Indiana Jones Ride Renovation
One of the primary things that Chris and I were excited about in regard to our trip to Disneyland last week was the opportunity to ride the
Indiana Jones Adventure: The Temple of the
Forbidden Eye ride – I knew that it had been scheduled for renovation, something it greatly needed after 17 years of operation.
Not that the ride was not fun anymore, but there were certain elements that were, well, just plain worn out looking, or non-existent.
Instead of heading straight over to Indy, we ended up going to Space Mountain first, and then got sucked into Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (my thoughts on that ride will be in another post)
It was late in the day before we moseyed over to Adventureland to ride Indy.
Through the Adventureland gate we went, our excitement reflected in our quick steps, shining eyes and goofy grins… around the bend, we’re almost there! GREAT SCOTTS! NOOOOOOOOOO! A large temporary barrier was spanning the whole of the queue courtyard entrance, with a sign saying that it was temporarily closed! Tears began to well in our eyes as it dawned on us that this may very well be the first Disneyland trip we have taken together WITH NO INDY!!!
With stunned disbelief, we looked at each other in that horrific moment. NO INDY! This can’t be! It won’t be a proper visit to Disneyland without our beloved Indy!!!!
Chris was the first to shake himself out of his shock induced paralysis… he whipped out his phone, and before you could say “Bob’s your uncle”, he had found a ray of hope, glimmering through the high-res screen of his iPhone…
“Oh!” he said… “Indy will be opening on Friday, according to a few sources on Google”. I gave a hoot of happiness and said “are you sure?” Chris showed several sources – I then declared Friday to be “Indiana Jones Day”, determined to ride the thing as many times as possible to make up for almost a whole week of not being able to ride.
Tuesday, Wednesday… then Thursday… it was Indy Day Eve! We consulted Google once more to see if any info had changed – people were still saying Friday, so we kept our hopes up.
Thursday night back at the hotel, we discussed our game plan for the next day… “No early entry for Disneyland tomorrow, so we sleep in a little, grab breakfast and then head straight to Indy.” Upon waking on Friday morning we greeted each other with wide toothed grins and exclaimed “INDY TODAY!”
Take shower, brush teeth, quick makeup – I was ready in 15 minutes. Off to breakfast! We had a hearty breakfast at the Rainforest Café there in Downtown Disney and discussed how the day would go. Chris brought up a very good point – “What if it doesn’t open?”. I looked at him incredulously – “Nah. It’s been closed for 4 long months. Unless something went very wrong with the mechanics of the ride itself during renovation, they have to open it… right?” My confident opinion that it would be open just took a mighty blow, and my steadfast belief that we would get to ride that day suddenly started to waver a bit.
We finished breakfast, and gingerly headed toward the front entrance… through the security check – there is the courtyard! The lines to get in the gates weren’t too long, and soon we were speeding toward Adventureland, and INDY!
Through Adventureland, rounded that last bend in the path and NO! There are cast members out front of the ride queue saying that they “don’t know if anyone will get to ride today” – the barriers were down, and some people had lined up anyway. Chris and I also got in line and stayed for about 5 minutes until their insistent chatter of most likely not being open finally drove us away.
We decided to go to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain and Star Tours, and then decided to head back to Adventureland to take a peek…
There was a small line, and it was MOVING! A small “whoop!” of excitement escaped my lips and I grabbed Chris’ hand as we swiftly moved forward…. We get to ride! Then, horror of horrors, the man and his son in front of us were stopped. OH NO! In my head, I could hear Darth Vader Shouting NOOOOO!
The sweet cast member closing off the line explained that they were only letting a limited number of people on as they were still testing the ride.
Chris and I decided to stick it out, as did around 30 other people. They moved the line over against the retaining wall to the right of the queue entrance, where many of us promptly plopped our behinds down and whipped out our various mobile devices, hoping beyond hope that they would deem us worthy of being more than willing passengers on the next test run.
