LeftoverLand

What up Dorks? 

I seriously mean that as a term of endearment. Being a Disney Dork is a great thing. In fact I hear there is a secret club that calls themselves The Disney Dorks. Maybe it's like Club 33! Anyway, My good friend Rossco asked if he could contribute some of his magic to the blog and I said "Of course!" 

So without further adieu, I present guest contributor, hockey fan, bassist, hair stylist type guy, and self proclaimed Dork, Rossco SoleTrain, with... LeftoverLand(or, The Land Before Time)... I added that last part ;)

-J


   There are bits of old Disneyland sprinkled throughout the park. One of my favorite things to do at DL is to find random old shit the Imagineers either let rot or configured the shit into something brand new. This post I will be focusing on 4 of my favorite pieces of what is still leftover! yay! 

1) Mine Train through Natures Wonderland

   I love seeing chunks of this one around Big Thunder. From the tunnels next to the Beaver Vally pond to the train tracks rotting on Tom Sawyers Pirate (weirdo.not.thought.out.well.mash-up) ...Island. Pieces from this ride are able to stand out while fitting right into Frontierland. Most people wouldn't think something else used to reside in the spot. SHIT! Even my favorite part of Big Thunder, Rainbow Ridge was a part of that ride! Next time you are walking though Frontierland look out for old tracks scatted around by Big Thunder and the Rivers of America.

2) Skyway through the Matterhorn Mountain

  Seeing these holes on on either side of the mountain takes me back to being a little turd riding in one of those bad ass Skyway buckets. I wish Disney would bring back the Skyway! Riding through the Matterhorn was a pretty special treat. Yeah i know that they would have to put up some extra bars to keep the crazy people caged up but I think it could be easily redone! It is just a cool way to get back and forth from Fantasyland and Tomorrowland! For shit sake they stations are still there! which brings us to....

 3) Skyway Station in Fantasyland

  Over by the exit of the Casey Junior Train there is a set of steps (blocked off) that lead to a mysterious wooden building basically covered up by overgrown trees. Here lies the old Skyway Station. I tried to find this one on my own for a few years but I would either be too distracted by the awesome surrounding me or I was dodging a stupid person with a stroller...probably dodging. Well my last DL trip my brother 'n sister 'n sister, Evil Genius, Future Supreme Leader and The Pesk all pointed it out for me! So I just had to take a picture of me (DildoBoy pictured above) standing next to it! Weee! ... I came across this video on the YouTube a few years back and have been partially obsessed with this Station ever since...video gets good about a minute or so into it.

 

4) Tahitian Terrace

pulled from flikr miehana

photo jacked from google...taken by Jon Fiedler

  Between The exits of the Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise is an awesome couples restroom...and what used to be the Tahitian Terrace restaurant. The place used to be cool as fuck and now it has been reduced to a second rate Aladdin meet and greet..woof! You can still go back there sometimes and pretend you are in Tahiti and eatin' on some killer Broiled Teriyaki Steak while checkin' out some Polynesian Princess show...Real Thug Type Shit. Here is a video of the dinner show in all its glory!

This is my Tradition Tahitian Dance and I'm singing the Tahitian Mating song.

  

  

  Wow...all of that vintage cool makes me wanna take a trip with Doc and Marty in the Delorean and go back to the 60's! Aaannnnnddd back to the future (I'mAdork), there is a TON of random places where the old Disneyland shines through. Sooooo many...I think I'm gonna make this Part 1...unless the Evil Genius banishes me to Fairyland.

Vindicated!!

Alright chumps. 24 hours after the release of my first contest. I have 1(you read that right, one...) entry. Do people just not like free things? I plan to come up with a better way to gather entries, but right now this is what I have to work with. I am not going to send you anything(unless you win) and I am not going to sell your addresses.

I am working on getting business cards that I can send to you so you can hand them out to people you know who may like things that are awesome.

Here is the reason for this post. A while ago FSL and I volunteered at Minnie's Moonlit Madness and I got to see CM's bringing the floats for the Soundsational Parade back to their starting position. I was not allowed to take pictures so I used my incredible artistic prowess to draw out what I saw. It was perfect. BUT I heard a few chuckles from the peanut gallery(and what is a peanut gallery anyway? I think corn nuts are a more funny nut. Pecans are snobby. Cashews are the sexy nut, obviously). Here is my artist rendition.

