>Hoop-Dee-Doin’ it Tonight!

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How about a Magical Experience that has the kids, and Mom and Dad singing and laughing and enjoying great food? What if I tell you that this Disney Dinner show is an Unknown Magic that has been happening for over 35 years? Some of you may be saying “What?” others who have been to Walt Disney World a few times and have “given up” a night at a park, for dinner, will know that I’m talking about the Hoop Dee Doo Revue.

The Hoop Dee Doo Revue is performed three times nightly at Pioneer Hall

in the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds. It is an old time, Wild West Show that features singing, dancing, and vaudeville type comedy. The troupe that performs this raucous dinner show is known as the Pioneer Hall Players. Claire de Lune, Johnny Ringo, Dolly Drew, Six Bits Slocum, Flora Long and Jim Handy perform different skits and sing early standards, and ask you to join from time to time.

I enjoyed the food as much as the show. Fresh Bread, Tossed Salad, Baked Beans, Home-style Fried Chicken, Smoked BBQ Pork Ribs, and Corn on the cob are followed by a delicious Strawberry Shortcake. Your beverage choices are Beer or Sangria, Unsweetened Iced Tea, Apple Juice, Milk, Tea, Coffee and assorted sodas. The waiters and waitresses aren’t only good, but they are part of the show. Our Waiter last time we went was named Dallas. Dallas was funny, entertaining, and made sure all 9 of us had a great time.

This is one of the few reservations on Disney property that requires a prepayment for making a reservation. There are also different seating prices. It is a three tiered system with tier one being closer to the stage, tier two is further back on the main floor and the back balcony. The side balcony seats are the third tier. When we went, we sat in the second tier, on the first floor and had no problem seeing the show or any of the action.

The one other thing you need to know about the Hoop Dee Do Revue is that you need to check in approximately 40 minutes before the show, and there is no transportation right to the front door. You have to go to the main parking

lot of the Fort Wilderness Campground, and then take a bus to Pioneer Hall. Or you could take a boat from the Magic Kingdom or any of the Magic Kingdom Resorts. This is something that needs to be planned for.

The Hoop Dee Do Revue is a wonderfully Magical Experience for the entire family. The kids will get a kick out of the corny humor and during the finale they will be involved in the salute to Davy Crocket. For Adults, if you are celebrating an Anniversary, Birthday, or are there on your Honeymoon, be prepared to be included in the show. Our family loved the show; even with three young teens (my son and his cousins) we all had a great time.

 

So, now you know, you can “give up” a night at the park and still enjoy a fun Magical Experience. You’ll get a good meal with a good show and when you leave, I’ll bet you’re still humming the song!

>So, Where is Home?

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As mentioned in previous posts, The Walt Disney Company believes that everything they do is a show. For this reason, their workers are called Cast Members. The Walt Disney World Cast Members are unbelievable people. In my many travels to Disney World, I have come in contact with probably thousands of Cast Members and 99.99999% of them have been wonderful people that made our trips Magical Experiences. I’m sure I’ve had one or two here and there over the years that I thought was having a bad day, but most of the time, actually almost all the time, you never know if they are having a bad day. On the whole, the Cast Members are really great at helping to

create the magic. People like Andy at the Boardwalk or Dallas at the Hoop De Doo Revue, are just a couple of examples of Cast Members that know what
the Magic is and actually make sure you Experience it.

Last year when we were eating in Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot, we were waited on by a very nice young lady that was from Nova Scotia. My son who is a big Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh Penguins fan, made a comment about Crosby being from Nova Scotia. Our waitress started talking hockey with us and actually told us she

not only knew Crosby, but is good friends with Marc-Andre Fleury, The Penguins goaltender. Then she shared with us her experience of when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last year. If it weren’t for her name tag saying her name and where she was from, we would have missed out on a Very Special Experience.

That is today’s Unknown Magic. Every Cast Members’ name tag lists where they are from. This is pretty neat when you see people that are from your area of the country and also maybe from your state. We were in the Conservation Station (in Animal Kingdom) last summer, and it seemed like most of the Cast Members working there seemed to come from the Philadelphia/New Jersey Area. Being from New Jersey, we talked to a lot of these people about “home.”

When you are in Epcot’s World Showcase, you will notice that all the Cast Members working at the different pavilions are from those countries. A lot of them are part of the Disney International Program. Everyone of the Cast Members that we have come in contact with in Epcot, have always been very eager to talk about their home country, and share their culture with us. It is very neat to discuss with someone their home town, and ask questions about how Disney has designed the buildings and areas in Epcot, as compared to these hometowns.

These experiences can be had all over Walt Disney World, You can meet and talk to people from places that you know or just want to know more about. The Cast Members are normally friendly outgoing people, but when you start talking to them about their hometowns, they seem to be even more Excited and Talkative.

So, now you know, when you come in contact with a Cast Member, read where they are from, You might be in store for a Magical Experience you might never have seen coming.

