Transcript for After These Messages: Canadian Commercials with Kelly

To listen to this episode and see the commercials we watched, visit the main episode page.

Geoffrey
Welcome to this is why we're like this: after these messages, part 2 of our country bears jamboree jamboree, or I guess since the movie was called the country bears, This is just our country bears jamboree based on the country bears based on the country bears jamboree. I'm your host Geoffrey Pelton.

Julia
I'm your other host Julia Rios

Geoffrey
And with us again is our ah country bears guest Kelly.

Kelly
Hello!

Julia
So yes, our country bears jamboree that has nothing to actually do with the bears at all at this point. Kelly helpfully sent us a playlist of commercials which we will of course link to in the show notes that you can also watch all of these commercials in a row just like we did of things that she remembered from her childhood.

Kelly
Yep Yeah I'm a little bit older than both of you guys. So these are smidge older than maybe some.

Julia
I mean there like I feel like the the first one was a disney 1987 commercial and that's solidly when I would have been going to Disney.

Geoffrey
Oh yeah, I would have seen that.

Julia
Ah so Kelly you grew up near canada.

Kelly
Yeah, so I grew up on the I grew up but basically between Buffalo and Niagara Falls New York if you ask me where I'm from I'll say I'm from Buffalo if you ask my dad where we're from, he'll say niagara falls because we're equidistant. Um, so a lot of our the biggest city that was close Beyond Buffalo like the biggest big city you know was toronto so a lot of your entertainment if you want to do something big city you would be going to Toronto or the toronto suburbs.

Julia
And I'm guessing you also got a lot of Canadian television.

Kelly
Oh yeah, right? So the PBS channel to start with the PBS channel ah for Buffalo is actually a co-produced with toronto so we watched Mr dress up and half my sesame street was the french sesame street like the you know like. American sesame street they have the characters that speak spanish canadian sesame street they have a bear and he speaks french um, and so those will

Geoffrey
La Rue Sesame?

Kelly
sure. Um, yeah, it was yeah so so there was that and also you because of you know Radio and Tv and you know pre-cable even actually during cable. We got a lot of canadian stations so you listen to canadian radio you watched Canadian Tv and Canadian businesses would advertise on our Saturday morning tv so between cartoons you would see.

Julia
So and when you were growing up I'm assuming it was like really easy to just go across the border.

Kelly
Oh yeah yeah, I mean the joke was always if you wanted good chinese food you would go to niagara falls um, like there is just you would go. You would cross the border constantly even even when I was older when I was old enough to drive. We would go over like to Canada. Like you would go to the mall it just it really? You really didn't think about it.

Julia
Yeah I feel likein our post 9/11 world it's become harder.

Kelly
Well and what's funny is I for years, you were supposed to have a passport and by 9/11 I'd moved out here. So I'd never bothered to have an up-to-date passport. So I would just like oh I forgot you needed one I grew up in North you know nuh-nuh-nuh and if you could pronounce my hometown people will be like oh no, you're from here.

Julia
Okay, so so let's talk about the commercials we'll we'll take them in order. So first you gave us Disney… a happy birthday Disney thing.

Kelly
Yes, well I figured since we did country bears we’d start with a Disney commercial. We went this year this was one of the years we went that it was the fifteenth anniversary of Walt Disney world so that would have been what ‘86? ‘87?

Julia
Yeah, the commercial is dated 87 so I guess technically the anniversary would have been 86 but it's October and then these celebrations would last forever.

Kelly
Yeah, and that song like the 15 years of magic. They had a parade with that song. It is drilled into my skull I will never forget it and they gave a prize to the fifteenth person through every gate and and I won!

Julia
Oh what did you win?

Kelly
oh my god one of my greatest regrets in life is that I did not keep track of this. I won a visor that had like it had colored cellophane with that logo that 15th Anniversary logo and then it had a little compartment for a nine volt battery and then it had little lights like Christmas tree lights across the forehead that would like blink. It was amazing.

Julia
Wow, But you don't have this anymore?

Kelly
I don't. I'm sure my dad put it in a box and it has been lost to the ages. But and I'm sure if you go on ebay you can find one and it's probably like a zillion dollars because they were so cool. It was so cool.

Julia
Wow wow. Okay, ah so I think the thing that stuck out to me from that one was that one of the things that they were really excited about was Michael Jackson in 3D.

Kelly
Ah, oh Captain EO.

Julia
Um, which does not exist anymore. But I remember that at Disneyland.

Geoffrey
Oh yeah, I've told my seeing the actual Michael Jackson and Disneyland story on this podcast before so but I've I've seen him both in 3 d and in 3 dimensions. So.

Julia
I've seen captain eo but I was not to my knowledge I was not at Disneyland with Michael Jackson unlike Geoffrey

Kelly
Yeah, the other thing and I don't know they showed it very briefly but the other reason I love this commercial is it has my favorite favorite show which was skyleidoscope so you'll see like there was that segment where they showed the boats and the ultra lights and the the kites. And that was all in world. Showcase Lagoon and that was like a daytime not parade that they like a show they would do on the lagoon and I was just obsessed with it because it was so weird.

Julia
Um, Huh so like was it similar to kitetails?

Kelly
oh my God I Love Kitetails So much.

Julia
I have not actually seen kitetails. But I've heard tell of Kitetails which is a new kite show that they have over at animal kingdom.

Kelly
It is the greatest thing ever. It's just so hilarious like you're like this is a billion multibillion dollar entertainment industry and you have kites that crash into the stands on purpose. That's that's what we're doing here. Okay, it's great.

Julia
We got to get them down somehow.

