Lots and Lots of Change

Well, now that Disney decides to raise their prices...AGAIN, there's still more change going on at the Resort. I guess they're trying to find a way to pay for all of the stuff they're adding to the Resort. Money's got to come from somewhere, right? And we all know that TDA won't use the money Disney's already made. They just want more from the guests.

If you can't tell, I'm not too happy about the price increase.
Here's a list Micechat made for their weekly column.

Aside from Disney getting even more money (I'll rant about this in a later post) from their guests, there's a lot of stuff going on at the resort that's making Disney everything it should have been a decade ago. Disney's California Adventure is making severe progress in becoming a full day theme park. Paradise Pier should be the first project to be totally completed. The back half has already been completed for the most part, as Toy Story Midway Mania has been there for awhile now, the games are reopened with new Victorian facades, The Sun Wheel is redressed as Mickey's Fun Wheel, and The Orange Stinger is now Silly Symphony Swings.

Now the rest of the Pier:
The Maliboomer is going away September 7th, and the last riders are being blasted off on the 6th. Current plans, as far as I know, is that this area will be a park area, with a character meet and greet. For now. There could be plans for an attraction to be placed inside the helix and backstage. There's room for it, so who knows what the boys in Glendale are up to.
Pizza Oom Mow Mow and Burger Invasion are being redressed as Victorian themed buildings, still serving the same food.

Mulholland Madness is being redressed and rethemed as Goofy's Sky School. This attraction will be going down sometime early October. The whole theme is based off the 1940's Short "Goofy's Glider", and will be a flying school that teaches beginner aviators how to fly, the goofy way, of course.

Golden Dreams Theater is already gone, and now you can see steel rising up for the newest D-ticket attraction, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure. This is slated to open summer 2011.

The rest of the park is slowing evolving as well. The old Timon and Pumbaa parking lot is becoming a desert wonderland filled with Cars. Most of the steel infrastructure is already there, now they're working on sculpting and molding the rock work into the Radiator Springs backdrop. Everything here is slated to open in 2012.

Hollywood Pictures Backlot is a quiet project, but it's changing to REALLY look like Hollywood, circa 1930's and 40's. Red Car Trolley tracks are already being place, and soon will start to make their way to the front of the park, which is going to be redesigned into Buena Vista Street, a vision of how Walt arrived in Los Angeles back in the 20's. This is probably going to be one of the last projects completed, but will, in my most humble opinion, be the best.

and yet we haven't brought up Disneyland yet, now have we? That'll be in the next post.

Firing Back

So Disneyland is selling those toy guns again from my childhood. I'm pretty happy about this! Heck, I might even buy one for old time's sake. In an article according to Mouse Planet
they're the same guns as before, just painted bright red and green, and are being sold in the " Pioneer Mercantile, Pieces of Eight, and the Indiana Jones store." What's funny is that back on my trip to Branson, I saw the same guns (hey, its the midwest, guns are common for even 6 year olds.) being sold, and posted a picture of them on my facebook with a comment stating " Hey DISNEY! Get back to selling these things!"

(photo from the trip)

Apparently they listen to me. So Disney, if you're reading this, please bring back the people mover, not with any movie tie in. Oh and also, could you please not put a Tinker Bell attraction in the old Motorboat Cruise area? Thanks so much.

Viva La California

I'm back from vacation in Branson. It was a great trip, seeing that I got to fly on the coattails of other people's dinero. I got to go to the local theme park several times, the water park, several stage shows, movies, a day out on the lake on a nice boat, and paid airfare.

It was a lot of fun, but definitely a lot of life lessons were learned. Like learning when to shut your mouth and let things roll. Or to just let an argument go when others won't let up.
I'll say it again. I love California, and I can't really see my self ever moving out of this state.

I will go back eventually to this place again, maybe for a cool photoshoot or something. (:

land of Cyber Bullies and people with no lives.

