Last week I decided to visit Disneyland on its birthday. I wasn't sure if there was going to be anything special going on put on by the park, but I did know that Adrienne had called for the first full-blown version of Fantasmic 3-D; After participiating in a preliminary version on the night of July 6, I knew that I wanted to do this again. I ended up finding as many props as I could and I bought some others as well.
I decided to fly down early on the 17th to reduce my hotel stay to one night. I made reservations at the Convention Center Inn on Harbor and flight arrangements on Southwest (I had a free ticket to use). My flight was to leave Oakland at 6:15 in the morning. When I arrived to check-in at the gate, I saw that I was the only man not wearing a suit; eek. I also noticed that our aircraft was Shammu III; this was the first time I had ever flown in any of the Southwest decorated aircraft...somehow it seemed appropriate that this should be my aircraft.
Upon boarding, I asked one of the pilots which side of the plane would have the better view...he said the right hand side. Upon hearing my question, the flight attendent up front giggled. I sat in a window seat on the right hand side of the aircraft. It turns out that the pilots advice didn't help...the coast was clouded over most of the way down. Still, when I flew over (or at least think flew over) some friends places, I waved.
Back to the flight attendant for a moment...she tested to see how wide awake folks were by adding just a couple of jokes to the flight emergency briefing. She started it off with "If you could at least pretend to have my attention for the next few minute, we will go over the in-flight safety briefing." For the oxygen mask part, she said "secure the mask with the elastic straps and breathe normally. If you can't breathe normally, breathe in anyway you can, but breathe." I was the only one who laughed.
Back to the view...The coolest part of the flight came when we were off the coast of Santa Barbara...the plane was just over the tops of a long cloud layer that was the remnants of Hurricane Enrique. On our descent, we passed through the cloud layer, and suddenly some of the Channel Islands came into view...it was the most beatiful part of the flight.
The flight arrived at John Wayne Airport on time. As I exited the aircraft, the front flight attendent giggled and gave me a wink. I said, "Thanks for the jokes; It's too bad the suits didn't appreciate them. Have a good day.", and left.
I waited about 20 minutes for The Airport Bus to arrive and take me to the Disneyland Hotel. The Airport Bus leaves roughly every half-hour and costs $10 one way/$16 round-trip (vs roughly $26 + tip one way for a taxi). I was the only passenger on the run and arrived at the Hotel at 8:20. I walked over to the tram area and caught the tram to the park.
When I entered the gates, I saw that the Cast Members (CMs) had special buttons saying that Disneyland was 42 today... I asked if they were selling or giving away the buttons to guests...no such luck. Oh well.
I wandered down Main Street, stopped at the lockers (since I didn't want to carry my change of clothes and my Fantasmic 3-D props with me all day) and then went on to Fantasyland. I was to meet Cindy Yan and Jeff Graebner at the porch at 9, so I had time to ride something first...I ended up choosing the Mad Tea Party. I've found that the green tea cups tend to spin the best (anybody else have any opinions). After my spin, I decided not to risk missing them, so I went back to the porch and waited (since it was not quite 9) and people watched.
When 9am arrived, I got up and looked down Main Street towards Town Square--no sign of Cindy or Jeff. I then turned around and looked toward the hub. I was astonished to see Genghis walking toward me...He had told me that he was working that day. It turns out that he was...he had to be at work at noon, but wanted to spend just a little bit of time in the park. We walked back to the hub where he introduced me to Scott (tk421)...I guess not too many people made it to the park that early. After about 10 minutes, I spotted Cindy walking to the porch, so we walked back down Main Street to join her. She was as surprised to see Mike as I was. Cindy then decided to show off a couple of her Fantasmic props (including her lighter--which she enjoyed playing with). Soon Jeff arrived and we made our way to a few rides.
Our first ride was Space Mountain. While we were in the queue, Cindy started playing with her lighter again, until Mike pointed to the sprinklers in the queue area...Cindy commented, "A summer threatened to spoil the fun." I retorted, "except in this case, it *would* spoil the fun." (My further comment, with Cindy's love of fire, she's going to have visit Cal for a bonfire rally sometime; We'd even let her feed the fire.)
Anyway, back to Space Mountain...The last time I was at the park, Kim Rufer-Bach said "When we get to Space Mountain, remind me to think of Sam" (Sam's her friend). Unfortunately, Kim didn't ride Space Mountain at all during the trip, so when we boarded our rockets, I shouted to Jeff, Cindy, Mike, and Scott: "Hey! While you're riding, think of Sam." Cindy's response was "Who the hell is Sam?"...Anyway, as we rode and the music played, at least I thought of Sam. I rode it all the way with my hands up. Mike said I should try it with my hands on my knees next time.
