Broke Hoedown

A splendid time was had by all! And by “all,” I mean my son The Wachamacallit, my BFF Lisa, and myself. (I sure hope the folks we met up with there had a good time too! Shout-outs to Hayden, Matt, and Glenn!) As usual, there were high and low points to the trip. Here are my picks for the best and worst parts of our trip June 19-24, 2008.

Best new or updated attraction: Haunted Mansion. Yes indeed, as much as I loved Toy Story Midway Mania, and the updated Spaceship Earth, the improved audio and new features of the Haunted Mansion win this prize. I love the way the Escher room came out, and the graveyard’s a much more satisfying ride-through now that they’ve fixed the audio system and enhanced the visuals.

Worst hotel check-in line: Nickelodeon Family Suites. I’d booked this trip primarily with hotel points and frequent flier miles, so we had the distinct pleasure of checking out/in to hotels almost every day. For the most part, things went quite smoothly, and I have to give special props to Hampton Inn Lake Buena Vista for its comfortable rooms and complementary breakfast buffet, and to Pop Century for its always-boffo theming (and their quick attention to a problem with our room on arrival). We enjoyed our Sunday night stay at the Nick as well, especially for its fabulously-themed two-bedroom suites, and its Sony Playstations. But the registration line? We waited for about 45 minutes, by far the longest I’ve ever waited to check in at a hotel before.

Best trade: Silver-toned beads from a Jawa. This one was a tough call! I’m a pin-trader, and certainly I came home with a few fabulous finds. My collection of Figment “mood” pins is now complete! But I’ve gotta say that none of this can compare with having traded a tarnished old penny for a shiny new necklace from a Jawa we encountered on Commissary Lane. Uttini!!

Worst character meet-and-greet opportunities: Jedi Mickey, Stormtrooper Donald, Leia Minnie, and Darth Goofy. Disney surely knows that meeting any one of these characters is a must-have photo op for the Disney and Star Wars enthusiast. And there’s plenty of space in the Studios to set such things up. So why on earth do these four characters all share one location, and rotate who’s up for pictures? Why not give each a location of their own? The queue was usually 20-50 people deep, so only the most committed fan (or the parent with the most desperately-begging children) was likely to get a picture. Perhaps Disney could have made some money off this artificially-created scarcity, and had a $40/person character meal specifically for the Star Wars/Disney mash-up characters.

Most liberating fashion moment: Leaving the lumbar pack behind. It is a well-known fact that the amount of crap parents have to lug around is inversely proportional to the age of their child. And yes indeed, my child has gotten to the age where not only can he go more than 120 seconds without eating, in fact he is quite happy to carry his own snacks, water bottles, and other assorted paraphernalia. So, my days as a sherpa are over! But it’s not like I’m donating my massive lumbar pack to the Expedition Everest queue (hat tip to Hochberg)…I’m hanging onto it for now. You never know, I might be toting around stuff for grandkids someday.

Best non-traditional view of Wishes: From Ariel’s Grotto. This was a tough call too…I truly enjoyed watching Wishes from the ferry, while leaving the Magic Kingdom Saturday night (to go meet Lisa, who’d just arrived in Orlando, yay!). But better yet was being in line at Mrs. Pott’s Cupboard for ice cream when we realized Wishes was about to start, and scurrying over to the area right in front of Ariel’s Grotto to watch. I did get a good bit of whiplash from craning my neck back and forth to catch the fireworks in both directions, and the coordination of pyrotechnics didn’t work so well that way, but the sheer joy of being right in the middle of it all made me laugh out loud.

Most exciting competition: Padawan Footrace Challenge. I knew we needed to get to the park well before rope drop Saturday to sign up my son The Wachamacallit for the Padawan Mind Challenge, but I had no idea that, despite Cast Member instructions to the contrary, there would be an all-out dash to the sign-up table. I was trying to keep it to a fast walk myself…but somehow couldn’t bring myself to tell my kid to stop running when the other kids sprinted ahead of him. True to the competitive family spirit, my kid did in fact get to the table first, which he now speaks of with the same amount of pride as he does the fact that he tied for first place in the Mind Challenge a few hours later.

