October 11, 2007

RADP 12

The Main Street Railroad Station, Town Square, and for that matter all of Main Street all were decked out for Halloween and more generally for fall with lots of red, orange, and yellow bunting and plantings that emphasize the harvest season. For the first time in a long time I took the opportunity to ride some of the Main Street transportation up the street, in this case the fire engine, I asked the Fire Engines fireman about the continuing track work and he mentioned that the trolley should be returning in a few days. As we got about halfway up Main we passed the Dapper Dans, so when we stopped of course I walked back and caught the end of their set, they were performing as I walked up. This was the first time I had seen Kevin with the Dapper Dans, I didn't recognize him right away I knew he looked familiar, but it wasn't until he took his hat off at one point that I got that "AHHHH! that's who it is" moment. Heres what I heard them perform:

After the Dans set ended I ended up walking back to City Hall I had been hoping for some time, to catch Chief Smokey Miller ever since I had found out that this talented man who had formerly been the emcee of the Diamond Horseshoe Revue, was nowadays found on Main Street in this role, and even sings in this role as well too. It took some time to get a CM who could help me, he ended up giving the Main Street Entertainment manager Jeff (whom I had gotten this photo of back in June... http://www.bigbrian-nc.com/2007tr/june/16lg/wdw-06-16-07%20170.jpg) a phone call and Jeff let him know that Chief Miller would not be on the schedule today. It took long enough that by the time I got done it would not be long until the Toontown tuners would be on stage AND the Dapper Dans shortly thereafter so it seemed like a great opportunity to see a bit more of these groups. I still had a little time so I dropped a couple of my postcards I was mailing in the Main Street postal boxes, and took some more pictures of mailboxes, signs, Main Street windows, and East Center Street. I have never spent much time interacting with the Main Street streetmosphere folks. I actually prefer Streetmosphere sets that are more "scripted" like the skits at the studios, or some of the musical numbers I have (since this trip) seen the Main Street citizens participate in, that said I wonder if I could perhaps "get used to" and eventually prefer the looser unscripted morning activities, the jury is still out on that, but I took a bit of this time to experience this a little, watching the councilman, mayor, and the assistant to the mayor interacting with incoming guests. One very PRACTICAL use of these characters when they are not being used for musical performances is that they can be out interacting with guests even when castle stage shows are going (which was exactly the case when I first saw the Councilman and Mayor this morning) on whereas that might be a tad impractical for the Dapper Dans or the piano men of Caseys Corner.

Above: This license plate is on the Fire Engine, on Main Street USA in Walt Disney Worlds Magic Kingdom, actually I asked the driver about it and all the Main Street vehicles supposedly have this same plate.

above:Dapper indeed... Neel in red, Kevin in blue (and former conductor of the Voices of Liberty), Ken in purple, and Drew in Orange entertain passing guests.

Above: I stopped into City Hall with some questions, while I was in City Hall a "trolley show" came by though today it was being performed from the fire engine.

Above: The Town Councilman was on duty inspecting the guests this morning (and making humorous commentary)

As a tribute to those who have contributed to the Walt Disney Company, and most especially the parks tributes are given to individuals important in the company's history like Emile Kuri www.imdb.com/name/nm0475689/

After the Castle Stage show ended the Dapper Dans soon were back out too, though they were short one Dan (Drew), so when a guest walked up who had some barbershop experience they were perhaps even more eager than normal to give him a shot at singing with him and they sang Wild Irish Rose, after that the Toontown Tuners came out, some of the Dans and some of the main Street citizens tap danced while the tuners performed I just Cant Wait to Be King, then the whole ensemble (tuners, Dans, citizens) did Zip-A Dee-Doo-Dah and Supercalafragilisticexpialidocious as a sing along, encouraging the guests to join in too as they sang and danced. As is normal for mornings on Main Street a kid wearing a Birthday badge walked up and they did Happy Birthday (Sebastian) before going into When you're smilin' Which was the last number that was sung (and I think that was mostly just the Mayor).

above:After the Tuners played their first few numbers, the lady, who was apparently new to the group, pulled out her sheet music for the next number as she settled it into place one of the guys said "ready" or something like that and she had to tell him to hold on just a bit more, to which the guys all look a bit puzzled until she reached into her pocket and pulled out her glasses which got an "Ahhhhh" from the guys. Note also the purple bag the leader of the group carries, I'm guessing it has little giveaway items for kids like stickers and magic moment certificates and such.
Since the Citizens and Dans had been out before the tuners the numbers with singing were done first, then after the Dans and others went off-stage, the Tuners did an instrumental number, Be our Guest, followed up by Happy Birthday (Colin) while it may seem odd that they did Happy Birthday twice I was probably the only person still there from the first time they had done it when they did the second version and besides that it is a short version of it that they do, in fact just after they completed that happy birthday RADPer JD Stearns walked up and we started talking and they ended up singing Happy Birthday one time before they went off stage, as they went off a "trolley show" pulled up though this collection of dancers performing to a pre recorded track of Magic Wrapped up in Pixie Dust, Walking right Down the middle of Main Street USA, and Clang Clang Clang went the Trolley performed using the Fire engine as their base to perform from making this the third vehicle I've seen used to perform this show (the other two being the Horse Drawn Trolley, and the double-decker bus).