Disneyland Musings - Volume 4 - Crossing Main Street to the West Side

West Siders know it best, perhaps.
The walk from "backstage" on the East Side of Main Street to the West Side of the Park.
Nowadays, in the post-Indy world, a good number of West Siders take a shortcut to their location that permits them to bypass a whole lotta "on stage" territory. Still, even those folks---for the most part---have to cross Main Street on their way to their location.
Even longtime Disneyland cast members still "feel it" when they are about to go back out on stage.
There's a little extra spring in the step.
You tend to put aside whatever junk you brought with you behind the berm and focus your energy at the task at hand---bringing Disneyland to guests.
Not only that, but you literally step from the drab back area and into the Park---alive with people and music and movement.
When you step out onto Main Street, you are a Cast Member.
Guests wave at you.
They take pictures of you.
They ask---or, more likely, you offer---to have their picture taken.
As you head toward Adventureland, or Frontierland, New Orleans Square or "Critter" Country (pardon me a second----*cringe*---ok, I'm alright; can never get "Critter" Country to roll of the tongue the way Bear Country used to), you walk amidst guests.
You might not be "on the clock" just yet, but you are on stage and part of the show.
"What time is the parade?"
"When are the fireworks?"
"Where is the closest bathroom?"
"Which way is the Haunted Mansion?"
"Is it always this crowded?"
"Do you like working here?"
"How do I find a turkey leg?"
"Where do I get batteries for my camera?"
"Where are the characters?"
"Do you have any pins to trade?" (* cringe * again)
"How late is the Park open tonight?"
"What's a Jungle Cruise guy doing on Main Street?"
"Where is City Hall?"
"What time do you have?"
"Where do I pick up my Photopass pictures?"
"What is a Fastpass?"
"Why are they putting up ropes?"
"Why can't I stand where the ropes are?"
"Where is Lost and Found?"
"I can't find my mommy and daddy." (Have no fear---I've never failed to reunite lost parent(s) and child(ren)).
"Where can we find some food that isn't "fast food"?
"Can I have your name tag?"
"Hi, Mike." (said as though they've known you for much longer than the half-second glance down at your name tag before addressing you---usually responded to with a quick, "Why, hello, Amy!" 0r whatever name might be emblazened across their mouse ears, t-shirt, keychain, purse, Annual Pass or other tell-tale indicators of the guest's name).
"Is this the way to Fantasmic?" (almost universally asked as the guest is walking toward Tomorrowland or Matterhorn Way).
"Where are the lockers?"
"When does California Adventure close?"
"Do you know, ____? He/She works here, too." (Guest has a better chance of winning the Lotto than hitting upon someone who knows some 6,000 fellow cast members by name).
"I used to work here in the 60s/70s/80s/90s."
"Can I have your hat?" (Almost always teenagers).
"Where is the Blue Bayou?"
"Where is the best place to watch the fireworks?"
"You guys must get asked that a thousand times a day. How do you do it?"
"Hey, he's wearing a Mickey Mouse watch!"

The way I look at it, if you don't like interacting with guests...what the HELL are you doing working as a Cast Member at Disneyland?
There's plenty of room at the DMV or the County Clerk's Office or Coroner's Office if you aren't into prompt and courteous customer service.
Sometimes the guests would come in groups of twos and threes at a time (not together, of course).
One would ask a question from your left and, as you turned to answer, another would shoot a query from behind you while yet another (completely unrelated to the first two) would approach with an inquiry from ahead of you.
Any Cast Member worth his or her salt easily answered each of the guests and made them feel that they had been heard and seen.
Even when no one questioned you, you were still "on stage" and noticed.
If you were headed to Jungle, you were dressed in khaki and likely wore a hat; same for Indy.
Thunder operators also had distinct costumes.
Of course, we all had name tags.
Dead giveaways.
It's actually one of the things I miss most---stepping out onto Main Street as I headed for my shift.
Each time I'd walk out from back stage, I felt the energy of being "part of the show."
Sure, there are people who work for Disneyland who might not "feel it" as they trudge toward their daily duties.
But those folks aren't true Cast Members...
...they're just "employees."

Here's hoping that your next trip to the Park will bring you plenty of interaction with Cast Members and blessed few encounters with "employees."

You know what I'm sayin'.

---Mike

Disneyland - Top 10 Things to See and Do - A Guest Blogger (my 12-year-old daughter, Caitlin)

Jungle-teers, today we have a very special guest---my daughter Caitlin. She put together today's entry completely on her own (Dad supplied some ideas for the topic, but she took them and ran with them!). As you can see, I raised a fabulous young lady (if I do say so myself).

