Disneyland Resort Attractions Throwdown: Day 6

Alright, Day 6 is here!  Since I didn't get to say it on day 5, we're over halfway through the first round.  It's taken a lot of effort, but I am really enjoying this, so I;m determined to see it through.  Hopefully my friends aren't feeling too pestered, but if you are, well, we've got a long way to go still.  So sorry, I guess.  Maybe you should just be a bigger Disney fan like I am! Kidding, really, but let's move on to the important stuff, shall we?

Match 64.21
Pixar Pal-A-Round (formerly Mickey's Fun Wheel and the Sun Wheel)
vs
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

Depending on when your last visit to California Adventure was determines what name you might know this ride as.  Yes, within the space of a decade this ride has know three separate names.  For me, the swinging gondolas used to terrify me.  Now it makes for a fun unique take on a ferris wheel, but I still prefer the ride for it's lighting rather than it's usefulness as an attraction.  The Enchanted Tiki Room is a classic Disney attraction, slightly boring and dated, but fun nonetheless.  Again, I suppose it comes down to a nostalgia factor and the history behind the attraction that I appreciate more than the show itself, but I'll give it my vote. 


Match 64.22
Mark Twain Riverboat
vs
Turtle Talk with Crush

Alright, I'll confess.  I'm definitely biased on this one towards Turtle Talk, because I worked the Turtle Talk with Crush show at WDW during my first College Program.  To me, that show is so much fun!  I loved interacting with the kids, who have the most silly of questions.  Most of the time they don't even want to ask anything, but peer pressure states that when you're five and all the kids around you are excitedly raising their hands, you have to as well.  Besides, the theater for Crush at California Adventure has seats instead of benches at WDW, so that makes it even better (for the parents at least).  Also, I can't share with anyone how this technology is accomplished, but let's say it is really cool to watch how a show goes together.  It's one of the special experiences of training at this attraction, and probably something I won't easily forget.  As far as the Mark Twain, it is good for a leisurely ride around the Rivers of America.  Again, I want to see the changes to the scenery from the Galaxy's Edge construction intruding into this area a bit, but i do like relaxing on these trips every once in a while.  Definitely the Mark Twain over the Columbia, I will say, but it still can't beat my love for Turtle Talk.  Duuuude!


Match 64.23
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree
vs
Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters

I thought it was really interesting that the two "side attractions," if you will, of Carsland ended up heat-to-head in the first round.  This is for sure not a main pull for this land, but if you find the line for Radiator Springs Racers too long, there are okay to still stop at.  Out of the two, I give my vote to Mater.  He has more songs that Luigi does, and Mater's ride is a little more predictable.  The fun way to ride this is throw you (and your companion) against the side of the vehicle that you are swinging around, as this increases the speed and force of the swing.  With Luigi's ride, I like the (albeit slow) adoption of a trackless ride system, but hate that I have no idea which way I'm about to get jerked around.  I don't know if they even tried to make the programming smooth, but in my experience, it was a lot of jerking in different directions, and not enough pay off for it. 

I also want to share a short but sad story.  One of those former Disney rides that I am obsessed with was the Flying Saucers ride at Disneyland in Tomorrowland.  It lasted from 1961 to 1966, but was closed due to regular breakdowns and an unreliable ride system.  The cars floated on a cusion of air, and leaning in any direction was how you steering into other riders.  It's strange to think of a "bumper cars" type ride in Disneyland, but this was as close as it came to existing.  Anyway, at the opening of Carsland, Luigi's Flying Tires was the resurrection of this ride, and I was so excited to get a chance to ride something I had always dreamed of.  Of course, the ride was no more reliable after all these years, and it was soon closed, lasting an even shorter time of 2012 to 2015.  And of course, it closed before I had a chance to ride it!  I guess that could be another reason I'm a little bitter about Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters....


Match 64.24
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
vs
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

This is another really tough matchup.  As I've said, Mr Toad's is probably my favorite dark ride, but I again happened to be biased regarding Finding Nemo themed things.  I remember going on the original Submarine Voyage attraction at one of my early visits to Disneyland, and it was one of the rides that I loved.  It was sad when going later and it was closed, but even worse it that they left things there almost as if it could reopen at any time.  Thankfully they did keep it in fairly good condition, since that allowed them to reopen it several years later with the Nemo overlay.  Some people don't like this ride, but I definitely enjoy it. 

So there we go.  Join me again tomorrow for more opinions that you didn't ask for!

A note on Day 4

I fell behind in my blog posts this weekend.  I had a draft going for the day four matches that was started on Saturday, when those battles were live.  I didn't finish it until tonight, but when I went to post it, the half of the post that I had just written disappeared without a trace.  So, I'm a little peeved.  If I can get over my anger, I might try to finish that post up again sometime, but for right now, it's going to be kept in cyberspace. 

Also, in the interet of catching up, I'm also forgoing a post on Day 5.  If I forge ahead, I can hopefully stay on track and not get even more behind.  Again, hopefully I'll have time to make it back here to finish those posts up, but not right now.  Thanks for understanding, and I'll see you tomorrow for Day 6!

Disneyland Resort Attractions Throwdown: Day 3

We are really moving along now.  Results for the first day were finalized, and I have to say, it was kinda interesting to me.  The battle between Tarzan's Treehouse and the Sailing Ship Columbia was really close, with Tarzan winning it by only one vote! on the other extreme, Splash Mountain beat out Rodger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin 54 to 5.  Other winners include Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Disneyland Railroad.  I've been really happy with the amount of response I've gotten with this; it far exceeded my expectations but really it's just for fun, so getting anyone involved would have made me happy.  But the more people involved, the more fun it is, in my opinion. 

Let's get to today's matchups!


Match 64.9
Soarin' Around the World
vs
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

This one is no contest for me.  I appreciate Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, especially since the upgrade of the animatronic a few years back, but it's generally not one I tend to visit regularly.  Soarin' is an excellent attraction, both in concept and execution.  I love the technology involved here, the screen is huge which is really cool, and the scents being blown in your face make it all that more realistic.  However, the original version of this ride that contained only scenes from California was significantly better in my opinion that this new version.  By the way, I'm totally not biased having been born and raised in California..... The new ride just feels hokey to me.  The scents in the first one just enhance the experience, but the second version seems to be designed specifically to insert smells as often as they can (I'm pretty sure there's at least three different scents).  As well, the scene changes in the first were just hard cuts in the film.  With the new version, there's an obsession with having things fly at/point at the screen for each change, some of which are poorly CGI'ed.  Also, they took the main theme to the original soundtrack and then just repeated it for every scene, with slight variations to match the location being shown at the time.  Obviously I have some serious dislikes about the new version, but I'd still rather have this than nothing, and it beats out Mr. Lincoln (sorry Mr. President).


Match 64.10
Toy Story Midway Mania
vs
Space Mountain

This is probably the hardest match in the first round of 64.  I love both of these rides so much, so it's hard to pick between the two.  Toy Story Midway Mania is a little like an updated version of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, but it's so much fun even without the competition.  This is another one where I like to ride with people I can beat the pants off of, but even by myself I try to go for "best in vehicle" which I can usually get (and even a few times getting "best in the last hour").  The Mr. Potato Head animatronic is insanely cool as well.  I appreciate the fact that in California the figure is in a place where everyone can see, even those just walking past and not just waiting in line.  In Florida, the figure is buried deep in the queue, in a location not even seen by those in the Fastpass line, which I feel is a bit of a shame.  Space Mountain is also a really good roller coaster.  It's gotten better in recent years with the addition of an excellent soundtrack by Micahel Giacchino and replacement of the track just before the Golden Celebration of Disneyland's 50th birthday in 2005.  I remember going at the very beginning of 2005 and being disappointed that Space Mountain was closed, but I had no idea the reason why until many years later.  The ambiance and execution of this ride is so much fun.  I've also ridden a few of the overlays of this ride, namely Rockin' Space Mountain and Hyperspace Mountain.  I've wanted to experience the Ghost Galaxy overlay present at Halloween time, but so far I have never visited at the proper time.  Anyway, this is a hard decision between two rides that I enjoy very much, but I'm going to go with Space Mountain on this one. 