Lately people have been bombing my formspring with explicit, and rude comments. I've got a pretty good idea as to who it is, but I thought this would be a good way to talk about cyber bullying briefly.
Cyber bullying can really mess with people. It's not cool, and it NEEDS to stop. I don't think people realize that hateful words on a screen really do affect people. Posting blackmail photos of people, saying hateful stuff online gets to people. In this world of constant communication, and instant news, it doesn't take news long to travel around the world.
I think there should be legal actions that should be placed, if they aren't already.
Anyways, I hope that those that have been cyber bullied know how to handle it all, and realize that people will be idiots, and try to get at anyone just because they aren't comfortable with their own self.

Castle To Tink, You're Clear For Take Off

So now the Mouse is thinking about taking those wires down from the Matterhorn, and giving Tinker Bell free access to fly. According to an article at Disneyland Live, they're developing new technology for a literal WIREless flight pattern for the green fairy.

In 1961 Disneyland hired a 71 year old retired circus performer named Tiny Kline to do something amazing during the firework show. Disney had strung an arial cable from the top of the Matterhorn Bobsleds Attraction over Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and attached it to a landing platform on the other side that was made to look like a giant pine tree. The new part of the show would amaze guests as Tinker Bell would actually take flight during the show and zip down over the castle. This sight remained basically untouched for years as the aerialist would be litterally pushed from the start and land on the other side letting gravity do the rest. It has been a traditional part of each firework show at Disneyland, and later at other Disney Parks ever since.
For the 50th anniversary Tinerker Bell’s flight was upgraded in a radical, and amazing way. Using a motorized system she would now fly down the over the castle, back and forth and even make a return trip towards the end of the show. This system has since flown Zero during the Halloween Screams Fireworks as well as Dumbo during the latest Magical Fireworks Show. But could we see a unharnessed, remote version of Tinker Bell soon fly and land on a lamp post?
Reasearchers at MIT have designed and recently demonstrated a new system that may one day be used as such. A foam glider has been build that flys like a plane but lands like a bird! Unlike a traditional airplane that needs to reduce altiude before landing and slowing to a stop on a surface, this new system can swoop down and land in a single spot, such as a bird does on a wire. Rick Cory, a PhD student at MIT has been hired by Disney to possibly create such a system.

The US Air Force and Disney has expressed interest in this techonogy and Cory was recently quoted in an artical for MIT (link) saying the following. “The air force wants an airplane that can land on a power line, and Disney wants a flying Tinker Bell that can land on a lantern…” According to the Cory the on board computational power is currently limited but only appears to be a few years away. Cory has taken a job with Disney where he will be researching advanced robotic techniques.
So could we see a new version of Tinker Bell soon at Disneyland?

I think this will be a great new way to show off the fairy during the nightly fireworks show. My only thought of this would be that they find a way to make Tink look very real, and not just a flying rag doll. But knowing Disney, they will find a way to make it impressive no matter what. I've got trust in them, and the kids at MIT. We'll have to wait and see if the wires fall, and the fairy flies.

I FINALLY got around to seeing Inception. In....iMAX! I didn't see the point in seeing the mind blowing, thought extracting film on a screen any smaller. Now to post my thoughts on this film.
Christopher Nolan...well, he's the next Spielberg if he keeps up his films. Inception takes what the Matrix wanted to be, but never was, and plussed it.
I thought the film was just flat out amazing. The special effects were stunning. Who wouldn't be impressed to see a street horizon rise up, and then fold over right on top of you? The actors did a GREAT job. I was actually pretty surprised with Ellen Page. At first I was nervous of seeing Juno Magruff start twisting the dreams into giant cans of Orange juice, but she did very well! Also, is it just me, or did Joseph Gordon-Levitt remind you a little bit of the Joker? I personally think he looks a bit like Heath Ledger. Maybe they could get him to do the Joker for the third Batman? But that's for another post...

Overall, I really feel that this film is a surefire classic. The cast was great, the screenplay blew my mind, and the graphics were awesome. I can't wait to see what else Gotham's finest director has up his sleeves. Guess that's a riddle in itself, now isn't it?

Numbers in Days...

hey everyone...or the select few that actually read this thing...

I'm so ready to get home. I've had fun in Branson, but a month is too long for me to be on vacation. Two weeks is long enough for me. I've gotten to do some cool stuff, and I'll post a lot of photos when I actually have good enough wifi to do so.

