Anaheim 2012 Recap
Well... good trip overall. Let's see...
Saturday: Scrambling to get things together and trying not to stay up too late. Watching weather, I looked at an alternate path.
Sunday: Got up and set out by right around 8 am. Daunted by the huge storm moving over Arizona, I decided to take the long way, cutting south through Albuquerque (which I could almost do in my sleep) and taking I-10 west from Las Cruces. Everything was nice until abour Bernalillo, then the dust started kicking up. It got even worse to the south. It was mostly blowing in certain areas, so on and off. I tried to go through Hatch and cut the corner off my trip there, but was turned around and went on to Las Cruces to see a notice there that I-10 West was closed due to lack of visibility. As I stopped to fill up on gas, I overheard a couple truckers talking and exchanged a few words. They expected things to clear up after a few hours when winds die down toward the end of the day. Ironically, they mentioned that I-40 up north had just opened up at the time (but it may not have stayed open from what I've heard elsewhere). I decided to wait a few hours rather than backtrack a few hours and still be facing possible snow/ice at night. A little napping, a meal at the restaurant, a little more napping... and finally I called information and they no longer mentioned the road being closed. So I lost probably three hours of travel time there before I set out again. I'd hoped to make Phoenix, but instead found a place to stay in Tucson. It was about 10 pm when I settled in for the night (and that's with the time zone hour I gained, so about a 15-hour day).
Monday: I got up and had breakfast, setting out to "snow" - actually, it seemed more like small hail (ice chunks, not flakes). I didn't see more than a drizzling on my way from there, though. I got to California pretty simply, though I-10 is fairly barren down there. I ran into a couple traffic snarls, though, that slowed the interstate traffic down to a crawl. I imagine there was more traffic than usual due to the weather, too. All of that paled next to driving into the Los Angeles area, though. Aieee! Unfortunately, I was getting into Anaheim right around 5 pm - rush hour. I didn't get stopped by traffic, though. Oh no. No, I got to dodge crazy people at 70+ mph. But I did make it safely to the hotel, parked, and silently declared to drive as little as possible until getting out of that madhouse.
The hotel was fine, though I'm going to give more thought to location if I go back sometime - "the next block over" is a bit more of a hike than I was picturing. So after calling to coordinate, I met the others at their hotel and we managed to get out to dinner for our reservation - a minor miracle in itself. The Jazz Kitchen at Downtown Disney was... okay? Loud and crowded, live music, and the food I had was good enough, but probably not $30+ good. Adjourning for the night, I slept... poorly and not much.
Tuesday: First day into the parks! And it was decided we would use their "magic morning" pass to get in an hour early, which meant getting up early. It was rough, though I don't really regret it. Some of Disneyland is so very familiar and some things have changed radically. We hit a number of rides and bounced around, had a "breakfast with the cast" - a breakfast buffet with several costumed characters making their appearances for photos and signatures. That was more of the benefit of others than myself, but it was nice. The day went from cool to warm, but not too extreme either way. And there was a ton of walking. When I dragged my stiff-and-sore self back to my room, I was pretty well ready to pass out, though still did stay up and chat a while.
Wednesday: Back to the parks! I got to see the California Adventure park, which I'm pretty sure was all parking lot back in the 80's when I was last in southern California. Having done most of our "must do" rides on Tuesday, this was a bit more aimless. I ended up seeing part of the parade, the fireworks, and the Fantasmic show that's made up of lights, water jets/mist, projectors, and drift-by performances in the lagoon. Almost caught a movie, but didn't want to stay up that late and crashed more immediately after returning to the room.
Thursday: Got up, ate, dropped off one of the others at the other hotel (since I'd booked two beds, there was no reason not to share it to help with the crowding in the other room. I said my good byes and set out. Taking surface streets, I stopped off at the apartment complex I lived at way back then. Naturally, it seems smaller now - and quieter, though it was a weekday morning so even if there are kids that run around like I once did, they wouldn't have been around. Then I went over to the park that is much like I remember it, then made my way out of the area at a little after 9 am. I debated with myself most of the way to Arizona before deciding that I'd been pushing myself for the last several days, so maybe I should take it easier. Instead of trying to drive straight through, I stopped at around 5 pm in Flagstaff for the night.
So tomorrow I should be home. I'll lose an hour along the way, but even so it should still be light. And in the meantime, I can do things like write this up and watch a little TV without worrying about the setting sun or crazy drivers.
It was nice to see faraway friends (and their daughter) again, as well as meeting some WoW guildmates I may or may not have met briefly in passing at a con in the past. Everyone was nice and friendly. I was not excluded, though I didn't always feel a part of the conversations either. That's just the way it is, not something that really troubles me.
---
Disneyland in General
- If you go, be prepared for a ridiculous amount of walking. I knew that, but my calves are still stiff and my feet have been sore.
- Everything is likely to take longer than you think. That makes it hard to make scheduled shows.
