame them in just this last year alone we've changed names of parks, closed islands, openned timeshares and other such mayhem. MGM Studios is now Disney Hollywood Studios. EPCOT is simply Epcot. Pleasure Island is no more, but the marquee and street signs for it still exist. THe Disney Institute ceased to exist as a 'place' in 2000, but the concept of professional buisness training continues as a branch of Disney University. Although the Institute as a resort has been plowed under, the core buildings and Spa live on as a timeshare. . . I mean Disney Vacation Club's Saratoga Springs.
As far as the cast members are concerned, 2009 nine should be called 'the Year of OSHA'. The monorail accident that took the life of the driver was not the first monorail wreck, but it was the first fatal one. In fact I had a costuming manager who had an 11x14 picture of the monorail car that he wrecked years before. They where shooting a promotional video, a piece of equipment was too close to the track and he hit it. The accident of 2009, i don't know all of the details other than there was a track switching problem and that Disney was fined $44,000 (according to the evening news).
Soon after that an actor who I have had the pleasure of working with was leaving the Pirates Tutorial show at Magic kingdom and either fell, slipped or tripped. He hit a backstage wall and broke his neck. He was in the hospital and doing okay on that Thursday. On Monday he went in for surgery and never survuved. Indiana Jones Show had it's first death in 2009 as well. It's amost hard to believe that a tumbler could break his neck from doing a dive over. I guess that goes to show you, that when your number is up. . . you can't just take a rain check.
On a much lighter note, 2009 was filled with anticipation as we all waited for the Harry Potter Wizardy World to open. Yes I know, that's at Universal, but thier expansion made Disney kick it into gear and in the last quarter of the year they announced the largest expansion of Magic Kingdom's history with the revamping of Fantasyland.
As I sit at home and anticipate my neighbor's fireworks that will soon keep me up all night :), I am reminded of an older gentleman who I used to work with. He decided he would be nice and bring in a bottle of champagne to toast in the new year. We stood in the backstage area of Fanstasmic! to watch Epcot's and the Studio's fireworks. . . basically fireworks in stereo.
We tried to explain to him that we were not able to drink champagne on the clock. He kept saying, "but it's New Year's" and we kept saying, " you can be fired for that." We never could get him to understand.
On December 16, 2009, we lost one of our staunchest advocates and leaders. Roy E. Disney, Walt's Nephew, passed away to cancer. He was the driving force behind getting Micheal Eisner into the CEO's seat and an even bigger force in getting him out of it over a decade later. Once Micheal became more concerned with bonuses and stock deals, he seemed to loose the MAGIC or Pixie Dust, if you will. Just knowing that there was still a 'Disney' some where in the Executive offices was comforting. . . now, we just have to hope for the best and pray for better.
As we bid a not so fond farewell to 2009, let us tip our champagne (unless you are on the clock, then it's sparkling grape juice) glasses to the fireworks blasting over the Magic Kingdom and say PLEASE LET 2010 BE BETTER THAN 2009. !!!!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
MEMORABLE GUESTS I HAVE KNOWN
At Disney, you will see anything from a Pixie dusted princesses and their equally glitter covered fathers to kids on leashes and squeaky shoed toddlers. Some of the most memorable moments have came out of the innocence of a child. I was working on the concierge floor and a little boy and his father came to the desk. The young one's father said, " go ahead and ask them." He spoke so softly that we could barely hear him. He asked for some 'colored cheerios'. . . froot loops. So we got him a cup of 'colored cheerios' and a carton of milk.
Back in the mid nineties, I was at Epic (Indiana Jones) on a slow day. On my side of the stage, a family sat about half way down in the theater. The rest of that side was empty. The two young kids were all the way down front and watched the show in amazement. . . until the fire went off and they ran back to their parents. As scene two progressed they slowly crept back down to the front row. At the end of the scene, a truck blew up, they retreated again, but quickly returned to the front row after the fire was out. During scene three, where Indy fights the mechanic, these kids were like a yo-yo running back and forth to their parents. . . . until the plane blew up. They booked it back to their parents and jumped into their laps. The parents and I were busting out laughing.
During the Christmas holidays, they shoot fake snow off of the building in the studios and on main street in magic kingdom. I worked an extra hours a shift at the Spectacle of Lights and had to keep warning the kids to 'Not Eat the Florida Snow'. . . Fake snow in Florida equals soap foam. Yyuk !!
The lobby of the Wilderness Lodge has two totem poles, except one young child called them 'potem toles' . . . gotta love kids.
At the Wilderness Lodge, we had a guest who wanted directions to the health club then decided it was too far to walk. True story.
I can't not tell you how many times the hockey puck from the arcade air hockey game has disappeared. CAN ANY ONE TELL ME WHY? What's so fascinating about a hockey puck?
A guest was checking in and asked if the bathtub had 'don't fall down bars'. I wonder if the American Disabilities Act people ever thought of calling the handicap accessible hardware a fun name like that :)
During 2009, guests got into the park for free on their Birthday. A guest asked about the offer, I told him that he could go the guest relation window at any of the parks to get the free admission. He said, "That's okay, I'll just buy a ticket." I wanted to say- Seriously? and do you routinely throw away nearly $80- but instead, I convinced him to not waste his money buying a free ticket.
When I was still in college (had to have been 1992ish) Orlando had a Navy Base. Several of the Navy guys went to my church. I took a couple of the guys to Magic Kingdom one day. Thinking back on it, with a breakfast of Oatmeal Creme pies, I'm not surprised at what happened next. We got to the park and made as far as the Tea Cups. Both guys laid down a challenge and decided to sit this ride out. The one guy said, 'I'm in the Navy. I have a cast iron stomach. No TEA CUP carnival ride is going to affect me.' The famous last words. They got the tea cup spinning even before the ride started and they managed to get that thing going so fast, they were just a blur for most of the ride. I have never seen someone literally green, but one of these 'Navy, I have a cast iron stomach' guys crawled off of the ride, made it as far the nearest bench and laid down until we found him some real food.
While I was working an extra hours shift at the studios during a jump rope competition. . .yes, I said jump rope competition. At the end the of the day, I was walking across the park and a small group of the competitors was behind me talking.
One said," Some asked if I was chearleader, I said, do I look like a chearleader?"
I wanted so back to turn around and say, "Why yes, yes you do." But I behaved and kept on walking.
While at Boardwalk, one of my fellow front desk cashiers accidentally dropped a guest's driver's license behind the computer. We tried to get it, but couldn't reach it. The guest eagerly offered to crawl under the counter to get it. Come to find out, the guest was actually a cast member in some corporate office in the lost prevention department. Along with his id, he also found numerous ink pens, note pads and tons of other office supplies. He told us that he had always wanted to do that. . . What ever floats your boat, I guess.
In the lobby at the Wilderness Lodge for Christmas, there's a scene set up with Christmas decoration bears and a little bench so guests can get a nice Christmas photo in front of the indoor fountain. In 2008 there was a little bit of a water leak from the floor above. . . Okay, it was a water fall that splashed everywhere. We dried everything off to keep the decorations from getting damaged while engineering worked on the problem, put up wet floor signs, and laid towels out on the bench and on the floor. You would think everyone would understand: it is wet, stay back. Oh no, not so fast. Time after time, we'd see people getting hit by the accidental waterfall. Some were even getting mad. You just can't make somethings idiot proof, because idiots are too ingenious.
When I play the parks, I seek get revenge on the idiots. Let me explain. When you go to a theater and the cast member said "Please move down filling in each and every available seat," they mean MOVE and keep moving. SO, if I have to pass by those individuals who refuse to move, I make sure and step on each and every foot. I was on the Disney cruise and a fellow guest was giving the breakfast omelet chef grief. As the #$%^ moved on, I told the chef that I'd trip her out on the island if he'd like. He just smiled and I never saw her again. . . darn.
My cousin and I went to Animal Kingdom in 2008. Because of a medical issue, I needed to rent a scooter to get around. I loved the scooter, it was the other guests that were getting on my nerves. My cousin's grandson was trying to see some animals in an exhibit and this couple pretty much pushed him out of the way, so I kept edging the scooter up to right behind them. I never touched them, but eventually they got the idea and moved on. While we were waiting for the parade, we were getting crowded out by another obnoxious guest. He was literally leaning over top of me. Finally, I reached around the back of the scooter and rested my arm on this guy's belly bag just to get him to back up. Even with that, he hovered over top of me.
Stupid Human actions are not limited to Disney. Off the coast of Florida, a cruise ship guest got into an argument with his wife. At one point he said, "I'll just jump overboard then."
She said," Fine, do it."
So he did.
The Disney ship was close behind and was able to find the missing guest and drug him to safety.
The newscasters that night said," he was okay, but was taken to the hospital to be checked out. . . and maybe a little anger management classes."
But then when you come to think about it, we have a lot of guests who could use anger management classes. . . But more on that later
Back in the mid nineties, I was at Epic (Indiana Jones) on a slow day. On my side of the stage, a family sat about half way down in the theater. The rest of that side was empty. The two young kids were all the way down front and watched the show in amazement. . . until the fire went off and they ran back to their parents. As scene two progressed they slowly crept back down to the front row. At the end of the scene, a truck blew up, they retreated again, but quickly returned to the front row after the fire was out. During scene three, where Indy fights the mechanic, these kids were like a yo-yo running back and forth to their parents. . . . until the plane blew up. They booked it back to their parents and jumped into their laps. The parents and I were busting out laughing.
During the Christmas holidays, they shoot fake snow off of the building in the studios and on main street in magic kingdom. I worked an extra hours a shift at the Spectacle of Lights and had to keep warning the kids to 'Not Eat the Florida Snow'. . . Fake snow in Florida equals soap foam. Yyuk !!
The lobby of the Wilderness Lodge has two totem poles, except one young child called them 'potem toles' . . . gotta love kids.
At the Wilderness Lodge, we had a guest who wanted directions to the health club then decided it was too far to walk. True story.
I can't not tell you how many times the hockey puck from the arcade air hockey game has disappeared. CAN ANY ONE TELL ME WHY? What's so fascinating about a hockey puck?
A guest was checking in and asked if the bathtub had 'don't fall down bars'. I wonder if the American Disabilities Act people ever thought of calling the handicap accessible hardware a fun name like that :)
During 2009, guests got into the park for free on their Birthday. A guest asked about the offer, I told him that he could go the guest relation window at any of the parks to get the free admission. He said, "That's okay, I'll just buy a ticket." I wanted to say- Seriously? and do you routinely throw away nearly $80- but instead, I convinced him to not waste his money buying a free ticket.
When I was still in college (had to have been 1992ish) Orlando had a Navy Base. Several of the Navy guys went to my church. I took a couple of the guys to Magic Kingdom one day. Thinking back on it, with a breakfast of Oatmeal Creme pies, I'm not surprised at what happened next. We got to the park and made as far as the Tea Cups. Both guys laid down a challenge and decided to sit this ride out. The one guy said, 'I'm in the Navy. I have a cast iron stomach. No TEA CUP carnival ride is going to affect me.' The famous last words. They got the tea cup spinning even before the ride started and they managed to get that thing going so fast, they were just a blur for most of the ride. I have never seen someone literally green, but one of these 'Navy, I have a cast iron stomach' guys crawled off of the ride, made it as far the nearest bench and laid down until we found him some real food.
While I was working an extra hours shift at the studios during a jump rope competition. . .yes, I said jump rope competition. At the end the of the day, I was walking across the park and a small group of the competitors was behind me talking.
One said," Some asked if I was chearleader, I said, do I look like a chearleader?"
I wanted so back to turn around and say, "Why yes, yes you do." But I behaved and kept on walking.
While at Boardwalk, one of my fellow front desk cashiers accidentally dropped a guest's driver's license behind the computer. We tried to get it, but couldn't reach it. The guest eagerly offered to crawl under the counter to get it. Come to find out, the guest was actually a cast member in some corporate office in the lost prevention department. Along with his id, he also found numerous ink pens, note pads and tons of other office supplies. He told us that he had always wanted to do that. . . What ever floats your boat, I guess.
In the lobby at the Wilderness Lodge for Christmas, there's a scene set up with Christmas decoration bears and a little bench so guests can get a nice Christmas photo in front of the indoor fountain. In 2008 there was a little bit of a water leak from the floor above. . . Okay, it was a water fall that splashed everywhere. We dried everything off to keep the decorations from getting damaged while engineering worked on the problem, put up wet floor signs, and laid towels out on the bench and on the floor. You would think everyone would understand: it is wet, stay back. Oh no, not so fast. Time after time, we'd see people getting hit by the accidental waterfall. Some were even getting mad. You just can't make somethings idiot proof, because idiots are too ingenious.
When I play the parks, I seek get revenge on the idiots. Let me explain. When you go to a theater and the cast member said "Please move down filling in each and every available seat," they mean MOVE and keep moving. SO, if I have to pass by those individuals who refuse to move, I make sure and step on each and every foot. I was on the Disney cruise and a fellow guest was giving the breakfast omelet chef grief. As the #$%^ moved on, I told the chef that I'd trip her out on the island if he'd like. He just smiled and I never saw her again. . . darn.
My cousin and I went to Animal Kingdom in 2008. Because of a medical issue, I needed to rent a scooter to get around. I loved the scooter, it was the other guests that were getting on my nerves. My cousin's grandson was trying to see some animals in an exhibit and this couple pretty much pushed him out of the way, so I kept edging the scooter up to right behind them. I never touched them, but eventually they got the idea and moved on. While we were waiting for the parade, we were getting crowded out by another obnoxious guest. He was literally leaning over top of me. Finally, I reached around the back of the scooter and rested my arm on this guy's belly bag just to get him to back up. Even with that, he hovered over top of me.
Stupid Human actions are not limited to Disney. Off the coast of Florida, a cruise ship guest got into an argument with his wife. At one point he said, "I'll just jump overboard then."
She said," Fine, do it."
So he did.
The Disney ship was close behind and was able to find the missing guest and drug him to safety.
The newscasters that night said," he was okay, but was taken to the hospital to be checked out. . . and maybe a little anger management classes."
But then when you come to think about it, we have a lot of guests who could use anger management classes. . . But more on that later
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
MEANDERING THOUGHTS FROM A WANDERING MIND, PART DOS
Funny how, as i gather snippets of nothingness for this blog, i noticed that i did my first 'Meanderings' a year ago (almost to the day). Since i started writing, i found that i was coming up with tidbits of behind the scenes happenings that didn't really go with anything else. So. . . .
Back in the day, each of the cash handling locations had a version of a mini bank, complete with bullet proof glass and bank style vaults. Then in the early 2000's the cash control folks were slowly replaced with machines. . . cranky, tempermental, money eating machines. ANYWAY, the older resorts still have survelince cameras and other little known, but still working safety features. My manager, bless his soul, had no idea what the little white button in the money room was for, so he pushed it. . . several times. Nothing happened, so he left. In walks an unsuspecting cast member to count her bank and she is over run by security. Come to find out the little white button was and irreversable security alert. Lesson learned, if you don't know what it is, don't push it.
The quickest way to get someone's attention is to make them think there is some juicy gossip to be had. I was working on a story one day on my lunch break and didn't know how to spell 'conniving'. I called the main building thinking, that if anyone had a dictionary, they would. They didn't. So I hung up the phone. Two seconds later, the phone rings and someone answered my question. Her next comment was "Who ya writing about ???" I hated to dissappoint her, but it wasn't a co-worker.
Disney is all about story telling. One of our entertainment tech leads could make a story out of any thing. For JM (won't use real names to protect the innocent. . .) every thing included a story. There was no such thing as " Hey I have a quick question for you." In fact it was said, if you Asked JM about one plus one equals two. . . he'd start talking about the theroy of TWO.
I have yet to go check it out, but i have been told that in the Muppets 3D movie at the studios, the imagineers were playing around. If you look at the ceiling you will see 'a net full of jello' (work with me here, and say it all together) . . . Annette Funacello. If your still lost, your home work assignment is to go home and watch all of the original Mickey Mouse Club episodes.
During the run of the Aladdin parade, for one of the anniversaries the stage managers got us a cake shaped like Genie. Bright BLUE Genie cake and as we all know yellow and blue make green. No one wanted to admit it out loud, but the next day I kept hearing whisperings in the corners of the greenroom "What color was your poop?" I can answer that, it was green, neon green. Amusing ? . . . Now, but it was a bit disturbing at the time.
I had a guest come the the desk and wanted to let us know that there was no longer a service animal in thier room. Apparently her father stormed out of the resort and took his dog with him. "It was nothing we had done," she said. "He has anger management issues." What I found amusing was the 'service animal' was supposed to help with his anger issues. I'm thinking the dog didn't work very well.
Speaking of service animals, one of the techs told me he was cutting through the backstage area and there was a group of special needs kids with a variety of service animals. . . including a horse. We see a bit of everything working for the mouse, but a service horse kind of caught him off guard.
The actress Betty White came to the studios in the nineties on a book signing stop with a friend of hers. He was blind and the book 'Dina's Story' was about his first seeing eye dog. After their meet and greet with the guests, she offered to spend a little time back stage taking with us. Belle and Beast, who were doing a meet and greet with some guests, were coming back to the green room at this time as well. The gentleman's new seeing eye dog saw Beast. It's hair bristled up. We thought "Oh no." Beast slowly approached and sat on the steps, so he wouldn't freak out the dog. This dog totally forgot about it's master. It ran to Beast and curled up in his lap and just melted. We were all speachless, including Betty who said she had never seen the dog react like that. It was truly a priceless moment.
On a lighter note, we had guests check into a room with a baby monkey. We didn't know about it, but the house keepers sure found out about it. Disney resorts have a strict no animals policy (except of course service animals). They were asked to leave or take the monkey to the kennel. They left. On our dry erase board in the back office, someone drew a picture of a monkey holding a sign 'No Monkeys Allowed'. Over the course of the next several days it was changed to 'No Elephants Allowed' and a few other animals. Yes we amuse ourselves in the most childish ways at times.
Every year we are given Cast Christmas gifts. It's a gift. You take it and move on. In years past they have been decent little memorbilia items. Picture frames. Laser cut paper weights. Pin sets. Well in 2008. . .we got a little hanging thing with a plastic 'Celebrate' sign and a small tin bell. They said it was a wind chime. . .ooookay. Needless to say we all looked at it and said "What the-". Most of them in my area ended up being hung from the ceiling tiles in the back office. Nothing Says Your Important than plastic and tin.
