Toying with Crayons and the Disneyland Goats - Days In The Parkcast #8

The latest episode of our blog's Disneyland podcast has just been released!
 
In the latest episode of our “Days in the Parkcast”, we’re introducing some new segments!  Our writer Amy is finally on board with one of our favorite segments from our blog, ‘Amy’s Favorite Things’.  We’re also bringing back our informational trip recaps, the aptly named ‘A Recent Day in the Park’, with highlights and information from our recent trips into the Disneyland Resort that hopefully you can use for your own trips.   We’ll also be dropping our regular “Hidden Mickey” segment on our listeners, as well as a new segment, the “Best of the Blogosphere”, where we’re highlighting some of our favorite “Disney reads” from around the web.

You can listen to, or download, our show on our "Parkcast" website: http://www.daysintheparkcast.com.   
Or, you can subscribe to our show and listen to us in iTunes.

Stop on by and give a listen.  We’ll be happy you did!

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Show Notes:
Intro
- A big “thank you” to all of our listeners and a big “sorry” for the delay!
- We have our first voicemail from our friend Bruce at ‘The Unknown Magic Within Walt Disney World'
Amy’s Favorite Things
- The Disneyland Resort Tulips
A Recent “Day in the Park”
Highlights, anecdotes, and information you can use from one of our recent “Days in the Park” including:
- Big Thunder Ranch and the Disneyland Petting Zoo “Running of the Goats”
- A new quick-service eatery we’ve discovered – Troubador Tavern
- We’re Level 7 Galactic Heroes! (Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters)
- We get to meet our favorite Bounty Hunter outside of Star Tours!
- Turtle Talk with Crush – Are we the only ones on the planet who haven’t seen Dory and the Whale before?!
- Celebrity sighting! We love our ‘Suite Life on Deck’ characters, especially when they’re living “The High Life”!
- A trip under the sea and an “Incredible” guest star on The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
The FindingMickey.com “Hidden Mickey” Highlight
- Space Mountain speakery
Our “Best of the Blogosphere”
- This month’s feature: Magical Days With the Mouse
Outro
- Wrap up
- Contact us!
- Review our show for us in iTunes!

Music Credits

Email: parkcast@daysinthepark.com
Voicemail: 520-DAYS-CST (329-7278)

Welcome to the Level 7 Club! - Almost Wordless Wednesday

It's something we've been seeking to attain (among all three of us) for quite some time now.  Amy was the first to accomplish the miraculous feat before we even met her - but we're going to count it anyways.  Mark was the second on a chilly winter evening some months ago, leaving only Chad waiting for his moment to seize power and glory (insert insane laughter here).  But it's finally happened!  After literally years of watching scores slowly creep up, all three of our writers have finally attained the pinnacle and crossed the 1,000,000 point threshold and attained Level 7, "Galactic Hero" status, on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Take that Zurg.  Next stop, 1.5 million!

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Disney Flashback Friday: To Infinity And The Rest!

It's Friday again!  Time to jump back on the blog hop with Magical Days With The Mouse and her Disney Flashback Friday where we celebrate "all things past" about our trips to the Disneyland Resort.

This week we're kicking it five years ago during the 50th Anniversary celebration at Disneyland Park.  Chad's parents were out for vacation and it was their very first visit to The Resort.  We couldn't have picked a better time or a greater celebration for a first visit!  Unfortunately, the evil Emperor Zurg seemed bent on ruining the entire trip by stoking competition levels between Chad and his dad to a fever pitch.  We've lost track of how many times we actually rode Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters on that trip since then, but it's something that we still talk about, and it's something that Chad's dad still swears he can beat him on.  We're still a year away from a trip to Walt Disney World and he's already talking smack about it.  I guess he forgot all about this!  And Chad has improved exponentially since then.  It should be interesting how this all goes down next year and we'll have to revisit this post then to find out.

Note the determination! And he still lost. Shame, really...

So that's it for this week!  We're really enjoying going back in time and poking through our old pictures to come up with moments from throughout the years to share.  We can't wait to see what we'll come up with for next week.  Hop on back here then to find out!  In the meantime, hop on over to Magical Days With The Mouse to view all of the other blogs participating and take a peek at all of their memories as well.

