PDA

View Full Version : Trip report (June 10 - 13, 2005).



fjhuerta
06-14-2005, 04:21 PM
The one line impression of Disneyland I have right now, burned in my brain is "Disneyland IS the Happiest Place on Earth" :)

But that would be too boring for a trip report, so here it goes! Remember, I went over there with my wife, who wasn't that excited about the place...

The Good.
Disneyland. What else? I can't believe the incredible feeling of being there. When I was leaving, the second I stopped seeing the park through the car's windows, I felt as if I was leaving a good friend. I didn't even had the heart to say good-bye. I guess Walt still lives there, after all.

The park is amazing. I don't remember ever knowing such a clean, bright, joyful looking Disneyland. I must say, Matt Ouimet and his crew are doing an amazing job of maintenance. The park looks brand new.

The parades are great. I was impressed with Block Party Bash (or whatever it's name is). The guys there really try to get you in the "California State of Mind" I guess (they fail impressively, mostly because I guess people don't go to California Adventure to have fun, not to dance and shot in the streets). They have their hearts and minds in the right places. Is this a prelude for Pixarland overtaking California Adventure? I hope so!

The crowd was huge on both parks, but thanks to some agressive FastPass techniques (which I learned here, I must say!), I never stayed in line longer than 20 minutes. My wife was absolutely impressed :D

Buzz Lightyear is a good attraction - a solid D ticket. It worked flawlessly the 8 or so times we rode it. My wife thought it was incredibly cute.

The CM's were, for the most part, the best face Disneyland could have. Most of them (90%?) are devoted to their work. They make Disneyland the best place to be.

The Fireworks spectacular is absolutely, simply, positively out of this world. My heart almost stopped when the "Haunted House" segment started.

I could go on and on about how great the Classics are (Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, Fantasmic!, etc.) but that would be like saying Angelina Jolie is a pretty woman... an understatement ;) For the first time in my life, I visited The Tiki Room. And, guess what? I think it's one of my favorite attractions ever. Just like Matterhorn. Like Small World. Like the Jungle Cruise. Like... well, you get the idea :D


The bad.

Yes, it's here. California Adventure. I went there for a couple of hours. It's bad, but it's not ugly - that's a good thing, trust me. It can be fixed, but I highly doubt it'll ever be (all IMHO, of course). The park's layout was weird - even my wife thought it was silly that the Tower of Terror was partially hidden from the rest of the park (maybe that's a good thing!). The attractions (except for the big ones), can be found on any amusement park... you know, the usual pete peeves. Oh, and it's a noisy park. I couldn't stand the "ambience" there. Maybe I'm getting old. We had some fun over there, but we both couldn't wait to get back to Disneyland after riding the big attractions.


The Ugly

First - the Tower of Terror. The best thrill ride ever made, an E+ ticket if there ever was one. And I'm talking about the one in Orlando, of course. The Anaheim one is a solid D ticket. It'd be an "E" one... if it didn't have such a superior twin.

How on EARTH can Disney design an inferior attraction TEN YEARS after they built the original one? What were they thinking? They had TEN YEARS to better their original ideas, and what did they end up with? A good attraction when they could have had the BEST thrill ride attraction of any Disney Park (or perhaps in the world)? Where is the Twilight Zone room? The attraction simply doesn't work without it. Sure, the drop is completely unexpected (the first time you ride it), but then, it feels like a half-baked attraction with the same effects of the Orlando one (at least those who made the budget cuts), but no coherent story, and without the lavish surroundings of the original ones.

I can't imagine who on earth thought...

"Well, we have to build something so that people go to that second park gate whose name eludes me. Ah! I got an idea! Put the Tower of Terror there... but wait... NO Twilight Zone room. Too expensive. And don't spend too much on details, either. Make it smaller. Oh, and say that the new Tower has different, better effects than the other one... don't bother to put them in, anyway, because people are dumb and either they won't remember the original Tower or they will never have visited Orlando, anyway... oh, and raise my salary once again! I deserve it!" :mad:

Scarily bad.

Second - Merchandising. I wanted to buy a Disneyland 50th leather jacket. Apparently, Disneyland won't sell the stuff you see on DisneyDirect, so I didn't get it. Neither could I get the 50th Anniversary watch. Merchandising in Disneyland is reduced to generic looking plush toys and t-shirts. The really nice stuff is on the web. That's like getting a birthday party and having all the cool toys delivered to the kid next door, isn't it?

Third - My experience with the CM on California Adventure, which I detail on some other post.


Really, I'm nitpicking. I had a blast, and even though my wife still prefers Orlando, she now has a soft spot for Disneyland. After a couple of hours, she became a kid again. And really, when that happens to both of us, who has time to think about the bad things?

