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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.

GRAN DESTINO TOWER

By Jim Korkis

Destino (“Destiny”) began in 1945 as a seven minute, experimental, animated short that was a collaboration between Walt Disney and the famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali. It was the beginning of a long friendship between the two visionary artists.

The film was to be filled with Dali’s iconic imagery and just have a musical background with no dialog. In fact, Dali’s idea for the story was inspired by a melancholy love song the Disney Studio had purchased but never used for the film The Three Caballeros (1944) entitled Destino that caught his attention. Walt teamed the Spanish artist with John Hench to help guide him through the mechanics of animation for several months with Hench creating some artwork as well.

Never completed, the pre-production artwork of Dali and Hench was rediscovered by Roy E. Disney in 1999 while working on Fantasia 2000 (2000) who later championed the finishing and releasing of the film in 2003 that was shown at several international film exhibitions. Hench, who was still working at the Disney Company at the age of 95, consulted on the work. [A YouTube version of Destino is here–Dave.]

In July 2019, Coronado Springs Resort opened a new tower that took its inspiration from that film and the culture of Spain to add to the already existing Mexican and Southwest influences at the hotel.

The new tower adds 545 rooms to the resort’s existing 1840 rooms and includes a unique two story lobby. All of the rooms throughout the resort were updated according to Disney to “celebrate the daring spirit of the great Spanish explorers, artists, writers and architects.”

The Destino film plays on several screens in the main lobby that is designed to be an homage to the Catalan Modernism style, as well as in the rooftop Dahlia Lounge.

The Dahlia Lounge on the 16th floor is inspired by Spanish surrealism and features a wall full of photos of Walt Disney with Salvador Dali. The Dahlia Lounge is named after the heroine of the film, a young woman who struggles through fluid time and unusual transformations to find her destined true love. Dandelion imagery and metal bell accents all around the tower including a massive mural on the wall all draw inspiration from the film and its heroine who at one point becomes clothed in the shadow of the bell.

Disney Imagineer David Stofcik said that the tower pays homage to the Spanish origins of the stories of Mexico and the American Southwest already told at the resort. He said that the resort’s fourteen acre lake, Lago Dorado, ties it all together and that the tower’s ribbon-patterned lines on its exterior (which are illuminated at night) represent water that flows through the building and into the lake.

The original Imagineering story for the existing Mayan pyramid is that it serves as a ceremonial center in the lake. According to Disney, “The temple sits five stories above the Coronado Springs, and the water cascades down the temple’s steps into the Lost City of Cibola Feature Pool. Bas-relief sculptures, called stellae, have been carved on the pyramid.”

Stofcik said some of the Spanish influences in the architecture were extended to provide opportunities to allow more light into spaces in the building, and that the decorative panels around the lobby itself were inspired by five specific Spanish tile designs from around Barcelona and Toledo that the Imagineers discovered during their research.

However, even Dali himself probably never expected to be surrounded by all the playful Hidden Mickeys that abound in the resort.

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Thanks, Jim! My review of Coronado Springs–updated after my stay at Gran Destino in July–begins here.  And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, The Unofficial Walt Disney World 1971 Companion: Stories of How the World Began, 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: SEPTEMBER 7 TO SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

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

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

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/7-9/15/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-10p 9/7, 8a-6p 9/8, 8a-10p 9/9, 8a-6p 9/10, 8a-10p 9/11 and 9/12, 8a-6p 9/13, 8a-10p 9/14, 8a-6p 9/15

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 9/7, 9a-9p 9/8 through 9/12, 9a-10p 9/13 and 9/14, and 9a-9p 9/15

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

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-9.30p 9/7 and 9/8, and 8a-9p 9/9 through 9/15

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/7-9/15/19

• Saturday 9/7 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Sunday 9/8  Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Monday 9/9 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Tuesday 9/10 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: Epcot
• Wednesday 9/11 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: Magic Kingdom
• Thursday 9/12 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none
• Friday 9/13 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a) Evening: none
• Saturday 9/14 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none
• Sunday 9/15 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6-9a)  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/7-9/15/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/7-9/15/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom:  9.15p 9/7, 9/9, 9/11 and 9/12, and 9/14

IllumiNations at Epcot: 10p 9/7, 9p 9/8 through 9/12; 10p 9/13 and 9/14; 9p 9/15

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30p every night

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

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom:  8.30 and 9.30p 9/7; 8.15 and 9.15p 9/8; 8.15p 9/9, 8.15 and 9.15p 9/10 through 9/15

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/7-9/15/19

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

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(For the first page of this review of the Waldorf Astoria Orlando, click here.)

AMENITIES AND DINING AT THE WALDORF ASTORIA ORLANDO

The Waldorf Astoria is deep in the Bonnet Creek Resort.

You access this area from Buena Vista Drive, just east of the old Caribbean Beach entrance, soon to become the Riviera entrance, then drive a while and turn right at the stop sign. In the image above, the intersection of the access road and Buena Vista–Chelonia Parkway–is marked in yellow, and the Waldorf Astoria Orlando is marked in red.

