When we received the
announcement for Shag's
Cocktail Hideaway, another
Disneyland merchandise event that
included (as always) the opportunity to purchase special
merchandise and cocktail
reception with the artist Shag, we knew
that we wanted to attend. So, of
course, we did...
Here we are, before the event
Prior to the cocktail, we had to
pick up our registration and
merchandise. Fortunately, well themed signs directed up to the
correct places...
Along with our registration
packet came our first gift. When the event was announced, people
on the Disneyland merchandising mailing list received on of five
different postcards. Event attendees were given all five
postcards...
The postcard images were also
available 24" x 31" matted and framed acrylic art, which was on display
in the room where we picked up our merchandise...
Attendees on the "Tomorrowland"
package received an extra gift of a
clock with a map of Disneyland on it's face. Sorry, we don't have
a
photo of the clock, but here's the map (which also served as the
backdrop for the comemorative photo)...
The artwork also served as
decoration for the cocktail reception room...
As part of the reception, they served grilled marinated vegetables,
fruit, cheese (see the above photo), desserts, and, of course
drinks. When the reception started, our 1960s tour guide
introduced the entertainment (a band called The Swingin' Shagateers)
and the artist Shag. Naturally, this being a cocktail party, Shag
worked his way to the drinks line (of course there was a line, this is Disney after all) and then
attracted quite a crowd for the night...
Throughout the reception, the
band paid tributes to the various lands through song. For
example, to pay tribute to Adventureland they performed"In the Tiki
Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room", and for Tomorrowland, they performed
"There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow". The final land to
receive a tribute was Main Street USA. For that, our tour guide started
singing "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Disneyland proudly
presents, our spectacular festival pageant of night-time magic and
illumination, in thousand of sparkling lights, and
electro-syntho-magnetic musical sounds — The Main Street Electrical
Parade." Then, as The Shagateers started performing the
electrical parade music, out marched the lit-up dancers from the parade
(click the last photo for a short video)...
With that, the event was over. We were able to pick up our
commemorative photo and gift. The gift was a signed plaque of one
of the five postcards shown above distributed at random. When we
picked up and turned over our plaques, we found that we had chosen
"Tomorrowland" and "Fantasyland".
We had a good time at the cocktail party. The food was good, the
drinks were strong, and the band was entertaining. Still, there
were a few things that could have been done a little better. At
the start of the event, it was obvious that the room was too small and
stuffy. It also would have been nice to have a third bar
line. During the reception, we ended up stepping out for fresh
air, and actually ended up taking in dinner at the PCH Grill.
This was no reflection on the food, it was just that we hadn't eaten
and needed something more substantial than the finger foods. At
the end of the night, we encountered the biggest blunder of the night.
We found out that people who had left earlier were able to essentially
choose the plaque they wanted, thus all of the Adventureland plaques
were gone. While we're happy with the plaques we randomly picked,
we agree with others that they should have either given everyone the
same plaque design (Adventureland) or given everyone a plaque of the
map. We're sure that this left a bad taste in a few peoples
mouths. Still, we would likely attend another one of these.
It was a great and appropriate setting to meet Shag.
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