my kind of mouse ears

we went to california adventure today. i've never been there before but i always call it california adventures. i think a lot of people in LA do. it's like how everyone in LA called the lucky grocery store lucky's. i guess we just like to pluralize things. anyway, since california adventure is a disney park, i was hesitant to go because how fun can a mickey mouse roller coaster be? i've heard mixed reviews but since i've never been there i wanted to check it out. for instance, i've heard the park is more for adults than disneyland but i've also heard there's a lot to do there for kids, that the adult bit is small because the park itself is small.

now that i've been there, i'll say this, it's much more enjoyable for those like me who are not into disney because california adventure revolves much more around the side disney stuff such as pixar and the acquisition of the muppets. i've read that the theme of california for a park was a flop. i'd say no to that. perhaps it's because of my love for california that i say that. when you walk in, the first thing is a replica of the golden gate bridge. there is a bit of nostalgia for the past throughout the park. perhaps that is what i liked. the golden days. when you look back, you forget the bad stuff. and theme parks never focus on the bad stuff.

the park is divided into several areas which anyone can go online and read about but fuck calling it by the proper names. here's how i see it in order of how we went around the park. there is the throwback to the 30s-50s sort of time in the form of a luxury liner train facade and an old gas station next to an aviation ride. the beginning of the ride, as you wait in line, pays tribute to the early days of aviation and the aviators who paved the way. actually, there wasn't much of a wait which was a shame because learning about those aviators was a good lession! i didn't know about the various minorities in avaiation in the early days. the ride? well it's not a ride at all. it's just sitting watching a film but it's the coolest thing because it's a very wide screen like an imax but you're much closer to the screen than you've ever been at an imax movie (and you are suspended in air so your feet dangle). so it really puts you in the scene. i'd argue about the content of the film (no military!) but overall it gives you sweeping views of various california landscapes (sea, snow, sand, forest). when we got off the ride, i realized i lost my little eisa man pin that i bought in okinawa that i had put on my purse.

grizzly river run

after that, we went on bigfoot rapids, oh excuse me, that's the name of it at knott's berry farm. roaring rapids? oh that's the name at another park i think. anyway, it's one of those riding down the river rides. the scenery is a little like you're going through yellowstone national park. do we have hot springs at yosemite? i don't know as i've never been there. i'm not sure which part of california it's supposed to be. this ride needs a compartment within the ride to store your shit so it doesn't get wait. that's the only complaint. coincidence: we rode with a family from santa cruz and the daughter's name was eva? we 3 were a group who formerly lived in santa cruz and one of us was named nopalita. anyway, it was weird/cool.

after that i think we walked through this one little part that was supposed to be san francisco. there were houses like you'd see there or in santa cruz and there was a recreation of the exploratorium. after that was the santa cruz boardwalk. it wasn't called that but it's supposed to be like the old days when there were many beachfront amusement areas in california. that's where the ferris wheel, roller coaster, etc. is. we rode some swing stuff. there were 2 kinds. one is outdoors and everyone gets in this spaceship like thing. it's tame. then there's the more traditional swings but it's enclosed in a giant orange. i rode both. we also got on a ride that reminded twiddle thumbs of psycho mouse at great america (it was called muholland drive, something like that, muholland madness?). she can only handle little rides like that. that's ok though. she got braver and i'll write about that!

we decided to eat and check out the bigger rides later once the food had settled. twiddle thumbs has been to the park before and said the vegetarian chili is the only thing we can eat but it's good so not to worry about it. it's served in a breadbowl so you can feel like you're at fisherman's wharf or something. it was alright. after we finished, one of the employees told us about a free beer tasting they would have today. whatever. but we perked up when she mentioned there would also be a tequila tasting at 4pm. ok, we'll check that out, thanks! we then went to the two food making exhibits. first was the tortilla factory. very interesting and you get a free freshly made tortilla! i'm definitely going back for another later in the day. then we went to the sourdough bread exhibit. not as good. you get a small sample before you start so you know it's not fresh. fresh makes all the difference. next time i'm bringing some beans and rice with me and am just gonna go hit the tortilla exhibit so i can have lunch! hahaahahahaaaa

my fair ladybug

we then headed to the other side of the park. we checked out the bug's life area. actually, i only saw the attraction we went on. the 3-d movie thing. the girls said the rest of bug's life is for little kids. i wanted to see for sure in person but after the 3-d movie, they wanted to hurry up to catch a show. anyway, the 3-d bug's life movie. as you wait for the show, the waiting room is like the inside of a tree, as if you are a bug too. there are movie posters on the walls. posters painted on giant leaves. these posters are parodies. hilarious. i took a picture of each one. for instance, there was "web side story", "a stinkbug named desire", "beauty and the bees", etc. then the actual film. these days the 3-d films at amusement parks try to enhance the experience to various senses but they're still lame. it's usually a demonstration of 3-d (no original story), a little movement of the chair, and a squirt of water at you for surprise. not bug's life. they engage much more of your senses and it never feels like a demonstration of the technology. it feels like an actual story. kudos for that. i don't want to say which senses they engage because you really need to experience it firsthand. i'm glad twiddle thumbs didn't give it away.

