Spring Dapper Day 2018 at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

We booked a weekend in Orlando as a getaway to celebrate Mom's birthday, and later we found out it was going to be Spring 2018 Dapper Day Weekend at Walt Disney World! Since we were going to be there that very same weekend we decided we would participate in our first Dapper Day.

Dapper Day started at Disneyland as an unofficial event to encourage participants to visit Disneyland in stylish vintage inspired clothes. The original idea was to recapture some of the magic and glamour of visiting Disneyland in the 1950's & 1960's when many folks visited the park in their finest clothes. It has expanded to include stylish dress of all time periods (but particularly the Main Street U.S.A. straw hat and suspenders look for Men and the mid-century dress look for Women) or other stylish Disney inspired looks. It's an opportunity to spend a day (or days) in the park dressed up. It has expanded to include Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris.

Mom and Dad have loved all things vintage (clothes, design, architecture) for years and they started collecting vintage & retro clothing & collectibles starting back in their college years. The whole Dapper Day thing took off while we have been living on the east coast and this was the first opportunity for us to participate.

Once we knew our trip would coincide with Dapper Day we set out to put together our outfits. We decided we'd all go in Dapper attire...the whole family including the kids. Teenage Son, the pin fanatic was looking forward to all the Dapper Day pins he could get his hands particularly the unofficial Dapper Day pin released by Disney. The event is not an official event, but they are very accommodating and there ended being tons of people all dressed up.

Our outfits would coordinate with each other largely by using blues & yellows. Mom & Dad put their outfits together mostly with pieces they had already. Mom's outfit channeled Mary Poppins with a vintage inspired dark blue dress. The dress was accessorized with a red belt, a blue & white Mary Poppins scarf and a carpet bag purse. Dad built his outfit around blue seersucker shorts that was paired with a pale yellow shirt. He wore them with a blue coat and a pink bow tie & pocket square and one of his typical fedoras- a black straw one. Teenage son wanted a "Figment" inspired outfit...so we went with a purple shirt, pink bow tie, and pale yellow suspenders. He also wore blue seersucker shorts. Toddler Son wore a blue seersucker pant & vest combo with a pale yellow shirt and blue bow tie. Toddler Son alternated between a set of vintage Walt Disney World Mickey Ears and a Sam Sneed hat...his favorite hat.

As part of the Dapper Day festivities there was a Retro Disneyland Slide Show presented by Author & Humorist Charles Phoenix. Charles Phoenix collects vintage slides and curates them into presentations that are hilarious commentaries on mid-century design and style. Mom & Dad grew up in Southern California and attended college at Cal Poly Pomona not too far from Charles Phoenix' hometown of Ontario, California.

They discovered his first book "Cruising The Pomona Valley 1930-1970- A Tour Guide" at the cashier counter of the Ontario, CA institution "Vince's Spaghetti Restaurant". This led them to attend a luncheon of the Pomona Valley Historical Society where they first saw one of Charles Phoenix' slide shows. Eventually they would see another of his slide shows at  the Hollywood's Egyptian Theater and would end up purchasing several of his other books.  They love the collection of photos filled with mid-century life, design, & style...all of which are the author's specialty. It had probably been 15 or 16 years since they had seen his shows. We ended up buying his latest book, meeting him after the show and getting him to sign it. Toddler Son likes his book "Southern California in the 50's" and was enjoying the new book "Addicted to Americana". "Addicted to Americana" combines highlights of the slide collection with a bit of a memoir of the Author's life and travels and it's a great book.

The Retro Disneyland Slide Show concentrated on the years 1955-1967...basically the heroic Walt Disney years of the park. It was presented in the convention center of  Disney's Grand Floridian Resort where there was also an exhibition room of vintage & retro clothing and accessories. We spent the morning watching the show, looking at the vendor tables and then headed to the Magic Kingdom at 1:00.

