It takes no arm twisting from me to state that I know precious little about the rules of hockey. I enjoy watching the game and have attended many games of the Milwaukee Admirals over the past few years but the specific rules elude me. I certainly I know what tripping is, and high sticking takes little brain-power to interpret but offsides? What counts as offsides? No matter.
I also avoid taking games seriously. Afterall, they are just games. Of what benefit is it when the team I cheer for wins? Do I get a prize? Payment? Merely a good feeling. If that team should lose, of what benefit is it to me to wallow in pain? Enjoy the wins and forget about the rest. Enjoy the experience. I try to take this attitude even when I'm a participant but it's not as easy. Watch me on bowling league night to see me enjoy myself but be frustrated at my lack of skill at the same time.
With all that said, the hockey game I went to last night was awesome and awful at the same time. The referees seemed bound and determined to ignore a number of blatant violations from the opposing Wolves. Again, I may not know much, but when someone is shoved in the chest so that he falls to the ice, isn't that a problem? Especially when this happens directly in front of the referee. Or the crease, the blue semi-circle where the goalie hangs out. It's my limited understanding that this area is meant for the goalie alone. Certainly others may stumble into it on occasion but they're not meant to linger. When an opposing player camps out in the crease, drawing a defender with him, and then uses said defender to block the goalie in one corner of the net so that he can't chase the puck, well, that doesn't seem right to me. If it was, I'd have seen it before, it would happen all the time, right? Not only was it allowed, but a goal was scored because of it. This didn't go over well with the home crowd.
Considering the frustrating way that the Wolves were playing, I was surprised that only one fight broke out, and it was straight away in the first period. After a incredibly nasty check into the boards, the Admiral in question got up and got some hot-fired temper blazing revenge on the Wolf in question. I've noticed that hockey refs really only break up the fight if they can stop it immediately or once it goes to the ice. Once the Admiral took a couple punches, he got the upper hand and seemed to be making sure they stayed upright so he could express his displeasure with fists, to the point where he grabbed a handful of hair to keep things going (a picture of which made the local rag today).
In the end, the forces of good came out on top. Our declarations that the opposing goalie was incapable proved true as he let back-to-back goals go through in the space of 37 seconds near the end of the third period. He then threw a hissy fit, breaking his stick. Waah, waah, waah.
I was pretty hot tempered and into the game myself. Considering my throat was just starting to feel better, doing all that yelling was probably not a good choice (my favorite line, one that I was disappointed I didn't get a laugh with, was 'Hey ref! I'll chip in for the Lasek!'). I seem okay today, not over my cold, but certainly still getting better.
Which is nice.
31 January 2009
30 January 2009
Ramble
At a basic level, I understand the concept behind region coding on DVDs. It's mostly about licensing. Contracts and restrictions are different in different countries. Companies don't want to eliminate the audience for a DVD set because the audience already purchased copies from another country or impact the release of a movie in the theatre because the audience already saw it on a DVD from the home country.
Of course there's a difference between a relatively new movie and a 25 year old sitcom from Britain. That's most of the reason why I have a codeless DVD player. I've been watching Series 5 and 6 of 'Hi-De-Hi' of late, a 25 year old sitcom set in 1959/1960. One of the main characters, Jeffrey Fairbrother, leaves the show between the 5th and 6th series (I've dug around and I'm not sure why the actor left the show at this point). I had expected them to gloss over the change but it's been a major plot point of the 6th series. The thing that distracted me about this change was the letter that Jeffrey sends to explain his absence. He was a archeological professor and took a new job in that field, at 'Wisconsin University'. I've put that in quotes because it's generally called the University of Wisconsin here but I'm not sure what the naming conventions were in 1960.
I was immediately reminded of other connections between Wisconsin and British Entertainment. The two that popped into my mind were Onslow wearing Green Bay Packer gear on 'Keeping Up Appearances' and Neil Gaimen moving to the state. Even funnier, the characters in the programme seemed to playfully mispronounce the name of the state as the episode went on. At one point, it became 'whiskey-on-sin'.
