Where To Place A Restaurant In Disneyland and DCA

Beer and Pretzels from DCA's Bayside Brews
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

I must say I found it rather amusing that last Friday, Disney posted in their Parks Blog (link) an announcement that had the Limited Time Magic promotion celebrating an Ocktober Fest time over at DCA's Bayside Brews. The picture shown above of the beer and pretzels came from the blog posting. What does Bayside Brews usually provide to guests when it isn't October? Well, they serve beer and pretzels. I guess when you serve up special German brews and add Bavarian mustard to the pretzels and offer a bratwurst, you can call it a Limited Time Magic event. 

But maybe there is something else. It isn't written about a lot but every once in awhile out in the Disney blog world you hear that DCA's newest dining facilities, Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta & The Paradise Garden Grill, on the far side of Paradise Paradise don't pull in the people that Disney had hoped even though the food served up at these places is really pretty decent. Meanwhile the neighboring Bayside Brews seems to have a line that is much shorter than the Karl Strauss beer truck located in the more centrally located Pacific Wharf dining area (often 10 or 15 people deep).

Bayside Brews - usually never a long wait

Here is the reason lack of diners summed up in a simple question. "You mean we have to way over there to get something to eat?" Very few people just pass by the Paradise Pier dining establishments. Being in the far corner of the park you have to be over there for a reason, If the mostly amusement park rides of Paradise Pier do not appeal to you, then you have no reason to be in that area,

Over at Disneyland, the same can be said for the Hungry Bear Restaurant. Now Hungry Bear can pack them in at lunch time due to the close proximity of the popular Splash Mountain but much of the day, the place can be pretty quiet (and a very nice place to take a break). On really slow days in the winter months, the place may not even open at all. Compare that with a place like the Tomorrowland Terrace which serves up some of the worst food in the park but because of its centralized location, usually has people searching for tables. Being off the beaten path is also why a place like Toon Town probably doesn't have a real dining facility at all (hot dogs and slices of really bad pizza don't count).

If you want a dining facility to be really popular try keep it close proximity to foot traffic where people just pass by getting from one place to the next. It doesn't hurt to serve good food although this doesn't appear to be a requirement in all cases.

Entrance to the Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta & Paradise Garden Grill

"But I Don't Want To Be A Pirate...."

The "Pirate Ship" Columbia
A MiceChat Dateline Disneyland Photo

There's a classic episode of Seinfeld where Jerry mistakenly agrees to wear a puffy pirate styled shirt on the Today Show because the person who asked him to wear the shirt spoke so softly that he couldn't hear what he was agreeing to do. When he found out that he really did agree to wear the puffy shirt on network TV has his classic response in a child like like voice was "...but I don't want to be a pirate....". No, not every boy wants to be a pirate.... thank goodness,

At the end of September, Disneyland had a Limited Time Magic promotion for Pirates week. At a cost, Disneyland would deck your kids out as swashbuckling buccaneers and spend a day leading the pirate life. Disney has made a lot of money on this pirate theme from the great Pirates of the Caribbean ride, to the subsequent blockbuster movies, to the pirate merchandise, to the special dress your kids up as a pirate customers set-ups that have popped up in different areas of the park.

Kids love to pretend. But even for Disney, a little lesson should be learned from history. The classic pirates of the 15th and 16th centuries were pretty much murderers, robbers, plunderers, rapists, and alcoholics. Most died very young primarily at the hand of another or ravaged by disease. It was a hard life, a dangerous life. Maybe someday, a real pirate movie will be made, a movie not based on tales of the high sea and romanticized fantasy but grim depressing story of the lowest scum of the earth who would kill someone else at the drop of a hat.

But I don't want to be a pirate.

Jerry Seinfeld and his puffy pirate shirt.

Sometimes The Limited Time Magic Idea Actually Works.

A Patriotic Celebration At Disneyland
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

I'm not the first writer who has been confused by Disney Park's Limited Time Magic promotional theme this year. Many bloggers have written that they are just not sure what Limited Magic really is. I don't even think Disney knows for sure as they seem to make up "limited time magic" events as the year goes along, some of which are nothing short of head-scratchers.

The Fourth of July has always been BIG at Disneyland. When the Fourth of July falls on a weekend, it becomes a really big weekend. But the Fourth fell on a Thursday this year....enter Limited Time Magic and this time the idea really works. Instead of a one Day celebration or a weekend celebration, the Fourth of July this year became a full seven day patriotic event that gave a large group of park visitors access to all the festivities throughout the week rather than have them crowd in on a single day or weekend. The fireworks display that will go off tonight on July 7th is the same show that went off on the Fourth, or July 1st for that matter.. World of Color's grand July 4th pre-show has gone off all week. The bands have played with both parks trimmed out in their best red, white, and blue.

