I RECENTLY WENT DUCK HUNTING. Oh, not it the usual sense of that term—not with a gun, but with a camera. My wife and I were staying at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando for a conference when we discovered a most unusual custom. Each morning at exactly 11:00 AM, the hotel's atrium lobby is the scene of a remarkable ritual. In a special elevator, 5 North American mallard ducks, four hens and one drake, comprising The Peabody Ducks, descend from their $100,000 penthouse Royal Duck Palace.
When the elevator doors open, The Peabody Ducks, accompanied by their crimson-and-gold- braid-jacketed Duck Master, take up their positions on a plush red carpet and begin the March of The Peabody Orlando Ducks to the strident tones of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March.
They call it a march, but actually it is more like a race to a fountain in the atrium lobby because that’s where some food has been laid out in advance for them on the edge of the fountain.
So, there I was with camera in hand, ready to see them march, but they were at the fountain in a flash. I think they term it a march because one is played over the loud speaker system, but believe me, it is no march! It was more like a 100 foot speed-waddle!
After they eat, the ducks spend a few hours in the water, just swimming around and quacking to their hearts content.
At exactly 5:00 PM, the procession is reversed. The Peabody Orlando Ducks waddle back to their special elevator, then to their Royal Duck Palace for dinner and a quiet evening together. It’s really a hoot because as soon as the march is played, that is their cue and off they go.
Don’t believe me? Think I am making this up? Check it out for yourself. Go to the Peabody site on the net and enjoy. There is even a video of this amazing feat. It’s very entertaining, if not down right goofy!
How did all this start? Good question. There is a legend that says that back in the 1930’s, two guys returned from a duck hunting foray, somewhat inebriated and got an idea to place their live duck decoys in the Memphis Peabody Hotel lobby fountain (one of them supposedly was the general manager of the hotel) and just let them cavort for a while. The whole thing apparently caught on and became a practice that is kept alive to this day in Peabody’s three locations--Memphis, Little Rock, and Orlando.
Usually I have a moral to my stories, but this time I don’t. However, I can say with a good deal of certainty that Peabody Hotels are definitely for the birds.
When the elevator doors open, The Peabody Ducks, accompanied by their crimson-and-gold- braid-jacketed Duck Master, take up their positions on a plush red carpet and begin the March of The Peabody Orlando Ducks to the strident tones of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March.
They call it a march, but actually it is more like a race to a fountain in the atrium lobby because that’s where some food has been laid out in advance for them on the edge of the fountain.
So, there I was with camera in hand, ready to see them march, but they were at the fountain in a flash. I think they term it a march because one is played over the loud speaker system, but believe me, it is no march! It was more like a 100 foot speed-waddle!
After they eat, the ducks spend a few hours in the water, just swimming around and quacking to their hearts content.
At exactly 5:00 PM, the procession is reversed. The Peabody Orlando Ducks waddle back to their special elevator, then to their Royal Duck Palace for dinner and a quiet evening together. It’s really a hoot because as soon as the march is played, that is their cue and off they go.
Don’t believe me? Think I am making this up? Check it out for yourself. Go to the Peabody site on the net and enjoy. There is even a video of this amazing feat. It’s very entertaining, if not down right goofy!
How did all this start? Good question. There is a legend that says that back in the 1930’s, two guys returned from a duck hunting foray, somewhat inebriated and got an idea to place their live duck decoys in the Memphis Peabody Hotel lobby fountain (one of them supposedly was the general manager of the hotel) and just let them cavort for a while. The whole thing apparently caught on and became a practice that is kept alive to this day in Peabody’s three locations--Memphis, Little Rock, and Orlando.
Usually I have a moral to my stories, but this time I don’t. However, I can say with a good deal of certainty that Peabody Hotels are definitely for the birds.
posted by kazookid | 6:41 AM
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