A Helpful Glossary of Terms or, What You Talkin' 'Bout Jumba?

What's up Dorks?

I was talking to my Mom(Yes I have a Mom... Don't act all surprised) a few weeks ago and she mentioned that she didn't "understand" all the stuff I write about in my blog. Then, like the brilliant flash of a  lightening bolt thrown down from Mount Olympus by Zeus himself, it dawned on me...  What I write about is kinda a niche topic. Other Dorks know what I am talking about, but the average, normal, everyday... common... schlub may be lost. So I thought I would do a little glossary to clear up some of the terms I have used. Hopefully this will be helpful...

Ready? Too bad! Heeeeere we go...

AP - Annual Passport. Currently there are 4 levels of AP with an additional secret "bonus" pass that is pretty awesome. Southern California Select Pass is for residents in the 90000-93599 zip codes. There are 170 days during the year where this pass is valid. Can't use it on weekends, most of the summer, most holidays and the few weeks around Christmas. If you live in the LA Area, and are on a budget, this is the way to go. The Southern California Pass bumps you up to 215 days available for entry. Same holidays are off limits but you CAN come on Sundays! Pretty Fancy! Both of the local passes give you a 10% discount on merchandise and food(I should clarify and say "dining", the food carts aren't covered by the discount). The Deluxe Pass is available to everyone, not just Southern California residents. With this level of AP you get 315 days in the park, with the exception of a few holidays and Saturdays from Spring through Summer. You also get the same discount available to the So Cal Passes. Say you are a baller... a shot caller... maybe 20 inch blades on your Impala(That's a Lil' Troy reference, Mom), and you want to go to the park on any damn day you please... The Premium Pass is the pass for you... and Me... and FSL. Zero(That's right I DID say zero, as in none, zilch, nada) blackout days. The discount rate is higher for Premium Pass as well, 15% on dining and 20% on merchandise annnnnd you get parking included. Disneyland did something great for themselves last year. They jacked the prices of the Annual Passes, but to counter increase, they also offer a monthly installment plan. Some passholders have given up their AP's, but judging by the increasing crowds this past year, a lot of people are taking advantage of the installment plan. Oh... The Secret Bonus Pass? Drum roll..... The Disney Premier Passport. 365 available days to the Disneyland Resorts here in California and Walt Disney World in Florida... Whoa! I can haz want... Too bad WDW is in Florida... Florida is... Sticky.

Attraction - There are no "rides" at Disneyland... they are attractions. Get it right, squares(I have always wanted to call someone that... If we were living in the movie Crybaby, I would totally be a drape)! Pretty much anything that provides entertainment at the Park is an attraction. It's one of many Disney euphemisms. Knott's Berry Farm has rides... Disney has attractions... Makes it sound fancier. Well... I guess an argument could be made that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a... ride...

Backstage - Behind the scenes at the Parks. I have been lucky enough to get back there a few times...And by a "few" I meant twice. Once to go up into Walt's apartment during the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour(I HIGHLY recommend it) and once during Minnie's Moonlit Madness. It is more amazing than I can possibly describe. I was hoping to see Snow White smoking a cigarette, but no luck with that. Just a bunch of decorations, attraction pieces and total awesomeness.

Carthay - DCA's fine dining restaurant. Save the Biscuits... Save the World... Designed after the Carthay Circle Theatre where Walt Disney premiered Snow White in 1937. The Food is amazing. The service is impeccable. Ask for Ashley. Order a Curveball or a Bee's Knees from the lounge. Not on the menu, but damn tasty.

Cove - Cove Bar in DCA. Great cocktails, good food, awesome Cast Members. Here is my Ode to Cove Bar. We have met some of the greatest people at Cove Bar(Sachi, Megan and Brian, Tim and Noah, Jules and Jude). It is a great place... kinda like Cheers, except only SOME of the people know my name... If you took the Mos Eisley Cantina and dropped in into California Adventure, you would have Cove Bar... I say that because, if you get that reference, you fit right in. Nerds are welcome.

CM - Cast Member. Employee of Disney from the attraction operators to camera guy on Good Luck Charlie. Met some great ones. You can feel it when they have the Disney Magic. Ali, Tanya, Windsor, Bryan, Ashley, Jaymie, Connie and all the rest... Thank you!

