TR The book of Make Believe:The new Coaster Gospels (Ch2)

Subtitle: Tekno & Jamaal's SoCal Solace Vacation

 

3-8-05

 

Disneyland is definitly traditional. The front of the park looks very traditional. After traipsing across the courtyard between the 2 parks and Downtown Disney, we had our Park Hopper tix scanned and entered Disneyland. Of course,Space Mountain wasn't up yet, and Splash Mountain was down for maintenance, as well as Jungle Cruise, I believe. Oh well, that gives me more reasons to come back later.

 

We first found a restroom, and then waited at the Castle for the other three. I don't care what anybody says about the size of Sleeping Beauty's castle, it was still very nicely done. If you're that hung up on size, I'll buy you a bottle of Enzyte and you can 'grow' to like it.

 

One of the first notacible things was how much more crowded Disneyland was than DCA. The first 'ride' I saw was the Astro Orbiter. I almost took a spin, but the line was just a bit too long, since we were meeting someone.

 

Then, we saw Peter Pan's Flight. This line was uber long, so we opted out of that. Maybe next time. So we walked back thru the castle and I saw Tina waving for me. We went over and quickly met Bill (rollergator) and Jodi (coastermom). Then it was off for a ride. I'm pretty sure I have this in order, but there may be some discrepancies. If so, I'm sure one of the 3 can correct me. First, I was up for some Huanted Mansion. The line wasn't short, but the wait wasn't that long.

 

Haunted Mansion-

Granted, the actual ride portion wasn't a bit scarey. But the streaching room kinda was at the end. Never the less, I really like dark rides, and this was no exception. I know there were some changes recently, which is cool. Overall, aside from being a bit too cool for us, I really enjoyed the ride on Haunted Mansion. I've been waiting for many, many years to ride one of those, and I believe this is the origional, correct? Now when are they gonna add that 1000th ghost?

 

After Mansion, I needed a coaster, so we headed over towards Big Thunder Mountain. But first, we passed by The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, and I just had to take a spin.

 

The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh-

It was pretty good. I said I like Dark rides, and it was a nice break. The ride looks very

nice, and brand new. But then, so does the rest of Disneyland. I'm just glad Pooh got his Honey before the ride was over. I liked his Heffalump dream world scenes the best.

 

So it was time for another coaster. I was kinda worried about this credit, since I know about it's recent history. Oh, what the heck, I would be riding Monty and Perilous Plunge @ Knott's, and I've been on other things after tragic accidents. Might as well give this a try as well.

 

Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road-

After just a few lifts and drops, I proclaimed "If we were at Carowinds, It'd be over by now". Bill agreed, Tina and Jody just laughed. This was my first ride with Bill. The trains were comfy to sit in, the ride was paced just right, and the theming was, once again, just blissful. Disney really is in a class all to themselves. Then there is that lift in the tunnel. After that, I proclaimed once again "If this were Adventure Express, it'd be over by now, and I'd be once again disappointed". Bill was also making some Adventure Express comment (okay, so I did

like it my last visit to Kings Island...). But BTMR was more than both of the previously

mentioned mine train coasters. Heck, it is kind of the origional. It was a fun ride, nicely paced with some decent ups, downs and laterals. I'd do it again.

 

Well, that was #98. Next up was another classic Disney Ride, and one that has been in the rumors lately: Pirates of the Carribean. One neat thing was the resturaunt that the ride actually navigates around.

 

Pirates of the Carribean-

Another golden oldie, We really like this (Jamaal & I). It was fairly long, which is a good thing. More time to sit down. Plus it was a dark ride. Yay! The one drop was unexpected, and the animatronics were all in top notch order. Heck, I've been in some more 'up to date' dark rides that weren't this good. Another oldie down, and another satisfied customer.

 

Okay, so now should have been the time I checked to see what all was in Disneyland. Instead, we rushed over to Matterhorn for another coaster. Had I looked, I would have realized all that Disneyland had to offer. In fact, I didn't spend any real time in Tomorrowland, didn't even go near the closed Space Mountain, and almost missed out on two of the better rides in Disney. But enough about my non-regrets. I rode another coaster.

 

Matterhorn (right side)-

We were told to ride Matterhorn's right side in day time, and left side at nite, so we felt that was good enough advice. This was it. The first tubular steel coaster. It was also the last of my double digits. It is a fairly intense ride, just slightly Arrow rough, but I've been on newer coasters that are way worse than this, Arrow or not. Again, good theming, good coaster, and the water as a natural break is funky. The mountain actually looks almost real as well along the skyline. We all were in one train for this one, me by myself.

 

Bill, Tina, and Jodi were hungary, and Jamaal and I still needed pictures for DCA and to use our Screamin' Fast Pass, so we headed back over to say goodby to DCA. I found out that the Monorails were only for onsite guests, that kinda sucked. Would have been a nice way to get over to DCA.

 

Oh well. So we picked up a disposable camera on our way into DCA and took pics all around before heading over to California Screamin' again. The second ride was just as good as the first, and with 99% less waiting. No front seat again, but we were in a different part of the train. Again, nice launch, good coaster. Not my personal favorite, but strong none the less.

 

A few more pix and DCA was closing. We were over there for almost an hour. Another ToT ride would have made me happy, but oh well. Two was a good thing. So we headed back over to Disneyland. Again, Disneyland was much more crowded than DCA. Oh well, they don't know what they're missing. Or do they? Next time I'll know I need a full day for Disneyland and 6 or so hours for DCA (if not more, I really did like it). But on this trip, I'm just happy to be there.

