For the First Time In Forever.....A Disneyland reopening TR, Dark Ride photos and The End 5/8

[franandaj]

I do! You told us!

You mean you aren't glued to the Interwebs for news of this new land opening?

Next time you want to leave at noon, tell Fran you absolutely, 100% no kidding, your lives depend on it... have to leave at 10:30.

That way you should be able to leave only a little late.

I was pushing it with the noon leaving time. She knew that the preview wasn't until 5:30PM. The only way that I could get her to agree to the noon leaving time was that they opened check in at 1PM. I'm glad I told her noon and not 2PM!

Oh, so not a rear unloading.

Well this is how we usually would unload both the scooters.



But for the trips since the parks reopened, we have put my scooter in the back, so right now it's side and back unloading.

Still... am surprised given that it was a pre-view, combined with Covid restrictions that all the spots were taken.

Well all the Handicapped spots were taken. There was lots of availability in the structure overall, but some of it was really far away from the elevators. There's this little period in American that takes place every two years (in odd numbered years). You see Handicapped Plaques are good through June 30, of odd numbered years. New plaques are mailed out to Plaque holders starting in April. When we asked one of the guys directing traffic about Handicapped spaces he said this:

"Come July 1st this will be over, but for now all the children and grandchildren of Handicapped Plaque holders are using the expiring plaques that their elders gave them to use, while the elders use the new ones."

We need to remember to put the new one in the Van. We had the new one in the dead car, so when we cleaned it out at the Mechanic's it's 2023 plaque made it into the little car, but the big car still only has the 2021 expiring plaque.

mmmm...
Better, same, or not as good as the wagon?

Probably the same, but I like the option of the Cheese dog too. I like the combination of both.

Nope. I can't see that as something I'd want. Of course I'd try it if offered, and might even like it, but... not something that grabs my attention.

If you were with us, we'd lop of a taste for you!

Well... that whole sentence is odd.
Carrot cake funnel fries??? That... don't taste like carrot cake???

Well when I reread the description, it said that they were "funnel fries with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with crumbled Carrot cake." I didn't see too many crumbles.

I'm sure those were full the next day.

Probably.

Oh! I never would've guessed.

I took me a while to figure it out.

No idea what that is.

I'm guessing it's from Avenger's Endgame. I think I need to watch Infinity Wars again before we watch Endgame.

So... you figure that's a movie used model?

Well other things displayed in that space are bonafide props and such.

I'm surprised by that. I wonder if things have changed. Last I heard, Universal had the rights to Spiderman for theme parks.

I believe that they had the rights East of the Mississippi....

$80?!?!?

Do they do dishes? Clean the floor?

$80?!?!?!?!?

Was that by design? Did everyone go straight there, or were you free to branch off if you wanted?

Well we could do whatever we want, but always at these things everyone tends to go right for the attraction. Also a CM told me earlier in the week that the attraction can go down easily so it's best to get it out of the way as quick as possible.

Not bad at all.

It moved quickly.

You're probably more knowledgeable than I am. I haven't seen any SHIELD episodes.

I haven't finished all the Marvel Movies yet.

Huh! I wasn't expecting an interactive ride. And certainly not like that!

I had no expectations so I thought it was fun.

Okay, that's cool.

But I can see it hurting more than TSMM after a while.

Good thing you can only ride it once in a day.

Pretty creative!

Is that what they're calling it nowadays?

Watch out, Alison!
Noooooo...
Phew! Thank goodness for your powers!

I know that was a close one there!

Sorry to hear that. Maybe those "dogs" pre-ride weren't the best idea?

She has been having problems for almost two years now. She saw out Gastroenterologist back in the Fall of 2020 and he did all kinds of tests. She had a Colonoscopy about a week before everything shut down. Her stomach just cramps up horribly to the point where she is doubling over. We thought we had solved it a year ago when we identified it to Mtn. Dew, but it's come back in the last couple weeks, so we're keeping a log of what she eats and when.

