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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE MERMAID FOUNTAIN AT DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

By Jim Korkis

Between the Studio Catering Company quick serve restaurant and Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a statue that has been there since the park first opened in 1989.

It depicts a classic demure mermaid sitting in a curved platform supported by four dolphins who are spouting water. The fountain is a prop from the film Splash.

Splash may not seem a significant enough film to be enshrined at Disney Hollywood Studios but it was the first film made by the new Touchstone division of Disney films that was created for films that might have content not appropriate for a general Disney audience.

The film was a huge financial success. Made on a budget of eight million dollars, it grossed over six million dollars on just its opening weekend and went on to be the tenth highest grossing film of the year.

Directed by Ron Howard, the film recounts the story of Allen Bauer (Tom Hanks, in the first film where he received top billing) and his encounter with a mermaid named Madison (Daryl Hannah), and how it changed his life.

The beach where Tom Hanks encounters the mermaid was filmed at Castaway Cay (then known as Gorda Cay). According to legend, Ariel in The Little Mermaid was originally going to be blonde but was made a redhead to distinguish her from the blonde Madison.

The plaque states:

“SPLASH 1984.

“This mermaid was Madison’s gift to Allen. Although it appears to be made of brass and stone, it was fabricated entirely out of fiberglass at the Walt Disney Studios Scenic Shop.

“The molds used to produce the mermaid and dolphins were originally created for ice sculptures seen in the Walt Disney Productions’ film Herbie Goes Bananas.”

(Herbie Goes Bananas was released in 1980.)

Splash was a favorite film of then CEO Michael Eisner and he green-lit a sequel called Splash Too with an entirely new cast and filmed for roughly three million dollars. It was the very first film to be completely filmed at the new Disney MGM Studios and was released in 1988.

“Because of the urgency Michael Eisner has placed on Splash Too, I’ll limit myself to co-producing it with Brian Glazer,” Howard told Marilyn Beck of the Chicago Tribune newspaper on February 28, 1985. “It will not be a copy-cat sequel. They`ll come back to land, but there will still be plenty of underwater action.”

Eisner hoped the sequel would spin off into a popular television series which is another reason for the statue to be featured so prominently at the theme park. Unfortunately, the sequel didn’t have the same impact critically or financially as the original.

Besides putting the statue in the park, Eisner intended that in 1989 at the now-gone Pleasure Island there would be a sunken bar nightclub called Madison’s Dive filled with sailors telling tall fish tales including about an elusive mermaid who would occasionally swim by one of the windows below sea level.

Some of the effects including the sinking ship in the bottle were later incorporated into the (now gone) Adventurer’s Club. Madison’s Dive would have been built on a pier that jutted out into Lake Buena Vista between the Adventurer’s Club and the XZFR Rockin’ Rollerdrome.

The Hollywood Studios Splash fountain was damaged in 2004 when Hurricane Charley broke off the mermaid but it was repaired and remains on display.

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Thanks, Jim.

Come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 6 TO FEBRUARY 14, 2016

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on February 2016 at Walt Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/6-2/14/2016

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-1a 2/6, 9a-12MN 2/7 and 2/8, 9a-11p 2/9, 9a-10p 2/10, 9a-11p 2/11, 9a-12MN 2/12, 8a-1a 2/13, and 8a-12Mn 2/14

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p 2/6 through 2/12, and 8a-9p 2/13 and 2/14

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-9p 2/6, 9a-8.30p 2/7, 9a-8p 2/8 through 2/11, 9a-8.30p 2/12, and 8a-8.30p 2/13 and 2/14

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-8p 2/6, 8a-8p 2/7, 9a-7p 2/8, 9a-6.30p 2/9 through 2/11, 9a-7.30p 2/12 and 8a-8p 2/13 and 2/14

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/6-2/14/2016

Saturday 2/6 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 2/7 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: None

Monday 2/8 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 2/9 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 2/10 Morning:  none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 2/11 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 2/12 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Saturday 2/13 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 2/14  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/6-2/14/2016

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 2/6 through 2/9; 8 and 10p 2/10; 9 and 11p 2/11 through 2/14

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/6-2/14/2016

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 2/6 through 2/9; 9p 2/10; 10p 2/11 through 2/14

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7 and 9p 2/6 and 2/7; 7p 2/8 through 2/11; 7 and 9p 2/12 though 2/14

Symphony in the Stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p every night

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/6-2/14/2016

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/6-2/14/2016

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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Currently scheduled though May 2016, Symphony in the Stars is a new fireworks show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that debuted in December 2015.  It will be replaced by an even better show sometime this summer.

Currently playing four nights a week, it choreographs terrific fireworks to excerpts from the sublime John Williams Star Wars scores.

I rate it as not-to-be-missed.

I believe it increases the overall value of a visit to the Studios–a point of contention lately, although personally I think the impact of the recent closures there is wildly overstated.

There’s a million good spots to see it from (see Tom Bricker’s post here), but best is from the angle where you have the ticket tapstiles at your back, and the Great Movie ride in front of you.

More than most Disney World fireworks, there’s lots of great place to view it from outside the park. Above is the view from the walkway to the Studios just outside the BoardWalk Villas. But then you’ll miss the great music…

Above is where I watched it from inside the Studios…

..and below are my better shots of the fireworks (better, that is, compared to the ones I didn’t post!):

Have you seen the show? What did you think?

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I’ve published a full photo tour of the renovated Cabins at Fort Wilderness beginning here, bit, but here’s a quick update on the Fort Wilderness Cabin refurb:

REFURB SCHEDULE FOR THE CABINS AT FORT WILDERNESS

• Loops 2200, 2300, 2400, and 2600 are done
• Loop 2800 is closed for refurb, and expected to re-open in early March
• Loop 2700 will close for refurb in early February, and re-open at the end of March or early April
• Loop 2500 will close in mid-March, and re-open in mid-April
• Loop 2100 seems to still have the uncertainty already noted here

These plans are subject to change, of course!

THE NEW OVENS IN THE CABINS

As noted here, the regular oven in the Cabins has been replaced with a combined microwave/convection oven.

I put it through its paces yesterday and Saturday, and here’s the basics:

• It won’t go hotter than 425 degrees, so no broiler, and recipes that need 450 will take longer and may brown more slowly than you want
• There’s only 6 inches of space between the top of the rack and the top of the oven, so no tall food (The inside dimensions are 21 by 14 inches–it’s plenty long and wide, just short.)
• Everything I baked took 15% to 50% longer than I expected
• The controls are a little tricky at first–more microwavish than ovenly

There’s more on how the new ovens at Fort Wilderness performed here.

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EXTENSIVE REFURB AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge will be completing a refurb in the summer of 2017.

Unitl then, for repeat visitors who had been planning the Wilderness Lodge for their next trip, I’d just put off staying there until this refurb is complete. Stay somewhere else on your bucket list, and return to the Wilderness Lodge after the lobby comes back to normal

For first-timers with their heart set on the Wilderness Lodge,

• If you have any concerns at all, stay someplace else.  The potential to be disappointed isn’t worth it.
• If you don’t have concerns, stay at the Lodge.  The refurb to the lobby mars it, but it does not ruin it.  I would say that the lobby retains more than 80% of its prior beauty, grandeur, and sublimity.  Since the prior level was really high, 80% of that level is really high too!

THE REFURB AT THE WILDERNESS LODGE

In October 2015, as part of a redo of the Disney Vacation Club offerings at the Wilderness Lodge, several amenities were taken out and extensive construction in the outer verges of the Wilderness Lodge proper began.

There’s much more on this topic here, but essentially the Wilderness Lodge lost for construction the smaller of its two pools, its beach, and some other minor amenities.

View from the Bay Lake side of the Villas

While views from the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge were quite marred from this work, I thought that those getting Courtyard views in the main Lodge would be largely un-affected.

Not so fast.  Earlier this month, Disney essentially closed off the half of the Wilderness Lodge on the Villas side, took the elevators serving this wing out of service, and put up construction walls out to the edge of the lobby over the check-in area and extending a bit around each corner of that wall.

Here’s a bunch of photos of the lobby (as always on this site, click them to enlarge them):

The unaffected side

Construction wall at the second floor landing of the stairs

Construction wall from the second floor–near

Construction wall from the second floor, far

Construction wall going around corner, from lobby

Principal construction wall above check-in, from lobby

April 2016 update: the scaffolding is gone.

Moreover, scaffolding now covers much of the south (Villa-facing) side, and goes around the corner to a bit of the Courtyard side of this wing. I’d imagine that over time this scaffolding likely will extend further into the courtyard:

So what does this all mean?

