Nrthwnd

Today IS the day, apparently. So ..... Happy National ROLLER COASTER Day! everybody! Myself, on the Kettle Creek Mine Coaster, at Playland(PNE) on Opening Day (May 18) of the '24 Season.

It's The Day Before our annual fair, The PNE (Pacific National Exhibition), opens. And it's been a good couple of months, between now, and 'back then' in May when Playland opened for it's 2024 season. I ended up visiting it a few times, though not as many as I've done before, in past seasons. It's an "old age thing". And I'm dealing with it, LOL. Here's the pix from my Visit(s) to Playland, after all the rain we got in June. New coaster to check out; new drinking 'huts' to get your beer from; and a LOT of DIRT! This was what the line looked like, 1/2 hour before the park opened. Glad to see they're still flying the Pride Flag. Why be sorry? Everything's open! Or so one would think ..... Coaster running. Check. The Games Arcade wasn't fully open yet, so they put claw machines there, hoping some one will play them. Over priced pizza slices. Check. ThunderVolt, behind the Kids' Drop ride. Who says "I'm so fly," anymore? View of The VOLT from the West Coast Wheel. And some dirt... A new HUGE performance venue's being built, and opening in 2026. I always enjoy taking mountain shots, when the sky is clear and blue. I decided to eat something onsite, so this where I went. Many many choices... I decided to go the carnivore way, lol. Wasn't too bad. I'd had it before, so I knew what I was getting. And that finished up this visit there! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The other visits were varied and random. Crowds were actually GI-normous, way more than I'd seen before. But other seasons the park was open included Mondays and Tuesdays in the week. This season they were not. So here's (at least) three days' visit to Playland. AtmosFEAR's looking good. Ditto the Log Flume ride. Another fantastic Dirt Shot. I don't think Enterprise goes totally upright. Only this far in it's 'tilt.' Though the run of The Gladiator is always awesome, "landing" is sooooooo sloooooow. Really slow. One of three I counted, onsite. These replace the Ride Side Bar that was closed for the new amphitheatre build. My usual - Stella Artois. Then I headed out. I attended this on July 20th. Hey - two bucks for a hot dog? I'm in! Wish I'd gotten more than one of these.... A bit messy, but still good. And my $1 popcorn refill. Using the same bucket after what? 8 seasons??? Can't wait to see these new signs lit up in the evening, during the PNE. How long would YOU wait, for a 40 second ride? During the PNE, this is going to be insane, queue wise. Speaking of 40 seconds .... Wheeeeeeee! Got my $1 refill of pop with another container that's been used for 9 seasons! I had one of Coaster Dogs more 'busy' dogs. This was with pulled pork and other stuff on it. A good one. My last visit that I actually took photos of. Unlike Disneyland's shutting down their Shooting Gallery, and as simple as it is, we still got ours! Over the hump. Another dirt shot. I'll stop after this. Hellevator now does both it's up-launch and it's fall-down, together in one cycle. (o: ....And One more Stella Artois before heading out - and getting ready for two weeks of the PNE!

Instead of posting my Happiness, after every D23 posting for all the parks that Disney has (except Japan - they're already set for their future with Fantasy Springs just opened and the new Space Mtn. re-build coming in 2027) and posted the various new attractions coming up... I am totally in awe of ALL the stuff coming to the other Disney parks! It's a true abundance of attractions opening in the next several years. Awesome!

^^ I think my 'one and only' show, would be to see the original Cirque show..... "Mystere" that was the beginning of all the Cirque shows that had/have been there, since then. Good TR on what we can see, nowadays.

^ I love that, too! They do a Spider Roll at my fave sushi place. Though not as fully 'pronounced' as the menu suggests. But, it works. And at my go-to sushi place (Britannia Sushi), I get a lot of choices to make, including anything to do with crab. It's all good!

^ To myself, IMhO, it looks like Option #2 could be your best bet, for fulfilling your son's Disney needs, etc. You don't have to reserve a lot of stuff, so it's a bit easier for yourself. And helps you enjoy this visit, even more.

Tagadas Forever!!! And I still want one of those mini-Tagadas! Too cute to pass up.