Pathing Around The Park: Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square

It's that time! Time to start "pathing" our way around The Park again. When we last were strolling, we had just finished winding our way from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland by one of our favorite routes.  It's another month, and time for another one of our favorite paths; this time we'll be picking up from where we left off at the entrance to Tomorrowland and carrying on to the next stop on our usual route, New Orleans Square.

Few of our trips into Tomorrowland are complete without stops at the following attractions.  They are "must-dos" in our book and most Days In The Park will find us riding almost all of these, especially now that we've become halfway decent at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Mr. Lightyear has an amazing attraction named after him in which you sit in your very own XP-40 Star Cruiser, armed with nothing more than a badly-sighted laser gun, charged with tackling and taking down the Evil Emperor Zurg (sworn enemy of the galactic alliance) and all of his Double-A battery-stealing minions.  It's an awesome ride, and a great way to get out of the heat on hot summer days, and an even greater way to show your kids just who's the boss around here.  You point your laser gun and shoot; simple, right?  But totally awesome!  Who has the highest score in your family?

Now that Star Tours is once again open, all is right inside Tomorrowland.  "Star Wars" fanboys and fangirls, unite!  It's worth a trip into this Land if for no other reason than to give this new, updated attraction a spin.  Almost everyone is familiar with the older Star Tours attraction, so the premise is much the same.  But add in a new 3D-HD version, a new pilot, and up to 54 different ride possibilities made up of 11 different attraction elements (planets and characters), and it's a party in your Star Speeder!  But be warned, this one is known to cause some motion sickness.  If you're able to handle turbulence well, though, you can't afford to miss it.  We never do!

And what trip into Tomorrowland would be complete without a stop at arguably the galaxy's greatest store?  Welcome to the Star Trader, your one-stop place to shop for all of your "Star Wars" paraphernalia.  You can find everything from caps, t-shirts, plush all the way up to creating your own light-sabers.  A perfect place to stop and shop for souvenirs for the kiddies, or maybe that adult in your group who just refuses to grow up like Mark does with us.  And who could resist a life-size replica of an X-Wing Fighter?  Not us, say we!

And we've only just scratched this surface of this particular Land O'Plenty.  There is tons to do inside Tomorrowland, and we enjoy almost every bit of it.  Looking for a bit of Michael and some 80s cheese (oh, it's so gouda)?  Then check out the Captain EO Tribute.  Looking to blast through the galaxy and see the stars?  Hop on board Space Mountain, always a popular ride with everyone.  Hungry?  Head on over to Red Rockett's Pizza Port for, you guessed it, pizza or pasta.  Innoventions is always a great place to beat the heat with tons to see including the House of Tomorrow (today!) and Asimo the scary robot.  Not had quite enough "Star Wars" yet?  Check out the Tomorrowland Terrace and catch the Jedi Academy show, where your kids can be the stars and get actual Jedi lessons from actual Jedi and then fight an actual Darth Vader.  How cool is that?!  Not quite out of breath yet?  Take a ride and see if they ever find Nemo on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, or teach your kids the meaning of the phrase "burn rubber" and "eat my dust" on the fastest racing attraction in Tomorrowland, Autopia.

click on any of the photos for larger versions

Right about now we've sampled all of the best wares that Tomorrowland has to offer and we're ready to move on to our next adventure.  Where some people might think that Fantasyland might be the next logical stop (since we missed so much there before), we say nay!  Our next favorite place to unload ourselves is in actuality New Orleans Square.  And our favorite way to get there?  By hopping on board the Disneyland Railroad at the Tomorrowland Station, of course!

It may be totally old school, and we may in fact be able to walk faster than the train can carry us, but we absolutely love to ride the Railroad and we do so every chance we get.  Not only is it a great way to get around The Park and rest those weary feet of yours should you need to, but there's a show included.  We love "two-fer"s!  If you're riding the rails between Tomorrowland and Main Street, USA (the stop before New Orleans Square) you get a sneak peek at the Grand Canyon, Disneyland-style!  But wait, there's more!  You also get a sneak peek at the Grand Canyon, Jurassic-style with Primeval World.  Any time we're with the kids, they love hopping the train and seeing this particular part of The Park which, astoundingly enough, many people don't know about.  A ride and a show at the same time?  Can't be beat!

