In this week’s episode, Kelli explains the magic of Animal Kingdom, and Chris tells everyone why Abracadabar is Abracadabawesome.
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All music for this episode is available through a creative commons license. The background music for the News segment was created by Kevin Macleod: Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Show Notes:
Kelli and Chris discuss their experiences at Disney parks, including the upcoming expansion in Walt Disney World and recent updates in Disney parks. They express excitement about the potential for a darker and more mature theme in the Villain World and share their enthusiasm for uncovering secret elements in Disney’s Abracadabra. They also discuss their experiences at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, highlighting the park’s unique blend of nature, entertainment, and education.
Outline
Disney earnings, expansion plans, and villain-themed land.
- Kelli and Chris discuss Disney-related topics, including a city in Wisconsin with a Hawaiian-sounding name and a town in Texas with a well-preserved Victorian downtown.
- They also welcome listeners from various locations, including Bhubaneshwar, India, which is nicknamed the “Temple City” due to its rich temple history.
- Chris and Kelli discuss Disney’s earnings call and upcoming expansion plans, including a villain-themed land.
- Bob Iger suggests filing permits for development work behind Magic Kingdom to prepare for largest expansion in park history.
Disney theme park updates, including Pandora land and a new acrobatic show.
- Kelli and Chris discuss the potential addition of alcohol in a future Disney theme park village.
- Chris and Kelli discuss a new area in Animal Kingdom that resembles Central American ancient temples and features acrobatic shows.
- A small, circular flat disc with five seats and a globe apparatus for acrobatic performances has been installed in the Inspiration Garden at Epcot.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom, including its size, visitors, and zoo facts.
- Chris finds the Acrobat show in Epcot “adorable” and entertaining, despite its simplicity.
- Kelli and Chris agree that some people online are unhappy unless they’re complaining, even about magical experiences like Disney.
- Kelli and Chris discuss zoos and Animal Kingdom, with Kelli sharing fun facts and Chris making jokes.
- They mention the San Diego Zoo and how Animal Kingdom has more visitors than it.
Animal Kingdom’s conservation efforts, animal care, and design.
- Kelli shares insights on Animal Kingdom’s design and development, highlighting its unique features and conservation efforts.
- Kelli reveals interesting facts about Animal Kingdom, including its size, conservation impact, and areas that are often overlooked by visitors.
- Kelli highlights Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s commitment to animal conservation and care, including a gorilla that trusts caregivers enough to undergo cardiology X-rays without anesthesia.
- Kelli shares insights on Animal Kingdom’s innovative enclosure design, highlighting the use of sound conditioning and camouflage fences to create a natural environment for animals.
- The park’s dedication plaque reads “Welcome to a kingdom of animals real and imagined,” revealing initial plans for a mythical land of fictional creatures that never came to be.
Animal Kingdom’s Maharajah Jungle Trek and Abracadabra Bar.
- Kelli and Chris discuss Animal Kingdom’s Maharajah jungle trek and safari tour, with Kelli preferring the latter for its up-close experience.
- They also mention the Omaha Zoo, which they consider one of the best in the world, and plan to research its accreditation.
- Chris and Kelli discuss the Abracadabra Bar at Epcot, highlighting its backstory, cocktails, location, and details.
Magicians’ disappearances in a mysterious bar.
- Magicians disappear at a bar in 1940, reopening 70 years later with unexplained events.
- Chris enjoys craft cocktails and ambiance at magical bar.
Disney’s Abracadabra bar with hidden Mickeys and magical details.
- Kelli and Chris discuss their experience at Abracadabra, a bar on the boardwalk with a unique atmosphere and decor.
- The bar features hidden Mickeys and eccentric wall coverings with magical themes, including bunnies, Top Hats, wands, and more.
- Magicians use Disney references in their names and posters, honoring Disney lore.
- Chris and Kelli discuss Disney’s Abracadabra and its hidden details, including a fez and flying fish coasters.
- They encourage listeners to leave a five-star rating and review on their podcast platform to support the show.
- Main Street
- Today’s Topic(s)
- Iger suggests that Disney will file permits in the next couple of weeks
- https://blogmickey.com/2024/03/disney-world-president-says-cftod-settlement-opens-a-new-chapter-with-oversight-district/
- Walt Disney World is currently in the process of filing permits for development work behind Magic Kingdom that will prepare the area for a future expansion expected to be the largest expansion in the park’s history.Disney
- Concept art releases
- Pandora at Disneyland
- 3D model of Tropical Land of Amercia
- Forces of Nature acrobatic show in Inspiration Garden at EPCOT
- World Showcase
- Backstory
- Disney’s Summary
Travel back in time to the golden age of magic as you step inside this curious cocktail lounge.
