There isn’t a whole lot to this one. But they can’t all be epic, right? After all, it’s not every day Disney opens a Dumbo-themed-playground inside a circus tent. I had mentioned in the Dumbo post about the “obnoxious outcry” over the Dumbo playground and Casey Jr. Splash Station and for once it wasn’t actually aimed at DISboards.com. It was actually regarding this thread on WDWMAGIC. Just be warned that it’s going to take you five hours to read it and you’ll feel a little dirty once you’re done. The first page is funny if you have five minutes though. And it might give you a new perspective on this website if you think it’s “negative in tone.”
It’s June 25th at 6:58pm. The storm has put a damper on what I’ve been able to accomplish outdoors recently. I was supposed to have dinner with Josh (not me, the other one) at Raglan Road this evening, but the chance of rain from 6pm – 10pm when I checked at 1pm was purportedly 100% for the entire four hours. So I chickened out and stayed put. No rain.
I spent part of today watching a couple hours of videos on editing pictures in Adobe Lightroom. I don’t know if they look better or not since the purpose of this website isn’t necessarily a photography exhibit. Check out this set of pictures of Buena Vista Street or this set of Radiator Springs Racers over at DisneyTouristBlog.com and join me in my feelings of inferiority.
Work is actually going on at the Splitsville construction site. As you’re probably aware, this is the pretentious nighttime bowling alley that’s scheduled to open “this fall.” It still seems like fall is going to be a miracle, but they may not be talking about September here. The word is that the bottom floor will be “family friendly” and the second floor will cater more to me and my cussing band of alcoholic cronies.
A few more:
Soon.
Dinner this evening is at the West Side version of the Wolfgang Puck Express. You may remember we visited the (superior) Marketplace version back in February here.
The menu:
Much more limited than the Marketplace menu.
The salads, cold sandwiches, sushi, lighter options, and desserts are pre-packaged, making them quick choices for those on the go.
$8.95 seems a little rough for a prepackaged slice of pie.
Otherwise there isn’t a lot to it. The Wolfgang Puck Cafe table service restaurant and upper floor signature restaurant are also located in this building off to the right. If you see a line for the restaurant, you can enter the doors closer to the quick service tables or weasel your way through the main entrance. There’s only two cash registers, a few indoor tables for two, and the soda machines inside.
And a side of the Wolfgang Puck Cafe kitchen. Wolfgang has long since sold his shares of the restaurant, making this one of those “in name only” joints.
The decor may or may not be incredibly creepy. As someone who is creepy, I’m leaning towards creepy.
Like the Marketplace iteration, you’ll be given a number and you’re welcome to find a table. Although the seating area has always seemed fairly extensive from the walkway outside, it turns out that there really aren’t a lot of tables. Several families were standing around waiting for someone to leave and those seated near the walkway may get wet in the rain/wind. That wasn’t helped by the fact that the rain picked up or the fact that it took 32 minutes to receive my pizza. And not the, “it was actually eight minutes but felt like 32 minutes” sort of thing, but it was “literally” 32 minutes between when I ordered and when the pizza finally did arrive. Inevitably, I asked, “You haven’t forgotten me, have you?” and then “literally” two seconds later the pizza arrived. That always happens.
The Barbecue Chicken Pizza – Grilled Red Onions, Cilantro, Smoky Barbecue Sauce – $14.95:
For portion sizing purposes. And:
22 megapixels just in case you want to make this pizza your desktop picture: http://i.minus.com/ibmULeupFqiYfV.jpg.
You get what you pay for at Wolfgang Puck Express. I don’t think it’s possible to find higher quality “quick service” food on property. I’m trying to think, but I can’t think of anything. This destroys the new Pinocchio Village Haus Flatbreads. Destroys Disney pizza. There isn’t even a comparison that could be made. It’s $5 more, but there’s more of it and it’s 714.3% better. Of course, Pinocchio Village Haus is going to be a lot more convenient if you’re at Magic Kingdom and they feed 3,000 more people a day than Wolfgang. Compared to Via Napoli, it might be a little closer, and I think we need to do more research. A lot more research.
