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Disneyland Continued Anyways, I end with another picture from earlier in the day... The Marti Gras Party. Stay tuned for USH! I also tried molesting the woman on the Columbia earlier in the day. When your on the ride, all you can hear is, Boom da ba, cha boom da ba... Around the world.... A look into the train shed Wade can see you! I'm excited to be in line for California Screaming mmm... yum yums Back at Denny's at Wades request Where's Mantis Man at? Paradise Pier at Sunset I think I shall bathe myself in it. Nozzlezilla! thats a mighty big hose nozzle over at DCA, we noticed that ToT looks like a normal sized building when you're suppose to be the size of an ant. Did that taste good? and drank it then it peed We returned to Maggie, and it was still waving it's tounge about. I am AWSOME-O ZOMG, GUYZ! <3 Rocket SPace Mountaing rockz0rd my s0ckz0rdz~! Tommarrowland! But I just couldn't figure out why these 2 were holding hands.... hmmmm and a happy couple Like hot girls! Now we moved to the double decker bus. And from there we shall take photographs of random people. GET OUTTA THE WAY PEOPLE!!!!111ZZZZ0000 Jason is very talented when it comes to ringing the fire truck bell. They have a couple of cats running around the Hungry Bear area. There's a crazed look in this man's eye. They were all very good at improvising. Disney knows how to pick its live entertainment. the live performances are very fun to watch. And right next to this restaurant, there were a bunch of people freaking out about the number 33, and taking pictures next to it. I wonder why.... New Orleans Square is probably my favorite land. look at it! I think there's something wrong with the cow.