Least successful theming: Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station’s Monsters Inc decor. I asked a Cast Member what the wooden cut-outs of Monsters Inc characters were for, and she explained to me that this was now a themed restaurant, that it is a station where the children of the world can eat noodles. She was so thoroughly committed to the bit that I didn’t even consider the fact that this was absurd, and in fact not “theming” at all, but rather a haphazard attempt at decor. Hilarity ensued. If you want to know what I sound like when I’m laughing so hard that I can hardly breathe, and tears are running down my cheeks, just listen to Those Darn Cats podcast #7 (recorded live in and around the Noodle Station, and a good bit more random than TDC on an average day).

Best attraction queue: Toy Story Midway Mania. The queue is designed to feel like you’re walking through Andy’s room, and you’re the size of a toy. All sorts of fabulous things are there…Chutes and Ladders on the ceiling, Viewmaster wheels from Peter Pan and Disneyland, Candyland pathways under your feet. But for me the best part of all was actually in the exit queue: A super-size Golden Book of Tin Toy, sure to catch the eye of any Pixar fan. I threw a few pictures onto Flickr of a couple pages (this and this), plus Pinocchio and Mickey Mouse from the back cover (Donald was there too, but I didn’t get the shot). Oh, and I trust that word has spread about the hidden Mickey near the place where you pick up your 3D glasses? Hayden found it, and told us where to look. Check out the Andy-drawn Nemo on the wall, and look down.

Worst traffic management: Toy Story Midway Mania. It’s clear they’re trying…Cast Members escorted the crowds from the rope to the FastPass machines at park opening Sunday, which perhaps averted a potential re-enactment of the 1979 Who concert in Cincinnati. But as my BFF Lisa has observed, the walkway in front of the attraction is just plain too narrow, even without the construction barricades for the building across the way. Sure, the crowds will diminish in time, so I trust that the wait-time won’t always surge close to an hour within 20 minutes of park opening. But I do believe this attraction’s popularity will last, and the area will stay congested. Perhaps they need to move the FastPass machines farther from the attraction, a la Dinosaur or Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin?

Best Easter Egg: Rainbow balloons. Toy Story Midway Mania has a whole bunch of special features and views that you can unlock by hitting the proper combination of targets. My favorite by far? The rainbow balloons which cascade down in the Bo Peep room, if you and your partner shoot down the final balloons on the corner clouds at the same time. I saw it just once, with the help of some guy I happened to be sharing a car with (he’d come through the single rider line, and was thrilled to find out that these Easter Eggs might give him an edge in an ongoing competition with his wife).

Most delicious meal: Le Cellier. bien sur! I was sure I’d be ordering the strip steak, but Cast Member Sarah (whose nametag inexplicably said “Ashley”) made the mushroom filet sound so appealing! I substituted cream cheese potatoes for the mushroom risotto, and it was fabulous. For dessert? A maple crème brûlée the size of my head. Good thing Pal Mickey was hungry too. Runner up: A pineapple Dole Whip, which technically does not constitute a meal but was nonetheless quite tasty.

Worst customer experience: United Airlines. It’s not the fact that our flight was delayed by weather, or that mechanical problems and crew-availability problems further delayed us. It’s not even the fact that we missed our connection in Dulles, and got stuck there overnight. It’s the fact that their recent schedule reductions and equipment downsizing meant that very few options were available for re-booking, and that about an hour after we’d re-booked, I got a text message telling me that flight was canceled (despite the fact that it was fully booked). It’s also about their customer service representative suggesting that my child’s health needs were inflexible, and that we should just sleep in the airport. I hope the airline’s just going through transitional pains, along with the rest of the industry, but after several years of elite frequent flier status, I’m seriously considering switching my loyalty to another carrier.

Best addition to my plushie menagerie: Towel animal! This little guy was waiting in the window for us in our room at Pop Century Monday night. I wasn’t sure if I could take him home…so I called the front desk, feeling rather sheepish, and the Cast Member reassured me quite kindly that my new terrycloth friend was mine to keep. I forgot to ask about care and feeding, but he does seem to be thriving in his new environment.

