Will was not by any means convinced that Disneyland was a good idea. However, it was close enough to my birthday to make going my gift from him so away we went. As it was winter, there was a lot of maintenance going on, so a number of the big name rides were closed - no It's a Small World, no Splash Mountain, no Matterhorn Bobsleds. Other rides were out of the question because I get ridiculously motion sick (which would make you question my desire to go to amusement parks...) so no Mad Hatter's Tea Party (I can't even watch that one) though I unwisely went on the Star Wars Tour and Space Mountain and needed a good, long, quiet sit down after each of those.
We loved the Indiana Jones ride and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The Haunted Mansion is so dated and not at all creepy but can be enjoyed for its tacky fun. Going on the Roger Rabbit ride made me realise that that movie is a total 80s classic that I should re-watch as soon as physically possible.
I totally have a new favourite Disneyland ride - it's called the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and I think we went on it three or four times. It's nothing really, you sit in your little car and go along the track, but you have these laser guns and you shoot things as you drive along. Will was much better at it than I was but it didn't matter because I'm not competitive at all (damn lies, as anyone who knows me knows, I was devastated every time).
There were things I was looking forward to that were a little disappointing though. I thought that the redeveloped Pirates of the Caribbean went on a little long and, while it hadn't lost the cheesy ridiculousness that made it great, so much effort had been put into making it better that the cheesy ridiculousness just came across as lame. However, if you are interested in seeing an animatronic Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush then don't miss it! Also, on previous visits to Disneyland the people dressed up as the various characters just wandered around and you could go and have a photo with them or whatever. That obviously was not working all that well (you can imagine the parents getting up in arms when Mickey needed a lunch break or whatever) so now there are appointed times and you have to queue up to see them - and those queues were looooong. I felt like that was a bit sad. I always liked the wandering around a corner and - look! there's Jasmine and Aladdin! - aspect of Disneyland.
So, we wandered Main Street and Tomorrow Land and Frontier Land and generally soaked up the atmosphere. We watched the afternoon parade and I threw up a little in my mouth at the depictions of the princesses (did you know that Disney princesses are not allowed to look at each other on any of the merchandising (or apparently on a parade float) - because maybe if they did they would realise that they could actually have female friends and not rely on (male) animals and princes to brighten their lives. I wonder if anyone at Disney has figured out that Frozen might have been popular because it had more than one female character - ever if those characters don't interact. Imagine if they had two female characters who actually spent the movie together???) Did I mention I don't forgive Disney for their gender politics? Anyway.In the evening we went to the Lego store where they had a giant Lego dragon from Sleeping Beauty being slain by a Lego Prince Phillip, Lego Jasmine and Aladdin, Lego Buzz and Woody, Lego Belle and the Beast and Lego Hulk (not Disney but we'll forgive them). Oh, and they had Lego, which I think is quite good too.
Fun day, beautiful weather, merriment. Good times. Will even conceded that he could be convinced to go again, in ten years time. Happy birthday to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment