No Work and All Play – Disney on the Company’s Dime! (8/1 There and Back Again)

[thecapells]

Walking out of Pixar Place, I wandered back towards the Animation Courtyard.
I had still yet to venture Under the Sea.

Since Ariel is my little princess’ favorite, this was a must-do.
And I took lots of pictures and video to bring back to Daddy’s little girl
There was no wait and the show was just about to start so I grabbed a seat with the 5 or so other people in the theatre.
And with the following video, the show began:


This show is amazing.
While Beauty and the Beast is a great broadway-style production, nothing compares to this.
It mixes live action, live songs, animation, puppetry, water effects, lighting effects, and lasers.
Yes – lasers.
Immersed in a mix of blue lasers, dark lighting, animation, and sprinkles of water, you will swear that the entire theatre just went under water.
And who is there to greet you? Why, Sebastian of course!
Welcome to the opening musical number of the show!

With amazing black lights and puppetry, the puppets literally fly around the stage.
There are no strings and no puppeteers.
There are just your favorite characters from The Little Mermaid joined with a parade of other sea creatures to sing “Under the Sea.”

You barely notice when the screen lowers for the finale.
Because what better way to add even more sea creatures than animate them along with Sebastian
(sorry this one is a bit dark – all of these were actually spliced from the video I shot)

It is a great opening and really gets you into the storyline.
Then, the curtain opens revealing the Little Mermaid herself.

She launches into a live rendition of “Part of Your World”

Ariel, of course, has a great voice and this sounds amazing.
Next up, it’s Ursula’s turn.
Ursula is larger than life and can really give a scare to the little ones.
But she is really well done – a great achievement in large-scale puppetry.

She makes her case to Ariel and offers to give her legs.
Of course, that means Ariel has to “sing for me, my Angel of Music!”
Author’s Note – okay, so who else thinks of Phantom of the Opera everytime they hear this line?”

Here, there is a bit of a variation from Disney’s story.
The actors disappear and we see the rest of the story via the large screen.
From Ariel in Prince Eric’s castle looking down longingly at Eric and his dog, Max

To the realization that Eric is under Ursula’s spell

And the magic moment almost occurs as they lean in for a kiss…

But Ursula is triumphant and Ariel does not kiss Eric within the 3 days.
Ursula grows large and mighty and it is up to Eric to destroy her by ramming his boat right into her like a sword.

The theatre darkens after a huge crescendo of music and lights and effects.
When the lights come back on, Ariel is back on her rock and once again a mermaid – transformed when she failed to kiss Eric.
Eric is lying unconscious on the floor beside her and the scene looks grim.

Luckily, an animated King Triton and a puppet Sebastian (yes, all three “types” of actors are on stage at once) are looking on.

King Triton realizes that his daughter really loves Eric and he wants her to be happy.
So he raises his trident and it begins to sparkle

The sparkling grows and is then redirected at Ariel

The music gets louder and Ariel is magically lifted off her perch.

Smoke surrounds her…

When the smoke clears, Ariel is standing there in her green dress complete with legs.
Even Ariel cannot believe it!

Then, Prince Eric awakes and realizes it was always Ariel that he loved.

She runs to him for an embrace as Max looks on

And then, my favorite part – they look longingly into each other’s eyes as the movie kiss is portrayed behind them.

And Ariel and Eric finally kiss.

So why is this my favorite part you ask?
Is it because of the kiss? Am I just a big sentimental guy?
Nah – I could care less.
But I almost laughed out loud when I saw how little this Ariel was in comparison to Eric.
Isn’t that funniest thing you’ve ever seen?
It just seems so wrong…
Anyway, the curtain falls and it was a great show.
As I said, I love the mixing of all the elements for the penultimate theatre production.
If you like the other princess shows at Walt Disney World, you must see this one.
It is truly an immersive experience and you feel like you are actually part of the movie.

