Mouse Extra

By now, every Disney fanatic has heard about Summer Nightastic coming to Walt Disney World this summer.  The centerpiece of the marketing program is a return of the famous Main Street Electrical Parade to the Magic Kingdom after a decades’ long absence.  And now we find out that the upcoming run in Florida will be barely over two months long.

Yesterday, the Disney Parks Blog added an update to its original story about the parade’s return informing us that Summer Nightastic will run from June 6 through August 14, a much shorter run than many wishing to see the parade had hoped.  This gives fans just over five months to get to Orlando or risk missing the parade for who knows how long.

In years past I have complained vociferously about this kind of short-term announcement from Disney, but this one takes the cake.  Most often, I have moaned about how long it takes for them to announce the dates for Star Wars Weekends, but at least fans who want to attend that event have a relative idea when it might take place and can start planning accordingly.  This event, containing something nearly every Disney fan over the age of 25 gets overly nostalgic about, was completely unexpected.  And now, we all have only five months to raise funds, find the time to take off from work, and do all the planning.  You think this bugs?  You’re darn right it does!

Last week, Disney World officials announced “Summer Nightastic”, a promotional program for this summer at the Orlando parks.  Like last year’s Disneyland promotion of the same name, Florida officials hope that a one bit of big news for Disney fans combined with few relatively modest changes and a catchy tagline, will be enough to put a sense of urgency into potential visitors.

For the Disney purist, the center piece of this promotion includes something that is certain to be very exciting.  The Main Street Electrical Parade will finally return to the Magic Kingdom.  But truth be told, that is the only part of what has been announced so far for Summer Nightastic that is really worth talking about.  The other elements include…

• A very non-specific announcement of a new fireworks show coming to the Magic Kingdom, which we really can’t get too excited about until we know more about what to expect.
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is planning “New lighting effects and the addition of a new drop sequence”.  While new lighting can be interesting, I am not sure what the virtue is of a new drop sequence when the current sequence is supposedly random.  What can be more new and exciting than a random sequence that is new every time you ride?
• A summer concert series at Epcot, which again we can not judge until we know more about it.
• Extended evening operating hours at the Animal Kingdom.  A good idea to be sure, but not exactly earth shattering news.

The obvious conclusion to draw here is that Summer Nightastic is Walt Disney World’s response to the opening of Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter this spring.  But let me give Disney the benefit of the doubt and assume that is not the primary reason for this promotion.  I mean, if someone there thinks this program can compete with Potterland they ought to be fired.

No, Summer Nightastic is just simply too sparse to be considered by anyone with a brain to be an adequate “response” to Universal’s project.  But that shouldn’t take away from the potential positives here.  For the tourist with plans to head to the Mouse this summer, this comes as really good news.  The return of the Main Street Electrical Parade is truly a treat for the longtime Disney faithful.  And how could extended hours and a new fireworks display ever be considered anything but positive?

So rather than dwell on the obvious “could haves” with this promotion, lets just say that Summer Nightastic seems like a nice addition  to the Disney World slate for this year.  We all want more and expect more out of Imagineering.  And while it does seem strange that Disney is obviously allowing Universal to take center stage for the time being, let’s not draw conclusions on what this promotion was intended to do and then criticize it for not achieving a phantom goal.

Let’s take another look at some of the scenes found during this year’s Epcot Flower and Garden Festival.  Today we will take a stroll around the World Showcase Lagoon to see some wonderful images.

Our first stop is at Italy where Lady and the Tramp star.  The detail that went into making this topiary of Lady is truly incredible.  The expression and life in her eyes just blew me away.

Continuing along our walk, we find Aladdin outside the Moroccan pavilion.  Posing on his magic carpet, you can bet Aladdin drew quite a bit of attention from Disney fans.

And finally, what says France like perfume bottles?  Yes, I was looking around for the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, or maybe even Remy.  But what I couldn’t help but photograph were these bottles.

