Disney Land Helpful Hints

I compiled these suggestions from my own experiences and some fantastic websites...

·        A great website with good information is http://www.mousesavers.com/

·        Join D23 – the official Disney Fan Club - http://d23.disney.go.com/

·        From your smartphone, bookmark http://m.disneyland.go.com/ – This will give you ride wait times, food options, show times, park hours, etc at your fingertips…

·        Lines 13, 20, and 21 move fastest at the front entrance.

·        Kid rides, such as those in A Bug’s Land (California Adventure) have the shortest lines

·        Only kids under 9 may wear costumes (avoid cape as a safety hazard)

·        Birthday guests can get a phone call from Goofy at City Hall and a sticker so everyone knows it's their special day. (After you enter the park, go to the first building on the left.)

·        If it is your first visit, go to the Town Hall” for a free pin that says “First Visit” on it.

·        Wear layers – early morning and after dark can get chilly

·        You may bring in your own bottled water and healthy kid snacks

·        Use FastPass – get yours early

o       You are allowed to use the pass anytime after the “return” time (if it says 1:00-2:00 you may come back any time after 1pm up until closing). 

o       You have to use admission ticket to get the pass and only one fast pass per ride per admission ticket at a time (so one person cannot get fast asses for all 4 people without their entrance tickets).

o       Technically you can have only 1 FastPass at a time.  At the bottom of your FastPass is a note “another FastPass will be available at xx:xx” telling when you may get one from another ride.

o       FastPass rides include (note: not every FastPass is active, especially on “slow” days)

o       Disneyland Park : Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones Adventure, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain

o       Disney California Adventure: Grizzly River Run, Soarin' Over California, Tower of Terror, California Screamin'

·        Beating the lines

o       Rides with quick moving lines (even when it looks busy): Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates. Jungle cruise, Indiana Jones & Tower of Terror

o       Toon Town is least busy when the park first opens

o       Adventure Land is least busy at night

o       Matterhorn line facing Tomorrow Land is shortest and fastest

o      

New Orleans Square

is quietest after the Fantasmic show

o       Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the least busiest days of the week

o       Avoid areas around parade routes (check times on your map) and ride lines are shorter during parades and shows

o       Start with Adventure Land and go clockwise around DL

o       Bathrooms behind the Carnation Café on main Street are the shortest

o       Pop over to California Adventure – all of their lines are shorter than DL rides

·        By staying at one of the 3 “on-site” hotels, you can have your purchases delivered to your room

·        Younger Kids

o       Baby Center on

Main Street

at DL has rocking chairs, hot water and supplies

o       Put a label inside younger children’s clothing with name, your name, and cell phone

o       Bring a stroller

·        Fairies & Princesses

o       Line forms fast and early for The Princess Royal Walk (next to Toon Town) where they can meet princesses and hear stories

o       Ariel’s Grotto in California Adventure – meet and talk with the mermaid princess

o       Tinkerbell and others at Fairy Grotto next to the castle

o       Tangles – Rapunzel’s Room between Pinocchio’s ride and the Village Haus restaurant

·        Other characters

o       Mickey and Minnie are sometimes in their houses in Toon Town

o       Winnie and Friends can be found in Critter Country between Splash Mountain and The adventure of Winnie the Pooh.  You can also sometimes see Bre’r Fox and Bre’r Bear

o       Any character dining experience is guaranteed to have plenty

o       Front Gate and

Main Street

often has characters floating in and out

·        Shows (not all show run every day – check your schedule or online for each day)

o       A Bug’s Life 3-D (CA)

o       Aladdin (CA)

o       Disney Junior Live (CA)

o       Disney Parade (DL)

o       Fantasmic (DL)

o       Jedi Training – Tomorrow Land (DL)

o       Muppets 3-D (CA)

o       Pixar Parade (CA)

o       World of Color (CA)