Without further ado, I present Caitlin's blog entry!


Top 10 Things To See & Do At Disneyland

1. Going on My Dad’s Jungle Cruise Boat- I will always remember this. My dad was simply the best Jungle Cruise skipper you will ever know (no offense to anyone who is a skipper!). He is the meaning of the Jungle Cruise, its poster child! Knew his spiel so well, made people laugh, had personality. You can’t get any better than that! I’m so sad that he isn’t able to work there for the time being, but him and I both know that he will be back soon enough.

2. Going to see Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room- How I love this! One of the most entertaining things in all of Disneyland. This is where my good friends Jose, Fritz, Michael, and Pierre all live, along with all the tiki gods & goddesses. Everyone knows the songs and it just brings you back to the good ol’ days of Disneyland. While you’re there, get a Dole Whip. They are simply delicious!

3. Taking a Ride on “The Mark Twain” at Night- This is incredibly magical! The lights on this huge riverboat shine down on the silky, black waters of the “Rivers of America.” Everything around seems to come alive as Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) tells you about what can be found all around you.

4. Watching the Electrical Parade- It’s my most favorite parade! The music and lights are just amazing. Although I never saw it on Main Street, I’m sure it was a ton better than it is at California Adventure.

5. Looking at Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Christmastime- Gorgeous, astonishing, brilliant. These words describe the sight of the Castle during the Holidays. It’s decorated in huge icicle lights that look incredibly real and a soft bluish-white light covers it. It is breath-taking, a sight you must go and see at least once. For I believe the holidays are one of the most magical seasons in Disneyland.

6. Going on “The Storybook Land Canal Boats”- This is definitely one of my most favorite rides. I am a HUGE fan of miniatures and this ride always seemed to be made for me. I would love to just be able to get off & explore this ride and look at it more closely. This is a ride I would love to work on!!!

7. Watching Mickey Cartoons at the Main Street Cinema- This is a great place to just go and relax after a long, hot day. I love all the old cartoons and they never cease to entertain me. I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s also a great place to wait after a parade lets out, complete with air conditioning and TV for the kids!

8. Having a Character Breakfast at The Plaza Inn- I know I’m twelve but I still love the characters at Disneyland and having breakfast with them is just awesome. They come around to your table and take pictures and sign autographs. Plus, the food is great and I love the Plaza’s old Victorian style. Also, you get into the park early!

9. Shopping at the Adventureland Bazaar – This shop is far from bizarre and is where I have gotten most of my Disney clothes. If you’re a fan of The Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, or The Tiki Room, this is the place to shop. They’ve got accessories, clothes, toys, knick-knacks, and so much more!

10. Getting Mozzarella Sticks & a Funnel Cake at “The Stage Door Café” in Frontierland- My favorite place to eat for a special treat. The mozzarella sticks are fantastic with a little marinara sauce & you can get either a chocolate or strawberry funnel cake. The funnel cakes are perfect for all those with a sweet tooth!

---Caitlin

Disneyland - Mark Twain - What's Missing? - Big Thunder

Above is a scan of a photograph I took in around 1977 and it shows the stately Mark Twain at her dock in Frontierland.


What's missing?

Hint: look above the trees behind the Mark Twain.

It looks a bit strange to see the Frontierland skyline without the now-familiar peaks of Big Thunder Mountain.

When the above photograph was taken, the only train you could ride near "Big Thunder" (falls, that is) was the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland.

By September 1979, however, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad would take its place as the newest Disneyland "mountain."

In honor of my old attraction BTMM (and the many hours I spent asking, "how many in your party?" before directing guests to their seats), I offer you Jungle readers the following article from the Spring 1980 edition of Disney News (with thanks to author, Tom Fitzgerald). [NOTE: If you click on the article, you should be able to access a nice blow-up that you can actually read!].

I was reminded of BTMM days when I saw that an old cast member friend's daughter had found this blog and passed along her thanks for sharing an old photograph of "mom" back in the 1980s. The Cast Member was Jackie Lacey and I rarely saw her in anything other than a Thunder costume! Sure, she had the occasional "Tiki" or Treehouse shifts, but mainly Jackie worked Big Thunder [along with such famous Cast Members as "Doug," Janet Mondragon, and Sue Barnaby (aka "Sue B.")].

That reminds me of a BTMM story.

