I couldn't sleep last night. Between my noisy (drunk) neighbors chatting loudly on their patio at 2:30 am and my cats fighting over who got the end of the bed, it just didn't happen. So, I said to hell with it, got up early, and went to Disneyland.

Yeah, yeah, I normally go on Sunday. This weekend my landlord came by to fix my annoying running toilet, so I had to be home to corral the cats while he was here.

I didn't think it would be an early-entry day. What's the point, this close to a national holiday? And isn't 8 am early enough? The hotels will be busy this week, perks or no perks. But, it was.

Anyway...

Overheard in line at the front gate:

8-year-old girl: So your family comes for four days every year?
9-year-old boy: Yeah.
8-year-old girl: Don't you get bored with the rides?
9-year-old boy: Yeah.
10-year-old boy: Hey, are your parents going to the timeshare meeting?

Kids getting bored with Disneyland? How is that possible? I'm an adult (well, technically) and I put in 50 visits last year!

While riding Storybook Land, I couldn't help noticing that Prince Eric's ship is so covered in cobwebs it looks like a mini tribute to the Haunted Mansion Holiday. I just thought that was odd, since the other miniatures are kept pretty clean. And, like I said, I hadn't slept and was a little spacey.

As previously mentioned, several dolls are missing from It's A Small World Holiday. Today I noticed that the two dolls in the finale with their wigs apparently on backwards (yellow yarn hair in tight buns above their foreheads) weren't there. Hmmm.

Tiki Room host gave no introduction, just opened the door to let us in and then vanished backstage. Result: constant clicking of cameras (my eyes were *sore* by the end of the show, though the insomnia might've contributed to that). Usually, the hosts are very careful to emphasize that one mustn't startle the birds, as they ARE right over the audience's heads. Heh. I still find that line funny after all these years.

The Haunted Mansion Holiday had been down for a while but reopened right after I left the Tiki Room. The red berry wreath in the conservatory must've been bumped or something, it's kind of sticking out from the pillar at a funny angle. I'm sure I'm the only person who would notice that, though.

The ride went on as it usually does (did anyone else notice the skull on the roof as you exit the attic? It's been nestled in the snow for weeks; it must be deliberate). Then, just as my doombuggy passed the tea party scene in the cemetery, the music stopped, and most of the ghosts I could see froze. Popup ghosts were stuck all the way up behind their tombstones. I was sure I heard a few of the usual background noises, but no music or narration track. The vampire teddy leaned back and forth, silently tooting his golden bugle, and 'Oogie Claws' was fully animated but dead silent (Lock, Shock, and Barrel worked). The 'moon' was unlit, and Sally silently waved at an invisible Jack Skellington. It was so bizarre and so fascinating. This was the third breakdown I've personally experienced (impressive on the park's part, considering I've been visiting for 21 years).* I imagine they're a major pain for the ride operators and maintenance crews, but from a guest's perspective it's an interesting look at how many details go into creating the entire show. Remove one effect and the show unravels.

*The other two breakdowns were Alice in Wonderland last year (we had to be evacuated through a backstage area...the giant flowers look even more cartoonlike with the lights turned up) and the Jungle Cruise in 2002 (the boat had to go back to the docks entirely in reverse from the hippo pool, so our chipper skipper made the most of it by reciting the spiel backwards; I suppose you had to be there but it was actually pretty funny).

I have *got* to go to bed. My eyes are glazing over from typing this (note to self: move to neighborhood with fewer noisy drunkards).

See you at Disneyland.

GREAT visit yesterday.

Holiday season has officially begun at Disneyland. I don't exactly celebrate Christmas, but the decorations are beautiful. The park looks even more amazing this time of year.

First up was Peter Pan, then Storybook Land. The tiny wreaths, Christmas trees, evergreen swags, and wrapped presents adorning the mini landscapes are adorable (though the park had the good sense to leave the Aladdin scenes alone - since the film specifically mentions Allah, one may presume Aladdin and Jasmine are Muslim; decorating Agrabah for Christmas would be inappropriate). Alice's rowboat is back (with a couple of tiny gifts inside), though Mr. Mole's is still missing. Several of the big rope 'stitches' on the Giant Patchwork Quilt have popped loose and need to be reattached - I even saw one floating in the water.