Match 64.11
Star Tours - The Adventures Continue
vs
King Arthur Carrousel

Another easy pick.  I enjoy walking past the carousel and hearing the music going, but I definitely would pick Star Tours to ride.  I'm not always a fan of 3D based rides, since I wear glasses normally and so the 3D glasses never fit particularly well over those.  However, I do have a love for the original Star Tours ride, and I enjoy the new system that randomizes the ride.  One thing I will complain about is that the timing of the ride is so fluid trying to fit into the action of the movies.  This is especially bad as of late, where they have been adding scenes based on episodes 7 and 8 (and surely 9 when that time comes), but the explained time frame of the ride is between the prequel and original trilogies (that's between episodes 3 and 4), so suddenly jumping in time to 30 years later without any explanation ruins it a little for me.  I know they do it for free marketing and because it helps people tie into the films more, but come on, be consistent or don't limit yourself by your own rules.  Wow, I guess I'm really ranting today. 


Match 64.12
Disneyland Monorail
vs
Goofy's Sky School

I love the monorail!  I think it looks cool, especially since the debut of the Mark VII.  Unfortunately, whether because of the Mark VII or for another reason, the monorail has recently lost a lot of it's attraction appeal.  You used to be able to ride it for a complete loop, but now it only gives a ride from one station to the other and then you are forced off.  Most recently, I've even experienced not being able to ride it at all from Downtown Disney back into the park, which is the better part of the ride.  I don't know if that's a permanent change or just circumstances of when we visited, but it was certainly disappointing.  It makes it not a ride of cool futuristic tech but a simple transportation system, which doesn't even go anywhere useful.  This is already the case in Walt Disney World, and for me it cheapens the experience.  Still, I would take the monorail over Goofy's Sky School.  A neat ride, but I can ride the exact same ride at the local state fair.  Besides, with my size, it's no longer remotely comfortable. 

So there we go.  I'll have more opinions and rants, along with more results tomorrow.  TTFN!

Disneyland Resort Attractions Throwdown: Day 2

We are off to an excellent start!  Since I'm writing this post the night before it will go up, I can't reveal the winner of yesterday's rounds (because not all the votes have been cast).  So, if you're looking for how your favorite ride is doing so far....I got nothing for you.  But, I DO have a slew of new ride battles to choose between! Without any further ado, let's get going on the next four matches!


Match 64.5 (I'm using a new numbering system, which will remind me this is the 5th battle of the round of 64)
Gadget's Go Coaster
vs.
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

Gadget's Go Caster was for me, one of the first roller coasters I would go on willingly.  On my earliest visits to Disneyland, I was only okay on going on Autopia, because it was safe.  At some point i remember being convinced that Gadget's Go Coaster was okay, along with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (as long I was sitting near the front).  Also, I was tricked into getting on California Screamin', but that's another story.  Anyway, it's good as a beginner to roller coaster thrills, but these days it's apparent that this ride is definitely not for people my size (6' 2").  It's also a pretty short ride, and so I rarely think that it's worth a trip out to Toontown to ride it.  I suppose that opinion might change with children, but we will have to see.  On the Monster's Inc side, this is one dark ride I really enjoy.  The history of Superstar Limo being (pretty much) the worst Disney ride failure is interesting to me.  I remember seeing the building in the early days of California Adventure, but our visits happened after it had closed, so I never saw this building until it had reopened with the retheme.  Another example of some really good effects.  I still have no idea if the Roz animatronic has some sort of programmable response like an early version of Toy Story Midway Mania's Mr. Potato Head, but it always seems to have a relevant response when you stop at it right before unloading.  Maybe I've just been lucky, I don't know.  Either way, I'm going to give it to Mike and Sulley in this one. 


Match 64.6
Pirates of the Caribbean
vs.
Radiator Springs Racers

I'm interested to see how this one goes.  My sister is so upset with the fact that these rides are going against each other in the first round because they are both so good and hard to choose between.  It's another juxtaposition of a famous classic pitted against a recent pull-out-all-the-stops E ticket thrill ride.  Both are good options.  There's something about Pirates that always hits my nostalgia itch, and I love the Disneyland version much more that the one at Walt Disney World (how many times have I said that already?).  There is one "black spot" if you will, that has dampened my enjoyment of this ride recently, and that's the redhead in the auction scene.  For those of you unfamiliar with this change, for years there was a scene where a pirate captain led an auction of the pretty female residents of the town they have just sacked, so that the pirates could have a "wench for a bride."  The famous image of this scene is a tall skinny redhead showing off her goods while the pirates across the water cry "we wants the redhead!"  However, there has been a lot of controversy, especially recently, that this was in poor taste.  Since pirates are known for their staunch political correctness, the scene was changed to be an auction of expensive bounty found throughout the town (because there is such a high demand for chandeliers and paintings on board ships, you know), and the redhead was changed to be a pirate with a line of her own: the stereotypical "drink up, me hearties! Yo ho!" #somuchbetter  Obviously, I'm not a fan of this change, so we're going with Radiator Springs Racers.  An excellent ride, despite the improvements that could be made, that is always a fun romp.  Except when you have
 to wait a ridiculous amount of time in the queue for it. 


Match 64.7
Storybook Land Canal Boats
vs.
Mad Tea Party

Like I said before, I swear I randomized these, but still these rides which are right next to each other ended up in the same matchup.  Between the two, I'm picking the Storybook Land Canal boats, because it has a little more substance to it that the tea cups.  I'm not one of those people who tend to get sick on this ride, and I do love walking by this ride and hearing the soundtrack.  But I'm usually walking past to get to something else.  Storybook Land I will go on occasionally.  Besides, the best part of this ride is seeing gigantic killer man-eating ducks terrorizing the miniature scale London Park. 


Match 64.8
Golden Zephyr
vs.
Jungle Cruise

Jungle Cruise is an awesome ride, but it can be somewhat hit-or-miss, depending upon your skipper.  I've had trips where I'm dying of laughter, but also those where everyone is in stone-faced silence.  I feel bad for those skippers who get a bad boat, but it can also be an issue of their timing or not speaking clearly into the mike.  However, I do respect these cast members for putting themselves out there so much all the time.  There are also a plethora of stories that come out of the Jungle Cruise regarding behind the scenes hijinks among the cast that work there, and that's awesome.  Golden Zephyr is a good way to cool off, and does light up nicely, but other than that it's pretty much a run-of-the-mill carnival ride, with little to offer to set it apart from anything else.  If I'm looking for a swing ride, I will gravitate towards the Zephyr rather than the Silly Symphony Swings (which will show up later in our tournament). 

And that's all for today.  Come back again tomorrow for more musings on the rides at Disneyland, and maybe the results of our first battles (depending on whether I'm in the mood).

March Madness: Disneyland Resort Attractions Throwdown!

There seems to have been a trend in recent years that when the NCAA March Madness tournament rolls around, there also pops up tournament brackets where Disney attractions are pitted head-to-head.  For several years, Disney ran an official tournament of this type on both Disneyland and Walt Disney World social media pages, but despite it's apparent popularity, there hasn't been one this year (and last year's was pretty subdued anyway).  To fill the gap, I've seen a few people do tournament brackets of their own, but so far, I have only come across ones based on Walt Disney World attractions.  So, I decided to make a tournament of my own, based solely on rides and shows at the Disneyland Resort.  Prepare for.....

