Category Archives: Main Street

Carnation Plaza Gardens–Starring the Highlighters

5 Comments Posted by on April 3, 2011

I have a special place in my heart for the Carnation Plaza Gardens. It’s just a little stage with seating set back near the entrance to Frontierland. For amateur performing groups, this is the stage you usually perform on (unless you’re a marching band). Back in my misspent youth, I belongs to a performing group and we sang on this stage as well, so it does hold a great deal of nostalgia for me.

Put your cares away and step into the Carnation Plaza Gardens

You might be wondering why Carnation would sponsor just a little stage. It’s because back in the day, you used to be able to get burgers and stuff there. Not anymore. Now it’s just a peaceful, fun little place tucked away.

There’s a big gazebo that holds the stage, which is very cute.

Shiny!

The day I was trying to get on Oprah, I noticed a youth choir singing on the stage. I was immediately drawn in, partly because I was trying to take an inconspicuous picture of Oprah’s film crew, partly because I needed to refill my water bottle, partly because Theo was in a mood and this was making him happy, but mostly because the group there was really good.

Meet the Highlighters from South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Washington!

Because every choral group needs at least one podium

 

No idea where Port Orchard is? Me either, so I looked it up for you:

Welcome to Port Orchard!

Looks like a pretty cool place to live.

I was immediately drawn in by the Highlighters’ stylish jazz numbers. These guys sounded great!

I should probably take a moment to clarify that the group to which I belonged when I was young was not really that good. The Highlighters were significantly better than my old performing group.

They wore really classy outfits–black suits. Unfortunately it was 91.5 degrees that day, so they must have been positively sweltering. It reminded me of our family friend’s wedding in Arizona when it was a billion degrees. All of the groomsmen had ice packs in their pockets. Disneyland is not usually that hot at the end of March, but there ya go.

You're probably really overheated. I'm sorry!

After the Highlighters finished, I took the opportunity to accost two women who looked like they were a part of the group. Lucky for me, they were.

I spoke with Beth Allen, wife of Mike Allen, who is the conductor of the Hightlighters. Beth’s son Jake was also a featured performer. Beth said that there are 20 kids in the Highlighters and this is Mike’s 23rd year as director. Woo hoo!

I have to say, one thing I really love about Disneyland is their willingness to let youth groups like marching bands (that’s me!) and choral groups (me again!) in to perform for guests. It’s a lot of fun for the kids, a lot of fun for the guests, and just in general a lot of fun.

Beth told me that the Highlighters come down about every other year, and the kids fundraise their butts off to make it. Boy, do I remember those fundraising days. That was the worst part of high school. Okay, not the worst part, but it was pretty bad. Apparently, among other things, the Highlighters sang at a madrigal feast–which let me interrupt just a second here and say that I LOVE madrigal feasts. They also sold cookie dough and pizzas and all kind of other stuff.

However, as Beth said, “We stopped doing car washes.” To which I add a hearty “hear hear!” Car wash fundraisers seriously SUCK. If you ever find yourself in a position of having to participate in a car wash fundraiser, then do your best to get out of it. Fall out of a tree and put yourself in the hospital or something. I can assure you that whatever injury you sustain, it won’t be as bad as a  car wash fundraiser.

But I digress.

Here's another shot of the Highlighters in action

They did a fabulous job on the whole, but I have to say that my favorite part was at the end when they launched into the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I couldn’t help but sing along.

I also met Katie, who was a chaperone for the trip and a former Highlighter herself. Katie was so inspired by her experiences that she grew up to become an elementary school music teacher. Katie is on the left in this picture, with Beth on the right.

We need more music education in schools! Seriously, people!!! MUSIC EDUCATION IS SO, SO, SO IMPORTANT!!

Aren’t they fun?

I’d like to say that I was disappointed that I didn’t get to be on Oprah, but really, because of it, I did stumble across the Highlighters and was really glad for that.

And if any of the Highlighters are reading, leave me a comment! You did really well!

 

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In Which I Am Almost On Oprah

7 Comments Posted by on March 31, 2011

Today was hot hot hot, and I don’t mean that in a “Hey, that’s a great 80’s song!” kind of way. According to Weather Underground, it was 91.5 degrees. And it felt like 91.5 degrees. Or maybe more.

