Sunday, May 27, 2012

Disneyland Trip Report: May 12, 2012

Hopefully in the future, my trip reports will pop up here closer to the time of the visit, while things are fresher in my mind. But it seems like sharing my most recent visit to the Magic Kingdom would be a good place to start with this blog, and as I have a few pictures and videos which I would like to have as part of this site, I'm going to do a quick run-down on my recent Saturday at Disneyland [note: after writing this, I now see it wasn't such a quick entry after all - forgive my long-windedness, but hope you find something interesting to take away from it].

I actually intended to go on Friday. If I don't take a day off work to go, I tend to go on Fridays, so I have Saturday to recover before going back to work on Sunday. So that was the plan, until I noticed that that Friday was a Grad Night. I went last year on a Grad Night, and regretted it. The parks closed early, and the Toy Story parking lot (where I prefer to park) was closed so Grad Night buses could park there, so I had to park in the Mickey & Friends parking garage, which I hate. This year, Disney changed how Grad Nights work, so that the parks stay open normal hours, and the Grad Night students get a normal park-hopper pass, so that they share the park with normal park guests. I'm not adamantly against this, but it does seem like it could cause problems, especially the first year it's attempted (I think the plan is to just do it this way this year, and then have a more traditional Grad Night in California Adventure next year), and in any event, all the Grad Night kids meant the day would feel very hectic and not at all like an off-season visit. So I decided to go on Saturday instead. I can't say what Friday was actually like, if my fears were founded or not, but Saturday was a very pleasant day to go to Disneyland, one of the nicest visits I've had in awhile. The park was just the right amount of busy, full of energy and excitement, but functional. Lines were reasonable, traffic flowed reasonably well through the parks, and people seemed very excited to be there. Disneyland always feels special to me, but this day felt extra-special. It seemed like there were a lot of kids there celebrating graduation, I don't know if they were at the Grad Night the evening before or just went on their own, but those I saw were all well-behaved and respectful, and didn't hurt my enjoyment of the park. I used to be scared of going to Disneyland on Saturdays, but having been several times now, including on holiday weekends, I must say the notion that the crowds swarm on Saturdays is probably a bit outdated; crowds swarm daily, and the passholder blockouts on Saturdays probably help. I still like going on weekdays if I can get off work, but I'm taking advantage of my Premium pass' lack of blackout days more and more.

All of which is to say, I had fun. Started off in Disneyland, to see the new developments on Main Street, U.S.A., since my last visit. I saw Alice Davis' new window, next to her husband's, honoring her contributions to such classic attractions as it's a small world and Pirates of the Caribbean:


Then I headed across the street to see the newly-remodeled Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor, Candy Palace, and Penny Arcade. The ice cream parlor looks good, and has more registers and more room for the line. Good news for those who eat here, but personally I'm not willing to wait that long for ice cream at Disneyland, there's too much to see and do, and I can get ice cream anytime. The Candy Palace got a larger show kitchen, and generally more space, and looks good. They were making English Toffee that day, a favorite of mine, but somehow I resisted temptation and did not partake. The Penny Arcade looked good to me. This is probably the most controversial of the changes in this remodel, but the worst changes to this portion of Main Street occurred long before this remodel. They just moved everything around and made things flow better. My only objection would be the popcorn display in front of the organ:


It just looks tacky, and seems designed just to provoke the Disney purists. On the plus side, it seems like it would be easy to remove.

After a few minutes quickly taking in the new shops, it was time for rides, so I went and claimed my FastPass for Space Mountain, and then it was off to Fantasyland. Started the day with it's a small world, always a must-see, and, after noticing the short waits for some of the second-tier dark rides, I went on Snow White and Pinocchio. I prefer Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, but the long lines reflect their superiority, so I was content to take advantage of Snow White's short wait and Pinocchio's nearly-non-existent line.

Heading from Fantasyland to Frontierland, I stumbled upon the "Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree" in the Festival Arena, where a high school band was performing. There were a couple woodworkers showing off their craft (for entertainment only, nothing was for sale), and I enjoyed the smell of the wood, how that really helped create a sense of place. Chip 'n' Dale were posing for pictures in their western wear (did they ever wear clothes before Rescue Rangers?), but I was far more excited to get my photo taken with Big Al:


(I'm on the right). In the future, would I make an effort to check out the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree? No, but if you're passing by, it's worth ducking in and seeing if anything exciting is happening, and it is a nice, calm, uncrowded place to take in a bit more of the Frontierland theme (even the high school band was playing some Copeland or something along those lines that seemed to fit the location, though I wouldn't count on that generally being the case), and maybe seeing a character you don't see walking around much anymore.

