It’s Ducks l’Orange for Smart Set at the Pond
For our lesson in how the chic and the famous do the Ducks on opening night, we have gathered in the Anaheim Arena’s capital of chic, the third-floor Vista Room, where there is more marble than a Park Avenue gift shop. And why not?
This is where Disney boss Michael D. Eisner and his, ahem, flock of well-heeled chums are doing their version of the tailgate party. There he is now, in fact. Michael, sporting a navy blue hound’s-tooth blazer and a Mighty Ducks cap, has arrived at least 2 1/2 hours early to spiff up the Pond. But let’s make our own pregame check to see if everything’s in order.
Food?
Puhhhleeeeze. Eat your heart out, you ticket-paying, hotdog-eating public. Here, we got baked potatoes, Italian hoagies, frozen yogurt, the works. All for free.
Drink?
Till your heart’s content. It’s an open bar and it’s chock-full. And those who plunked down between 64 and 99 Gs a year for one of those 84 private suites? We’re talking a complimentary bottle of 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon, each emblazoned with a gold duck’s bill, and a giant plastic Duck-shaped goalie mask atop each wet bar.
Security?
It’s two hours before faceoff and there are more guards up here than at a Brink’s convention. And they’re busy, too, even checking the restrooms to shoo out the uninvited riff-raff. Which, by the way, includes hostesses and suite-servers, who were told if they were caught in the Vista Room they’d be canned on the spot.
And speaking of the restrooms.
Talk about your posh potties: brass fixtures all around and scenty European soap bars swaddled in, what else, Mickey Mouse-logo wrapping.
And foliage?
Ferns, sunflowers and more sunflowers. On every table. Every counter. Everywhere.
An hour-and-a-half before faceoff.
The rumor mill on the third-floor is at full tilt. Word is the Reagans are en route with actor Tom Cruise in tow. Hollywood megastars Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis, Jack Nicholson and Robin Williams are supposed to be here, too, all scheduled to dine and hobnob with Disney VIPs and Orange County high-society types. But so far, no sightings.
Oooops, we speak too soon. Here comes Emilio Estevez and Paula Abdul. C’mon, Emilio, what do you have to say about Opening Night?
Says he, star of Disney’s “The Mighty Ducks” movie: “Who would have thought that you would ever go from a little movie that could to the big team that can?”
Hey! There’s Bruce McNall, business tycoon and owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team. “The Ducks are for real,” says McNall, dapper in his Mighty Duck necktie.
Down the gilded halls a ways are local philanthropists Pat and Marvin Weiss, Leo and Ruth Cook and Gerald and Joan Garner, who co-own center-ice luxury suite 320A.
Says Gerald Garner: “This is all very exciting. . . . I’m saving my ticket and program for my great-grandchildren.”
Uh-oh. It’s minutes before the puck hits the ice. Better take our seats.
And just in case we can’t see too well here from our third-floor suites, we’ve got our wall-mounted television. Ahhh, the good life. Pass the bubbly. And let the puck fly.
