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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (22)

By Jim Korkis

• Maps of the Disney Parks by Kevin and Susan Neary with Vanessa Hunt

A 144 page book from Disney Editions filled with pretty much nothing but maps may not sound exciting, but I thought it sounded like a terrific idea to see how the various parks have changed over the years with things disappearing and other things being added.

Unfortunately, the book seems to be a hodgepodge of material, and while it is nice to see rare concept art like Imagineer Joe Rohde’s 1991 painted aerial view of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, primarily the book is not devoted to the guidemaps that were handed out each year, but rather to the novelty maps like artist Paul Hartley’s impressionistic map that hung in Walt Disney World resort hotels in 1971, and the aerial view cartoony map he painted for the Walt Disney World Preview brochure.

While those are nice pieces of art, they do little to help me understand what the park actually looked like at that time. For me, the early Sam McKim Disneyland maps were an amazingly detailed view of what was at the park and I treasured them, especially when he was so accurate that on one map he inadvertently revealed that the Haunted Mansion show building was on the other side of the railroad tracks.

This book is indeed a beautiful art book with its full color images, but I think most readers like myself wanted to see the guidemaps they remembered and would be able to use as reference. For me, the title was misleading.

But where else will you see a full color reproduction of Morgan Ditta’s 2014 load area mural map of Neverland from Walt Disney World’s Peter Pan’s Flight attraction and see how it was inspired by the artwork of the same fantasy location by John Hench and Al Dempster for a 1953 Golden Book?

Sometimes the maps–like the 1979 Walt Disney World map–are printed so small that it is difficult to read and appreciate the details. The maps are grouped by decade, not by individual park, so to find a WDW map requires some patience flipping through the pages, and you may be disappointed with the small percentage devoted to Walt Disney World.

Each decade section is preceded by a one page introduction that fails to help the reader understand what he is about to see or reveal some treasures or connections that might be discovered. Text is very minimal and does not attempt to explain how and why maps were produced and how the presentation of the geographical material has changed over the years.

I did appreciate that at the back of the book there are short biographies of six of the artists who drew some of the maps, especially Paul Hartley and Sam McKim. While there is a short index, there is no bibliography.

Author Kevin Neary has previously written four Disney trivia books with the late Disney Archivist Dave Smith, but in recent years seems to have devoted his talents to books about baseball.

Vanessa Hunt is an Imagineer and has curated several art exhibits as well as consulting for The Walt Disney Family Museum.

As long as you buy the book knowing full well what it is and what it is not, you may find this a valuable edition to your personal Disney library.

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Disney Never Lands, and about planned but unbuilt concepts, and Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: OCTOBER 26 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2019

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

For  more on October 2019 at Disney World, see this, and for more on November, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/26-11/3/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-10p 10/26, 8a-6p 10/27, 8a-10p 10/28, 8a-6p 10/29, 8a-10p 10/30, 8a-6p 10/31 and 11/1, 8a-11p 11/2, and 9a-9p 11/3

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 10/26, 9a-9p 10/27 through 10/31, 9a-10p 11/1 and 11/2, and 9a-9p 11/3

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-10p 10/26 through 11/2, and 9a-9p 11/3

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-9p 10/26 and 10/27, 8a-8p 10/28, 8a-9p 10/29 through 11/2, and 9a-8p 11/3

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/26-11/3/19

• Saturday 10/26 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Sunday 10/27  Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Monday 10/28 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Tuesday 10/29 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: Epcot
• Wednesday 10/30 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Thursday 10/31 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none
• Friday 11/1 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Saturday 11/2 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none
• Sunday 11/3 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/26-11/3/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/26-11/3/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom:  9p 10/26, 10/28, 10/30 and 11/2 and 11/3

Epcot Forever at Epcot: 10p 10/26, 9p 10/27 through 10/31; 10p 11/1 and 11/2; 9p 11/3

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p 10/26 through 10/31; 9p 11/1 through 11/3

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 10p 10/26 through 11/2; 9p 11/3

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 7.30p 10/26; 7.30 and 8.45p 10/27; 7.30p 10/28; 7.30 and 8.45p 10/29; 7.30p 10/30; 7.30 and 8.45p 10/31 through 11/2; 6.30 and 7.45p 11/3

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/26-11/3/19

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

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Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is the first of two rides to open in Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios—the second, Rise of the Resistance, opened in December 2019.

