Category Archives: Everything Else

Lots To Do In Line Interview!

2 Comments Posted by on May 2, 2012

Not too long ago I reviewed the excellent book, Lots to do In Line, about how to have fun before you even get on the ride. I enjoyed the book so much I sat down with author Meredith Pierce for an interview. And by “sat down with” I mean I sat down and sent her an email with my questions and she emailed them back, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume she was also sitting while she answered them.

Because otherwise that’s kind of awkward.

Anyway, here’s what Meredith had to say about Lots to do In Line!

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being standing in line for 3 hours at the ticket booth outside the parks and 10 being a walk-on to Space Mountain, how bored were you when you decided that Lots To Do In Line needed to be written and you were the perfect person to do it?

I will have to go with an 8. I know shocking, but I was not in line at Disneyland at the actual aha moment you see. My husband, daughter and I were on our family trip to the park and had been in some really long lines that I would be only too happy to give a rating of 4 to. However at the moment I knew what needed to be done, we were having dinner at a family style restaurant. The restaurant kindly provided Camille, my fabulous daughter, with a kid’s menu that included a picture in which certain objects were hidden. Out family had a great time finding the hidden pictures together. Whenever a picture was found Camille would proudly cross it off. Blue was used to denote Camille finding an item because well, blue was best, and she wanted to keep track of her personal finds.

Somehow my brain connected the hunt and find picture in front of me with the environment of Disneyland’s queues. Many of them are full of detail that goes mostly unnoticed. I realized that the only difference between the picture in front of me and the detail rich lines at Disneyland was the list of what to look for. Insert aha moment here. It was such a great idea that I was sure I would find it in the Disneyland stores as soon as we returned to the park, I was wrong. No one had written it yet. That is when it became my job to see it done.

What is your favorite line to stand in at Disneyland? What about Disney California Adventure Park?

That is easy, I love the queue for Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland. It is such a well done “Scene One.” That is imagineer speak for the queue.

At Disney California Adventure my favorite is the Muppets. If you are as big a fan of the Muppets as I am it’s hard not to appreciate this line. Considering how much I hate standing in line it seems a little odd to have a favorite line to stand in. Yes it is true; I hate standing around in line waiting my turn just as much as the next guy.

[Shelby interrupts: I also think Indy is the best line in Disneyland!]

Approximately how many times have you been to the Disneyland Resort? Are you an annual passholder?

I grew up very near Disneyland so I was a frequent visitor. In writing the book, I had to make 3 somewhat lengthy trips to the park. At the moment I am a passholder.

[Shelby interrupts: She wrote this entire book in 3 trips? Wow, do I feel like a slacker!]

How long did it take you to write Lots To Do In Line?

From the start of the first trip to the book arriving on my doorstep and being unceremoniously snatched from the UPS guy it took about 2 years

[Shelby interrupts: So basically My Two Years Standing In Line At The Mouse?]

If you could give Disneyland Resort visitors a single piece of advice to make their trip more enjoyable (beyond “Buy Lots To Do In Line because it’s totally awesome!!!”), what would you say?

Be a kid for the day. If you are one already then this will be quick work for you. If you are an adult however, let it go for the day. Your kids will thank you and you will thank yourself. Beyond that, consider bringing or buying a rain poncho if you are there on a cooler day and plan to ride the Grizzly River Rapids wearing blue jeans. Blue jean takes forever to dry, enough said

[Shelby interrupts again, and it’s getting annoying: I couldn’t agree more on the jeans comment. If you’re planning on water rides, it’s best to rethink that unless it’s hot and you have all day to dry]

Do you consider yourself a competitive person? Be honest now–have you ever knocked over a little old lady or trampled a toddler in a frantic quest to gather as many points as possible?

I am about the least competitive person you are ever likely to encounter. My husband and daughter can be credited with making sure that Lots To Do In Line Disneyland had a way to compete, score points and dominate!

[Shelby interr…well you know: I am probably not above knocking over a little old lady if the prize is good enough. Heh.]

What’s your favorite thing to eat at Disneyland? Don’t worry, I won’t judge you if you don’t like churros. Okay, maybe I’ll judge you a little bit. But not a lot.

The best thing I ever ate at Disneyland resort was the desert plate they served at Ariel’s Grotto. It was to die for! It did not include churros, but I am sure that was just an oversight. I am also a fan of the chocolate dipped rice crispy treat Mickey Mouse heads.

[I also love the crispy Mickey heads, but not more than the churros]

Will you please include 10 points for nose pickers in the next edition? Pretty please?

Sorry, but if I include 10 points for nose pickers then I have to give 20 points for butt scratchers and it’s all downhill from there.

[I am extremely disappointed. I’m going to have to drown my sorrow in churros.]