Kelly
It's oh my god it's hilarious. So I mean similar but longer for sure and had that like so epcot in the 80s was a magical place. It was it was film strip: The theme park. Right? So it was educational and a little trippy like the imagineers had maybe put a little acid in their coffee and so just weird. did they ever have ah the movie magic journeys in Disneyland? that weird 3 d movie that predated Captain Eo

Julia
I Mean they might have but I don't know.

Geoffrey
I think so because was it was it like a space thing and you thought you were going to see something like Captain Eo um like but it turned out you were seeing some like really lame space thing.

Kelly
Well so so magic Journeys was made by like a 1970 s concert film maker and it was it was like baby's first acid trip like it was like this very experimental 3 d movie in a Disney theme park.

Geoffrey
Oh no I didn't see that.

Kelly
They played it in the theater that they now play Philharmagic. it was just called magic journeys. it's wild and like the the music is strange and I think maybe in a minor key and just a little creepy. Um.

Julia
So what was this called Magic Journeys. Okay.

Kelly
But Anyhow, like so there's all this stuff from that early epcot. That's very experimental and just kind of playing with you know it just not polished in the same way that now everything everything's got an IP and everything is just polished to like the nth degree. like this was you know they had these weird dinosaur head boats on the water and then there were these kites and ultralights and colored smoke and it just was I was obsessed with it as a kid. It was my favorite thing I Loved it so much because it was just so strange.

Julia
Huh I guess it did exist at Disneyland but I don't recall seeing it.

Kelly
oh magic Journeys yeah, it's it's a trip that that was that was just weird. But yeah this was the part of the Disney parks where they were still doing really weird experimental kind of stuff. Um and and the show was definitely. Definitely a part of that and I just and it was it was part of this 15 year anniversary celebration that we got to go see so that the

Julia
And what was it called on the lagoon?

Kelly
the show on the lagoon was skyleidoscope. Yeah. skyleidoscope.

Julia
Okay skyleidoscope. Wow Fascinating I'm just learning all sorts of things that I never knew. So back at at that point epcot's like brand new. It's only five years old at that point did you did they still have the the international showcase would did that open.

Kelly
Yeah, so like every ride is like 20 minutes long like everything. Yeah, yeah, so world showcase opened but it was a they didn't have they didn't have Morocco I don't think Morocco opened for a couple more years they definitely didn't have Norway um, and I think when it first opened. Um, they had signs saying coming soon. Spain Israel and and Russia so there was supposed to be a Russia pavilion with like an ice rink on.

Julia
Ah, wow.

Kelly
Basically you know what? like, so if you walk into epcot and you walk you walk through. future worlds which will soon be changed into neighborhoods there and you get to the lagoon right? The the world showcase lagoon there's like these 2 gift shops kind of to the right and left as you're looking across and I think that's where the Russia pavilion was supposed to be because they were supposed to look across deep from yeah the american experience to. The Russia pavilion and they were supposed to be an ice rink in like the the was st peter's cathedral or some such thing. Yeah, and there was good. oh yeah oh I am man old epcot is just.

Julia
Um, Wow That's that's just a lot.

Kelly
Just my favorite thing in the world right? like journey in imagination was like 15 minutes um the old transportation one was like again like fifteen twenty minutes and it was just slow moving and animatronic shows like this is the history of transportation.

Geoffrey
In Epcot Russia ice rinks you

Kelly
Yeah, yeah.

Julia
so now spaceship earth has Judy Dench narrating. what was it like back then?

Kelly
That I the one I remember because we— so like I said we we went every couple years so we probably went in eighty probably we went when I was in first grade so we went maybe 1983 and then we went again. So we were definitely here for this trip. So the one the the narrator I remember is Walter Cronkite like that's that's the spaceship spaceship or because earth ah narrator that is like very like that's what it sounds like in my head.

Julia
Wow Walter Cronkite. Fascinating. Okay, and and journey into the imagination was apparently much better than it is today.

Kelly
Oh my god it was art. It was I just there's this one section of it where you would go through First of all, it was like twice as long and dreamfinder was actually a character in it and there was a section where all of the little um omni mover vehicles. Turn to face a blimp with with dream finder and figment. But it's rotating and so that that centerpiece is rotating and all of our your cars are rotating so you're all still moving. But you're all kind of looking at the same thing so it doesn't feel like you're moving if that make sense.

Julia
Yeah, okay.

Kelly
And then you keep going through and there's this one section where they talk about color and the whole room is just these gorgeous white sculptures and then they use lighting effects to turn it different colors and I just remember I could have gone in there for just. I could have ridden that 100 times. that one segment is just stunning and there's a piece of it where figment, the little dragon guy has a pot and they have ah an effect to make it look like he's pouring a rainbow into this lake and the lake keeps changing colors and then the image works upstairs —and again this is like Mid eighties— you're using a stylus on a touchscreen to color things which like I mean we were using touch that was the first place that ever used a touchscreen computer you were making reservations for dinner through video conferencing which is like a brand new technology. Like it was it really was futuristic back then and I remember they had these tape you know those those um things are like you get them with the like Ketle nails in them and you put your hand in it and you kind of make make this shape of your hand and these little nails. Yeah yeah.

Julia
Yeah, yeah, yeah, those were really big in the 80s, I remember them.

Kelly
They had these tables that were like the size of a pool table and it had plexiglass on top and then the nails were hanging below and you could but they were kind of loose so you could like wave your arm and they would kind of make waves and they were the way the light lighting effect was.

Geoffrey
Oh I think I've seen. Yeah.

Kelly
It would like change color. Oh so we again we could literally spend hours in what is now essentially a Dvc lounge.

Julia
So I feel like what you're describing makes it sound like a really cool like children's museum type experience.

Kelly
Ah, yeah, and if you were a a nerdy child, it was your jam. And therefore it was my jam. like epcot was my favorite park. It still is but like little Kelly just loved the heck out of epcot. They had— Communicor had a thing where you could build a roller coaster and so you you know? So it's like really early roller coaster tycoon with like the just line graphics and then it would show you on your crt monitor you going through your roller coaster.