Millennium Falcon is an interactive simulator ride. Six folks ride at a time in a spectacular imitation of the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit, each with simple tasks to complete—two pilots, each with slightly different jobs, two gunners, and two flight engineers.

You will see much advice that the best job is the pilot’s job, and the next best the flight engineer’s, and related advice that flights with good pilots are better than those with inept pilots.

All this advice is sound for those who take a sort of video game “maximize the score” mentality to the ride, but for those who don’t, none of this much matters.

If you wish to experience either a space ride or a Millennium Falcon ride, and don’t care how “well” your ship does overall, how much you control the outcome, or how well piloted it is, then you will still have fun on this ride. So take the whole debate over best jobs and best experiences with a grain of salt.

If on the other hand, you don’t care at all about either spaceship rides generally or the Millennium Falcon specifically, then frankly there is not a whole lot to this ride.

Flight of Passage in Pandora at the Animal Kingdom presents an interesting contrast. Flight of Passage has a distinctive ride system and an imitated breathtaking journey that is largely independent of the specific content of Avatar. To put it more simply, Flight of Passage is simply a truly great ride, independent of its theming.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is different. It wins—among those with whom it wins—by its specific recreation of the Falcon, but for those indifferent to space flight or the Falcon itself, it is just another ride.

The best comparator among other Disney World rides opened in the last decade (although this is somewhat unfair in a way I’ll come back to in the next paragraph) would be Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid in Fantasyland, a ride that charms major fans of the Little Mermaid, but has little to offer those for whom Little Mermaid is not central to their love of Disney.

The big contrast with Under the Sea is in the execution of the theme and setting of Smuggler’s Run, which is spectacular for Smuggler’s Run and so-so for Under the Sea.

Grown-ups can appreciate, celebrate, and be delighted by…

…The reification of human imagination and creativity into the physical setting of Galaxy’s Edge…

…The Millennium Falcon itself…

…The ride queue…

…The astonishing Hondo animatronic…

…and their experience on the ride.

Kids who are fans of the original trilogy will likely love it as well.

Have you ridden it yet? What did you think, and why?

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

ORANGE BIRD COMIC BOOK

By Jim Korkis

A Disney character unique to Walt Disney World is the little Orange Bird who recently returned to Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland.

In 1967, Walt Disney Productions entered into negotiations with the Florida Citrus Commission (FCC) for a Florida Citrus Growers sponsored Magic Kingdom attraction at a cost of $3 million that was a version of Disneyland’s The Enchanted Tiki Room, called the Tropical Serenade show.

In 1970, WED Enterprises (today’s Walt Disney Imagineering) created the Orange Bird character to serve as the FCC’s official mascot in promotional campaigns. Orange Bird was designed by Disney artist C. Robert “Bob” Moore and it decorated billboards, appeared in commercials, was on multiple souvenir items from sipper cups to keychains, and even had a song written about him by the legendary Sherman Brothers.

However, I think most Walt Disney World fans are unaware that the character also appeared in his own animated short and comic book.

Foods and Fun: A Nutrition Adventure (1980) was a 12-minute animated short for the Walt Disney Educational Media department produced and animated by Rick Reinert Productions.

Rick Reinert Productions was a small, independent animation studio in the North Hollywood, California area that was responsible for later producing and animating Winnie the Pooh and A Day for Eeyore (1983).

The Orange Bird short narrated by Rex Allen told the tale of the Orange Bird, who could not speak or sing but could only produce images over his head in a puff of orange smoke like a thought balloon but with a picture.

