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David Yeh -- September 2000 -- DisneylandSeptember 8th, 2000 Cast:
I've been a cast member from 1997-2000 (quitting for school) and Disney fan basically since I can remember and practically living at Disneyland growing up. The same goes for my friend Josh, who was a cast member from 1996-1999, and also a big Disney-fan. I haven't been for a long time and Josh wouldn't be able to come back for quite some time so we decided to head down the street to our favorite place growing up, though skeptical about the upkeep that Pressler may have left it in. Since summer started and just about every school has started (except for UC's) we thought it would be a good day to go even it being a Friday. We were right. We actually didn't arrive until around 1pm and attendance was still light. But let's backtrack a little bit... the Mickey & Friends parking structure. That thing is massive. It was actually quite odd driving to Disneyland and entering what seemed to be the Jawa Sandcrawler. Parking was quick and easy and it was surprisingly convenient to be able to exit the structure and find the trams waiting for you. The first thing we noticed was the construction of Downtown Disney, Grand Californian, and of course the California Adventure itself. In all of its' unGlory. Both of us hope that DCA will eventually be something worth going to but we both fear that it might come as an expense to Disneyland. But anyway, this is about Disneyland so I'll continue. We were very much surprised the entire day of how short all the lines were for everything (except for all the dark-rides). Our wait for Rocket Rods was down to zero minutes thanks to the single-rider-line. And since I didn't wait at all for the ride, I actually liked it more than the first time riding it. The line for Space Mountain was only 10 minutes standby and people were actually messing with fast-pass tickets! Truly unnecessary. We managed to ride this three times all in standby in no time at all. It was a pleasant day at the park generally with beautiful weather and everything was running smoothly except for Indiana Jones, which was shut down 2/3 of the day. I think they decided to run it even with the shell not operating in the finale area. Throughout the day I was constantly looking for some type of maintenance problem mentioned on DIG but couldn't really find anything that was really major. I either wasn't looking at the right spot on the Haunted Mansion or they fixed the paint problem. Actually, the only real gross-out was in the queue are for Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin... there was a light on the ceiling that was in serious need of replacing. There appeared to be something growing on the light and it was turning green and all sorts of funky colors. Even the lady behind us asked "is that really up to Disney Standards? "Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Further exploration of the park led me to discover a good number of male cast members with facial hair! Now I heard that they were going to be allowed but this was the first time I actually saw it with my own eyes. I have to say, it's definitely going to be different now. As long as they are required to be neatly trimmed, I shouldn't have any real problems with it. Still freaks me out though. This trip also gave me the opportunity to experience the new Autopia for the first time. We definitely got Fast Pass for this since it was a whopping 30 minute wait! (oh the horror). Even with the fast pass it still took us about ten minutes to board the ride. The cars are cute but it's very difficult to look behind in those new cars. The joy of the older version is to actually be able to turn around and watch the car behind you bump into yours. Not anymore. You'll get bumped without warning. And since the cars are so quiet, it's harder to hear if they're behind you or not. But it's a good redo of a classic attraction. I was also able to catch the new Believe! There's Magic in the Stars nighttime spectacular. Though it was one of the cheesiest things I ever seen in the park (behind Light Magic and Animazement), I liked the synchronization of the fireworks with the music (or at least their attempt of it). Their choices of Disney music was also to my liking. I think if they changed the whole angle from "kid fantasy" to "cool show" it would work a lot better. But then again, they would have to change the entire theme song which isn't all that bad. Okay, so all they really should do is find a cuter kid to narrate the film. Then it will be closer to perfection. But aside from personal opinions, I was actually hoping for more firework shapes, since all I saw was the Mickey-shape. Oh well... Wrap Up: All in all, I had a great time at Disneyland. It has been a year since I visited Walt Disney World and took special notice to all the differences here and there and everyday I am thankful for what Disneyland is. Despite a few maintenance problems (C-3P0's eyes were out, Alice in Wonderland in need for some dusting and fresh paint) I had a great time. Again, this is my first visit since quitting in June and the last time I visited as a guest was back in April, so everything felt 10 times more fun. I also went to Universal Studios and Six Flags Magic Mountain two weeks ago and the poor themeing and quality value really helped make this trip a little bit more special. Fast Pass was also not a problem for us. The lines were short enough that people didn't go postal at us if we did use them and lines were also short enough that we didn't really need Fast Pass all the time. It's just great being able to experience Disneyland without the hustle and bustle of a busy summer day. David Yeh coheteboy@aol.com Mail a Comment to David Yeh |
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