1. Slice beef flank steak. Combine
marinade ingredients. Marinate beef in a bowl for at least 30
minutes. Cut peppers and onion into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
2. Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl
and set aside.
3. Place approximately 1 cup of cooking
oil in a heated wok or fry pan and heat oil to medium heat. Place
marinated beef in heated oil and cook until almost done. Drain beef
into a strainer. Set aside.
4. Leave about a teaspoon of oil in the
wok. Place it back on the stove. Stir-fry onion and peppers for 30
seconds. Pour sauce mixture over onions and green peppers. Stir
occasionally with a spatula.
5. When sauce mixture begins to darken
in color, place beef back into the wok and stir-fry swiftly. The dish
is done when the peppers have softened. Serve hot with steamed white
rice.
Today we continue our look at vintage landscaping photos from the late 80s to early 90s. Epcot has always been a beautiful park with top-notch landscaping. But really look at some of the details from this time period that no longer grace us with their presence. Some are dated like the mall like planters inside the Imagination Pavilion. But some are timeless like the flowers around Future World. And let others help tell a story like the native plants from each country in the World Showcase.
It's the week leading up to Independence day so what better way to celebrate than to listen to some patriotic music. So today we bring to you the instrumental rendition of Golden Dreams from the American Adventure at Epcot. This version is nice because it has the slow twilight times at the beginning that play while Mark Twain and Ben Franklin are talking in the finale scene. This is the only version of the song that I know of that includes them.
Some fun photos from my family vault. Taken by my grandfather back in 1985. This was Skyleidoscope an air and sea show in the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot Center.
Today as the Disney owned stores open at Disney Springs we learned exactly when everything else will open. In fact, I sat in on the Orange County Governments meeting to vote on the opening which was unanimous.
The moment the vote was cast.
So when will everything open let's take a look. Just keep in mind the parks will be opening with reduced capacity and many new restrictions in place including temperature checks and requiring masks. Let's hope we can find an end to this virus in the next 12 to 18 months so we can get all the parks back to normal soon.
The Magic Kingdom - Saturday, July 11
Disney's Animal Kingdom - Saturday, July 11
EPCOT - Wednesday, July 15
Disney's Hollywood Studios - Wednesday, July 15
Disney Vacation Club Resorts and Fort Wilderness - Monday, June 22
So part 3 is short but oh so cool. This is the spinner wheel in the guidebooks. This was a little wheel you turned to get info on the pavilions of Epcot. In the picture above we see both are turned to Spaceship Earth. The funny thing is that in the 83 map all the outlines of the pavilions that played such a big part of the 83 changes are gone but they show up for the first time on the 82 map. Replacing them on the 83 map is a small description of where to find the pavilion. This makes sense as the outlines are already in the book twice they are using this chance to help you find them in person.
And on the flip side of the wheel is this great ad for Kodak. Some obvious changes are the introduction of two new cameras the Kodak Disk 3000 and the Kodamatic 940 Instant Camera. I love how they talk about the old rental camera program that the parks used to offer and how you can get photo advice from the experts at the Imagination Pavilion.
Back to the early years of EPCOT. Today we dive into part 2 of our 82-83 map deep dive. Let's take a look at World Showcase. Like we said in part 1 the 83 map was made to be more user friendly for guests by replacing the pavilion icons with simple outlines of the pavilions. The same was true in World Showcase where we see the nation's flags removed and the outlines put in their place. Also, the order of the countries is changed again to make things easier to understand for guests.
In the 82 map the first country we learn about is America. Although The American Adventure is the centerpiece of World Showcase it was confusing for guests trying to understand the order of countries around the lagoon. So in 83 America is moved to its proper order as they are now listed in clockwise order starting in Mexico. One little change that I see was in France they no longer list Impressions de France as being housed in the Palais du Cinema. This may have been to simplify things as the name of the show is above the door to the theater and the Palais du Cinema name is all the way at the top of the building out of eye line.