Again, I'm writing this a few weeks after the fact, so I forget exactly what I did next. I know I planned on riding Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion, but was deterred by their long lines (relatively speaking - about twenty-five minutes for Pirates, and twenty for Haunted Mansion, which is about equivalent to a 90-minute wait for a less efficient ride). I hate to wait for these rides, I can so often experience with only 5-10 minute waits, so I would pass them up many times this trip (spoiler alert: I rode both that evening, with virtually no waiting right before Fantasmic! was to begin). I took in a few more things in Disneyland, I'm sure, then headed over to California Adventure.

I was getting hungry, so lunch was to be my first stop in DCA. But I passed by The Little Mermaid, and decided to do that quickly before lunch. It gave me a chance to see the changes to the ride. The main change was Ariel's hair in the "Under the Sea" portion. It no longer looks like soft-serve:


I was critical of her old hair, but I must admit, I miss it, now. It was a stupid idea, but once it was there, it just became part of the attraction, something I looked forward to seeing. I think it's sort of like Mary Blair's five-legged goat, a reminder (unintentional in Ariel's case) that no artwork is perfect. In any event, I'm usually too busy looking over my shoulder during this part of the ride to see Mr. Limpet to see too much of Ariel.

Two other changes were also made to the ride. The two projections of Ariel, one at the beginning of the ride swimming overhead, and one after passing through Ursula's lair, where Ariel gets her legs, were redone to look more like traditional animation. I was surprised how difficult it was to notice the changes. The first one looks fine, just as I thought it did before, and the scene where she gets her legs looks wrong, just like it always looked wrong to me. I think the problem with it is that it doesn't look like Ariel is being transformed or growing legs, but instead just seems to be stuck mid-transformation. I suppose it is a limitation of the Omnimover system, since riders are going through the scene continually, there's no way to have the scene begin and end without some riders missing out. Overall, then, the changes seem rather small and inconsequential, the new hair being the only thing most riders will notice. The ride remains what it was before, a perfectly competent dark ride that appeals to it's target audience, and which the rest of us will enjoy for the good music and the short lines.

After the Little Mermaid, it was finally time for lunch. I went to the Paradise Garden Grill, which has been a favorite of mine since it opened. I've certainly ate more meals here than any other restaurant in either park since it opened. Reasonably priced (by Disney standards), good quality, and just the right portion size, enough to satisfy, but not so much as to suddenly become an issue when the bottom drops on the Tower of Terror. I tried the baklava for the first time, I wouldn't recommend it. Too big, and the ingredients were out of proportion, so it felt more like a pistachio burrito. The rest of my meal was just fine, however, and I enjoyed it even more listening to the Ellis Island Boys. A friend had highly recommended them, and she was right; I've heard some great music on the Paradise Garden Stage, but they're the best I've seen there. Give 'em a listen yourself:


After lunch, it was back into ride mode, plus a little shopping. Nothing really of note happened, though later, back in Frontierland, I was rerouted by security while it appeared that a bomb-sniffing dog was checking out some lost backpacks.

It wasn't until fairly late in the afternoon that my trip was almost cut short. I was riding Splash Mountain, not much of a wait using the single-rider line. I hadn't been on the ride recently, a bit scared to go back on after getting brutally drenched one ride-through last winter (which was odd, as I rarely get extremely wet on that ride). But the ride went without incident, and I enjoyed the ride even though it seemed like a lot of ride elements were broken (which is odd, as it had a major refurbishment not that long ago). As the ride was concluding, I took off my glasses to wipe the mist off of them, and as I did that, the right lens fell out in my hand. Panicking, I tried to remember if I had a spare pair of glasses in my car. I knew I had sunglasses, but I wasn't sure if I had a standard prescription pair in the car (checking later, it turns out the answer was no). Without an extra pair, I'd have to use the sunglasses, which meant I'd have to leave right away, before dark. But first, I checked in a store to see if they had an eyeglass repair kit or knew where one could be obtained. They did not, so I tried City Hall. There, a very kind cast member got me an eyeglass repair kit, and once it became obvious I was not competent to repair my glasses myself, took the time to fix them for me. So I was able to continue my Disney day. As I was already at City Hall, I of course put in a good report for him.

