Happy Place Hodgepodge - Sept 7, 2014

No trip to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom is complete without a "grand circle tour" on the Disneyland Railroad!

It's been a long time since I've taken the time to "sing like ze birdies sing!", but it was a lot of fun! The people around me, however, may not have thought so...

Time to rejoin the "One Million Club"!
PS. I didn't #GunMalfunctionObviously

Honestly, one of my favorite ways to enter Disneyland is via the Disneyland Monorail leaving from the Downtown Disney District - it's a piece of Disneyland history!

I'm not sure I WANT to have the bubbles scared out of me, and I KNOW the people around me don't!

These two are always a pleasure to listen to!

A Southern California sunset in The Hub with the Partners Statue and Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background = practically perfect in every way!

Just one stop of many on the "Grand Circle Tour" along the Disneyland Railroad; this one in New Orleans Square!

---

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room - Almost Wordless Wednesday

While scrolling through some music in iTunes this morning, I stumbled across my recording of the Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room attraction.  Whenever I hear the song, I can't help but instantly be transported into Disneyland inside our beloved Tiki Room, singing "like ze birdies sing".  One of our favorite things in the world is to grab a Dole Whip Float just inside Adventureland and walk inside and eat our treats while enjoying one of our favorite shows on the planet; hence the inspiration for today's post with some of our favorite pictures from inside The Room.  We hope you enjoy! 

It always begins with a float...

Magical Blogorail Blue: The Days In The Park Never-Miss!

by: Chad

Welcome to those of you joining me from Pursuing the Magic.  I am the second stop on our Magical Blogorail.

This month we are focusing on that one thing you absolutely have to ensure that you do each and every time you go into The Parks.  Unfortunately, I'm unique among my peers in that I'm a "Lander".  I've talked about it before, but among most of my Blogorail partners I'm the only person who considers Disneyland my home Park.  Everyone else calls Walt Disney World home.  Plus, I'm an Annual Passholder and most weeks I can be found in The Parks fairly frequently either with my family or friends.  I'm there a lot.  It's a blessing and it's great to be able to say that I can, but it makes things like this a little bit more difficult, because I'm there so often I really don't have that one thing that I have to do every time I go.  I'm pretty much all over the place, all the time, and no two visits ever really follow the same pattern.

If I had to pick one attraction I would like to do every time I go, though, and one that I would suggest to anyone who might be making their first visit to The Park as a can't-miss, it would have to be Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

Sunset at the Enchanted Tiki Room

Like it or love it, the Enchanted Tiki Room is a Disneyland icon, and one that is definitely not to be missed, especially if you are new to the Parks and have never been inside before.  We absolutely love the Tiki Room, which might seem a bit strange considering most of our little group here are grown men, but that doesn't stop us from sitting on our preferred bench in the back and singing right along with "all ze little birdies" as "zey" sing.

Main entrance to the Tiki Room

The premise behind the Tiki Room is simple, but it is quite the spectacle.  You begin your journey outside the Tiki Room where you are treated to the Tiki Room Garden Show, featuring some of your friendly neighborhood Hawaiin Tiki gods such as Tangaroa-Ru.  There are several of these totems all around the garden, and while you are waiting for your show inside the Room itself, the show moves around the garden where all the gods talk about themselves and give their stories for everyone in the audience to hear.  It really is entertaining and well worth showing up early to experience. 

Tiki Room Garden Show totems and gods

But once the garden show is over, the real fun begins.  The Enchanted Tiki Room is a roughly 15 minute show conducted by some of Walt's favorite audio-animatronic birds, excuse me, parrots (Walt himself had a personal hand in the creation of this attraction), singing some of the catchiest songs this side of It's A Small World.  It's not uncommon to be sitting there hearing everyone else in the audience singing right alongside the birds.  The songs move all around the room (there are well over 100 birds, drummers, plants, totems, and more participating) and are quite varied in spirit and pacing (from the classic "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" to "Hawaiian War Chant"); each is a lot of fun to listen to and sing along with.

