Disneyland Easter Weekend.

[Brickman]

I hate going except during the week, but nooooo instead it's Easter Weekend. My wife's sister is flying in from Minnesota with new boyfriend (left hubby of 30 years) and her 28 year old daughter, and stepgrandson. So my wonderful spouse makes plans to go and also drag along her daughter, her other sister, husband and three boys... and me. I kept saying no, no, no,,,,, and then caved in...

[Warlock!]

and then caved in...
Click here. (http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/sounds/haha.wav)

Winter Warlock!

[Winston Wolfe]

Hey Brick, the only good news is that if you get the "Park Hopper" pass, you can head over to Cali Adventure FIRST and go to the Mondavi Wine Park\Patio\place to get drunk thing, and get yourself a good buzz going.

I also suggest one of those cool walker aids thingys, which look like a cane, but when you get tired, it opens up on a tripod and has a seat on it!!! :eek:

Count on standing alot.
Count on waiting in lines alot.
Count on seeing lots, and LOTS of kids, and really WHITE people from the midwest (like your kin-folk) who are coming to SoCal to drink our NoCal water, and contribute to the rapid deletion of the ozone when they rent cars and drive up and down the coast.
Catch a buzz and have some fun....

C'mon, its the "Happiest Place on Earth", right?

[Brickman]

Click here. (http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/sounds/haha.wav)

Winter Warlock!

One of my favorite characters... him not you! :mad: ;) ;)

[Brickman]

Hey Brick, the only good news is that if you get the "Park Hopper" pass, you can head over to Cali Adventure FIRST and go to the Mondavi Wine Park\Patio\place to get drunk thing, and get yourself a good buzz going.

I also suggest one of those cool walker aids thingys, which look like a cane, but when you get tired, it opens up on a tripod and has a seat on it!!! :eek:



I thought of that. Between michaelhatesfans and Ank I should learn to be able to releive my pain....

[anait]

Ugh. :shiver: For the life of me, I do not understand the appeal of those places. Midway rides are one thing, I loved going to the fair when I was a kid...but the over-the-top excess of theme parks puts me right off. That and the thought of spending time watching overtired, oversugared kids reaching the end of their ropes...about the same time as their parents.

Mr anait went to Disneyland as a kid, he said it wasn't nearly as bad as I seem to think... :D But I told him it would take a LOT of cajoling/etc. on his part to ever get me to agree to take the kids there. Shoot, if we had the money to go to Disneyland/world, why wouldn't we all go to a ChampCar race instead??!! Priorities, people, priorities. :cool:

I'll be raising a glass in your direction that weekend, Brick, hoping you're maintaining your sanity.

[racer2c]

Push for a visit to the Epcot Center. They sell beer at the International Walk and the fireworks there are the best of the parks (if they still do that, I heard they stopped doing the daily fireworks).

The best theme park in Florida though is Busch Gardens in Tampa. It has something for everyone. Built around a safari theme, the rides are wicked and the beer flows freely (literally, one per adult though). If you can stomach Anhieser Busch products. And the animal displays are better than most purpose built zoos. It's all blended together so that you don't have to commit to an animal park, or a ride park etc. It's all there. The Clydesdale's are there too.

[Dave99]

But Brickman, in a roundabout way DisleyLand is essentially one of the IRL's "partners". I say put on your IRL gear and go have a good time. :)

[racer2c]

Ugh. :shiver: For the life of me, I do not understand the appeal of those places. Midway rides are one thing, I loved going to the fair when I was a kid...but the over-the-top excess of theme parks puts me right off. That and the thought of spending time watching overtired, oversugared kids reaching the end of their ropes...about the same time as their parents.

Mr anait went to Disneyland as a kid, he said it wasn't nearly as bad as I seem to think... :D But I told him it would take a LOT of cajoling/etc. on his part to ever get me to agree to take the kids there. Shoot, if we had the money to go to Disneyland/world, why wouldn't we all go to a ChampCar race instead??!! Priorities, people, priorities. :cool:

I'll be raising a glass in your direction that weekend, Brick, hoping you're maintaining your sanity.