- "Fastpass" is a verb! "Fastpass it and we'll come back later." Fastpasses have also messed with some rides that were designed to have entertainment in the area where the line queues up because getting Fastpass people in around the main line screws with the original design and you just blow by those little details.
- The Skyway gondolas are the most visible thing missing from my recollection (well, that and the sea of parking spaces).
- While Disney's California Adventure park doesn't have many attractions I'm interested in, I wish I'd gone there the first day just for the greater variety in foods.
- It's interesting to see the new (3D, projections, moving cars/seats rather than using coaster rails) versus the old (animatronics and rails).
Attractions
- Space Mountain hasn't changed much in any ways that I remember, it's still a roller coaster that's mostly in the dark. A good one, too.
- Star Tours is new to me. It's a contained room that shakes/moves to simulate flight along with the 3D "view." Apparently there are some variations on the scenes, so you can see different things different times you go. Neat.
- Autopia is still a matter of driving little cars around along guide rails. Cute.
- Finding Nemo Adventure Voyage is a little "sub" ride around a large pool with a show - mixed animation and animatronics.
- The Starcade, of course, isn't much of an arcade anymore. There's a few games there, but nothing like the two-story arcade it was back when arcades were a thing.
- The Haunted Mansion is about as I remember. Classic.
- I didn't remember much about the Jungle Cruise, though I'm sure I've been. More a matter of stand-up comedy/puns by the guide to go with the animatronics on display.
- Indiana Jone Adventure seems no more "Disney" to me than Star Tours - it's a combination of a moving car that jostles itself. Kinda fun, though there are too many dark turns with nothing going on.
- The Tiki room is about what it was. In retrospect, all the birds and plants are actually a little bit creepy.
- Pirates of the Caribbean is still a classic, though I'm actually just a little bit put out that they added some stuff from the movies in. Ah well.
- The Matterhorn was undergoing repairs, but Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was a pretty good coaster.
- California Screamin' was a good roller coaster, too. Longer and starting with a kick.
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was worth a peek - being strapped into seats of a "falling" elevator. Heh. My belt was a little loose on me. I actually caught a few inches of air during the drops.
- Grizzly River Run fulfilled the promised wetness. My foot was soaked for about half the day. Heh.
- DCA also has a few shows. We watched Muppetvision 3D (which was cute), a stage show of Aladdin that did a very good job and makes me want to watch the movie again, and ElecTRONica - which makes me wish I were about a decade younger and actually interested in dancing/partying. I like the music and the look (and Flynn's Arcade, even if it is small), but I've just never been the type.
Saturday: Scrambling to get things together and trying not to stay up too late. Watching weather, I looked at an alternate path.
Sunday: Got up and set out by right around 8 am. Daunted by the huge storm moving over Arizona, I decided to take the long way, cutting south through Albuquerque (which I could almost do in my sleep) and taking I-10 west from Las Cruces. Everything was nice until abour Bernalillo, then the dust started kicking up. It got even worse to the south. It was mostly blowing in certain areas, so on and off. I tried to go through Hatch and cut the corner off my trip there, but was turned around and went on to Las Cruces to see a notice there that I-10 West was closed due to lack of visibility. As I stopped to fill up on gas, I overheard a couple truckers talking and exchanged a few words. They expected things to clear up after a few hours when winds die down toward the end of the day. Ironically, they mentioned that I-40 up north had just opened up at the time (but it may not have stayed open from what I've heard elsewhere). I decided to wait a few hours rather than backtrack a few hours and still be facing possible snow/ice at night. A little napping, a meal at the restaurant, a little more napping... and finally I called information and they no longer mentioned the road being closed. So I lost probably three hours of travel time there before I set out again. I'd hoped to make Phoenix, but instead found a place to stay in Tucson. It was about 10 pm when I settled in for the night (and that's with the time zone hour I gained, so about a 15-hour day).
Monday: I got up and had breakfast, setting out to "snow" - actually, it seemed more like small hail (ice chunks, not flakes). I didn't see more than a drizzling on my way from there, though. I got to California pretty simply, though I-10 is fairly barren down there. I ran into a couple traffic snarls, though, that slowed the interstate traffic down to a crawl. I imagine there was more traffic than usual due to the weather, too. All of that paled next to driving into the Los Angeles area, though. Aieee! Unfortunately, I was getting into Anaheim right around 5 pm - rush hour. I didn't get stopped by traffic, though. Oh no. No, I got to dodge crazy people at 70+ mph. But I did make it safely to the hotel, parked, and silently declared to drive as little as possible until getting out of that madhouse.
The hotel was fine, though I'm going to give more thought to location if I go back sometime - "the next block over" is a bit more of a hike than I was picturing. So after calling to coordinate, I met the others at their hotel and we managed to get out to dinner for our reservation - a minor miracle in itself. The Jazz Kitchen at Downtown Disney was... okay? Loud and crowded, live music, and the food I had was good enough, but probably not $30+ good. Adjourning for the night, I slept... poorly and not much.
