Now That's Just Gay: Journal

Showing posts with label Journal. Show all posts

It would seem that I was beginning to adjust to the time difference at long last, since we had planned to get up a little earlier and this morning I was struggling. Although we did have plans for the day, it felt really unusual to not have our time planned out for us and to have a whole group of people to meet up with. Today was the first day in our adventure when it was just the two of us, left to our own devices.

Thankfully, we already had plans and we were going to be hiring a car and driving up to Six Flags Magic Mountain. To be honest, this was some rather poor planning on our part, since Magic Mountain is North of Los Angeles so we were basically going to be driving all the way back past where we started, however in terms of planning, this was the least of our worries.

Given the number of car rental sites around the Disney Resort the husband thought that pre-booking a rental would be unnecessary. This didn't work out well though, we ended up wandering around Anaheim going to different locations before we found somewhere that actually had a car available. It really was third time lucky when we were able to get a car. By the time we got going we were already behind our planned leaving time by a little over an hour.

Now, you may have already heard about the traffic in L.A. You may have heard that it is a myth. I swear to you, it is not. For almost the entire journey on the interstate we were sat in traffic. All told it took just over 2 hours to do a journey that is only 61 miles.

At least we had finally arrived and parked up. Getting out of the car you could feel the effects of the park effectively being in what I would probably consider the desert. It was around 12 degrees hotter than the weather we had experienced so far which was far from mild already. It was scorching and was only going to get hotter throughout the day.

The first thing we needed to do was collect our fast pass. Six Flags operate a premium fast pass service called a Flash Pass where you can book your ride times on a special device they give you for the day. You simply select the attraction you want to ride next and it gives you a time to return, essentially reserving your space in the queue. The device then beeps and gives you a nudge when it is your turn to ride. Once you take your ride you are then free to make another selection. There are different levels of pass you can buy too which dictates the number of attractions you can use it for. We had opted for the platinum pass to make sure that we got on absolutely everything we wanted to on that day. Naturally there is a price per person for the privilege which depends on when you go. For us, we had visited the park before and missed a few attractions so it was absolutely worth the price to make sure we did everything.

Once we were in and our Flash Pass had been assigned we put it to good use to ride the attraction that we were most looking forward to. On our last visit, we were sorely disappointed because it was closed for upgrades. Thankfully, this time around it was definitely open so we made a beeline for X2. X2 is what they call a 4D or Fourth Dimension coaster. It gets that name from the fact that as well as being a rollercoaster, the seats also pivot and flip over adding a whole new dynamic to the ride experience. There are actually very few of these around the world and so we were glad to finally be getting the opportunity to ride one and thanks to the Flash Pass, we didn’t even have to wait the 60-minute queue time either!

It is incredibly difficult to explain just how insane X2 is or even how it works, so here is a video so you get a real feel for it…

The video really doesn’t do the experience justice though. It is like The Swarm at Thorpe Park dropped some LSD or something. It felt furiously fast, aided by the fact you had no idea which way you were going to end up facing next. I have not been an active member of the rollercoaster enthusiast community for some time now so I have no idea what is thought of the coaster or where it stacks up in other people’s opinions but I ‘flipping’ loved it – pun intentional. It is a beast of a machine which really offers a point of difference to many other coasters out there. I truly wish there were more of these around the world. In fact, I think it would really suit an adrenaline fuelled park like Thorpe Park. Perhaps I think it is so brilliant because it is so different to every other coaster I have ridden. There are only two other fourth dimension coasters in the world and they are in China and Japan. I genuinely loved the experience and I hope to see a few more of them crop up one day despite the fact that they come with a huge price tag. In my view, they are definitely worth it!

As is customary, especially when riding something for the first time, we decided to purchase the On-Ride Photo. We decided to pay the small amount extra and get the Photo Pass which would enable us to pick up On-Ride photos for all of the other attractions around the park as well as character meet and greets. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a waste of money as we were unable to find any other coasters that actually had the on-ride photo option which was very disappointing. When we questioned this with staff their attitude was that we could have had character pictures too but I will be honest and say we didn’t actually see any character meet and greets either.

Nevertheless, we had a great day blitzing around the park riding coasters again. X2 was definitely a highlight, along with Twisted Colossus. We had ridden the original wooden rollercoaster Colossus back in 2008 which was a pretty good ride but in 2015 it was given a massive overhaul to become Twisted. This overhaul was carried out by a company called Rocky Mountain Construction who have a knack for creating hybrid wooden and steel rollercoasters which have a reputation for being incredibly fast and performing ridiculous manoeuvres. We are lucky enough to have ridden another of their creations over in Kolmården, Sweden, so we were both very excited to see how this one shaped up in comparison. It most definitely did not disappoint. I think the thing that impressed me the most was its unrelenting speed. It simply doesn’t slow down and provides ridiculous levels of airtime and inversions. After riding, we both commented on how it had pretty much everything a rollercoaster should have. Check out this awesome video of it…

Again, the video doesn’t really do it justice, but then, when does a video ever do a rollercoaster justice. You have to ride them for the full effect to be truly appreciated. I would actually recommend Six Flags Magic Mountain for this and X2 alone, without the other 17 rollercoasters that they have. Mainly because some of those others are terribly bad. Scream! has become horribly rough and uncomfortable in the years since our last visit despite its lovely fresh coat of paint. It was not a fun experience to be honest and had a serious case of what I call ‘square-wheel-itis’, because that’s what it felt like it was running on.

Also on my hit list of coasters I have no desire to ride again is Apocalypse: The Ride. Don’t get me wrong, I am fully versed in how a wooden coaster runs and how they can be on the rough side. For the most part, that is exactly what you expect from a ‘woodie’ and what makes them enjoyable. It should feel fast and out of control but this was something else. It certainly was fast but it was also horrifically rough, leaving me with nasty headache to boot.

Green Lantern: First Flight can also be given a dishonourable mention. We had ridden a similar coaster type over in Gröna Lund (also in Sweden) which we did not enjoy very much but thought we would give this a go and see if it was any better. It wasn’t. I am going to go so far as to say that Intamin Ball Coasters or Zac Spins are among the most pointless and unenjoyable coasters I have ever had the misfortune of riding. Aesthetically, they look interesting and different but to ride them is a far from pleasant experience. If you ever give one a go I strongly advise you are careful with your neck because of the possibility of whiplash. On both versions, I have gotten off feeling like I might have actually done some damage to my neck.

While I am not adding this to my list of undesirables, I should mention New Revolution. I was a massive fan of the coaster back in 2008, because of its heritage as the world’s first modern rollercoaster to feature a vertical loop opening back in 1976. It was a very enjoyable but dated attraction. In 2016, theyintroduced the latest trend making its way through the theme park industry; Virtual Reality. Instead of riding normally, you wear a VR headset so that they can present a new scene to you. Prior to this, I had only ridden Galactica at Alton Towers and wasn’t entirely enthralled with the VR experience. I don’t hate it but I don’t think it really adds anything to the ride. It leaves me feeling ‘meh’. I would much prefer to see the real scenery around me instead of a fake CGI world. New Revolution had about the same impact for me. For Marc, it was worse and he had to remove his headset part of the way round as it was making him feel sick. I know some people really enjoy the VR element on rollercoasters but it just doesn’t do it for me. It feels too forced and reeks of the notion that they have run out of ways to make rollercoasters interesting. That or the park just doesn’t want to pay out to theme the coaster for real.

We also got to experience the parks newest attraction, Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. The ride itself is another of those shoot-em-up rides where the rider has to fire a laser gun at targets as part of the story. Being a big Batman fan I was very excited to ride this and be immersed in the DC universe. Unfortunately, within a few minutes of entering the attraction building everything came to a grinding halt as the ride broke down. We were told by the staff member to stay in the first room with the introduction video playing on a loop which in itself wasn’t really an issue, apart from the fact that the main doors then opened up and allowed the next batch of people to cram into the already busy first room. When the staff member eventually came back he started to shout some instructions except nobody could hear a word he was saying over the booming sound of the video that was playing. When he was asked to repeat what he said we were simply told to ‘forget it, just wait in here’. You have to love a member of staff who really cares…

The ride itself was fun enough. I’ve done better and I’ve done worse. For an overall theme park experience it has its merits, especially within a Six Flags park as they have a reputation for a lack of dark rides and generic rollercoasters on concrete floors.