Look at the Mickey float on the far left...

On out last visit we were walking to Westward Ho Trading Co. to puruse the pins and what was happening on Main Street? That's right, the Soundsational parade. Snapped a few pictures and looky what I captured.

??? Eh? Pretty, pretty, pretty close... Nay, I would say with the exception of it heading a different direction in my hand drawn picture, it is spot fucking on! VINDICATION! I am the worlds greatest artist!! Look out Bob Ross!

Seriously, if you know a Disneyphile who likes to have fun, send them this way. Enter the contest. Simply send me an email to jumbajookiba626@gmail.com, "contest" as the subject. Favorite attraction in the body. I will respond to any comment in the comment section.

This just in! Follow me on Facebook! Wha? I just noticed that there is literally 1,126,874,109 other Jumba Jookiba's on Facebook. What kind of lying assholes are they? Don't follow them. I have been verified by the number one authority... Me.

The new Evil Genius Guide blog is coming. It will be a guide to something other than Disneyland. I am going to be the Chris Hardwick of Evil Genius Guides! I can't wait till I get big enough to get a cease and desist from Disney! I will have to change my name to Pumba Pookiba or something like that, that will be a grand day!

Any CM's read this? That would be cool...

See you next time Dorks!

-J

P.S. I will leave you with an actual piece of info. Where the Winnie the Pooh ride is now, in Critter Country, used to be home to the Country Bear Jamboroo(that was for you Simpsons fans). As an homage to the classic Disney attraction, they left a piece of the Jamboree in the newer Winnie the Pooh ride. After you pass through the Huffalump room with the floating Hunny pot, to the next room look up and back and you can see the busts of Max, Huff and Melvin from the old Bear Country Jamboree. Also the things you ride in are known at Beehicles. Boom!

Spring Breakers or Save the Biscuit Save the World

There are two thing I hate in this world, heat and crowds. Spring break at Disneyland is chocked full of both of them! Sounds like a recipe for a crappy time, but FSL and I hadn't been there in a week so we decided to bite the bullet and brave the mob.

I got to the park fully intending to have a bad time and be stressed out from the sheer volume of people... people who don't watch where they are walking... and have strollers... and let their kids push the strollers... then leave the stroller in the middle of the walkway clogging them up like my arteries... and just stop in the middle of the walkway... God I hate Spring Breakers, the movie and the people. We had three things on our must do list for the day. Redwood Creek Challenge Trail where they are doing and easter egg hunt, find the "Sweet Spot" by Inoventions and while away the hours in our secret spot away from the masses.

We got to the Park about two hours after opening and I figured we would still have a 30 minute wait to get to the turnstile. The Plaza was... not too crowded. No wait at all to get in.

We got in and went right to Redwood Creek for the easter egg hunt. It was pretty cool. They gave us a map that had clues and challenges to figure out a secret message. It is almost Easter so I will show you where some of the eggs are. If you have never been to the Challenge Trail at DCA, you should check it out. Lot's of pictures!

Merit Badge! What what!!

After we earned out merit badge(yeah we did), we went to The Little Mermaid ride. Every other time we have been it has essentially been a walk on, but yesterday it said 20 minutes. We saw parts of the queue that we never even knew existed, but the line went fast and we weren't even in line for 10 minutes.

Where the hell are we going?

Does this place even exist?

The park was crowded but if you weren't waiting in line for a ride... It wasn't too bad... We went to the Pacific Warf Cafe to get soup in bread bowls. The line was wrapped around the outside. I waited in line for about ten minutes and wasn't even close to the door yet. It was almost noon so we decided to skip the wait and go to Cove Bar. There were no lines there. No families. No strollers. PLUS we got to see our friend(I hope it isn't to much of a stretch to call her that) Ali who may or may not have absconded with the biggest strawberry in the world for FSL's drink.

These people had some green ass'd drinks.

It was good to see her. DOUBLE PLUS! Windsor(great mixologist and Supernatural fan) was also there, so we got to catch up and talk about Walking Dead.

