MousePlanet CEO and staff writer Alex Stroup answers reader questions about the MousePlanet and the Disneyland Resort.
Betsy Okamoto writes about the food at the recently renovated Blue Bayou restaurant in New Orleans Square:
I went to the Blue Bayou tonight as I have been craving the prime rib for so long. I have to say that I am totally disappointed. The main course was delicious; however, the rest was not. It is definitely not worth the price. When you arrive, you are seated as usual and given a nice keepsake menu promoting the Pirates movie. Then, a busboy places a cold, hard roll on your plate. The waitress was great, but even she said that the cost was too much for too little. OK, getting back to the experience… The salad, if I can call it that, was a piece of lettuce with some dressing in the center. Since I am allergic to tomatoes, I asked for carrots, well, I got them, carrot sticks with a piece of lettuce (no joke, one single piece) with dressing…that was my salad. My husband’s gumbo soup (sorry, no more clam chowder) was in a cup the size of a cup of coffee. The main course tasted good, but the rest, well, you got the story already.
I felt so sad about the changes that I went to Town Hall to let them know how we felt. The gentleman there was so rude. He said to me well, they made it more elegant, you know like high cuisine… you must have never eaten high cuisine… Argh! I informed him that my husband works in food services and while they may think it’s “high cuisine” it most definitely is not.
Besides that, the ride is great. They added some nice effects.
Thanks for listening and, hopefully, this information helps. Thanks for all of your work at MousePlanet. It’s the first Web site I go to every Monday!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Betsy.
I don’t know if you’re aware of it but you can help others plan their vacations by submitting a review to the MousePlanet User Review system. The page for Blue Bayou specifically can be found here.
Now that the menu has changed, getting some new reviews in there would be most helpful to others planning a vacation. Submitting a review does require registration but it is a relatively painless process and it gets you posting privileges on our message board as well.
Kenny writes:
This e-mail is in regards to this Guide Page (link). I have been following your Web site for quite a while now and I like it very much. It’s fun and entertaining to find out different sorts of information. I am a premium passholder and so is my girlfriend and my little girl. We try to get there as much as possible, but we live a good five hours drive from Disneyland. I will be down there this coming Sunday through Wednesday and I am really looking forward to it. I was wondering if you have ever been into Club 33. I have a chance to go there for lunch on Monday and I was wondering if I should or not? Would it be worth it for my little girl to go in with her being just 5 years old? I know that it is going to be expensive to eat lunch, but just how expensive? Can I take pictures and is there a dress code at all? I have always wanted to go in there and check it out but at the same time I don’t want to go broke. If you get a chance let me know any ideas you might have, it would be greatly appreciated. I think that if anyone might know about this place it would be you.
I have been to Club 33, but never for lunch. Other than perhaps enjoying the view from the second story of New Orleans Square your daughter is unlikely to get much of interest out of it. So you probably need to decide if it is worth it to you at double the price (though you two would have eaten lunch anyway so figure it from the difference between Club 33 and what you would have had otherwise).
I would say that any big Disneyland fan should take advantage of the opportunity to dine at Club 33 at least once if they get the opportunity. It is a place with some history, and for most a rare opportunity. If it won’t completely break the bank and you think it is a one-time opportunity I’d recommend going for it. If you think the opportunity might arise in the future I’d suggest trying to schedule it with more adult company (if that is ever possible) who will get full enjoyment of the experience.
Stephen writes:
I have a question regarding the Web site in general:
I use Peer Guardian 2, which is a program that prevents my computer from connecting to malicious Web sites that are prone to “spy” on you or give off spyware.
I was surprised to see when I connected to this Web site that it was blocked by my program. Turns out this site is some way associated with “Warenet – MPAA.org” on the destination: 66.252.134.246. The MPAA as you may know is the Motion Pictures Association of America.
I’ve used the program for over a year, and this is the first time this has come up. I had no other programs running (such as P2P apps, etc… ) so I’m pretty sure that this warning came from accessing the Web site. I was wondering what you all knew about this situation and if there is some association.
