Category: To Occupy my Time

Quixote Nuevo at Portland Center Stage

Matt and I took in PCS’s Quixote Nuevo, and had a great evening of theater. The story transports Don Quixote to La Plancha, Texas, where a retired English professor with dementia heads off on a journey for his long-lost love.

Among the great performances and great songs there was also great puppetry. The cast of nine was kept busy with multiple roles, and the story was compelling.

Also, this was a co-production and traveled from the South Cost Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California, to the Seattle Repertory Theater and then ended its run in Portland. The set was designed to fit all three stages, and the actors worked for longer because of it. In a time when arts organizations are struggling, this seems like a brilliant plan.

Disneyland Planning Books

Aside from Fairyweather Travel, we used these books to plan for our trip.

In order of helpfulness:

Disneyland, The Unofficial Guide. While this super-planned approach won’t work for everyone, I was a huge fan. It aims to get you what you want out of Disneyland/DCA by planning and prioritizing. It’s also quite amusing in places. The book provides many different touring plans (Two-day with small children, one day without children, etc.) and offers an app to help you plan. The app, alas, is only for IOS right now, so we used the website version in the parks.

Things this book did well: Encouraged walking back and forth across the park to hit rides at the best time rather than a close-by geographical approach. Provided reviews and rankings of all rides so that we could rank the rides into categories of must, maybe, and probably when planning. Provided reviews of every restaurant and recommendations of favorites at those restaurants. Explained how policies like rider switch or single rider could improve your trip. Talked through strategies for best viewing of the light shows and whether one should buy a dining package that guaranteed seats.

Things that didn’t quite hit: Despite the book’s attempt, I didn’t understand how Lightning Lanes worked until my Fairyweather Travel agent walked me through it (and gave me a handout). Having now been there with Lightning Lane access, I also would take a slightly different approach than they recommended (at least at the time we visited).

I would prioritize must-visit (and then maybe-visit) attractions without Lightning Lane access from rope drop to about 11:00 and then start the Lightning Lane process after that time. We waited a very long time for the Peter Pan ride (a maybe-visit) and used our Lightning Lane for the Matterhorn (a must-visit) at 8:30 in the morning when there was basically no line. We should have reversed those. While some attractions did “sell out” their Lightning Lane availability before the day was done, most did not. And we were planning to be there All. Day. Long. so we could have better used the Lightning Lanes beginning in the late morning rather than first thing.

Overall, though, this is a great book and well worth both the money and buying a year’s subscription to the app to view their extended content. At less than $50 total, this book and the paid website will add value to your trip.

The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland. Somewhat out of date, this small book provides behind-the-scenes information and fun facts about how exhibits at Disneyland were created. I read it before we left and envisioned paging through it while waiting in line, but never actually did that.

The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney California Adventure. This is very out of date; things have changed a lot since this was published. Still, there was some good information including the relationship between Grizzly River Run and the water at Pixar Pier.

Mouse-Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland. This book was published in 1994 and contains the experiences of former cast members. There are some fun stories like the one where so many people at the local naval base moonlighted at Disneyland that one Friday when there was a navel emergency, and they were called back to the base, and Disneyland had to close due to lack of workers. Given the era, there were some tales of “funny” mild sexual harassment. The author also discussed the difficulties Black people and all women had getting promoted, which is important perspective. That said, it wasn’t especially gripping, and I didn’t finish it.

I put all four of these books in a Little Free Library. The guidebooks were gone the next day, and the Mouse Tales book lingered for about a week.

Oscar Viewing Party at McMenamins

Though I have no photo proof, Friend Jessica and I attended McMenamin’s Oscar Viewing Party. It was good fun. As usual, I brought along my Happiest Oscar Viewer game, so we could pick who we wanted to win.

While I wasn’t happy for every category category I picked, I was thrilled that the Zone of Interest won best sound design (truly amazing) and that the Last Repair Shop won for Best Documentary Short.