First, on the positive side–

• With about half the rooms taken out of circulation, crowds will be lower in the Roaring Fork quick service location, the wonderful main pool, and the boats and buses
• The vast majority of what leads to the lobby’s impact remains–the grandeur and sublimity of the large space, the large decorative features of the carved columns, totem poles, teepee lights and the Grand Canyon fireplace, and most of the subtle detailing
• For construction walls, the walls themselves aren’t bad.  Had they been on the other side of the railings, the balance of details would be much worse.
• Many north wing rooms have better Magic Kingdom views, thanks to the scalping of a number of trees in this area preparatory to construction.

So I think the refurb is not only not a disaster, but also that the lobby is on the order of 80% as good as it used to be, or will be in the future.

On the other hand, at the same time the lobby, which is the glory of the Wilderness Lodge, is in fact not as good as it used to be, or will be in the future, other construction mars views and creates noise, and some of the amenities are gone.

Hence my recommendations:

• For first timers who are not troubled by all this, by all means stay at the Lodge–it will still be a great experience, just not as good as it was or will be.
• Repeat visitors should hold their visit to the Wilderness Lodge until the refurb is complete
• First timers who are concerned should stay elsewhere.

Where else to stay depends on why you picked the Wilderness Lodge in the first place.

• If it was for its stunning kid appeal, then stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
• If it was for a lower-priced deluxe option convenient to the Magic Kingdom, then stay in a Garden Wing room at the Contemporary.

This refurb should be complete by mid-summer 2017.

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE BROWN DERBY AT DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

By Jim Korkis

There were four Brown Derby restaurants in the Los Angeles area (Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Los Feliz, and Wilshire Boulevard), but only the first one on Wilshire Boulevard was in the shape of a derby hat.

The one most frequented by Walt Disney was the restaurant on Vine Street, a half block south of Hollywood Boulevard, that opened in 1929 and was operated by his friend Bob Cobb who took over in 1934. There is a photo of a smiling Walt and his wife Lillian enjoying a Cobb salad from 1939.

The restaurant was in the center of broadcasting studios, theaters, and movie studios, so it became a popular location for celebrities and for making deals which is why the booths were designed so that people could be easily seen.

The architect was Carl Jules Weyl who later became a Warner Brothers Studio art director. He designed the iconic Rick’s Café in the classic film Casablanca (1942) where Rick (Humphrey Bogart) had an apartment office above the restaurant just like the one designed for owner Bob Cobb above the Hollywood Brown Derby.

It is this version of the famous restaurant that is recreated at Disney Hollywood Studios from a licensing agreement in 1987. The original restaurant was closed in 1985 because of fire and earthquake damage and demolished in 1994. Part of the re-creation includes a private dining room known as the Bamboo Room where today guests can dine with an Imagineer.

After midnight in 1937, Bob Cobb was awakened by the pounding on the door by his friend theater entrepreneur Sid Grauman of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The restaurant had long been closed for the night. To help sober up his friend before sending him on his way, Cobb went into the kitchen to see what leftovers he could find.

Opening the huge refrigerator, he pulled out a head of lettuce, an avocado, some romaine, watercress, tomatoes, some cold breast of chicken, a hard-boiled egg, chives, cheese, bacon and some old-fashioned French dressing.

He started chopping it up very fine to blend the disparate items together and give it some substance. Reportedly, Grauman had just had some dental work done and could not chew easily.

It did the trick and the next day, Grauman dropped by again during operating hours and ordered a “Cobb Salad”. Other patrons saw it and also ordered it and it became a sensation. Movie mogul Jack Warner often sent his personal chauffeur over to pick up a carton of the salad.

Millions of salads have been sold over the decades and it is the most popular entrée at the Disney version.

Gossip columnist Louella Parsons declared that she was going to avoid the restaurant in order to resist the fattening desserts. In the 1930s, a fad “grapefruit diet” was popular among celebrities to lose weight.

So Cobb told his chef to come up with a dessert grapefruit cake and Parsons never left. However the dessert was made with cream cheese frosting and so was actually higher in calories than the chocolate cake.

The restaurant became famous for its celebrity caricatures that decorated the walls. The earliest ones were drawn originally by Eddie Vitch beginning in 1931 in exchange for free meals. Other artists over the years included Zel, Pancho, Jack Lane (1947-1985) and Bunn.

For Disney fans, a framed photo near the restrooms shows Disney Legend Herb Ryman in 1938 doing a sketch of entertainer George Jessel. One of the caricatures in the lobby is of a mouse-eared Jimmie Dodd of the original Mickey Mouse Club television show. The brass derbies used as lampshades and other memorabilia add to the sense of authenticity of the location.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim.

Come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!