What a rush. I can't wait to get back to the park again :)

Shortiemetoo
06-14-2005, 05:46 PM
Great trip report!!! And you just gave me yet another reason for wanting to visit Disney World...Tower of Terror...didn't know there was a diffence.
Wonder if Soarin' is different in disneyworld? :rolleyes:

bradk
06-14-2005, 05:46 PM
re: the TOT

it will be getting an upgrade (Q1 2006?) that will allow it to have multiple profiles (i.e. different/'random' drop routines)

it's missing the 5th dimension segment because, according to what i've heard, the 5th dimension is renowned for causing the orlando version to go 101, so when they built the new one at DLR, they opted out of it.

and not only is TOT great for what it is (better twin or not), the view at the top is amazing. i wish i had the foresight to sneak a few shots from my camera.

Soarin' is completely the same (except for the queue area and the name) in WDW, but they will be changing the film for epcot's 25th anniversary (according to the unofficial guide).

fjhuerta
06-14-2005, 05:54 PM
re: the TOT

it will be getting an upgrade (Q1 2006?) that will allow it to have multiple profiles (i.e. different/'random' drop routines)

it's missing the 5th dimension segment because, according to what i've heard, the 5th dimension is renowned for causing the orlando version to go 101, so when they built the new one at DLR, they opted out of it.

and not only is TOT great for what it is (better twin or not), the view at the top is amazing. i wish i had the foresight to sneak a few shots from my camera.

Soarin' is completely the same (except for the queue area and the name) in WDW, but they will be changing the film for epcot's 25th anniversary (according to the unofficial guide).

I didnt' know that about the 5th Dimension room. It does add a variable that may cause the attraction to shut down... but if we thought about attractions that way, we might end with pretty reliable, boring rides!

And it does add a lot to the ride... while

(SPOILER)

The Anaheim version merely shows you people falling and you falling after that, the Orlando version's effects (especially the opening glass doors trick) really suck you into another dimension.

(END OF SPOILER)

I still think they could have added something else to this attraction if the 5th Dimension was so troublesome. But to design and build an inferior attraction 10 years after the original sounds like someone doesn't have his head or heart in the right place...

Don't get me wrong - as I said before, if you've never been in Orlando, the ride is an absolute E-ticket. The drop is still equally amazing, the special effects are nice, the theme and decorations are better than anything on California Adventure. But just knowing how much is missing from this ride is enough to get you a bit mad.

rentayenta
06-14-2005, 06:03 PM
Great report! I am even more excited to see the fireworks! :)

fjhuerta
06-14-2005, 06:37 PM
Great report! I am even more excited to see the fireworks! :)

The fireworks are... words elude me. The reaction of everyone is enough to tell you you are not alone when you think this is a really unique show... everyone was "OOOOH! and AAAHH!" all the time...

And yes. I cried. :crying:

fjhuerta
06-14-2005, 06:40 PM
One other thing... Innoventions. Something needs to be done about that place. I hadn't been there in 3 or 4 years. To my surprise, here's what I found:

1. Lots of kiosks with PS2 games.
2. Stands with Internet access.
3. "Game consoles" with 3 year old Disney games (or older).
4. An Autopia car with a Pioneer stereo.
5. Asimo (which I didn't get to see, since my wife told me she was bored of the place).

The CM showing off the Autopia car was a good one. All the time he said "all right people... show some enthusiasm... AT LEAST FAKE IT!" :D It was obvious not many people were interested in a car stereo, but he gave it a very funny try.

Innoventions would have been a great place to stage a "Disneyland - Past, Present and Future" kind of museum / exposition.

bradk
06-14-2005, 06:46 PM
you saw more of innoventions than i did (asimo wasn't there when i was tho). what a waste of time (and i was convinced after hearing all the complaints about it that i could still find something to love). my entire time there was spent writing a trip report on here at the google stations.

the fireworks design thing looked cool, but i didn't have the patience to sit there and spend all that time for nothing, but i guess it works since kids were eating them up and i remember designing roller coasters on computers at innoventions at WDW when I was a lot younger and loving that.

i forgot about stitch by the time i made it to the second floor, although the place looked so barren and run-down except for the occasional virtual fish tank where you touch the fish and make them change (what's the point of that exactly?), that i wouldn't be surprised if stitch is gone by now.

fjhuerta
06-14-2005, 06:57 PM
i forgot about stitch by the time i made it to the second floor, although the place looked so barren and run-down except for the occasional virtual fish tank where you touch the fish and make them change (what's the point of that exactly?), that i wouldn't be surprised if stitch is gone by now.

Stitch? At Innoventions?

Oh, yeah... some CM told us Stitch had come from Hawaii to answer questions... my wife was like "blah".

I can't think of any other place my wife disliked.

Wait... Best Buy. She hates that other place, too :)

bradk
06-14-2005, 07:15 PM
stitch. is an interactive animated stitch. or so i hear.

like a predecessor to turtle talk