The theatre emptied – all 5 of us - and people headed for the gates.
Fantasmic! was probably getting out about now too.
But I knew the BVS shuttle was not scheduled to depart for some time and I wanted to explore Disney After Dark.
There were some old favorites I wanted to experience one more time.
Stay tuned for the day’s finale (finally!)

 

[thecapells]

Now if only X would speed up time so that it were January already, so that all of us could go to Disney, already!

Check out the new countdown in my signature!

 

[thecapells]

Oh, and I just had to post this.
Since it was X's birthday, we went to see Disney Live!
It was the Disney Rockin' Road Show.
It was a fun show including the Fab Four, Toy Story, Cinderella, and Tigger.
Odd combination of characters but it was fun.
I think I prefer the ice shows but it put a smile on the kids' faces and, of course, that's the point!

 

[dawnbu40]

The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney movies so I of course love the attraction. It always makes me cry at the end though

Sounds like like X had a fun birthday! And my how big he's getting

 

[MeMom]

Check out the new countdown in my signature!

Brooklynn loves her 'Ariel girl', so we have seen this show many times. In the summer, that cool mist feels so good. We've been in the winter, too, when they were not doing the mist. I don't know if it is strictly weather determined or how they decide when to mist and when not to mist. Thanks for all the nice pictures. I'll show them to her this weekend when she is up here. She'll love them and the video.

Congratulations on the new ticker! We'll be at Pop in May for Mother's Day weekend, and then again this summer, so check in to the trip reports for Pop pictures to get you even more enthused about going. We're hoping to get one of the newly refurbished rooms in May, but if not, then hopefully they'll all be done and ready to go by summer.

 

[All7OfUs]

Okay, so was that pic taken in your front yard or your backyard?

That was about 5 miles outside of town on the way to the airport. I never get tired of seeing them!

Cool new ticker, Mike!!

BY THE WAY!!!!! We're trying to get a Meet going in D.C. for August 31 or Sept. 1. Maybe Tyson's Corner area OR????? Check out the link on my PTR and weigh in if you and MomCapell are interested!! We'd LOVE to have you there for dinner and drinks or coffee or????

 

[WrightFamily06]

...DING! DING! Give that DIS'er a prize

Yay ! I just love prizes ! lol

Happy Belated 3rd Birthday to X !!

Great commentary on Voyage Of The Little Mermaid

Adorable pic of the kids at Disney Live , X is getting so big !

 

[thecapells]

The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney movies so I of course love the attraction. It always makes me cry at the end though

Sounds like like X had a fun birthday! And my how big he's getting

He actually was sick on his birthday.
Luckily he felt better the day after and we were able to go to the show!

Brooklynn loves her 'Ariel girl', so we have seen this show many times. In the summer, that cool mist feels so good. We've been in the winter, too, when they were not doing the mist. I don't know if it is strictly weather determined or how they decide when to mist and when not to mist. Thanks for all the nice pictures. I'll show them to her this weekend when she is up here. She'll love them and the video.

Congratulations on the new ticker! We'll be at Pop in May for Mother's Day weekend, and then again this summer, so check in to the trip reports for Pop pictures to get you even more enthused about going. We're hoping to get one of the newly refurbished rooms in May, but if not, then hopefully they'll all be done and ready to go by summer.

Have fun with the pics and video.
I actually video'ed much of the show - most of the pics were cut from the video.

As for the new ticker, I couldn't resist.
Although I've been looking around and may switch it to a more generic Disney ticker.
I figure since we don't actually have Pop booked yet, we may end up somewhere else...

That was about 5 miles outside of town on the way to the airport. I never get tired of seeing them!

Cool new ticker, Mike!!

BY THE WAY!!!!! We're trying to get a Meet going in D.C. for August 31 or Sept. 1. Maybe Tyson's Corner area OR????? Check out the link on my PTR and weigh in if you and MomCapell are interested!! We'd LOVE to have you there for dinner and drinks or coffee or????

I'll swing by and check it out.
Tyson's would be very do-able...