All in all, we had a great time at Six Flags Magic Mountain but once we had ridden everything we wanted to, we had no real desire to stay and re-ride anything. I’d have happily ridden X2 again but the queue was huge and you can only use the Flash Pass once for this particular attraction. You'll notice that there were no pictures through this part of the article. We were both quite lazy and didn't actually take any. We had planned to do riding and then go round taking photos but by the time we had ridden what we wanted to we decided to call it a day and fight our way back through the traffic back down to Anaheim.

The traffic was certainly no better on the way back and we were both relieved to get into the Paradise Pier Hotel car park. After all the hassle of getting the car in the morning and the long travel times we wanted to have a relaxing evening so we made our way over to Disney’s California Adventure with the sole intention of enjoying the atmosphere of the park at night and taking photographs. We didn’t ride a single attraction and just enjoyed wandering calmly around the park, especially as night fell and all the lights came on around the park. For us, that is the beauty of the Disney parks. They are perfectly enjoyable even if you don’t ride a single thing or see a single show. We get a great deal of enjoyment from just walking around and soaking up that magical atmosphere. I actually find it very relaxing and that pretty much sums up how the end of our day panned out, so I will leave you with some dusk and night time photos:

The Entrance to Paradise Pier as the sun begins to fall

GO! GO! GO!

California Neon Lights!

Paradise Pier

Paradise Pier store fronts

I love a light motion blur at night.

Everyone getting ready for World of Color.

I am still in love with Radiator Springs at night.

Flo's V8 Cafe

Radiator Springs Racers

Those incredible 'mountains' again

BREAKOUT!

The Carthay Circle at night.

I woke up with a bittersweet feeling now that the Adventures by Disney part of our trip was over. This morning we would be having a farewell breakfast which meant saying goodbye to our Adventure Guides and many of our fellow adventurers. I don't like goodbyes! Of course, these were holiday friendships, but like no other I have ever experienced in my life. My view remains that friendships are truly born in shared experiences and this whole experience had been incredible. For all those times, I find it difficult to convey what something was like, I know there are 30 other people, who know exactly what I mean and how it felt in the moment. That creates a special bond and a different kind of friendship.

Still, it wasn't over quite yet and we were determined to enjoy our last breakfast with the group. This one would be taking place in Steakhouse 55. Once we arrived I realised this was the perfect place to close our trip. Many of the photographs on the walls featured Walt with a whole host of other famous people Walt met or entertained throughout his life. From what I understand of it, if the American Dream was personified, Walt really was it.

I went for the traditional breakfast again this morning, with copious amounts of coffee. I truly didn't want to be saying goodbye to any of these wonderful people and it was making me a little down. Coffee was my coping mechanism, hoping it would give me an extra boost. As everyone else arrived it seemed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way.

The breakfast itself was great food and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Throughout the breakfast we were sat alongside Michael and Summer-Rose, our incredible Adventure guides. They were both amazing, knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and had great senses of humour. I think both of them were the epitome of brilliant Disney Cast members, I only hope that one day our paths of adventure will cross again. I insisted that we had to get a picture with them once we had finished eating.

Once we sat back down, Michael surprised me once again. All week long he had been carrying the collectible pins that they give out in a cool little Stitch character pouch. I had joked earlier in the week that he better keep an eye on it because Stitch is my favourite. He handed me the pouch and said, "it's yours".

Already feeling a little emotional, I was on the verge of tears and gobsmacked; he had remembered my favourite character. It was such a small thing but it was so kind and thoughtful. It summed up how I felt about the whole experience with Adventures by Disney.

Now feeling a whole whirlwind of emotions, it was time to say goodbye, particularly to those who would not be attending D23. For some, their whole adventure had come to an end and they would be heading home. I was grateful that we still had another whole week of excitement to enjoy. Many of those people are on my Facebook so we have been able to stay in touch. I hope that one day we can meet some of them again, which is quite likely, considering we were all such fans of Disney.

Holding back the waterworks we made our way out of the hotel and bumped into Goofy who I hadn't had the chance to get a picture with the day before. There is nothing like a picture with a Disney Character to put a spring in your step. Especially considering our next task was to check out of the Disneyland Hotel and move all our baggage over to Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel.

It was definitely a challenge manoeuvring three full size cases, two cabin cases and our other bags that was for sure. Thankfully, it wasn't a ridiculously long walk between the two hotels. Upon arrival, we were not able to check-in quite yet but were able to deposit our cases into the holding room so that we could go and get going on the next stage of our trip. D23.

Now I will add here, that I am not going to break down the three days into separate parts and will keep it all in one. This is mainly because a lot of the events blur into one and also, because we opted not to queue for hours attending panels so it would be easier to summarise various elements of the convention.

For those of you who do not know. D23 is the Official Disney fan club and every two years they hold their own convention at the Anaheim Convention Centre. The convention is a hugely attended event with a reported 100,000 people attending this year. Throughout the event there would be specific panels which came with surprises and announcements. Whether your Disney love is the Parks & Resorts, Animation or Live Action, there was a panel for it with many of the announcements made being completely new news confirmation of an internet rumour. Each of the panels was effectively a presentation on a particular subject featuring hosts and special guests involved in that project. This weekend was probably the most exciting time to be a Disney Fan.

Queuing

The rumours about queues were certainly not unfounded. The first day we arrived around 10am and queued for around 90 minutes. Each subsequent day the overall queue time was shorter. When we first arrived it actually looked horrific and took us a good ten minutes to even find where to join the queue.

It was nice to see the Cast Member Doug, who we met on the Disneyland day of our ABD. He recognised us too and gave us a high five as we passed him in the queue on all three days. Moments like this helped the queue pass by quickly.

All of the panels and major stores as well as the various exhibitions had very long lines involved. For instance, the Live Action panel actually saw people sleep out overnight in line to guarantee their seat!

As much as we are enthralled by Disney, we couldn’t face extreme queuing like that so we had opted before we even arrived that we would just play it by ear and not spend hours and hours queueing.

Announcements

The major announcements that really appealed to me were from Parks and Resorts. As I have mentioned, we had opted not to attend any of the panels, because of the queues. We were happy to hear the announcements just like everyone else who couldn’t get a seat, usually via twitter. There was a palpable buzz around the convention floor when it was announced that there were a whole raft of changes coming to Walt Disney World, including the addition of the Tron Rollercoaster to the Magic Kingdom, which can currently be found in Shanghai, and the Ratatouille attraction from Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in Paris coming to Disney’s Epcot. I don’t need to list out all of the announcements of course, the internet is awash with them but I am personally most excited about the Tron Coaster.

Communication

Me playing a Fix-It-Felix Arcade Machine

One of the things that irked me a little throughout the weekend was the communication from the people working there. It seems there was possibly three different groups of people involved, Disney Cast Members, Convention Centre Staff and Security. The answer to your question would very much depend on which person you spoke to. It made trying to plan anything a little difficult because it was never clear what the procedures were and so on. One of the key examples of this I will cover in e shops section. Further to that, each day seemed a little different in terms of procedure. It was like they were immediately acting upon the previous days learns and while it is good to try and fix the issues right away, it was a little confusing when you think you finally understand how it works and then it is different the following day.

This became particularly relevant when it came to finding smoking areas. All throughout the Friday we had gone to a particular location outside. Come the Saturday this had changed and the security guard at the door was very rude about it and didn't tell us that we couldn't go out there until we were trying to come back in. He then accused us of ignoring him as he claimed he tried to call us back before we went out. If he did try calling us back, the fact that we were out there for 15 minutes and he didn't think to stick his head out and continue trying to get our attention was by-the-by it would seem. Of the three us, none of us heard or saw anyone calling us back.

That's not to say that all the staff and cast members were terrible. Some of them were absolutely wonderful Disney Cast Members.

Shops

Within the convention there were three major shops; The Disney Store, much like the mall and high street stores, The Dream Store, consisting of products relating to the Parks and Resorts and Mickey’s Of Glendale. Unfortunately, we did not get to visit The Disney Store but we did visit the other two. Each of the stores had very long lines to get in to the point that you could get fast passes, or store passes to visit the shops! To begin with, we thought that the fast pass was the only way you could get into the shops, partly because of the lack of communication and mis-communication. At times the line for the store-pass was reportedly 3 hours long!