Back in the day, each of the cash handling locations had a version of a mini bank, complete with bullet proof glass and bank style vaults. Then in the early 2000's the cash control folks were slowly replaced with machines. . . cranky, tempermental, money eating machines. ANYWAY, the older resorts still have survelince cameras and other little known, but still working safety features. My manager, bless his soul, had no idea what the little white button in the money room was for, so he pushed it. . . several times. Nothing happened, so he left. In walks an unsuspecting cast member to count her bank and she is over run by security. Come to find out the little white button was and irreversable security alert. Lesson learned, if you don't know what it is, don't push it.
The quickest way to get someone's attention is to make them think there is some juicy gossip to be had. I was working on a story one day on my lunch break and didn't know how to spell 'conniving'. I called the main building thinking, that if anyone had a dictionary, they would. They didn't. So I hung up the phone. Two seconds later, the phone rings and someone answered my question. Her next comment was "Who ya writing about ???" I hated to dissappoint her, but it wasn't a co-worker.
Disney is all about story telling. One of our entertainment tech leads could make a story out of any thing. For JM (won't use real names to protect the innocent. . .) every thing included a story. There was no such thing as " Hey I have a quick question for you." In fact it was said, if you Asked JM about one plus one equals two. . . he'd start talking about the theroy of TWO.
I have yet to go check it out, but i have been told that in the Muppets 3D movie at the studios, the imagineers were playing around. If you look at the ceiling you will see 'a net full of jello' (work with me here, and say it all together) . . . Annette Funacello. If your still lost, your home work assignment is to go home and watch all of the original Mickey Mouse Club episodes.
During the run of the Aladdin parade, for one of the anniversaries the stage managers got us a cake shaped like Genie. Bright BLUE Genie cake and as we all know yellow and blue make green. No one wanted to admit it out loud, but the next day I kept hearing whisperings in the corners of the greenroom "What color was your poop?" I can answer that, it was green, neon green. Amusing ? . . . Now, but it was a bit disturbing at the time.
I had a guest come the the desk and wanted to let us know that there was no longer a service animal in thier room. Apparently her father stormed out of the resort and took his dog with him. "It was nothing we had done," she said. "He has anger management issues." What I found amusing was the 'service animal' was supposed to help with his anger issues. I'm thinking the dog didn't work very well.
Speaking of service animals, one of the techs told me he was cutting through the backstage area and there was a group of special needs kids with a variety of service animals. . . including a horse. We see a bit of everything working for the mouse, but a service horse kind of caught him off guard.
The actress Betty White came to the studios in the nineties on a book signing stop with a friend of hers. He was blind and the book 'Dina's Story' was about his first seeing eye dog. After their meet and greet with the guests, she offered to spend a little time back stage taking with us. Belle and Beast, who were doing a meet and greet with some guests, were coming back to the green room at this time as well. The gentleman's new seeing eye dog saw Beast. It's hair bristled up. We thought "Oh no." Beast slowly approached and sat on the steps, so he wouldn't freak out the dog. This dog totally forgot about it's master. It ran to Beast and curled up in his lap and just melted. We were all speachless, including Betty who said she had never seen the dog react like that. It was truly a priceless moment.
On a lighter note, we had guests check into a room with a baby monkey. We didn't know about it, but the house keepers sure found out about it. Disney resorts have a strict no animals policy (except of course service animals). They were asked to leave or take the monkey to the kennel. They left. On our dry erase board in the back office, someone drew a picture of a monkey holding a sign 'No Monkeys Allowed'. Over the course of the next several days it was changed to 'No Elephants Allowed' and a few other animals. Yes we amuse ourselves in the most childish ways at times.
Every year we are given Cast Christmas gifts. It's a gift. You take it and move on. In years past they have been decent little memorbilia items. Picture frames. Laser cut paper weights. Pin sets. Well in 2008. . .we got a little hanging thing with a plastic 'Celebrate' sign and a small tin bell. They said it was a wind chime. . .ooookay. Needless to say we all looked at it and said "What the-". Most of them in my area ended up being hung from the ceiling tiles in the back office. Nothing Says Your Important than plastic and tin.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
DISNEY AND WASHINGTON D.C.
It's always been interesting to me how well connected the Disney Corporation is with the government. Way back in the 1940's, when Walt's animation career was cranking right along, the government asked him to make war propaganda films to help combat WWII. As the red-blooded American that he was, he made a series of anti-german and anti-japanese film like Der Fueher's Face - 1942 / Education for Death - 1943 / Comando Duck - 1944. . . you know, your typical light and fluffy Walt Disney fare. (I'm thinking none of those ever showed in Tokyo Disneyland) He also approached by the military to make instructional films for the troops. Though the Navy was the first, soon the Army, Air Force, Department of Agriculture and Department of Treasury all wanted to tap into Walt's creativity. For the Treasury, in 1942 and 1943, Walt made films that encouraged Americans to pay thier taxes to help the war effort and published a book to teach children about purchasing War Savings stamps.
Jump ahead a couple decades and in the nineteen sixties, when Walt was amassing huge chunks of FLorida swamp land and citrus groves for what would later become Walt Disney World, Orange county Florida pretty much gave the company free reign. Reedy Creek improvement district was created as a special government agency by the state legislature in order to lure Walt to the state. It regulates building codes and can even levy taxes. Guess who the largest tax payer is. . . .. A little side trivia note. The Swan and Dolphin hotels are the second largest tax payers. Don't get me wrong, now a days, the Reedy Creek fire marshalls patrol every inch of the property and I've heard of areas that get busted for breaking the rules. They also provide emergency services for the entire property.
After a relatively short run as The Disney Golf Resort which later turned into the Disney Inn in 1986, the facility was renamed again. Shades of Green (1994) was leased by the government as a military only resort. In 1996, Uncle Sam bought it outright and it became a retreat for US military personel only. Since then, on many occasions i've seen see military helicopters fly over. These weren't the run of the mill police or television crew size helicopters, I'm talking the Huge, Shake the Building, loud helicopters. The only thing that could top seeing them was in 2008, when we heard about a fighter aircraft fly over for some big wig at Shades of Green. The word was let out to the guests. We spent the whole day looking at the sky. Of course it happened after i had left for the day. (dang Murphy's luck)
Every so often Disney manages to do something that makes me say 'That is Sooo Cool." In 2007 and 2009 in July Magic Kingdom's Mainstreet was the site of a US Citizenship Naturalization Swearing in Ceremony for 1000 new Americans immigrants. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses . . . and we'll send them to Disney World !!!!"
Talk about going 'to infinity and beyond', in 2008 NASA sent Buzz Lightyeaar to the international spacestation for a several months. The actual doll / action figure flew into space as part of a kids educational program. There were pictures of him standing infront of the crawler as the shuttle was being rolled out to the launch pad. What I find hysterical is that when he was brought back, they had a ticker tape parade down mainstreet complete with Buzz Aldrin. . . the real astronaut.
One more thing about NASA, I was told that when Disney was testing Mission Space, that they had astronauts from the cape come test it. Their assessment was that it was the closest thing to a real shuttle launch a civilian to experience.
Since 2005 Disney World and Disneyland has been home to the Presidential pardoned Thanksgiving Turkeys. The US President pardons them, they are wisked away to the airport and flown, first class mind you, to Florida or Califronia where they are the grand marshals in the holiday parade, then they live out thier days at the park. Although for marshmallow and yam (2005) thiers days ended of natural causes eighteen months later. A little side note to this story: Disney sent them a CD with the song Happiest Place on Earth to them so the turkeys would get acclaimated to it.
When I worked at Epic (indiana jones stunt show)in the ninety's, we were told they were holding the show for a VIP. Fine, we thought, let's get them in here, get the show on the road so we could get to lunch. Well, we waited, and waited and waited. FINALLY, we saw Men in Black walking onto the stage as they escorted an older gentleman to his seat. It was Jimmy Carter and he was surrounded by Secret Service men. Can I just say, Secret Service men are scary. The final scene of the show, Indy fires a pistol. It will only shoot blanks, but the secret service men still watched Indy like a hawk untill the tech locked it up. Jimmy Carter was cool. He came out on atage and shook hands with the cast and crew while his body guards glared at us all.
For the Hall of Presidents efficanados, Yes We Can get the THE real Barack Obama to record the short speach for his animatron's voice. The attraction's creators packed up a small audio studio and went to Washington DC and set up shop in a small at the White House (I think) where Barack recorded his few lines.
Nothing but the best for Our World.
Jump ahead a couple decades and in the nineteen sixties, when Walt was amassing huge chunks of FLorida swamp land and citrus groves for what would later become Walt Disney World, Orange county Florida pretty much gave the company free reign. Reedy Creek improvement district was created as a special government agency by the state legislature in order to lure Walt to the state. It regulates building codes and can even levy taxes. Guess who the largest tax payer is. . . .. A little side trivia note. The Swan and Dolphin hotels are the second largest tax payers. Don't get me wrong, now a days, the Reedy Creek fire marshalls patrol every inch of the property and I've heard of areas that get busted for breaking the rules. They also provide emergency services for the entire property.
After a relatively short run as The Disney Golf Resort which later turned into the Disney Inn in 1986, the facility was renamed again. Shades of Green (1994) was leased by the government as a military only resort. In 1996, Uncle Sam bought it outright and it became a retreat for US military personel only. Since then, on many occasions i've seen see military helicopters fly over. These weren't the run of the mill police or television crew size helicopters, I'm talking the Huge, Shake the Building, loud helicopters. The only thing that could top seeing them was in 2008, when we heard about a fighter aircraft fly over for some big wig at Shades of Green. The word was let out to the guests. We spent the whole day looking at the sky. Of course it happened after i had left for the day. (dang Murphy's luck)
Every so often Disney manages to do something that makes me say 'That is Sooo Cool." In 2007 and 2009 in July Magic Kingdom's Mainstreet was the site of a US Citizenship Naturalization Swearing in Ceremony for 1000 new Americans immigrants. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses . . . and we'll send them to Disney World !!!!"
Talk about going 'to infinity and beyond', in 2008 NASA sent Buzz Lightyeaar to the international spacestation for a several months. The actual doll / action figure flew into space as part of a kids educational program. There were pictures of him standing infront of the crawler as the shuttle was being rolled out to the launch pad. What I find hysterical is that when he was brought back, they had a ticker tape parade down mainstreet complete with Buzz Aldrin. . . the real astronaut.
One more thing about NASA, I was told that when Disney was testing Mission Space, that they had astronauts from the cape come test it. Their assessment was that it was the closest thing to a real shuttle launch a civilian to experience.
Since 2005 Disney World and Disneyland has been home to the Presidential pardoned Thanksgiving Turkeys. The US President pardons them, they are wisked away to the airport and flown, first class mind you, to Florida or Califronia where they are the grand marshals in the holiday parade, then they live out thier days at the park. Although for marshmallow and yam (2005) thiers days ended of natural causes eighteen months later. A little side note to this story: Disney sent them a CD with the song Happiest Place on Earth to them so the turkeys would get acclaimated to it.
When I worked at Epic (indiana jones stunt show)in the ninety's, we were told they were holding the show for a VIP. Fine, we thought, let's get them in here, get the show on the road so we could get to lunch. Well, we waited, and waited and waited. FINALLY, we saw Men in Black walking onto the stage as they escorted an older gentleman to his seat. It was Jimmy Carter and he was surrounded by Secret Service men. Can I just say, Secret Service men are scary. The final scene of the show, Indy fires a pistol. It will only shoot blanks, but the secret service men still watched Indy like a hawk untill the tech locked it up. Jimmy Carter was cool. He came out on atage and shook hands with the cast and crew while his body guards glared at us all.
For the Hall of Presidents efficanados, Yes We Can get the THE real Barack Obama to record the short speach for his animatron's voice. The attraction's creators packed up a small audio studio and went to Washington DC and set up shop in a small at the White House (I think) where Barack recorded his few lines.
Nothing but the best for Our World.
Friday, October 30, 2009
GHOSTS, CHILLS AND THE 'WHAT WAS THAT?'
In the spirit of Halloween, I wanted take some time and delve into the Ghost Stories:Fact or Fiction that surround Walt Disney World. It may be the 'happiest place on Earth', but in a place that's filled with so much emotion, imagination and inspiration, who's to say that some of that 'energy' hasn't stuck around long after the people have left.
THe most popular Ghost on property is George at the(WDW)Pirates of the Carribbean in the 'burning city' scene. Between what I've found on the Disney blogs (Disboards) and some first and second hand accounts I have compiled as much information as I could. George, the person, was a welder working at a high altitude when he either fell or had something fell on him when the ride was being built. His spirit is still very active in the ride to this day. In fact people have claimed to be riding through his scene taunting or challenging him. . . and he had made things move. According to one Disboard blog, they were yelling "George is not Real" over and over. Half way through the third time, thier boat jerked. (DISCLAIMER- Please don't try it unless it's just your people in the boat. You don't want to wreck the ride for other guests.) Stories of seeing lanterns moving that aren't supposed to move(came from a co-worker first hand), the door in the jail scene behind the dog with the keys opens after they know for sure it's been closed(from the Disboards), and seeing shadows / silhouettes in the tower are all over the web. Rumor has it that if the cast members don't tell George Good Night over the PA system before they leave for the night, the ride will break down the next day. (some postings say it's Good Night and Good Morning). In one Disboard posting a person, identifying himself as being a POTC cast member, said that they have also had thier costumes tugged on and somethings George appears in the surveilance cameras. Up until his Widow's death it is said that every year she would ride through the attraction and leave flowers for her husband. Another Disboard writer claims that George stays in the tower (I'm not quite sure where that is) and that they call the door behind the dog 'George's door'. If this door is open, the ride will shut down.
One of the challenges of researching for this blog is not only weeding out the urban
legend from the true stories, but trying to figure out which incidents were at Disney World vs Disneyland. In one Disboard blog, it is believed that seven spirits live at Disneyland(1 lives in the haunted mansion). . . .Take that tidbit for what it's worth. In Disneyland there is a story of a mother wanting to dump her dead son's ashes at the POTC ride. Of course Disney said No; however,rumor has it that she rode the ride and did it anyway. Now, there are reports of seeing a young boy riding the boats in the surveilence cameras after the parks are closed. This story/urban legend has been said to have happened at both POTC and the Haunted Mansion at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Knowing people, I wouldn't be surprised if has happened numerous times over the years.
The Haunted Mansions on both coasts have the next most written about haunts. . . true haunts, not the imagineering created ones. On a Disboard blog, (Disneyland)there have been reports of seeing a boy crying at the exit. Guests have said they asked him if he needed help, but that he would never respond to them. THe Guests would go get a cast member, but when they returned he'd be gone. One of my co-workers worked at the Magic Kingdom Mansion on a slow night. He was on the exit zone and didn't want to keep walking the moving side walk for nothing, so he stepped off the 'treadmill' and was standing in the curtians where he could still see the cars coming. After a while he heard a child laughing, thinking that guests were coming, he stepped back on the moving platform to greet them. . . no child ever came around the corner. I also read an identical story to this one on a disboard too, so apparently the laughing child is a regular occurance. In this version, the attendant called to his fellow cast member on the loading side of the ride, they said no one had entered for over 1/2 hour, so the ride was completely empty. Another report on the Disboards talk about guests seeing a young child running around the ballroom scene. Of course when Cast went to go check it out, no one was there.
Some of the other Mansion sightings are of a man entering the ride near closing, but the cast member at the exit area never see him. I also found reports of a guest who died of a heart attack in 1970 (so this had to be Disneyland). Is this the mysterious man ? Not sure. There's also several stories of a man with a cane who is seen late at night, especially after closing. Story has it that a small plane crash landed in a lake nearby before the park was built and they feel it's him. . . I'm not so sure on this one either. Urban legend ? Dearly departed ? Let me know what you think.
One of the other popular stories revolves around Grad Night. (a.k.a. Give teenagers free reign of a park at night and pray they don't kill each other night.)Apparently, a guy climbed out of the Haunted Mansion car in the seance room and fell to his death. Could he be one of these ghosts? or maybe he's the 'man in the tux' that's sometimes seen in the mirrors used by cast members so they can see people coming around the corner ? One story tells of a female seeing the man then feeling a hand on her shoulder. No one was there. She ran out of the mansion and quit her job (one account has said she vowed to never work at the mansion again. Another version of the story says that this was at the loading zone and she kept seeing shadows before being touched. Either way, she ran out of the building, never to return. There also seems to be something/someone hanging around the 'endless hallway' room behind the candelabra. There was a Disboard snippet that said there were reports of a shadowy figure running at the cast members on who were walking the track after hours, then it simply vanishes. Again, take it for what it's worth.
Splash Mountian, around drop three, a guest was having a heart attack on the ride and tried to get out of the log ride and was crushed to death, now when people do a ride through there are reports of seeing shadows moving around the Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah scene. At Tom Sawyer's Island it is said to be haunted by two people that drowned while trying to swim across the moat during, guess when? . . . Grad Night !! Another tale of stupid people on parade, I mean Grad Night, is on the Wed Way People mover. Mr High School Grad decided to change cars and slipped. Yep, you guessed it, he got smushed by the car. Story tells of people being touched and hair being pulled (at Disneyland, i believe)
On the Matterhorn, it's told that someone named Dolly was thrown from the car when she undid her seat belt and wanted to stand up. THe car hit a decline, she fell out and was ran over by the car. Joining Dolly there is said to be the spirit of a guy who unbuckled his safety gear, stood up during the ride and was knocked out of the car by a low beam on what night? (wait for it . . .) Grad Night !!! On the Disboards, at Space Mountian, they talk about a ghost they called Mr. One Way, who supposedly died in the 70's. Descibed as a large man with reddish hair, he's seen getting into a car with a lone rider then vanishing. The Christmas shop (Which happens to be the only merchandise shop i saw anything written about) reports have been documented that a face on a photo changes from a straight face to a frown.
At the Castle there have been reports of a little girl who died on the way to Disney, now her spirit roams the parks. This one sounds more like some graveyard stories of spirits hitch hiking only to vanish when the car stops at thier destination. But if you can document it actually happening, let me know. In another report there are sightings of a tan figure walking down main street. Again, if you've heard actual incidents let me know. In one Disboard posting said that a little girls haunts the Beauty and the Beast stage at the Studios. I've worked there and never saw or felt anything.