One nickname for the state is 'Big Whiskey'. I've been drinking whiskey for my cold.
See? It all comes together in the end.
Of course there's a difference between a relatively new movie and a 25 year old sitcom from Britain. That's most of the reason why I have a codeless DVD player. I've been watching Series 5 and 6 of 'Hi-De-Hi' of late, a 25 year old sitcom set in 1959/1960. One of the main characters, Jeffrey Fairbrother, leaves the show between the 5th and 6th series (I've dug around and I'm not sure why the actor left the show at this point). I had expected them to gloss over the change but it's been a major plot point of the 6th series. The thing that distracted me about this change was the letter that Jeffrey sends to explain his absence. He was a archeological professor and took a new job in that field, at 'Wisconsin University'. I've put that in quotes because it's generally called the University of Wisconsin here but I'm not sure what the naming conventions were in 1960.
I was immediately reminded of other connections between Wisconsin and British Entertainment. The two that popped into my mind were Onslow wearing Green Bay Packer gear on 'Keeping Up Appearances' and Neil Gaimen moving to the state. Even funnier, the characters in the programme seemed to playfully mispronounce the name of the state as the episode went on. At one point, it became 'whiskey-on-sin'.
One nickname for the state is 'Big Whiskey'. I've been drinking whiskey for my cold.
See? It all comes together in the end.
29 January 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week
I understand that I'm not that big a DC guy, but by in large, 'Final Crisis' left me cold. Issue 7 came out yesterday and I'm not completely sure what was supposed to have happened. I liked the middle of the story but the beginning and the end were just 'huh?' moments for me. I'll try reading it all in a row and see if that helps any.
Fantastic Four #563 was pretty great. I was hopeful but concerned when Mark Miller and Bryan Hitch took over the book but the ride so far has been fantastic, pun intended. It feels like we're being taken to new places with the stories but it's not like they rebooted the book and this is the Ultimate FF or something. It feels like the characters we've come to know but just not spinning their wheels. Now Ben Grimm is engaged and the Masters of Doom (those who trained Doctor Doom) are on their way. It's exciting reading!
Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2 - The first story is solid but the second, featuring Spidey hanging out with Wolverine in a bar, is excellent. Watching Logan drink whiskey, having him be drunk for a minute before his healing factor processes the liquor and then be hung over is wild.
Usagi Yojimbo #117 - a new arc starts in this book. I've been buying this book for years and I just want to say it's one of the most consistently enjoyable books I buy, a tribute indeed to writer/artist Stan Sakai. Every issue may not be earth shattering, but I cannot think of one that was even close to being bad. He is great.
Savage Dragon #144 - a fun experiment. Each panel is meant to be from a different day. It's like watching someone's life in fast-forward, seeing the highlights and watching certain changes happen gradually, which is better than fast-forwarding half a year and just referencing things as having changed.
Ultimate Spider-Man #130 - the Ultimatum wave impacts the regular book. Loved it. Good action for the supporting cast. Fascinated by Spidey being thrown in over his head. What do you do when a tidal wave submerges Manhattan? He doesn't know either but he does what he can.
New Avengers #49 - one story thread is wrapped up and pushes forward another. The speech from Clint Barton at the end makes the issue so worthwhile for me.
Nova, Captain America, and Daredevil continue their solid streaks as well.
I bought some other stuff as well, and it's lack of mention here doesn't mean I didn't like it, but this is what I felt like talking about. I've been meaning to do this sort of thing for awhile, a weekly look at new books. Let's see how it goes from here.
Fantastic Four #563 was pretty great. I was hopeful but concerned when Mark Miller and Bryan Hitch took over the book but the ride so far has been fantastic, pun intended. It feels like we're being taken to new places with the stories but it's not like they rebooted the book and this is the Ultimate FF or something. It feels like the characters we've come to know but just not spinning their wheels. Now Ben Grimm is engaged and the Masters of Doom (those who trained Doctor Doom) are on their way. It's exciting reading!
Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2 - The first story is solid but the second, featuring Spidey hanging out with Wolverine in a bar, is excellent. Watching Logan drink whiskey, having him be drunk for a minute before his healing factor processes the liquor and then be hung over is wild.
Usagi Yojimbo #117 - a new arc starts in this book. I've been buying this book for years and I just want to say it's one of the most consistently enjoyable books I buy, a tribute indeed to writer/artist Stan Sakai. Every issue may not be earth shattering, but I cannot think of one that was even close to being bad. He is great.
Savage Dragon #144 - a fun experiment. Each panel is meant to be from a different day. It's like watching someone's life in fast-forward, seeing the highlights and watching certain changes happen gradually, which is better than fast-forwarding half a year and just referencing things as having changed.
Ultimate Spider-Man #130 - the Ultimatum wave impacts the regular book. Loved it. Good action for the supporting cast. Fascinated by Spidey being thrown in over his head. What do you do when a tidal wave submerges Manhattan? He doesn't know either but he does what he can.
New Avengers #49 - one story thread is wrapped up and pushes forward another. The speech from Clint Barton at the end makes the issue so worthwhile for me.
Nova, Captain America, and Daredevil continue their solid streaks as well.
I bought some other stuff as well, and it's lack of mention here doesn't mean I didn't like it, but this is what I felt like talking about. I've been meaning to do this sort of thing for awhile, a weekly look at new books. Let's see how it goes from here.
28 January 2009
Odd that
These past couple days, I've been a bit under the weather. Last night as I was getting ready to go to bed, I slipped 'Room Service' into the DVD player; 1937, play turned into a movie with the Marx Brothers. As I watched it and started dozing off, I had the strangest feeling of deja vu, of having been sick and watching this movie.
I got nothing else. It was just an odd moment. I do know that I was watching Marx Brothers films during the great Crypto scare in the 90s but that was 'Go West'. Maybe it was this movie as well. That would explain it.
I got nothing else. It was just an odd moment. I do know that I was watching Marx Brothers films during the great Crypto scare in the 90s but that was 'Go West'. Maybe it was this movie as well. That would explain it.
27 January 2009
Memory Exercise - flow of Spaceship Earth ride
Upon clearing the queuing area, a moving walkway assists you in getting up to speed to the ride cars. In theory they are set up to not stop. The cars are a blueish-green, probably to go with the theme of the planet. As you head up the ramp, the video screen comes to life, encouraging you to identify your home location. Clicking on the USA made the states available and clicking on Wisconsin then allowed us to click on Milwaukee. This information is used after you exit the ride, in conjunction with the picture for which the video screen next helps you line up. Upon exiting the ride, your picture appears on a video screen of the Earth, near the location you selected. The picture is also used in a video as you exit the ride.
The first room of the ride is a pale video screen depicting a 'caveman' facing off with a wooly mammoth. When verbal communication was invented, it allowed for teamwork and a group could attack an animal, making the process easier.
This leads into a diorama of a cave with animatronic people painting on the cave walls, the first written communication. Next we see a 'nameless Egyptian' pounding reeds into papyrus, inventing the first paper. We see it in use in the next diorama, the throne room of the Pharaoh.
Our next big leap forward is the Greeks, one of the few scenes on the right side of track, as the Greeks provide us with mathematics (George cheered for his people, which is pretty rare to be honest). Their philosophy is taken a step forward by the Romans.
Then, tragedy as the great library in Alexandria burns (it even smells of sulphur). Thankfully, the knowledge is not lost as another scene on the right reveals that copies of a number of these books exist in the collections of Jewish and Middle Eastern scholars, here identified as the first backup system. Human progress continues.
We see monks copying books (one dozes at his desk) in an effort to prevent the Alexandria disaster from ever occurring again. This is taken a step forward by Guttenberg with his invention of the printing press. Samuel Morse invents the telegraph (once again on the right) so that information can be transmitted on a timely basis.
This leads to the transmission of information by the mass media, first in the form of the newspaper (the headline, being checked by a black man, announces the end of the Civil War). The motion picture appears next (on the right) while telephone lines begin to crisscross the sky on the left.
