Fun Facts of Downtown Disney West Side

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After 4pm, you can get a boat from the Marketplace to the West Side from just outside the Rainforest Café.
REPORTED: Stuart Cowper 05 JUN 02

AMC 24 Theatres Complex

This is largest theatre complex in the Southeast, with stadium seating, and a state-of-the-art sound system.
The AMC 24-screen, 70,000 square-foot, 1,650-seat theater complex with "stadium seating" Pleasure Island Theatres officially opened July 3, tieing the AMC 24 Indian River Mall theatre in Vero Beach, as the two theatres with the most screens in Florida. However upon observation (unofficially) the theatre at Pleasure Island seems much larger in size (has larger theatres). This is especially true for screens 1 & 24 which have two floors for the bottom seating, and a third floor for a "balcony" seating section.

The sound system is awesome!. They used to have THX theatres there before the rennovation. And the quality is at least the same as that of THX if not better in theaters 1, 19, 20, and 24.

Various set props from movies were placed in the hall to the theatres, including a table and chairs from George of the Jungle, and actual props from other movies.

The theatre has two main entrances - one which is the original which faces towards Pleasure Island (and now has a large LED sign which shows the times of movies), and the other entrance faces Disney's West Side, which may become the main entrance, since this is the side where theatres 1 & 24 are. Each theatre has an LED sign which shows the movie playing and time it started, and there are several concession stands, including one on the second floor for theatres 1 & 24.
REPORTED: Joey Ferreira 03 JAN 98
On the WestSide entrance above the outdoor seating area are two small statues of owls on the roof of the theater complex. They're visible if you're standing at Wolfgang Puck's looking at the theater. I'm not sure if this is related to AMC, Disney, or the theme of West Side.
REPORTED: Cameron S. Melvin 28 APR 98
I believe that they are merely common plastic yard owls used to scare birds away. They were placed there to keep the ever present birds from "doing their business" on patrons in the tererace cafe.
UPDATE: roonwit 31 AUG 98
The owls on top of the AMC theatres is not a symbol or anything of that sort. With all of the restraunts in the area, it is just an effort by WDW to scare the birds away.
UPDATE: Brian 20 SEP 98


Find out who's coming to perform at the House of Blues Downtown Disney. Includes phone numbers and information about buying tickets online.	Online

The House of Blues and Hidden Mickeys have teamed up to provide you with a live, online House of Blues experience that you can visit whenever you are not at Downtown Disney. Don't forget to bookmark our online site as information on it is constantly changing. Additionally, you can find the schedules of all future House of Blues concerts, including those at Downtown Disney. This will help you better plan your next trip to Walt Disney World.
My friend works at Downtown Disney, at the House of Blues. They are, from what she tells me, the only Disney area where there is no set costume. Cast Members are told to wear what is stylish and professional, but no clothes are issued. CM's are expected to be clean shaven, except mustaches, and follow all of the rest of the rules.
REPORTED: Jeremy 13 OCT 00
There was a bartender there that pointed to the restrooms with one finger, which I found amusing since they're supposed to point with two or with an open palm.
REPORTED: Jeremy 13 OCT 00
As per the House of Blues, the HOB is not part of the Disney Co. and is an operating participant at Downtown Disney: West Side. As such, they have different guidelines as to costumes, and things such as the two finger point. The same goes for Hoi Poloi, Cirque, Wolfgang Pucks, Bongo's, Celebrity Eyeworks, Magnetron, Fourty-Thirst Street, Starbillias, AMC, and Planet Hollywood.
UPDATE: John Sterk 15 NOV 00
The House of Blues was used for one of O-Town's first concerts. (O-Town is the band from Making the Band.)
REPORTED: Thomas McCarthy 07 MAR 01