Staying at the Studios for a moment, there are reports of a man walking around the Tower of Terror after hours going the wrong way. When they call to him, he doesn't answer and fades away. One of my co-workers said a friend of his was loading the ride and got a call from the control center to tell the man who was standing up to sit down. She told him there was no one standing in the car. The person watching the survelience camera said there was some one standing. She looked again and saw no one standing, so she sent the ride. This next one i've added a link to youtube for it. Watch it and see what you think. . . real or photoshop ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTdnt9tA47o
I have my own first hand sighting story while i was working at Indiana Jones Stunt show. Earlier in the day i made a mad dash run to the commissary to get my lunch. I had hoped to beat a huge thunderstorm that was in the horizon. I didn't made it. In fact as I crossed stage, now turned into a wading pool, lighting struck right behind the berm (a couple hundred yards away). I felt something in the water. Whether it was electricity from the lighting or precussion from the thunder, I'm not sure. Later that day, I was standing in wardrobe. I was at the service window, next to me was a stack of t-shirts, next to that was the coordinator's desk. I turned to grab a shirt for one of my cast and saw someone sitting at the desk. I handed out the shirt, looked back and the figure was gone. This was broad day light, middle of the afternoon. I told a friend of mine and she said 'Oh you met Eddie.' That trailer has since been replaced, so i don't know if Eddie went a way with the building or if the techs(who now use that space) just ignore her. Did nearly getting killed by lighting have anything to do with my sighting? I don't know.
Moving on to Epcot, there have been several sightings of a little girl with long blonde hair riding in one of the cars at Spaceship Earth and a little boy who'll run in front of her then vanish. And one Disboard reporter said there had been a figure seen in the French Pavillion movie theater. Most peoplethink it's a straggling guest and would ask him to leave, when they turn around, he's vanished.
In the area formerly know as Pleasure Island Adventurer's Club, a disboard poster (I assume a cast member), said he'd catch glimpse of a figure dressed in white in the library looking over the balcony above the organ. A Disboard posting talked about a fire station's 2nd floor (empty space)being haunted. I could never figure out if it was Disneyland or WDW, but the report states that they can hear footsteps and knocking. . . settling building ? Maybe.
I want to end with a couple of theories to think about. Legend claims that ghosts, paranormal activity, poltergiests are drawn to and are more active around water. The entire space of Walt Disney World was build on a drained swamp. HMmmm. Makes you think. However, if you buy into the television shows that hunt for ghosts and such, they'll tell you that high Electromagnetic Frequencies can create hallucinations, visions, nausea, ect. What do you think makes alot of the rides and special effects happen ? Electricity and Magnetic devices. Another Disboard poster talked about Infrasound. the same technology is being used to try to detect earthquakes. It's out of human range of hearing, but some people can actually feel it. Do the dolls in It's A Small World emit Infrasound from thier mechanics, which creeps some people out. . . . or is it the song that gets stuck in our head that haunts us to our inner core. :)
Happy Halloween
THe most popular Ghost on property is George at the(WDW)Pirates of the Carribbean in the 'burning city' scene. Between what I've found on the Disney blogs (Disboards) and some first and second hand accounts I have compiled as much information as I could. George, the person, was a welder working at a high altitude when he either fell or had something fell on him when the ride was being built. His spirit is still very active in the ride to this day. In fact people have claimed to be riding through his scene taunting or challenging him. . . and he had made things move. According to one Disboard blog, they were yelling "George is not Real" over and over. Half way through the third time, thier boat jerked. (DISCLAIMER- Please don't try it unless it's just your people in the boat. You don't want to wreck the ride for other guests.) Stories of seeing lanterns moving that aren't supposed to move(came from a co-worker first hand), the door in the jail scene behind the dog with the keys opens after they know for sure it's been closed(from the Disboards), and seeing shadows / silhouettes in the tower are all over the web. Rumor has it that if the cast members don't tell George Good Night over the PA system before they leave for the night, the ride will break down the next day. (some postings say it's Good Night and Good Morning). In one Disboard posting a person, identifying himself as being a POTC cast member, said that they have also had thier costumes tugged on and somethings George appears in the surveilance cameras. Up until his Widow's death it is said that every year she would ride through the attraction and leave flowers for her husband. Another Disboard writer claims that George stays in the tower (I'm not quite sure where that is) and that they call the door behind the dog 'George's door'. If this door is open, the ride will shut down.
One of the challenges of researching for this blog is not only weeding out the urban
legend from the true stories, but trying to figure out which incidents were at Disney World vs Disneyland. In one Disboard blog, it is believed that seven spirits live at Disneyland(1 lives in the haunted mansion). . . .Take that tidbit for what it's worth. In Disneyland there is a story of a mother wanting to dump her dead son's ashes at the POTC ride. Of course Disney said No; however,rumor has it that she rode the ride and did it anyway. Now, there are reports of seeing a young boy riding the boats in the surveilence cameras after the parks are closed. This story/urban legend has been said to have happened at both POTC and the Haunted Mansion at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Knowing people, I wouldn't be surprised if has happened numerous times over the years.
The Haunted Mansions on both coasts have the next most written about haunts. . . true haunts, not the imagineering created ones. On a Disboard blog, (Disneyland)there have been reports of seeing a boy crying at the exit. Guests have said they asked him if he needed help, but that he would never respond to them. THe Guests would go get a cast member, but when they returned he'd be gone. One of my co-workers worked at the Magic Kingdom Mansion on a slow night. He was on the exit zone and didn't want to keep walking the moving side walk for nothing, so he stepped off the 'treadmill' and was standing in the curtians where he could still see the cars coming. After a while he heard a child laughing, thinking that guests were coming, he stepped back on the moving platform to greet them. . . no child ever came around the corner. I also read an identical story to this one on a disboard too, so apparently the laughing child is a regular occurance. In this version, the attendant called to his fellow cast member on the loading side of the ride, they said no one had entered for over 1/2 hour, so the ride was completely empty. Another report on the Disboards talk about guests seeing a young child running around the ballroom scene. Of course when Cast went to go check it out, no one was there.
Some of the other Mansion sightings are of a man entering the ride near closing, but the cast member at the exit area never see him. I also found reports of a guest who died of a heart attack in 1970 (so this had to be Disneyland). Is this the mysterious man ? Not sure. There's also several stories of a man with a cane who is seen late at night, especially after closing. Story has it that a small plane crash landed in a lake nearby before the park was built and they feel it's him. . . I'm not so sure on this one either. Urban legend ? Dearly departed ? Let me know what you think.
One of the other popular stories revolves around Grad Night. (a.k.a. Give teenagers free reign of a park at night and pray they don't kill each other night.)Apparently, a guy climbed out of the Haunted Mansion car in the seance room and fell to his death. Could he be one of these ghosts? or maybe he's the 'man in the tux' that's sometimes seen in the mirrors used by cast members so they can see people coming around the corner ? One story tells of a female seeing the man then feeling a hand on her shoulder. No one was there. She ran out of the mansion and quit her job (one account has said she vowed to never work at the mansion again. Another version of the story says that this was at the loading zone and she kept seeing shadows before being touched. Either way, she ran out of the building, never to return. There also seems to be something/someone hanging around the 'endless hallway' room behind the candelabra. There was a Disboard snippet that said there were reports of a shadowy figure running at the cast members on who were walking the track after hours, then it simply vanishes. Again, take it for what it's worth.
Splash Mountian, around drop three, a guest was having a heart attack on the ride and tried to get out of the log ride and was crushed to death, now when people do a ride through there are reports of seeing shadows moving around the Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah scene. At Tom Sawyer's Island it is said to be haunted by two people that drowned while trying to swim across the moat during, guess when? . . . Grad Night !! Another tale of stupid people on parade, I mean Grad Night, is on the Wed Way People mover. Mr High School Grad decided to change cars and slipped. Yep, you guessed it, he got smushed by the car. Story tells of people being touched and hair being pulled (at Disneyland, i believe)
On the Matterhorn, it's told that someone named Dolly was thrown from the car when she undid her seat belt and wanted to stand up. THe car hit a decline, she fell out and was ran over by the car. Joining Dolly there is said to be the spirit of a guy who unbuckled his safety gear, stood up during the ride and was knocked out of the car by a low beam on what night? (wait for it . . .) Grad Night !!! On the Disboards, at Space Mountian, they talk about a ghost they called Mr. One Way, who supposedly died in the 70's. Descibed as a large man with reddish hair, he's seen getting into a car with a lone rider then vanishing. The Christmas shop (Which happens to be the only merchandise shop i saw anything written about) reports have been documented that a face on a photo changes from a straight face to a frown.
At the Castle there have been reports of a little girl who died on the way to Disney, now her spirit roams the parks. This one sounds more like some graveyard stories of spirits hitch hiking only to vanish when the car stops at thier destination. But if you can document it actually happening, let me know. In another report there are sightings of a tan figure walking down main street. Again, if you've heard actual incidents let me know. In one Disboard posting said that a little girls haunts the Beauty and the Beast stage at the Studios. I've worked there and never saw or felt anything.
Staying at the Studios for a moment, there are reports of a man walking around the Tower of Terror after hours going the wrong way. When they call to him, he doesn't answer and fades away. One of my co-workers said a friend of his was loading the ride and got a call from the control center to tell the man who was standing up to sit down. She told him there was no one standing in the car. The person watching the survelience camera said there was some one standing. She looked again and saw no one standing, so she sent the ride. This next one i've added a link to youtube for it. Watch it and see what you think. . . real or photoshop ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTdnt9tA47o
I have my own first hand sighting story while i was working at Indiana Jones Stunt show. Earlier in the day i made a mad dash run to the commissary to get my lunch. I had hoped to beat a huge thunderstorm that was in the horizon. I didn't made it. In fact as I crossed stage, now turned into a wading pool, lighting struck right behind the berm (a couple hundred yards away). I felt something in the water. Whether it was electricity from the lighting or precussion from the thunder, I'm not sure. Later that day, I was standing in wardrobe. I was at the service window, next to me was a stack of t-shirts, next to that was the coordinator's desk. I turned to grab a shirt for one of my cast and saw someone sitting at the desk. I handed out the shirt, looked back and the figure was gone. This was broad day light, middle of the afternoon. I told a friend of mine and she said 'Oh you met Eddie.' That trailer has since been replaced, so i don't know if Eddie went a way with the building or if the techs(who now use that space) just ignore her. Did nearly getting killed by lighting have anything to do with my sighting? I don't know.
Moving on to Epcot, there have been several sightings of a little girl with long blonde hair riding in one of the cars at Spaceship Earth and a little boy who'll run in front of her then vanish. And one Disboard reporter said there had been a figure seen in the French Pavillion movie theater. Most peoplethink it's a straggling guest and would ask him to leave, when they turn around, he's vanished.
In the area formerly know as Pleasure Island Adventurer's Club, a disboard poster (I assume a cast member), said he'd catch glimpse of a figure dressed in white in the library looking over the balcony above the organ. A Disboard posting talked about a fire station's 2nd floor (empty space)being haunted. I could never figure out if it was Disneyland or WDW, but the report states that they can hear footsteps and knocking. . . settling building ? Maybe.
I want to end with a couple of theories to think about. Legend claims that ghosts, paranormal activity, poltergiests are drawn to and are more active around water. The entire space of Walt Disney World was build on a drained swamp. HMmmm. Makes you think. However, if you buy into the television shows that hunt for ghosts and such, they'll tell you that high Electromagnetic Frequencies can create hallucinations, visions, nausea, ect. What do you think makes alot of the rides and special effects happen ? Electricity and Magnetic devices. Another Disboard poster talked about Infrasound. the same technology is being used to try to detect earthquakes. It's out of human range of hearing, but some people can actually feel it. Do the dolls in It's A Small World emit Infrasound from thier mechanics, which creeps some people out. . . . or is it the song that gets stuck in our head that haunts us to our inner core. :)
Happy Halloween
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND . . . FANTASMIC!
Several weeks ago,one of my readers 'wanted more stories about Fantasmic!". So here I go delving into the mental archives. Just so you know, my experience with the show was the opening rehearsals and eight to nine months during the run of the show. After that it was sporatic. . . very sporatic.
As I was trying to conjure up memories from 'umpteen' years ago, I remembered one that is more about the people who worked there and than the show itself. A vast majority of the techs and stage managers were, at one time, entertainers, ex-performers and garage band musicians, so one day. . . I mean night, after the show, they had a Rock Concert in the rehearsal room. And believe it or not, they were actually pretty good. Nothing was planned. Nothing was scripted. It was just a matter of "Hey, you know this one?" and they'd all start playing. I watched for a while, but around mid-night I left. I think I saw more vente Starbucks than usual the next morning.
Do you want to know the quickest way to turn a room full of adults in to children again ? . . . Hide Easter Eggs. Costuming sponsored a Easter Egg hunt and hid around 500 + - plastic eggs around the back stage area. Everyone impatiently waited through the usual pre-shift meeting with thier hunting paraphanelia near by. When the stage manager sounded like he was done, they make a break for the door. The manager yelled, "HEY, I'm not done yet." They all came back and sat down. He said a few more things, then they made a break for the door again. He tried to stop them a second time, but this time everyone knew he was just messing with them and they kept running. We had two shows that night and they even went out with the tech's flashlights between shows. . .talk about your dedication. HMmmm I wonder if anyone ever DID get that one out of the trailer hitch ?
When some one left the show, like "I'm leaving the company" or "I'm moving up to a new job never to return to this world again" gone, the cast always had a certian. . .endearing way of saying goodbye. It usally included a canister, or two, of baby powder and a trip to the locker room shower. nothin' says livin' like being tarred and feathered with babypowder in the shower. Originally, the 'leavee' would get thrown in the moat the night they left. However, concerns about what was exactly in the water stopped that practice early on.
The water in that moat is interesting. You can see to the bottom. . . usually, but then you start to think about all of the fuel that gets pumped through the gas lines for the 'lake on fire' scene, a large (i beleive four engine) steamboat chugging around the moat in an enclosed enviroment and just mother nature in general and Ewww. I never saw three headed ducks, but we always tried to keep them scared off the water. And yes, the seatmboat is on a track, but it does move on it's own power, thus is why we had a rescue boat that was able to also push a broken down steam boat back to the dock. I'll always remember when they drained the moat to work on it and found several missing costume pieces. Belle's crystal medallions from her dress. Mary Poppin's umbrella. The handle looked okay, but the fabric was rotted away leaving just the wire frame work. One day we set up the stage and left a large cloth bin preset off to the side. We didn't thing about it being as windy as it was. But when we came back fromour break, it was gone. And yeap, it was on the bottom of the moat. A tech armed with a grapling hook went fishing for it.
In the beginning, Mickey, as the Brave Little Tailor, was supposed to walk on water as he goes out to fight Chernabog. There's good trivia question for you. What is the name of the demon / dragon monster that appeared in Fantasia? Chernabog. . . Anyway, back to my blog. The 'powers that be' decided the walking on water image wouldn't set well with the conservative Christians of the world, so they added rocks and built a pathway out into the lake. I recently heard rumors of them wanting to reviving the water walk. We'll see.
In the beginning, the one thing we all loved about working at Fantasmic! was that we were able to park at the stage. No parking in the cast parking lot and traepsing across the park like they have to now. At certian times of the day there wasn't even a security guard at the gate. We'd clock out and be in on the road home in one minute flat. Then 9/11 happened and all of our parking became centralized and the techs got large parking lot to store stuff in.
One of my fondest memories of working there was New Year's Eve. We would usually have late shows that night and would still be at work at midnight. So we'd go out to our parking lot and watch both the Studio's and Epcot's fireworks go off. It was like fireworks in stereo. One year we even had fake champaign. . . you know, the non alcoholic sparkling grape juice :) to toast in the New Year.
So on that note, CHEERS !! and good night.
As I was trying to conjure up memories from 'umpteen' years ago, I remembered one that is more about the people who worked there and than the show itself. A vast majority of the techs and stage managers were, at one time, entertainers, ex-performers and garage band musicians, so one day. . . I mean night, after the show, they had a Rock Concert in the rehearsal room. And believe it or not, they were actually pretty good. Nothing was planned. Nothing was scripted. It was just a matter of "Hey, you know this one?" and they'd all start playing. I watched for a while, but around mid-night I left. I think I saw more vente Starbucks than usual the next morning.
Do you want to know the quickest way to turn a room full of adults in to children again ? . . . Hide Easter Eggs. Costuming sponsored a Easter Egg hunt and hid around 500 + - plastic eggs around the back stage area. Everyone impatiently waited through the usual pre-shift meeting with thier hunting paraphanelia near by. When the stage manager sounded like he was done, they make a break for the door. The manager yelled, "HEY, I'm not done yet." They all came back and sat down. He said a few more things, then they made a break for the door again. He tried to stop them a second time, but this time everyone knew he was just messing with them and they kept running. We had two shows that night and they even went out with the tech's flashlights between shows. . .talk about your dedication. HMmmm I wonder if anyone ever DID get that one out of the trailer hitch ?
When some one left the show, like "I'm leaving the company" or "I'm moving up to a new job never to return to this world again" gone, the cast always had a certian. . .endearing way of saying goodbye. It usally included a canister, or two, of baby powder and a trip to the locker room shower. nothin' says livin' like being tarred and feathered with babypowder in the shower. Originally, the 'leavee' would get thrown in the moat the night they left. However, concerns about what was exactly in the water stopped that practice early on.
The water in that moat is interesting. You can see to the bottom. . . usually, but then you start to think about all of the fuel that gets pumped through the gas lines for the 'lake on fire' scene, a large (i beleive four engine) steamboat chugging around the moat in an enclosed enviroment and just mother nature in general and Ewww. I never saw three headed ducks, but we always tried to keep them scared off the water. And yes, the seatmboat is on a track, but it does move on it's own power, thus is why we had a rescue boat that was able to also push a broken down steam boat back to the dock. I'll always remember when they drained the moat to work on it and found several missing costume pieces. Belle's crystal medallions from her dress. Mary Poppin's umbrella. The handle looked okay, but the fabric was rotted away leaving just the wire frame work. One day we set up the stage and left a large cloth bin preset off to the side. We didn't thing about it being as windy as it was. But when we came back fromour break, it was gone. And yeap, it was on the bottom of the moat. A tech armed with a grapling hook went fishing for it.