·        Favorite Teen and Grown Up Rides

o       Big Thunder Mountain – Frontier Land (DL)

o       California Screamin’ (CA)

o       Golden Zephyr (CA)

o       Grizzly River Run  (CA)

o       Indiana Jones – Adventure Land (DL) CLOSES 5/17 FOR REFURB

o       Matterhorn – Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Roger Rabbit – Toon Town (DL)

o       Silly Symphony Swings (CA)

o       Space Mountain – Tomorrow Land (DL)

o       Splash Mountain – Critter Country (DL)

·        Oldies but goodies

o       Alice–Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Mr. Toad–Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Peter Pan–Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Pinocchio–Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Small World–Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Snow White –Fantasy Land (DL)

·        Fun for everyone

o       Astro Orbitor – Tomorrow Land (DL)

o       Autopia – Tomorrow Land (DL)

o       Buzz Lightyear – Tomorrow Land (DL)

o       Haunted Mansion – New Orleans (DL)

o       Mounsters Inc (CA)

o       Nemo – Tomorrow Land (DL)

o       Pirates – New Orleans (DL)

o       Soaring Over (CA)

o       Toy Story (CA)

·        Perfect kid rides

o       A Bug’s Land (CA)

o       Dumbo – Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Pooh – Critter Country (DL)

o       Jumpin’ Jellyfish (CA)

o       Everything in Toon Town (DL)

o       Tom Sawyer’s Island (DL)

o       Redwood Creek Challenge (next to the Grand California Hotel)

·        Rides to “rest” on

o       Carrousel - Fantasy Land (DL)

o       Enchanted Tiki Room - Adventure Land (DL)

o       Jungle Cruise - Adventure Land (DL)

o       Main Street Cinema

o       Mark Twain Riverboat or the Columbia

o       Railroad or Monorail

·        New/reopened rides

o       Ariel Undersea Adventure

o       Goofy’s Fly School

o       Splash Mountain

o       Star Tours

FUN FACTS

·        Fantasmic lasts about 22 minutes and costs $30,000 to produce. This nighttime fireworks-and-water show is held twice each night during the peak season and on weekends only during the off-season.

·        There was a basketball court in the Matterhorn – now it is used as a storage room.

·        Club 33 is a secret club inside Disneyland. It's at

33 Royal Street

by the Blue Bayou and Pirates of the Caribbean ride. You can see it on the way out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride-- look at the second level of the Blue Bayou restaurant. Club 33 has about 400 members and waiting time for a membership is about 3 years. Membership fees range from $9,500 to $25,000, with annual fees an additional $3-6,000.

·        When the moat around Sleeping Beauty's Castle is dredged, the money retrieved from it is given to charity.

·        Walt Disney never owned Disneyland. He was the creative genius behind the concept and had stock in the company, but he never owned a controlling share.

·        Having a birthday at Disneyland? Go to City Hall on your way in. They'll give you a personalized sticker to wear which may earn you some special recognition by characters and cast members around the park.

·        The Haunted Mansion is actually located outside of Disneyland. When you walk through the portrait hall on the way to the "stretching" room, you're really walking under Disney's railroad tracks toward a soundstage-like building outside of the park. The stretching room is really an elevator that takes you underground into this soundstage.

·        Splash Mountain has earned the nickname "Flash Mountain" because of women exposing themselves to the cameras in the ride. A camera snaps a photo of each log as it goes over the steepest waterfall, and some women think it's funny to whip up their tops while they say "Cheese". Cheesy!

·        In 1959, the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wanted to go to Disneyland but wasn't allowed to. Apparently the LAPD thought it would be too risky. Khrushchev was not happy about it.

·        Disneyland used to have its own postmark so when you mailed a postcard on

Main St.

, your recipient knew it had been mailed from Disneyland. (It no longer does.)

Main Street

also used to have a bank you could open an account in and a printing press that published an actual newspaper.

·        Disneyland is open 365 days a year.

·        The Goofy Water in Toon Town at the gas station turns different colors at night

·        There's a Magic Lamp in a store across from the Jungle Cruise. For $1 you can rub the lamp and hear some silly jokes.

