June 23, 2005: Palm Springs Trip Day 6
	June 21, 2005: Palm Springs Trip Day 4
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A Trip to Disneyland

Getting to Disneyland

Today is an all-day outing to Disneyland. Brad and Will have never been, and neither has Fred. I've been twice, and Greg has been multiple times. So we are going to spend the day and just indulge our inner child.

We started out from Greg's house about eight, hoping to get to Disneyland about the time it opened at ten. As the map shows, Greg navigated the LA freeway system pretty accurately to get us there on time.

Once we got near the park, we had to follow our noses to nagivate under Interstate 5 to get to the park itself, but once there, the signs were pretty clear. We took advantage of the new parking structure (yellow star on the aerial view), which has been built since I was there last. Before we went downstairs, I grabbed a picture looking south towards Downtown Disney and out across the overflow parking lot.

Then it was downstairs to one of the shuttles that take you to the entry station. We had some discount coupons, so it was only about $65 each for the day. Just before heading into the parks, I took a group picture.

Once in the park, we had the choice of whether to go to Disneyland first or to California Adventure first. California Adventure is newer, and was added on in the era when amusement parks were going for the tallest and fastest and scariest rides they could get. Disneyland was built in the 1950s, and has always maintained the cachet of being more total family oriented- a bit "slower" and less-exciting, if you will.

We thought that everyone would go for the big ticket rides first, so we thought we'd go ahead and do California Adventure first and try to get as many of those big rides done as we could. In these efforts, we weren't entirely successful, and we were also, on occasion, stymied by temporary ride closures. The upshot of it was that we had to visit California Adventure twice- once in the morning and once in late afternoon- to ride all the big-ticket rides.

Usually, in my narratives, I sequence the pictures in the order they were taken, but I think that here, for Disneyland, I will present them as if we never retraced our steps. So, at least for California Adventure, I will show you all the pictures taken at each different attraction, even if some were taken early and some late. I don't think it will matter, since the purpose of this album is to present the pictures to you, not to give you a step-by-step account of how we worked our way through the parks.

California Adventure
 

 Hollywood/The Tower of Terror

Periodically, I'm going to include maps taken from the Disneyland Web site so you can see about where we were. I might also occasionally include an aerial view of something interesting. This first map is odd in that south is to the top; why, I'm not sure.

As soon as we entered California Adventure (which you can see us do by watching my movie with the player at right), we made a left turn into Hollywood, where one of the first big-ticket rides, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is found.

Each of the major areas seems to have one ride that is the major attraction for that area, and, in Hollywood, the Hollywood Tower ride is that ride. To get to it, of course, Disney funnels you past a multitude of stores and eating places, and a number of other, smaller, attractions. If you look on the Disney map, you will be able to spot a number of the buildings that you will see in the photos that we took just inside Hollywood looking down the long street towards the Hollywood Tower (and one at the end of the street where you turn to walk over to the tower ride). The thumbnails for these pictures are below; click on them to view the full size images:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

We had a short wait for this first ride. The theme of the ride is a Twilight Zone episode (I guess Disney owns the show). It's a variation on the free-fall elevator ride; the elevator takes you up and down suddenly and rapidly, and doors open at the top, and it looks as if there is nothing to keep you from falling out. How that particular illusion is achieved I am not sure. For a ride that is mostly indoors, it was pretty good.

 Condor Flats/Soarin' Over California

Once done at Hollywood, we walked back out the main street and across into the Condor Flats area where the theme is early California aviation. All of the buildings, restaurants and shops have an "aircraft hangar" motif. The main ride here is "Soarin' Over California" (located at point B on the map above). This ride is totally inside a huge hangar, and is in the realm of a "virtual reality" ride. Riders are seated in groups of eight in hanging cars that resemble large ski-lift chairs. The ride suspends you in the middle (or it seemed like the middle) of the hangar, and wraparound screens project motion picture clips of sights within California. Imagine that you are suspended in the air in an IMAX theatre and you'll get the idea. In sync with motion picture, the chairs sway side to side, up and down and back and forth, giving you the illusion of being in a small plane flying over the state.

The entire ride is one of illusion; there's no sudden movement or roller coaster effects. But it was fun. The inside of the building was quite dark, with only the motion picture screens providing light, so I did not try to take any pictures. I did take three movies, however, to give you an idea of what the ride was like. You can view one of those movies using the movie player at right.

You can look at the other two movies using the movie players below:

 Grizzly River Run

Grizzly River Run is basically a flume ride, but instead of riding in logs or something like that, guests ride in circular, floating boats as they float down the watercourses. Of course, there is the typical "escalator" to take the boats up high; this escalator puts the boats out just above the waterfalls that you can see in the picture above. From there, the boats float down the sloping channel, turning randomly as they go. This part of the ride isn't particularly exciting, although guests can get sprayed by bumping into the walls of the channel, or by passing by artificial waterfalls along the way.