In the beginning, Mickey, as the Brave Little Tailor, was supposed to walk on water as he goes out to fight Chernabog. There's good trivia question for you. What is the name of the demon / dragon monster that appeared in Fantasia? Chernabog. . . Anyway, back to my blog. The 'powers that be' decided the walking on water image wouldn't set well with the conservative Christians of the world, so they added rocks and built a pathway out into the lake. I recently heard rumors of them wanting to reviving the water walk. We'll see.
In the beginning, the one thing we all loved about working at Fantasmic! was that we were able to park at the stage. No parking in the cast parking lot and traepsing across the park like they have to now. At certian times of the day there wasn't even a security guard at the gate. We'd clock out and be in on the road home in one minute flat. Then 9/11 happened and all of our parking became centralized and the techs got large parking lot to store stuff in.
One of my fondest memories of working there was New Year's Eve. We would usually have late shows that night and would still be at work at midnight. So we'd go out to our parking lot and watch both the Studio's and Epcot's fireworks go off. It was like fireworks in stereo. One year we even had fake champaign. . . you know, the non alcoholic sparkling grape juice :) to toast in the New Year.
So on that note, CHEERS !! and good night.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
EXTINCT DISNEY PT 3
DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM, though the newest park to Walt Disney World, it still has had a few extinct attractions. At the Theater in the Wild, the JOURNEY THROUGH JUNGLE BOOK show opened with the park. It lasted from April of 1998 to April of 1999 when it was replaced by TARZAN ROCKS. As Jungle Book left the park, so did my best friend's job, who performed in the show. He drifted around for a few weeks in other parks until he 'just fell off the schedule'. Tarzan ran from July 1999 until Jan. 21, 2006 when the Phil Collins inspired rock concert gave way to the new NEMO show. One of the most over looked shows was POCAHONTAS AND HER ANIMAL FRIENDS, which lasted until September 27,2008. The only time I saw the show, the 'animal friends' weren't being very coperative. A rabbit was supposed to hop across stage. . . it didn't. In fact I a stage hand's hand nudge it just to get it on the stage.
DISCOVERY RIVERBOATS which was intended to be transportation across the park, ran between Safari Village and Asia. It closed in late 1999 because, acording to some reports, the guests thought it was boring. The original non-parade parade, because Animal Kingdom does not 'do' parades, (just like it is also na-ut-a-zu, ask an Animal Kingdom junkie about that) was the MARCH IF THE ARTIMALS. Who ever designed this extremely artsy, fartsy parade must have been sipping a little something extra in thier tea. It was the most bizarre show / parade 'thing' I have ever seen. Neon colored characters and Salvador Dali-esk floats, left me thinking "Huh". One float had a honey bee that was supposed to be getting 'drunk' off the honey and laughing hysterically. Again I say "Huh ?"
Animal Kingdom was to include an area devoted to MYTHICAL CREATURES. Though it has never fully materialized as of 2009, there are a few remains from the orginal plans. You'll notice a section of the parking lot is named "Unicorn", and there's a silhouette of a dragon in the Animal Kingdom logo and dragonhead statue sits atop one of the ticket booths. In Camp Minnie Mickey, which was built as a temporary fill-in for the space, there is a dragon-shaped stone fountain. For many years a burnt suit of armour was next to a 'dragon's lair' on the banks of the river, visible from the Discovery Riverboats. With the opening of Everest, Animal Kingdom did manage to get at least one mythical creature in there with the Yeti.
Moving outside of the parks Disney had some notable and much missed Extinct Attractions as well. Fort Wilderness Campground used to have a train which lasted for five years. The live steam train transported guests through the campgorunds. Even though the one and only time I rode it as a kid, I don't remember having to pay, my resources say it cost $1.00 for an adult to ride all day. One reasons for it's demise was the expense and diffculty of finding people specially trained to work on steam engines. Another issue was in the soft florida sand, the tracks kept trying to separate. In 1979, management decided to scrap the train idea at the Fort and unfortunately the trains were left to rust. However, there is a happy footnote, in 2004 several members of the CAROLWOOD PACIFIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY took ownership of the old Fort trains in order to rehab them to thier former lives.
DISCOVERY ISLAND, before Walt's day was inhabited by a lady and her pet Sandhill Crane (according to Wikipedia) and before that, in the early 1900's, it was called Raz Island and inhabited by the Raz family. Since it's aquisiton into the corporate world of Disney, the island, named TREASURE ISLAND (April 8, 1974-1978), was supposed to have a pirate's theme. However, the aviary turned into an American Zoological Association accredited zoo four years later called Discovery Island. However, when a few of the caretakers were caught killing some of the local, protected birds like hawks and vutures Disney almost lost thier accreditation. With the opening of Animal Kingdom, all of the critters were relocated to the new park in April 8, 1999 and Discovery island was returned to the hawks and vultures from wince it came. The rented Sea Racer boats circle the islnd daily, but I've been told that the watercraft patrol keeps the public off the island.
RIVER COUNTRY water park (June 20, 1976 - Nov. 1 2001) was located in the Fort Wilderness Campground. Much smaller park than the next generation water park Typhoon Lagoon, I've been told by my resources that it's true demise came because of it's proximity to Bay Lake. It seems that it was a bit too difficult to keep Bay Lake and her critters at 'bay'. After sitting domant since 2001, one of the slides from River Country was given a new life at the Fort Wilderness pool in the end of 2008. The picnic pavillion has also been given new life as a seasonal dining option Mickey's Backyard BBQ.
PLEASURE ISLAND opened in May 1, 1989 with a wide variety of shops and night clubs like Mannequins, Motion, Comedy Warehouse, Adventure's Club, Rock and Roll Beach Club, 8Trax among others. Although the physical island is still there, the night clubs closed Sept. 27, 2008. It is believed that the Island began drawing the wrong type of crowds and crime started to rise in and around Downtown Disney. So, Disney pulled the plug and believe it or not things have calmed down. . . Hmmm, eliminate the alcohol and crime fades away, imagine that.
Originally the Disney GOLF RESORT, nestled among the Palm and Magnolia Golf courses opned in 1974 with 151 rooms. In Feb of 1986 it was expanded and renamed THE DISNEY INN. On Feb. 1, 1994 THe United Sates Military aquired a 100 yr lease for the resort, but in 1996 it was purchased outright for $43 million and renamed SHADES OF GREEN. The golf courses are still accessible to guests, but the resort itself is stickly military, which makes for some interesting days with military helicopters coming and going or the Blue Angels doing 'fly-by's' over the Magic Kingdom.
The TREE HOUSES (1975-2002) where eventually retired as a resort due in part to the American Disabilities Act. Logistcally they were a challange to make ADA compliant. For the interim years they served as housing for international college program kids. I was told part of the renovation problem was dealing with the asbestos which was widely used in builings of the 70's and also the fact that they were built in an offical wetlands area. They have since removed the old structures and replaced them with newer villas that were built off site. The footprint for the new villas actually reduced encroachment on the surrounding wetlands by 70 percent for each site. Now they have been incorporated into the Saratoga Springs Vacation Club property.
The DISNEY INSTITUTE as a place was short lived. THey built a mini college style campus on the back side of Downtown Disney. But not too many people wanted to come to Disney and spend hundreds of dollars learning about photography or how play basketball. The short lived project was mostly torn down and Saratoga springs Vacation Club sprung to life. The core buildings, Spa and Restraunts are from the old Institute, but the Villas are all new. Actually, the pool, used to be an ampitheater intended for plays and concerts. . .Oh well. 'The Institute'still exists in the form of buisness development classes and inconjuction with Disney University, however.
As a castmember, there're terms and places that have came and gone as well. Back when we didn't take our 'costumes' home, we had WALK TIME. If you were scheduled till 5:00, your could leave your location at 4:40 so you could change clothes on the clock. In late the 1990's Disney had a change of heart about cast members wearing their costumes into work, and CASTZOOMING was the cutesy name they gave to the process of making us responible for our own clothes. As a result, walk time went away. After all these years of taking your clothes home, Castzooming is a term that only the old timers know about.
During Pocahontas (at the studios), one of Poca's lines was 'Wingapo, that is how we say hello'. So of course we'd always say, "WINGAPO" to each other. Now, people would just think I was weird. At Hunchback Of Notre Dame, we had SNOWBALL the black life size puppet horse. We all talked to him at one point or the other. Several years after the show was gone, I saw Snowball being used as a prop. Of coure I had to go talk to him. People thought I was nuts. During the run of the Muppets shows,there was a breakroom specially built for them and dubed ANIMATION STATION. Wardrobe had a piece of the room and the rest was lined with mirrors and couches. As the muppet shows faded away, the perfomer breakroom turned into a costuming mini warehouse and the costuming room was taken over by either foods or merchandise. We also had a specially made box pargo that we all nicked named to ICE CREAM BOX PARGO. We used is for years after the Muppet shows went away. I beleive it's final demise came when the 'box' part fell off the back. (Yes, Yes we were hard on pargos.)
In the days before Tower of Terror and Fantasmic!, we had the STATUE CAST PARKING LOT, RED LOT and the ORANGE LOT. Statue lot was called that because they stored the Swan and Dolphin statues there while they built the hotels. That parking lot is now . . .Fantasmic!. I'm not sure where the names Red lot and Orange lot came from, but nevermind that, they're both gone. In the old main cast lot sits Rockin' Roller Coaster and in the other parking lot is the new and improved "Fort Knox" style security gate.
In the begining days of the Studios, they filmed the new MICKEY MOUSE CLUB in the soundstages. In the area of the buglalows there was orginally a production only COMMISSARY. It is now just an office. Under the water tower was a Mouskateer class room trailer. I believe the trailer is still there, but who occupies it varies with the wind.
Let us not forget one final thing from years gone by "the E-TICKET RIDES". Back when you had to buy a book of tickets, the E rides were always the first ones used because they were the thrill rides like Space Mountian or the Haunted Mansion. Dating back to the 1950's at Disneyland it carried over to Magic Kingdom until 1982. Today the E- tickets maybe gone, but the term still lives on in pop culture.
And thus ends part three of my history lesson, I now return you to your regulary scheduled blog. :)
DISCOVERY RIVERBOATS which was intended to be transportation across the park, ran between Safari Village and Asia. It closed in late 1999 because, acording to some reports, the guests thought it was boring. The original non-parade parade, because Animal Kingdom does not 'do' parades, (just like it is also na-ut-a-zu, ask an Animal Kingdom junkie about that) was the MARCH IF THE ARTIMALS. Who ever designed this extremely artsy, fartsy parade must have been sipping a little something extra in thier tea. It was the most bizarre show / parade 'thing' I have ever seen. Neon colored characters and Salvador Dali-esk floats, left me thinking "Huh". One float had a honey bee that was supposed to be getting 'drunk' off the honey and laughing hysterically. Again I say "Huh ?"
Animal Kingdom was to include an area devoted to MYTHICAL CREATURES. Though it has never fully materialized as of 2009, there are a few remains from the orginal plans. You'll notice a section of the parking lot is named "Unicorn", and there's a silhouette of a dragon in the Animal Kingdom logo and dragonhead statue sits atop one of the ticket booths. In Camp Minnie Mickey, which was built as a temporary fill-in for the space, there is a dragon-shaped stone fountain. For many years a burnt suit of armour was next to a 'dragon's lair' on the banks of the river, visible from the Discovery Riverboats. With the opening of Everest, Animal Kingdom did manage to get at least one mythical creature in there with the Yeti.
Moving outside of the parks Disney had some notable and much missed Extinct Attractions as well. Fort Wilderness Campground used to have a train which lasted for five years. The live steam train transported guests through the campgorunds. Even though the one and only time I rode it as a kid, I don't remember having to pay, my resources say it cost $1.00 for an adult to ride all day. One reasons for it's demise was the expense and diffculty of finding people specially trained to work on steam engines. Another issue was in the soft florida sand, the tracks kept trying to separate. In 1979, management decided to scrap the train idea at the Fort and unfortunately the trains were left to rust. However, there is a happy footnote, in 2004 several members of the CAROLWOOD PACIFIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY took ownership of the old Fort trains in order to rehab them to thier former lives.
DISCOVERY ISLAND, before Walt's day was inhabited by a lady and her pet Sandhill Crane (according to Wikipedia) and before that, in the early 1900's, it was called Raz Island and inhabited by the Raz family. Since it's aquisiton into the corporate world of Disney, the island, named TREASURE ISLAND (April 8, 1974-1978), was supposed to have a pirate's theme. However, the aviary turned into an American Zoological Association accredited zoo four years later called Discovery Island. However, when a few of the caretakers were caught killing some of the local, protected birds like hawks and vutures Disney almost lost thier accreditation. With the opening of Animal Kingdom, all of the critters were relocated to the new park in April 8, 1999 and Discovery island was returned to the hawks and vultures from wince it came. The rented Sea Racer boats circle the islnd daily, but I've been told that the watercraft patrol keeps the public off the island.
RIVER COUNTRY water park (June 20, 1976 - Nov. 1 2001) was located in the Fort Wilderness Campground. Much smaller park than the next generation water park Typhoon Lagoon, I've been told by my resources that it's true demise came because of it's proximity to Bay Lake. It seems that it was a bit too difficult to keep Bay Lake and her critters at 'bay'. After sitting domant since 2001, one of the slides from River Country was given a new life at the Fort Wilderness pool in the end of 2008. The picnic pavillion has also been given new life as a seasonal dining option Mickey's Backyard BBQ.
PLEASURE ISLAND opened in May 1, 1989 with a wide variety of shops and night clubs like Mannequins, Motion, Comedy Warehouse, Adventure's Club, Rock and Roll Beach Club, 8Trax among others. Although the physical island is still there, the night clubs closed Sept. 27, 2008. It is believed that the Island began drawing the wrong type of crowds and crime started to rise in and around Downtown Disney. So, Disney pulled the plug and believe it or not things have calmed down. . . Hmmm, eliminate the alcohol and crime fades away, imagine that.
Originally the Disney GOLF RESORT, nestled among the Palm and Magnolia Golf courses opned in 1974 with 151 rooms. In Feb of 1986 it was expanded and renamed THE DISNEY INN. On Feb. 1, 1994 THe United Sates Military aquired a 100 yr lease for the resort, but in 1996 it was purchased outright for $43 million and renamed SHADES OF GREEN. The golf courses are still accessible to guests, but the resort itself is stickly military, which makes for some interesting days with military helicopters coming and going or the Blue Angels doing 'fly-by's' over the Magic Kingdom.
The TREE HOUSES (1975-2002) where eventually retired as a resort due in part to the American Disabilities Act. Logistcally they were a challange to make ADA compliant. For the interim years they served as housing for international college program kids. I was told part of the renovation problem was dealing with the asbestos which was widely used in builings of the 70's and also the fact that they were built in an offical wetlands area. They have since removed the old structures and replaced them with newer villas that were built off site. The footprint for the new villas actually reduced encroachment on the surrounding wetlands by 70 percent for each site. Now they have been incorporated into the Saratoga Springs Vacation Club property.
The DISNEY INSTITUTE as a place was short lived. THey built a mini college style campus on the back side of Downtown Disney. But not too many people wanted to come to Disney and spend hundreds of dollars learning about photography or how play basketball. The short lived project was mostly torn down and Saratoga springs Vacation Club sprung to life. The core buildings, Spa and Restraunts are from the old Institute, but the Villas are all new. Actually, the pool, used to be an ampitheater intended for plays and concerts. . .Oh well. 'The Institute'still exists in the form of buisness development classes and inconjuction with Disney University, however.
As a castmember, there're terms and places that have came and gone as well. Back when we didn't take our 'costumes' home, we had WALK TIME. If you were scheduled till 5:00, your could leave your location at 4:40 so you could change clothes on the clock. In late the 1990's Disney had a change of heart about cast members wearing their costumes into work, and CASTZOOMING was the cutesy name they gave to the process of making us responible for our own clothes. As a result, walk time went away. After all these years of taking your clothes home, Castzooming is a term that only the old timers know about.
During Pocahontas (at the studios), one of Poca's lines was 'Wingapo, that is how we say hello'. So of course we'd always say, "WINGAPO" to each other. Now, people would just think I was weird. At Hunchback Of Notre Dame, we had SNOWBALL the black life size puppet horse. We all talked to him at one point or the other. Several years after the show was gone, I saw Snowball being used as a prop. Of coure I had to go talk to him. People thought I was nuts. During the run of the Muppets shows,there was a breakroom specially built for them and dubed ANIMATION STATION. Wardrobe had a piece of the room and the rest was lined with mirrors and couches. As the muppet shows faded away, the perfomer breakroom turned into a costuming mini warehouse and the costuming room was taken over by either foods or merchandise. We also had a specially made box pargo that we all nicked named to ICE CREAM BOX PARGO. We used is for years after the Muppet shows went away. I beleive it's final demise came when the 'box' part fell off the back. (Yes, Yes we were hard on pargos.)
In the days before Tower of Terror and Fantasmic!, we had the STATUE CAST PARKING LOT, RED LOT and the ORANGE LOT. Statue lot was called that because they stored the Swan and Dolphin statues there while they built the hotels. That parking lot is now . . .Fantasmic!. I'm not sure where the names Red lot and Orange lot came from, but nevermind that, they're both gone. In the old main cast lot sits Rockin' Roller Coaster and in the other parking lot is the new and improved "Fort Knox" style security gate.
In the begining days of the Studios, they filmed the new MICKEY MOUSE CLUB in the soundstages. In the area of the buglalows there was orginally a production only COMMISSARY. It is now just an office. Under the water tower was a Mouskateer class room trailer. I believe the trailer is still there, but who occupies it varies with the wind.
Let us not forget one final thing from years gone by "the E-TICKET RIDES". Back when you had to buy a book of tickets, the E rides were always the first ones used because they were the thrill rides like Space Mountian or the Haunted Mansion. Dating back to the 1950's at Disneyland it carried over to Magic Kingdom until 1982. Today the E- tickets maybe gone, but the term still lives on in pop culture.
And thus ends part three of my history lesson, I now return you to your regulary scheduled blog. :)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
EXTINCT DISNEY PT 2
As if the concept of having two studio themed amusement parks in one town didn't confuse the guests enough, the park formally known as Disney-MGM Studios changed it's name to Disney Hollywood Studios in 2007. Although MGM never really had any presence in Orlando, Disney barrowed the MGM name so we could use the movies in it's attractions and we briefly had the Tom and Jerry characters at the park. They did a promotional video where Tom 'chased' Jerry across the top of the Animation Courtyard arch, but never really went much further. You know it's going to be an interesting video shot when they schedule folks based on whether or not they're afraid of heights. The big question we always get is "Why?" We were told the contract ran out with MGM, the soundstages were being converted into the Toy Story Mania ride and 'film production has left the building'. . . I mean 'the park.'