Our next stop was the Matterhorn...we took the Tomorrowland side (which is the twistier side). We then went to Storybookland, since I hadn't ridden it since January. Unfortunately, our guide sounded like a recording. This didn't stop us from having fun waving at the other boats, waving at the people on Casey Jr, or cracking jokes when we saw some birds (a crow and a few ducks) on the ride. After that, Mike had to leave for work (oh well) and Scott had to go to school.
Jeff, Cindy, and I then went to ride Pirates (and yes, she lit her lighter when we got to the burning town) and the Mark Twain (and she lit her lighter at the burning cabin). I also stopped at the Pieces of Eight shop and noticed the new Pirates of the Caribbean pins with people's names on them. They're quite nice and the price is $5. I also stopped at Fortune Red to see what he had to say:
Marooned ye be on the bewitchin' shores o' Disneyland, exhausted from strugglin against the wides and currents that drove ye to this awesome place. Har! Old Red has a thing or two and gives ye this advice...stow yer precious woes in a iron chest and bury it deep. Beware o' the natives and their contagious glee and merriment, shun them as ye would the pox. Else ye be cursed to wear a smile on yer face--forever! Mark well me words: One smile can conquer a city, two a kingdom.
How accurate was it? Well, I didn't struggle to get to the park. I did have woes, but I had burried them quite sometime before I had left for the park. It was my intent to be merry, and I had a smile on my face the moment I stepped through the gate that morning. I still have that smile now, so I guess I'm cursed to have it forever ;) Will I conquer a city? And where's the other smile supposed to come from? I was with two people, not just one. Oh well.
When we reached the hub, the other Adrienne was surprised to see me. She said "Yoda! You said you weren't going to be here!" I wasn't, but I changed my mind. It was good to meet everyone again. Aside from Kaz (who I knew was going to be there), there was one other Bay Area Disney fan at the meet--Judi Lane. I had joked earlier with Karen O'Mara that it's funny that I have to meet Disney fans that live less than 60 miles from me at a place 400 miles away. I repeated that with Judi. Tim Castro was also at the meet...Tim had let his AP lapse, and had decided to buy a new one. I said "OK, let's see it!" He just had the piece of paper. After everybody was introduced, we then headed off to lunch at the Rivers of America food court. After trying to grab some tables at the Stage Door Cafe, which was impossible, we went over to Casa Mexicana, which had more than enough table space. I ended up getting a taco and enchillada combination, which was better than Taco Bell, but not as good as Mario's La Fiesta (in Berkeley).
After lunch, we did the "sexually suggestive park items" tour. Our first stop was Walt's Little Friend, followed by Penetration Rock, and finally, the X-Rated Hercules Key Chain. As Tom Lehrer once said "When correctly viewed, everything is lewd." (that's in the song Smut) If you don't know what these are, you'll have to go to the park sometime and have someone point them out to you. Of course, it could have been worse; We could have stopped by the Princess Shop for the "Once Upon a Dream Event" in which you can "Explore the fairy tale wardrobe of your favorite Disney Princess."
Next, Tim needed to get his new AP (since he only had the paper). We we were at the bank, Cindy and I talked to the CM outside and helped her restock the Disneyland Today flyers (she was a nice CM). There was no line, so Tim had his card after a very short wait.
We then worked our way back to the "secret parade viewing spot" (have someone show it to you, because I won't say where it is.) We had hoped that we would get to see Mickey's Matterhorn Climb, but no such luck...the climb didn't take place. Instead, they had the Disney Princess Parade. It was a one float parade in which Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, and Belle rode with guests (little girls) from the park. The guests on the float looked like they really enjoyed it. It was a nice little parade (and best of all? no confetti!)
While we were watching, the topic "Is Belle really a Princess?" came up. Some argued that "we didn't see her wed the 'beast' (I wish Vincent had won Zarina's naming contest) at the end of the film." Someone else said "It's a natural part of 'and they lived happily ever after.'" (Unless of course you're watching Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods", which delves into what happens "ever after".)
Anyway, soon the Herc parade started to roll past. This second viewing for me was much better than the first, simply because it wasn't as hot, and the performers looked a lot more "into it" this time (In particular, the gyroscope man, who just kept spinning). The one downside of the parade is that the one song they use, "Zero to Hero", was so entrenched im my head that it took two days to get rid of it. ("Bless my soul, Herc was on a roll" oh no, there it goes again!)