>The Bigger the Better

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Most of the nine of us

 Our first trip to Walt Disney World as a Family was in 2005. I wrote about it in an article I wrote for Growing Up Disney called The Best Thing I’ve Ever Seen at a Disney Park. Since then we have been down many times. One of our trips in 2007 was with my family, a group of nine; three kids and six adults. This past summer we went with friends and it was a group of seven; two teenagers, four adults and a baby. It is different travelling with others, but it is also different when you travel with larger groups. When you travel anywhere with a larger group there is always a worry about where to go, what to do and how to get there. When you are in Walt Disney World, it seems that these worries are lessened. Disney makes it easy to travel with a larger group. So, I offer for you today, The Unknown Magic of taking a large group to Disney.

Usually the first thing you have to worry about if you are travelling with a group of 4 or more is accommodations. Disney makes it easier on families of more than four. They have the Deluxe Villas, which are the Disney Vacation Club Villas, which come in different sizes, but with a two bedroom suite, you can comfortably have 5 adults staying in a room, without a roll-away bed, which you may get in some places. They also offer at the ALL-Star Music Resort a “family suite” that six can stay in. This is a wonderful thing, because the ALL-Star resort is one of their ‘value” resorts and the price is a little lower.

Next thing you may worry about when you are travelling with a larger group is where to eat. Going out with a family of three or four is nice, when you are on vacation, because this is the normal group size that most restaurants are expecting. Even a party of six isn’t usually a problem. When you get towards eight, it starts getting into pushing table together territory. This is always awkward. Where is everyone going to sit, who gets to sit next to the baby, why do we have to sit so far away from each other, it’s a pain. In Walt Disney World, it doesn’t seem to be a problem. And they never seem to have just pushed a table together for you. They always seem ready for a larger group and are happy to accommodate. Some of the best places for a large party are their

dinner shows. The Hoop-De Doo Revue and the Spirit of Aloha Luau are really set up for parties larger than four. They serve the food Family Style and the tables are larger tables (mainly to hold all the food!) The dinner shows are actually more fun and can be more of a Magical Experience when you have more people with you.

With a larger travelling party, getting around wherever you are is sometimes a challenge. I still recommend driving in Disney, but when we were down this past summer we made the busses and boats work. Even with seven of us, a stroller and the baby, we really didn’t have any problems on the Buses or the monorail. We kept the group together and were able to talk to one another. Once again it is because Disney makes group travel easy. With a larger group, if you do have a van or even two cars, getting around in Walt Disney World is even easier. Not having to wait for busses with a kid is always a plus, but if there are three of them, as we had a few years ago, then it is even better when you don’t have to wait. Disney also makes it easy for you to travel by car if you want to keep your group moving and together, by allowing you to park for free at the parks and resorts if you are staying on Disney Property.

The only problem you may have when travelling with a larger group is who gets to sit next to whom on the attractions. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Midway Mania are two of the attractions where this could be a problem. The reason is that these are competitive, interactive rides. When we were down this past year, we actually had a great time on the Space Ranger Spin, because we used the extra Magic Hour and we were able to go through the ride six times, changing partners each time, so that everyone got a chance to play against each other. It was a very fun time. And once again, it was because of something that Disney does to make this able to happen. The extra Magic Hour helps groups to enjoy the parks, as you can move through the parks easier when there are less people in the Parks. Another way they make it easy to re-do an attraction is with FASTPASS (which I have talked about in “No Need to go Commando”) When you are able to re-do an attraction, this makes it easy to ride with someone else in your party also.

So, now you know, travelling with a large party in Disney is easy. The accommodations they offer for bigger families are great and eating with a group isn’t a problem either. Other worries you might have about taking a large group to Walt Disney World should be pushed aside also, as Disney takes care of everything from getting you where you want to go to making it easy for you to enjoy yourself with your family. So get the whole family together and go enjoy a Magical Experience in the Happiest Place on Earth, Walt Disney World.

>Enjoy a Good Laugh.

>I am a person that lives by the creed, If you Don’t enjoy it, Don’t do it. I have lived this way for most of my adult life. I forgot it for a few years a while back, but I found someone that reminded me of it and here we are. Loving Life, Enjoying what we do and doing what we enjoy. With this philosophy of life, comes the ability to laugh at a lot of things. I enjoy laughing, I enjoy a good joke and I even enjoy bad, dumb jokes, like puns. All throughout Walt Disney World, there are hidden jokes, and puns, that most people don’t ever see, because they are moving too fast or not listening. Other people observe them, but don’t take the time to enjoy them. When you take your time and look for the Unknown Magics, you will find that there are some really silly things for you to see and hear. So, Today I present to you, the Unknown Magic of the Joke in Walt Disney World.

