Thursday, April 28, 2011

Musings on River Country

Recently, the Walt Disney World Resort "celebrated" a rather sad anniversary- it was 10 years ago that River Country, the resort's first water park closed permanently. The reality, however, was that the writing had been on the wall for River Country for years. Many (including myself) would argue that River Country was doomed the day Blizzard Beach, Disney's second water park, opened. There was not room for three water parks at the resort, particularly when two of them featured state of the art slides and thrills, while the third was best described as "quaint."

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

World of Color - Dancing Water

Over a year ago- D23, the Disney Parks Blog, and various other sources started talking about the changes happening to California Adventure, and highlighting the World of Color water spectacular.

One of the talking points about this night-time show was the thousands of dancing lights and fountains that were going to be placed in the lagoon for this new show.  Which got me thinking about the possibilities of creating a true dancing fountain.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Book Review- Kingdom Keepers 4: Power Play

This review does NOT contain plot spoilers.

When you're reading Kingdom Keepers 4: Power Play, I advise you to keep reading, right through the very end, playing close attention to the novel's final pages. Not that you'll want to put the novel down, mind you. For, the 4th installment in Ridley Pearson's enormously popular series is far and away the best yet. But it is that final page revelation, just a simple line spoken by a well known character, that changes everything.

The future of Hollywood Studios

We all know the backstory...in the late 1980's, the Universal film company announced plans to build their first theme park in the Orlando area. The park would be, obviously, based on movie and film production, and would also house a set of working film studios (including Nickelodeon). The long-term plan was to make Orlando as big and busy a film town as Hollywood was.

Honey I Shrunk the Wall-E

The last time I was in WDW, almost a year ago (which is TOO LONG!), I was babysitting my niece, and we happened upon the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.  I could not believe how much she enjoyed just running around, going down the slides, and climbing through the ropes course.

But I was thinking the other day, that it might be time to revamp that area.

If I was an Imagineer...

Monday, April 4, 2011

Book Review- Project Future


Beyond being just a creative genius, Walt was a smart, wily businessman. Nowhere is that more evident than in his clandestine (and of questionable legality) acquisition of the Florida swampland that would eventually become Walt Disney World. Author Chad Emerson straightforwardly chronicles this series of events in the highly engaging book, Project Future.