He is sad, and a nearsighted Dr. Owl gives him advice to get a good night’s sleep, a balanced diet (grain, protein, calcium, fruit/vegetables) and exercise. The bird does so and flies to the Florida Everglades where he befriends a family at the beach. The father does not want to take the bird home with them despite the protests of his two children, but changes his mind when he is saved from going out to fish on an unsafe pier by the little bird.

There is a family picnic on the beach where the family sings about the joys of a balanced diet while the Orange Bird makes a healthy sandwich.

To tie in with the release of this animated film, Walt Disney Educational Media produced a supplemental comic book, very similar to other comics it produced at that time, including Mickey and Goofy Explore Energy and Mickey and Goofy Explore Business.

Orange Bird in Nutrition Adventures (1980) is a 32-page comic book with three separate stories written by Diana Gabaldon and drawn by Tony Strobl. Gabaldon is an award-winning, best-selling novelist. Strobl worked as a Disney animator on several features starting in 1938 before moving over into drawing comic books, especially stories featuring Donald Duck.

As animator Dave Bennett remembers, “Tony Strobl came to our studios [Rick Reinert Productions] for as much reference material on the Orange Bird as he could carry! Disney had not created an official model sheet.”

The comic book included three stories:

• “Helping Out” (11 pages) where Orange Bird and his friends Toucan and Macaw agree to help Farmer Brown with his chores and learn the necessity of a healthy breakfast in order to get the day’s work done;
• “A Day Off” (11 pages) has Toucan, Macaw and Orange Bird going on a relaxing picnic to Coconut Island but a series of misadventures including monkeys stealing some of their food results in Toucan realizing he should have stayed home;
• “Fair Day” (10 pages), Toucan, Macaw and Orange Bird go to the State Fair but a black bird competitor steals all the prize vegetable entries and hides them in the human cannonball’s cannon. When the cannon goes off, the vegetables scatter throughout the air and Orange Bird makes a healthy vegetable salad for everyone.

In 2012 the Orange Bird returned to Adventureland.

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Disney Never Lands, and about planned but unbuilt concepts, and Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: OCTOBER 19 TO OCTOBER 27, 2019

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

For  more on October 2019 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/19-10/27/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-11p 10/19, 8a-6p 10/20 through 10/22, 8a-10p 10/23, 8a-6p 10/24 and 10/25, 8a-10p 10/26, and 8a-6p 10/27

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 10/19, 9a-9p 10/20 through 10/24, 9a-10p 10/25 and 10/26, and 9a-9p 10/27

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-10p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-9p every day

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/19-10/27/19

• Saturday 10/19 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Sunday 10/20  Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Monday 10/21 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Tuesday 10/22 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: Epcot
• Wednesday 10/23 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Thursday 10/24 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none
• Friday 10/25 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Saturday 10/26 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none
• Sunday 10/27 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/19-10/27/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/19-10/27/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom:  9p 10/19, 10/23 and 10/26

Epcot Forever at Epcot: 10p 10/19, 9p 10/20 through 10/24; 10p 10/25 and 10/26; 9p 10/27

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 10p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 7.45p 10/19; 7.30 and 8.45p 10/20 through 10/25; 7.30p 10/26; 7.30 and 8.45p 10/27

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/19-10/27/19

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

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

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, see this.

THE ALLIGATOR BAYOU ROOMS AT PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE

Port Orleans Riverside has two areas and three distinct room types.

Its Magnolia Bend area has two room types, Royal Rooms and Standard Rooms, each sleeping four in two queen beds.

Its Alligator Bayou area rooms sleep five in two queen beds and one short (~66 inches long) Murphy bed.

These Alligator Bayou rooms are one of only two traditional moderate resort spaces that sleep 5 (non-Pirate rooms at Caribbean Beach are the other), and these rooms are as a result very important to families a little larger than average or families that work best with three sleeping spots

For families that don’t need the extra bed, these rooms have so-so theming (although it is warmer and more cheery after the latest refurb), are kind of ugly in spots–although your taste may vary–and are a bit thin on storage. Such families have better options.

REVIEW OF THE ALLIGATOR BAYOU ROOMS [Read more →]