Formerly the stomping grounds for famous magicians, local illusionists and the loveliest of magician’s assistants, AbracadaBar gives interested onlookers and aficionados of alcoholic beverages alike a glimpse—and perhaps a taste—of another time and place.
According to boardwalk lore, prestidigitators would gather here after nearly every show, often staying up all night as they attempted to out-charm each other with extraordinary tricks before gathering at the bar to conjure up new cocktails.
The competition between performers climaxed on the September 13 of 1940 when magician Lasdow the Lucky performed a disappearing act so great that everyone inside was never seen again. The magicians are however believed to have simply disappeared into a secret-room held within the bar.[1] After this incident, the bar was abandoned for over seventy years until it once again opened for business.
- Encantadora de Toros: Encantadora was a hispanic or Spanish woman who could train bulls and make them disappear.
- The Great Nyokaa: Nyokaa was a fortune-teller whose, “Eyes see no lies”.[2]
- Lasdow the Lucky: Lasdow the Lucky was a magician best known for his disappearing tricks. He was responsible for the missing magicians incident of 1940.
- Madame Heshire: Madame Heshire was a magician who performed every full moon and was known as the, “Mover of the Moon”.
- Tyrus: Tyrus was a Chinese magician who was known as the, “Conjurer from the land of Red Dragons” and, “King of Kites”.
- The Cocktails
- Of course they have a nice selection of wines, beers, and high end liquors.
- But the real show is their crafted cocktails designed specially for this lounge. Many are based on the classics, with the magical spin like Negroni’s or Old Fashioned.
- The conjurita is particularly fun as it is a magic trick causing the drink to change color
- Location
- Located on the boardwalk between Tratoria Al Forno and The Flying Fish Café
- This is the PERFECT stop after a long day at EPCOT.
- Small, dark, quiet.
- The Details
- The wall covering
- The posters
- Madame Heshire’s name is an allusion to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland with her poster saying Cheshire with a crescent-moon representing the C when she disappears.
- The magician Tyrus is an allusion to Disney animator and kite maker Tyrus Wong.
- Lasdow the Lucky is a reference to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
- Scattered about the room are frankly too many details to keep up with amongst the shelves of books and magic gadgetry
- Like Aladdin’s lamp
- Dumbo’s feather
- Extract of Llama, created by Yzma / Emperor’s New Groove
- The Society of Explorers & Adevnturers Fez – but we don’t know who’s.
- At the Skipper Canteen for example, we get to see the SEA Fez of Henry Mystic (the proprietor of Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland
- The magic coasters
Animal Kingdom:
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/how-disneys-animal-kingdom-became-a-beacon-of-conservation
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2023/04/meet-the-residents-of-disneys-animal-kingdom-whove-inspired-guests-for-25-years
https://wdwnews.com/fact-sheets/2019/03/28/disneys-animal-kingdom-fact-sheet
Episode Transcript:
NOTE: This transcript was produced by AI and may have many inaccuracies. Please excuse any transcription issues.
hris 0:28
Welcome aboard Disney fam Hello out there Disney fam. Welcome to the show. My name is Chris
Kelli 0:37
and I’m Kelly.
Chris 0:38
Very, very excited to you’re wearing your your baby and Thumper ears. I am autumnal looking,
Kelli 0:44
they’re very autumnal that’s a great way to describe them. They’re super autumnal and they’re probably the closest thing I had to being on topic today. I’ll explain we get to my study
Chris 0:58
will just be the judge of that. Okay.
Kelli 1:00
As for us Yeah, that’s right. Hey, honey, did anybody listen to us this week? A
Chris 1:05
few people did. Okay. We had some downloads from the I’m sure beautiful city of Cocona. Wisconsin,
Kelli 1:14
oh Kona Wisconsin.
Chris 1:15
It looks like a very much a Hawaiian name of a city. But it’s not it’s it’s in Wisconsin. It’s 100 miles north of Milwaukee also known as the electric city for the way they harnessed the waters of the Fox River to generate a legacy electricity. I like that. Georgetown, Texas, Central Texas town home of the best preserved Victorian and pre World War One downtown Historic District in America who judges things such I wanted the same thing but I’m not taking it away from them. I’m not gonna take that away from them if they it was a very adorable looking downtown and you felt that it was well preserved. best preserved the best preserved Victorian and pre World War One downtown home historic,
Kelli 2:03
very specific award. Okay,
Chris 2:05
it is. Congratulations Georgetown, Texas. Okay Keyport New Jersey known as the pearl of Bay Shore for how beautiful its shoreline is
Kelli 2:15
Okay, nice. Everything’s legal in Jersey.
