Showing posts with label Trader Sams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trader Sams. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2019
Parkscope Unprofessional Podcast Hour #164 - Bachelorscope Weekend
Joe, Nick, and Sean talk about Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Epcot's new entrance, and Wonders of Life's 'Play Pavilion' replacement. Then we dive into Sean's bachelory party to talk about the "3 great rides" theory, Magic Kingdom, Homecomin', Trader Sam's, Universal, and more.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Parkscope Unprofessional Podcast Hour #134 - The 17 Year Itch
Joe, Mike, Nick, and special guest Paulie join to discuss some HHN27 TM member impressions, the disgusting idea of a candy corn alcoholic drink, the Cleveland Indians, and Joe's car woes. Then the rest of the episode we deep dive into Paulie's trip to Orlando as he tackles Universal Orlando for the first time in 17 years, his daughter's first time to the Wizarding World, Toothsome, Volcano Bay (good and bad), and more! Then we close it out with his trip to Walt Disney World with his stay at the brand new Copper Creek, Pandora, BOATHOUSE, Trader Sam's, and adventures in car rental.
Email us at parkscopeblog at gmail dot com or follow us at Parkscope, ParkscopeJoe, ParkscopeNick, ParkscopeLane, and Sean.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
111- Halloween Horror Nights 26 Review
Lane hosts as Joe, Mike, and Nick talk about their trip to Orlando and Horror Nights. We talk about our night at Hoop, Trader Sam's shenanigans, off site hotels, cover all the HHN houses, walk through the scare zones, review the Academy of Villains and Bill & Ted, and finally close with our thoughts on The Repository upcharge experience.
Friday, June 19, 2015
An Open Letter to Adventurers Club Fans
Kungaloosh y'all,
Listen, we need to talk. The jig is up. We tried. It is over. The Edison is taking over the former club, and Trader Sams is open at the Polynesian Village. We had a nice run, and we made some outstanding memories that will last us until our adventures to the other side. For now, it is time to move on.
Acceptance.
Disney does not care about you or me. It does not care about anyone. Disney is a multinational, multifaceted media conglomerate, and its sole purpose is to pad its bottom line, no matter the cost. At Disney Springs, Disney wants to be a land lord. That was the company's "bold new vision" that then-VP Kevin Lansberry touted when Pleasure Island closed. We tried writing letters to executives, we tried buying products, and we tried buying the Kungaloosh whenever it came back to various bars. We even tried packing showings of Comedy Warehouse at the comically-underbuilt Disney's Hollywood Studios. Our protests and efforts did nothing but annoy management, I am sure. If anything, perhaps we did more harm than good.
To Disney, Adventurers Club fans are now a bit of joke (if we were not already.) They view us as "easy marks", and in many cases, they are right. I am no longer one of Disney's marks, but sadly, I cannot say the same for many of you. Disney does not care if you go to Trader Sams or not. They only care that you buy drinks when you go. Drinks make money. Disney loves money, as making money is its purpose. Trader Sams makes Disney money. The Edison will be make money for Disney solely off of rent. Collecting money is easy. Putting on a nightly show with 7 equity actors + technicians and staff is not easy. Sure, the Adventurers Club made money, but it made money the hard way, and many of us did not contribute our fair share (I will be the first to admit.) I am not saying Disney is right, but I have accepted what Disney is.
If you want to go to Trader Sams, go to Trader Sams; however, please refrain from trying to order a Kungaloosh. Trader Sams is not the Adventurers Club. Trader Sams does not have the ingredients to make the Kungaloosh daiquiri. Trader Sams is a tiki bar; it serves tiki drink in collectible tiki mugs. I am sure you can find a tasty beverage that strikes your fancy. Be adventurous and try new things! Save the word "Kungaloosh" for toasting your friends. I think everyone would be receptive to and enjoy that. That is really what the word is for. Truth be told, the word deserves more than to be associated with a strawberry daiquiri.