After our trip around the world, we get a map of the other world... Disney World. Not much change here except for some line placement in the top right and the Dutch Resort Hotel on Hotel Plaza Blvd. gets renamed to Americana's Dutch Resort. Also the Main Entrance Toll Plaza is changed to the Main Entrance Toll Plaza for Resorts and the Magic Kingdom. Again most likely to remove confusion for guests.
On the info page the Car Care Center is dropped for info on Dining Reservations and about visiting Earth Station to make them. A fun note is that it says you can't make lunch reservations at Earth Station but at the Restaurants only. I remember this as a child being mad that my grandfather couldn't talk to the person on the TV to make our lunch reservations and I knew he wasn't about to pay sit down dining dinner prices. Another neat little thing I saw in the second column is that they added a list of languages that are available for the Foreign Language Translator Units including Spanish, French, and German. I wonder if this was given more info or if they weren't all online in the early days.
Visit tomorrow for part 3 for what I think was the coolest part of these guide books... The Spinner Wheel.
We all know that the 21st Century began on October 1st, 1982. So when better to start taking a look at park maps from Epcot Center. But let's also compare the 1982 map to that of the early 1983 map. We know that this 1983 map is from before October 1st of that year because the map still shows horizons as coming soon. So what we ultimately have is two maps less than a year apart with some interesting changes.
First off we see two very different art styles on the maps above. I personally like the 82 map more with its cartoonish details. So why the change? Well if you look at the next few pages you'll see that the beautiful pavilion icons have been replaced by the images of the pavilions from the above map. This was most likely done to help guests identify locations of attractions and also help them find their location in the park. Remember in the early '80s not everyone knew that that big golf ball was called Spaceship Earth.
We also see that the descriptions of the attractions in each pavilion are featured more in the 83 map. This would make it easier for guest to understand that World of Motion is located inside World of Motion... yeah I get it now. Joking aside it does help guests understand that the main attraction was just part of what was offered inside each pavilion.
One last major change we see is that the images of each attraction have changed from concept art to photos from inside the pavilions. This was a luxury that they didn't have in 82 as most of the attractions were completed just days before and in some cases after opening day. One to note is that for Journey into Imagination we see the Rainbow Tunnel from the Image works and not a Photo of the Attraction. This was because Journey into Imagination was one of those attractions not completed by opening day and would not be open till March of 83.
Join us tomorrow for Part two when we look at the early days of World Showcase. Besides missing Morocco and Norway we'll see any other changes it may hold.
When EPCOT Center opened in 1982 Communicore was the hub of all things technology and progress. Inside one attraction stood out as maybe looking a little dated and out of place when in reality it was so far ahead of it's time that we can stand in amazement at it today. A collection of wood displays including a man in a bowler hat, a ferris wheel and tower of rotary phones. This was Einsel Theater and the Display was The Age of Information. As it would come to life opening hidden scenes and move characters a song would play telling us about all the amazing tech the future had to offer. Including Smart phones, Amazon, and Google. It truly was the Nostradamus of the 80's. So Let's sit back and enjoy the Age of Information and listen to the future of the past that is now the present.
One more
little Earth Day treat. "Listen to the Land"! This mix is
from a amazing fan made audio collection for Epcot's 25th. I Included
the lyrics so feel free to sing along.
Just
make believe, you're a tiny little seed,
a tiny
little seed that's reaching up to meet your need.
With the
right amount of faith, and the right amount of earth,
you'll
grow to see the sunshine on your day of birth.
Let's
listen to the land we all love,
nature's
plan will shine above,
listen
to the land, listen to the land.
Let's
listen to the land we all love,
nature's
plan will shine above,
listen
to the land, listen to the land.
When
springtime comes, how can you tell?
The air
is always filled with orange blossom smell.
Come
summertime, the warmest sun shines,
and
world is full of flowers and good melon rinds.
Let's
listen to the land we all love,
nature's
plan will shine above,
listen
to the land, listen to the land.
Let's
listen to the land we all love,
nature's
plan will shine above,
listen
to the land, listen to the land.
