Testing for the Muppet Mobile Lab at California Adventure has ended, for now. Disneyland recently gave the press a chance to talk with Bruce Vaughn, Walt Disney Imagineering vice president of research and development. The OC Register has a good story and LaughingPlace.com has posted a video interview with Vaughn with some interesting details about… Read More »Muppet Mobile Lab ends testing
L’Originale Alfredo Di Roma in the Epcot Italy Pavilion is closing this August. When it does another little bit of what makes Epcot a unique experience will fade away. The Rome restaurant was the the place where Fetticine Alfredo was created. A restaurant so famous in the 50s an 60s that Hollywood Stars would fly across the sea just for dinner.
I never experienced the Epcot version of Alfredo’s in what must have been its prime. My first visit was last year during the holiday season when Disney was including its Dining Plan for free with extended hotel stays. The restaurant was over crowded, the service rushed, and the food barely edible. This was a less than magical experience for my family and our out of town guests who were visiting the park for the first time.
I can’t say for sure why the famous restaurant is moving out now. My guess is that Alfredo’s fell victim to the expanded use of the
Disney Dining Plan. This plan has two evil side effects. First, it
requires a hurried service approach as you have to churn more guests
per hour to earn the same profit you earned when everyone paid full
price for the meal. Second, it requires a much simplified version of
the menu to prevent guests from taking too long to decide what to order. I suspect that the owners of Alfredo’s felt that the guest
experience no longer reflected on their brand in a positive manner. That was certainly my experience. With a restaurant in New York and one opening in Las Vegas, Alfredo’s management couldn’t afford to risk the brand image like that.
I’m sure the Disney Dining Plan is a money maker for Disney. But it’s seriously cutting into the show quality one expects to get when dining at a sit down restaurant in Walt Disney World. Hopefully Disney will figure out what fixes are needed to return to full menus and a casually paced dinner in a setting where the party sitting next to you isn’t so close you can smell the garlic on their breath.
Finally, for your entertainment look below the cut to see the cast member fact sheet if a guest has questions regarding the changeover:
Read More »Alfredo’s to close at Epcot, victim of Disney Dining Plan?
LaughingPlace.com dug up this gem of a story on SWStarTours.net. It’s a look back at that mystery man in white who used to haunt the tracks of Disneyland’s PeopleMover attraction. …this Stormtrooper was indeed a nicely detailed and precise rendition of the Imperial Stormtroopers from the Classic Star Wars Trilogy — apparently standing duty over… Read More »People Mover Stormtrooper
Beth Kassab at the Orlando Sentinel gets unprecedented access to the reality behind Walt Disney World’s costumed characters. This is the sort of stuff that Disney used to keep very hush hush. But for some reason, perhaps the recent slate of incidents involving characters, the Orlando Sentinel has been allowed to reveal even the most… Read More »Costumed Characters have high injury rate
Cal OSHA has been pressured into pulling their report on the SeaWorld trainer Killer Whale attack that controversially claimed a trainer death was an inevitability. Cal OSHA seems to now be saying, "On further reflection we don’t know enough about Killer Whales to judge whether they’re safe or not, so we’ll just pretend nothing is… Read More »Cal OSHA Pulls SeaWorld Killer Whale Report
This whole trademark thing is way out of hand. Disney is often thought as one of the worst offenders. Now they’ve been hoisted on their own pitard and forced to stop using the phrase "A Place Where Dreams Come True" in the UK promotions. What makes this story funny is that the original owner of… Read More »Disney loses Trademark battle
No, I’m not claiming John Lasseter is as prolific, nor as groundbreaking in vision, as Walt Disney. But Lasseter’s vision has had as big an impact on the state of animation, especially feature animation, as anyone since 1986 when Lasseter joined Pixar. Also, Lasseter is the first person to head Walt Disney Feature Animation who… Read More »The man who would be Walt
It’s a bit early, but Nikki Finke examines what looks to be a good weekend for the Walt Disney Studios. The comic heavy Wild Hogs is expected to do an estimated $32 million for first place in the box office. Even Bridge to Terabitha, Disney’s other major film in current release, is expected to stay… Read More »A good weekend to go Hog Wild