I know some will say, "But Cap. they have Kungaloosh on the 'secret menu' at Trader Sams West!" Well, go out there then, and experience a superior Disney resort. Enjoy the little nod to fans. However, I would suggest to you that there is too much baggage at Walt Disney World for it to ever come to Grog Grotto. If you keep asking for it, it will almost certainly never come. Quit feeding into the stereotype that Disney and ourselves have branded us with. Stop being a mark. Stop buying things in hopes that Disney will see fit to rebuild extinct attractions. They will not. Please stop annoying hourly Cast Members that get enough abuse from Disney; they do not need more abuse from you. You are not clever, nor are you casual, you are annoying, and they can see you coming from a mile away.
I have accepted what Disney is and what I am. I still think that Disney Springs is probably a huge mistake, but Disney will make money regardless. After 7 years, I may finally be at peace with what happened. I had fun at the Adventurers Club, and Disney cannot take that away from me. I am now at a place where I think I can visit Trader Sams and the Edison. I will not try to order a Kungaloosh at either. I know how to make drinks at home, it is not difficult. If you see me, feel free to say hello and greet me with a hearty "Kungaloosh" and give me the salute. I will be delighted. They cannot take that away. Please stop being a mark. Respect yourself and your memories.
Kungaloosh,
Mike
P.S. Love everybody. Hate everything.
Monday, January 27, 2014
The Inevitable Disneyland Post
Only took two months, so why not?
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| All photos and videos are mine, taken from my December trip. Above, photo from the awesome The Local in the Philly airport. You order with iPads! |
DISNEYLAND TOP TEN MOMENTS SINCE I SAW THE RESORT LAST IN 2011
10.) Haunted Mansion Holiday
Nothing better exemplifies the differences of culture and guests between the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World more than seasonal attraction overlays. The most prominent overlay, and the one I've looked forward to the most for this trip, is Haunted Mansion Holiday. All my previous trip to DLR were during the early spring or late summer, so I have never seen the overlays featured. Combine that with the 13 years of HYPE TRAIN, I was excited to see what these attractions are like.
Disneyland's Haunted Mansion is a rough draft of the WDW version, similar to present you with feeling comfortable with the familiar, yet different enough to keep you off guard and disoriented. This plays up haunted and morphing aspects the attraction uses with great success. Adding the Nightmare Before Christmas elements keeps things fresh and new (now your eye is directed up at the monster wreath in the endless hallway, not at the doors) but also nearly destroys the attraction. The portrait hallway and the black void load area are ruined. The somber, eerie, dark, and infinite is removed, replaced with cardboard cut outs and black light that better fits with Fantasyland than New Orleans Square. So it's quite a disappointment to expect one experience and instead be handed a significantly lesser one.
HMH is a disappointment for me due to my own damn expectations, but is a unique anomaly of an experience in the Disney theme park space. HMH embraces the discomfort that comes when you alter the familiar enough to keep you on edge, and that is one victory in design. The rest is quote disappointing.
9.) World of Color Winter Dreams
World of Color is my favorite nighttime spectacular, because fountains. I've always loved fountains as a kid, and this show plays right into my love. The show is essentially a clip show, one that had more connective tissue in the development stage than what we saw on opening day. While I typically don't care for clip shows, they're accentuated enough with unique uses for fountains and effects that I don't mind.
Unlike other nighttime shows, WoC is modular and incredibly cheap to update and change. There are no pyro shells to test and purchase, no actors to train, no props or sets to change. All it takes is a small team to add new choreography, video, effects, and music to get a new show.
Winter Dreams is hosted by Olaf as he narrates and explores the holiday traditions of our cultures. The show is cute, sugary sweet, sing along with the crowd, and so devoid of conflict that the only instance of tension is from the irony of having a snow man sing about dancing through summer, cheekily avoiding the thought he would melt. Compare this to the normal World of Color show that shoots flames into the sky, red fountains invade the viewing area, and Mufasa is killed at 100 dB.
