Another week down! This one went fast and I’m looking forward to spending more time outside this weekend. Nice weather ahead!
Here are my favorite reads from the week:
> Over at MiceChat, Park Wise concocted a great list of 10 ways to save money for your upcoming Disney trip!
> I recently discovered The Best Friend’s Guide To… blog and every Wednesday they feature dones of craft-tastic awesomeness around the web… Disney style! Check it out!
> I’ve been loving the Hipsters’ Disneyland post… it’s too hard to pick a fav! But I did enjoy their adorable souvenir from the parks.
> Newsies as your first Broadway experience? Check out Meg’s thoughts here.
> Here Come Fiesta Fun Center with great pictures from a retired Muppets show at the Studios!
Also, my Twitter pal just debuted her new video web series, KJO + Kris, about movies, animation, and more. Be sure to check out their first Ramble! Also follow them on Twitter for updates @KJOandKris.
There have been some major discussions going on in our household lately.
Most importantly, this one: Once we arrive in Florida on Day 6 of our Disney Cruise, what will we do with our 13 hours in the theme parks?
What’s the big deal, right? We already decided months ago we would be visiting Magic Kingdom and Epcot. We know it could turn into a one-day marathon if we don’t set some boundaries. But still. This is the first time I’ve ever visited the parks without having a resort to escape to, which means:
- No swimming in the middle of the day.
- No extra magic hours.
- The realization we are only in WDW for a day.
So even if I consider our two dining reservations — Liberty Tree Tavern & La Hacienda — and the Dessert Party we booked as a “Port Adventure,” that leaves us with only 8 hours. (I’m being generous and allowing us 2 hours each for our meals.)
This is what we are thinking:
- Go straight to the Magic Kingdom (and collect 200 dollars).
- Grab some grub.
- Visit the attractions we didn’t see on our last visit in November (Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room), explore Storybook Circus, enjoy our first Citrus Swirl, and head to some of our favorites (Pirates, Space Moutain, Carousel of Progress, Haunted Mansion).
- Have our lunch and peace out.
So that should bring us to about 1pm. I want to ride the monorail to Epcot.
And this is where we hit an impasse.
I really want to head over to Hollywood Studios to check out the new Muppet display in the Stage One Store. (Am I pathetic or what?) My husband agreed, under one condition:
He wants me to go on Tower of Terror.
I will go on Expedition Everest three times in a row, and love Rockin’ Rollercoaster, but for some reason I’ve become terrified of Tower of Terror.
This whole debacle is still up for debate.
So if we haven’t turned into Estelle and James puddles, we will head over to Epcot and just spend the day roaming around, checking out whatever attractions we can. One stop we do want to make is at:
Afterwards, we’ll roll over to La Hacienda to continue our tour of food and drink. Yum!
Then we end the night with dessert, Illuminations, and someone trying to ungrip my hands from the nearest bench, attraction, or lamppost so that I can be dragged back on the shuttle to the ship.
As long as my heart doesn’t pang for the Safari Amber ale and Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom, I may actually get around to following this plan.
Growing up only 10 miles outside of New York City, I find it surprising that I didn’t go to my first Broadway show until 2001, when I was a junior in high school. We did go to many baseball games so maybe that was the trade-off. It was either theater or baseball. Anyway, my first show was not one of the classics but instead an energetic show that mixed instrumentals, acrobatics, and even color guard moves in a series of different songs called Blast!.
Think hip drumline, sharp and sometimes sensual moves, touches of comedy, and the use of classic songs along with the inclusion of techno, rock, and more.
I saw it with some members of the marching band (I was a majorette a.k.a I twirled a baton) and was totally captivated. For a group of people who heard how “uncool” band was way too frequently, Blast! proved music and movement were a pretty unstoppable and amazing combination. (I can’t forget how one of the trumpet players sat in front of us during the show and chatted. That was fun.) Later on, we incorporated some of their music and moves into our half-time show.
The same year, Blast! won a Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event – a historic victory as it was the first show to ever receive that particular award. Even more exciting? A compact version of the show made its way to Epcot and California Adventure later that year too.
I was lucky enough to see a performance of this The Power of Blast! presentation at the American Gardens Theater, where it played from June 16 – August 23, during one of my summer vacations. At that time, they offered a dining plan with preferred seating for the show.
The original 2-act, 16-number show was whittled down to 30 minutes and five songs, which included:
1. Bolero
2. Color Wheel
3. Battery Battle
4. Land of Make Believe
5. Malaguena
Sidenote: Malguena is my favorite. And fun fact: our marching band performed Bolero, Land of Make Believe, and Malaguena during our half-time shows, and I’m pretty sure we also performed them in a festival in the UK that summer.
The performance at Epcot was just as enthusiastic and amazing as the one I had seen on Broadway a few months before. Epcot’s The Power of Blast! featured 63 performers representing 24 different states with 66 brass instruments and 234 percussion instruments. I remember how psyched I felt during the show, connecting it to my own memories of the music and seeing it on the Broadway stage in New York. If you’re interested in checking out the full performance, here’s a video of it.
For a taste, here’s a performance of Malguena (sadly, not the Epcot one):
While it’s not necessarily innovative to showcase a shortened/tweaked version of Broadway goodness in the parks (i.e. Beauty and the Beast at the Studios, Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom), I would love to see something just as dynamic and creative as Blast! be part of the park experience once again.
Who knows? With the success of Newsies and Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway this season, maybe we do have that to look forward to.
Oh that sounds like an awesome show! (I’m watching the vid now). My Dad LOVES Bolero. He used to blast it when we were kids all the damn time. It was his “getting ready” music haha I wish they had more things like this in the parks permanently.
M – It really was awesome! I hope you enjoyed the video! I never heard Bolero until BLAST! Oh oh! I have to send you one video. They did a song from West Side Story! Thx for the comment!
I received this tiny book for Christmas this year from a dear friend (and fellow Muppet lover!):
It’s a cute book featuring some of Jim Henson’s original art and funny/inspirational quotes alongside them by Jim Lewis. An employee of the Jim Henson Company for many years, Lewis was also the editor of the now defunct Muppet Magazine and has also “assisted” Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Pepe the King Prawn on their own books. He also helped write Muppets Tonight (a television show I loved!) and It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie from 2002. (Fun fact: Jim called Fozzie his hero in an interview with Muppet Musings. To Jim, Fozzie is “needy, trusting, sweet, with an obsessive-compulsive joke-reflex.”)
> I hear “you are going THERE again” more than I would like. Tracy from Mouse on the Mind conquers this question.
> Growing Up Disney shares two great shopping posts this week: 1) I need this home decor 2) Who knew potholders needed copyeditors?
> Melissa from Mouse on the Mind hops over to the Disney Food Blog to chat about the Dawa Bar in Animal Kingdom. She called it a boozy haven. How great is that?
Hope everyone enjoy their Mother’s Day! And their weekend, of course!
For fun, here’s a clip of my mom’s favorite show — Festival of the Lion King:
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by Estelle Hallick
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