We didn’t spend as much time over at the Expo today – we only planned on one presentation but we gave ourselves plenty of time to ensure that we’d see it. Before heading over to the Expo though we stopped in both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure to get Fastpasses for Star Tours, World of Color and Soarin’ Over California.
I didn’t learn until later in the day on Saturday that the Mickey’s of Glendale shop that was attached to the Carousel of Projects exhibit was actually an Imagineering exclusive merchandise location. It was the first time these products were available to the public. Had I known this, we would have gone in on Friday. Unfortunately, they ran out of my size in several shirts: most notably the Horizons, Imagination, and Living with the Land t-shirts with the classic Epcot pavilion logos. It didn’t stop me from spending $120+, but it likely would have been more had I been in earlier. I’ve already reached out to the few contacts I have that may be able to get me the missing Epcot shirts (of course I bought what they had available: Spaceship Earth, World of Motion, Living Seas and Communicore). These shirts were only $14 each as all of the items already had the cast member discount built into the price.
After my merchandise acquisitions I joined Marie in the line for the Imagineering Carsland presentation. We chose to wait two and a half hours for this presentation as we didn’t want to miss it. It was certainly worth the wait – I took photos of almost every piece of concept art and/or construction update and will assemble all of these photos along with the full audio into a slide show later in the week.
After the presentation we went to purchase some overpriced food when I recognized Jim Hill having a conversation with someone near one of the food courts. We had never met in person so I caught his eye and waved. When he finished his conversation he joined Marie and myself for a discussion about all things D23 Expo based for well over an hour. For those of you that don’t know, Jim recently got hired to do some work for the Huffington Post, and as such he was going backstage at a lot of these events, and was even moderating the panel for the Pixar Shorts presentation.
Over at DCA today we rode The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure – I enjoyed it as a thorough, well done dark ride. i liken the animatronic quality for most of the AA’s to those in Splash Mountain, while the Mermaid, Sebastian, Scuttle and Ursula AA’s far exceed this. It will be a welcome addition to Fantasyland and is a very solid D-Ticket.
We also experience World of Color for the first time, it’s a very impressive show and I look forward to seeing it again from a different angle tomorrow. A point of note – for the most part, I didn’t find the projections on the water any better than those in Fantasmic, but the entire spectacle is still very well done. I appreciated the usage of the sunburst on California Screamin’ for additional effects. I also spent the time waiting for the show to begin by watching the light patterns on Mickey’s Fun Wheel – it’s mesmerizing.
After the World of Color show we headed over to the Hollywood Backlot to see what ElecTRONica is all about. It’s a high energy dance party that was very well done. The most impressive part was a twice nightly showing of Laser Man, a guy that bends and manipulates lasers for several minutes. I’m always impressed when Disney puts something together that I can’t quite figure out.
Over at Disneyland, Marie and I each had the first corn dogs of each of our lives – we were both pleasantly surprised. After we both went on Space Mountain, I went on my second trip on Star Tours. What was odd was the lack of a human rebel spy. We didn’t have any empty seats, but they just showed a generic looking alien type thing during the rebel spy sequence – If anyone has any explanation as to why that would happen I’d love to hear it. As for the rest of the ride, our first destination was Hoth. It seems that they chill the cabin for Hoth, and heat it up for Tattooine.
Attractions Visited Today
Disneyland
Space Mountain
Star Tours
Disney California Adventure
Soarin’ Over California
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
Toy Story Midway Mania
World of Color
ElecTRONica/Laser Man
FanBoy Loyalty Program
For every $1000+ in combined purchases you spend per calendar year through our Amazon link, we will give you a t-shirt of your choice. Our new shop is up and running, and we have t-shirts available with our current and classic, regular and uncensored logos. All you need to do is send us a list of the items that you purchased, we’ll verify it against our records and then we’ll send you the t-shirt of your choice.
Project Fan Boy Contest
Win a chance to appear on our show in a short segment where you can talk about a topic of your choosing with us. Winners will also receive WDW Fan Boys swag, and Brett will record a custom outgoing voice mail message for you.
To enter the contest send us an e-mail, video, or audio file explaining why you should be on the show. The funnier the better. All entries should be submitted to questions@wdwfanboys.com.
On this week’s episode of the WDW Fan Boys podcast, Tim and Brett discuss Tim’s recent trip to Disneyland. We talk about the issues that come from the homogenization of the parks in all the wrong places, as well as much more positive thoughts on Carsland and Club 33. At the end of the show we share an interview with Ron Bidnez of the WDW Kingdom Cast podcast. Ron shares some of his own thoughts from a recent trip to Disneyland as well.
PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes
