Storybook Land Canal Boats

6 Comments Posted by on July 18, 2011

I’m not really sure why this is, but for years, and I mean YEARS, I totally avoided the Storybook Land Canal Boats. When I was really little I was afraid of the whale, but when I was in older (high school) I just thought it was lame. In fact, I thought it was the lamest ride in Disneyland. I’m really not clear where all that vitriol came from, because now that I’ve ridden it again I find it quite charming.

The Storybook Land Canal Boats is a guided tour through various Disney story locations created in miniature. You get to ride on a boat and be disproportionately huge compared to the recreations.

Maybe I’ve just developed a greater appreciation for miniature things after several visits to the most amazing model railroad layout in the universe, Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. It’s beyond remarkable. I’m serious–you have to watch this video. I could spend a week there. And it’s funny as hell too.

Anyway, Storybook Canals. So the attraction is denoted by the floral signage on a small hill.

Park your stroller by the giant lighthouse

At this point on this particular visit, Theo was getting very wiped out. He did get to ride his preferred method of transportation

"Daddy head! Daddy head!"

But his energy was seriously flagging.

"Daddy forehead!"

You all climb aboard a boat, and this is one of the few rides where not only can you sit however you like with no restraints, you can actually sit ON the vehicle rather than in it, if you choose. Theo thought that was a great idea for about 0.2 seconds and then he flipped out.

We hadn't even started moving yet

Your cruise director also sits rather haphazardly on the boat as well.

Our cruise director, Julie!

You then go through the mouth of a whale, which doesn’t look in the least bit realistic, but when I was little looked very menacing and scary.

Open wide!

Not as menacing as Monstro from Pinocchio, but close.

Once you get through the whale, you start to see little scenes from various stories, like this one.

I totally can't remember what this one is

It’s also a ride that’s difficult to photograph.

I do remember this one is Aladdin’s lamp.

Hey, Genie!

The Storybook Canals are actually really connected to Casey Jr.’s railroad, mainly because on Casey Jr. you travel right past most of the Storybook Land.

Casey Jr. comin' round the track

The princesses are very highly represented here.

I definitely recognize this one--Sleeping Beauty!

Can't remember what this one is though

Ariel’s post-ocean life is also displayed. I don’t recall ever seeing a good view of Prince Eric’s castle, but honestly  I haven’t seen the movie in a LONG time, even though we own it.

Out of the sea

You even get to see King Triton under the sea!

It's like a castle but it's under water

And those are pretty much all of the pictures that turned out even remotely good. Did I mention this one’s a tough one to photograph? Also, I think it looks like an entirely different ride in the daylight. The little lights and stuff were very cool, but I’ll have to go back during the day and shoot it again.

Fantasyland

Not-Disney: Knott’s Berry Farm

19 Comments Posted by on July 17, 2011

Guest Post Alert:  Hi, everyone — I’m Kevin!  Careful readers of this blog already know me as Shelby’s husband, or “that guy in the background who’s holding up Theo in some of the pictures”.  Since I’m not Shelby, I’ll be writing about something that’s not Disney: Knott’s Berry Farm.

Knott's Berry Farm front gate

People who live in Southern California are stewing in year-round amusement parks.  Within a few hours’ drive, there are FOUR major choices: the Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.  If that’s not enough, there are smaller local parks, like Adventure City in Anaheim or Castle Park in Riverside.  (Growing up in that atmosphere, imagine my surprise when I moved to San Jose after college to find that there was only one local park  — Great America — and that it was CLOSED much of the year for something called the ‘off season’.)

With all of those choices, as a kid, I went to Knott’s most often.  I think that there were three big reasons:

  1. It was cheap.  Not only were normally-priced Knott’s passes cheaper than Disneyland, it seemed that every other can of soda came with a $5 off coupon, or that there was always a grocery store running a discount-ticket promotion.  This made it much easier to wheedle a birthday or Christmas trip to Knott’s — and bring a friend along!  Later, when I was working on summer camp staff and getting paid a $250 ‘honorarium’ for the entire summer, there was no question which park we were going to for our end-of-summer blowout.
  2. It was my Mom’s park.  Growing up before the park was fenced (in 1968, to keep the hippies out — yes, really) and charged an admission fee, my Mom had fond memories of riding her bike to Knott’s and paying a quarter to ride the cool indoor rides on hot summer days.
  3. There were lots of things for kids to do.  When I was little, there was an admission-free ‘lagoon’ across the street from Knott’s — you could pay a pittance to ride a merry-go-round, a miniature steam train, or take a paddlewheel boat around the lake.  In the center of the lake was an adventure playground, with all kinds of imaginatively-carved wooden animals and play structures.  In 1983, Knott’s built Camp Snoopy, a kid-oriented, Snoopy-themed section of the park that was Valhalla for a Snoopy-loving kid like me.  (And — ahem — they simultaneously bulldozed the lagoon to make up for the parking lot that they lost when they built Camp Snoopy.  You can’t have everything, I guess.)  We collected a double set of McDonald’s Camp Snoopy glasses.  I salivated in front of the TV commercials until I got my chance to go for the first time.

