War and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Bullfrog117

Luke Adams (fellow cast member from Torrance’s Joseph (2004) and Camelot (2005)) was cast as the Beast in Starlight Theatre’s outdoor production and did an incredible job. I was lucky enough to head down there for the closing performance. We left Orange County around 3:30 with the hopes of catching a movie before the show. Success on both fronts!

War featuring Jason Statham and Jet Li

This was a very exciting film, portraying the tale of Rogue, a Yakuza (Japanese mob) hitman who pits Yakuza members in San Francisco against the Triad (Chinese mob), and John Crawford, a member of the FBI’s Asian Organized Crime unit out to avenge his partner’s death (to the extent of all else – his marriage, his son, etc.). Aside from Jet Li and Jason Statham being incredible fighters, the story was really solid and really enjoyable. At least that’s what I can claim – I had a huge niggling problem with the “prestige” and I can only assume that I missed something in the first 5 minutes that explains it all (we were late getting into the theatre). As in Rush Hour 3, this film was deeply embedded with Asian cultural concepts – honor being a huge proponent. Just another awesome piece of culture that continues to increase my fascination with Asian culture (the other piece being Newt Gingrich’s Pearl Harbor). A must see!

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast presented by Starlight Theatre in San Diego

I haven’t seen the show but once a long time ago, so for me it was basically another Disney musical adaptation (i.e. I don’t hate it as much as Lion King). Starlight performs in Balboa Park’s Starlight Bowl, which is unfortunately very close to the airport. What’s that? You don’t see how an airport right next to an outdoor ampitheatre might be a problem? Why else would the program list a Plane Spotter? So that was a fairly amusing aspect to the performance. According to the cast, the pit has a traffic light set up to warn actor’s of incoming planes…the evening’s policy was to hold for dialogue, but previous policy was to interrupt musical numbers as well (basically it was up to the conductor). Despite these grandiose interruptions, I enjoyed the show very much.
The director gave Cogsworth a German accent. Nicely done. Interesting having the three minor players (Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth) thus representing France, England and Germany…especially in a French castle…

There was something I wanted to say about Belle…something about a French maiden really enjoying something so anti-French…but the moment has passed…

Lefou was short….really reminiscent of the cartoon – very cool
All in all, a fantastic performance. And what better way to really enjoy theatre then by going to Friday’s with the cast afterwards! It just amuses me so that Friday’s is practically a theatre tradition…at least in Southern California.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – The World Premiere and The Midnight Showing

Posted on May 20, 2007 by Bullfrog117

Pictures. So last Saturday I went to Disneyland at 6 in the morning. Why? Not to sit and wait all day to see celebrities – to take advantage of an empty Disneyland at 6:30 in the morning. I got several great shots of New Orleans completely empty and had an entire Splash Mountain log to myself (probably the only time I’ve ever walked onto that attraction and had the offer of staying on for a 2nd ride). After that I went to Swing Team Rehearsal with the intention of joining some friends later that day in Disneyland for the Red Carpet walk-by’s. But not before going into Jamba Juice and watching Orlando Bloom walk through Downtown Disney incognitos with a little girl (not his daughter…maybe his niece? No idea).
I came back around 5 pm and I’m on the hub right across from Tomorrowland. Unfortunately, by the time the celebrities get to us, most of them were hurrying past because Main Street was a real chore (as can be seen from this excellent review on MiceAge.com by Sue Kruse, or at Mouseplanet…or at Visions Fantastic).