In the queue for the Disney Dream Store

Ironically, we found out from another cast member at the Dream Store that there was actually a stand-by line too. We were quite lucky because at the time there was a major panel taking place and the standby line had dropped down to about 20 minutes so we decided to wait. Why would anyone queue up for the store pass if the stand-by line was only 20 minutes? This conveniently shorter cue was probably not a good thing as it meant we spent a fair chunk of cash and for the first time ever known to humankind. IT WASN’T ME!!!! There was an incredible ornamental figurine based on the Fantasmic! show with Mickey pulling the sword from the stone to defeat Maleficent in dragon form. The fire surrounding the battling duo lights up and everything! As it is our favourite show in the parks and because it featured Marc’s favourite character, he decided he had to have it. A side note here, the box was so big that we had to put it in its own suitcase!

Mickeys of Glendale is actually a store that can be found at the Imagineering Campus for the cast members. Members of the public do not usually get to go in here unless you are on a tour or the like. We would have been able to visit the store when we were at Imagineering ourselves but the whole store had been relocated to D23. Thankfully, because of that, they had given us all a fast pass entry so that we didn’t have to queue up to get in the shop. I managed to buy a whole host of Imagineering goodies, including t-shirts and stationery for work. I could probably have spent a whole lot more too.

Stalls

Along with the three major stores there were also countless Disney partner vendors like Funko and Sphero in attendance. These were more often than not, selling the products that they had created. A particular favourite of mine was Sphero. To explain what they are I have lifted a little bio from their website:

‘Sphero began the connected play revolution in 2010 by creating something unlike anything - and we never stopped. We fuse robotic and digital technology into immersive entertainment experiences that ignite imagination and defy expectation. Optimized by data and powered by fun, these ever-evolving experiences are changing the way the world thinks about play.’

Lightning and Me! (NOT the toy!)

They created the incredible BB-8 toy that was launched for the release of Star Wars The Force Awakens. More recently, they had released the ‘Ultimate Lightning McQueen’. Now I am the first to admit that I am not the biggest Cars fan or even a massive fan of the character either, but the remote control car that they have developed is insanely good. It is like playing with your very own animatronic version of the character. He interacts with you and when he does talk his mouth actually moves. His eyes move around his windscreen (via a digital screen) whilst this is going on. Like in the movie, he lifts and drops on his axles, giving him a full range of movement as well as being a very snappy RC toy. Finally, he will also sit and watch the films with you and react to scenes in the movie. Of course, technology of this kind does come with a price tag but I genuinely believe it is worth every penny. This may actually be the coolest toy ever created! It was probably way out of my price range, especially for a toy, so I was incredibly touched and surprised when Marc disappeared off to the bathroom and came back with one as a gift for me. He said he could tell how much I loved it and I really, really do. I have always liked remote control cars and this is just next level awesome!

Along with the major vendors, there were also lots of smaller companies, each of them selling various Disney related collectibles, apparel, gifts, toys and souvenirs. If you are attending D23 you probably love Disney and if you love to shop, I strongly advise that you save up accordingly.

Food

Incredible Deadpool costume!

We had heard terrible rumours about the standard of food available and also the queues to get said food but to be honest we did not experience either. The food was typical of a convention centre or arena in that it was fairly expensive but it was nice enough. We didn’t actually eat very much whilst we were there and besides, with the odd sandwich or so we couldn’t really pass judgement. It seemed that there were plenty of options available.

The Dis

One of the fun things we also got to do was hang out with the Dis team a little more as they had a stall for the weekend. They were going to be reporting on all of the weekend’s events and announcements from the various panels. They put on several shows throughout the weekend which went out live on YouTube. We were actually able to sit in and watch a couple of the shows going out live which was fascinating to watch. It was also amusing seeing the number of people passing the booth and rubbernecking to see what was going on and who was on camera. Sitting there felt like we were somehow a part of it. It was great to meet another member of the team, Cory, who is just awesome and so down to earth as well as Michael who is the incredibly knowledgeable Disney historian on the Connecting with Walt series of shows. All of these people were so friendly and welcoming!

Marty Sklar

This deserves its own little section because it was probably the biggest moment of the weekend for me. I’ll start out by telling you who Marty is as I know many people do not know! Marty was the International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering. He had formerly been the Vice President of Concepts and Planning for the company before being promoted to President then Vice Chairman and Principle Creative Executive.

Marty was hired by Disney in 1955 to create a 1950’s themed newspaper titled, The Disneyland news. After graduating, he held responsibility for a lot of the parks publicity and marketing and then in 1961 he was transferred to WED Enterprises (as it was known then) where he worked on attractions for the 1964 New York World’s Fair including Its A Small World. Marty went on to supervise the design and construction of Disney’s EPCOT, Tokyo Disneyland, the Disney-MGM Studios, Disneyland Paris, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea, the Walt Disney Studios Park and Hong Kong Disneyland. He was also the only man to have attended the opening of every single Disney Park opening!

He was honoured as a Disney Legend in 2001 and also served as president of Ryman Arts, a non-profit organisation providing art classes in painting and drawing for those who want to find their way in the arts. His importance in the Disney heritage is summed up perfectly by a former Disneyland International Chairman, Jim Cora when he said, "He understands the Disney way, because he learned it at Walt's knee. He is the keeper of the keys, the conscience, the Jiminy Cricket for the organization."

To say that Marty was a hero of mine is an understatement. Along with Tony Baxter and Joe Rohde, he was one of the main reasons I wanted to pursue a career in storytelling and theme park attractions. I had read countless books and watched countless documentaries that featured Marty talking about his work.

Anyway, while I was visiting the Ryman Arts stall, and looking at some of the incredible artwork, one of the attendants there mentioned that Marty was also doing signing of his books. He was away having a break at that moment but he would be back in a short while. My excitement level went stratospheric as we wandered around for what felt like hours, passing by the stall every so often until he had returned.

When he returned I was first in line to meet him clutching hold of two of his books: ‘One Little Spark! Mickeys Ten Commandments and The Road To Imagineering’ and ‘Dream It! Do It! My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms’.

I am struggling to put into words how incredible it was (and not cry remembering) meeting Marty and being able to talk to him. I thanked him for his contributions to the Disney Parks and Resorts and how much joy I had gained from visiting the attractions that he had been instrumental in. It took every ounce of my being to not come across as a crazy stalker or to cry all over him. Both of which had a distinct possibility of happening. I was also able to tell him about my dreams for being a storyteller like him and one day working with Imagineering. He had probably heard this thousands of times over the years and yet, he was still encouraging and kind and even left a message in one of the books saying “Dear Mark, make NEW sparks!”. I left that stall in an incredibly elated and emotional state and I am not ashamed to admit that I was crying with absolute joy. I had hoped for many years that I might get to meet Marty and this was certainly not one of the examples of the saying that you shouldn’t meet your heroes.

Sadly, just two weeks later, on July 27th it was announced that Marty had passed away. I look at those two books and the pictures from that day with a whole wave of emotion and pride that I was able to share my story with him and talk to him. Of course, I am one of thousands that had been able to thank him for everything he did but I am honoured that I am one of those thousands.

So that is my summary of D23 and with the weekend coming to an end, it also meant that there were going to be some more goodbyes. Many of the Dis team were going to be heading back to Florida on the Monday morning so we made a point of wishing them well for their journey home. Again, thank heavens for Facebook and Twitter so that we can stay in touch with them!

As it was his final night there, Pete had also invited us for a dinner at the Storytellers Café in the Grand Californian hotel along with Steve. It is a beautiful setting for a restaurant and the food was divine. I am quite fond of a buffet dinner because it means I can try a whole host of different foods from different cultures and this certainly did not disappoint.

After food, we headed into Downtown Disney for a spot of last minute shopping (for them) and then rounded off the evening with a few other people from the ABD trip that we had bumped into. Unfortunately, Trader Sam’s was ridiculously busy so we headed over to the bar at Steakhouse 55. It was a particularly poignant drink and with everyone feeling very tired it was particularly bittersweet when it came to saying goodbye with Pete, Steve and Sean getting into their Uber. All I could hope, as that Uber taxi pulled away, was that I will get to see them again someday soon.

Brace yourselves boys and girls,

Considering the alcohol content of the previous evening I managed to wake up still feeling refreshed with no hint of a hangover. Everything is just so much better in California...

