Travel – Page 3

January 14, 2012

Disneyland Park is TWICE as Good as the Magic Kingdom

We visited Walt Disney World over the New Year’s break, and very much enjoyed our time there. As a longtime Disneyland visitor I always find the Magic Kingdom to be a disappointment. There are many things to like about the park, to be sure. But as a Disneylander I am left with an unsatisfied feeling. There are some obvious differences in the park, especially with super-headliners like The Matterhorn and Indiana Jones not at the Magic Kingdom. On the other hand, as a newer park there are different/improved things in Florida as well.

So, I decided to see if I could quantify this. This analysis looks only at attractions and not at shows, character greetings, fireworks, shopping and dining, or other intangibles. Instead, we’re just looking at attractions to experience. Â What I did was compare the attractions in each park. If they were clones (or near clones) of each other, then that would be a wash and even out from a points perspective. If a similar ride was “a little” better in one park or the other, then I would award one point. If it was significantly better then I would award two points.

In terms of attractions unique to one park or the other, 1-3 points are awarded based on value/scope. So, Shunken Ned’s Jungle Boats at the Magic Kingdom only gets a 1, whereas something of larger scope and appeal such as Mickey’s PhilharMagic gets a 3.

In my ratings below, I’ve tried to be as fair as possible. In some cases I actually awarded points to the attraction I actually prefer less, due to historical value or other elements. An example of this is Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise, which I prefer but lacks an extra scene in the Magic Kingdom version (which, therefore, gets the points). I grouped attractions more or less together by land, though this wasn’t completely equivalent due to differences in the parks.

Disneyland		Magic Kingdom		Notes
Main Street USA
Main Street Vehicles	2	Main Street Vehicles		Vehichles rarely run at MK, greater variety at DL too
Disneyland Railroad	1	Walt Disney World Railroad		Primieval World missing at MK
The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln		The Hall of Presidents	2	Greater scope and entire land built around this attraction. But DL has the Steve Martin movie.
The Disney Gallery	1	none		Not much of an “attraction”
Fantasyland
Sleeping Beauty Castle		Cinderella Castle	1	Much larger castle including a restaurant. But DL has a walk through.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant	0	Dumbo the Flying Elephant	0
It’s a Small World	1	It’s a Small World		Larger attraction features Disney characters in DL.
Mad Tea Party	0	Mad Tea Party	1	Can spin the cups much faster at MK
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh		The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	1	Better queue and theme and ride at MK
Peter Pan’s Flight		Peter Pan’s Flight	1	Better animatronics at MK
King Arthur Carrousel	0	Prince Charming Regal Carrousel	0
Snow White’s Scary Adventures		Snow White’s Scary Adventures	1	More focus on Snow White at MK
		Mickey’s PhilharMagic	3	Excellent 3D film with Disney music
Casey Jr. Circus Train	2			Mild thrills for kids
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride	2			Dark ride with cult following
Alice in Wonderland	2			Used to be a 3 until OSHA forced changes on outdoor portion
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey	2			Dark ride
Matterhorn Bobsleds	3			Disney classic
Storybook Land Canal Boats	2			Charming boat ride
Adventureland
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room	0	Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room	0	Essentially similar once again
Pirates of the Caribbean	2	Pirates of the Caribbean		Much longer ride at DL
Jungle Cruise		Jungle Cruise	1	Longer attraction with extra scenes at MK (but Trader Sam is better at DL)
Tarzan’s Treehouse	0	Swiss Family Treehouse	0	Essentially similar
		Shrunken Ned’s Junior Jungle Boats	1
		The Magic Carpets of Aladdin	2	Fun Dumbo-like attraction
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye	3			Super-headliner
Frontierland
Splash Mountain	0	Splash Mountain	0	Essentially similar
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad	0	Big Thunder Mountain Railroad	0	Essentially similar
Frontierland Shooting Exposition	0	Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade	0	Essentially similar
Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island		Tom Sawyer Island	1	Themed better at MK and big plus for Fort you can enter
Mark Twain Riverboat	0	Liberty Belle Riverboat	0
Haunted Mansion		Haunted Mansion	1	Extra scene in MK, but better looking exterior at DL. Edge to MK for elaborate queue and hitchhiking ghosts
Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes	1			Only runs on weekends and busy season
Sailing Ship Columbia	1			Runs less frequently than Riverboat
		Country Bear Jamboree	1	Would be a 2 if animatronics were well maintained
Tomorowland
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters	2	Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin		Much better experience with hand-held blasters in DL
Astro Orbitor	0	Astro Orbiter	0	Essentially similar
Space Mountain	2	Space Mountain		Far better track, audio effects, seating in DL
Autopia	0	Tomorrowland Speedway	0	Essentially similar
		Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover	2	So sad that this isn’t running at DL anymore
		Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress	1	Very very dated animatronic show
		Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor	2	Wish it was funnier
		Stitch’s Great Escape!	2	I like it better than the predecessor but nobody would be sad to see this go
Disneyland Monorail	2			Part of Walt’s vision of a world in motion
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage	3			Nemo overlay works well and preserves a Disney original
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue	3			Super-headliner
Captain EO Tribute	2
Innoventions	1			Not very compelling, but maybe more than Carousel of Progress
ToonTown
Mickey’s House and Meet Mickey	2			Charming fun
Minnie’s House	1
Goofy’s Playhouse	1
Donald’s Boat	1
Chip ‘n Dale’s Treehouse	1
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin	3			Immersive dark ride
Gadget’s Go Coaster	2			Short kiddie coaster
Disneyland	51	Magic Kingdom	24