In the category of rushed past waving
Geoffrey Rush w/ Monkey Jack and trainer
Kevin McNally – Joshamee Gibbs
Johnny Depp
Orlando Bloom
John Voight
Jonathon Pryce – Governor Weatherby Swan
Arnold Schwarzenegger – not on red carpet – walked out of Tomorrowland and across the carpet
Bill Nighy
Keith Richards
David Baillie – Cotton

In the category of walked by waving or sacrificed even more time to sign even more autographs
Lee Arenberg – Pintel (not the wooden eye guy, the other one)
Gore Verbinski
Martin Landau
Chow Yun Fat
Terry Rosio (he threw me 2 hacky sacks!)
Joey Fatone
Christy Carlson Romano
Wilmer Valderrama (aside from Johnny and Orlando, he was the biggest thing on the red carpet…I think it was because he kept signing autographs…half an hour after he passed, he was still working the crowd on the other side of the hub…people would be screaming and you could say, “Oh it’s just Wilmer”)

So after Johnny walked slowly past, I hurried over the DCA for swing dancing and that was my Saturday.

Last night I went to the midnight showing at Big Newport. I got there around 5 to stake my place in line (I was roughly the 5th group in line) but had to leave at 8 for rehearsal…saved my place with an umbrella…and by letting the people around me know. Got back around 11:15 and the line had not only grown length wise, but breadth wise. The best way to describe it like this: every person in line was already saving a place for 10 people, but each of those 10 people showed up with 10 friends. It was ridiculously crowded. And when they opened the doors to the theatre, the line just disappeared in the mad rush for the door. It was ridiculous. Then when we got into the theatre, there were people throwing tortillas…disgusting. Someone dressed up as Jack Sparrow made an announcement about checking under your seat for a medallion for a prize. I didn’t get anything, he didn’t project very well, but it was a very nice costume.

Finally the movie started. I was actually a little disappointed in this midnight crowd. They were rowdier during the trailers than they were during the movie (Transformers, Christian Bale and Steve Zahn as Vietnam POW’s, Live Free or Die Hard, Evan Almighty). But maybe that can happen with a less complex movie like Spiderman 3 and not with Pirates. The movie was absolutely phenomenal. Everything that was promised to us in Dead Man’s Chest was delivered one-hundred-fold. Learn Barbossa’s first name. Meet the 9 pirate lords. See the pirate code (and it’s guitar-pickin’ keeper). Discover Davy Jones’ true love.
The music was really good. The Davy Jones theme (the locket song) was weaved in and out of just about every theme because it plays so heavily into one of the core stories of the movie (the other core stories being Elizabeth, Will and Jack). That core story really ties a heavy element of mythology into the movie which I just love (I’m a HUGE fan of mythology, always have been, though I don’t know why…maybe I really am a fantasy fan). But what a lot of reviews are suggesting is that this makes the 3-hour epic into two movies: Elizabeth, Will, Jack, Barbossa and all the pirate-y fun in one movie and the mythological back story in the other. While this makes sense, I can’t really find a reason to disagree with the decision to make the film 3 hours long and have both stories in there. Although maybe it takes away from what people claimed to enjoy so much about the first film (the piratical banter between the major characters).
Regardless of all of that, the true glory for the movie goes to it’s truly epic final battle. This battle will be remembered long after the pirate phenomenon has faded from memory. I mean you get a small tease of the sheer scale from the trailer, but when you see the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl charging into the maelstrom at each other and hear Barbossa laughing maniacally as he turns the Black Pearl deeper into the deadly whirlpool…I was utterly speechless. It was just gorgeous.
All in all this was a really great film that I can’t wait to see again.

Rockin’ Both Parks

Posted on April 27, 2007 by Bullfrog117

I can’t really think and therefore I must blog. Makes sense, right? Not to me, but that’s why I keep doing it.

My current favorite video is Super Mario Bros: Frustration on Google Video. Warning: it’s 24 minutes long and incredible foul-mouthed. Beyond that it is absolutely hilarious. Thanks to Danny for finding it for me.