Thanks for the comments, anyways on to part 2. Disneyland and DCA So on Friday, I got up at 5:00 AM so that way I could take my shower and walk on over to my cousin's house who lives not to far from my house. For you see his dad leaves for work at around 5:30 AM and we were going to hitch a ride with him to Disneyland. So once we got to Disneyland, he dropped us off at the Denny's which lies across the street from the resort. And we went inside and had breakfast. We were the only people inside the building (besides employees) for a good 15-20 minutes. It definitely made us feel special. So afterwards, it was still pretty early. Around 6:20ish and the gates didn't even open till around 8:30. The park would officially open at 9. So we decided that we would explore the resort now. But it was pretty fun wandering around the place not seeing anyone except for employees. I would definitely recommend it if you stay on the resort and want to sacrifice some sleep to look around the resort without having mass multitudes of people spoil the view for you. So we went into the Grand Californian, which is a very nice hotel. I would like to see Disney build a parking structure on their expansive hotel parking lot so that way they could fit in another deluxe hotel. Maybe in the future. We also explored the convention center as well as the right tower of the Disneyland hotel. We had already explored the left tower in previous visits and had come to learn that it's pretty boring compared to the others, as far as the lobby is concerned, anyways. Afterwards, it was around 8:00 AM and we started to head towards the front of the park and wait in line at the gates of Disneyland. We were the 2nd people in line for our gate, but unfortunately by the time the park opened the gates, our Uncle had not arrived to let us in yet, so we stood off to the side and waited about 7 minutes before he was able to let us in. But even though we did not get in right when the gates opened, it was not that big of a deal as most of the people hadn't come and we could still take some pretty good pictures around main street. We also went inside and looked at the shops. I got bored and decided I would wait at the ropes for when they dropped them. (though technically I wasn't at the ropes since I was inside the photography building waiting for the park to open) And then at precisely 9 AM, the park opened and everyone rushed towards Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. We headed towards space mountain, but then made a left and went on Star Tours. We were on the first vehicle of the day, and it was pretty fun. Afterwards we headed across the street and went on BLAB, which is also a very fun ride, I scored a little over 250,000 points which was pretty good for me. Though my highest score was just slightly over 400,000 points. Afterwards we went over to space mountain and got some fast passes, and then headed towards the Matterhorn. We rode left side. (The left side if you are facing towards the station) which both my cousin and I agree is the better of the 2 sides do to its sudden pops of air time, even though it only lasts for a split second and your back on the seat again. After that we went through Fantasy land and took a bunch of pictures. We also went on Pinocchio, Peter Pan, as well as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. From there we headed over to Frontier land and went into the petting zoo where they have a diseased cow named Maggie. I think this cow might need to go the way of Old Yeller` as there definitely seemed to be something wrong with it. From there we headed into New Orleans square and listened to the Jazz band play. While we were listening though, one of the characters, "Queenie", from the Marti Gras show that they have wondered over and started singing with the band. I'm not sure if this was planned or if she just felt like singing, but regardless it was definitely fun watching. I also recommend just enjoying this part of the Disney park if you can spare 20 minutes just to enjoy the area. From there we wandered over to The Haunted Mansion, and I have to say that the effects that they have for the attic are very impressive, though I will also say that it really peaks my interest into the back story of the bride, unfortunately other then the one scene there is nothing about the bride. From there we we went towards the Winnie the Pooh ride and then went to Hungry Bear and ate lunch. After that we headed back towards main street because we were expecting my brother to show up soon. SO we rode the fire truck down to the entrance, and then went into the music shop for about a half hour. We were getting impatient and I called my brother to find out where he was at, and it turned out that he hadn't left quite yet, so we decided we would hitch a ride in Double Deck bus. After we got off we walked around the castle and explored that area, and then we headed over to Space Mountain. And now for my review of Rocket Space Mountain... Overall I liked it, BUT I would not like to see them do this year after year unless they drastically overhaul the lighting system they used. For one, its not Rocket space mountain at all. Its more like Rocking Roller coaster. The lights that they use totally light up the entire track and the illusion that your in space does not exist. Its just track with stage lighting, and go-go dancers on the ceiling. I think the attraction would do much better if they used lasers and the such for lighting this "rocket space mountain," maybe occasionally, having some stage lighting, but personally what I think is they should just build a rocking roller coaster next door at DCA. That's what they should do, then they can leave space mountain as space mountain, and people can ride their rocking roller coaster. Everyone would win. But now that I've stated the cons, I shall now state the pros. I personally liked the opening of the ride. It doesn't seem so retarded when you are actually sitting in the seats compared to watching a video of it on you tube. I liked hearing them test out their instruments in the tunnel, and if they do ever building a rocking roller coaster, I would like to see them implement that some how. Maybe you could be sitting on the launch segment when the win-amp visualizations starts forming around you while the band warms up. Then everything can go silent, then you would hear drum sticks click in the air and you'd launch... Also Its fun riding in the back seat because its definitely fun watching everybody in the car raise their hands, and unlike Florida's space Mountain, you can raise your hands on this ride and not worry about breaking them on the support structure. So overall the music and the atmosphere really make this ride fun, but as I said before, its just not space mountain. So now that I'm done with my review, I shall continue on with the TR. After space mountain we headed towards Innoventions so I could watch ASIMO as I had not seen him yet, though while we were standing in line, my brother came and met up with us. Anyways, we found out that the next ASIMO show wasn't until about an hour and a half from when we were actually in the building and we decided we didn't want to waste that much time. So we headed outside and headed towards DCA. We then went inside a bugs land I think they should really consider tearing down the wall that blocks everyone from the Hollywood back lot. They could have the same wall style as what they have over in Disneyland at the border of Frontier land and Fantasy land. Anyways, its pretty much got to large gates which are closed during operating ours, and when they're open they block off the park paths, but allow things such as vehicles to drive through. If they did that at DCA, that would allow people to move around the park easier, but allow DCA to move their floats through when they need to, or various vehicles. Just a thought. From Bug land we went on Golden Dreams, which imo, is a very good film, but seeing as how majority of the people who go to DCA are from CA, there is just no purpose in having an attraction like that. You see it once and you really don't have to see it again, though if Disney is insistent about keeping it, I would recommend that they relocate it to the front of the park where it would serve as the ride to get you acquainted with the history of the park and a good place to start for first time visitors, or various other visitors. Anyways, after that we went over to California Screaming and checked out the line. It was about a 25 minute wait so we decided we would get fast passes for it. After that we headed over to Denny's for dinner. Yup, i had Denny's twice in one day. Awesome! From there we went back to DCA and went on CAS. It was fun, but the soundtrack is pretty lame. I think that roller coaster idea that they blogged about on Screamscape would have been a lot better. Oh well, its still a very fun ride, and regardless of the song, it will always be California Screaming. After that we went over to Hollywood Backlot. We then headed over towards TOT only to discover the line was 45 minutes long so instead we went on Monsters Inc and then headed over to Muppet Vision 3D. I think that Muppet Vision 3D should definitely be replaced by Mickey's PhilharMagic, and maybe they could then put in a Muppet's themed dark ride in the millionaire building. Maybe based on the movie "The great Muppet Movie?" Because I don't know about you, but I really think the Muppet's are a great set of characters, and I would like to see Disney start doing more with them as far as movies and TV shows are concerned. I remember in the 90's when they used to have shows like the Muppet Babies (though I believe that was shown on Nick) as well as the Muppet Show, and Muppet Show Tonight. All were very good shows, but I think they kind of killed the whole Muppet thing with that last movie about Gonzo. Anyways, that's just what I would like to see... So, after that the park was closed so we went back over to Disneyland and looked through the shops for about an hour. Needless to say I was bored. So after that we went back on Space Mountain, which easily had an hour and a half wait at the moment, and used our fast passes which we had grabbed after we left Innoventions (though I don't think I had mentioned that earlier) So that was fun. After that we wondered back over to Matterhorn, which had a long line as well, so we skipped that then headed towards Thunder Mountain which also had a long line, so we skipped that. I wanted to go on Indiana Jones so when we went by it and saw that it only had a 20 minute line compared to the hour long lines that we had just passed, they passed on it. Needless to say I was pretty pissed off by their stubbornness seeing as how I had to just sit inside the shops for an hour while they looked at their crappy little pins, and then after that they decided to go home. So the end of the day pretty much sucked, but the rest of the day was fun. The end. Now onto pictures. Eggnochio!!!!!! I also really like the design of the buildings in Fantasy land. Much better then Florida's. No theme park should be without a carousel! Does anyone remember the Dumbo Show on the Disney Channel? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp2yUdPfOso You spin me right round, baby, right round. Like a teacup baby, right round, round round. tea cups! Its the Mad Hatter's House Jason watches the Cast Members load and unload the boats Story Book land, and Casey Jr. Signature pose! I see me! Where does the sky end and the water begin? Artsy Shot What a funny face... Really? Then lets go check it out! Oh noes! The abominable Snowman is in there! I am C3PO, human cyborg relations. He's looking at that. I'm now moved across the street behind a trash can. What is it that he's looking at? I'm hiding from Jason behind a light pole I really like the design of Main Street. Everyone lining up against the ropes so they can be the first ones on Space Mountain This lighting is perfect! the right tower of the hotel had a collection of things from Disneyland. Like this name tag Inside the convention center area of the Hotel, they have various concept art of past and present attractions. Specifically, this is concept art of Adventures through Inner Space which previously inhabbitted the Star Tours building. This is from Fantasia The Disneyland Hotel ERrr???!! There's no one in Down Town Disney! Cast Members are hard at work getting the park ready to open. I now understand why that sun thing is there. Maybe if I hold the gates, the park will open sooner? Jason patiently waits for DCA to open you like the sign? we then headed over to DLR Breakfast was decent, but my biscuits were hard so I didn't really eat much of it. Jason reveals he falls under the category of people who wears Disney merchandise to Disney Theme Parks Kyle agrees Jason likes Denny's it was still dark when I got up

