Disney for grown-ups

A park-by-park guide to attractions--by day or by night--with adult appeal. And don't forget the cartoon karaoke.

BY ALAN SOLOMON | CHICAGO TRIBUNE

March 2, 2008

Dance clubs such as 8TRAX, which features music from the 1970s, continue to give a party vibe to Pleasure Island, an extension of Downtown Disney known for its dance clubs and restaurants.

(Tribune photo by Alan Solomon / February 27, 2008)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - OK, boys and girls, including all you chiffon-wearing princesses -- it's time to go to your rooms and close your eyes and dream of whatever it is little darlings dream about these days.

They gone? Good.

Fellow adults, we're going to spend the next couple of pages talking about Walt Disney World for grown-ups.

(Later, we'll do the same for Universal Orlando and Orlando the City, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

There are people, and you know who you are, who only come to Disney World hauling kids with them. Nothing wrong with that. I've done Disney with kids and lived. So has Larry Mayer.

Mayer is a Chicago businessman with the look of a guy who might remember the words to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett." He was here a few weeks ago enjoying Disney's Animal Kingdom with a lady of his generation -- and without a tyke in tow.

"The first time I went to Disneyland," Mayer said, "I told people it's better for grown-ups than it is for kids. Disneyland and, more, Disney World are just wonderful. We marvel at what went into this . . . "

Then he and his companion, Donna Broder, watched a magnificent tiger splash playfully in the moat of an absolutely convincing but totally fake Indian temple ruin. They were entranced, and they were right to be.

Now, kids might recognize the tiger as "a tiger," even if it didn't bounce like Tigger. The temple part and its astonishing degree of spot-on detail -- that, folks, is for us.

So are the margaritas at Epcot's Mexican pavilion, the songs at Pleasure Island's Irish pub and Rod Serling's remarkable (especially for a dead guy) guest shot at Disney Hollywood's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

And so is the pan-roasted foie gras with mostarda di Cremona at Victoria & Albert's -- a restaurant where small children, who wouldn't know foie gras from mashed bananas, are no longer allowed, period. Before we begin, though, we must address an obvious problem: What, for the purposes of this article, is a grown-up? For that definition, we quote Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who was of course referring to something else: "I know it when I see it."

Here we go.

Epcot

Everyone knows about the country pavilions. If you squint a little, you can almost talk yourself into thinking you actually are in Marrakech -- unless of course you've actually been there, in which case you know it's way too orderly. And so it is with almost all the international stops in Epcot.

Exceptions to the unrealism: The market space that's part of the China Pavilion is an absolute ringer for some of the country's traditional tourist-centric "friendship" stores; the same pavilion's exhibit of the Terra Cotta Army, though scaled down, is astonishingly accurate; the same pavilion's acrobats are just like (and, of course, probably are) Shanghai's; and the pub part of the Rose & Crown in the United Kingdom Pavilion is perfect. All of which, except maybe the acrobats, will bore children, also perfect.

And the Paris and Venice mock-ups aren't bad. If you squint.

Back to our theme. Kids won't go for this -- too many strange foods -- but it's possible for grown-ups to eat and/or drink their way around the world without leaving the World Showcase or waiting for a table. (This probably qualifies, by the way, as a Stupid Grown-Up Trick.)

Within a couple of hours, I sampled and mostly enjoyed, in order: guacamole (Mexico; $2.95), lefse (Norway; $1.99), pot stickers (China; $4.99), a fat pretzel ($3.29) and a Beck's beer ($7; both at Germany), a cannoli (Italy; $3.99), miso soup (Japan; $2.29), mint tea (Morocco, $2) and a Boddington ale (England; $3.95). Skipped noshing in France (the lines for wine and crepes were too long) and Canada (there are limits).

All the above, by the way, kept me from sampling the full-service, probably too-cher-for-kids Bistro de Paris in the France Pavilion. C'est la . . . something.

A couple of good rides (and yes, there are rides at Epcot), including one adults absolutely should not miss: