When a magazine launches one of the very first things I do after fanning through the pages is read the Letter from the Editor. In this letter you often get the tone and direction of the magazine, they mostly all read the same; every magazine wants to be different from the rest, have a unique style, blah blah blah. @Gamer, according to Wil O’Neal, wants to “Help gamers quickly figure out which games are hot and worth your hard-earned money.” That’s a noble goal, unfortunately that’s pretty much the noble goal of most gaming magazines and websites.

Judging an entire magazine based solely on the launch issue isn’t fair. The magazine hasn’t found it’s stride, it still has some soul searching to go through to find what works and what doesn’t. The primary problem is the format. The gaming landscape changes so fast that a month by month magazine just isn’t as relevant as it was 10 years ago. With the Internet, we have up to the second knowledge of gaming news, reviews, release dates and delays. A magazine like this has a 2-3 month lead time so they may be working on stories in August that may not be published until October.

One glaring example of this is the new information Microsoft released about Fable III on page 9. The new information is that your character is the son or daughter of the hero in Fable II. Old news, whatever is happening now or in the last month isn’t covered. They most certainly didn’t have enough time to even touch on E3. I don’t hold @Gamer responsible for that, that’s just the issue with the medium.

What I can hold @Gamer responsible for is the writing. It isn’t terrible or technically bad, it’s generic. It’s written like a gaming magazine. It’s informational, as it has set out to be, but certainly not entertaining. There is practically no personality. Take this paragraph from the Crackdown 2 review,

“The original Crackdown added a fun multiplayer component that boasted collaborative co-op action. Crackdown 2 supports four-player co-op to satisfy players who enjoyed it from the first game, but also adds a 16-player competitive element with team-vs.-team and every-man-for-himself deathmatch modes, as well as an incredibly frantic Rocket Tag mode that lets you say “You’re it!” with a missile.”

The paragraph has no voice, it doesn’t convey the excitement or the pleasurable side of playing a 16-player competitive deathmatch mode. I thought reviews were supposed to be an opinion, but this one reads like the back of the box. The only opinion in the piece is the last paragraph where he writes,

“Crackdown 2 will surely be a big killer of personal productivity and spare time during the summer.”

This game received a 4.5 out of 5 and that’s what he had to say? That was his opinion? I don’t know about you, but when I talk about a game that I love, I gush about how amazing the story was, how the action was intense and non-stop, that the control was tight and spot-on and how the art direction fully immersed me in the rich, colorful world. It’s all about my experience, and when I talk about a game I love or hate, I want that sense of emotion to be felt by the person I’m talking to. That was absent in this review and I’ve noticed that’s the case with a lot of gaming reviews, they’re clinical and factually based.

Above each review score there is a handy “What’s great” and “What’s not so great” list. This is where they boil the review down to a couple bullet points. I’ve seen this in other magazines, “Wired” being one of them and I generally find them helpful. I always focus on the “What’s not so great” because I want to know what’s wrong with a game. So, “what’s not so great” about Crackdown 2? “At some point, the game will end and you’ll be done.” and “In September, Halo: Reach will come out, which is great on its own, but not for those who want to keep playing Crackdown 2.” Really? Is that why Andy Eddy scored it 4.5 instead of 5? Because it ends and Halo comes out in September?

I would have liked to have read more “I” statements in the reviews. This again, isn’t the fault of the reviewer but the problem with game reviews in general. I find it interesting that reviews are like how games were 15-20 years ago, dispassionate. Games these days convey so much sentiment and are cinematic in scope and story. Reviews, lack any emotion. There’s no color or scope to reviews, they’re just a series of facts laid out and from those facts consumers are supposed to make a buying decision.

The best part of the magazine are the coupons. In the launch issue alone they have a couple of coupons I’m interested in using, one for Bioshock 2 and the other for Halo 3 ODST. These savings alone would pay for 2 years of the magazine which makes a subscription worth the $20 for 10 issues.

So, is the magazine bad? No. It’s a gaming magazine with all the pitfalls of every gaming magazine out there. They are, to be fair, doing one thing differently, readers can submit their own reviews to be printed in the magazine. While I’m not ready to subscribe now, the coupons are enough to get me to seriously consider it. If the quality of the information remains, I probably won’t consider it a source for gaming information. However, I will subscribe if the coupons are as good in the next issue.

We left for the airport at around 1pm and the whole ride there could not have been smoother. We had sent our luggage ahead with my grandparents who were going to meet us at Disneyland since they drove, so that left us with no bags to check and quite literally no clothes to wear for a couple of days. I had bought several pairs of $11.25 (with employee discount) pants at Old Navy, where I work, and had stocked up on $4 Jerzees shirts from Target.
When I go on vacation I take this opportunity to purge a lot of my old clothes. So I’ll buy new clothes and bring all the old clothes with me then throw them away each day. That way I can come home with an empty bag and have room for any souvenirs I purchase. It’s quite an ingenious plan.

We don’t normally drive to the airport but this time there wasn’t a solid planto get us to the airport when the family had met up for my cousin Samantha’s grad party, so my mom and I decided that we were going to drive there and my aunt and cousins could find and sort out there own transportation there.

We got to the AirPark and it seemed the theme of the day was smooth sailing. We park and literally step right into the shuttle to the airport. We get there in a couple of minutes and walk into the airport with no luggage to check. That’s where things start getting a little dicey. I get a text from my cousin Matthew that my Aunt Sandy had forgotten her glasses and had to go back and get them. They may have travelled 7 miles, but this was the absolute beginning of things going downhill. Thankfully it had nothing to do with my Mom and I. We were already at the airport and it really wasn’t our problem and so I wasn’t nervous for them, they still had plenty of time to make it to the airport.

Security was a breeze! My mom and I have going through security down to a science. In addition to sending our luggage dow with the grandparents, we also sent our laptops down with them so it was one less thing to have to deal with in security. There was no line in security so we walked right up, took our shoes off and placed our bags in the grey bins and got through security in no time flat. My mom did have a carryon that required to go in the overhead compartment, but there was very little in there so it made it rather light and easy to maneuver.

From this point forward it was relaxation. We just sat down and waited for the arrival of my Aunt Sandy and cousins Matthew and Samantha. I got a couple of more texts from them that didn’t seem to fit their timelines and so I rightfully dismissed them as being fake-outs. They have a tendency to lie about their whereabouts so I take anything they say on travel days with a grain of salt.

My mom and I think about first class upgrades frequently and my Mom had seen the previous day that they had 7 or 8 seats available. We thought that maybe my grandparents would authorize an upgrade. My mom and I had made the conscious decision to pay for our trip. This was in an effort ensure that we had control over our experience. While it may not be true, there is always that sense of ownership when someone pays your way, and that was something we both definitely wanted to avoid. This enabled us to stay at a different hotel, a hotel that we enjoy staying at, the Howard Johnson’s.

I sent a text to my grandfather asking if he would authorize a $50 upgrade and he did, but the plane was 1 seat shy to accommodate all of us in first class. Bummer, but whatever. We sat down to find out that my cousin Matthew had forgotten to pack shoes. Really? REALLY? How do you forget to pack shoes? He was wearing flip flops on the plane and it wasn’t completely unheard of for people to wear all sorts of inappropriate footwear and this wasn’t going to be anything unusual. Rather than buy a cheap pair of shoes he wanted this super specific pairs that no one in Oregon had. Now this may seem stupid, but to be fair he didn’t have a lot of money and to buy a pair of shoes that he didn’t want was a waste of money for him. We searched the net hoping to find a pair and have them shipped to their hotel. We found them at Shoes.com, he started to frantically enter in all the shipping and billing information, but realized that it would be better for him to do it at the hotel and that way he can tell them he is going to have a package delivered, plus we were boarding and there wasn’t any time for him to finish entering all his shipping and billing information.

We get on the plan and take our seats. There was a slight issue with the size of my Aunt Sandy and Matthew’s carry-on size. The doors coulding close, but with a little shifting the flight attendants were able to make everything fit and we took off. Nothing of real interest took palce on the plane and that was just how I like my flights to go. I read a little bit but foiund I couldn’t concentrate because of the racket a some screeching girls were making a couple rows back and so I took to playing my DS and watching the first 20 minutes of Toy Story on my iPhone. We landed at the Santa Ana airport and went down to get the car.

It was my job to get the GPS to acquire satellites, a task that’s virtually, nay, absolutely impossible to acquire satellites at the Santa Ana airport. Everyone except for Matthew went to the restroom while my mom got the rental car situated and I stepped outside to hopefully find a lone satellite to acquire for the GPS. I and Aunt Sandy grabbed a picture of the statue of John Wayne and soon after we were off to get the rental car.

We rented a Chevy Cobalt, a nice car that my mom and I rented in the past. It’s small and perfect for my mom who is rather petite (nice way of saying vertically challenged). We piled all our carry-ons into the trunk we were off. Unlike the last trip getting to the hotel wasn’t as dramatic and wrong turns were never made. We were finally able to get a satellite before we hit the 10B exit on the 55 which proved difficult last trip as that was our downfall exit with the GPS. It wasn’t until we passed that exit last time that the GPS acquired a satellite. Because I’m the kind of guy that thinks ahead I had pulled up the directions on my iPhone just in case.

We get to the Anaheim Plaza where we dropped off Aunt Sandy, Matthew and Samantha and I was going to pick up our luggage that my grandparents had hauled down for us. Earlier in the day before we departed Portland, I received a call from Grammy (my Grandmother) telling me that they were going to be in the same rooms as they we were in last time. The trick to that was I couldn’t remember which rooms those were. Upon me telling her this, there was a slight, albeit unintentional tone of frustration in her voice that I couldn’t remember. She told me the room numbers and seeing as how it was still a few hours before we would be arriving, I asked her to have Gumps (my Grandfather, pronounced: Goomps) text me the room numbers… he never did.

We get to the hotel I know the building they were in but I had to call Gumps, to get the exact rooms. There was no answer. Which was weird because I had texted him earlier that we had landed and he responded. I called again and there was still no answer, so I dialed Grammy who answered. She has a unreliable track record when it comes to cell phones. There was one instance several years ago when she first got her phone where I called her and she answered, but she didn’t understand that all she had to do was flip her phone open and start talking. So, I’m at work in the breakroom repeatedly screaming into my phone, “GRANDMA PUT THE PHONE TO YOUR EAR!!!!” Everyone in the backroom starts laughing hysterically. I could hear that she was talking to someone about how to make the phone work. It’s one of those super cliched moments with people of a certain age and new technology. Regardless, she has become better and now she at least knows how to answer her phone.

She tells me what room and I knock on the door and it opens. It happened to have been a room where the door was propped open. I had seen the room before, but I was certainly not going to go barging into rooms I was hoping were my grandparents. The door opens wide and I see my Uncle Corky. I’m surprised and not surprised at the same time. It was one of those moments where I was completely at ease with the situation and was shocked or nervous about seeing a family member that I don’t have a lot of contact with. Even though I am friends with his wife, my Aunt Rose on Facebook we still don’t have a lot of contact…I hope to change that.