Chris 2:21
And I just practiced you heard me practice I’m really trying so I apologize if I get this wrong. Bhubaneshwar, India, Bhubaneshwar, India Bhubaneshwar India’s dubbed as the Temple City and nicknamed earn because at one time 700 temples once stood there. Wow
Kelli 2:39
okay cool Bhubaneshwar. Welcome
Chris 2:42
Welcome to the fine folks of Bhubaneshwar, India. Absolutely
Kelli 2:45
Welcome, welcome.
Chris 2:47
We’re going to talk about some things that folks are talking about on Main Street. Let’s hear it. Okay. So, recently, we had the earnings call, Disney once again fought off an attack from some activist investors from Wall Street. I think Nathan Pels is the main guy’s name. But the more exciting things that came out of it were the the teases to all of the things that are coming, maybe now the 23 tickets went on sale recently, and like sold out blue so fast on the socials talking about it, yeah, now they’re now they’re talking about having to deal with third party resellers. And so Disney is about D 23. Is about to launch a way to counteract those third party resellers.
Kelli 3:41
So they don’t want people to pay over inflated price. They want everybody they want the people appreciate that. Totally appreciate. Yeah, yeah.
Chris 3:49
And I think it has sort of exploded faster than they thought it was going to but I’d love to see D 20. Through growing like that. In any case, some of the things that I think it’s going to be a very exciting day 23 And this earnings call sort of calls out to that. The The one thing I pulled out was Bob Iger suggesting, and it has been confirmed by an imagineer that in the next few weeks, Disney Walt Disney World will file permits for development work behind Magic Kingdom to prepare the area for a future expansion expected to be the largest in the parks history. Now this is all the parks history or imagine in Walt Disney World’s history in the world in Walt Disney World History As the largest expansion in Walt Disney World park history. Okay. And it’s it’s that area behind
Kelli 4:44
thunder where we sort of had a couple of things
Chris 4:47
at some blue sky, you know, sort of conversation Josh, Tamara has talked in recent years about some we’re just sort of blue sky thinking about what we things we could do. And hey, what about That area behind big thunder there’s a lot of space back there that we could do something with. And Iger suggested it during the earnings call and an imagineer has recently confirmed that in the next few weeks they will be filing permits to start that work. So very exciting. And the online Chatter is exactly what you called out for a segment it was a land dedicated to the villains. Yeah, be very exciting.
Kelli 5:28
I think that’d be cool. I think that adds a really unique take on Magic Kingdom because Magic Kingdom is so you know, small world. So, so squeaky clean bubble
Chris 5:38
gum and and apple pie can go
Kelli 5:40
ahead and suggest that they have alcohol in the village, I think, I
Chris 5:46
think I think our single adults are excellent. Definitely. As you know,
Kelli 5:51
I mean, not a drinker. I don’t think you can have the villain world without alcohol. That is what I’m saying. Like I don’t I don’t want a black pastry and some purple icing. I want. I want to go dark over there.
Chris 6:06
Okay, that’s a lot of information about you, I think is one that probably is. We also saw some some concept art release for a couple of other things, like the Pandora land that is going to come to Disney Land. So recently, not not that long ago, James Cameron, who created the avatar world was in movies, was also visiting Walt Disney Imagineering to discuss Hey, what could the next thing look like at Disneyland at Disney Land? And so the big question for people who aren’t following along online, clearly they weren’t thought they haven’t been following along is like, where’s this going to be? Right? Well, this is planned, most likely for the area that will be overtaken by the Disneyland forward concept that we talked about here a couple of weeks ago, right? So it looks beautiful. It looks like there’s going to be more water, maybe because the last movie was the way of water. So the concept art is just gorgeous. And can’t wait to see what that ends up looking like,
Kelli 7:15
does it look different than our Pandora a little bit a little bit different?