I enjoy Winter Dreams, but do not like it as much as plan vanilla World of Color. It's just void of any texture, it's just a bunch of Frozen songs, some Toy Story, a sing a long, and kids throwing in a blender for 30 minutes; it all ends up being the same, brown, semi-sweet goop that could come from a bad milkshake recipe or a McDonalds chicken nugget hash. But isn't that what holiday entertainment is? No, not chicken nuggets, the sugar plums, garland, red, and green lights. The ultimate villainy of the season is a guy who is cheap and in the end makes it rain all up in England.
Winter Dreams is conflict free fun suitable for the whole family. Also, there are awesome bubbles shaped like snow flakes that float all over the audience for the finally.
8.) Buena Vista Street
Buena Vista Street is the best entry way since Main Street USA. While less ambitious (and confusing) than Animal Kingdom, it changes enough of the formula to work on its own while still being beautiful and functional.
Main Street USA's train station acts as The Magic Circle; the curtain rising, letting you suspend disbelief. Buena Vista Street starts with another theater, the Pan Pacific Auditorium turnstile entrance, and uses this California landmark as this period specific curtain.
Buena Vista Street's main entrance basin (the turnstiles to the bridge) is the buffer from the modern day to the 1920s. As you progress through the land to the bridge, time flows from Walt's arrival in California to the opening of Snow White. Once you pass under the bridge, you have the grand reveal of Carthay Circle.
I should mention the awesome entertainment in BVS, the Citizens, Five & Dime, and Newsboys are catchy, fun period specific shows. Compare this to California Adventure's prior entertainment of skateboard ramps and Mickey dressed like John Lasseter, the turn around has been staggering.
I had some ice cream, got a coffee, perused some shops, and rode the Red Car around. I love everything this area offers and works as a great soul for DCA.
7.) It's a Small World Holiday
Between Haunted Mansion Holiday and Jingle Cruise, Small World Holiday got lost in the noise to the point where I forgot it was a thing. And boy was I wrong, this overlay is everything a holiday overlay should be: understated, fitting with the mood and emotions of the holiday, without being contrived.
What surprised me the most was probably the music. I've never had an issue with the main song for It's A Small World, and I love the attraction normally, so it shouldn't have surprised me to see the new recordings were very good. Inter-spliced with the main theme are traditional holiday songs sung in various languages that provide a nice pallet cleanser from hearing about this is a world of laughter and a world of tears.
The additional set decorations were good, but seemed to segment the rooms too much, breaking up pacing and visual cues that normal would have driven the attraction. Archways, clutter, and new sets were added so much that the bold, defined Mary Blair art and design was minimized which is
6.) Jingle Cruise
This is on my list for one reason: Skipper Brice. Yes, he's my friend, deal with it. So i'm totally biased when I say he's one of the best skippers I've ever had, but he is.
The Jungle Cruise experience is sold on the skipper's delivery and style so much it makes Monsters Inc Laugh Floor look like The Backlot Tour. When the Jingle Cruise was announced it was worried this was another round of WDI imposed script choices masked in some tinsel and red hats. When the actual attraction showed up, it was thankfully understated and not forced.
Sure, we had jokes like Piranhacha, the festival of bites, but the skippers also provided us jokes from all sorts of holiday specials and movies. I hope the trend towards the end of the season to add more and more props and costumes to the attraction is reversed (does Trader Sam really need a fucking santa suit?) this overlay turned out better than I could have imagined.
5.) Carsland Flat Rides (Luigi's and Mater's)
If there's one surprise on this list, it's this. There is no reason Mater's Junkyard Jamboree or Luigi's Flying Tires to be bad, but they are way more than the sum of their parts.
Luigi's has been much discussed and belittled due to it's "Oh the flying sauces actually kinda SUCKED" factor. My co-conspirator for the weekend rode this attraction during CM previews and commented on the improvements to the attraction. When in the design phase, heavy, large searing mechanisms were added to the tires, weighing them down and not actually working. Ok, that's fine, LETS ADD BEACH BALLS. And thus, we had beach balls. Thankfully, the steering mechanisms and beach balls were removed and simpler "lean" instructions were given. Luigi's ends up being a more active, less violent bumper cars with Tony Shalhoub on a PA system.
