Theme Park Rangers Radar 43: Eerie Epcot, counting on Walt’s face, browsing Universal windows

It’s the time of year where I mistakenly and hysterically type “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Christmas Party” a lot. In this week’s Theme Park Rangers Radar we take a break in semi-seclusion at Epcot, come face-to-face with Walt Disney (images) repeatedly and fall down a rabbit hole with Tallulah Bankhead, darling.

Radar is a weekly musing about the current state of Orlando’s theme parks and attractions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Listening at Epcot

There was down time between the waning days of Halloween season and the ramping up of Christmas+, so I checked out two things I read about at the same location at Epcot.

A reader emailed me to say one can hear old-school Epcot music behind the Imagination pavilion. Then a guy on Twitter said the bathrooms back there are the quietest at Walt Disney World.

So I ventured back to learn and listen. What I saw: A fairly deserted, mostly blue men’s room. The area had more foot traffic than expected. There are four benches outside the facilities, and at least three were in use the whole time I was lurking.

FYI: Lurking outside restrooms is … icky … on multiple levels, so I made two separate trips. It’s not very notable back there, and it feels very 1982. I was struck by the bright red wall where two telephones are installed, and the hardware still has a shelf for a phone book, which I imagine chained to the wall.

Was also surprised to see a dog walk area back there carved out of hedges. If your service dog has got to go, let’s hope it’s OK if the go-to spot is the size of a bean bag chair (just to throw in a pre-1982 reference).

What I heard whilst standing in the bathroom: “One Little Spark,” a beloved Epcot/Sherman Brothers song, then another instrumental that I didn’t know. Neither did the Shazam app. Then “One Little Spark” again.

I went around the corner where Winnie the Pooh still frolics with butterfly net at a socially acceptable distance, circa 2020. The music was different there, but no easier to identify. Shazam knew two: a song from the Disney film “Honey, I Blew Up the Kids” and “Osiriso” by Kamadev.

I would poo-poo Pooh for drawing more attention to that stretch of Epcot, but that casual character interaction is my favorite of the pandemic years. (Quick runners-up: Country Bears on balcony above Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, miscellaneous characters above bathrooms — again, icky — near entrance to Hollywood Studios, any flotilla at Animal Kingdom and the stepsisters, wherever they want to stand.)

Wall-to-wall Walt

Beware, this Hollywood Studios-based wandering item has a pop quiz. How many pictures of Walt Disney, the man, do you think are in Walt Disney Presents, the walk-through glimpse of Disney history? Would you say 50? Or 75 to 150? Or more than 200?

I counted recently, prompted by the wealth of Walt’s face in the front room. I don’t begrudge this move, it’s Walt’s world, after all, and the planners did an admirable job of mixing images from every stage of life — some even without a mustache.

The farther you go into Walt Disney Presents, the fewer Walt Disney photos you see. I couldn’t see any once I got to the cruise line displays.

Now, in the front room there’s a large image of Walt Disney (under the words “Walt Disney Presents”) with silhouette of Mickey Mouse. But also a light switch in the photo. What Walt would have done with Photoshop.

Time’s up: I counted 82 images of Walt Disney inside Walt Disney Presents. Your results may vary.

Window shipping

My mild fascination with theme park window displays sent me down another rabbit hole. Usually I wonder about the purchasing process for the vintage items that set the scene at Hollywood Studios or Universal Studios street sets.

And I wonder if there’s a dusting schedule.

Last week, while killing time I noticed an old Time magazine — probably a reproduction of one — in a window in an alley at Universal. The featured person was Earl Long, governor of Louisiana. And sure enough, Long was on the cover of Time in 1948, just as this prop indicates.

I have no idea why that issue is in that window.

But I do know other people on the cover of Time in 1948, thanks to the internet. Long is sandwiched by actress Bette Grable and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Others in the Time class of ‘48: Gregory Peck, astronomer Edwin Hubble, Karl Marx, Arturo Toscanini, George Gallup, jockey Eddie Arcaro, Howard Hughes, Igor Stravinsky, Joe DiMaggio, Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Oppenheimer.

To digress further, that window at Universal also features a Life magazine from 1948, with “movie actress Colleen Townsend.” Her biggest film was 1950′s “When Willie Comes Marching Home.” She married a Presbyterian minister, and they later became tight with Billy Graham. She made two films for Graham’s evangelistic association in the ‘50s. In the ‘80s, she was chair of the Billy Graham Crusade.

She’s now 93 and reportedly living in southwest Florida. Think she knows she’s in a window in a theme park?

Weekend outlook

• Orange County Regional History Center has two events tied to its “Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground” this weekend. On Friday (Noon-1 p.m.), it’s Lunch & Learn: It’s Gonna Be Central Florida — the Boy Band Craze. On Saturday (2-3 p.m.), it’s “Art of the Underground: A Figurehead Panel Discussion” featuring artists Thomas Scott, Jeff Matz, Scott Sugiuchi, Greg Reinel and Klaus Heesch. It’s moderated by Dori Griffin, associate professor of design at University of Florida.

• Yes, the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival continues. Performing at the Eat to the Beat concert series from Friday through Monday are Boyz II Men.

• Next week, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (that wasn’t so scary) starts at Magic Kingdom on Tuesday. But unless you have a ticket already, you’ll have to get your fa-la-la-la-las elsewhere. The first seven Very Merry nights are already sold out.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com