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Thomas Gryn -- October 1999 -- DisneylandOctober 15, 1999 A week after returning from Walt Disney World (see previous posts), I flew out to California to visit my girlfriend Donna. While there, we visited Disneyland. So, this writeup will be from the perspective of someone who visited WDW a week before visiting DL. One distinct difference between WDW and Disneyland is the array of hotels of varying degrees which line the roads around DL. Even today, one can see why Walt was so insistent on buying up all the land around WDW. Which makes me wonder how Disney managed to scrape together enough land to build the California Adventure park. It might have made a little more sense to theme it differently than "California", considering a majority of visitors are locals, but, oh well. Should be interesting to see what they come up with. The first ride we did was Indiana Jones. We didn't have too long a wait, though that also meant a long walk through the queueing area. The various little effects on the walk made it fun, though. When we finally got on the ride, huh, safety belts? Yes, and it's a good thing too. The turbulence is comparable to Star Tours, but the ride is a *lot* more fun. Definitely a don't-miss ride. Next was Splash Mountain. Unlike Magic Kingdom, I kept my glasses on until the Big Plunge, and so was able to see & appreciate the animatronics better. The MK flumes were designed to allow more than one person in a row, while the DL flumes are single-seaters. The splashing was a little more noticeable at DL. Fun, but I probably couldn't do it two times in a row. We walked over to the Haunted Mansion; after Indy and SM, I needed a bit of a break from the "speed thrill" type rides. We saw that Pirates of the Caribbean was closed, unfortunately; I look forward to seeing the refurbished edition the next time we visit. HM was very similar to the WDW version, both are wonderful. A couple of things I noticed: both at WDW and DL, the cast members weren't quite as vigilant about keeping people away from the walls in the "enlarging room" (supposedly so guests won't find out which mansion's room goes down and which one's effect is an illusion) as I'd seen in '88. Also, in the graveyard w/the popping-up heads, there's one part to the right where a spectral figure is illuminated. In DL, it's more of a human-type figure, with a bleeding heart in the chest, while in WDW the figure is more "supernatural", which a pair of glowing eyes in place of the human face of the ghost in DL. Kinda liked the WDW version better, but only on that one part. We did HM again later in the day, and I could probably have gone on it many more times if we'd had the time. I doubt I could get tired of the Haunted Mansion. We dropped by the Disney Gallery, which is a quiet space above Pirates where Disney art & past concepts are displayed. There's also a nice alcove with chairs and a fountain which would be a nice place to sit for a while if someone needed a rest. The paintings and figures were pretty interesting, especially the old Space Mountain figure. Speaking of Space Mountain, we did that next. When we had visited WDW with Donna, we hadn't had time to do SM, but I wanted to see what it was like. It was certainly, well, an experience. Donna told me afterwards that it was much faster than she remembered it being a year or so ago, so perhaps the ride has been speeded up a bit recently. We were pretty razzled for a while after getting off; myself, I was hanging on for dear life for most of the ride. As a roller-coaster, it wasn't so much dramatic in terms of track (no loop-de-loops) but it's very dark and very, very fast. Definitely don't eat lunch before this one. I'll probably try Space Mountain again, once the immediate memory has lost it's edge a bit. 8) Having visited EPCOT's new Innoventions exhibits, I wanted to see what DL's Innoventions was like. It was, unfortunately, not even in the same ballpark. Most of the exhibit was at an "Oh, boy, a notebook computer!" level. As a technologically- driven exhibit, it's not surprising that's it's already outdated (don't know when it was last updated). Disappointing. We tried the Matterhorn next. This, along with Indy, are two rides that DL has that the Magic Kingdom does not have, and after doing the Matterhorn, that's a shame. What a great ride! It doesn't have the sense of impending doom that Splash Mountain inspires, and isn't as jarring as Space Mountain; I'd compare it more to Big Thunder Mountain, perhaps a bit faster. The Abominable Snowmen in the tunnels were a personal favorite! We came back after Fantasmic, just so I could listen to the wind-sound of the mountain again. We walked to ToonTown, and proceeded to spend a long time waiting in the line for the Roger Rabbit ride. This is one of the rides that can just absorb people because the line is hidden inside, so that it can look empty when there is, in fact, a long line inside. There's some interesting things to do in line, and the ride was fairly entertaining, but it's something one-day visitors would probably want to think about skipping, unless the ride board time seems reasonable. Unlike some other rides, when the board here says 30 minutes, it probably means 30 minutes. There's a lot of neat little special effects in Toontown itself which are worth walking over to see, however. Cinderella's Castle at DL just doesn't compare well to the castle at WDW; my impression of it was that the DL castle would be an outpost of the WDW one, the size difference is just that dramatic. We had some time before getting into position for Fantasmic, so we visited Big Thunder Mountain and the Country Bear Jamboree. BTM was lots of fun, like the WDW version: not too fast, but enough curves in the track to keep it very entertaining. CBJ was something I'd wanted to see at WDW, but didn't get a chance to do so. It's no longer on the cutting-edge of animatronics, so I suppose that means it's days are numbered, but it's still a fun thing to watch. Fantasmic! at DL is superior to the one at MGM. While the MGM version is a little more up-to-date in terms of the story, or what passes for one (Simba from the "Lion King" and Jafar from "Aladdin" are included in the MGM version), I think the added villains just mucks up the show more than it adds to it. The effects at DL are much better; where the pirates at MGM perform on the island in the middle of the lagoon, at DL they're on an actual pirate ship, followed by a huge crocodile! There's also a couple of additional floats not used in the DL show, and the sound at DL was more palatable (vs. the rock- concert level sound at MGM). I'm hoping the MGM show will improve over time, but for now, DL is better. Afterwards, we went through the Haunted Mansion again, and stood outside for a while, letting the crowds disperse, while I looked for a special effect listed in the DIG site list, namely a ghostly glowing light which appears in the HM windows at night. After a little watching, we spotted it on the 3rd floor corner windows (not the 2nd floor, as said in the DIG). That was neat. We finished the day along Main Street, stopping by the silent Mickey films theater for a bit, then doing "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln." As a show, one can see how it's the predecessor of "American Adventure" at EPCOT. Fun. Overall, I'd say Disneyland is somewhat superior to Magic Kingdom, but WDW just has more areas to offer (MGM, EPCOT, and now AK). DL has the advantage, however, of being near a major metro area, and being just the right size that it can be done in a day without feeling that a whole lot was missed. I'm definitely looking forward to going back! 8) Thomas Gryn tagryn@hotmail.com Mail a Comment to Thomas Gryn |
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