One of the Biggest Puns is the use of NATAZU as the slogan for the Animal Kingdom. If you slow down your saying of the word and break it into syllables, you will understand that they think of Animal Kingdom as a Theme park, Not-A-Zoo. This is an example in the Animal Kingdom, but when it comes to Animals, the best Puns about and including animals are found in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom. If you go on The Jungle Cruise you not only get puns, but jokes from the time you enter the queue, until the time you get off of the boat at the end of the ride. As you are waiting in the queue, listen to the announcements that are being made. Some of the things they say are pretty funny, for example,

“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. Would the party that lost the roll of 50 $20.00 bills, wrapped in a red rubber band, please report to the turnstile … we have good news for you. We found your rubber band.” Kids especially get a kick out of these jokes. Once you get on the ride though, the jokes get cornier, but they are humorous. The Skipper on the ride has quite a few quips throughout the ride. The last time we were on the ride our Skipper was awesome. His delivery was flat and very dry, but that’s what made the jokes and puns even better. One of our favorites was “Since we are in an area filled with rare tropical foliage, I’d like to take a moment to point out some of the vegetation to you.” At which he started pointing at different places off the side of the boat. Corny, but funny.

But things that are said aren’t the only jokes presented in The Magic Kingdom. There are many examples of jokes and puns and word play throughout the Park. There are signs:

This is funny because it is a character breakfast.

The Disney Vacation Club provides Getaways for its Members

And there are areas of Attractions that if you look around you will see little jokes being made:

This is supposed to be a box of dynamite.

Some of the best pre-show jokes in the Magic Kingdom are at the Haunted Mansion. One or two are inside Jokes, Like the fact that Madame Leota is the name of the Woman whose head is in the Crystal Ball or the fact that Master Gracey is the Owner of the Haunted Mansion.

Others are just corny funny:

The Best pre-show for jokes, in Disney Hollywood Studios is Muppet Vision 3-D. The pre-show which is set up like a backstage area for the show is full of word play and puns. My advice is to get there well before the next show is about to start and spend some time looking around. Not only will it give you a few chuckles, but it is air-conditioned. One of the best jokes made here is a tribute to a former Disney Child-star from way back in the 50’s and 60’s. I’m not going to tell you who it is, but I’ll tell you the star went on to be in the Beach movies with Frankie Avalon. When you are there, see if you can find the joke/tribute.  Inside the Muppet theatre isn’t the only place the jokes abound, outside there are Billboards and other things that will make you smile.

This bottom of this sign says Piad for by the fund to keep Miss Piggy Happy.

There are jokes and puns all over Walt Disney world, but the most in one place are probably at the Hoop-Dee-Doo revue, the dinner show in Fort Wilderness Campground. This show is fantastically fun for the whole family. Not only is the meal they offer pretty good, but the Show itself is full of singing and jokes and puns and well, all around corniness. If you are the type of people that like to laugh and have fun, this is one Dinner you should make sure you do.

So, now you know, smiles In Walt Disney World, don’t just come from the things the Disney Imagineers and Cast members do and present, but from the hidden jokes that you need to take the time to hear, see and enjoy. So, the next time you’re in Disney World, slow down and give yourself time to enjoy a good laugh.

>So, Where is Home?

>As mentioned in previous posts, The Walt Disney Company believes that everything they do is a show. For this reason, their workers are called Cast Members. The Walt Disney World Cast Members are unbelievable people. In my many travels to Disney World, I have come in contact with probably thousands of Cast Members and 99.99999% of them have been wonderful people that made our trips Magical Experiences. I’m sure I’ve had one or two here and there over the years that I thought was having a bad day, but most of the time, actually almost all the time, you never know if they are having a bad day. On the whole, the Cast Members are really great at helping to create the magic. People like Andy at the Boardwalk or Dallas at the Hoop De Doo Revue, are just a couple of examples of Cast Members that know what the Magic is and actually make sure you Experience it.

Last year when we were eating in Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot, we were waited on by a very nice young lady that was from Nova Scotia. My son who is a big Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh Penguins fan, made a comment about Crosby being from Nova Scotia. Our waitress started talking hockey with us and actually told us she not only knew Crosby, but is good friends with Marc-Andre Fleury, The Penguins goaltender. Then she shared with us her experience of when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last year. If it weren’t for her name tag saying her name and where she was from, we would have missed out on a Very Special Experience.

That is today’s Unknown Magic. Every Cast Members’ name tag lists where they are from. This is pretty neat when you see people that are from your area of the country and also maybe from your state. We were in the Conservation Station (in Animal Kingdom) last summer, and it seemed like most of the Cast Members working there seemed to come from the Philadelphia/New Jersey Area. Being from New Jersey, we talked to a lot of these people about “home.”

When you are in Epcot’s World Showcase, you will notice that all the Cast Members working at the different pavilions are from those countries. A lot of them are part of the Disney International Program. Everyone of the Cast Members that we have come in contact with in Epcot, have always been very eager to talk about their home country, and share their culture with us. It is very neat to discuss with someone their home town, and ask questions about how Disney has designed the buildings and areas in Epcot, as compared to these hometowns.

These experiences can be had all over Walt Disney World, You can meet and talk to people from places that you know or just want to know more about. The Cast Members are normally friendly outgoing people, but when you start talking to them about their hometowns, they seem to be even more Excited and Talkative.

So, now you know, when you come in contact with a Cast Member, read where they are from, You might be in store for a Magical Experience you might never have seen coming.