DISNEY: Anaheim - Day 5 (9.06.09) - Newport Beach

[I am going to get caught up...]

Twelve days in Anaheim, and I'm going to start here, on Day 5, because it has my favorite picture of the entire trip.

(I'll explain the picture later on below...)

Anyways, the Disneyland Half-Marathon was on Day 5: Sunday, September 6, 2009. The weather was perfect - overcast and cool - and both Cindy and I got DLHM PRs. We were just running for fun, not for time, but still it's nice to know that we're not losing anything.

The pictures from the race that we took with disposables came out dark for the most part (too bad), so there's not so much evidence from that morning. Afterwards, we went to Newport Beach to escape the crowds.

Personally, I think that I'd rather've spent the time in the park anyway... I typically want to stay near a comfortable place after a long race (especially one that I didn't really train for). Also, I didn't think "a day at the beach" literally meant "a day at the beach"... I need to feel like I was doing something.

The day ended up being transformative... and for me, marked the end of the first half of my time in Anaheim.

The picture that opened this post was one that I took while trekking down the pathway that runs parallel to the beach. It goes off into the distance but it evolves to different characters. When I took the picture, the view had grown patches of lawn; it was across from an elementary school (yes, that is along the beach -- how cool is that), and it was nice to feel like I wasn't the only odd character there.

Below are six more pictures from Day 5:

For this Labor Day weekend, the sun was out, the waves were nice, and there was a good-sized crowd at the beach.

There's a restaurant at the end of the pier, and from there, its windows framed the recreational day.

There was a mix of people out. And the pier hosted quite a number of both amateur and seasoned fishermen.

Instead of just laying on the beach, I walked the pedestrian pathway southwards for about a mile-and-a-quarter. It was a nice mini-venture.

During this walk, I treated myself to a frozen pineapple bar and took in the change of scenery. And it was about this time that I took the picture of the couple on the lawn.

Back towards the settlement, I had climbed upon a collection of rocks and found a place to sit and watch the waves crash.

Overall, the trip to Newport Beach was fine, but I think that I would've preferred something more active and a scenario where I wasn't playing "kid hostage" (a lesson I have to revisit).

[eom]

VIDEO: Ann Curry Stand-Up

Yes,... that Ann Curry

I like her mo' than Cho.

MUSIC: "Beijing Welcomes You"

"Beijing Welcomes You"
[link to video with English subtitles]

DISNEY: DHScot with Billy

A friend from college is visiting next weekend for a week, and Disney isn't on her radar, so I had to get my Disney fix this weekend! My friend Billy had the day free, so I have a theme park buddy. Yay! I managed to get up early enough to walk both pugs before Billy came and we headed out. We stopped by McDonald's for some coffee and bad-for-you food.

We started at DHS figuring that TSMM would fill up quickly. We grabbed FPs and headed into Standby. It was early so the wait wasn't bad (30 minutes), and I apparently need much of a warm-up and scored 208,800 -- the 2nd highest score of the day! (WOO!). Single-Rider was open so we headed right back in, and I managed to up my score 219,600 which was good enough for 3rd place! (WOO! again).

After that, we took a break and walked to Sunset Blvd and the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror. This is Billy's favorite ride (because of the theming), and there was a small kid (maybe 9-ish) in our elevator that thought this ride was the coolest. When the elevator doors first opens up to reveal the hotel hallway, he was like "This is the best part!", then when the doors opened the second time for the vehicle to move forward, he was like "This is the best part!". It's awesome to see that type of enthusiasm. Awww.

Next, we went to the Art of Disney Animation. Ahead of us in the queue, we saw the Dream Squad passing out Dream Ears; I was excited but quickly reigned my excitement knowing that they could stop at anytime, and they did... about 20 people ahead of us. Yeah, I was a little disappointed, but I knew that if we had gotten them, we would've given them away to a deserving family anyways. If they were handing out Dream FastPasses... that's another thing.

Anywyas, by then, it was time for us to use our TSMM FPs. While waiting to be let up the stairs, a CM took us aside and had us load in the handicap area -- my first time! (WOO! It was good karma!). It was really neat! And this time I scored a 203,100. *shrug* not Top-3, but I was 3/3 today for getting 200K+.

After that, we were finished at DHS. We decided to drive to Epcot... Disney's Beach Club Resort. We entered via Epcot's International Gateway.

We picked up a couple pints at United Kingdom and headed to the Land Pavilion to pick up Soarin' FPs. Hungry, but not ready to walk back to the WS, we picked up a chicken wrap snack at Seasons. We took at break at the atrium and right beside us was the nicest, cutest Japanese family. The mother was young, slender, and classy, and the kids were very well-behaved. The father was a quiet provider, and their aura was very calm and relaxed. Awww.

