glennbo123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 10, 2008
The Boardwalk Ballyhoo Tour
Today was Saturday, June 27th, and it was our day off. Well, maybe I should say, our non-park day, because every day is a day off when on vacation, right? Anyway, to recap where we are in this fairly drawn-out retelling, we’d arrived mid-day on Tuesday the 23rd and then spent the next three days exhausting ourselves at the parks. It was time for a little break from our vacation.
I had read in someone else’s trip report about a tour they do of the Boardwalk resort, which kind of explains the theming and architecture in general, and points out some things you may have missed. I think they do it one or two days a week and it conveniently worked out that one of the offerings was on our day off. (Of course, I made the vacation plan and since it was something I was interested in doing, I may have had a little influence on how “conveniently” it worked out.) So anyway, that is what I had planned for the morning. I’d told the kids about it at some point, either the night before or the morning of, I can’t remember, but anyway, they didn’t seem too interested.
In the morning, while the kids dozed and Judy got ready, I went down to the Boardwalk Bakery and got some coffee and a couple of pastries to split with the kids.
The tour was at 10am, and since we’d had what you would call a “relaxing” start to the day, we needed to get a move on. Just as we were about to leave, Lauren decided that she’d like to go, but had no time to get ready so it looked like she would miss out. (Spoiler alert for a few paragraphs in the future...don’t worry, she’ll join us part-way through.) Judy and I headed down to the BelVue Lounge, where the tour would start. At the lounge, we met our tour guide, David.
This was only his second week giving the tour. Of course, since this report is taking so long for me to write, by now he’s grizzled veteran.
It turned out that we were the only people who showed up for the tour that day. What luck! A private tour! I realize that there are maybe one or two other entertainment options which can be found in the Orlando area, but I was incredulous at our good fortune, that no one else was taking advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the Boardwalk resort. We called Lauren’s cellphone and told her to quickly get ready and try to join us midway (not intended as a Boardwalk/Carnival pun).
Here’s a photo of the BelVue Lounge, where the tour started.
Judy listening; David ‘splainin’ something. I think he was mentioning that the items in here were things that you might find in a seashore resort parlor, like games and books and such.
Bel Vue Lounge furniture.
Not sure why I took a picture of this old sewing machine in the lounge, but no use wasting a perfectly good picture.
The tour was called “The Ballyhoo Tour”. “Ballyhoo” was a noise intended to generate attention and excitement, like what a carnival barker would do. It's a term from the late 1800's when people went to shows and other attractions when they were at the shore. We learned from David that boardwalks themselves (the physical walkway of boards) came about from hotels trying to keep sand from being tracked in. Some also had grass in front, for the same purpose. Many hotels started out as mom and pop boarding houses and they added on as business success permitted. The architecture of the Boardwalk Resort tries to mimic that, with different sections intended to look like they were added at different times. The architect, Mr. Stern, designed this hotel as well as the Yacht and Beach Clubs.
These paintings, intending to look like Disney’s Boardwalk, hang outside of the Bel Vue Lounge.
I guess I didn’t take a picture of them, but also outside of the BelVue Lounge was a display of postcards, dating back to around 1910-1920. They were provided by one of the construction workers on the Boardwalk, who thought (rightly) that they would be useful for decoration. I’m not sure if he donated them, sold them, or traded them for a Mickey Bar, fastpasses, and a DVC tour, but they’re fun to peruse. I noticed that the ones you could read almost all mentioned “bathing”, as in spa-bathing. It seemed to be the “in-thing”. Regarding postcards, David said that people didn’t mind that the mailman or anyone else read their card. In fact, they wanted everyone to read their card – because it advertised their wealth. And along those lines, he said that women would walk the boardwalk in furs, showing off how wealthy they were. I’m so glad that we’ve evolved beyond that and are not into shameful displays of material wealth anymore. Silly prior generations.
We learned that this chandelier in the lobby entrance was called a “hippocampus electrolier”. The term coined was coined by Thomas Edison, but for some odd reason, it didn't stick. I don’t know why – it just rolls off the tongue.
Under the hippocampus electrolier is a round settee with a merry-go-round. The carousel was the actual sales model of the premier carver of carousel horses at the time.
David pointed out some Disney castle paintings over the front desk. The interesting thing about them is that the frames are actually rounding boards from roof borders of a carousel.
Lauren joined us at this point in the tour. David was telling us that the roller coaster model was of a looping coaster that was used for about 7 years. It was a circle rather than an oval so it had g-forces similar to a fighter plane. There were lots of injuries. Plus, it was only able to load 2 people at a time, so it wasn't profitable.