Chris 7:17
I mean, obviously, some of the same types of things. I’m sure there’ll be lots of bioluminescence, and it’ll be even more gorgeous at nighttime. I didn’t see, like the floating mountains that that we have. But we didn’t really have a lot of floating mountains in the last in the last movie either. Right? Okay. So it should be interesting, okay, it was just beautiful, though. Also, they have released a 3d or like the images of a 3d model that has been put together to be sort of a concept view of what the tropical lands of America, the new area, animal kingdom that’s going to overtake Dyna land may look like, okay, and so to give an idea of what you can, there’s not a clear like temple, but the Imagineers took a trip to visit Mayan temples, Aztec temples, in Central America recently, to sort of get inspiration for what this new land would look like. Okay, and so if you imagine sort of a Central American, you know, ancient temple, and the lush greenery of palm trees and whatnot that would surround it and maybe some mossy overgrowth on the temples, the area looks sort of like that. There’s lots of the stair step things into attractions or venues surrounded by palm trees, and it just looks gorgeous. And there’s this beautiful archway that you will walk through to get to that land. Okay. Very excited about what they’re what they’re going to be doing there. Okay, awesome. And have you seen online the new little, tiny, tiny, acrobatic show that they’ve opened up at Epcot? No.
Kelli 9:12
So I mean, tiny, tiny,
Chris 9:15
it’s like, it’s tiny. But so in the in the inspiration garden right there, and like the world celebration area. Recently, I saw as some folks posting pictures of something that was clearly covered. It was like, our, let’s say, it’s not even 10 feet tall. And what it looked like was sort of like a little merry go round with a with this flat disc covered up, okay. And it had like five, four or five seats with like around it. Okay. And, you know, it probably isn’t much bigger than the table. We’re, we’re podcasting. Wow,
Kelli 9:56
okay. And just for reference, this is a dining room table meant to seat Six people,
Chris 10:00
right? So maybe maybe not tagging. Maybe a little bit bigger than that. Okay, and then about maybe 10 feet tall, maybe not quite. Okay. And so I was like, gosh, I don’t remember seeing that when we were there. And I don’t know what that could be. Well, then a few days later, video starts coming out. You take the cover off, and what looks like a circular flat disc turns into like a globe. And it is the apparatus at five acrobats, human sized human, actual people, okay? Perform their acrobatics on and around this thing. And it rotates. And it’s called the show. It’s called the forces of nature Acrobat show. And so each one of the acrobats represents some element of nature firewall. It is pretty cool. And it is very like, like, you’re you’re right there like they are ground level. This is a show that performs multiple times a day, different iterations of the show. And it is to celebrate the forces of nature. That’s fascinating. I think it’s, I think it’s great. I think it’s something else for people to see and experience in the park. So it draws some people multiple times a day. And it looks you know, it’s it’s not spectacular, Cirque du Soleil or anything. But it’s, it’s cool. And it’s fun. But it’s out in the open. It’s out in the open, and it’s just sort of one of those, the show has started and you sort of walk by you catch it, and then you move on. Okay. Yeah. So it’s again, it’s something little, but it’s, it’s kind of cool. Right. Right. And it’s it speaks to what Epcot is trying to transition into celebration of, of this big blue marble that we won. So yeah, and of course, the DIS Twitter is like where, you know, a lot of
Kelli 11:56
people don’t like, that sounds adorable.
Chris 11:58
Well, I’ve just come to the conclusion it is it is adorable. It’s an adorable little show. I don’t know how long it’ll be there. And I’ve taken the whole apparatus looks like something that could just pop right up out of the ground and move on. And they they decided this wasn’t cool. But you know, I like that they keep throwing things out there that are going to entertain us and right and you know,
Kelli 12:18
something to stop for a second instead of like running from here. To and fro. That’s right. It’s like they’re intentionally trying to stop you from your mission of dragging me all over the parks. It isn’t easy. Let’s put this little show right here and see if Chris will stop.
Chris 12:30
I would I would totally stop for that show.
Kelli 12:34
Even if we were late for via Napoli reservations. Yeah. Because they’re delightful Indianapolis,
Chris 12:39
they will work with us.
Kelli 12:44
Sure, whatever. We’re always like, forever.
Chris 12:46
We are constantly sprinting to a dog on reservation.
Kelli 12:50
That’s just how it works out.
Chris 12:53
Just because you don’t plan things properly, or whatever. So I don’t know. I have decided that online people are just just not happy unless they’re unhappy. And so
Kelli 13:05
I think that’s the world we’ve come to is people just like to complain and it got something as magical as Disney that should just be bringing joy, right? And
Chris 13:13
we weren’t going out of our way to complain about these acrobats who are trying to entertain us
Kelli 13:20
I mean in the world that we are in today just like look for the joy and then says
Chris 13:27
like it fits in the inspiration gardens
Kelli 13:34
really, so
Chris 13:39
no, no, that looks nice to me. Maybe
Kelli 13:41
there’s a reason you’re not an Imagineer. angry, angry Outlook or inspiration.
Chris 13:55
Boy, okay, you want to talk about what’s? Yeah, I’m sure you’ll follow the rules today.