After the parade, a.d.d split up into two groups. One group followed Al to watch the construction on New Tomorrowland and then head on over to the Gallery. I went with the other group, which followed John Frost to visit the Disney's California Adevntures (DCA) preview center. We took the Monorail over to the Disneyland Hotel (they stamped our hands *before* boarding) and then walked to the preview center by following West Street over to Ball and then Ball to the Team Disney building. Along the walk, John pointed at various items beyond the Disney fence (such as the old Skyway buckets, some Doom Buggies, an old Monorail converted to a bus, etc).
An easier way to do this would have been to catch one of the shuttles for the Super 8 or Best Western Anaheim Stardust, which are served by Western Area Transit. Could someone findout which lettered route serves those hotels and even better, get schedules for the route. The drivers do *not* check for hotel keys, so you could reduce your walking time.
The preview center is a small building next to the Team Disney visitor parking lot. We arrived 15 minutes before closing (4pm) so we had just enough time to look around, and ask a few questions to the CM host. She pointed to the model which shows the Disneyland area. Disney's California Adventure will be built on most of the current Disneyland parking lot. It will feature three lands...I've nicknamed two of them Hollywoodland and Santa Cruzland. Why Santa Cruzland? Because it will be, as the CM described, a "Beach Boardwalk" area, which to me, is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, even if they want to use Coney Island as the comparison). DCA will also include a 750 room hotel called Disney's Grand Californian Hotel within the park boundry. Outside the park boundry will be a Citywalk like shopping/entertainment complex called Disneyland Center. I have to wonder how many California residents will be attracted by the new gate.
We grabbed a sales brochures and posters and then walked over to the Team Disney building to look at the old People Mover cars they have next to the casting center. Oh, if only we could have taken the short cut back to Toon Town, but alas, we had to walk the long way.
After we got back to the park, we went up to the Disney Gallery (thanks to an a.d.der in a wheelchair, I took the elevator, which was kinda neat). We met Al and a bunch of other a.d.ders in the Gallery courtyard. I explored the Tomorrowland exhibits, and was pleased with the job they had done. The "Indy" room now houses drawings and models for the new tomorrowland. The DLP room now houses an exhibit of current and old Tomorrowland memorabelia. I then rejoined the conversation in the courtyard.
More time passed, and we went to meet Adrienne (AVBalloons) at Rod's. At Rod's the other Adrienne relayed her experience of the McDonalds French Fries in the park marketing survey to a bunch of listening ears (not all of them were a.d.d folks either).
Then it was time for dinner. Adrienne wanted to go to "Casa de Fritos"...since I had already eaten there, and Tim was interested in Clam Chowder, Tim and I went to Cafe Orleans instead. We had a good chat over a scrumptious hot bread bowl of clam chowder. We then went over to the Keel Boat Landing for Fantasmic.
Unfortunately, a good crowd had already gathered at the landing. When Adrienne and everyone else arrived, we all elected to do a "lite" version of Fantasmic 3-D so we wouldn't distract the other guests. At the same time, we all sang Happy Birthday to Disneyland. The first performance served as a dress rehearsal, and worked really well.
After folks cleared out, we took over half of the landing. Adrienne made a "police line" out of balloons. Those weren't the only balloon shapes she made--she also made a balloon "pixie hair wig", which somehow ended up on my head. Several photos were taken, after we watched Tinkerbell and the fireworks (oooh! ahhh!). We'll have to see how they turn out.
Since we still had time before thenext show, Tim and I hopped over to the Haunted Mansion. Maynard wasn't working, but the crowd in the streching room was good, and the ride was excellent as always. (Just to plug it, visit Genghis' Haunted Mansion Links.)
Soon it was time for Fantasmic 3-D. We all had a blast. The cast members also enjoyed it. When the Columbia went past, the pirates noticed a couple of us "sword fighting" and pointed and waved. When the princesses went past, you could tell Snow White was fighting to keep a straight face. The highlight though, was when the Mark Twain steamed past. We all stood up and started waving our fabric wands. The characters noticed us and became extra animated. After the show's conclusion, we all thought, "Oh, if only we could be on Tom Sawyer Island right now." I liked where we did this...because we were at the "end" of the stage, we did not impact the performance for other guests. I also like Adrienne's decision that this will *not* be a regular event...let's keep those CMs on their toes.