Love the enchanted fountain

The lady birds!

Master of Ceremonies Jose!

And not to demean the Tiki Room in any way, or put a damper on it's cultural significance and place in Disney lore in any way, but perhaps the best reason you need to check out this attraction?  It's the only place at the California Parks where you can get a Dole Whip!  This bit of dairy Heaven on Earth is definitely a reason to check out the attraction.  We only have one flavor here, unfortunately, but to us there's almost nothing on the planet than can beat a bunch of Pineapple soft-serve piled high on top of a glass of fresh pineapple juice.  While lines outside the Tiki Room typically filter out and into Adventureland, there is an alternate line for the Whip inside the Tiki Room Garden where the aforementioned Garden Show takes place.  It's completely common for us to grab a Dole Whip, watch the Garden Show, and then mosey into the Tiki Room itself to finish off our desserts and watch the show.  If you're going to order one, order the float!  It's highly recommended by 3 out of 3 Days In The Park bloggers.

Yes please!

So there you have it, the Days In The Park must-do attraction.  It was really hard to choose just one out of the many that we love so much, but after some discussion this is what we came up with.  We hope that the next time you are in our Park, if you haven't already, or heck, even if you already have, make sure you pay the Tiki Room a visit.  And if you have a chance, and you see a certain Cast Member named Maynard working the show, sprint straight inside and watch it.  He brings an entirely new meaning to the word awesome.  There aren't too many people who could spruce up your typical pre-attraction spiel (don't take flash photos, etc.) but Maynard does, and he's definitely one of those "hidden treasures" everyone should know about.  So the next time you're at the Room, check and see if Tiki Maynard is there, and enjoy the show!

Pay no attention to the crazed look in the Cast Member's eye - this dude rocks!

Thank you for joining me today.  Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail is The CanaDisney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to make a stop along the way and want to reboard.

1st stop - Pursuing The Magic

2nd stop - Days In The Park

3rd stop - The CanaDisney Blog

4th stop - Disney Babies Blog

5th stop - Cooking With Mickey

Final stop - Meet The Magic

The Sound of (Park) Music

Let the music begin

Have you ever entered the Park and just stood in awe at how detailed it is? From the Cast Members' costumes to the buildings surrounding you, everything is planned to fit together.  Even the background music fits in perfectly.  Just one of the many surprises that the Park has in store for you.

Almost every time we head over to the Park, we listen to Disneyland Resort Discography.  It hit me the other day that some of the songs on the CD I wasn't readily familiar with, and there were plenty of songs playing in the Park that weren't on our CDs.  So where did they come from?  Well, we found the solution (it wasn't hard to find, but it still made us feel good about ourselves) while making our way through the famous entrance tunnels into Main Street, U.S.A.  We heard some very familiar sounds from the CD, and it hit us, there's always more to the Park than meets the eye (quite literally sometimes).

We love hearing the song "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello, Dolly! (and Wall-E, of course) playing in the background throughout Main Street.  Making our way down to the castle and into Fantasyland, the tone of the music changes entirely.  King Arthur Carousel might as well be one giant calliope boom box.  You can hear famous Disney Princess music played, such as "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty (and many others) as it goes around and around.  Even heading towards the Matterhorn you can hear music coming from the Mad Tea Party; Alice In Wonderland tinged, of course.

Since we're heading towards the Matterhorn, let's keep going into Tomorrowland, where the sounds of space and science fiction movies can be heard.  They love music so much here they even have a stage for it where bands can be seen and heard on any given weekend.  While we're here, let's grab a Rocket Rod (couldn't resist) and shoot on over to the other side of the Park.