Once again with the ability to see, I decided it was a good time to get dinner. I had finally got around to trying out Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel, so I decided I would head back to that vicinity and try Tangaroa Terrace, next door to Trader Sam's. I must admit I wasn't completely blown away by Tangaroa Terrace, but if you are already over at the hotel, or if you just want to slip out of the park on a hectic weekend day, you could certainly do worse. I had one of the specials, grilled salmon with tempura green beans and papaya slaw and rice. It was perfectly fine, but not really that remarkable. For dessert, I had the dessert flights tray, which comes with pineapple upside-down cake, some sort of pineapple parfait, and a Mickey-shaped brownie:

All three were quite tasty. The pineapple upside-down cake was a perfectly fine version of a pineapple upside-down cake; perhaps unremarkably so, but since it had been such a long time since I'd last had a pineapple upside-down cake, I quite enjoyed it. The brownie was also good, very dense and fudgy, but moist. The dark chocolate had a coffee-esque quality to it, not bitter, exactly, but it complimented the richness of the brownie quite well (though it was good on it's own, it didn't really go with the other fruity desserts). I had the parfait last, and really enjoyed it, as well. At $7, it might be a bit pricy, and I would pass on it in the future if I was dining alone, and I was this night. But it could easily be shared, and especially if you have one chocoholic dining with someone who likes fruitier desserts, one could take the brownie, one the other two desserts, and as the brownie was the most substantial of the three, both would get a fair shake. Again, though, I think the main downside to Tangaroa Terrace is that there are plenty of great places to eat in the park, so unless you're at the hotel or craving a monorail ride, I might recommend passing on this one.

After dinner, I walked to California Adventure. I planned to ride Tower of Terror, but after my large meal, with all those desserts, I decided that might not be a great idea, so first I rode The Little Mermaid again. After that, my dinner was adequately digested for me to dare a trip to the fifth dimension. I then returned to Disneyland, where the lines for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean had died down considerably. Especially Haunted Mansion, where I walked directly through the mansion's front door, entered a portrait gallery only 1/3 full, and walked directly to my doombuggie with no line of any sort. After riding those two classics, I did some shopping, watched Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, and decided to call it a day.

Oh, though I almost forgot one thing: On my way over to New Orleans Square in the early evening, I saw a crowd and a security guard gathered by a grassy area in the Hub, near the Jolly Holiday Bakery. A duck and her ducklings turned out to be the draw. I found it very amusing that the ducklings had their own security entourage:


I took a video of their journey to their home. I was impressed that even on this busy Saturday, the ducks were able to cross the Hub with no real impediment. Everyone wanted to get a look at them, but no one really bothered them, without the security guards having to say anything. Here's the video:


And here's the lagoon that was their ultimate destination:


It's not the most exciting thing in the world, but it's the nice little touches like this that make every trip to Disneyland a little different. That's why I don't think I'll ever get bored with Disneyland. Yes, when you go as often as I go, not every trip is mind-blowingly amazingly magical, but even the most by-the-numbers day at Disneyland is still pretty cool. And this particular trip, which I didn't have high expectations for - it was just a quick trip to get in some rides in the off-season before Carsland opens and the place becomes pandemonium - actually turned out to have a lot of little magic in it.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

A good day to you.

On Saturday, October 16, 2010, the insurgent blog Out of Sight, Like a Pumpkin, written by yours truly, reported the shocking death of Barbara Billingsly, at the age of 97, and then promptly went silent. Had I paid the price for foolishly poking powerful forces I couldn't even begin to comprehend? No, I just got bored. A look at the site reveals that the blog had been all but dead for some time; one must assume that, as Barbara Billingsly's death was the only thing I felt the need to post in 2010, my entire year had revolved around Leave it to Beaver. At least in 2009 I tackled issues on a wide variety of topics, from the death of Bea Arthur to the death of Glenn Beck's sanity. But it's not too hard to see what happened; at one point, my blog served two primary purposes: One, that of a personal journal, where I could write for my own benefit (the fact that it was publicly available was not generally the point of these postings, though the fact that some got a fair amount of traffic - and to be clear, by "fair amount" I mean, at most, dozens of people - was just an exciting little accident); and Two, that of a place for me to post interesting stuff I'd come across, to share with a few friends who read the blog, sure, but mainly just so I could find it again. Indeed, even when I stopped posting, I still would return to the blog myself fairly regularly looking for some video or story I was pretty sure I'd posted. So it isn't surprising that it was 2009/2010 that I lost interest, as a little juggernaut called Facebook had me in its grasp by then, and it now served the same purpose. If I found something interesting, I'd share it with my friends; as long as I remember roughly when I posted it, it's not that hard to find, and a good portion of my time on Facebook involves not learning more about my friends and their activities, but looking at funny things I posted myself months earlier.