Good thinking. I wouldn't have thought of that.

This isn't my first "running out of food" rodeo!

Well... okay, then.

I thought Disney employees weren't supposed to use the word, "no".

And yes, that pretzel is huge!

Oh, geez. I can already guess that they're going to make a ton of money off those.

I'm not sure. The Boarding Group is harder to get than RotR, and you can only ride once a day IF you get a BG. Also with no APs, I can't imagine them flying off the shelves unless there is more chance to get on the ride.

But you didn't go?

I had a long long day. I was up and out of bed at 7AM to get all the things we had to do done before we could leave. The Web Slingers ride really fatigued me and I'd been on Guardians a bunch before. I'll go on maybe Wednesday and definitely when I'm back with Jenny next week.

You know, I've never had schwarma. We have it here, but... I've just never been in the mood, or hungry enough, or in the right area.

Not sure if I'd had it either. We have so many different kind of places serving food from that part of the world, I'm not sure which cuisines I've tasted and which I haven't.

It looks terrible/burnt, but obviously wasn't. Very interesting look!

That's a chocolate coating, so not burnt at all.

Huh! Maybe Disney should offer that.

I think the chef would be insulted, but I think it tasted better!

Almost.
I believe it's 2-3 weeks after the 2nd shot that you are as immune as you're gonna get.

So hopefully you're good now?

You say "pushover", I say "kind".

I would much rather be friends with a "pushover" than with an abusive or rude person.

Well me too!

Great scene. Also like the Galaxy song scene:
Galaxy Song - Monty Python's The Meaning of Life - YouTube

I don't remember that one! I need to watch that movie again!

But not at the top of the page.

Thank you. I had to modify my comment pattern, but it worked out.

 

[wishing4PA]

"Come July 1st this will be over, but for now all the children and grandchildren of Handicapped Plaque holders are using the expiring plaques that their elders gave them to use, while the elders use the new ones."

I'm not sure. The Boarding Group is harder to get than RotR, and you can only ride once a day IF you get a BG. Also with no APs, I can't imagine them flying off the shelves unless there is more chance to get on the ride.

Let's not give Disney any ideas, but they could charge triple for the things if they came with a bonus BG entry.

That's a chocolate coating, so not burnt at all.

Did someone say chocolate? Now I've got to go back and find out what we are talking about and look at the photo!
Edit: Ooooooh... the cosmic cream orb. I'll have to order multiples now.

 

[pkondz]

You mean you aren't glued to the Interwebs for news of this new land opening?

Nope!

I was pushing it with the noon leaving time. She knew that the preview wasn't until 5:30PM. The only way that I could get her to agree to the noon leaving time was that they opened check in at 1PM.

ah. Okay, more in the loop now.

I'm glad I told her noon and not 2PM!

Well this is how we usually would unload both the scooters.

Like the ramps. But they sure look steep!

Well all the Handicapped spots were taken.

That's what I mean. There should be enough to go around at capacity, so I'm surprised there weren't when it wasn't at capacity.

"Come July 1st this will be over, but for now all the children and grandchildren of Handicapped Plaque holders are using the expiring plaques that their elders gave them to use, while the elders use the new ones."

That's disgusting.

Probably the same, but I like the option of the Cheese dog too. I like the combination of both.

Okay. Then I'll stick with getting my first at the wagon. Some day. Maybe.

If you were with us, we'd lop of a taste for you!

Thanks!

Well when I reread the description, it said that they were "funnel fries with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with crumbled Carrot cake." I didn't see too many crumbles.

Ah. A crumbleless crumble dessert.

I'm guessing it's from Avenger's Endgame. I think I need to watch Infinity Wars again before we watch Endgame.

I don't know. I don't recognize it. Then again, I haven't seen Ultron.

I believe that they had the rights East of the Mississippi....

Oh... Then it won't happen at WDW.

I haven't finished all the Marvel Movies yet.

Me neither. See above.

