Reliving Fond Memories
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My favorite sign.

It all started when I had a few hours to kill one late afternoon. I was to meet some friends at Disneyland later. As I left the tram area, I turned to the right and headed to the tall “California�? letters. This was something I usually didn’t do. Not that I “hate�? Disney’s California Adventure, I just would rather spend my time at Disneyland, “Where the Magic Began�?.

Once inside DCA, being pelted with Beach Boy medlys, I decided to take my time and explore the park. This was really for the first time, since I hadn’t taken the place seriously before. I slowed my pace and headed to Condor Flats.

I went on Soarin’ Over California using the Single Rider Pass. This is a godsend for those of us who enjoy a solitary evening in the park. I claimed the pink slip of paper from the CM at the FastPass line. The Theme from “The Right Stuff�? heralded I had made the right decision. I strutted proudly into the auditorium to the inspirational music.

Exiting into the nearly empty park, I realized something had changed for me. I didn’t despise DCA – it would take too much energy. I did enjoy some of the restaurants like The Vineyard Room, but mostly I viewed the place as a Mall with cloned attractions. This park is a monument to what happens when MBAs read statistics rather than listen to their audience. But now, the air felt different. Could it be my heart was finally softening towards this red haired stepchild of Pressler?

Single Rider Pass, whoever thought of that one, should be made vice president of…something. It is a very good way for solitary park goers to get on rides by filling up empty space whenever there is not the perfect number of parties for vehicles.

Subtle, not meant to attract attention.

I continued my sauntering through the park. Since it was still daylight, and a bit warm, I headed to Grizzly River Rapids.

The warm fuzzies were growing. The Disney Magic is still at DCA, though sporadic. It is buried under the misguided shopkeeping ideas of the people who designed it. However, the skill of the Imagineers is not to be taken so lightly. The “cowabunga!�? mountain-dew feeling of the river rapids is captured in the fake radio station blaring throughout the queue. The attraction itself is surprisingly communal. While floating down the river in the “raft�?, the people sitting together, strangers all, bond over the impending wall of water that is awaiting them at the bottom of the plunge.

Next was California Screamin’. Paradise Pier is a truly love/hate relationship for the DCA-doubters. Here are the off-the-rack attractions that have the purists pulling their mouse ears out. Disney himself had said he designed Disneyland specifically to get away from the boardwalk, carny rides. But there is something else here. This is the Venice Pier of yesteryear, if Disney had designed it. More of a movie set for a young Kurt Russell movie, Paradise Pier still has its charms.