ZapperZ's and Philaduckia's Blog on everything Disney. We are Disney Vacation Club members, Walt Disney World Annual Passholders, and Disney Pin collector. All of them make for a very lethal combination! :)
Our pockets and bank accounts are a bit lighter now. We have paid for all the airfares, hotels, and tour expenses for our upcoming trip to Japan. We just have to buy park tickets to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.
A real and pleasant coincidence that happened since my last post is that Tokyo Disneyland resort announced that Tokyo Disneyland will become Donald's Quacky Duck city from April 9 to June 30, right smack in the middle of our visit! And since we will be staying at the Ambassador Hotel in a Donald Duck room, we can't wait to see how it will be themed to the hilt!
Today, our adventure to Japan and Tokyo Disneyland Resort begins.
After the wait for our 4-month booking window opens this morning, we managed to book a 5-night stay at Disney's Ambassador Hotel at Tokyo Disneyland resort. Not only that, we managed to get the Donald Duck room!
It is costing us a boatload of DVC points, but hey, it is going to be worth it.
The plan is for us to start our Japan adventure (more like adventure restricted to just Honshu island) by staying at the Tokyo Disneyland resort area for the first week, do the theme parks, and then continue on our guided 11-day tour, which we had already booked months ago. In total, we will be spending almost 3 weeks in Japan.
And gosh, yes, I'm so looking forward to this! Consider this as the first entry in the Japan travel blog. :)
It is CRAZY to call it a tree topper. This is practically a model of the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom, complete with lights and sound.
In any case, it is going on one of our shelves because it is way too big to be a tree topper. But kudos to Hallmark. Their Disney-themed items often surpass those from Disney itself.
Found these Disney Holiday merchandise at Costco today:
First one is a Jim Shore Santa Mickey Greeter.
The second one is an animated Disney tree with music.
It plays 8 classic Christmas tunes: We Wish You A Merry Christmas
O Christmas Tree
Jingle Bells
Deck the Halls
The First Noel
Joy to the World
Hark ,the Herald Angels Sing
Silent Night.
I watched the premier of #Harmonious tonight over live streaming from the Disney Parks YouTube channel. It is the nighttime show at World Showcase lagoon at Epcot.
The title of this post tells it all. I was willing to give them the benefit of doubt when I saw the monstrous equipment they put in the middle of the lagoon and ruined the amazing view across World Showcase. Maybe the show they are going to put out will be wonderful, I thought.
It isn't.
It is more of a promotion of a collection of Disney movies. It is a pastiche of various music and theme, rather than one coherent, consistent music or theme. There was nothing "harmonious" from what I saw and heard. And those arms that keep swinging back and forth.. am I the only one who find them distracting and annoying? It is also most disappointing when the original music is bland and not memorable, while other parts rely on music from various Disney movies. There were times that I thought this would be better suited at Animal Kingdom rather than Epcot.
And that is the most disappointing part, that the spirit of World Showcase is just not there. Having a collection of songs sang in languages other than English does not turn it into a multi-national, multi-cultural theme, especially when they are clearly tied to Disney movies. Like I said, the spirit of World Showcase felt missing from all this.
I had goosebumps when I first saw Illuminations. The music was the first thing that stuck to me, and I immediately had to get the CD. I still listen to it even today (along with Tapestry of Nations). That glorious feeling and emotional tug are just not there with Harmonious. I am so disappointed and sad about this, since Epcot is my most favorite park, and Illuminations used to be my most favorite nighttime show in all of WDW. Now, there's not much to look forward to.
He was warm, gracious, and generous with his time when I encountered him during Epcot's 25th Anniversary as part of Celebration25 group. We were having our walking tour of various attractions at Epcot when he stopped by to visit with us and chatted.
This was the day before the official Epcot's 25th anniversary.
He also revealed the park map that would be distributed the day of the celebration, so we all knew that we would have to get one (or more) when we showed up the next day.
The day of the celebration was centered over the fountain of nations (now gone).
At the end of the ceremony, he and the Disney Ambassadors at that time took a photo with our entire Celebration25 group.
We had a special area to watch Illuminations that evening. Even though it rained, we had a great time. The Disney parks people sent us ponchos and ice cream. And as a final surprise, Jim MacPhee actually came over to check up on us before the evening ended.
His presence and acknowledgement of us made the day even more special. Not many (if any) Disney executives would go out of their way to greet die-hard fans like that.
I did a short video on the that fun time:
Have a wonderful retirement, Mr. MacPhee. Thanks for giving us such wonderful memories!
Disney had officially taken over the running of the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot's World Showcase after the previous company running it went into default. Yesterday was the last day that restaurants such as Spice Road Table was opened, and the area around the pavilion is now closed for renovations, including the bazaar area.
This was my most favorite pavilion at the World Showcase. For many of us, this was the most unfamiliar culture among the various nationalities represented there. While the food quality at both sit-down restaurants have gone down over the years (in my opinion), they were still not the familiar run-of-the-mill fare that most people know. Moroccan food and restaurants are not very common in many parts of the US, even though there is one amazing Moroccan restaurant in Orlando itself called "Moroccan Breeze" which we have been to twice during our last two visits.
This takeover and renovation can go well, or can go very wrong (what other possibilities are there?). I don't know what to make of it. The ONLY thing I wish for is authenticity both in the decor and in the food. Disney is a master at the former, but often skimp on the latter. We shall see.
In the meantime, here's one final tribute to the bazaar at the Morocco pavilion.