The Disneyland Resort Attractions Throwdown!
*cue dramatic music and lightning bolts*

Alright, so here'show it goes. I've prepared a list (with some help) of current rides and shows in Disneyland and California Adventure.  It was decided to include only the most current form of the ride/show, for example, using the Incredicoaster in place of California Screamin'.  However, since some of these are new enough that people may not have ridden them (especially in the case of Pixar Pier rethemes), you are certainly allowed to consider past incarnations when making decisions in each matchup. 

So each day I'll post a few new pairs of attractions (we'll be starting at four a day so this doesn't take forever), and you can vote for one option of each battle.  Voting will be done in the comments, and those that show up within 24 hours will be included with votes from other sources to determine winners each round.  I'm going to post on here brief (hopefully) comments on each ride and my personal preference as we progress.  Annnnnnnd..... that's all I can think of regarding rules, so let's get going into our first battles!


Match 1:
"it's a small world"
vs.
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

My personal pick here is Buzz Lightyear.  "it's a small world" is definitely a Disney classic, and I love the connection to the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair.  However, as much as I love the Sherman brothers, that song gets pretty annoying.  I'd probably go on this maybe once a trip, if the line is short.  On the other hand, I love Astro Blasters, especially playing against someone I can beat the pants off of.  Besides the fact that Astro Blasters in California is definitely better than the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin version of the same ride in Florida.


Match 2:
Splash Mountain
vs.
Rodger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin

This is a little harder.  Rodger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin is a fun ride, and a bit of a hidden gem.  It's definitely the best thing available in Toontown these days, and I do love the movie Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?  However, the best part of this ride is the effects.  There are some really cool cartoon effects, the best of which is Rodger Rabbit summoning a tunnel out of nowhere at the end of the ride.  Splash Mountain is another excellent ride, and I definitely enjoy it on a regular basis.  The queue is well themed, and the drop at the end is really fun.  It's always a gamble for me whether or not I will get soaked on that part.  Side stories, I once got stuck for a significant length of time at the base of the final lift when it broke down once, which was the first time I remember getting evac-ed from a ride.  Also, if you want to hear an excellent comedian joke about Splash Mountain, Gabriel Iglesias has a part of one of his stand-up comedy specials that is hilarious.  Ultimately, Splash gets my vote, but only by a small margin. 


Match 3:
The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure
vs.
Disneyland Railroad

Ooh, another good matchup.  I did randomize these, I promise.  Anyway, Disneyland Railroad definitely nails the nostalgia factor.  I told you, the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair does it for me every time.  The whole Primeval World segment of the railroad premiered at that fair as part of a separate ride for Ford, but was moved to Disneyland afterward and was added to the Railroad.  At Walt Disney World, I use the railroad simply for the transportation factor, but in Disneyland, I actually enjoy the ride and the scenery.  I'm really excited to see the new trestle bridge and updated Rivers of America scenes after the construction for Galaxy's Edge.  The Little Mermaid I love for entirely separate reasons.  Starting out as the show Golden Dreams, the only thing that remained after demolition and construction of the new ride was the recreation of the Palace of Fine Arts Dome in San Francisco, which I always loved.  There's a lot of really cool technology that went into this ride, and I love the Ursula animatronic in "Poor Unfortunate Souls." However, the story is a little abrupt in it's ending, and the queue is much cooler in Walt Disney World.  Therefore, I'm giving it to the Railroad. 


Match 4:
Sailing Ship Columbia
vs.
Tarzan's Treehouse

I don't really have anything to say here, neither of these are rides that I enjoy.  I do remember when Tarzan's Treehouse opened up, having been the Swiss Family Treehouse before that.  Either way, climbing isn't really my thing.  Last time I went, it was way too many stairs for my taste, so I'm going with Sailing Ship Columbia out of laziness.  But I do enjoy the use of the Columbia for it's use in Fantasmic! (more so the previous version than the new one, albeit I haven't seen the new version of the show in person yet). 

So that's it for the first four battles.  What are your preferences and the reasons behind them?

World Rides Update

Where am I at?  I've taken everything I've done so far crossed off this list, so both you and I can see what I still have left to do.  After all, I've only got just over another month left here before I have to attempt the most dangerous part of my journey: the return to civilization!  Sorry, that was a poor attempt at a Jungle Cruise joke.

Don't worry, it was kinda fishy anyway.

You know why? Because it stunk!

Okay, I'll stop now.

MAGIC KINGDOM 

1. Main Street Vehicles
2. Walt Disney World Railroad
3. Jungle Cruise
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
6. Splash Mountain
7. Big Thunder Mountain
8. Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island
9. Liberty Belle Riverboat
10. Haunted Mansion
11. It’s a Small World
12. Peter Pan’s Flight
13. Prince Charming Regal Carousel
14. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
15. Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid
16. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
17. Mad Tea Party
18. Dumbo the Flying Elephant
19. Barnstormer
20. Tomorrowland Speedway
21. Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
22. Space Mountain
23. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
24. AstroOrbiter
25. Carousel of Progress

Score: 18/25

I feel like I've done good here getting the obvious ones out of the way here, now just to get on the more obscure ones.

EPCOT

1. Spaceship Earth
2. Ellen’s Energy Adventure
3. Sum of All Thrills
4. Mission: SPACE
5. Test Track
6. Gran Fiesta Tour
7. Journey Into Imagination
8. Living with the Land
9. The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Score: 7/9

Woohoo! Score one for the home park!  Now just to find time to do the 45 minute Universe of Energy "ride".  Added to this list is Sum of All Thrills, which I think is overlooked, but I feel it meets the qualifications to be included in this list.

DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

1. Great Movie Ride
2. Toy Story Midway Mania
3. Star Tours
4. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
5. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Score: 5/5

It's not hard to knock all of these out, since this is the shortest list.  A good part of Hollywood Studios attractions come down to shows, which aren't included here.  But I've done good getting all of those done as well.  Hopefully it won't be too long until the list of strictly rides at this park increases significantly.  

DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

1. Kilimanjaro Safari
2. Wildlife Express
3. Kali River Rapids
4. Expedition Everest
5. Dinosaur
6. Primeval Whirl
7. TriceraTop Spin

Score: 6/8

Still got a bit to do left at Animal Kingdom.  I was going to try and get this all done in one visit, but I was defeated before I even started by Kali River Rapids being down for refurbishment.  Time soon to go back and finish this park!

Overall number left to ride: 11

I'm satisfied with my progress.  I'm getting to the point of going out of my way to finish this list and almost planning my trips to cross things off at this point.  I do have some things to say about some of these rides and the parks that contain them, and should (eventually) get around to getting my thoughts put down at some point.  

When?  Haha, good question.  

I have no idea.  

Valentine's Day

(Author's Note: I started this post a day or two after Valentine's Day, when my internet did go down.  Instead of finishing it or posting it when my internet access was restored, I let it sit on my desktop, collecting dust bunnies (I'll think I'll name him Fluffy.  Or Jeff.)  So since I don't really remember what else I was going to report on from this day, I've wrapped it up a bit and posted it about two weeks late.  Happy late Valentine's Day to my readers!)

This isn’t any sort of excuse for not posting here recently, but I was planning on spending some time today on writing a few posts on this blog.  That was the plan until my internet cut out.  It’s given me the same problem three times so far, with various things fixing it before.  I finally found out today that it is most likely not my computer like everyone has been suggesting because my phone also won’t connect to the Wi-Fi.  Ethernet isn’t working for me either, but my roommate seems to be doing okay, though I’m not sure how much he’s actually using the internet on his computer or if he’s just able to connect.  All he does on there is run Microsoft Flight Simulator X (this blog post today is brought to you by *insert product placement here….*) to keep his actual real-life flying skills fresh. 

