danyoung
07-13-2009, 01:02 PM
I'm back from my spring/summer sojourn to southern Cal, and I had a terrific time! The weather could not have been nicer, especially for a Texan used to high humidity. The temps were in the upper 80's, but just a step in the shade and the temp would drop 15 degrees, and that cool ocean breeze just mellowed everything out.
I would have thought that the crowds would be wall to wall, but it really didn't seem very crowded all week (6/30 - 7/6). Waits on Pirates and HM weren't ever longer than 10 minutes or so, even late morning or early afternoon. I'm really glad they've finally figgered out a way to reinstate single rider to Indy. I love this ride, but I'm not hip to 30 minute waits any time. Got a pretty good skipper on the Jungle Cruise, although he was working the mic so close that it was hard to understand him. Technique, people - technique!
I got to enjoy the new (-ish) Fantasmic! twice. I of course miss the dragon - even the old dragon would be better than no dragon. But I did enjoy the new croc in the Pan scene. And Flotsam & Jetsam, while not as impressive as the old Ursula, is definitely an improvement over just the filmed segments in that section. Overall it's still a terrific show, and I'm glad it's still being presented.
I also saw the new fireworks (non-4th) show once. And while it's nowhere near as incredible as the show it replaced, it's still a nice capper to a DL day. Oh, and the new Dumbo flying over the castle is really cool!
There were only 2 things wrong with this trip - on minor and one MONDO MAJOR! The minor thing was that they were only running 1/2 of the line in the Riverbelle Terrace. I'd never seen them do this before, and it doesn't make any sense to me. The line on the Adventureland side was about 20 people out the door, and it took about 1/2 an hour to get through this line. Very uncool, very cheap of Disney to cut corners like this, especially on a holiday weekend.
The major thing happened, of all places at Snow White on the 6th. It had just opened from a refurb, and I had to ride to see the fresh new ride (very nicely done - nothing different, just all fresh and new). The problem was the young girl who was loading the cars and controlling the ride. She was actually FALLING ASLEEP at her job! She seemed very nice, and was trying hard to stay awake. But as she'd wave people to get into their car, her eyes would droop and then close. She'd yank herself awake in time to spin and hit the GO button, which was a totally unsafe situation. Any kid could run out on the track, or the car could be loaded improperly, and she wouldn't have seen it before she hit the button. Very very unsafe! I told 2 CMs at the other end of the ride about it, and they assured me they'd look right into it. I don't really want to get anyone in trouble, but I've never seen a ride operated in such an unsafe manner.
Other than that, a really fun week spending time with family, enjoying the wonderful weather, and storming my favorite parks!
I would have thought that the crowds would be wall to wall, but it really didn't seem very crowded all week (6/30 - 7/6). Waits on Pirates and HM weren't ever longer than 10 minutes or so, even late morning or early afternoon. I'm really glad they've finally figgered out a way to reinstate single rider to Indy. I love this ride, but I'm not hip to 30 minute waits any time. Got a pretty good skipper on the Jungle Cruise, although he was working the mic so close that it was hard to understand him. Technique, people - technique!
I got to enjoy the new (-ish) Fantasmic! twice. I of course miss the dragon - even the old dragon would be better than no dragon. But I did enjoy the new croc in the Pan scene. And Flotsam & Jetsam, while not as impressive as the old Ursula, is definitely an improvement over just the filmed segments in that section. Overall it's still a terrific show, and I'm glad it's still being presented.
I also saw the new fireworks (non-4th) show once. And while it's nowhere near as incredible as the show it replaced, it's still a nice capper to a DL day. Oh, and the new Dumbo flying over the castle is really cool!
There were only 2 things wrong with this trip - on minor and one MONDO MAJOR! The minor thing was that they were only running 1/2 of the line in the Riverbelle Terrace. I'd never seen them do this before, and it doesn't make any sense to me. The line on the Adventureland side was about 20 people out the door, and it took about 1/2 an hour to get through this line. Very uncool, very cheap of Disney to cut corners like this, especially on a holiday weekend.
The major thing happened, of all places at Snow White on the 6th. It had just opened from a refurb, and I had to ride to see the fresh new ride (very nicely done - nothing different, just all fresh and new). The problem was the young girl who was loading the cars and controlling the ride. She was actually FALLING ASLEEP at her job! She seemed very nice, and was trying hard to stay awake. But as she'd wave people to get into their car, her eyes would droop and then close. She'd yank herself awake in time to spin and hit the GO button, which was a totally unsafe situation. Any kid could run out on the track, or the car could be loaded improperly, and she wouldn't have seen it before she hit the button. Very very unsafe! I told 2 CMs at the other end of the ride about it, and they assured me they'd look right into it. I don't really want to get anyone in trouble, but I've never seen a ride operated in such an unsafe manner.
Other than that, a really fun week spending time with family, enjoying the wonderful weather, and storming my favorite parks!