When
autumn falls, it's a harvest show,
with
north winds blowing all the seeds that it must sow.
Come
winter time, the rain must fall,
'till
once again the new year and the springtime call.
Well welcome back to our extended horizons week coverage. Today we step foot though the sliding doors let the AC hit our face and wander into the queue on are way to the future.
The queue itself was a big part of the story. Setting up the tone for what's to come. We venture into the Futureport a sort of airport into the future. We see and hear adds for three destinations that we will revisit at the end of our journey. Mesa Verde the oasis in the desert. Sea Castle the floating city. And Brava Centauri the space colony. On the overhead speakers we here the following.
Sea Castle, the newest and most exciting floating city in the Pacific, invites you and your family to come away with us to the sea. Convenient daily departures by seatrain and skylift.
Mesa Verde, the most advanced desert reclamation complex in the western hemisphere, invites you to explore its wide range of career possibilities. Mag-LEV express service to Mesa Verde leaves every thirty minutes.
Brava Centauri, newest of the exciting Centauri series of space stations, offers remarkably rewarding opportunities in earth support vocations. Come up to Brava. Space shuttles depart daily.
As we reach the load area we board side facing vehicles similar to the clams from the season but suspended from a track above. So now we are off on our journey. We hear a voice announce that "Horizons 1 is now departing. Our final destination today - the twenty-first century." Then we hear our two narrators for the first time, a male and female who we learn are husband and wife.
Over the next few moments we look back at the pasts vision of the future. From men being shot to the moon in a giant bullet. To the future of the 1950's where we would have robot butlers and cooks. The past then catches up with the present as we enter the large Omnimax Theater room and see several clips of science and industry of today that uses the latest technology, as we here our host proclaim that "Tomorrow's horizons are here, today".
Even Michael Jackson loved Horizons.
Join us next time as we explore the second half of this classic attraction and the following post where we will look at more interesting facts and figures and some great behind the scenes moments.
Welcome to the first themed week here at Manifesting the Magic. What better way to start then with a long lost love to millions, Horizons. For the next five days we are going to dive deep into one of Epcot Center's prize jewels.We're going to follow Horizons history from constructions up to it's closer in 1999. And with the help of your friends at Mesa Verde Times we are going to get a special behind the scenes look also. so without further ado it's time to discover new horizons.
One very common misconception is that Horizons opened with the rest of Epcot Center. In fact it opened a year to the day later on October 1st 1983. The construction took 21 months and was begun all the way back in January of 1982. In that time Horizons saw several name changes including Century 3, Future probe, and then landing on Horizons in September of 1981.One reason for the name change was that the Imagineers had to get the name just right to fit this special pavilion. Why was this pavilion so special? It was because it encompassed the themes and ideas of all the other pavilions in EPCOT. Communications, the land, the seas, imagination, energy they were all represented inside Horizons.
Over the next few days we are going to dive deep inside this attraction but right now I want to take a look at the structure that housed it. Below are some amazing facts about the Building itself.
The building was over 3 acres large.
The Peak of the building stood at 78 ft
The shape was designed to look very futuristic and also jeweled shape to stick out in it's guests memories and inspire them to think toward the future.
The structure used more steel to build then Spaceship Earth. 3,700 tons.
It also housed 137,000 square feet of show space on two floors
If that wasn't impressive enough lets take a look at some fun facts from inside the building.
The ride time was 15 minutes
184 ride vehicles traveled on 1346 feet of track and were loaded every 4.8 seconds.
Horizons had 30 human Audio Animatronics
10 Animal Audio Animatronics
2 robots
Horizons also housed 770 props
177 miles of fiber optic cable with 932,425 individual points of light
24 sets
11 painted backdrops
23 films and projections
51 special effects
So with just a few of the interesting facts you can see why Horzions was one of the largest undertakings Disney had ever challenged themselves with to this date. Over the next few days we are going to see what all those facts can create when you put them all together in a seamless show and then put guest past it at a comfortable 1.5 feet a second.
