Mouse Extra

Lou Mongello, author of the Disney World Trivia books, has quickly debuted a new podcast to add to the list of things to feed your Disney addiction.  It’s called the WDW Radio Show and the first full episode is available as of yesterday, and let me just say that as far as feeding the addiction goes, this show is perfect.

I have gone on and on about the quality of what Mr. Mongello has to offer for the Disney community and this new show’s nothing different.  Most podcasts begin with a choppy and quirky feel to them, as things develop and the wrinkles get ironed out.  Amazingly, there are little to no wrinkles found it this show.  It flows perfectly from segment to segment, all entertaining and very listenable.  Not once in the 45-plus minutes did I lose interest.

The show focuses around all different aspects Walt Disney World.  Besides news and information, this podcast is just absolutely loaded with fascinating trivia and history, the subjects that Mongello is the internet’s authority figure on.  Did you ever wonder what David Copperfield and Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi (of Beatles fame) have to do with Disney World?  Did you know that a boat ride was planned for the Germany Pavilion at Epcot, and that the building for it is still there?  Do you know much about the man whose voice is that of the infamous “ghost host” from the Haunted Mansion?  These are the types of things WDW Radio talks about.

The Rainforest Cafe is currently the only sit down restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As such, waits can be rather long even with priority seating. You can enter from both inside the park or from outside the gates. If you enter from inside the park, you must walk through the rather large gift shop to get to the front desk. This desk is located near the huge aquarium of pretty tropical fish. In fact, there are fish swimming over your head. If the wait is long (which happens all too frequently), you can enjoy the gem-like fish or peruse the gift shop, which is overpriced but fun.

The restaurant itself is massive. The decor as you can imagine is jungle themed. You are surrounded by the flora and fauna of the deep tropics. Every fifteen minutes or so, the jungle comes alive. The gorillas pound their chests or yell, the leopard swings his tail and roars, the birds chirp incessantly. This racket lasts a few moments and is accompanied by a thunderstorm. The kids love it. I would, however, advise you to let toddlers know this will happen to avoid startling the kiddies and putting them on edge.

Like the restaurant, the menu itself is massive. There are many of your typical appetizer choices like shrimp, wings and mozzarella sticks only with fancy tropical sounding names. One of the more interesting items is the Caribe Chicken which is essentially chicken tenders with a coconut curry sauce. There are also several soup and salad offerings including the Jungle Safari soup which is a zesty vegetable, bean and sausage concoction.

For the main course, there are again many choices. You can have dinner salads, burgers or wraps with names like the Rumble in the Jungle wrap or Bamba’s Barbeque Wrap. The cafe also serves up personal pizzas with toppings like barbeque chicken (catching the theme here), pepperoni, or roasted shrimp. For something more substantial, you can go to numerous choice of seafood, poultry or pasta. One of the specialties is Rasta Pasta, a dish of pasta, chicken, broccoli, red peppers and basil in a walnut pesto sauce. It may sound good but I would avoid it. Like much of the menu, its mediocre. To finish up, there are exotic sounding desserts like the Sparkling Volcano, the Amazon Apple Cobbler, or the Gorillas in the Mist.

Although the place can be fun, it is by no means great. The food can be heavy and, despite the adventurous names, quite boring. It is the only sit down place in the entire park which may in part explain its popularity. That will soon change with a new Asian-themed table service restaurant which will hopefully be a step up. It should be noted that many WDW restaurants have less expensive lunch menus for the bargain hunters. Not so here, so do yourself a favor and grab something at the Flame Tree Barbeque or the Tusker House, two of the finest counter service establishments Disney has to offer.

Is Disney coming to Texas?  It’s the rumor that just won’t go away.  It seems that any day of the year you can find a popular internet forum with a posting from someone who claims to know a guy whose mother plays Bingo with a woman who goes to a dentist who heard from a guy under Novacaine that Disney was scouting locations in Texas for the next U.S. theme park.  It happens so often that it is hard not to laugh at it.

