Disneyland freaks fans like me are often torn between wanting the park to evolve and also wanting it to stay exactly as we remember from our first magical visit as a young child. Most of us are in general agreement that a full blown revolt might occur if the holy popular Tea-cups, Casey Jr. or Jungle Cruise were ever altered any any way. And yet Disney still presses forward making small improvements and changes every year; keeping the attractions fresh for even the most regular visitor to the park. Was I thrilled to see Johnny Dep in Pirates of the Caribbean? Not so much…. (and I hope he will be removed when the movies are no longer relevant), and was I happy to hear that Mary Blair’s "Its a Small World" was being re-vamped? Not at all. So when I was invited to be one of the first people to see the attraction after the changes were made, I jumped at the chance.
Why on earth was I so worried? I should have a little faith in Disney by now! In addition to re-glittering and repainting the existing sets, all the moving dolls are now working perfectly (my last ride thru I counted 20 not functioning) and the big change? Classic Disney characters have been ’sprinkled’ thru-out the ride. You’ll find Tinker Bell flying over England, Jasmine on her magic carpet and even Nemo if you look close enough. But you may have to ride it a few times to catch them all (there are 29 total!) We rode it 5 times before we spotted my favorite character-Jiminy Cricket. And now a week later I am STILL singing that darn catchty song.
Read (and watch video) of all the changes here. And make a date to go see the ride for yourself….it is still as charming and as magical as you remember.
And maybe even slightly better. I am certain Walt and Mary Blair would approve.
What do the Disneyland employees do to relax during their lunch break?
They ride the tea-cups of course!!
I thought this Disneyland ride operator, all alone on the teacups, was charming. Just because you work at Disneyland does not mean you are a regular there. I knew a girl in high school who had never had the financial means to visit Disneyland, until the day she was hired to run the Matterhorn ride. And she was simply enthralled with everything about Disneyland. She adored her job. I think maybe this guy might be a lot like her. And I hope he gets a chance to go on all the rides one lunch break at a time.
We went to Disneyland yesterday in the reckless way Annual Passholders tend to do. Last minute and in the light rain. And on visits like these when we are less obsessed with getting on every ride we are more into just walking the park and seeing what we come across. And yesterday we stopped to participate in the flag ceremony on the Main Street. They take down the American and California flag in a ceremony with military style precision. The best part of this event was when they called forth from the audience those who had served in the military. They stood at attention and were greeted with thankful applause as the band played. We all sang God Bless America and Star Spangled Banner. It was moving. It was genuine. And it was magical.
*Walt was a passionate member of the American Ambulance Corps during WWI… so I’d say Walt would be very pleased.
Returned to Disneyland today (I swear I will get back to reality soon) and thanks to Disney Marketing people who value bloggers, I was able to walk on ‘Its a Small World’ with a Fast Pass. And they don’t even have Fast Pass for that ride. (Even the cast member who took the ticket was excited to SAVE it since it was an instant collectible) So why other families were waiting in line for like AN HOUR we walked right on. And man it was rock star cool. I was just waiting for someone in the long line to stop me and ask “Why are you skipping the line? Who are you?” to which I would have replied….”I am a blogger. And Disneyland totally loves bloggers”.
As most of you know by now, I am somewhat of a Disneyland freak. (remember this? Or the Disney Virgins?) Not to the point that I would wear my Tinker Bell shirt to a job interview…but pretty much a life long fan. Which is actually hard to maintain after growing up in Orange County. You would THINK I would be ‘over’ it and the Disney magic was gone. Well, that couldn’t be farther from the truth and last night at the blogger Holiday Event I was absolutely in heaven. We arrived and after exiting our car at valet a woman greeted me with a “Hello” and MY NAME. Jack was stunned…”how did they know your name?”…and I told him the first thing that came to mind “Disney Telepathy”. Actually I had given my name at the front gate before entering, so I guess it was more ‘Disney headset technology’…but still it was a very nice touch. The party had everything you would expect from Disney; crafts for kids, video games, airbrush tattoo artist, stunning Christmas tree, the kiddie buffet and more. So the kids played and the bloggers talked. It was very exciting to know I was in an entire room of women who (for once) would not think I am a freak strange for being a blogger. A whole room of people who were taking pictures of their food, handing out business cards and talking about Blissdom and Blogher with ease. The sense of ‘community’ was wonderful. Disney gave a nice presentation with the man behind the best (and largest) rice crispy treats in the world. World renowned Disney Chef Jean Marc. This was quite a thrill for Jack who has been working on launching his own restaurant review blog for kids. Chef Jean Marc gave us a lesson in gingerbread house making. Something I do every year. And every year I take a photo of the boys in front of it after it collapses. It always collapses. Yeah that is the kinda holiday tradition you find in this glamorous family. But I will try again- and this year I have renewed hope, since Jean Marc gave me some tricks of the trade.