When the studios opened there was a BACKSTAGE WALKING TOUR (which closed in 2001) that went through the a tour tunnel over looking the soundstages. It was hard to keep the facilities filled with projects. Maybe it was because they didn't like being watched by tourists, or maybe Florida has always been a bit of a step child when it comes to film and television production. The tour snaked it's way through a mock special effects workshops and ended in a real post production house. HOWEVER, again, people editing thier projects don't like being in a fish bowl, so alot of the time the editing rooms remained empty or closed off to the public. Now the Post Production building is independently run and the production tour tunnel has been turned into ONE MAN'S DREAM museum which opened on October 1,2001 to celebrate Walt's one Hundreth birthday.
Soundstages 2 and 3 housed WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE from 2001 to 2006. The closing of Miilionaire was probably the death neel for the "film industry" at Disney Hollywood Studios. In 2008 the stages were gutted and converted into TOY STORY MANIA ride. By the way, Millionaire was not the first big named game show to be shot in the Disney soundstages. Waaaay back in the begining of the park, a revival of LET'S MAKE A DEAL, was made there as well. Sadly it didn't last too long. I believe it was closed down around 1991ish. (i'.m still looking for the actual dates)
The BACKSTAGE TRAM TOUR has had a similar fate of it's walking tour cousin. Though it's still there, it's a mere shadow of it's former self. It's pretty much a drive through Creative Costuming and stop at catastrophe canyon. Oh yeah, they drive past the 'the award winning Earfel Tower'.(As the tour guide's script says). I've asked the guides "what kind of award did the water tower win ?" No one ever seemed to know. In it's day the tram drove past the soundstages and down residential street, but the home To The Golden Girls House, among others, are all gone now.
RESIDENTIAL STREET, opened in May 1, 1989, gave way to a new stunt show in 2005 called Lights Motors Action. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty cool show, but it's a bit heart breaking to see the 'studios' loose it's identity like that. If you ever wondered what was behind the house facades on residential street, it was storage. Mostly horticulture and other items that weather wouldn't hurt since there was only half a house there.
A little further up from Lights Motors Action, in a spot that used to be home to Norman the Cow from the City Slickers Movie, is BACKLOT THEATER. Built in 1993, it was originaly meant to be a temporary stage for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST while the old THEATER OF THE STARS (TOTS)was being relocated to make way for Sunset Blvd. Over the years TOTS was home to a number of song and dance shows including DICK TRACY (1990 - 1991), HOLLYWOOD'S PRETTY WOMEN (Sept. 9, 1991 to Nov. 3.1991), and various Star's of the Day Question and Answer sessions. When B&B got their new snazzy home, 'the powers that be' didn't want to tear down a perfectly good building AND we had a new Pocahontas movie coming out.
Thus the SPIRIT OF POCAHONTAS show was born June 23, 1995, but sadly, it closed on Feb. 24 1996, after a very short run. Casting issues. Staging issues. Staffing issues. They all played a part in it's demise. The intent was to have a totaly native american cast and crew. It ended up being maybe half the cast and a couple of the crew. For a few of the cast, it was in thier contract to either wear thier hair long or keep it in mohawks. If you know anything about 'The Disney Look', it was like an act of congress to get that passed Greta Groom (I'll introduce you to her in another blog).
Hot on Poca's heels was a new show DISNEY'S HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE. (June 21,1996 to Sept 28, 2002)Since everything else in that theater had an extremely short life span, Hunchback spent most of it's life in fear of being closed. At the third year anniversary, we realized that maybe we might just be okay for a while. I personally always felt like we were the step child to B & B. Lasting for seven years, it seemed to take on a life of it's own. The movie was Ehh. . .it was okay. Disney, (as Disney usually does) took liberties with the story that didn't sit well with die hard Victor Hugo fans, but the show itself had a huge following.
After Quasimodo rang his last cathederal bell, the stage sat empty for a while. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles invaded the space briefly as did other character sets using the old greenroom. Starwars weekends used the green room as Starwars Central for two years. Meanwhile, the Spectical of Lights (Christmas lights) crew claimed squatters right's to the stage area for storage. In Dec. 2007 the guts of the building were demolished and a full fledged 'new special events venue' was born for things like Night of Joy, Grad night, conventions, ect.
Next door to Hunckback was an odd stage. From the front, the two stages seemed to be on level ground. From back stage, however, the Muppets theater was a flight of stairs higher than the Backlot theater. This elevation difference, we believe, is what contributed to Hunchback's demise because all of the rain water drained down under the Backlot Theater and eventually rotted out the stage's supports. According to my tech sources the support posts under the stage were beginning to look like swiss cheese.
Working costuming at MUPPETS ON LOCATION: THE DAYS OF SWINE AND ROSES (Sept. 16 1991 and 1994)meant lugging costumes up a flight of stairs every morning and (I hate to admit it) throwing bags of dirty costumes off of the flight of stairs at the end of the day. We worked smarter, not harder, or at least that's what we told management. Since then, the stage has been host to numerous character sets over the years, now it's Buzz and Woody's home when they visit Al's Toy Barn.
Muppets costuming was also home to several of the music groups like the TUBAFOURS and The HOLLYWOOD HITMEN(closed April 7, 2001). During one of the "Oh my God the economy is tanking, must get rid of things' moments, we lost all of our musical groups to layoffs. A few years later they brought music back to the park with Mulch, Sweat and Shears rock band.
THe Studios went through numerous parades over the years. DINOSAUR (1992)(tv show version)was more of a street party complete with Dino whores. . .I mean scantily clad Dino girl cheerleaders, ALADDIN'S ROYAL CARAVAN, (Dec. 21, 1992 - Aug. 27, 1995) The spitting camels are now spitting once again by the Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride at the Kingdom, TOY STORY (1996 - 1997)To Infinfity, the International Space Station and Beyond, HERCULES (June, 27, 1997 to 1998)Hero to Zero, I mean Zero to Hero, MULAN (1998 - 2001) I miss seeing the Perchuran horses everyday, DISNEY STAR AND MOTOR CARS (october 1, 2001- march 8, 2008) Which I hear is coming to Disneyland Paris and last but definately not least, BLOCK PARTY BASH (March 9. 2008) . . .Uhm, never seen, know nothing about it.
SUPER STAR TELEVISION,(1989 to 1999)(Ahh, my home for many years), took guests from the audience and put them in scenes with famous co-stars. Using split screen, green screens, unique costumes and some old fashion imagination, guests were able try their hand at acting with the Golden Girls, Three stooges, David Letterman, Lucille Ball and several others. I'm not sure why it closed other than possible lack of interest/knowledge it existed due to limited advertising.
THe ABC THEATER stage sat dormant for a several years. The show DOUG started in 1999 was there briefly, but he, Patty Mayonaise, Skeeter and Pork Chop soon moved back to Nickelodeon. The cluttered up storage area in the back was given a new coat of paint and turned into a meet and greet area for Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. until Jan. 2008 when they were moved to the Streets of America. ABC THEATER was also used for special events like ESPN Weekends, Super Soap and Starwars Weekends. Its many years of neglect finally came to an end when, in 2009, Fox's AMERICAN IDOL Opened up shop. So the 'poor little stage that could' is now alive and kicking again.
Next door the MONSTER SOUND SHOW started May, 1989, where actors Martin Short and chevy Chase introduced guest to the world of sound effects. On July 1, 1997 the format changed and it became the ABC SOUND STUDIO. Along with the name change came a new animated film clip. SOUNDS DANGEROUS with Drew Carey later replaced the second reincarnation on April 22, 1999.
Across the park, at home of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid was the original Muppet Show called HERE COMES THE MUPPETS(May 25 1990 until Sept 2, 1991). Many people believe Jim Henson's ghost haunts the Mermaid stage because he passed away while the Muppet show resided there. Across the Animation Courtyard used to be the SOUNDSTAGE RESTAURANT. A quick service pizza and burgers place, it was closed to make way for Henson's BEAR AND THE BIG BLUE HOUSE-LIVE ON STAGE in June 7,1999. For the first month or two, our "break room" was the old steel food service counters and the now closed Cat Walk Bar that was over head. They finally decided that Bear or some variation there of was going to be there for a while and did a huge renovation to create a real break room. The far side of the stage still has food service counters and is pretty much untouched from the restaurant days.
Then there is a list of, as I call them 'honorable mention' shows. The small, short run, limited set creations that were never intented to be long term commitments. R.L. STINE'S GOOSEBUMPS started in Sept. 1998 and lasted until Dec of that same year. ACE VENTURA PET DETECTIVE arrived in late 1995 and was gone a few months later. SCREENTEST was an itty bitty 'show?', 'experience?', maybe a little of both located in one of the stores near the front of the park. A Streetmosphere performer would pick people and auditon them. It lasted a few years. I'm not really sure why that one died. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES emerged from thier specially made Turtle Van on New York Street on June 30,1990. They did a brief martial arts routine them signed autographs on the loading dock. If I remember right, they later moved to other locations aroud the park for their sets until 1996 when the Turtles went back to thier sewers for good.
And finally, I bid a fond Rest In Peace to the ANIMATORS. The very real animation studios was shuttered soon after the release of the Mulan movie as yet another cost cutting measure. What used to be an animation tour is now just a character meet and greet area. THe rest of the building is more corporate offices. Fancy corporate offices, but just offices none the less.
Of all the parks, I think the Studios has seen the most change. Now with Disney buying Marvel Comics, I know we haven't seen the last of it.
When the studios opened there was a BACKSTAGE WALKING TOUR (which closed in 2001) that went through the a tour tunnel over looking the soundstages. It was hard to keep the facilities filled with projects. Maybe it was because they didn't like being watched by tourists, or maybe Florida has always been a bit of a step child when it comes to film and television production. The tour snaked it's way through a mock special effects workshops and ended in a real post production house. HOWEVER, again, people editing thier projects don't like being in a fish bowl, so alot of the time the editing rooms remained empty or closed off to the public. Now the Post Production building is independently run and the production tour tunnel has been turned into ONE MAN'S DREAM museum which opened on October 1,2001 to celebrate Walt's one Hundreth birthday.
Soundstages 2 and 3 housed WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE from 2001 to 2006. The closing of Miilionaire was probably the death neel for the "film industry" at Disney Hollywood Studios. In 2008 the stages were gutted and converted into TOY STORY MANIA ride. By the way, Millionaire was not the first big named game show to be shot in the Disney soundstages. Waaaay back in the begining of the park, a revival of LET'S MAKE A DEAL, was made there as well. Sadly it didn't last too long. I believe it was closed down around 1991ish. (i'.m still looking for the actual dates)
The BACKSTAGE TRAM TOUR has had a similar fate of it's walking tour cousin. Though it's still there, it's a mere shadow of it's former self. It's pretty much a drive through Creative Costuming and stop at catastrophe canyon. Oh yeah, they drive past the 'the award winning Earfel Tower'.(As the tour guide's script says). I've asked the guides "what kind of award did the water tower win ?" No one ever seemed to know. In it's day the tram drove past the soundstages and down residential street, but the home To The Golden Girls House, among others, are all gone now.
RESIDENTIAL STREET, opened in May 1, 1989, gave way to a new stunt show in 2005 called Lights Motors Action. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty cool show, but it's a bit heart breaking to see the 'studios' loose it's identity like that. If you ever wondered what was behind the house facades on residential street, it was storage. Mostly horticulture and other items that weather wouldn't hurt since there was only half a house there.
A little further up from Lights Motors Action, in a spot that used to be home to Norman the Cow from the City Slickers Movie, is BACKLOT THEATER. Built in 1993, it was originaly meant to be a temporary stage for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST while the old THEATER OF THE STARS (TOTS)was being relocated to make way for Sunset Blvd. Over the years TOTS was home to a number of song and dance shows including DICK TRACY (1990 - 1991), HOLLYWOOD'S PRETTY WOMEN (Sept. 9, 1991 to Nov. 3.1991), and various Star's of the Day Question and Answer sessions. When B&B got their new snazzy home, 'the powers that be' didn't want to tear down a perfectly good building AND we had a new Pocahontas movie coming out.
Thus the SPIRIT OF POCAHONTAS show was born June 23, 1995, but sadly, it closed on Feb. 24 1996, after a very short run. Casting issues. Staging issues. Staffing issues. They all played a part in it's demise. The intent was to have a totaly native american cast and crew. It ended up being maybe half the cast and a couple of the crew. For a few of the cast, it was in thier contract to either wear thier hair long or keep it in mohawks. If you know anything about 'The Disney Look', it was like an act of congress to get that passed Greta Groom (I'll introduce you to her in another blog).
Hot on Poca's heels was a new show DISNEY'S HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE. (June 21,1996 to Sept 28, 2002)Since everything else in that theater had an extremely short life span, Hunchback spent most of it's life in fear of being closed. At the third year anniversary, we realized that maybe we might just be okay for a while. I personally always felt like we were the step child to B & B. Lasting for seven years, it seemed to take on a life of it's own. The movie was Ehh. . .it was okay. Disney, (as Disney usually does) took liberties with the story that didn't sit well with die hard Victor Hugo fans, but the show itself had a huge following.
After Quasimodo rang his last cathederal bell, the stage sat empty for a while. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles invaded the space briefly as did other character sets using the old greenroom. Starwars weekends used the green room as Starwars Central for two years. Meanwhile, the Spectical of Lights (Christmas lights) crew claimed squatters right's to the stage area for storage. In Dec. 2007 the guts of the building were demolished and a full fledged 'new special events venue' was born for things like Night of Joy, Grad night, conventions, ect.
Next door to Hunckback was an odd stage. From the front, the two stages seemed to be on level ground. From back stage, however, the Muppets theater was a flight of stairs higher than the Backlot theater. This elevation difference, we believe, is what contributed to Hunchback's demise because all of the rain water drained down under the Backlot Theater and eventually rotted out the stage's supports. According to my tech sources the support posts under the stage were beginning to look like swiss cheese.
Working costuming at MUPPETS ON LOCATION: THE DAYS OF SWINE AND ROSES (Sept. 16 1991 and 1994)meant lugging costumes up a flight of stairs every morning and (I hate to admit it) throwing bags of dirty costumes off of the flight of stairs at the end of the day. We worked smarter, not harder, or at least that's what we told management. Since then, the stage has been host to numerous character sets over the years, now it's Buzz and Woody's home when they visit Al's Toy Barn.
Muppets costuming was also home to several of the music groups like the TUBAFOURS and The HOLLYWOOD HITMEN(closed April 7, 2001). During one of the "Oh my God the economy is tanking, must get rid of things' moments, we lost all of our musical groups to layoffs. A few years later they brought music back to the park with Mulch, Sweat and Shears rock band.
THe Studios went through numerous parades over the years. DINOSAUR (1992)(tv show version)was more of a street party complete with Dino whores. . .I mean scantily clad Dino girl cheerleaders, ALADDIN'S ROYAL CARAVAN, (Dec. 21, 1992 - Aug. 27, 1995) The spitting camels are now spitting once again by the Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride at the Kingdom, TOY STORY (1996 - 1997)To Infinfity, the International Space Station and Beyond, HERCULES (June, 27, 1997 to 1998)Hero to Zero, I mean Zero to Hero, MULAN (1998 - 2001) I miss seeing the Perchuran horses everyday, DISNEY STAR AND MOTOR CARS (october 1, 2001- march 8, 2008) Which I hear is coming to Disneyland Paris and last but definately not least, BLOCK PARTY BASH (March 9. 2008) . . .Uhm, never seen, know nothing about it.
SUPER STAR TELEVISION,(1989 to 1999)(Ahh, my home for many years), took guests from the audience and put them in scenes with famous co-stars. Using split screen, green screens, unique costumes and some old fashion imagination, guests were able try their hand at acting with the Golden Girls, Three stooges, David Letterman, Lucille Ball and several others. I'm not sure why it closed other than possible lack of interest/knowledge it existed due to limited advertising.
THe ABC THEATER stage sat dormant for a several years. The show DOUG started in 1999 was there briefly, but he, Patty Mayonaise, Skeeter and Pork Chop soon moved back to Nickelodeon. The cluttered up storage area in the back was given a new coat of paint and turned into a meet and greet area for Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. until Jan. 2008 when they were moved to the Streets of America. ABC THEATER was also used for special events like ESPN Weekends, Super Soap and Starwars Weekends. Its many years of neglect finally came to an end when, in 2009, Fox's AMERICAN IDOL Opened up shop. So the 'poor little stage that could' is now alive and kicking again.
Next door the MONSTER SOUND SHOW started May, 1989, where actors Martin Short and chevy Chase introduced guest to the world of sound effects. On July 1, 1997 the format changed and it became the ABC SOUND STUDIO. Along with the name change came a new animated film clip. SOUNDS DANGEROUS with Drew Carey later replaced the second reincarnation on April 22, 1999.
Across the park, at home of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid was the original Muppet Show called HERE COMES THE MUPPETS(May 25 1990 until Sept 2, 1991). Many people believe Jim Henson's ghost haunts the Mermaid stage because he passed away while the Muppet show resided there. Across the Animation Courtyard used to be the SOUNDSTAGE RESTAURANT. A quick service pizza and burgers place, it was closed to make way for Henson's BEAR AND THE BIG BLUE HOUSE-LIVE ON STAGE in June 7,1999. For the first month or two, our "break room" was the old steel food service counters and the now closed Cat Walk Bar that was over head. They finally decided that Bear or some variation there of was going to be there for a while and did a huge renovation to create a real break room. The far side of the stage still has food service counters and is pretty much untouched from the restaurant days.
Then there is a list of, as I call them 'honorable mention' shows. The small, short run, limited set creations that were never intented to be long term commitments. R.L. STINE'S GOOSEBUMPS started in Sept. 1998 and lasted until Dec of that same year. ACE VENTURA PET DETECTIVE arrived in late 1995 and was gone a few months later. SCREENTEST was an itty bitty 'show?', 'experience?', maybe a little of both located in one of the stores near the front of the park. A Streetmosphere performer would pick people and auditon them. It lasted a few years. I'm not really sure why that one died. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES emerged from thier specially made Turtle Van on New York Street on June 30,1990. They did a brief martial arts routine them signed autographs on the loading dock. If I remember right, they later moved to other locations aroud the park for their sets until 1996 when the Turtles went back to thier sewers for good.