Julia
Ah, ok, all right? So so that was Disney and then we moved away from Disney and we moved back up to where you lived. So the first commercial was for marine land. You have a walrus who invites everyone to sing along and fill in the blanks.

Geoffrey
Happiness is…

Kelly
Yes, if you do that to anyone born anywhere near western New York in a certain timeframe. It is a pretty wide timeframe because Marineland still exists they will sing along like.

Julia
So do you know all like the call back words because like it's it's jumping whales or something.

Kelly
Happiness is friends You Miss, Happiness is a great big Kiss, It's sailing around and upside down. Yeah yeah, pretty much.

Julia
All right? Happiness is Marine land.

Kelly
It Oh and it's such a like even before blackfish this place was kind of you felt kind of bad for the whales because like my above ground pool looked bigger. It's it's it is. It's not.

Julia
Ooh yeah.

Kelly
It's not a great park. It's so it's it's famous for having a very interesting looping roller coaster. Um Dragon Mountain and it was at one point it claimed to be the largest steel roller coaster I don't know if it ever had any right to claim that but it's just as very long. Arrow looping roller coaster. So like if you picture ah a roller coaster that goes upside down, you're probably picturing an arrow because they like they made the classic looping roller coasters United States and it's just really long. It just goes forever.

Julia
Huh.

Kelly
But yeah, it has like ah a roller coastaer and a couple of rides and the rides are really well themed. But they're spread way the heck out and then they have different animal enclosures so I think they still have orcas. they definitely had orcas when I was a kid and they now have a ton of beluga whales. They definitely had a walrus show at one point I don't know if they still do they might still have dolphins. Um, they had a and they still have it I got deer enclosure but used to be able to go inside and feed the deer like you be a little bunch of pellets and feed them. But um, apparently some kids like ran around and basically caused the deer to have a stampede. So Now you're not allowed in the deer enclosure anymore.

Julia
Oh no, oh no, okay.

Kelly
Yeah, so it's it's unclear if they are going to open. They were open last year. It's unclear if the park is going to reopen this year um I would like to ride that roller coaster. Once.

Geoffrey
Well after all happiness is riding that roller coaster.

Kelly
Well, it's right by niagara falls like it's like on the canadian side if you if you're on the american side of the falls and you look at the falls and you look a little bit to your left. You can kind of see the 2 loops and they have a drop tower on top of the hill and you can kind of see those off in the distance.

Julia
So very close really all right?

Kelly
Oh yeah.

Geoffrey
And we’re not done with the can con, folks.

Julia
no, no because then we have African Lion safari.

Kelly
Did you guys have like drive through Safaris where you were growing up.

Geoffrey
We had to the what the wild animal park in San Diego

Julia
Yeah, we have the San Diego Zoo and wild animal park and that was that was the big place to go see animals at all.

Geoffrey
But you didn't drive through it was more the the wild animal park had like a they had a couple. They had some sort of more traditional cages but the big thing was you got on the tram and it took you in a sort of wide loop around the very large —I Mean comparatively large compared to any zoo— habitats they had for a lot of the animals.

Julia
Yeah I mean I feel like it was sort of um and not exactly like but the equivalent to the Safari ride at animal kingdom I mean it. It was bigger and less. Um.

Kelly
Okay.

Julia
Less themed to have a Safari vehicle, like you were on a big slow-moving tram. So the animals were a little farther away I think and also ah it was not themed to be a ride. Um, there was certainly never a poaching storyline.

Kelly
Um, ok, ah, there was such a mistake.

Julia
Um, but even even now I feel like the the Safari at Animal Kingdom sort of like has a constant sort of patter with the the person and I don't really… I Feel like I did go to the wild animal park but I don't feel like it was as constantly narrated.

Geoffrey
No, it was there was I mean they would tell you things about the ah the animals and the habitat and all that but it was um it it was It was sort of educational. Ah, narration and not audience patter.

Julia
And I sort of remember it sort of just having periods of quietness where they'd be like okay we're going to go over here and see if we can spot some giraffes and then if there would just be like silence while you drive in the tram for a while and.

Geoffrey
Yes.

Julia
Then they'd be like oh there's a giraffe over there and let me tell you about giraffes.

Kelly
So we definitely did African Lion Safari and similar to the marine land I picked it mostly because it's a very catchy jingle. Um, but apparently they still have— I mean a they're opening again in may so it's still a thing and it's in Guelph like well, it's not in Guelph but it's on the way to Guelph Ontario so like you're you're driving up towards toronto and you yeah from Buffalo and you can go east because you have to go around the tip of the Lake. East to go to Toronto or you can go west and that'll take you to like Guelph and Waterloo Ontario and my dad used to do a hockey camp up at University Of Guelph and African Lion Safari would be like a place we could stop on the way up because it's ah it's a hike north from buffalo.

Julia
Okay, I've been to Waterloo because my sister did a summer internship in Waterloo 1 year and moss and I went up and visited her briefly and that was when we got the our canadian girls book in a used bookstore. I feel like I did talk about that on a previous podcast.

Geoffrey
Oh Yeah

Julia
Um Kelly did you ever read the ourr canadian girls?

Kelly
Um I did not

Julia
well are you familiar with the american girl books?

Kelly
yep I have in fact, in Chicago my sister and I very recently went to the american girl store because my sister didn't believe me when I said they had like a hair salon and a cafe for the dolls. Oh it was a thing.

Julia
Ah, Wow. Ah so our Canadian girls as far as I can tell it's like if you took the American girls and then made them just as sad and tragic as possible.

Kelly
Oh no.