After lunch we went in search of a Disney Urban Legend. Allegedly there is a Sweet Spot at Innoventions that if you stand in a certain spot and whisper, your voice is amplified. Guess what? We found it and it is TRUE! Not only is FSL the Future Supreme Leader, but she is the Worlds Greatest Detective(I know some of the nerdy readers out there are yelling to their computers saying that Batman is the Worlds Greatest Detective, but Batman isn't real... Sorry to ruin your day). There is quite the meme on the internet that if you yell "Andy's coming!" to any of the Toy Story characters they will fall back as if they are pretending to be just toys. This recently popular Disney Urban Legend is FALSE! Don't believe anything you read on the internet... ahh, except this blog. There may be times where a Woody will freeze if he hears it, but as they are not allowed to lie on the ground the internet rumor is just that, a rumor. Any more Legends you want us to investigate?

FSL on the Sweet Spot

There is is...

Baby ducks! Spring is in the air!

We ended our day at Carathy Circle for dinner. A most unusual occurrence happened during our dinner. We had just received our salads, FSL had the beet salad and I had the apple crisp with bonus bacon if you were wondering, and the golden, delicious, cheesy orbs that are the Carathy Circle House Biscuts. Our server Ashley was talking to us and there was a flash of light! The fire alarm started blinking, no sound, just a flash. The wait staff all looked at each other wondering what to do. Finally the chef came out and said that everyone needed to evacuate! The FSL inquired, "Can we take the biscuits?" We were escorted out side just in time to watch the fireworks over Disneyland. Due to FSL's quick thing and decisive actions the biscuts were saved! She left her phone on the table, but took the biscuts, which answeres the age old question. What is more important and iphone or Carthay's House Biscuits? The answer... a resounding BISCUITS! In your dead face Steve Jobs(too soon?)!

The Biscuits

The Carthay staff safely across the street.

Dinner AND a show!

Save the Biscuts, save the world. 

I know what you are thinking, could he had said biscuts more in that last paragraph? Yep! I totally could have.

Oh, we got back in right after the fireworks ended and everything was back to normal. Essentially what happened is that we got a "walk off" of a restaurant!

Rest of the pictures from the day are here.

Contest time! I have two Vinylmations that I will be giving away to a lucky reader.

All you have to do is... shoot me an email! The link may not work... Jumbajookiba626@gmail.com. In the subject line write "Contest" then in the body write your favorite attraction at the Disney Parks. All entries will be taken in order and a randomizer will be used to pick a winning entry. The winner will be notified by email. All entries must be in by April 4th 2013 at 4:00pm the drawing will take place on or around that same day.

If this contest goes well, I will do more and even jazz up the prizes... depending if I get any donations(I was going to try to use the donation button to raise money to get the movie John Carter for a future blog post, but FSL got it for me), things may get real jazzy!

Tell your friends! When I get to 1000 page views I am going to add Blogger to my info on Facebook and twitter and yelp and foursquare and pheed and barbie.com(don't ask).

-Jumba

P.S. I will soon be announcing a new blog to add to the family of awesomeness!

P.P.S I made a new GIF(is it pronounced like gift without the t or like the peanut butter that choosey mom's choose?)

Ch-Ch-Changes

I know, I know, you guys must have been going crazy. It has been almost two weeks since my last post. You guys have gotten so tall! And you... have you lost weight? Hey, it's that guy! Your new hair cut is the bomb(is that a thing still?)!

There may be a surprise at the end of this blog. Soooo yeah...

I have made a few changes to the blog format... Jazzed it up, made it easier for you to follow and stuff. Lemme give you the A-ticket tour... if you are wondering an E-ticket tour is also available and involves FSL and I crashing your house or apartment or hovel or any place you dwell, making chicken soup with rice( or for the vegetarians, corned beef and cabbage), drinking champagne, playing Cards Against Humanity and listening to me rant about how different Disneyland was when I was young(you know there was a 3-D movie starring Michael Jackson where he needed to dance to save the universe? THAT Was an actual thing! It was called Captain EO, or something... Wait, FSL is yelling to me... It's back? Huh... Nevermind then), and somewhere in there I will show you the net book I use to create this magical bliss.

On with the tour! Up above I have changed up the font of the title... and made it bigger! Amazed yet? Yes, I am completely amazed.There is more. Along the left side there is a poll question! Wha?! Interactive parts of the blog? I am intrigued. Below that is a search function, a little About Me section and a section for the labels I use for the search function, so if you are interested in, let's say, racist rabbits click on it and be whisked away to that blog post. Who is going to look up racist rabbits?

