Category Archives: Main Street

The Disneyland Band

7 Comments Posted by on January 28, 2011

When you walk in the front gate, you can get a map of the park as well as a daily entertainment schedule. I usually completely ignore the entertainment schedule, which is why this blog exists.

Last time I was at the park I did pick up an entertainment schedule and looked for some kind of event that was going to happen within about 15-20 minutes of my arrival time. What can I say–I’m impatient. The first event that fit the bill was a performance of the Disneyland Band.

The Disneyland Band is basically just like it sounds–a small group of musicians performing on Town Square on Main Street. The band marches in from the backlot dressed and playing instruments like a marching band, although their actual performance is seated.

The Disneyland Band has just marched in

Apparently Walt really liked music (Fantasia, go figure), and wanted to bring music to the people or something, so he created the Disneyland Band when the park first opened and they’ve been there ever since.

Talk about something I didn’t even know existed! Thank you, My Year With The Mouse!

As the conductor explained to us, the Disneyland Band plays a series of songs based on a theme which changes every day. The day I was there, the theme was Dixieland and the music was all Dixieland-like. There were also tambourines around the flagpole and at a certain point in the performance you were invited to grab a tambourine and play along.

I really wanted to do that, but Theo was getting grumpy and I also wanted to get some character pictures in, since the characters were also right there. So sorry, Disneyland Band–I ditched you in favor of Goofy and Chip.

And now, the Disneyland Band sits

Yeah, I know this wasn’t very exciting, but I am determined to do everything here, so there ya go.

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Main Street Musings

9 Comments Posted by on January 27, 2011

I went to the park to take the missing pictures of the Emporium and was a bit alarmed to find this:

The Emporium is the building behind the green walls

Which reminds me to say that the disadvantage of visiting Disneyland in the off-season is that it’s also park improvement time. Like those states that get a ton of snow and their four seasons are Winter, Winter, Winter, and Construction. It’s like that.

However, even though it’s not the most scenic thing in the world, it’s still worth it to come in the off-season if you can to avoid the crowds.

Anyway, so the giant green walls were a bit disconcerting. There were also two giant green walled boxes next to the two snack stands in Town Square (which is what this entry was originally going to be about–the snack stands).

A bit alarmed and confused, I sought out the nearest cast member to ask what was going on. I spoke with Jackie, who in addition to being super-sweet and helpful, is also quite adorable.

Meet Jackie, and admire my advanced photography skills

Regarding the construction, they are re-paving the street in front of the Emporium and Jackie said that they should be finished with that around the 5th (of February). Additionally, the two green boxes will soon become sinks for hand washing for the two snack carts.

Which brings to me to the carts.

There are two carts in the Town Square: a popcorn cart and a churro cart. Jackie is at the churro cart. You may have noticed the “churros” on the side of her cart–a dead giveaway.

So what is a churro? Well, this snack is described as a “Mexican donut” which I have always found kind of odd given that it’s very little like a donut in my opinion. It’s basically dough that is extruded to be long and thin, which is then deep-fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar. I should have taken a picture but I didn’t buy one on that visit. They’re pretty much all kinds of awesome. The best churros can be found on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, but the Disneyland ones are nothing to scoff at. In fact, I often buy them. The next time I buy one, I shall photograph it for you all.

The other snack cart is a popcorn cart. I have an odd weakness for Disneyland popcorn. I don’t know what they cook it in or whatever, but there’s just the right proportion of saltiness and artificial butter flavor to make it very yummy. You can pretty much buy an entire 6-pack box of microwave popcorn for the price of a small Dland popcorn, but that wouldn’t be any fun, would it?

The popcorn cart, and by popcorn cart I mean light pole

So those are your two immediate snack options when you enter the park. I do recommend both.

I have no idea why I took this picture of Town Square:

What is this a picture of? Why did I take it?

It seemed like a good idea at the time *shrug*.

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My Awkward Social Situation

13 Comments Posted by on January 12, 2011

Okay, so I’m new to this whole MYWTM blog and I haven’t actually worked out the best strategy for approaching social situations at the park. Do I tell people about the blog? Will they think I’m weird? Do I just try to act inconspicuous? What’s the proper way to handle direct questions when I’m doing something strange?

Well, I discovered the improper way of dealing with this the other day, in what I now call My Awkward Social Situation.

