Alrighty then... the site has been down for a few days, as I've exceeded my disk space on the cox server and blogger wouldn't let me publish anymore, and since my main page is run on blogger, the whole site got caught in limbo. For now, the musicbox is gone. I'll move things aorund when I get a chance. Now lets talk about last saturday (this'll stay on my main page unless/until I decide to publish it's own page).

Got picked up at around 6:45, headed over to pick up the twins, we got there a bit early so we sat in front of their house while neal took pictures. Drive up to anaheim went fine, no one killed anyone else. We got to the resort in record time and had some time to kill. Ate at McDonalds, did laps around the resort and such, Neal learned the roads around the park, etc. Plenty more chance to see Tower of Terror up close, but I refrained from freaking out. Parked the car, walked downtown disney for a while, browsed the bookstore, watched little kids throw pennies into a killer wishing fountain (killer as in, deadly). The park was slated to open at 10, so we started to walk towards the front gates as it was 9:20. To our surprise, the gates were already open when we got to the front entrance. Whatever. It was nice, as most people weren't aware the park was already open, it wasn't very crowded. Immediately we walked down Hollywood Blvd and towards tower.

The line was only a 20 minute wait, but we got fastpasses anyway. It seemed to move much quicker than 20 minutes. The gronds all around the new attraction are very well done. It's not as creepy without the overgrown vegetation like at Florida, but the street atmosphere made it feel more authentic, like a real Hollywood hotel. We continued throw the queue and into the hotel. The lobby was amazing, as were the rest of the rooms in the hotel. What was really cool was the boiler room. The rides story has you explore the basement level of the hotel where you board a maintenence service elevator. The room is very creepy, filled with stuff to look at and be entertained by. Neal and I argued about whether the libary had taken us underground (like the haunted mansion at disneyland does). I say it doesn't. And I'm right. The elevator was really old and creepy looking, and it seemed that Laura was able to keep her cool all the way until we were seated and the doors shut. The beginning of the ride is very startling and disorienting. Without ruining it, I'll just say that this elevator can do a lot more than a normal elevator can. The ride was a lot of fun, and though it was missing several things from the WDW version, it had plenty of new special effects and there was one moment of the ride that was truly terrifying (and yet still a lot of fun).

After that we headed down to Soarin' Over CA and rode that. While Tower was a lot of fun, I have to say that Soarin' is still my favorite ride at DCA. So beautiful. We took fastpasses for that after getting off and then went back to tower to ride it again. Still a lot of fun the second time. We had some time to kill after that before the Soarin' fastpass was up, so we decided to try Muppetvision 3d. We watched the entire preshow, and just as we were about to enter the theater, we see the CM running around and then they directed us out another door through the building. Turns out we were being evacuated. All guests were led backstage and out of the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area and it was closed off. Later on I learned that there had be an electrical fire in the Playhouse Disney building. No matter. We continued on toward Soarin' to ride it a second time. We were going to request center front row seats, but there was no need, as we miraculously were put there anyway. So the ride was that much more magical.

We decided to try other areas of the park as hollwood was closed and we pretty much conquered condor flats with its one ride. We passed Grizzly River Run and got fp's for that, and then continued through San Francisco towards Paradise Pier, and began to walk the pier counter clockwise. We ended up at california screaming. The CM's working that ride were pretty funny with their suggestions on how to pass time in line. Anyway, that coaster is great. After riding we notice Tower of Terror operating again (you can see that thing from all over the park), so we figured Hollywood had reopened. We started to make our way back towards that area, but we got distracted at A Bugs Land, and did the 3d show they got there. The theater is really well done, it looks as if its underground. The show was very short but it's unusually scary for a kids show. Laura ducked when Hopper unleased his bug army. We all got stung my hornets. Lots of fun. Neal then proceeded to steal "bug eyes" from the show. Hooligan. We wandered around the newly redone A Bugs Land after the show just to take in the themeing. I really liked the benches that are made with popcicle sticks.

Hollywood had indeed reopened, so we went back and actually got to watch the muppet show. It was a lot of laughs. After that, we rode GRR. Neal and Kristin got soaked. Lunch followed at the Taste Pilot's Grill in condor flats. My burger was pretty good. I ate with Laura, as Neal and Kristin decided to wander off to who knows where. They came back with shoestring fries from Award Weiners in hollywood, since criss cut fries aren't good enough for neal. After that, in an order I've since forgotten, we rode the sun wheel, saw Aladdin on stage, did Who Wants To Be a Millionaire Play It, and rode screamin' several more times. My anaylsis of the sun wheel "yep...I've dealt with this before...car...definately rocking...". Aladdin was very funny, and I think it was better than everyone else who I was with thought it was going to be. Screamin' eventually gave me a headache and I couldn't ride that anymore. Somewhere in there, Laura and I rode Grizzly two more times nad got drenched, while Neal and Kristin rode screamin' even more. The line for that coaster was moving very quickly that day.

Eventually we made our way back to Hollywood, and into the animation building. In the sorcerors workshop section, whe took character tests. I turned out to be Tarzan, Laura was Lumier (but answered many questions inaccurately), Neal was Jimminy Cricket, and Kristin was very appropriately Malificent. We also put our voice in disney cartoon scenes. Laura and I redid a scene from lion king, and she kinda rewrote the script a bit. Hilarious results. We were in there for proly around 45 minutes to an hour, and then I went back to Tower of Terror to buy sovenirs. I got a picture and a tshirt, and Laura got a postcard. WE wandered around Hollywood at night some more, took some pictures, and then lined up for the electrical parade. It's always nice to see that parade. Brings backs lots of memories. The end of the day came not long after that. WE left hte park, wandered Downtown Disney some more, caught part of the disneyland fireworks, then eventuall left. Stopped at the magical 7-11 next to disneyland on the way back, and then headed home, although we did take a slight detour on the way home to the beach.

