Rope Drop: Happy Easter - have a carrot?
As the "rope drop" starts a day at theme parks, the Sunday "Rope Drop" post kicks off the week here at Theme Park Insider. Here is what lies ahead for fans at the parks this week.
Let me start by wishing everyone a Happy Easter Sunday today. For the theme park industry, this means we are starting the final week of Spring Break season, so we have slightly smaller crowds to enjoy before the summer season kicks off in late May. But with carrot-munching Easter bunnies adorning store displays for the past couple of weeks, I wanted to bring up one of my favorite bits of pop culture trivia. Why is it that we see all these carrots at Easter?
It's not like carrots are an exclusively spring vegetable. A root vegetable, they can be cultivated throughout the year in warm climates and come to harvest mostly in late summer in the north. Carrots also are not a staple of rabbits' diets, either. Veterinarians recommend that carrots be no more than an occasional treat for rabbits, due to their high sugar content.
So why are carrots so associated with rabbits? It's due to one particular bunny - and it ain't the Easter Bunny. Bugs is the Bunny that first made the popular connection between rabbits and carrots. But why does Bugs chomp on them so often?
Again, it's not that Bugs Bunny was designed to evoke typical rabbit behavior. Far from that, munching carrots and Bugs' catchphrase "what's up, Doc?" were pop culture references that 1940s audiences would have clocked immediately as a caricature of Clark Gable. It's a reference to one scene in the Oscar-winning film, "It Happened One Night," when Gable crunches on carrots and first speaks the line that later generations would associate with Bugs.
So when you see carrots in the paws of cartoon bunnies today, and in the future, just remember... it's all because of Clark Gable.
On to the week ahead in theme parks. Six Flags New England reopens on Saturday, April 11. The park will preview its new Quantum Accelerator to passholders next weekend, in advance of its official debut on April 17. The Intamin family launch coaster features straddle seating and is the third such coaster to open in the United States in the past three years, following Arctic Rescue at SeaWorld San Diego and DarKoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
As I mentioned yesterday, we are talking over on the Discussion Forum about strategies for visiting specific theme parks. Yesterday, I posted What is the best game plan for visiting Cedar Point? I will be posting threads later this week for sharing advice on visiting Kings Island and then for Universal Orlando's Epic Universe.
On Monday, Toy Story Midway Mania! closes for refurbishment at Disney California Adventure. There's no reopening date from Disneyland yet. The resort's other interactive dark ride, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, will close for refurb on April 13. Again, there's no official reopening date.
On Thursday, April 9, general tickets on sale for Disneyland's Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite event, which runs after park close on June 16 and 18. Limited numbers of pre-sale tickets will be available to Magic Key holders starting Tuesday, April 7, no earlier than 9am. Tickets will be available on the Disneyland website.
Refurbishment schedule
January 5 - November 19: Jurassic Park River Adventure closed at Islands of Adventure.
February 17: Jungle Cruise closed at Disneyland. No reopening date yet.
February 22: Impressions de France closed at EPCOT. No reopening date yet.
February 23: Conservation Station and the Wildlife Express Train closed at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Reopens as Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station on May 26.
February 27: Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind closed at Disney California Adventure. No reopening date yet.
February 27 - May 14: Pteranodon Flyers closed at Universal Islands of Adventure.
March 30: Disneyland Monorail and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin close at Disneyland. No reopening dates yet.
April 6: Toy Story Midway Mania! closes at Disney California Adventure. No reopening date yet.
April 13: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters closes at Disneyland. No reopening date yet.
April 27: Silly Symphony Swings closes at Disney California Adventure. No reopening date yet.
June 1 - 16: Men in Black Alien Attack closed at Universal Studios Florida.
May 4: Pirates of the Caribbean closes at Disneyland. No reopening date yet.
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Ahhh, the power of storytelling. Ironically, people can link Bugs Bunny & Easter with carrots because of Clark Gable, when to me the most memorable part is actually the catchphrase "What’s up, Doc?", which was the animators’ own creation, not something Gable ever said. Excuse me while I'm off to make myself a triple-layer carrot cake.