This week’s mailbag begins with letters to contributing writer Chris Barry, and in particular his November 20, 2008 article, “Disney Stuff – Disney Big Little Books.”
Amy G. writes:
When I saw the book for the “Donald and the Lost Jungle City”, it immediately reminded me of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Although the outside of the big temple on the front isn’t nearly as elaborate as the attraction, the title and the look of the characters walking up appeared to me as a precursor to the ride. Just a thought…
Thanks for reading and for responding. You know what the Imagineers say, that no idea is ever thrown out. An image may appear in the 1960s like this one and influence their design thought process years later.
Tim K. writes:
Just wanted to say thanks for the article on the Little Big Books. About 2 months ago I found a few in my attic that I had forgotten about from childhood. I spent a few days reading the Mystery at Disneyland one with my 8-year old son. We visited Disneyland for the first time back in August, so it was fun to revisit some of those locations from our trip. I think I also have a Batman and Spider Man Little Big Books around here somewhere.
Happy to oblige. It’s a great thing to share a book with a child and then be able to turn it around and show them their book come to life. I’ve gotten a few more since I wrote the article. A new Goofy just arrived. I have a Lassie and Bugs Bunny as well. I think I’ll keep up the collection.
Chris B. writes:
This is Chris Barry, I live in New Jersey at the shore. I have three children, have visited Disney World about 80 times and my first [Grateful] Dead show was in the summer of 1975. I have seen over 100 shows. Just thought it was interesting that we have similar experiences and the same name too.
I guess I have to say it…”It’s a small world after all!”
Staff writer Steve Russo answers the next group of letters from his December 5, 2008 article, “Post-Trip Musings and Observations.”
Dan Y. writes:
I enjoyed your collection of post-trip musings, and agree with most of them. I have a couple of quibbles, though. You say:
“I can understand someone wanting the convenience of his or her own car, but why would anyone staying on site drive to the Magic Kingdom? By the time you park at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), ride the tram from the parking lot then ferry or monorail to the Magic Kingdom. wouldn’t a bus dropping you off at the park entrance be easier and faster?”
But this is exactly the fun of driving to the Magic Kingdom – going to the TTC and hopping a monorail or a ferry. It extends the approach, and builds the excitement. And at the end of a visit the ferry is a very relaxing break between park storming and driving back to your resort. I always have a car, either rented at the airport or driven from Dallas, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Sit up close in Mickey’s Philharmagic – maybe the second or third row. I have no idea why, but the film and 3D effects are much better from the front.”
It’s a general rule with this type of 3D that the best effects will be able to make it out to about halfway between the screen and your eyes. I guess sitting in the front makes the images bigger, and 1/2 way between you and the screen is really pretty close to you. I usually sit in back, where the images come out to about mid-audience. I’ll have to try the up front thing, though – sounds fun!
“…at the ramp by the first turn to right, look down to see Kermit the Frog.”
For the life of me, I can’t see why that little robot would be referred to as Kermit. Was there an AA Kermit somewhere, and this is the electronic guts? As is, he looks nothing like Kermit!
Other than that, I agreed with all of your points – thanks for writing them down.
You and I can probably agree on a lot but… not about driving to the MK. To be honest, in the years I rented vehicles they mostly sat in the resort parking lot collecting dust – unless we traveled off-site. I thoroughly appreciate the convenience of Disney transportation (but I’m also never there during peak attendance periods either).
I can’t give you a reason for Philharmagic – it’s purely subjective. It just seemed to be better.
On Kermit… that was my reaction at first as well. Then the more I looked at the robot, the more it looked like him. Maybe the power of suggestion. I have no idea if this is an intentional Kermit or it was noticed by a guest and word just spread.
Bob B. writes:
If you are Active Duty or Retired Military take the time to purchase “Stars and Stripes” tickets at the military resort “Shades of Green” on Walt Disney World property. You can earn some good savings by doing that.
At the same time staying at Shades of Green can earn you you some more savings if you had planned to stay at a moderate of higher resort. The Walt Disney World Value resorts are still cheaper for individual room rates.
Thanks for posting the Kermit photo, I was at Disneyland in October and was looking as hard as I could to see if they had a Kermit or not. If they do, I couldn’t find him.
Blair B. writes:
I am staying at an off-property hotel with a rental car and plan on visiting some of the resorts. Can I park at the resorts? Is there a fee? Any help and/or advice would be appreciated! Thanks!
To the best of my knowledge… When you enter a parking area for any of the Walt Disney World resorts, you will pass through a security checkpoint. If you are not a registered guest at the resort, you may be issued a temporary pass (typically around 2 hours) allowing you to dine in a resort restaurant, visit and sight-see, etc. For specific resorts (The Contemporary comes to mind), you may have to be on a restaurant’s reservation list to be granted parking. They’re obviously attempting to maintain resort parking for registered guests while trying to police those that would attempt to park at a resort as a means of avoiding the theme park parking fees. At the same time, they want to allow others the ability to visit the resorts and their restaurants.
While I’m not advocating this, you could park at Downtown Disney and use the buses to visit the resorts. There are no buses that go directly to any of the parks from Downtown Disney.
MousePlanet staff members answer a couple of questions on visits to Disneyland and the MousePlanet Web site.
Kelly J. writes:
Are your park updates available via RSS? They are very good, it would be great if you had a feed for them. Also, do you know if there is a way to find out real-time wait times at the Disneyland Resort?
MousePlanet’s daily content is indeed available via RSS here. Please let us know if you have any difficulty with that link.
With regard to wait-times at Disneyland, there is no information available from Disneyland; that’s a question probably best posted in the Disneyland Resort forum on our MouePad discussion board.
Lynn writes:
Just a heads up… January 16 to 18 should be extremely busy in Anaheim, what with the Martin Luther King holiday and the NAMM Show at the Convention Center. The traffic around the Resort is usually so congested that they post advisories on the electronic boards around town.
Thanks for the heads-up about the very large music products trade show! You’re right, this has historically been a very busy weekend at the Resort for the reasons you mentioned. We’ll be sure to mention it in the upcoming Disneyland Resort Update here on MousePlanet.
Finally, Jacque G. writes in response to the letter from Kristina D. about her experience at the Jonas Brothers’ signing:
In response to the letter regarding the nightmare this mother experienced at the Jonas Brother’s event, I can only say thank you. I was not at this event however I was in Disneyland October 5 to 11, 2008. My family includes my adult daughter, her husband and three children, ages 13, 11 and 6. We also brought my grandaughter’s friend. We have been going to Disneyland every year for 7 years and before that we vacationed there numerous times since 1973.
We also chose to plan and spend our money at Disneyland because it was magical. This last trip was heartbreaking because Disneyland has lost the magic.
There were so many disappointing incidents that were similar to the author’s that I won’t be redundant but something has gone very, very wrong.
I did send an email to guest services and the response I received was comparable with the lack of customer service that I experienced in October. They basically stated that it was “unfortunate” what we experienced and they hoped we would come back.
We are pretty easy to please, we know there will be lines and people and some attractions closed however we never would have believed that Disney employees could be rude and uncaring. What was most interesting was the change in the Disney employees attitude and lack of customer service seemed to influence the guests.
It was, by far, the most stressful vacation we have ever spent and we will not be returning. Disney has turned into nothing more than a money machine. I really don’t believe this was Walt’s vision.
Thanks for letting me share this.
