My Disneyland Bucket List - Item #7

You learn something new about Disneyland every day. Well, maybe not every day, but there seems to be no shortage of new things to stumble upon going on at the park. I've written before about how I am a fan of the little petting zoo at Big Thunder Ranch. It's charming and great for kids. The goats and other animal residents make me smile and smiling is what Disneyland is all about.

So I knew that the goats reside at the petting zoo during the day. I knew their permanent home was back in the friendly confines of Circle D ranch which is behind Frontierland. What I did not know until a little while ago is that every day about 4 pm there is a very minor event affectionately known as "The Running of Goats" - Disneyland's takeoff on the Running of the Bulls annual event in Pamplona Spain (complete with human carnage).

At 4 pm, the Petting Zoo handlers herd the goats up to the gate then open the gate and let the little rascals make a made dash off to the Circle D Ranch. There are a couple of short YouTube videos below to show the goats sprinting back to their home. And as of today, it's something I really want to see perhaps just once. The Running of the Goats is officially on my Disneyland Bucket List. I do not believe there have any humans trampled during this event.

Disneyland and 100,000 People

Al Lutz made a quick post the other day that on Monday of this week, the Monday of Thanksgiving week, there were 100,000 people at the Disneyland Resort. That's pretty much the max for the place and with that number of people, the infrastructure of the resort is pretty well pushed as far as it will go. Those kind of numbers are reserved for the busiest of days. But these numbers also tell a story.

We were in Disneyland (actually DCA) a few years ago in June right before the summer blackout for local passholders and heard one cast member tell another that there 100,000 people in the park that day but he used the numbers that 70,000 were in Disneyland and 30,000 in DCA. With Al's post he said on this past Monday the crowds were evenly split between the 2 parks - 50,000 in Disneyland and 50,000 in DCA further demonstrating the draw of Cars Land and the DCA reboot. This was the common trend all summer. Disney park execs have to be ecstatic about this.

It used to be Disneyland was virtual gridlock on busy days and DCA was more of a place to handle the overflow. It's not like that anymore as plenty of people now enter DCA first thing in the morning and don't leave until the park closes down easing the Disneyland claustrophobia.

Of course, the flip side of this is the Disneyland Resort is still drawing huge crowds and recent price increases have dented the throng from showing up. It plays right into the hand that says Disney can still handle further price increases before they take a large attendance hit by pricing people out of the parks. It will be an interesting trend to follow.

In the meantime, with 100,000 people, 65,000 of them are going to be hit sometime in the course of the day with a stroller.

Happy Thanksgiving From The Disneyland Traveler

After years of either shopping, preparing, or clean-up from Thanksgiving Dinner, the Disneyland Traveler household has decided to move in a different direction. The reservation at the local Black Angus restaurant is for 3 pm. Now for all those out the working to get the turkey in the oven and dinner on the table to celebrate this day of thanks with family and friends, we wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Disneyland Resort A to Z - Grizzly River Run

I guess this area of Disney California Adventure Park is still called Grizzly Peak. With almost every other area of DCA getting constructed, refurbished, and otherwise tweaked, this area of the park has been quietly left alone. The area it occupies is quite large but plays home to only one major attraction and a minor one - The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.

The major attraction is Grizzly River Run, a sudo white water rapids ride that is 100% guaranteed to get you wet. And we're not talking Splash Mountain kind of wet here, this is usually a full on head to toe drenching. So depending on your ability to enjoy getting buckets of cold water dumped on you from just about any possible angle is all you need to know as to whether GRR is a great ride or one that you can pass on.

Now when its 90 degrees in the summer, a good soaking can feel rather welcoming. On the other hand if you get on the ride at 5:00 pm on a November evening because someone in your party says "look, no line" as I did a few years back, then beware. You will get wet, then cold, then miserable, pretty much in that order. When someone says "look, no line" for what usually is a very popular ride the correct question to ask yourself is "Why isn't there a line?". Wise people don't go looking to get wet when the sun is rapidly setting and the temperature dropping like a stone. Luckily the Boy was with us on the night in question so I probably told him I would buy him a churro or something if he would go back to the hotel and get me a change of clothes.

Of course, Disney is always at the ready to help you out - for a price. There is a gift shop right next to the ride filled with sweatshirts and hoods to warm you up should that bone chilling cold go right through you. And they are also more than willing to sell you a cheap plastic drop cloth that they call a poncho to put on before you get on the ride. That little gift shop must make a bundle.

White Water Souvenirs off the right of the ride entrance

Disney also doesn't want to be responsible for expensive cameras and cell phones getting a ruined so they also provide lockers near the ride that are free to use for the duration of your excursion. 