I've always been optimistic about Luigi's, but Mater's is one I thought I'd hate. Daniel Whitney, nee, 'Larry the Cable Guy', is not for my tastes. While I might be an ass, I still strive for authenticity, and Larry the Cable Guy is about as authentic as a bootleg movie recording on a NYC sidewalk.
But that's besides the point, this ride is fun, frantic, and Mater's signing (and hilarious his spanish safety spiel) seal the deal. The ride system still confounds me, as it's a modern figure 8 version of a typical whip the whip carnival ride.
And this attraction is magical at night, as the lighting of the jukebox comes to life and the string lighting offers just enough light to see where you're at, but not where you're going.
These two attractions are massive hits in my book, and I wish some version of these ride systems come over to Orlando.
4.) Radiator Springs Racers
The Crown Jewel of the Carsland expansion, Radiator Springs Racers (RSR I'll shorten it to like all the hip cool kidz) is pretty great. Is it better than Indiana Jones Adventure? No, not in my book. My biggest issue with IJA, the old school dark ride segments, are largely absent in this attraction, which is great. But the tropes resemble that of Autopia and Test Track more than old school Fantasyland dark rides, which is a shame.
I have four parts of the attraction I like the most.
The queue line is fantastic, wonderfully rustic with lots of touches and a water feature! A fountain! Yes! Thankfully the line is almost always shaded by the mountain range and there's always new buildings and places you pass by.
The load/unload and holding areas are all wonderful. The caverns created for this segment are massive, expansive, and colorful, really heightening your expectations for the attraction.
While I do not like the character myself, the first time you meet Mater it's quite amazing. An expressive character that somehow manages to travel with you through part of the attraction (hint: there's two) is an amazing feat of design from all angles.
Finally, the end race segment is like nothing else at a Disney park. Sure, you have coasters that simulate a similar experience, but the racing so close to massive amounts of asphalt adds to the thrill.
I really enjoyed RSR but clearly this attraction would never work in WDW, not because of the lame Test Track reasoning, but because rain.
3.) Carthay Circle Restaurant & Lounge
Carthay Circle is my vote for the best in theme park restaurant.
Come at me Them Park Insider Awards.
On my first day in DCA I took the great 10:15am tour of the restaurant, and with the phrase "ice sphere martinis"I knew this is a place I had to come back to sample. The next day I had free time from group touring to saddle up to the Lounge bar. I was disappointed to learn of the limited menu downstairs, but stayed anyway.
The martinis offered were the typical gin based ones, similar to a vesper. The ice ball was novel, even if it was hard to drink with once you get down to the last drops. The blue cheese stuffed olives are fresh, with the olives having enough bite to counteract the blue cheese interior. As a fan of gin, olives, and blue cheese, this was a hit. I also tried out the mojito option, and found it semi sweet, minty, and refreshing (sorry about the lack of description here, this was my last drink and at that point my memory gets hazy).
For food I got the small plate of duck confit sliders on pretzel rolls. If there's anything I like more than gin, olives, and blue cheese it's duck and pretzels. The plate was tasty, the duck was juicy and well seasoned, and the rolls were soft and tasted like pretzel, which can be hard to pull off in large quantities. My only qualm with the dish is it's outrageous price of $14 for two sliders. *hits one percenter bell*
The next day I went to the lunch seating upstairs as there was two things I MUST TRY according to my twitter followers: the duck wings (again, duck) and the cheddar biscuit balls.