Our next stop was Rod's for a tap dancing number, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", "Happy Birthday" (to Disneyland), and the finale. As always, it was a lot of fun. It was then on to the Jungle Cruise; but first we had to convince Al to join us. We all chanted "Al! Al! Al!" and were given strange looks by other guests. Eventually he succumbed to peer pressure and joined us.
We waited in the exit area for Jacob to pull up in one of the new boats. As people exited, we serenaded them with another rendition of Happy Birthday for Disneyland. We then boarded the boat and completely filled it. Jacob then turned the microphone over to Marty (Disneylad) who was our skipper for most of the voyage.
The highlights were:
Both Marty and Jacob did an excellent job, and a good time was had by all.
Our next stop was Snow White's Wishing Well for the now traditional coin toss. Before we tossed our coins, we noticed that the fish are not working again (sigh). Tim got in the best toss, as his coin hung on the edge of the grate for what seemed like a minute before falling through.
Finally, it was time to go home...well to my hotel. In the parking lot we noticed that the Disneyland Hotel sign said "Disneyla d Hotel" (Marty? Did you do something? ;) Anyway we then all went our seperate ways, except for Cindy and me, because she gave me a ride to my hotel (thanks Cindy).
Check in was a snap, and I was in my room fairly quickly. My initial impression of the room was "my, this place has a LOT of floor space." the room featured a king sized bed, a table and chair, dresser, two sinks, and a large mini-fridge. There was still room for another king sized bed. If I was bringing a large group that had sleeping bags, I'd consider this place.
While the TV didn't have a remote, I appreciated that the AC had a real thermostat on the wall as opposed to in the AC unit itself... this allowed me to properly select the room temperature. The only bad part about the room was that one of the lightbulbs was missing. Other than that, it was quite comfortable and worth the $55.20/night (including tax) I paid. The Convention Center Inn is on Harbor across from the strawberry field...actually, it's situated behind a restaurant, which reduced traffic noise too.
Before going to sleep, I phoned Southwest and changed my return flight to the 9pm flight back to Oakland so I could enjoy more of Disneyland. I then had a good night's sleep and awoke in time to eat my continental breakfast (nothing spcial, just a danish, coffee, and juice), check out, and catch the 7:30am shuttle to the park. All in all, I would recommend the Convention Center Inn.
Entering the park on Friday brought me my one "bad show" experience of the trip. When I reached the entrance gates, there were long lines behind the first 16 gates and very short lines behind gates 17 to 23 (24 was being used for early entry). I lined up at gate 17, since it had a short line. I then waited 10 minutes before the Disneyland band marched in (led by Mickey himself, which made the kids behind me scream in excitement). The band then performed for a while, sang the handstamp song, and then played some more. Then, CMs opened gates 1-16. Excuse me, but how difficult would it have been to have a CM inform guests that only the first 16 gates would be opened? Like I said...bad show. We all ended up merging into the line for gate 16.
Oh well, after a stop at the lockers, I went to Fantasyland. By 8:20 I had been on Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Alice in Wonderland. My next stop was Toon Town. It was early enough that it was still relatively deserted. I decided to ride Gadget's Go Coaster (why not? there was no line). I got a seat in the front car, and enjoyed the short ride. When the coaster came back into the station, there were some people waiting to sit up front, so I got out and walked towards the exit. The loader asked me "Ya wanna ride again?" I did, so I sat in the last car. The last car is much more fun, because you get to see the squirting frogs. When the coaster returned to the loading area, nobody was waiting to board. The CM asked "Would you folks like to ride again?" We all said "Yes!". We secured our lap bars and were off again. Upon the return, again no one was waiting. This time the CM didn't release the lap bars right away...He first asked "Again?" and we all said "Yes!". So, we went around again! Unfortuantely, while we were riding this time, a big group of people got in) line, so we couldn't ride a fourth time. Still, that was fun (silly, but still fun).
My next stop was Mickey's house. I had never fully explored Toon Town before, but I really appreciate the effort that was put into the land. Mickey's house is peppered with real memorabelia in addition to silly items. I walked through as if I was in a museum. Eventually I reached Mickey's Movie Barn. Did I want a picture with the Big Cheese himself? Definitely! The CM in the Movie Barn was also a little bit of a comedian...he reminded folks to make sure take your children with you, otherwise, the kids would be taken over to "it's a small world", dressed up in costume, have their feet glued to the floor, and be forced to sing that song over and over again. Then, the door opened, and it was time to see Mickey! I'll have to see what the photo looks like when I get it back.