We spent most of our day riding rides! The crowds were pretty heavy all day. The lines were really long for all of the Instagram worthy photo opportunities. We ended up just enjoying our day,  and celebrating Mom's birthday spending time together in the Magic Kingdom. Our original fast passes were for Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan's Flight, & Space Mountain. We then had success obtaining a series of follow up Fast passes so we did not end up doing any standby lines for the rest of the day. Highlights would be the time spent in Tomorrowland (we were wearing a lot of Tomorrowland blue)  riding the People Mover & Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. It was a fun day and we would consider doing it again...but probably a Fall event as it was hot to be wearing all of that fancy clothes!

Sketches: 20 years of "New-New Tomorrowland" & Train ride through "Primeval World"

It was 20 years ago this week that Tomorrowland 1998 opened at Disneyland. May 22, 1998 was the day of the big reveal and ultimately the reviews were mixed for what we call "New-New Tomorrowland" around here. Tomorrowland got the first "New" treatment in 1967, and it was followed up with incremental change. The Euro Disneyland (now Disneyland Paris) Discoveryland inspired plans for "New-New Tomorrowland" were scaled back after the difficulties the Euro Disneyland project was having after its opening in 1992. So by the time it opened in 1998 large amounts of the remodel were just cosmetic by liberally applying bronze paint to the mid-century modern architecture of 1967 New Tomorrowland.

Astro Orbitor makes a striking statement right on the hub, but also blocks traffic

"New New Tomorrowland" was hit and miss.  In 1998 mid-century modern was more of a fringe taste...we were Architecture students so we were very aware of it(and big fans of it), but it had not quite become hip, retro or trendy. At that time the aesthetic of 1967 Tomorrowland was probably 10 years away from becoming a classic...unfortunately it was perceived as being "dated". Yet it is surprising how much retro stuff they worked into the remodel. The removed Peoplemover & Skyway vehicles and older Monorails were used as decor in queues & shops. And it was exciting to see a recreation of Disneyland's original rocket: The Moonliner. Space Mountain painted brown did not work and they ended up painting it back to white in anticipation of  Disneyland's 50th anniversary in 2005. It was sad to see the Rocket Jets remodeled into a satellite dish art piece. The Astro Orbitor is a handsome sculpture and it looks striking right off the hub but by placing the ride at ground level you lose the thrill and it creates a great bottleneck right at the entry to the land. Innoventions was a positive because it was not replacing anything...by 1998 the Carousel Theater had been inaccessible to guests for years. Losing the Peoplemover was a shame and ultimately the short lived Rocket Rods replacement was not successful.

Moonliner replica and edible landscaping in the planters 

We have a fondness for Tomorrowland 1998 as it was where "Mom & Dad" went on their first date on May 23, 1998. Dad wanted to take Mom to Disneyland for their first date, only Tomorrowland was not open  yet, so he suggested they wait a few weekends and go right after the grand opening...and they did, the very 2nd day it was open. 

Restored Space Mountain paint scheme in 2004 in anticipation of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary the following year

Leave the future behind and travel into the past

They spent most of the day in Tomorrowland but eventually made their way to the Disneyland Railroad and off to the rest of the park.  It is very clever that you board a nostalgic train in "The Future" and then proceed to travel "Into the Past"...in this case the "Primeval World" dinosaur diorama! This diorama was originally part of the Ford Pavilion Magic Skyway attraction Walt Disney developed for the 1964 New York World's Fair.  After the fair they brought the Dinosaur portion and added it to the Disneyland Railroad. 

Tomorrowland circa 1984 sketch remodeled into the Tomorrowland 1998 sketch above

The Sketches: Dad did a nostalgic rendering of Tomorrowland circa 1984 some time ago, and he thought it would be fun to remodel the sketch into Tomorrowland 1998. He added the sketch of the Disneyland Railroad in the Primeval World because after spending most of their first date in the future of Tomorrowland 1998 20 years ago they hopped on the train and traveled into the past. 

EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival 2018

Have you ever been to a festival at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center? More and more of the calendar year is being set aside for festivals at EPCOT. The 2018 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival wraps up Memorial Day weekend. We were at the festival earlier in the spring and had a great time.

