Adventureland State of Mind

The broadband connection to the internet was down for awhile this morning. The wireless router needed to be reset and in order to do that it would require me to sneak back into the bedroom where Mrs. DisneyalndTraveler was sound asleep. Sneaking back into the bedroom would have caused the dog to go bat crap crazy waking Mrs DLT to begin her Saturday in a not very good mood. I waited for the boy to get up then I held the dog while he sneaked into the room and reset the modem. Mrs. DLT did not wake up. Whew!!! one less thing to not get in trouble for today.

So  I worked on the above picture with software on the computer while the internet was down. I hadn't done that for a very long time. I mus say, I'm rather please with myself. 

Jack Is Back! So Are The Haunted Mansion Lines

Lining Up For the Return of the Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion reopened today following the installation of the 2013 Halloween / Christmas holiday overlay. My friend shot the above picture just before the attraction was about to open this morning. Yep, from a starting point of the line just about where Pirates of the Caribbean entrance is, up to the Mansion entrance, and wrapping around the side queue graveyard area - that's just about a 40 -45 minute wait time. That's a long time to wait for the Haunted Mansion unless your a fan of the Nightmare Before  Christmas / When Two Holidays Collide / Jack Skellington overlay like I am, then the wait is well worth it.

 

Whether its original state or with the overlay, the Haunted Mansion is often an overlooked and under appreciated attraction that really is a marvel. It is the last attraction Walt Disney personally was involved with  conceptualizing at the time of his death. It drips with exquisite detail, shrouded in myth and legend, and is a technical wonder of just how many people can be be pushed through the ride in an hours time (around 3000). Celebrate the Haunted Mansion for the holidays or any day for that matter.

Living Vicariously Through Someone Else's Disneyland Adventure

So my friend and co-worker along with his wife arrived in Disneyland about 10 o'clock this morning. Since then there has been a steady flow of text messages and pictures transmitted to my cell phone. He got his Radiator Springs fastpass, rode Toy Story Mania twice because there was only a 5 minute wait, was standing in line for California Screamin' when the ride shut down, had the new lobster roll from the Harbor Galley (liked it alot), got on Pirates and Finding Nemo before having the bacon, caramelized onion, and arugula flatbread pizza from Village Haus in Fantasyland. He also bought a new hat because the top of his head was getting abused by the sun. Tonight he will have dinner at Catal in Downtown Disney. Tomorrow he is slated for lunch at Club 33 because he has connections.

 

In the meantime, I sit in a cubicle and work. The background on my PC has this...

So for the next couple of days I get to live vicariously through someone else's Disneyland trip and stare at a picture of Mickey. This will be repeated at least twice more during this month with others. At least some people get to have a good time.

 

As for me, I get to dream - and smile a little bit as the text messages and pictures roll on in.

Bob Newhart and Mickey Take in The Disneyland Sights.

Bob Newhart and Mickey - 1974
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

For the better part of 40 years, Bob Newhart has been one of my most favorite performers on TV. Deadpan, understated, sarcasm was Newhart's comedic specialty and he used everyday people in tn their everyday circumstance as a target of his barbed humor. Disney Parks Blog published a photo of Bob taken in Disneyland in 1974, Now I can't really see button down Bob from Chicago as a theme park connoisseur but you never new. He may have has a geat. Bob's response to see the picture after all these years. "I've been looking for that hat for 20 years."

And seeing this picture reminds me that there may be a possibility to extend the pop culture as aspect of this blog into the TV realm. No better place to start than with Bob Newhart - still alive and funny at 84.

The Disneyland Nutmeg Halloween Rant #1

This is strictly personal, a quirk in my own personality. Those who see differently are free to do so because you are probably right and I'm something of a nut. Speaking of nuts - I do not like the spice nutmeg. Just something about it that rubs me the wrong way. For many, the first thing you think of when you think of nutmeg is pumpkin pie. In general, I do not like pumpkin pie and you can blame that on the nutmeg. A few pumpkin pies are tolerable but these are the rare pumpkin pies where the nutmeg used is put well into the background for taste and the pies are more custardy than pumpkiny (I'm making words up here - spellcheck is complaining).

So nutmeg reminds me of pumpkins. This time of year, Disneyland loves pumpkins and puts them literally everywhere - big ones, little ones, funny ones, scary ones - pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere. The place is awash in a sea of pumpkins and the color orange. Yep, the return of the pumpkins marks the beginning of Disneyland's Halloween season that will formally begin in about 6 days. Just like nutmeg and pumpkins, I don't like Halloween. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I go through this every year. Again, it's personal. I don't remember going trick or treating past maybe the age of 6 or 7. My reasoning was simple. In my mind I equated trick or treating with begging for food. My family worked for a living - no begging - we earned everything put in our mouths. Silly reasoning? You bet. My parents had no problems passing out candy to little ones in the neighborhood. I just didn't want to be the person on the other side in a silly costume begging for candy.