It certainly seemed to me that this year’s Flower and Garden Festival was more subdued than past editions.  I can’t say this for sure, but it felt like there was less to see, fewer topiaries.  The Festival center at the old Wonders of Life Pavilion was not always opened and with the Flower Power Concerts only playing on the weekends it just seemed much quieter at Epcot.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining.  Quiet is a good thing.  Did anyone else get this same impression?

This week I will be posting a few pictures of some of the horticultural highlights at this year’s Epcot Flower and Garden Festival.  As usual, the character topiaries are nothing short of amazing.  Today we head to the entrance of the World Showcase, where we are introduced to a scene filled with characters from my all-time favorite Disney feature, the Lion King.

The first, and most impressive, is that wonderful signature scene of Rafiki holding the newly born prince Simba up for all to see.

Watching the ceremony are other animals, like this beautifully detailed giraffe.  His impressive size makes him tower over the other animals.

What would the Lion King be without the singing a dancing duo of Timon and Pumba, the soon-to-be king’s best friends.  Their smiles are just as infectious here as they are in the film.

And finally, we see what I think is hands-down the best villain ever created for a Disney film, Scar.  The King’s brother is after the throne and he is willing to kill everyone in his family to get it. 

We will continue around Epcot this week, so check back for more photos.

After my last trip, I have been in Walt Disney World for well over 30 days during the famous Year of a Million Dreams sweepsta…err…celebration.  And I am here to tell you that after all that time spent in the midst of this great “one of a kind” promotion I feel exactly the same way about it I did when I first heard of the plans.  I think it stinks, plain and simple.

I must first admit that I have never won anything in all that time.  Not a thing.  No silly mouse ears, no dream fast passes, just big fat nothing.  I guess you can say that my dreams have not come true.  But what is worse, because I really never expected to win anything, is that I have never even seen someone else win either?  What I have observed is scores of people all looking longingly at the now obvious “dream squads” as they walk by wondering what they need to do to have their dreams come true.  I can see the hopeful guests loitering in the area of the dream squad hoping that if they stay close perhaps they will be there when “the dream comes true”.  But, I have never seen success.

As I have said many times before, this is not a promotion or a celebration.  This is a sweepstakes, nothing more and nothing less.  And like nearly all sweepstakes, the goal is to get you to participate not to make sure you win.  Disney has done a brilliant job promoting these sweepstakes.  But they know darn well that the vast majority of those who participate by paying for a ticket to the park will go home empty handed.  No dreams will come true for them.  For a company who takes the word “dreams” so seriously, they have really cheapened it tremendously.

I can only hope that this nonsense will soon come to an end.  The promotional decorations are getting old and you can barely even find the dream squads anymore, though I guess that is an improvement from being teased by them passing you by and you getting nothing.  It is time for a celebration or a promotion that everyone who pays their hard earned money to afford the ridiculously high ticket prices can participate in and benefit from.

Let us finish up our tour around this year’s Epcot Flower and Garden Festival by looking through Mike’s lens at some of the pictures he took of the characters found throughout the park.  Some are a bit hidden, while others really pop out at you.  But I think you will find that they are all amazingly created and add an interesting element to the park.

Tucked along the water at Future World, you will find this most famous of feminine mice all decked out in her traditional garb…

Hidden in the brush, just off the World Showcase Promenade, this great swashbuckler makes for a fascinated find…

And not far from Peter Pan, we find his nemesis, the ruthless pirate Captain Hook.  This one has some amazing facial details and a terrifically typical hook expression…

And finally, over by the Germany Pavilion at the World Showcase you will find a yearly crowd favorite, Snow Whit and the Seven Dwarfs.  This one, seemingly a little different every year, always seems to wow the crowd…

The Flower and Garden is not the kind of interactive and fun event that the Food and Wine Festival can be.  But it does add some very interesting new décor to the scenery around Epcot.  We hope you enjoyed having a look.