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ANITA
ANSWER 11/3/08 10/27/08 10/20/08 10/13/08 10/6/08 9/29/08 9/22/08 9/15/08 9/8/08 9/1/08 8/25/08 8/11/08 8/4/08 7/28/08
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Hi! I'm Anita! September 22, 2008 Hi Everyone! I just want to extend my thanks to all of you who took the time to send my family and me best wishes after Hurricane Ike. We were more lucky than many, and our house sustained minimal damage. We're all back home again, and our electricity, water and internet services have been restored. Speaking of internet connections, it was only restored this past weekend, so I apologize for not being as thorough and detailed in this week's column as I usually try to be. I also want to thank my dear friend Flo for stepping in last week and writing the column for me. She did a great job, don't you think? A round of applause, please! I owe her a great debt which I plan to pay off in November with a Dole Whip. (Just kidding, Flo! Just Kidding!) Anita
I was just wondering when Disney starts decorating for Christmas?
It depends on what type of decorating you're wondering about. During the entire year, a crew works in the Holiday Warehouse, repairing and restoring older decorations and creating new ones for the next holiday season. During this time, they're also creating, installing, and removing decorations for other holiday celebrations throughout the year. They're a very busy crew! The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is currently in the process of being installed, although they begin checking them, repairing them, and planning the installation of them during the summer. The Castle Dream Lights were installed on Cinderella Castle a few weeks ago, before the first Not So Scary Halloween Party, although they won't be turned on until the first Very Merry Christmas Party. The short window between the two parties made it necessary to install them early. The Magic Kingdom is usually the first park to sport its holiday decor, since the first Very Merry Christmas Parties begin in November. This year's parties begin on November 10, 2008. The final Halloween party is on October 31, so that gives the decorating crew 10 short days to remove all traces of fall and Halloween decor and to replace them with winter holiday decorations. The other parks and Downtown Disney aren't scheduled to officially kick off their holiday celebrations until November 28, the day after Thanksgiving. This doesn't mean that one wouldn't see any holiday decorations prior to that day, because it's a long, time-consuming process to put them all up. Everything should be in place by November 28, though. The resorts also begin to decorate in November, and each resort has its own schedule. Back in the day, you went to bed in your Disney resort room on Thanksgiving, and woke up in a winter wonderland that appeared magically overnight. That doesn't happen anymore, however. Instead, it's a gradual process. Now I hear you asking, "So when do the decorations come down, then?" Well, that's a gradual process, too. The holiday season begins to wind down on December 24, 2008, at Downtown Disney and January 4, 2009, at other locations. Generally, after January 4, the decorations will gradually come down all across property. Some resorts remain decorated well into the following week. The dates slide each year depending on where the holidays fall during the week and when school vacations occur. For more details about Holiday Happenings at the World, click HERE. A.A.
Hi Anita. I enjoy your column every week. I know many people look for Hidden Mickeys, but I missed my favorite hidden Mary Poppins reference. In the Frontierland Train Station, there used to be a shelf with luggage stacked on it. Along with the luggage was a wooden leg with the name "Smith" on it. Fans of "Mary Poppins" will recognize the reference to the "wooden leg named Smith" joke. When I looked for it during my last visit in August, it was gone. Do you know when it was removed or what happened to it? The cast member at the train station that day had no clue what I was talking about when I asked about a wooden leg -- he may have thought I was a bit crazy. Thank you for imparting your knowledge to us.
I remember the wooden leg named Smith being located in the Lost and Found area of the Frontierland Station. I haven't seen it recently, however, and don't know what became of it if it's no longer there. Oddly, both Flo and I also remember it being in the Main Street Station at one time, but I don't have any pictures of it there, so it may be our memories playing tricks on us. It was also one of our favorite "Hidden Treasures" as well, so if anyone knows where it has gone, I'd love to hear about it! A.A
At that time, Scott, a former OmniBus driver, wrote to me to fill in the blanks, and gave me a treasure trove of information about the Omnibuses. I'll let him tell you about it in his own words, as he can tell it better than I. Some personal information has been snipped to protect Scott's privacy. Scott writes: "This is mostly from memory, so a few of the details may be a little sketchy, but I'll make note of these: "First, there were six OmniBuses in total at Epcot. The Main Street OmniBus, while the same design, isn't included in this count, and I know much less about it. The six in World Showcase were called the Londoner (Red), the Berliner (dark/bright blue), the Paris (lighter blue), the Marrakesh (Silver/Maroon), the Toronto (Tan/Brown), and the Tokyo (Yellow). "For
the years I drove these buses, there were typically three in operation
during a normal day. During busier times, sometimes four were used, and
on truly busy days, occasionally five were in service. For most of the
time I was there [ed. note: 1989 - 1997] one of the buses was being used
as the 'Character Bus' for World Showcase (WSC) Plaza character greetings
three times a day. Often, one of the buses would be in 'rehab' as well,
getting an extensive re-do to keep them shiny and running strong! After
all, they ran approximately 11 hours a day, 365 days a week, starting