Anyway, I got to work my first holiday weekend with Valentine’s Day happening just recently, which also happened to fall on the same three-day weekend provided by President’s Day.  Thus, it was the busiest days that I’ve worked so far at Disney.  I often say that I’m really glad that I work at Epcot for several reasons, but especially because the park doesn’t get super busy or crowded like the Magic Kingdom does.  Even during times of the year that many consider are “slower” there can be a lot of people in the parks.  I got just a little taste of that this weekend with the number of people we had throughout the day.  Mostly it kept us consistently busy throughout the day. 

There were more people that were irritable today though.  Now hold on a moment; I thought Valentine’s Day was about love.  Wouldn’t that mean that people were happy and getting along with one another?  Well, apparently not. One lady told me that she had ridden in a shell that had water on the seat, which upset her.  When I offered a quick “I’m sorry” to her, she replied “No you’re not!” and walked off.  Oh, I didn’t know you knew what I was feeling instead of me, my bad. 

But we actually got up to a decent wait time.  We most often post a 10 minute wait, which really is just about a 5 minute walk through our long queue.  Oh yeah, that’s another thing that people love to joke about; trust me, we’ve heard it before.  On Valentine’s Day we got up to a 25 or 30 minute wait for a part of the day, which filled our standby queue up to the door outside. We do have these butterfly gates that we can open to make the queue longer, but we keep them in the shortest configuration all of the time.  For a brief part of Sunday we opened one of the gates, until someone thought our line was short again and closed it.  It was only later that we reached our highest wait times of the day.  Oops.  Oh well, no one complained about that at least. 

Overall, just another great day at the Seas!

Stories from the Seas: "Are those fish real?"

Wow, do I get this question a lot.  "Are those real fish?  Is that a real aquarium?  Is that water real?"

Um, yes.  Yes it is.

Okay, so if you don't know, The Seas with Nemo and Friends started back in the 80s as a pavilion called The Living Seas.  It was based around the concept of what it would be like to live in a base deep underwater, called Seabase Alpha.  A big part of that pavilion was a 5.7 million gallon aquarium with a man made coral reef environment.  In 2006 the pavilion was updated to it's current Nemo theme, with the ride being renamed the same as the pavilion.  The finale of the ride travels through the aquarium with Finding Nemo characters appearing alongside the real fish.  However, we get asked so often if that aquarium that they just traveled through and all the fish they saw inside it are real.

Here's the deal: if Disney is good enough at making people believe that things are real that people are actually fooled into thinking that this aquarium might not actually exist, then kudos to them.  That shows how good Disney is at doing what they try to do.  The theme parks are all about making fantasy worlds and things into reality; making possible that which is impossible, and getting everyone, both young and old, to believe in it.  The fact that people ever even wonder if the water, fish, aquarium, etc. are real is awesome.

On the other hand, I still can't help but wonder how anyone could think that it's fake.  Maybe it's just because I've always known the aquarium is real that I have a hard time comprehending why people even ask this question.  Of course it's real!! As much as it would be awesome if we could, I'm pretty sure no one in the world can create water effects, fish, sharks, dolphins, sting rays, sea turtles, and everything else that appears as real as, well, the real thing.  I see it as a no-brainer.  Of course, it's also said that Disney guests drop something like 20 IQ points on average by walking through the gates....but that is another blog post.

A couple of more notes on the aquarium:

- I never knew how popular the manatees were here until the last week or so that they've been off exhibit.  We have two manatees here, and one had surgery recently, so they are being kept apart for the time being, which causes the tank filter to not work as well as normal, which clouds up the water, so their tank is curtained off until further notice.  Or something like that.  But I've had so many people ask me why they were gone and when they will be back ever since their tank was covered up.  But I don't know when, so please stop asking me.

- Someone asked me today why the dolphin appeared so sad.  Um, I don't know that one either.  Maybe because all his friends are backstage and he's in the onstage tank?  We have four dolphins, but usually just one or two are in the onstage tank at a time.  Maybe that's it, or perhaps dolphins just naturally appear sad?

- "Is that the aquarium for the restaurant?"  Technically, yes.  It is the same aquarium that the Coral Reef Restaurant looks out into (as well as the VIP Lounge, which few people get to visit, #castmemberprivileges), but the aquarium is for everyone first and the restaurant second.

- There is a fish that is very cute and always swims the same way around the dolphin tank, which just happens to be right next to where we as cast walk when we are working Unload 2 (hopefully I'll get around to explaining positions and such later on).  He (or she, but I call him a he) just swims in the same circle all day, sometimes slightly higher or lower along the window, but always at the same speed and in the same direction.  So a fellow coworker and I have taken to naming him Pato (duck in Spanish).  Also, we started timing him tonight.  He was averaging a good 24 clammobiles between passes, and assuming that Peach's dialogue stating that it's 3.2 seconds between shells (a fairly likely figure), then Pato is circling the tank in just about 77 seconds.  Which is pretty good.  I don't know exactly what path Pato travels or the distance of that particular path, but apparently he's got it down well enough to be fairly consistent in timing.  And without knowing the distance we can't calculate his speed, but I like to think that Pato is doing really good for himself.  I also pretend that he's getting his exercise in, just like how we do when we walk the unload belt endlessly.

Who Will it Be?

Just a shorter post for you guys today, to fill the gap until I get some more finished, hopefully soon. I ran across a news update from several sites that announced a Disney princess will soon be added to the official line of Disney Princesses, with the announcement coming this Friday, February 19th. I was curious who people thought it might be, so I started a discussion  on my personal Facebook page among my friends to hear their opinions. After a few suggestions, these are my thoughts on some of the possibilities, copied directly from what I posted on Facebook. Hopefully it's an interesting read for y'all.

By the way, if the formatting is screwy because I copied this directly, just let me know and I'll fix it tonight after my shift

I don't know who it will be, but here are my thoughts (all just personal opinion, feel free to discuss):

1. Anna and/or Elsa are most likely, and Anna more so out of the two.  I don't know if it will be them becasue it sounds like only one is being added, and it would be strange to have one without the other.  As well, Else is technically a Queen, so it would be strange to have her in the "Princess" lineup, even if she is (in my opinion) more popular than Anna.  However, Anna was the one who committed the heroic act, which is sorta one of the requirements for admittance.  I saw a few articles from shortly after Frozen came out stating that Disney was going to add Anna and Elsa to the Princesses, but nothing official from Disney and no word since, so that may or may not still happen.  It would be interesting to see them add both and then perhaps drop one of the less popular princesses (like Pocahontas) just to keep the number at 12 and not 13.

2. It won't be Leia, as much as I think that would be nice.  And it kinda makes sense with how much Disney is pushing Star Wars right now. But with Leia they would have a similar problem as they do with with adding Giselle, you can't pay the actress to stay in the parks all day for the face character.  True, they had a Leia that did meet and greets during Star Wars Weekends, but I don't think she really fits into the lineup either.

3. Moana would be cool if they added her, but I don't see it happening until later.  The princesses don't get added until after their movies come out, and we haven't seen anything yet for her movie in the way of marketing.  If it is her, it shows that Disney has a lot of faith in her character and how well she will do.  Although they could add her to the line as a marketing ploy so people will make the movie a success, but if that fails it's hard to back down from making her a princess.