Where John Williams and Rock-a-billy collide

"How Do Ya Do?" can be heard over at Critter Country, evoking images of Brer Rabbit and his laughing place (and giving us an insane desire to climb on that blasted Splash Mountain just one more time), along with the many tunes of Winnie the Pooh ("Heffalumps and Woozles," anyone?) coming in every once in a while.  As you make your way down to New Orleans Square, you'll notice some of that 'good ole Jazz' music being played to set the mood while you stroll through the shops; it just makes you want to snap your fingers!

What about one of the wildest portions of the Park, Adventureland?  Music from the infamous Tarzan's Treehouse (infamous to us; let's not get into that tree too much, our legs hurt just thinking about it), Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, and the "Garden Show" from The Enchanted Tiki Room all vie for space inside your eardrums.

My name is Rongo...

Let's take a detour and say, "Howdy!" to Frontierland.  Classic western music is, of course, the theme here, and every once in a while you may get a real treat and hear the theme song from Blazing Saddles, as well as music from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and from The Golden Horseshoe Revue.  Had enough?  Head on around the "wildest ride in the wilderness" and you'll find yourself on your way back to Fantasyland; we've already been here so just keep going until you hit Mickey's Toontown, where the many whacky and zany sounds of Disney cartoons like Steamboat Willie and Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin can be heard all around.

"This here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!"

We've said before (this week in fact!) that's it all in the little details, but we love our Park music and sounds.  We can't help but smile when our cell phones go off in the Park (featuring Park ringtones, of course) and we see people looking around to see where the sound is coming from.  We're so infatuated with the sounds of the Park even our phones play Park tunes! 

Sometimes we get so caught up in the visual magic of the Park that we let the audible kind pass us by.  So, the next time you're visiting, take a minute to close your eyes and give a listen.  We didn't list every 'Sound Hot Spot' because we want you to find some of the Park magic for yourself. You never know what you might discover.

---

It's A Tuesday Toss-Up*!

In addition to writing something for our own blog each and every day, we also read others' blogs as often as we can.  Being the Park fans that we are, it's always good to hear other perspectives and look at the different Parks through others' eyes.

One thing we've really come to appreciate in recent weeks has been photoblogs, or picture posts.  They do say that pictures can speak a thousand words, after all.  It made us think that maybe that was something we should be more aware of.  We use a lot of pictures, but we've kind of missed the posts from the holidays that consisted of little more than the pictures themselves.

If you spend any time at all in any of the Disney Parks, you'll hear the expression "It's all in the little details" very quickly.  We take a lot of photos in The Park, and something we're trying to do a lot more of while we're in The Parks is to pay more attention to those "little details".  What better way to do that than to begin posting more pictures of those little details we see when we're in The Parks.  So from now on, whenever we spend a Day In The Park, we plan on doing picture posts.  They'll be random shots from whatever we take while we're in The Park, doing our best to focus on the "little details", or little things we come across.

We hope you like them!

May not seem like much, but we loved the way this sign placement turned out

Never noticed this door outside MuppetVision 3*D before, but got an actual chuckle out of it

Iconic, but awesome

The signage all around Main Street really gives it its flair and feel

You would think with the name "Penny Arcade" Chad would have noticed the penny long before...

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - One of our favorite parts of the queue

Sometimes you can make your own "little details" with interesting camera angles.  He REALLY appears to be sitting in the fountain.

One of our favorite shots of Jose.  "Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet..."

*A toss-up as in we threw all of our photos in the air, and the ones that landed face up we used.  Well, metaphorically anyway...

---

A Land Apart

Welcome to those of you joining me from A Disney Mom's Love of Disney.  I am the 4th stop on our Magical Blogorail.

---

"To all who come to this happy place, welcome.  Disneyland is your land." - Walt Disney, 1955

Disneyland - 1955

Allow me to set up today's article for you.  I'm a "Lander".  I'm not sure if it's a term I myself coined or not (I'd not heard anyone else use it before I started to) but for me the land of Disney fans can be broken down into two primary categories above all others (excluding the foreign Parks):  "Landers" (those who claim Disneyland as their Park) and "Worlders" (those who claim Walt Disney World as their Park).  I assure you, nothing derogatory is meant by either.  It's just something I started saying a while back.

