Mousekingdom Blog

Disney, more than any other venue, know how to throw a party. The last evening of the travel trade show, Pow Wow, featured Disney’s Farewell Party, an event every media member looks forward to, for the food, drink and all-out fabulous entertainment. The park takes on a completely different feel in the evening, especially when it becomes a nearly-private playground, the queues are non-existent and the food is several steps above even the best theme park fare.

When we arrived at Animal Kingdom for the evening’s festivities, the courtyard area had a massive stage set up for the night’s special guest star, Donna Summer, near the tram pick-up at the front of the park. The rest of the courtyard was filled with Cast Members dressed as various characters (not ‘Disney’ characters, but more ’streetmosphere’; the sort of company you might meet in Africa, Asia, etc). There were also a few costumed stilt-walkers, which seems to be the ‘in’ thing these days, and a wonderful steel drum band.

There were numerous photo opportuinites in the courtyard, which we took advantage of, then we passed through the turnstiles into The Oasis. Cast Members were handing out blue drinks (which turned out to be sweet, lovely and highly alcoholic, in keeping with the theme of all the parks trying to get their ‘honoured’ guests stone-drunk), then we moved on into Discovery Island.

There were various small animal encounters all along the bridge as we walked toward the Tree of Life, and more streetmosphere characters. Disney also resurrected a number of Artimals, for those of you who remember the wonderful parade Animal Kingdom had before Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade. For those who never saw the old parade, it was filled with spectacular stylized puppet-animals such as gazelles, frogs, giraffes, etc. A Cast Member worked the ‘puppet’, (which isn’t really a fair name or description. Think of the giant butterflies in the old Tapestry of Dreams parade at Epcot). The gazelles ‘leapt’, the frog opened and closed its enormous mouth, and so on.

Simon and I planned to veer right immediately and head directly to Expedition Everest. But, in true Disney style, we were all herded clockwise around Discovery Island into Africa. What a scene! Again, there were drummers, African bands, seemingly hundreds of street characters in African dress, and food. Oh, the food! We’ll come back to that later, which is what Simon and I did, not wanting full stomachs while meeting the Yeti.

On the way to Asia we had our picture taken with King Louie, Timone and Rafiki, then walked the long and surprisingly quiet path into Asia. Animal Kingdom is the most beautiful park at night, very serene and cozy, but tonight was something special, a fact that could not be missed when we reached Asia. The ground was covered in mist, leading us onward toward a Tibetan hiker warning of impending danger, then onward again until we came face to face with the massive (and beautifully costumed) Yeti himself!

His fur was white with blue tinges and he was enormous. He had to be the tallest stilt-walker I have ever seen. We took pictures but I am certain they do not capture the full experience of seeing this character in real-life. What an incredible welcome to the lair of the Yeti!

We paused for a moment in Asia to have our picture taken with Mushu, who, let me assure you, is a real flirt, then proceeded to ride Everest twice with no wait before returning to Africa to sample various dishes responsible for the wonderful, smoky aroma filling all of Harambe. If you are ever offered South African wine and lamb chops while you’re touring Animal Kingdom, you MUST try them. There were all sorts of lovely dishes available, but the lamb chops were positively sublime. Another excellent dish was the lemon chicken with olives, but the lamb chops were tender as butter and simply spiced (just a bit spicy-hot, but only just a bit). Paired with the Ndaba Shiraz from Cape Province in South Africa (which the bartender had ‘hidden’ behind the bar for guests who expressed an interest in something a bit special), it was perfect dining heaven.

We went on to Dinoland for some midway games, with the intent that I would win great huge armfuls of stuffed toys and Simon would forever live humbled by my mastery of Whack A Mole (or Whack-A-Pacycephalosaurus, as it should properly be called). But it was not to be.

I lost every game I played, including that stupid squirty game that is just stupid and stupid! I hate that game and I hate everyone who beat me at that game and I hate that I didn’t win ONE SINGLE STUFFED ANIMAL! Not even a little one! Life is SO UNFAIR!!

It was then that I noticed my mobile phone was missing.

I won’t bore you with the details of trying to track it down, save to say Jonathan, the most persistent Disney Cast Member on the face of the earth, eventually reunited me with The Most Unreliable Mobile Phone in the World. Through a series of phone calls, 3 of them to the guest who picked up my phone and didn’t bother to turn it in, we finally tracked it down and I have it in my possession once again. Jonathan would tell you he was happy to help, maybe adding he was just doing his job, but we all know better. Disney Cast Members are second to none when it comes to going ‘above and beyond’. Jonathan did that for us and we think he deserves our thanks and a bit of recognition beyond that as well.

By the time we sorted out the phone situation, Donna Summer was already well into a succession of disco tunes from 30 years ago, to the great delight of those who loved her then, the moderate amusement of those who were more of the Frank Zappa or Pink Floyd persuasion and the outright annoyance of those who hoped a woman of her non-Spring Chickenhood would not look quite so dazzling nor belt out a tune the way she did when she was 20. But she looked that good and sang that powerfully, proving her stamina was far superior to ours. We left Disney’s Pow Wow Farewell Party with the strains of Last Dance wafting across the car park, our legs aching and weary after a long week of hard work. Miles of walking and hours of talking were rewarded with evenings such as this one, done in best Disney style, leaving everyone who attended eager for more and looking forward to the next Disney Event.

It may be satisfying for Disney fans to know not only are the parks something special, Disney’s events reflect just as much attention to detail, provide more than what’s expected and twinkle with the same ‘magic’ day guests feel during their time in the parks. From perfectly prepared food to the right sort of trim on an Asian hiker’s boots, each element is presented in its finest form. Imagineering does not end with the attractions; the story continues in every aspect of the guest experience and Disney, ever vigilant in their quest for a perfectly spun tale, never fails to impress.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 9:20 pm and is filed under Disney Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.