The exciting part comes right at the end, as the boat is tipped over a steep (but not vertical, of course) waterslide. The boats pick up a good deal of speed as they slide down until, at the bottom, they land hard and water sprays everywhere. We watched some of the boats come down the slide, and we saw that people sitting in some parts of the boat got very wet, whereas others just got sprayed. But you can't predict who will be in the wrong place at the bottom, since the boats turn randomly as they go.

Here are some of the pictures we took of other guests riding the Grizzly River Run; to view the full-size picture, just click on the thumbnail:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

We thought, watching many of the folks coming off the ride quite soaked, that it would probably be best to save this ride for later in the day, so that no one would be walking around wet. So we did, and returned to the ride about four in the afternoon, as I recall.

I graciously offered to be the photographer for the ride, which meant that I would have to forego the delightful opportunity to get soaked for the more mundane, prosaic job of taking pictures of our group on their way through the ride. I was able to get a shot of them getting seated in the boat, coming down the final slide, returning to the debarkation point and, finally, exiting the ride. I've put those pictures in sequence below; click on the thumbnails in order to view the full-size pictures of our group on the Grizzly River Run:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

 Golden Dreams

Once we passed Grizzly River Run, we found ourselves on the northern walkway around the artificial Lake California, and we intended to walk around it to Paradise Pier. On the way, we passed by Golden Dreams, which is more of a show than a ride (point D on the map above). It is a 360-degree movie focusing on immigrants to California. We did not stop in to watch, thinking we might do so if we had time later. Fred, however, was intrigued by the architecture of the building, and a beautiful mural adorning the outside of the building.

 Paradise Pier

Once we arrived at the walkway around the north side of Lake California, we could take in the expanse of Paradise Pier (point E on the map). This picture that Fred took of the attractions at Paradise Pier shows you the major rides in the area, such as the Sun Wheel in the center and the Maliboomer at the right. While Fred was taking his picture, I took another of Fred at Lake California, and in it you can get a good view of the major "E-Ticket" ride here- "Rockin' California Screamin'." (I can't help but think that the Disney Imagineers were running out of superlatives to name some of their rides, and get across the nature of the ride through its name.)

On our way around the end of the artificial lake to get to the rides, we passed a shop where you could buy sunglasses (the shop was actually run by Sunglass Hut International). The shop wasn't interesting, but the giant dinosaur advertising Dinosaur Jack's Sunglass Shack (point F on the map) was certainly worth a picture. We continued around the end of the lake and passed a ride called the "Orange Stinger" (point J on the map), which offers guests two different ways to ride. You can ride the carousel within the giant orange, or you can ride the parachute ride right next to it. We skipped both of them; they looked tame.

When we first got to the Paradise Pier area (point E on the map), I made a movie, and you can watch that movie using the player at right.

But the Maliboomer (point G on the map) did look exciting, so that one we rode. The Maliboomer is another of those rides that has an incarnation in just about every high-tech amusement park in the country (including Six Flags over Texas, I might point out). Riders sit in chairs suspended around four or five sides of the tower and are, very unexpectedly, shot up to the top of the tower (generating multiple Gs of force, the ride's description claims). After than exciting few seconds, the riders are dropped in free-fall most of the way down, until they come gently to rest at the bottom. The movie that I made here will show you the Maliboomer in action, and you can watch it with the movie player below:

As I said, we DID ride it and it WAS exciting, and generated enough turbulence in my own stomach that I thought I might not be ready for the roller coaster next door.

But we all decided to ride the roller coaster anyway, so we walked on over. We were surprised that there was hardly any line at all; actually, there was NO line, since the ride was temporarily closed. After some inquiries, we found that some maintenance had been performed but not yet tested, and that the ride would not be open until later in the afternoon. So this was one of the rides we had to come back to do, and we were here about 4:30 to do so. While waiting in line, we got a chance to see quite a few of the coaster cars coming to a stop at the end of the ride.

The ride was pretty neat, about on par with the big rides out at Six Flags. I didn't take any pictures on the ride (for fear of losing my camera). In time sequence, this was about the last thing we did today, but in this album I still want to show you what we did over in Disneyland. So we are on our way back to the entrance of California Adventure.

 California Sun

On the way out of California Adventure, we passed California Sun, which is like a central circle where most of the main walkways within California Adventure intersect (point K on the map). There is a very pretty fountain here, and I suppose it is a common meeting place.

As we walked around this area, Fred noticed a colorful sign on one of the storefronts nearby, and thought it worth a picture.

Then it was out of California Adventure, across the central entry area, and into Disneyland proper.

Crossing Over Into Disneyland

As I said, when you leave California Adventure, you are back out in the main entry area which, as you can see, has entry stations on both sides- the left side comes from the new parking garage and the right side comes from the older parking lots. You can buy a ticket for one park or the other or both, which is why each park still has its own entry station.