Thank you for your time looking into this situation. Keep the updates coming.
Stephen,
I did a bit of poking around and it appears that the software you use blocks an entire range of IP addresses owned by Warenet. Warenet is the company that provides MousePlanet’s hosting services. The reason for Warenet’s inclusion in PeerGuardian blocklist ( http://test.blocklist.org/) is not clear but based on the message given, it is presumably because someone feels the MPAA has some connection with Warenet.
The original purpose of the PeerGuardian software was to prevent “spying” from anti-piracy groups such as the MPAA and RIAA on people using peer-to-peer networks.
As near as I can tell, this is not a block that targets MousePlanet specifically (and we certainly have no affiliation with the MPAA) and we’re just collateral damage. As would be any other company hosted by Warenet in that range of IP addresses. The only solution for you would be to edit the software’s blocklist to specifically allow MousePlanet’s IP address.
Kirsten Smith writes:
I was just wondering if you knew anything about the rumored refurbishment of the inside of Sleeping Beauty Castle. I had heard a couple years ago that they had closed the walking tour of the Sleeping Beauty story because they were going to refurbish it and then re-open at a later date but nowhere on any boards have I seen it being discussed. Is it closed for good? Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.
At this point in time I am aware of no plans to refurbish and reopen the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough. It closed on October 7, 2002, the day the war in Afghanistan began following 9/11, and while no official reason has ever been given, it was assumed to be a security measure. Other reasons have been suggested since: ADA compliance, simple budget controls, lawyers requesting impossible changes, it needed repairs that nobody wanted to pay for, etc. It wouldn’t be surprising if it is some combination of all of this.
It has never reopened since then. It is my understanding that in the last almost 4 years, no maintenance has been performed on any of the dioramas that were part of the walkthrough and that quite a bit of work would now be needed before they could consider reopening it. If that is part of current plans I haven’t heard about it yet.
While you can never say never, I think it is safe to say we won’t be walking through the castle again for the foreseeable future (except through the drawbridge, of course).
Dennis writes:
Maybe you covered this at one time and I missed it. Whatever became of the bucket ride at Disneyland? Why was it removed? Are there any plans to bring it back?
When you say “bucket ride” I assume you mean Skyway that went from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland (and through the Matterhorn)?
The attraction closed in 1994 (November 10, to be exact).
As for why it closed, there is plenty of rumor, speculation, and myth surrounding the question. Odds are it was really some combination of lots of factors.
On April 17, 1994, a guest jumped out of his bucket, fell about 20 feet, and landed in a tree near the Alice in Wonderland attraction. He suffered minor injuries and would later sue Disney but the case was dismissed as it came to light that his fall was completely his own fault. A lot of people tied the closure of the ride to this incident, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Others suggest it was broader safety issues and the cost of upgrading the buckets (for example, people throwing things out of their buckets was unfortunately frequent) was seen as too expensive for the benefit. The ride itself was low capacity while being somewhat expensive to run (in terms of maintenance and staffing) and so, to the extent that official reasons have been given, the explanation for the closure is purely economic.
The American with Disabilities Act is frequently blamed for the closure, suggesting that Disney was not willing to bear the expense up making the ride fully accessible. However, this would not necessarily have been required and Disney has shown themselves perfectly willing to seek exemptions on other attractions when they so desire.
Once the attraction was closed the holes in the Matterhorn that allowed passage were quickly filled in and the supports for the cables removed. While the Tomorrowland station is now backstage and out of commission, the Fantasyland “chalet” is still hiding away in the trees above Casey Jr. Circus Train causing unfamiliar guests to wonder what it is.
Adding to the contention that the jumping incident led directly to the closure is the interesting bit of coincidence that shortly before the Walt Disney World version of the ride was closed in 1999, a maintenance worker was killed on the attraction when he was sweeping on a narrow walkway and the ride was unexpectedly started (he tried to climb into a bucket but fell about 40 feet). Tokyo’s version of the attraction closed in November 1998 without any preceding accident. Disneyland Paris never had an equivalent attraction.