4. Sofia can't become a face character, becasue she's a child.  Also, she may be popular among the age group that she is targeted towards, but she doesn't reach a wide audience; mostly just the kids and parents who watch the show with their children.  However, there is a Sofia meet and greet, so it could be they just continue doing things that way, with oversize animated characters.  Sofia's show is also about to debut another Princess with Elena of Avalor, who will then get her own show.  Out of the two, Elena seems more likely to me to be chosen because she is older and not targeted directly at kids, but since her show also hasn't started yet, it's hard to say that Disney would take the risk of adding her without knowing how popular she might be (or not).

Disney does seem to keep mentioning how diverse they are by adding Hispanic/Latino princesses in Sophia and Elena, and by emphasizing the fact that Moana is Polynesian, so it will be very interesting to see what happens and how the community responds.  Will the choice be a move of marketing, or will the position be deserving to whoever is chosen?

As a side note, I like the idea of 12 princesses, so I'm glad that they're adding one to go from 11 to 12.  We can call them the Royal Dozen or something like that!

Since I posted that, someone suggested it might be Mal or Evie from the Disney Channel movie Descendants. That movie did well enough that I'm surprised there hasnt been more capitalization off of it yet (can anyone say High School Musical?), but I again don't think it's likely Disney will choose them, for simialr reasons to Leia and Giselle mentioned above, as awesome as it would be to have a Disney Princess that is the daughter of a classic Disney villain.

All of these have great pros and cons, and I would like to say I was right in guessing who it might be, but even more I'd love to be proven wrong. I formulate my opinions from past personal experiences and try to guess what Disney might be thinking, bit they have proven that it's not always easy to predict the decisions of such a large company. They've surprised me in the past, and this is one time where they could surprise us all again.

Go ahead and post your own comments below!

A Quick Note on Discovery Day

Discovery Day is the training class specifically for cast members working at Epcot to introduce them to the park and the story it tells.  Each park has one, and the cast members will go through this on their second day of training.  So I'be been happy about things since I found out I was working at Epcot, and after visiting there following Traditions, I was definitely sure that it was my favorite park.  But this cemented that even more for me.  We had three awesome leaders who took us on a tour of the park around Future World and World Showcase, with a few surprises along the way that were so awesome, we were literally sworn to secrecy.  But seriously, Epcot is the best park!  It made us all so happy and feel like we were special.

Also with Discovery Day we found out what attractions we each will be working.  There were seven of us in the group of about 38 for the tour that were working attractions in Future World East.  Three went to Mission Space, two to Spaceship Earth, one to Test Track, and I went to the Seas with Nemo and Friends.  This isn't the most popular or desired attraction, but I'm happy with it anyway.  Especially because it also includes Turtle Talk with Crush, which will be a lot of fun to work with all the kids.  I'm most sad that I'm the only one of that group that will be starting there, just since we had some fun getting to know each other over the past few days, but I bet that I'll still get to see them occasionally.  Anyway, I now have my schedule for the next week and a half.  I start with on the job training right away, with a visiting to Costuming right at the beginning (so I went out and bought shoes.  Nothing to say about that), and next week I also have a night shift where I will have IllumiNations training for crowd control during that.  I'm really happy for that since I love IllumiNations.

In fact, I love it so much that I went out and watched it last night.  I first went to Hollywood Studios so ride Star Tours twice and then catch the Star Wars themed fireworks show, which was AMAZING.  I'll talk more about that in a later post, but it was so awesome.  Then I caught a break and got right on a Friendship boat headed to Epcot, which I got to with about 15 minutes to spare before the start of IllumiNations, so I walked over near Mexico so that a backstage exit to my bus stop was close and convenient.  I was really worried about being caught and accused of trespassing since I was in casual clothes, so I had my ID out and ready to show if anyone accused me of that.  Luckily nothing happened and I got right on the bus and made it home.

So life has been great and now I'm starting the next leg of this amazing journey.  Here we go!

Side Magic, Part 1

I'm going to start a series like this that will be for excursions and things that I do outside of the main theme parks.  Things like resort hopping, Disney Springs visits, possibly even trips to other places in Orlando (if I can get transportation) will be covered here.  And whatever else I feel like, of course.

Since I had a few days of down time before Traditions (marking the start of being able to get into the parks for free), I took some time to relax and explore.  The first night I went out and watched Magic Kingdom's Wishes fireworks show from the beach of the Polynesian Village Resort.  Now I've only come here to WDW twice before, and neither time have we stayed at a Disney hotel.  Thus I've never really walked around any of the resorts before, and it was just kinda fun to casually wander around in the dark, relying heavily upon maps placed conveniently often enough so that you don't get lost.  It doesn't feel like Florida anymore, although I also wouldn't say I felt like I was in Hawaii or anywhere else.  Disney magic is real, and for a while I was just somewhere, with no responsibilities and cares.  That sort of escapism is one of the things that I and many others love about Disney.  Their stories become so real to us that we can live life free of the stress and burdens that we otherwise always carry with us.  It's awesome, if you ever get to experience it.

Anyways, I got to the resort just before the fireworks were starting, and as I walked to the beach I heard an announcement about the show being only 5 minutes away.  This gave me confidence that they were going to play the music throughout the area.  However, as I started hearing the strains of music drifting over the Seven Seas Lagoon instead of out of speakers that I assumed were nearby, I realized I was much mistaken and slightly disappointed.  But I enjoyed watching the fireworks from there anyway, without any crowds to deal with whatsoever, so I decided to try again another night in a different.  Also on the first night I hug around for a hour to watch the Electrical Water Pageant.  This isn't nearly as exciting as the fireworks, so I really wouldn't schedule time for this specifically, but if it's not out of your way, I recommend it.  If you haven't heard of it before, look it up online, so I don't have to take the time to describe it here, but it is a fun show to catch at least once.  Aside from a little bit of window shopping at the Polynesian while waiting for my bus to come, that was it for that night.

I didn't have my camera on me this night, just my phone, so I tried to take a couple pictures with that, but they really turned out terrible.  I'm putting them here anyway, but please don't judge me.  I like photography, but I don't always take the time to get good pictures, plus I don't use photoshop at all, so I'm completely at mercy of whatever cheap camera I'm using as to whether they turn out decent or not. And in this case, it was not.

Wishes on the beach:

The Electrical Water Pageant, featuring a sea serpent with a missing midsection (it lit up later, after it had passed me):

The night before Traditions I went out to Disney Springs, which is very different from when I was last there in 2010.  I'm actually really excited now about the construction going on there.  I guess I never really found it necessary, but whether it is or not, it's definitely doing good things for the area. It's fun to just poke around in the shops, or casually stroll down the walkways, and the whole aesthetic of the area getting a facelift makes this even more enjoyable.  My only concern currently is that I hope it doesn't develop too much of the same feel as that of an outlet mall, but I think Disney is taking good care of controlling what shops open here so as to prevent that from happening.  Anyway, I was mostly here window shopping again, but I met and talked to a lot of great people, both current and former College Program members.  They all gave me some tips for how to have a great time, and it got me really excited (again) to start.

This cute print was for sale in the new Star Wars Galactic Outpost (formerly D Street):

Also that night I went back to the Polynesian, by way of a bus that took me to the Grand Floridian so that I got to see that spectacular lobby.  Wow, that was very fancy, but very cool.  I felt underdressed, like I should be wearing a suit instead of shorts and a polo shirt.  Up on the second level of the lobby is a stand for a band to play live music from.  Walking behind that I was amazed at how much music they have in their folders to choose from and play.  This is just one of them, but each band member's folder was as big as this.