On the right side, there is a donate button(yeah, I did that), I don't expect to see anything out of that but it is worth a shot. Below that is a follow by email button! I don't actually know what happens when you push it, but if it links you to me, it can't be all that bad, right? Under that is a way to follow through google and your icon will pop up if you want it too, I bet you are wondering who my 1 current follower is... It's me. Then there is an archive to previous posts and then a list of popular posts. Boom! That's it. the A-ticket tour. How do you feel about it? Like the changes? Hate them with a burning passion of a hundred suns?

I  haven't even told you about my Disney trip yesterday! That can only mean one thing... DOUBLE POST DAY! Now with even MORE pictures!

Oh the suprise I was talking about...  The next post there will be a give away!  And possibly more to come after that!

Also, is it too soon for swag(I can't believe I just used that word)? I mean I need business cards printed up that has the address right? And shirts? And tote bags, and bumper stickers and buttons ... Shrimp Gumbo, shrimp cocktail, shrimp salad...  Whoa zoned out there for a sec...

Next up. Our Spring Break visit...

Fantasy Faire Type Stuff

Fantasy Fair is officially open! FSL and I went the second day to check it out. Took some pictures, although not great ones because I was trying to take it all in. It's kind of overwhelming if you have 4 eyes... like I do. Growing up was rough. I had to wear glasses and all the other kids called me eight eyes. Jerks.

The new Fantasy Faire(the "e" makes it more magical) is where the Carnation Plaza Garden used to be. It was an unused space during most of the day. Some nights it would host swing dancing and boy, are those lindy hoppers bitter! It is now the new home of the Princesses and a natural extension of Fantasyland.

It looks like they just trimmed some trees and you can finally see what has been there the whole time. Like a happy peephole(which sounds dirty).Designwise, it takes a bit of this and a bit of that from all the classic Disney movies, added some aspects from the current Fantasyland attractions and then sprinkled in some ideas from old world European villages. It fits in so smoothly that it looks like it has been there forever.

Off to the left of the picture is Maurice's Treats. Belle's father's food wagon which serves up some authentic Fantasyland fare. I recommend the Strawberry Twist. It is a delicious pastry with strawberries then twisted to wring all the great flavors out of the berries(I made that shit up! Genius! Food blog here I come!). They also serve a Garlic Parmesan Bagel Twist. Sounds like a taste of heaven, and it is good... but a little heavy. Of course I will eat one again, but only for scientific purposes. To drink you can pay $15 dollars for a water(slight exaggeration), $3.49 for a soda or splurge on Maurice's Boysen Apple Foamy iced drinky thing(maybe I will hold off on the food blog). It is totally worth the brain/chest freeze you will get from it. Totally worth it. Totally.

On the left side of the photo is the Royal Theatre where they have a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and Tangled throughout the day. There are padded circles up front for the kids to sit on and a lot of benches for the adults. The shows were designed with Walt in mind. It was important for him to design his park so kids AND their parents would love it. The Show Designer, Chris Utley worked hard to make sure the shows would be loved by everyone. Little secret. They left the original floor from the Carnation Plaza Garden and the benches are totally moveable so... maybe those whiny swing dancers will have a chance to do their jumping and jiving again sometime.

Right of the Theater is a store called Fairytale Treasures that sells all of your princess needs. Right of that, is a pathway that will take you into Adventureland right by the Rancho del Zocalo bathrooms. Above the archway is a golden seal that says CPG in honor of the former inhabitant of that location.

Gold seal says CPG... trust me

Just above the tunnel to Adventureland is Figaro from Pinocchio sleeping soundly until a bird in a cage wakes him up.

In the Middle of the Faire is Rapunzel's tower home. Some say, at night, there maybe a little magic that happens to it.

Off to the far right is The Royal Hall where you can meet the Princess and get a chance to get an autograph or maybe a picture.

Bye Snow! Yep, we are totally on a first name basis.

Oh! I almost forgot! Right before Snow disappears you can see Clopin's Musical Box which is a great touch. Check it out and try to pick out all the Disney characters located in it. Another super secret tip. One of the people in the crowd in the Musical Box is of Creative Director(aka designer/genius) Michel Den Dulk!