5 minutes pass… then 10… a nice cast member came over and struck up a conversation with us, started because of the “Just Married” buttons that we were sporting on our sweatshirts. (they gave them to us at check in at the Grand Californian when they learned why we were staying for the week) We spoke of weddings and college, San Francisco and Indy movies. Like most cast members she was very pleasant, but this lady was beyond nice – she was super fun to talk to! For the life of me I can’t remember her name… only that it was unusual and ended in ly, and I remember thinking that it was an interesting name to stick an “ly” at the end of.
After 5-10 minutes of chatting, she excused herself, explaining that she needed to “go get an update”. Quickly she walked away, and less than a minute returned to talk to us more… this time, she said that she loved chatting with us, and felt badly that we had waited in line so long… that’s when she handed us one of the go-to-the-head-of-the-line passes that they give you if you’re stuck on a ride and it breaks down. She explained that the pass was good for most rides in the Disneyland Park (darn! No good for the new Radiator Springs Raceway in the new Cars Land in California Adventure – oh well, still happy to receive this!) With a wink, she said “Not sure when we will get to let you guys on. Enjoy your pass!” Within 2 minutes, they opened up the queue, and I’m estimating roughly that 50 of us happy guests were escorted inside!
Chris and I were one of the first groups to get into one of the cars.
The air was electric with excitement! As we were boarding, I noticed there were some big wigs standing about taking note of how things were going, no doubt assessing how things were working now that the ride had a complete overhaul.
We were on our way! Into the Chamber of Destiny we go… which door would we be lead through? Ah! The Fountain of Eternal Youth! Through the chamber, around the corner and into the awesome ride that we have come to love so well!
We ended our ride with cheers all around our vehicle – as we stepped out, we noticed the big wigs smiling and even a few were laughing… we made sure to thank a few on our way out, and they heartily thanked us for riding!
On our way down the exit halls, Chris and I were talking about the changes to the ride when suddenly I realized that he had stopped talking and had this HUGE grin – apparently I was talking so rapidly in my excitement that I had rattled on for a couple of minutes! SO MUCH had been improved and I was really stoked about that.
There were SO many things improved! Here is a list of things that I noticed:
- Queue line railings have all been replaced. Well, MOST. There were a few that you could tell were older (ones that I had noticed were replaced on our last visit in May of this year) but they were recent replacements anyway.
- The “support” pole in the spike room has been fixed! It no longer has a permanent bend, and you no longer have to yank on it with all your strength to activate the dropping ceiling.
- All of the murals in the queue have a fresh coat of paint. That must have taken FOREVER to touch up, since they were all hand-painted to begin with!
- The scrims have all been repainted, and are much more vivid than they have been in years. Mara’s glowing/flashing eyes at the end of the first chamber halls have been fixed – they also have fog coming out of them again like they used to.
- All of the lightning effects as you head toward Indy in the Tunnel of Torment have been improved, and it looks SO AWESOME! More lightning, and it’s brighter. I’m guessing they are using LED’s to backlight those now, but I don’t have confirmation.
- The mist at the Gate of Doom where Indy is at the end of the Tunnel of Torment is back! Also, the green light emanating from behind the gates is brighter.
- Everything that has black light reactive paint has been re-painted – everything glows properly again! Also, paint/effects in general have all been touched up or re-painted.
- The Mummy Chamber looks awesome again! The skeletons and mummies that pop out at you really are popping out again, instead of barely going half way.
- The puffs of air in the Bug Room work again.
- The Pit has a better lava effect and the proper amount of thick steam (fog) hanging about again.
- Also…. FIRE! The pyrotechnics in The Pit as well in Mara’s eye are back! Not having those for several years really took away from the ride experience in my opinion.
- The Snake Temple room looks grand again, and the Cobra actually dives at you once more. Also, his fangs are popping down/out toward the front of his mouth instead of being stuck to the roof of his mouth like they were for so long
- The bridge over The Pit has been widened on each side – not long before we rode, a cast member told us to watch for that. They explained that they had to make it compliant with California State laws so that if the ride broke down and there was a vehicle on the bridge, guests could easily and safely be evacuated. The bridge widening is not going to be evident unless you’ve ridden the ride many times before the renovation, and you’re looking for it. It didn’t add to or take away from the experience.
