Crowds.

Ugh.

One might think that the end of Daylight Savings Time would be an ideal day to go to Disneyland, since a) everyone's sleeping late and b) it's a Sunday anyway. It worked last year.

Unfortunately, this year everyone from here to Santa Barbara had the same idea. The park was PACKED. It was so bad I opted to walk from the parking garage to the gate instead of waiting 15+ minutes for the parking lot tram. The line hadn't been that long since June.

So I decided not to bother with my usual Fantasyland route and beat it straight to the HM...which was down due to electrical problems. Well, I didn't feel like going anywhere else, so I waited...and was rewarded when the HM opened 10 minutes later. Let me tell you, it's NICE to not be packed sardine-style into the stretching room and not empty out into a crowded portrait gallery. (These problems seem to be exclusive to the HMH. Things generally run smoother the rest of the year, though to be perfectly fair there *are* often fewer people in line.) Oh, and the mummy seems to be missing from the cemetery scene.

Small World is currently down to install the holiday overlay, and I actually miss it.

The Matterhorn is down for rehab...not that I mind (my back problems keep me off the thrill rides), but I heard a rumor that a cellular transmitter is being installed inside the mountain (the closest one was destroyed last year...it was inside a long-shuttered restaurant that was demolished). Dammit. Morons on their cell phones not paying attention are annoying enough *outside* the park. Ever had some inattentive yapper slam into you spilling soda on your new shirt and barge past, not even acknowledging their screwup?

Jungle Cruise skipper Christopher is brilliant. Anyone who makes really funny clean jokes at tourists' expense has my vote, so to speak.

Xmas Creep has seized New Orleans Square. Last year it hit NOS first as well, but sheesh, is it really necessary? Can't they at least wait until November to start hanging Xmas decorations? Oy freaking vey.

See you at Disneyland.

I won! I won! I won!

More on that later.

Two visits this week - Friday and today. Both days, technical problems delayed the opening of the HMH (grrr), so I'd grab a Fastpass and beat it straight to Fantasyland.

I noticed a few more mini jack-o'lanterns in Storybook Land - a couple in Pinocchio's village (just after going through Monstro, on the far right) and one on the Big Bad Wolf's doorstep. Alice's rowboat is back, but Mr. Mole's is still MIA.

The new hedgehog effect in Alice in Wonderland is improving, but the timing's still way off (and will someone please put the Caterpillar's shoes back into place?). I can't wait until it's perfected.

It's the darndest thing - I thought I smelled wood glue in Snow White's dungeon scene (speaking of glue, the Wicked Queen's apple seems to be falling out of her hand in the rowboat).

Anyway, after a spin on Roger Rabbit, I was on my way out of Toontown when a couple of the park suits told me I'd won a Dream Fastpass. I got this lanyard with two big plastic passes on it, one for Disneyland and one for DCA. Each pass had little break-off passes for various E-tickets (oh, and there was a paper Fastpass for the HMH, too). Because my damn back problems keep me off the thrill rides, I only used the HMH pass (but what the hell, in 49 years when Disneyland's celebrating it's centennial, I can probably sell it to a Disney fanatic on eBay). Note to the park brass: PLEASE show a little more consideration for riders with medical problems when making those things next time. I may not be visibly disabled (I'm young and look perfectly healthy), but one trip on Indiana Jones would leave me flat on my back for weeks.

Thanks to Fastpass, I got to ride the HMH three times without waiting in line once (whee! Now if only they didn't overstuff the stretch rooms this time of year...). Oh, and everyone wanted to know where I got my Daria t-shirt.

All in all, a great day.

Well, HalloweenTime is a HUGE success. The crowds were so bad I wound up staying only a couple of hours (large groups of people make me nervous for some reason).

In my last entry I suggested putting tiny jack-o'-lanterns in Storybook Land. Today, what did my keen eyesight detect but a pile of tiny pumpkins in the wagon in London Park, and a jack-o'-lantern on each side of the Toad Hall steps. Um...wow. (If anyone from WDI or the paint department is reading this, will someone please refer to the August 24th entry and do something about Anne Bonney's hair? Thank you.)

Speaking of improvements, the hedgehog effect in Alice in Wonderland is being upgraded. The timing was way off, but it looked *so* much better, and the image is really sharp (old one was kind of blurry and didn't look as much like the movie hedgehog). Alice's rose is missing (the bloom was missing a while ago, now the stem's gone too), so her hands are cupping nothing. It looks odd, but that's bound to happen now and then.

The big metal apple in front of Snow White is missing, and it looks like someone got into the pre-show scene, since the props on the table appear to have been moved around (the queen's big keyring is even on the floor). Bloody tourists are tossing their trash in there, too, which really grinds my gears.

Well, it's getting late, and I'm tired.

See you at Disneyland.

Two visits last week - Sunday and Friday (aka the first day of HalloweenTime).

Seasonal changes include figures along the tram route, a heavily themed Main Street ( can you tell I love it?), a Halloween overlay at Big Thunder Ranch, and the Haunted Mansion Holiday. Maybe in future years Storybook Land will have tiny jack-o'-lanterns and such...I can dream, can't I?

The HMH has improved slightly - the timing of the breaking-glass sound is much better, and the Halloween carols have disappeared from the queue (now it's just the Phantom Manor music box track, which is beautiful). The blacklit portraits in the stretch room even look less garish than before. You'll have to look harder for the Monkey Bride in the attic this year, though (hint: she's on the left).

And if I weren't so tired, I'd elaborate more.