The MousePlanet Mailbag is a regular compilation of some of our reader feedback and writer responses that may be of interest to our readers. We encourage you to drop your questions, opinions, or comments to us in care of our mailbag.
Our first letter this week is from reader Marilyn A. who was one of many people who missed out on this spring’s MouseAdventure. The event filled quickly, catching many off guard. You can read a full recap in last Monday’s article by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix. Marilyn writes:
First, is there a waiting list for MouseAdventure spring? We tried to sign up in late March, but from what we saw, sign-ups had not started. Now, back from vacation, I tried to sign up today and discovered that spring quest is full already. How many teams have signed up for spring? Did you limit it this year, as there were approximately 115 teams participating (my team being one) that signed up for last fall?
Secondly, please notify me as soon as fall MouseAdventure becomes open as I do not want to miss the registration again.
Unfortunately we were not able to run a waiting list for MouseAdventure this spring. Due to size constraints based on Disney requirements, the maximum number of participants was capped at 500, preventing us from adding more teams later. We ended up having about 150 teams participate in the event.
You can sign up to receive an e-mail when registration opens for the next MouseAdventure. Just go to the MouseAdventure page, look for the section on e-mail reminders, and click on the link that says “email me.” You can then fill out the form to get on our mailing list.
I’m sorry you missed out, but we hope to see you at the next MouseAdventure! Thanks for writing.
Staff writer Andrew Rich answers letters in response to his May 11 article, “Light Magic -– 10 Years Later.” Kevin writes:
I liked the article about Light Magic. I think you should do similar articles about the Festival of Fools, Spirit of Pocahontas, Animazement, Indiana Jones Adventure, Fantasmic, and Tomorrowland 98.
As it happens, I have—somewhere—pictures of most of those shows and events. Given the positive reaction to the Light Magic retrospective, there may well be future articles of this type. Thanks for writing.
Nick V.H. writes:
Great article on Light Magic memories. As a lighting designer for the entertainment industry, just wanted to make a quick statement to clear up your note about the “PANI” projectors now housed in the Light Magic towers that are used for “Remember…”.
They are in fact not PANI projectors, just high intensity LCD projectors (made by a company named BARCO), similar to what you might project a Powerpoint presentation with. PANI projectors are used by the European company PANI for large outdoor projections, however their system uses a series of projectors that manipulate still images (think big slide projectors), not the moving images such as those seen during “Remember…”
While I do recall some images of official PANI projections on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle before the 50th (they are distinguishable for their sharpness and crisp framing), they were never brought on for any projects seen by the public.
A minor error, I know, but it bugged me. Thanks!
Thanks very much for the correction; I’ve updated the article and we’ll get this letter into an upcoming MousePlanet Mailbag. To be honest I wasn’t sure if “PANI” was the correct term, but I did remember the projectors being used in the lead-up to the 50th and took a guess that they were still in use. Thanks for writing.
Winkie writes:
I was at that Special Passholder showing of “Light Magic,” excited to see what would replace the previous parade. Here is my story of that night:
The Light Magic parade ran twice that night. We had no idea where to stand in the middle of Main Street—near the Castle or near the train station. Like all new Disney parades, we were excited. We kept asking the Disney people where was the best place to stand. I guess Disneyland trained their people right, because they were tight-lipped. Near the camera store we stood.
The lights went down the music started, and there went the parade. What! We were in the wrong spot. We thought, like most Disney parades, that it would move to the beat music going down Main Street. Boy were we wrong. We had no idea that the parade would be stationary. Where we stood, we couldn’t see anything. Well, nothing isn’t quite right; we saw the back of the last section of the parade. We both looked at each and said, “Whoever got money for this song, ripped Disney off.” We talked to others around who said they were not sticking around for the second show; they were headed to City Hall for a refund.
Knowing the parade was going to play twice that night, we moved to a different spot; maybe we didn’t give it a chance. After seeing the show a second time, we still shook our head and said, “This was a bummer, let’s go home.”
Yes. We, too, made a stop at City Hall. No refund—just passes to come back another day.
Sure hope the guys who thought of this parade is no longer with Disney, ’cause this was a big and costly mistake.
The commemorative booklet handed out to party attendees actually showed the two “viewing locations” near “it’s a small world” and along Main Street, but it was not at all obvious that the stages would move into position—eventually—and remain stationary while the show progressed. I think one of the real issues that haunted Light Magic over that summer was that Disneyland never really made clear to guests the fundamental nature of this show; everyone was expecting a traditional rolling parade when the reality was something very different. Thanks for writing and for sharing your memories.
Bill S. writes:
Your article was great but is missing one key piece of information: Why was the show received so poorly? I’ve been going to Disneyland regularly for years but never had a chance to see Light Magic, so am not really sure what the problem was.
That’s a really good question, and I wish I had a simple answer. I can tell you why I didn’t like the show: it never lived up to the massive hype laid on the L.A. media market in the 1996-1997 off-season; it didn’t come close to engendering the same kind of emotional response as the Main Street Electrical Parade; the step-dancing motif was too obviously a headlong leap onto a fading trend (Riverdance). Ask 10 Disneyland fans from that summer and you’ll likely get 10 different answers. Thanks for writing.
You can read more feedback on Andrew’s article and submit your own comments in the discussion thread on our MousePad message board.
Next, staff writer Alex Stroup answers some questions regarding the MousePlanet Web site and Disneyland Park Update. Michael-Forest writes:
For the “In the past…” section of your Disneyland guides, you should mention the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, which was removed and replaced with Tarzan’s Treehouse.
Thanks for the suggestion. But at this time the In the Past… listings in our Park Guides list only attractions, stores, restaurants, and shows that have closed up shop since the current version of the guides went live in November 2005. Creating full pages for every closed attraction would be a monumental task that may be considered someday but isn’t feasible at this time.
On the Tarzan’s Treehouse page, however, the previous history of the attraction is detailed.
Kevin writes:
Your apology might fall on a few deaf ears as I, personally, have noticed a few times where your Disneyland updates haven’t been forthcoming every week.
This isn’t to insinuate that you don’t have a right to skip a week here and there if news is slow but please don’t stretch the truth and claim it hasn’t happened since 2002.
Thank you for your e-mail. Since the park update first began on December 16, 2002, last week was the third time that we missed a week.
The first time was March 13, 2006. That was a scheduled and announced gap since most of the people that work on the update were in Japan that week. You are correct, though, that last week was not the first unexpected miss. That would have been November 6, 2006, when last fall’s MouseAdventure threw our schedule into disarray.
Earlier this year the primary writing responsibility for the update was shifted to somebody unaware of my lapse last fall. Every other week in that time, though, the update has appeared on Monday or Tuesday.
Finally, MousePlanet staff writer Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix answers a reader question about the Nemo Dream Mobile currently on tour to promote the new Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage that opens in the park this June. Steven W. writes:
Is there any additional information on where to find the touring submarine? It is in Seattle this weekend, but I have not found any additional information on where in Seattle and what times that it will be open.
The Disney and Disneyland Web sites seem lacking in this, nor have I seen anything yet in the Seattle paper or news sites.
The entire schedule can be found at the link here.
Hope this helps, and send photos if you can!
[Editor’s Note: If you happen to spot the Nemo-mobile in your city, please send us a letter and tell us about it. Photos and emails may be sent to mailbag@mouseplanet.com]
