Kenversations: Disneyland 35th Anniversary Celebration (Part 2) - Jun 29, 2006

Kenversations: Disneyland 35th Anniversary Celebration (Part 2)
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Critter Country
The Splash Mountain line is long, doubling up on itself on the walkway heading into Critter County. However, it moves fast, as the logs are designed to hold seven large adults comfortably. Children can sit with their parents, couples can sit together, and it isn’t unusual to see 8, 9, or 10 people packed into a log, especially if some of them are children.

Winnie the Pooh isn’t everywhere in Critter County. Instead, there’s the County Bear Playhouse, which features the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown most of the year, and a special holiday show the remainder of the year. Besides the Hungry Bear Restaurant, there’s also the Brer Bar to get hot dogs, there’s a small arcade, and two stores – the Crocodile Mercantile – get your Camp Grizzly t-shirts and Splash Mountain merchandise - and the Briar Patch.

Billy Hill and the Hillbillies and Farley the Fiddler take turns performing for the guests who've made it deep into Critter Country.

Frontierland
On Tom Sawyer Island, a burning cabin is no threat to guests, who are playing in Fort Wilderness, where they can shoot rifles to protect the fort. They can pick up refreshments in the Canteen. Looking across to the mainland, guests can see the peak over Big Thunder Falls. On the side of the island facing the Frontierland dock, Tom's Trading Post has replaced the Fishing Pier Shack for a short stint. Elsewhere along the river, the Golden Horseshoe Saloon features table service dining and the Golden Horseshoe Jamboree. If you don't want to sit down in the Saloon, you can take your pick of the Stage Door Café or the Wheelhouse, just next to the River Belle Terrace, and sit in the outdoor patio.

The Pendleton Woolen Mills Dry Good Store is in its last days in Frontierland, to be replaced by "Frontierland Clothiers". Across the way, next to the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade is the Westward Ho Trading Company, offering up western and "Indian" themed gifts

Adjacent to Big Thunder Mountain, Casa Mexicana offers up what most Americans would consider Mexican food while a Mariachi band plays in the nearby park area.

Back along Big Thunder Trail, there's no covered wagon selling fries, but there’s the Big Thunder Ranch, a sprawling area with horses, goats, Mickey Moo – a cow with a Mickey Mouse birthmark, and other animals, a ranch house to look around, and the Big Thunder BBQ restaurant. The BBQ has ribs, chicken, grilled trout, steak, and corn on the cob.

Fantasyland
In Fantasyland, you can hop on board the Skyway for a one-way trip to Tomorrowland through Matterhorn Mountain and nice aerial view of both Fantasyland (love those rooftops!) and Tomorrowland, with an encounter with the abominable snowman between.

Dumbo's Flying Elephants are shiny new, planned for EuroDisneyland but diverted to Anaheim to replace the previous version of the attraction.

Passing Village Haus restaurant, which has burgers and hot dogs, and Geppetto's Arts and Crafts, which has handcrafted steins, clocks, wood carvings, and Hummel figurines, we head for the castle.

Sleeping Beauty Castle is open for guests to climb the staircases inside to follow, through dioramas, the Sleeping Beauty story. The entrance is between the Tinker Bell Toy Shoppe and the Castle Christmas Shoppe, and when we emerge, we’ll be between the Castle Candy Shop and Briar Rose Gifts.

Heading past King Arthur Carousel on our way to the rest of Fantasyland, we pass by an obsessive-compulsive kid who turns to announce that there are 72 horses on the carousel, all white.

Passing by the giant spinning tea cups, we turn to the left. A smooth black expanse is spread before us, perhaps the widest unbroken walkway in the park. There are no terraces, there are no view-obstructing towers. It serves only as the parade route and the way to get to "it's a small world", the gold and white spires of which are before us in an unfettered view. There's no lighting towers or shop in the way. Guests are entering the attraction, which is losing its Bank of America sponsorship, on the left and exiting on the right, near where the parade emerges from backstage. The attraction stays the same year-round.

On our way to "it's a small world", we pass by the permanently placed Ice Cream Train on our right, and the walk-up souvenir stand known as "Small World Gifts".

Mickey’s Toontown is still hidden from non-toons.


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Near “it’s a small world�? is the Small World Meadows Amphitheater, which everyone (even the souvenir guide) calls “Videopolis�? after the nighttime events that used to take place there. The place had been featuring a show called "One Man's Dream", but it recently switched over to a show with the Dick Tracy characters called “Diamond Double Cross�?. The show has a loyal following among park regulars - a fairly small group. The stage show premiered simultaneous to the theatrical film. Disney has high hopes for the film, hoping it has the same kind of legs as "Batman", starring Michael Keaton. Most of the marketing had presented it as a "Disney" film, though it did up being released under the Touchstone name.

The amphitheater is uncovered, a reminder that the place was built quickly when Team Disney came aboard in order to get something trendy into the park.

The snack stand, Yumz, has been re-themed for Dick Tracy, and photo-op backdrops decorate the area. The very simple, bare-bones Disneyland Railroad stop is in the background.

East of the “Small World Mall�? is the Motor Boat Cruise, which has, perhaps, the slowest moving line in the park. Switching back and forth underneath the monorail beam, skippers-to-be wait for their brightly colored motor boats, which travel very slowly with one, two, or maybe three people. There's a steering wheel, but it is purely for show. A peddle on the floor helps you to move faster, but if you don’t press it, the boat behind you will move you forward anyway. The boats travel in part of the park’s “green water�? system on one of two courses that depart and returned to opposite sides of the same platform, weaving their way through the rapids under the Fantasyland Autopia.

Speaking of the Fantasyland Autopia, whose entrance is east of the Motor Boat Cruise entrance… it is very similar to the Tomorrowland Autopia, their paths aligning, but not mingling. Between the two Autopias, there are four tracks total. Above the Fantasyland Autopia snakes the far reaches of the Peoplemover, the legendary Tomorrowland attraction touted as a transportation system, even though it is purely for sightseeing and a little privacy and takes you right back to where you started. We’ll see more of the Peoplemover later.

The Matterhorn is the only place in the park, aside from "it's a small world", where you can hear a Spanish safety spiel. Jack Wagner's familiar voice does both the Spanish and English spiels, and Jack can also be heard on the Autopias ("To make your car go, press your foot down on the peddle…"), introducing Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks ("A long time ago in a faraway land lived a sparkling little spirit named Tinker Bell…"), announcing the arrival of the Disneyland Railroad trains, and making parkwide announcements through the day.