DCA - Disney California Adventure. The new... er- newer... park at the Disneyland Resort. It started off VERY California-centric. It didn't impress a lot of people(I always thought of it as Disneyland for old people who REAKLY like California). Major referb(see referb below. Haha!) was done and it went from an Epcot-like money pit to a high quality second gate for the resort.

Disney Dork - Me and FSL and The Pesk and Roscoe SoleTrain and I am pretty sure, Megan and maybe Brian and Jules and a whole bunch of other people who can't get enough of Disneyland. If you read the blog regularly? You are probably a Disney Dork. Be proud!

Downtown Disney - It's like a shopping mall with restaurants outside the Disney Parks. I will be doing a post on this too. 
 

E-ticket - An unusually interesting, thrilling, or expensive experience. The E-Ticket got you on to the best attractions. If they had them today(they started phasing them out when Magic Mountain opened in 1971) the attractions would include stuff like Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Indiana Jones and rides like that. In 1955 when Disneyland opened, visitors had to pay admission to get into the park and then had to purchase separate tickets for the attractions. The booklet of tickets was originally labeled with A-C, with A being the smallest or least popular attractions and C being the most advanced, popular or thrilling. One year later, they added a D-Ticket and eventually, in 1959 they added the E-Ticket.

Esplanade - Plaza between Disneyland and California Adventure. Depending on the time of day, it is a great indicator of how crowded the parks are.

FASTPASS - Fastpass is like holding your place in line while you are free to enjoy other things throughout the park. If a Fastpass is available for an attraction, swipe your AP or ticket and you will get a slip with an hour window for you to return and then hop in a shorter queue. In the past Disney didn't enforce the times too strongly, you could come anytime past the time and still be admitted, but recently Disney started to enforce the time window so make sure you come back within your time frame. 

GAC - Guest Assistance Card. Card given to guests that need assistance. A-Doy! Let me preface this by saying that there many people who need the GAC and it is a great service for them. For the most part, the card allows guests to enter through the exit line and get the assistance they need getting on or off an attraction. Sadly, I think that as time goes on there is more abuse of the system. Parents can get a pass if their child has ADD. Kids have had attention deficit problems since the beginning of time and guess what? They waited in line with everyone else. Now, we know more about ADD and how to deal with it, but parents are using the pass as a way to make their lives easier. Here is a crazy notion... Bring your kid a Nintendo DS or something to do while you wait. I am not trying to be a dick, but, plan better! If you just had knee surgery, maybe not a good time to go to the park. If you have IBS(saw a guy getting a GAC for this reason) work in more bathroom stops, if your kid has ADD bring them something to do or take breaks. It is setting up a situation where parents are teaching their kids that rules are... for everyone else to follow and if you don't like something, find a loop hole. Be responsible people! Also, the GAC allows 6 people in a party to take advantage of the line. It should really just be the person the pass is for and one escort. I have never worked attractions or been a CM so I don't know how they feel about it, but as a guest, I find GAC abuse a little annoying. I am going to step off my soap box right now.

Guests - People who are visiting the park. You and me... Well not me... I am a Disney Dork... who, I guess, is still technically a guest... But a totally awesome guest! Another Disney euphemism. I would venture to say that some CM's have... ahh... other names for some of the guests.*cough*Passholes*cough*.

HoJo - Howard Johnson. Hotel in the area. If you are a member of MouseWait or an Annual Pass Holder, you are eligible for a discount. Great place for kids. Amazing pool. Rooms are small and old, but quiet and the beds are down right amazing.Check it out. No, they aren't paid advertisers... but don't you think they should be?

Hub - Center of the park where the Partners statue is. The different "lands" radiate out from the hub like the spokes of a wheel. Down these spokes Walt wanted a weenie(see weenie... yes, I giggle every time) to draw visitors in.

Imagineer - Lucky-ass people who get to work for WDI or Walt Disney Imagineering. They are the development and design arm of Disney. Have you seen the new Fantasy Faire? It was Imagineering that made it happen. Originally named WED Enterprises, it was started in 1952 to help design and create Disneyland. The term is a beautiful marriage of the words imagination and engineering. That seems like a fun game... What two things can I combine? New ride that combines Cars and a Swiss mountain... Tow Mater-horn... Haha! I crack myself up!

