Uncovered my box of Viewmaster reels a minute or two ago. Those are so much easier to look at without glasses. I suppose I never got the full impact of them as a kid then.
Looking through the pile it's interesting to see how my general interests haven't changed much over the years. The collection is mostly tv and movie tie-in stuff. And, of course, Muppets. I'd forgotten that there were 'stories' created just for Viewmasters. Sorted in with 'The Muppet Movie' and 'The Great Muppet Caper' are an Audition night story, a general meet the Muppets set, and a trip to Hawaii.
I may have to dig into this a bit more.
A sudden thought: Do I have to explain to anyone what a Viewmaster is? I sure hope not but I bet I do.
07 February 2009
06 February 2009
It's been a Muppety week
Found some Muppet audio during the course of the week that made me happy and now I'm finally dubbing some of my current still somewhat rare Muppet video onto DVD. First there was 'The Muppets go to the Movies' and now 'A Muppet Family Christmas' is running. The best part about the latter show is the crossover in the characters. You get Muppet Show characters, Fraggle Rock characters, and Sesame Street characters altogether. The Muppet Newsman gets a rare appearance. Cookie and Animal make friends. Live action Muppet Babies. Good stuff.
Best so far is Oscar refusing to sing along with the carol. He sticks to his guns and I love that.
Best so far is Oscar refusing to sing along with the carol. He sticks to his guns and I love that.
05 February 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week
'Secret Warriors' #1 was the first book I read this week and I sat there staring at it once I'd finished it. The shock revelation ending is either the most exciting thing I've read in ages or it's the dumbest thing I've ever read. I'm willing to wait for another issue or two to see how this idea gets developed before deciding. It is very wow!
'Tales of the TMNT' #55 - I've gotten Turtle comics on and off for years as that's one of the first series I got to read when I was starting in the hobby (thanks again Matt). The 'Tales' series has a rotating creator base so each issue is an adventure. I generally find them enjoyable but not often exciting. This issue's story, set before the Turtles first encounter with the Shredder, has precious little action. It's almost all character development. It's also never boring and remains interesting throughout, even if you remove the 'twist' ending of the last two pages. I loved it!
'Simpsons Super Spectacular' #8 - the first story, which is filled with Will Eisner references, amused me greatly. The 'Senor Ding Dong' story was good. The 'secret true origin' of Radioactive Man didn't do it for me. Still, not a bad book on the whole.
'Black Panther' #1 - why are we restarting this book again? The story wasn't bad but the whole tease for the female Black Panther, a storyline that I'd be surprised to see last beyond a year, doesn't seem worth restarting the numbering on the book again. I dunno about this one.
'Transformers - All Hail Megatron' #7 of 12 - The thing that's been interesting and annoying about this story is the way it's being told. It's mostly in flashback. The storyline we'd seen being developed in the other Transformers series by IDW is the basis for this story where the Decepticons attack Earth after defeating the Autobots but there's a jump between those series and this one. This has made for some interesting moments and some headscratching. More of the backstory is revealed here, including an impressive panel that made me go 'whoa'. That said, I'll be glad when the story starts moving forward a bit more and reviews the past a bit less.
'Comic Book Comics' #3 - the history of comics in comic book form. And it's funny too!
Like last week, there's some other stuff I purchased, read, and enjoyed, but this is the stuff that I felt like talking about.
'Tales of the TMNT' #55 - I've gotten Turtle comics on and off for years as that's one of the first series I got to read when I was starting in the hobby (thanks again Matt). The 'Tales' series has a rotating creator base so each issue is an adventure. I generally find them enjoyable but not often exciting. This issue's story, set before the Turtles first encounter with the Shredder, has precious little action. It's almost all character development. It's also never boring and remains interesting throughout, even if you remove the 'twist' ending of the last two pages. I loved it!
'Simpsons Super Spectacular' #8 - the first story, which is filled with Will Eisner references, amused me greatly. The 'Senor Ding Dong' story was good. The 'secret true origin' of Radioactive Man didn't do it for me. Still, not a bad book on the whole.
'Black Panther' #1 - why are we restarting this book again? The story wasn't bad but the whole tease for the female Black Panther, a storyline that I'd be surprised to see last beyond a year, doesn't seem worth restarting the numbering on the book again. I dunno about this one.
'Transformers - All Hail Megatron' #7 of 12 - The thing that's been interesting and annoying about this story is the way it's being told. It's mostly in flashback. The storyline we'd seen being developed in the other Transformers series by IDW is the basis for this story where the Decepticons attack Earth after defeating the Autobots but there's a jump between those series and this one. This has made for some interesting moments and some headscratching. More of the backstory is revealed here, including an impressive panel that made me go 'whoa'. That said, I'll be glad when the story starts moving forward a bit more and reviews the past a bit less.
'Comic Book Comics' #3 - the history of comics in comic book form. And it's funny too!
Like last week, there's some other stuff I purchased, read, and enjoyed, but this is the stuff that I felt like talking about.
04 February 2009
You Might Be a Geek if...
- You can identify the number of Doctor Who episodes missing from the BBC archives and then recite the story names and episode numbers of such.
- See a background character in a Star Wars movie that has three seconds of screen-time and identify the full history of the character as laid out in a novel you read once a few years ago.
- See a vehicle, identify it's make and model and then start elaborating on the factory engine and how many horsepower it put out.
- Recite the win/loss record of your favorite sports team for a decade straight, even if that decade is not their golden era.
- Explain to others why they should read a seven book cycle of novels by summarizing it to them for over an hour.
- Dispute the chronology of a comic book character by reciting issue titles as if they were Scriptural chapter and verse.
- Be able to recite Scriptural chapter and verse out of your head.
- People don't want to play Trivial Pursuit with you anymore.
- You know the advantages and disadvantages of different types of wood when you're not a carpenter.
- Wednesday is new Comic Day!
- You rebuild your computer on a regular basis for the fun of it.
- You make lists explaining how people can tell if they're a Geek or not.
- See a background character in a Star Wars movie that has three seconds of screen-time and identify the full history of the character as laid out in a novel you read once a few years ago.
- See a vehicle, identify it's make and model and then start elaborating on the factory engine and how many horsepower it put out.
- Recite the win/loss record of your favorite sports team for a decade straight, even if that decade is not their golden era.
- Explain to others why they should read a seven book cycle of novels by summarizing it to them for over an hour.
- Dispute the chronology of a comic book character by reciting issue titles as if they were Scriptural chapter and verse.
- Be able to recite Scriptural chapter and verse out of your head.
- People don't want to play Trivial Pursuit with you anymore.
- You know the advantages and disadvantages of different types of wood when you're not a carpenter.
- Wednesday is new Comic Day!
- You rebuild your computer on a regular basis for the fun of it.
- You make lists explaining how people can tell if they're a Geek or not.
03 February 2009
Line missing?
There's a commercial for Verizon that I think has been edited since they started airing it.
It's at a boisterous family barbeque and the fellow working the grill is pointing out members of his family: his cousin that's like a brother, brother that's like a cousin, an uncle that's not really an uncle but is a keeper.
It's the uncle line that I think has been changed. I swear at first it said something to the effect of 'he's not really my uncle, but he doesn't owe me money, so he's a keeper'.
I didn't read about an uproar and an edit but I've yet to see the version with the longer line since I think I noticed it was gone. Or have I lost my mind? Did I imagine the line? If it was there, did someone consider it offensive? Stereotypical?
I just thought it was a funny reason to like a guy.
It's at a boisterous family barbeque and the fellow working the grill is pointing out members of his family: his cousin that's like a brother, brother that's like a cousin, an uncle that's not really an uncle but is a keeper.
It's the uncle line that I think has been changed. I swear at first it said something to the effect of 'he's not really my uncle, but he doesn't owe me money, so he's a keeper'.
I didn't read about an uproar and an edit but I've yet to see the version with the longer line since I think I noticed it was gone. Or have I lost my mind? Did I imagine the line? If it was there, did someone consider it offensive? Stereotypical?
I just thought it was a funny reason to like a guy.
02 February 2009
25 Things about me that no one will find interesting, even me
1 – My Dad was adopted when he was one. His adopted mother passed away when she was young and his adopted father remarried a few years before I was born. Most of the people I met as relatives on my Dad's side of the family were therefore step-adopted and not blood related in the least. They were hard drinking Irish folk so, in some ways, I do take after them.
2 – I have two younger brothers, Russell and Joseph.
3 – I consider myself a writer more than anything else. I hope to be an author someday soon. In my head at least, the difference is that authors get paid to write.
4 – I am good at spotting typos but only in other people's work.
5 – I talk rubbish quite often because it's fun. Unfortunately, sometimes I start to believe my rubbish.
6 – I am perfectly willing to look like an idiot, especially if this is on my own terms. I like to entertain.
7 – I wish I'd looked into getting contact lens earlier than I did (when was it now, 4 or 5 years ago?). I think if I'd gotten them in my twenties, when I was slimmer and had more hair, I could have been quite dangerous. Not awesome-dangerous, just dangerous.
8 – I don't think I look very good in pictures. Instead of avoiding pictures, I tend to gravitate towards them. I figure that the more pictures of me get taken, the more likely it'll turn out to be a good one.
9 – I believe that the larger the group of people you get together, for whatever purpose, the smaller the cumulative IQ of that group will be. This is best proved when driving. In theory everyone has the goal of getting somewhere but does everyone drive like they have a place to go? Nope!
10 – I'm probably smarter than I realize. Comparing that to what I've accomplished, I consider myself to be an underachiever. Must try harder.
11 – I've long joked about being crazy but I probably am to some degree. At the very least, I'm not what most people would consider to be normal so, by being different, I'm some sort of crazy.
