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By Michael - April 4th, 2014 
The other day on The Twitter™ I commented that Disney should have a special event featuring a three-course meal based on the food that Father is cooking in the three different finales the Carousel of Progress has presented since 1975. In Act IV of Walt Disney World’s original 1975 Carousel, he’s making chili. In the 1993 version he’s making turkey (the meal would also, of course, feature a side order of frozen pizza). And in the 1981 version he’s making his legendary L’Omelette Superb avec Jambon.
The omelette was such an odd flourish that it always stuck in my young mind and has always remained my signature memory of the 1981 version of the show (runner up would be watching New Year’s at Walt Disney World on the T.V., and the line “I’d like to see the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Europe and the East.”)
Well after an online discussion about L’Omelette Superb, along came Mr. How Bowers with an amazing fact – as Act IV progressed, the computer that Mother was using to control the tree and television actually updated its CRT to match the events of the show. And even more amazingly, it actually called up the recipe for L’Omelette Superb for all to see! At least, those with a telephoto lens and a keen eye. Read the recipe at his blog, and make it yourself! Mmm… tastes like 1981! And share pictures if you do…
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By Michael - April 3rd, 2014  Mary Blair surveys the mural she created for Disneyland’s 1967 Tomorrowland remodel  The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco has done it again, with a spectacular new exhibit showcasing the artwork of animation concept artist, illustrator, painter, and Imagineer Mary Blair (1911–1978). MAGIC, COLOR, FLAIR: the world of Mary Blair debuted on March 13th, and is scheduled to run until September 7th in the museum’s newly-dedicated Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall. Artwork on display traces Blair’s career from her formative experiences with Los Angeles’s legendary Chouinard Art Institute and the California Water-Color Society to her seminal 1941 South America trip, her storied Disney career, and beyond.
The exhibition is curated by animation historian extraordinaire John Canemaker. Canemaker also wrote the introduction to the exhibit’s stunning 172-page catalogue, and he has also updated his long out-of-print exploration of Blair’s artwork and life. Both books are superb and should be instant buys for any fan of Blair’s work.
Filling the entire two-story Exhibition Hall, the exhibit unwinds chronologically. An excellent personal audio tour is available, which walks you through the exhibit and features guest commentators such as Canemaker, historian Ted Thomas, and Blair contemporary and friend Alice Davis.
Continue reading The Art & Flair Of Mary Blair
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By Michael - December 8th, 2013 In the early days of Walt Disney World, watercraft were a fundamental element of new parks. When the Magic Kingdom opened alongside the rest of the resort in 1971, any number of rafts, launches, steamships, and ferries took to the waters of Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon for shakedown cruises. The Rivers of America weren’t filled until soon before opening day, so the ships which plied its backwoods route had to be tested outside the park. Even after opening, the massive influx of guests, along with the delayed arrival of the large ferries, forced Disney to press into service anything that would float to bring guests over from the Transportation and Ticket Center. Years later, when Epcot Center was nearing completion, the FriendShip launches debuted miles away on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon.
While perusing old photos on Flikr, I came across a number of wonderful photos by user Gary G. Gary was an early Walt Disney World cast member, hired before opening in the summer of 1971, and he has several pictures posted from a cast member preview of the new park which took place in September of 1971. Needless to say, the park was hardly ready, but it did give cast members an idea of what they were creating, and allowed Disney to work out some early operational kinks.
Of the pictures Gary posted, these stood out:
This is the Bertha Mae, one of Mike Fink’s Keelboats. Veteran Walt Disney World visitors will remember the Keelboats, which provided scenic tours of the Rivers of America in Frontierland until they joined a wave of closures in 2001. Here we see the ship outside the berm, however, ferrying guests from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, it had become stranded on a sandbar and cast members with long poles were trying to dislodge it – ironically, much like how the old keel boats operated on the Mississippi River! The picture was taken from Bertha Mae‘s sister ship, the Gullywhumper.
For more information, and for more great vintage pictures, head on over to Flickr. Here’s one more – a shot of the still-unfinished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea lagoon only a month before opening day!
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By Michael - December 7th, 2013 Last week we took a look at the first episode of Walt Disney World Inside Out, the monthly program which ran on the old Disney Channel from 1994-97. Gird yourself for some abrasive 90s video techniques, because we’re going back to July of 1994 – this time with a vague outdoorsy theme to match the then-newly-opened Wilderness Lodge. There’s some requisite awkward forced wackiness, trips to Fort Wilderness and the old Magic of Disney Animation attraction, and a look at the also newly-opened Innoventions courtesy of perennial media presence Bill Nye. Animator Aaron Blaise even drops in to promote The Lion King. And there’s Nancy Kerrigan for some reason, before everyone kind of decided they didn’t really like Nancy Kerrigan. Enjoy!
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By Michael - December 6th, 2013 This year, the Tokyo Disney Resort observed its 30th anniversary. Since its opening on April 15, 1983, millions upon millions have streamed through the gates of Tokyo Disneyland and its sister park, Tokyo DisneySea, which opened in 2001. Today, the two parks are known as paragons of Disney quality, maintained to the highest standard and offering an array of entertainment, merchandise, and even food items unmatched by the other Disney resorts.
Ironically, Tokyo Disneyland is the one outpost of the Disney empire not owned, at least in part, by the Walt Disney Company itself. It is instead operated by the Oriental Land Co., formed in 1960 by a collaboration of Japanese corporations to enhance recreational opportunities in the Tokyo area. When Disney was approached in the 1970s to bring an “Oriental Disneyland” to Tokyo, they were deep into the expansion of Walt Disney World and the creation of Epcot Center, and opted not to build the Tokyo park themselves. Instead they licensed the Disney name and characters to OLC, all the while maintaining strict control over the quality and operation of the park. While Disney does not own the park, they have a say in what happens there, and all new attractions and shows are created by Walt Disney Imagineering.
In 2008 the park celebrated its 25th anniversary in gala style – then again, Tokyo Disneyland celebrates everything in gala style. A hallmark of the Tokyo parks is that they release a constant stream of new music releases, DVDs, books, and magazines for fans; the 25th anniversary was no exception. Here is a video that Tokyo Disneyland produced giving a year-by-year look at the resort’s new attractions. You’ll see the parks’ heavy focus on spectacular live shows and parades, with a seemingly constant rotation of new festivals and celebrations, and all produced at the highest degree of quality.
Oddly, this video leaves out some major attractions added over the years, but it gives you a fairly good idea of how the resort evolved between 1983 and 2008.
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The Progress City Primer
 From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats. |
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