The Return of Captain EO

After 16 years, Captain EO is back at Disneyland. I'm looking at the timeline and realized that Captain EO ended just about the time I became a Disneyland Annual Passholder. I remember seeing the last few performances of this 3-D movie. And I can tell you that I didn't miss it that much.

Now that Captain EO is back, I've become a little nostalgic. It was fun seeing the black Micheal Jackson and fun seeing the cheesy special effects.

I was also fun thinking about my own personal history of Captain EO. I was just a year into college when Captain EO first opened at Disneyland on September 12, 1986. I thought that it was cool that George Lucas and Disney we're teaming up on a project. I had no idea who Francis Ford Coppola was. Never had seen the Godfather.

I was at a stage when I paid for most of my own expenses so I never did see Captain EO the first year that it came out. I vaguely remember my first time in the theater, so I'll meld the several memories I had of seeing it. I'm pretty sure I was with a group of my church friends. I remember being in line for it. The line was outside the theater and when one performance ended I moved into the waiting area and watched the pre-show video about the making of Captain EO.

I remember really enjoying the film. Why, it had amazing 3-D effects. In fact, it was probably my first 3-D movie ever. It was the first use of external effect syncronized with a movie (e.g. the laser effects). I was a huge Micheal Jackson fan after the release of Billie Jean and Beat It. I was also a huge fan of Weird Al's Eat It. Say whatever you will about Michael but he was a great performer and extremely entertaining, especially during the 80's.

Does anyone remember the Disneyland special on TV? I remember a scene of George Lucas in the theater testing the lasers. I also remember Robert Palmer performing Addicted to Love. Remember that the was around the growing popularity of MTV back when they showed music videos 24 hours a day.

Anytime that I visited Disneyland, I would see Captain EO. The pre-show area was always filled and I had to time my entrance properly to get a middle seat. It's conceivable that I've seen Captain EO about 100 times.

Flash forward to 2010. I decided not to participate in the hype of the first day performance of Captain EO. Instead, I waited about a week later. As usual I'm at Disneyland when it opens at 10:00 am. There's a decent crowd waiting to see the show, but hardly a packed theater.

Here's a few observations: The 2-D to 3-D starfield effect was not installed. The film was the original 70mm film when Captain EO first played and it showed. There were a lot of scratches and the color was fading. The effect still work and the sound was good. The laser effects we're also not working. The Imagineers decided to use the moving floor and shake us a few times, but it was hardly in logical places during the story and often felt random.

That said, it was a whole lot of fun reliving my past. Although it pains me to remember that I was in college Captain EO first came out.

If you're at Disneyland, it's well worth the time to see this 3-D classic.

Disneyland Tweets for 12/21/08

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Disney Trip Report: just went through Sleeping Beauty castle walkthrough. disney (4:34 PM) (Disney)

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Disneyland Tweets for 10/23/08

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Candlelight Processional 2006

Laurie and I had a chance to go to the Candlelight processional this year.  We went last Sunday.  Because of my performance schedule, we're not able to get to church as often as we had in the past.  Also, I'm getting a little tired of the rock and roll Christmas carols.  I like the classics but I don't like contemporizing the classics.

 

I wanted to get an early start on the afternoon, but that didn't pan out.  The shows were at 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm.  We arrived at 4:00 pm and the park was packed.  It took about 30 minutes to park and the park esplenade was full.

 

We got into the park and went directly to the Ranch for their holiday festivities.  Laurie bought a cookie and decorated.  I watched the performers singing songs with children.  We when went to meet Mrs Claus for a picture.  The wait for Santa was quite long.

 

We headed over to New Orleans to ride pirates.  HINT: When you see a Disney tour guide escorting a family, there are usually celebrities near by.  This is in fact what happened.  I saw a tour guide, young woman and stroller near Big Thunder Mountain.  The woman did not look familiar to me.  So I looked around and low and behold a celebrity.  It was Eva LaRue from CSI: Miami and All My Children.  She was getting on the ride through the exit.

 

Since Laurie's in her wheelchair.  We follow her right in.  There's a couple between us and Eva.  They start talking about CSI.  Eva gets on the right and Laurie says "we're big fans!" and I wave.

 

We're meeting friends at 6:00 at the Pizza Port.  My friend bail, so Laurie and I have dinner.  Very nice.

 

It's 7:00 and the first showing of the Processional is exiting.  Disney allows everyone from the show to exist on the street portion of Main Street and they direct everyone else to the sidewalks.  We asks several employees where the line was and where the wheelchair line was.  No one knew.  We start heading down the sidewalk and we see that in fact there are two lines roped off.  We get in line and once everyone is cleared out, they let us in.  We are lead to the wheelchair section and they let us move right to the ropes.  We have a great view.

 

Now we just have to wait for an hour.  We got a little frustrated.  The person standing next to us was not diabled in anyway and he was in our section.  Also, after 30 minutes, they let the general public stand right behind us.  And many families allowed their children to push their way through between wheelchairs. For 10 minutes we were fuming and then Disney employees did the right thing and created a rope barrier to better mark the disabled section.

 

So finally the show starts.  I won't go through the actual show, because you have to see it.  Andy Garcia from the Untouchables and Ocean's Eleven. He took a very casual approach to the reading.  He did a lot of banter with the audience.  Overall, it was an amazing performance. It's the most Christian thing that Disney does.  I would high suggest seeing a performance if you ever get a chance.  I can be cynical at times when it comes to religious things, but I was moved.

 

Just a few notes.

• Don't sing along.  People come to see the pros do it, not the audience.
• Don't yell things out.  This is not a rock concert.  Look, I love Jesus.  Let's not ruin the night to satiate your religious zealousness.
• Not too many churches participating this year.  I was a little upset by this.  Then I realized that churches don't have choirs any more.  And those that do, are not at the level needed for this performance.