Kelli 13:59
I am. So April 8, is National Zoo lovers day. Okay. Now, now as a vegetarian tomorrow, tomorrow that’s tomorrow that a bright Monday is National Zoo overstay. I am mostly against suits. Okay. But Animal Kingdom is very, very different. Okay, so naturally, we’re gonna talk about animal kingdom. So we’ve been to animal kingdom, a few random zoo facts. Could you hush up? The United States versus zoo open to the public in 1864. You want to guess it was zoo that was at the Bronx Zoo? Central Park Zoo.
Chris 14:35
Oh, that’s what I’m in. I’m in the Central Park Zoo.
Kelli 14:37
There are 350 zoos in the United States. Approximately 175 million people visit a zoo each year. That’s globally, not just to the US. Disney’s Animal Kingdom has had more than 9.8 million annual
Chris 14:56
visitors. Wow. Yeah. And it’s holding that sign that it’s
Kelli 14:59
right. Now the zoo that you think or that I think most about when I think about zoos in the US is the San Diego Zoo. And so to compare that the San Diego Zoo gets about 3.2 million visitors. Wow, your animal kingdom is three times more than the San Diego Zoo. So naturally, we’re focusing on animal kingdom. This is a Disney podcast. The reason this is a Tomorrowland segment, would you like to see him addressing your concerns right here at the outset? is because when we go to animal kingdom, we rarely see any animals outside of the Safari. We
Chris 15:30
just don’t do that animal stuff. Yeah.
Kelli 15:34
There’s so much there.
Chris 15:36
Yes, there is.
Kelli 15:37
And we don’t even look for it. It’s because the way to see the animals is kind of hidden. It’s not yet it’s not like your typical Zoo. You sort of have to seek them out. Yeah. So let me tell you a little bit about animal kingdom. There are more than 500 acres at Animal Kingdom. The project was announced June 5 of 1995. Construction began in August of the same year, cow and it opened April 22 of 1998, three years laters. I feel like they took that long just to build Pandora. So three years later on Earth Day. Okay, so on Earth Day, there are about 2000 animals at Animal Kingdom, representing approximately 300 different species. And they are all managed and cared for under the guidelines of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Now, this is the ACA, just for reference of the 350 zoos in the United States, only about 270 ish of them fall under the guidelines, the ACA. So I’ll say I’m against any that doesn’t fall into that guy were completely against those. But then others still aren’t quite as I would say animal centric, which seems odd to say that for a zoo, but they aren’t quite as animal centric as Animal Kingdom is. And I’ll get to what I mean by that. There are more than 4 million trees, plants, shrubs, vines, and grasses and ferns. That’s 3000 Different species that were all imported from their environments wherever they are, right Asia, Africa, everything, all the continents except for Antarctica. Yeah. When Imagineering began working on this, they invited an advisory board of top zoo, animal welfare and conservation professionals to help formulate policy and offer guidance on design and development. This simple idea eventually led to the creation of the Disney Conservation Fund in 1995, which I donate to every time we go, I’ll buy something and donate to the Conservation Fund. This has since evolved, and Disney has become a respected leader in international conservation, supporting wildlife recovery, nature restoration, conservation, education and community engagement in 120 countries. Today it is Disney’s Animal Kingdom is not only a universally respected state of the art, Animal Park and Conservation Center of Excellence, it also serves as a model of entertainment in the service of inspiration and action. Wow. Yeah. So I’ve got some I got top 10 things that you probably didn’t know about animal Kingdom that I just found to be super interesting. Animal Kingdom is the largest Disney park by far. It’s as big as to Epcot. Holy cow. Right. And you don’t see that when they’re especially cool. You think it’s not an all day Park? I know. Is that possible? Right. There’s just so many areas that we don’t normally go to but also areas that are specifically for the animals that nobody’s and take up lots of space. Right? And what kingdom opened on Earth Day in 1998. Their 25th anniversary was last year. Okay. Number three date, the Disney Conservation Fund has directed more than $125 million to support nonprofit organizations working with communities to reverse the decline of wildlife worldwide. So there a big mission there at Animal Kingdom is to conserve wildlife specifically endangered species awesome. Number four, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is home to one of the leading veterinary hospitals in North America with an emphasis on advanced imaging, digital regime, radiology, ultrasound and endoscopy. One of the cool facts that I read was one of the gorillas that has been there since day one. He has gotten to a point where he trusts the caregivers so much that he will allow them to do cardiologist X ray without anesthesia. They can like hook him up to the machine and do an EKG on him without anesthesia because he’s so trusting of the caregivers. Number five, the Animal