Julia
The the book that I got was um Marie-Therese: Dark Spring. Um, but that like there was a whole series of Marie-Therese like there are in the american girls and the next book in the series which I did not get— like this was the only one at the store, and I thought like oh it'll be like American girls, and then it was just like horror from start to finish. Ah, just just straight up terror and then this the sequel to it that was coming after it was um, marie-therese: a season of sorrow. So like apparently they didn't put her through enough in dark spring which like.

Kelly
Oh Geez.

Julia
Includes such highlights as her baby brother dying and her thinking that it's her fault that her cousin may die.

Kelly
Oh my God. That's amazing.

Julia
Yeah ah like for fun, The nice Gentler parts of the book include her and her cousin socializing together while picking worms and and weevils out of the flour.

Kelly
Wow, That's some lighthearted fun right there.

Julia
right? right? Ah so you know? Ah, yeah, that's my association with Waterloo is that we tried ice wine and we got that book that I thought was going to be like oh this will be a cute canadian version of the american girls… nope. No, but it had like teasers in the back for other books and there was like one in Nova Scotia that was about a horrible harbor accident with an explosion and multiple people dying.

Kelly
Wow.

Julia
Just like we want you to know important things about Canadian history and how much people suffered.

Geoffrey
It's time that you learned what it was to be a Canadian to be a Canadian is to mourn.

Julia
Um, this is definitely the Werner Herzog series and not the fun. The fun and carefree version.

Kelly
Well apparently the other thing that Kitchener Waterloo is known for is they have a massive october fest like massive like you can cause you can buy like like authentic. What do you call it imported dirndles and lederhosen. It's it's supposed to be this huge.

Julia
Oh interesting.

Kelly
Huge event that they do up there.

Julia
So they have like a lot of German immigrants or.

Kelly
I guess I that's that that's I would assume so at least at 1 point. Um, but yeah, it is the second largest October fest in the world.

Julia
Um, Wow. Okay, but well ah, good to know.

Kelly
By but yeah so African Lion Safari was one of those places you could like they had a tram that you could you could park your car and the tram would would drive you through or or you could drive your car through and I guess I still do this like ah was it six flags New Jersey six flags great adventure also has a drive through Safari park still to this day. Um, but yeah, so you could and I definitely feel like we drove the family vehicle through and Monkeys really like to strip vinyl off your car. Yeah, they like to like yeah and yeah, oh then this is back when you would have like like a real antenna on your car. Not like a little dingle hop of like Real so you would have to like push the antenna down or else the monkeys would like rip it off.

Julia
Um, Wow. Okay, so like a whole a whole experience that you had over there.

Kelly
So yeah, yeah I don't remember much about it except like like and I I feel like it's that classic thing they show it in the commercials. But yeah, the Giraffes Really do try to like get up in your grill and like poke their heads through.

Julia
Okay, okay, like that that commercial also had a thing where it was like it's doing it from the point of view of the animals who are excited that the people are coming so they can gawk at them.

Geoffrey
And climb on them and and poke their giraffe heads at their cars.

Kelly
Yep.

Julia
But like interestingly like so there is a monkey who like looks in the window of the car and says they all look the same to me as and then there was also a tiger who is shown like.

Kelly
Yeah, that was a choice.

Julia
Full on hugging from behind a park ranger of some kind and and the tiger is like I love people and I'm like well that doesn't seem safe but like.

Geoffrey
Who looked a lot like Bob Denver

Kelly
It also is a choice.

Julia
Ah, um, yeah, like there there were 2 parrots that looked at ah, some twins and were like look twins.

Geoffrey
Um, I feel I need to once again correct myself I said Bob Denver when I meant John Denver so rocky mountain high not Gilligan.

Julia
I didn't even notice the wow that's terrible. Ah, right? right? Ah yeah, okay, so after African Lion Safari um there was. Canada's wonderland and that like that commercial started with a very fast little not not rap but like I don't know. Yeah.

Geoffrey
Hoo boy.

Kelly
Oh yeah.

Kelly
Very micro machines guy esque.

Julia
I was going to say um, is it Savage garden?

Kelly
Um, oh yeah.

Geoffrey
Oh yeah I was thinking the same thing. Um, after I first thought wait is this are they doing. We didn't start the fire? Oh no, they're doing savage garden.

Julia
Ah, ah, but I feel like it has to have predated savage Garden based on what the rest of it sounded like.

Kelly
Oh absolutely yeah, know that that commercial I want to say is from the late 80 s at best.

Julia
So I guess what I'm saying is savage Garden got their material from Canada's wonderland.

Kelly
From this obscure Canada's Wonderland commercial.

Geoffrey
Is perfect. Well, you know they are Australians. So I Imagine there's a lot of copying copying each other's papers going on in the commonwealth that people don't want to admit to.

Kelly
I Was you right? They're all Commonwealth nations.

Julia
I had no idea they were australian.

Geoffrey
Yep, which is odd because when I and and and and here I'm going to make a wild swing that that people are more than welcome to disagree with me on. But so if you listen to collections of. Like like if you go on then you you go on to your your music streamers and you go like oh I want a playlist of say australian music or I want a playlist of Canadian Rock the impression I got that Canadian Rock was a lot like american rock except like just a little bit like on average softer. And Australian Rock was kind of like american rock except just on average a little bit drunker and so I would have expected something like savage garden out of Canada rather than Australia.

Kelly
Here. Um, well and I but you know actually I wonder too because there was a Sydney Wonderland right so Canada's Wonderland was was eventually a paramount park but it.

Julia
Aha.

Kelly
Wasn't initially like it was bought by Paramount and then became now it's a cedar cedar fair park. Um I really like theme parks. You're just getting theme park nerd everywhere. Um, but there was also ah Wonderland in Sydney and so um, what I think they might have been by the same. Like development company. So I wonder if they had a similar commercial just with different attractions.