I can't wait until next year.  Maybe we'll work on the dinner package.  If you each at any of the moderate to high priced restaurants, you can get reserved seating for the show.  The problem is that you have to a limited menu that you have to order from, so now the price is set and you have to hope you're going to like the food.  My wife is incredibly finicky when it comes to food.  This is a big gamble on our part.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Celebrity Sighting

We just ran into Eva LaRue from CSI Miami. We were behind her in line at Big Thunder. Sorry no picture. I always feel nervous around celebs.

Precious Moments Event

Laurie and I were at the Precious Moments event yesterday at the Paradise Pier Hotel.  We had a pretty descent time.  I was a little disappointed in the event but not enough to feel my money was wasted.  The key to this event was the merchandise.  I was able to get a hold of the latest line of Disney Precious Moments figurines signed by Precious Moments Creator Sam Butcher.

 

We showed up and we were pretty much the last people in line.  Laurie has to use her wheelchair because of her surgery and all of the disabled spaces were taken.  We had to park on the second floor of the parking structure and lo and behold there is no elevator.

 

We then got in the ticket line and received our packets and picked up our merchandise.  I dropped off my merchandise in the car.

 

We got back in the meet and greet line and were greeted by the Disney hostesses.  They were very friendly letting us know what was up.

 

Once we got to meet Sam Butcher, we got our photos taken very quickly.  The lady before us had a flat Sammy.  We received our photos and we went right to breakfast.  The best part of this event was that the seats were reserved.  We found our table and immediately got Laurie's picture with Princess Aurora.

 

We had breakfast which was quiche, not Laurie's favorite.  Sam's assistant said a few words and we were done.  The event was scheduled to be 2 hours, and wound up being 1 hour.

 

As I was loading up the wheelchair in the car, Sam's assistant walked by and thanked us for coming to the event.  Some of those items will soon be up on our ebay site.  You can see it there soon - http://stores.ebay.com/The-Humble-Folks-Themepark-Shopper_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

Eating at Disneyland during the Week

Have you ever thought about visiting Disneyland during the week for dinner?  Before you do, you'll want to read this blog.

 

Our last three trips to Disneyland we were there pretty late on business and decided to get dinner at various locations.

 

The first time, we went to the Plaza Inn on Main Street.  I ordered the Fried Chicken and Laurie wanted the Pot Roast.  We waited in line for about 20 minutes because they ran out of Pot Roast.  No exaggeration, but it did take 20 minutes for a new batch of pot roast.  When the pot roast finally arrived, guess what...now they're out of friend chicken.  So we both had to order pot roast.

 

The second time, we went to the French Market at New Orleans Square.  I just wanted Fried Chicken.  We'll guess what, they were out of bread bowls for the stew and clam chowder.  You ask, but you're ordering Fried Chicken.  You're right.  But the queue is built in such a way that no one gets served until the person in the front of the line is served.  So I've got 4 parties in front of me and each party has to be told (1) that there are no bread bowls, (2) change your order, (3) apologize for not having bread bowls.

 

The third time, we're at Pizza Port and we want to order our favorite Chicken Fusilli.  Guess what they're out of pasta.  We leave and eat burgers at Tomorrowland Terrace.

 

If you're at the park during the week, Disneyland is going to run out of food.  They do not plan for overages and they are too cheap to ever think of having leftovers that can be donated to local homeless shelters.

 

Other than that, we had a great time.

It's Halloween Time at Disneyland

Laurie and I made a special trip to Disneyland this weekend to see all the goings on for Halloween. I have some photos on my website - http://www.mypalal.com/Halloween2006/index.cfm

Here's a few things that we got to experience:

• Tower of Terror - The lobby is decked out with Halloween decorations from a party that took place long ago. The ghosts from the ride are wondering the Hollywood back lot and they has a story session in front of the Hotel.
• California Screams - We have not been able to get in yet, but these is a show there in the afternoon.
• Haunted Mansion - The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay is in place and the ride is as fun as ever. We think there are a few changes. For example, there's Gingerbread house on the Banquet Table that's being eaten from the inside.
• Main Street USA - The entire street and stores is ready for Halloween. There is a giant Mickey pumpkin in the Town Square and carved pumpkins and decorations line all of the stores. Central Plaza has carved pumpkins representing each land.

Let me know if you see other things.

Olszewski Signing Event - September 23

What a tiring day, but a good one no less.  Laurie and I went to Disneyland this morning to the Robert Olszewski signing event for his new pieces in the Disneyland Main Street USA series.  Here's what we have:

• Crystal Arts - China Closet - Main Street Photo - East Plaza St - Disneyland Minature (http://www.themeparkshopper.com/servlet/the-409/Olszewski-Main-Street-USA/Detail)
• Disney Clothiers - Castle Bros. - East Center St - Disneyland Minature (http://www.themeparkshopper.com/servlet/the-408/Olszewski-Main-Street-USA/Detail)

I have about 2 each signed by Robert Olszewski himself.  We also got to look at the soon to be release Main Street base.  It's huge and I wish I had a picture, but I didn't bring my camera that day.  Darn.  It's great.  It feature all of Main Street and the Central Plaza hub.

 

We got a sneak peek and the new Frontierland and Adventureland entrance.  More to come.

Olszewski Signing This Saturday

We'll be at the upcoming Olszewski signing this weekend at Disneyana. He's been working on all of the store on Main Street USA and the last two buildings are available.

If it goes like the Haunted Mansion, these signed pieces should go for a lot of money on ebay.

We're hoping to pick up 4.