Word was that a certain Imagineer broke his foot during the BTMM build. To commemorate this event, a rock in the shape of a casted foot was supposedly included in the attraction alongside the tracks. Another tall tale from an old prospector? Well, sir, I'm not so sure. Next time you take a notion to ride ol' Thunder, you be sure to keep your eyes a' peeled...

Disneyland - Some Unique Views - The Jungle Princess

Greetings, Disneyland geeks, lovers and observers! You know who you are. Heck, if you have stumbled into this blog from cyberspace and you AREN'T a Disneyland geek, lover or observer, you had better strongly reconsider your choice of search engine.


Where was I?

Ah, yes, Disneyland. For those of you who have never worked the Jungle Cruise, our first photograph gives you the view that most dockhands and unloaders get for most of their work day. Perhaps in the mad dash to exit the boat as a guest, you never took the time to take a look down the dock---much less photograph it. It is for you hapless folks that I offer Photograph No. 1 above, taken from just past "Jungle Central," or the Lead office on the dock of the Jungle Cruise. In the distance, you can see that our boat loader (at Front Load) giving the skipper and the Rear Load boat loader the "all clear" hand signal, indicating that all his guests are safely seated and ready to depart the dock. If the Rear Load loader looks into the boat and agrees, she would make the same signal and simultaneously shout: "Hit it, Skip!" send the boat off into the turpid, teeming, untamed rivers of the Jungle.


So much for that.


Next is a photo of Space Mountain that most of you will simply never be able to capture on your own. It is taken on a brilliantly clear day, from almost due south of the attraction and from a position in front of the old Administration/Wardrobe building. There are more interesting shots to share, but we shall save them for another day.

I will leave you with the following vignette:

I was working Jungle and was on the "Uki" (Ucayali Una) when we were at unload and a family with a small girl in a motorized wheelchair came on board (the Uki has a fabulous wheelchair ramp that allows guests in wheelchairs a chance to ride the attraction). I remember a mom, a dad, and this tiny girl with her hair in ribbons and a Minnie Mouse t-shirt. As her chair was loaded onto the ramp and the ramp lowered into my boat, I said hello to the family (as they were my only passengers until we pulled ahead to the "Load" position).

The parents looked a bit tired and glum. I imagined it had been a long day for them. Still, I smiled and then proceeded to tease the little princess who had entered my boat upon her magnificent "throne." I told her I loved her pigtails and pretty ribbons and warned her that ribbons attract gorillas and chimpanzees. She looked at me with bright eyes and simply gushed a wonderful smile.

The parents saw her reaction and smiled, too. "Thank you," they said, "that is the first time anyone has acknowledged our daughter today. And, you made her smile."

I went on to make our princess the star of our cruise. After the rest of the guests boarded, I introduced her to the entire boat and warned them that we'd need their help to keep the monkeys and gorillas at bay, since those ribbons are known to attract them.

We all had a blast. Upon our return, as the guests disembarked, we all clapped for our princess---and for safely avoiding gorillas and chimps. The little girl glowed from her tiny chair. Her parents simply said, "Thank you." They all turned at the exit and waved back to me as I loaded my gun for the next trip. "Have a great day!" I told them over the P.A.

I think they did.

---Mike

Disneyland - Skyway To Tomorrowland 1985 * Sigh *

It has been only a short while, but why not another post mourning the passing of the Skyway. I came across the above photo the other day and remembered a very recent trip to Tomorrowland in which I stood on the ground to the far right of the photo, out of the camera's view. What was weird to me was that the old stairway up to the Skyway building was still there, though you could not access it. I could plainly see the roof of the stairway behind what used to be the Mod Hatter. Like most of "modern" Tomorrowland, it was a strange skeleton of its former self---like the Peoplemover tracks or the Rocket Jets platform, mutely standing as a sad reminder to those of us who were fortunate enough to experience Tomorrowland when the whole area was alive with color and activity.

To all who come to this happy place and have never had the experience of floating up and over Tomorrowland, through the majestic Matterhorn, above Fantasyland and into the quaint hilltop chalet at the other end of the line---sorry. Sorry you missed it. Perhaps you can imagine it, or glimpse some old Youtube footage, but those are but shallow illusions compared to the real thing. Riding over Disneyland in a Skyway bucket is something that cannot be replicated. It was a true "attraction," as popular with youg families as with young couples. Sure, those with a fear of heights missed out---but they often do, don't they? Vistas worth seeing tend to be in pretty high places, so many folk never cast eyes upon them. Pity, really.

I could attempt to wax eloquently on the Skyway experience...but you loyal readers know how well THAT goes.

