We don't know this little girl, but found the vid on youtube. Couldn't resist sharing.
The title says it all... Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Star Wars according to a 3 year old.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A week in Utopia
Now my head is just crammed with Disneyland and it's all just busting out at the seams. I even had dreams of it last night. I dreamt that we won a full tour of Disneyland from Walt himself. He said, "Yeah, I know I'm dead but this is my park and this is your dream."
I marveled at the control that the park exercises on its guests. Waiting on Tom Sawyer Island for a ferry, the crowds got restless because one of the ferries broke down and there were a lot of people waiting under the glare of the sun for the return ferry. To help mollify the crowds, they sent Captain Jack Sparrow down to the dock and everybody walked away smiling. Ya gotta love it. I would feel a lot more cynical about it if it didn't actually work. But it really works. That's the magic of that park. It feels completely safe because it is completely safe. There aren't armed security guards on every corner to spoil the show. If they are needed, of course, they'll appear in force. But they aren't ever needed. Kim was marveling at how secure the strollers are outside attractions. One can just park it there and one's possessions are relatively safe. Again, just because the security measures aren't totally apparent, doesn't mean they aren't there.
There is nothing of the present at Disneyland. At the California Adventure park I saw someone reading a newspaper. Amy pointed out to me that maybe they were just annual pass holders waiting while their kids stood in a particularly long line but I said to Amy "If I had my way, reading a newspaper would be grounds for immediate expulsion from the park." When I lived in that area as a teenager, I saw such a thing unfold one night while my family was visiting the park. In this case I would not have been so lenient, but I took a lot of comfort in what happened. Around that time the Goth kids were a fixture of high-school life; black-wearing, perennially depressed strongsads starving for attention (who took their introspection to such an extreme that even I found them off-putting). It became ironic and cool for them to hang out at the Happiest Place on Earth. This particular group simply stood in clustered together at the statue of Walt and Mickey at the end of Main Street USA just looking sad, and even a little threatening. My family was near by when they over-heard a security guard come out of the woodwork and approach them, letting them know that if they didn't ride any rides they would be asked to leave. They were not going to be permitted to disturb the other guests, passively or otherwise. I'm willing to bet they wound up discussing existentialism at an all-night diner somewhere, bad-mouthing the corporate machine of Disneyland. They're probably all CPAs now.
As Amy mentioned, we took my Dad along on a special tour of the park. Along the way, we learned some things about Disneyland you may not have heard. Disneyland is the home of a private dining club called Club 33 (named for it's address in New Orleans Square) where Walt used to entertain visiting VIPs away from the tourists. The formal club still exists and still boasts VIPs, including Johnny Dep. We had the privilege of seeing the foyer of the club that features a replica of an incredible antique elevator that really works. The Haunted Mansion didn't always used to have a ride in it. Walt had it built along with New Orleans Square. It had originally been intended to go on Main Street, but Walt, and company realized it would be out of place there. It stood for years with no apparent purpose while guests speculated. Was it actually haunted, or maybe even cursed? Had somebody died there? The stories abounded. Walt took that and ran with it, claiming that they were preparing the mansion for ghostly guests from all over the world. Nine hundred and ninety-nine actually showed up. But there's always room for one more. Any volunteers? MWAHAHAHAHAHA!! We also spotted a special caboose car exclusively for Club 33 members and their friends called the Lillybell (for Walt's wife Lillian). One last thing: there's a lamp in the window of the firehouse on Main Street that is always on. The Firehouse contained Walt's personal apartment at the park. Every time he came to visit, he would come in and turn that light on. The light became a code for the staff to be on their best behavior because the boss was on the premises. It's been lit ever since Walt died; a symbol of Walt's continued presence in the park.
