Welcome to those of you joining me from
PURSUING THE MAGIC and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the Final stop on our Magical Blogorail.
Maybe the problem is that I'm just too darn easy to please. When I first learned that this month's topic on the rail was going to be "Something in Disney that everyone loves that
you do not", I immediately felt a sense of impending doom. The truth is, and anyone who spends any amount of time at Disneyland with me can attest to this, there's just nothing at The Resort that I don't enjoy doing at least to some degree. It's not to say that there aren't a few things that I'm sort of ambivalent about, like the Mickey shaped balloons that are constantly hitting me in the head as their owners attempt to corral them, but dislike? That's much harder.
So I've spent the better part of the week mentally walking all over both Disneyland Resort Parks in my head, going store by store, restaurant by restaurant, and attraction by attraction trying to think of something I dislike that everyone else loves, and it's simply not there. So, in the interest of time and ensuring I have
something to add to the loop this month, I'm unilaterally deciding that rather than come up with one thing I DISlike at Disneyland, I'll try and come up with
FIVE things I'm pretty ambivalent about. Now, just remember, it's not to say that I
dislike any of these things. Truth is, like I said before, I can have fun doing
anything while I'm at Disneyland, but these may just be the things that mean the least to
me on a personal level, although I may enjoy to bits seeing
others liking them. Makes complete sense, right?
So here we go!
#5 - The aforementioned "Mickey-shaped" balloons
Without a doubt, I could probably do without these staples of children's souvenirs found inside any of the Disney Parks worldwide. The premise seems pretty simple to me: charge huge wads of cash for helium filled Mickey-likened mylar, and then watch them fly while the children cry. And if they're not flying, again like I mentioned earlier, they're bonking me in the noggin repeatedly at any given time as I make my way around The Parks. But hey, the kids love 'em, and God knows I've bought my own share of these for my own boys as they've grown up; they love them so much.
Hint: If your Mickey
does try and make an escape through the clouds, Disneyland will be happy to replace your balloon for you free of charge. Thus, crisis averted!
#4 - Mickey Mouse Ears
I may well catch major flack for this one, but again, this is just
my own personal opinion, and the truth is I could do without the mouse ears (heresy!) simply because I'm not much of a hat person in general, and when I am, it's usually just a ball-cap of some kind; must be the redneck in me. Of course I don't
want the ears to go away (Disney Parks just
wouldn't be the same without them), they're just hardly a blip on the radar
for me (says the man who, looking around his bedroom, can spot no less than 5 different pairs of the things). So obviously I own some, and from time to time I may wear some, but they're just not that important to me. Buying them for my sons and having their names embroidered on them, though? Very important! But for me if people want them I'm fine with that, and if people don't want them, I'm fine with that too. Ambivalence at its finest!
Yar! I be wearing one of them hats me old man is ambivalent about matey...
# 3 - Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Yeah, this is another little something-something that just exists outside of my vision. Without a good reason to get on the Nemo subs, I just never do. It's a small, cramped space that's really stuffy inside, and for me, personally, there are so many attractions around Disneyland that are done a lot better so... it just doesn't really cut it for me on any kind of regular basis. But that's okay! I know that Disneyland didn't create Finding Nemo for the 36 year old male crowd, so that makes perfect sense. I
will go on record as saying that when I ride it with my children, and I see the looks of wonder and smiles on their own faces, I can't help but appreciate it for exactly what it is; in that regard, it's an amazing attraction.
Yeah... I'm pretty much on the fence about this one *drum roll*
#2 - Captain EO Tribute
Perhaps another choice that will get me in trouble depending on who the reader is, the
Captain EO Tribute is another attraction inside Disneyland that pretty much just hovers around my peripheral vision. I had seen it once as a teenager when I first visited Walt Disney World, and made it a point to see it once again on re-opening weekend when it was brought back last year, but otherwise I'm pretty happy just leaving it alone. I have to admit that I've seen it several more times since it re-opened, but it's usually at the behest of my friends (or wife!) who are all
huge M.J. fans, and I'm the kind of person who's more than happy to pretty much just go along with whatever everyone else wants to do. It's not a
bad show at all, it just doesn't really float my boat. However, I
can appreciate the advances it meant in the world of film (and 3D for that matter) and concept when it was first released, and for that reason I actually
do encourage people to see it if they never have, but it's just not a must-do for me anymore. Maybe it has something to do with some of the 4D things inside the show, like the earthquake simulator which has me literally jumping up and down in my chair (and not by choice) in certain sequences in the film, but Yes or no on
Captain EO, well I'm okay either way.
Shake, rattle and roll in a galaxy far, far away!
#1 -Cast Members who shoot me in the face with those bubble guns
Much like the balloons, the automated "bubble guns" that Disneyland has Cast Members schilling all over The Resort are one of those things that I understand the necessity for, and I kind of get a kick out of watching kids run around and enjoy them, but I could probably do without. And the main reason I could do without them is those things are constantly hitting me in the face! It seems like every time I'm walking into
Adventureland, the Cast Member at their little cart there aims down their sights, checks the direction the wind is blowing (to account for accurate shooting), and then promptly pelts me in the face with dozens of balls of floating soap. I will say this, though; those Disneyland bubbles are some of the
toughest bubbles I've ever seen in my life; they just
will not break. It might be one thing if I could break the bubbles as they attacked me, but they just slap me back and keep right on coming. So once again, not a huge issue, but something that if it were to suddenly disappear and if I never got hit in the face with a soap bubble again, well, I might just be okay with that.
And there you have it! Chad's Top Five "Ambivalences". I stand by my original assessment in that this assignment was very difficult for me. There really is
nothing at Disneyland that I dislike, but I suppose if I had to nit-pick, well, these are what I was able to come up with. Hopefully people will see my piddly little list and realize it for what it really is, not so much an effort to be ticky-tailed about silly little things about Disneyland, but rather an indication of just how much I love the place, and just how much enjoyment I get each and every time I go out,
no matter what it is that I'm doing.
Thank you for joining Magical Blogorail Blue this month. We will be back November 11th with an all new theme. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney info, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to
The Magical Blogorail website to see all our members and their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
1st Stop ~
The CanaDisney Blog
2nd Stop ~
Disney Babies Blog
3rd Stop ~
Cooking with Mickey
4th Stop ~
Meet the Magic
5th Stop ~
Pursuing the Magic
Final Stop ~ Days in the Park