12 – The year after I graduated high school, I spent about a month feeling 'suicidal'. I place that in quotes because, in retrospect, I don't think I was in any real danger of hurting myself and I don't want to trivialize someone else's more serious issues. It's more like I spent a month in a horrible mood where I questioned the reasons for my continued existence and broke myself out of it by going to see a movie with Kathy Ireland in it 4 times. See? I told you I was crazy, but you didn't believe me! Why didn't you believe me?!?
13 – I talk to myself often, both out loud and to myself. I argue with myself, mock myself, console myself, analyze myself; it can get a little weird. I think it's due to the part of my brain that processes other thought patterns for when I write.
14 – I generally never feel my age nor act it.
15 – I daydream a lot but I can always pretend it's work by using something in my writing.
16 – It's rare that I completely lose interest in something. It does happen but it's much more likely that I'll add a new interest and run out of time to pursue an older one. Unfortunately this occasionally and unintentionally happens with friends as well.
17 – I didn't see 'Return of the Jedi' until I was 12. I didn't care for it much and so 'Star Wars' (I don't care what Lucas says, the name of that film isn't 'Episode 4' or 'A New Hope', it's just 'Star Wars') and 'The Empire Strikes Back' would wait until I was 21. I therefore have no nostalgia to associate with those films.
18 – I don't expect or need to be best friends with anyone with whom I work. All that should be necessary is a mutual respect that we can both do our jobs. It is more fun to enjoy the presence of those you work with as it makes the day go by easier. I try to keep things light and friendly whenever possible and reasonable.
19 – Up until I turned 30 or so, I expected that, some day and to some one, I'd get married. Somewhere around 30 I considered that it wasn't impossible that I'd find someone I could put up with that would also be willing to put up with me, but it seemed less likely that this was going to happen. If it was a priority in my life, I would have done more to locate this young lady. Correction, I'd have done something, anything, to locate this young lady. Besides, I was already married to my collection and what woman would care to share me with it?
20 – Being somewhat different from everyone I know, I'm never completely comfortable. I'm generally comfortable until a big variation manifests itself and I'm reminded that I'm me. And there's nothing wrong with that.
21 – One of life's lessons that my Grandfather gave to my Father who then passed it to me is paraphrased as 'Why be like everyone else? Everyone else is stupid.' I've been told that I may have taken this lesson a bit too much to heart.
22 – I like to think I'm tough but I'm just a big softie at heart.
23 – I don't believe in reincarnation (regeneration,sure) but every once in awhile I go into a situation and I seem to know more about something than I should. It's probably either my brain remembering something I've read or I'm believing my own rubbish again but it feels nicely weird.
24 – I am much better at starting things than finishing them. The current untidy state of my living quarters is testimony to that.
25 – I am awesome. If you are reading this you are probably pretty awesome as well. Not as awesome as me obviously, but at least you're trying. Of course, to you, you are awesome. If you don't think so, why not? Fix that! To yourself, if no one else, you should be one of, if not the, most awesome people you know. I mean, you do all the things you like, you know all the people you like best, how can you not be awesome? And you're my friend so that's got to count for something. Right? ;)
(Yes I also posted this to Facebook today. I'm just getting full value out of the work.)
2 – I have two younger brothers, Russell and Joseph.
3 – I consider myself a writer more than anything else. I hope to be an author someday soon. In my head at least, the difference is that authors get paid to write.
4 – I am good at spotting typos but only in other people's work.
5 – I talk rubbish quite often because it's fun. Unfortunately, sometimes I start to believe my rubbish.
6 – I am perfectly willing to look like an idiot, especially if this is on my own terms. I like to entertain.
7 – I wish I'd looked into getting contact lens earlier than I did (when was it now, 4 or 5 years ago?). I think if I'd gotten them in my twenties, when I was slimmer and had more hair, I could have been quite dangerous. Not awesome-dangerous, just dangerous.
8 – I don't think I look very good in pictures. Instead of avoiding pictures, I tend to gravitate towards them. I figure that the more pictures of me get taken, the more likely it'll turn out to be a good one.
9 – I believe that the larger the group of people you get together, for whatever purpose, the smaller the cumulative IQ of that group will be. This is best proved when driving. In theory everyone has the goal of getting somewhere but does everyone drive like they have a place to go? Nope!
10 – I'm probably smarter than I realize. Comparing that to what I've accomplished, I consider myself to be an underachiever. Must try harder.
11 – I've long joked about being crazy but I probably am to some degree. At the very least, I'm not what most people would consider to be normal so, by being different, I'm some sort of crazy.
12 – The year after I graduated high school, I spent about a month feeling 'suicidal'. I place that in quotes because, in retrospect, I don't think I was in any real danger of hurting myself and I don't want to trivialize someone else's more serious issues. It's more like I spent a month in a horrible mood where I questioned the reasons for my continued existence and broke myself out of it by going to see a movie with Kathy Ireland in it 4 times. See? I told you I was crazy, but you didn't believe me! Why didn't you believe me?!?
13 – I talk to myself often, both out loud and to myself. I argue with myself, mock myself, console myself, analyze myself; it can get a little weird. I think it's due to the part of my brain that processes other thought patterns for when I write.
14 – I generally never feel my age nor act it.
15 – I daydream a lot but I can always pretend it's work by using something in my writing.
16 – It's rare that I completely lose interest in something. It does happen but it's much more likely that I'll add a new interest and run out of time to pursue an older one. Unfortunately this occasionally and unintentionally happens with friends as well.
17 – I didn't see 'Return of the Jedi' until I was 12. I didn't care for it much and so 'Star Wars' (I don't care what Lucas says, the name of that film isn't 'Episode 4' or 'A New Hope', it's just 'Star Wars') and 'The Empire Strikes Back' would wait until I was 21. I therefore have no nostalgia to associate with those films.
18 – I don't expect or need to be best friends with anyone with whom I work. All that should be necessary is a mutual respect that we can both do our jobs. It is more fun to enjoy the presence of those you work with as it makes the day go by easier. I try to keep things light and friendly whenever possible and reasonable.
19 – Up until I turned 30 or so, I expected that, some day and to some one, I'd get married. Somewhere around 30 I considered that it wasn't impossible that I'd find someone I could put up with that would also be willing to put up with me, but it seemed less likely that this was going to happen. If it was a priority in my life, I would have done more to locate this young lady. Correction, I'd have done something, anything, to locate this young lady. Besides, I was already married to my collection and what woman would care to share me with it?
20 – Being somewhat different from everyone I know, I'm never completely comfortable. I'm generally comfortable until a big variation manifests itself and I'm reminded that I'm me. And there's nothing wrong with that.
21 – One of life's lessons that my Grandfather gave to my Father who then passed it to me is paraphrased as 'Why be like everyone else? Everyone else is stupid.' I've been told that I may have taken this lesson a bit too much to heart.
22 – I like to think I'm tough but I'm just a big softie at heart.
23 – I don't believe in reincarnation (regeneration,sure) but every once in awhile I go into a situation and I seem to know more about something than I should. It's probably either my brain remembering something I've read or I'm believing my own rubbish again but it feels nicely weird.
24 – I am much better at starting things than finishing them. The current untidy state of my living quarters is testimony to that.
25 – I am awesome. If you are reading this you are probably pretty awesome as well. Not as awesome as me obviously, but at least you're trying. Of course, to you, you are awesome. If you don't think so, why not? Fix that! To yourself, if no one else, you should be one of, if not the, most awesome people you know. I mean, you do all the things you like, you know all the people you like best, how can you not be awesome? And you're my friend so that's got to count for something. Right? ;)
(Yes I also posted this to Facebook today. I'm just getting full value out of the work.)
01 February 2009
Now that I've seen that
I'm not completely convinced that the Super Bowl is really a game anymore. Why wasn't that last fumble reviewed? Something doesn't seem right.
31 January 2009
The Good Ol' Hockey Game
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.
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.
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!
24 January 2009
Florida Trip - Disney's Hollywood Studios
This is one of the best places to be. There's a lot of joy to be had at all the parks we've already reviewed but this one has a LOT of neat stuff in it to look at and do. Lot!
Star Tours - did this four times, in part because Kara got mad when it ended and we had to vacate the ship. The easiest way to make her happy was to go again. Simulator ride that moves with the events on the video screen. The queuing area first takes you past the slightly damaged looking ship you'll be riding, with R2-D2 already installed as navigator. From a nearby platform, C3P0 tries to verbally straighten him out as always. Further in, more droids are on display and in for repair. After queuing and watching a brief and funny travel video (the same generic sort of thing you'd see for an airline but with Star Wars characters involved), you enter the seating area of the ship and strap yourselves in. The droid captain (a physical prop) opens the shutter between us and the cockpit and we can see out the forward screen (a video screen) just like him. Another side monitor provides us with other information during the flight... the flight that is our pilot's first flight! Upon launch, he almost immediately takes a wrong turn down a maintenance shaft, dodging vehicles and armatures until he finds a porthole and gets us out of the starbase. 'I meant to do that,' the pilot insists, 'a little shortcut.' He engages hyperspace and we're on our way to the moon of Endor...until the pilot flies right past it and into a shower of comets! Carefully (?) he tries to fly through a massive icy comet and manages to do so with minimal damage to the ship (hopefully). Now we can get back to our trip, except we're caught in the tractor beam of a star destroyer! We manage to break free from that, only to be caught in a space battle between Tie Fighters and X Wings! We regroup with the X Wings in order to take on the Death Star! As we drop behind an X Wing to do the trench run, the pilot confesses 'I always wanted to do this!' We watch as the ship before us deposits bombs in the correct vent and escape the distruction of the Death Star. We hyperspace back to the starbase and the pilot manages to not kill us as we land. But it's close. Fun time.