Anyway, the appeal of Disneyland for me is simple; Disneyland is a reminder of Zion; that shining city on a hill the pilgrims came for and failed to build. The reason this Zion works is because the only man who ever lived there, Walt Disney, is now dead. The point is not to live there, but to visit; to see what's possible. That's why I came, and that's what I found. I felt such a ubiquitous and reliable sense of control that, like so many visitors, it was very difficult to leave. As we walked towards the exit of the park, I turned and blew a final kiss to Main Street USA. After we had walked through the turnstile, Amy said there was a woman behind us who was in tears. Contemplating the unpredictable, fickle, and threatening nature of the world we were about to re-enter, I think I know why she was crying. We've already started planning our next pilgrimage
--Tom
I marveled at the control that the park exercises on its guests. Waiting on Tom Sawyer Island for a ferry, the crowds got restless because one of the ferries broke down and there were a lot of people waiting under the glare of the sun for the return ferry. To help mollify the crowds, they sent Captain Jack Sparrow down to the dock and everybody walked away smiling. Ya gotta love it. I would feel a lot more cynical about it if it didn't actually work. But it really works. That's the magic of that park. It feels completely safe because it is completely safe. There aren't armed security guards on every corner to spoil the show. If they are needed, of course, they'll appear in force. But they aren't ever needed. Kim was marveling at how secure the strollers are outside attractions. One can just park it there and one's possessions are relatively safe. Again, just because the security measures aren't totally apparent, doesn't mean they aren't there.
There is nothing of the present at Disneyland. At the California Adventure park I saw someone reading a newspaper. Amy pointed out to me that maybe they were just annual pass holders waiting while their kids stood in a particularly long line but I said to Amy "If I had my way, reading a newspaper would be grounds for immediate expulsion from the park." When I lived in that area as a teenager, I saw such a thing unfold one night while my family was visiting the park. In this case I would not have been so lenient, but I took a lot of comfort in what happened. Around that time the Goth kids were a fixture of high-school life; black-wearing, perennially depressed strongsads starving for attention (who took their introspection to such an extreme that even I found them off-putting). It became ironic and cool for them to hang out at the Happiest Place on Earth. This particular group simply stood in clustered together at the statue of Walt and Mickey at the end of Main Street USA just looking sad, and even a little threatening. My family was near by when they over-heard a security guard come out of the woodwork and approach them, letting them know that if they didn't ride any rides they would be asked to leave. They were not going to be permitted to disturb the other guests, passively or otherwise. I'm willing to bet they wound up discussing existentialism at an all-night diner somewhere, bad-mouthing the corporate machine of Disneyland. They're probably all CPAs now.
As Amy mentioned, we took my Dad along on a special tour of the park. Along the way, we learned some things about Disneyland you may not have heard. Disneyland is the home of a private dining club called Club 33 (named for it's address in New Orleans Square) where Walt used to entertain visiting VIPs away from the tourists. The formal club still exists and still boasts VIPs, including Johnny Dep. We had the privilege of seeing the foyer of the club that features a replica of an incredible antique elevator that really works. The Haunted Mansion didn't always used to have a ride in it. Walt had it built along with New Orleans Square. It had originally been intended to go on Main Street, but Walt, and company realized it would be out of place there. It stood for years with no apparent purpose while guests speculated. Was it actually haunted, or maybe even cursed? Had somebody died there? The stories abounded. Walt took that and ran with it, claiming that they were preparing the mansion for ghostly guests from all over the world. Nine hundred and ninety-nine actually showed up. But there's always room for one more. Any volunteers? MWAHAHAHAHAHA!! We also spotted a special caboose car exclusively for Club 33 members and their friends called the Lillybell (for Walt's wife Lillian). One last thing: there's a lamp in the window of the firehouse on Main Street that is always on. The Firehouse contained Walt's personal apartment at the park. Every time he came to visit, he would come in and turn that light on. The light became a code for the staff to be on their best behavior because the boss was on the premises. It's been lit ever since Walt died; a symbol of Walt's continued presence in the park.