That's got to be heavy.  Anyway, I took the monorail loop over to the Polynesian and arrived at the beach with a few minutes to spare.  This time I sought out a different spot that I had found while waiting for the Electrical Water Pageant from two nights before.  By the time I got there, there was already a crowd of people all waiting for the fireworks.  Great, I've got to be in a good spot where the music is played, right?  Nope.  Again, there was no music broadcast near where I was. Maybe I just have bad luck.  Anyway, I was slightly prepared this time because I had my phone and a pair of headphones, so all I had to do was pull up a video from youtube with just the soundtrack and keep that playing for me while watching, but it proved to be harder than I thought it would be to sync up the music and the show.  Eventually I got it perfect and was really happy with myself when youtube decided to randomly play a 30 second ad in the middle of my video.  Well, so much for that idea.  I tried to sync up again with the audio, but no such luck.  I still really enjoy watching the fireworks from the Polynesian, but I have to do something to figure out how to get the music and the fireworks together.  Since I had to get up early the next morning for Traditions I called it a night and headed home.

If you read all that, good for you for sticking it out.  If not, well, hopefully I'll start writing shorter entries one of these days.  Not only are they really long to read, it's a long time and a bit of a drain for me to write them in the first place.

Until next time!

Traditions! And other things

Sorry guys (ad girls), this is going to be a rather text heavy and descriptive post of a bit of my early training.

On Friday the 15th of January I had Traditions.  This is a training class for all Disney cast members that goes over the history of the company and the universal goal of the Walt Disney company: to create happiness.  It was a bit emotional, as it started to hit us all just what kind of journey we are about to embark upon.  We had such a big group of people arrive on the same day I did that we were split into two groups, one that had Traditions at 8am, and the other in the afternoon at 1:30 I think.  Obviously I was in the morning group.  We took three overcrowded buses specifically for us to Disney University, which is back behind the Magic Kingdom.  From there we were split into smaller classrooms of about 60 people or so for the rest of the day.

Normally this class is about either hours, but since I and the others with me were all College Program kids, our version is shortened to only 4 hours.  We learn the same things, we just do it in half the time, so it moved pretty quickly, as you can tell.  I had two great trainers that taught the class, Casey and Christian (sorry, I didn't take any pictures of them).  We talked briefly about the company and the heritage that Uncle Walt built, and how we move that forward through all of our actions.  We also started to talk about the four keys, which is what we use to guide our actions and responses to situations.  They are, in order, Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency.  This is what all the cast members use everyday and what set us apart from other companies.  Normally we go out to the Magic Kingdom to observe these keys in action among the guests, but we were apparently getting some lighting and thunder so we instead sat in our classroom and went over hypothetical situations instead.  I say apparently because we didn't hear and/or see it at all, being tucked far enough inside the building that we had to take the word of others (and smartphone weather apps).

About halfway through we got our company IDs, which were cool.  I knew I could then use that to get into the parks, which I think pretty much all of us had been planning on doing.  However, right at the end, we had Mickey Mouse come in and interact with our class for about 5 minutes.  This is where things really became real for me.  So he handed out a few little figures of Disney characters to people answering trivia questions, and then he left us with a present and walked out.  As he was leaving I realized that it's just a little bit ridiculous that he's a mouse.  I don't know why I thought this, or even cared about it really, but seriously guys, he's a mouse.  That's it.  I can't even explain how I was feeling/thinking.  Anyway, the present he left us was a box with all of our nametags.  Mine was coincidentally the first one called out, and since we were going to all out them on together I placed it on the table for just a moment.  Then it really hit me.

Oh my gosh.  I'm actually here.  This is actually happening.  I work for Disney.  I'm fulfilling my dream.  And then, I work for a mouse.

Also pictured above are the Mickey Ear hats that we all received.

As soon as everyone had gotten their nametag, we all put ours on.  I was so excited, it was awesome.  That thing was a badge of honor to me.  It made it all real to me.  But then class was over and we were loaded back on our buses and headed home.  Of course I went out to the parks that night, specifically Epcot. What can I say?  It's my home park now! That's where I'll be working in just a few days.  I even rode most of the rides that I could possibly end up working.

However I couldn't have that late of a night because I had to get up early the next morning for Welcome to Operations!  This was also at Disney University, and is a little more specific as far as working and utilizing the four keys that we had gone over at Traditions.  Operations cast members are the ones that deal more with the guests directly, so people who are working things like attractions, merchandise, photographers, guest relations, transportation, custodial, vacations planners, parking, main gate greeters, and so on.  The morning class was about as long as Traditions had been, after which we had a short lunch before going into different groups based on our roles.  For me, I only had two more hours, but some were there in class for even longer while others got to go home right after lunch.  This time I went over to the Magic Kingdom to have some fun, since I was already there and I didn't want to go home and change before going back out.  I went on a few rides, familiarizing myself a little bit with the Fastpass+ system, which is completely new to me.

I was surprised at how much more busy the Magic Kingdom was than Epcot the night before.  However, I was visiting on a Saturday, which is going to be busy even in mid-January.  Also the Magic Kingdom is a lot more popular to visit than the other parks, especially to families.  It has a greater balance of things to do for guests of all ages than the other parks, so often if you can only visit one park, that's the one most people choose.  Epcot is also bigger and more spread out than the Magic Kingdom is, and even though I might have encountered more people if I had ventured more into the park, they still have more area to fill before it starts to feel "full".  Anyway, I'm just using these observations to say that I'm rather glad that I'm working at Epcot instead of the Magic Kingdom because it feels like it will be more manageable.  Although if that is actually true or not yet remains to be seen.

In all honesty, I'm really excited to start, but also nervous.  I think that all of us feel that way in facing the unknown, and I try to remind myself that I'm going to be well taken care of and I really don't have anything to worry about.  And yet, here I am, still nervous.  But these two training days that I've had already have helped me to see how much just the little things we do as part of our job can make lasting memories of magic for the guests.  I want to do that for someone.  That's the reason I wanted to work for Disney, and it's part of why I'm here and why I can't wait to start.

At this point (Sunday night), I have a park-specific training for Epcot as a whole tomorrow morning from 8am to noon, which is when I should get my schedule for the rest of the week.  And I'm certainly hoping that I do, because otherwise I have no idea what I'm doing, since tomorrow is the last thing I've been informed about so far.  I should also probably find out specifically what ride I'll be working, since I think we also go to Costuming after the tour.  Either way, it should be a fun day!

I'm Going to do Everything!

And by everything, I mean I've going to ride every ride here at Walt Disney World.  As I mentioned before, I've only been to WDW twice before, and while both trips were lengthy and packed full of rides and fun, I still haven't done everything at the parks.  So I've decided to make that my goal for my time here during the Disney College Program, and to document my progress while I do it!

Well, I'm at least going to have fun, hopefully you like hearing about it.  And if not, well then my name is Clayton and this has been Tarzan's Treehouse.

So, details. I'm posting this right now because if all goes well I should be going into the parks for the first time tomorrow night after Traditions.  I'm going to take pictures and/or videos of my adventures, and probably post there up here one at a time, so not exactly at the same time I necessarily do them. Rather, I expect I'll do several rides on a day off and then spend the next week or so posting about it, but we'll see how it actually goes.

I got the inspiration for this from the two guys who run Parkeology.com.  They did a challenge back in 2014 called the WDW46 challenge. That was an attempt to ride every ride in WDW in one day, using only perks available to all guests, so pretty much just intense planning, Fastpass+, and Extra Magic Hours.  I'm not crazy enough to try and do this all in one day, so I'm just kind of using their ideas about what counts as a ride to give myself a starting point.  I've posted directly from their website below the exact list of what they completed for the challenge.