MuppetVision 3-D - movie. Saw it three times (not enough!). The queuing area is FILLED with fun Muppet posters and references and jokes. The main queuing area has more of this as well as screens playing a 'pre-show' video involving Sam the American Eagle trying to prepare us for the show. Gonzo and Scooter (Richard Hunt in what I think was his last appearance as Scooter) try to help but aren't much. Sam is proud to announce that Mickey Mouse is here but is gobsmacked when Rizzo the Rat appears in mouse ears pretending to be Mickey. When questioned, Rizzo goes 'They're tourists. Whadda they know?' (which would get laughs from the crowd each time.) The theatre looks like an auditorium redecorated to look like the Muppet Theatre. It's not quite...red enough to look like the place on the show, but it works. As you get comfortable and put your 3-D glasses on, the curtain on the balcony near Stage Left opens to reveal Statler and Waldorf (this is where they should be according to the show and they are animatronics). They put on their glasses and start joking. The movie starts with Gonzo and a cheap 3D effect which Kermit (last Jim Henson as Kermit) promises is the last of those (he's wrong). This is to be a good show and he promises a little musical number from Miss Piggy (who interrupts, displeased at his use of the word 'little') as well as Sam, who promises a Salute to all Nations, but mostly America. The Swedish Chef is also introduced as the projectionist (turn around, he's there as an animatronic!). Kermit takes us to Muppet Labs where Bunsen and Beaker create the world's first 3-D effect, a computer generated character. He goes a bit rogue and they try to vacuum him up, but only remove Muppet Labs instead (fans in the theatre add to the effect of the vacuum, we'll also get water squirting and bubbles from the ceiling). Kermit takes us to Piggy's number. As it starts, Statler and Waldorf put in their two cents. Piggy tries to sing but keeps getting distracted by Bean Bunny's (a character from the late 80's Jim Henson Hour that never really caught on) attempts to add 3-D action disrupt. Finally she calls off the song, much to Bean's dismay, as this means he won't have any use for his last prop. As Piggy takes it from him, he reveals it was attached to a water skiboat and she is dragged away. Saddened by his failure, Bean interacts with the CGI effect, Waldo (I think), and decides to run away. Gonzo manages to catch him leaving but doesn't understand in time that Bean doesn't plan to return. The hunt for Bean begins! Sweetums is amongst those searching (at one point he hits a paddle ball out into the crowd ala House of Wax) and walks from one side of the screen to the other...and then out into the crowd! Bean, as it happens, is in the balcony box across the way from Statler and Waldorf. Discovered, he expresses his desire to help and is put in charge of the fireworks for Sam's finale. Is Sam ready? Yes, he notes, his 3 hour extravagantza is ready to go. 'You've got a minute and a half,' Kermit notes. Eep! Wooden soldiers dressed in the uniforms of different countries dance and march. Some play musical instruments and get caught up in them. It tries to end with Piggy as the Statue of Liberty, but Waldo zips off the Statue part of her costume, leaving her upset again. The fireworks go wrong and the penguin orchestra (animatronics in a pit before the stage) takes fire. They fire their cannon at the Chef and the film snaps! The Chef returns fire with his blunderbuss, but at Waldo, who plays innocent (despite it really being his fault overall). He mocks the Chef's inaccurate fire but panics when the Chef reveals he also has a cannon! Waldo is blown up with the theatre. The film restarts with Kermit on the back of a fire truck ladder (which extends into the audience with the 3-D). Luckily no one got hurt and the theatre only took minor damage. Waldo reveals his disguise, as Mickey Mouse!, but is caught in the vacuum and captured. Come back soon! As you leave, Statler and Waldorf continue to snipe. 'Dya think we've got time to go to the bathroom before the next show?' 'No you old fool; we're bolted to the seats!' Exiting the theatre, there are five Muppet related posters and the nearby area is filled with Muppet jokes and art and a water fountain as you approach the theatre. The gift shop doesn't have enough Muppet stuff for sale but this is so great. I promised there would be tears when I first saw it and all I can say is at least I didn't bawl like a child. Walked around with a lump in my throat for about an hour after. So awesome.
Homey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure - playground where everything is oversized as if you shrunk. Lots of padding. Fun.
Toy Story Midway Mania! - best of the 'shooter' rides we went on. Queue area is all old toys and board game designs. You've got a pull string type gun on your car you use to shoot with. The targets are video screens as opposed to the physical targets the other games provide. This allows for an easier aim because the screens animate your weapon fire, whether it be cream pies or baseballs or darts or what have you, each screen was different in that regard. Each area is active for a brief period of time. Luckily, if the ride has to pause, the screens remain active for target practice but no points can be accumulated (so there's no cheating). Fun. Worth the wait.
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream - Moppy and I walked through this sorta fast. Lots of interesting information about Walt and his projects that I didn't have time to fully digest. Costumes from shows, models of the worlds within the theme parks, the set-up of an animation camera, lots of interesting things to see here.
The Magic of Disney Animation - short movie followed by some cute games and characters taking pictures and the setup of an animator's studio, with a live animator working in it! After that are Walt's Oscars and a gift shop selling mostly art. Artists sit and draw and you can buy their work. Isn't cheap obviously but a lot of it is on display and is fun, well drawn art.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - aka the ride that took my hat. It was a $5 Brewers hat that I can easily replace so it was no big deal. You walk through a hotel that appears to be from the 40s and probably not cleaned since then. Once you make it to the library, the old tv springs to life and there's the opening to the original Twilight Zone tv show! And Rod Serling! He tells us a story of people that rode in the elevator of this very building. When weird weather hit the building, a lightning strike did something odd to the people and they disappeared. We exit into the basement and cue up to ride that very elevator, if we dare! Once you reach the front of the line, we take seats in the elevator car and strap in tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride! The elevator rises and the doors open onto what would be a normal floor for this hotel. Lightning crackles and the people from the story appear in the hallway! Lightning crackles to the car and the doors close. We travel up another floor and when the doors open, the elevator car moves into the hallway. This is no hotel floor but a set of weird designs and panels. At the end of the hallway, lights twinkle, form into a straight line, and then disappear. We have entered the Twilight Zone! The elevator car shoots up and down, out of control. At the first hop, I raised off my seat, panicked, and grabbed for the hand holds that I had yet to locate. I came up with a handful of Moppy and Amy leg instead. This is also where my hat dislodged. Most of the rides have a canvas bag you can tuck things into but I couldn't find that either. I ended up sitting on my hat but hadn't expected to get that much air. At the first rise, it slid from under my leg to the floor. I couldn't locate it to step on it and the movement of the car meant that my focus was not on my hat. Oh, did I mention that when they fire the car up, they open the elevator doors to the outside so you can see how high up you are? Screaming comes naturally. I found the hand holds under the lip of the seat in time for the big raise at the end where they don't stop you suddenly but let you coast up, as if control has been completely lost. You float up a bit before dropping. At this point I saw my hat fly up and away, out the elevator doors. We crash to a (safe) halt on the ground floor and can stagger out to the gift shop. Great ride, scary as all hell. I passed on another round in order to see Muppets for a third time. I did have an interest in riding it again but wanted to see Muppets more.
Whew!
Star Tours - did this four times, in part because Kara got mad when it ended and we had to vacate the ship. The easiest way to make her happy was to go again. Simulator ride that moves with the events on the video screen. The queuing area first takes you past the slightly damaged looking ship you'll be riding, with R2-D2 already installed as navigator. From a nearby platform, C3P0 tries to verbally straighten him out as always. Further in, more droids are on display and in for repair. After queuing and watching a brief and funny travel video (the same generic sort of thing you'd see for an airline but with Star Wars characters involved), you enter the seating area of the ship and strap yourselves in. The droid captain (a physical prop) opens the shutter between us and the cockpit and we can see out the forward screen (a video screen) just like him. Another side monitor provides us with other information during the flight... the flight that is our pilot's first flight! Upon launch, he almost immediately takes a wrong turn down a maintenance shaft, dodging vehicles and armatures until he finds a porthole and gets us out of the starbase. 'I meant to do that,' the pilot insists, 'a little shortcut.' He engages hyperspace and we're on our way to the moon of Endor...until the pilot flies right past it and into a shower of comets! Carefully (?) he tries to fly through a massive icy comet and manages to do so with minimal damage to the ship (hopefully). Now we can get back to our trip, except we're caught in the tractor beam of a star destroyer! We manage to break free from that, only to be caught in a space battle between Tie Fighters and X Wings! We regroup with the X Wings in order to take on the Death Star! As we drop behind an X Wing to do the trench run, the pilot confesses 'I always wanted to do this!' We watch as the ship before us deposits bombs in the correct vent and escape the distruction of the Death Star. We hyperspace back to the starbase and the pilot manages to not kill us as we land. But it's close. Fun time.
