Fortress Party 2012 Retrospective, Part 5: Small World, Spoiler Alert, and Bloc Party

Velcome bick to Fortress Party Tventy Tvelve! Ve vill be vith you in a moment. 

But first, let's go back to the first room guests saw when they entered the house. Building off the success of the Google Street View room in 2011, we decided to try our hand at another immersive video room. In this case, we went for reproducing the Magic Kingdom's infamously annoying It's a Small World ride.

The first thing we needed was a cutout of a beloved cartoon character showing the height requirement for the ride. Obviously, this is not a Disney character, but an actress who had starred in a Penny Seats'  production earlier that year. The cutout was a prop in the show, and like all Penny Seats props, it ended up in our basement afterwards. It turns out, she wasn't entirely thrilled with us using her image for a Fortress Party prop. (That's why I'm going with the black bars over the eyes in this picture.)

Earlier in 2012, we took the kids to Disneyworld. We went on the It's a Small World ride, which is every bit as amazing as you remember it! We sat in the front, and pointed our cameras at about 45 degree angles to try to capture video of the whole ride. These were projected on two sheets. 

Skippy made these delightful multinational foam children which flanked you during the ride. And of course, the song played over and over and over and over...

In the basement, next to the keg, there was an alcove called Spoiler Alert. Jason made a PowerPoint that ran continuously, revealing the surprise endings to movies and TV shows. If you wanted a beer, you had no choice but to look at it. 

Finally, there was a Russian vodka bar called Bloc Party.  

There was fake snow on the floor (for the third time), Matryoshka dolls, cabbages, and other Russian drinks and props.

The wall was decorated with signed photos of Russian celebrities who had visited the bar.

"One spilled drink is a tragedy. A million spilled drinks is a statistic" - Joe

The bartender served vodka shots on an ice luge, while it lasted. The owner of the pointing finger clearly just noticed how cool this is. 

The server's outfit was passed between bartenders throughout the night. Not shown: white go-go boots. 

Most of the bartenders were friendly.

But some of them were able to channel their inner Galina Reznikov. 

Clean-up day. December 8, 2012