Ruth Carter at the Tomorrow Theater

Famous costume designer Ruth Carter was scheduled to come to Portland in January, and I neglected to get a ticket and was sad. But it turned out that her visit coincided with the ice storm and didn’t happen, so she was rescheduled to March, and I did buy a ticket.

After finding my assigned seat (instead of the random seat I grabbed because I didn’t pick up on the fact there were assigned seats, even though I had picked my seat hen ordering the ticket (the Disney trip really overloaded me, and I had trouble navigating spaces for a few days after our return)) Ruth Carter appeared and was interviewed.

It was a great interview, and I learned a lot about her many Oscar nominations (she said that Black Panther was the first time she was favored to win and that the interview requests scaled up to match that favored status, so much so that she was exhausted by the time of the ceremony. Also that when they were making Black Panther, no one knew it was going to be as successful as it was, so midway through she lost half of her team to a different movie (that was a flop).

She also talked about working with Spike Lee and their long collaboration.

For those of you not able to see Carter in person, you can check out her book, The Art of Ruth E. Carter.

Disneyland Photos Provided by Disney

My plan to get many pictures taken by Disneyland photographers on this day was thwarted by the rain. Turns out, the photographers disappear when the rain appears. But when it was still sunny, we got a few photos in front of the Millennium Falcon.

With BB-8

And with this little fellow.

We rode Space Mountain twice, once each day. It’s still just as great as it was when I rode it when I was six. The first time we weren’t ready for the photo, but the second time we were.

Still coming down off that mountain high.

Ready for our closeup. As were the people behind us.

And thus ends the chronical of our Disney vacation. We had a great time.

Disneyland Day Two

We were at the rope drop outside Adventureland for our second and final day at Disneyland.

The sun was shining, but rain was forecast.

No rain here yet, though.

We rode the Indiana Jones ride (much fun!) using the Lightning Lanes, and then had a Jungle Cruise. My joke in the lead-up to the trip was that we should watch the Jungle Cruise movie so that we would be caught up for the ride, but Matt declined. He seemed to catch all the Jungle Cruise stuff even having not seen the movie.

We hung out in Galaxy’s Edge and Matt took part in some missions.

There was a tiny Rey running around, and she and the grown-up Rey eventually connected. Here they are watching some Stormtroopers and formulating a plan.

The rain was forecast to begin at 1:19 p.m. and it pretty much did begin at that time. I had hoped the rain would chase some people away, but like us, people were willing to hang out in the rain for their Disney vacation. We prioritized things that had us under cover.

We also rode the train! Twice! The first time I looked out the left-side window (not much to see) and the second time I looked out the right-side window (much to see).

Some of our fellow travelers who weren’t on the train and were in the rain.

We also rode the omnibus that took us from Main Street to Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

As you can see, the rain was persistent. We were both glad we sprung for the good ponchos as they kept us dry the entire time.

Some merry-go-round action showing off the poncho.

And some time for a self-portrait.

The poncho ruins this effect, alas. Matt is attempting to pull the sword out of the stone.

We lasted until about 6 or 7 that night and then returned to our hotel. Though rainy, it was still a good day in Disneyland.

Disneyland Tuesday

And so we begin our day at Disneyland! We were there for rope drop and right in the front of the rope, so I got to see them wind up the rope on a rope holder that perfectly centered each flag on the rope. Disneyland is so very efficient!

I was a riot of patterns today: bag, jacket, and dress.

We rode the Matterhorn first thing and I grabbed a picture of these two gentleman (and their son, who I cropped out of the picture) who were wearing the classic Mickey Mouse-style sweatshirt and original ears. I had that in the 80s, but in t-shirt version. It was rare to see the traditional ears. Most people wore headband-style ears that came in a multitude of styles.

One thing I didn’t realize until we visited is how many people would dress alike. There were so many fun shirts worn by friends and family groups.

Matt was our navigator, and here he is checking the map on his phone while we waited for the Storybook Land Canal Boats.

