Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland
Location:
 W Ball Rd & S Disneyland Dr
 Anaheim, CA 92802
Entertainment Cost: Free if you have a friend who works for Disney like our good friend Orn.
Normal price: Find out here
Entertainment Value: Amusement rides, Disney Character magic, Watercolor show, Captain EO 3D (MJ's Back!), and Scenic beauty.
Food Cost: $8 for Smoked Turkey Legs

Bollywood in California Adventure; Glowfest props in background

The beauty of living in So Cal is that you can go to Disneyland an infinite number of times and there will always be surprises after the umpteenth time back. Disney is constantly expanding, a life force pulsing behind the gigantic corporate machine of capitalism, a manufacturer of fantasy and dreams for both children and adults alike. Disney is the Jimmy Cricket on your left shoulder, the Fairy God Mother on your magic dust filled dreams, and Tinkerbell guiding you in the dark night, who raised you since you were able to open your eyes and understand human speech, or even if you didn't. Growing up Disney was there to give you a temporary respite from school hassles like making the grades, making friends that would laugh at your bad jokes, and getting the nerve to talk to the crush you had in middle school. When college bound, you occasionally went back to the occasional Disney cartoon classics like a nice pair of birthstone earrings you got as a toddler that you'd take out to remind you that it is still not too late to look fashionable in it. Now that you are a full blown adult, you realize the fundamental need to keep it at your side, cling to it like a magical amulet that, over time, needs polishing and whispers of wishful thinking.

Mickey Fountain in front of Monster's Inc. Ride

That is why time and again we look to Disneyland for comfort and a way to get away. Maybe I'm biased since my heart still sings every time I go on a Sleep Beauty Ride or watch Ariel rock it during the Disney Parade (two of my favorite Disney "old school" animations...God, can I call it that now? Wow I'm getting old...no disrespect to the 70's and 80's babies). So now after my 9+ times at Disney, I had expected to be bored but was met with pleasant surprise instead--kind of like discovering a pomegranate tree growing in your backyard after that one incident where you had lazily eaten it without a trash can nearby. The experienc is altogether... serendipity.

So Cal residents tend to be fickle, we are easily bored, and hard to entertain (especially if we've seen it more than once). Yes, as So Co PeePo, we have all ridden Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Tours, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion many of times. And even the newer rides built in the new millennium like: Indiana Jones and Buzz Light Year, or California Adventure's Ride Additions: Tower of Terror, California Screamin', Monster's Inc, etc., won't make us lose sleep from excitement the night before. However, there are some newer additions and new relevations since 2008, which was the last time I went to Disney.

Madhatter Tea Party and Matterhorn backdrop

Best darn smoked Turkey Leg ever...watch out OC fair

Five things I've discovered that doesn't make Disney an old Fart:
1. Disney's Nightastic Fireworks at 10:00pm during weekdays and 9:00pm during weekends

2. Toy Story ball tugging 3D shooter ride (Upgraded Buzz Light Year ride)

3. Gianormous Turkey Legs are still bomb

4. Captain EO Tribute 3D Show is Back (MJ's back on the map)

5. Glow Fest (Electronica, Dancers, and Alcohol!)

6. Disney's World of Color Show

Mr. Potato Head and Mr. David Dang Head. It's a head off!

Okay, I lied. There's six. Unfortunately, we couldn't get tickets to the World of Color show. This show is _____________. I don't know. But please comment on this blog if you did go and let me know how it was for you. Rumors are you have to get fast passes to get admitted well in advance in order to have any chance of seeing it. For those that love to live in the moment, as I'd like to think of myself as (or at least as my alibi for being lazy), if you arrive that day to retrieve your tickets, I would recommend diving to the Grizzly Run fast pass machine over by California Adventure. As a a loyal reader of my blog, I will show my gratitude by giving you the exact location of Grizzly Run so there will be no time wasted asking directions or getting lost:

Remember: Focus! Don't worry about running over strollers or old grannies, it is either you or them soldier!

This is your hit. Burn after reading!

Can't wait to see the show? See it here:



Should the carpe diem method fail, your mission can still be salvaged if you are tactful and prepare ahead of time. The other (and probably wiser) way to not only get a good front view of the show without the hassle of waiting hours to get good seating, but also to get a decent meal while there, is to make dinner reservations at Ariel's Grotto. The dinner package is around $36  per person; note I said "package", so I'm guessing that it is a decent meal. One that involves good farting and burping afterwards.

Bringing Black Back!

One other thing I must elborate on is the Captain EO Tribute show; It is one of my all time favorite 3D shows...and probably the only 3D show I've experienced in the 80's. I love how the teleprompter warns us not to put on the glasses "for our protection" until the show has started. That cautionary warning was made during a time when Lasik services weren't rendered to the average consumer. The tribute show really kept it's 80's originality--Special optical and mechanical effects (when SPX still conjured awe in us) in all its noise and large pixilated glory.  Michael Jackson plays Captain EO, a traveling space captain out to deliver goods and bring peace for the world. He is out to find the lost beacon, only to luckily crash upon it. But his luck runs out as he is captured by the evil machine witch before he is able to complete his mission. I won't give away the best part of what he does next, but I will tell you that there are a lot of rainbow colors (80's style), popping, Michael moonwalking, and aaaaaaaaah that only MJ could do (imitated but never duplicated). And since Disney owns the exclusive rights to it, you won't be finding this MJ pop routine anywhere else but here where dreams and reality meet.    

Tower of Terror and Hollywood's Backlot Backdrop