As you can see, Disneyland’s rating was 51 with Magic Kingdom only ranking as 24. That’s twice as many points!

Magic Kingdom currently suffers due to the construction of the new Fantasyland attractions. So, the loss of Mickey’s ToonTown surely hurts. That said, the Magic Kingdom is still far, far behind its cousin in California.

If you have any thoughts on the rationale or my ratings, please leave a comment below.

November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving in Capitola

Julie and I traveled to Capitola with my parents for Thanksgiving lunch at Shadowbrook restaurant. Our kids were with Julie’s parents at Disneyland.

We had a great lunch and then took a short walk along the beach and pier where we met several interesting birds including a very spirited pelican.

October 31, 2011

Halloween

I took Quinn out trick or treating tonight. Riley decided he would stay at home and Julie stayed home too. But I did bring our dog Maya, who was dressed as a banana split.

Here is Quinn dressed as a Wizard. We were out for over an hour but Quinn’s legs were getting tired so we came home.

October 29, 2011

Trip to Military Vehicle Technology Foundation

This is a great place over in Portola Valley. The facility has over 250 military vehicles including tanks, armored cars, artillery units, and other vehicles. It’s incredible. Apparently, the owner, Jaques Littlefield, was sort of a military nut and apparently wealthy enough to allow him to procure his own armada. Littlefield has passed away but the facility remains in operation and does tours by appointment. I took Riley and Quinn today with Riley’s Scout troop.

October 22, 2011

Disneyland Trip

Here are some of the better photos from our trip to Disneyland last weekend. Notable is that some of these are from my new iPhone 4S and comparing them to my Canon DigitalElf camera they are essentially indistinguishable.

Matterhorn racing (gonna miss these bench seats)

Great snack place at Grand Californian Hotel

Julie and I take a break while boys are at Challenge Trail in DCA

Walt Disney's Railroad Barn in Griffith Park

September 11, 2011

The Joy of Disneyland

There’s something amazing about the joy on a kid’s face when they experience the magic of Disneyland. Here are some of the best shots from our trips in April and August of this year.

Quinn and Riley on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Dole Whip and Enchanted Tiki Room Garden

Quinn Going Crazy on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

I love that last one of Quinn so much…

September 5, 2010

Vacation Scavenger Hunt Photos

The Mercury News announced the winners of their Scavenger Hunt photo contest and we were not winners. We lost on some bad luck and a tighter than expected judging criteria. However, Riley’s photo with Church Bells did make it into the list of honorable mentions in their bonus slideshow (photo #14).

Here are our entries…

1. Covered bridge

Calgary AB

2. Church with visible bell

Edmonton AB

3. Sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny

Jackpot NV

4. Black bear (not from the wild)

Fernley NV

5. Lemonade stand

Yellowstone National Park (on July 4th!)

6. Water tower with writing on it

Drumheller AB

7. Festival celebrating food, vegetable or fruit

Potato Expo Blackfoot ID

8. House that doesn’t have four sides

Bozeman MT

9. Mime

Fail!