Disney is broken up into separate parks. The Magic Kingdom is for the little ones with the famous Disney characters. Epcot is more adult based. When my 13 year old was ten, she didn't care for it. It has a the INternational Walk which is built around a small lake. Each section is a different country with two or three decent quality restaurant's (considering it's a theme park). Such as in the German section you can get a pint of Becks and a knackwurst with kraut. In the Japan section is a decent sushi bar in a really cool building. All of the employees are exchange students from the countries that are represented. You walk around the gift-shops, grab some food and a beer. Walk some more, eat some food and grab a beer. Takes the whole day! Then awesome fireworks to cap the night off.
There is the MGM Studio park we thought was rather boring.
Sea World (a Anhieser Busch park) was showing it's age last year and was underwelming. Busch Gardens had just as good water shows (wel, ok, no killer whales which is the reason for going to Sea World) but the seal/sea lion show is a hoot.
By reservation only you can swim with dolphins in your own private beach. Long waiting list.
My parents are in Tampa so the parks are something we do just to kill a day.

[racer2c]

Brick wrote Disneyland (CA) not Disneyworld (FL) which is what I'm talking about. I can never keep them straight.

[anait]

Brick wrote Disneyland (CA) not Disneyworld (FL) which is what I'm talking about. I can never keep them straight.

Okay, your description makes it seem like a much nicer destination that I'd thought. :D And actually, hubby went to both as a kid, and did enjoy Disneyworld more. I think. He gets them mixed up, too. :laugh:

We'd really like to take the family to Cape Canaveral - or is it Cape Kennedy now?

[WickerBill]

There's only one place I'd rather be than Disneyland, and that's Walt Disney World.

Sorry, it's just the way I'm wired. Met Anaya at Disneyland. She rocks.

[RacinM3]

Warlock! :thumbup:

[Brickman]

Actually I enjoy going to DisneyWorld, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and have also enjoyed Disneyland as a kid, the people there have always seemed happier than at DW simply because it was dry heat as opposed to sweltering humidity.

Oh well... with Space Mountain being renovated, and Big Thunder probably still closed because of the rider death it will simply suck. Just shopping and eating, if it rains at Long Beach I'll be the bozo walking around with the Mikey Mouse souvenir poncho . 1-800-:cry:

[pinniped]

I dunno...I've been to them and I still agree with Anait's initial impression - especially if it's busy...plastic fun at its worst. Why do people come to California to go to a theme park with cheesy renditions of California tourist attractions...that's sort of like driving to a nice restaurant, parking, then reading the menu posted outside while eating McDonalds. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[sadams]

Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. And yes the place is amazing. Much better than any of the Theme parks. Heck I liked Cypress Gardens better than Universal Studios.

[chop456]

Poor planning on your part. I'm sending my wife and daughter to WDW in August, sending my son to my sister-in-law's for the weekend, and I'm going to Road America.

You should check into this man thing. It has it's advantages when done properly. :p

[RacinM3]

chop, it appears that you, I , and Warlock! think very much alike! :thumbup:

[JoeBob]

Universal Islands of Adventure is by far the best theme park in the Orlando area. Disney is for the little kids, but for adults (or teens) IoA is the place to be!

[Brickman]

Poor planning on your part. I'm sending my wife and daughter to WDW in August, sending my son to my sister-in-law's for the weekend, and I'm going to Road America.

You should check into this man thing. It has it's advantages when done properly. :p

You guys are killing me... why am I not surprised? ;)

I just don't see why we have to hold their hands going to Disneyland. It's soooo stupid. I have a thing against going places during peak hours, movies, dining, whatever. I have a thing against picking up relatives in Los Angeles instead of Ontario just to save them $50 bucks. What I didn't have an answer for is when she tells me correctly that her sister and boy friend are going, her sister and husband is going and she would be paired with nobody.

At least she is going to Long Beach with me. Even though she prefers Tin Tops, in fact she passed on Indy cars at Fontana in September. She should KNOW I don't like crowds.

Oh well...

[ANAYA YATES]

WickerBill....you remembered :D

Awwwwwwwwwww.

Brick: Ditch the family and go to Ca. Adventure. It will definitely kill the pain of all those people. <just kidding>

Even though I'm a season pass holder, you won't catch me dead there during any holiday or especially summer.

