EarzUp on The Disneyland Resort, Part 1

Through one of those serendipitous twists of the Universe, I virtually met Jason Petros from EarzUp Podcast. I have been a guest on their show twice, and had a blast both times. The first episode was a lot of loose chat about the Disneyland resort and my vintage collection of shots. My second visit centered around the vintage attraction The House of the Future. After my portion of the podcast, the rest of the show was a discussion about “5 Disneyland Details We Love (and 5 we hate!).” It’s always interesting to me to hear the opinion of others about the Park. I thought it would be fun to illustrate the EarzUp quartet’s comments with photos from my collection. I will begin with the areas that they hated need some help (trying to put a positive spin on it!), and follow up with those that elicited feelings of love. There were a total of 17 areas that the EarzUp team thought needed help, and I have to say I agree with every one of them.

1. Defunct attractions that are never funct! Carousel of Progress became America Sings which became…nothing...then Innoventions...then Star Wars Launch Bay... The Disney Corporation keeps putting something in the Carousel building just to fill the space, but not something people actually want to go to.  Something of substance should be put there instead!

2. U.S. Mail Boxes: Love that they have them, but hate dislike that they don't sell stamps at the Park or postmark the letters from Disneyland anymore. What's the point of having them? Without the Disneyland postmark, they have lost their magic.

3. The blocked off Court of Angels in New Orleans Square: which is now the waiting room for Club 33, proving once again that the wealthy will always take from the common folk! A class warfare kind of thing. But… it is fun when you're on the other side!

4. Star Wars in multiple places. Star Wars has an entire area, but still has overflow in other lands. “The joy of Star Wars is the unknown of Star Wars. We don’t want it rubbed in our faces.”

5. Pixie Hollow: For us vintage Disneyland geeks, this one is extremely painful, since the House of the Future was once located here (seen below in this November 1959 image):

Pixie Hollow is the worst…you stand in line, go to different sections, and take photos with the “fairies”; it’s shady, but still sunny, and it’s just plain dumb.

6. The small world attraction ceiling: it’s just painted black and you can see the air vents, HVAC tubing...why not put up a false ceiling or a drapery to hide and help the immersion?

Want to “see” the unedited podcast and get a sneak peek of the rest of the show? Here you go…

More needed improvements to come…

See more photos at my main website.

Beyond the Sea

It had been over three years since I had last been on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The only reason we went on it this visit was because thanks to our VIP Tour Guide Maria, we were able to walk onto it. Even then, I had my doubts about wasting time on this mess of an attraction. Anastasia seemed to enjoy the view from her porthole window.



There are fun details to notice in the first part of the journey...



but once the subs "submerge" the attraction becomes a cacophonous mess of noise, poor projections, and sheer boredom.











Matt looked happy at the end of the attraction. So was I.



Next up…Star Tours!



Plenty of fun in the queue, which Maria whisked us through.





Door #1!



Matt looks like he's ready for a Devo video. If you don't know who Devo is, please visit Youtube.



Janet had not taken a dramamine booster, so this was not a pleasant experience for her. This was the last time she smiled until the virtual journey was over.



Outside, Stormtroopers were attempting to take over Star Traders.







Mary Poppins and Bert seemed oblivious to the attack as they strolled by the Plaza Inn.



We encountered Jack Skellington on our way to Pirates of the Caribbean.



And here we are, entering the attraction through the back of Lafitte's Landing. Wait until you hear what happened next!



Get your Disneyland photo fix at my main website.

Meet Me at Disneyland Pt. 6: Tomorrowland

Of all the lands, Tomorrowland is the one I spend the least amount of time in. This trip proved to be the exception, as the light crowds permitted a walk-on situation for all the biggies. Despite that, the main reason I removed myself from the norm this trip was to get a few photos of the "Iron Man 3" exhibit at Innoventions, aka the former Carousel of Progress.



People playing video games.



Corporate advertisements.



Infomercials cleverly presented in the form of edu-tainment.



Semi-interesting displays.



And the main reason I came: the Iron Man exhibit, featuring costumes (or replicas?) from the movie.









This one shot made it all worth it. This kid was having a ball. Absolutely priceless.



A few more "Iron Man" shots, so that you don't forget the Marvel-Disney connection.





The Dream Home is still here, but now that it's over five years old, the "thrill" (and I use that term loosely) is definitely gone...or pretty much on the way out.









I didn't bother re-visiting the Dream Home; there were enough people milling inside that it extinguished the tiny bit of desire I might have had to go through once again.



Instead, it was onward and upward to Space Mountain.







Although this is one of my favorite "thrill" rides at Disneyland, I guarantee it wouldn't be half as exciting if the lights were on.



How dare that little girl attempt to cover my face!



Working my way back to the front of Tomorrowland, Star Tours was next on the day's to-do list.



One of the greatest comedy duos since Laurel & Hardy.











The doors open...one group departs, and the next one begins to board.



Time to put the camera away as the journey is about to start...and photos of the 3D screen look like ca-ca anyway.



Final Tomorrowland attraction for the day was Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters.



32?!? Wow...I really need to work on my game.



One closeup of the Astro Orbiter gate, and then I was finished with the Tomorrowland portion of my day.



Tomorrow, we'll meet on Main Street—both of them!

See more vintage & current Disneyland Tomorrowland photos on my Tomorrowland web pages.