- The Skull Room back lighting is better, and the scrim of the ghost/skeleton to the right of the backside of Mara and above you has been touched up and is much brighter.
- The Rat Cave fog effect has been fixed.
- The Dart Room paint effects look eerily improved! New paint, and I SWEAR that I don’t remember a glowing chamber door to the right at the very entrance of the room. Is that new, or do I just not remember it? The puffs of air that are to resemble darts whizzing at your head are working properly again, and they puff so hard that it blows your hair!
- The Rolling Boulder effect has been greatly improved, largely due to the ball actually rolling again (which it had not done for a VERY long time), and also the improved lighting effects really added to it.
We were VERY happy with the renovations! It seems that there was a lot of love and care given to the renovation of this beloved ride, and it really does show!
Chris and I rode it several times more that day and evening, and did we get sick of it? No way! We were so happy that we were able to see all of those wonderful improvements, and so thankful to get to experience the ride on the last day of our honeymoon. Perfect way to end our trip!
Back to Blogging!
The time has come for me to start blogging regularly – actually it’s past time, and I am determined to keep the blogging up, especially since I’ve just moved to San Francisco and I want to record all of the adventures I encounter in my new life here with my husband! Packing up my home was bittersweet – happy to be newly married to Chris, but also leaving my family and dearest friends in and near the city that I have always lived in.
In the process of packing things up, sorting through belongings to decide what to give to charity was the hardest part, but the farther into the process I was, the easier it became.
Anything that was not used within the last year or two was given away and it felt so freeing to see all of those stored things go away! It’s also a nice feeling to know that my donations help to keep people employed, too.
In all, I donated 3/4 of my possessions and I don’t miss any of it!
It was a little stressful to prepare to leave Portland, but little did I know what would happen just before I was scheduled to leave town.
Monday the 7th was spent loading my section of a UPak trailer from ABF Freight. Chris (Sacco) and Daniel came over to help, as did my Dad so things were loaded very quickly. In fact, we had it loaded within 3 hours, so ABF was able to pick up the trailer that same afternoon! ABF was courteous and the whole process went smoothly.
As it turns out, packing things up would be the easy part.
That night was spent at my best friend’s house, even though he wasn’t home from Hawaii yet.
Tuesday the 9th I woke and began to get ready to go back to my place to get the odds and ends still left in my townhouse packed up and taken to Goodwill. While I was in the middle of eating a bite for breakfast, my Dad called to say that he was calling an ambulance for Mom to go to the hospital.
She would not fully wake up and could not talk – she had been sick for a week with some sort of “stomach flu” and at the time we wondered if the illness was getting worse.
Mom was in the hospital from last Tuesday (the 9th) until Sunday afternoon. She had been vomiting for almost a week, and that morning woke up un-able to communicate with my Dad.
They took her to the ER, and admitted her to the hospital. She had become dehydrated, and because of the stomach bug she had, her sugar levels had risen quite dangerously (over 300 points). That, coupled with infection that had spread into her bloodstream affected her brain function severely. There were several of us there in the room with her for several hours that night, but she didn’t remember that at all.
All of that took about an hour with the four of us unloading (the two hired men and Chris and I). It would not have taken that long if we had not had such a long walk through the parking garage! They made it sound like we could unload everything onto the dock and then right up an elevator… well, the dock was taken up by large trash bins and recycling bins, so it didn’t leave us much room to unload things directly ponto the garage floor behind the trailer. We would take some things out, stack it up, and then start carrying or wheeling things through the garage, up a short ramp to the next garage level, walk several yards then turn a corner and go into the elevator area. Phew! We were all very sweaty and tired after all of that, but at least it went quickly.
Off I go to run some errands!
Sunset at Rose City Park
An open sky filled with clouds is a common sight in the big field at Rose City Park, but perhaps less common is a spectacular sunset.
Gentle clouds quietly shifting shapes and colors reminded me of many evenings spent just as this one – sitting on the hill above the park field watching the sun go down, and then finishing the evening with a twilight walk.
This evening was especially precious to me, because it will be one of very few more that I will be spending here in this manner. Soon I will be leaving the city I have called home all of my life, and the neighborhood that I have embraced for the past 7 years.