I got out of school at 9:45 due to finals on Thursday. So I took the day to go to knotts. It was the first of 4 parks total. The following day, and I had the full day off, so I went to Disneyland Resort with my cousin and visited both DCA as well as Disneyland, and on the third day, (Saturday) I visited USH with my cousin as well. So its been a fun weekend for me. 3 days of back to back fun is pretty good, imo. Anyways, I shall open up my TR with a quick summary on my though about knotts. So a quick essay about some things I have noticed about knotts. So you can skip the rant if you would rather just see pictures, its just some ideas that maybe one of the guys who helps makes the decisions on the attractions will see, and maybe help them start thinking more about what they are building and actually building a quality attraction that will impress the guests instead of just mildly entertain them for 2 minutes & 30 seconds. And pretty much my case and point: the park is very boring. And I don't mean the rides, but just the general atmosphere of the park as well as ride selection. I think there has been to much focus on the "thrill" & kiddy aspect of the park and not enough on the family aspect as a whole (Which would include things such as a new dark ride, theming, and other various entertainment in general) So what they really need to do is make the park knott boring. A quick list of things I noticed: Cement: BORING! If you looks at parks like Universal or Disney, you'll notice that their concrete is not just cement on the ground (you can even notice this in older areas of knotts) They're usually colored differently, generally to match the general theme, or contrast the paint with in the area. Some times they'll have a blend of various concrete colors, making various patterns in the ground. Knott's take a note of this, while its more expensive and time consuming to do this, in the long run I think it will pay off because while the guest doesn't really notice it, there is a subtle effect. Midway Games: Your 1950's boardwalk area has way to many of these, and in fact the whole area just looks horrible. I hate how there's a bunch of midway games along the backside of the sky-tower. It looks ugly and I think games are generally unwelcome by most guests. Maybe building more shops instead and trying to get your guests to spend that way would work better. I know I would much rather go through a shop, and I'm also much more likely to buy merchandise then I am to play a midway game. But really I think the whole area is do for a re-theme since its really lost much of its identity after WindJammer was removed. It basically goes from 1950's to boardwalk, to 1950s, to Roaring 20's. Of course we all know hell will freeze over before something like this is fixed by any CF management. Lack of Family oriented rides. It urks me that there once was a large variety of attractions that the whole family could enjoy from a very young age all the way to even an age with the most daring thrill seekers. But since then, any attraction for the youngons have all been removed saved the ones at Camp Snoopy. But those ones are lame because the adults either don't want to go on the ride or they can't go on the ride and as a result, they have to sit off on the side. Lame! I think future attractions should have a general focus on family as a whole and not just one specific age group. You can start by placing in new ride in the KOD building, and keep in mind that trains do not work well on dark rides. Too many trash cans, and not of not beauty. I think when some one pays for entry into a theme park, they shouldn't just be paying for the rides but the experience as a whole. There is far to much cement, and while there are some areas that look pretty good (mainly the older areas) a lot of areas look pretty blank. I think the addition of grass in some areas (and there are areas which could use some grass) would greatly improve the look. I think the lake needs to fixed up. Have the train take the route it should have been taking all along and fill the lake completely up. Add more buildings and make a themed area more distinct and fun to be around. I also think that they should pay attention to the que of thier rides. On a busy day you could be stuck in line for a good 30 minutes on up to an hour. Why not do something with the que instead of just have it be switchback after switchback. Give us something more to enjoy besides the rollercoaster or the TV screen. Sure you don't have to go all out, but just give us something more. I think if knotts start putting a focus on general aesthetics around the park and chooses more quality family friendly attractions in the future, I think I may find this park to be something that is really fun to go to again, instead of it just being the near by place to go when I'm bored so I can go on a couple of fairly good roller coasters, but nothing else to really offer. Anyways, here's an update of the park. Anyways, I leave you with one last picture of knotts. Who would a thought that the exterior of the park would look so much nicer then whats inside? I also walked into Independence hall. But given the awkwardness of being the only one in there, I quickly left. Jeez it looks like a hurricane is blowing into town. They were also dealing drugs in the parking lot So I left the park and explored the parking lot. And I thought to myself, geez there sure is a lot of bird crap on the ground. So before I left the park, I walked over to Big Foots Rapids to find out it broke down. I'm sure this cat had something to do with it.... I'm sure some one found that to be highly offensive. So to help vent your rage, count the number of trash cans in this picture. I think it would be cool if knotts went for a more authentic Mexican look. That would include various things such as grafitti, kids playing futball in the street, and some one doing an infomercial about donating 10 cents a day to help some starving kids BTW, carousels are SOOO boring! But none the less I remember when I used to think they were fun and I rode them all day long. But that was so long.. long.. ago... And I took a picture of myself I wandered back into Fiesta Village and rode the carousel over to a more ideal spot between the bridge of the train and the path. But then they could move this ugly thing.... But the path kind of ends right after the turn. I mean they still have some of the path where the tracks used to lay at. The train track should go around its original course, and the entire reflection lake should be full. It would add so much more to the ride, imo. With this face, I was trying to tell the readers that the ride is thrilling, yet fun enough to be a good first step towards future roller coaster enthusiests. It has a 0 homie G roll and a little roller coaster that I like to call, "Silver Bullet" You'll also notice a large posse of trash cans. Anyways, back in the Silver Bullet area, you'll notice a very well themed Dippin Dots stand. I think kirk design helped Knotts out with that one... Some markers and barricades I don't think that chair has been moved since it got to that spot. As for the rest of the construction site, not much has changed. Though there seems to be a trench in progress. So sexy, the loop of Montezuma is. Montezuma REVENGE! The ride looks perfectly fine to me... Oh really? Bye bye! speaking of which, construction of the new ride continues. Look at those rocks, I hope they never get rid of them! This area still looks nice. hmm... theming. Though I think it could use a better paint job. Maybe not so bright? I mean its ridiculous that a roller coaster with small trains/seat design then space mountain actually has a higher hight limit. It's to bad they raised the height limit on Jaguar, though. I think it was just fine at 42" Though the old knotts management did a good job putting this ride together, IMO. This part of Fiesta Village is pretty boring, visually speaking. But they should seriously consider updating the Calico Mine Train. They can start with the sound system. You see, I'm having fun! Fun! It was fun, but I think it could be more fun if they updated the attraction with more state-of-the-art technology. So I went on the log ride. Ahh! Its boomerang! So many trash cans, so little trash. As I am now illustrating through the phenomenon that is photography, the water has indeed been drained. In other news, Perilous Plunge is in its annual rehab, along with Lindsey Lohan and Ghost Rider. You know he's mumbling to himself some where on this train. So its the perfect condition for Mantis Man to get a bajillion more rides on Xcelerator today. No one was on Riptide at all today. I saw them run an empty train. There was basically no one in the park today.

