The Loco Beach Coconuts and the Party Animals competed in two Banana Ball games this past weekend at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. If you’re unfamiliar with Banana Ball, all you need to know is that it’s competitive baseball combined with some unique rules, trick plays, constant entertainment, and a lot of dancing.
We were lucky enough to buy tickets for the first game between the Coconuts and Party Animals in Disney World, and thought we’d share our thoughts on the experience. Full disclosure – we’re already big Banana Ball fans and we’re familiar with all of the sport’s ins and outs. We’ve attended one game before, and we’ve watched countless others on YouTube. It’s such a fun concept.
In this recap we will talk about:
Here’s your TL,DR: Banana Ball is awesome. Seeing a game while on a Disney World vacation is awesome. The stadium and facility itself were pretty good, but had some operational issues that should be improved before hosting another Banana Ball game.
Arrival & Pre-game
While this wasn’t our first visit to Bananaland, we were excited to see what a game was like at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. We arrived a couple hours before the show (what Banana Ball calls a game) to enjoy all of the early entertainment. We used a rideshare to get to the game. Minnie Vans were another option for resort guests who didn’t drive to the game. No shuttles or buses were offered.
Unfortunately, rain started dumping on everyone shortly after we arrived. Thankfully, the backup plan involved moving the pre-show activities inside. This is where ESPN’s Wide World of Sports shined. Very few venues have a large indoor arena right next to the baseball stadium.
The shift indoors worked fairly well for the early entertainment. Kids had a blast with all the space to play. The hosts, mascots, and even players kept things lively with games and some meet-and-greets. Our only complaint was more on the operational side. The arena didn’t have any food options and only a couple makeshift drink stations, which was tough on some families. The delay lasted past 6pm, which created some hungry kids.
Eventually, the all clear announcement was given and everyone rushed outside to enter the stadium. Everyone was just excited the game was still going to be played! The main stadium at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports holds around 10,000 fans, and that was obvious as a sea of people made their way through the gates.
Food and Logistics
We walked both the lower and upper concourse to explore all the food options. It was your basic ballpark staples – hot dogs, chips, nachos – with some more unique items sprinkled in. The one constant were the lines. Very long, slow-moving lines. We had some bad luck picking a line that had hot dogs on their menu sign only to find out after waiting that they never had any hots dogs to begin with. The sign was wrong apparently. Pretty frustrating.
We settled on a new concession spot on the second level. It took over 40 minutes to wait in this line and eventually get our order of 2 hot dogs, nachos, and 2 waters. It felt like the venue was underprepared to accommodate so many guests. The weather compounded those problems, of course, but issues like incorrect signage, employees giving either incorrect information or no information at all, and enormous waits for basic concessions felt like more of an operational issue.
This was a bit of a sour and annoying start to a Disney Banana Ball game, and we had to keep reminding ourselves the best was yet to come. We’ll have some more thoughts on this at the end of this article.
The Show – Coconuts vs. Party Animals
As we mentioned above, we were already fans of Banana Ball and the Loco Beach Coconuts. That fandom only increased with this game. You see, in each Banana Ball game there’s a headliner. The headlining team determines who is the home team and what kind of entertainment takes place. For the Coconuts, that meant having lifeguards, water cannons, the Hula-gans, and more. Did we mention the great vibes?
As for the game itself, the 2-hour time limit makes things move very quickly. Music is constantly playing. Attending a Banana Ball game is more like a party than anything else. You never know what you’re going to see! Our game included cameos from Stitch, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse. Perfect Disney touches.
The rest of the game included playing with the sprinklers on, some crazy contests with fans between innings, and sensory overload in all the best ways. The Coconuts ended up pulling out a dramatic bottom of the 9th victory. It felt like a perfect ending for the host team.
After the game, the party didn’t stop. All of the players around Banana Ball make a genuine effort to connect with the fans before, during, and even after the game. Players stuck around for hours after the game to talk to fans, sign autographs, and make a connection. It’s a recipe to create fans for life.
The name of game with Banana Ball is to entertain always. Disney World’s first-ever Banana Ball game certainly delivered that.
Overall Thoughts
Banana Ball’s growing partnership with Disney (Disney+ will air the Banana Ball Bowl later this year) means we could see the sport return to Disney World at some point in the future. Founder Jesse Cole indicated his desire to not only bring Banana Ball back to Disney World, but how he’d like to bring even more teams.
We had a great time seeing another Banana Ball game! No surprise there. Our lone disappointment was with the venue. As cool as it is to have Banana Ball in Disney World, ESPN’s Wide World of Sports felt a bit below the standard of many of the venues that host Banana Ball. Even the minor league parks Banana Ball visits seem more prepared.
Ideally, a future game at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports would have better signage, ushers to help guests find their seats (we saw zero ushers and many confused guests), and more organized concessions. We also heard some guests complaining about the delayed scoreboard (the count and the innings were off), small video board, and muffled audio. Fixing some of those would require some massive updates that we don’t expect Disney to make. We also heard some Banana Ball employees (not volunteers) discussing how Friday night’s game was a bit of a mess because of the facility not being prepared.
Jesse Cole and those involved with Banana Ball always admit that they’re going to make mistakes and there’s always room for improvement. Cole often takes a page out of Walt Disney’s playbook and tries to figure out how they can plus the fan experience. ESPN’s Wide World of Sports certainly has room for improvement if they host another Banana Ball game. Thankfully, the Banana Ball experience is so good that it makes it easy to overlook issues that could derail a normal evening.