Years later, we go to Knott’s for the same reasons.  It’s still cheap — next year, when Theo is 3 and no longer gets a free ride, we can buy a family set of Knott’s passes for the cost of one Disneyland annual passport.  Knott’s is now ‘my’ park, with years of warm fuzzy memories.  And while Theo frequently wakes up asking to “see Snoopy” (that is, go to Knott’s and see Snoopy), he’s never asked to go see Mickey Mouse.

But yet, Knott’s leaves me feeling conflicted.  For while on trips to Disneyland, Shelby often gets to listen to me complain about Disneyland tearing out the Skyway and the Motor Boat Cruise, Knott’s is screwing with my memories on a far grander scale.

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Crystal Arts

5 Comments Posted by on July 14, 2011

Among the shops on Main Street you’ll find the Crystal Arts shop. Now I’ll be honest with you–sometimes there are things that just make me say “why would you buy this?” and I’ve gotta say, the entire Crystal Arts shop is like that for me.

A rather plain outside, given how dazzling it is inside

I think perhaps part of the problem is that when I’m faced with that much glass that’s all displayed on glass, I can’t really figure out what I’m looking at.

A bunch of glass things

Of course there are things to drink out of

I think

Another thing I think puzzles me is that a large portion of what they have isn’t Disney-related at all. I mean, I can understand maybe wanting to take home a Mickey Mouse wine glass or something, but a cut glass vase? Why come all the way to Disneyland and pay Disneyland prices for that?

I guess part of it is that I’m cheap, so if I’m going to buy anything at Disneyland, it better be something clearly indicating that it came from Disneyland, know what I mean?

You can buy the castle in glass.

This would make an awesome weapon for intruders

I forgot to check how much that cost.

They also claim to have glass cutters, though I think that’s just window dressing.

Looking at the glass through the glass

I suppose maybe I’m spoiled, because when I think of quality cut glass I think of Waterford, and I have actually taken a tour of the Waterford factory in Ireland not once, but twice. It was very cool.

I guess people do buy these things–Crystal Arts isn’t the only place you can get them. I just can’t help but think gee, I’d hate to be there in an earthquake!

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The Plaza Pavilion, Or The Single Most Wasted Space In The Entire Park

14 Comments Posted by on July 12, 2011

Today I’m going to talk to you about the Plaza Pavilion, which is the single most wasted space in the entire park. Now let’s face it–Disneyland does a pretty good job with its space. Sure, there are some major bottleneck areas (I’m looking at you, Adventureland throughway) and some not-so-well-planned viewing arrangements (like they showed Fantasmic for like 15 years before they realized it would be a good idea to come up with some kind of seating plan instead of a free-for-all wherever you were standing), but for the most part the space is well-used. Particularly given the amount of magic they cram into a property that is literally in the middle of a city.

However, there is one sad building whose beautiful potential is completely wasted on its current purpose, and that is the Plaza Pavilion.

What a lovely building!

And what is its current purpose?

Annual Passport Processing? Really?

Yep, they’ve got this beautiful building in a fabulous location, right at the end of Main Street overlooking the hub, and all they do there is process annual passes.

To get a better idea of the complete waste of space, look to your right.

It's a great big bunch of...nothing

Or look to your left.

More nothing

Doesn’t it look like the Plaza Pavilion would be a great restaurant? It was. Well, I don’t know if it was great, but it was a restaurant. A buffeteria, to be exact. Doesn’t the word buffeteria just SCREAM 1950s to you? They were so fond of mashups back then. The word buffeteria also reminds me of the word “cafetorium,” which was something we had in my middle school and high school and translates to “we’re too cheap to build a cafeteria and an auditorium so we’re just going to make it one building and create a cute word for it.”

I was always jealous of schools that had separate auditoriums.

Anyway, outside of the Plaza Pavilion you have the one and only inside-the-park booth for the Disney Vacation Club.

Uh-oh, a couple of people got roped in there

Now this is one major advantage Disneyland has over the Mouse-in-law: Disneyland only has one DVC booth in the entire park.(UPDATE: Reader correction–there are two! The other one is in Tomorrowland and apparently completely ignorable since I forgot about it )At the Mouse-in-law, there’s a DVC booth just about every 3 feet. I mean, in the entire resort there’s like one DVC booth for every 8 guests or something. And its little catchphrase is “Disney’s Best Kept Secret.” Which honestly, it’s not a secret if you can’t even walk a straight line without hitting a DVC booth.

Stay tuned to this blog and I will tell you about Disneyland’s REAL best-kept secret. Later.

Anyway, the DVC is a time share that you buy into where you can then go and stay at Disney properties. It’s a lot more popular in Florida than it is here. So if you want the DVC sales pitch, there is where you can get it inside of Disneyland.

They wouldn’t let me go inside the annual pass processing center, since I wasn’t buying or renewing an annual pass, but here’s a picture of the doorway.

Exciting

And over on the side there’s some seating for The Restaurant That Can’t Decide What It Wants To Be Called.

It's a nice place to sit

There have been a lot of rumors over the years as to what exactly Disneyland intends to do with the Plaza Pavilion. A rumor that sounds credible to me is that they are going to put annual pass processing over in CA Adventure (which I think is wise) and turn the Plaza Pavilion back into some kind of food-oriented venue. I heard speculation that it would be like a Mary Poppins-themed bakery, which I think would be really fun. But who knows.

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