Assembling A Disneyland Trip - #2

In a way it's kind of too bad. We've been soooo busy around the house the last few weeks preparing for Mrs. DisneylandTraveler's father to come live with us that we have not had that wonderful sense of anticipation a trip to Disneyland can bring. No time. We've been kind of robbed of the planning, the thinking about what to pack, checking for the latest weather conditions in Anaheim, and just kind of having fun mapping out your days. Like I said, if someone told me the bus to Disneyland leaves in about 2 hours, I could be ready but there is just plain something fun about methodically plotting, planning, and scheming while the anticipation builds for a trip. You could easilily turn a trip to Disneyland into an event that takes several weeks (or months if you are talking about a trip to Walt Disney World). But this year, just a lot of preoccupation with other matters going on in our lives culminating in last night's annual filing of our income taxes. Its a wonder there is any money left over at all for a trip to Disneyland.

 

Anyway, many of the things that has been taking so much of our time have been settled and now we have about 3 days to get ourselves together for our trip. Can I make a suggestion to other Disneyland travelers out there? You don't have to get anything very fancy but make sure you have a suitcase (preferably with wheels) that can handle most of your clothing, shoes, the bathroom items. Here's the deal. We made a trip to Disneyland a few years ago with my sister. Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I each had our large suitcases containing most of our packables. My sister on the otherhand, since we were driving, had most of her packing items in backbacks, boxes, and assorted Wal-Mart bags. Doable if you have bell service but if you stay at a hotel that does not offer that service then guess who gets to make the 15 trips up the stairs to our second story room carrying assorted backpacks, boxes, and plastic baggies. That turned out to be my job. I was pooped before we ever settled in and headed to the park.

 

Mrs. DLT isn't perfect when it comes to packing, insisting we bring our own coffee pot for the room, laundry detergent and fabric softener, a portable fan, and cooler of assorted drinks along with some in room food snacks. I'm used to that. I guess it was my sister packing all her belongings in a dozen different containers that got to me. I'm a big believer in large suitcases and cramming as much as you can in it. It shouldn't take an hour of exhaustion to get your belongings into a hotel room

 

So guess what tonight brings? Getting out the large suitcase out and begin to put things in it. One suitcase for wearables and toilettries and a backback for cameras, chargers, and cables. Add my laptop and I'm good to go for a week. One trip from the car to the room for me.

Assembling A Disneyland Trip - #1

So now the fun begins as I begin to think about where I absolutely must be on the Disney property on certain days and at certain times.  It all starts with knowing what time the parks open and close and what shows are performing on what days. During our trip, Disneyland and DCA will have early closing Mon - Thurs. Bummer.  It gets the old Disneyland Traveler in bed at decent hour but limits some of the peformances. Basically, Fantasmic and Fireworks will on go off on the Sunday and Friday nights on the days we are there. (World of Color performs every night - no issue)

 

BUT

 

I haven't seen Cars Land yet. And by all accounts, everyone says you must see Cars Land at night and its nice to be there when the lights come on.  On Sunday night there is the time and opportunity to get the full effect of Cars Land even if we don't even get on a ride on a crowded night.  There may be chances to see it during the week but with DCA closing at 9, the time is severely constrained. So on the Sunday night of our first day in the park, you can probably find me over at Cars Land at dusk. I'll be the one with the camera (if Mrs. DisneylandTraveler can find the camera which seems to be a current issue).

 

I do want to see Fantasmic so that will have to wait until Friday which works out since the Sunday night performance of Fantasmic will have the alternate ending with the Mark Twain still in refurbishment until mid-week. It should be running for the Friday night show (watch it be cancelled due to wind and all my planning shot to you know what).

 

If I have the energy after 6 full days in Disneyland, maybe I can catch both Fireworks and Fantasmic on Friday. That's a big "If". 

Disneyland Attractions WDW Wishes They Had - Disney Dose

Mr Toad's Wild Ride - Disneyland Has One
WDW Got Rid Of Theirs

Them's fighting words.... In my latest post to the Disney Dose website, while getting ready for my next trip to Disneyland, I take on the Disneyland attractions Walt Disney World wishes they had. Before you get too carried away, later on, I will write about the WDW attractions I wish were somewhere in the confines of the Disneyland Resort.

Direct link to the post -

Disneyland Attractions WDW Wishes They Had

Roger Ebert (RIP) and Song Of The South

The Roger Ebert I Remember

Film critic Roger Ebert passed away earlier today after a long battle with cancer. At the time of his death, he could no longer eat or speak nor do these two common things we take for granted for several years. Cancer ravaged his body. His spirit continued to smile, move on, and led him to do the things which he held most dear - write, comment, and watch movies.