Good thing you can only ride it once in a day.

Really? Huh!

She has been having problems for almost two years now. She saw out Gastroenterologist back in the Fall of 2020 and he did all kinds of tests. She had a Colonoscopy about a week before everything shut down. Her stomach just cramps up horribly to the point where she is doubling over. We thought we had solved it a year ago when we identified it to Mtn. Dew, but it's come back in the last couple weeks, so we're keeping a log of what she eats and when.

Hope you can figure it out. I have similar issues on occasion which I'm almost positive is peppers. Or too many raw veggies.

This isn't my first "running out of food" rodeo!

I thought Disney employees weren't supposed to use the word, "no".

No. I mean Yes!! No! Yes! Dang it!!!!

I had a long long day. I was up and out of bed at 7AM to get all the things we had to do done before we could leave. The Web Slingers ride really fatigued me and I'd been on Guardians a bunch before. I'll go on maybe Wednesday and definitely when I'm back with Jenny next week.

So hopefully you're good now?

Not quite. I've had my 2nd shot, but just a few days ago. Gimme 2-3 weeks and I will be.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Oh man, all your Disneyland posts have gotten me so excited to visit Cali again! So much so that I booked flights to San Diego in September! I found a good deal on flights so I booked it right away!

Also we haven't seen Steve's family in over a year. We are definitely going to visit Disneyland though! If you both are around, would love to buy you all a drink! We are probably going to be there Sept 7-9, around those dates. I am not sure how this whole park reservation thing works, but I assume it's like WDW, where you get park tickets then reserve dates at each park?

I cannot wait to see Avenger's Campus, Steve and I are huge Marvel fans so it's definitely something we've been dreaming about! Webslingers reminds me of that Ninjago ride at Legoland. Only went there once but it's similar but Webslingers looks like it's a souped up version!

Your dinner at the Club looks AMAZING as usual. That salmon and the strawberry buttermilk cake looks so good.

Oh and yes I do have a new TR started! Its right here: Social Disney-ing, A Chunky Birthday Trip!

 

[cruisehopeful]

Still pretty dead on the ride. I don’t think I could have gone on it more than once. My shoulders were sore from all the flailing on that one ride.

I watched a ride through on Youtube and I was thinking that I wouldn't even be able to participate in the entire ride. I wonder if the ride is any good if you just sit through it and watch it like a movie.

Guardians was also a total walk on all night.

I live for times like that! That's the only ride that I will go back on several times in a row, but rarely get the opportunity to do that.

 

[Steppesister]

Yummy cheese dog!

I wish they would have a combo version of these dogs. The idea of BOTH together sounds great! Is the Little Red Wagon Open ?

You put on your 3D glasses and there are four seats on either side of the vehicle. It's like TSMM in that you go from scene to scene, but instead of having a pull string shooter in front of you, they have some kind of sensor that translates into webs that destroy the spidey bots. The sensation is a little weird and your first scene is pretty “easy” or sparse with the little bots. I thrust my arm out into the spideyverse and “ZOOM” a web shot out of it and I blew up a box. On my second shot I nailed the little bot thing and it blew up right there. Here’s a couple scenes that I stole off the Interwebs. There aren’t that many since the ride just opened.

WOW!! That technology is REALLY over the top. Sounds super fun!! Hopefully sometime soon I can try it out!!

Ok that's pretty funny. That guy is REALLY into it!

This gives me vertigo just looking at it. OY!

Holy crap!

This seriously reminds me of the Muppets area at DHS.

I finished off the rest of the shawarma and my Orb for breakfast the next morning,

My kind of breakfast!!

 

[franandaj]

My crystal ball broke with the pandemic, so I don't have any idea how that's going to work out. We're there for 4 nights, so 3 full days, with 2 of them starting at DCA as well as our last part day. I'm pretty sure if we don't get a BG I'll end up with DD in the SB line for the land at least.