There were a few interesting items to talk about at the fireplace. Paul and Todd, the hauntingly-freaky chairs on each side of the fireplace, were “nanny chairs” which were for nannies to sit on while the kids were on the carousel. (I guess there was no such thing as “rider-swap” back then.)
The elephant over the fireplace is Lucy. Wikipedia page on Lucy_the_Elephant Lucy, an elephant-shaped building, was (and still is!) a roadside attraction near Atlantic City, New Jersey. David told us that the building was saved from demolition recently and that a DVC member was involved in the effort.
He also pointed out a Hidden Mickey in this model of Lucy. Click here if you want to know where it is. ---->
On our way past the little merchandise shop in the Boardwalk, “Dundy’s Sundries”, David told us that it was named after Elmer “Skip” Dundy. He and his business partner, Frederic Thompson built Coney Island’s Luna Park in 1903. Thompson is listed as the proprietor on a door of one of the shops out on the boardwalk. I can’t remember if it was the Screen Door General Store or Thimbles and Threads.
We came to the elevators and David pointed the carpet out to us. I believe he said it was going to be replaced, so it may not be there anymore. He asked us if we saw the Hidden Mickeys...of course we did, we noticed them before we’d even taken the tour. He said, “Yeah, everybody sees those.” “But do you see Tinkerbell?” (Spoiler reveal below.) Huh?! We had not! And once he pointed her out, we could not un-see her. We couldn’t wait to show this to Marlene and James when we walked by here later in the day.
Out at the pool (didn’t take any pictures this time since I have some in other chapters), David pointed out that it’s called the “Luna Park Pool”, named after the amusement park at Coney Island. The slide is like a roller coaster, so it’s called “The Keister Coaster”. The pool bar, “Leaping Horse Libations” is a reference to the famous entertainment act at Coney Island, where a woman would ride a horse doing a high-dive into a pool of water. He told us that they landed wrong one time and the woman blew out her retinas and went blind. She kept doing the act for several more years though. Sometimes even intentionally. (Just kidding!)
In the center of the resort, between the hotel and the boardwalk itself, is a grassy area called the Village Green. As mentioned before, this is true to the boardwalk hotels of the era, and the goal was to keep sand from being tracked into the hotel.
From there, we walked out to the Boardwalk. David told us that the boards on the boardwalk are African ekki. It’s very durable and weather-resistant, but it’s so dense that it required diamond-tipped saws to cut.
I took a picture of a pair of the benches, trying to be artsy, I guess.
We went into the Seashore Sweets candy shop. As Disney fans yourselves, of course you know that all Disney projects start with a backstory. The backstory of Seashore Sweets is that the two female owners were beauty pageant girls who came to the shore for a pageant. They didn’t win, but stayed to open a candy store.
Their likeness graces the sign over the store entrance. They look like winners to me!
David talked about how beauty pageants started at the seashore resort towns, like Atlantic City. There were pictures in the store of past Miss America winners.
Looking at this next picture, we got onto the subject of Flappers of the ‘20’s. He said that the term “Flapper” referred to their short hair. I don’t think I ever really thought about what it could have referred to, but hey, good to know.
Then came perhaps the best part of the tour, when David asked, “Would you like some free ice cream?”
We peeked into the restaurant next door. It was Trattoria al Forno by this time, having recently changed over from Kouzzina. There are open doorways at Seashore Sweets between Flying Fish on the right and Trattoria al Forno on the left. And actually, they share a set of bathrooms, which are located in Seashore Sweets.
We went back out onto the Boardwalk, where David talked to us a little bit more before wrapping up the tour.
Doesn’t Lauren look angelic in this next photo? She looks like she has a halo around her head, like in some Renaissance painting. I could nominate her for sainthood, but we’d have to come up with a miracle. If only her bedroom had ever been clean when she was growing up...that would have been a good one to use! But alas.
We bid David goodbye and thanked him for the very informative tour. We thought he’d done a great job and we really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it for a nice diversion on a non-park day. I don’t think I’d do it if I weren’t staying at the resort, but if you’re staying there, it points out so many things that you would overlook, and helps bring to life the overall theming of the resort.
On the way back to our suite I took a picture of the resort’s exercise room, Muscles and Bustles.
I took the picture just to document it for my trip report readers. I had no intention of going in there -- I get enough of a workout in the parks!