We also learned more about the details in food service. You know, the Hoilday napkins, food containers and all the little things that make going to Disney…so darn unbelievable. I laughed out loud when there was a powerpoint slide up of the napkins for the 2008 season. Only because I was just admiring these sugar packets from Disneyland 1965 on this blog. And at the time I thought-who would be smart enough to save a sugar packet? Well, guess what I brought home last night? Yup a 2008 Holiday napkin. And it is just as lovely.
We were escorted into the park to watch the fireworks and snow. Yes, snow. After the fireworks Disney makes it ’snow’ on Main Street. Take that- all you people who say we don’t have seasons here in Southern California! All in all it was a lovely time, at one of my favorite places on earth. We are going back today (they gave us all 3 day park passes too) and taking in all the AMAZING Christmas decorations. Nothing escapes the decor. From the lit up Castle to the rocket size Christmas tree on Main Street- to the NAPKINS.
It is all done, perfectly DISNEY.
Photo Notes:
The Chef making it look too easy.
Suzanne and me, making Goofy uncomfortable when she said “Goofy do you like grown up girls too?”
The four Goofys (including the rarely seen Husband)
The View as we walked down mainstreet to the castle.
Tucker has a thing for all the princesses…and Belle might be his favorite crush now. “She smelled nice mom”
So when I got the e-mail from our friends asking ‘hey you wanna go to D-land for a few hours on Sunday?’ and I replied ‘Sure!’…do you think I realized the park opened at 6:30 AM? Apparently some girl named Miley Cyrus was having a birthday party there that night-so they were closing the park early to kick out the riff raff like us at 5:00pm. And for some reason they compensated by opening the park at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM. Here is a little picture of the decked out for Halloween main street when we ARRIVED. Make note of the DARKNESS people…..and for some reason that I find BOGGLING it is nearly impossible to get a cup of coffee in Disneyland. Maybe Walt had some issues with caffeine? No wait- I can buy a COKE at 6:30 AM just not coffee. Go figure.
So there we were. Sleepy but ready for the day. We are near professionals when it comes to navigating the park. And our friends are also LONG time experts. We move seamlessly through out the park together. We become the A-team of the Disney visit. We synchronize our watches. Turn on our cell phones and have at it. We can tell you were every bathroom (clue for post below!), churro vendor and restaurant is in the park. Buy 10:00 we had done ‘everything’. (Term used loosely since we mean the ‘major’ rides. We save stuff like Tiki room which never have a line for the mid-summer days when it is really too crowed to get on any ride). Plus we were growing tired of all the purple and pink decorations put up for this Miley girls sweet 16. So we 
all headed over to California Adventure for its 10:00 opening. Did you know Disney does a thing called Gay Days? Um, yeah well it DOES. (not that there is anything wrong with that) And today was THE DAY. After answering lots and lots of questions from my youngest and literally begging him not to point/laugh/stare every time a couple walked by….we were able to conquer a lot of what California Adventure had to offer as well. But the best ride of the day? The ride home. That’s when Tucker decided he still had lots and LOTS of unanswered questions. Including the favorite “Was Mickey Mouse gay?”…to which I replied “no honey he is a cartoon.” And then my proof that cliche and stereotypes start YOUNG he said “but he talks funny. I think he is gay”. So thank you Disney. Actually I am gonna blame all of this on that Miley Cyrus girl. It is all HER fault….
I have just spent three days doing nothing but Disneyland with my very very good friends from Northern California for the past 3 days. Here is a breakdown:
- I have seen 5 parades
- I saw 1 firework show
- I drank 7 diet cokes (at $3.75 each)
- I ate 1 frozen banana and loved every bite.
- I ate 1 veggie burger, 1 portabello hot dog and 1 shrimp pasta salad (Disneyland is getting fancy!)
- I had only 1 ride break while on it….
- I took 600 photos (thank God for digital)
- I walked 40,000 steps total (I adore my pedometer)
- I got 2 blisters.
- I used 2 bandaides
- I saw more people than I can count wearing clothes that were 6 sizes too small for them!
- I saw 1 woman asked to get off a ride because she was too large.
- On the second day- we stayed 13.5 hours. Insane
- I got 2 headaches.
- I took 6 Advil
- I asked for Decaf coffee for my girlfriend 6 times and was told ‘Disney does not provide decaf’ every time (I never give up)
- I counted about 50 water fountains that I never ever knew were there…..
- I only had to threaten my kids “we are leaving RIGHT now unless you get a better attitude, and start being grateful we are here this instant”….ONCE! (a true miracle)
- I saw a million grown women wearing princess tiaras on their heads. Weird.
- I thought I lost my Annual Pass about a million times- I am paranoid about this.
- I watched as one hat from our group fell in the water and was lost forever.
- I gave “Stranger Danger” speech to the kids 30 times
- We went on every ride in Disneyland and California Adventure.
But most importantly- I had countless hours of perfect joy watching my closest friends and their children experience Disney for the first time. It was wonderful- and exhausting…..oh and in case you are wondering the matching t-shirt thing really comes in handy when you are tracking 5 kids at a time!
Lots more posts to come on this whole experience. The people watching is SO BLOG WORTHY!
