Archive for the ‘Disneyland’ Category

Portal to another world

Sunday, June 17th, 2012

This morning, the Haunted Mansion wasn’t particularly crowded, so we stayed back a bit and let the other guests go by after leaving the stretching room. We were looking at the portrait of the man and discovered that if you stand there long enough for the crowd to have moved on to their Doombuggies, the portrait talks!

Lemon-talking portrait in the Haunted Mansion

Here’s what it said:

When your wife gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade — make her take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t care if she has an axe; what the hell is she going to do with that? Demand to see your wife’s mother! Make your wife rue the day she thought she could give Captain Gracey lemons! Want to cut off my head? Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna haunt your house forever! With the lemons! I’m gonna get Leota to conjure a spectral lemon that pulls a thousand ghosts here! And we’ll leave room for you!

I don’t know if this is new or if it was just there for Father’s Day, but I will say this — it’s probably the weirdest and most obscure reference in the entire mansion!

Why we can’t have nice things

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

Want to get a better feeling for why Disneyland’s expenses are so high? Take a look at the sign from outside Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue as it was discovered after a recent Grad Night. The shame!

Vandalized Big Thunder sign

The return of ducks

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

On our last visit to the park, we noticed that, with the warm weather here to stay, the ducks have finally returned to the banks of Disneyland’s Duck Land Canal Boats in significant numbers. Hooray!

Ducks at Disneyland's Duck Land Canal Boats

Princess Merida at Disneyland

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

During a recent trip to Disneyland, we were headed toward “it’s a small world” in the hope of documenting the new Princess Merida meet-and-greet location that we had heard such wonderful things about. And who should we meet on the way but the Princess herself!

“I’m on me vacation,” said Princess Merida when we asked her what she was doing in the park out of costume. “Me brothers and I are gettin’ a few licks o’ fun before the big premier and it’s off to work again.”

Why was she dressed so differently than we were used to seeing her? “I canna go five steps in my dress from the film without bein’ asked for me autograph,” she said. “I’ve disguised meself as the wee lass from Disney’s G-Force for some peace and anonymity — at least as much as I kin get with these three demons in tow and bloggers as far as the eye can see.”

We certainly understood that! Thank you, Princess Merida, for the lovely chat — and for the autograph!

One of our elephants is missing!

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

During our most recent visit to Disneyland, we stopped by the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor to check out its new design. We were very distressed to discover that the famous green-glass elephant was no longer on display.

According to castmembers, the elephant was removed as part of Disney’s new fight against childhood obesity. Said someone we talked to, "Elephants just aren’t the right symbol for American children. The plan is to melt down the elephant and recast it as something more image positive, such as a flamingo or well-balanced meal."

We invite you to send heated letters to Disneyland management to protest this affront to history and translucent pachydermery.

Nerf!

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Among Disneyland castmembers, there is a long-standing tradition of telling jokes about Nerf — a stereotypically foolish Disneyland employee. For your entertainment, we’ve collected a few of the more popular Nerf jokes here. Feel free to add any others you might know in the comments!

  • Nerf is so dumb that he brings an umbrella to the Tiki Room.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he describes Dumbo as “never the same ride twice!”
  • Nerf is so dumb that he bought insurance so he could ride Autopia.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks it’s the actual Matterhorn.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks Tarzan’s Treehouse came after Tarzan’s Onehouse and Tarzan’s Twohouse.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks the name of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is funny because it has “ass” in it.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks any guest in mouse ears is a hidden Mickey.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he reports “pin traitors” to management.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he keeps asking when the Skyway will be out of refurb.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks Splash Mountain was based on the movie Splash.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he keeps asking if the subs have found Nemo yet.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he doesn’t know where the name Disneyland came from.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks the 7 o’clock parade starts at 4:15.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he wants to know what happened to the Casey Sr. circus train.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks the water in the Rivers of America is good for the environment because it’s “green.”
  • Nerf is so dumb that he refers to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’s exit as “the place where Pooh comes out.”
  • Nerf is so dumb that he can’t remember the name of the song they play in “it’s a small world.”
  • Nerf is so dumb that he uses two hands to point with two fingers.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks New Orleans Square is actually square.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks the Haunted Mansion is haunted, Toontown is a real town, and the Jungle Cruise is hilarious.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he thinks Space Mountain only operates at night.
  • Nerf is do dumb that he thinks Goofy is a face character.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he asked Lincoln for an autograph.
  • Nerf is so dumb that he invented “churro on a stick.”
  • Nerf is so dumb that he claps his hands and stomps his feet along with “Two Brothers.”
  • Nerf is so dumb that he has to stop the carrousel to ask for directions.