So here’s the setup. I went into the Emporium, the biggest shop on Main Street, to blog about (wait for it, wait for it) the Emporium. The plan was to take several pictures in the store and then a couple outside. All went well until I decided to get a little fancy-schmancy and take a picture of the shot glasses.

Yes, that’s right, taking a picture of shot glasses got me into an Awkward Social Situation, and not because I was talking about alcohol or anything. You will find out the reason why the picture of the shot glasses was important later on my actual post about the Emporium. Suffice to say that I had already walked in and taken several pictures around the store before approaching the shot glasses.

The shot glasses are at the registers, so when I went to get a direct shot there were 3 cast members standing there who had seen me wandering around taking the other pictures.

When I got near the shot glasses, one of the cast members said, “Oh, this must be your first visit!”

Of course it wasn’t, but I couldn’t think of anything to say in the moment, and by the next sentence out of the cast member’s mouth, it was too late to disabuse him of the notion.

“Here’s a First Visit button!”

My split second hesitation at the first statement locked me into what would only devolve into a series of increasingly uncomfortable exchanges. Because at that point, he had already given the button to Theo in his stroller. What was I going to say? “No, actually I’ve been here quite often, so I don’t need the button. I was just taking pictures of the inside of this store because, having been here a hundred times, I feel the deep need to permanently memorialize a store full of t-shirts and things to drink out of.”

Of course not. But I couldn’t think of a reasonable-sounding explanation for why I was taking these pictures and in my brain freeze, it just didn’t occur to me to tell the truth. I said, “Oh yeah! Yeah!”

Yes, that’s right, I lied to a Disneyland cast member. And I know what you’re saying because I’m saying the same thing:

WHY ON EARTH DID YOU LIE TO A DISNEYLAND CAST MEMBER???

I don’t know. I truly don’t. But that was my first instinct. All you armchair psychologists–go to town with that one.

Anyway, so now I’m there feeling terrible, AND I still needed the picture of the shot glasses.

I sort of panicked a little. It felt like it was too late to tell the truth because I would be totally embarrassed, but I didn’t want to leave without my picture, yet I didn’t want the charade to continue any longer. What to do? What to do?

I couldn’t think of a way to say, “hey, could you step aside because I really want to get a picture of these shot glasses for no reason that I can think of to tell you right now” so instead I said, “Thank you! Hey, I’d like to get a picture of all of you!” so I could have the shot glasses in the background.

Thanks! Bye!

That worked and I was proud of myself for another split second, until the awkward situation turned into a VERY awkward situation. The cast member handed me a Happy Anniversary  button, saying “Here, have a Happy Anniversary button.” Which…what? I was clearly there BY MYSELF with my child in a stroller taking pictures of the inside of a store. Does that look like someone who is celebrating an anniversary???

No. No it does not.

The situation continued to spiral out of control when the cast members, who had nothing else to do in the mostly empty store but talk to me, started asking questions. And since I had already lied about it being my first visit, there was nothing I could do to prevent what happened next…

Cast Member: How are you liking the park so far?

Me: Uh, it’s great!

Cast Member: Where are you from?

Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Northern California? [note, I lived in Northern California from 1999-2004. Not that that makes it better.]

Cast Member: That’s great! How long are you here for?

Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, just the day?

The questions continued, as did my vague and increasingly dishonest answers, not to mention my sense of bewilderment (why am I lying???) and guilt. I knew I had to extricate myself from the situation ASAP, so I exaggeratedly looked at my watch and did the totally transparent, “Oh look at the time! I gotta go!” (and do what? Take more pictures of the insides of stores? Actually, yes.). Still, I walked out with a First Visit button (and another Happy Anniversary button). And I’m totally afraid of ever running into those cast members again and having them be like, “Oh, you’re vacationing here AGAIN? Just for the day?”

Yikes.

Theo summed it up perfectly:

Oh, there's something on my stroller?

Hmmmm, this doesn't look right

Lemme take a closer look

Mom, why does this say First Visit when this is TOTALLY not my first visit???

Good question, kid.

The worst part was that in my panic I was thrown off my game and missed taking a couple of pictures I wanted to take for my post, so y’all are just going to have to wait on that one. Sorry.