Uncle Corky and I shake hands and go in for the hug. Then Grammy and I start discussing what will be happening for the evening. It’s all a bit of a blur because I was trying to get my tech bag and gat my luggage so that my Mom and I could go check into our hotel that was just down the street. I know there was talk that we were all going to Mimi’s Cafe for dinner and that Aunt Rose had gone on a hike that morning and had just arrived home where she was going to shower and meet us there. The question was what time, which was unclear. Gumps comes into the room and we start talking about the bag and the adventures it had.

It was funny, we told Gumps that we would like him to bring the bag in each night and not just leave it in the car because there was a lot of stuff that we didn’t want to lose. So he would take pictures of the bag in various situations, like trying to escape them by running down the street, taking a shower, hanging out by the pool and various other humorous antics. Anyways, I get the tech bag, and Gumps and I make our way back down to their van so that we can pick up the luggage.

Then comes another wrench in the plan. Not so much a wrench but the situation with Matthew and his lack of shoes. He had told Gumps about his situation and it was the consensus that we shouldn’t tell Grammy about this and rather wait till the problem was resolved before broaching the subject. After some discussion as to what to do Mom and I suggested that he grab his laptop and he could take it with us to our hotel where the Internet is “free” and he could search for the shoes there while we checked in.

As soon as we leave the lobby I get a text saying that they were ready to meet us at Mimi’s Cafe for dinner. Then I get a call and I tell them that we are just going to put our bags in our rooms and we will be right there. We get into the car and drive over to the closest parking spot we can. We leave Matthew in the car, calling different shoe stores looking for these special Vans Slip-on Formula One shoes while we take our bags to our rooms. We step into our rooms and I have to say I was more than a little disappointed. My window looks into the office of the lobby which means I can have my drapes open and walk around naked in my room. Alright, so that was really the only disappointment and seeing as I always have my drapes closed anyway, it has turned out to be no big deal.

We leave and and walk back to the car and see Matthew wandering around. He found the shoes!!!! They were being held for him at Vans Skate Park just a little over 3 miles away and they were open till 10pm. It was around 7:30pm which meant there was plenty of time for us to eat dinner and then Gumps would drive him to the Vans Skate Park. The thing was, we didn’t know exactly where the Vans Skate Park was and Matthew had said that it was about 3 miles away. What he didn’t know was if that was 3 miles from where we were or 3 miles from Orange County. That is a HUGE difference.

We get to Mimi’s and we are greeted by Gumps who asked if we had called to make reservations. This was news to us as none of us had made reservations. Apparently we had inadvertently taken another groups reservation. I suppose they thought that either my Mom or I had made a reservation. Either way we all got seated immediately and it looked like a group of the family were preparing for a night of boozing. Grammy had a beer, that I suppose she didn’t really want, I come to find out later; Aunt Sandy had a glass of wine, as did Uncle Corky.

During our attempt at deciding what to order, I looked up directions using my iPhone. I have to say that my iPhone pretty much saved the vacation so far. I was able to find the address on the web and then get directions using Maps. I know how this sounds, but you know what, have a net connected phone like this can and will make your life a lot easier. It’s worth the extra money for times like these. I got the directions and wrote them down so that sometime before 10pm Gumps and Matthew could escape the familial chaos and go get Matt some shoes.

Aunt Rose hadn’t arrived yet and our orders were being taken. I chose Mimi’s Chopped Cobb substituting Bleu Cheese with Cheddar with a carrot raisen muffin and a glass of water. My Mom had the Blackened Chicken Caesar with a Buttermilk Spice muffin and a glass of water. The rest of the family had their choices which I wasn’t all that interested in because at that point I was exhausted. Aunt Rose arrived and the party went into full swing. The exhaustion continued as Mom and I barely engaged in conversation. We ate our food and pretty much sat there as everyone else talked. We aren’t the most social so this was going pretty much how we thought it was going to go. The dinner, like the day, lasted forever.

At about 8:50pm Gumps and Matthew left the table and made their way to Vans Skate Park. The plan, was after dinner we would go to Food 4 Less to pick up some supplies. However, the talking continued and continued. For awhile I thought there was a chance that I was going to die there. I texted Matt to see what was going on their and he said the skate park was packed and there was no parking. Eventually things were winding down at Mimi’s and we were getting up and preparing to leave. I get a text from Matt saying that they were done and where were we. I replied, that we were just leaving and to meet us at Food 4 Less.

Grammy, Aunt Sandy, Samantha, Aunt Rose, Uncle Corky and I are standing outside Mimi’s saying our goodbyes when Uncle Corky says something to me, jokingly? He says, “I read your missives on Facebook and all I can think is, you need to get a life.” I’m hope he said it jokingly but it’s one of those things that makes you wonder if he is only saying it in a joking way but really means it. I laugh it off with a, “I get that a lot.” and move on. To say something like that requires a lot of familiarity. He may seem familiar with me due to how much I post on Facebook, but I don’t share that same familiarity with him and therefore I’m somewhat taken aback by the comment. If a friend said it I wouldn’t think twice, but a relative stranger? That makes me pause and wonder if he’s being a jerk or not.

After I dealt with the awkwardness I felt, Grammy, Samantha, Mom and I og tinto the rental car and went top Food 4 Less. Aunt Sandy decided that she wanted to go back to the room and crash. Maybe it was the long day like she said, but I think it was the glass I wine she had…boozer, just kidding. We drive to the Food 4 Less and that’s when things begin to break down, quickly. The goal is to find a handicap spot and Food 4 Less is a popular place for tourist to get their supplies. The discussion regarding Van Accessible handicap spots arose.

In Oregon you have to have permit in order to park in Van Accessible parking spots. In Washington, according to Grammy who said that my Aunt Anita said that it was alright to park there. Apparently, what is legal in Washington is legal in California. The discussion became heated and it was continuing to go south as Grammy began to complain that it was too hot in the car. I firmly suggested she get out of the car and start her shopping as she tends to linger. The car became silent.

Eventually we found a spot and made our way into Food 4 Less where we were greeted by Gumps and Matthew who were hanging out at the entrance. They took our picture as we were walking in. Mom and I immediately went into our mode of shopping and broke from the pack. It was clear that the stress we felt in the car was becoming an issue with each other. Part of it was that we were exhausted and had just endured the longest day we had ever lived, and the other was Grammy’s silly, probably slight inebriation that cause us to turn. We bickered about the type of food we should get. I wanted to go healthier route will Mom wanted to “be on vacation.” I understand her point of view and after we calmed down in the middle of the store and realized the source of our frustration, we were able to continue.

Some of the highlights of the trip comes from me getting Manzanita Sol and mom getting Cactus Cooler. Each of those are essentials for us to enjoy the trip. We each picked out some candy bars and then got into the long line. The Food 4 Less clearly closes at 10pm because they started dimming the lights. A few folks behind us was Grammy and her selection of things.

In front of us… Alright, so on our last trip in February had us dealing with a woman and her missing coupons. This time the gentlemen in front of us had some serious issues getting his merchandise from the cart onto the register belt. It was impossibly frustrating. He stood on the opposite side of the cart take one item and then stretch over the cart to place on the belt. It literally to him forever to unload is rather full cart. Even when he thought he was done, he wasn’t; the cashier asked him if the things that were where kids sit also needed to be rung up. It took him a minute to take those things and place them on the belt.

I was so frustrated with the whole spectacle I practically scooped everything out of the cart and threw it on the belt in one fell swoop all the while saying under my breath, “I want out of here.” After the last trip with the coupon lady, I nearly about had it with the inhabitants of Anaheim, California. Were they all this way, a giant group of rejects who don’t have their act together? How is it that we would stumble upon two citizens that have no idea how to quickly and efficiently get through a register line. Even though his transaction was over, he still had to bag his groceries.

When he was finally through with his transaction, it was our turn. The cashier rang our things up quickly and I walked to the end of the register and began bagging our groceries. Let me tell you, I was able to get through bagging all our groceries practically before the gentleman before us was able to get one bag open. I wanted to punch him I was so frustrated. It probably had a lot to do with the events of the evening… Actually, I think I would have wanted to punch him regardless.

We get our things bagged and say goodbye to the few members of the family that we could immediately find and then make a quick escape. Mom are frantically trying to get out of the store to get back to HoJo’s where we can just go to our rooms and hopefully have a fresh start tomorrow. HALT!!! I noticed in the backseat as I we were about to drive out of the parking lot that Grammy had her leftover food from Mimi’s. I beg Mom not to go back. I didn’t want to have to deal with it, but she was right in saying that she just wanted to get it over with, because it would be more of a hassle later. She parks in the same spot as before, I get out of the car and go to open the back seat, the door is locked. I sharply wrap on the window to signal her to GET THAT FREAKING DOOR OPEN!!!! I swipe the food from the back seat and stomp into the Food 4 Less. I sport Gumps and Matthew standing near one of the registers. I walk over to them and slam the food down on the register belt and say, “Grandma’s food.” They laugh, and I wave and say, “See you later.”

We get to the hotel and into our rooms and I am practically in tears with how the vacation started out. My mom and I sit in my room after we distribute the groceries and we talk about the days events. Clearly the day weighed on me because so far it had been somewhat of a disaster. The interesting thing was it wasn’t about the people, it was about me and my perception of how I wanted the trip to go. It was the length of the day, it lasted forever. It was that I was insanely tired. My mom assured me that tomorrow you would feel different about everything, the room and the trip. At the moment I didn’t believe her, but she was right, the next day was perfect.

It was about a year ago when Cisco reworked the Flip Mino, adding additional storage and finally giving it the HD treatment and calling it Flip MinoHD. It was an expected move and one that needed to happen in order to keep up with the rest of the pocket camcorders that began flooding the market. Now, Cisco has completely reworked the Flip camcorder and has just released SlideHD.

The SlideHD works much like a slider phone, you slide it up and the screen transitions from record, to show, where you can show all your latest videos on the larger 3” screen. The SlideHD features a Touch Slide Strip to quickly navigate through your videos and the device can record a whopping 4 hours of video. Sadly that is where the innovation ends.

The slide gimmick is interesting, but it isn’t a feature that consumers really needed. The screen is bigger, but only by 80 pixels in comparison to the MinoHD. Although the increased capacity is great, the battery life still is only 2 hours between charges. The additional capacity is probably more for storing up to 12 hours of video in Space Saver format rather than recording 4 hours of actual video. However, more battery life would have been something consumers needed if they wanted to record 4 hours of video.

The MinoHD could have held over the public for a little while longer while Cisco really focused on innovating the market again. One feature I know I would have liked to see in this next Flip would have been WiFi. Having the ability to hit a WiFi spot and then upload my videos to Facebook, YouTube or even my Flip Channel automatically. The addition of an SD card slot would have been nice, to easily off load my videos if I’m without my computer. Maybe even elementary editing software built into the Flip to add captions, adjust color or add weird effects to my videos. At the very least adding image stability.

There was a lot that Cisco could have done with the Flip to take portable video to the next level of innovation. Cisco is about, “transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate.” The SlideHD does none of that, and for a company that pioneered networking, I’m surprised none of their expertise really shined through.

What is your take on the SlideHD? Do you think this is just the first step in a much larger plan for the device? What features would you have liked to see?

