The Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy Experiment

The Halloween seasonal overlay for the Disneyland Space Mountain attraction called Ghost Galaxy has been taking place for a few years now. Space Mountain is one of those Disneyland attractions that you either love it or hate it. There is no middle ground. Those that love it make a special point to go on it again and again and eagerly await the semi-spooky Halloween elements that are added to the ride. Those that hate Space Mountain, well, something like Ghost Galaxy isn't going to convince them to get on the thing. They wouldn't go near Space Mountain unless someone is forcing them at gun point. You can put Mrs. DisneylandTraveler in that category. When I rode Ghost Galaxy, I rode alone.

For most Space Mountain fans, Ghost Galaxy is either a nice addition or a bit of a disappointment depending on how you look at it. Since Space Mountain by design is a wild mouse type roller coaster that runs in the dark, adding the additional lighting and sound effects of Ghost Galaxy don't change the essence of the ride. It's the same but different. I think the disappointment comes when Space Mountain veterans know that Disney is fully capable of doing a whole lot more with Ghost Galaxy. If they wanted to, they could probably make a ride that would scare the bejeezes out of someone. Since Disney wants to work on a family entertainment level, they take the safe route with Ghost Galaxy.

There's that and the fact that it only take Disney 3 days to install the Ghost Galaxy overlay and only 1 day to remove it. They popular attraction has minimal downtime. Compare that to the Haunted Mansion Holidays overlay which takes close to 3 weeks to install and about the same length of time to remove it.

Maybe the best part of Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy is what they do with the enhanced lighting and sound effects with the exterior of the building. Seeing the stately building set aglow with special light and sound displays may be more of seasonal interest than what goes on inside on the ride itself.

Here is a Disney produced video of the ride itself along with another video that shows the dramatic building exterior.

Deck the .... What the ?????

Still long before Linus gets to watch The Great Pumpkin rise up out of the pumpkin patch, Disneyland has announced their Christmas season schedule in Disney Parks Blog (link). This year the official holiday season runs from November 12 - January 6. "It's awful early to start thinking about Christmas" you might say. And you might be wrong as Disney wants to get the word out now for the all holiday planners out there. Me, personally, I love the Christmas season at Disneyland. The sooner they start posting holiday information the sooner I can start living in my own Christmas fantasy. And yes, the weather stayed under 100 degrees today. Only about 95 I think.

Dear October

It's trending on Twitter. Tweets that begin with -

Dear October:

It's supposed to be 101 degrees outside today here at home. Can we please not rush Halloween? But if that weren't bad enough, went to Wal-Mart yesterday. Saw my first Christmas tree.

Disney - it may work out better if Haloweentime at Disneyland was maybe 3 weeks long instead of 6. Watching pumpkin carvers work in ninety degree heat is not my idea of an autumn festival.

A Walk Around Disneyland With Walt - 2012

Disneyland is the only Disney park Walt ever set foot in. It was his baby. He lived for the first twelve years of the park's existence. But now its almost 60 years later since Disneyland first opened its turnstiles and welcomed the first guests. Walt was there to greet them. 

I wonder what Walt would think of his park today. I don't know of course but I can pretend. Let's meet Walt out on the esplanade and take a walk with him through Disneyland and listen in on some of the things he might say....

"It costs how much to get in here!"

"You got rid of the ticket books? I kind of liked those."

"Ah yes, Train Station, Main Street, all pretty much like how I remember it."

"And Abraham Lincoln is still here. Great. Our greatest president, you know. Why is everyone just walking by without going in?"

"You kept my apartment as it was? Please tell me you at least got rid of all that ghastly red furniture - Lillian isn't coming back."

"What do you mean I can't smoke here."

"I really didn't want any statues of myself in the park, but I gotta say it sure looks nice."

"Jungle Cruise, one of my favorites. Thanks for keeping that one. You really should get a better microphone and loudspeaker though. I couldn't understand half the things that captain was saying."

"Indiana Jones? Who's that?"

"I built Pirates of the Caribbean you know. It sure turned out to be a great ride. Who was that one pirate that kept popping up and in the last scene of the ride? I don't remember him."

"Wait a minute, this isn't the Haunted Mansion I remember drawing up..... Haunted Mansion Holidays? ... not sure about this idea. Not sure about it at all...."

"I hope the guy that built Splash Mountain got a nice bonus. Most impressive."

"This Winnie the Pooh ride is kind of nice and colorful but shouldn't it be over in Fantasyland? I liked those singing bears that were here"

"The Mark Twain boat ride. I'm sure proud of this one. Whatever happened to the keel boats? Your kiddin' - shut down because one tipped over?"

"I sure had a lot of fun in the Golden Horseshoe back in my day. Nice to see it looks pretty much the same even if the show has changed."

"Another mountain? Thunder Mountain? I like it! But the rest of Frontierland seems kind of weak to me."

"You guys really fixed up Fantasyland pretty nice. I can see why its so popular. A lot of its pretty much how I remember."

"it's a small world, I've got to be honest, by the time I left this world, I was pretty sick of that song."

"ToonTown? Seems colorful and a good idea but other than Mickey's house and that spin ride, there doesn't seem to a lot going on."

"What did you guys do with my subs? This is a cartoon"

"What's a Pixar?"