MuppetVision 3-D - movie. Saw it three times (not enough!). The queuing area is FILLED with fun Muppet posters and references and jokes. The main queuing area has more of this as well as screens playing a 'pre-show' video involving Sam the American Eagle trying to prepare us for the show. Gonzo and Scooter (Richard Hunt in what I think was his last appearance as Scooter) try to help but aren't much. Sam is proud to announce that Mickey Mouse is here but is gobsmacked when Rizzo the Rat appears in mouse ears pretending to be Mickey. When questioned, Rizzo goes 'They're tourists. Whadda they know?' (which would get laughs from the crowd each time.) The theatre looks like an auditorium redecorated to look like the Muppet Theatre. It's not quite...red enough to look like the place on the show, but it works. As you get comfortable and put your 3-D glasses on, the curtain on the balcony near Stage Left opens to reveal Statler and Waldorf (this is where they should be according to the show and they are animatronics). They put on their glasses and start joking. The movie starts with Gonzo and a cheap 3D effect which Kermit (last Jim Henson as Kermit) promises is the last of those (he's wrong). This is to be a good show and he promises a little musical number from Miss Piggy (who interrupts, displeased at his use of the word 'little') as well as Sam, who promises a Salute to all Nations, but mostly America. The Swedish Chef is also introduced as the projectionist (turn around, he's there as an animatronic!). Kermit takes us to Muppet Labs where Bunsen and Beaker create the world's first 3-D effect, a computer generated character. He goes a bit rogue and they try to vacuum him up, but only remove Muppet Labs instead (fans in the theatre add to the effect of the vacuum, we'll also get water squirting and bubbles from the ceiling). Kermit takes us to Piggy's number. As it starts, Statler and Waldorf put in their two cents. Piggy tries to sing but keeps getting distracted by Bean Bunny's (a character from the late 80's Jim Henson Hour that never really caught on) attempts to add 3-D action disrupt. Finally she calls off the song, much to Bean's dismay, as this means he won't have any use for his last prop. As Piggy takes it from him, he reveals it was attached to a water skiboat and she is dragged away. Saddened by his failure, Bean interacts with the CGI effect, Waldo (I think), and decides to run away. Gonzo manages to catch him leaving but doesn't understand in time that Bean doesn't plan to return. The hunt for Bean begins! Sweetums is amongst those searching (at one point he hits a paddle ball out into the crowd ala House of Wax) and walks from one side of the screen to the other...and then out into the crowd! Bean, as it happens, is in the balcony box across the way from Statler and Waldorf. Discovered, he expresses his desire to help and is put in charge of the fireworks for Sam's finale. Is Sam ready? Yes, he notes, his 3 hour extravagantza is ready to go. 'You've got a minute and a half,' Kermit notes. Eep! Wooden soldiers dressed in the uniforms of different countries dance and march. Some play musical instruments and get caught up in them. It tries to end with Piggy as the Statue of Liberty, but Waldo zips off the Statue part of her costume, leaving her upset again. The fireworks go wrong and the penguin orchestra (animatronics in a pit before the stage) takes fire. They fire their cannon at the Chef and the film snaps! The Chef returns fire with his blunderbuss, but at Waldo, who plays innocent (despite it really being his fault overall). He mocks the Chef's inaccurate fire but panics when the Chef reveals he also has a cannon! Waldo is blown up with the theatre. The film restarts with Kermit on the back of a fire truck ladder (which extends into the audience with the 3-D). Luckily no one got hurt and the theatre only took minor damage. Waldo reveals his disguise, as Mickey Mouse!, but is caught in the vacuum and captured. Come back soon! As you leave, Statler and Waldorf continue to snipe. 'Dya think we've got time to go to the bathroom before the next show?' 'No you old fool; we're bolted to the seats!' Exiting the theatre, there are five Muppet related posters and the nearby area is filled with Muppet jokes and art and a water fountain as you approach the theatre. The gift shop doesn't have enough Muppet stuff for sale but this is so great. I promised there would be tears when I first saw it and all I can say is at least I didn't bawl like a child. Walked around with a lump in my throat for about an hour after. So awesome.
Homey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure - playground where everything is oversized as if you shrunk. Lots of padding. Fun.
Toy Story Midway Mania! - best of the 'shooter' rides we went on. Queue area is all old toys and board game designs. You've got a pull string type gun on your car you use to shoot with. The targets are video screens as opposed to the physical targets the other games provide. This allows for an easier aim because the screens animate your weapon fire, whether it be cream pies or baseballs or darts or what have you, each screen was different in that regard. Each area is active for a brief period of time. Luckily, if the ride has to pause, the screens remain active for target practice but no points can be accumulated (so there's no cheating). Fun. Worth the wait.
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream - Moppy and I walked through this sorta fast. Lots of interesting information about Walt and his projects that I didn't have time to fully digest. Costumes from shows, models of the worlds within the theme parks, the set-up of an animation camera, lots of interesting things to see here.
The Magic of Disney Animation - short movie followed by some cute games and characters taking pictures and the setup of an animator's studio, with a live animator working in it! After that are Walt's Oscars and a gift shop selling mostly art. Artists sit and draw and you can buy their work. Isn't cheap obviously but a lot of it is on display and is fun, well drawn art.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - aka the ride that took my hat. It was a $5 Brewers hat that I can easily replace so it was no big deal. You walk through a hotel that appears to be from the 40s and probably not cleaned since then. Once you make it to the library, the old tv springs to life and there's the opening to the original Twilight Zone tv show! And Rod Serling! He tells us a story of people that rode in the elevator of this very building. When weird weather hit the building, a lightning strike did something odd to the people and they disappeared. We exit into the basement and cue up to ride that very elevator, if we dare! Once you reach the front of the line, we take seats in the elevator car and strap in tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride! The elevator rises and the doors open onto what would be a normal floor for this hotel. Lightning crackles and the people from the story appear in the hallway! Lightning crackles to the car and the doors close. We travel up another floor and when the doors open, the elevator car moves into the hallway. This is no hotel floor but a set of weird designs and panels. At the end of the hallway, lights twinkle, form into a straight line, and then disappear. We have entered the Twilight Zone! The elevator car shoots up and down, out of control. At the first hop, I raised off my seat, panicked, and grabbed for the hand holds that I had yet to locate. I came up with a handful of Moppy and Amy leg instead. This is also where my hat dislodged. Most of the rides have a canvas bag you can tuck things into but I couldn't find that either. I ended up sitting on my hat but hadn't expected to get that much air. At the first rise, it slid from under my leg to the floor. I couldn't locate it to step on it and the movement of the car meant that my focus was not on my hat. Oh, did I mention that when they fire the car up, they open the elevator doors to the outside so you can see how high up you are? Screaming comes naturally. I found the hand holds under the lip of the seat in time for the big raise at the end where they don't stop you suddenly but let you coast up, as if control has been completely lost. You float up a bit before dropping. At this point I saw my hat fly up and away, out the elevator doors. We crash to a (safe) halt on the ground floor and can stagger out to the gift shop. Great ride, scary as all hell. I passed on another round in order to see Muppets for a third time. I did have an interest in riding it again but wanted to see Muppets more.
Whew!
23 January 2009
Florida Trip - Disney's EPCOT
We didn't expect to spend a lot of time in EPCOT but we discovered more than we expected to enjoy here and had to return. There's an argument to be made that the same could apply to the Animal Kingdom if we tried. Perhaps next time.
Spaceship Earth - aka the big golf ball. We did this twice. Recently refurbushed, it's a people mover ride that takes you through history to show how technology has affected human advancement and how it might continue to impact us. Animatronics (there is one video screen to start with) play out dioramas as a speaker in the car explains the context of the scenes we are seeing. Much more interesting than I expected as it hit the same buttons that make me enjoy the museum. The kicker is the almost end. After traveling through the digital age (a tunnel filled with glowing green zeros and ones that looked like the Matrix), you reach what feels like the centre of the ball. A star field opens up and there, hanging in space, is the Earth. It may be a well lit picture but it was jaw-droppingly beautiful. A video screen in the ride car entertains you as you decend backwards to the start of the ride. The picture that the ride takes of you in the beginning is added to a goofy but fun animation that plays out the view of the future 'that you create'. Very enjoyable indeed!
The Seas with Nemo and Friends - you ride in a clam through 'the sea' watching well hidden video screens searching for Nemo. There are some physical effects as well. The ride is well made and is capped by circling around to an actual aquarium that the characters are projected into somehow! Impressive. Best yet, the ride doesn't directly let you out in the gift shop like almost every other ride in existance but it drops you off in a 'sea base'. The aquarium is in here and is designed so that you can 'walk in it'. Fascinating!
Soarin' - had read about it but had low expectations. You sit on a 'glider' that gets raised in the air so that all you can see is the large IMAX type screen ahead of you (and maybe some feet if you're in the back rows like we were). The footage makes you feel like you're hang gliding over different areas of the country. The occasional scent adds to the illusion. Very excellent! The host for the pre-ride video is Patrick Warburton, which added to the awesome for me.
We walked through the World Showcase which features 'slices' of different countries. Most of the buildings are functional and contain a gift shop or restaurant or what have you. Had we been without the children, I think we would have spent even more time here. In the UK I visited the Rose and Crown pub for a beer. It was like the pubs I've seen on tv but much nicer. British people were even working in it! The other time we went through I visited the Yorkshire fish shop that's attached to the pub to get a fish n chips with another pint. Marvelous.
I'm not seeing it on the map but there was also a Coca Cola shop that had samples from some of the different beverages they bottle from other parts of the world. Your tastes may vary but it's a fun stop. Sticky floor though.
The end of day IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth fireworks are very impressive. If you're spending multiple days at Disney it's worth seeing. If just one day, see the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Seriously.
More on that tomorrow.
Spaceship Earth - aka the big golf ball. We did this twice. Recently refurbushed, it's a people mover ride that takes you through history to show how technology has affected human advancement and how it might continue to impact us. Animatronics (there is one video screen to start with) play out dioramas as a speaker in the car explains the context of the scenes we are seeing. Much more interesting than I expected as it hit the same buttons that make me enjoy the museum. The kicker is the almost end. After traveling through the digital age (a tunnel filled with glowing green zeros and ones that looked like the Matrix), you reach what feels like the centre of the ball. A star field opens up and there, hanging in space, is the Earth. It may be a well lit picture but it was jaw-droppingly beautiful. A video screen in the ride car entertains you as you decend backwards to the start of the ride. The picture that the ride takes of you in the beginning is added to a goofy but fun animation that plays out the view of the future 'that you create'. Very enjoyable indeed!
