Lileks and Disney

Once again, James Lileks does Disney (scroll down):

We went to Epcot the first day. I love Epcot. Don’t have the same reaction I did the first time, where newness and delight was tinged with a certain sort of sadness – seeing the 70s ideas of THE FUTURE! was nostalgic and bittersweet. The glass pyramid, the monorail, the enormous million-faceted sphere, the tinged concrete, and all the other details that made you feel like you were in a Gene Roddenberry pilot. Now I enjoy it for what it is, and enjoy its curious conjoining of Science! and international comity. One half techno-theme-park, one half permanent Festival of Nations housed in exquisite sets.

Here he is from two years ago and, as I noted then, Lileks gets it. He's blogged each of his visits since though I've failed to note them. Each of his entries, though, just about sums up my own feelings for the place and makes my own seem paltry in comparison.

But that's okay. If I can't go there myself, I'll relive those trips through Lileks. Good enough for now.

Battle of the Tribute Bands

Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band, was performing at the American Pavilion at Epcot as part of their summer concert series. We've caught tribute bands here before and they've always been good. Real crowd favorites.

Over at the Great Britain pavilion, British Invasion played. They're a, you guessed it, a Beatles tribute band. We caught two of their sets but I didn't get their picture. Another crowd-pleasing group, they've been here for 13 years. Not a bad gig.

Over at the Canada pavilion, it was Off Kilter performing. They're not a tribute band but play a fun mix of rock and Celtic music. Their rock version of Danny Boy was surprisingly good. Lots of fans. One guy, who I think was a ringer, put on quite a dance show to their music. The band claimed to not know him but enjoyed him as much as the audience.

Think what you want about tribute bands. I read a recent article about them that pointed out they have their own loyal fan base and many perform with the blessings of the original. They're out there, working hard at something they love, pleasing a lot of people. We should all be so fortunate.

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That's no man, man.

At the Japan pavilion at Epcot, we watched the drummers perform. Impressive, exciting. I thought the were men but when I moved closer, it became clear they weren't. Did that change things? Not really. It's the drumming that counts, not the drummer's gender. My assumption was the surprise. I missed getting their picture while they performed. I got them instead cleaning up afterwards.

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Blue Lights

I hate hate hate blogging from my Blackberry. Part of the reason: I have no idea what these posts will look like until they post, then I can't edit them well. This is a perfect example. Thought I'd included this picture with the previous post. Didn't. Couldn't do a dang thing about it. Except post it as a separate post. Which I did.

Anyway. . .

These are the pretty blue lights from the waiting line at Soarin'.

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Standing in the Soarin' Line

It was only a promised 95 minute wait so we were game. At least we were indoors where it's cool. The line goes by these panels where an animated computer program and audience participation provides the amusement. You move your body and stuff happens on the screen. Funny to look back at the crowd and see them waving their arms and gyrating like crazy. Turned the corner. The blue lights were pretty. Final wait time: somewhat longer than advertised. But the ride was so delightful we'll hold off the lawsuits.

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