We had purchased a combination ticket, of course, but we still had to show it at the entry station for Disneyland, but that took hardly any time at all.

Disneyland
 

 Main Street, USA

The first thing you see when you enter Disneyland is the Disneyland Train Station. As in some other parks we've been to, there is an actual train here that circles the entire park, with stations for the major "lands" (e.g., Tomorrowland, Fantasyland). The train is actually a good way for a new visitor to get his bearings, riding it all the way around and letting the conductor point out the attractions. I remember doing that first when I was here so many years ago. But today, we were on our own.

Coming up behind the train station, you find yourself at the foot of Main Street, USA, one of the best-known images of Disneyland, and the main artery leading into the center of the park (point B on the map). I made a movie of our group starting down Main Street, and you can watch it with the player at right. As is the case throughout the park, Main Street is an actual street of all kinds of shops and stores- restaurants, snacks, sundries- just about anything, but all of it with a Disneyland theme. (One of these days, I'd be curious to find out how much the average person spends in the park, exclusive of entry fees. It must be a lot.)

Main Street leads directly towards Cinderella's Castle and the center of the park. Here, there is a circular garden with spokes leading off towards the different lands of the park. There is a memorial statue of Walt Disney in the center of this garden.

 The Matterhorn Bobsleds

We had made a short list of the rides we wanted to take and the attractions we wanted to see here in The Magic Kingdom- the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Indiana Jones Adventure.

It's important to understand the basic difference between Disneyland and California Adventure and, as a matter of fact, Disneyland and most other major amusement parks. Disneyland was the first. It was built in an era when imagination was the driving force, rather than thrills and speed. Most of the rides and attractions in Disneyland are designed for families and kids, families and kids who grew up on Disney franchises- Davy Crockett, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse, and so on. Most of the rides, like The Mad Teacups, most of the attractions, like Cinderella's Castle and most of the decoration, like the swans from Snow White are all themed on Disney characters or fairy tales, and are all designed for fun.

Even Tomorrowland (area E on the map, seen here in a view taken from point D) has rides and attractions that are tame physically but very educational. All of the various lands of the park HAVE been updated over the years (Tomorrowland now has a Buzz Lightyear ride and one based on the Star Wars franchise), but no new thrill rides have been built.

Doing so would have destroyed the family-oriented, kid-oriented ambience of Disneyland, and would have changed it into just another Knott's Berry Farm or Universal Studios. That's why Disney chose, over ten years ago, to add on an entirely new park- California Adventure. There, the company took advantage of the new technologies to build scary rides, thrilling rides and fast rides- creating a place more for teens and adults than for kids and adults. It was a good solution to the age-old problem of "keeping up with the Joneses."

So, since Greg and I were the only two who'd been here before, we decided to just hit the high points in Disneyland, and we first went over to the Matterhorn Bobsleds (point F on the map). Getting there was easy; we just followed the walkway from Walt's statue. Here are some views of the Matterhorn Bobsleds as we approached it from the center of the park. To see the full-size image, just click on its thumbnail:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

This ride had the longest line of any so far today, but, even so, it was only a 30-minute wait. The ride is basically a medium rollercoaster that winds in and out of a building- the Matterhorn. So some of it is in the dark, some of it on the outside of the mountain. I really couldn't take pictures during the ride; what with the speed and the short time to focus and set flash, they wouldn't have turned out. But I did take a couple of good movies that will give you an idea of what the ride was like, and you can view those movies using the movie players below:

I also got a shot of what the bobsleds looked like when we came to a stop at the end of the ride.

 Thunder Mountain Railroad

We had to walk across the park behind Cinderella's Castle to get to the Thunder Mountain Railroad ride (point G on the map). Thunder Mountain is actually a very large, faux‑rock mountain, and the tracks for the railroad have been laid into and out of it (multiple times). In this, it is something like the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Instead of bobsleds, you are on an old mine train, and the train dives into the mountain and then emerges at a different level- a number of times during its run. Use the player below to watch my movie of the Thunder Mountain Railroad and I think you'll get an excellent idea of what the ride is like.

What Disneyland is known for, and what other parks try hard to imitate, is "atmosphere." Basic rides are disguised many different ways in an attempt to give guests an "experience," rather than just a ride. Disney succeeds admirably. We can use the Thunder Mountain Railroad as an example. Not only did they build a fairly realistic-looking mountain, and a VERY realistic-looking station and train, but they took the time and trouble to adorn the side of the mountain with something that even those guests who couldn't or wouldn't ride to look at. In this case, it was a partially excavated dinosaur skeleton, still embedded in the side of the "mountain." While perhaps not very realistic, it was very well done, and you can see views of it here and here.