Next is the television, here displaying footage of the 1969 moon landing, with a brief guest appearance by Walter Cronkite! An entire room (left and right) bring us into a computer room in the 1970s (the music and the afro on one character identify this time), with plenty of reel-to-reel data tapes (which I got to use for awhile in the early 90s).
We see a garage where the personal computer is invented (Steve Jobs? Is that you?) and that takes us to 'now', the Matrix, a tube of green ones and zeros that surround us. This fades into a starscape and a view of the Earth from space (beautiful!). The future is something we can be involved in making.
The car spins backwards and the hallway gets dark. To distract us while we exit, the video screen returns to life. Do we want to see a future about work? Leisure? Vacation? We are encouraged to answer a series of questions and that triggers a video. Your picture from the beginning of the ride is edited into the video, giving the animation an odd 'Canadians on South Park' type feel. Exiting the ride there are a number of different things from the future to investigate. At the centre of this room is the video screen with the Earth. A number of panels sit below this, allowing you to send the video you just saw as a video postcard (the first time we went through this was no problem, the second time people didn't seem to figure out the process and I couldn't get near one).
Good time. I think I remembered most of it. The middle of the ride is a little fuzzy so I'm not sure I got it all. Blame my congested head today for that I guess.
The first room of the ride is a pale video screen depicting a 'caveman' facing off with a wooly mammoth. When verbal communication was invented, it allowed for teamwork and a group could attack an animal, making the process easier.
This leads into a diorama of a cave with animatronic people painting on the cave walls, the first written communication. Next we see a 'nameless Egyptian' pounding reeds into papyrus, inventing the first paper. We see it in use in the next diorama, the throne room of the Pharaoh.
Our next big leap forward is the Greeks, one of the few scenes on the right side of track, as the Greeks provide us with mathematics (George cheered for his people, which is pretty rare to be honest). Their philosophy is taken a step forward by the Romans.
Then, tragedy as the great library in Alexandria burns (it even smells of sulphur). Thankfully, the knowledge is not lost as another scene on the right reveals that copies of a number of these books exist in the collections of Jewish and Middle Eastern scholars, here identified as the first backup system. Human progress continues.
We see monks copying books (one dozes at his desk) in an effort to prevent the Alexandria disaster from ever occurring again. This is taken a step forward by Guttenberg with his invention of the printing press. Samuel Morse invents the telegraph (once again on the right) so that information can be transmitted on a timely basis.
This leads to the transmission of information by the mass media, first in the form of the newspaper (the headline, being checked by a black man, announces the end of the Civil War). The motion picture appears next (on the right) while telephone lines begin to crisscross the sky on the left.
Next is the television, here displaying footage of the 1969 moon landing, with a brief guest appearance by Walter Cronkite! An entire room (left and right) bring us into a computer room in the 1970s (the music and the afro on one character identify this time), with plenty of reel-to-reel data tapes (which I got to use for awhile in the early 90s).
We see a garage where the personal computer is invented (Steve Jobs? Is that you?) and that takes us to 'now', the Matrix, a tube of green ones and zeros that surround us. This fades into a starscape and a view of the Earth from space (beautiful!). The future is something we can be involved in making.
The car spins backwards and the hallway gets dark. To distract us while we exit, the video screen returns to life. Do we want to see a future about work? Leisure? Vacation? We are encouraged to answer a series of questions and that triggers a video. Your picture from the beginning of the ride is edited into the video, giving the animation an odd 'Canadians on South Park' type feel. Exiting the ride there are a number of different things from the future to investigate. At the centre of this room is the video screen with the Earth. A number of panels sit below this, allowing you to send the video you just saw as a video postcard (the first time we went through this was no problem, the second time people didn't seem to figure out the process and I couldn't get near one).
Good time. I think I remembered most of it. The middle of the ride is a little fuzzy so I'm not sure I got it all. Blame my congested head today for that I guess.