From http://www.parkeology.com/wdw46-official-record:

"The list of 46 rides comes from Disney’s official attractions list. We count only rides, not shows or exhibits. The attraction must have a vehicle. The current list of 46 rides is as follows:

MAGIC KINGDOM

1. Main Street Vehicles
2. Walt Disney World Railroad
3. Jungle Cruise
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
6. Splash Mountain
7. Big Thunder Mountain
8. Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island
9. Liberty Belle Riverboat
10. Haunted Mansion
11. It’s a Small World
12. Peter Pan’s Flight
13. Prince Charming Regal Carousel
14. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
15. Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid
16. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
17. Mad Tea Party
18. Dumbo the Flying Elephant
19. Barnstormer
20. Tomorrowland Speedway
21. Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
22. Space Mountain
23. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
24. AstroOrbiter
25. Carousel of Progress

EPCOT

1. Spaceship Earth
2. Ellen’s Energy Adventure
3. Mission: SPACE
4. Test Track
5. Gran Fiesta Tour
6. Journey Into Imagination
7. Soarin’
8. Living with the Land
9. The Seas with Nemo and Friends

DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

1. Great Movie Ride
2. Toy Story Midway Mania
3. Star Tours
4. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
5. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

1. Kilimanjaro Safari
2. Wildlife Express
3. Kali River Rapids
4. Expedition Everest
5. Dinosaur
6. Primeval Whirl
7. TriceraTop Spin"

You may notice I crossed Soarin' off that list.  That particular ride has closed while a third theater is constructed and programming takes place in preparation to switch the film over to one showing scenes from all over the world instead of limited to only California.  This will continue until the new film premieres in summer, long after I am gone in April.  So already I'm down to 45 rides.  As well. I am going to include shows as part of what I experience and document during my time here.  Since no one likes failure, I'm not requiring all of these for myself, but they will definitely be included as a bonus of sorts.

A record of the successful WDW46 run from Parkeology is captured here, and while it is rather lengthy, it's still quite an interesting read.

Hopefully I'll see you back here as I start to record my progress. TTFN!

Hello World! Redux

Welcome back everyone!  And by everyone, I mean the one person who still occasionally stumbles upon my ramblings every once in a while.  But hey, we're allowed to have delusions of grandeur, right?

So there's a reason I've come back (again) to resurrect this long outdated blog.  How 'bout a challenge: guess where I am right now.


Go on, guess.



I'll wait.




Got it?  Okay, good.  Here goes....





I'M AT WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!! *super happy dance*

It has been a dream of mine for many years now to work for the Disney Company (big surprise, right?), and I finally have that opportunity.  I have been accepted into the WDW College Program, and even better yet, I get to work Attractions! This is such a dream come true for me that I can hardly come to terms with the fact that I'm even here.  I only just checked in today, January 11th, which is when I found out that I'll be working specifically in Epcot in Future World East attractions, although I don't know right now if I will later be assigned to a single ride or I will "bounce" around to several attractions in that area.

Now to the sad news.  I only have three months here.  I arrived January 11th, 2016 and I depart on April 7th.  This is because my university has a strange schedule where I have these months off, but then I go to school from mid-April to the end of July, before going back in a more regular September to December semester.  Disney specifically offered a shorter program to me that would fit in my break so my schooling isn't interrupted. The other piece of bad news is that I don't get my cast ID until Traditions, which isn't until Friday.  Yup.  For those of you playing along at home, that means that I have three whole days in Florida, WITHIN ARM'S REACH OF THE PARKS, that I can't even go to the parks in.  Well, unless I want to pay full price for tickets. (Hey, guess who has two thumbs and is pretty broke right now? This guy. )

So yes, I'm really just complaining now because I'm sad.  But the important thing to get out of this is that I'm gonna start posting on here, as much as I am able.  It gives me something to do and perhaps allows a bit of insight into my life.  I really want to do this, and I have a few ideas about what I'm going to do which I like, so I hope that y'all like them too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I drove 12 hours overnight down here and then had a full day of program introduction, so I've been awake for almost 36 full hours at this point.  Hm, maybe that's why this blog is so odd.... Anyway, I'm gonna go crash.

See ya!

A Thought on Things

Hey there. It's been a while, hasn't it?  Almost three years.  At this point, it almost feels good to stretch my wings again a bit on this blog.  I want to say just a quick few things and share a particular video with you, if anyone is even still there.

As far as my absence, I do apologize for leaving without any warning and it being so long for me to return.  I decided a long time ago that I was going to serve a full-time mission for my church, and that plan came true for much of the time I was gone.  Things were in motion from about December of 2011 onward, and I found out in August of 2012 that I would be leaving at the end of October for Colorado Springs and would be away from pretty much all computers, internet, and most technology for two years.  Yes, I could have posted here, and maybe I even should have, but I didn't and let it slip past me.

Fast forward to June of 2014.  I got home from my mission, a bit early, and tried to get back to life "normally".  However, some things were different.  For one, I live in Mississippi now with my family.  Two, I didn't have as much access to a computer and/or internet (the latter half is still a problem).  Three, I had to get a job.  I thought about this blog a few times, but with nothing to say, it was on the back of my mind.

Forward even further, into the new year.  A good friend of mine left a comment on one of my more recent posts here, trying to get in contact with me.  As I read through some of my last posts here, just for fun, I realized I really liked and missed sharing my thoughts on Disney here.  It filled me with a large desire to keep preserving my observations and opinions from time to time.  I thought a lot over days and weeks about things that I wanted to say here, but time simply wasn't on my side.  I'm currently busy with work, I'm going back to school in just over a month, my family and I are traveling back to California for 11 days in exactly a week, and the internet access is still lacking at home.

But yet, I still want to talk.  My family and others close to me continually urge me to talk, to open up, to share my problems with others.  So maybe that's why I like doing this.  Maybe it helps.  Maybe I'll actually find something to talk about, or the time to do it one of these days.  Who knows?  But today, I have time, and so I'm gonna share.

So speaking of sharing, I wanted to post this video from the Disney Parks Blog about AVATAR Land at Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World.  I think it's interesting that the Imagineers have played this one so close to the chest.  I mean, if you think about how much we know about whats going on in there we've gotten, what, two pieces of concept art, one of which I don't even think is in the works any more?  Maybe I just don't know because I've been out of it, but I at least know very little, as it seems the Imagineers themselves do as well.  So I was surprised and somewhat excited by this video of a small glimpse of what is to come.



Color me impressed.  If nothing else, those floating rocks/islands/whatever you want to call them will be quite the challenge to pull off construction-wise, but it looks pretty good.  And I wonder what context those reacting floors/pad will be used in.  I like the inside look.

We can guess what the land is going to contain.  The flying E-ticket ride (I imagine akin to Soarin', or something like the rides going into Universal's Harry Potter lands), a merchandise shop, probably some sort of food, bathrooms, maybe even a show or other smaller attraction, but otherwise not much.  Still, with as much as the marketers behind Disney love to hype things up for years beforehand (I'm looking at you, New Fantasyland....), I'm surprised at the lack on intel on something they've been constructing for over a year now.  Time will tell how long it is before they tell us something other than "We're working on it, we'll have more coming soon."

Rebirth of a Park

Well, I'm about a week late to coming to the party, but that's okay, isn't it?  Last Friday, June 15th 2012, Disney('s) California Adventure park reopened to a brand new experience over 5 years in the making.  If any of you remember, some of my earliest posts were about the changes coming to Paradise Pier.  And now, many many years later (and very few blog posts....), all of the construction walls have finally come down to reveal how Disney has done in rebranding what was originally considered a dud to both public and company alike.

However, this post isn't about the changes that were made, although that is still a possibility for a later post.  Rather, I wanted to spend this time talking about my personal feelings regarding the park.  I have been to Disneyland when there was a parking lot there instead of the way things are now, but I was much too young to remember it.  My earliest memories of visiting Disneyland come from 2003, the year that my family bought annual passes and made the 6+ hour drive down to the parks several times throughout the year.  I think for that reason, I actually have a great nostalgia for the way things were at California Adventure.  I find this to be true for many of the memories of childhood we cherish and hold on to as adults.  The same could be said for the changes to Disneyland in this same almost-decade-long time period, but the changes to DCA have been much more significant and memorable.