Nevertheless, it was still quite an early start as we had another character breakfast today, this morning in Goofy's Kitchen, a restaurant located at the Disneyland Hotel. Some of the food options available here, considering it was breakfast, were very 'interesting'. I am not sure of anyone who would have pizza at the start of the day. I certainly wouldn't do it without one heck of a hangover as justification. They seemed to have a lot of foods which I would never consider a breakfast staple, even in a foreign country. Still, this is Goofy's Kitchen so I guess the menu can be as mad-cap as he is perhaps? Personally, I opted for some simple Mickey waffles and a very large coffee.

We did need to split off from the group briefly so that we could run into the Downtown Disney district before then meeting back up with the group outside Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. We were going to be using the far less busy and convenient entrance direct from the hotel into the Disney California Adventure park. Our destination for today's adventure.

We had stayed in this beautiful hotel on a previously location so it was also nice to have a very quick wander around it again, refreshing some memories. Designed to reflect and celebrate the early 20th century arts and crafts movement it features the architectural style of Northern California. The craftsmen’s homes would often have a garden feel, the Imagineers took that idea and scaled it up to a hotel so that the garden is more like a forest. For instance, the lobby is designed as an immensely up scaled living room, complete with arched wooden beams and a giant fireplace. It feels so homely here, despite being vast with 948 rooms, 44 suites and 71 villas!

The rest of the ABD group arrived and we made our way through the security point. I will say this here, as I had noticed it as a general theme across the resort but the security teams which check all your bags were all very friendly and welcoming. This was unlike any other tourist destination I have ever visited. Usually, I find that nine times out of 10, the security staff are brash, very grumpy and often quite rude. I am not sure how Disney have managed it but they seem to be bucking the trend and making sure that what is probably some guests first cast member interaction of the day is a pleasant one. (Security teams are often outsourced to private firms for visitor attractions so I can only imagine Disney are hiring their very own and training them in the Disney way. Either that or they were just incredibly happy to be maintaining security at the happiest place on Earth.

With everyone now together, the group began making it’s way over to the first stop on today’s tour which was Toy Story Midway Mania! Opening in 2008 this is a relatively new attraction for the Disney resorts in general but one common theme at each location it exists is its immense popularity. Queues are always sufficient enough to definitely consider a fastpass!

Toy Story Midway Mania at night - I didn't manage a picture during the day...

Toy Story Mania is a ‘shoot-em-up’ style attraction. The theme here is that you are working your way through a collection of classic carnival midway games. The vehicles manoeuvre around what could be considered virtual environments playing five different games. Each of the games, such as firing darts at balloons is played out on a 3D screen. It is very much like playing a video game but with additional physical involvement from the riders.

Usually I am actually fairly good at this style of attraction, always managing to best Marc in the total scores but for some reason, I can never quite get the knack of Toy Story Midway Mania with Marc managing to comfortably beat my score on every previous ride. Well today I was sure that we were in the company of some real pros, particularly our Adventure Guides who are frequent visitors to the attractions. I asked Michael if he could ride with Marc, just so Marc didn't win again. Of course, this was all with a sense of humour before you all started thinking I'm a horrid childish person ha-ha. Michael was happy to take up the challenge and I would be riding with Josh.

Mr Potato Head in the Midway Mania Queue

I just want to reiterate how valuable the fast pass system is at a Disney resort for those of you who may have never visited the parks. This is another of those attractions that is incredibly popular and frequently has long queues. Fast passes will enable you to get more out of your day and free you up from being in the long Standby lines. I should also point out that a fast pass does not mean you will have no queue at all. There will be a bunch of people all with the same time slot as you. However, I am sure you can appreciate the difference between a 15-minute wait and that of the 2-hour line. Thankfully Disney Attractions have very high throughputs so queues move quickly but they do happen.

As part of the ABD we were able to fast pass the line here and it was pretty swift getting onto the ride. The contraption that you must use to fire at the targets always amuses the smutty 13-year-old boy in me. Situated on the front of the ride vehicle there is what looks like a cannon for each rider. To use the cannon, you have to tug on the rope and ball that is hanging from the cannon. Obviously the faster you tug on the ball, the more ammunition you fire at the targets and then the higher your score could be. I will not be so crass as to describe precisely what it looks like but I am sure your imagination can fill in the gap. Josh and I were certainly amused before the ride got going.

Woody, Buzz and the gang guide you round this 'firing range' in challenges where you are throwing darts at balloons or tennis balls at plates for example. The attraction is great fun with that added value of being competitive as each player tries to best his or her riding partner and the wider parties’ scores. For those who have ridden before it can also be about a personal best. The only thing here is that there is no On-Ride photo that can be purchased for that permanent reminder of your score which is a shame.

Back to the real competition though, Michael did beat Marc's score. YAY. There was much amusement from the group when he blamed his loss on the fact that his hand kept coming off the ball as he was yanking it... which was even more amusing to myself and Josh...

Childish behaviour (on my part) aside, Toy Story Midway Mania is hilariously good fun and will certain be a talking point for the whole family.

Making our way back past California Screamin’ and out of Paradise Pier, we were heading over to Cars Land. Marc and I had been looking forward to this long before we even booked our trip as they had actually started construction not long after our last visit in 2008. We had followed the construction in awe of what was being done but nothing could prepare us for just how good it is.

Me and Marc with the world of Cars at our feet...

If you like your themed lands to be totally immersive (perhaps you are a fan of the Wizarding World in the Universal Theme Parks) then Cars Land is a must do. It is all set in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs, directly lifted from the movie Cars in every possible sense. In the movie, which is in turn inspired by historical events, each of the inhabitants has a business that they operated for the once passing trade of Route 66. The beginning of the end for Route 66 began in 1956 when President D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act which had a dramatic effect on local business as they were bypassed in favour of the quicker interstate route. The proprietors of Radiator Springs still muddle along with very little business until a race car called Lightning McQueen puts the town back on the map. Go watch the film if you aren't familiar!

As well as the businesses (each of which selling relevant products), there are three attractions to enjoy as well as the incredibly built Cadillac Range Mountains, whose jagged peaks resemble the tail fins of six Cadillac models from 1957 to 1962, which is a reference to a Cadillac Ranch public art sculpture in Texas. The main attraction is Radiator Springs Racers which again, I was ridiculously excited to try. I was going to have to wait a little longer though, as we were heading off backstage again.

The Cadillac Mountain Range

It was a fair walk round to the maintenance bay of the ride as we had to walk along the back side of the mountains that run the attractions perimeter. Once there we were once again given an in depth talk about the attraction. The fact it was part of a $1.1 billion expansion for the park is no surprise when you find out that each of the cars themselves costs just shy of $1 million (£779,970 based on current exchange rates).

From here they spoke about the rigorous maintenance cycle that each of them goes through and they showed us the extensive safety systems that are in place. Every last movement of every single vehicle is tracked and is constantly feeding back data to the main the computer. If there are any anomalies, the ride will shut down. The maintenance team were also very proud to point out that the rumours about the ride’spoor reliability were grossly exaggerated and in fact, Cars has one of the best uptime records at the park (downtime is when the attraction has to shut down or pause during scheduled opening times which is the Uptime).

Another little fact that appealed to the rollercoaster enthusiast in me was that underneath the slot-car (Scalextric for us Brits) looking track, is essentially a set of rollercoaster tracks which the cars run along. Obviously, it would be a stretch to classify this as a powered coaster, but it does share the same principles.

After all this talking about it, I was absolutely itching to finally have a go myself and thankfully we would be. The only downside was that we had to walk all the way back around the back of those mountains.

The ride itself is another fantastically well executed family dark-ride with added thrills. Essentially the story sets out that Radiator Springs is hosting its own race and you are taking part, coached by the residents of the town. It is filled with wonderful moments, such as when you pass under the rock work to reveal a waterfall and distant road bridge, just like in the movie. Accompanied with some uplifting on-board audio it gave me goose bumps each time, long before the race itself gets underway. This is a must do attraction!

I could not possibly sum up just how immersive this land is, how much it feels like you are walking around the real Radiator Springs but after we got off the ride we heard a kid of around 5 or 6 turn around to his mother and say, "Mum, is this where they filmed Cars?" Considering Cars is an animated movie, I thought this was very fitting and high praise for what Disney have achieved here. High praise indeed. We revisited Cars Land several more times throughout the rest of the trip.