I think Universal easily has the best theme park food. I mean I was there at the park today and I saw them bring out a hamburger and I thought to myself, "Wow, that actually looks good!" Disney offers some good items but they also offer some craptactular items as well.

right, my bad.

Mantisman is quite the character. I noticed he loops his conversations. I heard pretty much the same thing 5 times within the 5 minutes I sat next to him.

I met him today. He's definately got some issues. He plans to have another 6k by thanksgiving 2008. Its kind of sick, its like he plans out his calender, just calculating how many more times he can ride xcelerator. Unlike the rest of us who are usually calculating how much it would cost to go to Germany to ride Expedition GeForce.

not to mention that lost continent has a sort of mideavel/greek/middle-eastern bizarre theme going on. So sure, harry potter would fit in with one of those themes, but seeing as how the land is a hybrid of those 3, I don't think its such a great idea.

Some how I think the effects will be amplified for a floorless dive machine compared to the normal floorless coaster.

^ I don't think the pads would do you much good with this thing. His skull would probably have a large dent in it had that thing gone another 2 - 3 inches lower.

Honestly, any coaster can turn to crap over time due to natural causes such as age, weather, natural disasters etc. Since Psyclone was built on a former lake [i believe] an earthquake is the last thing it needed since the land would still easily shift. If it was built correctly, there should have been no abnormal ground shifting, and it all would have been included in the engineering of the ride. No I think this ride just suffers from a lack of attention and some of the worst set of trains ever concieved.

nope, I get a forbiden access response.

SOunds really exciting. If it does come to the states, hopefully it will show up in the LA area or OC so I can try this thing out. The wiki article really peaked my interest in it.

they would also have to widen the station... so it will end up having 8.

Its kind of like well SFMM is only an hour away from Knotts, but it doesn't mean that everyone wants to travel that far for a theme park, but they don't want to spend the money for Disney so they go to Knotts instead. Same logic applies here, but as such, CF realizes that GL is more of a "local" park then a destination park, unlike Cedar Point.

Its only 15 years old. In order for it to be 17 years old it would have had to been built in 89.

^ Its REALLY GOOD. Like one of the best rides ever built good.

this attraction was a bad idea, no matter what your perspective is on it.

Do yourself a favor and do everything you can to make sure you at least a reasonable salary. Though if you think about it, just going to the movies is a bit much for low income families who pretty much have to spend every dime and penny on thier monthly bills.

what about those coaster sex pics on that episode of CSI? So hot!

^ well, seeing as how the studio tour is about an hour long I think that's a bit of stretch

the ride is ruff do to the utter crappyness of the designs. Not even PTC styled seating could make that ride smooth, though it would help.

http://www.knotts.com/park/guest/hours.shtml#march Its generally a good idea to search on the site for this information as its always there. Anyways, have fun when you do go. I reccommend going the week when the park will most likely be dead. This will deliver the best Knotts experience.

I didn't notice that either till gisco just pointed it out.

what will be cool is that the whole attraction will be like a very expensive 3D video game. You'll shoot a hockey puck at the screen and the hockey puck could bouce off and fly at your face. It will definately be a great attraction and I think people will be happy with the addition, though people will always be disappointed that they went the pixar route for the 4th year in a row. (Buzz, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Toy Story Mania, and for a 5th year in a row, they very well could, and most likely will, end up having Carland".) And its not like the problem is that Disney isn't willing to spend the money. These attractions sound expensive and well thought out. But really stapling something like Cars which wasn't even that big of a success compared to the other Pixar movies onto what will be such a huge, and likely expensive attraction is a mistake, imo. They should have gone with a new and creative story.