Probably for the better part of 40 years, Roger Ebert was a part of my life. He was the most influential film critic of his generation though he would probably smirk at that. When a new movie came out, everyone quickly ran to Roger Ebert in print and on TV to see what he thought of a movie. And up until his death in 1999, everyone went to Ebert and his longtime partner in film criticism crime Gene Siskel who passed away that year also from cancer, to see if they gave a movie thumbs up or thumbs down. Roger Ebert took intellectual film criticism and gave it accessibility to the masses. Rather than the snobbish, elitist movie reviews that were common in the 50's and 60's, Ebert looked at films from a common place perspective. His movie reviews were easy to read. His TV reviews were succinct and to the point. He loved movies. He praised them when they were good and railed against the ones that were bad. You could agree or disagree with Ebert but you just want to hear what he had to say.

Which brings me Walt Disney's Song of the South from 1946 long considered a Disney classic but withheld from distribution in the United States for decades because of it's racial undertones. Certainly Walt Disney didn't have any racial prejudices when he produced and released the film but the times we live in now define our sensibilities. Today, the film is considered 'politically incorrect' as the buzz words go in the U.S. Though filled with love and warmth from Uncle Remus and his characters, the film set in the post Civil War era still exudes a sometimes painful separation of black and white races.

Disney refuses to release the movie in the U.S. on blu-ray or any other home media.It's been that way for years though the film is available in other parts of the world (and available if you desire to get a copy). Disney fans and film historians constantly debate whether the film should be released. As Disney CEO Bob Iger has said many times that though releasing the film would bring Disney some financial gain, sometimes you don't do things because you think it is the right thing to do.

And that's the main problem with releasing Song of the South. It is constantly debated by Disney fans (like anyone who has every been on Splash Mountain or sang along with Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah") and film historians. It's debated by adults. But leave it Roger Ebert to take a different, simple, eloquent  position. Though Ebert hated film censorship of any kind, he believed Song of the South should be best left discussed in serious context with film schools. He looked at the film from the eyes of a child - "Any Disney film immediately becomes part of the consciousness of almost every child in America, and I would not want to be a black child going to school in the weeks following the release of Song of the South was first seen by my classmates" Ebert wrote. It should be mentioned while Roger Ebert had no children, he was married to an woman of African-American descent for many years. 

I admired Roger Ebert, his writing and his ability to take a subject matter such as film criticism and make it entertaining on TV. I subscribe to Twitter feeds from actors Albert Brooks and Steve Martin. Today they remembered the fondness for having known Roger Ebert though he occasionally ripped them in his commentaries for their performances. They both said he was a very nice and kind man and they would miss him greatly.

Roger Ebert Toward the End of His Inspiring Life

Another Visit From The Disney Collectible Curmudgeon

NO!!!!

With now less than 2 weeks from actually being in Disneyland, my attention turns toward my least favorite aspect of any trip to Disneyland - shopping. I know that makes me the exception from most people that pass through the turnstiles. I can't feel too bad though. Mrs. DisneylandTraveler more than makes up from my absence from the stores. She can't pass by one without stopping which usually leaves me on a nearby bench - which I am actually fine with, that is until that innevitable text message or phone call comes that says "come in here, I need you to look at something". That little trip from the bench to the store usually costs me $$$.

 

Now if I'm being honest, there are a couple of stores I like. There is Off The Page in DCA. And I like Disneyana on Main St. but its due to close right around the time I show up and eventually merge in with the Disney Gallery. These stores sell some nice things. And I like The Gag Factory because of its whimsy and seemingly doesn't take itself too seriously. The rest of the stores, you can have them, even though I know Mrs. DLT will call me into each and every one of them before our week's stay is through.

 

But still, Disney tries to guilt me into collecting something. I've tried but I just can't seem to generate any enthusiasm for Disney collecting. I have several Disney baseball hats but I don't wear any Disney clothing outside my visits to the park. The hats are more functinal than decorative. All other Disney clothing items end up in the closet or drawers. I've got a couple of pins, but when I go into a pin shop, I get dizzy from the shear volume of pins available. Vinylmation? I would rather spend 24 hrs going round and round on it's a small world before I let one of those hidious little abominations in my house. We have Disney coffee cups and maybe a shot glass or two but nothing in the realm of being a collection. Did I mention I am also....eh......extremely "practical" when it comes to Disney shopping. Mrs. DLT calls it......eh........being cheap.

 

As I've mentioned before we have maybe eight Disneyland poster prints nicely framed and distributed around the house. I like most of them (though I've kind of soured on the Kinkade prints since the guy kind of turned out to be something of a liar and a fraud). Mrs. DLT has a few very nice Mickey and Minnie Lenox pieces in her curio cabinet. Maybe that's the secret. When shopping at Disneyland, resist the urge to collect for collectibles sake. If you see something that's nice and you can see it occupying a nice place in your home, go for it. Let's face it, 90% if what's sold at the stores in the parks is junk. But Disney also sells some very nice things. My goal is to forget about the collecting and if I see something I really would like, then send Mrs. DLT over pick it up. She'll buy anthing.