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Believe in Holiday Magic Fireworks 2010

1 Comment Posted by on December 18, 2010

So last year my attempt to see the holiday fireworks was a complete bust. For starters, we missed much of the holiday season at Disneyland due to a trip to Europe followed by blackout days, and then the one day we all went–which if I remember correctly was like the last day our passes were good–the fireworks were cancelled due to weather. Kevin did go over on a different day with Theo, but sadly, Theo was pretty much terrified and apparently cried the whole time. We were hoping a year later to have some better success.

Luckily, we did.

So Disneyland shoots off the fireworks from the backlot, which used to be convenient because you got pretty much an equal view of the show from most of the park (it didn’t really matter where you were standing) and they didn’t have to close any of the park down to do it.

Now they go off on the backlot but there are some closer, shorter special effects near and to the left of the castle and they have to close down Fantasyland to do it. They also turned it into a really elaborate show focused on the castle with some awesome castle effects and coordinated lighting and whatnot. Which is really cool…if you happen to be in front of the castle. If you’re not, you kinda miss some parts. So for the record, the very best place to view the fireworks is at the end of Main Street on the plaza slightly to the right of the castle near the entrance to Tomorrowland. And obviously, not behind any tall people, unless you happen to be quite tall yourself.

If you happen to be standing elsewhere, you can still see the show but it won’t look as coordinated or cool, and there will be down times where there’s something happening in front of the castle but you’re over in Adventureland going “What’s going on? Is it over? Why is the music still playing?”

If you can’t get to that particular location (not Adventureland–the other one) then anywhere with a clear view of the castle is a good second bet. The night we went, we stood about halfway down Main Street. We actually were right against the rope of one of those crosswalk areas they create with ropes, which was nice to not have people directly in front of us–especially if you’re short like me.

Pretty good view of the castle here, before the show

The crowd behind us

So in the middle of the above photo, I have no idea what that woman who is significantly taller than everyone else is standing on, but I’m pretty sure it’s not safe. Also, the woman in foreground looks positively panic-stricken. I don’t know why that is either.

Once the show started it was truly fabulous. Really, nobody does fireworks like Disney. I mean seriously, every other fireworks display pales in comparison, like you’re watching some small, municipal 4th of July fireworks show and thinking, “Really, people? Take a page from Disney and spend a gazillion on a DECENT display next year, okay?”

Example of castle-focused effects. Also the only decent picture of the actual fireworks I got

Taking pictures of the fireworks is difficult. Particularly if you have zero photography skills like me. I have a big fancy DSLR camera–I just can’t really use it very well. I also wanted to take a picture of Kevin and Theo, who were standing behind me, but didn’t want to be that jerk who turns around and takes a flash picture and blinds everyone, so I tried waiting until the sky was all lit up. I got several pictures much like this one:

I AM AN AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER!!!

Theo seemed to like the fireworks this year. He didn’t really smile, but he did emit a series of increasingly ecstatic “wow…Wow…WOW!!!”s over the course of the show. He also spent the entire show with his hand out. I don’t know if he was trying to touch the lights or catch the lights or shield himself from the lights, but it was pretty cute.

Following the fireworks, they play “White Christmas” and it snows. And by snows I mean they have these bubble machines that spit out small chunks of bubbles that look like snow, and it’s super-cool. The coolest part is the looks on all of the kids’ faces when it starts to fall.

Yes, I can take a reasonably decent picture of my husband and son. Too bad he's got his hand in his mouth.

There was snow in that picture–you can see it on Kevin’s shoulder. No, I did not specifically request that he wear black fleece in order for me to get a picture showing the snow. It just worked out that way.

And here’s a better picture of the snow and the crowd behind us (minus the freakishly tall woman and the panic-stricken woman).

Doesn't the tree look great? Also, snow!

The fireworks really are a must-see. Actually as for as the holiday goes at Disneyland, there are three things you really, really shouldn’t miss, and the fireworks are one of them.

Yes, I will tell you what the other two are: It’s A Small World Holiday (It’s A Small Holiday World? It’s A Holiday, Small World?) and the Holiday Haunted Mansion. I will post about It’s A Holiday, Small World (that’s not the actual name, but I think it’s funny), but unfortunately I didn’t do the Haunted Mansion this year. The holiday version goes up at Halloween, so I will see you next Fall on that one!

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