Disneyland in Fall

It had been probably eight years since I'd been to Walt Disney's former-orange-grove-turned-amusement-park. Before that, the last time was when I was in the dorms--or Valencia apartments--so five or six more years. Other members of my family have visited many more times in those intermittent thirteen-fourteen years. Having had family living in the Los Angeles area when I was a young child, we would make at least annual visits to Southern California, and usually these trips would include trips to Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm (another big LA amusement park), at least once to Universal Studios, Griffith Observatory, and the Labrea Tar Pits.

Out of all of those attractions, we easily did Disneyland the most times. I remember stories my dad would tell of watching the television show "The Wonderful World of Disney" in the late fifties and early sixties when he was a kid in Upstate New York. The show was ostensibly about what new technology Walt Disney was unveiling at his park, the "Happiest Place on Earth", but of course it was a half-hour long commercial for Disneyland.

My dad would tell me that at the time he was positive he would never set foot in the park and that the longing would be deep and real until something else came along, and he'd forget, forget long enough until the next episode came on.

Something my mom and my Auntie Peg do each year, with their good friend and honorary sister Bobbi, is spend a day in either late September or early October together at Disneyland to celebrate their birthdays, which are all within three weeks of each other.

This year, as a surprise for Bobbi, my mom arranged to get as many people available to come along for the trip, to get as many people available to dress up in matching shirts and invade this consumerist memory factory on the same day at the same time in what passes for fall in Southern California (daytime temperature: 91).

A few things before I get to some pictures:

1) Coordinating the "Surprise!" moment was as challenging as corralling drunken kittens. We hid in a stairwell at a fancy hotel for six minutes as not to be seen so we could muster at the right time, out of sight;

2) Our matching shirts were neon lime green and could sport our name, if we so chose. When I heard that my cousin Michael was planning on joining us, I said I'll have my name put on if Mike did. I was informed that Michael had said the same thing about me, that he'd put his name on if I did, so I said sure, lets do it. Who needs dignity at Disneyland? Unfortunately Mike missed the trip. He was missed. On a side note, wearing matching shirts is quite the fashionable thing to do as a large group visiting Disneyland. Whooda' thunk it;

3) The day we had marked down as our trip also happened to be "Gay Day in Anaheim", and Disneyland was absolutely packed for a beautiful Saturday with groups of proud gay folks, all wearing rather clever shirts, and they were in red;

4) We also visited California Adventure, the other park at the complex, and a place that sits on the old parking lot. The Simpsons allude to the old parking lot in the Itchy and Scratchy Land episode with the line, "Remember, we parked in the Itchy lot." Disneyland had sections named after famous characters from Disney's animated films, both of the short and feature length variety.

Here's part of our crew, mustering at breakfast before catching a shuttle. Notice our shirts. The previous night's activities had left me in a state as to be made very queasy by the shuttle's trip.



We decided to do Bobbi's favorite ride together and first, then we could do our own things, if that's how it was going to be. Of course, her favorite ride is the longest, most annoying ride in the park, It's a Small World. I'm philosophically into the message the ride promotes, but that song...

Here's something you don't see very often: dolphin ass in shrubbery form (outside of It's a Small World ride):



Here are some of the best rides in the park (bummer: Pirates of the Caribbean was closed), starting with the iconic Matterhorn, the mountain modeled after the true Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps:



The Haunted Mansion, which used to be so much better before they added the Nightmare Before Christmas elements. My family have given my brother Dan a lot of grief for being so upset that they dared to change the ride, to shake it up and add the newer elements to it. Thinking about it, I agree with him, and I have to say that he's right to be upset; it has lost some charm. The ride was quite groundbreaking technologically back when it opened:



Lastly, we have the best ride in the park, as far as roller coasters go. Actually, as far as roller coaster go, there are only three roller coasters in Disneyland proper, and I only have pictures of two of them. The tamest of the bunch is still a great ride, and it is called Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Good clean fun. The next step up in terms of excitement is the twosome bobsled ride offered by the Matterhorn. That ride is fast, but since it's a simple lap belt strapping you in, you get thrown around almost as if it were a wooden coaster; real herky-jerky, but fast and fun nonetheless.

But the best coaster at Disneyland, the one you end up waiting as long as the line is when it's your time to do it, is Space Mountain:



This one is so good because it's fast, on a smooth steel frame, and you're completely in the dark, like you're on the outside of a space craft, tooling around in space. To me, the above image of the white space mountain has always represented what was awesome about Disneyland. Even as my cynicism grows and I get older, that white silhouette will always spark a truly pleasant feeling.

The second-to-last picture I'll leave you with is looking up Disneyland's "Main Street", a strip of stores and activities that lead up to the main castle and behind which, leads to the rides and different "lands". This is the castle that appears in the intros of Disney films as a sort of logo.



The amusement park is broken up into Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland. A statue of Walt and Mickey are in the center circle where the lands sprawl out from in different directions. A great ride we missed was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and it's in Fantasyland, a "land" filled with mostly kiddie rides. Mr. Toad's, though, is awesome. It's the only ride I can think of that kills you and sends you to hell, before returning you safely to the world of the living.

Literally sends you to hell.

The last picture is of some weary fellows. I'm sitting between some good guys, and if you look close you can see my feet are outside of my sandals. I'm giving them a rest. On a bench just outside of the frame sits Norm, doing exactly the same thing: resting his feet with his Birks off.



This was taken right before we at dinner at a fancy restaurant in the California Adventure park. We sat at a long table, and I spent the meal sitting at one end and talking with my Toms, Uncle and Grandpa. When the food came out, I noticed everyone with a plate except me. I didn't really care; I knew what I was getting, and I would wait. I had ordered the Cioppino. From the other end of the table I heard a voice calling to me. It was almost another neighborhood down there. I slowly gazed and saw everyone in between, weary and hungry, scarfing their food. At the sheer opposite end was Norm, with his wine glass in the air and no food in front if him, smiling. Toasting.

"Cioppino, brother," he called. We'd both ordered the Cioppino, and were the only only ones to order it, and did it with nary a word spoken between us. I returned the toast, smiling, the demurest of nods passing.

We would wait.

And we would feast.