Suffice it to say that I long for a day when the Park is alive again in every corner, as it once was.

In the past, even the "quiet" spots in Disneyland added to the immediacy of the overall experience.

A bench in a slow corner of New Orleans Square may not have generated revenue, but it welcomed the sitter to partake of peaceful reflection or of carefree people watching, among other things.

A warm pretzel dangling under a heat lamp in an almost-empty Mile Long Bar at the end of a long day somehow smelled even more alluring (salted please, with mustard---thanks).

A perfect strawbery soda with silky Carnation vanilla ice cream and its ornate glass container glistening with condensation amidst the red and white splendor of the Carnation Company Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street tasted best when enjoyed at one of the tables tucked furthest back off the street, near the old display window that had Mary Poppins and Bert seated with their penguin waiters in a diorama of the chalk pavement drawing that had come to life.

Even the Emporium windows on Main Street would change their content frequently---making each trip to the Park one in which you might get a glance at new scenes from the latest Disney film in release. I'm afraid they haven't changed for quite some time now---since the 50th? I don't know, I've lost track. * sigh *

Well...you know where I'm coming from. If not, you're probably lost---this is definitely not your piece of the Internet!

If you do...

If you do...

...heave another sigh right along with me. Crack open an old Guidebook or dig through some photos or click through some Viewmaster reels of the way things were. Ahhhhhhhh. Feels good, even if it is a touch bittersweet.

To Disneyland!

I raise my glass!

Here's to fond memories, but here's also to savoring the challenge and promise of the future.

---Mike

Disneyland - "Jungle Is 101" Guest Blogger at "Babes In Disneyland"

Well, Jungle fans, today's post is actually a link to the blog "Babes In Disneyland" and a guest post I made for Lisa over there about the old Skull Rock and Captain Hook's Pirate Ship. Lisa's site is true Disney, with a good bit of "Mom" worked in. If you have small kids and are looking for some tips on how to best enjoy the Disneyland experience, you must head over to Babes in Disneyland (either the website or the blog).

True and deep Adventureland thanks go out to Lisa for her kind invitation to share some of my meandering thoughts on the Park with her many, many readers. Lisa's willingness to invite yours truly to pen a piece for her site indicates both a warm generosity and a shockingly blatant lack of editorial discretion on her part. I can only hope that her blog is able to overcome any ill-effects from me having trampled onto the site. We skippers are not known for our ability to interact with an environment without causing havoc. Heck, we shoot a hippos in their native habitat and drag boatfuls of hapless strangers into teeming jungles on a daily basis!

Sincere thanks go out to Lisa! Many happy returns to your blog and website!

---Mike

Disneyland - Long Corridors and Things Inn Between

Today we'll glance down some halls and corridors and look around some corners. The shot above---of your own, very cool skipper---was taken as I was heading to the Jungle from Coke Corner on Main Street. Some of you lucky guests caught in an "overflow" post-parade traffic flow have walked right through these doors and down the back side of Main Street as an alternate route when too many guests have packed the Hub and Plaza. I used to walk through these doors almost every day.


Most days, as mentioned before on this blog, Cast Members would partake of a delightful ripaste at the Inn Between. Cassie, pictured below, seemed to always be there, ready to ring up your bill.

Another hallway one might encounter if one knew their way around is pictured below. It is, indeed, underground within the old Administration Building. Those colorful linoleum tiles? Word is they're darn close to original---if not original---to the building. Some pretty famous Disneyland insider and executive feet have traversed them since the building first went up. Mine don't count, obviously.

Before going up to street level, lets take a look down one of the long halls. At least you can say you've been there---kinda.

Now let us cross the Park, from East Main Street over to Adventure/Frontier. There, we find another corridor---this one much shorter---and peer in on the offices where Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country operations are housed. Just a quick peek now and keep moving!

And finally, through the miracle of video, you too can grab a glimpse of the Inn Between, but I'm afraid you'll miss out on the chicken enchilada special. Come to think of it, you'll thank me.

Disneyland - Jungle Cruise, Skyway And Swiss Family Treehouse circa 1985

Today we beam back to the Jungle Cruise 1985 and The Skyway 1985 and the Swiss Family Treehouse from around the same time thanks to the miracle of YouTube and "oneandatwo" (who originally posted these clips). I have shared them here before separately, but thought I would put them in a package and also update the "abandoned Skyway"---see below).