Nutrition Center at Animal Kingdom provides the highest quality of animal nutrition as part as the veterinary services preventative health Care Program as they prepare more than 1200 individual or group diets daily, and deliver more than 10,000 pounds of food daily to the animals at Animal Kingdom theme park, the nearby Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and the seas with Nemo and friends, 10,000 pounds 1200 individual or group diets, I feel like I could eat there. Like, if they’re if they’re taking that much care with individual diets, I think they could feed me and I would be thrilled with these these people. There are 45 animals who have been an animal kingdom since day one, some of which arrived almost a year before the opening, which is a huge testament to the level of care provided by the cast members and the relationships the keepers have with the Yes, yeah. Number seven. The animals in the park seem to be living out in the open right in the wild. That’s what it’s supposed to look like. So what’s keeping them locked in? Well, the lack of visible animal barriers is a true innovation by Disney had never been done on this scale before, which is one of the reasons why I don’t like zoos. It feels like their enclosures are not nice. Things like water features moats and camouflage fences keep the animals within their designated living space while making it appear that they’re roaming free in their natural environment. I love that. At night after the park closes the animals retreat to shelters for security and care purposes. Getting them into their individual enclosures is significantly easier than you might think. They’ve been conditioned audibly, so that the species responds to the sound designated just for them. So they use a cowbell for zebras and a coach’s whistle for giraffes in that fun, right.
Chris 21:46
So there they hear that that noise but to hear one of the other noises.
Kelli 21:51
Not for me. Number nine Animal Kingdom sits on what once was a huge, barren flatland of nothing but miles and miles of sand dunes to create this animal friendly environment. 500 workers used a million square feet of imported rock work to create the landscape before opening day. That’s twice the volume of rock work in Mount Rushmore. And that’s before all the rocks were added for Pandora. Okay, finally, number 10. A dedication plaque at the park entrance reads Welcome to a kingdom of animals real ancient and imagined. The initial plans called for an area that was to be dubbed mithya or beastly kingdom. And it would contain fictional creatures like unicorns and dragons, which I wish I know. That never came to be. But in its place stands a mythical land of a different nature. Pandora, the world of Avatar stocked with fictional beings such as flying banshees. Now, you’ve said before that we need to do the Maharajah jungle trek. Yeah. Which I agree we should do that. That’s one of those walkthrough experiences. But I think I really want to do the safari tour, where you walk over the rope things. Yeah. And there’s like food afterwards, you get a souvenir. They do photos of you with the animals as part of the package. I mean, it is like $199 a person. Sure. And we’ve talked about that Savannah sunset thing before. But I think that would be more fun, like visiting up close, as opposed to like walking through one of the the walkthrough areas, although I feel like we should do
Chris 23:42
well, because that’s also just that’s another that’s an attraction that comes with your ticket. Right? There’s no extra charge for that. It’s just it’s a walk through that walk through the Kilimanjaro safaris is a Jeep ride. Right.
Kelli 23:55
So the Maharajah jungle tour, or the jungle trick, I think is what it’s called. That’s where you see the gorillas. And tonight birds, tigers, things like that, that we have literally never seen an animal kingdom, which is really a sad state. It’s crazy. For us. It’s crazy. We just run through that park like like somebody is chasing us.
Chris 24:15
You know, I can’t help but will you do I try to take any so we should call out we live right near Omaha and the folks here would tell you that the zoo here in Omaha is the best zoo in the world right up there if not surpassing the San Diego Zoo and others so we need to get over there and see that at some point. You got free you know you’re skeptical
Kelli 24:41
but I had zoo issues. But anyway Animal Kingdom is doing a great job. I’ll look up and see if Omaha is part of the ACA accreditation. All right. I’ll also check Lincoln if neither of them are then I’ll just go ahead and make some protest signs. And we can carry those when you go and I will stay now the parking lot protesting
Chris 24:59
Okay, well let’s just do that little groundwork first. I think it’s cool. You know, we’ve said over and over again the animal kingdom is just a almost a miracle of a park. It’s just so different than anything else so
Kelli 25:11
underrated.
Chris 25:12
It’s so underrated. They do an amazing job there. And would also, you may want to watch that the show on Disney plus,
Kelli 25:20
I was gonna mention, there’s new when Yes, they have the magic of it on Disney Plus it was a whole series they did for the 25th anniversary. And that that’s, it’s cool. Yep. Totally.
