June 2007

Just Taking in the Magic

Sometimes I will read of or hear long time frequent park visitors say that they haven't yet seen a dream squad member, sometimes I wonder if they just were facing the wrong way or were involved in looking at other things and simply didn't notice them going by. I ALMOST didn't see these dream squad members above (at least that's what I think they are. There were walking the same direction as I and behind me so I didn't notice them until I sort of pulled off to the side to sit down on a bench and take in a few minutes of Frontierland audio. On future trips I'd love to have a trip where for one or two hours a day I'd sit and just record one area loop, still that may be a few trips off until I get to that relaxed of a pace. As I sat taking in the ambient Frontierland sounds a tour group walked up and the guide shared some interesting Frontierland facts with them, I hope that this will come out well in my audio though I have not yet listened to it to see.

Upon leaving the bench in Frontierland to head back to Main Street I noticed this sign advertising S.S. Beddard Carriages, a nice Frontierland detail. When I got to Adventureland I saw a rather inaccurate wait time sign in front of the Swiss Family Tree House. The photo after the photo of the sign shows just how empty the queue to the attraction was, I also just noticed that the trash can there is one of the non-themed variety though the fact that I did not notice it until now suggests that perhaps it is out-of-the-way enough that it might be a good location for an unthemed can if they are going to have some of these out.

I was using my live entertainment schedule for the Magic Kingdom printed from Steve Soares site and knew that the Dapper Dans had a set coming up at 10AM, but I didn't know exactly where they would be coming out I've had poor luck asking cast members about this type of thing through the years, but I saw the Mayor and I figured since he was in the entertainment department too perhaps he would know and besides that there was another CM with him, so I asked if they perhaps knew where the Dans usually come out for their 10 AM set. It turned out I asked the right guys the cast member on the left, Jeff, told me he'd make sure they went to where I wanted them...it turns out he's their stage manager (as well as that of some of the other Main Street entertainment as well, for instance,I saw him later speaking to piano man Mike). Also, over the course of this trip, and when I reviewed the audio of my trip later, I started to realize just how tied to the castle shows (and parades) the times of the Main Street performers is many of the sets are time to start right after a Castle stage show ends, just as you can see in the photos below that the stage show was going on as I waited for the Dans, they came out just a very short time after that show ended, it makes perfect sense of course since the performers would be competing with the sound from the stage show otherwise.

Above: an incomplete song video of the Dapper Dans performing Sweet Roses of Morn, still decent enough for the bit of goofing around they do before starting, for audio of the full song check out episode 19 of the Mousin It Up podcast.

As much as I like the Dapper Dans this was the first time I had recorded the East Coast Dans I recorded (most of) a set of the Disneyland Dans back in 2005 that will appear in a future episode. Here's a list of the songs from the set of the Magic Kingdom Dans:

As the Dans set ended and they headed off stage another castle show had already begun, and looking at the schedule I could see that when in ended the Piano man would be due out at Casey's, so I ambled on over, now since I had lost the audio I had of Jim the night before I had mixed feelings about this because I thought perhaps Mark was working Saturday and Sunday, and that I had therefore lost my opportunity to get audio of both of these guys, it turned out that Jim just needed a day off and Mark was covering so I did end up getting audio of both of these guys this trip! Mark did a couple of neat "morning" songs this set, "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" and "Who Will Buy This wonderful Morning". Heres a list of the songs I know the titles to:

The same "track work" project that was going on for the horse-drawn streetcars back at Mousefest in December is apparently still continuing that is the reason for both the use of the Horse-Drawn Carriage as a substitute (above photos) and the use of the Double-Decker Omnibus for the "trolley show" (photos below).