EPCOT Center (now referred to as Epcot Park) was inspired by Walt Disney's plans for a real Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. His concept was for EPCOT to be a city that folks would live in as a laboratory for new technology & city planning concepts. The city center was to include a large shopping/attraction area themed to various nations of the world. There would also be an industrial park with corporate research & development facilities that had attractions open to the public. At the industrial park folks would be exposed to new technological developments and at the city center folks would be exposed to cultures of the world. After Walt Disney's death the industrial park concept morphed into a "Future World" themed area and the international shopping center morphed into a "World Showcase" themed area of one theme park.

Another way to think of EPCOT is as two enormous theme parks pushed together. You typically enter through “Future World” a collection of pavilions celebrating life with the world around us…communication, land, sea, imagination, technology, transportation, & space. This part of the park is anchored by the majestic geodesic sphere called “Spaceship Earth” (what our Toddler Son and many others refer to as “The Golf Ball”). Spaceship Earth is a slow moving ride through the giant sphere themed as a time travel adventure to witness the history of communication technology.

The striking modern architecture of "Future World"

The second area is called “World Showcase” (with a secondary entrance from adjacent EPCOT Resort Area Hotels). World Showcase is several pavilions representing countries of the world arranged around an enormous lagoon.  The pavilions are a combination of shops, restaurants, and attractions themed to the various countries. As you walk the edge of the lagoon you find locations for various festival activities. The year is divided into several festivals so there is usually always something unique going on.

In November we went to EPCOT during the “Festival of Holidays” and tried the festival food samplers for the first time and really liked it. So for the “Flower & Garden Festival” we were looking forward to those sample kitchens you find set up around the World Showcase. Our favorites seem to be whatever they come up with at the Mexico Pavilion. We also love to try what is on hand at the Chinese Pavilion.

Three happy chappies with snappy serapes!

For this trip we were able to secure a fast pass for Soarin’ Over the World, but the tiered system only allows you one of the headliners. If we wanted to ride Test Track or Frozen Ever After we would have to take our chances with the standby lines. We set our sights on Frozen and made it to the park for rope drop. In fact we were right up there beneath Spaceship Earth as the Jamitors (Custodian themed trashcan band) performed for us. To our surprise they lowered the rope but then asked us all to wait until they told us it was okay to go. Everyone was well behaved even though there was no longer a physical barrier between the throngs of people and the rest of the park. Finally they let us past and we joined the fast walk stampede to the Norway Pavilion.

Waiting for the "Jamitors" to let us in...

Frozen Ever After took the ride infrastructure of the former Maelstrom Attraction (a journey through Norwegian Folklore) and made it into a journey to visit the characters and settings from the Frozen movie. You load on Viking longboats and travel to see Olaf, Anna, & Elsa while traveling forwards & backwards over a series of waterfalls inside caves and night settings. We rode it for the first time in November, enjoyed it and we're looking forward to riding it again.

Elsa is holding her hand out and telling you "Wait right here, the wait for Frozen Ever After is 120 minutes long"

When we got to the Norway pavilion first thing that morning the line was already outside of the building. The sign overhead the entrance said 10 minutes…as soon as we reached the sign it jumped to 70 minutes! Once inside the building the line came to a stop, the boats stopped loading and we began hearing a periodic announcement that there was a technical issue and the wait may be longer than expected. The line was obviously not moving at all and we were not sure whether to leave and try our luck somewhere else or push through in hopes that once things were up and running again the wait wouldn’t be too long. Meanwhile our precious early park time was fading away. Many people did chose to leave but we pushed through and after waiting about 30 minutes we were on the ride. Altogether not too bad but had there not been a technical delay it might have only been a 10 minute wait. For the remainder of the day the standby line would be from 70-120 minutes. With Frozen out of the way and a Soarin’ fast pass already secured we were free to enjoy the Festival .

Spike the Bumblebee

Teenage Son loved Spike's Pollen Nation Exploration Scavenger Hunt. For $5.99 you purchase a souvenir map and sticker set. As you locate "Spike" (he is the occasional honey bee nemesis of Donald Duck) in the various gardens you place the sticker and the proper pavilion on the map. Once completed you redeem the map (simply show the map to a castmember at a specified location) for a set of patches. Mom & Teenage Son did two maps so they could receive two different patch sets. Playing along with the hunt gets you a real up close look at the various garden displays and topiaries of your favorite Disney characters. 