I'm somewhat unique among my blogorailing peers in that I'm the only "Lander" in my entire loop.  So when I was given the topic for this month's Loop, "Talk about your favorite Resort and why it is", it was a little bit tricky for me.  You see, as an annual passholder who never has to stay at The Park, and can come and go whenever I please, there really wasn't anything for me to write about.  Shortest.  Article.  Ever.  So with Beth's blessing, today I'll be writing about my favorite Disney Park.

So, my favorite Park (in case you have to have me say it) is Disneyland Park.  Simple enough.

But why is Disneyland my favorite Park?  Is it too cliche to say that at its simplest it really boils down to Walt?  Well, I'm going to say it anyway.  It really boils down to Walt. 

Disneyland was Walt's Park.  Because he passed away before he was able to see Walt Disney World come to fruition, Walt is inexorably tied to Disneyland in a way that no other Park will ever have.  And that makes it very special to me and to many others.

One of my favorite views in the whole wide world...

No matter how many times I go into The Park, I'm consistently taken aback by the magnitude of the history, Walt's history, that I'm taking part in.  From the moment I walk inside the Main Gates and glance up at The Disneyland Limited ("now leaving for a grand circle tour"...), especially if the Lilly Belle (which Walt himself and his wife once rode in) is on track, I'm powerfully reminded of just who has come before me, looking at seeing the exact same things I find myself looking at decades later. 

Walt's Apartment (and candle) are directly above the Disneyland Fire Dept.

You can't go two steps without looking and seeing something that Walt himself had a personal hand in:  his apartment over the Disneyland Fire Dept.; the Opera House which houses Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln and the very bench Walt himself used to sit in whilst in The Park; the back row of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room in which I never fail to see in my mind's eye the picture of Walt with his animatronic birds; and both It's A Small World and King Arthur Carousel, which Walt had shipped and moved, piece by piece, from their original locations on the East Coast because he loved them so much and wanted to share them with the rest of the world.  The list could just go on and on.

Like it or not, the Tiki Room is where all of our favorite Animatronics began

Perhaps the greatest reminder of all, though, is walking through the arch of Sleeping Beauty Castle between Fantasyland and Main Street, U.S.A.  Maybe nowhere in the entire Park is the thought "I'm literally walking where Walt himself once walked" quite so powerful.  Our castle might be smaller than Cinderella's, but ours is the one where Walt once walked.  Sometimes walking through, I just have to stop and take a look around, and if I'm in an imaginative mood, I can picture myself in perhaps the exact same spot that Walt once stood, looking around and surveying his Kingdom himself.  That alone is worth the price of admission.

Walt, Mickey and our Castle

There's an entire litany of things I enjoy doing in The Park.  I have my favorite attractions, favorite restaurants, favorite stores, and even my favorite restrooms.  But since the question was "why is it your favorite Park?", I tried to avoid all of those and get to the heart of the matter.  Disneyland Park is my favorite Park because of Walt.

My family and I plan on taking a trip to Walt Disney World again for the first time since 1993 next summer (2012).  There is no doubt in my mind that it will go down in the annals of Elliott Family Vacations as one of the greatest ever.  We literally cannot wait to get there and spend our seven days running around like complete fools, enamored with everything we see.

But it's safe to say that when I do return home after, and walk through the Main Gates of my favorite Park again, the first words out of my mouth will most likely be, "Welcome Home, Chad.  Welcome Home."

for those days when I can't go...

