Disneyland!
Went to Disneyland with scruffyrebel on Tuesday, here's a brief rundown:
scruffyrebel stands between Cinderella's castle and the Murderhorn.
scruffyrebel and I took advantage of our mutual Spring Break to hit Anaheim's raison d'etre. I've only been there like three times in my life, because I didn't grow up in Southern California (or at all, according to some accounts). It was a beautiful day for a visit to the park. We got there first thing in the morning, when the park opened, which saved us a long wait on about one and a half rides.
Our first stop was Tomorrowland, where we headed directly for Star Tours. I had forgotten how much that ride tosses you around. There was actually some nerd on that ride who had been on the ride so often, she was reciting the lines along with the recording. Can you believe it? After the ride, we were let out into the Star Tours gift shop. Every major ride has its own gift shop, plus there are separate theme stores for different things like the Disney Princesses, and Jack Skellington. It's almost ridiculous. If you were at the park with a shopping addict, you could spend like 10 hours there and only end up going on half a dozen rides. The Star Tours shop had some cool Star Wars stuff, and some really dorky stuff too.
They had a pair of earmuff-headphone-looking things which were supposed to be Princess Leia hair buns, which we thought were totally hilarious. So scruffyrebel bought them, even though they weren't really screen accurate or anything.
As if you've never seen her in hair buns before...
She ended up wearing those things for a few hours, to the amusement of many a park visitor (and employee). We didn't see anyone else wearing them, all day. I have no idea why.
Next, we went on Rockin' Space Mountain. It is "Rockin'" because now they have disco lights and they play Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground" really loud. The lights make it a different experience from the unpredictable rushing around in pitch blackness it was before. But some classics never change. We rode on Autopia, because it's scruffyrebel's chance to drive a cute little convertible.
See how happy she is when she gets to drive?
See how happy I am when she gets to drive?
I love how huge the roll bars are on those cars. As if you're really going to flip that thing.
We also went to watch the Jedi Academy, which is a little half hour show in which a couple of Jedi pick a score of little kids from the audience, and train them to become Padawans. The Jedi give them all robes and toy lightsabers, and show them a sequence of lightsaber moves. Then a couple of stormtroopers come out, and the stage rises up, and Darth Vader and Darth Maul come out. That was the coolest part. Vader makes a speech about the padawans joining him, and then each of the kids gets to fight one of the Sith. They appeared to have Master Replicas sabers that were cut down so the blades were shorter and more manageable, and painted red so they would show up in the bright sun. It was cute, they had to rush through each kid because each child had to have a chance. So they would hustle a kid up, shout out each move for the kid to make, then congratulate the kid and hustle them off so they could bring up the next kid. The Darth Maul was very energetic and would rush straight at the kids, I think it put them off a bit. After the show, we hit the Jedi Academy gift shop, which is different from the Star Tours gift shop (of course).
We visited Toon Town, which I like just for the ridiculous, over-the-top design of the environment. So cute!
Why is there a pig up there...?
I told you she loves getting to drive the convertible.
While we were at Disneyland we had to eat a funnel cake, of course. If you get the chocolate-topped one, it has chocolate syrup, and whipped cream, and crumbled brownie all over it. So you'd better be hungry! (Which we were, after choosing the slowest line in the place.) We also had clam chowder and steak gumbo in sourdough bread bowls in New Orleans, before going on Pirates of the Caribbean. I love these rides that are inspired by movies. We spotted the three Jack Sparrows, but my favorite part of the ride was the Davy jones waterfall, where it totally looks like you're going to go under a waterfall (and get wet like whoa) but it's actually just an illusion. Then, of course, there was the Pirates gift shop. There was also a Nightmare Before Christmas gift shop nearby, even though there was no Nightmare ride! What a rip off.
It's Jack Sparrow! aah-HAHAHA...! Okay, no. I dunno what kind of bird that was, but it was kind of creepy looking and had one leg and a bright red eyeball.
We also went on the Indiana Jones ride. By this time, the lines were so long that they actually criss-crossed, and took over part of the Jungle Cruise waiting area, so they would let some people move ahead, then block off the line so another part of the line could cross in front. There were so many people that you actually had to wait in line to leave!
It's the Mighty Ducks! heh. This mother was leading her fat little ducklings around the swan moat outside of Cinderella's castle. They were one of the few features of the park that didn't have their own gift shop.
We tried to go on the Murderhorn, but it broke down while we were waiting in line.
FAIL.
Then we got lost in the boiler room underneath the park.
We ended the day by going to California Adventure. We wolfed down hot dogs before hitting the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, my first time on that ride. I was impressed by the design of the building, and the effects employed to tell the whole Twilight Zone backstory of the ride. It added a lot of flavor to he ride and made it more than just your standard take-you-to-the-top-and-drop-you ride.
AAAAAHH! Scary!!
We both had a great time! We combated the monotony of waiting in line by listening to the Star Wars radio show on scruffyrebel's iPod. There were lots of people and the lines seemed to average close to an hour, but I suppose it was better than going on a weekend. Afterward, we went home and pretty much crashed, which was pretty satisfying.
Best amusement park day ever!
Which reminds me, I may have to put together another Magic Mountain day sometime in early-to-mid June.
stephachu sang the theme song for ChibiFest, in Vegas! Get the CD on her website.