Soarin' was a favorite of ours since it originally opened as Soarin' over California at Disney's California Adventure in 2001. The hang glider themed ride in front of the gigantic movie screen is exhilarating. On our first trip to EPCOT in 2015 they were still showing the original California based film including the finale set at a Christmas decorated Disneyland. Our first ride on the new Soarin' over the World version was on a trip to Disney California Adventure (when they remodeled the park they dropped the " 's " from Disney) in 2016. It is a minor but very welcome addition that the California version of the film ends with a flyover of Disneyland and the Florida version of the film ends with a flyover of EPCOT. Thankfully they have not added 3-D glasses to the attraction, something that seems totally unnecessary. We miss the original version, especially at EPCOT as it was a chance to "visit" our home state of California, but we love the new film too. Flyovers over the real Matterhorn & Neuschwanstein Castle are wonderful allusions to the original Disneyland.

We really enjoyed meeting Baymax from the film "Big Hero 6". The boys got to give him a big hug (after removing all pins...no sharp objects around the marshmallow like "Home Healthcare Companion"). After that we walked across the hall and met Joy & Sadness from the Disney*Pixar film "Inside Out". Joy was very sweet and escorted Toddler Son to the photo area. Sadness was so funny, at one point she was laying on the floor despondent just like in the movie...and then later she pantomimed crying for us. The whole interaction was delightful. We also had a chance to meet Daisy at the front of the park in front of a great Spaceship Earth mural.

A tear from Sadness

The band Starship was playing in front of the American Adventure so that was a treat hearing "We built this City" belted out over World Showcase. Also Steve Harvey was filming his talk show in front of World Showcase Lagoon. He was there for 2 days and in that time he filmed a whole week of shows. As we left the park that night we met two ladies who were carrying swag bags from the show. They told us they requested free tickets to the show and the tickets included complimentary admission to EPCOT for the day...sounds like a great deal!

Steve Harvey filming his talk show on the shores of World Showcase Lagoon

It is probably heresy for Disney Bloggers to admit it but we are not huge fans of the EPCOT Fireworks/Lagoon show "IllumiNations", so when that show starts we tend to hit the busses and beat the rush of folks leaving the park. Of course it's probably just us, or perhaps we've never found the "right" viewing location. Overall we tend to watch fireworks from a distance and do not care for waiting a long time for a really good viewing spot.

Review: Supercalifragilistic Breakfast at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort's 1900 Park Fare

1900 Park Fare is a buffet restaurant at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort with several themed character meals. We attended the "Supercalifragilistic Breakfast", and were visited by Mary Poppins, Alice, The Mad Hatter, Winnie the Pooh and had a photo op with Tigger to wrap up the event. The family photo with Tigger was very nice and they were very patient with us as we struggled to get Toddler Son to look at the camera (he just wanted to visit with Tigger). They took our picture in a lovely small lobby with a wonderful painting of Cinderella Castle in the distance. The overall effect of the room was of a Victorian Conservatory.

Beautiful display in the waiting area

Pooh visit #1 was a big hit with Toddler Son

Agent P who was Tweenage Son at the time enjoyed interactions with all the characters. Toddler Son only wanted to meet Pooh & Tigger and had no interest in Alice, Mary & the Mad Hatter. In fact Pooh visited us twice and he was excited to see him both times. The boys collect autographs in the souvenir autograph photo albums they sell at the Parks and enjoy character meals very much.

We attended on a Sunday morning and we were seated very promptly. The food was adequate, the typical Disney breakfast buffet spread. The line for the make your own omelette was very long...it was arguably Fast Pass worthy so we passed on that.  Overall we had a pleasant meal and a great experience. We will most likely not return right away to this particular meal given the food was not extra memorable for us and the character mix did not hold the interest of the entire family. 

Mad Hatter was lots of fun

"Mustard! Don't lets be silly!"

Pooh visit number 2!