Thanks so much Meredith, and the best of success on your book!!

Everything Else

Mobile Magic

4 Comments Posted by on April 20, 2012

Smartphone users, this one’s for you!

Ever wish there was an app to tell you how long wait times are and when you can expect to find a character meet and greet and what’s the deal with the weather? One that would track you inside the parks and give you location-specific information? That’s free?

Well, my friends, it exists. If you do have a smartphone, you can download Disney Parks’ official app, Mobile Magic.

In order to give you a look at Mobile Magic in action, I took a series of pictures of my phone. Be prepared for some high-quality photography here.

It's all official looking and everything!

Once the app is loaded and running, you can choose from a variety of things you’d like to know about.

A map? Who needs a map?

Even the weather!

I checked this out right after I got off of Big Thunder. I wanted to see how long the wait was for Haunted Mansion before I schlepped my lazy self all the way over there. Mobile Magic pinpointed my location.

Right here in Frontierland

The Haunted Mansion was at the bottom of the list of attractions within the vicinity. On that screen it says that the wait is 5 minutes, but I wanted to see what the Haunted Mansion screen itself looked like.

It looks like this!

There’s a brief description of the attraction in case you don’t know what it is, and again, the wait time. 5 minutes was indeed accurate!

If you’re character hunting, the character feature might come in handy too.

How cute is that?

If you’ve got a smartphone on Verizon, I highly recommend Mobile Magic!

If you’re not on Verizon, you can also use your smartphone to access the Disney Parks mobile website, which will give you the same information, but not in such a cute and handy app.

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Lots To Do In Line: Disneyland–Book Review

39 Comments Posted by on March 15, 2012

Do you ever read something and say “Wow, I wish I’d written that”? I mean, something clever and creative and well thought-out and original and you’re like “That’s such a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that?” but you didn’t, so you feel just a little bit inadequate? Well that happens to me all the time.

All. The. Time.

And it’s happened again, but in this case, I’m so glad I get to share it with you!

Here it is!

I was recently given a review copy of the new book Lots To Do In Line: Disneyland and I’m thrilled to share it with you. Now, I know the title Lots To Do In Line is kind of an obvious hint to its contents, but in case you didn’t get it (and that’s okay too, I still love you),  this book is one big game you can play while waiting in lines at the Disneyland Resort. So it basically involves two of my favorite things: 1) Playing games, and 2) Waiting in line.

Oh wait, I only actually enjoy one of those things.

But Lots To Do In Line certainly makes #2 a whole lot more pleasant.

From the same publisher as the Hidden Mickeys books, Lots To Do In Line is slim and pocket-sized, if you happen to have big pockets, or fits well in a backpack. It focuses on basically four different activities–1) Multiple-choice questions about things you see in line, 2) Scavenger hunt-type ticky box lists, 3) Memory games with yes/no answers, and 4) Suggestions for “collections.”

I’ll break it down. Cue music. (I’m playing Superfreak in my head, but you can use any song you like as background music)

1) Multiple Choice Questions. These are a series of questions about things you can see or hear while you’re in line. The question asks for your observation and the choices include things that might be correct. For example, on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, a question is:

What does Mr. Toad have in his hand as you enter the queue?
a. A lollipop
b. A cane
c. A key
d. A monocle

(I actually knew this one off the top of my head, because I’m awesome like that)
Anyway, so there’s the question and multiple potential answers, and the correct answers are listed at the end of each section. The multiple-choice format makes it particularly accessible for the very young or for the Disneyland newbie, so give yourself a point.

Did I mention you get points? Well, you get points.

2) Scavenger hunt-type ticky boxes. Ticky boxes are those little blank boxes next to list items where you can tick or place a checkmark when you find it. If this is your first introduction to the term “ticky box” then you’re welcome. At any rate, the ticky boxes in this book are called Treasure Hunts, and they’re a lot of fun. Quite simply, they’re a list of things to look for. To use the Mr. Toad example from above, items on the Treasure Hunt ticky box list include a “slow” sign, buckteeth, a handlebar mustache, and a few other things. Spot these items, tick off your box, give yourself a point! Yay!

3) Memory games with yes/no answers. These are where you look at something completely and then try to remember you saw in a yes or no format. One example is the clock display on the Small World facade (which goes off every 15 minutes), with questions like: Did you see someone who was dancing? Did you see someone with wooden shoes? If you happen to have a good memory, this is a great game. If you’re like me and you don’t, you pretend that this part of the book doesn’t actually exist.

4) Suggestions for “collections.” Collections are a free-for-all gathering of points that can be done in any line or just walking around in the park. They actually remind me of the games we used to play in the car before the advent of in-car DVD players and such. Some suggested collections include spotting hats, girls in princess dresses, and people texting. Each one you spot, give yourself a point! Collections are a fabulous way of using up the rest of your queue time once the other questions are done.