Pin trading -This one could take a while. Here is the short version. You can buy pins from Disney and wear them on a lanyard and trade them with CM's or other guests. Here is my current lanyard.

Kinda a Stitch fan

Long version? Grab some popcorn bitches! While Disney has always offered collectable pins, Pin Trading really got going at Disney World in 1999 during the Millennium Celebration. The fad jumped over to Disneyland the following year, and the rest is pinstory(punned that shit up!). They make a pin for... pretty much anything Disney related you could imagine. I have a Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks pin... or two. You like Princesses? They have TONS. What about attractions? Check! Star Wars Fan? Got 'Em! They sell starter kits that come with a lanyard and some pins, but I think the best way to start is to find a lanyard you like and then find a pin that speaks to you. Two words of warning... there will be more in the future... First, HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! You will dream of pins... you may want every pin you see, or if you are a parent, your kid will also want every pin they see. Which brings me to my second warning. This shit can get EXPENSIVE! Pins range from $7.95 to $24.95 on average and can go up exponentially from there for limited release or special event pins. I think the best and least expensive way to start collecting is to get one pin per trip. Something that will remind you of the fun vacation you had. The idea behind Pin Trading is to trade with other people, obviously, but it has turned into such a huge thing that there are some "traders" out there that take all the fun out of it. Another problem with the increase in popularity of pin trading is there is a ton of counterfeit pins. If you get into pin collecting I highly advise you to stay away from buying large lots of pins off ebay because it seems like a great deal. Most of those pins are fake. I could do a whole post on pin trading... and I think that's what I am going to do! But now you have the basics.

Westward Ho

Pins!

Pirates - Pirates of the Caribbean. The movies were great. I think the attraction WAS better before they added all the movie references, but it's still pretty awesome.

Queue - Yet another Disney euphemism! It's the line you stand in. When you are at the DMV you wait in a line... And no one likes waiting at the DMV. At Disneyland you merely are just standing in a queue... and everyone likes Disneyland. Maybe there are on to something...

Single Rider Line - The purpose of the single rider line is to fill up available seats on certain rides. I get that. It is a system that gets abused. Some guests see it as a way to not have to wait in a long queue. I have been on many attractions where the CM's call for a single rider and the guests in that line say, "we want to ride together". Nope. Disneyland is all about the experience, and part of that, is having to wait in line with all the other guests who understands the intent behind the Single Rider Line. Everyone else is waiting... what makes you think that you don't have too? It's part of the game.

Splash - Splash Mountain. Wrote a blog about it. Like to hear it, here it goes!

Stroller - n. 1. Thing with wheels on it that you can push a baby around in. They used to be small... now it's like pushing a RV. They are huge and take up a lot of space when being pushed by the Slow family from Slow Falls, Slow Dakota.
                           2. A person who walks sloooooooow. The bifecta(is that a word?) is a stroller pushing a stroller.

Referb - Referbishment of an attraction. Some are major like the one happening now to Big Thuunder Mountain, nine month closure... some are minor, just closed for a few days or weeks.

Vinylmation - Another addictive collectable from Disney. Instead of going through the history of them, I am just going to show you pictures.

The bulk of the collection

My Star Wars Vinyls

Weenie - Something that draws the guests in. When designing Disneyland Walt remembered when car dealers would give out hotdogs in order to bring people into the dealership. He wanted to to the same thing to draw people into the different lands. The best example... the carousel that draws you into Fantasyland through the Sleeping Beauty's Castle. There are weenies all over the parks. Yeah... I realize how that sounded, but I am keeping it in.

I think that about covers it for now! If there is any other Disney word or phrase you don't quite understand leave a comment here or on my very new... and totally awesome Facebook fan page(and while you are there... hit the "Like" button)!

Stay Dorky!

-Jumba

P.S. Thanks to Tim from Santa Rosa, CA who recently followed the blog by email! You can too! just hit the link to the right of the blog!

P.P.S. Seriously... Facebook... "Like" the fan page... It will make you feel good...