·        Downtown Disney has fun bands on the weekend evenings.

·        Catch the mini water-and-light show at the Disneyland Hotel. Go to the Fantasia Fountain way in the back of the grounds, beyond the waterfalls.

·        Ask a monorail conductor if you can sit in the very front car.

Disneyland - My happiest place on earth

I do not know when it began, I don’t know how it began, but I have developed an obsession with Disney Land.  Some people, like my dad thinks I have been every year…I have to keep reminding him that I only *talk* about it all the time and have not been fortunate to go often.  I have been to a Disney park 7 times in 42 years…

 I first went to Disney World back in 1971, shortly after it opened.  Of course back then, you could camp outside the park…which was just swamp land.  We went again a couple years later.  We were stationed in Georgia and then Florida back them, only had 3 of the 5 kids, and got military discounts…  My mother would dress us all in the same outfits and you got special kid cards (I have one in a scrap book).  Back then you bought ticket books, with A, B, C, D, and E tickets.  Rides like the carousel would be an A and Space Mountain would be an E – hence the phrase “e-ticket” meaning the best or great.  Every year we were moving or traveling – we often included a visit to some important site…dad wanted to visit every national park for example.    Often there was some amusement park along the way (with military discounts). I remember visiting Kings Dominion outside of Williamsburg Virginia and Busch Gardens.  In 1985 we went to Disney Land for a day.  The following year we spent a day there as we were moving from Texas to Hawai’i.  I did not go back until 2001…15 years later.

Yes, the tragedy of 9-11 is responsible for giving my family an opportunity to afford Disney Land.  American companies were tanking because initially the nation was paralyzed.  I knew we had to get back on that proverbial horse in order to show the bullies they did not win.  You see, because of my dad’s job (I’d tell you but then I would have to kill you) I grew up with a unique perspective on terrorism and life.  I was also already very aware of the conflicts in this world.  So, my husband and I talked about going somewhere…  I had a couple friends tell me I was crazy, why would you travel after what happened.  But then again, I always have been a bit crazy.  DL slashed their prices – they had just opened the California Adventure Park and were desperate for visitors.  The beauty, it was only an 8-hour drive from Reno.   So for an ungodly cheap price we spent a week at the Paradise Pier and we all had a blast.  It truly was the happiest place on earth and the joy was a part of our healing.   

It was 6 years before we could save enough money to go back.  It helped that we had a good year financially in 2007.  Plus the recession was starting to take hold.  Again Disney was offering some good deals and we were able to go during a “slow” week in mid-December.  This time we stayed at a “good neighbor hotel” across the street.  This trip was especially special because we were able to keep t a secret from William.  He stayed the night with his grandparents as a rouse.  We packed up the car (everything hidden in the trunk) and picked him up for breakfast.  Then we let him know we needed to go to Fry’s in Sacramento to get a special laptop battery for a friend (which was true).  If I had know the monster I would create I am not sure I would have taken that boy to Fry’s – the super store for geeks if you didn’t know – he is now in love and makes us stop EVERY time we go to California now.  But any way, we said it wasn’t at the first so we had to go to another…then another.  By this time we are on Hwy 5 but he was only 12 and not really paying attention.  We stopped for lunch and told him it was just a little further.  He fell asleep, which helped.  When he woke up we were on the north side of LA.  We said since it was getting late we would just find a hotel and go home tomorrow.  There were signs on the freeway for street and locations with names similar to places in Reno, which aided the deception.  It was only 8pm when we made it to the hotel, but he was half asleep.  The Disney Land sign catches his eyes.  Boy, he was awake in a nano-second.  He begged and pleaded to be allowed to visit the next day before we go home.  He promised to be good the rest of his life and would do anything I wanted (I knew it was too good too be true).  Then we told him we were staying a week…he wouldn’t believe me until I showed him the tickets.  We went that evening (it was open until midnight) and began our magical week.  We did spend one day at Legoland as William was in a Lego-robotics club at school (and got in free).  The trip was wonderful.  The best day was the last.  William’s favorite character is Stitch (if you’ve seen his room you’d understand…it looks like a hurricane smashed through)   and every day we tried to find out where Stitch was taking pictures.  Well we finally got a tip on where he was at every day.  We went and waited and waited…the girls with the other characters recognized William as the kid looking for Stitch every day that week.  Unfortunately on that day the character was at a private party and was not expected that day.  We were heart broken.  Then, someone (I don’t know which of the girls was responsible) got someone into the costume and came out to see my kid.  They took several pictures and made William’s day…then said hi to the other kids.  The cast members at Disney Land were simply divine.  I did not have a problem with any of them the whole trip.

