AllEars®
NEWSLETTER

AllEars® Newsletter

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an unofficial electronic newsletter about The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, published weekly in conjunction with AllEars.Net, Deb's Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide

Established September 1999
Library of Congress ISSN:1533-0753

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Click here to start receiving AllEars®, the FREE weekly electronic newsletter with the most current, accurate and comprehensive information for folks interested in Walt Disney World. Each AllEars® is chock full of facts, helpful tips and, of course, the latest Walt Disney World news, as well as restaurant and resort reviews, previews, interviews, snippets of timely information and insightful guest columns.

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To get a taste of what AllEars® has to offer each and every week, click on the links below -- these tidbits are from our May 2012 "WDW Bits and Bites" issue:

STEP BACK IN TIME
RATE & REVIEW SPOTLIGHT
MAGICAL MOMENTS

STEP BACK IN TIME

EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the past few months, AllEars.Net has been highlighting exclusive excerpts from Sam Gennawey's book, Walt and the Promise of Progress City. The book explores the process through which meaningful and functional spaces were created by Walt Disney and his artists, as well as how guests understand and experience those spaces. It also takes a look at how Walt wanted to change the public's expectations about city life in the same way his earlier work had redefined what it meant to watch an animated film or visit an amusement park. In this month's excerpt, we learn how Walt redefined the public's expectations for a clean and cared for environment.

A New Standard for Clean
by Sam Gennawey

Before Disneyland, most amusement parks were rather seedy places. The operators thought of the customers as "marks" and were not above a little bit of shady play if it would earn a little more money. If somebody left with a dime in his pocket, the operator was not doing his job well enough. Trash was tossed anywhere and little attention was paid to the landscaping or architecture.

"By 1952, amusement parks were often identified with the tarnished world of film noir, of scandal beneath the big top, and carnies," according to Norman Klein. Patrons felt unsafe in many areas of a traditional amusement park. Walt said that he wanted Disneyland to be different from the "dirty, phony places, run by tough-looking people." When Walt described the idea for the park to his wife, she asked, "Why would you want to build an amusement park? Amusement parks are dirty. They don't make any money." Walt's reply was, "That's the whole point. I want a clean one that will."

Walt sensed there was a change happening in the American culture. Families in the 1950s had begun to reset their expectations for what was meant by progress. There was a growing national consensus that proclaimed that cleanliness and uniformity was a sign of progress. With the spread of freeways, people preferred to patronize modern, familiar motel chains and eat in clean coffee shops housed in space-age Googie23-style buildings. Walt assumed correctly that they would want to visit a different type of family amusement park as well. Karal Ann Marling noted, "If Disneyland was a place of amusement and escape, it was also, in its own way, a kind of pre-EPCOT utopia, a better, cleaner, more pleasant and resonant American place than 1955 afforded the average urbanite who drove to Anaheim on the Santa Ana Freeway." When Walt gave a tour of the park, a journalist commented that everything would soon be covered in litter. Walt curtly replied, "It'll never happen." "Why not?" asked the reporter. "Because, we're going to make it so clean people are going to be embarrassed to throw anything on the ground," was Walt's reply. Walt was right. Disneyland had validated people's expectations for cleanliness of public spaces, and the park would in time redefine the standard.

Read the rest of this excerpt in the AllEars® Guest blog.

Interested in Walt and the Promise of Progress City? Order it through the AllEars.Net Amazon store.

RATE AND REVIEW SPOTLIGHT

In this monthly featurette, we take a look at recent comments made in the AllEars.Net Rate & Review section about a particular restaurant, resort, event, etc. This month, we examine what AllEars® readers are saying about Rose & Crown, which is located at the United Kingdom Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase.

Rose & Crown is a full service restaurant/pub. AllEars® reviewers give it an average rating of 8.1 and it is recommended by 89% of reviewers.

From recent reviews (although the menu here has recently changed somewhat):

Food: "enthusiastically endorsed the fish and chips"; "had the new Surf & Turf... done to perfection"; "house dressing was wonderful"; "had the Pork Duo... pork with the white sauce and mushrooms was cooked perfectly... pulled pork with the red wine sauce over the mashed taters was very good"; "got the Sunday roast... enjoyed very much"; "boys (all three) really enjoyed the Fish and Chips"; "all the adults ordered the fish and chips. We all thought it was very good"; "drinks were awesome... hubby was very happy with his Guinness on tap."; "food was good and we both enjoyed our meals".

Desserts: "Sticky Toffee Pudding and Bakewell Tart. Both were very good"; "Sticky Toffee Pudding... was small but rich"; "decided to order the sticky toffee pudding for dessert not knowing what it was... pleasantly surprised, it was very good, almost like a bread pudding"; "shared a dish of sticky toffee pudding and we both enjoyed it".