Between us we took a number of other good pictures here at the Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. To have a look at the full-size images, just click on the thumbnails:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

 Mark Twain Riverboat/Indiana Jones Adventure/Evening Parade

Our last attraction of the day was going to be the Indiana Jones Adventure. On the way there from Thunder Mountain Railroad, we had to walk through Frontierland, and one of the fixtures of Frontierland is the Mark Twain Steamboat that plies the replica of the Mississippi River (point H on the map), visiting Tom Sawyer's Island and other kid-oriented attractions.

Then it was on to the Indiana Jones Adventure. The Adventure (point J on the map) is an inside virtual reality ride that recreates the opening scenes from the first Indiana Jones movie- the part in the jungle temple where he is trying to steal the idol. Actually, the most interesting part of this ride turned out to be the area outside where the line waited. It was done up very well in a jungle motif, with all kinds of ancient-looking artifacts, including these temple guards.

Although we did not visit the Pirates of the Caribbean, when we came out of the Indiana Jones Adventure we could see the Pirate Treehouse above us.

Just after we left the Indiana Jones Adventure, our last stop in Disneyland, we discovered that we were in the middle of the afternoon Disney parade that circles Cinderella's castle and then heads down Main Street to the train station. The pictures whose thumbnails are below are pictures taken at the parade (point K on the map). As usual, you can view the full-size images by clicking on those thumbnails.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

You can also watch a movie of part of the parade by using the movie player below:

 Downtown Disney

I've included a different map this time at the left; this one, also taken from the Disney Web Site, shows the relationship of the two amusement parks to the other facilities that make up the Disneyland Complex.

As you can see, the remainder of the complex is where the hotels and the larger restaurants and shops are; Disney intends for visitors to have everything they need right on the property- lodging, good meals, shopping and the amusement parks. "Downtown Disney" is the shopping venue, and it is also where the larger, more formal restaurants are. It is also where the hotels are located.

After we'd finished at the amusement parks, we thought that rather than hit the road and try to find some restaurant on the way home, we would just as soon see what there was in Downtown Disney that looked good, and just eat here before heading home.

To get to Downtown Disney from the parks, we just went back out the entrance we came in and then just walked a block west until we were right in the thick of things. Our first stop would be to walk through the Grand Californian Hotel and then out into Downtown Disney.

The entrance to the Grand Californian Hotel was only a block from the park entrances, so we walked into the hotel through their outside garden where Fred snapped a picture of me and some of the flowers in the garden. We found that the Grand Californian Hotel (point A on the map) has been done in a "national park" style, with lots of heavy wood beams and a very rustic look inside. Actually, it reminded us very much of the hotels we've seen in Yellowstone, Yosemite and at Mt. Rainier. There wasn't much light, but Fred got a pretty good shot of the main lobby.

We walked through the hotel, following the path I've indicated on the map. The monorail to Disneyland stops here (and at the other hotels as well). You can see it on the map. Once we exited the hotel, we were in the middle of Downtown Disney, and we started looking for places we might eat. At the central square in Downtown Disney there was a beautiful, oddly-shaped tile fountain and pool, surrounded by lots of shops and restaurants (point B on the map). We could see the main Downtown Disney monorail station just a little ways down the street, so we stopped by it to see what it looked like (point C on the map). It is really a shame that monorail technology hasn't been put to wider use in American cities; perhaps one day it will be.

As we walked back through Downtown Disney, we stopped at many of the restaurants to peruse the menus, and we found a few that would have worked, but it was the prime dinner hour, the parks were busy, and the waits were long. We did find one place that did not seem to be too busy, Brennan's Jazz Kitchen and, even though there was no menu posted outside, we went on inside and shown upstairs to a table. On the way to the table, Fred took a picture of the first floor dining area. Unfortunately, when we got to the table, nothing seemed to go right. First off, no one came to bring menus for quite some time and, when I actually went to get some, none of us could find anything particularly to our liking. Someone finally brought some water, but then no one came around to inquire as to our order. We decided pretty quickly after that to cut our losses, so we just got up and went back outside to see what else we could find. Perhaps that's why the restaurant wasn't busy; word has gotten around how bad the service is.

Anyway, we walked almost to the end of the shopping area and then lucked into a perfect choice- the Naples Pizzeria. The prices seemed reasonable and the food we could see other people consuming looked good. Fred was happy 'cause they brought huge baskets of bread to each table. We all agreed to stay. We ate outside and the evening was just wonderful. Most of us had pizza, and all the food was good. Below are some thumbnails for the pictures we took here at the Naples Pizzeria. To view the full-size images, just click on them:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

After eating, we caught a shuttle back to the parking garage and headed off for home. We got back to Palm Springs around nine, and sat on Greg's patio for quite some time just chatting and relaxing- a nice end to a great day.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	June 23, 2005: Palm Springs Trip Day 6
	June 21, 2005: Palm Springs Trip Day 4
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