then we went to the hollywood section and walking through it was kinda weird. i mean, if you've been to universal studios, it's like, what can this park offer? it's a recreation of a street. the stores and attractions are weaved inbetween the facades. at any moment i expected bjork to start singing and dancing "it's oh so quiet". the girls insisted we see the aladdin show, that it's great. that twiddle thumbs's parents go to the park just to see that show. "yeah, great..." i'm thinking. when you go to an amusement park, who goes for the fucking shows? shows are what you do when you're tired and need shade and the line for the rides are too long. plus, i hate 90s disney. i have never seen aladdin, just bits off tv. i'm not interested. but i join them. it's only gonna be like 20 minutes, right? this better be tony the tiger grrrrreat! oh my god... the thing was almost 1 hour! we might as well have watched the actual movie! this wasn't some show. this was a freakin' play!

view from the top of the tower of terror

after that, nopalita and i got on tower of terror. just before going to see aladdin, we got fast passes for the tower since the ride said it had a *gasp* 30 minute wait! (that's forever in california adventure terms.) once we finished aladdin, the wait for the tower was only 13 minutes. but we shaved about 5 minutes with the fastpass, hahahaa. twiddle thumbs was too chicken for this one. if you don't know this ride, it was hyped up on commercials before it opened. it's like you go on an elevator and it breaks. it's supposed to be a twilight zone episode or something. on this ride, they said no photography but i took a picture right at the top when they open the elevator doors so you can see outside and how high you are (not a spectacular photo).

there were 2 more things we wanted to check out at the hollywood section but it was time to go ride some big rides so we went back over to the boardwalk area (ok, so it's called paradise pier). nopalita and i grabbed a fast pass for the roller coaster and then all of us went on the ferris wheel. there are standard carriages that stay put and then there are ones that move on a looped track. you really only feel big movement twice, once as you go up to the top and another as you go down back to the bottom. twiddle thumbs has never been on the moving carriage and built up the courage to go on it. as soon as it did the first big move though she completely lost it. i don't want to embarrass her but it was bad. however, it's important to note that she lived through it and so she never has to ride it again because she can say, yeah, i've done that!

the sun wheel

the line for the ferris wheel looked short but it took forever so by the time we were done, it was time to use our fast pass. nopalita and i zipped through that line! it was amazing. we just walked straight to an empty slot to get in the coaster. all we had to do was wait for the next coaster to board and *swoosh*, we were off! i tried to take pictures of myself on the ride. this coaster does have one loop where you go upside down. my picture during that part was too blurry but some of the others came out alright. the ride also takes a picture of you and tries to sell it. funny thing is, the disney camera took a picture of me trying to take a picture of me! hahahaha. if it came out better, perhaps i would've bought it for the laugh factor. then we joined twiddle thumbs in watching the very end of a parade. after that, nopalita and i got on a ride that shoots up straight up and back down. they have these at great america, knott's, and i'm sure many places. except, it's actually scary/fun at those other parks. at disney, it's fucking lame. going up was scarier than coming down. it's the reverse at other parks.

then it was time for tequila! we headed over for the tequila tasing but were 30 minutes early so we watched the mariachi divas perform (the girls on the bench not yet a full member of the divas are the ones who perform). after a few songs, we went to taste some tequila. we went to get a wristband and the lady told us it's full. excuse me? the other lady who told us about the tasting didn't tell us anything about a person limit or to get there super early. the lady with the wristbands told us about how good it is because people get gifts and we should go tomorrow. excuse me? this isn't some shopping mall. this is a theme park. we're not paying to come tomorrow for some tequila tasting. for the price of admission i could buy all those bottles people are sampling! i just wanted to know what it tastes like. fuck this. so we got margaritas as the margarita stand and watched the divas some more. i couldn't drink the whole thing straight because it was too sweet so i went to get a tortilla. hey, they're free, might as well!

raging bullfrog

then we walked over to the hollywood section to finish up the park. we went to the muppets 3-d thing. the waiting area and at the end of the show had more movie parodies. some of these were funny, ("piggy woman", "plump fiction", "lawrence of amphibia"). i couldn't get good pictures of all of them. the show itself? this is an example of how NOT to put on a 3-d show. it was terrible. absolutely terrible. then we went to ride the monsters inc. ride. the ride reminded me of some parts of the movie i had forgotten. (i never cared for the movie that much. i prefer other pixar pictures.)

after that, we were done! nothing else we were interesting in seeing. we looked at some stores and then had dinner at downtown disney. we went to the rainforest cafe because we had seen the menu before and knew there was something we could eat. we got there and it turns out there's even less we can eat! we sat at the bar and the bartender has a vegan roommate so she knew exactly what to tell us: don't eat here. hahahahaaa she said all the pasta sauces have chicken stock. we had the veggie burger without the sauce (contains mayo). we watched some street musicians and one pair was so good i bought some cds (good background music). then we went home. that was my day at california adventure.