Julia
So maybe the person who is responsible for writing this commercial actually is Australian and also wrote for savage Garden is what you're saying I'm I'm buying it. That's my that's my new.

Kelly
Um, that's the story I'm telling myself from here on out.

Geoffrey
You got watch out for these monarchists.

Julia
Ah, ah, that is how I think it happened. Um, so Canada's Wonderland is that is that the one that was like on an island in in Toronto.

Kelly
No oh my god no so that's Centerville and Centerville's amazing I almost I almost had a commercial for Ontario place but they they weren't very good commercials but Ontario place was amazing. So this is in ah. Vaughn Ontario so it's like a suburb about twenty thirty minutes north of Toronto um, and it's it's there big. It's actually I think it's next to it's maybe tied with or just behind cedar point. So. It's the top 3 for roller coasters in North America um yeah so it was like the huge so growing up that for me right? we had we had Dairian Lake which wasn't a 6 flags park and then much later became a six flags park and then wasn't and now is um.

Julia
Huh. Okay.

Kelly
But that was smaller like it had a couple of roller coasters if you wanted the big park that was Canada's wonderland and we would probably go like almost every summer or at least like every couple of years I love that they were advertising their new attraction. The vacoma boomerang so that can kind of place it in time when oh yeah, that. That would have been an exciting brand new ride to have back then in nineteen probably eighty nine and now they're just everywhere.

Julia
So all right? This is a completely different tangent but like I've been to niagara falls when I was like 12 and I have a memory.

Kelly
okay.

Julia
Of eating in a restaurant that like has a revolving on on the top of a tower. So it's just ah now occurring to me that like I I did not realize this when I was 12 but I feel like.

Kelly
Yeah, the skylon tower. Yeah.

Julia
What I experienced was in fact, a show of some kind. Ah but I have like this weird vague fear of going to that because while we were eating like this man ran in.

Kelly
Okay.

Julia
And did a whole like terrified monologue about going over the falls possibly in a barrel I'm not sure. Um and I do not remember what it was about but like it had to do with going over the falls and the specific thing that he said that.

Kelly
Oh my god.

Julia
Stuck in my mind was that he was white knuckling the steering Wheel. Ah I’m guessing of his car? or maybe like his friend was in the car and refused to come up because they were afraid of the falls? I don't know. But it was a whole thing and like it's just now occurring to me this probably wasn't a random person being upset in the restaurant, which is what I thought was happening. But in fact, probably was a paid performer doing a show for diners in this restaurant.

Kelly
Oh my god. That is very bizarre entertainment. Oh my god. So there's the skylon tower which is the one That's that I that has the resolving restaurant I have never been up there. My sister my younger sister went her boyfriend took her on a date there. Um, there was also the Minolta Tower which is right next to it. But I don't know if they had it I don't know if they had the same like rotating dining situation or what their story was.. It took me a little while when I was very little to. To separate the skylon tower from the CN Tower which is the big tower in in Toronto because they I mean a you know like they all kind of like it looks this the skyline Tower looks like the Cn Tower looks like the space needle like they all have that it's a tower with like a saucer on the top.

Julia
Yeah, okay so I'm guessing when your sister went on her date though. Nobody came in.

Kelly
I will have to ask her but I feel like it would have come up in conversation I would have remembered okay.

Julia
Uh so I want to say we were there in the middle of the day and it was a lunchtime situation. Um, so it might be that they only did it at lunchtime. Also it might be that they only did it in like the 80 s and early 90 s because this would have been 1991 so

Kelly
Fair enough. So I mean not to go either further out in tangent. But when we used to when we went to Disney 1 year the restaurant at the top of this the contemporary used to be a dinner show and it was like a Broadway dinner show and I remember because some lady in a short sequined dress sat on my dad's lap and ruffled his hair. Yeah, it was like a whole thing like.

Julia
What. But oh my gosh? Okay, Ah yeah, I've been up there. We went to a special event where it was like a fireworks viewing thing and they did like ah you they set off a separate balcony in private room and like served appetizers and desserts and it had an open bar but the drinks were very bad. Um, like I'm not sure how they managed to make them that bad but they were They were extremely bad drinks and they gave us all like glowing plastic necklaces.

Kelly
Okay.

Julia
Um, which was also really weird like such a weird experience because I think there were no children. It was only adults and it was like a drinking party but then they gave you like a necklace that's a kid's plastic necklace with a glowing thing in it and like you'd see like some of these people were probably there on like corporate things and they are like these serious businessmen who are like I guess I'll put my plastic necklace on now. But um, yeah, and then we watch the fireworks outside which is very nice. Ah, but that's the only time I've actually eaten up there at the top of the contemporary.

Kelly
We did once as an ah as adults right? after they rebranded so when we were little it was top of the world and that was the cabaret show and they really didn't make a big deal out of the view if I recall like you were they had all the bankettes pointed to the. Center of the room because that's where the dancers and singers were and then more recently when we started going back as adults we went pretty much right after they rebranded as the California grill and like they were. They've really gotten to be known for like sushi and very seasonal. Menu items and that like the view is the whole point like I mean the food's good. The sushi is really good, but the the view of the fireworks is the whole reason you go.

Julia
Yeah, that was certainly that certainly seemed to be the case. Ah, and it was a good view. It was a good view of the fireworks and they put the whole music out there too So you could hear the whole show as it was intended.

Kelly
I think the view's better from the patio at Trader Sams though

Julia
I haven't seen the fireworks from there but I would believe it.

Kelly
And I'm biased but there's a table at the patio. It's the Trader sand you can see the castle straight on they play the music and you can have ah a overpriced Tiki beverage and.

Julia
I feel like you can see the fireworks from a lot of different places and that's cool. Ah, but the thing that like really surprised me when we went when we were we we did like a sort of.

