Cultural Appreciation, Week X [Wednesday, Periods 4 & 5]

[atreideslioness]

The portal today would spit the students out somewhere warm and sunny: the Magic Kingdom. "If the radio is to be believed, a day away from campus and the chance to run-off some energy is exactly what you all need," Ghanima announced. "I've got sunscreen and waterbottles for all of you, and if park security catches you causing trouble, I will be most displeased. Do not try to disassemble the animatronic creatures."

With this group, sometimes it needed to be said.

"The Walt Disney World Resort, sometimes shortened to Walt Disney World or Disney World, is the world's largest and most visited recreational resort, covering a 30,080-acre (47.00 sq mi; 121.7 km2) area just southwest of Orlando, Florida, USA and encompassing four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels (excluding 8 that are on-site, but not owned by the Walt Disney Company), including a campground, two health spas and fitness centers, and other recreational venues and entertainment. It opened on October 1, 1971 with only the Magic Kingdom theme park and has since added Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. This world famous resort was inspired by the dreams of Walt Disney and his creation of Disneyland in California. Its original theme park, Magic Kingdom, is designed similarly to Disneyland. Walt Disney created "Disney World" in order to have a vacation resort that was much different from Disneyland's one-day visit; this includes a much wider variety of sports, recreation, uniquely-themed resort hotels and entertainment."

"There are several anecdotes relating to reasons for some of the features of Walt Disney World, and Magic Kingdom specifically. According to one story, Walt Disney once saw a Frontierland cowboy walking through Tomorrowland at Disneyland. He disliked how the cowboy intruded on the futuristic setting of Tomorrowland and wanted to avoid situations like this in the new park. Therefore, Magic Kingdom was built over a series of tunnels called utilidors, a blend of utility and corridor. These tunnels allow employees to move through the park out of sight from guests, maintaining the illusion of the show. Because of Florida's high water table, the tunnels could not be put underground, so they were built at the existing grade. This means that the park is actually built on the second story, giving Magic Kingdom an elevation of 107 feet, or 33 m. The area around the utilidors was filled in with dirt removed from the Seven Seas Lagoon, which was being constructed at the same time. The utilidors were built in the initial construction and were not extended as the park expanded. The tunnels were only used in Magic Kingdom because of financial constraints, but they were meant to be employed in all subsequent Walt Disney World parks. Epcot's Future World and Pleasure Island each have a smaller network of utilidors."

"Now go run around and have some fun. Your homework is to watch a movie sometime this week done by Disney, to understand the impact one man's dream has had on the culture of a nation."


[OOC up and running!]

Comments

Sign-In X

[atreideslioness]

On a magical adventure!

Re: Sign-In X

[wwiii]

Warren Worthington III

Re: Sign-In X

[trigons_child]

Raven

During the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Put on sunscreen, pay attention, chat with your neighbor, etc.

Re: During the Lecture

[glacial_queen]

Mmm, it was so much warmer here. Karla approved. But out of consideration of her fair skin and lack of sunhat, she grabbed a bottle of sunscreen to apply. Hmmm. Now to find someone to help rub it in.

...All for purely sunburn prevention, really--okay, no not really. Sunburn prevention made up only a small part of Karla's motivations for this, really.

Re: During the Lecture

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Karla wasn't the only pale and pasty one here, and getting burnt was... well, embarrassing. It was only sensible, really, to step closer to her with a, "Do yours if you'll do mine?" offer.

It was less likely she'd get too distracted if it was a girl smearing suncream on the parts of her back she couldn't reach than a guy, at least. Probably.

Re: During the Lecture

[trigons_child]

Raven was definitely keeping her distance from Karla in class today, especially with Warren there. Even if she was feeling the urge to fondle his feathers again.

Re: During the Lecture

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith was a redhead from a place that didn't have to worry about UV rays.

She'd brought an umbrella, thank you very much.

Re: During the Lecture

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall lurked in the back and looked grumpy. "I'm deliberately choosing not to have fun because I'm annoyed by how happy everyone here is," he growled. And if anyone had a problem with that? He would hurt them.

The Park!

[atreideslioness]

Designed like a wheel with the hub in front of Cinderella Castle, pathways spoke out across the 107 acres of Magic Kingdom theme park and lead to 7 themed areas.

Main Street, U.S.A.

[atreideslioness]

Main Street features stylistic influences from around the country, such as New England and Missouri. This is most noticeable in the "four corners" area in the middle of Main Street where each of the four corner buildings represents a different architectural style. There is also no Opera House as there is at Disneyland; instead there is the Exposition Hall. Main Street is lined with shops selling merchandise and food.

Re: Main Street, U.S.A.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla ducked into one of the shops and emerged with a very fetching hat with plastic ears atop it.

They'd even spelled Rilla on it! It was lovely, even if it wasn't going to be very effective to serve as sun protection.

Adventureland

[atreideslioness]

Adventureland is divided into two main sub-areas, one being the Arabian Village and the other one being Caribbean Plaza, which is home to Pirates of the Caribbean.The original Polynesian motif is still visible with the prominence of jungle surrounding the Swiss Family Treehouse and The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management). The 1930s adventurer/explorer vibe is clear with the back ground music heard over loud projecting speakers recently installed that flood all of Adventureland with a different vibe than that of Disneyland's, but with similar Big Band music and witty announcements. The transition between the cartoon-Arabia and Caribbean occurs seamlessly.

Re: Adventureland

[trigons_child]

Raven took some time to explore the Caribbean area. She had a feeling the Fandom squirrels might really like it here.

Frontierland

[atreideslioness]

Themed to the American west in the 19th century, Frontierland is home to cowboys and pioneers, saloons, red rock buttes and gold rushes. Every instance of Frontierland has a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and a stretch of riverfront. Other attractions sometimes found in this land include Splash Mountain, the Country Bear Jamboree, Tom Sawyer Island, and a steam-powered riverboat.

Liberty Square

[atreideslioness]

Themed after colonial America, replicas of both the Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree can be seen here. One of the most popular attractions in the Magic Kingdom, the Haunted Mansion, is located in this land. Presiding over the square is the Hall of Presidents, an American History show featuring an audio-animatronic figure of every President of the United States. Liberty Square has a long waterfront on the Rivers of America and the Liberty Belle steam paddleboat departs from a landing here. The land affords excellent views of the river and Tom Sawyer Island in adjacent Frontierland.

Fantasyland

[atreideslioness]

Fantasyland has ten main attractions. Cinderella Castle contains a mosaic depicting the story of Cinderella, and features Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant.

Mickey's Toontown

[atreideslioness]

Last chance before it's gone forever!

Tomorrowland

[atreideslioness]

"Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future."

Talk to the TA

[atreideslioness]

If you run into her!

Re: Talk to the TA

[trigons_child]

Raven was mostly in Fantasyland and Adventureland, but she was easy to find if anyone needed her.

Talk to Ghanima

[atreideslioness]

She's around, here and there.

Re: Talk to Ghanima

[trigons_child]

Raven waited for Max to arrive after class was over and they'd returned to Fandom, then approached Ghanima. "Lady Ghanima, may we speak to you?" she asked.

Re: Talk to Ghanima

[glacial_queen]

Mail-carrier Karla, reporting for duty. "Excuse me, Lady Ghanima?" she said, holding out a note. "I wish to apologize for missing the past two classes."

OOC

[atreideslioness]

I fell out of Space Mountain as a kid. Trufax.