September 2012 Disneyland Trip Pictures
An early fall trip to Disneyland in Los Angeles is starting to be somewhat of a tradition in my family. Once again we drove down from the Portland area along the I-5 corridor. The return trip always includes a stop over in San Francisco. This was the same trip where we stayed only a couple of blocks away from Venice Beach.
We always go to the right, to enter into “Tomorrowland” first. I’m still up in the air about the 1990’s refurbishment, and I really miss the “People Mover” for some reason.
The Astro Orbiter is the first ride in this part of the park. It replaces the older Star Jet Ride that opened in 1974. Geared towards younger children, the ride orbits around a fake orrery showing an unknown Solar System.
Here you can just barely see the top of Cinderella’s castle through the trees.
One of the cool parts of Tomorrowland is the Star Wars themes. Kids can learn to be Padwans and “fight” both Darth Vader and Darth Maul with their own lightsabers.
The “Moonliner” looks to be the rocket part of the original Star Ride. It remains forlorn as decorations.
If find Tomorrowland fascinating in general because it was a glimpse of the future when it was built. “Tomorrow” held a lot of promise for many people. Now it’s Tomorrow, and it’s interesting to see how much everything not only diverged from that imagination, but also didn’t really change. How practicality trumped wishful thinking, and how certain technologies just never came to be.
The Cymbal monkey is a statue in the “pet cemetery” of one of my favorite rides, the Haunted Mansion. Most of the statues have a pun or funny little saying on them. Most of them are also a bit boring after reading the 100th time though, although I still get a thrill out of the ride and will ride it at least five times during a three day visit.
And of course, the Sailing Ship Columbia that occasionally circles Tom Sawyer’s Island, and plays host to an epic battle between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Most of the time it just sits there as a huge prop, never moving, and frequently inaccessible.