26 January 2009
Florida Trip - Disney's Magic Kingdom
By all rights, the Magic Kingdom should be cheesy, unforgivably bland like a 1970's live-action Disney film (even the ones with Patrick McGoohan in them). It is not. Most of all the Disney parks, it feels like another world, even when you're tripping over people. There's just something in the air I guess.
Jungle Cruise - I'll go with the map description here: 'Silly safari boat tour'. It is. We rode it close to close one night. Our tour guide was very clearly enjoying herself and seemed to be working different styles of jokes to see what would work with us. As we passed the animatronic animals, they were almost always named Mike. We ducked the attacks of angry natives. About halfway through, in the dark, she began the 'ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah' sound that accompanies Jason in the Friday the 13th films, much to our joy. She had a kid from the front 'steer' the boat for awhile, making sure to note that, if we were to crash, it would be his fault. Silly little things that don't sound like much in print maybe, but were excellent in the moment. Loved it.
Pirates of the Caribbean - rode this five times. First ride of the first day and the last ride of the last day. You sit in a boat and see the pirate sites. Elements of the movies are mixed into the original ride. Davy Jones warns you not to enter (a projection onto a sheet of mist, a wonderful effect). Captain Barbossa (I've misspelled that I'm sure) attacks the mainland, searching for Captain Jack Sparrow. The pirates drowning the mayor are also looking for Jack and his first appearance is just around the corner. Wenches are auctioned ('we wants the redhead!') to drunken pirates. Women chase away pirates in the city as a man holds a treasure key, noting that Captain Jack will never find it (except he's in the barrel directly behind the man). A pirate wallows with pigs as the city burns. Jailed pirates still work to get the key from the dog holding it. In the final area, Captain Jack sits happily in a treasure room, singing and chatting with you. It's a fun ride with new details to be spotted each time (I noticed a lighthouse that George claimed to have never noticed before). A definite stop to make.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - rode twice. I talked about this a bit before. It's a fun coaster ride through a mountain and some bits of ghost town. Good time, nothing too scary or intense.
The Haunted Mansion - twice. The exterior is fun creepy. The first room is closed off and then stretches (lowers, its a very smooth elevator) to reveal more detail in the paintings on the wall! A blackout disguises the opening of the new door once you land. The ride is a people mover, constantly moving. The voice claims there's 999 spooks in the house with room for one more! (If I remember my reading correctly, there are 999 spooks to be counted in the house but I've no clue how'd you'd prove that by riding the ride, it goes by so fast.) Everything is creepy but not really like haunted house scary as that's not the point. The average individual will not freak out on the ride. I remember liking a room with MC Esher type staircases that had glow in the dark moving footprints on them. There's the ballroom you see from a distance where animatronics fade in and out like ghosts (I'm not all sure how that works, lighting changes I think, but it's probably low tech and looks wonderful). Of course there's the four singing busts and a mirror that reveals a ghost is hitchhiking in your car! Like I said, it's almost too much fun to be scary at all, even with the few 'pop-up' type cheap tricks. Recommended!
Mickey's PhilharMagic - 3D movie. We sat in the front row and I don't recommend that as I felt I missed out on some of the action. The story in short: Donald gets the sorcerer's hat from Fantasia and messes up, falling into other films and becoming part of the songs there until Mickey can save him. I'm not completely familiar with some of the newer films involved but I still found the effects and the movie to be highly entertaining. It's very worth going.
Mad Tea Party - Change places! A spinning ride where you have some control over how fast you spin. Moppy and I got that thing rocketing. If I stopped helping, the G force was strong enough that I had to struggle to reach the spinner in the centre of the cup. Like dummies we did this right after we ate but I don't think anybody lost anything. It looks like a nothing ride but you can turn it into something if you like!