I’ll be leaving my favorite spots to watch the sun set, my favorite places to take twilight walks. Late summer twilight walks around the golf course alone are one of my most beloved things about living here. The owl will no longer linger in the tree next to my favorite place to watch the bats fly amongst the trees. No longer will I be able to walk a few steps out of my door to this wonderland (it may be a golf course, but it became special to me). I’ll miss the bunnies and the foxes, the bats and owls and the songs of a host of crickets. I’ll even miss being a bit afraid as I gingerly walked in the closely forested areas on the path as I watched out for the coyotes.
I have been blessed to live here, and I have so many precious memories like this to take with me.
Jonquils in Rose City Golf Course
Wow Spring has sprung! FINALLY some sunny weather around here allowed me to take a little stroll through the golf course near my house and snap a few pics of the flowers that are beginning to bloom.
Testing The iOS App!
Here’s a pic I took in Hawaii three weeks ago! I’m happy to be blogging again, hence why I chose the smiling Mario World-esque cloud pic.
Just trying out this app for now… I’ll make a post of more substance later. 🙂
ReRave Is Coming… Get Ready!
ReRave - Coming March 10, 2011! GET READY!
Looming on the horizon is the fast approaching release date for ReRave – get ready! It’s going to blow you away!
More details to come!
ReRave Review…. Coming Soon!
It was my intention to write about my first impressions of ReRave gameplay tonight, but a bit of other work took up more time than I had originally planned, so the review may be delayed by a day or two. I promise it will be soon!
For now, I will say that after two nights of play, ReRave has completely taken me in – I’m totally blown away!
I can’t wait to sit down and do a proper review!
Shattered Nails
A week ago, I walked into Ulta, hoping that they had OPI’s new Katy Perry line… NO ONE in the Portland/Vancouver area had it, and I heard that Ulta was going to get their shipments before anywhere else.
I decided to head over to Ulta on my lunch hour… I shot straight to the “special” polish display where they keep all the limited edition colors – no Katy Perry! Gah! I MUST have that new polish! I looked at the regular section where they keep the standard colors… nothing. I quickly walked toward the front of the store to find an employee…. there it was – the special display next to the door that I walked RIGHT past.
Quick scan…. ooooo shiny glitter! noooo FOCUS! find what you came for…. scan, scan…. YESSSS! There it was…. Black Shatter – THAT is what I came here for! I got lucky, this is their last bottle! …head straight for the counter… check out….. NOOOOO I have to go back to work!
Work work work….. slow clock EEEESH hurry up! Tick tick tick goes the clock…. slooooooooowly the afternoon drags on…. one more hour left…. now half an hour…. OOOO fifteen minutes and then YESSSS! time to go home!
Drive home…. come on traffic! Walk in the door, change clothes…… put on two coats of shiny polish….. huuuuurrry up and dry! AH! Now it’s dry and time for the BLACK SHATTER! I eagerly applied to the first nail…. hmmmm, it covers all the way and it’s drying… when does it shatter? Oh wait…. THERE IT GOES! OOOOOOOOOO! That was fun to watch and it looks awesome! (should have taken a video – maybe next time!)
I brushed it on from base to tip… next time, I might try applying it on in a wave, or maybe diagonally or horizontally and see what it does!
First testing of OPI's Black Shatter Polish
Weekend Fun and Creativity
As per usual, this weekend went by much too quickly for my liking. I am just not ready to have the work week start again.
Another low-key weekend for the most part… I ended up going to both Big Al’s locations to play PIU Pro 2 and see two sets of people – lots of fun! Saw a few people at the Beaverton location that I have not seen for a few months, then went to the Vancouver location to play with Daniel and ended up running into two people that I met at Sakuracon last April when Chris and I were there to promo Pro 2.
Earlier yesterday, I decided to try out a marbling method for fingernails… it basically works the same way that paper marbling does.
It got kinda messy, and it took me a while because it was my first time trying this. I experimented a bit with re-dipping, and that didn’t turn out so well… I had to re-do a total of 4 fingernails. I think that with a bit more practice and experimentation with masking off my fingers (too much polish to clean off of my cuticles when I was all done) it will go a bit more quickly and smoothly.