And finally, I bid a fond Rest In Peace to the ANIMATORS. The very real animation studios was shuttered soon after the release of the Mulan movie as yet another cost cutting measure. What used to be an animation tour is now just a character meet and greet area. THe rest of the building is more corporate offices. Fancy corporate offices, but just offices none the less.
Of all the parks, I think the Studios has seen the most change. Now with Disney buying Marvel Comics, I know we haven't seen the last of it.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
EXTINCT DISNEY
OKAY I need everybody's help. If I miss listing something from a by gone era at Walt Disney World (Orlando), PLEASE, email me and let me know.
In a company that's been around since the 1970's there has been alot of things that have came and gone. Some, like Norman the cow, have been forgotten(or eaten). Some have been sorely missed like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So follow me down memory lane as we rediscover Extinct Disney Places.
Magic Kingdom:
The building and structures for 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1971-1994) were left overgrown and rusted for years. When Anehiem revitalized thier 20k Leagues as a Nemo ride, we had hoped Magic Kingdom would be next. Then they built a Pooh play area over a large chunk of the space. At one time, Disney bragged that 'We had more submarines that the US Navy.' The only difference is thier's actually went under water. . .I guess that would make Disney's, uhmmm. . . glass bottom Boats.
I came across this link to old, old, old pics of the 20,000 leagues ride
http://www.20kride.com/photos_behind.html
The SKYWAY(1971-1999)was a great way to get from the back of the park to the front at the end of the day. For some kids, it was also (-I was told- because I would nnneever do this when I was a kid) a great way to annoy people by dropping popcorn, spit balls and other things on any one who walked underneath it. I'm not sure what brought it to it's final demise, but when a maintenance cast member fell to his death after being hit by a moving ride bucket, it was taken down shortly afterwards. The last time I was in the Kingdom (early 2009), the passanger loading structure in Fantasy land was still in place and pretty much untouched (at least from the outside). The one in Tomarrowland, I hear, wasn't so lucky. As recently as summer 2009, it was still there, but now it think it's being torn down. Now, there are large painted medallions on the concrete to hide the fact that there used to be a huge pole there.
August 2009 I learned that the GALAXY THEATER in tomarrow land was torn down. I have to admit that I never saw a show there. I was told that it was hard to get guests to make the sharp right hand turn around the Buzz Lightyear / Dreamflight / If You Had Wings ride to fill the theater. I was also told that time has not been kind to the stage and safety was a bit of an issue as well. I'm not sure what's going into that space other than a temporary cast parking lot while they work on some office rehab. After that. . .
EASTERN AIRLINES - IF YOU HAD WINGS(1972-1987)/ IF YOU COULD FLY (1987-1989) / DELTA AIRLINES DREAMFLIGHT (1989-1998) was a 'must see'. . . but mainly because it was always a free ride back in the E-ticket days. It's pretty much unchanged structurally, but in 1998 it was turned into a Buzz Lightyear target game. Personally, since there's a Toy Story target shooting ride at the Studios, they could bring the If You Had Wings. . .no wait, I guess they can't since Eastern Airlines is defunct. . . Darn.
Here's a link die hard fans will like: http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/iyhw.htm
FLIGHT TO THE MOON (1971- 1975) / MISSION TO MARS (1975-1993). . . Yeah, it was wwaaay past time to change that one out. ALIEN ENCOUNTER (1993 - 2003)was supposed to be a scare your pants off, 'too intense for little kids' attraction. Maybe they succeded a bit too well, because it turned into a toned down STITCH'S GREAT ESCAPE pretty fast.
According to Wikipedia, the days of the MIKE FINK KEEL BOATS ended 5:30 May 17, 1997. Apparently one of the boats in Disneyland started rocking and was capsized. THey were taken out of service and inspected for seaworthiness. They never returned to the Rivers of America. In fact it says one ended up on ebay and sold for $15,000. The other's (One in D-land, one in D-world) were moored to Tom Sawyer's island. THe D-land one eventually sunk due to a split hull and was removed from show completely in
April 2009. After looking at some old video on youtube, i agree with the verdict. They seemed a bit top heavy. I included a link to one of the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIJMglGrsM8&feature=related
DAVY CROCKETT EXPLORER CANOES were 35ft long canoes in the Rivers of America. it opened oct. 1 1971 and ran to 1994. This was another ride i never took the time to try out. Another example of being a day late and a dollar short.
In researching the web, I came across an attraction that for some reason, i never knew existed. THE PLAZA SWAN BOATS. They left from a dock near Tomarrowland and tooled around the park's inner canals from May 1973 to August 1983. The website Widen Your World said it was based on the Boston Public Garden's boat ride from 1877. If you see a vaccume boat claening the canals that is one of the last remanents of the Swan boats. The rest of the fleet was removed from the park and later sold.
CIRCLE VISION -AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL (1971-1974 & 1979-1984) / MAGIC CARPET AROUND THE WORLD(1974-1975)/ CIRCLEVISION 360 - AMERICAN JOURNEY (1984-1994)/ TIME KEEPER (1994-2006) had 360 degree view of the world via movie screens encircling you. It went through several name changes and variations of films, but it was always the same concept: Stand in the middle of the room watching a panoramic movie and try not to get vertigo from all the moving. The TIMEKEEPER reincarnation of the attraction included an animatron with Robin William's voice.
DIAMOND HORSESHOE REVUE (1971- 1986)/DIAMOND HORSESHOE JAMBOREE (1986-1995)/DIAMOND HORSESHOE SALOON REVUE AND MEDICINE SHOW confuses me. I vaguely remember as a kid, that they served food and had a vaude ville style show, but then it closed. Then it was an ice cream parlor. Then it was a special events space. Now as a concierge I see they use it as a seasonal dining option again (around the holiday). It's a case of 'Is it open? Is it closed? Now it's open. No wait, now it's closed.' I give up.
Now, the 3D movie MAGICAL JOURNEY'S(1988- 1993) I could swear was the same 3D movie I had seen years before at a since defunct Circus World theme park near I-4 and US 27. I was a warm and fuzzy 3D Imax movie about a couple of kids fantasies, but the best thing in the middle of summer is. . . Air Conditioned theater.
The LEGEND OF THE LION KING (1994-2002)was considered by some to be the forefather of the Broadway show, much like the Beauty and the Beast seemed to be the grandmother of the Broadway show. It definately pushed the bounderies of puppeteering. With the opening of the Nemo show at DAK, some of Broadway's ideas found thier way back to the parks.
MICKEY'S STARLAND /MICKEY'S BIRTHDAYLAND (1988-1996)was expanded into TOONTOWN FAIR. I believe there was talk of creating a Toontown in the Studios to corrilate with Rodger Rabbit, but those plans fizzeled down to a gift shop and a Disney character Toontown popped up at the Kingdom.
KING STEPHEN'S FEAST is still technically there. It's just a Cinderella dinning now.
And finally, let us not forget MR TOAD'S WILD RIDE(1971-1998) (which I almost did). That was one ride that when they announced is was going away, people actually got upset and protested. I later realized that the Pooh ride was exactly the same thing, it was just with a stuffed bear instead of well dressed frogs.
EPCOT
COMMUNICORE (1982-1994)still exists, it's just renamed Innoventions.
All I have to say about SPACEHIP EARTH is 'I miss the tommarrow's child song' as you're leaving the golf ball.
My notes say that the MAGICAL JOURNEY(1982-1987) 3D movie was made by Disney for Epcot's opening, thenmoved to Magic Kingdom. I still say I had seen it before that at Circus World. I must dig deeper into my research.
CAPTIAN EO(1986-1994), Ah yes, the 3D movie hit the internet after Michael Jackson's death. I heard he was hanging around Disney quiet a bit for a while. . . pre legal trouble and pre fatherhood days. Maybe Captian EO will resurface some where else, some day.
Maybe some day, Disney can find a new sponsor for the WONDERS OF LIFE Pavillion(1989-2007). They use the building off and on for special events and it makes a great obstacle course for SEGWAY classes, but sadly, Body Wars and Cranium Command have sat idle for way too long. I had a guest bring thier child to Disney just so she could learn about the birds and the bees in the "Making of Me" movie. Needless to say she was upset when she found out that the whole pavillion was closed. Maybe they should just market the movie for parents :)
The Land Pavillion had a show called KITCHEN KABARET (1982-1994). It was an animatronic show about eating healthy. Honestly, I think I only saw it once.
HORIZON (1983-1999) was a bit redundant, I have to admit, but it was still one of my favorite rides. I think mainly because of the huge IMAX screen at the end. Sadly the Horizon building was torn down for Mission Space. I recently saw where you could buy a Horizon ride car online, if you were a die hard fan.
UNIVERSE of MOTION (1982-1996) is same building structure as Test Track, just different stuff
inside and from the rumors i'm hearing on the street, probably a new sponsor by the end of 2009. . . Toyota, maybe. But that's just a rumor.
ODYSSEY RESTAURANT is still there and still pretty much looks like a restaurant, but it been years since they've served food there. I know they've used it as a Flower and Garden lecture center a few years. Who knows, maybe it was just too far off the beaten track to draw people. I bet they throw a few princesses in there and a couple steak dinners on the menu and they'd be packed. It worked for Le Celliar (in Canada) and Princess Storybook (in Norway).
The DOUBLE DECKER BUS around the world showcase is now just a character thing. Everytime I saw it, it was packed with people. I never did get to ride it.
TAPESTRY OF NATIONS (1999 - 2001)/ TAPESTRY OF DREAMS (2001-2003) was as far as I know, the only parade Epcot ever had. The drummers were pretty cool. The giant walking puppet people always freaked me out. It was a very artsy parade. T OF NATIONS had a rather intimidating Sage of Time. . . In their defense we were coming up on the new Millenium at the time and it was all about TIME. Later they revamped it and turned the Sage into the Dreamseekers. I think logistics and a massive need for man power is what finally killed it.
I love seeing how Disney recycles show elements. The Mexico Pavillion opened with a boat ride called EL RIO DEL TIEMPO(1982-2007). In it there was video of street vendors trying to sell you stuff. They moved that from the If You Had Wings ride in Tomarrowland.
The building formally known as MILLENIUM VILLAGE (1999-2000) is located just outside the park. Now it's a convention and special events space, but from October 1999 to January 2001 it housed several mini pavillions from countries not presently included in the world showcase. Here's link to more indepth information as to what countries, ect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Village. I remember there was even a few minor international spats between neighboring exhibits. . . Really? at a theme park. . . You've got to be kidding.
It makes you just want to say 'OKAY EVERYBODY, COME ON, LET'S HOLD HANDS AND SING 'IT'S A SMALL WORLD'
on that note, I'm going to bed. . . to be continued-
In a company that's been around since the 1970's there has been alot of things that have came and gone. Some, like Norman the cow, have been forgotten(or eaten). Some have been sorely missed like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So follow me down memory lane as we rediscover Extinct Disney Places.
Magic Kingdom:
The building and structures for 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1971-1994) were left overgrown and rusted for years. When Anehiem revitalized thier 20k Leagues as a Nemo ride, we had hoped Magic Kingdom would be next. Then they built a Pooh play area over a large chunk of the space. At one time, Disney bragged that 'We had more submarines that the US Navy.' The only difference is thier's actually went under water. . .I guess that would make Disney's, uhmmm. . . glass bottom Boats.
I came across this link to old, old, old pics of the 20,000 leagues ride
http://www.20kride.com/photos_behind.html
The SKYWAY(1971-1999)was a great way to get from the back of the park to the front at the end of the day. For some kids, it was also (-I was told- because I would nnneever do this when I was a kid) a great way to annoy people by dropping popcorn, spit balls and other things on any one who walked underneath it. I'm not sure what brought it to it's final demise, but when a maintenance cast member fell to his death after being hit by a moving ride bucket, it was taken down shortly afterwards. The last time I was in the Kingdom (early 2009), the passanger loading structure in Fantasy land was still in place and pretty much untouched (at least from the outside). The one in Tomarrowland, I hear, wasn't so lucky. As recently as summer 2009, it was still there, but now it think it's being torn down. Now, there are large painted medallions on the concrete to hide the fact that there used to be a huge pole there.
August 2009 I learned that the GALAXY THEATER in tomarrow land was torn down. I have to admit that I never saw a show there. I was told that it was hard to get guests to make the sharp right hand turn around the Buzz Lightyear / Dreamflight / If You Had Wings ride to fill the theater. I was also told that time has not been kind to the stage and safety was a bit of an issue as well. I'm not sure what's going into that space other than a temporary cast parking lot while they work on some office rehab. After that. . .
EASTERN AIRLINES - IF YOU HAD WINGS(1972-1987)/ IF YOU COULD FLY (1987-1989) / DELTA AIRLINES DREAMFLIGHT (1989-1998) was a 'must see'. . . but mainly because it was always a free ride back in the E-ticket days. It's pretty much unchanged structurally, but in 1998 it was turned into a Buzz Lightyear target game. Personally, since there's a Toy Story target shooting ride at the Studios, they could bring the If You Had Wings. . .no wait, I guess they can't since Eastern Airlines is defunct. . . Darn.
Here's a link die hard fans will like: http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/iyhw.htm
FLIGHT TO THE MOON (1971- 1975) / MISSION TO MARS (1975-1993). . . Yeah, it was wwaaay past time to change that one out. ALIEN ENCOUNTER (1993 - 2003)was supposed to be a scare your pants off, 'too intense for little kids' attraction. Maybe they succeded a bit too well, because it turned into a toned down STITCH'S GREAT ESCAPE pretty fast.
According to Wikipedia, the days of the MIKE FINK KEEL BOATS ended 5:30 May 17, 1997. Apparently one of the boats in Disneyland started rocking and was capsized. THey were taken out of service and inspected for seaworthiness. They never returned to the Rivers of America. In fact it says one ended up on ebay and sold for $15,000. The other's (One in D-land, one in D-world) were moored to Tom Sawyer's island. THe D-land one eventually sunk due to a split hull and was removed from show completely in
April 2009. After looking at some old video on youtube, i agree with the verdict. They seemed a bit top heavy. I included a link to one of the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIJMglGrsM8&feature=related
DAVY CROCKETT EXPLORER CANOES were 35ft long canoes in the Rivers of America. it opened oct. 1 1971 and ran to 1994. This was another ride i never took the time to try out. Another example of being a day late and a dollar short.
In researching the web, I came across an attraction that for some reason, i never knew existed. THE PLAZA SWAN BOATS. They left from a dock near Tomarrowland and tooled around the park's inner canals from May 1973 to August 1983. The website Widen Your World said it was based on the Boston Public Garden's boat ride from 1877. If you see a vaccume boat claening the canals that is one of the last remanents of the Swan boats. The rest of the fleet was removed from the park and later sold.
CIRCLE VISION -AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL (1971-1974 & 1979-1984) / MAGIC CARPET AROUND THE WORLD(1974-1975)/ CIRCLEVISION 360 - AMERICAN JOURNEY (1984-1994)/ TIME KEEPER (1994-2006) had 360 degree view of the world via movie screens encircling you. It went through several name changes and variations of films, but it was always the same concept: Stand in the middle of the room watching a panoramic movie and try not to get vertigo from all the moving. The TIMEKEEPER reincarnation of the attraction included an animatron with Robin William's voice.
DIAMOND HORSESHOE REVUE (1971- 1986)/DIAMOND HORSESHOE JAMBOREE (1986-1995)/DIAMOND HORSESHOE SALOON REVUE AND MEDICINE SHOW confuses me. I vaguely remember as a kid, that they served food and had a vaude ville style show, but then it closed. Then it was an ice cream parlor. Then it was a special events space. Now as a concierge I see they use it as a seasonal dining option again (around the holiday). It's a case of 'Is it open? Is it closed? Now it's open. No wait, now it's closed.' I give up.
Now, the 3D movie MAGICAL JOURNEY'S(1988- 1993) I could swear was the same 3D movie I had seen years before at a since defunct Circus World theme park near I-4 and US 27. I was a warm and fuzzy 3D Imax movie about a couple of kids fantasies, but the best thing in the middle of summer is. . . Air Conditioned theater.
The LEGEND OF THE LION KING (1994-2002)was considered by some to be the forefather of the Broadway show, much like the Beauty and the Beast seemed to be the grandmother of the Broadway show. It definately pushed the bounderies of puppeteering. With the opening of the Nemo show at DAK, some of Broadway's ideas found thier way back to the parks.
MICKEY'S STARLAND /MICKEY'S BIRTHDAYLAND (1988-1996)was expanded into TOONTOWN FAIR. I believe there was talk of creating a Toontown in the Studios to corrilate with Rodger Rabbit, but those plans fizzeled down to a gift shop and a Disney character Toontown popped up at the Kingdom.
KING STEPHEN'S FEAST is still technically there. It's just a Cinderella dinning now.
And finally, let us not forget MR TOAD'S WILD RIDE(1971-1998) (which I almost did). That was one ride that when they announced is was going away, people actually got upset and protested. I later realized that the Pooh ride was exactly the same thing, it was just with a stuffed bear instead of well dressed frogs.
EPCOT
COMMUNICORE (1982-1994)still exists, it's just renamed Innoventions.
All I have to say about SPACEHIP EARTH is 'I miss the tommarrow's child song' as you're leaving the golf ball.
My notes say that the MAGICAL JOURNEY(1982-1987) 3D movie was made by Disney for Epcot's opening, thenmoved to Magic Kingdom. I still say I had seen it before that at Circus World. I must dig deeper into my research.
CAPTIAN EO(1986-1994), Ah yes, the 3D movie hit the internet after Michael Jackson's death. I heard he was hanging around Disney quiet a bit for a while. . . pre legal trouble and pre fatherhood days. Maybe Captian EO will resurface some where else, some day.
Maybe some day, Disney can find a new sponsor for the WONDERS OF LIFE Pavillion(1989-2007). They use the building off and on for special events and it makes a great obstacle course for SEGWAY classes, but sadly, Body Wars and Cranium Command have sat idle for way too long. I had a guest bring thier child to Disney just so she could learn about the birds and the bees in the "Making of Me" movie. Needless to say she was upset when she found out that the whole pavillion was closed. Maybe they should just market the movie for parents :)
The Land Pavillion had a show called KITCHEN KABARET (1982-1994). It was an animatronic show about eating healthy. Honestly, I think I only saw it once.