Next stop, the Main Street, USA station, but we're just going to sit tight and move right on through.  Still, while you're here, take a few minutes while you're waiting for the new passengers to load (and the old to unload) to stare down Main Street and just soak it all in.  It's one of our favorite vantage points inside The Park to just sit and people-watch, and you never know who (or what characters) you might see roaming around.

Next and last stop, New Orleans Square!  And that's where we quit pathing for this trip.  Next time, we'll roam around a bit and explore some of our favorite "haunts" (get it?) inside the Square, and who knows where we'll wind up next?  Well, we do, but you'll have to come back to find out.

Got a path of your own that you like to take from Tomorrowland?  Let us know because we'd love to discuss it with you.  And let us know if you enjoyed our little path.  That's the beauty of The Parks; so many different things to see and experience, and so many different ways to do it.

Until next time, keep pathing!

Days In The Parkcast Episode 5 - Blasters, Mermaids, and Droids, Oh My!

In our latest episode we spend some time talking about a recent faux pas from Episode 4 involving Chad’s big mouth and our friends from FindingMickey.com. We also spend time finally getting to discuss the newest attractions at The Resort: The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue.

You can subscribe and listen to our podcast through iTunes, or subscribe to our podcast's RSS feed.  Alternately, feel free to listen to our "Parkcast" here or download the mp3.

Hope you enjoy!

Show Notes

Pathing Around The Park: Fantasyland to Tomorrowland

We know it probably seems like we completely forgot about continuing our "Pathing" articles... okay, you got us!  We totally forgot about continuing our "Pathing" articles!  After we posted our first little "path" a couple of weeks ago other things kept cropping up and it totally slipped our minds.  D'oh!  Luckily for you though (perhaps), we came to our senses and remembered there's almost an entire Park to see still.  So without any further ado, we gladly pick up from where we left off before.

If you recall, last time we had entered Fantasyland through what we think of as "the back way" (by the Carnation Plaza Gardens).  If you don't remember, feel free to run back and check our our last post.  We'll be here when you get back!

As you cross under the "You Are Now Entering Fantasyland" sign (you can see it in the picture below, only of course the opposite side of the sign now says "Frontierland"), if you hang an immediate right you will find the entrance to the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through.  For the longest time we had no idea this was even here.  Why?  Because it used to be closed all the time.  Now, it's seemingly open all the time, which is a great thing as far as we're concerned.  It's just what it sounds like it is, a "walk-through" of the Castle.  Inside, the story of Sleeping Beauty (at least, the Walt Disney version of the movie) is told through various storybooks set along your path, each telling a different part of the story as you walk through the Castle.  In addition to the storybooks, there are also tons of pictures (some moving), doors and windows with scenery, sound effects and more to tell you the story from start to finish.  If you haven't had a chance to walk through the Castle yet, it comes highly recommended.  It's something that we always enjoy doing no matter how many times we see it, and it's just plain neat to be able to walk around in there in some shape or form.

We'll bypass the rest of Fantasyland (insert "awwwwwww...") for right now and continue on past where the drawbridge enters Fantasyland, where straight across the way from where we entered, another sign heralds our entrance (or at least the way to) Tomorrowland.  Alternately, if you took our advice and went through the Castle, the exit to that attraction will dump you out right next to the sign.  Either way will get you to the same place!

If you continue on under the sign, you will be led straight to Snow White Grotto.  You can't miss it! 

We won't lie, we love this little area, complete with its Wishing Well. We always tend to gravitate here at some point during our Days (many times late at night when there aren't a lot of people around), and we like to hang out and watch the water spouts jump around and listen to Miss White proclaim, "I'm Wishing" over and over again. Heck, sometimes we even try to sing along with her, much to the laughter of those around us. But we love this little tranquil part of The Park right next to the Castle.

We have one interesting little tidbit for all of you trivia lovers from this spot as well.  Did you know that Snow White and her Dwarves (at least in the Grotto) all are the same height?  We can't remember where we picked up this little nugget, but apparently when they were made there was a mistake and the creator made them all exactly the same height.  You can see how this would complicate matters a little, but word is that rather than have them cut down (Walt loved how they turned out and feared compromising the originals in any way), the Grotto was set up in such a way with its levels as to give off the perception that the Dwarves are in fact in their proper proportion to Snow White.  Kind of cool, huh?  Some of that Disney Magic in full effect, we think.