Space Mountain - rode twice. Woooooo! As Ric Flair likes to say, it's the oldest ride in the park but still has the longest line. The queuing area is excellent space station type stuff. The planetarium type effects as you near the ride are excellent. Once in your car (two linked cars of three single seats each), you ride past workers in spacesuits, doing maintenance on the station. Very nice. Then you enter the blue launch tube. I found out rather quickly that there's some variety in the ride because we exited the tube about halfway down it, much to my surprise. There are some star effects and such but it's mostly a roller coaster in a very dark room, not pitch black but dark. The shadows of the track whizzing past me freaked me out a bit. In the back of my head, I knew I'm not that tall and would be safe but the rest of me was panicked. Not being able to see much of the track, it's hard to brace yourself for the next direction you're headed in. First time I rode it I wasn't sure I liked it as I was a bit freaked. The second time I was enjoying it more, trying to be very enthusiatic and then got caught by a couple unexpected turns and screamed like a little girl. The escalator on the way out has dioramas showing the 'mission objectives'. Not for the faint at heart! But awesome!.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - shooter game where you aim at physical targets. Nicely done and fun.
Stitch's Great Escape! - a step above a mere show. You're staged through a few rooms explaining that we are trainee guards for the Galactic Federation. An animatronic criminal alien is 'teleported' into a tube before our very eyes. Then we go sit in the 'big' chamber and are 'secured' into our seats with a harness that sits over our shoulders (it houses speakers and effects gear for what's to come). Stitch is teleported into the tube in the centre of the room. He soon breaks the tube and spits at the audience. The lights go out and he begins 'hiding in the audience', eating food, burping in our faces, hopping on our shoulders, patting us on the head, etc. Eventually he reappears in the centre of the room and teleports away. It's fun but I can't see watching it more than once a trip.
And then there's the fireworks. We caught most of them the first night and watched the whole thing on the last night. I thought I'd seen fireworks displays before but nothing compared to this. They centre on the castle which is changing colours due to the lights on it. Jiminy Cricket is our narrator, telling a 'story' through fireworks and songs. Tinkerbell (a live person on a wire!) flies from the top of the castle into the distance (I lost track and didn't catch where she landed in Tomorrowland or Main Street USA). Everything is timed to perfection. The whole thing runs about 15 minutes. Awe inspiring.
That's about it. Apart from any stories that I get prompted to tell and a memory exercise I've been considering, that's the trip.
I really enjoyed it and look forward to doing it again someday soon. Maybe you can come along too!
Jungle Cruise - I'll go with the map description here: 'Silly safari boat tour'. It is. We rode it close to close one night. Our tour guide was very clearly enjoying herself and seemed to be working different styles of jokes to see what would work with us. As we passed the animatronic animals, they were almost always named Mike. We ducked the attacks of angry natives. About halfway through, in the dark, she began the 'ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah' sound that accompanies Jason in the Friday the 13th films, much to our joy. She had a kid from the front 'steer' the boat for awhile, making sure to note that, if we were to crash, it would be his fault. Silly little things that don't sound like much in print maybe, but were excellent in the moment. Loved it.
Pirates of the Caribbean - rode this five times. First ride of the first day and the last ride of the last day. You sit in a boat and see the pirate sites. Elements of the movies are mixed into the original ride. Davy Jones warns you not to enter (a projection onto a sheet of mist, a wonderful effect). Captain Barbossa (I've misspelled that I'm sure) attacks the mainland, searching for Captain Jack Sparrow. The pirates drowning the mayor are also looking for Jack and his first appearance is just around the corner. Wenches are auctioned ('we wants the redhead!') to drunken pirates. Women chase away pirates in the city as a man holds a treasure key, noting that Captain Jack will never find it (except he's in the barrel directly behind the man). A pirate wallows with pigs as the city burns. Jailed pirates still work to get the key from the dog holding it. In the final area, Captain Jack sits happily in a treasure room, singing and chatting with you. It's a fun ride with new details to be spotted each time (I noticed a lighthouse that George claimed to have never noticed before). A definite stop to make.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - rode twice. I talked about this a bit before. It's a fun coaster ride through a mountain and some bits of ghost town. Good time, nothing too scary or intense.