If you have a moment, click on the links and take a tour of mid-1980s Disneyland. The grainy VHS video sure isn't HD, but you get a little sense of what it was like. Be sure to enjoy the constantly moving world of Tomorrowland as you leave the Tomorrowland Skyway station. The whole area was "on the move," from Monorails, subs, Peoplemovers, Tomorrowland Stages, America Sings, to the Matterhorn bobsleds. It was also very cool to travel right through the Matterhorn. 'Tis a shame we can't float on the Skyway any more.

By the way, at the end of the Skyway video, you'll see the Fantasyland Skyway station and chalet as it looked before it became its current, abandoned self. Also see these pics (thanks to Davelandblog)---hey, wasn't it "Jungle is 101" that first "crossed the chain" up the stairs to the old Skyway chalet? Good to see some more detailed photos of the interior have surfaced! Here's some video, too (thanks to Tod Reynard who posted it on YouTube).

---Mike

Disneyland - Summer 1980 - Yank My Heart Out - "The Bench"

I was digging through "the box" of old Disney stuff that I keep and came across my 1980 Souvenir Guide. Glancing through its somewhat faded pages at the photographs and lists of attractions, restaurants and shops resurrected for me the Park of my young adulthood. I figured there are more than a few of you who tossed away your Souvenir Guide after touring the Park back in 1980, so I present a few of its pages here to help you recapture those memories.

Even the cover---perhaps slightly hokey by "today's" standards---evokes a sense of real joy and fun. The folks pictured are not professional models. Their smiles are genuine. The Polaroid ad on the back page takes us back to a day when cameras did not store digital images. The Polaroid Pronto Sonar automatically took and then printed out a "beautiful SX-70 picture instantly." You could watch the magic happen as the picture slowly developed its image in front of you. Amazing. I remember the old Lilly Belle photo prop there on the east side of Main Street, next to what is now Disney Clothiers.

Stepping into the 1980 Guidebook to its center foldout display page really yanked at my heart because it contains great photographs of the Park as it once was---clean, new and full of bright colors. The quotes on these pages are from Walt. The photos show how truly colorful Disneyland was---from Cast Member costumes to the shiny white of Space Mountain and the red awnings of the Emporium. I feel that old ache---the ache to somehow go back, to be there then, as it was. We all get that ache in life at one time or another. We all have some place and some time that was special to us, where we return in pensive moments. For me, the Park will always be such a place full of memories, just as Walt and his team had intended. The 1980 Guide also included a map of the Park---before Splash Mountain and Winnie the Pooh turned Bear Country into "Critter Country," before the Skyway was yanked from the sky, before Fantasyland was remodeled, before Tarzan rudely kicked out the Swiss Family, before Buzz Lightyear and Emperor Zurg evicted Circlevision and America the Beautiful, before America Sings was "Innovented," before the People Mover became the Rocket Rods and then...um...bare track, before the Rocket Jets were rudely torn from their high perch and stubbed onto ground level at Tomorrowland's entrance, before anyone ever did anything to mess with the original (perfectly-fine-and-no-need-for-fixin') Pirates of the Caribbean, before the parking lot became DCA, before...well...before a lot of stuff happened and changed.

I know. Most of you four Jungle is 101 readers (hi, Mom) have heard the rant before. Still, each glance at the evidence of how things once were refreshes the sting of the many thoughtless changes that were made to the landscape of Disneyland. Not that everything "new" is bad. You've got your Indiana Jones and even Splash Moutain, for example. But the hurt still lingers and always will for some things that are forever gone or changed.
"THE BENCH"

I will close out today's post with a little nugget of Disneydom that only your true believers can appreciate. As a Cast Member and a guest, I have had many occasions to "connect" with the old Disneyland while walking through the "new" version. Some things are obvious---they never moved the Matterhorn, for example, or the entrance to Frontierland. Other things you might not really think about as you encounter them. One of the latter things is the metal bench you will encounter in the Fantasyland castle courtyard---on the Fantasyland side of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. You can see the bench to the right side of the blow-up of the iconographic photo of Walt below.

When I worked there, I met quite a few old timers, many of whom worked with Walt. One of these fine fellows related a simple story to me.

One day in the early 1960s, he was working in Custodial and was doing his morning walk-through of Fantasyland. He entered from the West entrance---along the path that led from Carnation Plaza Gardens into Fantasyland (near the Tinker Bell Toy Shop). It was before the park opened and still early. He rounded the corner and there was Walt. Sitting on the bench. The bench in the photograph below.
"Uh, good morning, Mr. Disney," stammered the then-young custodial host. Walt stood up, said good morning and thanked the young man for his work, gently reminding him "It's Walt." Walt then turned and walked back through the castle entrance toward Main Street. It was the last time the cast member ever saw Mr. Disney and the first time he'd ever had a chance to speak with him. He never forgot it.

