Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sonny Eclipse

I love Walt Disney World. It's one of my favorite places in the world (just behind Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Disneyland and Jennifer Love Hewitt's dressing room.)

I usually make sure to visit all four parks on every visit (saving DisneyQuest for every 2 years) and I like to get my money's worth from my Annual Pass.

My touring schedule is like this:

I get to the theme park about 30 minutes before opening hit my favorites until about noon. Then I leave the park and find a nice place for lunch. After that I head back to my hotel... go to a museum... do something away from the heat and crowds at the park. I return by 3 or 4pm and stay there until it's time to get back to the hotel and sleep.

This works great. The afternoon break gives me a chance to get changed (if my clothes are sweaty, or dirty or have gone out of style since I put them on) maybe take a shower, swim, pick up taxidermied gator heads at souvenir stand and look for Brutus Beefcake (I hear he lives around there.)

Then when I get back to the theme park I feel so refreshed... I feel like Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Sometimes this just won't work. Usually on the last day of my vacation I have already checked out of my hotel and I just want to squeeze every last minute out of the day.

So I stay.

But I have found ways to beat the heat. I carry a hand towel with me to whisk the sweat off my brow. I go to Epcot and drink a cold margarita to cool me off. I drink two margaritas and I forget that it's so hot. I drink three margaritas and I forget to wear pants and call up my high school girlfriend (she's a podiatrist in Pennsylvania.)

Or I watch Sonny Eclipse.

Sonny is an animatronic lounge lizard. He's one of those Disney robots, like the Country Bears, Abe Lincoln (at the Hall of Presidents) or The Jonas Brothers.

Sonny is located in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. He entertains guests at a counter service burger place called Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. I never ate there, but I love to stop in and grab a table and watch Sonny do his thing.

He tells corny jokes (Hey! Did you hear the universe is expanding? Guess it's time to loosen the asteroid belt!) and sings swingin' big band songs.

He sings original songs about subjects like "gravity" and the outer space city he hails from Yew Nork (on the planet Zork.)

According to something I heard somewhere his voice is provided by renown blues artist Kal David.

Check out Sonny performing Planetary Boogie:

1 comment:

  1. I also dig "listening in" on the turn of the century party line at Market House on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.

    There are two vintage phones on the wall inside the shop. When you pick them up you hear a very funny pre-taped conversation. Good stuff.

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