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One More Disney Day-saster

February 29, 2012 marked a epic day in Disney history. Disneyland and Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme parks announced on New Years Eve that they will be remaining open for a full 24hours for guests to bring in the Leap Year with a full day of Disney Magic. Beginning 6am on Wednesday and closing at 6am the following morning guests could pul an “all-nighter” in either resort park. It was advertised as a 24 hour par-tay. Along with their experience, guests would be greeted by characters dressed in PJ’s , all night DJ parties, and special foods and merchandise for purchase as only Disney knows how.

The line up began the prior evening around 9:30pm. Yes, people actually stood in line from 9:30pm until 6:00am to get into Disneyland. Was I there? Not a fat chance in … errrr… Mr. Toads Wild Ride that I’d wait that long; but I’m a passholder so I can go whenever I want. Believe me, those people were serious about getting in because that night had to be one of the coldest nights I remember in a long while out here in So. Cal. Why were they lined up? To get exclusive Mickey Ears and Commemorative Pins for the first 2,000 guests. Trouble was, there were over 3,000 guests lined up by 10:30, so not everyone received their freebies. Not to worry, there were special hats available for sale inside as well.

From what I could gather by social media terms the day of “ One More Disney Day” portion was rather calm. Cue lines were average for a typical February weekday. People seemed to enjoy themselves rather fondly for the most part. The park even did some filming of ABC’s television show “ Modern Family” throughout the park.

The first sign of crowds didn’t show up until the after work crowds began attending the events. After social media reports from Twitter and Facebook came about the short lines and overall crowd indexes being rather calm, annual passholders began pouring into Disneyland. So much so, that around 10:30pm Disneyland turnstyles stopped and the parking structures were at capacity. For those of you who aren’t quite up on Disney knowledge that’s 85,000 people. There were so many people waiting to get in, the lines extended around the promenade and looped back under the monorail gates (easily a couple thousand people). They even stopped selling tickets at one point. These long lines continued and the park opening and closing off and on until 6am the following morning. What a nightmare for the guests and castmembers. There weren’t even lines at this point, just mobs.

Lets cut to inside the park; these are the hidden tales that Disney doesn’t want getting out. Inside the crowds were so thick it was hard to make out castmembers or security. As the evening grew into the wee hours of the morning, reports on social media outlets told tales of underage drunkenness and bottles of alcohol being thrown into Rivers of America. I am sure it was quite a scene and Walt was probably turning in his grave. They clearly were not ready for this 24 hour charade and needed to beef up security instead of chili dog menus.

Overall, reports were that everyone had fun and ‘twas an overall experience to be had by many. You couldn’t pay me enough Disney dollars to deal with the crowds but that’s because crowds aren’t my fortay. Maybe next time Disney decides to do a day of fun in the park, they may decide to presale tickets or some type of lottery for passholders. The One More Day of Disney Day-saster may be avoided and people may not leave feeling left out of the mix.

On yeah, as of 8am on March 1, immediately 2 hours after the park closed, Ebay had merchandise for sale from the Leap Day celebrations. Currently, a hat and pin combo are going for around $50.00 ; about half the price of a one day ticket. So maybe if you missed out, you can say you saved yourself the hassle of the crowds and cut your costs by purchasing them there. 

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Ariel Skywalker?

It’s been a long while since I’ve last blogged about Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure Theme parks and a lot has changed to make the Disney experiences more magical than ever.

Last September I blogged about Star Tours getting a total makeover and on June 3 this became a reality. “Star Tours 2.0” as I like to call it, let’s the journey’s continue. This attraction which has long been a fan favorite has been completely revamped into a whole new 3-D experience. Passengers hop aboard the improved Star Speeder 1000 and take a journey to any one of 54 different combinations of places.

Grand Opening - June 3, 2011
The Tours will Always be With You

Being an annual pass holder, I was able to experience the ride during a special pre-event showcase in May and was allowed to ride the attraction every 30 minutes for a time span of 5 hours. This allowed me to fully appreciate the ride at its potential and give you the scoop on all of the journeys.