Anyhow, next time you're in Fantasyland and you happen to see a metal bench there in the courtyard behind the castle, take a moment and take a seat. Walt was there once. In many ways, throughout the Park, he is still there now.

We are all pretty fortunate that Walt dared to make his vision of Disneyland a reality. Let us hope that those charged with keeping Walt's legacy will remember his desire to have things at Disneyland "get more beautiful each year." "Growing and adding new things" probably did not mean tearing out the soul of an attraction (America Sings comes to mind) or painting the Small World facade in nauseating pastels (let us all take a moment of thanksgiving that the simple, white paint scheme has since returned). Walt and modern corporate Disney management probably would not get along. It is a simple truth that listening to "bean counters" would have prevented little things like Snow White, Pinocchio, and Disneyland itself, from ever, ever becoming realities. At its best, Disneyland is art, living art.

---Mike

Disneyland - Big Bands - Carnation Plaza Gardens - Empty Nest

The trip across the wooden bridge to the colorful red and white canopied stage and dance floor of Carnation Plaza Gardens once brought a surprising reward to devotees of the Big Band Orchestra in the summers of Disneyland's yesteryear.

One would surmise from modern Disneyland's dearth of entertainment at Plaza Gardens that most of the Big Band afficionados have shuffled off to the grand, glitter-ball ballroom in the sky, leaving behind only those who favor performances by random, unknown, amateur bands, choirs, or dance ensembles (mostly from junior high and high schools across our great land).

The Plaza Gardens stage has gone from Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Les Brown, Harry James and Buddy Rich to the Broomfield High School Eagles Marching Band, Color Guard, Jazz Band, Percussion and Wind Ensemble (of Broomfiled, Colorado).
Now don't get me wrong.

It is not that the Eagles bands are anything less than entertaining or are in any way undeserving of a chance to perform at Disneyland (and we here at Jungle is 101 absolutely applaud their efforts, especially in this age of budget cuts and video games when true musicians are disappearing faster than Western Lowland Gorillas).

It is a simple truth that such groups (and others like them) are not of the same caliber as the legendary performers who used to light up the Plaza Gardens stage. I am not saying that these young musicians won't reach those heights some day---they are not there just yet.

Disney's Magic Music Days and the Disney Performing Arts Program are certainly noble in their support of young musicians---and have been for many years. Indeed, it is always a thrill to see one of these groups march down Main Street during a parade or pre-parade. It is also nice that they can perform from time to time at Plaza Gardens. True.

But.

At night, when Disneyland used to come alive in most every corner of the Park, the Plaza stage now, generally, sits empty and dark. And on summer evenings in particular, this empty stage is literally a void that was once filled with life, music and light.

Chuck Cecil authored the article to the left for the Summer 1983 edition of Disney News, the Official Magazine for Magic Kingdom Club families (Vol. 18, No. 3), Margery Lee (Editor). Chuck hosted (and apparently continues to host) a syndicated radio program entitled The Swingin' Years, which is devoted to Big Band Swing music and is produced in Mr. Cecil's own home studio nowadays. A Jungle is 101 thank you to Chuck Cecil and all he has done to promote and bring (even more) magic to the original Magic Kingdom over the years.

In the article, Chuck announced 1983's big band season lineup: Count Basie and his orchestra; Harry James and his big band; Lionel Hampton and his big band---he could play the drum let's just say---watch the whole video clip gang); Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians directed by Art Mooney; and the Glenn Miller Orchestra directed by Larry O'brien. Not too shabby.

The bandshell at Plaza Gardens in 2009 does not exactly foot the same bill. Indeed, the current version of Plaza Gardens is hardly even a ghost of its former, gloriously, ebullient self. It has been largely "Astro-Orbiterized" and sits, waiting, like the old Skyway chalet in Fantasyland (and the attraction formerly known as the Rocket Jets), for a chance to maybe, somehow, return to its former pre-Eisner glory and true self (*sigh*).

Until then, my friends, I leave you with the attached article from 26 years ago and the faint hope that someday a "big band" or two might return to Carnation Plaza Gardens on a summer's night to create a little, old-fashioned magic for a few lucky guests.

Until then, this is Mike signing off and reminding you that, during my illustrious tenure, four out of five Jungle Cruise survivors had not ridden my boat. How many skippers can make that claim?

---Mike