Up next: What's Up Beaches & Cream
Today was Saturday, June 27th, and it was our day off. Well, maybe I should say, our non-park day, because every day is a day off when on vacation, right? Anyway, to recap where we are in this fairly drawn-out retelling, we’d arrived mid-day on Tuesday the 23rd and then spent the next three days exhausting ourselves at the parks. It was time for a little break from our vacation.
I had read in someone else’s trip report about a tour they do of the Boardwalk resort, which kind of explains the theming and architecture in general, and points out some things you may have missed. I think they do it one or two days a week and it conveniently worked out that one of the offerings was on our day off. (Of course, I made the vacation plan and since it was something I was interested in doing, I may have had a little influence on how “conveniently” it worked out.) So anyway, that is what I had planned for the morning. I’d told the kids about it at some point, either the night before or the morning of, I can’t remember, but anyway, they didn’t seem too interested.
In the morning, while the kids dozed and Judy got ready, I went down to the Boardwalk Bakery and got some coffee and a couple of pastries to split with the kids.
The tour was at 10am, and since we’d had what you would call a “relaxing” start to the day, we needed to get a move on. Just as we were about to leave, Lauren decided that she’d like to go, but had no time to get ready so it looked like she would miss out. (Spoiler alert for a few paragraphs in the future...don’t worry, she’ll join us part-way through.) Judy and I headed down to the BelVue Lounge, where the tour would start. At the lounge, we met our tour guide, David.
This was only his second week giving the tour. Of course, since this report is taking so long for me to write, by now he’s grizzled veteran.
It turned out that we were the only people who showed up for the tour that day. What luck! A private tour! I realize that there are maybe one or two other entertainment options which can be found in the Orlando area, but I was incredulous at our good fortune, that no one else was taking advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the Boardwalk resort. We called Lauren’s cellphone and told her to quickly get ready and try to join us midway (not intended as a Boardwalk/Carnival pun).
Here’s a photo of the BelVue Lounge, where the tour started.
Judy listening; David ‘splainin’ something. I think he was mentioning that the items in here were things that you might find in a seashore resort parlor, like games and books and such.
Bel Vue Lounge furniture.
Not sure why I took a picture of this old sewing machine in the lounge, but no use wasting a perfectly good picture.
The tour was called “The Ballyhoo Tour”. “Ballyhoo” was a noise intended to generate attention and excitement, like what a carnival barker would do. It's a term from the late 1800's when people went to shows and other attractions when they were at the shore. We learned from David that boardwalks themselves (the physical walkway of boards) came about from hotels trying to keep sand from being tracked in. Some also had grass in front, for the same purpose. Many hotels started out as mom and pop boarding houses and they added on as business success permitted. The architecture of the Boardwalk Resort tries to mimic that, with different sections intended to look like they were added at different times. The architect, Mr. Stern, designed this hotel as well as the Yacht and Beach Clubs.
These paintings, intending to look like Disney’s Boardwalk, hang outside of the Bel Vue Lounge.
I guess I didn’t take a picture of them, but also outside of the BelVue Lounge was a display of postcards, dating back to around 1910-1920. They were provided by one of the construction workers on the Boardwalk, who thought (rightly) that they would be useful for decoration. I’m not sure if he donated them, sold them, or traded them for a Mickey Bar, fastpasses, and a DVC tour, but they’re fun to peruse. I noticed that the ones you could read almost all mentioned “bathing”, as in spa-bathing. It seemed to be the “in-thing”. Regarding postcards, David said that people didn’t mind that the mailman or anyone else read their card. In fact, they wanted everyone to read their card – because it advertised their wealth. And along those lines, he said that women would walk the boardwalk in furs, showing off how wealthy they were. I’m so glad that we’ve evolved beyond that and are not into shameful displays of material wealth anymore. Silly prior generations.
We learned that this chandelier in the lobby entrance was called a “hippocampus electrolier”. The term coined was coined by Thomas Edison, but for some odd reason, it didn't stick. I don’t know why – it just rolls off the tongue.
Under the hippocampus electrolier is a round settee with a merry-go-round. The carousel was the actual sales model of the premier carver of carousel horses at the time.
David pointed out some Disney castle paintings over the front desk. The interesting thing about them is that the frames are actually rounding boards from roof borders of a carousel.
Lauren joined us at this point in the tour. David was telling us that the roller coaster model was of a looping coaster that was used for about 7 years. It was a circle rather than an oval so it had g-forces similar to a fighter plane. There were lots of injuries. Plus, it was only able to load 2 people at a time, so it wasn't profitable.
There were a few interesting items to talk about at the fireplace. Paul and Todd, the hauntingly-freaky chairs on each side of the fireplace, were “nanny chairs” which were for nannies to sit on while the kids were on the carousel. (I guess there was no such thing as “rider-swap” back then.)
