Up first this week: MousePlanet CEO Alex Stroup answers reader mail. Andrew S. writes:
I love your site and come to it every week to read the updates, so I thought it would be important to email you.
Recently, my father, my girlfriend and I went to the new Blue Bayou. After enjoying years of lunches at the old Blue Bayou we were surprised to see how it has changed. The space inside is much less crowded now, however the lobby is much more crowded and they have still not installed benches for people to sit on. It was not until after our food came out that we found out information about the menu not posted on MousePlanet or at the park.
Being a vegetarian for 8 years I can usually find things everywhere that I can eat. However, vegetarians need to be aware that it is more difficult to order vegetarian at the Blue Bayou than any restaurant at the three resorts I have been to… even harder than at Disneyland Paris!
There is only one dish on the menu that is vegetarian—the mushroom and couscous. Because it is $24.99 and it comes with salad and sides, my girlfriend and I went ahead and split it (bringing the total to $28.99. We knew that the soup would have meat so we asked for the salad. First: when the salad came, we found out that it has meat in it unless you request it without meat (this information was not told to us earlier) and second: Although they do a good job of splitting the main dish for the two people sharing, they do not split the salad so you need to share one plate and one fork!
Then the food came. Our two plates each had a mound of potatoes, two cold soggy mushrooms and a bit of corn-bell pepper salsa. When we asked what happened to our vegetable sides our waiter told us that the fish dishes and the mushroom dish do not come with a choice of side dishes, and that it doesn’t say that on the menu but that is what the kitchen does. This was obviously incorrect so we sent back the dishes. Before he took them away he said in a very inappropriate tone, “what do you want me to do? What is it that you want me to bring you? What will make you happy?” We asked for the dish as it appears on the menu.
Second round: the dishes came back out and this time, it was in a stack formation. The middle of the plate had a pile of potatoes. On top of this were the two still cold and soggy mushrooms. On the very top was a pile of cold spinach and the corn- bell pepper salsa. No couscous anywhere. Because we had already been there for an hour and a half we didn’t say anything to the waiter who really did not seem like he much cared if we were happy or not.
Near the end of the meal I found what looked like a piece of ham in the middle of my spinach. When the waiter came around again, it was not to ask how we were but it was to tell us that he was “going to lunch” and that another waiter would take over. He walked away before I could mention the meat and the dishes were cleared before the new waitress could come over. When she did come over she slid the bill onto our table and didn’t say a word.
One incorrectly made dish, one Monte Cristo which isn’t as good as it used to be, three sodas, two hours and $65.00 later we walked down to city hall to write out a complaint.
The moral of the story: If you are a vegetarian, don’t spend $30 on a dish that sucks, spend $8 on a three cheese Monte Cristo at the walk up counter… or, ask for the kids menu which, I found out on MousePlanet, has two veggie options.
Sorry to hear your experience was not good. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to eat there myself but so far have been hearing experiences all over the map. Having spent time as a vegetarian myself (and still on a somewhat restricted diet of meats) I certainly know the frustration of ordering something there is no reason to expect contains meat only to be surprised. I would never have expected a wedge salad to not be vegetarian but taking a closer look at our picture of the salad I see that you are indeed correct.
The Blue Bayou wedge salad contains meat. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
I do ask that you take the time to submit a review for the new Blue Bayou in our User Review System. By getting it included there it will be available to all future visitors to MousePlanet (and for at least awhile will be specifically shown on the Blue Bayou Park Guide page). You can do that from this page.
Ted writes in response to Alex’s review of The Guardian starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, in theaters now:
I enjoyed your review. I don’t know if I agree yet since I haven’t seen the movie. But I did notice you let your politics sneak in with your “Coast Guard is in Iraq” comment. Who cares! This movie isn’t about the Coast Guard in Iraq or Iraq at all! Why did you feel the need to let everyone know that the Coast Guard is in Iraq? Next time, keep your comments to the movie itself and leave the politics for another board.
I am curious what political position you think was revealed by that line in my review?
The role of the Coast Guard in military operations during times of war is one that I think is commonly underreported. The movie went out of its way to tie the Coast Guard mission to one recent real world event and I found it interesting that it did not choose to do so with another.
Surely it is possible for me to find that interesting without it being a revelation of my personal views about the war in Iraq—which I’m guessing you have misjudged. Finally, movies do not exist in a vacuum. They are products of, and—in many ways both subtle and not—commentary on the real world around us. You may disagree, but I find that relationship just as worthy of comment as anything else about the movie.
Gina D. writes:
I just recently saw a little bit of Kimba the White Lion. (The old animated series from the ’70s.) When The Lion King first came out I remember there being a lot of commotion about the similarities. I always loved Kimba but until seeing the old show as an adult I didn’t realize just how similar the themes were. Was Disney ever actually brought to court by the Japanese animation studio or was there a settlement?
So far as I know, the estate of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Kimba who died in 1989, has never filed any suit against Disney. Officially Disney has always maintained that there was no connection between Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King, though it seems unlikely that nobody within the world of Walt Disney Feature Animation was aware of it and many people have found evidence otherwise (before its release, for example, Roy Disney once mistakenly referred to Simba as Kimba).
