The Fabulous Disney Babe
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I had the pleasure of attending the NFFC Kickoff last weekend, which is kind of a sampler of what there is to offer at the July NFFC Convention. On Friday and Saturday nights there was room-hopping, my favorite sport. With Room-hopping, you essentially go shopping, and the prices are better than at most Disneyana shows. In the hotel lobby, usually, there's a sign directing you to the Hospitality Suite. In the NFFC Hospitality Suite, which was on the 10th floor of the hotel, there were munchies, nice NFFC people, and a list just outside the door of the participating room hop-ees. We copied down the list and went hunting. There was some amazing stuff, and even I got sucked in to shopping, buying a Tinker Bell laser pointer for myself and a couple of pins for Alice: a Jessie from Europe and the California Screamin' spinner she'd wanted but couldn't buy or trade for at Disneyland. The Carolwood Pacific Historical Society had a nice setup, and lots of discussions were had over mostly Disney-related stuff.

Earlier that day (I'd missed the first night of room-hopping), at nine o'clock, the first seminar began, with Dennis Tanida and Brad L. Card talking about Tokyo DisneySea. Brad was just mentioning the fact that Tokyo Disneyland has the largest parking lot in Japan when I got out my notebook and pen. I immediately learned that the two parks are situated back-to-back; the Tokyo Disneyland fireworks could be seen equally well from Tokyo Disney Sea, so they composed different music for it in the second park. The monorails are an attraction in the United States, but in Japan, they are legally part of the Tokyo Subway system. There is no driver, but there are Mickey-shaped hanging straps like in a U.S. subway. You can buy your own at the Disney Gallery there for a mere hundred dollars or so.

Next, they discussed the MiraCosta hotel, which looks, they said, like the Portofino! There's a huge galleon in the lobby. "How does it compare to the Grand Californian?" Dennis asked Brad. "Very well, thank you." Brad replied. Brad showed photos of the chapel, and noted that there are lots of weddings there, more than Disney does here in the U.S.; the Oriental Land Company does a ton of FairyTale Weddings. He showed one of the elegant halls in the hotel. "Too bad they ruined this nice hall with pictures of cartoon characters!" Dennis joked.

Brad explained how and why he'd been there: Tetsuya Karamuta, an NFFC member in Japan, hosted Brad and two English dudes whom people on the LaughingPlace.com boards will know. They went the night before opening to check out the park - they had the place to themselves, and all was dark and quiet, the silence before the hullabaloo of the next day's opening ceremonies. At the entrance, the "castle" of the park, which is like a Disneyland but ocean-themed, is the Fortress and Volcano. Dennis was on the architectural team for the Fortress. On the ground floor of the entrance, which is a modest tunnel, are shops and restaurants.

Brad: "This looks like Europe, but it's clean."
Dennis: "Does it smell?"
Brad: "Not yet!"

Brad talked about the singing gondoliers who gave rides in the first "sea". "You really think you're in Europe," he said, "but we're the only Europeans. It's like the Italy Showcase at Epcot, but wrapped all around the water, with a volcano." Next, they showed the American Waterfront, which is their "Main Street" area. McDuck's Department store is the Emporium, the second-biggest shop on property. The area is themed to 1910 America. "Encore" plays here, in a Broadway-quality theatre, showcasing snippets of Broadway shows over the past fifty years. The show features a big cast, mostly American performers.

Dennis: "Is it as good as Steps In Time?" (laughter from the audience)
Brad: "You might say that" (trying not to crack up)

They have their own version of Main Street's vehicles as well, including a Paddy Wagon and a Touring Car. This is a more realistic-looking Main Street, no Tivoli lights, which makes it kind of dark at night. On the water is the S.S. Columbia, (modeled after the Queen Mary in Long Beach, which Disney owned at one time as part of the Wrather Corp. and which was to be the anchor (hee) for Long Beach's Port Disney Park ~Fab) a Queen Mary like ship where people can go aboard and take photos. There's also a luxury restaurant like Sir Winston's on the Queen Mary. In previews, the restaurant was criticized by the press for slow service. When Brad and friends ate their, the service was mindblowingly fast. There's also a grand piano, the servers are dressed a la 1910, and guests can get an alcoholic beverage in the dark, paneled Teddy Roosevelt lounge.

Cape Cod, the New England area of the American Waterfront, is reachable via the above-mentioned vehicles. It looks authentic, and is kind of isolated from the main section of the American Waterfront. The park is laid out somewhat similarly to Disneyland, they noted, in kind of a circle.

Next was Port Discovery, their Tomorrowland/Discoveryland, home of the E-Ticket Stormrider attraction. There was no FastPass for it when Brad was there, unfortunately. It's the next level of Star Tours, from the way he described it, with a larger flight simulator. You are to shoot a missle into the eye of a storm, but something goes terribly wrong...