Yesterday, Mickey News published an interesting story from a real estate website talking about these rumors.  Once again, it seems that folks are hoping this comes true…

Land wheelers and dealers in the far north sector say it’s too early to fully dismiss the rumor. “It’s who we’re hearing the rumors from this time,” says one broker who asked to remain anonymous. “There seems to be more validity this time based on the people who are talking about it.”

Are they crying wolf again?  Should we laugh and dismiss this like some many times before?  Maybe not completely.  The fact is that Jay Rasulo opened and entirely new can of worms last week when he so publicly dreamed about Disney’s potential “blue sky” projects of bringing resorts or small theme parks to new markets.  (Click here for the Mouse Extra take on this.)  What was once dismissed on mostly financial terms now seems more plausible.   Could Disney be building a large resort hotel in Texas?  That is certainly much more believable then building another Disneyland. 

So not only will this rumor not die, but thanks to this new information it will probably only grow stronger and stronger.  And what is even more frightening is that we can safely assume that these type of rumors will now surface just about everywhere under the sun.

Perhaps the most highly publicized tavern at Walt Disney World, Raglan Road opened its doors last year on the grounds of Pleasure Island’s former Jazz Club to much fanfare.   I read stories of the amazing amount of detail and authenticity being poured into this place during the conceptual and construction phases.  After it opened, many in the Disney internet and podcasting community literally gushed over the Irish pub.  I’ve been there more than once, and I certainly will not “gush” in this review.

When I think of the great Irish pubs, I think of places that literally ooze atmosphere.  I think of taverns that are filled to the top with warmth and good conversation, places that make you feel right at home.   Raglan Road has none of these qualities.  It is a loud, sprawling and cavernous space that has all the coziness one finds at Grand Central Station.    It certainly is filled with amazing detail, and beautiful wood fixtures.  In fact, you can literally walk around the place for hours looking at it all.   But in the end, any of the great energy these things could bring to a tavern is lost behind a wall of noise and hidden in the shadows.

The service here is hit and miss.  My first experience was so bad that I had to cut the night short and move to a more hospitable pub.   But after all the hype, I couldn’t leave it at that.  So I gave it another try and found much better results.   It’s the time you choose to go that is the key, but even that is a double-edged sword.  Raglan Road offers terrific entertainment in the evenings.   But more often than not, the evenings are jammed with people screaming over the band and getting a drink can be a long and tedious process.  The early afternoons are quiet and the charm in the details comes out.   But then, you are missing out on part of the experience. 

The food is over priced, but to be fair precious few places in Disney World are not overpriced.  I guess it would be better to say that it is not any more overpriced than other places here, so it’s hard to complain about that.   Luckily the menu is a good one.  There are some interesting offerings and everything I’ve had was well prepared and left me with no quality complaints.

The best quality about Raglan Road is its beer selection.  If you are looking for something interesting on draft, there no better place on property than this place.  From interesting British and Irish beers, to some nice European selections that you don’t find in other places.  The test is what becomes of this variety.   In five years time, will they have the same choices?  Will they change to more “popular” items?  Or will they continue to be adventurous?  That will tell a lot about how serious a beer-lovers places this truly is.

I guess I would characterize my view on Raglan Road as mixed.  Perhaps the hype raised the bar too high for me to fairly consider it, but that is why I didn’t just leave after my first bad experience and hammer away at it as a bad, poorly run place.  It is not bad by any means, and the food and beer are both good.  But don’t expect to be wowed by it.  It may have some great conversation pieces hanging on the wall, and some authentic furniture, but it doesn’t inspire a great Irish pub like one may think.

Magical Mountain is reporting some possible additional details to the new Vacation Club villas opening at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  The information here is not referenced with a source, so I can only conclude this is still at the rumor stage.