There’s both some standard Disney signage (albeit in a different color scheme)…

…and also a large sign indicating the entrance.

On the way to the Waldorf Astoria, you will pass sister resort Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, then their shared parking garage, and then come to the Waldorf Astoria, with a port cochere where you can valet.

Most amenities except the pools and one restaurant are just inside on the second floor, including the check-in area and other guest services.

There’s little lobby seating, but strong service and staffing suggest little is needed–and the adjacent lobby bar has plenty of seats.

The lobby bar also functions as a coffee shop in the morning.

I ate several times in this bar and quite enjoyed my crab cakes…

…and heirloom tomatoes.

There’s another more robust bar, Sir Harry’s, that I did not experience.

Also on this level is Bull and Bear, a classic expense-account steakhouse that is destination dining for many.

Across from the lobby bar are a couple of small shops, one a bit focused on sundries and the other on resort wear.  A classic Disney shop is in the next-door Hilton.

Downstairs on the way to the pool is the more family friendly Oscar’s, well known for its breakfast buffet, and there’s more dining at the pool and at the next-door Hilton. The full scoop on dining at the both the Waldorf Astoria and the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is here.

You’ll also find at the Waldorf Astoria a spa…

…and a nice workout room.

Outside, near the port cochere, is a stop for theme park buses. Buses here run too infrequently, and have too many stops, for me to be able to recommend them.

For example, in my May stay, Magic Kingdom buses left generally every thirty minutes (there were a few 60 minute intervals).  From Magic Kingdom half went on to Epcot, then to Hollywood Studios, and half went on to Animal Kingdom. Buses to the Studios could take 45 minutes.

Moreover as is the case with all non-Disney buses, Magic Kingdom buses dropped off at TTC, not the park itself.

Having a rental car, or using cabs, Uber or Lyft is a better option.

Theoretically one could walk out of the Bonnet Creek Resort, into the Disney resorts Caribbean Beach or Riviera, and board Disney’s Skyliner gondola system there. But it’s a long walk (two miles or more, unless someone punches a path through between Caribbean Beach’s Trinidad and Barbados, which would bring it down to about a mile), and the path ends on Chelonia–there’s no walking path on Buena Vista

The final amenity worth noting is the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club.

Including the additional amenities in the next door sister resort Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek–especially the Hilton’s pool complex and its lazy river, the Waldorf Astoria Orlando has as full a set of amenities as pretty much any non-Disney resort with similar perks.

The Waldorf Astoria’s own pool complex is less interesting, especially for families–the full overview of the Waldorf Astoria pool complex comes next!

THE POOL COMPLEX AT THE WALDORF ASTORIA ORLANDO

This review continues here.

MORE ON THE WALDORF ASTORIA ORLANDO

• Overview and summary
• Photo tour of a standard room
• Dining and amenities
• The pool complex

Kelly, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can book your Disney World vacation at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando–or at any other Disney World hotel!  Contact her using the form below.

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

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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 (20)

By Jim Korkis

• Disney Unbuilt: A Pocket Guide to the Disney Imagineering Graveyard by Chris Ware

Previously, I reviewed Ware’s book about extinct attractions at the Disney theme parks worldwide and my impressions of that book are echoed in this book as well.

Disney Unbuilt is not a book for anyone who wants definitive dates, names of people involved in the project, excerpts from press releases and newspapers, quotes from Imagineers, statistics or any other kind of hard facts or original research.

However, as a quick snapshot of many of the parks, lands, attractions, restaurants, and hotels that failed to materialize, this is a fun little book much like a casual conversation with friends: “Did you hear that Disney was thinking of building such and such?” For some fans that will be enough. For others, hopefully it will spur them to do further research on something that caught their interest.

An entire book could be written about Mineral King from Walt’s initial inspiration to the variety of proposals that were developed to the legal battles to other alternative locations that were considered and much more. In this book, the project is given one page.

The proposed Venezuela pavilion at World Showcase included some of the last work of legendary Imagineer Claude Coats and a theme song called Discover Venezuela written by X. Atencio (who wrote the lyrics for the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion attractions) that would have played in the cable car that snaked its way overhead through the pavilion and much more.

In this book, the pavilion is given just two paragraphs, one of which speculates without any citation that having a boat ride going through a rainforest may have been the problem for some reason. The entry doesn’t mention Coats or Atencio or Collin Campbell’s evocative concept art.

I’ve always had a fascination with projects that Disney never made. Often the project is announced with elaborate, colorful concept artwork and somewhat vague but excited quotes from Disney executives or Imagineers. Anticipation builds among Disney fans and then it suddenly disappears or transforms. Often the Disney Company wants to pretend that the original announcement never existed and try to direct attention to something else.

Within the last few years we saw that happen at Walt Disney World with projects like the New Fantasyland area that would have had individual meet-and-greet areas for different princesses like Princess Aurora, and Hyperion Wharf that morphed into Disney Springs.