We were extremely fortunate to go just two years after that.  This time I wanted to go for William’s actual birthday.  The poor kid has a December 30^th birthday and it can be hard to do anything the day before New Year ’s Eve.  Well, we found a great deal (paying the same price for a premium week that we had two year’s earlier for a slow week).  We stayed at the Ramada across the street – simple, clean, friendly (and a free breakfast).  As soon as we got in, we headed straight to the park (didn’t even unpack).  That night I discovered just how bad my arthritis had become…and only 3 months earlier I had a lung infection which resulted in permanent damage and asthma.  That night I was so sick.  So, my husband (in a rare act of defiance) insisted I rent a wheelchair and then got me one.  It was very hard for me to accept using the chair; I thought with a bit of work I could work without it.  Once, after complaining too much, my husband threatened to show me my x-rays and call my doctor if I didn’t shut up.  He was right – but I couldn’t admit it until the 3^rd day.  Well let me tell you how nice the cast members are at DL…they are amazing.  They made me feel special  and eventually I stopped stressing.  So here it is for the how world to hear RUSS WAS RIGHT.  I would never have had as much fun if I had been stubborn and hadn’t rented the chair.  (Since then we have purchased our own and now we even have a scooter the boys are refurbishing).  That trip was great in so many ways.  DL on your birthday is fabulous.  We had breakfast with Stitch and the whole day he was king.  They give him a button saying it’s his birthday, bring him a birthday brownie and sing.  All day the cast members (seeing the pin) wished him a happy birthday.  The next day was crazy – I had never seen Dl sell out, but it did on New Year’s Eve!  We had fun any way – and can now say we were there in NYE – but I don’t think I would ever do that again.  Now New Year’s Day was funny – with everyone at the Rose Parade few were at DL & it was great.   So another amazing visit to DL, and I am hooked.

Fast forward to 2011…I have been saving all year and it looks like I may have enough saved for a trip in 2012 – during one of the slowest months at DL during the year. So, fingers crossed…

Up next, some helpful tips on planning your own trip to DL.  

Ape Movies

Before I do my long over-sue “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” review, I would first like to reminisce a bit on the whole series.  I am not sure when I first became a fan…I was young.  I know I did not see it in the movie theatres when it came out…I was “minus” two.  But in the seventies there were theatres which showed passed-run movies everywhere.  Plus on Saturday afternoons the three channels would run movies – especially Hammer and Castle horror films (ridiculously tame to today’s horror crap).  Regardless of when it began - I am a Planet of the Apes fan. 

Now this saga begins in 1963 when French novelist Pierre Boulle wrote “La Planète des Singes” (Monkey Planet).  **This description does have spoilers – however I doubt many people will be reading a novel in French from the 1960s or its translation (but I do have a copy should someone wish to borrow it).**  Anyway…parts of this book are used throughout the series.  Most notably the Ape characters such as chimpanzee scientists Zira and Cornelius along with the religious zealot Dr. Zaius.  This tale, beginning as does Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a story in a story, takes place in the distant future.  A couple on a leisurely drive in space comes across a message in a bottle.  The letter tells the story of Ulysse – a space traveler from 2500 who visited a planet of apes in the Betelgeuse system.  (Yes, his name was meant to evoke the epic Greek traveler Ulysses). The rest of the story is very familiar to the fans of the first two movies.  The primary difference between the novel and the films is that the movies show the apes in an agrarian society.  The apes in the novel have an advanced society – easily recognized by a 20^th Century inhibitor of our planet.  However, the movie producers had an insanely small budget and could not afford to give the apes a high-tech society. Unlike the first movie, in the novel Ulysse escapes…he lands in Paris on Earth only to find it run by intelligent apes (now you know where Tim Burton got his ending).  But that is not the ending.  For we learn those  reading this letter find the story preposterous – no human is intelligent enough to write a story – the couple (chimpanzees) dismiss the tale as fiction. Dum, dum, dum…

