Progress City, U.S.A.

Beacon Joe has returned from his shanty on the Rivers of America to continue a series started in OCTOBER 2008!  Though much has changed since this article was written, you should read the first part of this series before continuing further….

Yes, I know.  My blog posting frequency or (lack thereof) is absurd.  Yet I feel that this series about nightlife at Walt Disney World is just as valid as it was when WDW execs decided to shutter Pleasure Island in late 2008.

Much has changed on the Island since last we spoke, most notably the additions of Ragalin Road (very popular) and right next door the monstrous T Rex (completing the bookend volcano look for Marketplace that goes so well with craftsmen architecture).

Good news is, no awful plan has come into place for Pleasure Island yet – we’ve got a giant balloon which seems rather unoffensive, and West Side is changing various third party forces – yet Pleasure Island seems more or less untouched at the moment.

So great!  Let’s continue where we left off, shall we?  In the first article I explained my opinion that the blandness of the Pleasure Island experience most likely lead to its downfall, but it provides an interesting template and supplies a necessary need for the Walt Disney World experience – nightlife! Walt Disney World seems to die off fairly early in the evening, and it’s fairly hard to find something to do into the wee hours of the evening, and I’d love to see that change.  I’d love to see the unique Disney experience extend to adults who want to stay up and maybe enjoy a cocktail or two.

So instead of a sweeping armchair quarterback idea of a new themed nighttime district, I came up with a few essentials to what I think would work (and has already worked) to address this problem.

Back In Walt’s Day…. there was Disneyland

DISNEYLAND!  Disneyland?  Oh yes, there are Date Night at Disneyland and Disneyland After Dark specials I love, which show a hoppin theme park, with Louis Armstrong on the Mark Twain, and…. this….

Okay, so Bobby Rydell might not be the answer anymore, but perhaps keeping the parks open till a decent time might help.  E Ticket nights were popular, as are the current extra magical hours.  But even more intriguing about these specials is….

THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Live entertainment works at Disneyland, and it hasn’t been working too great, or just as much, at Walt Disney World.  Michael and I were shocked to see how many viable musical ensembles exist in Disneyland, most likely due to the difference in crowd perhaps (more local Annual Passholder folk).  Even so, live entertainment – good, unique live entertainment, has been a Disney staple leading back to its formative days in Anaheim, where some of the first contractors were the Marching Band.

Frankie and the West End Boys covered Smashmouth,  I’m more interested in these guys -

… and here’s a shiny example to show you I’m not all grumps.  YeHaa Bob at the River Roost Lounge at Dixie Landings, or umm Riverside – is a glimpse into what I’m talking about.  A more unique experience than listening to poor covers of Barenaked Ladies.  There’s nothing too unique about that.  To boot, at Disneyland, local or otherwise unknown bands often played and made waves on the national scene – including The Osmonds and No Doubt.   Could there be a venue other than House of Blues for up and comers to play at Walt Disney World?

Story continues below the fold…

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Hello folks, it’s Beacon Joe here again.  First off, I’d like to thank everyone for listening and commenting on the podcast, and hope you all enjoy it.   The reason I’m writing is to obtain a little information on a ditty Michael and I overheard at the D23 convention last September.

We had the pleasure of being around for the presentation “Lost Chords – Never Heard Music from Disney Animation” hosted by Russell Schroeder, in which a song “This is Home” was presented from the ill fated never-to-be-released film “Tale of a Mouse”.   While we recorded it, our recording quality was poor and I can’t quite decipher the lyrics.

This is where you come in.  Should you have any more information on this song, whether it be history, lyrics, or even a recording – I would love to hear from you.  You can email it here, and I will thank you with an undying gratitude.

Hope to hear from you soon…

Until next time, this is Beacon Joe, signing off.

For a long time, Disney didn’t really do Halloween. Disney is more of a Christmas kind of organization. But laced throughout Disney history are some nice, moody spooks suitable for the season (aside from the blinding terror of Bambi, of course)…

Foremost in my mind when I think of Disney and Halloween is a little special that used to show around this time called “Disney’s Halloween Treat” and later “A Disney Halloween.” The difference between these two specials was the host; in “Halloween Treat” we were welcomed by a hilarious pumpkin puppet (I’m of the opinion that anything in the world, funny or unfunny, is made a million times funnier by enacting it with a puppet), while “Disney Halloween” was hosted by the Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Both shows were clip compilations of various spooky and supernaturally themed scenes from old Disney films, and the specials aired in various formats and venues from 1982 until the 1990’s. Now, of course, Disney would never be caught dead showing something ancient (read: pre-1995) on ABC or the Disney Channel; “Disney Halloween” would get bumped for “Haunted High School Musical.” But we have the internets!

Featured in the show were a number of films and shorts, but a few are notable in the classic Disney canon. Lonesome Ghosts is perhaps the most famous, with Our Heroes as proto-Ghostbusters back in the era when Mickey was interesting, but my favorite was always Trick or Treat, starring the inestimable Donald Duck. Directed by legendary Duck director Jack Hannah, and concurrently adapted into comic form by the great Carl Barks, the short isn’t seen nearly as often as it should be.