HORIZON (1983-1999) was a bit redundant, I have to admit, but it was still one of my favorite rides. I think mainly because of the huge IMAX screen at the end. Sadly the Horizon building was torn down for Mission Space. I recently saw where you could buy a Horizon ride car online, if you were a die hard fan.
UNIVERSE of MOTION (1982-1996) is same building structure as Test Track, just different stuff
inside and from the rumors i'm hearing on the street, probably a new sponsor by the end of 2009. . . Toyota, maybe. But that's just a rumor.
ODYSSEY RESTAURANT is still there and still pretty much looks like a restaurant, but it been years since they've served food there. I know they've used it as a Flower and Garden lecture center a few years. Who knows, maybe it was just too far off the beaten track to draw people. I bet they throw a few princesses in there and a couple steak dinners on the menu and they'd be packed. It worked for Le Celliar (in Canada) and Princess Storybook (in Norway).
The DOUBLE DECKER BUS around the world showcase is now just a character thing. Everytime I saw it, it was packed with people. I never did get to ride it.
TAPESTRY OF NATIONS (1999 - 2001)/ TAPESTRY OF DREAMS (2001-2003) was as far as I know, the only parade Epcot ever had. The drummers were pretty cool. The giant walking puppet people always freaked me out. It was a very artsy parade. T OF NATIONS had a rather intimidating Sage of Time. . . In their defense we were coming up on the new Millenium at the time and it was all about TIME. Later they revamped it and turned the Sage into the Dreamseekers. I think logistics and a massive need for man power is what finally killed it.
I love seeing how Disney recycles show elements. The Mexico Pavillion opened with a boat ride called EL RIO DEL TIEMPO(1982-2007). In it there was video of street vendors trying to sell you stuff. They moved that from the If You Had Wings ride in Tomarrowland.
The building formally known as MILLENIUM VILLAGE (1999-2000) is located just outside the park. Now it's a convention and special events space, but from October 1999 to January 2001 it housed several mini pavillions from countries not presently included in the world showcase. Here's link to more indepth information as to what countries, ect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Village. I remember there was even a few minor international spats between neighboring exhibits. . . Really? at a theme park. . . You've got to be kidding.
It makes you just want to say 'OKAY EVERYBODY, COME ON, LET'S HOLD HANDS AND SING 'IT'S A SMALL WORLD'
on that note, I'm going to bed. . . to be continued-
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
TAKE A MOMENT TO LAUGH
Over the past several weeks I've been accumulating random thoughts and little snipets of stuff i've seen around property.
Here's my top ten:
YOU KNOW YOU'RE A TOURIST WHEN-
10. You put your kids on leashes, but not your dogs.
9. Buying the paintng of a neon Mickey on velvet
sounded like a good idea at the time.
8. Your back is as red as your lobster dinner.
7. You're willing to trade your 1st born child
for a cigarette lighter (or a lit cigarette)
at the airport arrival terminal.
6. You cry at Kermit singing Rainbow Connection
everytime you walk past the Muppets movie
theater at the Studios
5. When you get into an argument with a cast member
about why they 'Moved the Hulk Roller Coaster'
from the Magic Kingdom.
4. When you get into an argument with a crew member
about why they 'Moved Space Mountian Roller Coaster'
from Universal Studios Orlando.
3. When you circle Animal Kingdom several times wondering
where they 'Moved the Shamu the Killer Whale Show' to.
2. You put squeaky shoes on your toddler so you can find
them in a crowd.
1. You tell time by what dining reservation is next.
OKAY, So I Have two more:
You know you're a tourist when- your wardrobe is matching
neon pinstrip tie dye and you're following triangle shaped
flag with the words 'TOURISMO' on it.
You know you're a tourist when- you voluntarily allow your
body to be thrown into complete darknes at break-neck speeds
while being strapped to a tiny rocket shaped ride car that is
being controlled by an unknown indvidual who is wearing a
dorkey space costume.
POLITICS AND DISNEY:
It has been brought to my attention, that when comes to politics
we are all a bit like the seven dwarfs:
-We meet them and we're Bashful.
-You soon realize the cost for a political meeting is nothing to Sneeze at.
-When we hear their promises we're Happy.
-We hear thier political rhetoric and we're Grumpy.
-After hearing too much political rhetoric and we become Sleepy.
-We get all worked up over the issues and have to call our Doc.
-In the end, if we actually believe them were all a bit Dopey.
Sadly, i didn't come up with this next one, but I've seen it around for years.
Since I worked in shows, this became a relevant piece of my daily life.
THEATER LOGIC
In is down, down is front.
Out is up, up is back.
and of course -
Right is left and Left is right
A drop shouldn't
A block and fall does neither.
a prop doesn't, and a cove holds no water.
Tripping is OKAY
A running crew rarely gets anywhere;
A purchase line will buy you nothing;
A trap will not catch anything, and
A gridiron has nothing to do with football.
Strikes are work (and lots of it)
A green room, thank God, usually isn't.
And in closing, I'd like to say
BREAK A LEG . . . But not really.
Here's my top ten:
YOU KNOW YOU'RE A TOURIST WHEN-
10. You put your kids on leashes, but not your dogs.
9. Buying the paintng of a neon Mickey on velvet
sounded like a good idea at the time.
8. Your back is as red as your lobster dinner.
7. You're willing to trade your 1st born child
for a cigarette lighter (or a lit cigarette)
at the airport arrival terminal.
6. You cry at Kermit singing Rainbow Connection
everytime you walk past the Muppets movie
theater at the Studios
5. When you get into an argument with a cast member
about why they 'Moved the Hulk Roller Coaster'
from the Magic Kingdom.
4. When you get into an argument with a crew member
about why they 'Moved Space Mountian Roller Coaster'
from Universal Studios Orlando.
3. When you circle Animal Kingdom several times wondering
where they 'Moved the Shamu the Killer Whale Show' to.
2. You put squeaky shoes on your toddler so you can find
them in a crowd.
1. You tell time by what dining reservation is next.
OKAY, So I Have two more:
You know you're a tourist when- your wardrobe is matching
neon pinstrip tie dye and you're following triangle shaped
flag with the words 'TOURISMO' on it.
You know you're a tourist when- you voluntarily allow your
body to be thrown into complete darknes at break-neck speeds
while being strapped to a tiny rocket shaped ride car that is
being controlled by an unknown indvidual who is wearing a
dorkey space costume.
POLITICS AND DISNEY:
It has been brought to my attention, that when comes to politics
we are all a bit like the seven dwarfs:
-We meet them and we're Bashful.
-You soon realize the cost for a political meeting is nothing to Sneeze at.
-When we hear their promises we're Happy.
-We hear thier political rhetoric and we're Grumpy.
-After hearing too much political rhetoric and we become Sleepy.
-We get all worked up over the issues and have to call our Doc.
-In the end, if we actually believe them were all a bit Dopey.
Sadly, i didn't come up with this next one, but I've seen it around for years.
Since I worked in shows, this became a relevant piece of my daily life.
THEATER LOGIC
In is down, down is front.
Out is up, up is back.
and of course -
Right is left and Left is right
A drop shouldn't
A block and fall does neither.
a prop doesn't, and a cove holds no water.
Tripping is OKAY
A running crew rarely gets anywhere;
A purchase line will buy you nothing;
A trap will not catch anything, and
A gridiron has nothing to do with football.
Strikes are work (and lots of it)
A green room, thank God, usually isn't.
And in closing, I'd like to say
BREAK A LEG . . . But not really.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
YOU DID WHAT?
The fondest memories are those where you should have gotten into big trouble, but didn't. I was at Epic one day and my coordinator said, "Do you want some ice cream?" Normally that would sound innocent enough, but this was during a show. We walked over to the dinosaur ice cream stand outside Epic and ate ice cream, then strolled back to the stage in time to finish the show.
During the run of Hunchback of Notre Dame, one of my cast was a Michael Jackson impersonator. To look at him out of make up, you would never know it. I am a photographer on the side and had started making a name for my self as such at several of the stages that I worked at. He wanted pictures of him as MJ, so one day, he dressed up and did the hair and make up. Let me say he looked exactly like MJ. We went out on stage and shot some pretty good pictures. The techs saw what we were doing and turned on the fog machines and fans. It was pretty darn cool.
HOWEVER, it didn't stop there. Back in the day, before lights motors action stunt show, there was residential street and a backstage studio tour that ran right next to our stage. MJ impersonator walked off the Hunchback stage and into view of the tour tram. People started to talk. He walked next to the tour tram. The tour guide lost her train of thought and started stumbling over her lines. We, meaning MJ impersonator, myself and half dozen members of the hunckback cast walked into the park. Now, mind you, the cast was wearing shorts and t-shirts with 'Hunchback' written in sharpie on the front. They were playing the body guards. . . . God help us. Seeing how the crowds mobbed MJ, this as not a smart idea.
We heard a few guests say "Hey MJ!" "Is that. . .no it couldn't-" "Look who it is." You could feel the electricity start to build in a matter of moments. Seeing a stir start to build, we ducked out the back gate as soon as we could. End of story ? Not quiet. Later our stage manager came up to us and said,"Please tell me that you did not walk through the park like that." We said, "Of course not." WE knew, that he knew, that we knew.
Speaking of being in place you probably shouldn't, as a photographer for several of the Indy Stunt doubles, I have been in places on that stage that I KNOW I should have neve been in. Like the Mayan temple set in the ball(rolling boulder) track. In a prop rock during the show so I could get pictures of the Plane scene. At the top of the market place buildings, so I could get shots of high falls. At least I never went up in th rafters like the boys did one day. THey were bored and moved the high fall pad to under one of the beams in the rafters and decided to take flying leaps from the roof of the stage.
If you have ever seen the Indy stunt show, then you'll know that scene two is the cairo marketplace. In that set above the awing is a little niche. They use this niche for DJ's at times during convention shows. One day two of our Epic/Fantasmic! cast got bored between Fantasmic shows and decided to climb into the set and pretend they were eating dinner. . . during the Epic show. One was wearing one of Marion's shirts as a diguse. At the end of the scene, he knelt down to the other and pretended to propose. (By the way, both guys were married with kids.)
THe cast and crew about died laughing. The stage manager, thank goodness was awesome. She came up to them and said(paraphased) "That was the funniest thing i have ever seen. Don't you ever do it again."
Fantasmic! stunt perfomers meet at Epic, use Epic's pargo to ride over to the stage. Every so often they'll give ride to a character or two as well. One day the driver took a short cut through the creative costuming tunnel (part of the backstage tour) and turned a lliiitttle to soon. Because setting outside of the tunnel are prop planes from the movie Pearl Harbor. On this particular day, the Epic driver plowed into the wing of the plane an crumpled the top of the pargo. No one was hurt, from what I can remember, but they did have to use the jaws of life to get one of the character girls out of the front seat. And wouldn't you know, the driver still works at Disney.
I had my own personal "You did what ?" moment one day at Fantasmic!. I was not in a good mood that day. I had one precious darling cast mamber get all over my case one day because she said "This is not my costume. My costume does not have this piece in it" (it was a snap in, snap out removable piece)
I said,"you're the only one doing this role today. Not one else has worn it. It's identical to the other costumes in the trailer."
She still said, "This is not my costume, I don't use this piece."
Now, mind you, we are on the steamboat. The cross bridge is pulled back and the boat is about to start moving. I snatched the costume from her hands, ripped out the unwanted item and handed it back to her. "Here it's doesn't have that strap anymore."
She went out and did her part, but ran to the stage manager afterwards and said "costuming was being mean to me."
And 'bless his soul', he stood up for us and said,"Did you check your preset ?"
She started to cry.
I went to my manager and told her what happened. All she said was, "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that."
Ah, those were the days.
During the run of Hunchback of Notre Dame, one of my cast was a Michael Jackson impersonator. To look at him out of make up, you would never know it. I am a photographer on the side and had started making a name for my self as such at several of the stages that I worked at. He wanted pictures of him as MJ, so one day, he dressed up and did the hair and make up. Let me say he looked exactly like MJ. We went out on stage and shot some pretty good pictures. The techs saw what we were doing and turned on the fog machines and fans. It was pretty darn cool.
HOWEVER, it didn't stop there. Back in the day, before lights motors action stunt show, there was residential street and a backstage studio tour that ran right next to our stage. MJ impersonator walked off the Hunchback stage and into view of the tour tram. People started to talk. He walked next to the tour tram. The tour guide lost her train of thought and started stumbling over her lines. We, meaning MJ impersonator, myself and half dozen members of the hunckback cast walked into the park. Now, mind you, the cast was wearing shorts and t-shirts with 'Hunchback' written in sharpie on the front. They were playing the body guards. . . . God help us. Seeing how the crowds mobbed MJ, this as not a smart idea.
We heard a few guests say "Hey MJ!" "Is that. . .no it couldn't-" "Look who it is." You could feel the electricity start to build in a matter of moments. Seeing a stir start to build, we ducked out the back gate as soon as we could. End of story ? Not quiet. Later our stage manager came up to us and said,"Please tell me that you did not walk through the park like that." We said, "Of course not." WE knew, that he knew, that we knew.
Speaking of being in place you probably shouldn't, as a photographer for several of the Indy Stunt doubles, I have been in places on that stage that I KNOW I should have neve been in. Like the Mayan temple set in the ball(rolling boulder) track. In a prop rock during the show so I could get pictures of the Plane scene. At the top of the market place buildings, so I could get shots of high falls. At least I never went up in th rafters like the boys did one day. THey were bored and moved the high fall pad to under one of the beams in the rafters and decided to take flying leaps from the roof of the stage.
If you have ever seen the Indy stunt show, then you'll know that scene two is the cairo marketplace. In that set above the awing is a little niche. They use this niche for DJ's at times during convention shows. One day two of our Epic/Fantasmic! cast got bored between Fantasmic shows and decided to climb into the set and pretend they were eating dinner. . . during the Epic show. One was wearing one of Marion's shirts as a diguse. At the end of the scene, he knelt down to the other and pretended to propose. (By the way, both guys were married with kids.)
THe cast and crew about died laughing. The stage manager, thank goodness was awesome. She came up to them and said(paraphased) "That was the funniest thing i have ever seen. Don't you ever do it again."
Fantasmic! stunt perfomers meet at Epic, use Epic's pargo to ride over to the stage. Every so often they'll give ride to a character or two as well. One day the driver took a short cut through the creative costuming tunnel (part of the backstage tour) and turned a lliiitttle to soon. Because setting outside of the tunnel are prop planes from the movie Pearl Harbor. On this particular day, the Epic driver plowed into the wing of the plane an crumpled the top of the pargo. No one was hurt, from what I can remember, but they did have to use the jaws of life to get one of the character girls out of the front seat. And wouldn't you know, the driver still works at Disney.
I had my own personal "You did what ?" moment one day at Fantasmic!. I was not in a good mood that day. I had one precious darling cast mamber get all over my case one day because she said "This is not my costume. My costume does not have this piece in it" (it was a snap in, snap out removable piece)
I said,"you're the only one doing this role today. Not one else has worn it. It's identical to the other costumes in the trailer."
She still said, "This is not my costume, I don't use this piece."
Now, mind you, we are on the steamboat. The cross bridge is pulled back and the boat is about to start moving. I snatched the costume from her hands, ripped out the unwanted item and handed it back to her. "Here it's doesn't have that strap anymore."
She went out and did her part, but ran to the stage manager afterwards and said "costuming was being mean to me."
And 'bless his soul', he stood up for us and said,"Did you check your preset ?"
She started to cry.
I went to my manager and told her what happened. All she said was, "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that."
Ah, those were the days.
Monday, July 6, 2009
STARWARS CENTRAL
If you think Star Wars fans swarm the Disney MGM Studios (aka Disney Hollywood Studios) for four weekends in May and June, you would only be half true. In fact, some of the biggest fans are actually backstage. At least for the first few years, there was stiff competition to be in the cast. The first character coordinator took ownership of the event and continuted to live, eat and breathe Star Wars for the first four years of it's existence.
We had Imperial Guard uniforms that were hand me downs from the Star Wars on ice show. We never intended to use these costumes until Coordinator "T" saw them. He got permission to use them and for years they became the official coordinator costume. Sadly, we lost coordinator "T" to cancer during the fourth year of the event. The following year as we unloaded the road cases, we resealed the Imperial Guard costumes and no one used them that year in honor of our friend and colleague.
Coordinator "T" established the greenroom / breakroom as Star Wars Central. He made posterboard size placards to hang around the room, each with a character's picture, history and thier autograph. Every year we had a TV /DVD player set up to play the movies. . . all day . . . non stop. . . over and over and over. Don't get me wrong, I love the movies, but when you start receiting the movie word for word, it gets to be a bit much. The first few years espescially, we'd have the walls covered in character development information, the movies running in one corner and people reading the books in another. Needless to say it was total immersion in the World of Star Wars.
I consider myself a fan of the film, but not a fanatic. However, I was training a new costumer one year. While I was showing her who was who and who did what, I caught myself sounding like a fanatic. "Darth Maul was a Sith Lord who killed. . . . Bobo Fett is the son of Jango Fett who fought in the. . . . Before Anakin turned to the dark side he and Queen Amadalla . . . . " NOoo!!!. I refuse to be a fanatic !!! Okay, there I said. I'm better now. Let's move on. :)
Star Wars was always a bit of a step child when it came to setting up for the event, we were rarely had the same venue twice. One year Star Wars Central was the character's warm up room. Two years it was in the old Hunchback of Notre Dame stage (Until Spectitcal of Lights - the christmas lights people moved in). One year we were in the parade car barn, which got nice and toasty during the day, even with fans and AC blowing. My last year we were over in the lighting and grip building with an outside costume drying room that kept tripping breakers.
Besides the greenroom area and wardrobe, Starwars Central also had a sizeable Cosmotology department. Four o'clock in the morning call times, some of our cast would stumble into work, throw on a t-shirt, climb into the make up chair and fall asleep while the makeup artists worked. Sometime around 8 o'clock they would find caffine, thier costume and THEN thier day would begin.
Packing up such a large event was always an adventure. For the first few years, we used cardboard moving boxes. They work great if you're moving. They don't work very well when you have to pack and unpack over and over. Our poor beat up boxes were eventual replaced by five or six snazzy new roadcases. The only problem is you needed two people who were not afraid to drive 16 ft box trucks across town to the warehouses.