Well, by then, I was a little lit, and what better place to visit as such than Innoventions. We checked out "What's Your Problem" sponsored by the Velcro company. I was a bit overly-enthusiastic, and Billy got chosen for the baby challenge (because he was one of the butchest audience members), and he wore the pink and purple apron very well. We also did "Where's the Fire?" -- our second time around at this -- and our team, the Findmores, won.

Next was a quick visit to Spaceship Earth -- Billy's first time after the refurb. We indicated that we were from Tanzania then made sleepy faces for the camera.

Anyways, by then, we were getting hungry. But first, we stopped by Club Cool and Billy tried a shot of the famous Beverly (ha!). Then from there, we went CCW over to Japan's Yakitori House for the forever-awesome Tonosama and Shogun Combos. It was a tasty rest before proceeded the rest of the way around the WS.

Test Track and Mission:Space were next. We did Single-Rider at TT, and I sat beside a woman who was a self-proclaimed "screamer", and she did. Loud. Then at Mission:Space, Billy and I went Green (I'm wimpy) and shared a capsule with a couple older ladies, one of whom was concerned about motion-sickeness and confessed that she threw up after riding Kraken at SeaWorld the day before. They turned out fine. Actually, they turned out to also be really big screamers... and gigglers!... they were like two little girlfriends on Spring Break, and I was laughing my head off the entire time -- best time at M:S ever!

After that, we were heading back to the other side of FW, and stopped again by Innoventions, and did "Don't Waste It" presented by Waste Management. We were "Team H S Musical" -- one of the CMs introduced us as "Team High School Musical", but that wasn't what the "H S" stood for... I'm impressed by the ingenuity of a lot of these Innoventions exhibits.

Finally, we were back at the Land and hopped a quick ride on LWTL before our Soarin' FP window opened. We got in line behind a tall Reichen-ish guy -- attractive but not on my radar (though I admired how well-spoken he appeared to be). Anyways, the film/projector had more dirt on it than I remembered before, but I don't see much being done since it's still so popular.

Yeah, so we walked back to the Beach Resort and headed back into town. We got a healthy dose of TSMM and a close encounter with the DS at DHS and covered quite a bit at Epcot including a lot of Innoventions. On my next visit to the parks, I think I'll be sweeping through MK's Fantasyland and Toontown Fair before walking to the Grand Floridian and checking out some of the SSL Resorts. I can't wait!

Pictures from today's trip can be found after the itinerary below.
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Here's what I did this visit:

DHS (MUSIC 44)
- Toy Story Midway Mania - Stand-By (2nd!)
- Toy Story Midway Mania - Single-Rider (3rd!)
- The Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror
- The Art of Disney Animation
- Toy Story Midway Mania - FastPass

Drove to Beach Club

Walked to Epcot's International Gate Entrance
- United Kingdom for a couple beers
- FP Soarin'
- Seasons: chicken wrap for a snack
- What's Your Problem
- Where's the Fire
- Spaceship Earth
- Cool Club
- Yakitori House (Tonosama Combo, Shogun Combo)
- Test Track
- Mission:Space - Advanced Training Lab
- Mission:Space (green)
- Waste Management - Don't Waste It
- Living With The Land
- Soarin'

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LINK: "Worn By Homosexuals"

I was checking my SiteMeter, seeing where people were finding me at, and surprisingly, someone posted a link to my blog over at Soompi, a website that is for "anything & everything pertaining to Korean popular culture, which includes music, dance, drama, literature, etc." (aka. K-POP), which is a coincidence, since I've just rewatched Babel, and K-POP is the hangout place one of the characters goes to.

Digressing.

Anyways, the comments aren't "hilarious", but the few are amusing. I like the wording and the innocence of it all -- my props to the K-POPpers. XD

Click the image below to make bigger:

DISNEY: "Hong Kong Disneyland's It's A Small World Song!!!" from Micoofy.com

A big shoutout to Micoofy Duck over at Micoofy.com for these awesome vids of the new "it's a small world" attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland!

MOVIE: Curse of the Golden Flower

I found Curse of the Golden Flower painful to watch... and by that I mean, the use of color was too in-our-face, the spouting of Chinese riddle-knowledge was unintelligible filler, and the killings were overly gruesome; plus the themes of incest and power-grabbing were incredibly unsavory.

I'm very glad that I didn't see this in the theatres -- I fast-forwarded much of the second hour of the movie because of the fighting and because I didn't see its value. For such a vast country and population, I felt that neither was utilized very well -- the movie had a claustrophobic and hollow feel to it, especially when the CGI is so obvious. The costume were beautiful (and the tight-fitting bodices mesmerizing) but I wouldn't say it was worth trying to watch the entire movie. Too bad. And after watching this, I'm seeing the value of The Forbidden Kingdom more and more.

