Oswald’s Service Station

Once upon a time there was an animator named Walt Disney. He created a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald was kind of funky looking–a bit like what would become his younger brother, Mickey Mouse, except with long black ears.

Unfortunately, Universal owned the rights to Oswald, so he hasn’t made any appearances in the Resort…until now!

Well, in name anyway

Disney actually ended up trading ABC/ESPN sports caster Al Michaels to NBC, and in exchange Universal signed over their rights to Oswald.

Talk about a bizarre switch, but it worked!

Oswald’s Service Station features gas pumps of the era.

The gas pump

And a fancy car!

Not for sale

What IS for sale are various items within the Service Station

Lightning McQueen mouse ears

Generalized Disney merchandise

And of course, the loving details that make Disney amazing.

Mickey Mouse bell and cans of oil

And this is  my favorite part.

Oswald’s first dollar

Such a fun little store right as you walk in to the park.

 

A Look Around Hollywood Land

Hollywood Land is now much more highlighted since the Buena Vista Street walls came down. It starts with the Carthay Circle theater and ends over with the Tower of Terror. In between are some great buildings and details.

The Hyperion is where you can find Aladdin.

Seriously, the Aladdin show is completely top notch

Various details surround the area

Battle Creek, Michigan–the cereal capital of the world!

Hollywood and Sunset Blvds

Very cool (but false) buildings abound

Like this one

And this one

The cable lines above the street were cause for much consternation among the rabid Disneyland fan community. Many people thought they looked ugly. But they are completely historically accurate to the time period of Buena Vista Street, and the Red Car Trolley would look very weird without them.

I think they look just fine

Even the doorways and awnings look sharp.

You can just imagine people living there. Well, I can anyway

And for real, how cool would it be to have an apartment inside Disneyland? I bet people would pay a TON of money for that.

 

Mad T Party (part 1)

Over in Hollywood, or the Disney California Adventure version of Hollywood, there’s a dance extravaganza called the Mad T Party. Prior to the Mad T Party, the extravaganza was ElecTRONica, based on the movie Tron, of course. However, ElecTRONica got a little tired, so now it’s a really whacked out version of Alice in Wonderland, if Alice in Wonderland were some kind of Disney-based dance party thing.

The entrance

It’s all like glowy and flashy and very, very NEON.

The White Rabbit’s stop watch, I presume.

That screen changes

Mad T, man!

Headwear is encouraged.

They don’t REALLY mean no service though

You walk through a cool misty thing, which is literally cool, as in kind of cold.

Did I mention the neon?

And that puts you right into the mood for the stage!

It’s very large. And pink.

There are two bars, one of which is called (appropriately) Drink Me.

All shiny and stuff

The detailing is fantastic.

It’s hard to tell where things start and end, which I suppose is the point.

They do serve alcohol.

Walt’s probably rolling over in his grave

You can sit and watch the band in an oversized plastic chair in front of a decorative screen that used to be a show in ElecTRONica. I personally like the Mad T stage better.

I’m not really sure these chairs are comfortable

And the stage and band, of course, are a highlight. It’s Alice and all of her friends, except dressed in funky neon rocker clothes.

Giant lanterns above the stage

Mad Hatter

Cheshire Cat

Alice!

They play a bunch of covers from the last few decades, which is lots of fun. No Disney music here. Feel free to dance along!

 

Clarabelle’s Ice Cream

You know what’s awesome? Ice cream. I mean, I’m not a huge huge ice cream person but sometimes you just gotta have one, and sometimes that sometimes happens in Disneyland.

Buena Vista Street has an amazing ice cream offering for you–Clarabelles.

And beautiful stained glass over the doorway too.

Clarabelle’s is part of the larger Elysian Arcade on the West side of Buena Vista Street. It’s got a nice little rest spot outside.

I love that they planted fully-grown trees here

Look! Here’s another doorway you can use!

And some random guy!

The line is all nice and orderly.

A bit better organized than the Gibson Girl parlor

Here’s a great sign

Even the type makes me think of ice cream

The menu is diverse but basically what you’d expect from an ice cream parlor.

Lots of YUM here!

And one thing I particularly love–hand-dipped ice cream bars! You can get a variety of topping, but I went with the traditional sprinkles.

So good!

So when you’re at CA Adventure and it gets really hot–just remember Clarabelle’s!