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Well, by the mid-60's they did put a sort of tunneling around the skyway path with a glacier theme to it. [OR NOT: See below] Changed this... ...into this... ...but it wasn't very interesting. In fact, it was more interesting before, when you could look all around in there. I guess you...

You're right about the Tiki Room show not holding up as well as one could wish. There are too many "contemporary" gags that haven't been contemporary for decades, to the point of incomprehensibility. How many guests recognize a Maurice Chevalier impression for what it is? Heck, how many have...

I know Eddie sees the Tiki Room as a sort of benchmark for doing an attraction well, and it serves as a good illustration of your point (with which I agree). The pre-show is charming and entertaining, but is deliberately designed to be several notches below the actual show, so that if you miss...

Good points. I should distinguish between contributions to ride content (backstory, introduction of characters, etc.) and contributions of mood, atmosphere, the overall feel of a certain time and place. It's only with regard to the first category that a queue must be dispensable, since...

Well, yeah. And FASTPASS is another monkey wrench (thx for bringing it up). On slow days, rainy days, rides can be a walk-on. If the queue really provides some necessary content for the ride experience, then what happens when people just whiz past it on the way to the boat? It wouldn't be...

Your inclusion of the stretchroom and halls as part of the HM queue is interesting. I've always thought that the fact that you don't get into the actual ride conveyance until well into the attraction tempts you to think that everything before it is "queue." If that were the case, then the DL...

I won't try to make the case here; I'll simply point out that yes, there are credible authors and politicos who would happily make a case for you in the affirmative. Of course some things have changed. For example, the suspicion that big corporations can't be fully trusted to protect the...

Well, the only point I wished to make was that Walt did indeed have a political orientation with regard to his hopeful visions of the future. That bare statement will not, I think, be very controversial. Whether he was naïve or not, or whether such optimistic capitalism fits well the world of...

Yep, Walt believed in the system because he knew it worked, from experience. In addition to everything else he was, Walt was quintessentially American.

Star Wars (at least the original series) has been recognized from day one as a classic, old-fashioned morality tale in space garb. It's not the lasers, it's the timeless story that accounts for the enduring popularity. "Long ago, in a galaxy far away" is the only conscious lie it tells. I...

Oh, BTW, I wrote the above post before I saw Eddie's, so it's not a reply or a reaction to his, even though some of it almost sounds like it, eh? *Cue the Twilight Zone deedle-deedle music*

"Art comes from other art," said one of my teachers back when I was a Graphic Designs major in college (before I switched to English and took an Art minor). For some reason I always remembered that. Even if an artist could produce something utterly original, with no trace of influence from...

It's an interesting phenomenon. There have been a few other examples of "indestructible" brands. I think of Harley-Davidson. I'm not a biker, but my understanding is that in the 70's their quality was allowed to deteriorate to the point of embarrassing shoddiness, and the only thing keeping...

Thank you; I very much appreciate the personal response, Eddie. I've added a note within the body of the blog post and responded in the comments section there also.

HBG info Well, HMF asked me to swing by and address the never-ending controversy about whether or not the HBG was seen by the public. I saw him on Thursday, August 14, 1969. I was 14 years old and remember it clearly. Some months ago I made contact with another old fart (uh, I mean "seasoned...

Edit Edit Edit A long-time employee of Marc Davis has contacted me and provided indisputable evidence that the HM was indeed open on August 9th and 10th, despite the fact that it was billed as officially to open on the 12th. Disregard the following argument, and thank you, Mr. Todd Hackett...

Hello Eddie, As one of the guilty parties in feeding speculation at Micechat about the Jean Lafitte mega-theme, I'd like to help put it all back in perspective over there if I can. I know this isn't your favorite topic, but what I'm after is clarification, since various comments from you and...