Hopefully with that many days you'll get on it. If you don't get it at 7AM the 12 noon spot seems to be working well for a lot of people I know.

I could be wrong and she'd say "no webslingers, no need to go into AC", but my bet's on us making our way into it, one way or another. She's really excited about that ride though, so we'll be trying for it as often as possible. It is sad though that you can't ride multiple times. Practice makes perfect after all!

I would imagine she would at least want to ride Guardians. That's a great ride and with restricted access to AC, I bet the lines are a lot shorter!

I'll get into it. And I'll bring some Aleve.

Good planning!

The vortex!
I totally believe you! We're prepared for expensive Egg McMuffins or whatever.

If you don't have a car, you can always order groceries to be delivered. Not sure if your room has a fridge, but you can always have some bread products around for quick bites to eat that aren't super expensive.

 

[franandaj]

I'll take your too-spicy portions.

Sounds like a deal!

This was back in the day of no cell phones, so when we had to meet up with the folks, you sat. Marigolds were often in the planters we'd sit at, so lots of scented memories from that.

I don't think I ever went to the parks (and was let to run around alone) so that I had to meet up with anyone. I do remember that my ex-hubby's parents had a tradition of 5PM cocktails at the Disneyland Hotel in the site where Trader Sam's now sits. So we knew to meet them there and they would buy us drinks. Other than that when I went with my parents, they didn't let me out of their sight. After that I was an adult and went with one or two friends.

I'd LOVE to see that!!! LOL!!

Maybe you can try it WITH me.

Looking forward to it!!

:

A Penthouse for me!

I might try that one next time.

Say what? I've never heard that before. Can't they bring you a piece of bread? Pull a cracker out of his pocket? What?

It's a pandemic thing. Bars themselves are not allowed to be open, or they just did recently. So people had to have some kind of food that was served to be considered a restaurant. Back last year, Gov. Newsom declared that "Chicken Wings were not a meal." And I was like I often have chicken wings for a meal. It's a great low carb thing, and the celery is your veggie!

Super cute touch!

They do that with the Dark and Stormy in Trader Sam's Grog Grotto.

Never heard that expression before!

It's based off one of the sketches in Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" where the guy is so stuffed and asks the waiter to "Bring me a bucket." He subsequently explodes, and I got so grossed out I had to run out of the theater to keep from hurling. Every time I've watched the movie since then, I forward through that sketch or go to the potty.

 

[franandaj]

Seriously?! That's maddening.

Do you know if it's a covid thing, or a general rule? Last summer in NYC they had a rule for bars to open, they have to serve food, so bars starting offering things like "Andrew Cuomo Chips" for $1 and you got about 6 potato chips!

Yes it's a Covid related thing. I heard about the things they were doing in New York. It prompted our governor to proclaim that "Chicken Wings were not a meal." Which befuddled me since I often eat chicken wings and celery as a meal. Good low carb choice!

People are losing their minds over this!

I just LOVE that!! What a great meal. I'm sure it felt nice to be back!!

It was fantastic to sit at a table and have someone bring you food, pour wine for you, and just enjoy!

I'm the same way. Joe and Henry are always explaining things to me when it comes to Star Wars and Marvel, even though I've seen most / all the movies and know the story lines.

We just watched Avengers Infinity Wars and I still didn't understand the Infinity Gauntlet that Thanos got in the end. I have to watch that one again.

That technology fascinates me! But it really does sound like a work out, like Toy Story Mania is.

It's 10x the workout of TSMM. I'm amazed at how low my stamina level is for Theme Park rides. The adrenaline exertion is such that I can only do 3-4 rides in a day before fatigue sets in. I wonder if that will get better the more I go back to the park.

That is pretty cool!!

I'm glad I got that pic in the previews, I bet there's a line for it now!

I wonder how popular these will be. This kind of "cash grab" thing always bugs me... do you recall the price? Not something I would likely ever purchase myself unless it was only a couple bucks. I'm just too cheap.