Anyway, the appeal of Disneyland for me is simple; Disneyland is a reminder of Zion; that shining city on a hill the pilgrims came for and failed to build. The reason this Zion works is because the only man who ever lived there, Walt Disney, is now dead. The point is not to live there, but to visit; to see what's possible. That's why I came, and that's what I found. I felt such a ubiquitous and reliable sense of control that, like so many visitors, it was very difficult to leave. As we walked towards the exit of the park, I turned and blew a final kiss to Main Street USA. After we had walked through the turnstile, Amy said there was a woman behind us who was in tears. Contemplating the unpredictable, fickle, and threatening nature of the world we were about to re-enter, I think I know why she was crying. We've already started planning our next pilgrimage
--Tom
Disneyland trip February 2008--Amy's travel log
Okay, I know I've been awful at updating the blog. Now you have to suffer through a huge post talking all about our trip to California last week :D. I'll try to add photos throughout so it's not quite so boring....
On the Saturday night before our trip (February 9th), Tom and I took Ash up to board with Jeff and Crystal in Logan. Their kids were really excited to get to play with her. They love dogs, but she's not so sure she enjoys their love, lol. Of course, Murphy's law caught us when we realized Ash was in full heat and bleeding everywhere the day we were going to take her up there. Great timing, Ash! Poor girl, she had to wear little boys underpants throughout her already uncomfortable stay with the kids. It was hard to leave her there. When we were getting ready to go out to the car, she started freaking out and shaking like she was terrified. I don't know how it is, but dogs really seem to have a deep sense of everything that's going on around them. When Tom went to take our stuff out to the car, she bolted out the door and ran the half-block to the car. She waited there for Tom to arrive, like she was saying "Please take me with you! I'll never be naughty again." (Like we'd ever believe that, lol). Tom had to pick her up and carry her back into the house, and we left her in her carrier so she wouldn't escape again. I called later to see how she was doing, and apparently she was playing with the kids and enjoying getting so much attention. Silly doggy!
We left our place in Midvale about 5:45 am on the 12th. Tom hadn't gotten home from work the night before until about 11:00 pm, and of course there was a lot of last-minute packing and panicking to do. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night. We packed some caffeine in the cooler with our sandwiches, and boy we were grateful for it! We stopped in Nephi so my parents, Devin, Summer and Tanner could meet us there and caravan. It turned out it was really unfortunate we had gotten up so early, because they finally showed up about an hour after we did. I was glad we had some blankets in the car. We just laid back and took a nap while we waited for them. In fact, I was pretty boring and dozed most of the way down. I couldn't even stay awake long enough to relieve Tom as the driver. It was really funny. (boring for him, though).
That night we all went out to dinner and met Merrill (Tom's dad). After dinner we all went over to Downtown Disney, where there are a lot of fun shops. Among these is the Lego Store. This is one of our favorites, hehehe. We always get a little something lego whenever we go to California. Since we've gotten Tanner hooked on legos, we had to take him to visit the store. He wasn't disappointed. Besides the fact that it's an entire store devoted to legos and lego products, there are cool huge models all over the place, some even life-sized.
Our hotel was only about two blocks away from the entrance to the park, so Tom and I were able to walk over there every day. Disneyland was tons of fun. My favorite part was seeing how much fun my family was having, since this was their first visit to the park. I know Dad was concerned it would just be an overpriced Lagoon trip, but it did my heart good when every time I looked over at him he was grinning. Both he and my mom had sick spells and he even had to stay at the hotel for a whole day before he was feeling well enough to get out again, but everyone had a great time.
Deneal and Ashton met us at the park our first day. Ashton kept talking about how excited he was about going on the "Caterpillar ride", since that was the only thing he remembered from his previous visit a year or so ago. We ran across several Disney characters in costume. Some of them he really wanted to meet, even though he made funny faces whenever we took a picture.
It was the perfect time to take newbies to Disneyland, because there was no wait for anything that first couple of days. I have NEVER seen the lines so short when I've been there before. Most of the major rides had less than a five minute wait, and most of that was just walking through the line. We all got to go on whatever major rides we wanted to go on, so even that first day was pretty full.