Here is a bit of the process:
-
- First step – drop polish onto the water
-
- Feathered Polish
-
- Dipping my finger in!
-
- Marbled Nails!
VERY Quick Update
No time to post much right now as I am about to head out the door to meet some people at Beaverton Al’s…
I got creative with my nails today – I’ll write about that either late tonight or tomorrow!
Wow. Just…. Wow.
*insert heavy sigh here*
This day brought a heavy dose of frustration. Not such a cheery post from Boo today, although I refuse to remain in this frustrated not-so-happy state because that’s just not my nature.
Posting here is not high on my things to do right now. I think I’ll go exercise my frustration out. *trots back to the Pro 2 machine*
Fun With Friends
Last night I spent around 4-12 hours at Big Als, a bowling alley/arcade/sports restaurant/bar…. doing my usual thing (since I’m a horrible bowler) – playing Pump It Up Pro 2.
It was much needed fun and exercise time – I played for four hours straight… boy did I need that. It’s been a stressful week.
My friend Quinn who works there was actually working a shift when I was there! It had been around two weeks since I had seen him, and spending fun time with him definitely made my day. About halfway through the evening, Jeremy, Daniel, and then Carl showed up, all within 5 minutes of each other. Alex came last, and I decided to film a bit of the fun.
I decided to take video of Daniel and Alex playing the song Monkey Fingers in Routine mode. (ugh, a song that I strongly dislike, but it has an interesting chart) At this point, anyone reading this is either a PIU player or knows about PIU, but on the off chance that anyone else is reading this who has no clue what Routine mode is I shall explain.
When dance games are played by two players, they traditionally stay on their own set of pads… in Routine mode, players switch sides according to the step patterns displayed on the screen as they scroll upwards towards the target arrows at the top of the screen.
Take a look at the video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8r4yktlz1g]
No Post Yesterday!?!?!
EEP! I ruined my (small) posting streak! Today I will post twice – right now about today and later about yesterday.
Today was a not-so-great day, but I’m turning the evening around! I’m relaxing now while dinner cooks… well, as much relaxing as you can do while your’re having to go back to the stove.
Weather was practically warm compared to the last couple of weeks of temperatures in the 30’s. It must have been 50-something today, and I was absolutely craving a nice long hike.
Nope, I don’t even care that it would be muddy up on the trails. A long, strenuous hike is exactly what I needed and wanted today, but that will have to wait for a new pair of hiking boots. 🙂
See, I’m NOT Crazy!
So… remember the jellyfish cloud I mentioned in my earlier post tonight? WELL….
It so happens that my friend Karl Chavarria has a friend, Jim, who works with him in Downtown Portland, not terribly far from where I was at lunchtime today, and HE (Jim) took a picture of said cloud!
I think the cloud next to it looks sorta like a Metroid. Take a look at the JELLYFISH CLOUD!
Sewing And A Dash Of Frustration
Sewing was again the theme of the day, but this time all did not go as planned.
Numerous problems with my sewing machine made things very frustrating and resulted in me not finishing today’s project. I did end up correcting the machine problem, but lost the desire to continue with the work. Probably tomorrow night I will finish “the project”.
I’m not naming “the project” for fear that the intended recipient of said “project” will read this and have a surprise spoiled. Once it’s finished and shipped and I have confirmation that the recipient has received, then I’ll post a pic or two. 🙂
I ended up spending the last two hours watching The Scorpion King, which I did not watch when it was released. I wish that I had watched it with Chris because the two of us would have had good fun mocking this horrible movie. It’s not even good in a campy way… I do have to wonder if it was written with the intention of being humorous or tongue-in-cheek, but they failed miserably. Ah well… it still has the entertainment value of mockability.
Relaxing Day
It was nice to take a day to do crafty things.
I had a sock monkey body started earlier in the week, so today I sewed on all the extremities and such – I think he turned out rather cute despite his obvious flaws! I suppose that’s what gives him character.
The monkey liiiives!