---

Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Crystal and Bryan's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail loop should you happen to have to make a stop and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Meet the Magic

2nd Stop ~ Growing Up Disney

3rd Stop ~ A Disney Mom's Love of Disney

4th Stop ~ Days in the Park

5th Stop ~ Crystal and Bryan's Disney Blog

6^th Stop ~ Disney Babies Blog

Final Stop ~ Cooking with Mickey

---

This post is also part of the Disney Blog Carnival. Head over there to see more great Disney-related posts and articles.

---

DitP Fave Five: Animatronics

If there is one thing that separates the Disney Parks from all others, it could arguably be said that it is the use of Animatronics.  Walt Disney was some kind of pioneer, man.

Don't get us wrong.  Everything in The Parks is great, but how many non-Disney Parks do you know that use Animatronics?  If you do know one, do they have the same magic Disney offers?

This is why we are proud to bring you our Favorite Five Animatronics from The Park.

Number Five: Jack Skellington from Haunted Mansion Holiday: 


Being fans of Tim Burton and "The Nightmare Before Christmas", we can say without reservation how amazingly cool it is to see The Pumpkin King two feet away from us asking if "we've been good this year."  Let us tell you, the first time we saw this we nearly screamed like a bunch of teenage girls at a N'Sync concert.  We have been tempted to jump out of our sleighs (doom buggies) just to take a pic with him.

Number Four:  Indiana Jones from Indiana Jones Adventure: 

What can we say about Indy?  The fact that he's the reason we took a liking to history, a fashion for fedoras, and that we all tried using a whip on our younger siblings speaks for itself.  Though we only briefly see him on the attraction (but twice!) we could swear that it's really Han Solo himself.  As a matter of fact, maybe next we'll yell out " Hey Harrison!" and see if he answers.  That might help with our confusion.    

Number Three:  Captain Rx-24 ("Rex") from Star Tours:

Yes, we know that Star Tours is no longer around, but that doesn't change anything about the way we felt about Rex.  We don't know what it was about him that kept us returning for another tour through the galaxy.  Was it the funny quotes he would say or the fact he was voiced by Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman for those who might not have known)?  Whatever the case, he was always allowed to be our pilot for our trip to Endor.  Though we have been nearly killed by comets, or close calls with the Empire numerous times, this little droid guided us to safety every time, and that is why he is in our Fave Five.

Number Two:  The Abominable Snowman ("Harold") from The Matterhorn: 

So we're betting you didn't know that The Abominable Snowman actually had a name?  Well, he does and it's Harold.  To this day it gives us the willies to ride up front because of this guy.  In fact, we won't ride the attraction at all (it has nothing at all to do with the fact that this ride will shake your fillings out).  So for something to scare us that much, especially at Disneyland, it deserves to be on the list.  If you thought Harold was scary wait until you see who's next on our list.

Number One: Abraham Lincoln from Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln:

This has got to be the most realistic Animatronic we have ever seen.  The first time we saw it Chad wanted to sprint for the exit and Mark kept saying to himself over and over, "It's not real, it's not real."  If you haven't seen it you need to check it out for yourself.  In fact, it's your patriotic duty to.  Now, we're not bagging on one of the greatest presidents in United States history, but just pointing out that Disney did a wonderful job in bringing "Honest" Abe to life.  In fact, recently when we watched the show, the Cast Member pointed out to us that Mr. Lincoln was in fact the most advanced of all the Animatronics in The Park, and pointed out this particular model had 27 different facial expressions as opposed to 6 on the older.  We can't think of many real people with that many facial expressions.  Great job, Imagineers! 

Honorable Mention: All the Little Birdies in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

When it comes down to it, none of the Animatronics would be around today if not for the Tiki Room.  Walt's first foray into the use or robotics and characters all began here, and without success, might well not exist anywhere else in The Parks.  Not only is it our favorite show at the Park, but it's genuinely one of the most memorable.  Be honest, how many of you have seen the Tiki Room and left singing the theme song?  From Chad and Amy "singing like the birdies sing" to Mark chanting like a warrior, we say that the Tiki Room will forever be in our hearts.