NOTE: There are some spoilers in the movie descriptions below, sorry…

So fast forward a couple of years, and a unique film began production at 20^th Century Fox.  Directed by Franklin Schaffner (better known as a TV director at the time but later gained fame for Patton, Papillon, and The Boys from Brazil) and written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling (yes, the Twilight Zone dude).  The cast included Charleston Heston as Taylor (the assumption was that the name Ulysse was too European and Americans would not get the reference any way), Roddy McDowall as Cornelius, Kim Hunter as Zira, and Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius. Today’s audience may not be familiar with these actors, but in the 60s they were stars.  Linda Harrison – girlfriend to a studio executive at the time – played Taylor’s love-interest, Nova. The academy award winning makeup was designed by famed artist John Chambers (known for the Munsters and Spock’s ears, and years later Blade Runner).  Composer Jerry Goldsmith was later recognized for his unique use of sounds to create his errie score to the movie – he became famous later as the composer of nearly all the Star Trek TV theme songs and movie scores. 

The 1968 original Planet of the Apes surprised the studio when it not only did well with audiences but was well-liked by critics.  Underneath the makeup and spaceships was a relevant storyline.  A tale of racism and oppression was very real and present to 1960’s audiences.  As later with TV shows like Star Trek, a moral was given but masked by science fiction.  You could not do a similar story in 1968 America with contemporary sets – those who made the world oppressive would have banned it.  But slap on a science fiction label and viola – a story can be told with complexities.  While the story may not be as obvious to today’s society, it still resonates with them (even when they aren’t sure why).  This film is continuously listed in critics’ top 100 film choices.  The images of this film have become iconic.  You can find allusions to the film in Spaceballs, Futurama, the Simpsons, Jay and Silent Bob, Family Guy, and much more.  The line "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" has become a part of our lexicon and the ending scene of the Statute of Liberty lying buried on the beach is a symbol every man, woman, and child seems to recognize.

The film did so well, they made a sequel.  In 1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes was released - it also did well.  Although not as inventive as the first movie, we have many of the same actors and characters.  James Franciscus – who could pass as Charleston Heston’s little brother – played John Brent, part of the rescue party who followed Taylor and his crew through the vortex or wormhole or whatever it was that moved them through time and space.  The gist of this story is an underground race of humans physically scarred by radiation with telepathic abilities who worship a nuclear bomb.  The apes invade and a battle ensues.  Charleston makes a brief cameo at the end of the film…blowing up the bomb (and hoping to kill the franchise). 

Over the next 3 years, another sequel popped out every year.  Spending less and less on quality, the effects in the later movies are often obvious masks not even glues to the actor’s faces.  Escape from Planet of the Apes tells us Zira, Cornelius, and a friend Dr. Milo (played by the Sal Mineo, most famous as James Dean’s friend in Rebel Without a Cause) escaped just before Taylor blows up the planet.  They use Brent’s spaceship and land in 1973 LA.  First – they are sent to a zoo, where Dr. Milo is killed by a gorilla.  Then the humans learn the apes can speak – suddenly celebrity.  Then the dark side of humanity - they are poked and prodded by scientists, grilled by the military, and over all abused.  Zira, who was pregnant, is determined to save her child from the imprisoned life they now have.  Their escape is aided by a kind circus owner, Armando (played wonderfully by Ricardo Montalban).  The family is hunted down and killed.  Only in the last moments of the film do we realize baby Milo was switched with a regular chimp baby.  We see him crying for his “ma ma” in Armando’s circus.

