Disneyland
On Tuesday, 2nd September, we went to Disneyland. Jo had been looking forward to this for months!
It was great. We went then because Rich Schaffer (US Navy - he spent 5 years in Melbourne and so understands the whole "living in a different country" thing) said that the Tuesday after the Labour Day holiday was one of the slowest days of the year i.e. short waits at each ride, no huge crowds. Most schools start the Tuesday after Labour Day or the week before.
There were heaps of people there, but really it was nice and quiet we're told. We waited no more than 15 minutes for each ride, some we just about walked straight onto.
We went on heaps of rides, got photographed with Goofy and Mickey Mouse.
We were amazed by
-
the lighting (everywhere and very clever) and sound (the parade music was delayed so that it matched the parade wherever you were along the ~1mile path), 
- the electronic "Fast Pass" system which enables you to book an approximate ride time (only one pass at a time),
- the 10 carriage "tram" to take people from the carpark to the park entry,
- the huge multi-story carparks - said to once have been the biggest in the world,
- the cost of the food and souveniers,
- the way the buildings are smaller on each subsequent storey to make them look taller,
- the length of the queuing bays for each ride (over 5 minutes walk from entrance to actual Indiana Jones ride),
- the distortion of the buildings just like in the cartoons,
- the minders for the Characters (Mickey, etc),
- the cleanliness,
- the real steam engines in the paddle steamer and trains
I could go on for ever.
A couple of highlights were:
- "Soarin' Over California" - when we bought our yearly tickets at the gate, the ticket person recommended we go into "Disney's California Adventure" park (out ticket covers both parks) as it was before 10am (Disneyland's opening time on that day) and it would be worth seeing. Well it was - we sat in a row of seats which were then lifted up and suspended in front of a huge screen. We then went on a hang glide over California; it felt like all the seats were moving - like we were diving and rising in between mountains, banking over the sea and across the desert. It was just incredible. At least 60 people are on the ride at once - the engineering involved was incredible to see.
-
"Indiana Jones" ride - one of the first we went on once inside Disneyland (past the mandatory security check, bag search, dental examination etc) - as mentioned before the walk through the queueing area was long, very long, but it set the scene - jungles, an ancient ruin and archeological site. Then onto a Humvee look alike which was the actual ride - and taken around through scenes from the movies, lurching this way and that (the book says it's all hydraulics on the cars themselves) making it look like we're going to crash into a boulder, making it feel like there were bugs all over us. It was a blast. -
"It's a Small World" - a boat ride inside along a winding stream surrounded by hundreds of animatronic characters all singing, quacking, playing or dancing to "It's a Small World". Each section was a different region of the world and the characters were dressed to suit, and the music was in a different style, and then the boat would sail through an arch and we were in another part of the world with the same tune going on. Just as we thought "this must be the last part" there was more. Just amazing. -
"Star Tours" - as with all the attractions, there was plenty of indoor "corridors" which were for queuing for the attraction. Due to the excessive times people often wait (over 2hours we're told) there are interesting things along these "corridors". Well the entrance to Star Tours (Star Wars theme) was amazing as there were a number of robots, just like out of the movie, moving like a human in terms of hip, arm, neck joints (they were all secured at their feet) and talking at the people in the line. We couldn't work out whether there were people behind the scenes operating them, or just recorded, or a very clever computer. At one point this "character", who was supposedly fixing a R2D2 like droid, started talking at Jo as Jo was trying to take it's photo, telling her she was most welcome to take it's photograph and rambling on. The actual ride was not as thrilling as getting there! The ride consisted of "boarding" a shuttle, being strapped in, and then the shuttle going on a bouncy ride around the world of one of the early Star Wars movies, including following an X wing fighter through a canyon on the Death Star. -
"Innoventions" - another human like robot was at the entrace talking to us. Then we went into a rotating building (two stories rotating) where after a brief introduction by a real person, we were able to try out "Innoventions", including a Virtual Hotel - lots and lots of flat panel screens showing aquariums, or rain forrest, or other things. One electronic aquarium we were encouraged to touch, at which point the fish we touched changed (shrank, blew up, changed colour). We were entranced for quite a while, especially when the fish arranged themselves in two rows of 4 and played notes when touched (so Rob tried playing some tunes). There were some interesting computer games, a rollercoaster simulation where Rob built his own rollercoaster and then rode it (very stationary, sadly), and a game where one moved a large flat disc around while an image was projected onto it and depending on how it was moved the objects moved around, the aim being to move an object through a maze - Jo was much better at this than Rob. -
"The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" - Rob thought this was great but can't remember much about it, other than it being a ride though scenes from many Winnie the Pooh stories. We'll have to go on it again.
On the next Friday night we heard about the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride, which we went on on Tuesday, where an accident has caused the death of one person and severe injuries to 10 others. Sadly, it is not the happiest place on earth at the moment.
the lighting (everywhere and very clever) and sound (the parade music was delayed so that it matched the parade wherever you were along the ~1mile path),
"Indiana Jones" ride - one of the first we went on once inside Disneyland (past the mandatory security check, bag search, dental examination etc) - as mentioned before the walk through the queueing area was long, very long, but it set the scene - jungles, an ancient ruin and archeological site. Then onto a Humvee look alike which was the actual ride - and taken around through scenes from the movies, lurching this way and that (the book says it's all hydraulics on the cars themselves) making it look like we're going to crash into a boulder, making it feel like there were bugs all over us. It was a blast.
"It's a Small World" - a boat ride inside along a winding stream surrounded by hundreds of animatronic characters all singing, quacking, playing or dancing to "It's a Small World". Each section was a different region of the world and the characters were dressed to suit, and the music was in a different style, and then the boat would sail through an arch and we were in another part of the world with the same tune going on. Just as we thought "this must be the last part" there was more. Just amazing.
"Star Tours" - as with all the attractions, there was plenty of indoor "corridors" which were for queuing for the attraction. Due to the excessive times people often wait (over 2hours we're told) there are interesting things along these "corridors". Well the entrance to Star Tours (Star Wars theme) was amazing as there were a number of robots, just like out of the movie, moving like a human in terms of hip, arm, neck joints (they were all secured at their feet) and talking at the people in the line. We couldn't work out whether there were people behind the scenes operating them, or just recorded, or a very clever computer. At one point this "character", who was supposedly fixing a R2D2 like droid, started talking at Jo as Jo was trying to take it's photo, telling her she was most welcome to take it's photograph and rambling on. The actual ride was not as thrilling as getting there! The ride consisted of "boarding" a shuttle, being strapped in, and then the shuttle going on a bouncy ride around the world of one of the early Star Wars movies, including following an X wing fighter through a canyon on the Death Star.
"Innoventions" - another human like robot was at the entrace talking to us. Then we went into a rotating building (two stories rotating) where after a brief introduction by a real person, we were able to try out "Innoventions", including a Virtual Hotel - lots and lots of flat panel screens showing aquariums, or rain forrest, or other things. One electronic aquarium we were encouraged to touch, at which point the fish we touched changed (shrank, blew up, changed colour). We were entranced for quite a while, especially when the fish arranged themselves in two rows of 4 and played notes when touched (so Rob tried playing some tunes). There were some interesting computer games, a rollercoaster simulation where Rob built his own rollercoaster and then rode it (very stationary, sadly), and a game where one moved a large flat disc around while an image was projected onto it and depending on how it was moved the objects moved around, the aim being to move an object through a maze - Jo was much better at this than Rob.
"The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" - Rob thought this was great but can't remember much about it, other than it being a ride though scenes from many Winnie the Pooh stories. We'll have to go on it again.