ANAYA YATES

[Brickman]

Well... it could have been worse. Can't recall what time we arrived, 14 total went, 2 vans 1 car. Indiana Jones was first up. When the other 13 went on it (passed because of back aching from putting down new wooden kitchen floor) I went over and did the Fast Pass for Splash Mountain, for those who don't know Fast Pass is a second line Disney came up with to essentially take cuts at a designated time 10:15-11:15. You get two per two hour period. You can get a new one once the start time passes.

So I got the Fast Pass, went and got breakfast and coffee and people watched. Their ride broke down so their wait was even longer, so much so that the Splash Mountain Fast Pass start time began. So I went and hit two more Fast Pass rides. Needless to say when they got out it was boom boom boom knocking down the rides. Did the Fast Pass on a couple more while having lunch then hit some more rides. The Matterhorn's wait time was only 35 minutes when we got there later in the day.

Only one comment on my Champ Car hat from the guy at Big Thunder who works the ride, taking his son for the first time, he just can't wait.

All in all it wasn't so bad. But next weekend will be better.

[cartman]

Never been to DisneyLand, but me and the wife go to Disney World every year and we don't even have kids. It really does wonders for the soul to feel like you're 4 years old again for a week. My wife is a self proclaimed Disney freak and to be honest, I wasn't really that excited the first time we went. I hadn't been since I was 12 and I was a little worried that I would be bored to tears with all of the kid stuff. I'm more of a thrill ride kind of guy and Disney isn't exactly known for thrill rides. Once we got off of that monorail (which brought back great memories) and stepped foot into the Magic Kingdom, I was instantly 4 years old again and wanted to ride everything, from Small World to Space Mountain. We love the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (even though my wife cheats and beats me every time). The other three parks are great as well, especially Epcot. That new Mission: Space ride is incredible. I couldn't walk straight for about 5 minutes after I got off it.

I can see how you would hate Disney World/DisneyLand if you go at the hottest and most crowded time of year. We avoid all of that and go one of the first 2 weeks in December every year. You can practically walk right on all of the rides and it's not hot at all. Not to mention that Disney has some of the most beautiful Christmas decorating you'll ever see. The tree in the atrium of the Grand Floridian resort is quite impressive. Last year we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was extremely cool. All kinds of neat animals to watch right off of our balcony. If you don't feel like ponying up the dough for an on-property resort I would recommend staying at the Marriott World Center. It's right across the highway from the entrance to Disney and if you get a room on the right side of the hotel you can watch the Epcot fireworks from your balcony every night.

[JLMannin]

Was the Mickyard still there?

[Brickman]

http://disney.go.com/vacations/missionspace/ms_mainflash.html

"The ride system was manufactured by Entertainment Technology Corporation. ETC builds human centrifuges that create 2.5 G's [1 to 1.5 G's in one second!], large-scale intelligent VR training simulators, to creating the next generation of motion-based simulation attractions which allow sustained G's and continuous 360º motion in up to four axes on the ride."

It's a hoot.

Stayed at the Contemporary Resort in February. Always a different one each year.

[Madmaxfan2]

The Mickyard is still there. THe Richard Petty Fan Experience is held there. When I visited there in 98, it was evident that Disney to trying to offer ever possible recreational experience for children and adults that is legal at WDW. Culinary school, golf lessions, fantasy sports camps, lessions for artists, it was amazing. Even the Big Red boat is Disney's attmept to corner the recreation and entertainment market. Therefore, a race driving fantasy experiece offering has to be must at WDW given this mindset.

[Methanolandbrats]

I was at DisneyWorld in 97. Heard a racecar that sounded like a transam car with a broken header...thought WTF? That's when I remembered the Mickyard, so the next day I started out for a morning run. When I got to the track there were some people milling around the infield and the gates were open. I ran about 1/4 of a lap before they threw me out. They were pissed at first, but I told em I was a big fan :D and they mellowed out. The best thing about DisneyWorld is Epcot dinners, booze and the fireworks show. Try the food in Norway...it was great.

[chop456]

Only one comment on my Champ Car hat from the guy at Big Thunder who works the ride, taking his son for the first time, he just can't wait.



Shoulda' worn your IRL hat instead. The carnies probably would have mistaken you for their grandfather or cousin. Or both. ;)

[Brickman]

Shoulda' worn your IRL hat instead. The carnies probably would have mistaken you for their grandfather or cousin. Or both. ;)

LOL... sorry don't own one.