Since this is the "Year of a Million Dreams" at Disneyland, the cast members around the park go around and give away random dreams and prizes that money can't buy. One of these was even a night's stay in the "dream suite"--an apartment in New Orleans square above the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride that was created from a design Walt Disney planned to use before he passed away in the 60's. We saw people with special "Year of a Million Dreams" Mickey Mouse ears that they had won, and other people had special fast pass cards that let them get onto every major ride in the park without having to wait. On our first day at the park, Tom and I were grabbing lunch and we noticed a nice table right near the counter that had a "reserved" sign on it. It had a nice white tablecloth, cloth napkins, nice flatware, and even gourmet condiments. It's difficult to get a table in this area of the park, so it was a great surprise when the cast member helping Tom told us that we had just won that table for our meal. She had us go sit down, and she brought out our drinks in tall glasses, and our burgers on nice plates, instead of having disposables. It was a silly little thing, but it was so much fun that she kept coming out to check on us, fill our drinks, and make sure everything was okay. We got the best table in the whole area!
For Valentine's Day, Tom got us reservations at Blue Bayou, an upscale park restaurant that you can actually see from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We were lucky to get our reservations, even though we ended up having to get them for the day after Valentine's day. They apparently get booked weeks in advance. It's got fun ambiance--it feels just like you are outside at night next to the water. The ceiling is too high to see in the dim lighting, so if you went in for lunch, you would forget it wasn't dark out. There are candles at every table, and little Chinese lanterns hang overhead. You can hear the friendly sounds of crickets and water lapping nearby, and every few minutes when a new boat on the ride is launched, you hear a new set of soft voices over the water. Every once in awhile you can hear screaming as a boat plunges down the first waterfall in the ride, but somehow this still doesn't bring you out of the calm fantasy this restaurant radiates. The food was excellent, although Tom was much more wildly ecstatic about this than I was (To me, meat is pretty much just meat. So call me crazy!). It was a pricey meal, but very fun for a special occasion.
On Saturday the 16th Tom, Merrill and myself went on the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour at Disneyland. I sort of went to humor Tom since I knew he loves Disney history and would really enjoy the tour, but I really loved it as well! They take you all around the park and talk all about Walt Disney's contributions to everything and all sorts of history of the park and company.
So basically, we had lots of fun at Disneyland and California Adventure. Obviously :D.
On Sunday, Merrill took us out to the beach and then over the Long Beach where we saw the Queen Mary, an old WWII troop ship that later was used as an upper-class cruise ship. We didn't take the tour, although looking back we wished we had planned the time (and money) for it. It's supposed to be haunted, and the tour talks all about its history (Maybe my history-obsessed husband is finally rubbing off on me since historic tours are sounding fun these days).
We left to come back up to Utah that evening, and just took turns driving through the night. We got back here Monday morning (the 18th), and then went up to Logan to pick up Ash yesterday.
We and my parents had gone in together on some Mr. Potato Heads for Leo and Ella at one of the toy stores at Disneyland, and we brought them up to the kids. Boy, they sure loved those things. It was funny what different pieces we were able to get--Ariel hair (from little mermaid); Mickey Mouse ears, gloves, and even a Mickey shaped ice cream bar; Sleeping Beauty crown; glass slippers, and you name it. They sell Potato Head pieces separately--you just fill a box as full as you can, and as long as it closes you pay just a flat rate for whatever you fit in there. I was proud of the box I filled--no rattling when we shook it, lol. I couldn't believe how much was stuffed in there when it got dumped out. Leo was nervous Ella would take some of his pieces, so he took his into the kitchen to work on while Ella stayed here in the living room. I wish I had gotten a good picture of the "tato" he had created... It had "Incredibles" arms and pants, Pirate boots, a Peter Pan hat, a big red nose and a mustache. It was hilarious! Ella was putting things like bows, hair, and pretty shoes on her "tato". It's funny how early our male and female traits start to show up.
