Help! The partyâÂÂs started without me. TheyâÂÂve rolled out the celebrity red carpet and IâÂÂm not there! What could possibly have gone wrong with the universe â Disney have thrown a party and IâÂÂve missed the start. IâÂÂll get thrown out of the journalistâÂÂs union for SURE!
{The reason for all this hysterical ranting, dear reader, is that our correspondent has had to confine himself to barracks until such time as his newspaper report is properly finished and filed back to London. You see, with the time difference, Wednesday evening is actually Thursday morning, and they had better have his story in the office for first thing in the morning UK time or elseâ¦.! Even worse, with his hotel room overlooking the Paradise Pier section of the park where the big party is being thrown, our correspondent can actually hear, see and almost smell and taste the festivities â yet he canâÂÂt get to them! Such is life, dear reader}
OK, so I missed the start. Well, the Paradise Pier bash is due to go until 11pm, which gives me still four hours to have fun even if I miss the first hour (which I do, and a bit more). But a full report is filed back to the office and, from here on, IâÂÂm home free! The theme for the evening is a California Beach Party (no surprises there!) with the Beach Boys as special guests. Now, if there is one thing about a Disney event of this nature, it is that they know how to throw a really good party. Having been lucky enough to be present in recent years for the opening of the Animal Kingdom in Orlando and the Millennium Celebrations centred on Epcot, I am pretty sure this eveningâÂÂs event will be special, too, and, from the moment you walk through the gate, thatâÂÂs the impression you get.
Unfortunately, I have missed the big celeb arrival, with a real red carpet welcome for a number of film and TV stars (some of whom, I have to confess, mean nothing to me in terms of their names) â Jack Nicholson, Andy Garcia, Drew Carey and Daryl Hannah to name but four â and a touch of hysteria from the rest of the invited guests. It is typical Disney, though, big on style and big on star names. This is obviously their opportunity to get the new park on all the celebrity pages of the newspapers (and the TV coverage) as well as just the news and travel pages, and IâÂÂm pretty sure they got great coverage as a result.
The whole of Paradise Pier is the venue, with all the rides up and running, food and beverage stations liberally sprinkled through the area (in addition to all the fast food outlets being open) and two music stages set up, one in front of the Orange Stinger and the other down at the Carousel end of the Boardwalk. A dance band called Splash are making a good noise on the Stinger stage (and boy, do they have some good-looking dancers
), while Voyager, a more rock-orientated cover band, are the warm-up act for the Beach Boys on the other. Now this is what I call a party!!
First things first, though. With the temperature dropping faster than a concrete parachute (and it is destined to get VERY cold tonight, like 39 degrees
), I decide it might be an idea to get a few rides in first before the combination of temperature and high-speed thrills add up to a serious case of frostbite. So, with hardly a queue to speak of, I manage three rides on California Screaminâ (including one in the very last car for a different experience; you really whip over those drops!) to get the evening off to a flying start. It is incredibly cold on some of those exposed curves, though, and I check to see if anything has frozen before moving off. Three goes is definitely enough this time! From there, I head off to the Boardwalk games area, where we have all been given a ticket for 8 free games each, and there are plenty of people walking around with prizes to prove itâÂÂs worth having a go (mind you, IâÂÂm not sure how I would get a huge stuffed pig on the flight back to Britain if I win one!). Given the largesse implied by 8 free goes, you would think you couldnâÂÂt fail to win something along the way, but you would be wrong. My collection of freebies, trying most of whatâÂÂs there, comes up with exactly nothing, zippo, naught, zero for the evening. It makes you wonder, if people are really going to be shelling out $2 a go just to throw one basketball ($5 will get you 3 throws; like Wow! Not) or throw 3 softballs, and they suffer the same lack of success, I donâÂÂt see many people queuing up here to waste their hard-earned cash.
Having said that, it is all good fun here this evening, and I also have the massive bonus of rubbing shoulders at one point with the lovely Daryl Hannah, who is playing one of the games with her daughter (I presume). She really is terrifically good-looking (ItâÂÂs not just make-up and soft-focus lenses, guys!) and it is quite amazing to find yourself suddenly in such close proximity to a genuine (and quite gorgeous) star. (Excuse me while I go and sit down in a dark room for a moment to recover from the memory ).
Wandering back along the Boardwalk, there is BBQâÂÂd lobster to try, along with other tasty morsels and something which I am assured is smores (I have a vague recollection of this being mentioned in Toy Story 2, but am still really none the wiser having eaten it; I know it was sweet, but thatâÂÂs about it!). Considering I havenâÂÂt eaten properly since lunchtime (and it is now about 9pm), all these little tidbits are nice but not exactly satisfying, so I decide a visit to Pizza Oom Mow Mow is called for.
