This might explain why there was a sharp spike in activity to this blog yesterday. The top search results that people are looking for when they end up here are “maps” and “season pass” information. Frankly, I’m surprised they can even find this site buried in all the hundreds of travel sites that have Adventureland entries.
Welcome, new visitors! Be sure to check out my Adventureland Wiki for some neat park history.
2019-04-19: Added a 2014 version of the “beer tray” photo, compliments of DisneyDrinking.com.
In 1955, Walt Disney opened the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California. After he passed away in 1966, his brother Roy continued part of Walt’s vision of his Florida Project. In 1971, he opened Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom theme park.
The 1970s were the era that I grew up in, and was exposed to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom during one amazing family road trip from Houston, Texas.
In 1982, EPCOT Center opened. It was the first Disney theme park that did not feature Disney characters! Yes, Virginia, there was a time when you couldn’t meet Mickey and every fairy tell princess at Epcot… Another first was the addition of alcohol to guests (if you ignore Holidayland at Disneyland, which served beer back when Walt was still alive and in charge).
In the early years, alcohol was limited to restaurants. You could buy a margarita at the quick service food stand in Mexico, but a cast member would make sure you did not carry the drink out to the rest of the park.
Obviously, at some point both of these things changed and now about the only thing you can’t get at the park is a photo of you holding a beer while standing next to a Disney character.
But I digress…
I don’t recall when the open carry policy for alcohol changed, but I do recall the first time I ever saw booze being sold “in the lanes.” I had visited Universal Studios Orlando earlier, and noticed they were selling booze in the lanes, and I clearly remember thinking “I wonder how long it will be before Disney does it?”
Within a year, apparently. The Disney/MGM Studios was opening a version of the Disneyland smash-hit Fantasmic!
Fantasmic! coming soon sign at Disney/MGM Studios on May 19, 1997.
By coincidence, I happened to be in town when they first did a soft-open preview performance. The wikipedia says the show opened on October 15, 1998, but I thought it was later, and that the earlier shows were for cast members only. I remember waiting in a long line for a chance to see it and the (first?) show was cancelled (or full?). The earliest photos I have are from October 16, 1998:
Fantasmic’s first public showing on October 16, 1998.
I don’t recall the details, but something happened that caused a swarm of people to go to guest relations that night:
Disney fans swarm guest relations on October 16, 1998.
I guess Disney fans were whiney back then, too. I seem to recall they did a second show and that is that one I watched. Perhaps this first night didn’t happen at all and I am remembering a second attempt later? I don’t seem to have any photos of the show from that night.
I have a photo from October 23 that shows was cancelled:
The brand-new Fantasmic cancelled on October 23, 1998.
Tonights? I guess people forget apostrophes even at Disney World!
It appears the first photos I took of the actual show were from October 24, 1998:
Fantasmic! on October 24, 1998.
Well, either my memory is wrong, or the Wikipedia is wrong, or the Mandela Effect is real. But that’s okay, because that has nothing to do with this article.
THIS is what I am writing about today:
Popcorn being sold to folks in line for Fantasmic! on October 16, 1998.
Well, not those popcorn sellers, specifically, but the whole concept of people walking around with trays of stuff to sell to folks standing in line. More specifically, people walking around with trays of beer to sell to folks standing in line! That’s what I saw the first time I tried to see this show.
Beer being sold to people in line on October 16, 1998.
Can you believe it? Disney had cast members walking around with a tray of beer cans, selling it to people standing in line for Fantasmic!
And that, my friends, may have been the first time Disney sold alcohol “in the lanes.” Do you know of any earlier instance?
Today, most ice cream carts seem to have a few beers on tap.
UPDATE: And, it seems the “beer in the lanes” trend continued. Here is a photo taken by DisneyDrink.com on June 1, 2014, showing a Fantastic-aproned cast member selling beer from a tray:
A Fantasmic! cast member selling bottled beer (poured into plastic cups) from a tray, and @DrunkAtDisney of DisneyDrinking.com, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on June 1, 2014. (Photo by DisneyDrinking.com).