Chris 25:31
Nice. All right. Well, let’s take a look at what I’ve got for real showcase. It’s a turn here. Okay. It’s not hard turn. As for you are gay related. It’s not so related. Okay. I’m going to be talking about the abracadabra bar. And four reasons why it’s abracadabra awesome.
At the boardwalk, all right. Let’s have right so thank you to the Disney website. The wiki the fandom wiki, known as the society of explorers and adventurers wiki. And Torian plans.com also has a had a nice article on the abracadabra bar. You and I visited the abracadabra bar for the very first time this most recent trip and that’s where we gain one of our big learnings. You know how, you know, this is another way to end the day at Epcot, right. But so here’s here’s the four reasons, just right off the top right. The four reasons are the backstory, the cocktails, the location, and the details. Okay. So here’s some commentary from from Disney themselves about how to take in Africa that bar travelled back in time to the golden age of magic as you step inside this curious cocktail lounge, formerly the stomping grounds for famous magicians, local illusionist and the loveliest of magicians assistants. Abracadabra bar gives interested onlookers and aficionados of alcoholic beverages a like a glimpse and perhaps a taste of another time in place. According to boardwalk lore, prestidigitation hours
Kelli 27:14
was the digitate that is a good word
Chris 27:16
good for fun word to say. It’s
Kelli 27:18
a fun word.
Chris 27:19
Press the digitizers would gather here for after nearly every show, often staying up all night as they attempted to out charm each other with extraordinary tricks before gathering at the bar to conjure up new cocktails. The Wiki The SCA wiki had a little more detail okay. The competition between the performers climaxed on September 13 1940. That was a Friday by the way I looked it up September the 13th 1940. Okay, when magician Laszlo the lucky performed a disappearing act so great that everyone inside was never seen again. Oh, the magician’s however, believed to have simply disappeared into a secret room held within the bar. After this incident, the bar was abandoned for over 70 years until the open once again for business, which I think was in 2016. Oh, wow. So this thing is located. Yeah, it’s really cool. Really just opened in 26? I think so. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And so the the magicians that were there that night, when we’re in encantadora de Toros. This is a Spanish woman who could train bulls and make them disappear. The great and the Oka was a fortune teller who quote, eyes see no lies. Last of the lucky last dough was a magician best known for his disappearing tricks and he was the one responsible for what happened to the magicians in 1940. Madame hash Shire, Madame hash er was a magician who performed every full moon and was known as the mover of the moon. And then Tyrus, Tyrus was a Chinese magician, who was known as the quote conjurer from the land of Red Dragons and the king of kites. I’m going to talk a little bit more about some of those in a few minutes here. So that’s all the backstory, okay? Those were the magicians that were involved in i that they all disappeared. And so now the idea is that we get to go into the bar just as it was as they left it. And we’re going to talk about the details but that is the thing in this bar. Okay. And so it’s a it’s a really cool lounge. You know, just like Nomad Lounge is really cool. The grog grotto is really cool, etc. But don’t think this is going to be like Sam’s grog grotto where it’s truly the things in the bar come to life right inside this bar. The only thing that really is automated or changes are the magic posters on the wall. The posters on the wall will change from time to time. Yes. All right. So quick hit on the cocktails. I’m not gonna go through the whole menu or anything but they are tremendous. The real the real draw of this place is the ambiance and the environment but they have a nice selection of wines and beers and high end liquors. So you can just get a Scotch on the rocks if you want from a number of different selections. But the real show is they’re crafted cocktails designs, specially for this lounge. Many are based on the classics like they had their version of a Negroni they had their version of an old fashioned specifically, there is a then they have a drink that they named after like Pepper’s Ghost which is a magician’s trick right? Right. The the conjure Rita is the is the magical drink that people think of here. Okay, this one comes your server will do a little magic trick they’ll wave a magic wand you close your eyes, you open your eyes and the color of your drink has changed. And it’s a lot of fun. And you can actually go online and figure out how to make this and what they’ll tell you. They’ll tell you what the trick is but so but the the cocktails were delicious and our server was amazing stick left her amazing with like making suggestions on what we should have depending on what our tastes are.
Kelli 31:11
Right now like ordered something and she was like I did not see her after
Chris 31:15
the whatever was I ordered first was was a more it was heavy on the bitters. And so then I guess I ordered something that was sweet. I’ve never had it before. Just colors and she was like, nothing you want them to grow. And so I ended up also getting into groaning Yeah. Which was also delicious. Okay, then there’s the location. Okay. The location is right there in the middle of the boardwalk. It’s right between Trattoria Al Forno and the flying fish. In fact, you can go you can enter either of those restaurants from within Abracadabra. Right. So because right between
Kelli 31:49
or inter abracadabra are from either of those restroom.