The Seas with Nemo and Friends - you ride in a clam through 'the sea' watching well hidden video screens searching for Nemo. There are some physical effects as well. The ride is well made and is capped by circling around to an actual aquarium that the characters are projected into somehow! Impressive. Best yet, the ride doesn't directly let you out in the gift shop like almost every other ride in existance but it drops you off in a 'sea base'. The aquarium is in here and is designed so that you can 'walk in it'. Fascinating!
Soarin' - had read about it but had low expectations. You sit on a 'glider' that gets raised in the air so that all you can see is the large IMAX type screen ahead of you (and maybe some feet if you're in the back rows like we were). The footage makes you feel like you're hang gliding over different areas of the country. The occasional scent adds to the illusion. Very excellent! The host for the pre-ride video is Patrick Warburton, which added to the awesome for me.
We walked through the World Showcase which features 'slices' of different countries. Most of the buildings are functional and contain a gift shop or restaurant or what have you. Had we been without the children, I think we would have spent even more time here. In the UK I visited the Rose and Crown pub for a beer. It was like the pubs I've seen on tv but much nicer. British people were even working in it! The other time we went through I visited the Yorkshire fish shop that's attached to the pub to get a fish n chips with another pint. Marvelous.
I'm not seeing it on the map but there was also a Coca Cola shop that had samples from some of the different beverages they bottle from other parts of the world. Your tastes may vary but it's a fun stop. Sticky floor though.
The end of day IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth fireworks are very impressive. If you're spending multiple days at Disney it's worth seeing. If just one day, see the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Seriously.
More on that tomorrow.
22 January 2009
Florida Trip - Disney's Animal Kingdom
We only spent a morning at this park so this should be a shorter entry than the others. We only planned for a half day here as there 'isn't that much to do'. Obviously as its a park there are many things to do but not as much that would probably interest us in a full or multiple day sort of visit. Your mileage may vary and all that.
Man I'm glad I kept these maps.
Kilimanjaro Safaris - you ride a 'bus' through a wildlife park while keeping an eye out for poachers. The line was long but it was worth it. The cast-member that acted as tour-guide was fun, engaging, and educational; pretty much everything you'd want. He drove us around this zoo with no cages and paused occasionally to point out animals. Having a giraffe a couple yards from you is a neat experience indeed. The poachers storyline is a bit weird and seems to be there just to add a little Disney to the experience. There's a poachers camp and a baby elephant animatronic right at the end. Apart from that, it's all actual wildlife hanging out. Very nice.
Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain - roller coaster that I rode twice. Probably not unlike the Matterhorn after discussing that ride with my Dad. The waiting area is all like guide posts and mountaining climbing gear shops. There's also some 'museum' stuff about the Yeti. Hopping into the roller coaster, you take a couple fun zippy turns before starting to climb the mountain. The view of the park from this climb is quite remarkable and I was shocked that my ... concern over heights didn't kick in either time. You ride through the mountain a bit on your 'train ride' until it suddenly stops. The tracks are out, damaged, ripped up? The ride pauses long enough so that you might feel that this is not part of the ride and then the car zips backwards for longer than you'd think, through a few dark twists and turns, before pausing in a cave. Above you, in the distance, is the Yeti, ripping up more tracks! Down you go, zipping through the mountain, in and out, until you reach the last dark cave where a flickering light barely illuminates the giant Yeti! And he's reaching out for you! But he doesn't get you and you return to the station safe and sound. Hopefully.
Attraction wise that was all we did there. We did meet some characters there like Stitch (who seemed to like the spaceships on my Doctor Who shirt), Pooh (who was sad that I didn't walk up wanting to hug him like Moppy did but then I hugged him and all was well), Eeyore, and Tigger.
Told you today would be shorter. We're going to EPCOT tomorrow, which is good because that is the land of tomorrow, today! Or something. I think I just made that up.
Man I'm glad I kept these maps.
Kilimanjaro Safaris - you ride a 'bus' through a wildlife park while keeping an eye out for poachers. The line was long but it was worth it. The cast-member that acted as tour-guide was fun, engaging, and educational; pretty much everything you'd want. He drove us around this zoo with no cages and paused occasionally to point out animals. Having a giraffe a couple yards from you is a neat experience indeed. The poachers storyline is a bit weird and seems to be there just to add a little Disney to the experience. There's a poachers camp and a baby elephant animatronic right at the end. Apart from that, it's all actual wildlife hanging out. Very nice.
Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain - roller coaster that I rode twice. Probably not unlike the Matterhorn after discussing that ride with my Dad. The waiting area is all like guide posts and mountaining climbing gear shops. There's also some 'museum' stuff about the Yeti. Hopping into the roller coaster, you take a couple fun zippy turns before starting to climb the mountain. The view of the park from this climb is quite remarkable and I was shocked that my ... concern over heights didn't kick in either time. You ride through the mountain a bit on your 'train ride' until it suddenly stops. The tracks are out, damaged, ripped up? The ride pauses long enough so that you might feel that this is not part of the ride and then the car zips backwards for longer than you'd think, through a few dark twists and turns, before pausing in a cave. Above you, in the distance, is the Yeti, ripping up more tracks! Down you go, zipping through the mountain, in and out, until you reach the last dark cave where a flickering light barely illuminates the giant Yeti! And he's reaching out for you! But he doesn't get you and you return to the station safe and sound. Hopefully.
Attraction wise that was all we did there. We did meet some characters there like Stitch (who seemed to like the spaceships on my Doctor Who shirt), Pooh (who was sad that I didn't walk up wanting to hug him like Moppy did but then I hugged him and all was well), Eeyore, and Tigger.
Told you today would be shorter. We're going to EPCOT tomorrow, which is good because that is the land of tomorrow, today! Or something. I think I just made that up.
21 January 2009
Florida Trip - Islands of Adventure
Another note about Universal Studios before we get too far into today's topic, I really liked the streets they had set up near the Mummy ride. There were these sets (I guess) that felt like a street in Chicago from the 1930s or so. It's where the Bluesmobile would show up. There were alleys and streets so it wasn't just a big building with designs on the outside but it felt like a couple of city blocks. I enjoyed wandering through that.
Regarding the Universal parks in general, entering them is a pain in the tuckus. These were relatively slow January days and it took ten to fifteen minutes to enter either park. The process is damaged and needs attention. I'm afraid to think how long those lines must get in the summer.
Now, let's talk about some of the stuff I did at the Islands of Adventure park.
The Cat in the Hat - a ride where you have the book read to you as you 'live' through it. Very simple, very basic, but very fun. The displays look like the illustrations in the book (as I remember them) and the car moves at a pace that felt very Seussian. Very enjoyable.
Caro-Seuss-el - it's a carousel with Seuss styled animals to ride. Not much more to say really. I've filled up my carousel needs for awhile I guess.
The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! - basically a train ride in the air with a story about Sneeches (?) being told. Also more fun that it should have been. You go through the one restaurant early on and it's fun waving at people that are eating. Like Cat in the Hat, worth riding once.
Jurassic Park Discovery Center - as seen in X2. Not a ride or a show but a pretend museum with a restaurant in it. Really good fries in the restaurant. It was okay, a good place to let the kids run around in but not really that much to see here. Use your Meal Deal to get a hamburger, look around a little while you let it digest, and move on.
Jurassic Park River Adventure - boat ride. You peacefully motor down a river in Jurassic Park, watching dinosaurs frolic in the water and trying not to get too wet. The doors and fences and such are straight out of the movie and add to everything nicely. Then the boat takes a wrong turn, into an area where the more violent dinosaurs have taken over. Raptors fight over a shirt that must have belonged to a person at one point. The cries on the intercom become frantic and you realize the boat it's calling for to help you is the one flipped over and destroyed. The grass around you moves ominously. Dinosaurs cry at you as you enter the ravaged Research Center. The boat starts to climb as raptors and such dart at the boat, working to get towards you through the fences. The boat dips a bit as you crest a hill before climbing again and there, bellowing at you, apparently trapped in the wall you're heading right for is the T-Rex! Once you get over that concern, you realize there's a mighty drop ahead (right when the 'oh crap!' panic hits is when they take the picture)! You splash down into safe waters. You will get wet! Good time, even with the drop. Would have probably ridden this again but it got colder during the week and the idea of being wet like that lost it's appeal.
Camp Jurassic - playground. Rope netting to run around in, caves to explore, good fun until the kids run you ragged. I think they were trying to kill me. We went on the River Adventure after about 45 minutes in here in order to cool off.