But what about the first purpose, blogging as journaling? What has filled that need? Nothing, actually. As you might have guessed by the fact that I have started this, a new blog (tentatively titled Mike's Take-Two at Blogging - feel free to suggest a better title in the comments, though I imagine that might be easier when I know what this blog will actually be), I miss this. Yes, I'm giving the blogging thing another chance. Will I still post interesting things I come across online here? Yes, probably, I'll share the sort of things I'd like to comment on here, while Facebook will get the one-line, hey, look at this LOLcat-kind of stuff. But my focus here isn't so much on sharing as it is on writing and learning myself. Sharing my experiences, my opinions, and my reflections on the issues I and others face. Do I want readers? Yes and no.  I'm writing for myself, primarily, but I'm doing so publicly, on a blog that has ads and is indexed in Google et. al., so I'd like readers. But I'm primarily writing for myself, and if a particular post ranks high enough in Google's eyes to attract some readers, so much the better. And if I am able, from my journaling here, to come up with a concept for a spin-off blog that actually might attract regular readers, so much the better.

What will I write about here? Well, as before, I'll write about my experiences, what I do for fun, the pop culture I consume, things I encounter at work, things I watch or listen to or read. What will be different? Well, me, for one. I now work full-time (another factor, no doubt, in the death of my old blog) in a public library. I don't feel like becoming a librarian blogger (surely there's enough), and while I certainly have stories to tell, I tend to find that dwelling on some of the horribly-behaved patrons isn't necessarily healthy. So while there may be some after-work venting here, I'll probably let most of those stories slide. It just means there will be a greater focus on books than my previous blog, most likely.

Another change in me would be my obsession of late with Disneyland. I've long been rather vehemently anti-Disney (my most recent blog post to mention Disney, from 2005, labels Disney as a bunch of douchebags). My feelings about Disney were probably always a bit more complex than I cared to acknowledge. I generally acknowledged that Disney, or at least classic Disney, had good production values, and as a huge fan of Randy Newman, I had to also acknowledge that Disney didn't skimp when it came to music for their films (I had the opportunity to spend a day on the soundstage when Monsters, Inc. was being scored, and saw that no expense was spared).  I imagine a discussion of my evolving feelings in regard to Disney would made a good blog post, so I won't go on too much here, I'll just say that I only had two opinions of Disneyland: It's expensive and crowded. And neither is exactly untrue. But given my now-monthly visits to the park, I've obviously concluded there's more to the story than that. Disneyland is expensive (and far more so with their recent price increase), but I feel it's an excellent value. You get what you paid for. And the crowds are an issue, but they are manageable, with a little planning. In fact, my visits on Saturdays, which I once avoided like the plague, have been some of my favorite trips, the parks bursting with energy and excitement, full of people but, with the right mindset, a great place to be.

So I'll have some things to say about Disneyland here, too. Of course, there's also no shortage of Disney blogs. I'd like to start a stand-alone Disneyland blog if I found the right angle, something to make myself really stand out, but for now, it will just be one of many topics covered here.  Trip reports, photos and videos, my opinions on Disney news and controversies. I'll surely have my opinion on Carsland and Buena Vista Street, when they open next month. But I'm going to avoid just posting news that I read on MiceAge or MousePlanet without context. If you care about Disneyland, you're already reading their columns, you don't need me to tell you about it. But as reading Disneyland gossip is a big part of my daily internet behavior, expect Disneyland to come up here a time or two.

Anyway, that's more than enough of me telling you about what I'm going to blog about and do with this blog. The proof is in the pudding. I am going to set a goal of 5 posts of substance a week. I'd rather miss the goal than just put up a bunch of fluff, so don't be surprised if I fall short, but I'll do my best. Out of Sight, Like a Pumpkin will still exist, though beyond a link to this blog, I don't plan on updating it. Long-time readers will notice I changed it's template, when I was considering just reviving it, but the content itself is unchanged, and I imagine the 2-3 readers a week will probably keep coming from Google searches ad infinitum. But this blog, dear reader, will be where the excitement is! Follow me to the future!