A Trip to Disneyland
It was the first weekend that I was scheduled off, so we decided to take a trip to Disneyland. My brother Karl was kind enough to dig up three passes he had, and a good thing too. Tickets to get into both parks, known as "park-hoppers", are $79 each. Carolyn would have been free, but that would have been nearly $240 for a trip to Disneyland. That, in my opinion is obscene, especially given the current state of the park and the quality of the people working there. More on that later.The goal was to have a good time with Carolyn, and for the most part, that was achieved. We made the drive out from Las Vegas on Saturday morning, picking up Grammy on the way. We also stopped by Karl's house to pick up the passes, and Carolyn got to spend a few minutes with Nana.
First "expenditure" of the day: Parking - $10. This is not completely out of control, and the park has built a multi-level parking structure with easy access to trams that take you into the park.
We piled our stuff into the stroller and made our way to the tram and the quick ride to the entrance plaza. If you haven't been to Disneyland since they opened California Adventure, the entrance plaza sits between the two parks, with California Adventure built where the parking lot used to be.
One of Carolyn's favorite TV shows is "Bear In The Big Blue House", and there is a live show featuring Bear at California Adventure, so we chose to start the day there.
We stopped at the "wave" fountain near the entrance to California Adventure and got this great picture of Carolyn and Grammy. It's probably my favorite of the day. The area in front of this fountain is where you used to be able to find the Disney characters and get pictures, autographs and the like. Not one around when we passed through. So we went on the Bug's Life themed area of the park. There's a whole bunch of stuff there that is more appropriate for Carolyn. On the way, we saw a show starting with some of the Bug's Life characters, so we made our way over.Carolyn and Stacey had just sat done when the show was abruptly stopped, apparently due to some technical malfunction. This wasn't a big production show, just a smaller show of the story-telling variety. Sounded like the recording they use stopped. This was to be the first of a few disappointments with how things are at the parks.
It was a but warm and very muggy which made keeping comfortable a challenge throughout the day. Carolyn did get a kick out of the caterpillar train and flying machine rides in the Bug's Life area. By the time we finished there, it was time to get in line for the Bear In The Big Blue House show (aka Playhouse Disney Live).
The queue area for this is basically designed to act as a commercial for the Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney lineup of programs. There have always been tie-ins between Disney properties and the rides. And there have sponsors attached to rides as well. A case in point was the Adventure Through Inner Space ride that was lccated where Star Tours now resides. Don't remember it? Lots of folks called it the "Monsanto" ride, as they were the prominent sponsor. But there always seemed to be a line that wasn't crossed. The theme of the attraction always came first, and the sponsor was worked in at some point near the end.Not anymore. First, the line for Playhouse Disney is entirely outside. Great choice in the heat of summer. But throughout the waiting area, TV monitors count down the time to the show by showing clips of just about every program in their lineup. And if you want a decent seat for the show, you need to line up 30 minutes prior to show time. So you get a 30-minute commercial, while you bake.
The show itself is well put-together, with lots of opportunities for the kids to dance and sing with their favorite characters from TV. And it is well-cooled.
That ended our time at California Adventure. There really isn't a whole lot there for smaller kids. So we made our way to the Magic Kingdom.
We decided to get some lunch before heading to the live Snow White stage show. All the while, we kept an eye out for Disney Characters. We go to the end of Main Street and the restaurant without seeing one. And here comes expenditure number 2:
Lunch consisted of a Cobb salad, an order of fried chicken with a salad, and a plate of pasta with a salad. Add to this three sodas. Price for lunch? $56. And this was cafeteria style - no table service. No one helping you find a table. Just grab a tray and your food and sit down.
We ate lunch and heade to the Snow White show, which was ok, but not spectacular. We also got into the Aladdin Storyteling show, another ok but not spectacular show.
In the end, we spent a fair portion of the day there, certainly long enough to wear Carolyn out. She had a great time, and is still talking about being a "bug" and riding the caterpillar train.But I was disappointed. I worked at the park back in the 80's. There was a higher calibre of employee there, and an attention to detail. And a friendliness, even on hot, tough summer days. But no longer. The budget cuts, the corporate influence, the general attitude has given the parks a second rate feel. It's too bad, because it seems some of the magic has gone. I want Carolyn to experience the Disneyland I remember. I hope someday she will.
posted by Leo @ 11:00 PM
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