In just 9 days Script Frenzy begins, 30 surprisingly short days to write a 100 page script. It’s brought to you by the fine folks at The Office of Letters and Light who also thought up the torturous NaNoWriMo which takes place each November. I have done Script Frenzy each year since it’s inception in 2007 and have won in 2007 and 2008. There was a slight motivational problem in 2009, but I’m back and fiercely after a win in 2010.

What does it take to win? Sheer will. This is the type of challenge that requires everything you can throw at it. So much is just getting through it that you don’t have time to think about whether something makes sense, that just getting ideas down is what’s important. You have to check your inner editor at the door. Many times there is a lot going on in your life and taking the time to sit down and write 3-4 pages seems like a monumental task.

Some may argue that Script Frenzy is easier than NaNoWriMo, and I once thought that as well, but the fact is, it’s an entirely different beast altogether. Each has their advantages and disadvantages that make either one easier than the other. Script Frenzy is easier because there is less writing involved but the writing you have to do is all dialogue and there is little opportunity for exposition. NaNoWriMo is sometimes easier because you can provide as much detail as you want for the sole purpose of padding that 50,000 word count goal, but there is a lot of writing involved. Regardless, neither one is easy and it requires dedication to win either one.

Script Frenzy is also challenging because the formatting of the script is confusing to master. There are different programs that help with that and folks tend to use a program than try and write it on a word processor. I’ve used Celtx, a script writing program the last couple of years. This year though I’m trying a new program called Storyist that hopefully will help me organize me script better. Though during Script Frenzy, organizing a script is one of the last things one really needs to worry about. Other programs people will use is Final Draft and Scrivener both great programs. I tried using Scrivener for NaNoWriMo last year but, didn’t get very far in my novel due to motivation issues.

While Script Frenzy is challenging, the sense of accomplishment at the end of the 30 days is great. The only person you really are competing against is yourself, unless of course you decide to hold competitions with friends, family or those you meet on the Script Frenzy forums. Once you’ve won, you get some cool graphics declaring you’re the winner to put on your blog and a certificate to print out. The real prize though is the satisfaction that you did something that seemed impossible. No matter how hard it seemed and how many roadblocks were put in your path, you persevered and accomplished something you may never have thought possible.

Through the years new Pokemon games were released and rereleased adding more pokemon and different gameplay elements along the way. Now, there are a total of 493 pokemon for you to find, battle and capture. While the game has remained a staple in the hearts and minds of many gamers, the series is unfortunately becoming stale. Through the many incarnations of the game, the changes to the gameplay are minimal and there hasn’t been a real innovation since Gold and Silver were released in 1999 when Game Freak introduced the concept of day and night. Since then, that gameplay concept hasn’t made a return.

Sure, there have been different Pokemon games that spanned different game genres, but when it comes to the core Pokemon game, the one that many of us grew-up, or in my case grew older with, it has gone largely unchanged. Rehashing the same basic game limits the sustainability of the franchise; a bold statement considering Pokemon has been the most successful franchise in the history of video games.

What then should be done to reinvigorate the series? The game needs to be stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up. Game Freak should be looking at the technology at their disposal. They should be looking at how they can utilize the Wii and the DS as well as Nintendo’s online gaming capabilities. The series seems like it would be a fantastic fit to take advantage of everything Nintendo as to offer. Game Freak has experimented with interfacing the DS with the Wii, but ultimately it has been more than disappointing. Online gaming has been nothing more than trading pokemon and battling friends. All this needs to change.

The first thing they can do is bring the franchise, in its true form, to the Wii. While this may seem like an obvious progression for the series, I would hate to see the same stale gameplay also be brought over. Pokemon is 14 years old and the battle system is showing its age. The stilted turn-based battle system needs refreshing and ideally I would like to see it become more, dynamic. A variation of the Active Time Battle system seen in many Final Fantasy games would be a perfect fit for the series.

>When talking about games on the three major consoles, perspective plays an important role. Maintaining the overhead isometric view of the DS games severely limits the scale of not only the environments, but also the pokemon themselves which vary greatly in size. Therefore, choosing the perspective to give justice to these two important elements is tricky and could dull the experience if not done properly. When I think of Pokemon for the Wii I think of two distinct perspectives, first person and third person behind the shoulder.

A first person Pokemon game? I may be in the minority, but when I start a Pokemon game I name the character after me and I take on the role of the character; hence role-playing game. Arguably the best way to immerse a player in a game is through a first person perspective. A prime example of an RPG that takes advantage of a first-person perspective is the acclaimed game, Fallout 3. While I would like to see this happen, I think the best perspective for the game would be 3rd person, over the shoulder.

Third person games provide a great way to show scale. In the case of Pokemon, scale is so important, 3rd person, over the shoulder seems to be the ideal perspective. This is the default perspective for modern-day RPG’s and action adventure games. It shows the versatility and with regards to Pokemon, there are so many different visual elements that the series would benefit from it.

Beyond perspective and even battle systems, the biggest question of all has to be considered, open or linear. Pokemon is an extremely linear experience, you have a set path to follow and there is very little exploration, it’s almost impossible to get lost. I try and think about Pokemon in an open world environment and it’s difficult because it’s never been an option before. The Nintendo DS games are lush and colorful and to see that lush and colorful experience translated to an open world environment would be amazing.

Something else to consider is making Pokemon an MMO (massively multiplayer online game). This would expand the potential for the game immensely as well as defining how Wii to DS integration should work. Imagine playing through the game and coming across your friend, meeting up or even calling them using the Nintendo DS or even the DSi.

Wii to DS integration is necessary when talking about the next evolution of the franchise. It has to be more than just a visual controller, it has to be a connection to not only the game and many of the features but to your friends playing the game as well. The DS should be treated as a souped up Pokedex allowing the player to trade Pokemon, items and even interact with their friends.

Clearly there is a lot that can be done to improve the future of Pokemon. Many of us realize that playing essentially the same game over and over again isn’t enough to keep those who grew up with the franchise interested for much longer. Changes must be made and these were only a few ideas I had. What do you think needs to be changed? Does there need to be any change at all? Let me know.

Cloud computing is bigger than it has ever been. With the success of Netbooks and smart phones people are becoming more eager to discover what the Internet can do, and it can do a lot. Google has been a huge proponent of cloud computing and has done more to bring it to the main stream than almost any other company. With the vast success of Facebook, people are actively participating in cloud computing logging countless hours in games and communication.

There was a time when I hated the thought of cloud computing, but as time passed, I began to see the value. Here are my top 7 reasons why I love cloud computing.

1. No Discs

There is a lot of software on the Internet that is free, there are some that require a subscription, but if I don’t have to buy or store a disc, that’s almost worth switching right there.

2. No Installation

I hate installing software. Having once been a Windows user I would never truly know if the software was compatible with my system. Even if everything went perfectly, there were still hundreds of files copied somewhere to my hard drive that would eventually cause problems later. Now that I’m on a Mac, that isn’t so much a problem, still, installing anything is time wasted.

3. No Optical Drives

When all the content, media and software is delivered to you from the cloud, the optical drive becomes obsolete. I don’t know about you, but I delight in the opportunity to purge an expensive moving part that might have to be replaced.

4. Latest Versions

One of the biggest benefits of the cloud is that you’ll always be using the latest version of the software. Not only that, but when developers connect with developers to enhance software by fusing technologies the consumer gets a better product. We are seeing this all over the Internet and there are developers out their whose sole purpose is to enhance other products.

5. Access

Cloud computing means being able to access not only software, but also your files on any computer connected to the Internet, anywhere in the world.

6. Compatibility

Another advantage with cloud computing is the compatibility of the software. Whether you were working on a Mac, PC or other, all the software would work, look and essentially be the same.

7. Security

Security encompasses so many different aspects of computing. Depending on what the software or service allows, you can store your files, photos and basic information on their servers, enabling a higher level of security than most have on their own computers. In addition, storing files, off site ensures that you have your data if you were to suffer a fire, flood or hard drive failure.

There is productivity (Google Docs) and photo editing software (Aviary.com) on the Internet which are largely free to use, but we are still a long way off before we can make the full transition to cloud computing. There are a lot of obstacles in the way of a full transition, the first and most damaging is public perception. People falsely believe they own the programs they buy, so giving up that false sense of control to possibly pay a subscription to use an online version of Microsoft Word is a huge barrier. There are many obstacles beyond just public perception, there needs to be more developer support, hardware manufacturing support, and less ego.

What do you think about cloud computing? Love it? Hate it? Comment.

The final day of the vacation, a travel day and one that we don’t typically call a vacation day. We got up early and looked outside to see that it was raining. The thing about Southern California, it doesn’t sprinkle, when it rains, it pours. In Oregon we have sprinkles and deluges and everything in between and it happens often. California’s different, it may not for awhile, but then it don’t mess around when it does.

I was ecstatic to see the rain because it made me glad I wasn’t going to the park. That feeling and the rain continued all the way to the airport where we soared through security; there was no line, and rested in our chairs for 2 hours with nothing to do. I sat there and worked a little on my trip report then played Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on my DS and waited.

While waiting we heard loud children, crying children, and a loud, annoying family made up of mostly teenagers, just talking. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to getting on the plane. Then God said over the loud speaker, “We have first class seats still available for $50.” Done. I was waffling as to whether an extra $50 was worth a 2 hour flight and then I remembered all the people that would likely sit next me and said let’s do it.

We flew home in first class and it was so totally worth it. We tend to fly first class when we go to Walt Disney World; because it’s such a long flight, I like to be able to stretch out and avoid DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis). Plus, you’re not seated with the riff-raff, the unwashed masses, the poor. I’m only kidding… a little. They fed us a salad, carrot and celery sticks with hummus. It was delicious and like I said before, both my mom and I craved vegetables. I did however snack on a Snickers bar and a Reese’s Whipps, don’t judge.

The plane landed early and we were greeted by my grandfather who was going to drive us home. Even though it’s awesome to be at Disneyland, it’s wonderful to be at home. Though as I type this, I’m looking forward to returning in June with my grandparents, aunt and a couple of cousins. I both hope and dread there are moments worth mentioning, since I expect there to be more moments of family disfunction than anything else.

This was going to be a really long day, the longest of the trip and undoubtedly the best and most memorable. It was our final day and it really couldn’t have been better. The only bad thing about it was we had to leave at the ungodly hour of 7am because the park opened at 8am. We got to the park having ridden the dreaded tram, which we had to get on the second one because of how crowded the first tram was. We eventually got there and it was really easy getting through security and getting in a turnstile line.

We started in one line and then we were told that they would be opening another line so a small group of us switched lines to gain a couple more seconds in the park. Since we were so close to the front of the line, I told my mom that I would be racing to the rope so that I might be able to get some good pictures of the castle without a lot of people in my way. Now, we were in line at 7:30am and I asked my mom if they were going to open the turnstiles at 8am thus we would have to wait in line to get into the park for 30 minutes. She didn’t know for sure and was hoping that wasn’t the case, because she didn’t have a lot of standing in her.