With the 30 minute wait, it’s obvious everything is prepared fresh. I was expecting more of a barbecue sauce presence. Really the chicken is the only thing doused in barbecue sauce. Unlike your stereotypical “barbecue chicken pizza,” there isn’t any barbecue sauce underneath the cheese. The crust was perfect. Crispy, but not overdone. I say the Marketplace version is superior (because of the more elaborate menu), but if you’re looking for something on the menu and you’re in the vicinity, this is a great option. On the Disney Dining Plan, it (along with the Marketplace) is a no-brainer.
The House of Blues “Club.”
I spent a couple of hours at “DisneyQuest Interactive Theme Park.” I didn’t take a ton of pictures because it was so busy with the rain. We’ll return for a much more thorough look in the future. It’s fun, but very loud, and the “major attractions” are extremely dated. I played “Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter,” which is one of their “major attractions,” and the graphics and gameplay were worse than the original Wolfenstein. I wasted a few “good guys” before I realized they were different than the blobs riding the other blobs. But they did have a nice assortment of pinball and other more “classic” arcade games. With the invention of surround sound and “next-generation consoles,” I don’t even know what the “arcade game landscape” looks like these days.
Anyway, I’ll discuss it more in depth when I have pictures of everything.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I was just involved, like Sweden, in a conversation about the dueling Dumbos scraping bottom. That thread resembles it.
Oops, I meant Switzerland.
Or maybe both, it’s late and I’m tired.
My favorite thread on WDWMagic ever!@!!!!@!
Oh my that thread is ridiculous. Couldn’t even get past page one. Looks like a bunch of people aren’t even thinking about Be Our Guest, Enchanted Tale with Belle, the interactive cue, Ariel’s grotto, the eventual Mine Train… Cars Land is done. FLE is not. The End.
WOW… That guy from WDWMagic must have the best life ever if the Casey Jr. Playground is what he stays up at night worrying about!!
That WDW Magic thread is insane. I particularly love the part where the one person says that SDMT is “AstroOrbiter with show scenes” Seriously? That thing looks like it’s going to be amazing.
Thanks for the link to the thread full of crazy. Laughing is always a good way to start the day.
If I keep reading that thread, my eyeroll will become permanent.
Yes, I do believe it is. But much of our society has become sarcastic and negative also. So what could we expect?
And of course the people who now run Disney have invited extreme cynicism by many of their misguided choices in chasing the almighty dollar.
So yes, negative, smart a**, smarmy at times, yet just another product of our failing school system and society.
The good news is that no matter what anybody does and says including so far Disney executives, Walt’s magic can still be found at DisneyWorld.
Apparently Wolfgang’s daydreams are a lot like mine…..A young Elton John dreaming about a young Elton John frolicking around picking vegetables…….just glad it wasn’t fruits.
Not to be outdone someone on the DISboards has bumped a thread from a few weeks ago in which the poster has thier undies in a bunch over the fence around Casey Jr and how awful it looks. But they aren’t getting many bites on that one.
That poster of Puck is incroyable. I wonder if they offer it for sale, there are a few birthdays coming up. It makes me want to start humming “The Candyman Can” except I have to replace the reference to candy with vegetables. Sounds like I have my project for the day. Oh wait. There a barely any references to actual candy in the song except the incessant references to the Candyman. Darn it.
I can’t eat at Puck’s anymore. Last year when I went I ordered a turkey sandwich..it wasn’t very good and was pretty chewy. Half way through I realized that they left the wax paper that separates the pieces of cheese on the cheese and put it in my sandwich. Yuk!
Wolfenstein references are delicious.
That House of Blues picture made me laugh! I’ve attended about eight concerts there in the last three years and I’ve never once looked up and noticed I was walking into the “club”. That picture looks like it’s right out of True Blood!
Wow, the thread from WDWMAGIC is truly ridiculous. The more humorous part of the thread is when one poster said that Disney management simply doesn’t want to tend to their parks…Really?
I don’t think I have ever been to a Disney Park where they weren’t making some kind of improvement.