The rest of the week was another week gone by. I'd like to write about it more, and about today, but I'm tired of writing, and tired in general. You're probably tired of reading. So I'll write about that all later. Goodnight.

DCA was a lot of fun. I'll write about the whole thing later. For now, here's a pic from yesterday. There's lots more pics.

Tower On-Ride Photo

Haven't written anything in a while. Lets start with last weekend.
Saturday was the annual RBV drum major competition. I went there with pohl. I let him be the runner this year, as I've done it for the past two yearas and worked from set up til cleanup. This year I got to be a announcer/soundbooth person with Bernie, so that was fun. Drumline was practicing in the gym while that happened. Afterwards the drumline came out and played their dhow for the competitors. Then I bailed with laura and pohl, i took pohl home and laura and i went to my house for a while. After she left, my mom for some reason insisted I go take $100 out of her bank account and take my sisters out to dinner and see a movie. So I did that. We ate at red lobster. I had somewhere in the vicinity of 60 shrimps (about 30 were popcorn shrimp...) Anyway... yeah. Then we went to see Envy, starring Jack Black and Ben Stiller. Great movie. Hilarious. Madness. Hadn't laughed that hard at the movies in years.

Sunday I knocked on pohls door at about 10, I threw him into my car, and then we traveled up to ADLA Championships in SantaFe Springs. On the way up we passed The Disneyland Resort (and Tower of Terror, in all its glory). I ended up getting off the freeway at Disneyland. I couldn't resist. We drove a lap around the resort, got some good looks at the new building, and then continued on towards the tourney. When I got there I saw our drumline peoples dragging their stuff from the truck to the gym, I guess their bus broke down and they just barely made it in time. We watched the show, it was a great performance. They came in 4th out of like 22 overall or something like that. We didn't stay long though. The awards started at 2, but I accidently told my mother they were at 3 and then I'd leave as soon as they were over. We decided to leave anyway.

So we're heading southbound, I'm dying of thirst, and I'm trying to think of where I can get a drink. Naturally, the 7-11 on Harbor and Katella (the corner of Disneyland) comes to mind. Yes! Another excuse to get off the freeway and look at tower. So I go in, get a 64oz (and down half of it in the 2 minutes that pohl is waiting in line to pay for his drink), and then leave. Then it gets weird. Of course I have to drive another lap around the resort. "Pohl what time is it?" I remember that I had told my mom I'd stay for awards (the awards that I thought started at 3, but actually started at 3), and leave when they were finished. Them being earlier than I thought and me not going to them gave us an extra hour and a half to do whatever we pleased. "Wanna go to downtown Disney?"
"sure." says pohl. To shorten the rest of this odd, odd story, we wandered all over the disneyland resort, went through security checkpoints (the checkpoints park visitors go through), rode parking lot trams back and forth for no reason, and tried to find all the ways we could to view the new tower. We did find a good spot in the esplanade between the parks. We got to watch the elevator doors open and close and see the cars fall. The whole time I'm thinking "Chewie, you've lost it. This has gone beyond obsession." After that whole thing we went home. I waved goodbye to the tower and promised I'd see it again in a week.

The date I'm going to the park has been moved from the 16th to the 15th, so I'm actually going to the park tomorrow. Can't wait. Yeah...um rest of this week... nothing interesting happened really. Roundup happened on wednesday, and that was a lot of fun. My grandpa gave me a $300 digital camera as a graduation gift. That was cool too. Other than that, this week has just been something to get through to saturday. And saturday is tomorrow. I'll write about the trip when I get home. I'll actually write about it this time, not like the wdw trip report. I do plan to finish that eventually though, but I'm going to have to break out the home videos from the trip so I can remember minute by minute details again. OK. That's all for now.

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::ToT COUNTDOWN::

NOW OPEN

1 Day 'til I Ride
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So, weekend turned out fun, as suspected. Saturday's drive to AB Miller in Fontano was a long one, longest one I've done yet. Hit major traffic because the freeway was blocked up down towards riverside because of a NASCAR race. Of all things...

Dline got first place, beating second by 8.4 points i believe. Got to hang out with Laura for most of the time. Good day. Ride up and down was fun because I had pohl with me.

Sunday somewhat depressing I guess. I broke a lawnmower and the sprinkler system in my front lawn. Grades came in the day before (which was convenient, as I was 90 miles away), so negative happened on Sunday. But other than that, it was an ok day. I painted. I watched Mr Deeds multiple times (I swear that movie is ALWAYS on hbo). Not much else happened.

Tomorrow is the big pres event/party for ToT's opening at DCA. Day after tomorrow the ride is *officially* open. It's been doing soft openings this past week. Before summer starts I'm going to get an annual pass to both parks sort of as a graduation present (to make the horror of graduation more bearable), so I'm sure I'll get to ride it plenty. But my first time will be a week from this sunday, with my friends. K, enough blogging for now.

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::ToT COUNTDOWN::

2 Days 'til Opening

1 Week, 6 Days 'til I Ride
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Wind 1 had festival tonight. I went to watch the with the bussetts. They had a nice performance....October is a great piece. Tomorrow I go to the AB Miller adla tourney. Should be a lot of fun.

Gary, if you're reading this, you're a freak.

Goodnight all.

-CHOOI

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::ToT COUNTDOWN::

4 Days 'til Opening

2 Weeks, 1 Day 'til I Ride
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