The elephant over the fireplace is Lucy. Wikipedia page on Lucy_the_Elephant Lucy, an elephant-shaped building, was (and still is!) a roadside attraction near Atlantic City, New Jersey. David told us that the building was saved from demolition recently and that a DVC member was involved in the effort.
He also pointed out a Hidden Mickey in this model of Lucy. Click here if you want to know where it is. ---->
It’s in the lattice-work, at the very top. It’s easiest to see if you look at the back one, where it’s against the plain white wall.
On our way past the little merchandise shop in the Boardwalk, “Dundy’s Sundries”, David told us that it was named after Elmer “Skip” Dundy. He and his business partner, Frederic Thompson built Coney Island’s Luna Park in 1903. Thompson is listed as the proprietor on a door of one of the shops out on the boardwalk. I can’t remember if it was the Screen Door General Store or Thimbles and Threads.
We came to the elevators and David pointed the carpet out to us. I believe he said it was going to be replaced, so it may not be there anymore. He asked us if we saw the Hidden Mickeys...of course we did, we noticed them before we’d even taken the tour. He said, “Yeah, everybody sees those.” “But do you see Tinkerbell?” (Spoiler reveal below.) Huh?! We had not! And once he pointed her out, we could not un-see her. We couldn’t wait to show this to Marlene and James when we walked by here later in the day.
She’s in the lower-left corner of the picture, in purple against the yellow background. There’s also a trail of purple pixie dust coming from her wand. So obvious, yet we had not noticed her!
Out at the pool (didn’t take any pictures this time since I have some in other chapters), David pointed out that it’s called the “Luna Park Pool”, named after the amusement park at Coney Island. The slide is like a roller coaster, so it’s called “The Keister Coaster”. The pool bar, “Leaping Horse Libations” is a reference to the famous entertainment act at Coney Island, where a woman would ride a horse doing a high-dive into a pool of water. He told us that they landed wrong one time and the woman blew out her retinas and went blind. She kept doing the act for several more years though. Sometimes even intentionally. (Just kidding!)
In the center of the resort, between the hotel and the boardwalk itself, is a grassy area called the Village Green. As mentioned before, this is true to the boardwalk hotels of the era, and the goal was to keep sand from being tracked into the hotel.
From there, we walked out to the Boardwalk. David told us that the boards on the boardwalk are African ekki. It’s very durable and weather-resistant, but it’s so dense that it required diamond-tipped saws to cut.
I took a picture of a pair of the benches, trying to be artsy, I guess.
We went into the Seashore Sweets candy shop. As Disney fans yourselves, of course you know that all Disney projects start with a backstory. The backstory of Seashore Sweets is that the two female owners were beauty pageant girls who came to the shore for a pageant. They didn’t win, but stayed to open a candy store.
Their likeness graces the sign over the store entrance. They look like winners to me!
David talked about how beauty pageants started at the seashore resort towns, like Atlantic City. There were pictures in the store of past Miss America winners.
Looking at this next picture, we got onto the subject of Flappers of the ‘20’s. He said that the term “Flapper” referred to their short hair. I don’t think I ever really thought about what it could have referred to, but hey, good to know.
Then came perhaps the best part of the tour, when David asked, “Would you like some free ice cream?”
We said “Yes!”
We peeked into the restaurant next door. It was Trattoria al Forno by this time, having recently changed over from Kouzzina. There are open doorways at Seashore Sweets between Flying Fish on the right and Trattoria al Forno on the left. And actually, they share a set of bathrooms, which are located in Seashore Sweets.
We went back out onto the Boardwalk, where David talked to us a little bit more before wrapping up the tour.
Doesn’t Lauren look angelic in this next photo? She looks like she has a halo around her head, like in some Renaissance painting. I could nominate her for sainthood, but we’d have to come up with a miracle. If only her bedroom had ever been clean when she was growing up...that would have been a good one to use! But alas.
We bid David goodbye and thanked him for the very informative tour. We thought he’d done a great job and we really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it for a nice diversion on a non-park day. I don’t think I’d do it if I weren’t staying at the resort, but if you’re staying there, it points out so many things that you would overlook, and helps bring to life the overall theming of the resort.
On the way back to our suite I took a picture of the resort’s exercise room, Muscles and Bustles.
I took the picture just to document it for my trip report readers. I had no intention of going in there -- I get enough of a workout in the parks!
Up next: What's Up Beaches & Cream
Last edited:
when you first posted, so 