The Haunted Mansion - twice. The exterior is fun creepy. The first room is closed off and then stretches (lowers, its a very smooth elevator) to reveal more detail in the paintings on the wall! A blackout disguises the opening of the new door once you land. The ride is a people mover, constantly moving. The voice claims there's 999 spooks in the house with room for one more! (If I remember my reading correctly, there are 999 spooks to be counted in the house but I've no clue how'd you'd prove that by riding the ride, it goes by so fast.) Everything is creepy but not really like haunted house scary as that's not the point. The average individual will not freak out on the ride. I remember liking a room with MC Esher type staircases that had glow in the dark moving footprints on them. There's the ballroom you see from a distance where animatronics fade in and out like ghosts (I'm not all sure how that works, lighting changes I think, but it's probably low tech and looks wonderful). Of course there's the four singing busts and a mirror that reveals a ghost is hitchhiking in your car! Like I said, it's almost too much fun to be scary at all, even with the few 'pop-up' type cheap tricks. Recommended!
Mickey's PhilharMagic - 3D movie. We sat in the front row and I don't recommend that as I felt I missed out on some of the action. The story in short: Donald gets the sorcerer's hat from Fantasia and messes up, falling into other films and becoming part of the songs there until Mickey can save him. I'm not completely familiar with some of the newer films involved but I still found the effects and the movie to be highly entertaining. It's very worth going.
Mad Tea Party - Change places! A spinning ride where you have some control over how fast you spin. Moppy and I got that thing rocketing. If I stopped helping, the G force was strong enough that I had to struggle to reach the spinner in the centre of the cup. Like dummies we did this right after we ate but I don't think anybody lost anything. It looks like a nothing ride but you can turn it into something if you like!
Space Mountain - rode twice. Woooooo! As Ric Flair likes to say, it's the oldest ride in the park but still has the longest line. The queuing area is excellent space station type stuff. The planetarium type effects as you near the ride are excellent. Once in your car (two linked cars of three single seats each), you ride past workers in spacesuits, doing maintenance on the station. Very nice. Then you enter the blue launch tube. I found out rather quickly that there's some variety in the ride because we exited the tube about halfway down it, much to my surprise. There are some star effects and such but it's mostly a roller coaster in a very dark room, not pitch black but dark. The shadows of the track whizzing past me freaked me out a bit. In the back of my head, I knew I'm not that tall and would be safe but the rest of me was panicked. Not being able to see much of the track, it's hard to brace yourself for the next direction you're headed in. First time I rode it I wasn't sure I liked it as I was a bit freaked. The second time I was enjoying it more, trying to be very enthusiatic and then got caught by a couple unexpected turns and screamed like a little girl. The escalator on the way out has dioramas showing the 'mission objectives'. Not for the faint at heart! But awesome!.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - shooter game where you aim at physical targets. Nicely done and fun.
Stitch's Great Escape! - a step above a mere show. You're staged through a few rooms explaining that we are trainee guards for the Galactic Federation. An animatronic criminal alien is 'teleported' into a tube before our very eyes. Then we go sit in the 'big' chamber and are 'secured' into our seats with a harness that sits over our shoulders (it houses speakers and effects gear for what's to come). Stitch is teleported into the tube in the centre of the room. He soon breaks the tube and spits at the audience. The lights go out and he begins 'hiding in the audience', eating food, burping in our faces, hopping on our shoulders, patting us on the head, etc. Eventually he reappears in the centre of the room and teleports away. It's fun but I can't see watching it more than once a trip.
And then there's the fireworks. We caught most of them the first night and watched the whole thing on the last night. I thought I'd seen fireworks displays before but nothing compared to this. They centre on the castle which is changing colours due to the lights on it. Jiminy Cricket is our narrator, telling a 'story' through fireworks and songs. Tinkerbell (a live person on a wire!) flies from the top of the castle into the distance (I lost track and didn't catch where she landed in Tomorrowland or Main Street USA). Everything is timed to perfection. The whole thing runs about 15 minutes. Awe inspiring.
That's about it. Apart from any stories that I get prompted to tell and a memory exercise I've been considering, that's the trip.
I really enjoyed it and look forward to doing it again someday soon. Maybe you can come along too!
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