Service: "waiter... one of the best we had this visit"; "server seemed more interested in chatting to the people by our table"; "server was very nice, but a little slow"; "was really awesome and helpful"; "server was wonderful!"; "had a few food allergies and the chef came to our table and made sure we were given the rundown on the menu"; "servers were friendly and we got to know a little about their homeland, as well as some info about the architecture of the building itself".

Atmosphere: "view on the water was terrific"; "great place to see IllumiNations"; "only good thing about this restaurant is the IllumiNations viewing"; "seated outside right along the water, which was lovely"; "seated outside and had a great view of IllumiNations"; "a very nice night and we were seated outside"; "love the atmosphere!"; "seated outside on the patio which was really nice as it was very loud inside".

Overall: "one of our must-stops"; "Great job!"; "will continue to go back"; "we'll definitely try this place again"; "always a good spot for some really good beer"; "very much enjoyed this meal and were glad that we came!"; "Love this place!"; "Everyone left full and happy"; "would definitely dine here again".

If you have recently eaten at Rose & Crown, we'd love to have your review!

MAGICAL MOMENTS

Corinne McMurray: When visiting with our son Tommy for a celebration of his 6th birthday and his first trip to Disney World, we were amazed at how outgoing each and every cast member was when looking at his pins for 1st Visit and Birthday Celebration! One of the most special moments was during the Main Street Electric Parade. As we stood on the sidewalk waiting patiently for it to begin, a cast member was coming by greeting everyone. She stopped and asked him his name and which birthday he was celebrating. We were so used to cast members recognizing his birthday by now, we didn't think anything about it. Much to our surprise, during the parade the Pete's Dragon float -- with Pete way atop of Elliott --stopped right in front of us. Pete waved at us and yelled down, "I hear it's your 6th birthday, Tommy! Happy Birthday, Buddy!" It was a truly magical moment that they would know exactly where Tommy was standing in the group of thousands of people and they made a special stop to acknowledge his special day.

Shannon Parker: It was our first day at Disney World, and we were on our way to get in line to see Rapunzel and Flynn Rider when we happened upon someone's lost autograph book lying on the ground. I remember how important my then 4-1/2-year-old's autograph book was to us (well, me mostly!) so I just knew we had to turn in the missing one. I promptly and easily located a cast member, handed over the lost autograph book to her, and to our surprise and delight she quickly escorted us to our first character meet-and-greet of the trip... with Cinderella's evil stepsisters! The meet-and-greet was either just ending or beginning, but we were taken to the front and felt very important. This was the first of many character meetings on our trip; we filled up my daughter's entire autograph book! Disney World is truly a magical place and we can't wait to return!

The Amico Family: We were at the Magic Kingdom and one of our Disney dreams came true. While talking to a very friendly cast member (Michelle) in Guest Relations, we were soon joined by another cast member (Brick). The conversation turned to Brick asking us questions about the Magic Kingdom parade and what we liked about it. He then announced that he chose our family to be the Grand Marshals of that day's MK parade. He told us to meet him at the MK Firehouse a half-hour before the start of the parade. We each received a set of Mickey Ears with our names engraved on them and had family pictures taken by a Disney photographer before the start of the parade. We were then taken "backstage" to board the beautiful old-fashioned and open-aired white official Grand Marshal Parade Vehicle. The simple instructions given to us were to smile and wave to all the guests along the parade route as we led the parade through MK. We've watched numerous WDW parades over the years, but it was truly a magnificent experience seeing it from the other side. Thanks to two very amazing cast members, we had a Disney Magical Moment experience we shall never forget.

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We just bet you have a story to tell about an unforgettable moment during your Disney vacation! Please send your favorite memory for inclusion in a future AllEars® to: allearsnet@yahoo.com

Thank you all for sharing!

We've also compiled a collection of photos from readers sharing their Magical Moments via digital images in the latest Wandering the World: Caught Napping edition.

http://allears.net/tp/wander/wander.htm

RYI Enterprises, LLC owns and operates AllEars.Net, which comprises Deb's Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide and the AllEars® weekly newsletter (allears.net), and the Ears to Ears™ moderated forum on yahoogroups (email earstoears-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe). AllEars.Net and AllEars® are not affiliated with, authorized or endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with, The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., or any of their affiliates. For official Disney information, visit http://www.disney.com

Editor in Chief: Deb Wills
Senior Editor: Debra Martin Koma

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AllEars® is published by Deb Wills, a recognized Walt Disney World expert who also publishes one of the worldwide web's most popular sites, AllEars.Net, which receives more than 7 million page views per month from visitors around the globe.

Deb Wills
Editor-in-Chief

AllEars® Senior Editor is Debra Martin Koma.

Debra Martin Koma
Senior Editor

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Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.