[12-27, 12-31] HighLeveller Has a Big DL New-Year's Adventure - 2 TRs!

[penguinsoda]

Yes!! Part two!!

[HighLeveller]

[so it's on page 2 and not overload browser; there's about 98 pictures]

[HighLeveller]

DLR: Dec. 31, 2008

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Today, the Happiest Place on Earth would be turned on its ear--mouse ear that is.

Unlike last weekend, the ticket booths weren't nearly so busy. This was about 11am too. I needed a blackout ticket. Last time, the ticketing CM asked if I had paid for parking, and reimbursed me so I only paid $28. Not so this time (I didn't ask either time), and this ticket-seller CM, althouth not nasty by any means, was unreasonably less-than-friendly and didn't seem grateful for my business.

I found that an interesting barometer of sorts for the general mood of guests and CMs is the amount of feedback I get on my headwear. I do keep count, for my blog. With the same headwear, today's count was only 1/3 that of Saturday's. Indeed, CMs and guests alike throughout the day seemed more distant and not interested in interacting much or at all, dragging down the mood a bit. Other than the new-year's events, the two days were comparable in busy-ness, time spent in the park, etc.

But there would be no more unfriendliness at all from any CM for the rest of the day. And I didn't witness any obnoxious behavior from guests either.



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I wanted to get more photo-documentation on what's become one of my favorite rides during the Christmas season, and would indeed do so today, almost to excess. In the process, though, I ended up overdosing badly on something and was hung over for days afterward. Something from the, umm, Sherman Brothers

Round One:

Something's missing on there.










And just like that, while making this TR I discovered yet another costuming favorite--AFTER I put this picture on here.

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A digicam-self-portrait




"We needs water..."



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Some attempts at longer 1/4-second shots in Pirates of the Caribbean. Here are the better ones.










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Musical Chairs



I was too lazy to move in order to get a better shot of Mad Hatter. So I did this instead.



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"A Christmas Fantasy" Parade


Near where I was, there was a walkway defined by ropes, closed at one end, intended for emergency use off the parade route and needed to be kept clear. There maybe should be a second walkway for guest use next to it, and the emergency path closed at both ends and labeled as such. Guests were continually wanting to go that way (it's only logical guests will gravitate to it when they see it, even though they should be getting off the parade route by then) and the CM stationed there was constantly having to have them go to either side (through the viewing area where people were sitting and standing) in order to keep it clear. A second path, managed the same way as "crosswalk" entrances and closed at parade start, could give the CM(s) there a welcome break.














They switched a couple roles this time



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I know I'm gonna be paying for this later on, but what can you say?
Small World, round 2:



Another look. These ones are neat.






Another recently-discovered major costuming favorite. There's another close by but the one shot I got was way out of focus.

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Buzz, round 1 of 3: 868.4k/34th. Afterward, one of very few good CM interaction moments today:

I am L-G-M"
He's remote-operated; the CM just off-frame to the left.




Long timelapse. (These pictures actually are in order. I don't recall my motive for going over there and back.)




What? You expect this pile-o'-parts to actually be able to communicate with ... uhh, Venusians?

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Some simple wizardry at work


Small World, round 3. One unfortunate side effect of being in line during the parade is that people will stop being mindful and not keep up with the line. Listening to CMs getting on to them gets irritating fast, but I blame the guests, not the CMs.




Looks like this will be the last actual parade I'll get to see at Disneyland for way too long. If guest participants in the upcoming street celebration will be those with birthdays, etc, it looks like I'll get stiffed there: my b-day is in February and the street celebration doesn't start until March. Parade-wise, at least we'll have the Pixar Play Parade over yonder, which is a must-see for me when I'm over there.





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I get a mixed feeling from this. On one hand it's cool having a big party in one of your favorite places. But it also detracts from the usual feel of the area you've come to know and like. (A certain "Sweet 16" was a severe example of this, despite not being at the actual party.) This venue had a decent show going on. DJing, with mostly good tunes when I was around. Unfortunately IASW and the other things over there were closed (but IASW would reopen later); I was hoping to rely on it as a good break from crowds and stuff if necessary.


"I am your adventurous protagonist."


Long timelapse shots around the Matterhorn




Bleary but it still looks cool

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Believe...in Holiday Magic from Tomorrowland
There was an instance of quite bad show here: the house PA from the band at the Tomorowland Terrace stage was also on the speakers around the Observatron. After the band's most recent set, some background songs were playing. This was left on when the fireworks started, yammering in the background while the score was playing. It sounded quite bad, but was probably just an oversight (I hope). (In an unrelated minor instance of poor show in this area, the "Trader" on the Star Trader sign is out.)





During a lot of the show it looked like there was so much smoke from the pyro built up that you could barely see parts of it. (This was before it got foggy, although maybe this was a stray patch of fog rather than smoke.)

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The festivities at the castle getting off. I'm assuming some characters were dancing on stage part of the time; otherwise, it was DJing and just seemed like a live incarnation of Radio Disney. The party over by Small World seemed better.

Buzz, round 2 of 3:







On the way to Fantasmic!. Everybody here had no doubt been waiting for hours. I'd rather ride rides and stuff, and watch the new-year's show from wherever I end up being or can get to at the time.

The above picture was taken at 10:10pm. In the span of fifteen minutes, while waiting for Fantasmic, heavy fog rolled in. It had simply been hazy before with a patch of fog here and there, and the moon and stars were visible. (As an aside, I noticed at least here near the coast it didn't reek of dairy air like it sometimes does when it's foggy here in the Central Valley where I live.)