But what about Fastpass? FEAR NOT! Applicable questions about Fastpass sites are clearly marked.

What I really liked about this book was the flexibility for all age levels and Disneyland experience. Whether it’s your first visit or your 100th, Lots To Do In Line will keep everyone entertained while waiting.

For the more experienced park goers (*cough*me*cough*), Lots To Do can be adapted to still be challenging. My suggestion is to simply ignore the multiple choice answers and leave the questions, if you’re looking for more difficulty. For the ticky boxes, if you’re playing competitively, give yourself a time limit (one minute!) and see who can tick off the most. And don’t be afraid of making up your own collection criteria (people picking their noses? 10 points!!!).

Lots To Do In Line gets the My Year With The Mouse stamp of approval! Particularly if you don’t have the luxury of coming in the off-season, Lots To Do will be a great activity for the whole family while you’re waiting. And it’s also comprehensive for California Adventure too! I highly recommend it.

Can’t wait to get your hands on a copy? Well WAIT NO MORE!!! I’ve got a spare copy to give away to one very lucky MYWTM reader!

To enter, leave a comment here saying “I’m bored in line–help me!”

Yeah, that’s all! Tell your friends and neighbors. Tell your dog. But only helper dogs with mouse ears will be allowed to actually win the contest. Don’t forget to put in a real email address.

Giveaway closes at 11:59pm Monday, March 19th.

Good luck!

NOW CLOSED, THANKS FOR PLAYING!

 

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Rest In Peace, Robert B. Sherman

1 Comment Posted by on March 6, 2012

The world lost a Disney icon today–Robert B. Sherman who, along with his brother, wrote scores of songs for classic Disney music including Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, and the Aristocats. He also wrote a song I love–yes, LOVE–It’s A Small World. According to news reports, Mr. Sherman died peacefully at home. He was 87. His music will always be a part of my childhood memories. Thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Sherman’s friends and family.

To celebrate Mr. Sherman, I’m reprinting my post on the Pearly Band, a wonderful music celebration of Mary Poppins.

 

So let’s file this one under the “things I never knew existed” category! Theo and I were coming through the castle after the Superman Ad incident, and saw a brightly colored band marching through.

They circled and then lined up in formation. I checked my Entertainment Guide and it made no mention of brightly-colored musicians gathering in front of the castle, so of course in the interest of this blog, I stopped to listen.

Also, Theo seemed interested so why not?

I cleverly discerned their name by reading the drum. Because I’m smart like that.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that 3 minutes on Google is my standard at-home research methodology (if you’re new to the blog, my standard at-home research methodology is 3 minutes on Google), and according to my research, the Pearly band follows the traditions of London’s pearly kings and queens. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, since I’ve been to London a couple of times and I have NEVER seen any royalty dressed up like this playing instruments. But, you know, it’s Disneyland, so I’ll go with that. Apparently the “pearly” part refers to the mother-of-pearl buttons on their natty outfits.

When Mary Poppins arrived, it made a LOT more sense. Because there’s a pearly band in Mary Poppins, and apparently Disneyland has had their own Pearly Band since the movie released.

That’s one movie I really should see again, by the way.

Anyway, Mary Poppins immediately came over and started shaking hands with all of the waiting children.

Sadly I was so unprepared for this turn of events that I failed to get into a good position to see Mary Poppins shaking hands with my own child. Instead, in my panic, I ended up with this:

Geez.

Anyway, when Bert came out with his portable chimney sweep vehicle, I knew we were in for a treat.

After wheeling in his chimney sweeping cart, since apparently 47 Disney years later Bert’s still stuck in an archaic manual labor job, Bert joined with Mary for a jolly holiday.

They joined with the Pearly Band leader to sing a song, which I can’t remember because I’m writing this entry a week after the visit to Disneyland took place. Blogger fail.

There were more musical numbers, and then Bert revealed that his “trash can” was actually a cleverly-disguised banner holder/retractor, reading Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Mary tried to get everyone to sing along, but she thwarted her own efforts by standing in front of the word we were supposed to be singing. Lucky for her, everyone in the crowd seemed to know it anyway.

Then the fun went into high gear as Mary and Bert selected a few children from the audience and gave them each a chimney sweeper.

The kids actually did a fabulous job of keeping up with Bert and Mary.

Mary led the children around the Pearly Band as a grand finale.

All in all, it was a wonderfully pleasant surprise to happen upon a performance I never even knew existed at Disneyland. I have to say, that’s one thing I’m loving about writing this blog–there’s just so much I never paid attention to!

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