The highlight of the evening for me, however (with the obvious addition of the two sets played by the Beach Boys â Mike Love may be creaking around the edges, but they still know how to put on a good show), is the amazing Martini bar set up on the Boardwalk. The ingenuity of this is typical Disney (or rather, typical Disney organisation) â a bar made completely out of a HUGE block of ice, about six feet high and 15ft wide, with four people serving from elaborate stations behind this âÂÂglacierâÂÂ. The drinks are poured straight from the cocktail shaker into a tube that runs through the ice to your waiting glass underneath. After the entertainment of seeing all this done, the drink itself is a bonus (hic!).
Somewhere along the line, I meet up again with the rest of the British media corps, and someone suggests doing the Maliboomer again. Four of us dutifully troop off to be fired into the freezing night air with much hilarity (and another touch of frostbite, I fear). I know things have taken an alcoholic turn for the worse later on when I end up at McDonalds, sorry, Burger Invasion. Under normal circumstances, I find the so-called food served at McDâÂÂs on a par with soggy, overcooked cardboard, but, with the benefit of a few {??? â Ed.} drinks, it actually tastes like â yup, soggy, overcooked cardboard. ThereâÂÂs no getting away from it. The planetâÂÂs largest food retail outlet has perfected the art of serving âÂÂmeatâ and âÂÂsesame seed bunsâ which have all the appetising capacity of old socks (sorry McD fans, just MHO).
Sadly, 11pm rolls around all too fast, with the Beach Boysâ second set passing in a blur, and it is time to bid a fond farewell to our party venue. Truly, no-one, and I mean no-one, throws a party with as much vigour, verve, imagination and pure fun as Disney do. ItâÂÂs hard to imagine anyone leaving without a smile on their face and a sense of real occasion from the event. ItâÂÂs obviously brilliant PR on the part of the park, but itâÂÂs hard to imagine any similar event in DCA ever coming close to the intensity of this evening.
For the remnants of the UK media, it remains only to wend our weary but happy way back to the Paradise Pier Hotel, where we manage to keep the bar busy until about 2am as we discuss the highlights of the evening and the general pros and cons of the park. The general feeling is pretty positive, although I still insist in telling all and sundry that the final proof of a successful venture will be in how the park handles the inevitable crowds, how long the lines become at key places like Soarin, Screamin and the Sun Wheel. But that is a debate best saved for the final day â Thursday, the grand opening day, the parkâÂÂs dedication, Mickey Mouse, fireworks, and crowds. And one last look at the park to make that all-important verdict. Will it be hit or miss? Find out soon (-ish!)â¦..
simon.veness@virgin.net
{The reason for all this hysterical ranting, dear reader, is that our correspondent has had to confine himself to barracks until such time as his newspaper report is properly finished and filed back to London. You see, with the time difference, Wednesday evening is actually Thursday morning, and they had better have his story in the office for first thing in the morning UK time or elseâ¦.! Even worse, with his hotel room overlooking the Paradise Pier section of the park where the big party is being thrown, our correspondent can actually hear, see and almost smell and taste the festivities â yet he canâÂÂt get to them! Such is life, dear reader}
OK, so I missed the start. Well, the Paradise Pier bash is due to go until 11pm, which gives me still four hours to have fun even if I miss the first hour (which I do, and a bit more). But a full report is filed back to the office and, from here on, IâÂÂm home free! The theme for the evening is a California Beach Party (no surprises there!) with the Beach Boys as special guests. Now, if there is one thing about a Disney event of this nature, it is that they know how to throw a really good party. Having been lucky enough to be present in recent years for the opening of the Animal Kingdom in Orlando and the Millennium Celebrations centred on Epcot, I am pretty sure this eveningâÂÂs event will be special, too, and, from the moment you walk through the gate, thatâÂÂs the impression you get.
Unfortunately, I have missed the big celeb arrival, with a real red carpet welcome for a number of film and TV stars (some of whom, I have to confess, mean nothing to me in terms of their names) â Jack Nicholson, Andy Garcia, Drew Carey and Daryl Hannah to name but four â and a touch of hysteria from the rest of the invited guests. It is typical Disney, though, big on style and big on star names. This is obviously their opportunity to get the new park on all the celebrity pages of the newspapers (and the TV coverage) as well as just the news and travel pages, and IâÂÂm pretty sure they got great coverage as a result.