We really enjoy just standing around in this area and staring up at the Castle, as well. There are some great photo opportunities back here and well worth your time to take advantage of.

As you continue on past the Grotto, if you look straight ahead you'll see the Astro Orbiter peeking over the treetops and Tomorrowland off in the distance.  We're almost there!  At this point you can continue straight across the path, turn right and head onto Main Street, USA, or turn left and head into a different part of Fantasyland.  We'll continue straight across and stick in Fantasyland for one final attraction before we hit our destination.  

We won't actually go into Pixie Hollow, but this is nonetheless one of the places we enjoy just standing around and checking things out.  There's an awesome pond right outside the Hollow with lots of fountain jets shooting water in the air, and and we think the flowers and plant life here is just gorgeous.  And at night, it's its own little World of Color show with lights, music and water fountains going off periodically.  Our kids love to stand here and watch, and would for hours if we let them.  Again, like so many other times, it's just those nice little touches that make all of the difference to us.  We're always looking for a tranquil-feeling place to hang out and this is definitely a great spot to do just that!

Once you're done hanging out at the pond, we're done with this segment of our "Pathing" series.  If you continue on the way you were walking when we stopped you, you'll walk right into Tomorrowland,  just behind the large sign in front of the area proclaiming that you are in fact in Tomorrowland).  You'll just have to take our word for it that we got you there safe and sound.  Maybe the fact that the Astro Orbiter is now staring you in the face will help prove our case to you.  While you're at it, why not hop on and take a ride?

We hope that you've enjoyed finishing up your stroll with us from Frontierland to Tomorrowland.  We plan on continuing this little series every so often mostly because we enjoy sharing with our readers what we do inside The Parks, and how we enjoy moving around, and what we enjoy seeing, is a big part of that.  Let us know what you think!  Any opinions?  Anything we've missed?

Next up? Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square. We hope you'll be back with us for that one too!

Days In The Parkcast Episode 4 - Pirates of the Temple of Terror

In this episode your intrepid Parkers spend some time discussing a recent trip into The Park where we met Jack Lindquist, participated in an AIDS Walk, became Galactic Heroes and took on one gnarly queue and a wily snake in a forbidden temple. Come join us!

Show Notes

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You can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes and listen, or subscribe to our podcast's RSS feed.  Alternately, feel free to listen to our "Parkcast" here or download the mp3 directly to listen.

Hope you enjoy!

"Almost" Wordless Wednesday: These Subtitles Are Harder To Come Up With Than One Might Think!

Dunno what it is about these posts, but we love it when Wordless Wednesday comes around. Enough talk, let's get to it!

June is almost here! Stay on target... Stay on target...

Let's hope he can pilot better than Rex!

Not The Park, but we ate there after. That counts, right?!

Mickey Mouse Club Game! And in other news, Donald is cross-eyed!

Horrifying enough when you go in the RIGHT way!

One of our favorite meals in The Park - Chicken Alfredo at the Plaza Inn

Chad got his highest score ever! And Mark STILL shamed him!!

We wanted a picture of Mark after he finally attained 'Galactic Hero' but he was too busy running around the store yelling, "Did you see my score?! Woohoo!!!"

"Ladies and gentleman, we have lost control of the carousel. You are currently traveling at a rate of roughly 600mph..."

To Infinity and Beyond! (Or Until The Attraction's Over)

From the moment you first step into line for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, the competitive tension in the air is palpable as you find yourself wondering who will be the top scorer in your group.  In fact, every time we ride this attraction we usually have to say to one another, "Alright.  It's just for fun, this is not a contest", to calm ourselves down and try to keep it friendly.  And most of the time, the "this is just for fun" statement holds true.  But yes, loyal readers, even we love to compete every once and a while.  "So how does it usually conclude," you may ask.  Well, to be honest, we don't know.  It's one of those attractions you could ride 1000 times, and every time be different.  But, that doesn't mean we don't have any great stories to tell you.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is basically a moving "shooting gallery", loosely based on plot, with lasers.  Makes complete sense, right?  Apparently, the evil Emperor Zurg (sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance, of course) has hatched a plot to rob the galaxy of its all-important Double-A battery supply for his own nefarious purposes, and it's up to you to stop him!

