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. :)

THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS, OH MY

Living in a town with three major theme park companies, you start to see where each develop their special niche. Universal Studios it's Halloween. With all of the classic monster movies to pull from, they have became the masters of the things that go bump in the night. During Holloween Horror Nights they scare the snot out of normaly sane individuals with deranged clowns, Bloody Mary, demented nursery ryhme characters and thier own creation: The Chain Saw Drill Team.(zombies chasing people around the park with real chain saws. . .with the blades removed of course.) I have heard of many occasions where half drunk guests try to challenge the cast for thier chain saws. Word to the wise, unlike at Disney and SeaWorld, scare characters at Universal can and do fight back.

Sea World always seems to have a 'We are the World' feel. For a while anyway, Fourth of July was thier niche. They had special patriotic Shamu shows and firworks. At the time I'm writing this, they had just been bought out by a foreign company, so time will tell if that will still be thier niche. A side note, they have a Shamu show called 'Believe'. My friend saw it the other day and said it was really cool. . . until the whales stopped believing. Apparently something happened and they started aggressively circling the tank. Needless to say, the trainers bailed out of the water until they get them calmed down.

Disney's niche in the holidays is Christmas. Nobody can even come close to all of the details that Disney puts in thier displays. There's a Forty Five foot Christmas Tree in the lobby of Wilderness Lodge. Although the uneven placement of the Teepee ornaments has bugged me all Season. Yacht and Beach club had a chocolate carousel. Boardwalk had a gingerbread gazebo with a moving train set running around it. Why a Gazebo? I'd like to know. If anyone has an answer, emial me. THe Grand Florida has a huge ginger bread house in their lobby. Our guests in the campgrounds who set up for the whole season have taken it upon thier self to decorate thier motor homes with lights and christmas displays to such a degree that is has drawn the attention of a travel channel television show.

The Millions of lights in the Osbourne Family lights display at the Studios lost alot of it's charm once residential street was plowed over for the new stunt show. The Spectical of Lights, or as we call it, S O L . . .(Yeah we have a few other choice discriptions as well), anyway, it all started in Little Rock Arkansaw. Mr Osbourne managed to tick off some neighbors with his massive Christmas light display every year. Law enforcement was called in to manage the crowds and government officals fined him for disrupting the peace and creating traffic jams. Story has it that a particular neighbor got mad, so he bought their house and threw lights on it as well. As this battle was spinning out of control, in steps Disney. They offered to pay off his fines and in return Disney would have the rights to the displays. And thus a Disney legend is born. A little side note, I was told that in 2008, as the metal globe that sits above the display was being installed, it was accidently dropped from the crane and it rolled several hundred yards into the park before stopping. It survived. Dented, but survived. One of my favorite memories of SOL, was back when they used to hand out 3D glasses. With them on, you'd see angels every where. One day, I came across a five or six years old child, standing inches away from a tall lit up candy cane. She'd put the glasses look at the lights. She'd take them off and look at the lights. Put them on, take them off. She must have done this five or six timed in a row. It was like she was trying to figure out where the angels came from.

Epcot always has the warm fuzzy 'all is well with the world' shows. Besides Illuminations, during chriatmas, they have a retelling of the Christmas story by guest celebrity narrators. It's always standing room only, which is why i haven't seen it yet. When you work for the mouse, you tend to not wait around when the lines are long.

Magic Kingdom, being the grand daddy of them all has a Christmas parade, an electric light parade, fireworks and characters out the ying yang. One year back in the nineties, it was a rainy, nasty mess here in Orlando on Christmas day. But the Disney Christmas parade that was televised showed bright sunny skys. So we had guests from Tampa decide to take a drive over to Orlando and get into the sunny side of the state. . . I mean after all, it was sunny on TV. Ooops, Faux Pas. Most, if not all of the Parade is filled in advance. This year Millie Cyrus was supposed to host it. I didn't have the heart to tell Millie's fans that her parts were aleady taped.

New Years has it's usual fireworks and confetti. On the eve of the new millenium, however, Disney had planned for everything from a mild hiccup in the computer systems to an all out Armaggeddon. They had high powered construction lights at every intersection in case the Y2K struck down our power grid. THey had lengthy plans in case of senario A, B and X. THEN. . .nothing happened. Universal Studios, in contrast, gave us one sheet of paper with some meager instructions in case of power outages and/ or Y2K mayhem. Again, nothing happened.

Poor Thanksgiving tends to get over looked alot. Management always gets a turkey and/ or ham for us and we potluck the rest. One year, Epic had several turkeys delievered to the stage on a tall, metal catering cart. The cart was pushed outside to give us room in the trailer. And there it sat . . . and sat . . . and sat. It had to have been nearly a month that it was forgotten outside of the Epic trailer. When one day, some one decided to send it back to catering. It was then that we realized we still had aleast two roast turkey's in there. Needless to say they were a bit fuzzy.
Martin Luther King day, I never really thought much about him, UNTIL his day turned into a paid holiday.

November is Native American Month and at the Wilderness Lodge, we have a tribal leader bless the lodge. Maybe that's why we're staying busy in the slow periods. In our lobby we have two totem poles. Since it is considered to be bad luck to have them face each other, ours are off set just a bit, but I was told that the totems almost facing each other is another reason we get it blessed every year, in order to keep all of the bad spirits, karma, ect away.

Another November memory was the year Disney decided to float the Macy's Thanksgiving day ballons over New York street. I was told that there had to technicians on the building roofs 24/7 to keep the helium ballond from tearing up or getting tangled up since they would sink in the cool night air and could possibly over inflate in the heated up day time air. We still managed to kill the a few ballons. I can'r remember if we did that one or two years, but when the Osbourne lights moved in the Macy's ballons moved up the road to Universal.

THanks for readiing. Keep coming back each month for more inside the insider's view of Disney