A couple minutes prior to opening the turnstiles, well before 8am they got several guests, whether they were part of the same family or not, I’m not entirely sure, but they helped count down with Bob, an exuberant cast member who does his job well. Once they reached one we all poured through the turnstiles and there was a mad dash to the rope. Coming into the park I was one of those rushing, not running but definitely getting my cardio right up to the rope where I was able to snag a few shots of the castle. Sadly there were custodian cast members littering the area. That meant that all the shots I did get had someone in it picking up trash. Whatever, they blend in nicely.

We had agreed that my mom would go to Market House and grab us some coffee and we would take it in with us to Carnation Cafe for breakfast where we had priority seating at 8:10am. When I walked back, giving up my premium spot right in front of the rop to go find her, I noticed she was just standing outside. Apparently Market House doesn’t open the moment guests arrive in the park so we were coffeeless. While it wasn’t ideal, we both agreed that we weren’t going to get coffee at Carnation Cafe, so we could always get it afterwards if we really wanted.

We looked over at Carnation Cafe and we noticed that they were taking people already, so thumbing our noses at the priority seating we had we wondered if they would take us early. They did. We were seated immediately and in a better location, not next to another family and we ordered. Our waiter this time was Carrick, a waiter we had in the past who was nice and friendly. We’ve had Randy a couple of times before, Desiree once, but Troy several times. I don’t want to give the impression that they know us, they don’t since we only go a couple of times a year. But it’s nice to go and see the same faces year after year, and from what I understand, each of these waiters have been there for years.

We both order our usual the Mickey-Shaped Waffle, consumed, paid and left. My mom wanted her picture taken with Oscar, but he never made it around to our table before we were ready to leave. Rather than wait for him to come over to our table, we discussed that we already had a picture with Oscar from previous years. So another wasn’t really necessary, but it would have been nice I suppose to grab another one in a much better resolution.

After not getting the picture of Oscar, we walked down Main Street on our way to Fantasyland. I stopped by Enchanted Tiki Room to try and get a couple of photos of the attraction with the Adventureland sign with the hopes that there wouldn’t be anyone in front. That’s asking a lot and I realize it wasn’t going to happen, but still it was nice to try and I got some shots that were relatively barren.

I caught up with my mom and we made our way up to Sleeping Beauty Castle. We got up to the castle and there was a slight commotion along the bridge. I didn’t see what was going on until I looked down, there was a mommy duck and her ducklings making their way across the bridge. People were standing clear as Disneyland Security was escorting the ducks across the bridge. It was hysterical and so super cute. Naturally I had my camera ready and I snapped more photos than was necessary, but c’mon, they were ducklings. Disneyland Security mentioned that this duck was very protective of her young because in the past there were some people who took them in the past.

After gawking at the ducks we got into Fantasyland and finally had the opportunity to ride Snow White’s Scary Adventure. The ride lived up to all my expectations which were very low to being with. I don’t know know what it is about this ride that just doesn’t connect with me. I find the movie to be absolutely boring and having to go on a ride inspired by the movie. Plus the ride just ends, it goes from the death of the witch to a mural of Prince Charming kissing Snow White awake. I think the ride ends lazily.

We got off the lazy Snow White’s Scary Adventures and walked over to Alice in Wonderland. Nothing of real importance happened on this ride other than me using my flash a couple of times. Don’t worry, I didn’t use it where anyone, except my Mom’s experience would be affect. It was at the end of the ride where you see the Cheshire Cat for the last time and the tea party. They were a couple of wasted pictures because they both came out terribly. There is a lot to be said for the lighting in these rides, they definitely make the characters look so much better. Once you light up the area, it looks pretty bad.

Then we went to Storybook Land Canal Boats. This is a fun ride and it’s usually a nightmare to get on because it’s usually quite crowded. Thankfully when we got off Alice we spied the line and it was short. We were able to get on immediately and float through the mouth of Monstro, the giant whale from Pinocchio. I can’t say that it’s my favorite ride, but I like going through it and seeing all the scenes of the different Disney movies like, Aladdin, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and many others in miniature. The suspension of disbelief is sometimes ruined when you have giant ducks waddling through London Park from Peter Pan. I didn’t get really good pictures of the ride but like I said before, they’re memories regardless of how bad the picture is.

When we got off the ride we made our way to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey another thrilling ride. That was sarcasm. It has become somewhat of a tradition for my mom and I to take a picture of the first scene you come to where Pinocchio is on strings and dancing with the other marionettes. We both take this picture with a flash. This time while riding I was determined once again to get a good picture of Jiminy Cricket. We go through the ride and I’m spying all the Jiminy Cricket’s that pop out, glide down or just stand there looking scared. I passed these all without a second look, I knew exactly the Jiminy Cricket I wanted to take a picture of, with flash. It was the last one, the one where Jiminy is holding his “Official Conscience” medal. We come to him, I snap the picture with the badge and the picture looks terrible. Why? Because there is a lot to be said for the lighting in these rides. I knew there was no way I would be getting a good, sharp picture of him without the flash. Maybe I can Photoshop it.

We walked along the pathway to Frontierland and wondered what we were going to do. Along the way we found there was only a five minute wait for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. My mom noticed that FastPasses were available at 9:35am and we got in line at 9am. We were seated in the best possible location, row 15, the very last row. This is a prime location when you want to do the goat trick. Here’s a tip, you can ask a cast member to be seated in the last row of any ride. What the cast member will do is have you step aside if necessary and place you in that row when it becomes available. You usually don’t have to wait long, most of the time it’s the next train or car or whatever ride vehicle the attraction has.

Once we got off BTMR we wandered forward a few feet then decided we would ride Pirates of the Carribbean. We both were looking for rides that focused on long periods of sitting down. We tired of walking, and that was probably due to a couple of things, we were tired, but our energy levels were down mostly because of the diet we had adopted being there. We spent the better part of the week eating nothing but fried fatty foods. Don’t get me wrong, they were delicious but…

Pirates of the Carribbean was nothing special this time around. There were no annoying teenagers ruining the beginning of the ride for us, there was just the ride. I’ve noticed this on previous trips but, I don’t know if y’all realize it. The first time you see Captain Jack Sparrow he is hiding behind a dress bust form wearing a dress. There is a point when passing by it looks as though Captain Jack Sparrow is wearing the dress because of how everything lines up. I think this was intentional to add some light hearted elements to a rather serious ride. We walked through Adventureland in hopes of riding Jungle Cruise, but it was down.

We were done at this point, we made the decision to grab a cup of coffee and sit down at the hub and just enjoy the atmosphere. I suggested that we instead it in the Town Square because that is where all the action is. If you want a picture of or with a character, the Town Square is the place to be. We each got a cup of vanilla coffee from the Market House and made our way to the Town Square. We sat down in the exact right place. I’m totally not going to tell you because it literally is the watering hole as my mom put it for characters. It is such a good spot that the characters actually come to you. How does that happen? But first, let’s talk about Vanilla coffee; other than smell, I can’t tell the difference in taste between the vanilla. hazelnut or regular. I have a theory that I’ve applied in my life, sugar for coffee is like salt for food, it brings out the flavor. I’m just sayin’. I didn’t put sugar in this cup so I couldn’t really taste the vanilla.

We guarded this spot for two hours sitting there taking pictures of characters like, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale, Donald, Burt and Mary Poppins. Each practically walking right up to you and posing in front of you so you can grab an awesome picture. AH-FREAKING-MAZING!!!

Of course there were a lot of kids walking with them to where they would be standing for all the pictures and autographs they would be doling out. Occasionally there would be a line that formed right in front of you, but it was only for a maximum of 20 minutes and the payoff is worth it. There was one such line and a very memorable moment that I am very happy to have witness. There was a line for Pluto right in front of me, my mom had scoped out a spot to grab a picture of Mickey over in another secret spot, and there is was woman, her daughter and a service dog in training. I’ve seen a lot of service dogs around the park this time, I used to never see them, but I guess if there is a great place to help train a service dog Disneyland is a good place to do it. I watched the line move down and then I looked to my left and there was the service dog and Pluto bonding. The service dogs was excited, wagging his tail and sniffing Pluto’s face, who had knelt down to greet the dog. It was insanely cute. The dog calmed down and sat next to a kneeling Pluto who rested his paw on the service dogs back for a picture with the rest of the family. That was the most memorable moment I had in those couple of hours sitting there taking pictures.

I wondered what the cast members were thinking when they would see my mom and I taking a serious amount of pictures of each of these characters. They probably don’t think anything of it because it’s such a regular occurrence that they don’t even notice or remember. Or maybe they do and they talk about freaks with cameras who essentially are stalking characters. Whatever, I have a lot of pictures of awesome characters, if that makes me a freakish stalker, so be it.

We sat there until we knew characters would no longer be regularly available. It seems this happens at abut 12pm. Mickey goes to his house in Toontown and the other characters do whatever they do backstage. I know how my descriptions are sounding of these characters, but I’m just trying keep the magic alive.
We get our butts off the bench and walk around looking for a new place to sit down. We walked down Main Street and stopped in to the Main Street Cinema to see if they installed seats so people could sit down. We both knew that was unlikely because they don’t want people loitering in one place long, because if they’re loitering, they’re not spending money. We took a moment and watched a couple of seconds of the various classic Mickey cartoons begins shown and then exited. It’s a nice spot to escape because it isn’t crowded in there and it’s dark and cool.

We walked down Main Street and stopped in at the Market House and got a free refill of coffee and made our way to New Orleans Square by way of Disneyland Railroad where we would sit and take in more atmosphere. Our first choice was occupied, it was an area between the Haunted Mansion and Cafe Orleans, right in front of the train station. There was some sort of team building activity with teens going on. They were all holding hands around the fountain and there was a orange hoop and a green hoop. The object was to try to go through the hoop without breaking the link between them. It was fun and entertaining to watch for awhile, but there is only so much interest to be had watching a group of teens struggle through hoops. Then we heard it! Princess Tiana’s Mardi Gras Celebration.

This is a small show where Princess Tiana, the first African American Disney princess comes out, sings a song then takes pictures and signs autographs for all the little girls. We moved from our spot watching the teens build their team, and went to watch and take a couple of pictures of Princess Tiana. Then we just sat their and watched the hoopla. A little girl ran around and a pin dropped off her sash or shirt or whatever little girls wear. This super annoying older woman started yelling at her son or some relation to come and pick up the pin and give it to the girl. The whole scene reminded my mom and I of a situation while we were at Walt Disney World with my grandfather. He had found a pin without a back just outside the exit doors of One Man’s Dream, a movie about Walt Disney. He took the pin and didn’t want to turn it in so that the person who lost it would be able to recover it. My mom and I were shocked! He then tried to con a back to the pin at the nearest shop that was just around the corner. They were happy to oblige him, but they didn’t have any extras. We warned him that karma was going to get him sooner or later. At the end of the trip we were turning the car in, and karma showed it’s ugly face, it rewarded his deceit with another pin that was lying next to the car. It wasn’t fair!!!! If it had been me who did everything my grandfather did, I would have been punched in the face, bitten and spat at by a disturbed psychopath. As for the girl who dropped her pin during our trip, everything was recovered and the girl and her parents were very thankful.