Kelly
Yeah, so.

Julia
Honeymoon trip in January Two Thousand and fifteen and we ate at narcoosees which is at the grand floridian also like right on the water and it's like it's it's as close to the lagoon as you can get. It's right there. And we did not know this was going to happen. We had no knowledge of this. Ah, but while we were eating dinner all of a sudden they were like oh if you want to go outside and watch the show and ah also like we were sitting by the window so we could do it from our table and this water pageant came by so.

Kelly
The best thing ever.

Julia
Which is it's just a bunch of boats with like Geoffrey the way that you like the main street ah main street electrical parade. It's kind of like that if it were on boats.

Kelly
Oh my oh my god it is my favorite so they were when they open it is it has been around since a literally opening day in in 1971 um they were having a luau because the first resort to open was polynesian and they were having a luau and they wanted some sort of.

Geoffrey
Interesting.

Kelly
Entertainment but they realized it would be dark so they couldn't do like a water skiing show back when they let you water ski in the lagoon. Um, and so they they were like well let's it's basically like chicken chicken wire and Christmas tree lights on pontoon boats with speakers and. If it is not just the most enchanting thing and they have just kept it going and and the best part is for the fiftieth because we went. We just went down in early december. Um, they've updated it so they actually have some floats that are now theme to the fiftieth anniversary of Walt Disney world but I just it's so simple and most of the trips we took growing up. We would stay at the campsites. Um, and so out you know so this little lagoon show goes around all the hotels around 7 seas lagoon and then they goes by the campground and so it was just this. Silly little charming show with these little Christmas tree lights and an octopus and and it just I don't know it it. It.

Julia
It's got like a little sea monster. It's very cute and the octopus has like little tentacles that wave up and down.

Kelly
Yes, it hits that same that that that 6 year old just had all the sugar and now there are dancing lights on the water part of my brain.

Julia
Yeah, and like honestly completely unexpected during our dinner and we're like whoa what is happening. There's just like all these little things going by in the water. That's that's cool I Think that's the best way to experience. It is not to know that it's going to happen and then it does.

Kelly
Yeah, well, that's the other thing right? because like.

Geoffrey
That's hard to arrange though.

Kelly
Well so much of so much of the the magic Kingdom Resort is pointed at the lagoon that what winds up happening is you hear the sound and you're like what is that noise like not noise what is that music and then you go out to look at the water and then you see the littles and you really can't see my arm movement but you can imagine it. Like the little octopus going up. Did it do and it's just the best. It's just so good because it because it's not really I mean it's scheduled, but it's not scheduled. It's not like a parade where it's like it's a three o'clock parade it's just like you know when it's dark out this little. Floaty lights will come out my god it's the best.

Julia
And it was pretty cool. Okay, so we talked about Canada's Wonderland we talked about marine land. We've talked about the african safari park. The final thing is is one that we have seen before.

Kelly
Oh really me? so so hill's department store. Um, was my first grown up. Well grownup job I would say was my first job that with a paycheck as opposed to babysitting.

Geoffrey
Legends say the little people know.

Julia
Well, you worked there.

Kelly
I worked there I would have said it I would say it was my first job with a paycheck except the company was going bankrupt so they paid us and and envelopes of cash. Yep, it was next door but the hills in my hometown was next to my high school. So I would go over to Hills after high school and I would work the cash register.

Julia
Well so previously we talked about hills when we had Gwendolyn Kiste on and she mentioned it as where the toys are and we watched like one commercial and we'd also talked about a bunch of other stuff and we watched other commercials including Ah, like Elvira and like also we watched a video of people shredding a bunch of stuff in their industrial shredder. Ah as the the movie that she brought to us was called red wind and it was ah a terrifying made-for Tv movie involving someone getting Crushed by a wood chipper before fargo.

Kelly
Um, that's amazing.

Geoffrey
Hence the title red wind.

Julia
red wind it's it's red because of the blood.

Kelly
Oh gross. This was a children's movie?

Julia
Um, no, no, no, it was just a movie. She happened to see on Tv when she was a child.

Geoffrey
Because it was it was made for Tv right.

Julia
Yep, it was made for Tv. Yeah yeah, it was ah it was not a good movie.

Kelly
That's alarming. I'm shocked shocked I say.

Julia
But but ah, but she showed us a Hills commercial and I remember at the time just being like what is happening and watching these commercials I Still don't know because okay so there there's the story of legend or the legend of story which is the book that they open at the beginning and it says ah legend has its story has it little folk know ah that yeah right.

Kelly
You'll say I mean it's just for the song.

Julia
And there's a there's a notice that flashes that says that's copyright hills toy store so like they felt the need to copy to to show a copyright notice in writing on their commercial something that you wouldn't steal their song. Um, but. According to legend little folks know something something about Hill's hills where the toys are then they go and they actually advertise whatever toys they're going to advertise and talk about how you can like put toys on layway but the thing about it is like they have their mascot which is some kind of Dwarf or something… Gnome question Mark? I don't know some kind of little magic elf perhaps and.

Kelly
Sure.

Geoffrey
He looks like he looks like a like rather than being one of Santas elves. He's santa if Santa were a santa ze.

Julia
Right? right? and he's got like a really big fake beard and it's all kind of uncanny but then the weirdest part about it is that his voice is a voice of ah of a woman. It's just a grown woman pretending to be a kid or I guess a little a little person.

Kelly
I Yeah, it never quite made a lot of sense but it was also on between like the snorks and the smurfs. So yeah.

Geoffrey
But I'll tell you 1 thing I know: those those laser tech toys that that that they were playing with? that was some good stuff.

Kelly
Oh yeah.

Julia
Yeah, like in 1 of the commercials they showed like an entire wall of cabbage patch kids so you know they had the goods.