My, how things have changed from the early years of Walt Disney World (no alcohol from 1971 to 1982, then limited alcohol at EPCOT Center) to what we have today (shots, ice cream “bars”, spiked drinks at coffee stands, etc.).
In the late 90s, I used to travel with a PalmPilot PDA (a Palm III, actually). These PDAs (personal digital assistants) were what we used in the years before Androids and iPhones. I also had a snap on 14.4 modem (spiffy!) so I could dial in to my ISP and download/upload e-mail from a hotel, or even from a payphone (if it had a phone jack on it). High tech! Later I would upgrade to a Kyocera 6035 – one of the very first smartphones. It was a phone with a PalmPilot and modem built in! Higher tech!
I used my Palm III (and later, Kyocera) to take vacation notes and maintain a TO DO list of everything I wanted to see/ride/experience. These notes are how I used to document my trips on my 1990s website from my front page “news.”
But I digress.
When the first iPhone came out in 2007, I purchased one and brought it with me on Disney trips. It became my new notepad and TO DO list. Even though I’ve upgraded my phone a few times since then, my old notes and reminders I had migrated to my later phones.
Recently, I came across my “cast member kudos” notes I took during a trip in March 2007. If I ran into a CM who I thought was really exceptional and going above and beyond “typical Disney,” I’d make a note of them and write into to Disney to share my kudos after I returned home. (This is something I encourage all of you to do.)
My 2007 trip notes included the following:
Barry Plank City, FL photopass bryon at Dawa Bar DAK Tomoko, Yuki
Cast Member Kudos, March 2007
I don’t recall what PhotoPass Barry did to impress me, but I think Tomoko and Yuki were the fun CMs at the saki bar in Japan. (That was the first time I’d ever really been there.) But Bryon? He was one I think I remembered. I wondered if he might still be around, twelve years later…
Many things have changed since 2007. The Dawa Bar in Animal Kingdom, for example, has been rebuilt and relocated since I last saw it. Here’s the version I remember:
Dawa Bar on September 30, 2007.
And here’s what it looks like today:
Dawa Bar in 2018.
I decided to ask at the current incarnation of Dawa Bar if they knew of a bartender named Bryon. Indeed, the bartender I spoke of said he did, and informed me he was still with the company and currently working over at Epcot at the Garden Grill.
I now had a mission to find out if it actually the same Bryon that impressed me so much in 2007 that I included him on a very short list of cast member kudos?
The next day, I visited Epcot and made a specific trip into The LAND to ask about their Bryon.
Garden Grill in 2018.
To my surprise — their Bryon was indeed the Bryon I remembered! He’s been with the company for almost 30 years.
It’s a small world, after all!
If you make it to Epcot, and feel like a huge all-you-can-eat breakfast with visits from Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto, check out the Garden Grill and ask for Bryon. If he’s not around, Vickie is also great fun.
That’s your Park Hopping tip for the day. Use it wisely.
I don’t know why, but it’s always annoyed me to see so much “generic” merchandise for sale at Disney and other theme parks. What compels people to buy a generic Mickey Mouse shirt at Disney prices when they can get the same shirt for much less at their local Walmart?
Over the years, some things have gotten better. At least now you can buy a generic Mickey Mouse shirt (that doesn’t mention Disneyland anywhere on it) that at least has “Disneyland” on the sizing tag.
I’ll also give a pass to generic things found at World Showcase and spots in Universal Studios’ parks — you might not ever make a trip to the United Kingdom or New York, so perhaps picking up something “from there” in the parks is fine since you probably can’t get them at home.
But folks still pay jacked up prices for Starbucks coffee or Coca-Colas that we can find, literally, around the block back home.
With that in mind, I present you with a list of the park exclusive beers made just for Universal Studios Orlando … Feel free to try as many of these as you want, since you can’t get them back home at your local brew pub.
The beers of The Hog’s Head at Islands of Adventure’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade
Kudos to Casey at the Universal Orlando twitter account for this list.