Oh, and here’s another valuable tip from Shelby–when you bring along your sunscreen to apply when you get there, make sure there’s actually enough in the bottle to do the job. I had to buy a bottle of Coppertone from the little newsstand hut thing in Downtown Disney next to the Wetzels cart, and much to my surprised, they charged exactly what I would have paid at Walgreens. I thought for sure I was going to get stuck with $35 sunscreen, but nope! So that was a bonus at least.

Anyway, walking into the park, I saw this:

Oprah's so lucky to have an acronym-conducive name. If I had my own network, it would be SLRH, and that's just...no.

In case you can’t read miniature print, it says that OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, is filming in the park today, blah blah blah, if you don’t want to be on TV then avoid the cameras.

So of course I immediately went to look for the cameras.

But then I felt like I should ride a ride, so I hopped on Buzz Lightyear (post coming soon), and then Theo became very unhappy when I swung through Fantasyland (he wanted to ride the carrousel and kept saying “horse? horse? horse?” in an extremely pathos-inducing tone of voice) so I figured I would 1) abandon my search, 2) find a nice, shady spot to rest for a second, and 3) refill my water bottle. Did I mention it was hot? Good lord, it’s not even April yet. Even though it will be tomorrow.

Off to my right was a small bridge that leads to the Carnation Plaza Gardens, a little stage tucked away near Frontierland that I absolutely love. I noticed a bunch of official-looking cast members with clipboards, and lots and lots of equipment on carts.

I walked over the bridge and so as not to be conspicuous, having learned my lesson from the Awkward Social Situation, walked to the stage area and turned around to snap a picture.

Lots of equipment, no Oprah

I know that doesn’t look impressive, but there was more there that didn’t make it into the shot.

I thought about hanging around to see if something was going to happen, like maybe a celebrity would show up or something, but they didn’t seem to be setting anything up. A cast member did block off the bridge:

Well let's just hope there's not a riot at the regular entrance, because the emergency exit is now blocked

However, I stopped caring about Oprah when I saw a high school choir performing on the stage. They were just wonderful, and Theo was entranced. And I will blog about them later.

Suffice to say, they never set anything up and I never really got close to being on Oprah. But I think her camera crew is a good second best.

Main Street , ,

The Pearly Band

10 Comments Posted by on March 21, 2011

So let’s file this one under the “things I never knew existed” category! Theo and I were coming through the castle after the Superman Ad incident, and saw a brightly colored band marching through.

Instruments, bright colors, and the back of some girl's head

They circled and then lined up in formation. I checked my Entertainment Guide and it made no mention of brightly-colored musicians gathering in front of the castle, so of course in the interest of this blog, I stopped to listen.

Also, Theo seemed interested so why not?

I cleverly discerned their name by reading the drum. Because I’m smart like that.

Funny how the drum so often gives away the identity of the performer

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that 3 minutes on Google is my standard at-home research methodology (if you’re new to the blog, my standard at-home research methodology is 3 minutes on Google), and according to my research, the Pearly band follows the traditions of London’s pearly kings and queens. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, since I’ve been to London a couple of times and I have NEVER seen any royalty dressed up like this playing instruments. But, you know, it’s Disneyland, so I’ll go with that. Apparently the “pearly” part refers to the mother-of-pearl buttons on their natty outfits.

When Mary Poppins arrived, it made a LOT more sense. Because there’s a pearly band in Mary Poppins, and apparently Disneyland has had their own Pearly Band since the movie released.

That’s one movie I really should see again, by the way.

Anyway, Mary Poppins immediately came over and started shaking hands with all of the waiting children.

Shaking hands with the kid next to us

Sadly I was so unprepared for this turn of events that I failed to get into a good position to see Mary Poppins shaking hands with my own child. Instead, in my panic, I ended up with this:

I AM AN AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER!!!

Geez.

Anyway, when Bert came out with his portable chimney sweep vehicle, I knew we were in for a treat.

Sweeping the chimneys of Disneyland in style

After wheeling in his chimney sweeping cart, since apparently 47 Disney years later Bert’s still stuck in an archaic manual labor job, Bert joined with Mary for a jolly holiday.

This Bert looked nothing like Dick Van Dyke, but given Dick's current age, that's probably not a bad thing

They joined with the Pearly Band leader to sing a song, which I can’t remember because I’m writing this entry a week after the visit to Disneyland took place. Blogger fail.

La la la, some song from the Mary Poppins movie

There were more musical numbers, and then Bert revealed that his “trash can” was actually a cleverly-disguised banner holder/retractor, reading Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Super California Surfers, Experts On the Ocean

Mary tried to get everyone to sing along, but she thwarted her own efforts by standing in front of the word we were supposed to be singing. Lucky for her, everyone in the crowd seemed to know it anyway.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious has its own Wikipedia page. Seriously.