But what about the ride itself? Well, I believe at one time it was the longest water ride every constructed and it still may be. Though there is a rather nice launching area from a thematic stand point and several vistas to shoot pictures of the raft vehicles, assorted waterfalls, and impressive rock work the ride itself is what it is, a water ride. There are a couple of small drops during the ride and one big drop toward the end that provide the thrills. What usually gets people are the pop-up geysers that launch huge plums of water near the very end of the ride. This is what usually causes the most water damage to the passengers.

I enjoy Grizzly River Run a great deal. It is fun and just one of those rides that will just have you talking about your experience the rest of the day (and maybe years later). The caveat is - you have to pick your spots for GRR. Get an afternoon fastpass on a warm day that will allow ample drying opportunity before nightfall and all will be good. When the days are short and the weather is cool or cloudy, just walk on by unless you are one of those who choose to ignore wisdom.

Watch our for these!!!!

Hostess and Me

A small break from the Disney stuff to lament the passing of Hostess Bakeries, makers of Twinkies, Cup Cakes, Fruit Pies, Ding-Dongs, and many other bakery treats. Oh, yes, they made Wonder Bread too.

The company fell on its own sword this week, giving itself up in bankruptcy after being crippled by a strike where its workers said they just can't afford to give up any more. There's probably no winners here but you have to wonder why a company and its leadership would just give up and shut its doors. Something tells me there is some sort of financial shenanigans going on here - a common practice in today's business world.

I grew up on Hostess products. I grew up in San Francisco, a city littered with corner stores supplying grocery needs to neighborhoods. Some of my earliest childhood memories have me going to the corner store for my mom to pick up the essentials - 2 quarts of milk (a half gallon was just too large of a container for little kids hands), a loaf of bread (Wonder of course), and maybe a couple of rolls of toilet paper. If it was in our budget, sometimes she said I could also get cup cakes or a fruit pie for my lunch the next day or perhaps just as a sack. Those words were golden to me - Hostess cup cakes or a berry pie (sorry, never cared much for Twinkies).

Back then, cup cakes or Twinkies cost 12 or 13 cents. A fruit pie was more, all the way up to 15 cents. And trust me, they tasted much better than what Hostess was putting on supermarket shelves up till a few days ago. Through the years and decades, my Hostess treat of choice was always a berry pie. I think they stopped making berry pies some time back. Haven't seen one for a long time. Probably got to be too expensive or the artificial flavoring that they pack into all the products now just couldn't cut it.

And its funny, I would meet various people through the years who thought the same thing I did when I entered a supermarket, corner store, or even a gas station - "I feel like having a Hostess berry pie today"

But that's all gone now. Or is it? Something tells me you haven't seen the last of Hostess. They name itself is worth a ton of money. A Hostess company will probably resurface sometime in the future making inferior products with cheaper labor. That's kind of how it works.

Is Radiator Springs Racers All That It's Cracked Up To Be?

I'm probably going to be the last one in my family of Disneyland crazed nuts to ride on Radiator Springs Racers. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. On second thought, it's a bad thing since it means I haven't been to Disneyland in awhile. The only good thing is hopefully missing out on the two and three hour wait times which is common on all but the slowest of days.

But for those in my family who have got to ride the Racers I'm getting some rather interesting feedback. My question to them is simple. "As reported by many people, is Radiator Springs Racers the best ride in either park?" I have yet to get an unqualified "Yes!".

Here is what I do get back.  "It certainly is a great ride and lot's of fun." "It's high tech and way cool."

But is it the best ride in either park?

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, I think I have other favorites."

And my favorite response....

"It's a great ride but it just doesn't feel like a Disney ride."

(And Indiana Jones Adventure feels like a Disney ride?)

Oh well, some day soon, I'll just have to check it out for myself

Starbucks Creeps Into Disney World in 2013

Starbucks at Fiddler, Fifer, and Practical Cafe
Disney California Adventure

Starbucks inside of the Fiddler, Fifer, and Practical Cafe (again: dumb name) is a hit in Disney California Adventure. Long lines (though pretty fast moving) have kept the caffeine buzz flowing when exhaustion gets the better of your Disney day. The plan was to have a Starbucks in all U.S. Disney theme parks but DCA has been the sole outlet since last June. Until now.

At long last, Starbucks is now scheduled to move into Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks next year. The Main Street Bakery in MK is scheduled to close for refurbishment in January then reopen in early summer with a Starbucks station. Over at Epcot, Fountain View will close in March and reopen with its Starbucks in mid-summer.

The Starbucks in Disney Parks idea is a good one. Goodness knows that the parks have struggled to come up with a palatable cup of coffee often times and Starbucks gives a quality product. Makes you want to forget about the regrettable teaming up of Disney Parks and McDonalds. That was an - ugh!.....