• Silver Dollar City
• White Water Water Park
• Jeerk Swedish Rock Show
• Live Radio Broadcast
• Princess Diana exhibit
• Full day on the lake wake boarding and tubing

and more.

I can't thank my friend enough for paying for the whole trip. It's been a really awesome time.

It's The Man In The Sky....

Just got done watching The Invention of Lying. The people watching this with me totally missed the boat on the point the movie (In my opinion) was making. In case you didn't know, the premise of the movie is this:

the world is always honest. Whether or not it's nice, they're honest. A man who's down on his luck, figures out how to lie, and he basically becomes a "prophet".

My friend asked "is this just a pun of Christianity?" I don't think it is, no. Sure, they reference a "man in the sky", and the ten commandments are written on Pizza Hut boxes, but if you REALLY look at the context, and how everything plays out, it's more or less how the world views Christianity. They see it as theres a dude up in the sky, who decides good and bad, and when people die. They see absurd stuff as I've got only 3 chances to mess stuff up, but I'll still be ok, and can get up to my "mansion in the sky".

I can understand why some Christians would get upset over seeing something reference and humiliate it. But really, what they should take from this is that non Christians are being misinformed of the religion, and need to be taught how the relationship with God actually is, and they need to learn that people are lost, and think like this, and as Christians, need to direct them to the actual reality of how Christianity REALLY is, and not the twisted ideas that have been passed around the local coffee shops.

Day...awh screw it.

Yea....this trips awesome and all, but I'm ready to get back to my family. Sure there's other stuff I'd like to see, but I'm here for 23 more days. I already miss my own bed, my own room and privacy. At least I've got something positive to look forward to. Disneyland is the day after I get back with my family.

Cryin' For The Toys...

Went and saw Toy Story 3 for the second time. I have never cried so much in a movie. The film is just flat out amazing. It's definitely the end of an era. I'm not going to say much about the film for those of you who haven't seen it yet (which means you must be really living under a rock...). All I gotta say is GO SEE IT.

oh, and bring tissues.

Boom Goes The Locals...

VIA THE LOS ANGELES TIMES:

For most people, fireworks are a special treat — loud, luminous displays to savor on Independence Day or New Year's Eve.

But for some who live near Disneyland, where fireworks blossom in the skies above Sleeping Beauty's Castle almost every night, the rockets' red glare has worn out its welcome.

Residents have added double-paned windows and extra insulation to soundproof the walls. Juanita Driskell, a retired teacher who has lived a few blocks from the Anaheim theme park for nearly three decades, is so accustomed to the fireworks that when the crackling and hissing starts around 9:30 p.m., she just cranks up the volume on the television. Her two cats hardly bat an eye.

"The good part is I don't have to leave the living room to see fireworks," Driskell said. "The bad part is that it's so loud."

And when the grandkids visit, she has free entertainment to offer, ushering them to the patio to take in the spectacle, eyes skyward.

Driskell's experience is typical of the love-hate relationship residents have with the 250 fireworks displays Disneyland stages annually.

Though many in proximity to the resort admit there is an appeal to the radiant bursts that fill the night sky on weekends, holidays and throughout the summer, those in pursuit of peace and quiet have tried for more than a decade to limit the noise and smoke.

When complaints from Disneyland's noise-weary neighbors seemed to go nowhere, they turned to environmentalism and lodged dozens of air-quality complaints. But the effort appears to have waned; regulators haven't recorded any recent air-quality complaints.

Last year, one resident sued Anaheim in federal court, saying that by holding hundreds of fireworks displays at the park each year, the city was violating federal water pollution laws. The suit was dismissed, but residents remain concerned about environmental issues.

"We're OK with fireworks on the Fourth of July and New Year's, but considering the density of the population here, you shouldn't have it every night," said Denis Fitzgerald, who filed the suit and is a member of Anaheim Homeowners for Maintaining Their Environment (HOME), a loose coalition of activists who live near the park.

Fitzgerald and other activists say the fireworks make dogs erupt in a howling chorus, waft smoke and shower ash and corrosive sulfur onto lawns, roofs, swimming pools and cars.

Beyond the smoke and ash, fireworks emit traces of contaminants such as copper, zinc, sulfate, nitrate and barium, which are used to produce their bright colors. Many fireworks also contain perchlorate, which can contaminate water sources.