Yay ! I just love prizes ! lol

Happy Belated 3rd Birthday to X !!

Great commentary on Voyage Of The Little Mermaid

Adorable pic of the kids at Disney Live , X is getting so big !

The kids are getting pretty big.
You'll see more of them in the next report (I'm way behind...)

 

[thecapells]

Walking out of the Animation Courtyard for the last time, I caught a glimpse of yet another promotional image for Up.

Then I headed straight across the park.
I was caught off guard when I noticed Mickey dancing in lights below the Sorcerer’s Hat.

This was a cool image and one I hadn’t seen before.
Finally, I arrived back in Tattooine for a gorgeous night shot.

But this wasn’t my destination either.
I was headed next store at the Ewok Village (I told you I’d be back).
To my dismay it was all dark.

The park had officially closed I guess.
I was disappointed because I can remember back when I first toured this park.
As the sun went down, the Ewoks came alive!
You could see lights flickering in the huts and their tribal music filled this area of the park.
It was like being on Endor after the destruction of the second Death Star.
So either this little detail no longer exists or I was too late and the audio is shut down after official park closing.
Anyone know if the Ewoks still celebrate after sunset?

So my next stop was to see a certain archeologist.
Wandering the park at this time was great – it was literally empty.
I saw two CM’s walking the opposite direction at one point.
Otherwise, I had the place to myself.
Next to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, I stopped to explore.
A lesser known section of the park, but there are some really cool Indy details scattered around here.
From the trucks used in the movies

To Indy’s legendary fedora sitting on a table.
Those of you who know Indy also know that he doesn’t leave his hat behind so he can’t be too far away!
Nearby is a curious sign: “Do not pull the rope!”
However, the “not” is crossed out.

So I pulled.
From the bottom of the well a voice began talking to me.
Someone had fallen and needed some help.
I pulled the rope several times and learned more and more about this explorer
I took some video so the kids could hear him when I got home.
Yup – you guessed it!
This instantly became a “must do” as soon as they go back to the Studios.
"Dad, don’t forget we want to see the umbrella and pull the rope!"
So, for those of you out there that haven’t done so, make a point next time you go by.

I walked back to Hollywood Boulevard and debated some additional Photopass pics but, alas, the park was closed.
That means none of my vested friends were out and about waiting to shoot me.
Instead I wandered into a gift shop to grab some more gifts – I ended up with a 2009 magnet for the fridge.
But I did like this display of our favorite Sorcerer’s Apprentice!

I headed out of the park and across the parking lot to the random place where they had shuttles.
There were few people there and I ended up having to wait close to 40 minutes for my shuttle which was ridiculously late.
Once again – never stay off property.
The following day was Monday which meant the conference (remember the conference I came to Orlando for?) was to begin.
But don’t worry – there’s much more to my story.
And for all you prospective solo travelers out there – just take a quick look back and what one can accomplish in one day.
Remember – I started today in Animal Kingdom how many pages ago??

 

[boxmaster]

She makes her case to Ariel and offers to give her legs.
Of course, that means Ariel has to “sing for me, my Angel of Music!”
Author’s Note – okay, so who else thinks of Phantom of the Opera everytime they hear this line?”

Michael Crawford playing Ursula the Witch. Talk about non-traditional casting! But you are so right that the quote is ONLY from Phantom, even if they do say it in this show.

And I don't know if you're color-blind (that'd be news to me), or it was the lighting for the picture, but Ariel's dress in the pics sure looks blue to me, not green.

 

[thecapells]

Michael Crawford playing Ursula the Witch. Talk about non-traditional casting! But you are so right that the quote is ONLY from Phantom, even if they do say it in this show.

And I don't know if you're color-blind (that'd be news to me), or it was the lighting for the picture, but Ariel's dress in the pics sure looks blue to me, not green.

In Disney's defense, I think the quote is just "sing for me!" but I always think the rest.
It just seems so appropriate...