Just saw the touring production of FROZEN on Wednesday night. And we were blown away by how much 'production' they put into this! Since it was a touring show, things like trap doors, revolving stuff, etc. can't happen, unless you pay A LOT to have it done. Anyway... All the leads were awesome, the chorus was amazing, and once again, I was exhausted watching allllll the choreography. Really excellent dancing. And after Elsa did her "9 o'clock number" <grin> of "Let It Go", ending Act 1, complete with the onstage dress change .... including myself, several people around us were commenting... "Now THAT's the way to end Act 1!" It was stunning to watch, even though I knew it was coming. And .... apparently this was one of Caroline (Elsa) Bowman's last performances with this tour, with a new Elsa taking over in a few weeks. So glad we got to see and hear her. I've known about her being Elsa for several months now, due to postings by Broadway.com . She is/was a powerhouse singer! This was also one of the very few touring shows (and there have been quite a few these past couple of seasons) who sold an actual Souvenir Program, along with the usual t-shirts, and related souvenirs. Cost $30 (cdn) but it was so nice to finally have one. Front of the program w/o the tag line.

This just in .... "ThunderVolt – Opening Saturday" And .... there it is!

That is truly an EXHAUSTING piece of POV, LOL! 6+ minutes? Too long for me, ha ha.

And now, after that great video on Dark Universe ...... IMhO, Universal has beaten Disney, for the All-Villains Park/Land/etc. concept. So will Disney (finally) ante up and put their own Villains Land together (question mark HERE; Im having one of those days, here)

^ ...Yeah, and still there will be idiot parents ignoring all the warnings about the ride, and take Junior on it. And remember: one complaint is worth a thousand compliments, right? One complaint always seems to negate positive comments, I've seen. I hope Universal sticks to their (pardon) guns, and take no shit from such parents.

Whew! That was quite The Show, last night! A good number of first time nominees getting their TONY on the first try, lol. Good for them! And "Everything TONY" can be had at the official site, itself .... https://www.tonyawards.com/ The winner of the 2024 Best Musical. Congrats!

Wow. Amazing that it held together more than 35 years of operation! And for my two visits there with TPR. (2009, 2014)

Tonight's the night! And I really have no idea who might win. Stay tuned till then.

Happy June! Summer is (hopefully) just around the corner!

Hmmmmph. Another very VERY RAINY weekend, here. I wouldn't be surprised if Playland closed early today, because of the torrent of rain (almost like a monsoon, truth!) falling now. So I skipped this visit. Hopefully we get back to the sunshine kind of day we all love, next weekend, lol. EDIT to add: Haven't gone back to Playland since that first day visit. Rainy weather these past few weekends. I did it in the rain for TPR tours, but not this time, heh. Will probably wait until the schedule expands to five days a week, starting in July. Additional EDIT: "And then he fell down..." On the 9th I "kissed the pavement" with my whole body, and have been recovering ever since. Very painful, and NOT for coaster riding at this point in time. Hopefully, maybe, this coming weekend (29-30th) I'll be better to visit the park. Maybe.

^ It's all looking great, Bert!

On we go....

^^ Good for you! Sadly, I won't be able to make any travel plans for myself, until ..... 2026. We're hoping to do a last visit to Amsterdam and Paris .... and Disney of course. And then, The Big Trip, to Tokyo Disney Resort, when the rebuild of Space Mountain is complete and open. Probably 2028 0r '29. We hope.

Great TR of a park I've never heard of! Thanks for sharing your trip there.

This one is just called "Friends."

Here's another, for the month of .....

At the same time as buying and getting ^ the above here, I also purchased one of those "Mystery Box Sets" where individual boxes are sold 'blind,' as they say. But a lot of sellers on eBay are selling the entire set of boxes, which sometimes feature a "mystery figure" in black profile. This set of TDL restaurant, is a fave of mine, when I've been to TDLR. The Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall in Fantasyland, is a great buffet-style restaurant. Andplenty of help to help you find a good table, etc. The box it all comes in. What you get. SPOILER ALERT! ............................ The mystery piece is a food tray with food on it. First time in the place - TPR 2007 Japan Tour. w/Mike and Peter enjoying our food trays.... What David and I shared, at the Banquet Hall in 2013 (TPR Tour). There was enough of everything to share!