The Two Week Disneyland Countdown

I'm still finding it hard to believe but two weeks from today, at this very minute that I am writing this, I will be sitting in a hotel room at the Candy Cane Inn on Harbor Blvd. drinking a cup of coffee and lamenting the fact Disneyland doesn't open until 10 am. Darn it! Where are those 8 am park openings when you really want them? Oh well, two weeks from today I will be in Disneyland. I will get to walk down Main St. again; take the "grand circle tour" on the Disneyland Railroad; take my rightful seat on a Pirates of the Caribbean boat. Of course, something could happen between now and then that would prevent this little adventure from happening. There is a lot going in real world lives of Mr. and Mrs. DisneylandTraveler right now, much of it semi-unpredictable. But we both have decided that getting away to our favorite place is the right thing to do.

If you are  the occasional Disneyland visitor or vacationer, the two weeks and counting mark is when the real trip planning begins. You begin thinking about what to pack and what you're going to do when you get there. Anticipation and excitement build as you pour over all the Disneyland information that you can get your hands on to see just how you are going to put your adventure together. For me, two weeks is not the point where the preparation begins. If you gave me 2 days to pack and prepare, that would be more than enough time. Heck, if you gave 2 hours to get ready, I could even do that assuming that all my laundry is done. For Mrs. DLT and me, our preparation is never hurried or stressful. We know exactly what we need to do and when to do it. Experience is a good teacher but I must say I am a bit envious of those who build with anticipation weeks in advance of their Disneyland trips. Please note our preparation for our trip to Disneyland is a complete 180 from when we tried to prepare for a trip to Walt Disney World a few years ago. Preparing for a trip to WDW defines the word stress because of all the planning involved. We finally had to get a travel agent to do it for us.

So right now everything is easy. Yesterday, I had the Boy find me the movie camera that he had borrowed last summer. I haven't tested it to see if it still works. I know Mrs. DLT has our regular digital camera somewhere because she used it to take pictures for some stuff she sold on eBay. I asked her about the camera's whereabouts but like a lot of things I ask her about, I know it will take a couple of more reminders until she actually gets around to look for it. I've checked the park entertainment schedule to see when the parks actually open and close, what shows are playing on what day, and of course everyone's favorite - what rides are closed for refurbishment.

I'm a little bummed that the Mark Twain, which was due to open today after a lengthy refurbishment, has had its closure extended to the middle of our trip - April 17. At least it will open while we are there. A trip to Disneyland would be lacking something if I could not make that trip around the Rivers of America at least once. Looks like the Matterhorn Bobsleds will be closed. Even though I haven't been on the ride since they replaced the sleds (with sleds no one seems to like) I've been on the ride enough to be able to replay the whole experience in my head right now so its closure is not a big deal to me. The Thunder Mountain Railroad closure is a given. It's one thing to close a ride for a few weeks and just have the bad timing for it to be down while you're there. When a ride closes for practically a whole year like TMRR, that's something completely different. I really don't even think about missing it.

What I'm going to think about most at least for the next week is the hundreds of pictures I plan to take. I'm going to focus on that. And I'm also going to think about food. On our last several trips, Mrs. DLT and I have eaten quite a few of our meals at Disneyland and DCA's table service restaurants to the point where its been several years since I last visited certain counter service dining facilities. I think we will make those a bigger point of emphasis this time around.

Excitement and anticipation, I think I can talk myself into it.

Disneyland Traveler Blog Adds More Fun

Mrs. DisneylandTraveler walked up to me a little while ago and made the comment "You know, you should made the blog a little more fun, why not add a Disneyland Trivia Question or something".

Somewhat surprised I replied "You know, that's a pretty good idea".

And so I have added a Disneyland Trivia Question to the blog. The answer to the question is at the bottom of the right hand column. I also plan to archive the questions so maybe the readers can impress their families, friends, and neighbors with their Disneyland trivia and knowledge. It's called being a smarty-pants.

While I was over in the right hand column of this blog, I took a look at the other gadgets Google has to offer and put over there. There is plenty of space to try out new things. How about a poll? Let's give that a try. And a Top 10 list that can be changed out from time to time. That's not bad idea either. I've even added a mini-movie review section. So far I have resisted Google's offer to stick advertising links over there. The Disneyland Traveler Blog is still ad free and a labor of love.

As the Disneyland Traveler Blog comes up on it's second anniversary, there is always room for improvement. More Disney fun and information, nothing wrong with that at all.