The Earl of Sandwich Opens in Downtown Disney Anaheim

The Disneyland Traveler is a sandwich kind of guy. I like sandwiches a lot. It may stem back to childhood days when my mom would send me off to school with a sandwich in my lunch bag (the brown paper lunch sack, I was never the metal cartoon lunch box type). It was usually the routine stuff - peanut butter and jelly, bologna, tuna, but every once in awhile I would get surprised and get a sandwich made from the previous day's dinner leftovers like pot roast, or pork roast.

Last Friday, the Earl of Sandwich opened in Downtown Disney in the old Compass Books spot across from the ESPN Zone. With a dumb name like Earl of Sandwich, you know this has to be a chain and it is but not really established out here in the west. I guess there is an Earl in Las Vegas. But there is an Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney in Walt Disney World and people swear by the place both with the price (all sandwiches are $6.99) and the quality.

So the Earl of Sandwich is now on the list of must places to go on our next visit to the Disneyland Resort. Goodness knows the Disney parks struggle with making a good sandwich with your best bet probably being the Pacific Wharf Cafe in DCA so the Earl is a welcomed addition. Hopefully it will become a regular stop on all of our visits. 

So far the reports are quite good with the sandwiches. There have have been some comments that the side small side accompaniments aren't worth the money but the sandwiches themselves have been getting very good reviews. The biggest complaint to this point, as one would suspect - long lines.

What would be my worst fear about the Earl of Sandwich? That it ends being something similar to my least favorite sandwich place - Subway. Hopefully not.

Mickey Says - Set Your Clocks Back 1 Hr. Tonight.

We can all use an extra hour of sleep. How about tonight? Daylight Savings Time ends in most (but not all) of the good ol' USA. Set your clocks back 1 hour before you go to bed and all will be fine. For you smartphone and computer users, don't worry about the time. They are smarter than you are.

Star Wars Meets the Mouse

Still a lot to digest with the Walt Disney Company buying Lucafilm and its Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. That only fueled internet creative artists and Photoshop mavens to get to work and bringing some much needed humor to the landmark purchase.

Disneyland Resort A to Z - Enchanted Tiki Room

My best thoughts about Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room have already been written in this blog. It's one of my favorite pieces of writing since I started this thing. You can read it from the link below....

The Tiki Room Is Not An Excuse To Eat Ice Cream

For me, the Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland is what Disneyland is all about. It's what Walt Disney was all about - a thousand details working in harmony to provide entertainment and magic to all who see and hear. The Enchanted Tiki Room is the sound of innocence in an age of complexities. It's decades worth of joy and fond memories.

Should Disney ever make the ill-fated decision of removing the Tiki Room as some people who have grown tired of the attraction have suggested, then that will be the day Disneyland really dies. WDW made the ill-fated decision of updating their Tiki Room for a new generation with the - Under New Management idea. It's pretty much universally hated for what they did to the original attraction, a poster child for imagineer's over thinking and "don't let this happen again"

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The Enchanted Tiki Room is not an attraction with the "wow" factor. It's an attraction for the heart and soul. Not every attraction has to tie into a movie or whatever else Disney may be promoting at the time. Sometimes it's just nice to hear the birds sing.

And Then There's Oz, The Great and Powerful

Disney Promotional Post For Oz, The Great and Powerful

And while I really look forward to Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, I can't say the same for next spring's release of Oz, The Great and Powerful from Disney and director Sam Rami. Disney released a new promotional poster this week featuring the wicked witch that looks both lush and creepy at the same time.

I said it before, but I'm just not a fan of the Wizard of Oz. I can't see Disney's involvement with the Oz characters of L. Frank Baum. But if I'm honest with myself, who could have pictured Disney owning Iron Man and Darth Vader either. 

Still, I don't have a good feeling about Disney's Oz. I could be all wrong. It could be a massive success like the eccentric but creepy Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. Oz could make a billion dollars and when Disney California Adventure's Mad T Party reaches its conclusion an Oz street party could be right behind it. And if that's the case, I think I'd be sick to my stomach.

Wreck-It Ralph Is A Hit

Wreck-It Ralph promotional poster - Disney

I don't know what the box office numbers will be for Disney's Wreck-It Ralph which opened this weekend but I suspect they will be pretty darn good because word on the street and from film critics too is that is just what this movie is - pretty darn good. It is a movie designed to please many age groups from kids basking in the glow of dazzling 3D color to adults who have now grown up through the video game age. Rottentomatoes.com has Ralph getting more love than either of the last two Pixar releases, the horrid Cars 2 and the lukewarm Brave. And just to make it clear, while Disney is Pixar's owner, this is a Disney release, not Pixar (with a PG rating as opposed to Pixar's pretty clean slate of G rated films).

The insider feeling is that Wreck-It Ralph will meet or exceed the success of Tangled, the last major release by Disney Animation. If Ralph makes it to that mark, then the animation department's all time winner, The Lion King, may possibly be a target. 

Haven't seen Ralph myself. I'll wait for some of the early crowds to die down a bit, but I am looking forward to seeing the movie. We're approaching the holidays. What's better than kicking them off but a good fun time at the movies.

Of course, Disneyland has it's Wreck-It Ralph meet and greet all set up to go this weekend. You can find Ralph inside the Starcade video game building in Tomorrowland. Long lines forming I am sure.

In Disneyland, It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like.....

It was just this past Wednesday when The Great Pumpkin failed to show up again and Charlie Brown go his bag of rocks. It was also the last day of trick or treating in Disneyland. But as soon as the last little costumed munchkin left the premises, armies of Disney overnight workers hit the streets and began the transformation from pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere to deck the halls with boughs of you name it. The transformation from Halloween to Christmas moves at the speed of light. It actually begins before Halloween as places like New Orleans Square get their decorations put up.

It needs to move fast. Here we are at November 3rd and right about now, Disney TV people are beginning preparations for the taping of the Disneyland segment of the Disney Pars Christmas Parade which goes on much of today. A lot of people show up to watch the taping, a lot of people. Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and myself have showed up on parade taping weekend twice quite by accident and have come away with the opinion that the further you stay away from it, the better. It is quite boring as things are taped, re-taped, then re-taped again. Main Street is pretty much gridlock with behind the scenes walkways set up to get people out of the park. And all to get to see a minor celebrity or two. (One person in our party one year had the privilege of standing in the presence of Ryan Seacrest.)

So while Main St. is starting its Christmas festivities today, we have found that during the parade taping it is the perfect time to hit the major rides of the park because lines or short. Also a good day to visit DCA. Christmas can wait another week or two.....