And here we are on said boats. I was glad we visited this ride when there was basically no wait. It’s a fun ride with a five minute wait. Maybe less so if the wait is longer.

Also the cast member’s uniforms in Fantasyland were my favorite. Such a good color of green. So Alps-inspired. The internet is not providing me with pictures, but they were great.

We visited Star Tours, which was much fun, and didn’t exist when I last visited.

From there, we headed off to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. (Many colons are present in Star Wars land.) My favorite part was the Stormtrooper hanger. So cold and creepy. Overall, I really did feel transported to the Star Wars world. Well done, Disney.

We took part in the earworm ride that is It’s A Small World. Such great design.

Both inside and out.

We spent a lot of time in Frontierland hanging out near the water. We took this raft to Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. We had ranked this island low on our things to do, but it turned out to be really fun to explore. We also canoed around the island, which was a fun and active activity.

And, of course, we rode the Mark Twain Riverboat.

We actually ended up riding this several times as it was a good time killer while we were waiting for our Lightning Lanes.

Cafe Orleans was where we had lunch. I got the famous Monte Cristo Sandwich. Matt got some pasta.

And here we are on the monorail.

We left around 7:00 p.m. and Matt was asleep before 8.

My Favorite DCA Pictures Taken by Disney

Let’s have a look at the photos Disney took of us.

Here we are in Cars Land, racing. The woman sitting next to me filmed the first part on her camera, which she put away just as the ride started.

Disney has a lot of ways to entertain yourself while standing in line with a phone. Here is me with a fun newspaper photo filter.

My favorite picture is this one from my favorite ride. We’re on the right, and I love that when the doors opened exposing us to a few seconds of the tallest view from the tower I pointed at the camera.

One thing that has changed since my visit in 1991: Photo Pass, which costs money but is worth it for the one-timer visitor. Rather than having a bunch of random tourist mobbing the good photo ops, Disneyland provides photographers in key locations who tell you where to stand so they can take good (and fun) pictures. These are then loaded onto your Disney app for later download. Here are some of the fun ones from DCA.

In front of Avengers Campus doing the Iron Man thing.

Also doing the Spider-Man thing. Matt was very clear about how the Spider-Man Fingers are arranged.

Doing some muscles in front of the campus entrance.

In front of Cars Land holding the Piston Cup. Things like this trophy are fun add-ins the photographer can do. I wasn’t aware I was holding the Piston Cup until I saw the photo. I’m also not sure what the Piston Cup is, having not watched any of the Cars movies.

Standard Cars Land photo.

Hanging out with Walt and Mickey

Being excited about a delicious treat. (Also an add-in)

The photographers also say flattering things while taking pictures. This photographer commented that we could be on a brochure while taking this picture (which is my favorite of the bunch).

More Pixar Pier fun.

I was a great fan of this service, and I will take advantage of it should we visit any other Disney properties.

DCA Evening

After a good dinner at Wine Country Trattoria (where the pull-apart cheese bread was MUCH better than the Pizza Press’s cheese bread) we continued to experience DCA rides.

Here we are in the Pixar Pal-a-Round wheel (a Ferris Wheel with swinging gondolas.) We opted for the less swinging version because the line was shorter.

And here we are again with our gondola friends taking the picture for us.

A view of only part of the Incredicoaster, still closed and still running three empty cars and breaking my heart.

And here is a evening shot of Pixar Pier as we waited for the World of Color to start.

I enjoyed the World of Color, but it came at the end of a very long day and I was cold. Still, it was my first water and light show. Plus there was fire.

We started our day at the gate at 7:30 and left after the end of World of Color. By 10:10 p.m., I had earned a new badge: 25,000 steps in one day. The Stepping Up 20K was from the day before our wedding when we had two separate walking-through-parks activities, plus wandering around downtown Tacoma. Our day at DCA had that beat. But also it was a longer day.

I consider our first Disney day in the parks a success!