The Fabulous Disney Babe
Page 1 of 1
One of the common questions I get is "When are you going to get back to Discovery Bay, Fab?"
Now that I've broken Jim Hill's record for longest interval between installments of a Disney article, I think it's the appropriate time to return.
The tour so far: We've looked at some of the background and backstory to the majority of Discovery Bay, and taken in-depth looks at the Island at the Top of the World and Captain Nemo Adventure attractions.
Next is the Voyage Through Time, but for this time, we'll step out of the sun and into a huge circus-tent-looking....building. Huge signs and billboards cover the outside, advertising oddities and eccentricities, both man-made and from nature. Beside it sits a little cart, similar to Professor Marvel's cart in The Wizard Of Oz, even though this Professor Marvel has absolutely no ties to that character, other than a similarity in name and mode of transportation. Discovery Bay's Professor Marvel was the grandfather of such Disney characters as Merriweather Adam Pleasure and Dreamfinder, an ageless explorer, bent on discovering all of the world's wonders, with tales of impossibly long-ago and far-away places and things, a globetrotting collector of the odd, fascinating and curious.
Short and round in stature, he greets guests to this more-scientific/Victorian permutation of the Museum of the Weird originally developed as part of the Haunted Mansion, shows off his collection, of which he is extremely proud, and tells stories of his fantastic adventures of how he added each piece to his collection, much like Fletcher Hodges at the Adventurers' Club in Florida.
P.T. Barnum has nothing on Professor Marvel, who showcases the newest scientific inventions of the nineteenth century (remember, it's the Victorian age in Discovery Bay). There are examples of freaks of nature (odd, but not overly frightening or gross - this IS Disneyland, you know.) Amazing beauties from the Amazon, alchemical instruments from the laboratory of Nicholas Flamel, odd desert reptiles, artifacts of ancient civilizations and extinct creatures; and strange devices from the most brilliant inventors of the Victorian age.
-- Fab
Discuss It
-- Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith can be reached using the Talkback form below or by emailing her at [email protected].
The Fabulous Disney Babe's column is posted every Friday and when ever else she has something to say. For more on Michelle's background, see her first column. She also offers The Fabulous Tour: Disneyland Secrets and Stories. Click here for more information.
The opinions expressed by our Michelle Smith, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted October 5, 2001