What Limited Time Magic really is, is a chance for Disney to tie up special days and seasons into neat little packages then promote them to consumers looking for something extra in their visit a Disney Park. Sometimes the idea has been nothing short of silly, but putting a nice package around a 7 day event celebrating the Fourth of July seems like a really nice idea.

Limited Time Magic - So Far - Old Ideas In A New Package

Impressed with Disneyland's Limited Time Magic promotion so far? Somehow, I think I've seen this all before as Disney comes up with new ways to pull things out of there park archives, put it in a new package, then call it Limited Time Magic. There doesn't seem to be a lot of original thought going on here.

We've had the 3 Kings Day celebration. They did that last year. We have a Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue - nice - but that show came and went and the new (shorter) show just borrows from the old classic show minus some of the comedy bits. We are now in 3 weekends of celebrating Mardi Gras which seems to bring out a lot of the same elements Disney used when they were promoting The Princess and the Frog (an excellent movie BTW). Some New Orleans Jazz, a few special dining options from the NOS dining establishements and, well, you get the picture - been there, done that. 

During Valentine's week, Limited Time Magic brings a week of love. Really? Kind of a no brainer there. They've announced a week of celebrating American independence during the July 4th holiday - something that has been done forever as far as I know. Also coming up in February comes a solute the the Chinese Lunar New Year over in DCA. Below is a promotional Mickey and Minnie picture from Disney Parks Blog. Somehow I get the feeling I've seen that picture before.

Mickey and Minnie Celebrate The Lunar New Year
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Maybe there will be something in this Limited Time Magic promotion that strikes the imagination and shows some original creativity. So far it appears to be a lot of retreaded material from Disney's bag of tricks.

Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue - The Video

MiceChat's In The Parks weekly Disneyland post (link) featured the first video of Disneyland's Limited Time Magic Salute to the Golden Horseshoe revue. I'll re-post their video below and the viewer can come to their own conclusions.

Westerns like Bonanza and Gunsmoke on TV eventually faded away to the point where they are almost non-existent in modern pop culture. The market for "the old west" dried up in the current world. Not to say it can't come back because things tend to run in cycles (like Disney's remake of The Lone Ranger) but as of now, the market is limited, especially with kids.

As for the show, I'm just not a fan. Give me the talents of Billy Hill and the Hillbillies in the Golden Horseshoe and things will seem right again. Just a personal opinion.

How does that go? "I see England, I see France, I see ......"

One No Vote for the Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue

The Classic Golden Horseshoe Revue
A Disney Photo

As one of its first events in the so called "Limited Time Magic" (a name I'm already getting tired of hearing) promotion, Disneyland is staging "A Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue" from January 10 - February 4 in the namesake Golden Horseshoe Saloon. The GS Revue was the original stage show from the classic days of Disneyland's Frontierland when people still had an interest in the old west along with Cowboys and Indians before people knew what it really like to be an American Indian kicked of their land and forced into reservations. The GS Revue featured Disneyland's consummate showman in Wally Boag and his partner Betty Taylor who performed for years on the saloon's stage to packed houses and smiling faces.

The Golden Horseshoe Saloon
A Disney Photo

I vaguely remember seeing those performances as a young boy when I would make occasional trips to Disneyland on summer vacations with my parents. I mostly remember that I couldn't get out of that show fast enough because time was a wasting with staged silliness and forgettable songs when rides were waiting. So the Golden Horseshoe Revue doesn't occupy the same sense of warm Disneyland nostalgia as say the Enchanted Tiki Room or Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln which remain quite special to me to this day which is kind of weird.

This isn't to say that the Golden Horseshoe Saloon as a venue isn't special for me because it is. It's special because the best shows I have seen in there belong to the great Bill Hill and the Hillbillies who can't get back in there fast enough as far as I'm concerned. Surprisingly, others on Disneyland forums and discussion boards have said the same thing. 

And while return of a classic Golden Horseshoe Revue show is welcomed by many let's also not forget that it is something of a money grab by Disney primarily targeted at annual pass holders. A Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue will bring people into Disneyland during one of the slowest times of the year. And you annual AP's out there, don't forget that for about $35 you can have one of those special dining packages which also features a collectible boot mug, sandwich, and a salad with your reserved seat for the show. Seems like a high price to pay for a show I once couldn't wait to end.