Several times I experienced the exact same routine with the exception of one or two small changes. I do not want to spoil it for those of you who plan to attend by detailing the exact ride but there are some common themes to each experience. For example, each ride is randomized with choice of beginning experience (one out of two) , a planetary experience (from 5 choices), a visit from a projected friend (3 choices) , followed by another planet experience and ending. I’d say at most, there are “truly” 5 experiences and not “really” 54 as they claim, as they are simply interchangeable video clips which makes each experience different in that respect. I can say for certain however that Disney has certainly raised the bar with this ride. It’s a definite must do on each visit. I have been on it at least 12 times in the last 3 weeks and every time I enjoy it. Expect that with summer hours and business at the park, the ride will be at least a 60 minute wait time.

My advice: Get to the park 30 minutes before opening, have a buddy take your tickets to the fastpass distribution line located across from the attraction while you wait in line. This way you can ride twice before your Disney day is up. Fast passes have been running out around 9:30am each day, including weekdays. Be sure to check out the new merchandise at Star Trader and Tomorrow Land Terrace is carrying R2D2 Steins and Popcorn  Buckets are at the carts nearby as well. Watch out for Rebel Spies and as always “May the Force be with You!”

Bleep Blop Bloop

Another long awaited attraction “The Little Mermaid’s Undersea Adventure” at Disney’s California Adventure also had its grand opening on June 3. This ride, although not as exciting an experience as Star Tours, certainly has brought Ariel and her friends into the 21st century. It also has elements of classic Disney “wall rides” like Peter Pan mixed with it’s a Small World.

Here, you board a clam shell and take a ride through Eric’s Ship down “Under the Sea” where parts of the movie comes alive with video screens, lighting effects, music and animatronic creatures from the film. Imagineers, those who create the Disney rides, really put their minds to work to create a true experience for tadpoles and mermaids alike. I was super impressed with the creative talents of the outside of the attraction and cues. There were mosaic tiled mermaids & starfish on the ground as you enter the cue as well as urchins on the poles holding up the line ropes. Even the plants outside looked like sea weed and mosses. I especially loved that they used a concrete that looked like sand and embedded sea shells in them before it dried. Every little touch matters to make a true Disney experience become a Magical one. Imagineers spared no expense creating this beautiful ride exterior.

This attraction is a must see! So, swim on in to Disney’s California Adventure and check out “The Little Mermaid’s Undersea Adventure” located across from Paradise Pier and boardwalk. Watch out for Flotsam and Jetsam guarding Ursula’s undersea cave… “poor unfortunate souls”

The Little Mermaid's Undersea Adventure Mural

My advice: This line at it’s longest was no more than 60 minutes. As summer begins, hours and lines get really long. There is not much shade in the outside cue so wear plenty of sunscreen & bring bottled water to quench your thirst as sodas will cost you around $3.75 each for a 20 oz bottle. Try to get to the line when the park opens so that will eliminate unnecessary wait times. The ride moves constantly, stopping only to grant handicapped access to those that need it, so the line moves pretty steadily. Remember… “Life Under the Sea is better than anything they got up there”- Sebastian.

Finally, Disney has created a new Parade just for Summer. It’s called the Soundsational Summer Parade. Make sure you check this out. I am not an avid parade watcher but this one was exciting. It has all new acts, characters from the princesses to Lion King and even has it’s own Drum Core to kick it all off.

My Advice: Get to the parade route on Main Street 1 hour before the kick off of the parade begins and find a shady spot on the West Side. We got stuck in the sun for 1 hour and 30 minutes and it was not a pretty sight. Also, if you sit on the curb along Main Street, you can remain seated the entire time. Everyone else has to stand. Enjoy and have a Magical Summer!

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Get Your TRON On!

It’s 8:00 pm on a Friday night and there’s nothing to do. You hop onto your light cycle, turn the 90 degree corner, and start maneuvering your way through rush hour traffic on the 15 freeway. Suddenly, IT hits you… Anaheim or bust! You arrive at Mickey and Friends Parking structure, kindly flash you “identity badge” and cruise up to Donald 4G. Parking your light cycle carefully on the grid you descend a set of moving stairways and enter the newly renovated Disneyland Tram. You quickly exit, on the driver’s right hand side and right hand side only, and you walk directly to the entrance of California Adventure theme park. Again, the CM’s ask to see your identity badge and you are quickly transported into a scene of a lifetime.