Kelly
And you know it's funny because they would I mean it was I don't what I don't know what your discount department store options were there were a lot in Western New York before it all became Target or Walmart.

Julia
Yeah, well so I remember going to ah gemco and fedco and Montgomery Ward

Kelly
Oh yeah, we had montgomery ward like lockport had had a montgomery ward I remember that.

Julia
Oh and there was a store called Best and I remember really liking going to best because if you went to best and you bought something big at the end they put all the purchases onto a conveyor belt.

Geoffrey
Oh yeah.

Julia
And you picked your stuff up off a conveyor belt.

Kelly
So I have 2 things about that a I find did best have really interesting architecture?

Julia
I Have no idea, I cannot remember. it was not, It was definitely not fry’s if you're thinking of fry’s.

Kelly
Yeah fry’s also apparently had really interesting architecture. There is a short form Youtube documentarian that did that the series on defunct retail, bright sun films, and I think they just had an episode on Best fairly recently? Um, so I will see if I can find that the other thing that remindnded me up is Wegmans. So Wegmans which has spread its tentacles, It's it's cheese cave tentacles Wider and wider. So now it is my local grocery store here. Um, but wegmans was just the local grocery store in Western New York and they had the wheel. It was a conveyor belt of wheels and so you would you would get all your grocery bags and they would put it in a cart and they would put the cart on the the wheely conveyor belt that would like. Wheel and it would actually turn a corner and then you could drive your very long car up and a very nice attendant would put your bags in your trunk I always wanted to get in the cart and ride it.

Julia
Nice of course because it'd be a ride. Obviously oh yeah.

Kelly
But yeah know Hills was probably the bigger of the chains. We did have a gold circle very close. Oh yeah, no hills was like Hills was like a Kmart kind of deal. It was like a budget department store.

Julia

So did Hills actually sell other stuff. It wasn't just toys. Oh okay, yeah I could not tell from this commercial I was just like I guess it's just a big toy store with layaway.

Kelly
No yeah, it was like a discount. So yeah, similar similar to Kmart or Ames which was really big in new england apparently but yeah, like there used to be more regionalized discount department stores. Um, and. That was the one that was probably the biggest it was kind of Western New York Ohio apparently was really big in Ohio. Um, so so that like mid more midwesty because then.

Julia
Yeah, because I feel like Gwendolyn was from Ohio or Pennsylvania 1 of those 2

Kelly
Yeah, and then Ames bought Hills and then Ames bought Zayres and that's when or maybe Ames bought Zayres first and then hills but like they just kept taking on too many failing Discount because like montgomery ward was a you could actually buy like appliances like it was the nicer. Um, yeah, like Hills wouldn't have a big appliance right? like you wouldn't buy a washer dryer at hills but you you maybe would buy like a vacuum cleaner.

Julia
Yeah, okay.

Geoffrey
Wow I remember spending so many hours being so bored in a bunch of these stores and they've all they all sort of run together in my mind but I'm pretty sure best either best was one of them or we had the catalog. Maybe both.

Julia
Yeah I feel like best did have bigger appliances too I'm not sure. Um we we also had like Mervyn's which was a ah Kmart similar store and I don't know.

Kelly
Ooh.

Geoffrey
Um, oh yeah, Mervyns is still around though isn't it? I feel like I've been to mervyns in the past decade oh not quite it went under in 2009

Julia
Okay, yeah I feel like everything really has been subsumed by a few chains. But when I was a kid. There were a lot of them because like I listed off I'm like gemco fedco montgomery ward and of course like JCPenny Sears those were kind of a little bit.

Kelly
Yep. Um, yep, yeah.

Julia
Fancier though and then ah, Best and Mervyn's and of course also Kmart.

Kelly
Yep, and I remember um with Hills they had. They had pretty distinctive architecture I think like they had like these so it was a big box store but then it had like this kind of rectangle that kind of overhung. The. Front of them in a way that like you could kind of see like oh no, that used to be a key that used to be Hills right? and like the oval logo and then they had icy machines and popcorn and hot dogs and it'll stand at the front.

Julia
Right. Oh so. That's what I would have wanted I would have gone and been like can I an Icee mom. She would be like no, you're not allowed to have sugar but I would been like please because it's here and then we would be dragged away and. I would want to look at the toys but she would make me look at like clothes or something boring very boring something extremely boring that adults want to look at.

Geoffrey
And not all of those um not all of those department stores had toy sections and some of them were really you know like lackluster toy sections it. It could be rough could be rough.

Julia
Yeah, it could be.

Kelly
Yeah, the the yeah the hills I worked at did not have a a Christmas the toy section would double but otherwise it was you know like the what do they call it the health and beauty hba health and beauty aids was like bigger than the toy section.

Geoffrey
But I thought Hills was where the toys were.

Kelly
I mean I guess well but that was the other thing too is like if you weren't you would go to hills to get toys. Otherwise you were hiking out ah to the mall and so that was you know like you were either going to almost to niagara falls or to the. Ah mall that didn't really have a toy stores toy store in Amherst.

Julia
Well, the dream when I was a kid was to get to go to ah Toys R Us or Kaybee um that that was like what you really hoped for but like I don't think we ever actually got to go like.

Geoffrey
Oh that was good stuff Toy R Us. Kaybee was all right? But once you'd been to toys R us nothing was like it.

Julia
I mean toys r us even had a giraffe named Geoffrey it's like it's made for you.

Kelly
I Don't know that we had toys are us right? away we had child world the super toy store and a whole lot more.

Julia
Oh so like we definitely… I know the toys r us theme song I don't want to grow up I'm a toys r us kid. There's a million toys that toys R us that I could play with from toys to trains video games. It's the biggest toy store I know and I don’t want to grow up.

