Yoo Hoo, Disney EchoEars!
Continuing with trip reports from WDW written by my friend Bruce Metcalf...
Subject: Metcalfs @ WDW day 2
Today we began with breakfast at the Contemporary's Concourse Steakhouse.
Good food and a seat directly under the monorail tracks.  Can you say,
"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun"?
Bay View Gifts there turns out to be the only shop on the property which
still had the new Michael Broggie book, "Walt Disney's Railroad Story".
I've only had time to read the first third so far, but it looks pretty
good.  A foreword by Lillian Disney and introductions (two!) by Ward
Kimball and Ollie Johnston show that this is an "official" version, despite
being published by Pentrex, rather than Hyperion.  Sixty bucks well spent,
seems to me.  (Watch for a full review when time permits.)
(BTW, Pentrex is a well respected publisher of railroad books which is not
controlled by Disney.  Heimburger House Publishing originally had the book,
and their failure to publish and Pentrex's pickup of the project [for
reasons yet unknown] is why this 431 page tome was delayed.)
After this delayed start, it was off to the Magic Kingdom.  You may recall
a recent thread on r.a.d.p about the monorail recording?  I thought it was
silly at the time, but I found my pulse quickening at the sound of it.
Yesterday I reported on a lack of a sense of urgency to my visit?  I found
it!  Something about walking under the railroad station and onto Town
Square that does something to a person.  Ponce de Leon looked in the right
place, but he was a little early.
        >>> SPOILER ALERT <<<
Light crowds and the calm knowledge that we could do the rest later caused
us to concentrate on Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.  I am pleased to confirm
earlier rumors that the two sides of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride are markedly
different:  The right side includes a barnyard scene and flying chickens;
the left a visit to a saloon, court, and a jailbreak by weasels.  Same
destination, though.  Seems that the wages of sin are still hell.  Sin or
arguing with trains for right-of-way, whichever.
Even the second time around, The Timekeeper is marvelous, thanks to Robin
Williams' manic performance.  He doesn't really have two routines, you just
laugh so much from the odd-numbered jokes you don't hear the even-numbered
ones the first time through.  I still love the Carousel of Progress, but I
notice that with a less-than-capacity audience, other guests tend to move
away from me when they discover I sing along at the end of each act.  Their
problem--not mine.
Lunch was at Cinderella's Royal Table.  We decided to give Cindy a try,
despite a disappointing dinner several years earlier.  Seems the girl's
better at it than her cousin, King Stephan.  Food above average, rather
than below; service attentive, rather than sparse; and Cinderella greeted
each of her guests downstairs before the meal, leaving more room to maneuver
in the dining room and fewer screaming children to disrupt your digestion.
If you have written this place off, it deserves another look.
I still have two big beefs with the place though (other than the prime rib,
I mean):  Some of the heraldry is patently bogus (I used to be a special
librarian for a collection of heraldry and vexillology); and no one on the
staff knows a whit about it--even to the ability to point out the Disney
arms.  Pity, it could be every bit as interesting as the windows on Main
Street with just a bit of effort.
The heat and humidity continue to be in the Summer Swelter range (over 90
both), with no forecast of change in the next week.  Hence we finally took
everyone's good advice and retired to our hotel for an afternoon nap (at
about 5 p.m.).  Slept until 8:30, so called upon Wolfgang Puck's Express at
Downtown Disney Marketplace (Note acronym change from DVM to DDM.)
Wolfie does decent work, despite a cast who can't make themselves heard
over the noise in the kitchen.  Puck didn't bake the first wood-fired pizza
in California, no matter what his ads say, but he does a good job of it.
Note that his "Express" is a counter service shop (in the old Minnie's
location), and is at the far end of Downtown Disney from his restaurant,
which we later discovered had it's grand opening the same night.  Oh well,
we were too tired to enjoy it anyway.
DDM is undergoing some major spatial reorganization, with half the shops
closed and the other half recently moved to new quarters.  Despite this
confusion, or maybe because of it, there is now a weekly Guidemap to
Downtown Disney in the same format as the Guidemaps to the major parks.
What an attitude!  At least they got the map right--for now.
Studios tomorrow!
Bruce Metcalf,
EMuck Rufus,
mailto:bmetcalf@cdc3.cdc.net
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