10. Someone feeding pigeons

Great Falls MT (where they have very big pigeons)

11. Ice cream truck

Drumheller Royal Terrell Museum

12. Motel named for two people (i.e. Norma Dan Motel, Tenn.)

Fail!

13. Obscure historical marker

Emigrant Gulch, highway 89 Montana. It doesn’t get more obscure than this.

14. Parked car with more than 10 bumper stickers? (Must be parked!)

Yellowstone National Park (believe it or not this family has six kids)

15. Building painted purple

Car Wash in Great Falls

Calgary store

16. Blank billboard

I80 Nevada

17. Closed store with “We’ve moved” sign

Calgary McLoud Trail

moving

18. Ferris wheel

Galaxyland Amusement Park in the West Edmonton Mall

19. Rainbow

General Paint store Calgary

West Edmonton Mall

Great Falls umbrella

rainbow

20. Something unusual not on the list

West Yellowstone MT, diner/bus

Traveling overseas?Â (You can sub out these for any three above; substitutions must be from a location outside of the United States or U.S. territories.)

1. Sign that includes foreign words and name of U.S. state

Chinese Cultural Center in Calgary (mentions Hawaii)

2. Windmill

Alberta, Highway 2

3. Outdoor market selling food indigenous to that area

Calgary donuts

June 27, 2010

Vacation Scavenger Hunt

My parents pointed us to this article in the Mercury News that is both a fun guideline for a vacation as well as a contest if you can document doing or seeing all of these things:

1. Covered bridge

2. Church with visible bell

3. Sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny

4. Black bear (not from the wild)

5. Lemonade stand

6. Water tower with writing on it

7. Festival celebrating food, vegetable or fruit

8. House that doesn’t have four sides

9. Mime

10. Someone feeding pigeons

11. Ice cream truck

12. Motel named for two people (i.e. Norma Dan Motel, Tenn.)

13. Obscure historical marker

14. Parked car with more than 10 bumper stickers? (Must be parked!)

15. Building painted purple

16. Blank billboard

17. Closed store with “We’ve moved” sign

18. Ferris wheel

19. Rainbow

20. Something unusual not on the list

Tie-breaker: How many participating teams do you think will find all 20 items?

Traveling overseas?

(You can sub out these for any three above; substitutions must be from a location outside of the United States or U.S. territories.)

1. Sign that includes foreign words and name of U.S. state

2. Windmill

3. Outdoor market selling food indigenous to that area

Consider that our upcoming vacation will take us north into Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Alberta I think we’ve got a great shot at a lot of these, including the “overseas” section in Canada.

We’re slated to travel all the way to Edmonton, so we’ve already have mapped our several “finds” for this list. The West Edmonton Mall has an amusement park with a Ferris wheel, for example. And we’re definitely stopping at Yellowstone Bear World for a little bear watching too.

As we check things off our list I’ll update this post with status updates. When we’re back from vacation we’ll have the full list of photos.

November 21, 2009

LaBrea Tar Pits

Lots of fun at the LaBrea Tar Pits today. Some incredible fossils but I was most impressed that there was actual tar (okay, technically it is asphalt) seeping out of the ground. This stuff is s-t-i-c-k-y! No wonder the Sabre Tooth Cats kept getting stuck!

Video shot and edited on iPhone 3GS

October 24, 2009

How ‘Bout We Give the Bears a Break?

bear The San Francisco Chronicle published an interesting story about the bears in Yosemite breaking in cars to try and find food. The story had some enlightening statistics, such as the fact that bear break into minivans 26% of the time, even though minivans only make up 7% of the vehicles parked in the valley. The implication is that the bears are smart enough to realize which kind of vehicles have the best food.

Things took a strange turn, however, with one of the paragraphs. Apparently writer Peter Fimrite decided he wanted to use as many adjectives as possible, including many that I find offensive to bears. See below with my emphasis in bold.

The ungainly brutes have been known to just waltz into campsites with impunity and scarf everything in sight. They sometimes lumber into homes, rip out cupboards and empty refrigerators. Some bruins take up residence under empty homes and just feast until all the food is gone. The furry gluttons eventually give birth to cubs that also learn the joys of wallowing in the syrupy wreckage of a human food cache.

Is this a high school grammar exercise in action? That sure is a lot of different ways of saying “bears” and why is the negative tone necessary? I think Mr. Fimrite needs to remember these are animals capable of ripping open a minivan to get at the food trapped inside. Hardly a “lumbering” brute!