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Fog-tasmic!

The show certainly took on an interesting characteristic. The water-screen projections would seemingly magically revert to their old harder-to-see versions






One absolutely cool aspect was when the Columbia sailed out of the fog.


Only two of the usual three barges were in this showing




This time, Bucky didn't breathe fire, but Mickey had his usual visible wand.








By this time, either it was foggy enough that the stage was completely occluded, or Sorcerer Mickey and Mickey on the stage were left out. I didn't see the lights and laser-beams and stuff that I figured would be at least somewhat visible.


But it probably wasn't left out, because:


This is indicitave of what the ending fireworks looked like. The final pyro at the very end, right before it goes dark, was left off this time.

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Haunted Mansion Holiday

This fog just added to the atmosphere.




These are a pain in the keester to get clearly. I finally got a decent shot.


Once again the doombuggy stopped here, and I was able to get a couple timelapses




This shot is a consistent pain to get. Best attempt so far.

About time for New Year's. On the way, one more ride first, because I had a fastpass. What was my final ride of 2008? Indy!

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Now for the climax of the evening: the Severest New Year's on Earth. (Well, maybe second to Times Square.) Not negative really, just difficult in ways, mainly because of the extreme crowding which was a distraction. One thing for sure though: thank goodness for all the guest-control measures: they were the real sanity-saver throughout the day.

On the way back to just walk around the hub during the show if possible.


But things eventually came to a standstill. I rang in 2009 next to the rocks just off-frame to the left. I couldn't see the castle but was able to see the stage.


We also couldn't see toward the main fireworks from there, but it was completely sensible that they were totally occluded by the fog anyway, being way out past Toontown. The small amount of pyro from the castle was only moderately visible.


A CM up on the rocks directing traffic or attempting to. The whole lot of them deserve a fat bonus for working what must be Hell Night at the park. By now much of the guest-control measures around the hub had broken down, but at this point it was less critical, because most people were on their way out. You would be able to get around easily enough if you were patient and hung tight for 20 minutes or so while it cleared out.


In hindsight I wonder if a lower attendance cap later in the day/evening would be a good idea, less admission revenue notwithstanding. A capacity crowd is no big deal during normal park operation when people are distributed evenly throughout the park, in line for and on rides, etc. But it becomes a problem when you have big shows that most guests are going to want to get to. It's also a safety issue. (Sensibly, some areas were kept clear and roped out, presumably as a buffer zone.)

It was still worth doing, once at least. It sounds like DCA might have been the more pleasant option, depending on whether or not the entertainment was worthehile and the DL gates were still open for afterward.

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What was the first thing I did in 2009 after celebrating New Year's? Ride Space Mountain!

And of course, nearly everybody on this side of the park had the same idea. I had a fastpass from earlier.

Better, there was a 101. Unfortunately I wasn't among them, but lots of people got to start off the new year by seeing the inside with the lights on! I was in line in the space station part when the service lights were on, and got several pictures.

The consequences of an episode of motion sickness, not from the party in the train next to it but earlier. Some great CMs getting things picked up and back running--they got cheers and applause when they finished. (No fun doing this: I've been there before, and far, far worse: think cleaning the floor and fixtures of a restaurant bathroom that was 100% covered. Somebody's gotta do it.) There had also been a major hurling just above the section of track that slides back and forth to add/remove trains. I don't know whether or not this was related to the shutdown. (This is only the second time I've seen this in here. Last time there was a spillage where you get out that I just missed stepping into thanks to an attentive CM.)







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A few quick repeats and some photo-ops would finish out the night.
Small World, round 4. Starting to really get affected by the side-effects of this.



And finally a good close-up of this costuming favorite

Quick run to Buzz: my first time doing this in 2009. Round 3 of 3.


And a quick run back. Finished off the night with Small World round 5, this time for video.



And because of this heavy exposure, I would sporadically get the soundtrack in my mind over the next several days. At least it was the better holiday version and not the original. I'm not the world's biggest fan of that song. I'm cool with it while on or around the ride, but it can be substantially annoying otherwise. It's not something that's going into my MP3 player anytime soon. Fortunately I had enough good songs on my mind (the Main Street loop for example) that getting it off my mind wasn't a problem. And besides, I found a track I really like that I now associate very much with it: Air Supply: "The Eyes Of A Child" - The Christmas Album. Oh, and I had headphones and player with about 130 great Christmas songs including that one. It got regular play today.

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Foggy Main Street USA
Foggy enough that you could barely see the castle from Town Square or the tree from the castle.






Till next Christmas:

Goodnight.

But this big adventure wasn't over yet! After 3am or so, I was messing with my digicam and inadvertantly went west on 10 instead of NW on 5. There to N on 110 is a cool "scenic route", with tunnels and buildings and stuff, aside from the ************ tailgaters that are always there. So no big deal. I ended up continuing on 110, and at length found myself dozing off in the parking garage on Marengo and Green in Pasadena...

Part III will be in the "non-Disney parks and destinations" forum: I'll let you guess its subject matter.

[royaldisneyfan]

Great pics and TR Highleveller! Interesting look for Fantasmic!

[IzzyInWonderland]

THAT'S JUST WRONG.

[MickeyMousePal]

Great Trip Report. It's good that you were able to crack the top ten.

[Legally Brunette]

excellent job on the pics-especially the night ones.