It goes without saying that our next stop had the whole group buzzing like little 5 year olds loaded up on sweets and sugary fizzy drinks, especially considering we had been told that Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout probably would not be on the tour owing to the fact it had only opened recently and was incredibly popular. The excitement was palpable!

Now, Guardians has not arrived without its share of controversy, essentially replacing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction with a complete re-theme. Many die-hard fans were absolutely livid when this was announced and took to social media to voice their anger. Discussions around how the building is now an eye-sore and doesn't fit the California Adventure Theme were at fever pitch during the construction phase. There was also a lot of upset over the fact they were changing Tower of Terror full spot, since it is a massive fan favourite. I can certainly attest to that, with the original Tower of Terror in Florida being my number one favourite Disney attraction. I point out that the Florida version is my favourite because it was not exactly the same. The version over in Disney's Hollywood Studios was the first built and by quite some years too. The Florida ride itself is better executed and more extensive. Disney later simplified the layout of the attraction for the California and Paris versions each opening in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Some of the changes they made in the newer reiterations of the attraction always jarred with me because they broke the story.

A statue of the 'collector' Taneleer Tivan

One example is that when you are about to board the elevator as part of the story, you are waiting in front of the maintenance elevator door. When the door opens (as you would expect an elevator door to open) you discover that you actually have to cross the chasm of a corridor before you are in the elevator ride vehicle. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that I have never seen an elevator where the lift isn't behind the door? It may seem like a very trivial thing but for me I felt it breaks the story, because it becomes abundantly clear you are not actually boarding an elevator but instead boarding a ride vehicle. Of course, that is the reality, but Tower of Terror along with many other Disney attractions, have a knack for getting the audience wrapped in the story so it becomes the reality, even if it is on a subconscious level perhaps. Perhaps I am just being really picky about what some would think is a minor issue and I will accept that, but for me, along with some of the other missing elements in the newer version it made the California and Paris versions still great to ride but ultimately inferior to the Orlando version. Disagree and want to discuss? Be sure to pop it in the comments below...

So yes, I was never particularly phased by the fact they were changing Tower of Terror (just please don't touch the Florida version ok Imagineers?). I welcomed the change and I was even more excited to hear that legendary Imagineer Joe Rohde was heading up the project. Joe is an incredible artist and storyteller devoted to providing the absolute best in immersive experiences. You only have to look at his work on Disney's Animal Kingdom overall and subsequently Pandora, the world of Avatar to know why I believe that this guy is a bonafide Imagineering genius. Seriously, I truly couldn't understand why everyone was so worried that this revamp was going to be anything other than incredible.

Again, we were able to jump the queue and go straight into the main building itself. The story now being that you are visiting the Tivan collection. It is extensively set up throughout the queue video what the building is, who Tivan is and what are the fundamental elements of the story. I am not massively familiar with the character of Tivan having never read the comics and having only seen the movie once, but this didn't make the slightest bit of difference to my understanding of the story and what was going on. It is very clear that this redevelopment was designed knowing that not everyone was going to be familiar with the characters and they have done a fantastic job at ensuring everyone is up to speed and that it is not essential to have seen the movie or read the comics. That isn't to say there isn't a tonne of Easter-eggs for those who are more familiar with the Marvel Universe because there are loads of them in this room alone. Don't blame me if you find yourself hoping the queue doesn't move too quickly so that you can spot them all.

One of the easter eggs, a yeti from the Matterhorn Bobsleds in Disneyland

I won't go into too much detail of the attraction itself but I did want to touch upon something that not only gives this ride a greater re-ride opportunity but in my opinion, it also opens up the attraction for more guests to ride. The name itself Tower of Terror tells you all you need to know and for me, the ride, even after years of riding it, always managed to make me very nervous, the theming being so well executed that it always put me on edge in the very best possible way (hey I like to be a bit scared sometimes!). I am not saying I was absolutely terrified of the attraction but I'd definitely bill it as a 'frightening' experience and I certainly know enough people who avoid riding it for that reason. Mission Breakout removes that element. The story itself is not designed to put you on edge and fearing the ominous Twilight Zone. Instead, the story now has a strong sense of adventure. To begin with you are just visitors at a museum exhibition but you get wrapped up in helping Rocket release the rest of the Guardians (oops, spoilers?). Of course, being a drop-Tower type experience is always going to generate an element of nervousness or outright fear but Mission Breakout minimises all that and makes the whole experience even more fun. Part of that is the soundtrack. It is indicated that Starlord loves a bit of retro music (he still uses a cassette Walkman), which Rocket gets his hands on and at the beginning of the ride hooks it up to blast the audience with some 'retro' classics. Each of the different soundtrack songs is paired with its own ride experience, meaning that you can get different experiences with each ride. Summer-Rose mentioned before boarding that she really wanted the Jackson 5 'I Want You Back' experience. There was a lot of excitement when the ride started and out blasted that very song, adding to our excitement which carried throughout the whole ride experience.

There was so much more laughter than I was used to from Tower of Terror that was for sure. I do just want to be clear, I am not writing off or dismissing potential scare attractions because they do have their place in a theme park. I love the fear and nerves I get on Tower of Terror and it is one of very few attractions that genuinely achieves that. It gets my adrenaline pumping. I mean, if you don't have some kind of ghost train or haunted house, are you even a theme park? However, I think Mission Breakout is actually a better ride experience overall - and they fixed my gripe too. You are no longer waiting at a lift door that isn't a lift. Now it is a 'security checkpoint' to the gantry lift. For those that don't like 'scary' themed attractions, or had been previous intimidated by the Tower Of Terror, I'd strongly tell them to consider riding. It really is a treat! We went on to ride this several more times before the end of the holiday.

After the literal ups and downs of Mission Breakout, it was time to ease the pace a little and head back down the Hollywood Town Street towards the Carthay Circle.

Obviously, this is not the actual Carthay Circle theatre, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was premiered in 1937. It is however, a stunning building that sits to the left at the end of what you could consider the Main Street and hub of this park. Much like the now retired Great Movie Ride in Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida, is housed in a replica of the Chinese Theatre, this is a very clear replica of the original building which was built in 1926 and later demolished in 1969 and rather than be a ride attraction, this is a restaurant.

Throughout the tour it was absolutely clear that the designers wanted this to be a grand establishment. The downstairs was very much a swanky waiting area come lounge bar with a full restaurant upstairs, with private booths and rooms for those with lots of cash to burn.

The decor and pictures hung on the walls all evoked the time of the Hollywood Golden era. One minor detraction was pointed out to me though, that they had almost tried too hard to make it feel like it was actually from the Golden age, when it clearly wasn't. To that person it felt disingenuous. I can't say I agree but I understand the sentiment. To me it was just an incredibly well themed restaurant rather than an attempt at being an historical building.

After we were done here we were led outside to be taken somewhere even more special in the same building. When we entered I saw the Club 33 logo on the check in desk!! Club 33 if the name of the very exclusive private members club over in the main Disneyland Park. This was actually another private members club called ‘Club 1901’, named after the year in which Walt Disney was born.

At the bar, there were 4 bar chairs, each with a name on the back, Walt, Lily, Roy and Edna, after Walt and his brother and their wives.

There was also countless pieces of memorabilia and references to the Walt Disney history. This place certainly had an air of exclusivity about it, not that we had too long to start having notions of grandeur. As soon as we had done with photos it was off to our next stop in what I can only describe as an old-time airport hangar.

Once the group was assembled we made it into the Soarin' Around The World building. Comparing this to Florida (a habit I try to avoid) there is far more detail in the queue here. The queue is very much an exhibition showcasing the history of American aviation and a lot of the features are fascinating. It is a cool and subtle way of teaching people, for those who are receptive of course. We got through this area very quickly as we were all taken through the fastpass line and straight into the loading bays.

Soarin’ always sits quite highly in my regard. It is by no means a thrill ride in the conventional sense, instead it is a calm and relaxing journey. The concept being that you are on a hang glider device, soaring around the world, over some of the most beautiful landmarks the world has to offer. Despite it being such a peaceful and tranquil type experience I still find it thrilling. The feeling that you are really flying is wonderful.