Universal Studios Florida
DUFF Beer and DUFF Lite – Springfield – Duff Gardens
Dragon Scale and Wizard’s Brew– The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley – Fountain of Fair Fortune, Leaky Cauldron, and The Hopping Pot
Mardi Gras Brew (only available during their Mardi Gras celebration) – French Quarter
Islands of Adventure
Dragon Scale and Wizard’s Brew – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade – Three Broomsticks and The Hog’s Head
Hog’s Head Brew – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade – The Hog’s Head
Volcano Bay
Volcano Blossom – Dancing Dragons Boat Bar and Kunuku Boat Bar
Loews Royal Pacific Resort
Jake’s American Red Lager– Jake’s American Bar
Casey adds that Jake’s American Red Lager is one of her personal favorites. She also notes that many locations also have signature drinks, and recommends the Triple in Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade. It is three different beers layered on top of each other (Strongbow, Hog’s Head Brew and Guiness). I can’t wait to check this out my next visit. Thanks, Casey!
The American Puppet Theater has asked for your vote in a poll conducted by Des Moines Parent website. (I have contributed content for them in the past, relating to local Halloween haunted house activities.) They would love it if you’d vote for them in the category of “Best Children’s Theater” or “Best Outdoor Entertainment”:
In a previous article, I asked if anyone knew where you could still find a reference to the Royal Hanneford Circus inside the park:
Royal Hanneford reference somewhere in the park in 2017. (Photo taken on 6/20/2017.)
This was from a sign you pass on Dragon Island going to Outlaw Gulch:
On Dragon Island, you could find this sign referencing Royal Hanneford Circus
Since the first article was posted, the reference has since been removed:
Farewell, Royal Hanneford! (Taken 7/1/2017)
So today’s question is … where else can you find remnants of Royal Hanneford Circus? There are still a few out there . . . but maybe not where/what you think 😉
On Saturday, July 1, 2017, the Tornado was closed:
Tornado closed on 7/1/2017.
At first, I thought this was because it was too windy. I have been told they close the ride on windy days because too much wind can keep the coaster from making it one of the hills. Later I found out that the coaster had been down for awhile.
Also during the day, G-Force was still being worked on:
G-Force repairs on 7/1/2017.
Later in the day, folks posted in the Facebook Group that both of these rides have returned to operation. Huzzah!
The Underground also was down for awhile during the day, but I was told this was because Bad Bob had finally blown up the mine shaft. The ride would be resuming as soon as they got the rubble out of the way 😉
The Underground, closed.
If you are planning a visit to the park for a specific ride, be sure to contact them first before driving out. Otherwise, you can check on the sign at the front entrance – it clearly lists any ride not operating that day:
In the Facebook group, Joey Hayes reports that work is being done on the G-Force ride today. He submitted this photo:
G-Force being worked on, 6/30/2017. (Photo by Joey Hayes.)
According to a member of park management, it sounds like this is just routine maintenance that needs to be done every eight years or so.
G-Force was added to the park in 1997. It was originally located outside where the Scrambler currently sits. After the side of Main Street burnt down in 2010, the park rebuilt it and moved the G-Force indoors. You can read more about it on the Adventurelandians Wiki:
Adventureland is owned and operated by the Krantz family. You can regularly find the Krantz siblings, Mike (CEO), Matt, Molly (Director of Advertising) and John (President), roaming the park.
Resort president John Krantz can also be found behind a piano at various locations around Des Moines. He performs jazz music. We recently had the pleasure to listen to him perform with Bryan Schumacker and special guest Brooke Peters at Louie’s Wine Dive.
Jack Krantz performing at Louie’s Wine Dive on June 25, 2017.
If you have an interest in live jazz, check out his website and make an effort to go hear him perform: http://www.johnkrantzmusic.com/
In a previous article, I mentioned the conversion from Royal Hanneford Circus to the new Adventureland Circus, and noted that even the opening show guides still listed the old circus:
2017 handout circus ad.
There does seem to be one Royal Hanneford remnant still in the park…
Royal Hanneford reference somewhere in the park in 2017.
Do you know where this is? Answer in the comments 🙂