MOVIE: The Forbidden Kingdom

This afternoon, I went with my friend Chuck to go see The Forbidden Kingdom. It really take long for us to know that this movie was bad. The movie has a cheesy premise of a dorky white boy Kung Fu fanatic who enters a mythical Asian world when after he has a run in with a stereotypical gang of South Bronx roughneck bullies who robs a pawnshop owned by an old Asian "chink" (yeah, the derogatory language just drove home the point) and things go wrong it always does.

Chuck and I wanted to walk out after the title credits but we were too lazy. Chuck was alright after Jackie Chan showed up, and I was entertained by the fight choreography, but gosh darn it, the dialogue and story wreaked. It was like Boy Meets World meets Balls of Fury. We found ourselves rolling our eyes and laughing at how embarrassingly cheesy the movie was. I'm not sure if it even qualifies as being camp.

Anyways, I don't think that I would've seen the movie if it hadn't been opening weekend or if I went to go see it by myself. And I have no idea how it earned 62% at rottentomatoes.

Helooks like the old lady from Crouching Tiger

FOOD: Asian Bistro Restaurant, Orlando, FL

[ATF]

This weekend, I went to go see Pom, and she took me out to the Asian Bistro Restauant, on the Asian corridor that is Colonial near Mills. She's eaten there before; it was my first time. The outside of the restaurant looked kinda trashy had room for improvement but and the inside was clean and pretty.


And that morning, we were there to have dim sum, and man, did we have dim sum:

(another view)
I thought that the Dim Sum wasn't as good as the other two nearby Dim Sum restaurants I've eaten at -- most of the food was on the warm-to-cold side and most lacked a taste. Actually, there was one item that was warm and was very tasty, but I probably couldn't point it out in a visual lineup. Anyways, the setting was good, but the food wasn't great. *meh*

DISNEY: Four Parks (Epcot - Future World)

The last time I visited the parks, it was with my sister for the Disney Marathon a month-and-a-half ago. I've been dreaming about going back ever since.

With the weather forecast beautiful, I headed over to Disney World on this Leap Day 2008!


The plan was to hit all four parks, and I took Stitch with me.

son, remember where we parkedahhh, so beautiful.
It was encouraging to see the CMs interacting with guests.

simple but effective
We made it there just in time for rope drop.

the characters were there to greet us
The family-of-the-day drives off in a car from Test Track.

surprise tests?
Here we go...


Most everyone heads to Soarin', but I decided to mix it up and follow the characters to the Character Spot. This was something MOM wanted to do when she was here, but the lines were too long. MOM, these photos are for you!


Afterwards, we went to the Land Pavilion. Didn't take any pictures, but we rode Soarin' since the wait time was only 20 minutes.

Then what would a visit to Epcot be without a ride on Living With The Land:

stitch and i were the only ones on our boatpapyrus, brussels sprouts, and a pumpkinstitch spots some dragon fruit and coconut plants
Next was a visit to my friend Figment at the Imagination pavilion.


On the way, there was a group of people role-playing, led by a CM -- the scenario: a 10-yr old boy wanted directions to the Magic Kingdom.

no, he's not proposing
I then noticed that they each had a name tag... was it a tour group? CM training? I don't know but the realization was my cue to move on.

Journey Into Imagination (or "Journey into Immigration" as I overheard a family call it) was currently down due to technical problems, but no worries, I'll catch it next time.

Next was the Seas with Nemo and Friends. We didn't go in, just wanted to take pictures with the characters:


Test Track was next.

it's just like in face/off
We rode with some friendly people from Japan who were fans of Stitch.

the computer broke. in fact, you could say that windows 'crashed'...ride photo (a car full of asians!)stitch and his new friends
They were great.

Next was a trip to Innoventions to check out the new Waste Management exhibit, Don't Waste It.


team ugly shorts!
We answered questions about our everyday life then were given a mini push-around waste management truck that we dock at different stations to sort, burn, and landfill our trash. It was a really cool and fun exhibit.


And of course we had to ride Spaceship Earth.


The ride stopped a few times and gave us a good opportunity to take pictures.


I still think that the face-recognition, quiz, and personalized video of us in the future is super cool (even though they didn't recognize Stitch's face (yeah, we tried)).

Here's my future:


In the Project Tomorrow exit area, I couldn't find our ride photo to create-and-send an email (oh well), so I just took a picture of someone else's.

nice...
Then the Disney fans that Stitch and I shared a ride vehicle with pointed us to a Super Driver booth that was reporting a 'rorrE lataF'.

lesson: microsoft + driving = bad (ha!)
Alright, we had spent a good 3+ hours in Future World. There were three-and-a-half more parks to cover. To the BUS and to Disney's Animal Kingdom!...