Geoffrey
from bikes to planes to video games. It's the greatest toy store there is I don't want to grow up because if I did I wouldn't be a toys or us kid.

Julia
If I did I couldn't be Toys R Us kid yeah like that's definitely a looming large from my childhood commercial memory.

Kelly
Yeah I feel like we would get sometimes get commercials for toys r us but I don't think we had 1 near us until I was too old for the kinds of toys. They sold.

Julia
I mean I feel like they probably had one somewhere near me but we were definitely never allowed to go to it because the thing about Toys R Us is. It's just toys and if you're a parent and you have unruly small children. The last place you want to go is just a toy store.

Kelly
Did you guys ever go to the one in Times square.

Julia
Ah, no I don't think so.

Kelly
It had a ferris wheel inside. It was like a force. Um.

Geoffrey
Wow

Julia
Wow I did so like sometimes when I was really lucky. Ah maybe like my grandparents might be feeling. Ah. You know like they want to get cool grandparent points and they would take us to Fao Schwartz and Los Angeles um and that was very cool and had like a tree that talked and um the piano from big.

Kelly
Nice.

Julia
Like if you've if you've seen big when they do their heart and soul thing on the piano that's on the floor. That's that's an Fao Schwartz thing

Kelly
Yeah, there used to be 1 in Boston. Yeah, now remember when I moved here there was there was the one that is now a jewel fancy jewelry store question mark.

Julia
There used to be 1 in a lot of places and now it's mostly nowhere.

Geoffrey
Wow brick and mortar stores. Kids these days. They've got their Rick and Mortys but they don't know about their brick and mortars.

Kelly
I Know right. Yeah I'm trying to think

Julia
So there there are toy stores now because I did go to a toy store to buy some presents for small children at the latest holiday season. Um in Arlington and Cambridge and probably the one other town around here. There is. Ah, Henry Bears park so I feel like there are a few different other locations but those are the ones in the in the area and then like over in Jamaica plane there's a toy store that's ah I think it's independent and it's called boing. Um, and.

Kelly
Okay.

Julia
I think there are some other ones but those are the ones the Henry Bears Park I feel like there's definitely also another I just remember I looked up a bunch of the Henry Bears Park locations because I was looking for a specific toy and the two that i thought about visiting we're in Arlington and Cambridge. But I'm pretty sure there are other ones in the area. So I think it's a chain.

Kelly
Back home. There was a toy store called Clayton's and when I was little —it’s since moved— when I was little it was next to children's hospital and so if you had to go to the hospital. You got to stop at Clayton's and get a toy.

Julia
Oh nice, nice. Did you have independent toy stores near you when you grew growing up Geoffrey?

Geoffrey
Ah, independent toy stars I can't think of any yeah and we would we would sometimes I feel like trying to remember we would go there sometimes.

Julia
Did you have a toys or us like in in your area. Okay, so that was the one that you went to.

Geoffrey
To you know, occasionally get toys or to look at toys to decide. You know, maybe what toys we want to ask for for birthday or Christmas or whatever and sometimes I feel like maybe we would stop in there just to just to look not necessarily to get anything but like if we'd been out I feel like we probably would stop in there sometimes if it was a long. You know weekend shopping day and and we'd been doing a lot of boring stuff so that um so that we wouldn't go crazy.

Julia
Oh so like as the reward for putting up with your parents being boring. You got to go to the toy store and have a few minutes of actual interesting time. Yeah I feel like that for us I think that.

Geoffrey
Yeah, yeah.

Julia
I would probably more likely be taking the kb toys because they had that in one of the malls. So I feel like we would have been in a mall already and it's like okay you can spend you know five or ten minutes looking at the toys in here. But you can't you can't buy any of them.

Kelly
Um, yeah.

Julia
Ah, but I feel like toys are us was always its own separate thing so we didn't ever go there.

Kelly
Yeah, because it didn't they never I don't ever remember a toys R us were like the entrance and exits were into a mall right? like they're often attached to a mall but they have a separate entrance and exit.

Julia
I yeah I feel like my memory of them is that they were very big and I feel like they had like 1 entrance and then you would like loop around the whole store and exit in a different door. Yeah, pretty much and I remember thinking it was like a Wonderland.

Kelly
Like the Ikea for children.

Julia
Yes

Kelly
Yeah, we like we had keep I mean Kaybee was similar or not kaybee um child world was similar but it was just this. It seemed less nice because like once you saw you know the the branding of toys are us and you just seem much more bright and lit up and colorful and kaybee was much more of your like monochrome kind of kind of that Kmart aesthetic.

Julia
Yeah, that's it's not as fun. Okay, so we've we've talked about all your commercials we've done all of them. We've been talking for an hour now I think it's probably time to consider.

Kelly
Ah, yeah.

Julia
Our commercial break has come to its conclusion.

Geoffrey
Boy I tell you that the you know something something about commercial I don't know ah commercial breaks are long now they used to be shorter.

Julia
Hahaha

Geoffrey
Should I do the thing?

Julia
Ah, yeah, Kelly you want to tell everybody where to find you?

Geoffrey
Oh Kelly yeah you should you should.

Kelly
Oh yeah, so probably the the stuff I do the most is on Instagram and that is kel underscore 0 underscore w a t t which is kel-0-watt it is my old Derby name and um. From there in my bio. There's a link tree that has like my my Twitter and my Tiktok that I never use and other stuff.

Julia
Excellent, excellent. We will also link to that in the show notes and we'll tag you on Twitter when the episode goes live.

Kelly
Excellent if you like running and or roller coasters. That's all you're gonna get pretty much.

Geoffrey
And if you like both like both

Kelly
We should be friends.

Geoffrey
Yeah, you should. You should be friends with Kelly.

Julia
You should definitely be friends with Kelly. okay well Geoffrey do the thing.

Geoffrey
All right? We would now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.