Staff writer Mike Scopa answers letters in response to his recent article, “Randomizing Imagineering” (link).
Brian Martin writes:
Great article! The more random an attraction could be, the more times you would want to ride in order to experience it all.
It’s been quite a few years since I remember this, but there was a time when there were “live” Cast Members in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I remember going as a kid with friends. It wasn’t a very crowded day. There were 3 of us and we went to the Haunted Mansion (one of a few times that day!) There was not much of a line, so we were going to each ride in our own doom buggy. At the last moment we changed our minds and all jumped in together. (I was going to get in the buggy behind the one we were currently in.) As we were moving down the hallway of creaking doors we saw a suit of armor; it was vibrating. The buggy behind us moved in front of the armor and it jumped out at them. The girls’ screams echoed in the hall. (That was almost me! Yikes!) I have seen a suit of armor since then, but have never known if there was anyone in it or not. But I always rode looking for it and wondering, “Is today my day to be scared by it?”
I love the idea of something new happening each time you ride. I know Indy provides something similar and I just love the Tower of Terror
Just thought I’d share a fun memory with you. Keep up the great work, I really enjoy your articles.
You hit the nail on the head when you said, “The more random an attraction could be, the more times you would want to ride in order to experience it all.” That’s what it’s all about.
Andy Schubert writes:
Just finished your article on Randomizing Imagineering. I’ve had similar ideas for varying attractions to make them enticing for repeat visits. Most of my ideas are taken from ideas used in the Carousel of Progress, for example, using scrims and backlighting them. You could have scenes between other regular scenes that get lit only at certain times. You might have scenes that rotate into or out of view, especially along any of the Omnimover rides. Imagine, for example, that 6-8 consecutive cars on the Haunted Mansion were non-passenger carrying placeholders. When these cars passed through the attraction, they would contain the triggers that would rotate scenes or turn backlit scrims on or off, and so on. That way, the ride would never have to stop, to keep capacity up (minus, of course, the capacity from those 6-8 cars).
I’ve also imagined that a loading area for a ride might queue people into G, PG, and PG-13 queues so that at load time, their vehicle could carry encoding that would “tell” the ride what their preferences are. Parents with 7-year olds who are familiar with action video games might deem it ok to let their kids see the “rougher” version of a ride, whereas someone whose child is sensitive to violence might prefer the “tamer” version, but they don’t want to miss out on the ride altogether. Granted, Disney isn’t going to do anything particularly frightening or violent, but for the kids who, say, aren’t ready for Haunted Mansion because it’s “too scary” would still be able to have a good time. Of course, on an Omnimover, you would use loading “zones” within the continuous loop to attain the various ratings. The key is that the ride vehicle system itself would trigger the necessary effects within the show building.
I like your ideas. The idea that an attraction can have certain “tiers” which relate to a G, PG, and PG-Rating really sounds interesting. It’s too bad that some of the attractions that are built on old technology may not be able to be “tweaked” with these ideas. Hopefully future attractions will offer alternative experiences.
Mark Werling writes:
I like your concept and would share a few thoughts from a recent trip.
In the Haunted Mansion, I had two different experiences based on the time of day — which I attributed to lighting. At night, I noticed something not observed before, which was a stairway near the commencement of the ride giving the illusion of an upper floor. Later, the “hallway” with concurrent candles was quite visible. By day, for whatever reason, the above-mentioned stairway was not visible, and the candle-lit hallway was very dim and barely visible.
Now, I am sure these were not intentionally “randomized,” but I have to say that seeing things a little differently on a classic attraction is a lot of fun. I completely agree that dark rides like Pirates or the Haunted Mansion are particularly well suited for this treatment because there is so much that can vary a little without spoiling the classic experience.
I do recall a few times noticing that candle hallway lighting sometimes varies. Since that first time I noticed that difference in the lighting I pay special attention to everything within sight because you never know what you might see.