So there you have it.  Our Favorite Five.  What are your favorite Animatronics from The Parks?

*Just a quick note:  We fully realize that not all of our favorites include a picture (although we will be adding Indy and Harold very shortly).  Could we have included pictures?  Sure!  But, pansies it might make us, we tend to try and follow the rules when we're in The Park.  When we're asked not to do something (especially since we often have our kids with us), we don't.  Not only for our own enjoyment, but for the enjoyment of those around us.  Hence, the lack of pictures in shows where we've been asked not to take them.  We truly hope that you'll still enjoy the post regardless.  

The Music Of The Park Begins At Home

We're going to make an assumption here.  Yes, yes, we know the old saying about assumptions (and what they do to both you and me), but we're going to take a ride on the wild side here and do it anyways.

The assumption is this:  Most people would agree that a large part of what makes Disney so special, and not just Disneyland, but all of the resorts under the Disney umbrella, is the music.

There's just no way that Disneyland would be what it is without the music. Even excluding the movies, which is pretty much impossible to do since the two are tied so closely together, the music around Disneyland Park (and California Adventure) makes The Park what it is; adds that extra Zip (in the Doo Dah) if you will.

As brain-seizure inducing as it is, can you imagine It's A Small World without (*shudder*) that song?  What about Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room with no singing birds?  The Haunted Mansion without socializing ghosts?  The list is endless.  These songs, like them or not, are a synonymous and inseparable aspect of anyone's days spent in The Parks.

But again, we're going to make an assumption.  

This ones goes something like this:  If you're a fan of The Parks, the music doesn't start in The Park, but as early as on your way to The Park. 

Anytime, and I mean anytime we have a day where Disneyland Resort is on the menu, the instant our tuckus are planted in our car seats, the music begins.  And in fact, for the most part, the CD never leaves the player anyways.  It's usually there waiting for us.

For your perusal, our current playlist looks something like this:

1. Hoist The Colours - Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Skull And Crossbones - Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Why Is The Rum Gone? - An insane mash-up of Pirates dialogue and song
4. The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room - Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
5. The Bare Necessities - The Jungle Book
6. I Wan'na Be Like You - The Jungle Book
7. Under The Sea - The Little Mermaid
8. Kiss The Girl - The Little Mermaid
9. Be Our Guest - Beauty and the Beast
10. Beauty And The Beast - Beauty and the Beast
11. The Bells of Notre Dame - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
12. A Whole New World - Aladdin
13. Circle Of Life - The Lion King
14. Hakuna Matata - The Lion King
15. Go The Distance - Hercules
16. I Won't Say [I'm In Love] - Hercules
17. I'll Make A Man Out Of You - Mulan
18. It's A Small World - It's A Small World
19. Little April Shower - Bambi
20. Mickey Mouse March - Mickey Mouse Club
21. Strangers Like Me - Tarzan
22. Heigh-Ho - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 

Phew!  Sorry about that.  It really was our intention to only post a few, but we did the whole CD instead.  Couldn't help ourselves!  But like us, we're sure you have your favorites, too!  I'm sure we left many out that were definitely worthy of inclusion.  But the bottom line is the kids love it!  So much fun to hear, and see, them singing along in the back seat.

And we're constantly discovering new and interesting tunes from all over the place, even in places where we'd least expect to.  A fantastic part of blogging is all of the wonderful Disney friends you make.  Last week, we stumbled upon a great Disney blog, Rays Of Disneyland, and found this awesome song by 'Five for Fighting', most appropriately called Disneyland.  It's safe to say this immediately became prime material for our playlist.  Simply amazing!  Who wouldn't want to listen to this on their way to The Park?



Whatever the case may be, and whichever songs you might choose, the music of Disney can make the entire trip, and not just a portion of it, both magical and musical.

What about you guys?  What are some of the songs you like to listen to on your way to The Park?  Any suggestions for us?  We'd love to hear from you!