After exiting Mickey's house, I explored Minnie's house. Again, I'm impressed at the details they went into. Minnie's house leads to Minnie's wishing well. Make a wish out loud and hear what Minnie has to say about it.
When I finished making my wish, I looked over at the center of Toon town and saw a woman who looked like Judi Lane. I approached and said "Judi?" Sure enough, it was. She was taking pictures of the newly painted curbs (they have some amusing things written on them). While we were chatting, the Toon Town clock struck 9am...Goofy, Chip, and Dale marched out in an imitation of the "it's a small world" clock. Judi got a photo of me with Goofy...with all of the photos of me I'll have, maybe one of them will end up on the Faces of a.d.d web site
After rides on the go coaster, in which we both took photos of the land, and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin (in which I spun the wheel during the entire ride), we left Toon Town. We ended up spending the rest of the day together taking the "relaxation tour" and trying to catch some imagineers at the Tomorrowland construction site. We had no luck catching imagineers, but we did see people walking on the Rocket Rods track.
You might be wondering what the relaxtaion tour is...that means to hit all of the indoor attractions where you can relax in air conditioned splendor...that meant Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Main Street Cinema (we watched Steamboat Willie), The Enchanted Tiki Room, and The Country Bear Playhouse (the audience was really into the show).
For food, we made a few stops:
We did a little shopping. I picked up a tee-shirt, and we both stopped at Fortune Red again. This time he said:
I seen a thing or two at sea, I has, an this be true. All hands afore the mast must take a ration o' initiative -- there be no one to do it for ye. Yer best interest be served by acceptin' responsibility. B'lay bein' wishy-wash. Speak up plucky on things ye truly believes in. Take a bearin ' on the wonders of the Magic Kingdom, then set yerself a proper course and sail it with dedicated effort, an mark well me words: He who rides at anchor will ne'er put out to sea.
No, I don't need any help interpreting this one.
Judi ended up getting two fortunes, because she ended up with the same fortune she got on Thursday.
We also noticed that in one of the Adventureland shops is "Shrunken Ned" (Mike has since told me that Ned's been there for at least a year and a half, which tells you how often I go shopping in Adventureland.) Shrunken Ned is voiced by John Cleese and is funny to listen to. The medical advice cards he hands out aren't that funny though...I'm not going to visit him again...I'll stick to Fortune Red.
In addition we went on some rides and noted/discovered:
The highlight of the day, though, came when we baorded the Mark Twain. We were both curious if there were any comments on Fantasmic 3-D; the only way to find out was to ask the captain of the Twain. I asked one of the loaders (whom I noticed had a classic Mickey nametag instead of the Light Magic nametag) if we could go up to the wheelhouse. He said "Shout up at the captain and see what happens." I asked the captain, and he said "come on up". Upon entering the captain's cabin Judi noted that there was a "Mark Twain Captain's Cabin club". We then climbed up to the wheelhouse.
The captain, John, was quite helpful. After we talked about the twain itself, we sprung the question on him..."So, are you piloting the Twain during Fantasmic tonight?" "yes" he answered. "Did you also pilot it last night?" "Yes, I did." "Did you hear any comments about last nights show?" "Well, there was this group of people dancing along the dock...why?" "Well, we were in that group" "Oh..." At that point the look on his face turned to one that "Oh my god, I've got a couple of wackos up here with me." We then said "we were all curious about what comments were made." He said "Well, I didn't hear any comments, but I thought it was great." We then explained a little bit about a.d.d. and such. He laughed when heard that our closing line is "Take THAT Light Magic!" He hasn't seen the show yet, but said he will before it goes away.
A little while later, the guy I had talked to earlier (who had the Mickey nametag) came up to take over. We talked about Fantasmic and Light Magic some more. He mentioned that CMs were given two LM name tags, and said that was unprecedented. He prefers the Mickey nametag, and I agree.
Finally, Judi and I were given our Pilot Certificates. This time the CM filled in our names and the date (this didn't happen when I last rode in the wheelhouse).
After a full day at Disneyland, I was really sad that I had to go home. Still, I managed to thank and say goodbye to Judi (see you at the next ba-add meet), get to John Wayne Airport with enough time to catch my flight and get home. All in all, the trip was definitely worth it.
Thanks go to: Mike, Cindy, Jeff, Tim, Al, Adrienne, the other Adrienne, Judi, the DL cast members, Southwest airlines, and finally you (for reading this far).