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - 3D adventure simulator that moves. We rode this three times. The queueing area is the Daily Bugle and a cartoon (animated in the style of the 90's cartoon) sets up the story: the Sinister Six (here Dr. Octopus, Electro, Hobgoblin, Hydro-Man, Shriek, and ... hmm, maybe it's not Six on the ride) are attacking New York with Dr. Ock's new anti-gravity gun. The Statue of Liberty is being held for ransom. You are to get into the new SCOOP vehicle (the ride car) and get that story! As you head into the city scape (the ride car does move and the displays are a combination of physical items as well as animated screens), a shadow swings through the city. Then the Spider-Signal displays on the buildings. With a thump, Spider-Man lands on the SCOOP, warning you that this could be our most dangerous night ever! After dodging a vehicle or two, we come across the Sinister group and our presence is not appreciated. Doc Ock tries to hit us with the anti-gravity gun and we dodge parts of the Statue of Liberty as we make our escape. Hydro-Man attacks, dripping water on us. Electro hops on the SCOOP and fries the controls, sending us spinning. Spidey uses Hydro-Man to short out Electro and both are dealt with for now. Hobgoblin tries to throw pumpkin bombs at us but Spidey manages to knock them away. Dr. Octopus tags us with the anti-gravity gun and up we go! Spidey tries to slow us down but we crash into the Goblin glider, thus helping Spidey catch him. Doc Ock hits us with a reverse ray and we crash to the top of the skyscraper all are fighting on. The SCOOP is knocked off and falls to the street below! Spidey swings down and creates a web net to catch the SCOOP safely (great gag, in the centre of the screen with the web net is a man hole cover that reads 'Not an Exit'). The villians are all webbed up and Spidey thanks us for our 'help', even taking our picture. As we exit the ride, the anti-gravity gun is active, pointing at the office of J. Jonah Jameson (editor of the Daily Bugle if you're not familiar, he doesn't care much for our Webbed Hero), where Jonah is helplessly bouncing against the ceiling. Spidey ponders getting him down (the note attached to the gun says something to the effect of 'Dear Jonah, here's that raise you asked for, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man'), eventually. Loved it!
Storm Force Accelatron - we rode this 3 times when George and Moppy rode the Hulk. It's a spinny ride, sorta like the Mad Tea Cup ride or a Tilt a Whirl. Basic fun. There was no line so we rode it, got off, and ran back on. It was worth it for what it was.
In the Seuss area there were costumed characters, the Grinch was particularly good. In the Marvel area there were a number of super-heroes and I got my picture taken with all but the X-Ladies (Storm and Rogue) as they seemed the least like their characters. I did get Wolverine, Cyclops, Captain America, and, later, Spider-Man. I didn't shave that week and, when I walked up, he said I had a Sabertooth vibe going, so he had me pose that I was hitting him! I figured that it was the fight Marvel heroes tend to have when they first meet and all was probably well right after that. When Spidey found out we were from Wisconsin, he expressed his love for Culvers. Gotta get me some Culvers!
The completely costumed individuals don't talk. When we met the Simpsons in Universal Studios (Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa), they just waved. That said, Jason gets autographs from the characters and Lisa stayed in character by signing his book and adding 'Go veg'! Homer almost tripped me when he pulled me into the picture. It was an accident; he's got big shoes!
Doc Brown was by the DeLorean in Universal Studios but he sounded British, which was odd. The Blues Brothers put on a little song show by the car but I missed getting a picture with them. Just got the car. The kids got pictures with Spongebob, Jimmy Neutron, and Dora that I didn't need to be in.
I think that's about it. There's a ton of gift shops. I was a bit surprised by them really as, for the most part, the prices were more reasonable than I expected. I only freaked out a little in the Marvel area when I realized I was standing on the corner of Stan Lee Blvd and Yancy St.
Tomorrow we can start reflecting on Disney.
Regarding the Universal parks in general, entering them is a pain in the tuckus. These were relatively slow January days and it took ten to fifteen minutes to enter either park. The process is damaged and needs attention. I'm afraid to think how long those lines must get in the summer.
Now, let's talk about some of the stuff I did at the Islands of Adventure park.
The Cat in the Hat - a ride where you have the book read to you as you 'live' through it. Very simple, very basic, but very fun. The displays look like the illustrations in the book (as I remember them) and the car moves at a pace that felt very Seussian. Very enjoyable.
Caro-Seuss-el - it's a carousel with Seuss styled animals to ride. Not much more to say really. I've filled up my carousel needs for awhile I guess.
The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! - basically a train ride in the air with a story about Sneeches (?) being told. Also more fun that it should have been. You go through the one restaurant early on and it's fun waving at people that are eating. Like Cat in the Hat, worth riding once.
Jurassic Park Discovery Center - as seen in X2. Not a ride or a show but a pretend museum with a restaurant in it. Really good fries in the restaurant. It was okay, a good place to let the kids run around in but not really that much to see here. Use your Meal Deal to get a hamburger, look around a little while you let it digest, and move on.
Jurassic Park River Adventure - boat ride. You peacefully motor down a river in Jurassic Park, watching dinosaurs frolic in the water and trying not to get too wet. The doors and fences and such are straight out of the movie and add to everything nicely. Then the boat takes a wrong turn, into an area where the more violent dinosaurs have taken over. Raptors fight over a shirt that must have belonged to a person at one point. The cries on the intercom become frantic and you realize the boat it's calling for to help you is the one flipped over and destroyed. The grass around you moves ominously. Dinosaurs cry at you as you enter the ravaged Research Center. The boat starts to climb as raptors and such dart at the boat, working to get towards you through the fences. The boat dips a bit as you crest a hill before climbing again and there, bellowing at you, apparently trapped in the wall you're heading right for is the T-Rex! Once you get over that concern, you realize there's a mighty drop ahead (right when the 'oh crap!' panic hits is when they take the picture)! You splash down into safe waters. You will get wet! Good time, even with the drop. Would have probably ridden this again but it got colder during the week and the idea of being wet like that lost it's appeal.
Camp Jurassic - playground. Rope netting to run around in, caves to explore, good fun until the kids run you ragged. I think they were trying to kill me. We went on the River Adventure after about 45 minutes in here in order to cool off.
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - 3D adventure simulator that moves. We rode this three times. The queueing area is the Daily Bugle and a cartoon (animated in the style of the 90's cartoon) sets up the story: the Sinister Six (here Dr. Octopus, Electro, Hobgoblin, Hydro-Man, Shriek, and ... hmm, maybe it's not Six on the ride) are attacking New York with Dr. Ock's new anti-gravity gun. The Statue of Liberty is being held for ransom. You are to get into the new SCOOP vehicle (the ride car) and get that story! As you head into the city scape (the ride car does move and the displays are a combination of physical items as well as animated screens), a shadow swings through the city. Then the Spider-Signal displays on the buildings. With a thump, Spider-Man lands on the SCOOP, warning you that this could be our most dangerous night ever! After dodging a vehicle or two, we come across the Sinister group and our presence is not appreciated. Doc Ock tries to hit us with the anti-gravity gun and we dodge parts of the Statue of Liberty as we make our escape. Hydro-Man attacks, dripping water on us. Electro hops on the SCOOP and fries the controls, sending us spinning. Spidey uses Hydro-Man to short out Electro and both are dealt with for now. Hobgoblin tries to throw pumpkin bombs at us but Spidey manages to knock them away. Dr. Octopus tags us with the anti-gravity gun and up we go! Spidey tries to slow us down but we crash into the Goblin glider, thus helping Spidey catch him. Doc Ock hits us with a reverse ray and we crash to the top of the skyscraper all are fighting on. The SCOOP is knocked off and falls to the street below! Spidey swings down and creates a web net to catch the SCOOP safely (great gag, in the centre of the screen with the web net is a man hole cover that reads 'Not an Exit'). The villians are all webbed up and Spidey thanks us for our 'help', even taking our picture. As we exit the ride, the anti-gravity gun is active, pointing at the office of J. Jonah Jameson (editor of the Daily Bugle if you're not familiar, he doesn't care much for our Webbed Hero), where Jonah is helplessly bouncing against the ceiling. Spidey ponders getting him down (the note attached to the gun says something to the effect of 'Dear Jonah, here's that raise you asked for, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man'), eventually. Loved it!
Storm Force Accelatron - we rode this 3 times when George and Moppy rode the Hulk. It's a spinny ride, sorta like the Mad Tea Cup ride or a Tilt a Whirl. Basic fun. There was no line so we rode it, got off, and ran back on. It was worth it for what it was.
In the Seuss area there were costumed characters, the Grinch was particularly good. In the Marvel area there were a number of super-heroes and I got my picture taken with all but the X-Ladies (Storm and Rogue) as they seemed the least like their characters. I did get Wolverine, Cyclops, Captain America, and, later, Spider-Man. I didn't shave that week and, when I walked up, he said I had a Sabertooth vibe going, so he had me pose that I was hitting him! I figured that it was the fight Marvel heroes tend to have when they first meet and all was probably well right after that. When Spidey found out we were from Wisconsin, he expressed his love for Culvers. Gotta get me some Culvers!
The completely costumed individuals don't talk. When we met the Simpsons in Universal Studios (Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa), they just waved. That said, Jason gets autographs from the characters and Lisa stayed in character by signing his book and adding 'Go veg'! Homer almost tripped me when he pulled me into the picture. It was an accident; he's got big shoes!
Doc Brown was by the DeLorean in Universal Studios but he sounded British, which was odd. The Blues Brothers put on a little song show by the car but I missed getting a picture with them. Just got the car. The kids got pictures with Spongebob, Jimmy Neutron, and Dora that I didn't need to be in.
I think that's about it. There's a ton of gift shops. I was a bit surprised by them really as, for the most part, the prices were more reasonable than I expected. I only freaked out a little in the Marvel area when I realized I was standing on the corner of Stan Lee Blvd and Yancy St.
Tomorrow we can start reflecting on Disney.
20 January 2009
Florida Trip - Universal Studios
The Universal parks are made up of Universal Studios and the Islands of Adventure. You can easily walk from one to the other, unlike Disney, so this makes park hopping very easy. If it had not rained on us Tuesday we would easily have park hopped every day as, while there is a lot to take in, it feels like there's less to do than at the average Disney park. That said, these are much cheaper to get into and there's still a lot of fun to be had.
