Disney Challenged!

I read this interesting post over at The Disney Blog. John Frost talks about a nonprofit company going after Disney to clean up some of the chemicals they use. Granted, this is worthwhile, but John talks about the fact that a lot of nonprofits pick a cause and go after a large company simply to get their name in the news.

I like John's comments in the third paragraph:
If the Center's investigation is accurate (and the letter from Disney seem to indicate it is) then there is room for improvement on Disney's part. I'd love to see some sort of pressure put on the providers of these 'toxic' cleaners to offer green alternatives. I'd rather see CHEJ praising Disney for its work so far and going to the government hand in hand asking for better regulations to eliminate toxic cleaners.

Even though Disney can stand up for themselves, it is nice to see someone point the issue in the more appropriate direction.

You can read about Disney's Environmentality on their corporate website.

If you have ever stayed in a Disney Hotel, you probably have seen the little placard that Disney puts out with Jiminy Cricket on it. It mentions that you can reuse your linens instead of having mousekeeping wash them every day. Also, several books I have in my collection talk about how Disney reclaims water and uses it throughout WDW for landscaping.

So...there.

A Fond Farewell...

Over at the Disney Blog, John Frost has posted about the closing of L'Originale Alfredo Di Roma in the Italy Pavilion at Epcot. He raises some excellent thoughts about why this beloved and cherished restaurant is closing. The biggest? The Disney Dining Plan.

Personally, I experienced this restaurant in 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2001. We didn't visit it in 2004 or 2006 for different reasons. At each dining opportunity, I always ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo, the signature dish. I found it to be absolutely perfect and ruined me for life. (Just like my wife's lasagna.)

We didn't visit the restaurant in 2004 because my mom didn't want to spend a lot of time in restaurants or eating heavy meals (during that May trip, we did eat at Sci-Fi, Prime Time, and Olivia's). When we visited Epcot, we ate at the Electric Umbrella and the Rose & Crown (for my Dad).

In 2006, we did the Dining Plan (DDP). It was just us (me, wife and both kids) and it really wasn't worth it for us. Our kids are very finicky and they had just changed the DDP kid's menus. Honestly, we were shocked. Our first meal was at the Rose & Crown and there was nothing on the menu that either one of our children would eat. I am not kidding. We begged the waitress to make a grilled cheese and they couldn't accommodate us.

The rest of the week, as far as dining was concerned, went very downhill. Sure, we saved money and ate in restaurants we would never have tried. But, we ate way too much and left a lot of food on our plates. We talked about it the whole trip. We looked at the menu and discussed what we would have shared to save money. We decided with the kids, it would have saved so much time and effort to eat all of our meals at counter service locations. Our favorite meal of the trip was at Pinocchio's Village Hause in the Magic Kingdom.

I started this post to commiserate and celebrate Alfredo's. I have digressed, but I always do that when I mention the DDP. Here are some shots of our 2001 visit to Epcot. (the shot at the top of the post is of my mom and dad.)


This is Connery trying to take a nap...or us trying to get him to take a nap.






Here is my youngest brother, Stacy, in front of the fountain.








Connery entertaining himself in the lobby of the restaurant.








Good food, good times. Alfredo's, we will miss you. I do wonder what other restaurants at Epcot might suffer the same fate.