I am proud to say, I met that challenge and won. The first trip however. . . .Let's just say, bouncy box truck + speed bump = unhappy driver. . . and passangers. The first time I drove the truck, I went to the gas pumps near central shops to fill up . . . alone. I wanted to get used to the brakes, ect with out anyone kowing how badly i drove. That was my first lesson on speed bumps. On the road across town to the warehouses (no, I'm not telling you where), I had two people in the cab and the back end filled top to bottom with stuff. Altough it wasn't a speed bump, I learned quickly that MR Box Truck didn't like rough railroad tracks either. My passangers also learned where the 'oh shit grips' were. Sorry guys. I made it up to them a little when we decided to play hooky our way back and stopped at a buffet for lunch.
While Disney Hollywod Studios had a Disney Stars and Motorcars parade, they included a Star Wars car. Luke and Leia would ride in the car and a remoe controlled R2D2 would drive along ahead of it. The day R2 arrived at the studios for a test drive it was like a homing beacon went out to everyone who had ever worked Star Wars weekends. What started out as five or six people grew to nearly twenty in minutes. "There's a real R2 unit." "We have an R2D2." "Can we keep him?" We had a manager who was scared to death of it, so the robot operator made sure he (R2)chased her around backstage every chance he could.
One final thought on Star Wars but sadly, I can't take credit for coming up with this saying.
The Force is like Duct Tape - there's a light side and a dark side and it holds the world together.
We had Imperial Guard uniforms that were hand me downs from the Star Wars on ice show. We never intended to use these costumes until Coordinator "T" saw them. He got permission to use them and for years they became the official coordinator costume. Sadly, we lost coordinator "T" to cancer during the fourth year of the event. The following year as we unloaded the road cases, we resealed the Imperial Guard costumes and no one used them that year in honor of our friend and colleague.
Coordinator "T" established the greenroom / breakroom as Star Wars Central. He made posterboard size placards to hang around the room, each with a character's picture, history and thier autograph. Every year we had a TV /DVD player set up to play the movies. . . all day . . . non stop. . . over and over and over. Don't get me wrong, I love the movies, but when you start receiting the movie word for word, it gets to be a bit much. The first few years espescially, we'd have the walls covered in character development information, the movies running in one corner and people reading the books in another. Needless to say it was total immersion in the World of Star Wars.
I consider myself a fan of the film, but not a fanatic. However, I was training a new costumer one year. While I was showing her who was who and who did what, I caught myself sounding like a fanatic. "Darth Maul was a Sith Lord who killed. . . . Bobo Fett is the son of Jango Fett who fought in the. . . . Before Anakin turned to the dark side he and Queen Amadalla . . . . " NOoo!!!. I refuse to be a fanatic !!! Okay, there I said. I'm better now. Let's move on. :)
Star Wars was always a bit of a step child when it came to setting up for the event, we were rarely had the same venue twice. One year Star Wars Central was the character's warm up room. Two years it was in the old Hunchback of Notre Dame stage (Until Spectitcal of Lights - the christmas lights people moved in). One year we were in the parade car barn, which got nice and toasty during the day, even with fans and AC blowing. My last year we were over in the lighting and grip building with an outside costume drying room that kept tripping breakers.
Besides the greenroom area and wardrobe, Starwars Central also had a sizeable Cosmotology department. Four o'clock in the morning call times, some of our cast would stumble into work, throw on a t-shirt, climb into the make up chair and fall asleep while the makeup artists worked. Sometime around 8 o'clock they would find caffine, thier costume and THEN thier day would begin.
Packing up such a large event was always an adventure. For the first few years, we used cardboard moving boxes. They work great if you're moving. They don't work very well when you have to pack and unpack over and over. Our poor beat up boxes were eventual replaced by five or six snazzy new roadcases. The only problem is you needed two people who were not afraid to drive 16 ft box trucks across town to the warehouses.
I am proud to say, I met that challenge and won. The first trip however. . . .Let's just say, bouncy box truck + speed bump = unhappy driver. . . and passangers. The first time I drove the truck, I went to the gas pumps near central shops to fill up . . . alone. I wanted to get used to the brakes, ect with out anyone kowing how badly i drove. That was my first lesson on speed bumps. On the road across town to the warehouses (no, I'm not telling you where), I had two people in the cab and the back end filled top to bottom with stuff. Altough it wasn't a speed bump, I learned quickly that MR Box Truck didn't like rough railroad tracks either. My passangers also learned where the 'oh shit grips' were. Sorry guys. I made it up to them a little when we decided to play hooky our way back and stopped at a buffet for lunch.
While Disney Hollywod Studios had a Disney Stars and Motorcars parade, they included a Star Wars car. Luke and Leia would ride in the car and a remoe controlled R2D2 would drive along ahead of it. The day R2 arrived at the studios for a test drive it was like a homing beacon went out to everyone who had ever worked Star Wars weekends. What started out as five or six people grew to nearly twenty in minutes. "There's a real R2 unit." "We have an R2D2." "Can we keep him?" We had a manager who was scared to death of it, so the robot operator made sure he (R2)chased her around backstage every chance he could.
One final thought on Star Wars but sadly, I can't take credit for coming up with this saying.
The Force is like Duct Tape - there's a light side and a dark side and it holds the world together.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Star Wars Gay Days and the Eternal Fan
Star Wars Weekends just so happened to land right in the middle of Gay Days at Disney. Now, Gay Days isn't so much a sanctioned event at Disney, as it is the theme parks taking advantage of a golden opportunity. It all started when some people met on line and decided to meet at Walt Disney World. (Since then Sea World, Universal and Downtown Orlando has gotten involved as well.) The group of men then decided to wear red shirts at the parks so they could find each other.
Enter Star Wars Weekends. Among the characters at the event are three Royal Guards dressed head to toe in red. Red helmets. Red velvet capes. Red gloves. Red wellington boots. Lets just say, there were certian individuals scrambling to be Royal Gaurds on Gay days.
In the beginning years, adult fans were not allowed to dress up, but as time went on they started to lighten up on those rules. One year I saw Obi Wan Kenobe pushing a baby stroller. I often wondered why he didn't just use his Jedi telepathy to move it along. We had one fan that came every day of every weekend dressed like a Jedi. She even legally changed her name to one of the character's last name.
Let be known here and now, not every 'body' is meant for spandex. After seeing my fair share of chunky Storm Troopers, I am convinced that some friends need to warn thier Star Wars fan friend that 'maybe you should consider being. . . say, a Tuskin Raider.' When the one of the stars was an ewok, we had a fan try to bring a tiki torch into the park. Management put a stop to that at the gate.
The one fan that kind of gave me the creeps was dressed in a blue velvet cape with a silver hair barrette pulled down over his eyes. He kind of looked like Jordie from Star Trek. I'm not sure if he got his movies confused or what. We had a fan give Darth Maul the creeps one year when she sat next to his autgraph cue line and told everyone that they were married.
As usual, with every good thing, there has to be those dim wits that take things too far. We had a group of high schoolers at Disney on a school function that decided to corner Greedo and attack him. Needless to say the teens were sent home (up north somewhere, so it wasn't cheap airfare) and thier school was banded from Disney invited functions for three or five years (I believe). Lessoned learned: Don't Mess With the Mouse, or in this case The Bounty Hunter.
Most of the fans, however, were just in awe of seeing thier favorite stars. We had one star that played young Anakin. He kept his VIP tour guide hopping. One day before the motorcade, our cast had loaded into the pargos for a ride to the parade step off. Young anakin comes flying around the corner on a bike he had found back stage and was racing the pargos to the front gate. About three minutes back you see his VIP guide in her plaid vest and skirt pedaling her bike for all she's worth trying to catch up
to him. The kid was old enough to know were he had to be and when he had to be there, so in between those times he . . . was being a kid.
I have to say it was amussing to watch one of our stars deal with the throngs of adoring fans. . . when he was hung over. THe VIP host said it was a bout of food poisioning. . . rrright. No one believed it for a minute. As fast as he ran from the motorcade car to the bathroom, he should have been a track star.
Most of the Star Wars stars were great to work with back stage. Down to earth. Easy to talk to. One however, decided to smoke in the covertible before the motorcade and came pretty close to smoking out the ewok that sat nearby. We were more worried about an ash landing on him and setting his fur on fire. He survived. The motorcade went on. And there's one more story for the record books.
Enter Star Wars Weekends. Among the characters at the event are three Royal Guards dressed head to toe in red. Red helmets. Red velvet capes. Red gloves. Red wellington boots. Lets just say, there were certian individuals scrambling to be Royal Gaurds on Gay days.
In the beginning years, adult fans were not allowed to dress up, but as time went on they started to lighten up on those rules. One year I saw Obi Wan Kenobe pushing a baby stroller. I often wondered why he didn't just use his Jedi telepathy to move it along. We had one fan that came every day of every weekend dressed like a Jedi. She even legally changed her name to one of the character's last name.
Let be known here and now, not every 'body' is meant for spandex. After seeing my fair share of chunky Storm Troopers, I am convinced that some friends need to warn thier Star Wars fan friend that 'maybe you should consider being. . . say, a Tuskin Raider.' When the one of the stars was an ewok, we had a fan try to bring a tiki torch into the park. Management put a stop to that at the gate.
The one fan that kind of gave me the creeps was dressed in a blue velvet cape with a silver hair barrette pulled down over his eyes. He kind of looked like Jordie from Star Trek. I'm not sure if he got his movies confused or what. We had a fan give Darth Maul the creeps one year when she sat next to his autgraph cue line and told everyone that they were married.
As usual, with every good thing, there has to be those dim wits that take things too far. We had a group of high schoolers at Disney on a school function that decided to corner Greedo and attack him. Needless to say the teens were sent home (up north somewhere, so it wasn't cheap airfare) and thier school was banded from Disney invited functions for three or five years (I believe). Lessoned learned: Don't Mess With the Mouse, or in this case The Bounty Hunter.
Most of the fans, however, were just in awe of seeing thier favorite stars. We had one star that played young Anakin. He kept his VIP tour guide hopping. One day before the motorcade, our cast had loaded into the pargos for a ride to the parade step off. Young anakin comes flying around the corner on a bike he had found back stage and was racing the pargos to the front gate. About three minutes back you see his VIP guide in her plaid vest and skirt pedaling her bike for all she's worth trying to catch up
to him. The kid was old enough to know were he had to be and when he had to be there, so in between those times he . . . was being a kid.
I have to say it was amussing to watch one of our stars deal with the throngs of adoring fans. . . when he was hung over. THe VIP host said it was a bout of food poisioning. . . rrright. No one believed it for a minute. As fast as he ran from the motorcade car to the bathroom, he should have been a track star.
Most of the Star Wars stars were great to work with back stage. Down to earth. Easy to talk to. One however, decided to smoke in the covertible before the motorcade and came pretty close to smoking out the ewok that sat nearby. We were more worried about an ash landing on him and setting his fur on fire. He survived. The motorcade went on. And there's one more story for the record books.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Star Wars Weekends - "In a galaxy Far Far away..."
Here we are, nearing the end of another Disney's Star Wars Weekends and it's been three years since I've had any involvement with the event. Do I miss it ? . . .Not really. . . Okay, maybe a little.
For several years i was heavily involved with the Star Wars event. The first year we did it, I saw an audition notice go up in the greenroom and literally pestered the heck out of the manager until he officially assigned me to work on it with the Costumer and Costumer assistant.
Long hours. Late night and early morning rehearsals. Rooms filled with glue fumes filled my days for five years around April through June. The first week of the 2009 event and mother nature dumped buckets of rain. From my past experience, I know the cast and costumers were NOT having a fun day. Jawas, The Emperor and Tusken Raiders's costumes are all made out of a type of burlap-y, loose weave cotton, a.k.a. they soak up rain like a sponge. Jawas are little. A strong wind could blow some of them over. One year, when it rained, the poor Jawas could barely walk beacause their costume has become so heavy with rain water. And once they become soaked, they take DAYS to dry. I believe a Jawa robe was put in the dryer one year and it shrunk because we suddenly had a baby Jawa robe. It took trying to hand wash a Tusken Raider costume one time to realize they were meant to be drycleaned.
One of my first duties on the very first Star Wars event was a road trip. I saw paperwork on the manager's desk from a circus / traveling show producer in my home city. They weren't just from my home town, they were literally next door to my dad's office. I told my manager that I knew exactly where they were and "I'd love to go pick up the Star Wars on Ice costumes from them." That's right, I said Star Wars on Ice. . . Yeah, I never heard of it either.
Since they were still packing up the last of the costumes when I arrived, I had lunch with my brother and did d speedy "Hi, How are ya?" to everyone back home before heading back north to Orlando. Most of the pieces were used for years. . . until Disney invited THE Star Wars fan club, 501 Legion, to join our parade one week end. My manager and the costumer were checking out the 501 Legion's costumes and realized our Storm Troopers had to have an over haul.
The next year, we had all spiffy new Storm Troopers. Funny how we all of a sudden 'finally had the budget' to get new costumes. One last thing, before i leave the Star Wars on Ice costumes. The people that wore those were itty bitty people and we had to get inventive about how to make plastic bigger. Also, some one had glued a stip of wood inside one of the leg pieces, as if wearing plastic wasn't uncomfortable enough, they now had a chunk of wood banging them in the shin. . . We threw that piece away. If fact we threw alot of those pieces away, since PVC plastic costumes tend to crack easily.
Life hasn't been easy for the Storm Troopers. When you wear spandex and plastic armour in public, the PUBLIC tends to get a little frisky with the roaming hands. . . you get the picture. When it rained, some characters couldn't go out, like Queen Amadalla, a drop of rain would damage the velvet. The Storm
Troopers, however, had no such luck. Rain, shine, they never missed thier sets. . .EXCEPT for the frequent wardrobe malfunctions. The only thing that could keep the costume together was a glue that literally melted the plastic together. A squeeze of glue, squirt of activator and quicklyputthepiecestogether. The first year we had clone troopers and sand troopers, I should have bought stock in the glue company.
An Oh the 5 am Storm Trooper on the Turnstiles rehearsals. We had to be at work at 4:oo-4:30 in the morning, get the characters out the door with thier stuff, then follow them to the front of the park with the Pargo with many tubes of glue and activator. For those who have never seen Star Wars Weekends, 'The Powers That Be' decided to enhance the event by putting three Storm Troopers up on top of the gates entering the park. This is kind of an "A" cast event since they wanted to make sure who ever was up there wasn't going to fall off.
The troopers would heckle the guests coming into the park and try to look menacing. One year, when the state was trying to burn down with hundreds of forest fires, the poor Storm Troopers could barely see the edge of the roof, much less any of the guest down below. Everyone was wearing painter's masks to block some of the smoke. When we all starting to cough when by mid morning, the coordinator called it quits for safety reasons.
There are many more stories to come.
For several years i was heavily involved with the Star Wars event. The first year we did it, I saw an audition notice go up in the greenroom and literally pestered the heck out of the manager until he officially assigned me to work on it with the Costumer and Costumer assistant.
Long hours. Late night and early morning rehearsals. Rooms filled with glue fumes filled my days for five years around April through June. The first week of the 2009 event and mother nature dumped buckets of rain. From my past experience, I know the cast and costumers were NOT having a fun day. Jawas, The Emperor and Tusken Raiders's costumes are all made out of a type of burlap-y, loose weave cotton, a.k.a. they soak up rain like a sponge. Jawas are little. A strong wind could blow some of them over. One year, when it rained, the poor Jawas could barely walk beacause their costume has become so heavy with rain water. And once they become soaked, they take DAYS to dry. I believe a Jawa robe was put in the dryer one year and it shrunk because we suddenly had a baby Jawa robe. It took trying to hand wash a Tusken Raider costume one time to realize they were meant to be drycleaned.
One of my first duties on the very first Star Wars event was a road trip. I saw paperwork on the manager's desk from a circus / traveling show producer in my home city. They weren't just from my home town, they were literally next door to my dad's office. I told my manager that I knew exactly where they were and "I'd love to go pick up the Star Wars on Ice costumes from them." That's right, I said Star Wars on Ice. . . Yeah, I never heard of it either.
Since they were still packing up the last of the costumes when I arrived, I had lunch with my brother and did d speedy "Hi, How are ya?" to everyone back home before heading back north to Orlando. Most of the pieces were used for years. . . until Disney invited THE Star Wars fan club, 501 Legion, to join our parade one week end. My manager and the costumer were checking out the 501 Legion's costumes and realized our Storm Troopers had to have an over haul.
The next year, we had all spiffy new Storm Troopers. Funny how we all of a sudden 'finally had the budget' to get new costumes. One last thing, before i leave the Star Wars on Ice costumes. The people that wore those were itty bitty people and we had to get inventive about how to make plastic bigger. Also, some one had glued a stip of wood inside one of the leg pieces, as if wearing plastic wasn't uncomfortable enough, they now had a chunk of wood banging them in the shin. . . We threw that piece away. If fact we threw alot of those pieces away, since PVC plastic costumes tend to crack easily.
Life hasn't been easy for the Storm Troopers. When you wear spandex and plastic armour in public, the PUBLIC tends to get a little frisky with the roaming hands. . . you get the picture. When it rained, some characters couldn't go out, like Queen Amadalla, a drop of rain would damage the velvet. The Storm
Troopers, however, had no such luck. Rain, shine, they never missed thier sets. . .EXCEPT for the frequent wardrobe malfunctions. The only thing that could keep the costume together was a glue that literally melted the plastic together. A squeeze of glue, squirt of activator and quicklyputthepiecestogether. The first year we had clone troopers and sand troopers, I should have bought stock in the glue company.
An Oh the 5 am Storm Trooper on the Turnstiles rehearsals. We had to be at work at 4:oo-4:30 in the morning, get the characters out the door with thier stuff, then follow them to the front of the park with the Pargo with many tubes of glue and activator. For those who have never seen Star Wars Weekends, 'The Powers That Be' decided to enhance the event by putting three Storm Troopers up on top of the gates entering the park. This is kind of an "A" cast event since they wanted to make sure who ever was up there wasn't going to fall off.
The troopers would heckle the guests coming into the park and try to look menacing. One year, when the state was trying to burn down with hundreds of forest fires, the poor Storm Troopers could barely see the edge of the roof, much less any of the guest down below. Everyone was wearing painter's masks to block some of the smoke. When we all starting to cough when by mid morning, the coordinator called it quits for safety reasons.
There are many more stories to come.
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