The whole of Paradise Pier is the venue, with all the rides up and running, food and beverage stations liberally sprinkled through the area (in addition to all the fast food outlets being open) and two music stages set up, one in front of the Orange Stinger and the other down at the Carousel end of the Boardwalk. A dance band called Splash are making a good noise on the Stinger stage (and boy, do they have some good-looking dancers
), while Voyager, a more rock-orientated cover band, are the warm-up act for the Beach Boys on the other. Now this is what I call a party!!First things first, though. With the temperature dropping faster than a concrete parachute (and it is destined to get VERY cold tonight, like 39 degrees
), I decide it might be an idea to get a few rides in first before the combination of temperature and high-speed thrills add up to a serious case of frostbite. So, with hardly a queue to speak of, I manage three rides on California Screaminâ (including one in the very last car for a different experience; you really whip over those drops!) to get the evening off to a flying start. It is incredibly cold on some of those exposed curves, though, and I check to see if anything has frozen before moving off. Three goes is definitely enough this time! From there, I head off to the Boardwalk games area, where we have all been given a ticket for 8 free games each, and there are plenty of people walking around with prizes to prove itâÂÂs worth having a go (mind you, IâÂÂm not sure how I would get a huge stuffed pig on the flight back to Britain if I win one!). Given the largesse implied by 8 free goes, you would think you couldnâÂÂt fail to win something along the way, but you would be wrong. My collection of freebies, trying most of whatâÂÂs there, comes up with exactly nothing, zippo, naught, zero for the evening. It makes you wonder, if people are really going to be shelling out $2 a go just to throw one basketball ($5 will get you 3 throws; like Wow! Not) or throw 3 softballs, and they suffer the same lack of success, I donâÂÂt see many people queuing up here to waste their hard-earned cash.Having said that, it is all good fun here this evening, and I also have the massive bonus of rubbing shoulders at one point with the lovely Daryl Hannah, who is playing one of the games with her daughter (I presume). She really is terrifically good-looking (ItâÂÂs not just make-up and soft-focus lenses, guys!) and it is quite amazing to find yourself suddenly in such close proximity to a genuine (and quite gorgeous) star. (Excuse me while I go and sit down in a dark room for a moment to recover from the memory
).Wandering back along the Boardwalk, there is BBQâÂÂd lobster to try, along with other tasty morsels and something which I am assured is smores (I have a vague recollection of this being mentioned in Toy Story 2, but am still really none the wiser having eaten it; I know it was sweet, but thatâÂÂs about it!). Considering I havenâÂÂt eaten properly since lunchtime (and it is now about 9pm), all these little tidbits are nice but not exactly satisfying, so I decide a visit to Pizza Oom Mow Mow is called for.
The highlight of the evening for me, however (with the obvious addition of the two sets played by the Beach Boys â Mike Love may be creaking around the edges, but they still know how to put on a good show), is the amazing Martini bar set up on the Boardwalk. The ingenuity of this is typical Disney (or rather, typical Disney organisation) â a bar made completely out of a HUGE block of ice, about six feet high and 15ft wide, with four people serving from elaborate stations behind this âÂÂglacierâÂÂ. The drinks are poured straight from the cocktail shaker into a tube that runs through the ice to your waiting glass underneath. After the entertainment of seeing all this done, the drink itself is a bonus (hic!).
Somewhere along the line, I meet up again with the rest of the British media corps, and someone suggests doing the Maliboomer again. Four of us dutifully troop off to be fired into the freezing night air with much hilarity (and another touch of frostbite, I fear). I know things have taken an alcoholic turn for the worse later on when I end up at McDonalds, sorry, Burger Invasion. Under normal circumstances, I find the so-called food served at McDâÂÂs on a par with soggy, overcooked cardboard, but, with the benefit of a few {??? â Ed.} drinks, it actually tastes like â yup, soggy, overcooked cardboard. ThereâÂÂs no getting away from it. The planetâÂÂs largest food retail outlet has perfected the art of serving âÂÂmeatâ and âÂÂsesame seed bunsâ which have all the appetising capacity of old socks (sorry McD fans, just MHO).
Sadly, 11pm rolls around all too fast, with the Beach Boysâ second set passing in a blur, and it is time to bid a fond farewell to our party venue. Truly, no-one, and I mean no-one, throws a party with as much vigour, verve, imagination and pure fun as Disney do. ItâÂÂs hard to imagine anyone leaving without a smile on their face and a sense of real occasion from the event. ItâÂÂs obviously brilliant PR on the part of the park, but itâÂÂs hard to imagine any similar event in DCA ever coming close to the intensity of this evening.
For the remnants of the UK media, it remains only to wend our weary but happy way back to the Paradise Pier Hotel, where we manage to keep the bar busy until about 2am as we discuss the highlights of the evening and the general pros and cons of the park. The general feeling is pretty positive, although I still insist in telling all and sundry that the final proof of a successful venture will be in how the park handles the inevitable crowds, how long the lines become at key places like Soarin, Screamin and the Sun Wheel. But that is a debate best saved for the final day â Thursday, the grand opening day, the parkâÂÂs dedication, Mickey Mouse, fireworks, and crowds. And one last look at the park to make that all-important verdict. Will it be hit or miss? Find out soon (-ish!)â¦..
simon.veness@virgin.net
