The Fabulous Disney Babe
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Fab, where have you been?
Fab: Moving. And let me tell you, next time I have to move, I'm just taking a flamethrower to all of my personal belongings and starting over. The move from the San Diego area to the Los Angeles area actually took more time and effort than the move from Honolulu to San Diego. Go fig. Jim Hill, fellow LaughingPlace.com columnist, ex-husband, and good friend flew out with his lovely Nancy to help. I remember hoisting a box and turning to my dusty, sweaty compatriot and saying: "I don't think we're going to make the Press Event tonight."
So, we waited until July 5 and then enjoyed Alice Day at Disneyland, just the three of us. We finally got Alice to the Alice In Wonderland ride (she doesn't like traditional dark rides but loves coasters). She adored it, and wanted to go again. She also got me and Jim to do Innoventions. She had just gotten the Jessie's Wild West Rodeo computer game the day before, and was happy to see it there; she beat the game, won the belt, and caught all of the critters in just over two hours at home. We played The D-Show and she beat me, 112,000 to 2,000. I showed Jim the Alien Encounter joke in the Art Nemo area, then we went upstairs. Are there new preggers there? We played with the heart and I was on my way to finding Minnie when Alice decided it was time to go. We passed Vinnie and Kida on the way to Fantasyland and Alice was disappointed to not see Milo Thatch. After a visit to the Gallery to say hi to Michelle and get the measurements for UncaDonald's picture, we decided it was time to visit DCA.
I have never seen, even during the previews, the park this crowded. Even stranger, most of the crowds were adults; I expected mostly children because of the Free Kids deal. We'd gotten child passes in the mail, two for me, and two for Alice. We gave them to the kids next door and planned a family play date. Jim wanted to ... er, um, ALICE wanted to do the Junior Explorer...yeah, that sounds about right! We got our maps and set off collecting stickers around the park. Alice doesn't care much for any of the characters in person except Jessie, so we opted to skip them for the moment. We did, however, catch the new Beach Party Goofy show at the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. Alice did the bunny hop, the lemon drop, the spinning top and the wipe-out with glee while we sat outside of the "sandy beach" area and cheered her on.
Remember the cheesy Disney character shows that they used to do in Tomorrowland before the Magic Eye Theatre was built? This show felt just like that, but more intimate. There's a slow moment or two, but the show is great fun, especially for little ones and major Disney weenies such as myself. Jim's going to do a much more in-depth story about the show, so I'll just move on to later that evening. We had just found our seats in Muppet*Vision 3D, when the show stopped, and different Muppet*Labs CMs, including a couple of managers, conferred before sending us on our way. We could hear the jackhammers pounding on the Millionaire site as we exited. Later that night, the generator behind the theater, according to a Cast Member, failed. I don't know if it was caused by the construction or not, but as I stood in line for chicken and mozzarella sticks (and a trio of light-up Disney's Electrical Parade mugs) fifteen minutes before the parade was to launch, all of the lights flickered off in the area, then back on, but at a lower volume. I thought this was for the parade, and showed up in front of Avalon Cove (we wanted to see how the parade looked against the Paradise Pier lights from there for one reason, and for the other, there were crowds eight deep all over the entire route) Jim and Alice greeted me in the semi-darkness; both the Treasures store and Puck's were shuttered. Jim explained that there was a park-wide blackout, and we settled down to watch the Parade.
I was never a fan of the Main Street Electrical Parade, though I love SpectroMagic at Walt Disney World - its bombast, to me, fits the Kingdom aspect much better than the Baroque Hoedown-Mooging Electrical Parade (I just KNOW I'm going to get a bunch of Howlers for that one). I was eager, however, to see how it could be pulled off at DCA. I liked the new intro, and enjoyed the parade very much. Alice adored it, which is always a huge selling point for me. We giggled at "A California Classic" on the drum, but I was very glad to see King Leonidas again. I've always said that's the one thing MSEP had over Spectro.
After the parade, we watched the crowds lessen, then finished up our green apples with caramel sauce and headed over to Engine-Ears toys to cash in our maps for pinback buttons. The line was huge, but they were moving people through quickly. Jim got in line, and Alice and I headed over to Guest Relations to find out what was open and what wasn't. There were extra people manning the entrance, and we heard from one of the parade Cast Members that the blackout was widespread, from Los Angeles to Fresno. We found out later that this information was incorrect, and Oscar joked on Sunday: "Sure! We're in Fresno now..." (we were in Bountiful Valley Farm) "...and Los Angeles is over there!" (indicating Hollywood Pictures Backlot). All of the attractions were down, and most of the shops and restaurants were closed; food carts were open, and people who wanted to pick up their photos from that day were greeted by Brian at Greetings From California, who reassured people and took their names and addresses, so that they could get their photos mailed to them. We could not, however, get Alice a sweatshirt, and she was cold. The bread wagon was open, so I bought a Mickey loaf, and the Cast Member counted out my change by hand. This is going to date me as an old fogey, but I remember when every cashier on earth could do that!
Jim, Alice and I huddled up together near the launch gate and watched the parade up-close. Alice was completely enchanted, especially by the turtles, whom she opines looks like our Leopard Tortoises. Of course, she loved the bugs, too. "Man, I love that parade!" I told Jim, who shook his head at me. The park looked different with the lowered light levels, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. The restrooms, First Aid, and other necessities were operating, and, of course, the parade, which runs on batteries (shouldn't Duracell have sponsored it?) ran without a hitch, as the Guest Relations Cast Member was extremely eager to tell us.