There is officially one Hidden Mickey which is weird because "officially" Hidden Mickeys don't exist. Also rumor of some hidden Pascal's. We may of may not have found one... but I'll let you hunt for it!

It is a really cool addition. No Strollers! Whoot!

Damn, I just made a mistake. I just noticed that there are other Disney blogs out there and they are... good... and informative... and have good pictures! Shit. I need to step up my game. One thing they don't have is my level of awesomeness and sarcasm. So if you want "good" or "informative" go there, but if you want a raucous good time(think Pleasure Island without all the turning into a jackass), then stick with this one. Good blogs are so passe... and for jerks... who hate puppies.

Quick fun game. If you read this pass the blog on to someone or else horrible fortune will befall you. What? Did I just curse you? Heavens no!

The world... is a carousel of color.

P.S. Oh! Also almost ran into(literally) new Disneyland President, Michael Colglazier at Carthay Circle. My plan is to save his life and he will be so thankful that he will offer me whatever job I want. I will say, Jungle Cruise Skipper and something where I can walk around the parks with a clipboard and be important.

P.P.S I know you want more pictures from rides that have nothing to do with Fantasy Faire. Cool yer jets! I got you covered. Splash Mountain? Okay!

Nerds, Dorks and Browncoats

What up dorks?

Alright. I have to pull a Jonathan Franzen on you guys. It turns out I totally gave you some wrong information. Phew... this is hard... I am not as awesome as I said I was. NAH! I am more awesome and the great thing about that is that you are now equally more awesome for reading this! So... You're welcome.

I do, in fact, have a real correction. I thought I gave you an awesome trivia tidbit a few posts pack. I said that Indiana Jones was the only ride without a physical turnstile. Well after hours of research, riding rides, eating churros, riding more rides(my god it was exhausting), I can officially say that I was wrong. Astro Blasters? No turnstile. Also, Pirates of the Caribbean. No damn turnstile. You guys are lucky I am willing to put in time to do all this research. You guys are my rock. Just when I feel I can't bear to spend another day walking around Disneyland, eating and riding and waving at trains, I think of you, my nameless, faceless, COMMENTLESS(don't think I haven't noticed) readers and I persevere... For you.

That's all of The Corrections(oh crap! that was the Jonathan Franzen reference from the beginning. I meant to explain that earlier)... for now...

The more FSL and I get to know Cast Members the more I notice that our favorites have a common bond. In the past few weeks we have talked about King of the Nerds on TBS with a CM(Wait! Make that two CM's! Congrats on the job Jaymie), laughed our asses off with a spit-fire of a bar back at Cove Bar, talked about Buffy cosplay at WonderCon, awed in amazement(seems redundant but I like to repeat myself) at a bartender who wears a Deathly Hallows ring and found out that a CM at Carthay Circle is a Browncoat(look that one up yourself chumps! I can't hold your hand for everything)! All of the best staff are nerds! I love it!

I am a 38(in your weird earth years), I am male, I am a blue alien and I am a dork. What I love about Disneyland is it is a safe place. Nothing breaks my constant scowl more than seeing a teenager smiling with their family even if their Dad is wearing a Pluto hat. FSL was wearing this shirt(in black though because black shirts are awesome) and all day, CMs, teenage girls, older men, young, old, tall, short, smart and mostly smart(not the dumb, they are by definition, dumb) were coming up and saying they love it or that they "get it". It was great. Disneyland is a great place for nerds.

What is all this sappy love shit? That doesn't sound like me! Just to be clear... I will probably talk shit about you anyway. Like the girls who freaked out that they knew each other from Tumblr(that is some mad scientist type shit there, I just don't get Tumblr, maybe because I am not a Twilight fan or that I know how to spell tumbler(I always wanted a rock tumbler as a kid... also can you parentheses inside a parentheses? Boom! I just did!)), they were nerds... but annoying as all get out. I am equal opportunity.

Last bit of inspiration. We will get a long just fine as long as you aren't a jerk, or annoying, or pushing a stroller, or named Ivonne. Feel inspired?

"When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable." Walt Disney

Boom! Face!

Play Day!

I promise I will eventually give you some useful information and not just blather on. Although, I love to hear myself talk so maybe you will have to suffer a bit longer.

The FSL and I went for a play day in the Parks yesterday. It was supposed to rain, but the sun was out most of the time we were there. Near the end of the day the clouds came in and it turned down right chilly. I loved it! There was little crowd. I mean there were times the FSL and I could walk with our arms out and not come close to touching anyone else(not saying we did that... buuut not saying we didnt). Aww heck I will just give you a run down of out day and hopefully throw some useful info as we go.

Here we goooooooo!

That was from Peter Pan. I sounded just like Peter... you will just have to take my word for it, my Disney impressions are SPOT ON!

Started out kinda bad. We were pulling into the Mickey and Friends parking structure, it's got 10,000+ parking spaces(I counted) and someone realized that they had loss their annual pass. I'm not going to point fingers or place blame, but in this case I will... a gnome stole my wallet, took my AP, left the money and library card, and slipped it back into my pocket. For real.

Had to go to the ticket booth and got a replacement. Smooth and painless.We started out at California Adventure. We went to Off the Page to trade Vinylmations. Off the Page is in Hollywood Land and they sell the collectable stuff, prints, Vinyls, books, shadow boxes and stuff, it's pretty, pretty, pretty cool. We always carry a couple of them to trade. It's kind of fun, we have gotten some good ones and worst case scenario we just get a different one to trade. Here is the haul from yesterday, can you guess the keepers?

Keeping C3PO, Mickey Shirt and Snowspeeder Luke. Dumping Captain Link Hearthrob

 After we did that we went on Tower of Terror. Great ride! Hint: There is a gauge downstairs in the queue that has Burt Reynolds face on it. I asked a CM and they said bought all the decorations at estate and garage sales and they just bought it like that. I was sitting next to a guy who was there with his daughter. I made up a back story based solely on his looks. Chuy is in a gang, he has lived a rough life but has a 4 year old daughter and he wants to make things right for her. I think they call that stereotyping, but I call it killing time in line. Needless to say, he looked tough. Nope. White knuckled the whole way. If you have never been on this ride and want to go on a ride where people routinely applaud when it is done, this is the ride for you! 'Nother fun fact. It isn't actually a drop ride. You get pulled down faster than gravity. Couple moments of weightlessness with out all the rockets and stuff.

I think this may be getting too wordy and I want you to read it all so I will fast forward to the end complete with random pictures.

Radiator Springs. Great. Over to Disneyland. Winnie the Pooh. Heffalumps and Woooozles, Heffalumps and Woozles steal hunny... Beware, BEWARE... Splash Mountain.Soaked. Snow White. Dumb ending. Buzz Lightyear. Lost. Back to DCA for dinner.

One more impression...  Wrrrrraaaaaarrrrrggh. Harold from the Matterhorn NAILED IT!

We went to Cove Bar because we had a hankerin' for the chicken nachos. They are lobster nachos, but FSL is allergic to shellfish(Don't get any ideas when she is Supreme Leader, no anaphylaxis, it will just make her more powerful) so we get it with chicken. Yum. Our favorite bartender/mixologist, Windsor was there, she makes the Anything But Old Fashioned and it is delicious. I could tell you what is in the drink, but... you know... I just don't want to. You will have to go see Windsor at Cove Bar or BevMo in Pasadena to find the recipe. We were there late enough to be able to see World of Color from a completely different perspective. It is an amazing show from the normal viewing area, but from Cove you get to see it all happening from above and to the side. I recorded the last couple of minutes of it. The video doesn't do it any justice.

Seriously I could keep going, but I will spare you having to use your brains. Wouldn't want to overload you with awesomeness.

Thanks for reading! We(all of us that are part this life affirming experience) are almost at 400 page views(woo!) and only, like, 7 comments(boo). Look, I don't need the affirmation that you are actually enjoying this, because I kick ass! BUT, I mean, if I ever get advertisers or what have you, they are going to want to know if this is well liked(Death of a Salesman ref), so for them, not me of course, leave a message if you like this. 

I'm Gunna Wreck It!

P.S. Oh yeah. Saw this dude. Ahh nice 8mm movie camera and bag of cotton candy. Guess what dude... She only sees you as a friend.