Most bittersweet moment: Knowing I’ll be making my next Disney trip solo. Well, not quite solo exactly…my next Disney trip will be to MouseFest 2008, so it’s not like I’m going to lack for companionship! But again, my child is growing up, and old enough now to understand that Mom’s going to Disney World on her own this December. Not only that, but he probably wouldn’t want me to pull him out of school for a trip, even if I were willing to do that, and after moping around when so many of my friends were there last December I promised myself I wouldn’t miss 2008. For me, the essential challenge of parenting is the gradual separation, knowing when to pull him close and when to let him fly. As he learns to fly higher and farther on his own, I may miss him, but I also can continue to enjoy the way my own freedom grows.

I trust that my friends who read this blog will remember I’ve said this, and bring my own words back to me when they find me weeping on Main Street come December!

Well, it was an interesting trip home…I hadn’t planned to be at Dulles International Airport this morning at 5:15am, but United Airlines was kind enough to make this possible. Silly me, I thought I’d be asleep in my own bed by then! Who says passengers are increasingly dissatisfied with airlines’ customer service? Though I must say, my son The Wachamacallit found the whole thing every bit as irritating as did I, and has a few choice words in his blog today.

But it was all worth it, every minute of it!! Star Wars Weekend #3 was fabulous, no question. I hardly know where to begin, and I will indeed post a detailed trip report sometime in the next few days. For the moment, please just suffice to say that I packed all the right stuff, did the Hyperspace Hoopla Hustle, met up with some folks I’d never before seen in person (hi Hayden, Matt, Glenn!), had a great time with The Wachamacallit and my BFF Lisa, and changed hotels way more times than a person ever ever should! This was a crazy super-budget trip, which meant cashing in hotel points across the greater Lake Buena Vista area, and once I get my head back in the game I’ll have a few more things to say about that experience!

One experience you can hear a whole lot of, right now…we happened across one of those rare occasions when the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station is actually open! The food was quite good, as I’ve heard from a number of podcasters and all-around Disney Digerati types. But I must say we all were a bit disturbed by a bizarre haphazard theme-ing experience…Lisa took some of our on-location audio and turned it into this week’s Those Darn Cats episode, so you can be disturbed right along with us.

Oh, and for anyone who’s not clear on the concept of exactly what happened in that Mos Eisley Cantina, this little gem from GraphJam should help you out:

Good lord, I am lazy!

Well, that’s not entirely true. The truth is more like this: I spent the weekend on a little getaway with my husband and our newly adopted seven-year-old pug, and after one night at home to re-pack my suitcase I’m now off on business travel in Austin, Texas. I promise you I am trying to do my part to keep Austin weird.

Having discovered the 531 unread items in my blogreader, I thought I’d give you all a random sampling of what catches my eye as I work my way through it. Kinda random, but isn’t that just what you love about me anyway?

• Hochberg et al have posted lots of great information about Star Wars Weekends over at StudiosCentral.com, but what post do you think caught my eye first? Merch, of course! I’m kinda liking the shirt with the Stormtrooper eating a Mickey Bar.
• ThemePark Insider has a poll about beer in theme parks. I do believe those who enjoy “drinking around the world” at Epcot should get over there pronto.
• This new WALL-E video clip (Hat tip: Disney Blog) is almost as cute as my sweet little pug dog. Not quite, though.
  
• BoingBoing always has cool Star Wars stuff, which is why I wasn’t surprised to find a steampunk R2D2 shirt there. Damn. Oh, and this funny picture of Stormtroopers and London cops.
• While we’re talking Star Wars, the Main Street Gazette has great scans of The Star Wars Portfolio.
• Davelandblog has 1967 pictures of Twiggy at Disneyland. How absolutely mod! I wanna ride the Skyway with Twiggy!

Oh man, I still have 287 unread items . . . but I’m toast. Good night everybody!