We had priority seating for Cafe Orleans, the poor man’s Blue Bayou. We still had 25 minutes to wait for our PS, instead we thought we would just see if they would be able to take us early. We checked in, waited 5 minutes although it felt like 30 minutes because we were waiting next to this loud and obnoxious family. I maintained my back to them and just tried to ignore what was going on behind me, but I think the dad was playing keep away with his kids. What was he “keeping away?” An empty water bottle. Clearly, these kids don’t have much to be excited about at home, where an empty water bottle holds their undivided attention. Whatever.

We were seated outside right next to the railing so we were able to people watch, something I love doing. Although this time we refrained from making fun of people. There was a slight issue with the water that was given to us. It tasted like soap. We talked at length about how we should handle this. The first thing that came to my mom’s mind was to just dump the water into the flower bed we were seated next to. I didn’t because if the water indeed had soap in it, we didn’t want to kill the flowers that were thriving there. Another thought was that it didn’t matter if they gave us new water, because the glasses themselves probably made the water taste soapy. We then joked that we would lean over the railing and just drink the water out of the water fountains that were located right behind my mom. We laughed and joked about the water… clearly, we don’t have much to talk about where the topic of water holds our undivided attention. Whatever.

Ultimately, we decided we would do each get a diet pomegranate lemonade. We couldn’t have chosen a more unexpected beverage for our tastes. First, I HATE the taste of diet drinks. My grandmother always says that “hate” means “kill.” In this case I would gladly kill the diet taste. Weirdly we agreed to pomegranate, a berry that we are relatively unfamiliar with. I have at one time drank some pomegranate juice a long time ago and from what I remember, I didn’t not like it. We took a sip and it was alright, but it certainly wasn’t worth the cost. Thinking about the situation later in the day, we both were disappointed that we didn’t just ask for some different water and instead paid a premium for a drink that we didn’t find outstanding. That’s a lesson we’ve learned.

Beyond the lemonade we ordered one Monte Cristo and split it. In some restaurants in the parks they will charge a split-plate charge. the most notorious restaurant on Disney property is the Blue Bayou which charges $12 for an extra plate. You each get the sides, but still 12-bucks is a steep price, it’s more than half the cost of the actual entree. Cafe Orleans, the poor man’s Blue Bayou, does not have a split-plate charge. This allowed us to split the Monte Cristo and get two cups of delicious gumbo. For dessert, we ordered the Mickey Beignets with two sauces, vanilla and berry. Everything was great, we had a great table, the food was delicious and if it wasn’t for the water and pomegranate lemonade fiasco it would have been perfect.

Following our meal we took the train to Tomorrowland to ride the Monorail and take in some of the other attractions. They have new monorails since the last time I was there. There are two, a red one and blue, they are very sleek looking and the new seating arrangements are interesting. In the middle of the car we got in, they had a bench facing the windows. This is a great benefit for people who like taking pictures, at least it would have been if the windows weren’t tinted a rose color. All the pictures I took have this rose colored tint to them which is super disappointing. I was able to reach the open portion of the window above the tinted, but it was so difficult because you have to remain seated the whole time. At Walt Disney World, the Monorail is a form of transportation so you can stand up, like you would on a bus. It could be because of how the attraction is classified that certain rules need to be in place.

We rode the loop and headed to…you guessed, Captian EO! I’m not going to go into again, how awesome this is, but compared to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, it’s genius. After getting out of Captain EO we got a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and then headed over to “it’s a small world”.

I don’t like cheerleading. I can’t say that I don’t like the individuals who participate in cheerleading, but the culture of cheerleading is annoying. So much so that I want to stab myself in the ears and eyes with a fork whenever a group of cheerleaders come together. Which brings me to our “it’s a small world” experience. Cheerleaders were in line with us and in our boat. Just listening to their squeaky-cheerleading-teenage-girl voices made my skin crawl. Their laughs, their…everything was just annoying. My mom and I endured it like champs. We both paid close attention to the music around the Disney characters we couldn’t hear before and still couldn’t hear, not because of the cheerleaders but probably because there was no music attached to them.

We used our FastPass for Buzz, and then headed back to the Market House for another cup of coffee, and for me, my favorite cookie. We both got decaf. I’m finding, in my old age, that too much caffeine gives me a headache and makes me ill. We took our coffee to the Town Square. My mom bought a bucket of popcorn and we sat on the benches and watch Mickey & Minnie for awhile. The first time they were out, they were together and offered autographs and pictures to those in line. It was all standard fare until a group who were in their early 20’s came up dressed like rock/punk with a little goth thrown in. One of them had a scepter with a skull on it and he handed it to Minnie Mouse, Mickey looked at it, covered his eyes and cowered in fear, shivering. It was super cute to see this reaction. After getting over it pictures were taken and they spent a little more time with them than usual offering another picture of them while sporting the sign of the horns.

I found that to be rather interesting decision on the characters parts, this gesture has a very sordid past. While many believe it to be just an innocent hand gesture, it was heavily promoted by Anton Lavey, the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan. In some countries, if you point that gesture at someone you are effectively cursing them. Though in this case it was referencing the “Metal” culture, that culture isn’t known to celebrate positivity and has instead embraced the darker side of life. Needless to say, I was surprised and of course snapped a photo.

We sat their a little long and watched as the characters go back in and then immediately come back out for more pictures. This time they separated and each had their own line. We watched a little longer and then decided it was time to go. A sad moment for sure as this was our last day in the park, however, we felt we had done it well and satisfied with what we came to do. Our goals? See Captain EO numerous times, have more Dole Whips, Cookies, take advantage of the free refills of coffee, ride some rides, and just take in the atmosphere. Mission accomplished.

We left the park, a bittersweet moment and headed back to the hotel via tram and car. Once arriving back at the hotel I bummed around transferring photos to my computer and just waiting for things to happen. My mom checked in for our flight for the next day and we walked to the lobby to print our boarding passes. There were people using the computers and so we decided we would have dinner at Mimi’s and use the coupon my mom was sent for her birthday.

It was busy! There was a 25 minute wait to get a table. We sat down and looked at a menu while we waited I decided what I wanted and then began working on my trip report using my iPhone. I don’t mean it sound like I wrote it, but dude, any phone that lets allows you to blog is totally worth it, especially if you do trip reports. You can, and I have worked on this report while at the park, waiting in line, sitting on a bench, waiting to get a seat. It has, during this trip been an invaluable.

I decided to get a Cobb Salad without Bleu Cheese and subsitituted American cheese instead. I don’t like dressing so I had it dry. My mom got a Blackened Chicken Caesar salad. Each entree came with a muffin. Neither of us finished our salads because we wanted to try the dessert. This is where things get a little awkward. We both definitely wanted dessert and so my mom ordered the Triple Chocolate Brownie and the waitress said, asked if she wanted the petite size, my mom said no, this was the last day of our vacation and she wanted to splurge. I ordered the Classic Trio Ensemble which included petite sizes of the Bread Pudding, Triple Chocolate Brownie and Apple Crisp of some sort. It came and we were both shocked. These desserts where relatively inexpensive and yet, what was brought to our table could have literally fed a family of six.

Before the deserts came, my mom and I joked about the how big this brownie could be. I laughing suggested it be about two inches thick and roughly five inches square. I kid you not, it was almost exactly those dimensions. This brownie was gi-FREAKING-normous and it included ice and whipped cream. It was crazy!

I powered through my dessert pretty quickly so I could get as much down before I would feel fuller than I already was from the salad, which I didn’t finish, and the cookie I had only 2 hours before. First I tried a bite of everything and then started on my sensiblish brownie. I didn’t eat the ice cream because I could get Vanilla Bean ice cream anywhere, I focused solely on the dessert. Brownie, done. Apple crisp thing, done. Bread Pudding, not done. I didn’t finish the bread pudding because the texture reminded me of scrambled eggs and I didn’t find that appealing for a dessert. Maybe I was looking for any excuse to not finish it.

We boxed up all the left-overs (muffins the rest of my salad and the rest of the brownie) in the misguided hopes of eating it the next day. We both knew it as never going to happen. We headed back to the hotel to print our boarding passes. We walk into the lobby and there were a brother and sister on the computers looking at the Facebook page. We knew how this was going to end, Facebook is crack no matter how old you are. We didn’t expect these kids to be off for quite awhile. My mom and I sat on the bench sitting right next to the boy. He caught the drift and asked if we needed to use the computer. My mom said for five minutes to print something out, and he logged off. It was only a moment later their parents came in and called them over. We printed the passes and headed back to our rooms. I worked on this trip report and then called it a night.

I woke up feeling good but then began to deteriorate as the morning progressed. After eating as much garbage as I did, I’m not surprised, I just wish it didn’t happen on day 5 of our trip, my mom’s birthday. Even though I was feeling bad I took some meds and was able to go to the parks. We left only 20 minutes later than planned so we didn’t miss much and there reached a point where I thought the moving around would make me feel better than just lying in bed suffering.

We left, and got to Disney’s California Adventure in the standard 30 minutes it usually takes to go 1 mile, went through the turnstiles and made our way around to Soarin’ Over California. The wait was too long and so we decided to each get FastPasses and come back later. We instead moseyed our way to Paradise Pier to ride Toy Story Midway Mania. It’s quite the trek to the back of that park. When I think about it it I’m always amazed that the park was built on this giant parking lot. I remember going in 1993 and having to walk from what was then the Saga Inn and now is the Ramada Main Gate to and from the park and just thinking how expansive the parking lot was. Now, it’s a theme park.

We had to wait a little bit, but you know what? The wait time to get on Toy Story isn’t as long as it used to be. I remember going when the attraction first opened and seeing the line at 70+ minutes and the line stretching around to almost to the entrance to Paradise Pier. I don’t think the ride is any less popular, I’m sure it has something to do with attendance. The attraction is so well made and designed that once you ride it you can understand why it’s so popular.

The first time through I was skilled enough to land me in the top 3 for the day with 200,700. Throughout the ride I thought I was doing terribly but that’s a pretty high score for me. I suppose I don’t pay close attention to where I usually stand at each of the different games I come across, but that makes these kind of victories all the more exciting a satisfying. The second time through… I should mention that I continuously take pictures of Mr. Potato Head with each time I go through the line. As I was saying, the second time through I was completely knocked off the leader board, but not by much. If I had grabbed another 5000 points I would have been back on the #3 spot. The thing is, I’m never disappointed, as it just feels nice to have been on the leader board at all. Both my mom and I can only handle two rides on Toy Story because our arms can only take so much constant and furious action. By the time we get off the ride we are in agony. Disney should post stretching exercises that guests can do prior to riding. I would imagine people would be in less pain.

After pausing for a quick bathroom break I suggested we go on Mickey’s Funwheel. I was wondering if my mom would even consider it again after her first time on it the day before. Surprisingly she agreed, and we made our way down the boardwalk. We got in line for the non-swinging gondolas and got on the attraction. My mom was nervous but as we rose to the top she realized it wasn’t as bad as the first time she rode. The important thing to remember is that you should focus in something else if your doing something way out of your comfort zone. She focused on taking pictures, as did I. I’m always looking to take that perfect picture up there and I don’t even know what it looks like, I’m just hoping to hit it one time. It’s difficult because they put that grating around the cars. With my other camera, the lens is so small that taking the picture through the grating was easy, with my new camera it became increasingly more difficult so I had to mess with things on the camera that I’m not used to and don’t really understand how the work. I think I’ve got some decent photos but what do I know.