Then the fun went into high gear as Mary and Bert selected a few children from the audience and gave them each a chimney sweeper.

Honorary Chimney Sweeps, we will exploit your child labor and pay you nothing, just like Victorian England!

The kids actually did a fabulous job of keeping up with Bert and Mary.

Raise your knees high and crush the upper class! Let them sweep their own chimneys! Or invent forced-air central heating!

Mary led the children around the Pearly Band as a grand finale.

Let us skip and revel in the joy of central heating!

All in all, it was a wonderfully pleasant surprise to happen upon a performance I never even knew existed at Disneyland. I have to say, that’s one thing I’m loving about writing this blog–there’s just so much I never paid attention to!

 

Fantasyland, Main Street , , , ,

Main Street Magic Shop

3 Comments Posted by on March 17, 2011

Out of all of the stores at Disneyland, of which there are many, my favorite is the Magic Shop. In fact, I can remember even as a small child loving the Magic Shop best of all. There are real magicians (REAL!!!) who do magic demonstrations all the time, and of course you can buy the tricks yourself.

Or to quote Arrested Development, “They’re illusions, Michael…” If you can finish that quote in your head, I know you’re laughing now. If not, then either watch the show or send me an email because the last part is a little off-color.

The first thing you should know about the Magic Shop is that Steve Martin used to work there. Yep, that Steve Martin–the guy who went on to make significantly more money than a Magic Shop cast member makes–was once an Magic Shop cast member. (Steve Martin also used to play the banjo at the Bird Cage Theater in Knott’s Berry Farm as well, but this is a Disneyland blog, not a Knott’s blog).

But anyway, into the Magic Shop it is. The Magic Shop is easily identified on the right-hand side (East) of Main Street. The entrance looks something like this:

Actually, the entrance looks exactly like this, because this is the entrance

Which brings me to the second thing you should know–the Magic Shop is actually owned by Houdini’s Magic Shop, which is a chain of magic shops primarily in Las Vegas. According to my vast internet searches (once again, about 3 minutes on Google), the shop now carries a wider variety of  tricks illusions for all skill levels.

You can also enter the Magic Shop from the store next door:

I don't remember what this store is called but it's the one on the corner and I'm sure I'll blog about it eventually

As I mentioned before, the fun thing about the Magic Shop (other than the fact that you can buy magic tricks) are the magicians-in-residence. Meet Andy:

I kind of expected Andy to smile when I asked to take his picture, but I think this pose looks more magician-y myself

Andy was already into his patter and  trick illusion when I walked in. I was impressed, but I’m pretty gullible on the whole. This trick had to do with a deck of blank cards. They were blank on both sides but then suddenly would have faces or backs or whatever. Here’s a really vague and indistinct picture:

Andy is shuffling blank cards

It should come as no surprise that the tricks the magicians demonstrate are all available to purchase in the store. However, if you’re me, that comes as a surprise. I always kind of assumed that the magicians did real magic and the store sold, like, whoopee cushions or something.

Then again, I haven’t been into the store since I was approximately 10 years old, so it’s been a while.

And incidentally, when I asked Andy what his favorite trick in the store was, he said it was the blank cards.

That didn’t stop him from ruthlessly stabbing a dollar bill with a pen

What did George Washington ever do to deserve this?

Andy then showed us that George was well and truly dead

George Washington died on Dec. 14, 1799, and also on March 15, 2011, when Andy the magician stabbed him with a pen

Fortunately for both George and the guest who volunteered his dollar bill, it was an illusion and there were no stab marks left in the bill.

I was impressed. Really.

Then Andy took my annual pass (because I was the first person to whip one out) and proceeded to spin it around in midair with no strings or whatever. I thought this one was really cool too.

Look Ma, no hands!

I asked Andy if he was a magician in real life, and he said that he was. He has worked at the Magic Shop for 2 years now, and he said that he auditioned specifically for the shop when applying to be a cast member.

You can buy all kinds of stuff (because hey, it’s Disneyland, and there’s never a shortage of places to spend your money). According to Andy, the “good” tricks are in the $30-$40 range. I was tempted, but that’s kind of a lot of money. Maybe next time.

Rather boring picture of things they sell #1

Rather boring picture of things they sell #2

This man's arm is not for sale

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