My BFF Lisa and I have been busy lately! We’ve been releasing a few “lost” Those Darn Cats episodes (previously recorded for but not released on MouseGuest Weekly), and we had a super lot of fun talking about Star Wars with Bryan and Jonathan on the All About the Mouse podcast last week. And how cool is this: Apparently there is some sort of special magic about being a guest on AATM. Lisa complained on the show that she couldn’t go to Star Wars Weekends . . . and the very day after the show was aired, she found out she could! So yeah, you’re gonna have some TDC trip reports, I’m sure.

Tonight we released a slightly different kinda thing . . . a fresh new recording where we debate the acceptable limits of “public displays of affection” at Disney Parks, and argue where the line should be drawn. Everybody has their limits of course, and she and I disagree pretty strongly.

I’ll resist the urge to post about every single episode here, since I know many of y’all subscribe to our podcast RSS feed already, but I’ll continue to post here from time to time as things develop. We’re releasing segments pretty sporadically right now, but plan to get a bit more formalized over the summer (well, to the extent that either one of us is ever predictable!). And hey, if any of you podcasters out there want to give us a plug . . . Jonathan Dichter recorded an awesome promo for us! You can download it here . . . please let people know they can now find us at thosedarncats.net. Thanks Jonathan!

I may not organize my t-shirts as effectively as my stylish BFF, but I do specialize in planning ahead. So, yesterday I placed an order for a couple of the geek-chic Studios Central Star Wars Weekends shirts made available at Cafe Press by our friend Mr Matt “Outstanding” Hochberg.

While I was shopping, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at a little design myself. You can see the results over at Zazzle, and if you’re a coder or symbolic logic geek it might even make sense.

Or, if you’re a crafty type headed to Star Wars Weekends, this is the perfect time to DIY some gear! Last night I pulled out a piece of blank stencil, found a Rebel logo from Google image search, and with the help of my trusty exacto knife I now have a nifty little stencil, perfect for a little hot pink fabric paint on a black tank top. Target actually has some nice (and inexpensive) “layering” tank tops in a few different cuts and patterns, quite suitable for customization and embellishment.

And hey, while we’re talking about Star Wars . . . this awesome picture comes from Dark Roasted Blend:

Oh and hey, while we’re being random here can I just say I’m all atwitter these days? But I’m having a hard time finding any of my buddies. I dunno whether that means they’re just not in the twitterverse, or that I lack the skills to find them. So hey, if any of my buddies are twittering out there and don’t mind me following, drop me a note!

JeanineY, a guest blogger at AllEarsNet, wrote recently about her trip to Tokyo Disneyland Resort. She’s got great pictures and descriptions of DisneySea, which I especially enjoyed since I missed that park when I was at Tokyo Disneyland.

I laughed out loud reading her description of the flight to Japan (presumably from somewhere in the continental US):

On a 12+ hour flight in coach, the evolution of attitude goes like this:

Hour 1: Well this isn’t bad! We left on time and everything! The grand adventure has begun!
Hour 2: There isn’t much space in these seats, is there? Well at least the meal was…included.
Hour 6: If this guy in back of me shakes my chair one more time, I am turning my vent full blast towards him. Also, I can’t feel my feet anymore.
Hour 10: We will grow old and die on this plane.

For some reason, one of my fondest memories of the flights to and from Japan was the Cup of Noodles that the flight attendants brought around for breakfast. (The worst memory, on the other hand, was hitting 3 hours worth of severe turbulence on the flight home, and watching the horizon disappear above and below my window as we rocked back and forth. The more experienced trans-Pacific travelers seated around me snored all the way through.)

I was totally envious reading JeanineY’s description of the DisneySea show, The Legend of Mythica, which clearly must be seen:

The only thing you can imagine is that someone decided to throw everything anyone might like to see in a show together into one glorious spectacular. There’s singing, dancing, characters, floats, fire effect, water effects, drumming, jet skis, kites, fireworks, and more. There must be a phenomenal number of CMs working on this one show, and it all goes to form an extravaganza that’s unlikely to be matched in any US park.