First item of business, if you're planning to be at the parks all day, get the Meal Deal. It allows you to eat in designated restaurants 'for free' all day: one entree and one dessert per visit. There is no limit on your visits. The Deal started at $21 and adding the park hopper option for $5 doubled the amount of restaurants. You can add beverages for another, oh what was it, $7 I think. Considering the price of theme park food, you can pay off the Meal Deal in about three trips (they say please no sharing but, c'mon who's not gonna share at least a little, especially with kids that don't eat much anyway). The beverage containers aren't coded in any way and we used them on multiple days, whether we were supposed to or not. *cough* The food ranged from 'tolerable' to 'pretty good' so it felt like it was worth it. The options are limited but not so much that the average individual couldn't find something to eat.
One thing I didn't like about the Universal parks in general was the carnival games that would pop up now and then. It gave the place a very 'State Fair' feel and cheapened the place rather than adding to the atmosphere. The Universal parks felt more like theme parks as opposed to Disney's 'in another world' feel.
Just going through the map to see the things I did:
Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast - Rode it twice. Fun simulator trip through the Nicktoons universe that I'm familiar with thanks to the kids I was with. Some water spraying, bobbing up and down, but nothing too action packed. There was also a staging room before the ride with a video that set-up the ride. Use of the chicken dance made me feel like I was at home. It's a large room with a larger video screen to trick the brain while the car you sit in moves a bit. Amusing and fun for what it was. Enjoyable but probably wouldn't be so if you're a childless adult that doesn't watch these shows.
Twister...Ride It Out - As it rained off and on Tuesday we went into Twister... where they simulate worse weather than we were experiencing. Duh for us. It warns that you will get wet. Two video staging rooms seemed like overkill to me as one would have been enough. The simulator area involves the crowd standing in what are essentially bleachers, watching as a tornado is simulated in the patch of ground before you. Lightning strikes, rain whips, signs are torn away, gas leaks and starts on fire. The roof nearly comes off the bleachers you stand on. More fun than I expected but I couldn't see doing it twice in one trip. If memory serves, the film playing on the drive-in screen wasn't the ones on the marquee, it was 'The People Under the Stairs'. Thumbs up. If you freak out in bad weather, this is probably not for you (this means Katy).
Revenge of the Mummy - Rode this three times and went from 'I don't know that I liked this' to 'woo-hoo!'. Long waiting area movie apparently explains how there was a 'real' curse on the making of the Mummy movies. Luckily (?) the lines were never long enough for me to see much of the film. The tomb you walk through to get to the coaster is well done and there are some things to play with to amuse you while you wait. Upon getting in the car, you ride into the tomb and are warned again that the curse is real. The bad guy offers you riches to join him or warriors and fire (warm real fire!) if you oppose him, which we do. I dunno, he never seemed to wait for a response. Ducking under a closing tomb door, it gets dark. There's another video screen as you stop and then you shoot backwards and down a bit. The car is rotated 180 degrees as we're told that the Magi can't save us now. Dark coaster! Black lights! Mist! Spook show stuff! Yelling encouraged! It stops at the 'end of the ride' but the glass on the office shatters, showing another mummy. The ceiling burns and we're off again! And then it stops. The second coaster sequence seems short compared to the rest of the ride. Recommended. Good scary.
Disaster! - Long show with some simulator involved. They are filming a disaster film and you're in it! They needed a kid and our Niko got picked. A number of actors get picked from the crowd in one room, then you go into another room so that the director (a projection played by Christopher Walken!) can explain some things to you. In another room, the actors do their CGI inserts and some crowd shots are filmed. Then you enter another room with a set of subway cars. Riding in the subway cars, you enter the simulation area and are given direction on the video screens in the car. Fires start, the street above collapses, water floods the area, stuff goes crazy. As the car recides, the trailer for the film, featuring the inserts just filmed, plays back. The star of the film that 'saved' Niko in the trailer? Dwayne Johnson aka the Rock. It was a lot of fun and the gal that was the head showrunner for it was outstanding. Recommended but due to the length of the ride I again can't see doing it more that once a trip.
Men in Black Alien Attack - One of a few 'shooter' games we played during the trip. You sit in a car and ride through a well made environment firing a gun at moving alien targets. This is the only such game that Niko beat me at and that's because he got the final bonus and I didn't. Fun but not outstanding to me.
The Simpsons Ride - rode it 3 times, once from each level of the structure. Krusty is debuting a new ride at Krustyland and you're in line for it! In the first queueing area, classic theme park related footage of the show is mixed with new footage of Krusty explaining the general situation. Inside the second queueing area, video screens with other characters (Apu, Patty and Selma, Hans Moleman, Snake, Groundkeeper Willy) entertain you until the story monitor starts up. Krusty explains you may be almost to the ride and informs you that Sideshow Bob is in the vicinity, hunting the Simpsons. Bob does get in the park, disgused as Scratchy, and becomes responsible for the Simpsons getting on the ride first. When Krusty notes that there's room for another group, Bart points to you and goes 'How bout those guys?' Krusty notes that you look clean enough and directs you to wait til someone tells you to do something. This leads to a smaller waiting room and another video sequence where we find out that a nuclear reactor powers the ride, Grandpa can't ride because of his heart conditions, Sideshow Bob makes us ride the ride at gunpoint, and Maggie slips away from a sleeping Grandpa to be mutated by the reactor. Ut oh. The next room holds the ride car we see in the cartoon. It rises up so that all you can see is a large video screen. It simulates lots of crashing and falling and leaning and such. Water is sprayed. Scents are released. Characters are spotted. Classic moments are had (a favorite as you tumble to the centre of the earth is Professor Frink saving your ride car with the expression 'Never fear; a nerd is here!'). Giant Maggie terrorizes Springfield and uses your ride car as a pacifier. In the end, all is well. There's a lot of movement and it jumbled my tummy a lot. It was too much for Amy. She didn't get sick but got to a 'I can't go on that again' place. It's like watching an episode of Simpsons and being in the third act. Excellent for fans of the series and a wild ride. I loved it, even with the jumbled tummy.
Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse coaster - Kids coaster with a few sharp turns. Nice for what it was.
E.T. Adventure - rode 3 times? 4 times? Wait outside to start by some international poster art. Then in first queue video from Steven Spielberg explains that we need to help E.T. get home to save his planet. In the next area you get your 'passport', a laminated card with a bar code that gets associated with your first name. The next queueing area (which we never had to wait in, just walked through) is a forest, very well done, has the communicator from the movie and stuff to see. The ride has you sitting on a bicycle (attached to a big car, no worries there). E.T. is in the front and flies you through the woods, over police and such until he hits the afterburners and you soar over the city (I kept looking for Godzilla to step on the city) and into space. From there you are on the Green Planet, which E.T. saves and everyone celebrates. In the final area, E.T. says thank you to everyone on the ride by name (the reason for the passport). It's a lot more fun than I expected, especially since it was for a movie I haven't seen since I was 8 and no longer have any interest it.
Universal Horror Make-Up Show - the displays in the entrance are worth walking in to see on their own, even if you don't do the show. Lots of tributes to monsters from the silent era (Lon Chaney!) til today. The show itself is funny but won't really teach you anything if you know the bare minimum about effects. Worth the time.
Terminator 2: 3D - You queue in Cyberdyne systems before entering another waiting room and watch a video for the company which gets interrupted by Sarah and John Conner, the ones from the movie, not the show. The Cyberdyne rep (she was also awesome) says to ignore them and come in for the display. 3D glasses are applied and the show goes from stage production with video screens to a movie on the video screen and back. Actors pop from the movie to the stage. We sat in the back row of the section and I had actors running past me, adding to the illusion. The 3D is excellent and the stage acting was well done. It's an excellent package and very entertaining. Thumbs up.
Lucy - A Tribute - not a ride or a show but a little museum dedicated to Lucille Ball. Lots of pictures, information, diorama of the sets for 'I Love Lucy', stereo-optic home pictures from the 50s of her family, video clips, costumes, scripts. Very impressive indeed. A fine way to end a day.
For those about to ask, Jaws was closed for refurbishment. I had no one to propose to anyway. ;)
And that's just one park! And not everything in it, just what I did! More to come obviously.
First item of business, if you're planning to be at the parks all day, get the Meal Deal. It allows you to eat in designated restaurants 'for free' all day: one entree and one dessert per visit. There is no limit on your visits. The Deal started at $21 and adding the park hopper option for $5 doubled the amount of restaurants. You can add beverages for another, oh what was it, $7 I think. Considering the price of theme park food, you can pay off the Meal Deal in about three trips (they say please no sharing but, c'mon who's not gonna share at least a little, especially with kids that don't eat much anyway). The beverage containers aren't coded in any way and we used them on multiple days, whether we were supposed to or not. *cough* The food ranged from 'tolerable' to 'pretty good' so it felt like it was worth it. The options are limited but not so much that the average individual couldn't find something to eat.
One thing I didn't like about the Universal parks in general was the carnival games that would pop up now and then. It gave the place a very 'State Fair' feel and cheapened the place rather than adding to the atmosphere. The Universal parks felt more like theme parks as opposed to Disney's 'in another world' feel.
Just going through the map to see the things I did:
Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast - Rode it twice. Fun simulator trip through the Nicktoons universe that I'm familiar with thanks to the kids I was with. Some water spraying, bobbing up and down, but nothing too action packed. There was also a staging room before the ride with a video that set-up the ride. Use of the chicken dance made me feel like I was at home. It's a large room with a larger video screen to trick the brain while the car you sit in moves a bit. Amusing and fun for what it was. Enjoyable but probably wouldn't be so if you're a childless adult that doesn't watch these shows.