Alice in Wonderland looks great. The new Cheshire Cat effect is perfect, and the timing on the hedgehog effect is a little better - it's only a couple of seconds off. The tea party scene at the end wasn't working, though (no motion or sound).

To my chagrin, the noisy teenage guests on the mine cart ahead of mine screamed all through Snow White (I could swear I spotted a different bird figure in the cottage scene)...then boarded the cart behind mine on Pinocchio. After rolling through the toy-shop finale, I beat it straight to It's A Small World Holiday. Gah, such cuteness. Plus the decorations at the entrance are newer (and, frankly, fresher-looking) than the regular panels, which, to be perfectly honest, could use a touch-up. Unfortunately three of the French cancan dancers are missing. The remaining ones are wearing sparkly Mardi Gras masks that a) clash with their attire (white or silver would have looked better), and b) are slipping. You can tell they're human-sized. The missing Dutch boy is back, giant tulip and all. Oh, and they could've sneaked in a menorah somewhere.

Marshmallow, last year's surviving pardoned turkey, is still missing from Big Thunder Ranch (currently hosting Santa's reindeer). Word has it that he, too, expired (probably from flip-over syndrome).

Overheard in Le Bat En Rouge:

Cranky mom snaps at cranky four-year-old daughter. Daughter whines "I don't like you!" Mom snarls "Good. I don't like you either." Um...what the hell?

Overheard in Haunted Mansion Holiday queue:

Older man telling companion that Walt Disney got the money to make Mickey Mouse cartoons by making wartime training films, THEN the full-length features, then using the profits for cartoons. What a freaking moron. America entered World War Two in the '40s. Snow White, the first full-length animated feature, had premiered in 1937. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon premiered in 1928. It's not difficult to figure out.

And incidentally, there were a few wartime Disney cartoons. Case in point: "Der Fuehrer's Face," starring a hapless Donald Duck. It's a shame the cartoon is somewhat controversial and rarely seen, since it's very funny and blatantly anti-Nazi. Yeah, it does depict Donald forced to salute photographs of Hitler, but I seem to recall him kissing a Statue of Liberty figurine at the end.

All the Halloween/fall decorations and props have been removed from store windows. Even the Snow White window in the Storybook Store has fake snow (though for a touch more realism, she could be wearing a tattered shawl or something - who wears short sleeves in the snow?).

That's enough for today...I've got a lot of work to do.

See you at Disneyland.

Now that Halloween's over the attendance numbers seem to be dropping, though the park was a bit busy yesterday due to a certain scavenger hunt.

Storybook Land and Casey Jr. were both down, and I spotted a crew of 5 or 6 people working on the overpass between the Little Mermaid lagoon and castle. Yikes.

The Cheshire Cat's first appearance in the Alice dark ride has been redone. It's MUCH better. The hedgehog effect is no longer blurry (though the timing's still a little bit off). Now it feels a little more like you're in the movie. Kudos, WDI. Keep up the good work!

Last week only New Orleans Square was decked for Christmas. Now Toontown's covered in ornaments (my favorite: the twin pink-and-purple trees outside Minnie's house) and they're starting to appear in Frontierland as well. I do wish they'd at least wait until Thanksgiving week to put them up (I think the holiday is cheapened enough already, and I don't even celebrate it!), though with such a large park and limited time to install a lot of large, complex displays, I suppose it'd never fly.

Funnily enough, if you look closely enough at some of the Main Street windows (i.e. Hotel Marceline) you can still see some Halloween stuff. I suppose it makes more sense to just leave them there until they're ready to install the Christmas window displays.

I, alas, didn't have a lot of time for this visit because of a work commitment later in the day (believe it or not, there ARE self-employed people who arrange business lunches on Sunday due to time constraints). The next entry should be more interesting.

See you at Disneyland.