Chris 31:52
Exactly. Yes, that’s right. And, you know, I think the location is so wonderful specifically, because of the way I see us using it in the future. Put the kids on the skyline or back to the resort or send them up to the room. After a long day at Epcot walk over to abracadabra or at that time on the boardwalk. We’ve talked about this before it is vibrant, because they do a good job of getting those air quotes, street performers or boardwalk performers out there right about the time people are going to be flooding the boardwalk after Epcot closes. So it’s sort of vibrant out there. It’s a fun place to be the boardwalk anyway, but then you stop in to abracadabra or to this amazing environment with these amazing cocktails. It’s quiet, it’s dark.
Kelli 32:37
It was so much more perfect than we imagined. Yeah,
Chris 32:41
it’s so peaceful in there and fun at the same time. Okay, so let’s talk about the details of this bar. Now I’ll post some pictures on Insta later to have some fun with it. But first off, there’s the I don’t know if it’s wallpaper or whatever. But the wall covering is like this dark Garnet sort of blood red and gold and gold designs. As I’ll put some pictures of these and it looks like straight out just it looks like like a wall covering straight out of the borders you don’t think anything of it is just eccentric looking. It’s ornate looking, right? But once someone tells you what you’re actually looking at up close, you can’t unsee these things. It is designed with all manner of magical things like bunnies and Top Hats and wands and magicians rings and handcuffs and ropes and and now suddenly, you see those things hidden in this wall covering it’s it’s incredible. It’s amazing. Hidden Mickeys all over the place. There’s obviously magicians use decks of cards a lot. There’s a there’s a display there’s a wall display a framed picture of a deck of cards, and the ace of clubs is redesigned to look like hidden Mickey the posters on the wall Michonne the posters change well, what we learned while we were there is a lot of the a lot of the names of the magicians that were used are anagrams or play on existing characters or nods back to important people in Walt Disney lore. So for example, we talked about last dough the lucky last dough is an anagram of Oslo, Oslo, the Lucky Rabbit. And so that’s just where that that character’s name came from here. There’s a poster on the wall of Madame hisher. We talked about her Madame has Shire. She was She always performed every full moon and is known as the mover of the moon, while her poster shows her sitting on like a crescent moon. Her name however, is an is an homage to Do Cheshire Cat Cat so her poster she disappears and the crescent moon combines with her name and spells Cheshire Yeah. Which is a lot of fun. Tyrus the magician, which also has his own poster, he’s the king of kites is a throwback to an animator at Disney back in the 40s and 50s named Tyrus Wong, who also built his own kites in real life. So that’s an honor of him. Also scattered about the room, our Latin Aladdin’s lamp, or the genies lamp. Dumbo is feather, right and a society of explorers and adventurers Fez. If you were a member of SCA, you had a fez and there’s a fez hanging on one of the light posts one of the one of the light posts in the in the bar over at Skipper canteen, by the way, you can actually see Henry mystics fez in Skipper canteen of Mystic Manor lore. Lastly, your drinks come on a coaster. The coaster on one side has a has the logo of abracadabra, which is a hat with a wand sort of vanishing inside of it. The opposite side of that coaster is a bunch of flying fish in honor the Flying Fish cafe next door, okay? The coasters have little holes on either side, you can put a string through those little holes and stretch it out and it becomes a Thera trope, I think is what it’s called like it spin and you spin and it looks like the flying fish or flying out of the magician’s hat.
Kelli 36:32
Oh my goodness. Again,
Chris 36:34
I love that people sit around and think about these things. I didn’t notice that when we picked that up when I was researching it, but yeah, it’s all so much fun. We loved I loved abracadabra, I can’t miss another one of those things where we’ve walked by it a million times. Never taken the time to go in there and enjoy it. But now I see that being a post Epcot thing for us often. So yeah, so Hey folks, that’s the show this week. We hope you enjoyed it. If you did you know what to do now run out there to your platform is where you get your podcasts and leave us a five star rating and if they allow it leave us a review because that’s what really brings other people to the show. Yes,
Kelli 37:14
and if you’re looking for more things Disney please visit SCF adp.com. That’s s for Super C for Kelly and for Fragile mystic a for awesome D for Disney P for podcast. We will have bonus episodes this season, I promise. But I’ve got about four more weeks left in the semester and we are just barely living right now.
Chris 37:34
Join us on the Instagram at SEF ADP keep an eye out for some of those abracadabra pictures that we’ll post later this week. And with that we will see you real soon.