"This isn't the Tomorrowland I remember. This is...... I don't know what it is. I'm not liking what I see at all."

"Buzz Lightyear? Star Tours? Captain EO?  Your killing me here."

"I still see the People Mover track but I haven't seen a People Mover yet."

"I just need to sit down and think about all this... Darn, forgot you don't let people smoke where they want anymore. Causes cancer? Sure wish someone would have passed that piece of information on to me."

"Well I have to say, people still seem to be having a good time, a lot of the park is how I remember it. And like I always said, there will always be something that needs to be done. Starting with Tomorrowland here. This sure got butchered from its original concept over the years"

"Gotta go now. Maybe I'll come back this weekend for another visit. It's Gay days? Isn't every day a gay day at Disneyland....  Oh....."

A Disney California Adventure in Cheese

Cheddar Cheese Stick
Corn Dog Castle - DCA

The Disney California Adventure Twitter account just tweeted out this photo - the Cheddar Cheese Stick from the Corn Dog Castle in Disney California Adventure. The tweet asked if I tried one of these yet? Answer - No. Love the corn dogs, haven't tried the cheese (or the hot link corn dog for that matter). Let's see - a battered and deep fried stick of cheese, cardiologists could probably post this photo on their office walls with a big red X through it and a caption reading "Heart Attack on a Stick". The Corn Dog Castle offers their corn dogs and cheese sticks with a choice of potato chips or apple slices. For the health conscious out there, go for apple slices. You will help with easing your guilty conscious and the apple slices help cut the grease in your stomach before riding the neighboring Goofy's Sky School.

Looks good though.... 

The Hard Sell of Frankenweenie

We're a little less than a week away from the opening of Disney's Frankenweenie, a film made by Tim Burton, whose body of work tends to fall off the mainstream. For me, Tim Burton's work falls in two categories - odd but enjoyable (Beetlejuice, Batman) or odd but a little too strange for me (Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland).

Disney is heavily promoting Frankenweenie as commercial trailers show up regularly during assorted network and cable programming. There is an exhibit of Frankweenie art featuring actual movie sets and pieces on display at the Art of Animation building in Disney California Adventure (Frankenweenie was made with stop motion animation as opposed to the computer graphic rendering of typical Pixar films). And Disney has also moved my beloved Muppets out of their theater in DCA so continuous showings of the Frankenweenie trailer can be shown to park guests. Of course, DCA is also loaded with Frankenweenie merchandise for sale during this Halloween season.

So Disney is really banking with a hit on its hands with Burton and his beloved Frankenweenie project. But I have to get back to my two Tim Burton categories. For me, just from trailers on TV and what I have seen in theaters, Frankenweenie just appears to be a little too weird for my tastes. First of all, the movie is in black and white - a curious thing to do in 2012 but it probably does add to the visuals of the film. But the story of a boy bringing his beloved deceased pet dog back to life through scientific experimentation just feels like, well, kind of creepy. The film is in 3D which costs a few buck more than regular movie prices to see but checks in with a running time of less than an hour and a half so you are paying a premium price for essentially a short movie (though admittedly, a short good movie is better than a long bad one - and we are back to Alice in Wonderland again).

Anyway, I don't have any plans to see Frankenweenie at the theater. Maybe I'll rent it some day but I picture myself having a hard time of doing even doing that. Instead, I'm going to hold off on my Disney film watching at the theaters for another couple of months. Wreck-It Ralph is just around the corner.

The Disneyland Traveler Becomes Mr. Positive

So the question comment was made "if you like Disneyland so much, why do you nit-pick and have so many negative things to say? Even when you write good things there always seems to be tinge of negativity"

Fair point. Maybe I'm just a glass half empty kind of person but I will change that with this post - I will say nothing negative at all (hopefully) and explain with all the positive thoughts I can muster why I like Disneyland.

There simply isn't a better theme park experience out there than what Disneyland provides. The theming, the exquisite detail, the rich textured layers that exist within the confines of the park cannot be topped anywhere.

Age has no boundaries. Whether your 3 or 83, Disneyland offers fun for all ages and much of it is can be shared by young and old together.

Once through the gates, everyday problems seem to magically go away. It's all Disney, all the time.

Special moments that will last a lifetime.

Great rides. Everyone has their favorites. Mine is Pirates of the Caribbean but you could line up Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Jungle Cruise and several others right behind it.

You want entertainment and big time attractions? Try Fantasmic, the Enchanted Tiki Room, Billy Hill & the Hillbillies, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, along with parades and fireworks.

You couldn't give your family a better Christmas gift than a trip to Disneyland during the holiday season.

I like Disneyland Park food - there I said it. Now its taken years to sort it all out and Disney has definitely made great strides in recent years to improve their food offerings, but I can always get a good meal in Disneyland.

Hotels are minutes away. Whether I stay at a Disney hotel or a neighboring establishment, I know I am never more than a half hour away from walking through the park gates

Walt Disney was here and almost 60 years after he first welcomed guests into his park, you can still feel his presence.

I made trips to Disneyland with my mom and dad, sister and brother over the years - they have all passed away now. Inside Disneyland, I still see the places where we were once together. It touches the heart.

I can still get goosebumps (and sometimes misty eyed).

So there you go. All positive things to say about Disneyland. I'll go back and nit-picking sometime very soon.