Pollution and noise are enough of a concern that several other fireworks shows in California have faced obstacles in recent years.

In 2007, Sea World had to apply for a water-quality discharge permit for the 100 or so fireworks displays it puts on each year over San Diego's Mission Bay.

The next year, the state Coastal Commission barred a fireworks show in the Mendocino County town of Gualala over concerns it was scaring away seabirds.

And last month, the nonprofit Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation filed suit to try to snuff out the annual July 4 fireworks show in La Jolla, saying it violates state environmental laws. Their line of argument? Protecting the environment is patriotic.

After 10 years of research, Disneyland in 2004 introduced what it called an innovative launching system that uses compressed air instead of black powder. The result is safer, quieter pyrotechnics that emit less smoke and pollution.

"That demonstrates our commitment to being a good neighbor," said Suzi Brown, a Disneyland spokeswoman.

A Disney study requested by air-quality regulators has shown that lifetime cancer risks posed by the park and its fireworks are well within health limits.

"To their credit, they developed a number of technical innovations that had a significant impact on reducing smoke and fallout," said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

But even here in the blast zone, the fireworks have their admirers.

Hotels near the resort advertise rooms with views of the fireworks, and guests request such views. Year-round, but especially on the Fourth of July, motorists pull to the curb and gawk at the display. Traffic on Interstate 5 slows when the sky lights up with color.

Even critics have a soft spot for the fireworks.

"To be honest, I sort of like them," said Steve White, president of Anaheim HOME, which has fought the fireworks for more than a decade. "But there are issues with the perchlorate."

Sunday, those who live near Disneyland know to expect onlookers to descend and set up lawn chairs to view the show.

But for some who view the nightly fireworks as unremarkable as a trash truck rumbling down the street or a train clattering in the distance, the Fourth of July can be a bit of a letdown.

Jim Helms, 37, used to marvel at the exhibit, which he could easily see from his backyard patio just a few blocks from the park. Over time, he admits, it lost its luster.

"Fireworks," he said, "just don't impress me anymore."

Ok, if people don't like hearing the fireworks, then move. The way I see it, YOU moved there, YOU have to deal with it. If it wasn't for Disney, Anaheim probably would never be the same as it is today.

3rd Day In Branson

Yesterday we went on a dam tour, and then went to The Landing (outdoor mall) to see a Journey Tribute band, and a fireworks show.

Today I spent going back to Silver Dollar City. It's pretty much the midwest Knott's Berry Farm. Really cool park, with a western, down home feel. After hanging out at the park for most of the day, we came back to the condo, had a rather American dinner of hamburgers (every time I think of that word, Steve Martin in the Pink Panther comes to mind....dambeuurrrgers!"), watermelon, and lemonade! After a quick clean up, we split out and drove to some other random town in the middle of these hills to watch the fireworks.

Now I gotta say, if you get a chance to get "special" 3D glasses to view fireworks or any other light event, GET THEM. We got these prism 3D glasses that made the fireworks have prisms around the lights. It was AWESOME!! They really make the fireworks pop. I think Disney should jump on this, and sell these glasses at the World of Color...it'd be awesome to see it all like that.

Well, I'm gonna sign off and watch a movie. I think sitting poolside with my book and iPod sounds like a good plan for tomorrow.

Day 2 In Branson

They rode motorcycles in this!! I'll get the video up later.

Saw a radio show tonight. Pretty cool to see!

Photos of Branson so far

Branson's been a lot of fun so far. Went to Silver Dollar City and the Branson Landing yesterday, and today we went on a tour of the local Dam. As some of you know me personally, I couldn't help but crack a few jokes about it. Check my twitter feed to see what I mean.

http://twitter.com/mainstreetjake

It was really informative, and cool to learn about how it works. I haven't really taken many photos, but I promise I'll take more as the trip progresses. Well, I'm off to Wal-mart to pick up some stuff I forgot back in Cali.

Oh, and 26 days. :D

Day One

Today's the start of my vacation. I flew out yesterday, and am now in Branson. This is gonna be a great trip of just relaxing, and going and doing a bunch of stuff around here.