Originally Posted By CuriousConstance The music and lighting at the teacups MAKE the attraction in my opinion. I don't even like the actual ride that much, but I never miss it.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I agree. I especially like the music. The attraction has changed a lot since I was kid: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ag1gEsq-y9c/UIjOSOOnmcI/AAAAAAAADrY/BMK6289vo1c/s1600/teacups75.jpg">http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ag1g...ps75.jpg</a> No music, no special lighting, minimal landscaping, and lots of polyester.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I haven't ridden it in years, but I love just hearing the music when I'm in the area. It really helps create that fantasyland vibe.
Originally Posted By Bellella Ok, so I already knew about most of these. How exactly can you get an exclusive ride on the Lily Belle? Or, more accurately, just how rich do you have to be? That is not a real human skull in POTC. They're not that macabre.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>How exactly can you get an exclusive ride on the Lily Belle? Or, more accurately, just how rich do you have to be?<< Just go to Main Street Station first thing in the morning and politely ask if it's running that day and if you can ride it. They'll give you a time to come back to Main Street for a ride in the car, all the way around the park. I think they typically have groups of 6-8 people, so you could end up in there with another group (and the CM watching over you and telling you stories). So it's not entirely exclusive, but it is 'free' with park admission (assuming the car is on the rails, it's not raining, they have enough staff for it, and you check in before all the spots are filled)
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Does "first thing in the morning" mean before rope drop, or not till just after? In other words, what's the earliest you can ask?
Originally Posted By smd4 >>>Once the next train comes, you’ll be escorted past security to the front of the Tender<<< Escorted past security?? Main Street Station ain't the Pentagon!
Originally Posted By mawnck >>No music, no special lighting, minimal landscaping, and lots of polyester.<< No purple teacup either. :-( I love the music too (straight out of the soundtrack of the movie, for those 2 of you who didn't already know). But I think it would drive me approximately as mad as the hatter if I had to work that ride and hear it all day.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Oh, no question. But for us civilians, one of my favorite places in the whole park is that area between MTP and the Matterhorn, where simultaneously you can hear: 1). The MTP Un-birthday music; 2). The Alice attraction's music and safety spiel; 3). The Matterhorn bobsleds splashing down and "Permanecer sentados, por favor;" 4). The loud <TOCK!> of the iasw clock in the distance; 5). The monorail whoosh and usually the horn (they often honk as they round the Matterhorn.) It may be the most delightfully auditory overload-y spot in the whole park.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Does "first thing in the morning" mean before rope drop, or not till just after? In other words, what's the earliest you can ask?<< I'm not sure. I would just head up the steps of the station whenever you enter the park. The one time I rode in the Lilly Belle, I was visiting the park with a CM friend who was able to pull some strings. We inquired around 11am, and were given a mid-afternoon return time, so I doubt it fills up super fast (to my knowledge, we didn't displace any other guests who wanted to ride it, we just got added to the end of the list). Of course, now that it's been publicized in an article read by lots of non-Disney nerds, the timing could change completely
Originally Posted By utahjosh Yeah, I'm not happy this is spreading in some ways. Doing these little things may get much harder.
Originally Posted By doombuggy "I claim BS on the skull over the bed being real" Not sure if they meant that pic but yes the one on the bed is fake. The way to tell if a skull is fake almost every time they forget to put the plate lines in.
Originally Posted By Tikiduck I don't even think a Forensic pathologist could tell if that skull was real without having a closer look. Here's some trivia that very few people know. The Lily Belle replica at the Main Street station was built by Roger Broggie Junior. When I was last there, even the conductor, who had worked there for years was unaware. The only way I learned was from Roger himself, when he was still alive, so consider yourselves part of an elite group. Heck, it may even be common knowledge by now. Having not been to the park in awhile, I assume the replica engine is still there?
Originally Posted By Tikiduck Hans, the original Lilly Belle engine is at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. It used to be displayed at the Main Street Station, but always belonged to the family, not the Disney company. When they took it back, Disneyland wanted something there in it's place, so that's where Roger came in, since he had the original blueprints (which I got to look over) used for the original, and much of the machinery as well. What is there now is simply a copy, and does not even run. But it is a cool contribution from a guy who made more than you might think during his Disney career.
Originally Posted By hbquikcomjamesl I rode the Lilly Belle at least twice, maybe three times. During the two week experiment with a backstage tour (which came with some very nice printed materials), a circuit of the Park aboard her was the first of five backstage portions of the afternoon tour (of the other four, one was the bowels of HM, including a look at the Omnimover mechanism, while in motion, through an access door, and a visit to the control tower; another was the Space Mountain control tower; another was the backstage area behind IASW, not quite all the way inside the Roundhouse; I can't remember the other one.) The second time was on the Walt's Footsteps tour, during the first year. I was the entire tour group, and thankfully, the guide didn't mind the fact that we were finishing each other's sentences for the entire tour. If there were times after that, it was because it was still included on the Walt's Footsteps tour. And yes, I've had one or two cab rides on the DRR.
Originally Posted By hbquikcomjamesl Oh, and for anybody who understands the basic concept of a "VIP business car," a ride aboard the Lilly Belle was, by itself, itself worth the price of the tours that included it, when they included it.
