Above it says "Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Coming in August", and visible below is a fence and a mud patch behind it, but I cut off most of the mud patch:
This was the park where we had breakfast reservations. Before we were let in to our table, Cass and I went to explore. We took a selfie with Gertie in the background:
Since a brachiosaurus (nee brontosaurus) is the only thing in the background of that picture, you must assume that Gertie is a dinosaur. And you'd be correct:
Gertie was an early character from the vaudeville days, an OG animated character, first projected in 1919 (a hundred years ago!) to an amazed and terrified audience. Here's a still from the long video available on Wikipedia:
She's a star. And although neither Ub Iwerks nor Walt Disney had anything to do with her creation, she's still celebrated in this theme park.
And it is a theme park. It's like Universal Studios, only all the movies they highlight are Disney. They have a Toy Story Land, and an Incredibles Alley, and a very cool roller coaster based on Aerosmith. It's like Space Mountain, but it goes upside down, and instead of space, its based on driving around LA. Its dark and blacked out, save for a few colorful 405-to-101 signs lit with blacklight. But it goes upside down, which makes it a top-tier Disney ride, a pantheon ride.
We had reservations for a car for dinner at the main "cool" eatery in the park. It was like the Blue Bayou at Disneyland in some senses.
Outside we waited for our turn. It was hot and muggy and generally miserable outside and Cass slept. Norm and I talked while we pointed out cool lizards to his boys in the bushes. Then it was our turn. This was between the hours of 4 and 5 in the hot July afternoon in Orlando. Cass awoke and was handed a cup full of popcorn. Inside we walked.
We turned a corner and BOOM.
We were now outside. At night. At a drive-in.
The air lifted a bit...it almost felt like we were outside. Sound didn't carry like normal. A large screen had previews and cartoons projected upon it. What the hell is going on?
We were taken to our car. It had three levels for chillig. The front seat had Norman, Simon, and Holly; the middle spot had my mom and Norm (the backs of heads of whom are visible above); and the back row had Cass and me:
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| One of my favorite pictures ever |
What stuck me was the previews that they showed on the forty-three minute loop were all authentic previews from the era, the mid-fifties:
And in each one at some point there would be a woman screaming. Just look above.
Anyway, every time this would happen, Cass would get nervous: "Mommy okay? Monster get Mommy?" He equated the young damsel in distress with his mother.
"Mommy's okay," I would assure him, "Mommy'll mess that monster up, don't you worry," and the like. But I started to understand the toll that American society has on young white women, that screaming into a camera means that ones own mother is in jeopardy.
As the day dwindled we eventually left, traveling back through the entering area, an area that seemed more normal-for-the-central-architectural-piece than the theater from the last post.
Norm and I were given bunk info while exploring...I felt like taking Cass on the Toy Story roller coaster, no matter the wait...all in all, it was a good time.
At our reserved breakfast, the in-costume characters that came over were Vampirina, Doc, someone else, and Goofy (from his Disney Jr show). All of the characters are major on Disney Jr. Goofy is his own superstar, but he was dressed up for a specific show. Vampirina I have heard of, but not Doc (not the same from Snow White), and not the other candy cane character. I only bring it up for the Thursday dinner (stay tuned).
At the breakfast we were given tickets to a night show that started at 9, but we needed to show up at 8:30 to redeem the free upgrade. While I understood the show was going to be awesome, I decided early that Cass and I wouldn't be attending.
A 9 o'clock show was never the problem. It's the 11 o'clock bus ride back to the hotel and subsequent bed-going that concerned me. We, unfortunately missed the show.
The park was definitely enjoyable.
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