Goodness, I can't wait to experience (vicariously, through Disney Blog People who can actually afford this thing) the Galactic Starcruiser Interactive Experience can you? In the meantime, let's travel back to the early days of Disney Hollywood Studios, especially for those of you who were longing for a weird vintage Disney special the past few weeks.
The audio quality on this one is kind of bad but it's pretty fascinating. This is "The Party In Concert" from 1990, and early-90's Disney Channel doesn't get much more pure than this. (Like, look at the schedule for the rest of the evening right at the beginning of the video. Late-night Disney Channel was basically uncharted space back then, and you could tune in and see anything. Classic movies, a documentary, a concert, maybe even an actual vintage Disney thing, or a combination of two or more of these!)
I'm not even sure if the special itself is as interesting as The Party itself as an entity. The Party (and yes, it does stand for "Positive Attitude Reflects Today's Youth, and that's maybe the funniest aspect of the whole thing) was composed of five particularly popular and talented teenagers with Disney sanctioned attitude plucked from the ranks of the 90's Mickey Mouse Club: Albert Fields, Tiffini Hale, Chase Hampton, Damon Pampolina, and future Pearl voice actress Deedee Magno. They were pitched to us kids as our new favorite band ever and promoted as such, starring in specials and on a regular segment on the Mickey Mouse Club and recording a cover of a Rubinoos song (one which would be the center of a small controversy later) which was the style at the time.
Now even at the time, I thought, "Clearly Disney saw how popular New Kids On The Block were so they made their own pop group. I am sorry for The Party, but I am already too much of a fan of NKOTB! And by 'a fan' I mean, given my as-yet-undiagnosed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, 'I start vibrating through several formes and dimensions with an intensity that could shatter glass when I see that one Magic Can commercial.' Anyway. I am not falling for this."
Now as an adult, I wondered if that really was The Party's origin story. Surely there's more to it? Well, not really. Disney really did see how insanely lucrative NKOTB were, so they reverse-engineered their own even more wholesome group (and later created an even squeakier clean, no reckless use of the word "Hell" version of them with the MMC group). They lasted into 1993, releasing a final album ominously, wonderfully titled "The Party Is Over", and reunited a few years ago. Last I checked, they're scheduled to perform for Walt Disney World's 50'th Anniversary at Disney Springs.
So that's The Party. A weird Disney moment from the weird 90's. More dinosaurs and/or animation next week, I promise.
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Art! A beautiful fellow who visits the Cornell Panama Fruit Feeder sometimes. Lizards really are the best live models:
