com•pen•di•um [kuhm-pen-dee-uhm] –noun
1. a brief treatment or account of a subject, esp. an
extensive subject;
concise treatise: a compendium of medicine.
2. a summary, epitome, or abridgment.
3. a full list or inventory: a compendium of their complaints.
Whale of a Tale
After last week’s article, someone pointed out that I didn’t really give a fair showing to the Georgia Aquarium. He pointed out that what I needed to do was compare it, side by side, with the Epcot pavilion of the same theme. And so here, accordingly, is my comparison to the Seas with Nemo and Friends.
- Sea life. Hands down, GA wins over Epcot. The Seas pavilion has a shark or two, and a green sea turtle, and several dozen fish. Oh, and a few dolphins. The GA Aquarium has all that, plus entire corridors full of smaller aquariums, before you even get to the show-stopping main tank (at the time, the world’s largest). That main tank houses three whale sharks, a giant manta ray, numerous sharks, and schools of fish itself. You view all of this first via underwater tunnel, then through a mind-numbing picture window that overpowers your senses.
Whale sharks and more! They even sell sleepover parties in this room.
- Duration. If you read every last word, you might find enough to do to fill a few hours in the Seas pavilion, but a similar close examination of the GA Aquarium would easily fill the entire day.
- Theme. They’ve got sculpted environments in the GA Aquarium, and they take an honest stab at “place” environments, but Disney’s got the Nemo theme going for it, and kids respond to what they know. If you doubt this, all you have to do is stand at a coral reef exhibit in a non-Disney aquarium, and listen to the nonstop exclamations of “Nemo!” and “Dory!”
There’s an attempt at placemaking, but it’s no Disney.
- Charm. Like theme, charm is on Disney’s side. The Georgia Aquarium is large (too large, even?) and majestic, but it’s not charming.
- Rides. Disney wins here. As neat as the main tank and its unique underwater denizens are, crowds clamor for rides. There’s a 3D movie in the GA Aquarium (you have to pay extra), but the Turtle Talk with Crush interaction and the dark-ride style Omnimover through the show scenes are still rides. And rides will always win out for most visitors.
Magic Pursuit
Thanks to all the participants who braved the gorgeous spring weather on Saturday. A great time was had by all, despite one of the show elements in the game disappearing between the final test a few weeks ago, and the day of the event.
Congratulations to the winning teams:
- Reed C, Phyllis, and Samantha (who had an almost perfect score!)
- Maribeth C. and Matt C.
- David J. (and team, whose names I didn’t catch)
We’ll host another one of these in the fall. I hope you can join us then!
New to me: the restaurant at Mexico begins its outward expansion into the lagoon.
Black Imagineers?
I got an email out of the blue a few weeks ago, explaining that the email author just visited Walt Disney World, and wanted to know the names of some of the African-American designers who had conceived and built the place. I had to confess I was somewhat stymied.
Did Walt Disney Imagineering have any African-American Imagineers who built any of the WDW parks? Surely they did, especially the more recent WDW parks, but I couldn’t reel off any names. Most of the Imagineers I knew (and also true of most that I knew by name only) were white, and most were male. Can anyone chime in with names of non-white Imagineers? I know there’s at least one I’m failing to remember.
Have you seen the “What am I” videos on youtube? Even beyond that, I’ve always
marveled that they get away with selling puppets of Communist army soldiers.
Reader Mail
This is not a comprehensive set of reader questions—most I can answer directly without reproducing here—but some of the commentary bears repeating to the rest of you.
Reader Jalek writes:
The advertising for TRON Legacy on the EPCOT monorail line is historically appropriate. When TRON was released in July, 1982, the film’s release was intended as a major part of EPCOT’s marketing campaign. Attached to each print of TRON was a short teaser trailer for Epcot Center, featuring computer animation of the monorail line circling around Spaceship Earth, with the tag “The 21st Century begins October 1, 1982.”
The same tag appears at the bottom of the original TRON movie posters. And don’t forget that elements from World of TRON on Disneyland’s PeopleMover were integrated in to the SuperSpeed Tunnels at World of Motion.
Paul W. has read my previous articles on Declining by Degrees and found an article online detailing a similar decline (in this case, by Schlitz beer):
Schlitz was once a top national brew. But, in search of short-term gains, it began gradually reducing its quality in tiny increments to save money, substituting cheaper malt, fewer hops and “accelerated” brewing for its traditional approach. Each incremental decline was imperceptible to consumers, but after a few years, people suddenly noticed that the beer was no good anymore. Sales collapsed, and a “Taste My Schlitz” campaign designed to lure beer drinkers back failed when the “improved” brew turned out not to be any better. A brand image that had been accumulated over decades was lost in a few years, and it has never recovered.
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