Back then I remember pride in the giant letters spelling out the name of our state, thinking that the Golden Gate is much bigger in real life, wonder at Grizzly Peak and not understanding that it was fake.  Back then, there were shows other than Aladdin at the Hyperion Theatre and nothing behind it.  There was a land based on farming rather than Bugs.  Grizzly River Run and the play area across from it were only loosely themed but I didn't care.  I felt so many things much more than I did at home; wonder, excitement, and fear.  Lots of fear at everything.  I don't know what it was that made me so unwilling to try anything (I will say that I was still fairly young at that age), but I hadn't yet realized that Disney equals safe, for the most part.  I was scared of Soarin' Over California, I was scared of the "Giant Orange Swings", I was even scared of It's Tough to Be a Bug (having had bad experiences on Honey I Shrunk the Audience).

However, I was most scared of the giant looping roller coaster that dominated the far edge of Paradise Pier.  In fact, I still vividly remember the scene of telling my mother, while on King Triton's Carousel (because carousels are always safe) that I did not want to go on "that".  At this point, I could barely even go on roller coasters, and Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Matterhorn were all iffy to me.  I was adamant about not being forced onto my first looping coaster.  However, just a few minutes later I somehow found myself going through the queue.  I must have been drugged or dazed in some way and I think it was only as I was strapped in and the train started to move that clarity shot through my mind.  I remember saying "Okay, I want to get off now."  And then the reply from my mother next to me, "It's too late for that now."  I am happy now to report that I survived and developed a love for California Screamin' which, as a side note, has now spread to other roller coasters that are even more extreme, such as those that can be found at your local Six Flags.  It still took until 2010 for me to ride Rock N Roller Coaster at Walt Disney World, but that was only because I chickened out in 2007 after a much more frightening experience with their version of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

As I grew older and became more integrated in the online Disney fan base, I started to realize some of the problems that the park had.  It wasn't the Disney Theme Park that it was meant to or should have been.  And even though I am extremely pleased that Disney suits have put so much effort forth to correcting this park, and even though I enjoy the new experience and cannot wait until I can see all of the new additions in person, I still was sad when they tore apart my childhood.  I was losing something familiar, like a friend I had had for a long time and only saw once a year.  Those CALIFORNIA letters stood stalwart to greet the guests.  Grizzly Peak roared up at the sky as he always had.  Mickey greeted me from the roller coaster and the sun smiled from the ferris wheel, instead of the other way around.  And the golden sun at the entrance welcomed me back to my second home, just as much as the train pulling in at the station across the way or the gleaming monorail whizzing past overhead.  I don't want people to think that I only remember DCA or that I don't like Disneyland.  Much of the same is true of that park, which is near and dear to my heart.  But it's DCA that has changed dramatically to me, the things that I once took for granted are no longer there.  I love Disneyland and Walt Disney World, I have wonderful memories from all of these parks that I have had the chance to visit.  But it's these pictures in my head of a "broken" park, these are the memories I cherish, despite their imperfections and blemishes.  This is what I remember.  This is what I grew up with.  This is my childhood.

Something Technical

While I was working on my "supermegaawesomefunny" post recently, I noticed that I needed to change a few things on the template so the YouTube video widths would come out nice. Anyway, before long I had committed myself to a complete overhaul of the design of the blog. It'll probably still receive a few tweaks over days/weeks/months/whenever the heck I get around to it/etc. You guys know how fast things get done around here...

Anyway, I'm just looking for a little feedback on the new design. Any comments at all?

Happy Birthday!

So, today, March 13th, is my sister's birthday, and since she is the most awesomeest (is there two e's in that?) sister that I've ever had, I should celebrate this momentous occasion with a "YouTube supermegaawesomefunny Mega Post" (also, am I allowed to trademark that? Because I might if I can...)

Anyway, I'm not usually one with the ways of the YouTube, but in this case, I've had a crash course in finding secret gems among the millions of wasted video hours (which means I've searched through my history to find some funny stuff for you. But mostly for my sister. Since she's the only one who reads this blog.)

So, PRESENTING........

[drumroll]

MY YouTube supermegaawesomefunny MEGA POST!!!! (insert Kermit the frog "yay" here...)

Oh wait,

Ah, poor quality. The weakness of most YouTube uploads....

And speaking of weaknesses,

Hm, that one turned out much bigger....I don't think I was expecting that.

And speaking of something being bigger,

[offstage Monty Python voice] NO NO, WE'RE NOT GOING THERE!!

Ugh, Fine. But now for something completely the same; a man with three buttocks. [telephone rings] Yes? ... Oh, okay. And now for something completely different, a man with nine legs.

[offstage Monty Python voice] HE RAN OFF!

How 'bout a madman with a box?

I just have to say for the record that I've become a Whovian since last summer (August or so) and the Eleventh Doctor is my favorite. And this is my favorite short from the Complete 5th Series set.

There's also this one:

And this one:

Heh, hiding a euphonium...

And this one's pretty good, a meeting of the 5th and the 10th Doctors,

Is this getting a little long? NO, NEVER! WE MUST FORGE ONWARD!! But maybe I'll stray away from the Doctor Who for now.

Tonight's story in The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognize, is perhaps the funniest animated short film ever.

Not that you have to disprove me on that, I'm fairly happy in believing it is whether or not it actually is.

This next one needs no introduction.

.

But it might need an explanation. Too bad I'm not about to provide one.

The next three videos are something that was shown in my computer programming class at college, and are an appropriate setting for this hilarious trilogy. Actually, the first one isn't really funny, but the second and third ones are.

While I do believe I'm on a roll right now, this long post is starting to slow down my computer, so I think this amount of bandwidth drain will be enough for now. And since this post was started for a particular reason (if you didn't remember that, then you are required to scroll back to the top of the post before continuing), I'll leave with this one last video that I made for my sister when she was going back to Walt Disney World in the summer of 2010.

(Yes, that was a misspelling in there, good of you to spot that. And then make fun of me for it.)

Love you Sis!

Avatar Land?

I have to say, I'm hesitant about this one....

The Walt Disney Company announced today that they have partnered with James Cameron to develop lands in Disney theme parks based on the movie "Avatar" and its sequels, slated for Christmas 2014 and Christmas 2015. The first land has been planned for Animal Kingdom, and is anticipated to begin construction in 2013 and will take about five years to complete, according to Tom Staggs. Staggs also said that Disney plans to add more Avatar-themed lands to other parks but did not announce any other specifics.

Like I said, I honestly don't think highly of this idea, though I usually try to reserve judgement until I see more, especially with Disney. I saw Avatar in theaters without really knowing any of the hype of the film, especially the 3D aspect (unknowingly saw it in 2D), and I thought it was pretty good. The visual effects were well done at least. Upon later viewing, I could not really understand what was so amazing about it. The plot is extremely overdone and overly environmentalist, which I have heard best described as "Dances with Wolves with big blue aliens." I'll be glad for the addition to Animal Kingdom, which is incredibly detailed but somewhat lacking in attractions (which makes it a half-day park for our family), but only if it is well done. I really hope that the Imagineers will do justice to the beautiful visual design already established in AK and bring a vital addition to the park as well. If Joe Rohde; lead designer for Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest, and the Aulani resort; is attached to the project in any way, than we can be fairly confident that it is in good hands.

For more details, head over to the Around Disney blog for The Orange County Register.

Who Knew?

Being both a percussionist and an avid Disney fan, all I can say is that I would love to do this in a few years.


(via the Disney Parks Blog)