Welcome to Disney’s California Adventure: ElecTRONica Dance Party

TRON inside Flynn's Arcade

As you enter, you look above you where glimpses of the grid surround you on huge building screens and blue neon envelopes you at every turn. Your ears are greeted by pleasant sounds from the film with Electronic Sounds from groups like Daft Punk and Paul Oakenfold being mixed on the fly. You make your way past a few small “programs” attempting to toss their identity disks into a large basket as they practice for upcoming battles on hopes of winning a delightful prize.

Directly beyond this practice space, there are several booths offering drinks, snacks and merchandise related to TRON Legacy. We purchased 2 Identity disks that light up and make sounds when you depress the buttons- $25.00 each plus 20% off merchandise with your annual pass.

DCA ElecTRONica Dance Party

You walk further and further into the grid and suddenly you are met by a huge Recognizer that scans your entire body and identifies you as “rectified” or “games.”
As you pass the huge replica, you step into the club atmosphere where a DJ stands high atop a circular booth complete with flashing neon lights and surrounded by pods of TRON clad dancers. They are really decked to the hilt! And of course dawning their identity disks on their backs. If I do say so myself, the ladies are very pleasing to the eyes and the men are more than physically fit. Complete with a dance floor and tons of programs dancing the night away like it were 1982, you quickly shoot across the grid to the “End of Line Club”.

At the “End of Line Club” you can purchase refreshments, snacks like nachos and other goodies to reenergize yourself, and alcoholic beverages in neon plastic cups. Now, if we could only convince Daft Punk to play there, that would be an awesome sight!

Next to the club, you can see an exclusive 3-D clip of TRON: Legacy. This is a great experience as it is held in the theater where Muppet Vision 3-D is continuously being shown. The movie comes alive as the Recognizer comes to land and surrounding you are lights that flash around the grid as well as huge fans that blow behind you in the theater. The movie, to put it lightly, looks SUPER FANTASTICALLY AMAZING! This is definitely a must see!

Flynn's Arcde

Continuing on along the path of awesome, you run into the best and brightest sign imaginable. I about cried when I saw it from afar and close up, was to die for. The sign, beaming from afar read “Flynn’s.” YES! As in Flynn’s Arcade of 1982! At the entrance to the Arcade there are several stations where you can test your skills on the Wii by playing demo versions of the new TRON game. As this didn’t interest me as much, we quickly bypassed the gamers and entered the Holy realm of gaming legacy. To my right, Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Galaga, Space Invaders, Ms. Pac Man, and Contra. To my left, Missile Command, Gauntlet (Wizard needs food badly) and the ultimate in gaming along the back wall in all it’s glory, TRON. Above this most perfect game, was a neon sign announcing “Home of TRON.” Could this be a more perfect Arcade Throwback? Umm yes!

So how do you and can you play these museum worthy hits of the 80s ad 90s? YES! Make your way to the coin changer machines that look exactly like the ones we used in the 1980’s and 90’s and insert a dollar. Out pops 4 coins each inscribed with “Flynn’s Arcade” on side one and “ElecTRONica” on the other. PERFECTION! Oh, one last thing, IF you can score an “I get next” play on one of the machines, it only costs a token to play… SCORE!

After taking in all of these beautiful sights of ElecTRONica you will leave there wanting to go back over and over again. How and when you ask? Good thing my identity disk was working overtime and recounted all of my adventure. Disney’s ElecTRONica runs through the Fall of 2010 awaiting the release of TRON: Legacy on December 17, 2010. This event takes place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening from 8:00pm –close. You can also enjoy it every night the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.

There is a special Meet-Up event scheduled for Thursday, October 28th a 4:00pm -Midnight,  including exclusive sneak peeks of items used in the movie, autograph sessions and commemorative coins will be passed out. The event is free and as of Friday October 21, it was at capacity but I will be sure to blog about the event so you can live vicariously through my TRON adventures if you do not get to see this spectacle first hand. I will also be live tweeting the event with photos so follow me on twitter @Rayvencure if you are interested!

Goodbye Programs!

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I Do Believe in Spooks! (and Mickey Mouse)

Haunted Hollywood Hotel Window

I Do Believe in Spooks! (and Mickey Mouse)

October is finally here at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World which can only mean one thing “Halloween Time!”  This is the extra “spooktacular” time of year when Disney Magic transforms its parks with Pumpkins, Coffins and “Candy Corrrrn” (Insert Heimlich Voice) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCewwVvtpWg .

Beginning October 1st you can visit the park and enjoy an array of tricks and treats including one of my all time favorites: coffin-shaped, chocolate mousse deserts from the French Market complete with edible dirt (cookie crumbs) and worms, gummy of course.

Some of the fabulous rides have also been haunted like the popular Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy and the Haunted Mansion is themed for Tim Burrton’s Nightmare Before Christmas complete with an edible gingerbread house in the main ballroom. They are certainly worth the wait!

For your boys and ghouls Disneyland has moved its ever-so-popular “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party” to the Disneyland Resort this year. Since 2005, Disneyland’s California Adventure has hosted the annual party but due to the popularity of their new attraction “World of Color” and extra construction around the park, Disney officials have moved the party across the esplanade. Yes, for an extra $54.00 admission price (on select dates in October, presale price) at 6p.m. or 7p.m. until 11p.m. or 12 a.m. (dates and times vary) you can have Disneyland all to yourself. Most rides will be open and there are special places for your little zombies to go trick-or-treating.  There is even a costume parade and dance party in Tomorrow land Terrace.

Annual Passholders, like many of us local Disney-philes are, will not be allowed into Disneyland for the party without a ticket. Annual passholders can, however purchase discounted tickets on the Disney website for $44.00. We are waiting to see what the numbers are like and how popular this event becomes since its move to Disneyland. With the park closing hours before regular schedule for the Halloween Party and the economy, it will be interesting to see if they turn a profit. Last year, Halloween Time through Very Merry Christmas Times were seasonally packed with park hoppers and at times parking lots and parks were at capacity.

My advice for Halloween Time: Get to the park before 10am as parking lots get closed when they are half full. Disney park officials have been known to close lots to save spaces for attendees that come later in the day and force park goers to park several blocks away to eliminate lack of space in the Mickey and Friend’s Parking Structure.

Secondly, take plenty of water and snacks as lines will be extra long  for food and attraction cues are generally double wait times. Fast passes are HIGHLY recommended.

Finally, enjoy your Disney Experience! It only comes once a year!

PS: Check out the two new Mickey Ears designs this year: Pumpkin Mickey and Franken Mickey

HAPPY HAUNTING!

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Don’t Boba Frett

If you haven’t been to Disneyland, California or Walt Disney World, Florida in the last few months sadly, you missed the final Star Tours trip to Endor on the Star Speeder 3000.

Yes, Rex, the beloved robot who took riders on a journey reassuring them each and every time “Welcome aboard… if it’s your first flight, it’s mine too” has been retired. He has been replaced by a new Droid style robot AC-38 or “Ace” for short. Also, C-3PO has been removed and in his place, a W-7 Waitress Droid from Attack of the Clones has been inserted.

We hear she adds an element of comic relief while passengers eagerly wait in the long cue lines on their way to the boarding dock. There are several other Droids that have been strategically placed throughout the ride but we will have to wait until 2011 to see and experience the full potential of this remodeling of an old time classic.

Star Tours 3.5, as it has been named was scheduled to be remodeled as Star Tours 7 after the release of the Episode 1, on May 19, 1999. However, Disney Imagineers thought it best to wait and see what George Lucas had in store for us finishing up the Legacy. After Episode 3 was finally released, the project was continued and as of August 2010 has been under construction. From what we “Disneyphiles” have been hearing through internet rumors, and the new Official Disneyland Fan Club affectionately known as “D23,” the new Star Tours 3.5 will be an even better, more technologically advanced pod racer type ride.

It has been said on some of the more popular Disney blogs that they have even replicated a Star speeder 1000, an earlier version of the 3000, which is sure to entice Disney and Star Wars fans. Maybe this time they will “Use the Force” to take us on a galactic journey to one of the other popular locales; I myself have always wondered why we have never been able to explore Tattooine or journey to Naboo. In all, although the final tour to Endor has come and gone, Star Tours 3.5 will be bigger and better. Disney fans can’t wait to hear “Star Tours is Now Boarding.” Grab yourself a ticket in 2011, and perhaps you will be one of the first riders of Star Tours 3.5!