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!
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31 comments:
Off Topic.
Funniest part of Fanboys
In the emperors voice
"I can feel the anger flowing thro...wa..wait a minute time out, time out"
I live about 10 minutes away from a theme park myself, so I can understand where you're coming from in that sense. It may seem like a big deal to a lot of people (More so in your case... its Disney Land!) but it's really not.
yea universal studios was sweet when i was in LA in 2004. the tour of the lot and movie sets was a memorable experience. i cant wait to visit LA again and goto disneyland, ive been to disneyworld now i must visit the land :-P
Very cool, Jaffe. Thanks for sharing the bit about the Animation Center; for me, Disneyland/California Adventure really is a giant summer vacation--you know, the kind we can't afford anymore in these economic times =P--so we tend to miss out on the smaller stuff. Actually, I've never been to Cali. Adventure at all, so now I have a reason to. That place looks really cool. And King Kong at Universal looks really cool as well. I need to go to Universal, never have before.
Jaffe, just so you know, movie reviewers are all employed by the big 6 movie studios.
Whenever I pass by a DVD at the video store with my girlfriend, I point out movies like 'The Happening' (which was so so horrible) that have prints on the front of the box saying '5 stars! Best horror movie of the summer!'. I tell her the only people saying these things are the ones being payed by the movie studio that made that movie. Not directly like a bribe or anything, but its like its their job to say good things about their own companies movies.
Take Rolling Stones magazine for example, Disney owned a large portion of shares for Rolling Stone magazine not too long ago (now sold completely to founder of RSM). And guess who released The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on DVD?? DISNEY DID THATS WHO!
Yeah bitch!! haha, so yeah, I thought you, Jaffe would have known about how powerful the big 6 movie companies are. They own just about everything, every tv channel, every magazine, newspaper, news channel, most websites now, clothing lines and the list goes on and on with few exceptions (obviously not EVERYTHING is owned by them).
david hope you read this....
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/ComicsStuffandElse/news/?a=7637
sad :(
also... seeing as your an enders fan (like me).
http://www.enderverse.com/
marvels comic book adaptation.
-yencid-
I haven't been to Disney Land in so long, but please tell me they still have that Indiana Jones Ride. I remember that being the coolest friggin thing ever. It was a ride where even waiting in the long ass lines was half the fun because it took you through this awesome temple. Too me, that ride IS Disney Land. I hope it's still there.
Hells yeah it's still there and still as AMAZING as ever. I LOVE that ride! And yes, the line is half the fun! They used to actually give out little decoder cards that allowed you to translate the markings on the wall from whatever language they made up back to English...so by the time you got to your jeep (i.e. the ride), you knew much about the story of the temple and had distracted yourself doing all the translations that waiting for 75 min didn't even bother you :)!
Jaffe, What do you think of this? I find it hilarious.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/fox_5_links/Top_50_Text_Acronyms_Parents_Should_Know_052009
I guess I must be old because I have only heard of 1 or 2 of those
to be honest i like disney and universal studios better in orlando fl than in cali..its put together way better
Hey Jaffe do you think Dsland helps you with your creative work.And how do you think dsland is compared to Dsworld in Florida.
What are your top 5 favorite Disney rides?
You making special memories for your kids that they will never forget. Way to be a good Dad!
When I go back to Disneyland now as an adult I always wax nostalgic about when my parents took me as a kid.
Jaffe did you catch this GDC talk this year "Everything I Learned About Level Design
I Learned from Disneyland"
Really good, you should check it out if you haven't.
Here is the guys link to it:
http://mrbossdesign.blogspot.com/2009/04/talk-video-up-at-gdc-vault.html
Hey, since you are such a fan of disney. What do you think of kingdom hearts?
it feels like every day that goes by obama spends billions of more dollars.
GM just got another 5 Billion dollars. country sucks. let them go bankrupt. im moving so i dont have to pay obamas debts rest of my life. jaffe your kids will pay atleast 100K extra dollars in taxes in their life that wont even cover the interest of all the debt obama is building up. and you loved him so much durin the elections.
i wouldnt post this here usually but u supporting him so much was the first thing that came to my head when i heard he was givin away more money. or it might be because i was thinkin about your next game lol
I am ok with our government spending our tax money to make it a better place to live. I want better education and hospitals and roads and bridges and I want to make sure we support our military not just in bullshit lip service but with ACTUAL services that help them when they come home from war and need to get healthy because them doing what they needed to do to support our way of life has fucked up a good number of them...we owe them that.
So I say: spend Obama spend, if that is what is needed to take better care of our people.
David
so you agree with the Stimulus bill? even with all the bull shit that is not needed at all. you dont care that obama is firing people from GM and telling chrysler how much money they are ALOUD to spend on advertising. he is running businesses. that is not the job of the president. obama is going crazy with the handing money out. and its going to kill the dollar. think about all the tax dollars he spent already, do you think that is the end of it? no he is only 5-6 months into his 4 year term. i am about 70% sure he wont be re-elected with how things are going this early in his term.
sorry again for posting politics lol. i kept feeling bad while typing this reply. that i went so far off topic. sorry again
Lagoon is better than Disneyland
If our money has been given to companies to bail them out, then our government has the right to put limits on those companies and set up policy for those companies. If those companies do not like it, they do not have to take the bail out money. I for one would have been happy to see some of these companies fail. Granted, I would hate to see anylone lose a job but if you can't run a company in a way that keeps you in business, you should not be in business.
BUT if we are gonna give them money, then yes, I feel there damn well should be government restrictions on that money, given that the money is the people's cash.
lets say sony gave your company money to make a game and they decide you werent cutting it, would you be alright if they fire you from your company that you started even though they dont own any of your company at all. they should have let the companies fail and rebuild them selves. not take over the companies and let the government try run them with our money.
Of course he wouldnt like that. Its also not the same circumstances, They wouldnt be able to do that.
They took bail out money, they agreed to the terms, they couldnt deliver and sterner actions had to be taken. I think it was the right move.
You cant please anyone. If they didnt do something like this you wouldnt be here all upset but someone else would be here in your place- so its a double edged sword.
hey David
hope you read this
I send an e-mail to you in the contact e-mail of Eat, Sleep and Play. I need to ask you a thing.
thanks!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-racdSoz8Y&NR=1
The Wiards workshop is a sweet area man. I love Ursuals cavern where you can act out different scenes and such. great times man. That whole animation area is loads of fun
Sorry man, but I don't know how else to reach you.
My name is Jack, I'm a journalist for GamesOverGirls.Com. I'm covering E3 this year for the site, and was wondering if I could get a few minutes to interview you. I'll keep it brief, it'll just be a quick question or two about Calling all Cars.
Thanks in advance.
Jack@gamesovergirls.com
Hi... just happen to cross your site...
Im planning to go to Tokyo or Hong Kong Disney this Christmas. Hoho and I found some stuffs from Hong Kong Disneyland here as well:
disneycloth.cwahi.net
I will definitely take tones of photos there!!!
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