Conquest of the Battle of the Apes shows Milo – rechristened Caesar – all grown up and living with Armando, the circus owner from the last film.  Roddy McDowall plays the part of his own son.   Caesar has been hidden in the circus for 10 years (apes mature faster than humans I guess).  A virus has killed all the cats and dogs so humans, in need of pets, take in monkeys and apes…the storyline is a bit thin.  The other part of this story is the breeding apes as slaves (trained through violence).  Armando’s death eradicates the last hope Caesar has in the human race.  He begins to plot a rebellion.  In the training facility, he must hide his ability for speech.  The human tormentors show the worst homo-sapiens have to offer.  Caesar inspires the orangutans, chimpanzees and gorilla to rise against their slave lords (no subtlety in this movie).  The bloodshed ends only once Lisa (Caesar’s girlfriend) shouts “NO” – she is the first ape other than Caesar to demonstrate speech.  It is with this that Caesar remembers his own humanity…

But now... now we will put away our hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the night of the fires, and those who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane. Destiny is the will of God, and if it is Man’s destiny to be dominated, it is God’s will that he be dominated with compassion, and understanding. So, cast out your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes!

The last movie in this series shows life after the great ape rebellion.  Caesar, again played by Roddy McDowall, leads a band of humans and apes who are working together to start a new society.  He has married Lisa and they have a son Cornelius.  He Caesar learns about his parent through films found on the old base – now called the Forbidden City.  Overrun with radiation affected humans, their crazy leader wanted to erase apes from the planet.  The gorilla general wants to do the same with humans.  The resulting battle is cliché.  The opening and closing sequences show the “Lawgiver” played by famed director and actor John Houston.  We see a ray of hope, as he is speaking 600 years later to a group of human and ape children appearing to co-exist peacefully.  These 5 movies supposed to explain the circular nature of this planet.  Taylor landed on the planet in the future - Cornelius and Zira escaped the doomed planet in the rescue space ship and are sent to the past – their son leads the ape rebellion – the planet is now ruled by apes – this is the world Taylor meets.  So what came first…the chicken or the egg?  So is Caesar his own grandfather??

It doesn’t end there.  A year later a really horrible TV series call Planet of the Apes aired on CBS for three painful months.  The only good thing in the 14 episodes is Roddy McDowall (playing Galen, no apparent relation to Cornelius of Caesar).  If you really feel you must watch it, it is available on DVD.  Then in 1975 they try again, this time animated.  Have you seen the Star Trek cartoons from the same era?  It’s just a hokey.  Now the ape civilization is far more technologically advanced (as in the original novel).  Roddy McDowall is NOT in this incarnation.  It died after thirteen episodes.  There were later comic books, but there are even worse than the cartoon.

So that brings us to this generation.  Tim Burton directed his remake in 2001 staring mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clark Duncan and Paul Giamatti.  Linda Harrision – Nova in the first two movies – has a cameo as a captured human.  Charleston Heston – once quick to curse the franchise – embraced his legacy and performed a short scene as   General Thade’s dying father.  The iconic Rick Baker developed the makeup effects and Danny Elfman (former Oingo-Boingo frontman) composes the score (as he has in nearly every Burton movie).  Sadly, Roddy McDowall, who was often connected with possible reboots, died in 1998.

In this movie the apes’ functions are not clearly defined by their species (as it was in the original).  Events and dialogue allude to film.  There is still a sense of injustice, slavery, and oppression in this movie as in the original.  The ending – which received the most derision – is right out of the novel.  Since most Americans never heard of (let alone read) the novel, they could not figure out why the ending was so different from the 1968 movie.  Tim Roth said in an interview he was confused by it.  At least Helena Bonham Carter said she thought it was related to the time-wormhole.  Burton planned on expanding on the ending with a sequel which was never made.  I enjoyed the movie and appreciated its nod to the original film and the novel.

This brings us to 2011 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes…but we will save that for another day.