The historical connections between Tezuka and the Walt Disney Company are also strongly intertwined. He met Walt Disney in 1964 (at the World’s Fair) and he adapted Bambi for the Japanese manga market. Disney animators were also hired by Tezuka to train his artists; the artists that would eventually produce Kimba the White Lion.
So while the controversy remains, Disney still officially denies it and the estate of Tezuku hasn’t been inclined to press the issue.
One lawsuit that did result from The Lion King, however, was over its use of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The version of the song that became a hit in the United States is based on a 1939 African hit song. When Pete Seeger used it as the basis of his hit “Wimoweh” his publisher kind of rolled over Solomon Linda (the original composer) and never signed a standard contract. So in 2004, his heirs filed suit against Disney for $1.6 million in royalties. That suit was settled for an undisclosed amount earlier this year. TRO (the publisher of “Wimoweh”) has also begun paying royalties.
Next up, staff writer Mark Goldhaber answers questions about the Walt Disney World resort and other topics. Audress Johnson writes:
I just read your nine-part series on the history of Walt Disney World. It is absolutely fantastic; I’ve enjoyed it immensely. You explain so many things I’ve always wondered about or wanted to know more of!
You left off with the successful first few years of the WDW Magic Kingdom, and you mentioned that you would tackle Epcot in your next article. But this is dated fall of 2004, and I’m wondering if you have plans to write more of these articles. I definitely want to read them—though I’m sure it’s been a tremendous amount of work to research and write them.
Please let me know when I can read more! Or, if you’ve decided not to finish the series, can you recommend a book on the subject?
Thanks for your kind words about my writings. I really enjoyed writing those first nine parts. Unfortunately, the weekly Park Update is consuming more and more of my time, and I just haven’t been able to put aside the chunks of time that I need in order to be able to properly research the early days of Epcot to continue the series. I do hope to get back to it, but I really have no idea when that might be.
In the meantime, three good books to start learning about the Epcot story (all out of print, but still available with some looking around) are Since the World Began by Jeff Kurtti, Walt Disney Imagineering by the Imagineers, and Walt Disney’s Epcot Center by Richard R. Beard (the 240-page version, not the 128-page version).
Sarah writes:
First off, I would like to say that your reviews are really helpful. My question regards the Pirate and Princess Party at Magic Kingdom. When this event is held, will Magic Kingdom close early (for the 7:30 ‘party’ start?), thereby allowing only those with the hard-tickets into the event? The reason I ask is because I am going to be in the World during some of these event nights. If the park will close early, I want to make sure that I schedule MK for another day when I can fully enjoy the park.
Thanks for your kind words about the Park Update. At the moment, the January calendar for the Magic Kingdom shows the park closing at 7:00 for the 7:30 start of the parties, though it’s possible that the closures might be moved up to 6:30 to match the 1 hour prep time that they currently have for the Halloween and Christmas parties. However, the Magic Kingdom closes at 8:00 most of the rest of January, so you wouldn’t be missing too much time. You could stay until park closing, and then take the monorails to Epcot for Illuminations.
Jonathan Twedell writes:
I absolutely love reading the weekly update on MousePlanet. I truly look forward to Monday mornings now! It’s a must-read before I leave for work.
My email is in regard to the trivia answer about the only remaining thing at Animal Kingdom from the planned Beastly Kingdom. I was intrigued by the rock formation as I had never seen that before! But I also wanted to point out that, over the three ticket sales buildings, there is a large “head” of each of three animals representing the park’s originally planned animal collection: a Triceratops for the extinct animals (Dinoland U.S.A.), an elephant (in the middle with Disney’s Animal Kingdom sign around it) for the existing animals found throughout Asia, Africa and so on, and a “dragon” for the animals that “never existed” or, Beastly Kingdom. I took pictures of all three last Christmas when I was there.
I was a cast member for 10 years and still love to learn all I can about the property so thanks for a fantastic site that keeps me coming back again and again!
Thanks for your kind words about the Update. I’m glad that you find it so useful.
As to the trivia question, you’re not the only one who pointed out the dragon on the ticket booth (and in the park logo, for that matter). Perhaps I should have said “the only permanent structure in the park,” since the signs are not permanent fixtures, and could be altered at any time. I guess I should have been a little clearer.
Susan Zanone writes:
I was wondering what the policy is for smoking at Disneyland? I know that the parks and hotels are smoke free, but I had also heard a rumor that there was a designated smoking area next to the Rivers of America just outside New Orleans Square. Is this true?
Everything that you need to know about smoking at Disneyland can be found on the Smoker’s Guide to Disneyland page in our Disneyland Park Guide.
Finally, Jeanne Burns writes in with a question submitted that we would like your help with:
Over the years I have wondered so many times, what brand of paint, what type of paint was/is used to keep the exteriors of the Disneyland Park buildings so beautiful on Main Street, and how often were/are they touched up? When did the painting take place to allow for proper drying time? What are the names of the colors used and the color schemes throughout the theme park? How many on the paint crew? How was the painting scheduled to keep it constantly maintained?
If you have an answer to Jeanne’s question, please email the mailbag. Thank you!