Secret Restroom tribute

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Now that Disneyland’s Secret Restroom has been closed (so that it can be converted to the Princess Fantasy Princess Restroom), we are proud to announce that we’ve redesigned our sister site, Disneyland’s Secret Restroom. If you have memories, stories, or photos about the Secret Restroom, we’d love to hear them!

Matterhorn changes

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Global warming at Disneyland

On the left is a photo of the Matterhorn from two years ago. On the right, a photo of the Matterhorn taken over this past weekend. The difference is striking, isn’t it? The snow levels on the Matterhorn have never been this low.

“It’s global warming,” says fictional Disneyland spokescastmember April Frost. “You can see the effects all over the park. Water levels are down, rain levels are down, and over Christmas what little snow we got on Main Street was so anemic it clumped together like soap suds. Why, did you know that in Florida’s Magic Kingdom a few years ago the submarine attraction evaporated all together? We’re doing our best to avoid a similar tragedy in California, and it makes us feel mighty guilty for using pure, black, unfiltered coal to run the Disneyland Railroad, Mark Twain, and Autopia for so many years.”

PLOTSI mini movie

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

At Disneyland today, we thought it would be nice to do a little something for those of who you enjoy the park but are not able to visit it as much as you would like. To that end, we visited Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, walked around it, took a photograph every eight steps (or so), and stitched the thing together into an endless-loop animation. It’s a pretty big file, so if you have a slow connection or are secretly the target of government internet surveillance, it may take a minute to load.

Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island mini movie

That was a lot more convenient than visiting Disneyland and running around PLOTSI infinitely, now wasn’t it? Let us know in the comments what you enjoyed most seeing on your tour!

Swing protest!

Friday, April 27th, 2012

We will be visiting Disneyland this Sunday to pay one last visit to Carnation Plaza Gardens and Rest Area before it’s scheduled April 30 implosion and subsequent conversion to what an eight-year-old boy of our acquaintance referred to as, “a cootie-filled girlie land with a tiara.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Although we have no problem with Disneyland changing with the times, we will be sad to see Carnation Plaza go. But even when it has been replaced, we will still treasure our memories of the amazing times we had there. Who could forget:

  • Passing through on the way to Frontierland.
  • Sitting in a chair because our feet hurt.
  • Accidentally following a path there when we thought we were heading for the side entrance to Fantasyland.
  • Imagining that something was happening on the stage.

Admittedly, there are those who are more upset about this change than we are. A group of swing dancers who enjoy visiting Carnation Plaza when swinging swing bands are there playing swing music has been vocally protesting the situation, claiming that, “Carnation Plaza just won’t be the same after it’s changed.” Even though Disneyland insists that the regularly scheduled swing-dancing parties will continue (after a brief period during which, due to construction, they will be held in the picnic area outside the main entrance), not everyone is convinced.

Rumor has it that a mass protest is scheduled for April 29th, on which passively resistant swing dancers will fasten themselves to chairs and candy-striped awnings by the chains dangling from their zoot suits. We attempted to find out more about this protest, but our Google searches for “swingers,” “looking for swingers,” “interested in swinging,” and “swingers chaining themselves to things” were less than helpful (and, frankly, rather disturbing).

That aside, if you are planning to be at Disneyland this Sunday, let us know so that we can take your picture by the secret bathroom in CPG (as all Disneyphiles call it) for potential posting on this site. If you are not able to make it, send us your secret CPG bathroom photos, which we will be collecting for a loving tribute.