Tuesday: First day into the parks! And it was decided we would use their "magic morning" pass to get in an hour early, which meant getting up early. It was rough, though I don't really regret it. Some of Disneyland is so very familiar and some things have changed radically. We hit a number of rides and bounced around, had a "breakfast with the cast" - a breakfast buffet with several costumed characters making their appearances for photos and signatures. That was more of the benefit of others than myself, but it was nice. The day went from cool to warm, but not too extreme either way. And there was a ton of walking. When I dragged my stiff-and-sore self back to my room, I was pretty well ready to pass out, though still did stay up and chat a while.
Wednesday: Back to the parks! I got to see the California Adventure park, which I'm pretty sure was all parking lot back in the 80's when I was last in southern California. Having done most of our "must do" rides on Tuesday, this was a bit more aimless. I ended up seeing part of the parade, the fireworks, and the Fantasmic show that's made up of lights, water jets/mist, projectors, and drift-by performances in the lagoon. Almost caught a movie, but didn't want to stay up that late and crashed more immediately after returning to the room.
Thursday: Got up, ate, dropped off one of the others at the other hotel (since I'd booked two beds, there was no reason not to share it to help with the crowding in the other room. I said my good byes and set out. Taking surface streets, I stopped off at the apartment complex I lived at way back then. Naturally, it seems smaller now - and quieter, though it was a weekday morning so even if there are kids that run around like I once did, they wouldn't have been around. Then I went over to the park that is much like I remember it, then made my way out of the area at a little after 9 am. I debated with myself most of the way to Arizona before deciding that I'd been pushing myself for the last several days, so maybe I should take it easier. Instead of trying to drive straight through, I stopped at around 5 pm in Flagstaff for the night.
So tomorrow I should be home. I'll lose an hour along the way, but even so it should still be light. And in the meantime, I can do things like write this up and watch a little TV without worrying about the setting sun or crazy drivers.
It was nice to see faraway friends (and their daughter) again, as well as meeting some WoW guildmates I may or may not have met briefly in passing at a con in the past. Everyone was nice and friendly. I was not excluded, though I didn't always feel a part of the conversations either. That's just the way it is, not something that really troubles me.
---
Disneyland in General
- If you go, be prepared for a ridiculous amount of walking. I knew that, but my calves are still stiff and my feet have been sore.
- Everything is likely to take longer than you think. That makes it hard to make scheduled shows.
- "Fastpass" is a verb! "Fastpass it and we'll come back later." Fastpasses have also messed with some rides that were designed to have entertainment in the area where the line queues up because getting Fastpass people in around the main line screws with the original design and you just blow by those little details.
- The Skyway gondolas are the most visible thing missing from my recollection (well, that and the sea of parking spaces).
- While Disney's California Adventure park doesn't have many attractions I'm interested in, I wish I'd gone there the first day just for the greater variety in foods.
- It's interesting to see the new (3D, projections, moving cars/seats rather than using coaster rails) versus the old (animatronics and rails).
Attractions
- Space Mountain hasn't changed much in any ways that I remember, it's still a roller coaster that's mostly in the dark. A good one, too.
- Star Tours is new to me. It's a contained room that shakes/moves to simulate flight along with the 3D "view." Apparently there are some variations on the scenes, so you can see different things different times you go. Neat.
- Autopia is still a matter of driving little cars around along guide rails. Cute.
- Finding Nemo Adventure Voyage is a little "sub" ride around a large pool with a show - mixed animation and animatronics.
- The Starcade, of course, isn't much of an arcade anymore. There's a few games there, but nothing like the two-story arcade it was back when arcades were a thing.
- The Haunted Mansion is about as I remember. Classic.
- I didn't remember much about the Jungle Cruise, though I'm sure I've been. More a matter of stand-up comedy/puns by the guide to go with the animatronics on display.
- Indiana Jone Adventure seems no more "Disney" to me than Star Tours - it's a combination of a moving car that jostles itself. Kinda fun, though there are too many dark turns with nothing going on.
- The Tiki room is about what it was. In retrospect, all the birds and plants are actually a little bit creepy.
- Pirates of the Caribbean is still a classic, though I'm actually just a little bit put out that they added some stuff from the movies in. Ah well.
- The Matterhorn was undergoing repairs, but Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was a pretty good coaster.
- California Screamin' was a good roller coaster, too. Longer and starting with a kick.
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was worth a peek - being strapped into seats of a "falling" elevator. Heh. My belt was a little loose on me. I actually caught a few inches of air during the drops.
- Grizzly River Run fulfilled the promised wetness. My foot was soaked for about half the day. Heh.
- DCA also has a few shows. We watched Muppetvision 3D (which was cute), a stage show of Aladdin that did a very good job and makes me want to watch the movie again, and ElecTRONica - which makes me wish I were about a decade younger and actually interested in dancing/partying. I like the music and the look (and Flynn's Arcade, even if it is small), but I've just never been the type.
That all actually sounds pretty cool. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself.
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