The first bit of information worth discussing is that it says, “Disney is shooting for a September opening”.  This seems to be in contrast with what Disney itself has recently said.  If you look back to a story I did about an Animal Kingdom Villas brochure sent to current members, you’ll see that DVC officials are saying that Spring 2007 is the target to open the initial phases.  Quite frankly, I find Magical Mountain’s prediction much more likely.

The report also seems to suggest a change in the normal variety of choices for accommodations.  Along with the normal studio, one and two-bedroom villas, and Grand villa, there is also a “value” tiered villa.  This will reportedly carry a point value starting at 8 points, which would put it in line with the Old Key West’s value, and be somewhat smaller.  I can only assume that if this comes to fruition that it will also have a view of the parking lot and not the savannahs.

As this site continues to grow in readership, I thought you might be interested in learning something about the three of us who contribute to Mouse Extra.  At first, I was contemplating adding a more in-depth biography of each of us to the “About Us” section, but a better idea came to mind.  Instead of the typical bio, I thought I would give the two contributing writers a short survey to fill out about their favorite aspects of the Mouse.  Of course, I couldn’t resist the temptation myself.  I hope the answers here serve as a conversation starter for you, and maybe learn a bit more about us.

I’ll start with the contributing writers, Mike and Brooke.  Besides simply needing help to keep up with all the information we want to have here, these two bring their own unique views of what they like and don’t like.  Also, they are both parents of small children, and not having any children myself, I thought it of the utmost importance to get the perspectives of them and their kids for all to read.

Mike (contributing writer)- Mike is a life long Mouse addict, as well as a devoted sports nut, Star Wars lover and much more. 

favorite Disney Theme Park- Animal Kingdom
favorite Disney Resort Hotel- Animal Kingdom Lodge
Top 3 rides- Pirates of the Caribbean, Kilimanjaro Safari, Test Track

favorite Live show- Fantasmic
Top 3 eateries (sit-down or counter)- Boma, San Angel Inn, Flame Tree BBQ
favorite classic animated film- Lady & The Tramp
favorite contemporary animated film- Lion King
favorite disney live action film- Pirates of the Caribbean; Curse of the Black Pearl
favorite Disney character- Jock
favorite Disney villian- Jafar
favorite disney movie song- A Whole New World (as sung by my daughter)
favorite attraction song- Grim Grinning Ghosts
favorite WDW shop- Tatooine Traders

Brooke (contributing writer)- Brooke is the most devoted music lover I know, and a devotee to creative writing, films, and the New York Rangers. 

favorite Disney Theme Park-Magic Kingdom
favorite Disney Resort Hotel- Boardwalk
Top 3 rides- Big Thunder Mountain, Dinosaur, Pirates of the Caribbean

favorite Live show- Festival of the Lion King
Top 3 eateries (sit-down or counter)- Les Chefs de France, The Cantina in Mexico, The Boardwalk Bakery
favorite classic animated film- Robin Hood
favorite contemporary animated film- Brother Bear
favorite Disney live action film- Mary Poppins
favorite Disney character- Dory
favorite Disney villain- Maleficent
favorite Disney movie song- Part of Your World
favorite attraction song- A Pirate’s Life for Me
favorite WDW shop- Pirate’s Bazaar

Dave (editor)- I just couldn’t help but to answer these questions…

favorite Disney Theme Park-Epcot
favorite Disney Resort Hotel- Boardwalk
Top 3 rides- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Spaceship Earth, Expedition Everest

favorite Live show- The British Invasion
Top 3 eateries (sit-down or counter)- Trails’ End, Ohana‘s, Beaches n’ Cream
favorite classic animated film- Robin Hood
favorite contemporary animated film- The Lion King
favorite Disney live action film- Miracle
favorite Disney character- Sorcerer Mickey
favorite Disney villain- Scar
favorite Disney movie song- Whale of a Tale
favorite attraction song- Golden Dream
favorite WDW shop- Mouse Gear

This will be posted in the About Us section soon.  Please feel free to tell us what you think…