Twister...Ride It Out - As it rained off and on Tuesday we went into Twister... where they simulate worse weather than we were experiencing. Duh for us. It warns that you will get wet. Two video staging rooms seemed like overkill to me as one would have been enough. The simulator area involves the crowd standing in what are essentially bleachers, watching as a tornado is simulated in the patch of ground before you. Lightning strikes, rain whips, signs are torn away, gas leaks and starts on fire. The roof nearly comes off the bleachers you stand on. More fun than I expected but I couldn't see doing it twice in one trip. If memory serves, the film playing on the drive-in screen wasn't the ones on the marquee, it was 'The People Under the Stairs'. Thumbs up. If you freak out in bad weather, this is probably not for you (this means Katy).
Revenge of the Mummy - Rode this three times and went from 'I don't know that I liked this' to 'woo-hoo!'. Long waiting area movie apparently explains how there was a 'real' curse on the making of the Mummy movies. Luckily (?) the lines were never long enough for me to see much of the film. The tomb you walk through to get to the coaster is well done and there are some things to play with to amuse you while you wait. Upon getting in the car, you ride into the tomb and are warned again that the curse is real. The bad guy offers you riches to join him or warriors and fire (warm real fire!) if you oppose him, which we do. I dunno, he never seemed to wait for a response. Ducking under a closing tomb door, it gets dark. There's another video screen as you stop and then you shoot backwards and down a bit. The car is rotated 180 degrees as we're told that the Magi can't save us now. Dark coaster! Black lights! Mist! Spook show stuff! Yelling encouraged! It stops at the 'end of the ride' but the glass on the office shatters, showing another mummy. The ceiling burns and we're off again! And then it stops. The second coaster sequence seems short compared to the rest of the ride. Recommended. Good scary.
Disaster! - Long show with some simulator involved. They are filming a disaster film and you're in it! They needed a kid and our Niko got picked. A number of actors get picked from the crowd in one room, then you go into another room so that the director (a projection played by Christopher Walken!) can explain some things to you. In another room, the actors do their CGI inserts and some crowd shots are filmed. Then you enter another room with a set of subway cars. Riding in the subway cars, you enter the simulation area and are given direction on the video screens in the car. Fires start, the street above collapses, water floods the area, stuff goes crazy. As the car recides, the trailer for the film, featuring the inserts just filmed, plays back. The star of the film that 'saved' Niko in the trailer? Dwayne Johnson aka the Rock. It was a lot of fun and the gal that was the head showrunner for it was outstanding. Recommended but due to the length of the ride I again can't see doing it more that once a trip.
Men in Black Alien Attack - One of a few 'shooter' games we played during the trip. You sit in a car and ride through a well made environment firing a gun at moving alien targets. This is the only such game that Niko beat me at and that's because he got the final bonus and I didn't. Fun but not outstanding to me.
The Simpsons Ride - rode it 3 times, once from each level of the structure. Krusty is debuting a new ride at Krustyland and you're in line for it! In the first queueing area, classic theme park related footage of the show is mixed with new footage of Krusty explaining the general situation. Inside the second queueing area, video screens with other characters (Apu, Patty and Selma, Hans Moleman, Snake, Groundkeeper Willy) entertain you until the story monitor starts up. Krusty explains you may be almost to the ride and informs you that Sideshow Bob is in the vicinity, hunting the Simpsons. Bob does get in the park, disgused as Scratchy, and becomes responsible for the Simpsons getting on the ride first. When Krusty notes that there's room for another group, Bart points to you and goes 'How bout those guys?' Krusty notes that you look clean enough and directs you to wait til someone tells you to do something. This leads to a smaller waiting room and another video sequence where we find out that a nuclear reactor powers the ride, Grandpa can't ride because of his heart conditions, Sideshow Bob makes us ride the ride at gunpoint, and Maggie slips away from a sleeping Grandpa to be mutated by the reactor. Ut oh. The next room holds the ride car we see in the cartoon. It rises up so that all you can see is a large video screen. It simulates lots of crashing and falling and leaning and such. Water is sprayed. Scents are released. Characters are spotted. Classic moments are had (a favorite as you tumble to the centre of the earth is Professor Frink saving your ride car with the expression 'Never fear; a nerd is here!'). Giant Maggie terrorizes Springfield and uses your ride car as a pacifier. In the end, all is well. There's a lot of movement and it jumbled my tummy a lot. It was too much for Amy. She didn't get sick but got to a 'I can't go on that again' place. It's like watching an episode of Simpsons and being in the third act. Excellent for fans of the series and a wild ride. I loved it, even with the jumbled tummy.
Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse coaster - Kids coaster with a few sharp turns. Nice for what it was.
E.T. Adventure - rode 3 times? 4 times? Wait outside to start by some international poster art. Then in first queue video from Steven Spielberg explains that we need to help E.T. get home to save his planet. In the next area you get your 'passport', a laminated card with a bar code that gets associated with your first name. The next queueing area (which we never had to wait in, just walked through) is a forest, very well done, has the communicator from the movie and stuff to see. The ride has you sitting on a bicycle (attached to a big car, no worries there). E.T. is in the front and flies you through the woods, over police and such until he hits the afterburners and you soar over the city (I kept looking for Godzilla to step on the city) and into space. From there you are on the Green Planet, which E.T. saves and everyone celebrates. In the final area, E.T. says thank you to everyone on the ride by name (the reason for the passport). It's a lot more fun than I expected, especially since it was for a movie I haven't seen since I was 8 and no longer have any interest it.
Universal Horror Make-Up Show - the displays in the entrance are worth walking in to see on their own, even if you don't do the show. Lots of tributes to monsters from the silent era (Lon Chaney!) til today. The show itself is funny but won't really teach you anything if you know the bare minimum about effects. Worth the time.
Terminator 2: 3D - You queue in Cyberdyne systems before entering another waiting room and watch a video for the company which gets interrupted by Sarah and John Conner, the ones from the movie, not the show. The Cyberdyne rep (she was also awesome) says to ignore them and come in for the display. 3D glasses are applied and the show goes from stage production with video screens to a movie on the video screen and back. Actors pop from the movie to the stage. We sat in the back row of the section and I had actors running past me, adding to the illusion. The 3D is excellent and the stage acting was well done. It's an excellent package and very entertaining. Thumbs up.
Lucy - A Tribute - not a ride or a show but a little museum dedicated to Lucille Ball. Lots of pictures, information, diorama of the sets for 'I Love Lucy', stereo-optic home pictures from the 50s of her family, video clips, costumes, scripts. Very impressive indeed. A fine way to end a day.
For those about to ask, Jaws was closed for refurbishment. I had no one to propose to anyway. ;)
And that's just one park! And not everything in it, just what I did! More to come obviously.
19 January 2009
Florida Trip 3 (written in Florida)
While I seek a few moments to reflect on a busy week, to align the experiences I've had into some sort of pattern to structure, certain stories already occur to me.
Upon getting to EPCOT, we headed right for Spaceship Earth aka the ride in the big golf ball. Apparently few of us had experienced it and even fewer recently. I was interested in seeing it and even more so once I realized you ride in a 'time machine'. It's a people mover ride that quickly tries to show you how technology has advanced human society and the role you can play in continuing it. My buddy Niko, who is almost ten, sat next to me as I excitedly identified Gutenberg as the inventor of the printing press and Samuel Morse as the inventor of the telegraph before the ride could do so. Finally he shot me a look and asked "How do you know all this stuff?"
I couldn't resist giving a specific answer. "I read a lot," I answered before adding,"and I remember a lot that I read." That satisfied him and I noted that Edison invented the motion picture.
Upon getting to EPCOT, we headed right for Spaceship Earth aka the ride in the big golf ball. Apparently few of us had experienced it and even fewer recently. I was interested in seeing it and even more so once I realized you ride in a 'time machine'. It's a people mover ride that quickly tries to show you how technology has advanced human society and the role you can play in continuing it. My buddy Niko, who is almost ten, sat next to me as I excitedly identified Gutenberg as the inventor of the printing press and Samuel Morse as the inventor of the telegraph before the ride could do so. Finally he shot me a look and asked "How do you know all this stuff?"
I couldn't resist giving a specific answer. "I read a lot," I answered before adding,"and I remember a lot that I read." That satisfied him and I noted that Edison invented the motion picture.
18 January 2009
I must say some goodbyes
The gag is that bad things always come in threes. If two things happen then someone is always looking for the final item. I got the two pieces of bad news while in Florida and the third upon returning. That was quick.
Ricardo Montalban. A Khan for the ages. Perhaps the original Latino gentleman actor that stole women's hearts wherever he went. The man styled and profiled. He was always class to me.
Patrick McGoohan - As I look up over my monitor, a poster of him hangs on my wall. A reminder to believe in yourself and what is right. Reportedly refused the role of James Bond as the character conflicted with his moral beliefs about weaponry and relationships. Still not a number.
John Mortimer - I was recently in a bookstore, reflecting on how many books of his I've yet to get and was wondering how he was doing. Now I know. My introduction to him was via PBS' Mystery programme with their broadcasts of the adaptions of his 'Rumpole of the Bailey' stories. Good stuff.
Thank you gentlemen.
Ricardo Montalban. A Khan for the ages. Perhaps the original Latino gentleman actor that stole women's hearts wherever he went. The man styled and profiled. He was always class to me.
Patrick McGoohan - As I look up over my monitor, a poster of him hangs on my wall. A reminder to believe in yourself and what is right. Reportedly refused the role of James Bond as the character conflicted with his moral beliefs about weaponry and relationships. Still not a number.
John Mortimer - I was recently in a bookstore, reflecting on how many books of his I've yet to get and was wondering how he was doing. Now I know. My introduction to him was via PBS' Mystery programme with their broadcasts of the adaptions of his 'Rumpole of the Bailey' stories. Good stuff.
Thank you gentlemen.
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