Ash is being so very good today. I think she's worried that we're going to send her back to the kids for more hugs if she does anything remotely bad. She's enjoying being back home, and I'm liking having my shadow again. I miss her when she's not here to keep me company while Tom's working.
Well, I guess that pretty well sums it up. I know Tom's planning to do his version of the trip on here as well, so you're going to be overloaded with Disney, hehehe. To those of you who have expressed interest, the new 'toon of the month ought to be up this week as well.
On the Saturday night before our trip (February 9th), Tom and I took Ash up to board with Jeff and Crystal in Logan. Their kids were really excited to get to play with her. They love dogs, but she's not so sure she enjoys their love, lol. Of course, Murphy's law caught us when we realized Ash was in full heat and bleeding everywhere the day we were going to take her up there. Great timing, Ash! Poor girl, she had to wear little boys underpants throughout her already uncomfortable stay with the kids. It was hard to leave her there. When we were getting ready to go out to the car, she started freaking out and shaking like she was terrified. I don't know how it is, but dogs really seem to have a deep sense of everything that's going on around them. When Tom went to take our stuff out to the car, she bolted out the door and ran the half-block to the car. She waited there for Tom to arrive, like she was saying "Please take me with you! I'll never be naughty again." (Like we'd ever believe that, lol). Tom had to pick her up and carry her back into the house, and we left her in her carrier so she wouldn't escape again. I called later to see how she was doing, and apparently she was playing with the kids and enjoying getting so much attention. Silly doggy!
We left our place in Midvale about 5:45 am on the 12th. Tom hadn't gotten home from work the night before until about 11:00 pm, and of course there was a lot of last-minute packing and panicking to do. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night. We packed some caffeine in the cooler with our sandwiches, and boy we were grateful for it! We stopped in Nephi so my parents, Devin, Summer and Tanner could meet us there and caravan. It turned out it was really unfortunate we had gotten up so early, because they finally showed up about an hour after we did. I was glad we had some blankets in the car. We just laid back and took a nap while we waited for them. In fact, I was pretty boring and dozed most of the way down. I couldn't even stay awake long enough to relieve Tom as the driver. It was really funny. (boring for him, though).
That night we all went out to dinner and met Merrill (Tom's dad). After dinner we all went over to Downtown Disney, where there are a lot of fun shops. Among these is the Lego Store. This is one of our favorites, hehehe. We always get a little something lego whenever we go to California. Since we've gotten Tanner hooked on legos, we had to take him to visit the store. He wasn't disappointed. Besides the fact that it's an entire store devoted to legos and lego products, there are cool huge models all over the place, some even life-sized.
Our hotel was only about two blocks away from the entrance to the park, so Tom and I were able to walk over there every day. Disneyland was tons of fun. My favorite part was seeing how much fun my family was having, since this was their first visit to the park. I know Dad was concerned it would just be an overpriced Lagoon trip, but it did my heart good when every time I looked over at him he was grinning. Both he and my mom had sick spells and he even had to stay at the hotel for a whole day before he was feeling well enough to get out again, but everyone had a great time.
Deneal and Ashton met us at the park our first day. Ashton kept talking about how excited he was about going on the "Caterpillar ride", since that was the only thing he remembered from his previous visit a year or so ago. We ran across several Disney characters in costume. Some of them he really wanted to meet, even though he made funny faces whenever we took a picture.
It was the perfect time to take newbies to Disneyland, because there was no wait for anything that first couple of days. I have NEVER seen the lines so short when I've been there before. Most of the major rides had less than a five minute wait, and most of that was just walking through the line. We all got to go on whatever major rides we wanted to go on, so even that first day was pretty full.