After the amusing pre-show video and a challenge to spot the Hidden Mickeys during the ride, we were boarding. I always have a strange feeling of vulnerability when riding Soarin'. Namely because the safety harness is a seatbelt. When the ride begins and the bench of seats swings up to be in front of the huge 80ft concave 180-degree Omnimax Laser Projection Screen, I feel initially anxious. Those soon disappear as I am swept into the flight across the world on the screen thankfully. I thoroughly enjoy how the seats tilt and sway in relation to the movie, culminating in a flight up the main street of Disneyland right into the evening fireworks.

As the 4k film came to an end, the group were then called over to the control desk of the attraction and down a flight of stairs which were obviously not the exit of the ride. We were led to an open space directly underneath the huge screen. Standing here it became apparent just how far back the concave screen reaches in order to truly envelop the riders. We were actually allowed to stand under the screen whilst the ride was in operation. This was another incredibly surreal experience before we were then led further backstage to be told more about the attraction including an opportunity to have a good sniff of the scent canisters they use throughout the ride.

At this point it was still mid-afternoon so we made a quick dash to use a fast pass over at Guardians of the Galaxy before heading off to get changed and then back to Trader Sams for cocktails laid on by our adventure guides. Naturally, we wanted to freshen up first.

Just before the cocktails we got to sit and have a great chat with Bill and Sue. Talking to others about their Disney experiences and all the things they love and loathe makes me really happy. Being able to talk to people in person who share our love and passion for Disney is always a joyful experience. Before we knew it, everyone was there, cocktails in hand with lots of laughter.

With a sense of merriment, the group then made its way back into the California Adventure park and back to the Carthay Circle restaurant for a ridiculously nice three course meal. I am not going to lie, I do not remember what I had to eat but I remember having a wonderful time with Pete, Kevin, John, Josh, Sean and of course, Marc. Initially, it did seem a little odd when we didn’t receive any desserts though. That said, Marc, Pete and I were all desperate for a nicotine fix so made a run for the only smoking area in the park.

It is rather ridiculous that there is only one smoking area. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that people don’t want smelly smoke around them or their children. As an intended father, I absolutely agree. I wouldn’t want my kids around it either. That said, there are lots of areas which are not frequented by masses of people which could be used as smoking areas. Instead, in this case, it was on a main throughway of the park. This has never made any sense to me! Nevertheless, the view here is stunning.

Straight after that we had to re-join the group down on the Paradise Pier Waterfront area of the park for our viewing of World Of Color from a reserved space. I must admit here that it had been wonderful being able to see all the shows without having to stake out a place for an hour or so beforehand. I would definitely consider dining and reserved seating packages in the future to free up lots of time!

World of Color is an incredible production with 1200 water fountains as well as fire, lasers, fog and HD projections on mist screens! The way in which they make it look like the water is bending to the music is just fantastic. It is another beautiful kiss goodnight from Disney. It was made even sweeter with a platter of deserts and drinks to enjoy throughout the show. It was almost a fitting end to the day…

…Except we weren’t quite done. We still had a fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers and we were desperate to see Cars Land in the dark. The land really takes on a whole different life after dark with the buildings lit up with vibrant neon lights. We didn’t really have too much time to hang around at this point, as we wanted to get a ride on the Racers in before they closed. Much like the land itself, the ride was a whole new experience at night, racing around in the dark!

Now we were done! We knew we had one final early start in the morning so we called time on the day and made our way back to the Disneyland Hotel for our last night before the craziness that was going to hit us in the morning.

After a wonderful night’s sleep it was now time to get into the Parks with our fantastic guides and our fellow Adventurers. This morning we were to be treated to early access into Disneyland before any member of the public. We were introduced to Doug who was a wonderful person. He had so much energy at whatever ridiculous time of the morning it was and he was very engaging, giving us lots of information and history as we went along. It was a little bit surreal entering through the main gates while there were already queues forming but all in all, everything went smoothly and we were in, having pictures taken in front of the Disneyland Railroad Main Street Station (just like '99.9%' of all the other guests to visit the park!!).

If entering through the gates seemed surreal then walking down an absolutely empty Main Street was just ridiculous. In all my years of visiting the parks I have never been on such a quiet Main Street. Our group were the only people here and it was delightful. I was able to fully appreciate the background audio which sets the tone of small town Middle America at the turn-of-the-century. Of course, this is a nostalgic and romanticised version of what a town like Marceline, Missouri (where Walt spent a few of his early years) would have been like. It is said that Walt based many of the buildings along Main Street on that of Marceline.

Marc and I without absolutely
no one else in shot!

We continued along Main Street to find ourselves at the foot of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Again, being able to enjoy views of the castle with not a person to be seen was unusual. During open hours there is not a second that goes past where there isn't someone having their pictures taken in front of the castle. Naturally we took full advantage of this fact by having our own pictures taken whilst the Disneyland Ambassador was introduced to the group. Disneyland Ambassadors have existed at the park since 1965 and they serve as the resorts 'Emissaries of Goodwill', media representatives and as official hosts to the resort’s guests. As official spokespeople, Ambassadors offer the outside community a personal relationship with the resort. Alexa Garcia is the Disneyland Ambassador for the 2017-2018 term and she was wonderful to talk too. Obviously her passion and knowledge of the parks was incredible and I could have spent hours talking to her.

I was extremely excited when I could hear the not so distant rumble and boom of the Fantasmic soundtrack coming from the Frontierland area of the park. They were running tests and rehearsals of the night-time spectacular show ahead of the new version opening in just a few days‘ time. Fantasmic is my favourite of all Disney Park productions, which I will cover in a future part.

Our next stop was the Plaza Inn restaurant for our Character Breakfast. Welcomed and shown to our tables by the Fairy Godmother I have to say the character interaction was absolutely spot on. I also got to meet Hook, Suzy and Winnie the Pooh (amongst a few others) I got very excited to have my picture with Goofy’s son Max! I don't think I have ever actually seen him in the parks before and had only seen him on YouTube as part of a Disney Cruise show. This was a most welcome and awesome surprise.

With all the character interactions being so on point and truly engaging I get very excited and find it really easy to return the interaction - much to my own downfall. Tigger was the next to our table and I definitely wanted to get a picture. In my head it seemed like a really good idea but I suggested that I bounce together with Tigger. Unfortunately the photo did not come out well but that was the least of my problems. When I sat back down I noticed that I had managed to split my shorts in all the bouncy excitement. I felt like a prize idiot! Thankfully I could see the funny side as I made a mad dash back onto Main Street to buy some new shorts. I was thanking my lucky stars that a) the shops had now opened and b) that they even had shorts! Some may have a little blue humour here and say that At least I could say I ‘bust your shorts with Tigger!' tehehehehe

Adrienne looks on, blissfully unaware that I just split my shorts open...

With my new and uncomfortably tight on the waist shorts, the group left the restaurant and made our way over the Matterhorn Bobsleds. This is one of my favourite attractions in the park with its wonderful combination of being family friendly but relatively quick and all around hilarious good fun. In many respects, the design of this coaster plays out like a terrain coaster having been designed to hug the mountain. At no point are you truly aware of how high you are because the mountain is all around you which takes away one of those things that people find so scary about rollercoasters. Interestingly the Matterhorn was the very first rollercoaster to use a tubular steel construction for the track (rather than wood). As we had learned the previous day (and noted in Part 4), Disney did not just use technology for technology's sake, it had to serve the story. In this instance Walt wanted to create a toboggan themed journey that would take you on a ride through the famous Matterhorn Mountain. In order to fit 2 separate circuits into the Mountain and ensure it had all the right twists and turns, an entirely wooden coaster may have been a struggle.

It did not disappoint and I managed to get soaked in the final splash down finale at the end of the ride. Considering that it opened in 1959 it runs better than many other coasters less than half its age!

Continuing into Fantasyland, our next stop was the King Arthur Carousel. Immediately we were reminded of our journey to Griffith Park and riding the Carousel that started it all.

One ride that always gains very long lines and is a FastPass must is Peter Pan's Flight. Much like its counterparts in Orlando and Paris, you board a flying pirate ship for a journey through the story of Peter Pan, right from the Darling children's bedroom, over the streets of London to the second star on the right and straight on till morning. The story of the boy who never grew up, and specifically the attraction that brings that story to life, opened in 1955 as an opening day attractions and still gains multi-hour queues. Seriously, I strongly recommend you getting a Fastpass planned for this one!

"whoso pulleth out this sword of this

stone and anvil is rightwise king,

born of England" - Not me then!