DisneyQuest

Opened June 19, 1998
Movies of DisneyQuest
There is a Binford Toolbox in DisneyQuest
REPORTED: TR Shaw 31 OCT 99
I just wanted to mention that the specifications for the original Mickey tri-circle (classic Hidden Mickey) shape call for a size ratio equal to that of a quarter and two dimes. This information comes from the short animation class you can take at DisneyQuest.
REPORTED: Josef Faulkner 20 JUN 98
On Treasure of the Incas in the maze designs on the entryways to the treasure rooms, there are classic flying saucers, and above the entryway, there are stealth bombers.
REPORTED: anon 13 DEC 98
I'm not sure if they still have it, I haven't visited DisneyQuest since the CM preview when it first opened (when they were still using the cards) but they had a variation of the "Whack-a-mole" game customized as "whack-an-alien" just as it was featured in Pizza Planet in Toy Story.
REPORTED: Goot 20 MAY 01
CONFIRMED: Joshua Hall 31 DEC 01
On a trip to WDW over an extremely busy Memorial Day Weekend, my family decided to try out the newly opened DisneyQuest. I just had gotten a new (rather expensive) cellphone and it was clipped to my belt. I had it on me the whole day, and unfortunally when I was walking through a large croud, it was knocked off and lost. We spent over an hour searching for it before I finally went to a ride opperator and told them what happened. The gentleman told me to hang on one min. He picked up a phone and moments later a security guard came and escorted me to the security office where my phone was sitting on the desk, and suprisingly enough charging (how thoughfull). He told me it had been ringing and they spotted it on a securty camera, and someone actually had to answer it (which is how they found it in the croud). Anyway I just wanted to give props the the Disney Securuty for saving my phone.
From: Ryan 19 NOV 00
There are security guards on the roof of DisneyQuest and they catch several people a night doing non-Disney activities in the parking lot.
REPORTED: John Sterk 15 NOV 00

Pirates of the Caribbean: Search for Buccaneer Gold

The Marquee sports a skeleton who sits next to a Chest with the initials "H.P." - this is a reference to the famous American illustrator, Howard Pyle who inspired much of Pirates.
CONFIRMED: anon 30 SEP 00
There is a beached boat in Orlando's DisneyQuest Pirates which has the name: Marc Davis on it. He was the famous Disney artist who designed much of the original "Pirates".
CONFIRMED: anon 30 SEP 00
If you look at the treasure ..... you might find little artifacts....like Aladdin's lamp or magic carpet.
CONFIRMED: anon 30 SEP 00
There is another chest with the initials G.C. and P.M..... I don't know what these could stand for but there were a couple of artist who painted these whose names coincidentally match the initials.....
CONFIRMED: anon 30 SEP 00

Wolfgang Puck Cafe

Near the hidden Mickey at Wolfgang Puck's, (on the chimney), there is a small ornate fork, knife, and spoon (not particularly near each other) to be found in the mosaic. A chef pointed them out to me.
REPORTED: Jamie Tatum 06 APR 99
CONFIRMED: TR Shaw 31 OCT 99

Disney's Candy Cauldron

I enjoyed the way the cast members at the Candy Cauldron refer to dollars as stone and change as pebbles - "That will be 4 stones and 39 pebbles please")
REPORTED: Allison Ulery 17 SEP 98

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil started in 1984 with a production for the 450^th anniversary of the French explorer Jacques Cartier's arrival to Canada.
Founders: Guy Laliberte and Daniel Gauthier
Cirque du Soleil employs 1800 people and 435 performers
Cirque du Soleil's salaries range from $30,000 to $250,000 which includes free lodging, food, and training.
Disney approached Cirque du Soleil in 1995 for the West Side production for a 12 year run.
Theater cost $25,000,000 and is 160 feet tall
The production is called "La Nouba" which means in French "to party" or "live it up."
La Nouba uses 66 performers from 11 countries
Stage is built like an attic

Where to next?

Go on to the Hidden Mickeys at Disney World's Recreation Areas
Go on to Cool Cast Members of Downtown Disney,
Go back to the Spacecoast Hidden Mickeys Home Page,
Submit a new or confirm a Hidden Mickey located on Walt Disney World Property,
or just send me EMail.