Nutmeg, pumpkins, orange, Halloween.....they all kind of put an unsettling stamp on the year marking the end of spring and summer. Days grow shorter, the weather gets colder...blech... At Disneyland, they celebrate this time of year. Well, not really. It used to be one the slower times of year and a good time to make a trip if you liked your Disneyland activity on the quieter side. Then one day, some bean counters figured out that Disney could turn a pretty good profit on this Halloween nonsense. 

I know several families who are going to Disneyland this month eager to be bombarded by Halloween decorations from all angles. And you know what? Despite my whining and complaining, I am envious of each and every one of them who get to go.

Come on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm waiting.

The Disneyland Sad Face

My sister sent me a text message yesterday and said she was going with her daughter and her grand kids along with my niece and her kids down to Disneyland later this month for a Mickey's Halloween Party event. This is on top of two people I work with who are also making trips to Disneyland at various times this month.

 

My sister then proceeded to ask if Mrs. DisneylandTraveler were available to make a trip to Disneyland before the (deluxe) annual passholder Christmas blackout dates go into effect. The little guy's face in the above picture seems fit my answer - it just doesn't look good.

 

Trying to make peace with myself living vicariously through others.

Disneyland's Cheap Fix To A Bigger Problem

All Disneyland fans know that the section of the park known as Frontierland is "lacking". It's been that way for years having gone the way of westerns on TV and in the movies, a once thriving subject matter now virtually extinct. With Mrs. DisneylandTraveler's father now living with us and his failing mind now locked into past memories rather than the present, we have watched our fair share of Bonanza and Gunsmoke episodes recently which show up on obscure satellite channels fixated on a viewing market that focuses on the elderly. Those shows were really great (seeing them again after many, many years, I forgot how good they really were) and Disneyland's Frontierland once reflected the popularity of the western on TV and film.

Frontierland in Disneyland has been neglected to the point of embarrassment, even more so now that it's one signature ride attraction - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - has now had its scheduled 10 month refurbishment extended to perhaps early next year. What's left? The Shooting Gallery? The Mark Twain? Not much. Then there's the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, which has provided great entertainment for countless people through the years. Since it is a building in which presence of Walt Disney is still felt, its historical significance to the park is great. 

Walt had his hand in producing the original Golden Horseshoe Revue which ran through thousands of performances. I saw the revue as a kid with my parents. For the last dozen years or so since Mrs. DLT and I have been making extended trips to Disneyland frequently, we have always made it a point to Billy Hill and the Hillbillies at least once a trip. It's a great act and if you catch the boys on a good day with the right amount of audience participation, their show can easily be a trip highlight. Since Mrs. DLT and I tend to make our trips to Disneyland during low attendance parts of the year, we haven't seen the Billies do their act in the outdoor Festival Arena venue where Disneyland has banished them at times in a continuing effort to turn their intimate act into some kind of carnival. Billy Hill and the Hillbillies belong in the Golden Horseshoe. That's it - nowhere else in the park.

So during the past few weeks, with the Hillbillies still out in the Festival Arena, Disneyland has been doing a test within the confines of the Golden Horseshoe. Instead of a live performance, they have been working on an interactive game with real life cast members acting out parts of the game in various old west characters. The people that have posted about it in various Disneyland forums have said the game is a lot of fun and I believe them but here's the problem.

The people that generally have written about the game are generally local annual passholders who are always looking for something new and different in the park because they show up in Disneyland on a regular basis and need something new to keep their interest moving ahead.

I posted in MiceChat that the interactive game is pointed directly at the local annual passholder and probably holds little interest to the Disneyland guest who is a vacationer or only get to the park once every year or two. For the occasional visitor, Disneyland is about rides and major attractions not interactive games which take time away from the typical park attractions. One guy posted that my feelings toward annual passholders was contemptible. My reply was easy enough - I am an annual passholder, just not one who shows up at the front gates every week. For Disney, an interactive game is the "perfect" attraction because it has little in the way of development cost, little in the way of construction cost, no cost for maintenance and upkeep, no cost for liability, and when people get tired of it, the game is pretty much disposable. It provides Disney with a cheap fix for the bigger problem of a neglected Frontierland. Using the beautiful Golden Horseshoe for a "game" seems work against the beautiful historic venue. Frontierland needs the Golden Horseshoe because it has so little going form it. To use it for game playing seems a waste.