Whilst waiting for everyone to finish riding it seemed like a great opportunity to try pulling the sword from the stone. Of course I took part and got right into the spirit of it and at one point I had my foot on the stone and I was pulling the sword with all my might. I'm not going to lie, I was actually really nervous about ripping through another pair of shorts. Thankfully they held together!

After all the legendary King Arthur action it was off to our next stop which was equally legendary as we entered into a long lost tomb, apparently protected by supernatural powers. This was Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. This time though, we would not simply be boarding the attraction and instead we were led to the secret tomb within the tomb; backstage.

We were now stood in the maintenance bay for the attraction, with one of the 'Enhanced Motion Vehicles' or EMV sat in front of us. The cast from the attraction began telling us about the maintenance routine for each of the 17 vehicles. For those of you who have never ridden or even seen the attraction, the simplest way I can explain the EMV is a motion simulator on a track designed to look like a huge battered military troop transport type vehicle. Each vehicle travels at only 14mph but the additional motion supplied by three hydraulic rams connecting the chassis to the transport body of the vehicle creates the illusion of travelling at great speed, across incredibly rough terrain or any other experience the imagineers want to create.

The entrance to the Temple of the Forbidden Eye

Again, this technology was created specifically for this attraction and has only since been duplicated as the same ride (Tokyo DisneySea) with some technology variations and used for the attraction Dinosaur (Disney's Animal Kingdom). The technology was devised in order to support the story in which the rider is trying to escape the curse that is hellbent on 'getting you' in the tomb.

I will say, having ridden both Indiana Jones and Dinosaur in the past, that I was oblivious to the scale of these vehicles. When you board the vehicle it is from a platform in line with the seating level which means you might not necessarily notice how far off the ground you are due to the huge neoprene filled tyres. Seeing it independently from the rest of the ride I realised the huge scale of these machines. They really are a marvel.

We were then shown how the EMV is programmed in terms of its motion simulator. The controls start off in a very manual sense with the programmer able to very precisely plan movements using what I can only describe as joysticks. Some of us were even given the opportunity to control the EMV ourselves and of course I had a go. It was astounding just how much you can move these things around and just how intense you could make the whole ride experience! This is why they employ experts and not me!!

I could give you even more information about the ride systems and a blow by blow account of the ride itself but I don't think describing it would truly do it justice and I wouldn't want to spoil some of the awesome surprise elements. Get yourself out to California to ride it for yourself!

Next up was another part of the ABD trip that I had been looking forward to since the point of booking. As we made our way back down Main Street towards the entrance I knew we were heading for what is probably the most important piece of real estate in the park. The firehouse.

Ok, so it is not actually a working firehouse but above it is what some would consider a sacred place that is known as Walt's Apartment. Many a Disney fan is aware of the small apartment that Walt used when he was on site but far fewer have been lucky enough to actually go inside.

Approaching the Fire House it was impossible not to take a look up and nod to the lamp lit brightly in the window. Legend has it, (for those who do not know), that Walt would leave the lamp on in the window so that everyone knew he was on site. After he passed away it became a feature that the lamp is always on; Walt will always be there. My own little tradition when I see the lamp on arrival is to say a personal 'Hi Walt'.

The group was split in two and we would be heading up to the apartment first. I almost felt nervous as we climbed the backstage staircase towards what was effectively Walt's front door when he was at the park. We all filed in and we're able to take a seat. Much like back at the Tam o'Shanter, I was surprised that we were allowed to touch anything, let alone sit on the furniture. Marc and I took a seat on the sofa to the right of the window, my eyes fixed on the lamp in the window. I had never seen it from this side, not even in pictures.

The apartment had obviously been preserved in the same style as when Walt was alive and there was a tremendous amount of maroon furniture and wall decor. There was a quaint little kitchenette to one side which still had all the original crockery. In a previous part I wrote about when we visited the Tam o'Shanter and how I was struck by the humble settings. I could feel that here too. It seems very clear to me that Walt was a very humble man with very humble tastes. I would not say that there was anything particularly grand about the apartment and believe me, that is not a criticism. The grandest thing here was possibly the beautiful and really large gramophone next to the sofa. Perhaps I was just a little surprised. We are not just talking about any company head, we are talking about Walt Disney. The leader of one of the most successful entertainment companies in the world, even in his time. With his success it would not be a far stretch to imagine living the life of luxury and enjoying the money that would have come with the success. Not Walt. He kept things simple so that he could continue putting money into his future projects, of which he had many. I didn't think it was possible but I admire him even more because of it.

The Space to the right of the main building is where the patio sits.

We were then taken outside onto a small patio that sits above part of the City Hall building. I had always heard a lot about the apartment but I was totally unaware of the outdoor space hidden away up here. From Park level you wouldn't even know it was here.

Continuing the theme of being humble, Summer-Rose began telling us about some of the people Walt hosted up in the apartment but the one that really resonated was that the apartment would sometimes be used as a staging area, allowing the Mouseketeers to get ready for appearances, whilst Walt was there. Again, we are talking about Walt's personal space in the park for him and his family here! I'm aware that this could just be the impression I get from movies and the media but I cannot imagine other CEOs of huge entertainment companies being like this.

We were led back inside and we all took turns to have our picture in the apartment, with the lamp sitting in the window clearly in shot. This was another one of those moments where there was an overwhelming urge to burst into the happiest of tears. I think that for me, after the many years that I have been reading about these locations, to actually experience them first hand felt like I had achieved a dream or a goal.

Marc and I in Walt's Apartment with the famous lamp on the right

After a brief break we found ourselves all the way over in Mickey's Toontown, where you can find the home of Mickey Mouse and all his friends. I always find myself marvelling at the theming here. The rear perimeter of this land has flat 2D type 'flats' (similar to the scenery pieces in a theatre) of grassy green hills. They are very carefully arranged and designed to look like that of a cartoon and at first glance my eyes seem to struggle to find the break between the 'fake' hills and the real sky. The illusion that you are now walking through a cartoon is very effective.

Mickey's Toontown

Goofy's House

Each of the characters have their own home here, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Chip & Dale. What I love about each house is how they are created. They are not just merely character themed homes but actually tell the story of how that character built the home. For instance, Goofy's house has a porch which is tall yet narrow and a little bit haphazard, even clumsy perhaps, all of the details fitting Goofy's characteristics and how he would build his home. The building also has a colour palette to the colours that identifies it as 'Goofy'.

This follows through for each of the characters, each with their own unique style and personality which shines through their building. I have always loved that touch.

Still, there was one house in particular we were visiting today. The big man himself; Mickey Mouse. Rumour had it that he was looking forward to us stopping by and had cleared a tiny space in his diary for us to visit.

Mickey's House

What I was not prepared for however, was the outfit Mickey would be wearing today. Being a huge Mickey fan, it has become somewhat of a game (aka insanely important life challenge) to get pictures with Mickey in lots of his different outfits - a game that many other 'grown-up' friends also play.

Today, he had dug out a particularly old outfit, his very first in fact. I had only ever seen Mickey out in public with his Steamboat Willie outfit during the Fantasmic stage show which has meant the chances of a cheeky photo-op were a flat out impossibility. Seeing him back in his black and white shorts and a scarf, complete with a small steamboat set behind him was great fun. What was even more fun was trying to get through the entire 35 strong group of us for photos, all in the same small room.

After our picture with Mickey we all split up again for the afternoon and had some fast passes to use. Walking around, Marc and I started discussing a trend I had been noticing since the morning. It seemed very clear to me (and Marc agreed) that one of the big differences in Disneyland is the reverence to the history and gravitas of the Walt Disney Company. If you knew where to look there were subtle nods, homages and tributes to Walt himself and the heritage of the company, which I really appreciated. Mickey Mouse being in that specific costume was another example of that respect to what went before. To be clear, I am not saying that they force the company and Walt's history upon you at every opportunity, because it is not that sycophantic, despite what some people may tell you. It is done in a very pleasant and humble way whilst also looking to the future and ensuring that they keep up with, or should I say, lead the trends in theme parks. I feel that under the wrong leadership it could be very easy for the park to be totally absorbed by the reverence to its own history. Effectively it would make the park a museum, something I know that Walt, and now, the Imagineers work tirelessly to prevent. They manage to strike the balance really well. Of course, this is coming from an infrequent visitor. Locals who get to visit every other week may see it in a completely different light.