The basic unit was $29.99, Fran bought us both one, and the enhancer yesterday. I sure hope we get a BG next week!

 

[franandaj]

Thanks for doing that. Nobody wants to eat with naked people in the room.

Like we want to walk through Disney like that. We would get nekkid once we were there!

Pretty cool sure beats "incredibly disappointing" though.

That is true....

Those are some big meatballs.

Not what you want before a big meal.

That's probably why they only had one piece.

Maybe....

Fancy Schmancy!

We be fancy!

Finally, some food I recognize.

That looks a little weird. Not a huge fan of carrot cake--please keep vegetables out of my dessert. Thanks.

I'm not a fan of carrot cake either, but luckily this only had a few crumbles on it and I could pick around them.

Well, enjoy your evening in line!

At least it moved quickly! Can't say that for the current line.

Ah, go ahead and spoil me rotten.

We'll try in 2022!

It's a machine designed to seamlessly remove more dollars from your wallet as you pass by.

That's not too hard.

That sounds like fun to me. I always hated the pull-string on TSMM.

It was fun, but tiring.

Thank you for not killing Spider-man!

You're welcome!

Wow. That's certainly a choice

Apparently there's a Dr. Strange magic show around there.

OK. Good to know.

Sounds similar to SWGE. They open the lesser ride first and then the big showstopper opens when it's finally ready.

Why wait until it's done to start grabbing the money?

I guess the to-go boxes don't come in that size!

Everything there is designed to be eaten in the park.

You knew there was going to be a cash grab in here somewhere.

Everything is a cash grab there!

It would be awesome if the Dora Milaje were the ones kicking people out of the park.

See here's another one where I missed the nuance. Once I googled Dora Milaje I immediately recognized them, but I just don't pick up on many names and other subtleties.

People are nuts!

Evidently the policies have been changing hourly since it opened and mobile order is out. I guess people thought that if they had placed a mobile order that would guarantee entry to the land. We were there yesterday and the restaurant had reported to "Stand by" which meant you just waited in a line when you wanted food. What a novel concept!

 

[franandaj]

Yay for updates! I was two behind and for some reason did not receive an alert.

I don't get them either and I'm the one who authored the thread!

Fun fun!!!! I cannot wait for Avenger's Campus in 2 weeks!

Now it's one week!

 

[franandaj]

Let's not give Disney any ideas, but they could charge triple for the things if they came with a bonus BG entry.

I think they are trying to be as fair as they can without turning it into a "pay to play" experience.

Did someone say chocolate? Now I've got to go back and find out what we are talking about and look at the photo!
Edit: Ooooooh... the cosmic cream orb. I'll have to order multiples now.

I've got an even better chocolate one for you coming up in three updates.

 

[wishing4PA]

I think they are trying to be as fair as they can without turning it into a "pay to play" experience.

Good point. So maybe it comes down to sort of a what is our corporate philosophy thing. I do hope they stick with the "fairness" doctrine -- in at least this one case. I tend not to like when they deviate from that too much.

I've got an even better chocolate one for you coming up in three updates.

 

[franandaj]

Like the ramps. But they sure look steep!

They're not that bad. There is a point where the scooter "bottoms out" and you have to lift it over that point. They are 3ft ramps and fit in a standard handicapped parking spot. She bought 5ft ramps, but they're too heavy to lift up, and too long to use in a parking lot. 4ft might be the "Goldilocks" but I'm OK with the ones we have.

That's what I mean. There should be enough to go around at capacity, so I'm surprised there weren't when it wasn't at capacity.

There are never enough handicapped spaces.

That's disgusting.

It happens. Most people only care about themselves these days.

Okay. Then I'll stick with getting my first at the wagon. Some day. Maybe.

Do you mean 1st one of the trip? Cause I thought you got us some on the trip with Kay. I like the option of both kinds and splitting them with Fran.

I don't know. I don't recognize it. Then again, I haven't seen Ultron.