 

[boxmaster]

Oh, and I just had to post this.
Since it was X's birthday, we went to see Disney Live!
It was the Disney Rockin' Road Show.
It was a fun show including the Fab Four, Toy Story, Cinderella, and Tigger.
Odd combination of characters but it was fun.
I think I prefer the ice shows but it put a smile on the kids' faces and, of course, that's the point!

I'm glad that you guys took the chance that X would be feeling up to seeing the show, given his horrid evening the night before. This certainly had to help get him over whatever bug he had caught.

And I still think he's grown a lot (based on this picture) compared to the last time I saw him (a whole 9 days ago). Bizarre. Amazing how some outfits will skew one's perception.

 

[All7OfUs]

The Ewok village is one of my must-do things too, so I was naturally disappointed when you wrote that it was all dark. Crikey, I want to see that!!

Just to let you know, because of you and Great Biscuit, I purposely planned for some night time hours at DHS!!

 

[thecapells]

The Ewok village is one of my must-do things too, so I was naturally disappointed when you wrote that it was all dark. Crikey, I want to see that!!

Just to let you know, because of you and Great Biscuit, I purposely planned for some night time hours at DHS!!

I'm hoping that the sounds of Endor were only off because the park had officially closed.
The "fires" in the huts were still on as you can see in the picture but I didn't hear the audio (maybe the Ewoks were all sleeping).
Give it a try before park closing and tell me what you find!

And I just scratched the surface on reasons to hit the parks at night!

 

[WrightFamily06]

Great nighttime pictures of DHS Gave us quite a few things to check out there next time that we have never explored before .

 

[thecapells]

Great nighttime pictures of DHS Gave us quite a few things to check out there next time that we have never explored before .

There's definitely alot of details at the Studios!
Have fun exploring!

 

[thecapells]

The next day I woke up and grabbed a bus to….
The Orlando Convention Center.
There was this conference I had to go to.
Remember the conference?
This is a trip report about the conference.
Called COLLABORATE ’09, it was an Oracle Users Group Conference.
Yes, I’m a tech geek so this was a place for all the other tech geeks to come talk shop.
Specifically, everything you could possibly want to know about databases.
So I went to my sessions and then wandered the booths on the floor.
One of the booths even took my pic in their own version of Photopass magic…

That was kinda cool.
The day ended with a Welcome Reception from 5-7 and me and the gang I came with headed back to the hotel.
Originally I had planned to hit the parks in the evening but there were no shuttles going from my hotel to the parks past 2:00 as I mentioned earlier.
This kinda pissed me off as I was hoping to explore the Boardwalk area one night since I’ve never been there before.
And cab fare was running $26 so I wasn't planning on doing that every night.
In the end, my friends got together and watched some cheesy movies.

Next day was more of the same but we noticed several of the sessions were cancelled due to low attendance.
Apparently the economy took its toll and people had to cancel their conference travel plans last minute.
So we spent a good portion of the day scrambling with room changes and session cancellations.
However, it was Cinqo de Mayo so after the day’s sessions, we ended up at T.G.I.F for some margaritas!

Day Five (Wednesday) was more of the same.
Luckily this evening was the big conference event.
COLLABORATE had rented out the entire Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park for us from 7PM to 11PM.
Talk about Extra Magic Hours!?!!?
So stay tuned as we venture off Disney World property (yes, I know it’s a heinous act), and explore a bit of the “other” park.
If you can’t bear to see pics of that “other” park, feel free to skip the next segment.
But can you imagine someone renting out the Magic Kingdom?

 

[WrightFamily06]

Great update about your conference , love the foe photopass picture
Never been to Universal so I will def be sticking around for the next segment to see all of there offerings

 

[3girls4me05]

Love the picture! Can't wait to hear about the "other" park (who knew such a thing existed?) How cool to have the place to yourself (well and the other technology geeks )

 

[boxmaster]

One of the booths even took my pic in their own version of Photopass magic…

Before I scrolled down enough, I kinda thought that the T-Rex was supposed to be you.