I did read recently in Blue Sky Disney that there’s a super-cool show planned for Disney’s California Adventure, in Anaheim. I doubt it’ll be quite as cool as The Legend of Mythica, but it sounds pretty nifty nonetheless:

Did you know how much of the Pier will actually be used for these fountains [for the new show]? Most have said that it will just be in front of Mickey’s Fun Wheel. No, no…

Try the entire water area of the Pier. That big. Really. When the PP goes down next year to be drained so that construction can begin on the new extended area and the placement of the water and lighting system is put in it will be extensive. This will have some form of fountain display all across the whole of the area. It’s no wonder that the area around Ariel’s Grotto is talked about being enclosed. Guest will get drenched sitting out under those exposed canopies. The WOC show will be very intimate for audiences. As well as that, when the displays and water jets are shooting up into the air, expect to see a very familiar Disney character floating in the Pier as he’ll be part of the festivities. Mickey Mouse? Nope. Donald Duck? Nooooo. Ariel? No, but technically she’ll be there(more on that in a minute).

Chernabog.

A giant Variation of the demon from “Night On Bald Mountain” will inhabit the PP show if everything goes as planed.

Back to Tokyo . . . I have to wholeheartedly agree with JeanineY about how fabulous the Winnie the Pooh attraction is at Tokyo Disneyland. I’m not a big Pooh fan, so I could have easily just walked by this one, but I’m glad I didn’t.

Pooh is deservedly one of the most popular rides in Tokyo Disneyland because of its unique trackless ride system which has you skittering around in honeypots seemingly at random–first spinning around in circles, next appearing to crash into other pots, then zooming up to a woozle (or a hefflelump?) to get smoke blown at you. It’s a great ride and puts the Anaheim Disneyland version to shame.

I desperately want to get back to Tokyo, and not just for Disneyland! I want to wander the streets of Harajuku again, maybe pick up a few copies of the Gothic and Lolita Bible. I want to hop on the Shinkansen down to Kyoto, go back to Arashiyama Monkey Park. I want to see some of the Tokyo neighborhoods I missed, like Akihabara, where the electronics stores reign supreme and you can have lunch served to you by cosplay wait staff. And yes of course, I want another spin on that Winnie the Pooh ride, another picture of my dear son in front of the Castle, another chance to hear Rex pilot the Star Speeder 3000 in Japanese.

Reuters reported yesterday that a man jumped from the 14th floor of the Disneyland hotel, in an apparent suicide.

The man, who was in town on business and not immediately identified by authorities, was killed in the 14-story fall from his hotel room balcony. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Right now it is certainly looking like a suicide,” Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez told Reuters. “He was seen leaping off the balcony.”

Martinez said the man, who was in Anaheim on business and appears to be in his 30s or 40s, also left evidence in the room that suggested it was a suicide.

My thoughts and prayers are with the man’s family.

It’s amazing: The Phantom Menace is even worse than I remembered. My youngling is training for the Padawan Mind Challenge at Star Wars Weekends (we’ll be there in 48 days!), and as part of his preparation we’re watching the entire 6-episode saga in order (episode order, not chronological release order). So, tonight we’re watching The Phantom Menace, and had to stop after the podrace for a little intermission. I’m not sure whether I was about to hurl, or about to fall asleep, but either way I needed a little break.

One of these days I gotta track down a copy of The Phantom Edit. If nothing else, it’s a shorter version.

Now, if intermission weren’t wrapping up soon, I’d probably be heading over to one of the Star Wars Weekends planning chats over at StudiosCentral, which is scheduled for tonight at 8PM EDT. There’s another one in a few weeks, May 30, also at 8PM EDT. I did read their article on planning for autograph sessions, which had some cool tips, and which sent me scurrying over to eBay to browse through such items as ewok valentines and comic books, pondering what I might like to have Warwick Davis sign.

But alas, it’s time to head back to the couch. I’m glad we’re getting this one out of the way first, though. In my opinion, episodes 1-3 get better as they go along (ie, I like 2 better than 1, and 3 better than 2). And it won’t be long before we get to the original trilogy, and those of course are the ones that won my heart. (”So, whaddya think of her Han?” “I’m tryin’ not to, kid.”)

[Update: Hey cool, I just realized I was wrong about the dates, and that the first planning chat wasn't May 2, it's May 9! So there's still plenty of time to make it to one or both.]