and stopping the engine every 5 minutes! "Drivers gave a running spiel about the WSC pavilions, IllumiNations, FriendShip transportation, current entertainment, and other info. It was given all from memory, and was about 12 pages of text, to be memorized in a five-day training period, no less! "The buses themselves were built by WDW Central Shops, on standard GM truck chassis. They were standard shift, 4-speed transmission, powered by a straight-6 292 cubic inch engine that used LP Gas instead of gasoline. Much cleaner, and almost no exhaust smell. They seated 30 Guests: 15 on top, 13 below, and two up front next to the driver. "They typically operated from park opening (9 a.m. for both FW and WSC in those days) until about 8 p.m. most nights, when they were taken off the promenade in preparation for IllumiNations. The darkness made it impractical for the buses to operate, and the cast members served double duty as Audience Control for the show. "Following IllumiNations, two buses would re-emerge to assist late-dining guests in reaching the park exit. Often, these guests had enjoyed a fair amount of French or Italian wine (these tended to be the restaurants with the latest diners) so the ride to the front of the park was sometimes quite interesting! "The distance we brought these late night guests varied over the years. It was actually possible to make it all the way to the entrance plaza fountain (which used to be called the 'Prism' fountain, for the large lucite prisms in it -- sadly, gone now). This was obviously before the 'memory stones', or whatever they're called [ed. note: Leave a Legacy], that take up the entrance plaza now. The "theming rules" that precluded the OmniBuses from operating in FW were suspended this late at night, in the name of expediency. Unfortunately, there were several spots going under Spaceship Earth that the driver had to be extremely careful, and more than once, a bus came to a screeching halt when it passed under the too-low portion, damaging both vehicle and structure. No one was ever injured this way that I'm aware of, but we eventually stopped going that close, and instead dropped guests at the Innoventions Plaza fountain (Fountain of Nations). One other special use for the OmniBuses was for IllumiNations viewing for VIPs. We could stage one or two buses at the China Gate (between China and Norway), and a third at the Italy Isola area. I personally hosted quite a few celebrity guests at the China viewing area, including Bruce Jenner, Card Walker, Michael Jackson, and several others whose names escape me at the moment... darn the old age! "We had both a bell to ring and an old-style 'ah-OO-gah' horn to get guest's attention to move aside. Both were controlled by foot 'buttons' -- very similar to the high/low beam selector on '70s vintage cars. During the busiest times, occasionally a guest got brushed with the bus as we made our way through crowds. There were never any major injuries, but it unsettled management enough that we at first set attendance thresholds where we would discontinue service, then after a short time, however, it was decided that from both a safety perspective, and Return on Investment, such a low capacity attraction didn't make sense anymore. I was quite sad to see them go." Scott goes on to write about his favorite Omnibus memory: The crisp early morning in fall 1990 when his sole passenger was Walt Disney's daughter, Sharon Disney Brown Lund! I mean, how cool was that? Many, many thanks to Scott for taking the time to share his memories with me, and also thanks to all the readers who wrote in with their own memories and information. A few of you noted that the Magic Kingdom's OmniBus is still in operation during the early morning hours. Perhaps that's why I haven't seen it recently, as I never seem to get to the parks early anymore! A.A.
Anita, I was wondering if there was ever an old phone in one of the eateries on Main Street where you could pick it up and hear a woman gossiping. I asked on our trip during spring break '08 because I noticed it was missing and the woman said it never existed. I remember it clearly because I always thought it was funny. Am I just imagining it, or was there really a phone like that? Thanks.
Not only was there a phone like that, there still is a phone like that. The CM you asked may not have known about it because it was moved to a new location a few months ago. Originally, it was in the former Market House on Main Street U.S.A. The Market House was removed to make room for the expansion of the Main Street Bakery and the Crystal Arts shop. You'll be happy to know the the phone has found a new home in the Chapeau Shop on Town Square. Minnie Answer and her friend recently had fun listening to the "party line" while waiting for their hats to be personalized at the shop. The phone is one of those little hidden treasures that I so love at the World. A.A.
Hi Anita, on our last trip I bought some bar soaps from a little store on the second floor of the Grand Floridian. They were beautiful, and had designs inside them made out of different color soaps. They were such a hit at home. Is this store part of the Grand Floridian or is it an independent store, and what is the name? Thanks, you're the best!
The store at the Grand Floridian is called Basin White, and it's not owned by Disney. There is a second location selling slightly different merchandise in the Downtown Disney Marketplace called simply "Basin", and Basin stores can also be found at Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort and at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. If you're not within shopping distance, both Basin White and Basin have a web presence: http://www.basinwhite.com/ and http://basin.com/ . Happy shopping! A.A.
How many trains/tracks run on the attraction Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom? Looking at videos on a website that starts with "Y", it looks like there are two. I was wondering if it's the same ride/experience?
Expedition Everest only has one track, and there are five total trains, although they usually don't run all five at a time. This means that you experience the same ride each time. The only thing that varies is where you sit and if the Yeti is in A mode (fully moving) or B mode (stationary with strobes and fans to make it appear to be moving.) For the last several weeks, the Yeti has been in B mode, and I understand that there has been some damage to its structure preventing it from operating as it should. A.A.
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