After another martini order, the biscuits came, and oh my god. This biscuit was soft light, unlike the typical biscuit batter I'm used to. The cheddar inside added a a nice contrast that prevents the dish from becoming hush puppy like. On the side the apricot butter added a nice bit of sweetness that countered the biscuits and highlighted the the cheddar and herbs in the biscuit. The duck wings lived up to the hype, wow. Like the sliders, the duck was juicy and fell off the bone, which is an accomplishment since chicken wings can sometimes end up being tough. The wings were dark meat, which probably helped. The siracha based wing sauce was sweet and slightly tangy, with a steady build up of heat over time. For those worried about spiciness, one wing could be easily consumed without fear, but as someone eating one whole bowl, it got quite spicy (which I'm very happy about).
Carthay Circle is part of a small subset of restaurants at Disney properties I look forward to eating at next trip.
2.) Trader Sams
Big secret: I enjoy my alcohol.
Big secret, part two: I enjoy my 50s kitsch.
Trader Sams has been written to the nth degree by people with better pictures, better writing, and a more refined palate. What I can add is my experience at Trader Sams.
The night I got in at Trader Sams I've been up for over 12 hours already, experiencing hours of flight delays and the stress of running around the Philadelphia Airport, sitting, waiting for the flight attendants to call me for stand-by. So needless to say, a drink was needed.
I was recommended the Shipwreck by my Parkscope brethren, but I found I preferred the Krakatoa myself. I sat at the bar and was showered by the bar tender who looks like the late Ryan Davis (pour one out for the Disneyland loving bastard) and kept yelling "IT FEELS SO REAL!" I saw people sink down to the floor while sitting on their barstools, heard amazing tropical covers of Christmas songs, and had great food. Only complaint is the outside seating is under staffed, and the perky female waitress tried her damnedest in the 40 degree weather to keep us happy; I left a good tip.
For my two cents, the Krakatoa is my favorite drink, I prefer the tropical when it comes to mixed tropical drinks, but the Shipwreck is worth is just for the special effect (I'm also a bourbon fan, so that helps). I still have quite a few drinks to have there, so I GUESS I HAVE TO GO BACK OUT TO DISNEYLAND OH WELL.
1.) Napa Rose
The first experience I had on property this trip was our visit to the Napa Rose, and boy what a start. This could have started poorly, as I had to make a last minute time change due to flight delays that didn't show up in the database. Luckily the staff were quick and made the adjustments to serve us. I wished to do the Chef's Counter, but I think that'll have to wait till next trip. Oh well.
We were seated near the kitchen, which is run incredibly professionally. Our waiter was fantastic, not over the top, attentive, and very knowledgeable, the kind of waiter I like. I got a glass of red wine (Cab, very smooth, dry) and waited for our appetizers.
My guest and I got the buffalo three ways plate and the rabbit dumplings with gravy. I was not a fan of the buffalo as it was prepared tartar, braised, and another preparation I don't remember. The rabbit was amazing in a very nice gravy with vegetables. The biscuit was placed on top and then slid into the oven to develop a nice almost cobbler-esque crust. Very rustic, California style biscuit and gravy.
For dinner my guest got the lamb shoulder and chop and I got the duck (see above, and told you I love duck). There are times in your life when you see God, and having a sample of the lamb shoulder, which is slow cooked like a brisket, is one of them. The fat was rendered down to no grizzle that tasted caramelized and slightly buttery. The meat was kept juicy and medium rare, which can be hard when rendering down fat. The duck, too, was fantastic. Unlike the wing or confit servings from Carthay Circle, this was served as a seared breast over a bed of winter vegetables, fruits, and lentils.
Napa Rose is tied as my favorite restaurant on Disney property, tied with the one and only Jiko in Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Final Thoughts, Additional Comments, & Runners Up
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| Lobster Nachos at The Cove Bar. This bar is so good it has a queue to sit at the bar. |
Also, I made a short trip to Las Vegas where I gambled, drank at Todd English's PUB and Ri Ra, and saw Blue Man Group in the Monte Carlo. If you've seen the old Vegas shows or even the new Orlando show, this one is totally different.
If you have any questions or comments, leave some in the comments below or you can at reply me on twitter as ParkscopeJoe.
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