Nevertheless, it was time to use up some fast-passes so we headed to Splash Mountain. The 'log-flume' based attraction features a plot which draws from several of Uncle Remus' stories as he tells them in the movie 'Song Of The South', which in turn is based upon the folktales adapted and compiled by Chandler Harris, originally published in 1881. The animated sequences from the movie are then presented along the ride, following Br'er Rabbit as he seeks adventure and his 'Laughing Place' whilst avoiding the pursuit and the traps of Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. The ride reaches its climax when Br'er Fox does indeed catch Br'er Rabbit and throws him into the briar patch - whilst you simultaneously plummet down the main drop to a splashy end.

Splash Mountain is an attraction I always find difficult to photograph

Usually I manage to avoid getting wet on this attraction but not this time. I managed to get pretty well saturated but in all honesty, it was welcome in the scorching California sun. Splash Mountain is not scary in any way and is just brilliant fun which the whole family can enjoy.

The Haunted Mansion entrance sign

Just next to Splash Mountain is the legendary Haunted Mansion which is a MUST visit on every trip. In many ways Haunted Mansion is the quintessential Disney attraction along with Pirates of the Caribbean. It is dark and chilling with just the right dash of self deprecating humour to ensure that it doesn't leave the guests absolutely terrified. It has certainly earned its place having been running since 1969.

The interesting thing about the Mansion itself is that it doesn't look particularly Haunted from the outside. It may look a little creepy but all in all it looks like a pretty ordinary mansion - however ordinary they can be. In some of the early sketches back before the originally scheduled opening of 1963, Ken Anderson designed an antebellum manor which was in a very sorry state including dead trees and swarms of bats around the building with boarded doors and windows. Walt however, was none too keen on the prospect of a dilapidated building within his pristine park. There is a quote that often gets repeated which I believe Walt said (and I am paraphrasing), "Let the ghosts and ghouls take care of the inside and we will take care of the outside".

The original walk-through attraction evolved into what Walt described as a 'Museum of the Weird'. During the evolution, two of the attractions key designers, Claude Coats and Marc Davies disagreed on whether the attraction should be funny or scary. It was not until after Walt passed away in 1966, did the attraction evolve significantly. It was then, plans developed into a full on ride system and would incorporate both Coats and Davies ideas.

The story itself is very dark, featuring 999 'happy haunts' and the story that always catches my attention, the ghost of Constance Hatchaway. The story evolves that she is rather twisted and has a knack for marrying into wealth. It is summed up perfectly by her mocking of traditional wedding vows...

"Here comes the bride... as long as we both shall live... for better or for worse? I do. I did, in sickened and in... wealth. You may know kiss the bride... we'll live happily ever after... till death do us part..."

One of my favourite sequences in the ride features paintings of Constance and several of her husbands that change before your eyes to see the bridegrooms head gone and then the scene concludes with her standing with a hatchet in her hands. It is absolutely twisted and would make a very good horror film but it is presented in such a way that perhaps younger riders (and many adult ones for that matter) are not aware of just how horrific the story is. This to me makes it ever more impressive as the more you ride it, the more you notice all the little details that make up the story and make the attraction evermore re-rideable.

We had arranged to meet up with Pete, Chandra and a few of the other DisUnplugged team who were now arriving ahead of the D23 event at the weekend. It was great to meet Steve and Jackie. Steve always provides a balanced viewpoint and has a knack for being a type of devil’s advocate and Jackie is one of the sunniest people I have ever met. She sees positivity and happiness everywhere and it is infectious is the very best way. I have mentioned it earlier in the series of journals, but it was just wonderful to meet the people I have been watching on YouTube for years. Since it was right next to us, our small group jumped into the queue for Pirates of the Caribbean.

Pirates is one of the rides that even those who haven't visited a Disney park know. It is again, a quintessential Disney attraction. I don't think there has been a single other theme park attraction that has spawned a multi-million earning, multi-movie franchise series which just goes to show the impact the ride has had on modern pop culture. That in itself is quite impressive for a theme park attraction.

A key note here, is that the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was reportedly the last attraction that Walt himself had a hand in designing. Originally it was planned as a Walk-through wax museum attraction but after the success of the It's A Small World attraction at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, it was decided to use a similar boat ride concept to best serve the story of the Pirates. If any story should have a boat ride, it has to be Pirates right?

What I love the most about this attraction, and yes I am aware that it is controversial, is that it now includes the characters from the movies. Yes, the characters of Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa were created for the movie and did not exist in the attraction. For newer and younger audiences who are very aware of the movies, it would be safe to assume that they would think the attraction came after the movies. I have seen interviews with Imagineers where they talk about children riding and asking where Captain Jack Sparrow was. The history of the attraction and the cultural phenomenon of the movies means that both are very much entwined so for me, it makes perfect sense that they have allowed the attraction to evolve to include the new characters. It keeps in tune with the modern pop culture surrounding the franchise as a whole. I dare say that there are a lot of purists who feel the attraction should have been left as it was but I would refer back to my earlier comments about Disneyland not becoming a museum. It truly is a fantastic attraction and I enjoy riding it on every visit.

Mickey on the lead float of the parade

After queueing a little longer than we anticipated it was now a mad dash over to the main hub in front of the castle to join the rest of the ABD group for the afternoon parade, Mickey's Soundsational Parade. Disney parades are always a highlight for me. They come with so much energy and enthusiasm and it was always great to be part of the crowd getting so excited. One of the most heart-warming moments was seeing Danika's reaction to the Princess Tiana float. Danika resides in Louisiana where the film is set so it is obviously close to her heart but seeing her incredible beaming smile shine through and her excitement translate into dancing to that jazzy soundtrack was just lovely.

We were now also joined by Ryno, whom we had met on a previous trip to Orlando a few times. He is the Associate Producer on the Dis-Unplugged and also appears on their Universal Edition, Dis-Pop. He also contributes a lot of vLogs from around the Disney Parks and Resorts. For us, it was great to see him again after 18 months of simply keeping in touch via social media. I am a strong believer in the good of social media and our long distance friendship with Ryno is definitely proof of that.

After the usual greetings it was time to get some dinner, so we returned to the Plaza Inn where we had breakfast earlier that day. It was certainly a lot busier now but it was a quick service restaurant (think fast food style but ridiculous amounts nicer) so the only real challenge was finding a table once we had our food. The food here was lovely and also very affordable. I went for the Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes. It certainly hit the spot and was great value for money.

At this point none of us particularly felt like doing any rides so we decided that we would tick off another 'must-do' on our list. Those who watch the Dis-Unplugged show will know that Ryno loves a Mint Julep. For everyone else, Disneyland has their very own non-alcoholic version of the cocktail which by all accounts, was delicious. I wouldn't know, having never tried one so Marc and I had made it a mission to have one with Ryno at some point in the trip. Now was that time.

Me with the legendary Ryno and MINT JULEPS

We made our way over to the restaurant called French Market, ordered our Mint Juleps and grabbed a seat where we were also joined by Tom from the Disneyland edition of the show. Finally, it was the moment to try the Mint Julep. Yes. Yes it was delicious. And refreshing. So very refreshing. This was one of those drinks that I could drink a ridiculous amount of - which has reminded me again to find a good recipe, someone on the great wide web must have the recipe right? If you do, please comment below...

After lots of discussions about the parks and what we were all excited about for the upcoming D23 event, we decided that we would head back to hotel room and freshen up. Pete had invited us to meet everyone at Trader Sam’s that evening but I had been in those uncomfortable shorts all day so definitely wanted to get changed and feel a little more human for that. My own fault for jumping around with Tigger right? We made our way back towards the front of the park and I was feeling some pangs of emotion. Today had been an another incredible day. As we reached the Town Square entrance to the park I looked over to the upstairs of the firehouse and smiled, "Thanks Walt".

Thanks Walt!

Having had a refreshing shower and getting changed we made our way down to Trader Sam's and met up with Pete and all of the team we had met so far and Greg, the producer of the show. It wasn't very long before we continued getting into very detailed conversations about what we were expecting to hear at D23, reflecting upon the many rumours doing the rounds on the internet, and which of them we thought might come to fruition. It was an immensely enjoyable night and we were both feeling that we were no longer just meeting people we watch on the show, we were making some great friends!

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Journal: Our California Adventure - Part 8