I saw that WDWmagic thread before, back when it was easier on their site to click on a recent thread and read it all. A lot of their threads have negative comments, but I read them sometimes for information (learned a lot about the FLE there even back when I was still on TGM) and I never comment….forgot my account log-in for their site anyway. They often have great pics and aerial views of the expansion. I might be heading to Cars Land sooner than I thought….the big fire here in Colorado Springs is making air quality pretty bad, and it’s bad enough to make me want to flee with the kid and the dog down to Southern Cali (where the air is sometimes about the same, but there I was used to it). Smells like firewood everywhere here….saw “Brave” twice (the second time was to be away from home and in air conditioning). Made Hubby apply for a job in Florida the other day. We don’t HAVE to evacuate….our area is not in immediate danger, but we might take off soon just the same. The fire started burning structures last night….I’m hoping the wind doesn’t change. West and north of us are bad. If any of you pray, please pray for Colorado.
the reviews are getting a bit short these days? Do you issue refunds? *smile*
Josh, that WDWMAGIC thread is hilarious, thanks for the laugh. My favorite line regarding Casey Jr.: “Attraction? No. Repulsion? Probably.” Classic.
Ooo I want to join your cussing band of alcoholic cronies. Sounds fun.
On the whole dumbo thing…there might be a bit of a problem. At least this is a reasonable complaint. Can’t wait to see the boards flare up over this:
http://www.epcyclopedia.com/2012/06/25/new-double-dumbo-designs-by-dolts-at-walt-disney-world/
OOOH a band of alcoholic cronies? Can we have t-shirts?
Thanks for the link to the WDWMagic thread. The originator of the thread is a longtime acquaintance of mine. We used to get along pretty well, until his constant negativity, combined with his attitude of “If you don’t agree with me you’re wrong and quite possibly stupid”, finally got very tiresome. Nice to see he’s still around and still spouting drivel like this!
I can see the t-shirt now:
“I Sip Scotch at Splitsville” which is better than
“Wolfgang and Elton – perfect together” or
“I only seem like I hate Disney World. I actually love it. I’m just trying to make you hate it”
My favorite complaint thread is the “What would Walt think?” with the complaint that the new Dumbo goes against the whole spirit of Disneyworld. According to some posters, the parks were designed as a place where parents and kids did things together, and now kids are playing on their own in the tent while parents sit around the sidelines and text on their cell phones.
My first response is that Walt would think “they what on their cell what’s?”
My second thought is that yes, of course, he would have much preferred to see families sweltering in the sun or huddling in the rain for up to an hour at a time together. That was his exact intentions, I’m sure….
Yeesh
Ah, now I read that wdwmagic thread and it’s NOT the one I thought it was when I posted earlier. Well, I only read part of it, plus the last page. Any more than that and my headache would get worse. Personally I love both DL and MK….it’s okay to love both Disney parks. I grew up with DL and actually like MK more now except for their Space Mtn version, and I’m okay with that. Big picture: More is coming soon to FL at MK and I know I’ll be happy with the end product, whether I go spend any time over in Storybook Circus or not.
For some reason, I first read your description of Splitsville as, “As you’re probably aware, this is the pretentious nightMARE bowling alley that’s scheduled to open “this fall.”” Hopefully it won’t be *that* bad.
Wow – looked at those photos on of Buena Vista Street or this set of Radiator Springs Racers over at DisneyTouristBlog.com. I may never take another WDW picture again…
Do any of these people complaining on the “What Would Walt Think” have children? Cause yeah, I love taking my kids to Disney World. I love there is lots we can do together. But on vacation I am with my kids 24/7. And not in a good Norman Rockwell painting way. In a way that we’re trapped together in a small hotel room, no ones getting enough sleep/good sleep, we’re overheated, and when my kids have been fighting with each other all afternoon, I can’t send them each to their rooms to cool off. For the love of all that is good and pure, some days that 10-20 minutes of them playing by themselves without my having to bag them in air conditioned bliss while I check my email, heck that might be all that stops me from killing my children some days.
That should say “nag” them, not “bag” them!
Sarah, I agree. And there are things we adults want to ride that the kids don’t want to ride (child swap or take turns, do something else with the non-rider, etc.). It’s all good.
Josh – Is that an elevated water storage tower in front of disney quest? Do you have a better picture of it? I love water towers. I have lots of pictures of them. I also like to take pictures of fire hydrants and unique survey markers (love the disney ones).
Not very good pictures I don’t think. I’ll take some proper 22 megapixel shots the next time I’m there. This is sort of what it looks like: http://i.minus.com/iJa9zdXSF5kKP.jpg