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Disneyana Convention: 1996
(Convention Theme for '96: "The Brave Little Tailor")
 Many
Mickey Mouse fans agree that, out of so many cartoon
shorts to choose from, Mickey's best appearance has to be The Brave Little
Tailor. This short cartoon story involves the classic tale of a timid tailor
(Mickey) sent to defeat the evil giant, and save the small village he lives
in. If he succeeds, he gets to marry the fair Princess Minnie (Mouse). The
cartoon also includes a very comical, G-rated,
final "battle." If you ask me, this was the perfect theme for a
Disneyana Convention, and guests I talked to during Disneyana 1996 seemed
to agree with me.
Simply put:  I'm
a big fan of Mickey Mouse in The Brave Little Tailor, so I loved
the Disneyana Convention theme this year. Front and center in the convention hall
was a giant statue of Mickey in full "Tailor" regalia,
brandishing his tailor scissors like a "sword." This would
welcome guests to a convention package that, if you loved the cartoon, was
256 shades of "cool." The
registration package included for each "conventionEar" a roughly
8" statuette of Mickey Mouse as (you guessed it) The Brave Little Tailor, with
the small 1 inch clock at its base. Many conventioneers also appreciated the final gift
on Banquet Night, which was also of The Brave Little Tailor, but was a
very sturdy, expensive looking pewter statuette (a very swell farewell gift, I think).
Overall, this convention package was more than worth the price.
The Theme
Night was held at the Magic
Kingdom's Fantasy Land, with all rides open in that area (including: Peter Pan,
Small World, Snow White, and the then-still-open Mr. Toad's Wild Ride,
along with all the others). The finale of the evening included, upon
leaving, a sneak peek at the animatronic floats that would be used for
their anniversary parade in 1997. The floats were parked along Main Street, so
guests could take as many pictures as they wanted, often while standing
close enough to touch the floats themselves; a real treat. Some
were a little disappointed that the floats were not offered in an actual parade,
although I felt the photo op was more than worth it. Adding to the theme
night fun was Mickey himself dressed as the Tailor, which to the best of
my knowledge has never been seen before, and almost looked as though said
costume was made specifically for this convention. Neat!
  Added
Note: One cute touch I
liked was that all characters for each Fantasy Land ride actually went
on all rides with the guests! It
may sound silly, yet it's really a hoot to see Peter Pan or Captain Hook right on the ride with you!
This is often a sight only seen in the TV commercials for Disney
World, and convention guests got to experience it for
real. As I said;
a very cute touch. |
Opinions of Banquet Night were a little
divided, though I would be in the "thumbs up" camp, who liked
the concept very much. Mind you: the
surf-and-turf gourmet meal was as excellent as always, and I doubt anyone
griped about that! Yet the stage show was a homage of previously used songs
and dance numbers used in Disney World parades through the years. Both myself and
others I talked to felt this was very nostalgic; great memories of all the vacations
we've had since childhood! It
was also an amusing salute to how the theme park has adapted to the times,
from the Disco-style of the late 70's, to the Tina Turner wigs of the
early 80's, right up to the modern music heard in recent Disney TV ads. On the other hand, some "ConventionEars"
--or so I hear-- felt disappointed, as though someone just
spliced together old parade songs instead of a "new" stage show.
Admittedly, it wasn't as effective as the salute to Howard Ashman last
year, or the "Villains taking over" theme of the
1997 convention the following year. Even so...I liked it!
 In the end, this was my second convention, and it was certainly not my
last. The banquet alluded to the following year's theme, which as I
already spoiled above, would
involve Disney...Villains! Would this mean collectibles representing my
favorite Magic Kingdom ride; The Haunted Mansion? I was looking forward to
finding out...
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed product, are created by Techtite,
copyright 2000; all rights reserved. Pictures are scanned from
promotional material and vacation video pertaining to this
attraction. They are discrete thumbnails, used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite and the distributors of that attraction. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
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