In addition, as difficult as it is to get and verify information about existing things at Disney theme parks, it is very challenging to try to find material about something that was abandoned like the Alpine Hotel that was to overlook Blizzard Beach but was changed into Coronado Springs instead.

That hotel is not mentioned in the book but Fort Wilderness Junction is along with the “usual suspects” of the Asian, Venetian and Persian resorts that would have opened near the Magic Kingdom by 1975. The gas crisis in 1973 and the fact that it lowered projected attendance put an end to those projects.

I am certainly impressed that Ware was able to find so many projects as much as I am frustrated that he only covers them in brief entries. Ware has written for his local newspaper for several years and has been a long-time Disney fan. Again, as a quick overview, the book might make a nice addition to your personal Disney library as long as you recognize that most of the full story behind these things is missing.

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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, The Unofficial Walt Disney World 1971 Companion: Stories of How the World Began, 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: AUGUST 31 TO SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

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

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

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/31-9/8/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-10p 8/31 and 9/1, 8a-6p 9/2, 8a-10p 9/3 through 9/5, 8a-6p 9/6, 8a-10p 9/7, and 8a-6p 9/8

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 8/31, 9a-9p 9/1 through 9/5, 9a-10p 9/6 and 9/7, and 9a-9p 9/8

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 6a-10p 8/31, and 9a-10p 9/1 through 9/8

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-9.30p 8/31 through 9/2, 8a-9p 9/3 and 9/4, and 8a-9.30p 9/5 through 9/8

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/31-9/8/19

• Saturday 8/31 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom Evening: none
• Sunday 9/1  Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a) Evening: none
• Monday 9/2 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a) Evening: none
• Tuesday 9/3 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a) Evening: Epcot
• Wednesday 9/4 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a) Evening: Magic Kingdom
• Thursday 9/5 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a)  Evening: none
• Friday 9/6 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a) Evening: none
• Saturday 9/7 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a)  Evening: none
• Sunday 9/8 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (6a-9a)  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/31-9/8/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/31-9/8/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom:  9.15p 8/31, 9/1, 9/3, 9/4, 9/5 and 9/7

IllumiNations at Epcot: 10p 8/31, 9p 9/1 through 9/5; 10p 9/6 and 9/7; 9p 9/8

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30 and 10p 8/31 through 9/2; 8.30p 9/3 through 9/8

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

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom:  8.30 and 9.30p 8/31 through 9/2; 8.30p 9/3; 8.30 and 9.30p 9/4 through 9/7; 8.15 and 9.15p  9/8

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/31-9/8/19

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

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

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

POCAHONTAS AND HER FOREST FRIENDS

By Jim Korkis

Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends was a twelve minute show that opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom April 22, 1998 and closed September 27, 2008. It was performed in the three hundred and fifty seat Grandma Willow’s Grove theater in the Camp Minnie-Mickey area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom that is now home to Pandora – The World of Avatar.

The show was inspired by the 1995 Disney animated feature film Pocahontas. It was rushed into production so quickly that Disney at first listed it as “Meet the Characters” rather than a stage show in the park guide.

The show was originally called Colors of The Wind, Friends from the Animal Forest, but that was an awkward title that didn’t mention Pocahontas. In fact, early guests just called it the “Pocahontas Show,” so Disney changed the title.

The genesis of the show came from the animal education cast at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It was meant to be similar to the animal meet-and-greet shows at zoos and other animal parks, where a trainer or two brings out one animal at a time and talks about the animal’s characteristics to the audience.

However, Disney is a storytelling company, and decided to provide an upgraded experience even though the show was intended to be just a placeholder to run for two years or so until Beastly Kingdom was built in the same location. The script was written by Michael Korkis, Bob Glickman and David Duffy, and originally directed by Korkis.

The show was written to utilize the natural behaviors of the animals. The animals sometimes decided they didn’t want to appear which is why so many different types of animals rotated throughout the years in the show.

A live character performer portrayed Pocahontas, and there were two puppeteers who were underneath the stage to operate Sprig and Grandmother Willow. Grandma Willow came from the Disneyland Spirit of Pocahontas show that closed in September 1997.

Pocahontas is worried that the forest is being cut down indiscriminately and runs to Grandma Willow for advice. She reminds Pocahontas of a prophecy that one creature has a special gift to protect the forest but that Pocahontas herself must discover the identity of that creature.

One at a time, several different animals wander onto the stage including at different shows a raccoon, a snake, rabbits, opossums, a skunk, a porcupine, rats and a turkey. Pocahontas talks about what people can learn from each creature. “Every animal has knowledge to share with those who are willing to learn.”

Finally, Pocahontas realizes that the creature of the prophecy must be human beings. “Humans can destroy the forest, but we can also save it. The Earth is our home too. If we take care of it, it will take care of us!”

Since the show was designed for young children, with special seating for them in the first four rows of the theater, the message had to be simple and clear. The show proved so popular that eventually DAK occasionally offered Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends Animal Training Show where the animal handlers demonstrated how they trained the animals for the show.

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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, The Unofficial Walt Disney World 1971 Companion: Stories of How the World Began, 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!!