But check it: So this past weekend I took the girls to Disneyland. Yes- again! The thing some folks don't understand is that:
a- we only live about 45 min away
b- we have season passes
c- when you have kids, and you LOVE having kids (like I do) then you tend to LOVE to do stuff with them. And right now, the three of us are really digging the Dland. So I figure, why not go as often as we can!?! I know to many folks going to Disneyland is a massive vacation sort of thing that you save for and look forward to all year, etc. I can respect that. I was the same way about Walt Disney World or Los Angeles when I was a kid living in Alabama. But when you live less than an hour from the park, going to Disneyland is kind of like going to the mall. Granted, it's a totally kick ass mall!
d- I fucking LOVE theme parks and my favorite of all time are the Disney parks!*
So yeah, there ya go. Wanted to explain cause these days whenever I mention going to Disneyland, I get comments like: 'WHAT?!?!? AGAIN!?!? WEREN'T YOU JUST THERE?!!?'
So yeah, there ya are.
But ANYWAY- so we've been going alot and this time we decided to do some of the stuff we are usually too busy to do cause we're hitting all of the E ticket rides in the park. Between all of the rides, shows, and interactive things you can do, Disneyland and California Adventure are pretty huge. You could easily use up 3 days before you did and saw everything. So this time, instead of the big, traditional rides like Space Mountain or Dumbo, we saw the Aladdin show (again, I got little kids...Dumbo is mega E ticket when your kids are 3 and 5). This time, instead of the Jungle Cruise we went to the BUG'S LIFE area (it was pretty lame, I gotta say). And this time, instead of Nemo's Submarine Voyage we spent some time in the Animation center at Disney's California Adventure.
This place is pretty darn cool, I gotta say. A whole building dedicated to the animation process that made Disney great! There are 4 interactive areas inside that you can visit and learn about how a cartoon is made. Each station covers something a little different. One of those areas lets you learn how to draw famous Disney characters directly from an actual working Disney animator! My oldest loves to draw and loves Disney, so I figured we'd check it out.
It was really, really neat! Here, take a look:
It's pretty cool: you sit in your seat with provided drawing board, pencil, and paper and follow along as the pro on stage tells you exactly how to get yourself a pretty accurate rendering of an honest to goodness Disney character. Peep my genius, bitches!
Yep- Jack Skellington! For me, this is damn good! Anyone who has seen my stick figures knows I can't draw worth a lick. But I think this actually looks like Jack Skellington! For a terrible artist, I thought this turned out pretty darn good! NOTE: Bow tie done by my 3 year old...:)
AND the set makes me want to redo my home office so it looks just like the pic. It looks so warm and cozy and creatively inviting and inspiring, you know? I went thru a phase about 2 years ago where I went thru my office and de-cluttered it of most of the toys/action figures/geeky props I'd accrued thru the years. And I'm glad I did cause it was starting to look crowded and junky, like a geeky garage sale. These days, I only keep the mementos/toys that truly inspire and move me and inspire my work. But I look at this space from Disneyland and they've somehow managed to fill it with cool toys and props AND still make it look homey and inviting. I'm like: damn, I could work in that kind of space!
Tell you what, when Eat Sleep Play hits it big and we redecorate our offices out in Utah, I'm gonna be doing the same thing here in San Diego :)...
Ok, gotta get my kid to school then get to work- take it easy ya'll!
David
ps. I linked to ETICKET cause I imagine there are many folks out there to whom this is an unknown term. I got to use an Eticket ONCE when I first went to Disney World as a little kid and then- poof!- they were gone forever. Thank God! The new system is much better. Amazing the rides used to actually take tickets.
* speaking of theme parks, I read the other day about Universal Studio's King Kong upgrade and overall backlot tour reinvention and it sounds fucking great! I'll be there day one!