Buzz Lightyear is one of our favorite attractions in The Park.  The queue is extremely well done; lots to see here including a bunch of Hidden Mickeys, pictures of Zurg and the Little Green Men, and a huge audio-animatronic Buzz Lightyear who breaks down for you exactly what is going on and what your mission is.  Once done with the queue, it's time to board for your own brand of galactic butt-kicking.  From the second we sit down in our XP-40 Star Cruiser (yes, the cars do have names) with our blasters at the ready, all galactic chaos breaks loose.  Not with each other of course, but with our blasters as we try to figure out just how off target they are this time!  We usually completely waste the first room just on this task alone, not to mention doing a whole lot of laughing and complaining.  Once we have them set we take aim and the fingers start flying, or pulling, or whatever.

As your cruiser takes you through the various rooms on the ride, your goal is probably exactly what you think it is: shoot as many targets as you can from the beginning to the end of the ride and the person with the highest score at the end wins.  And you'd be right!  Every room is littered with targets (circles, squares, triangles and diamonds) and it's your goal to plug as many of them as you can.  Even Zurg himself makes several appearances, so if it's your lifelong dream to take a shot or two at him, well now's your chance!  Targets are all over and your left and right, so you have plenty to choose from, and your Cruiser comes equipped with a joystick you can use to turn your vehicle either direction as you choose the targets you want to go after.  Either that, or you can just spin the Cruiser round and round repeatedly until you feel sick and nauseated.  Whee!  Repeated trips definitely help you know where the better targets are, though, and this is one attraction you'll definitely want to make repeated trips onto.

Another of the attraction bits we'd love to mention is the photo-op.  This is a fun little spot for a crazy pose.  So where is it?  Well, the second you leave the lightspeed tunnel (near the last room with Zurg), look up and smile!  It's an especially fun room to take advantage if you're like us and you have low scores, because at least you can get a funny picture out of it. 

When we finally enter the last room we like to check our scores.  If Mark is winning, Chad usually says, "Great job!"  If Chad is coming out on top, Mark usually starts spinning the vehicle (see the difference there?).  Oh, and just to let you know, this is a great way to mess with your opponents.  If you're opponent seems to be pulling away score-wise, give the ole XP-40 a few good spins and see what happens.  We're definitely not opposed to using whatever leverage we can to win.  It's all part of the game, right?

Once off the ride we like to see how goofy our picture came out, or how serious it is.  It's still somewhat goofy even then; by the looks on our faces you'd think we were professional soliders on a mission for the government with our trusty blasters at the ready.  Luckily the Park is awesome, and they allow you to send your "Star Command" photo to your personal email, so you can see it when you get home and laugh at yourselves (and your horrid score) for months to come.

Being the hardcore gamers that we are, and being the Park fanatics we are as well, this is one attraction that lives in hearts and our trigger-fingers.  It comes highly recommended.

Mark calls 'Shenanigans'!

A few tricks of the trade:

We won't give away all of our secrets (what fun would that be?!) but there are a few tips we can give you that might help up your scores somewhat.  They're not really secret (people just tend to not pay attention to them) so we feel pretty safe doing so.  And really, what do we know?  Did you see those wretched scores above?

• Every 10th trigger pull will garner you 100 points whether you hit a target or not, so keep pulling!
• Triangles and Diamonds are your friend!  Circles and Squares not so much.  Each target has a base score with Circles having the lowest, and Diamonds having the highest.  These are the ones you should be aiming for.
• Lit targets are really your friend!  If you manage to hit a lit target, the base score of the target is multiplied and will continue to give you the multiplied score until you miss.  So if you hit one, keep pulling!  Those really high scores you see?  Yeah, that's how they do it, along with...
• ...knowing where the secret targets are.  Yes, they do exist.  Experiment and see what you can come up with.
• Talk to other people in the queue.  We enjoy sharing with others while we're in line, and you never know what others might share with you.  We remember one particular time a husband and wife were standing behind us, and he was trash-talking her big time.  Apparently she had never beaten him.  She snuck up behind us at one point and asked us if we had ridden before and if we had any tips for her.  We told her exactly what we've just told you, and who do you think won?  Do the words, "She smoked him like a Christmas ham" mean anything to you?  She left happy, he left sad.  See what fun this is?
• Just have fun.  It's a game, and it's supposed to be fun.  Ride again and again as often as you'd like, and just have fun.

Are you a fan of Buzz?  What are some of your best scores?  We'd love to hear from you!

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