If you're going to SakuraCon this weekend, be sure to check out tristencitrine's panel, 6th Floor, room 609 10:00-11:00am Saturday!
burmecian_stormis doing photoshoots for Fanime and AX!
scruffyrebel stands between Cinderella's castle and the Murderhorn.
scruffyrebel and I took advantage of our mutual Spring Break to hit Anaheim's raison d'etre. I've only been there like three times in my life, because I didn't grow up in Southern California (or at all, according to some accounts). It was a beautiful day for a visit to the park. We got there first thing in the morning, when the park opened, which saved us a long wait on about one and a half rides.
Our first stop was Tomorrowland, where we headed directly for Star Tours. I had forgotten how much that ride tosses you around. There was actually some nerd on that ride who had been on the ride so often, she was reciting the lines along with the recording. Can you believe it? After the ride, we were let out into the Star Tours gift shop. Every major ride has its own gift shop, plus there are separate theme stores for different things like the Disney Princesses, and Jack Skellington. It's almost ridiculous. If you were at the park with a shopping addict, you could spend like 10 hours there and only end up going on half a dozen rides. The Star Tours shop had some cool Star Wars stuff, and some really dorky stuff too.
They had a pair of earmuff-headphone-looking things which were supposed to be Princess Leia hair buns, which we thought were totally hilarious. So scruffyrebel bought them, even though they weren't really screen accurate or anything.
As if you've never seen her in hair buns before...
She ended up wearing those things for a few hours, to the amusement of many a park visitor (and employee). We didn't see anyone else wearing them, all day. I have no idea why.
Next, we went on Rockin' Space Mountain. It is "Rockin'" because now they have disco lights and they play Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground" really loud. The lights make it a different experience from the unpredictable rushing around in pitch blackness it was before. But some classics never change. We rode on Autopia, because it's scruffyrebel's chance to drive a cute little convertible.
See how happy she is when she gets to drive?
See how happy I am when she gets to drive?
I love how huge the roll bars are on those cars. As if you're really going to flip that thing.
We also went to watch the Jedi Academy, which is a little half hour show in which a couple of Jedi pick a score of little kids from the audience, and train them to become Padawans. The Jedi give them all robes and toy lightsabers, and show them a sequence of lightsaber moves. Then a couple of stormtroopers come out, and the stage rises up, and Darth Vader and Darth Maul come out. That was the coolest part. Vader makes a speech about the padawans joining him, and then each of the kids gets to fight one of the Sith. They appeared to have Master Replicas sabers that were cut down so the blades were shorter and more manageable, and painted red so they would show up in the bright sun. It was cute, they had to rush through each kid because each child had to have a chance. So they would hustle a kid up, shout out each move for the kid to make, then congratulate the kid and hustle them off so they could bring up the next kid. The Darth Maul was very energetic and would rush straight at the kids, I think it put them off a bit. After the show, we hit the Jedi Academy gift shop, which is different from the Star Tours gift shop (of course).
We visited Toon Town, which I like just for the ridiculous, over-the-top design of the environment. So cute!
Why is there a pig up there...?
I told you she loves getting to drive the convertible.
While we were at Disneyland we had to eat a funnel cake, of course. If you get the chocolate-topped one, it has chocolate syrup, and whipped cream, and crumbled brownie all over it. So you'd better be hungry! (Which we were, after choosing the slowest line in the place.) We also had clam chowder and steak gumbo in sourdough bread bowls in New Orleans, before going on Pirates of the Caribbean. I love these rides that are inspired by movies. We spotted the three Jack Sparrows, but my favorite part of the ride was the Davy jones waterfall, where it totally looks like you're going to go under a waterfall (and get wet like whoa) but it's actually just an illusion. Then, of course, there was the Pirates gift shop. There was also a Nightmare Before Christmas gift shop nearby, even though there was no Nightmare ride! What a rip off.
It's Jack Sparrow! aah-HAHAHA...! Okay, no. I dunno what kind of bird that was, but it was kind of creepy looking and had one leg and a bright red eyeball.
We also went on the Indiana Jones ride. By this time, the lines were so long that they actually criss-crossed, and took over part of the Jungle Cruise waiting area, so they would let some people move ahead, then block off the line so another part of the line could cross in front. There were so many people that you actually had to wait in line to leave!
It's the Mighty Ducks! heh. This mother was leading her fat little ducklings around the swan moat outside of Cinderella's castle. They were one of the few features of the park that didn't have their own gift shop.
We tried to go on the Murderhorn, but it broke down while we were waiting in line.
FAIL.
Then we got lost in the boiler room underneath the park.
We ended the day by going to California Adventure. We wolfed down hot dogs before hitting the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, my first time on that ride. I was impressed by the design of the building, and the effects employed to tell the whole Twilight Zone backstory of the ride. It added a lot of flavor to he ride and made it more than just your standard take-you-to-the-top-and-drop-you ride.
AAAAAHH! Scary!!
We both had a great time! We combated the monotony of waiting in line by listening to the Star Wars radio show on scruffyrebel's iPod. There were lots of people and the lines seemed to average close to an hour, but I suppose it was better than going on a weekend. Afterward, we went home and pretty much crashed, which was pretty satisfying.
Best amusement park day ever!
Which reminds me, I may have to put together another Magic Mountain day sometime in early-to-mid June.
stephachu sang the theme song for ChibiFest, in Vegas! Get the CD on her website.
If you're going to SakuraCon this weekend, be sure to check out tristencitrine's panel, 6th Floor, room 609 10:00-11:00am Saturday!
burmecian_stormis doing photoshoots for Fanime and AX!