We got off the ride continuing our way around Paradise Pier over to Mullholland Madness. We weren’t going to ride it if the wait was too long. This ride reminds me very much of a ride in an amusement park here in Oregon. I think they’ve since taken the ride out to add more thrilling coasters in it’s place. We basically walked right on and I had forgotten just how cozy the ride vehicles were. The seats literally hugged every inch of me. Before I let anything get that close to me I usually have to ask if they’re a cop and get cash up front. The ride was rough and we both agreed that this would be ridden only once.

At this point we were both feeling a little hungry, but because we remembered how full we felt, we wanted to take it easier this time with the food. Rather than get another meal we decided to instead go to the Mission Tortilla Factory to get my mom another 3 tortillas. The factory was practically abandoned and nothing seemed to be in working order. I think we only went through and appreciated the exhibits once, but I’m pretty sure the little video-people in the wall moved and talked. They weren’t alive this time. Also, the cast members were cleaning one of the machines so they were not in full production of tortillas; however, they were handing out corn tortillas.

We took the tortillas and sat outside at some picnic benches to eat them. Once we finished we thought we would go into A Bug’s Land and take some pictures of The Hollywood Tower Hotel. An interesting tid bit of information for you, when you are in A Bug’s Land look up at The Hollywood Tower Hotel and it will feel like you are the size of a bug standing in the “front yard” of the hotel. It’s a really interesting feeling because how the imagineers planned it, it does make you really small.

We walked completely through A Bug’s Land. It was nice that they opened up the back end of the land so you could walk through into Hollywood Studios. I don’t know why it took them so long to do it because A Bug’s Land was always this giant nightmare walking through. The thing is, there really was never anything there that an adult would really enjoy other than the interesting theming and seeing for yourself the incredible shrinking feeling. While there still isn’t anything for an adult to see, it’s a nice little shortcut to Tower of Terror.

My mom and I don’t ride Tower of Terror anymore because, it isn’t fun. We used to ride it every time we went, but there reached a point where we just didn’t want to do it anymore. We weren’t having fun and that was a time when we thought that we had to ride everything to get the most out of our trip. No longer, and so Tower of Terror was one of the rides we “dropped”.

To our delight as we were walking past Aladdin: The Musical we saw that it was going to start in 15 minutes. We had originally planned to see it on the first day we arrived, but were too exhausted to wait for it to start. This time though, we took the opportunity to see it. Originally we were placed in the Mezzanine, but because my Mom has trouble climbing stairs they stuck us in Orchestra. Like being stuck in Orchestra is a bad thing. This was the closes we had ever been to the stage and it was a different experience than we usually have. We typically are placed in the Mezzanine so we normally get to see the flying carpet sequence. This time we didn’t get to see that aspect of the show very well, instead we got a close-up of Aladdin on the elephant.

It’s kinda weird to be able to make out distinguishing characteristics of the actors. In addition, and I’m going to ruin some magic, you see cables a lot easier, you see the actors fall through the floor, you can tell the difference between the Aladdin that’s on stage and the Aladdin that is on wires, and you can see that the actor who plays the character at the very beginning also plays the Sultan. With all these different things that you notice, it in no way ruins the experience. It’s still a well produced and well acted show and should be a definite must see when you visit, while it lasts.

After Aladdin we walked over to Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue! This was one of the best experiences we had that day and probably one of the most memorable one of the trip. We get in line behind a father and his sons and what appear to be friends of the father and their children. One of the father’s son, Jackson is freaking out, crying and begging his father not to make him get on the ride. this literally goes on throughout the entire time he is in the queue. They try and try to convince him that it isn’t scary, but Jackson wasn’t having any of it. He apparently only wanted to see plays and didn’t want to go on rides. My mom and I both wondered what ride he rode that made him so terrified of rides. The friend of the family told him it was a play and Jackson believed him and calmed down, literally a few seconds later they told him it was a ride and he began freaking out again. This child was so scared that I thought he was going to literally die of fright. His father asked him if he wanted to go home as a threat to get him to comply with just getting on the ride and stop making a big deal out of a ride that wasn’t scary. Jackson, so frightened that he said he did want to go home and his father laughed, bluff called. Good for you Jackson! We get closer to the loading area and cast member comes around asking if there is a group of two, I raise my hand and we were ushered to the front of the line. We were a little disappointed because we wanted to see how Jackson experience played out.

Once we got off the ride, we hung back and waited for them to disembark to see if little Jackson survived the frightening world of Monstropolis. He was smiling and hopefully it made him less frightened of rides in the future. As for my mom and I? We walked over to Soarin but stopped into Taste Pilot’s Grill to see about some lunch. It was too crowded in there and so we opted to use the FastPass for Soarin’ we got earlier. It just reaffirmed my belief that even with a FastPass your wait time is considerable. Regardless of the wait, we got some premium seats, Gate B, Row 2. I don’t know what they call it, but we were in the middle section, B in the second row. I know this is debatable, some people think that being in row 1 is better because you don’t get feet, but I contend that in row 2, you don’t get the curvature of the screen. I think you get a better wrap-around experience.

Getting off the ride, we again checked in to Taste Pilot’s Grill so if the line had gone down, it didn’t and with that we headed over to Disneyland to find some. We debated on what we wanted to eat. We had to make the decision fast because we were running out of time before we had reservations for Big Thunder Ranch and the feast they were preparing just for us… and everyone else. We talked about getting a hot dog at Refreshment Corner, but we were dying for something green and salady. We knew they had salads at Red Rockett’s Pizza Port, we made our way through Tomorrowland and saw the mass of people eating there. I suggested we see Captain EO first and then eat but my Mom said then it might be too late to eat and still be hungry for Big Thunder Ranch. She was right, the day was moving fast and it was already only a few hours before our reservation. Having lunch now was pushing it.

Pizza Port was crowded but we got and shared a Chicken Caesar Salad. It was the best thing I had ever tasted, and I think it was the same for my mom. It had been so long since we last ate a salad that it felt good and right. It was like the planets aligned and everything in life was finally becoming clear. I’m not even sure how good the food actually was, it probably was the worst tasting salad of all time, but I had no frame of reference, but it was what we needed at the time.

After lunch we took on Captain EO again. We just can’t get enough of this movie, it is just so corny and funny and people’s reactions to it starting are boisterous as well as the first time they see Michael Jackson on screen. Plus, the movie is amazing!!!! We got some great seats this time; we were in the middle of the theater and and there were absolutely no one in front of us. It was the best showing yet. The theater was full and it has been consistently full for each of the showings. After he movie finished my mom and I did something that we’ve been wanting to do for a couple of days, see back to back shows. We walked out of the theater, went around the corner in to the entrance and saw the next showing. What surprised us was that I think we sat in the exact same seats as we did the first show. If not, they were really close. The only difference this time was that there were some people in front of us. Considering we had no one in front of us the time before, it was acceptable.

We went to “it’s a small world” and rode that again. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love that ride. I love it more than ever. This time however I am now madly in love with it because I discovered something that I never noticed before. While riding in the second room we passed Alice and the White Rabbit on the right side and I heard something that was very familiar and then it hit me, Golden Afternoon was subtlety playing in the background. I told my mom and she listened for a song from Cinderella on her left immediately following Alice and she said she heard Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and then Pinocchio had I’ve Got No Strings. Later on there was A Whole New World playing when you come across Aladdin, Jasmine, Carpet and Abu. I think those were the only four we could hear. I thought there would have been more, considering there were so many characters. I was expecting something from Mulan like Reflection, and something from Toy Story when you come across Woody, Jesse and Bullseye. Maybe we are just missing them because of the strong “it’s a small world” theme playing over everything and children crying or talking. There are just so many levels to that ride now.

We got off the ride with something else to be excited over “it’s a small world” about. But the day had to progress. We were running out of things to do, and quickly so we thought that maybe the folks at Celebration Round-up & Barbecue at Big Thunder Ranch would take us early. The important thing is we had reservations for dinner and we weren’t sure when that actually started. We didn’t want to be stuck with the lunch menu because it didn’t have polish sausage, and I loves me some polish sausage. We get to the Ranch and and make some small talk with the host and they checked us in and we only had to wait a few minutes before they showed us to our park bench.

The show was already going on and I could tell immediately what this was going to be like. We sat down and watched the show, there were very big on audience participation and I told m,y mom that this was very similar Hoop-Dee-Doo Part 2. Even though Hoop-Dee-Doo was more of a production and this was just 3 people singin’ some country songs and tlaking with the audience, it was nerve wracking cause I didn’t want to be a part of the show, I just wanted to watch it and eat. It was a while before our serve came to get our drink orders and tell us what we wee going to be eating that evening.

Everything was served family style, meaning they would bring buckets of food and you would serve yourself. On the menu was, ribs, chicken, polish sausage, baked beans, cole slaw, corn and corn bread. The menu was very reminiscent of Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue nearly exactly the same except for a few minor things. It even tasted the same to me, they must have the same supplier. The show continued and they brought up some kids to join the show. What they did I can’t remember, so it must not have been that awesome. We got our food and the iced tea we ordered quickly and it seemed the show was over. It wasn’t one of the performers came around the tables and interacted with everyone, our worst nightmare was going to come true and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. You don’t come to these things without the expectation of having to talk to people, and that is something I hate. I don’t want to interact with someone everyone in the place is paying any attention to.

There was a guy playing the guitar and going from table to table grabbed a couple of kids and brought them up to the stage to help him with his song. He had one of them hit the triangle at specific moments in the song. The kids did very well and it was hysterically funny because the kid kind of knew what he needed to do, but wasn’t quite understanding that he wasn’t supposed to hit the triangle until the pause in the song. He would just tap it repeatedly, then he understood and started getting really into it and was doing a really good job. There was a woman taking pictures with a serious looking camera, a Nikon D3. This thing was no joke and it is for the serious professional. From what I could gather, she was employed by Disney, because after the kids came off stage a cast member with a clip board came to that family’s table and talked to them. I’m wondering if they are going to use those pictures for any promotional material.

We continued to eat and the guy with the guitar once again made his way around the tables and eventually came to us and asked if we were hungry. I honestly don’t want to go into the whole conversation because it is one that I don’t really want to remember. Thankfully the interaction only lasted a few moments and he was on to some other sucker out there. We finished eating and we ordered a couple of Cowboy Cone Cakes. These are cupcakes in a waffle cone. More specifically they take a waffle cone, put some sort of frosting at the very bottom, put in a spoonful of cherry pie filling then add the frosted cupcake. They bring it out in the giant, GIANT metal display holder that looks like a present that’s been opened and these Cowboy Cone Cakes come springing out with streamers. It looks ridiculous and more than a little embarrassing. It didn’t matter how embarrassing the whole spectacle looked, the Cowboy Cone Cakes were delicious and sine this was going to be the only time we would be doing the Celebration Round-Up & Barbecue, it was worth the extra expense to get them.