Since this is the "Year of a Million Dreams" at Disneyland, the cast members around the park go around and give away random dreams and prizes that money can't buy. One of these was even a night's stay in the "dream suite"--an apartment in New Orleans square above the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride that was created from a design Walt Disney planned to use before he passed away in the 60's. We saw people with special "Year of a Million Dreams" Mickey Mouse ears that they had won, and other people had special fast pass cards that let them get onto every major ride in the park without having to wait. On our first day at the park, Tom and I were grabbing lunch and we noticed a nice table right near the counter that had a "reserved" sign on it. It had a nice white tablecloth, cloth napkins, nice flatware, and even gourmet condiments. It's difficult to get a table in this area of the park, so it was a great surprise when the cast member helping Tom told us that we had just won that table for our meal. She had us go sit down, and she brought out our drinks in tall glasses, and our burgers on nice plates, instead of having disposables. It was a silly little thing, but it was so much fun that she kept coming out to check on us, fill our drinks, and make sure everything was okay. We got the best table in the whole area!
For Valentine's Day, Tom got us reservations at Blue Bayou, an upscale park restaurant that you can actually see from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We were lucky to get our reservations, even though we ended up having to get them for the day after Valentine's day. They apparently get booked weeks in advance. It's got fun ambiance--it feels just like you are outside at night next to the water. The ceiling is too high to see in the dim lighting, so if you went in for lunch, you would forget it wasn't dark out. There are candles at every table, and little Chinese lanterns hang overhead. You can hear the friendly sounds of crickets and water lapping nearby, and every few minutes when a new boat on the ride is launched, you hear a new set of soft voices over the water. Every once in awhile you can hear screaming as a boat plunges down the first waterfall in the ride, but somehow this still doesn't bring you out of the calm fantasy this restaurant radiates. The food was excellent, although Tom was much more wildly ecstatic about this than I was (To me, meat is pretty much just meat. So call me crazy!). It was a pricey meal, but very fun for a special occasion.
On Saturday the 16th Tom, Merrill and myself went on the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour at Disneyland. I sort of went to humor Tom since I knew he loves Disney history and would really enjoy the tour, but I really loved it as well! They take you all around the park and talk all about Walt Disney's contributions to everything and all sorts of history of the park and company.
So basically, we had lots of fun at Disneyland and California Adventure. Obviously :D.
On Sunday, Merrill took us out to the beach and then over the Long Beach where we saw the Queen Mary, an old WWII troop ship that later was used as an upper-class cruise ship. We didn't take the tour, although looking back we wished we had planned the time (and money) for it. It's supposed to be haunted, and the tour talks all about its history (Maybe my history-obsessed husband is finally rubbing off on me since historic tours are sounding fun these days).
We left to come back up to Utah that evening, and just took turns driving through the night. We got back here Monday morning (the 18th), and then went up to Logan to pick up Ash yesterday.
We and my parents had gone in together on some Mr. Potato Heads for Leo and Ella at one of the toy stores at Disneyland, and we brought them up to the kids. Boy, they sure loved those things. It was funny what different pieces we were able to get--Ariel hair (from little mermaid); Mickey Mouse ears, gloves, and even a Mickey shaped ice cream bar; Sleeping Beauty crown; glass slippers, and you name it. They sell Potato Head pieces separately--you just fill a box as full as you can, and as long as it closes you pay just a flat rate for whatever you fit in there. I was proud of the box I filled--no rattling when we shook it, lol. I couldn't believe how much was stuffed in there when it got dumped out. Leo was nervous Ella would take some of his pieces, so he took his into the kitchen to work on while Ella stayed here in the living room. I wish I had gotten a good picture of the "tato" he had created... It had "Incredibles" arms and pants, Pirate boots, a Peter Pan hat, a big red nose and a mustache. It was hilarious! Ella was putting things like bows, hair, and pretty shoes on her "tato". It's funny how early our male and female traits start to show up.
Ash is being so very good today. I think she's worried that we're going to send her back to the kids for more hugs if she does anything remotely bad. She's enjoying being back home, and I'm liking having my shadow again. I miss her when she's not here to keep me company while Tom's working.
Well, I guess that pretty well sums it up. I know Tom's planning to do his version of the trip on here as well, so you're going to be overloaded with Disney, hehehe. To those of you who have expressed interest, the new 'toon of the month ought to be up this week as well.
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