I don't think it was from Ultron. I don't recognize it either. Maybe we'll ask next time we are there. I didn't get to finish looking at that store.

Oh... Then it won't happen at WDW.

Nope. But they are looking to add it in Paris and Tokyo.

Really? Huh!

It's available through Boarding Groups. If you get one at 7AM you can't get a 12 noon group, if you have a Park Hopper you can try for RotR at noon. Each ride is one ride per day.

Hope you can figure it out. I have similar issues on occasion which I'm almost positive is peppers. Or too many raw veggies.

The doctor recommended these holistic pellets that seem to be helping. She puts five of them underneath her tongue every day, and so far no debilitating cramps. Yesterday I forgot to give them to her in the morning, and she started to get some in the later afternoon, so I need to keep up on them in the morning.

Not quite. I've had my 2nd shot, but just a few days ago. Gimme 2-3 weeks and I will be.

Cool! Almost there!

 

[franandaj]

Oh man, all your Disneyland posts have gotten me so excited to visit Cali again! So much so that I booked flights to San Diego in September! I found a good deal on flights so I booked it right away!

It should be nice and hot then!

Also we haven't seen Steve's family in over a year. We are definitely going to visit Disneyland though! If you both are around, would love to buy you all a drink! We are probably going to be there Sept 7-9, around those dates. I am not sure how this whole park reservation thing works, but I assume it's like WDW, where you get park tickets then reserve dates at each park?

I'd love to meet you out there! I sent you a text the other day. Do you still have the same phone number?

I cannot wait to see Avenger's Campus, Steve and I are huge Marvel fans so it's definitely something we've been dreaming about! Webslingers reminds me of that Ninjago ride at Legoland. Only went there once but it's similar but Webslingers looks like it's a souped up version!

I know you guys are huge fans. You'll probably understand it better than me. I've heard Webslingers compared to Ninjago as well.

Your dinner at the Club looks AMAZING as usual. That salmon and the strawberry buttermilk cake looks so good.

I can't speak for either of those since Fran had those, but she enjoyed them.

Oh and yes I do have a new TR started! Its right here: Social Disney-ing, A Chunky Birthday Trip!

Thanks for clueing me in. I was checking your old TRs looking for links hoping you would eventually come back.

 

[franandaj]

I watched a ride through on Youtube and I was thinking that I wouldn't even be able to participate in the entire ride. I wonder if the ride is any good if you just sit through it and watch it like a movie.

I bet you would pick up on a lot more nuances than when you're flailing around trying to kill the bots!

I live for times like that! That's the only ride that I will go back on several times in a row, but rarely get the opportunity to do that.

It is a fun one to do repeatedly. Not too long but tons of fun!

 

[franandaj]

I wish they would have a combo version of these dogs. The idea of BOTH together sounds great! Is the Little Red Wagon Open ?

That would be good too! Have you heard of this one?

WOW!! That technology is REALLY over the top. Sounds super fun!! Hopefully sometime soon I can try it out!!

Yeah, it is proving to be quite difficult to get the 7AM Boarding Group. We will see how the 12PM situation works when we go next week.

Ok that's pretty funny. That guy is REALLY into it!

I know, right?????

This gives me vertigo just looking at it. OY!

Well, it is an optical illusion, so you won't get vertigo while you're there......

Holy crap!

It took us several sittings to finish it off!

This seriously reminds me of the Muppets area at DHS.

I can see that.

My kind of breakfast!!

It was yummy! I hope to get another one of these and split it with Jenny when we go back next week!

 

[franandaj]

Good point. So maybe it comes down to sort of a what is our corporate philosophy thing. I do hope they stick with the "fairness" doctrine -- in at least this one case. I tend not to like when they deviate from that too much.

I think this is their "best solution". They don't want people waiting for 4-6 hours (which they would do and did for Radiator Springs Racers) so I guess the fast finger phone lottery is the next best option.

 

[franandaj]

 

[franandaj]