While everything about the experience was good, the cost of it all was not worth what you might get out of it. For the both of us with tip and tax including out 10% annual pass discount came to $80. That is a lot of money and probably would have been better spent towards the Fantasmic Premium Seating package. My mom and I did that last year and it was awesome and if Fantasmic was playing during our visit this year, I know I would have preferred that more.

After the barbecue we were both spent and full and we wanted to leave. So we walked around Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and took some pictures with the moon. While walking, I spotted a plane flying overhead and I thought that was unusual because after 9/11 I thought that was no fly zone. This was no small plane this was a commercial airline flying overhead, so I grabbed a couple of pictures…why? I don’t know, I just thought it was interesting. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen planes or helicopters flying over Disneyland, it happens more than I would have thought. But we continued to walk out of the park. I wanted to pause and take a picture of Enchanted Tiki Room while my mom continued to the front of the park. I caught to her and we were right in front of City Hall and that is when we were snagged.

We were snagged by a cast member wanting to survey us on our experience in the park. It was tough cause we had only been in the park for a couple of hours and so many of the questions we were asked we had to say, “Did Not Experience.” That was one of the options. I know this isn’t all that interesting but the next bit is. I look past Dorothy, the cast member that was conducting the survey and I notice there is a woman older, I wouldn’t say elderly but maybe in her 60’s lying on the ground. I inform Dorothy and she turns and you can tell that she felt torn about what she should do.

I spot another cast member helping the woman and say, it looks like she is already getting assistance. Dorothy seemed relieved but I know she was wondering how this was going to impact our experience. I mean she is surveying us on our experience. She continued the survey and then I hear a faint, “DOROTHY” coming from over where the woman was lying on the ground. I tell Dorothy that she is being called over and Dorothy turns to the woman and then turns back to us and thanks us for our time and runs over to the woman.

My mom and I turn and walk to the exit talking about what had just happened. Dorothy was clearly in a predicament. I’m trying to think what I would have done if I were in Dorothy’s position. I think I would have ended the survey and went and helped the other cast member deal with the fallen woman. I would hope that a guest would understand that helping someone who was hurt would be the priority. I don’t fault Dorothy for her decision to continue with the survey, she probably thought the other cast member had everything under control and if she was needed than she would be called. It seemed logical.

My mom and I thought about another time we witnessed someone take a spill in Town Square. It was about the time Finding Nemo Submarines had opened and everyone and the grandmother, which was literally the case for my family, was there to ride the attraction. There was always a mad dash to get there and I think they didn’t even do the rope drop but you were just able run to the ride when you got through the turnstiles. Well, this woman was running, in flip-flops no less, and took a dive head first. I thought this was funny, even though she got hurt because she was doing two things she shouldn’t have been doing, running in the park and running with flip-flops on.

That’s is my general rule, if someone is doing something they shouldn’t be doing and they get hurt doing it, then it’s funny. If they are seriously injured, then it isn’t funny. This lady wasn’t seriously injured she got right back up and continued on so everything was fine, but dude, if you’re going to break the rules you are going to have to suffer the consequences, getting hurt and having people laugh at you, it’s just the reality of the situation.

We exited the park and suffer the tram debacle. I freaking hate the trams, and I know I’ve said it a thousand times. It took us two trams to get back to the car and when we finally I felt a huge relief. I was feeling better, I had some vegetables during the day and it turned out be a good day.

The day started well enough, we left the hotel and headed over to the park. This was a Disneyland day and we were going to try and get into Carnation Cafe this morning rather than have lunch there later in the day. We had never had lunch there so we didn’t know what the menu was going to be like, plus I would have rather had a hand-dipped corn dog at the Stage Door Cafe than try something new at Carnation Cafe.

We get into the park and make our way down Main Street to Carnation Cafe. The first thing that strikes me is there was no one in line and there were only a few people seated. I’m not used to seeing this and I was surprised more people weren’t taking advantage of the no wait to eat. We are seated almost immediately right next to this other family. When I say right next to, I mean nearly to the point we we could share condiments and conversation.

I like the fact that the same server’s are there every time we go. We got Troy this time, a server we’ve had in past years, but looking around I recognized nearly every face there. It’s weird and goes to show the type of employer Disney is when people stay for so many years. From what I’ve learned from them all, they all love it there.

We each ordered the Mickey-shaped Waffle and we were served quickly. I looked onto Main Street while we were eating and I thought that we might actually finish before the rope drop. As usual Oscar came around to the tables and made sure everything was going alright as did our server Troy. We were able to get through our breakfast rather quickly, though we were not able to finish before the rope drop. I think that worked to our benefit because then we weren’t involved in the rush to the attractions and since there wasn’t anything planned initially it didn’t matter that we weren’t the first in line.

We paid, and set out into the park. Our first stop was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. The night before we talked about what attractions we would like to ride repeatedly and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was definitely one that we wanted to ride. While this is a popular ride it isn’t the first one that people flock to so as we walked up we could see that it was only a five minute wait. We walked on and there were these two kids who… I’m not even sure what they were doing. They were walking through the queue hesitantly,as if they were looking for someone. My mom and I wanted to blast right through them, but cutting in front of a couple of kids is generally frowned upon at Disneyland.

Finally we reached the loading area and they just stopped dead in their tracks. This was the last straw, there wasn’t anyone in line, they should have just got on the ride, my Mom and I blasted past them, I saw they turned and never boarded the attraction. Whatever, their loss. We rode the ride and I did terribly, 390,000+ points. I just couldn’t hit Zurg which gives you 50,000 points each time you hit him in the right spot. I walked away frustrated with my score. Before reaching the exit I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed LGM was on the board. I’m so used to seeing LGM with really high scores and I noticed it was a really low score, then it got me thinking, is LGM even a real person? How could one person have such a wide variance of scores. Then it got me thinking again, could they stand for something indicating that the player didn’t enter their initials into the computer?

We made the loop and boarded the attraction again, and this time I was on top of my game. I hit Zurg a couple of times and left that room with 260,000 points, I didn’t do too well throughout the rest of the ride, but in the last room the ride stopped right in front of a triangle target. I hit that thing continuously until I reached 850,500 points. That is the highest score I think I ever got in my life. I walked away extremely happy, this was one I was definitely going to send to myself so I could forward it on to everyone I know and post it on Facebook and Twitter and any other social network I have.

After riding Buzz we headed to Captain EO. This time we were determined to get a seat further back and near the center of the theater. We got in the queue and stood at the side. Normally cast members will urge guests to move all the way down and around to the right to fill in all the available space. They do however open the side doors allowing people further back in the line to enter the theater at the same time those who are further along the line. It is these doors that offer the best chance of getting a seat near the rear of the theater providing you with the best possible viewing angle to enjoy Captain EO the way it was meant to be enjoyed, without the headache and temporary blindness. It has to be said, Captain EO gets better with every viewing and you also begin to see the flaws. My mom mentioned that Michael’s jacket opens and closes all by itself.

Following another awesome viewing of Captain EO we walked around to Space Mountain where we looked at the wait time and considered it to be longer than we wanted to wait. My mom sat down on a bench while I walked up and got us each a FastPass and walked back. I noticed when I got back that the doors into the theater playing Captain EO were still open and thought that it would be possible to exit the attraction and then immediately enjoy it again without waiting! I told my mom this and she agreed that it would be possible and that we should try it sometime.

We realized we hadn’t explored anything past New Orleans Square including the Haunted Mansion and Critter Country. To remedy that we took the train to New Orleans Square, along the way trying to take flashless pictures of “The Grand Canyon” and “Primeval World” all of which were hot blurry messes, but again, they’re memories. We also grabbed a photo of those heads that are stored in the back of New Orleans Square. I always wondered why those were there, what sort of decorative value do they hold other than being kind of creepy.

We got off the train and went to the Haunted Mansion feeling a few raindrops on the way. There was a time when we would only go on this during the holiday’s so we would only see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, which is ironic because that is usually the treat, for me it’s a treat to see it without an overlay. I kind of like the original better because I like when you go to the outside scene with all the ghosts and tombstones and then you see those busts singing “Grim Grinning Ghosts”. The overlay, instead of having busts, has pumpkins singing, this is something else that’s ironic, because you wouldn’t expect pumpkins being used for a Christmas overlay. I look for only one thing while riding this attraction, and that is see which place setting they make the hidden mickey in the dining room sequence.

I’d have to say that the scariest part of that ride for me, is right after the dining room where you go into the attic and there is that ghostly bride who killed all her husbands. That bride looks so creepy and seems to be the most realistic ghost in the bunch, you know, cause I’ve had so much experience with ghosts in my life. Either way that room gives me the shivers.

We got off the ride and it had been raining thankfully it had stopped raining but the ground was still wet and slippery. I know what you’re thinking, because I mentioned it being slick out there you think one of us bit it. We didn’t, but it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. We did carefully make our way into Critter Country so my mom could use the facilities and then she could talk herself into and then out of going on Splash Mountain. The wait time for the ride was only 5 minutes, but getting wet on a cloudy, cool day wasn’t as appealing as the 5 minute wait.

Instead we opted to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I don’t understand why people don’t like this ride, it’s better than Snow White’s Scary Adventures and Pinnocchio’s Daring Journey combined. We got in line and once we reached the loading zone we were place in the front row while a man and his young daughter where placed behind us. She made the executive decision to trade places with them so that his daughter would be able to see better. He thanked us and told his daughter to thank us as well. Whatever. Alright, she was kind of cute because she had good manners.

We go through the ride without incident but then we come to the end and the doors open and then we see it. Raindrops! It’s raining and neither of us are prepared for such weather. I mean, they’ve been threatening us with this weather all week but saw nothing of it, then all of a sudden, smack dab in the middle of our vacation it decides to rain and we left our ponchos in the car, a 45 minute trek and tram ride. I suggested that we just buy some ponchos, but we had talked about sharing a funnel cake at the Hungry Bear Restaurant.

Instead of buying a poncho or walking then riding a tram to the car, we walked the few yards to the Hungry Bear Restaurant, unintentionally stalking the gentleman and daughter we gave our seat to on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to eat and take shelter. We got in line and ordered the funnel cake, first though there was some heated discussion between my mom and I about which funnel cake we should get. I wanted to get the Chocolate Brownie on and my mom continually tried reminding me how we felt after we had it the first time. I didn’t care, if we were going to spend $5.49 for a funnel cake I want to get my as much for my money as I possibly can.We got the Chocolate Brownie Funnel Cake at my behest and we sat down to eat it. We easily got through it and we both agreed that it wasn’t as bad as we both remembered. I remembered that we each probably got our own the last time and that’s why it made us feel terrible. Here’s a tip, share that funnel cake, you’ll thank me later.

I mentioned on a previous day that I bought the iPhone app, Wishing Stars and now that we weren’t following an itinerary and we didn’t have anything on the docket we thought it was a prime opportunity to do one of these quests. We went through some of the quests available on the app, and wanted to choose one that didn’t require a lot of walking because my mom just didn’t have that much walking left in her. We started with a Medium quest entitled Disney Photo’s. We looked at the photos of the items we needed to find and noticed they were spread out throughout the park, plus ust looking at the photos we knew exactly where each of these locations were.