 

I couldn't get the gang to answer, so I figured they were in line or on a ride and had no Cell reception. So we walked over towards Tomorrowland when I saw the one thing I had forgotten Disneyland even had. I am an Ubergeek. I like comics (okay, I don't really read them anymore, but I watch all the movies), I like coasters (duh), I'm a Trekkie (we'll get into that later...), and I like Star Wars. So when I saw the 'Star Tours' sign, I bout flipped out. Thankfully, Jamaal is a Star Wars geek too.

 

Star Tours-

We just hadta. I even called my other best friend, Jon, to tell him what I was doing. The line was long, but moved swiftly. This was the only thing in Tomorrowland I did, but it was Star Wars. So we saw Tina and Bill and Jodi in line up ahead, told them to wait outside. Eventually we got thru all the scenery and were off on our mission. It was fun. I mean, I'm not a huge simulator fan as they make me sick, but just doing something physical that deals with Star Wars

was cool enough. The movie was funky, and I'm glad I got to do it. Again, Yay Disney!

 

So we met up with the others and walked around, all the while taking pics of the park. Just outside of Star Tours was the newly soft opened 'Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters', which had no wait for the other three earlier on. For us, it would have been 40min. I wasn't willing to wait, so off we were.

 

Then it was that time. Time for #100. Everyone counts coasters in their own way. If I'm riding something like American Eagle (SFGAm) or Thunder Road (PCar) which is 2 tracks, but a racing coaster, I only count it as one. I count dueling Coasters (only been on one, Twisted Twins @ SFKK) as 2 (even though I only got one side, I count it as one of two coasters). Matterhorn has two semi-dueling sides. The sides are different, and that makes it, to me, 2 different coasters.

 

So it is kind of odd that my 99th and 100th coasters are the same.

 

Matterhorn-

Big Whoop. Yes, it is 100. Yes, it was 99. Yes, it was still the first tubular steel. It has history. So that was, to me, a good choice to make it both the last of my double digits and the first of my triple digits. Not that it matters to anybody but me. Enough lines dedicated to my 100th coaster. Seriously, I wasn't thinking about that during the rest of the trip, even though I did spend it with some cool peeps and one of my 2 best friends. The other side was definitly more intense. Was it because it was nite? I dunno, but it was also a little rougher. Oh well, Matterhorn was still sweet, and being in the night riding a partially dark coaster rocks. Heck yeah, I finally conqured something Disney!

 

Okay, again, I forgot what all Disney had to offer. We were going over to do the Kiddie coaster when I saw something else that is impossible to pass up the first time. Another classic, and I dont' think I'll ever get that darn song outta my head...

 

"it's a small world"-

Yes it is, but the line wasn't. Again, though, we're at Disney Capacity, so it wasn't a long wait. The ride, however, was about 15 minutes too long for me. Okay, I had to do it once, and I'll probably do Disney Worlds when I get down there. It was funky, and a good family ride. But couldn't they do a remix of that song, just once?

 

Another classic down, and then we were at another coaster. The last tangible Disney credit. The theming was again just superb, even if I'm not an Inspector Gadget fan.

 

Gadget's Go Coaster-

Another Rollerskater. It was fun, it was themed, and it was #101. Nuff said, lets move it along. (okay, so it was the best Rollerskater I've ever been on, out of 3).

 

Another funky ride I saw was Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. I used to love that movie, how would the ride be?

 

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin-

Spinning cars that go thru the track? Flippin Sweet! I loved this! It was again nicely themed, just the right length, and a whole lotta fun. Jamaal was with Bill, Jodi was with Tina behind me, and I was all alone. Yay Spinny Cars! Tons o' fun yet again. Thank you Disney!

 

There were lots of other things I'd like to have done. Didn't do Dumbo, didn't do Snow White's Scarey Adventure, didn't do this, didn't do that. But it was all up to me, as the other 3 had been there all day and were letting me lead the way. That, and Jamaal wasn't so in to Disneyland. So I decided to take us back for a last spin on the Haunted Mansion. But one thing everyone had mentioned was Indy, and how we needed to do that. I thought it was the stunt show.

 

Boy was I wrong. So when we passed by it, they turned me towards that enterance instead.

 

Indiana Jones Adventure-

This was the best ride at Disneyland that I rode! You board Jeep like vehicles after the long long themed queue. Then the ride starts. It was amazing, all the effects seemed to be working on time, and I really had a blast in this thing. Second row ride in our 'Jeep'. Heck yeah, I'll do it again in a heartbeat!

 

So that was it. Wr went back by Pirates and Haunted Mansion for pics. But Disneyland was officially closed. The park was ultrasweet, and I can't wait to go back again hopefully next year. Even whith all that I missed, we got do do some importand things. But next year I'll know to schedule more time for Disneyland. We headed up to Jodi's car for some USH Mummy posters she had (thanks again Jodi!) and then Tina and Bill left as well.

 

Jamaal and I were going to eat at Downtown Disney, but our legs hurt too much to walk back. And then we lost our car. Thankfully, we found it just where we had left it (thank Alamo we had a panic button on the keychain). After a quick stop at Carl's Jr. (Hardee's for you east coasters) and their nasty new burger I didn't like (hey, they can't be perfect all the time), we headed back to Motel 6, and I was soon to sleep.