We went back to he drawing board and picked a different quest, one that was a little closer to where we were, so we chose New Orleans Shops. I’m sorry, but this was listed under Medium quests and yet it was ridiculously easy and we were able to get through it in about 10 minutes. Keep in mind that my mom doesn’t walk very fast so if she was able to hobble her way through this quest in 10 minutes, you can only imagine just how easy this quest was.

After completing the quest we sat down waiting for the disappointment to wear off and discussed what we were going to do next. It was decided that we would go to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and see what the line looked like. While on our way my mom suggested we see what time the next show at the Golden Horseshoe was, it was going to happen in like 10 minutes or so, but I needed to go to the restroom first. I had two choices of restrooms, the always crowded Adventureland restroom or the one by Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante which is less crowded. I didn’t choose the Adventureland restroom and I’m glad I did. There was a man and his son who were using the restroom, the father had just finished helping his son and told him to go wash his hands, the boy said, “But I don’t want to wash my hands!” Dad responded, “You always have to wash your hands!” I thought that was funny.

I walk back to the Golden Horseshoe and my mom gives me the bad news, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies don’t perform on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s. Of course they don’t why wouldn’t they be available to perform the one time we want to actually see them. It doesn’t matter, it isn’t really our type of humor so while it might have been amusing to watch, I don’t think we would have truly enjoyed it as much as we would have liked. We sat for a little longer while I worked on my trip report via my iPhone and my mom was updating her notebook. After a few more minutes we got up and made our way to Big Thunder.

The wait for Big Thunder was short, so we rode it and then got off and rode it again. Both times we practically walked right on. However there was a slight misunderstanding. The man in front of us in line the first time we rode, said there was seven or so in his group, but his group wasn’t together so the cast member thought we were a part of the seven and put us in a row that was reserved for this family of seven. There were a few moments of confusion and once everything got straightened out we ended up in row 9, a better row than 5, 6 or 7.

I find it absolutely annoying that people don’t keep their group together. It is vitally important that you all get in line together and stay together. This is becoming a theme with people that think they can have part of their group go out and ride an attraction while another member waits in another line. Worse yet, when you can’t keep your family together while you’re in the same line is absolutely ridiculous! It not only affects your ability to get on the ride immediately, but it also causes confusion for others in the line as well as the cast member trying to keep their counts and rows straight.

The second time through Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we were placed in the last car. The last car on a roller coaster is the best because it’s a more thrilling experience. You’ll notice that when you go up a hill you gain speed at the top because the front of the train is pulling you down the hill even before you reached the top. Plus, you’re whipped at every turn more fiercely than if you were in the middle or in the front. I have the bruises to prove this (that’s an exaggeration).

We walked off Big Thunder and decided to go on “it’s a small world”. It’s funny to me that I would always dread going on that ride, but ever since they made the updates to the ride, I find myself looking forward to riding it. We walked the path behind Big Thunder, and that’s a great place to find Woody and Jesse from Toy Story 2 hanging out. I got a couple of great shots of them together without any annoying kids ruining the shot. Jeepers, kids just have no courtesy when it comes to getting in people’s shots.

We get in line for “it’s a small world” and get on rather quickly. For some reason the lines for this ride are so short. We have been able to get right on or on within a couple of minutes throughout the entire trip. This time, I was going to attempt to take some pictures. Throughout the entire ride, there was a man and his father in front of us, and he was taking pictures with his flash. This is generally frowned upon. But you know what, I’m freaking tired of taking lousy pictures on these rides. I, for once in my life, would like to take a decent photo of these stupid dolls. Because I’m courteous to others, I don’t. So what I’m stuck with are a bunch of blurry photos. Sure I could play around with the settings of my camera, but I’m not quite sure how to do that yet.

After taking a bunch of blurry pictures, we got off the ride and headed into Tomorrowland to once again see Captain EO. We decided that we wanted to see this as many times as we could, because we didn’t want to look back and think, “I wish I had seen Captain EO more.” Honestly, how often do you look back and you say to yourself, “I wish I didn’t do [insert attraction name here] that many times.” Probably very rarely or if at all. We walked into the queue and sat down got good seats because we know how to work the system, and sat there enjoying yet another showing of Captain EO. This time I watched carefully how many times Michael Jackson’s jacket went from him ripping his jacket open to it mysteriously closing. The total? Five. Five times it went from open to close. One of those times, the jacket mysteriously opened by itself and closed by itself. I understand why this had to happen. How else were they going to show Michael ripping his jacket open unless they somehow closed it.

Following this final showing of Captain EO we stopped to see what the wait was like for Star Tours. I don’t like Star Tours, because there is a moment that near the end where I don’t think the ride and the movie sync up well and it makes me feel uncomfortable. Plus I rode that ride so many freaking times in my life, that it’s a movie that I’ve seen and I’m just not interested in seeing it anymore. Although I did read in a book they are selling on property called, Disney Challenges where you can see a blast from Disneyland’s past somewhere in the film. It might be worth checking out, but I’ll probably wait until the next trip to do it.

Realizing the line for Star Tours was longer than we were willing to wait, 15 minutes we moved on to Frontierland where we were planning on enjoying another hand-dipped corn dog at the Stage Door Cafe. I could sit here and talk about how awesome and delicious it was, although I was struck by the young cast member that took my order, his name was Leland. I thought that was a really interesting name, and he was rather an interesting fellow. He was upbeat and asked about where I volunteered, I told him we volunteered at our public library and then the conversation changed and it turned to the weather, he mentioned that he was stuck inside and would rather be outside, I didn’t blame him, it was a nice day out there.

The order came immediately and I took the food to where my mom was sitting, along the edge of the eating area so we could watch people as they walked by. I had a difficult time finding the condiment cart since it wasn’t in it’s usual spot. I walked all the wat to the River Belle Terrace to grab setups and mustard. I feel weird going into an establishment to raid their supplies when I didn’t purchase anything there. I don’t know why, but it feels like buying something at McDonald’s and then going to Carl’s Jr. and raiding their condiments. I know it isn’t anything like that… or maybe it is, I don’t know.

While we were eating the topic of little girls dressed in princess outfits came up. The whole discourse had us almost rolling in the floor we were having such a good time silently torturing these poor young girls. We were considering going up to them and telling them, “You don’t look anything like Cinderella, because Cinderella has blonde hair, and you have brown. So in order to maintain the integrity of the character we’re going to have to ask you to give back the costume. We went on and on talking about this and coming up with different scenarios that we could use. We even talked about people with Mickey Mouse ears on and how since they weren’t mice then they shouldn’t be wearing ears. It was just so fun to be talking like this and secretly coming up with ways to ruin peoples experience at the park. Of course we would never do it, but it’s fun to just think about it.

We made a very quick stop into Westward Ho Trading Post to glance at pins, then we walked back up Main Street, first stopping at the hub so I could snap a few shots of the castle and the Partners statue. Then we continued on our way to the Market House to get a coffee and a cookie. There we met a woman who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. I’ve found now more than ever people engaging us in conversation. After telling this woman where we were from, she told us that she met her husband at University of Oregon and they moved to Seattle. Her husband isn’t liking the weather in Seattle so he’s trying to move them down south. She got her coffee and left. We met up with her briefly at the coffee preparation bar where she said she might see us again!

We took our coffee and cookie to the Town Square and sat down on the benches. Characters were all over the place and I had to go take some photos. Then most of them left and out came Chip who walked right past us and stationed himself right at the flag pole. He was being followed by some people, but then Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy came out and everyone abandoned Chip and raced over to the group of popular characters as did I and I snapped some poorly framed photos, but I have them or parts of them in some of the pictures.

They were all getting on the Double Decker bus and riding it up and down Main Street. As they were getting on there was a large group forming to get pictures and ride the bus with them. Chip was standing over by the flag pole by himself. I took a break taking pictures of Mickey and his pals and went back to my mom where I grabbed a bite of my cookie and took a sip of my coffee. Now there was a line for Chip who was then joined by Dale and Pluto. Because the line was right where my mom and I were sitting we decided to move. We moved to a location where we could see Chip & Dale and Pluto interact with the guests and have their picture taken.

We sat there for a while watching people and I grabbed some more photos of Mickey and his pals, they leave and then come back I grabbed some pictures of them trying to get off the bus, which was awkward. I thought that they all might then immediately go backstage so I briskly walked to where they disappear but to my dismay they decided that they would take some photos and sign some autographs.

The autograph books. I talked to my mom about this. I wondered how the characters felt about providing autographs to guests. You look at Pluto and the drama he has to go through just to sign his name, I thought what a pain it is, and whether they dread having to do it. I think it’s a super idea and I have even considered on occasion buying a book and getting their autographs too. It does hold up the line, and since they are only out their for a limited amount of time, I don’t necessarily think it’s considerate to others to hold up the line so someone can get a character’s autograph. Really, I don’t stand in those lines so it doesn’t matter to me personally whether someone asks for an autograph or not.

I came back and then we gathered our things and went into the Disney Gallery and checked it out. Looking around I saw a couple of things I wanted to get, and considered seriously next time I go in June to pick some art up, not that we have any room in the house for more Disney related framed “art”.

Upon leaving the Disney Gallery we noticed that the characters looked to be wrapping things up and so I raced over once again to where they disappear, joined by my mom where I attempted to take some decent photos of them without people polluting my shots of them. My mom seeing the potential of the pictures that she could take whipped out her camera begrudgingly and began snapping as well. I got a couple of good ones but, I’m generally unsatisfied with the results. Next time though, I know what I have to do, be prepared and get closer. Don’t rely on your zoom to get you close, it’s never close enough. I’m going to freaking get right up to their giant furry faces and snap some quality pictures.

We left shortly after that , but first we had to grab a refill on the coffee. It was roughly 4pm and the park was closing for a private party at 7pm. If we were to stay we would have just wandered and complained so we decided to call it a day and hit the trams before they got crowded with people all thinking of doing the same thing. It was a good thing we left when we did because shortly after arriving at the hotel I started feeling really nauseous.

If you look at what we ate throughout the trip so far it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I was feeling sick to my stomach. The only vegetable I ate the entire trip was a total of two stalks of asparagus on day 2 of the trip. That was it. The rest of the trip was filled with garbage and fried food and talking about the sheer amount of food I had on this day I was lucky to not be keeled over dead of a heart attack. I began feeling better at about 7:30pm. I remember because I remember how I felt when Kathy tried to spin out of turn on Wheel of Fortune and I jumped out of the bed I was resting on and mocked her to her face.

I worked on this trip report shortly after that then my mom and I called it a night. I went into my room and I have a tip for you. The TV’s at the Howard Johnson’s have RCA jacks in the back and so I was able to hook my iPhone up to the TV to watch a movie. You’ll have to dial “00” to get to the channel that will display whatever you have hooked up to the RCA jacks.

That was Day 4.

I wrote this when I was tired and so some/all of it may not make sense. I didn’t proof it because it’s long. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.