The past week has been intriguing, being that I spent most of it at Disneyland, which is unusual for me (no really, just because I have an annual pass doesn’t mean I spend every free hour at the park). Why for was I at the park? I was using my video camera to capture the audio from the Rockin’ Both Parks campaign with the Red Hot Chili Peppers because I just love it and (ASSUMPTION) Disney won’t pay the Red Hot Chili Peppers the money necessary to sell the soundtracks. I think I mentioned before the problem of not marketing the ride version of the songs (the fact that the original songs have not so family-friendly language), but I’m guessing this is the real reason. That or they’re waiting for some bigger event….THEORY: after Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opens up, Disneyland will release a new Resort Soundtrack featuring the Pirates changes, the Haunted Mansion changes, the Finding Nemo soundtrack and the Rockin’ Both Parks music. I mean hey It probably won’t happen, but I can dream, can’t I? The weekend resulted in a lot of fun though. Friday I went on both attractions simply for an initial recording, but I found out after that I had set the audio settings wrong and recorded no sound. So Saturday, I brought my video camera back in the park when I came in for swing dancing. I skipped the first set and rode/filmed California Screamin’. During the fireworks I got in line for Space Mountain. Memorizing my place in line, I became so entranced with the viewing angle of the fireworks from the Space Mountain line platform that I filmed the rest of the show (I jumped in at the Adventureland section). Afterwards, I spotted my place in line and re-entered it quietly. Then I did my usual thing of being a chatty stranger with the people around me and made friends with the group in front of me. Turns out they were on a band trip from Arizona and this was there last day. Later on in line, the group expanded from about 8 people to 24. Yes, 24 people in line for Space Mountain. That was a fun day for the “how many in your party” cast member. After Space Mountain, I headed with my new friends Grant, Patrick, Jenna, Abby and Ian to Big Thunder. After that, Ian and Jenna peeled away to go do…something (note: the author assumes nothing about this “something”) while the rest of us went on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Then we wandered out through Downtown Disney to their bus (they were driving back all night to Arizona). On Sunday I was meeting with a teammate to study for MousePlanet.com’s bi-annual MouseAdventure Scavenger Hunt. After we finished wandering about Disneyland looking at things we don’t normally look at, I headed into DCA to try just an audio capture of Screamin’ with my digital point-and-shoot still camera (is there a lexicographically cheaper way of getting that point across?). It cut out halfway through and had only one channel of audio, so I was still frustrated in my efforts. So I resolved to go back to the parks and hit both attractions one final time on Tuesday morning (I didn’t have class until 12:30, so I had plenty of time from park opening). So I got to the Resort shortly after Disneyland opened at 9:00 AM and headed to Space Mountain. The wait was a mere 10 minutes and I boarded the back seat (I figured there would be minimal screaming noises absorbed by the camera in the last row) with anxiety. I was holding the camera upside down so that the mike was as close as it could safely be to the speakers of the empty seat next to me (I had already checked the audio input settings). I got off the ride, rewound the tape and played it back. It sounded so gorgeous I almost cried. I looked at my watch and headed to the other park. I got there shortly after opening and walked to the back of the park. Along the way, I noticed how empty the performance corridor was, so I had the PhotoPass guy by the Grizzly River Run waterfall snap a couple of shots. When I got to the ride, the wait was 10 minutes, and presently I was pulling the harness down. I couldn’t hold the camera in the other seat securely (I wasn’t about to hold an expensive camera upside down with one hand on a looping roller coaster), so I placed it right by the speaker situated between the two seats. Unfortunately, the train I ended up with (red) must have had a bad speaker or something because even during the ride I heard lots of scratches. So I confirmed that it sucked and got back in line (still 10 minutes). I waited for the back again and made sure that I didn’t get the red train, which was difficult because the line was now long enough for them to justify starting a third train (green). So I almost had to go red again, but I politely (I thought) asked the cast member assigning seats to help me out. So now I’m in the back of the blue train and I’m giving it one last shot (I can’t afford to stand in the line again..it’s gotten longer) and I get a fairly decent capture. I spend a few minutes filming some random launch sequences and playing around with push-zooms (you know, it’s that really cool effect where the camera is zooming, but it looks like only the background is moving, not the actor?). After finishing that, I left and went to school. And now we’re here on Friday and I’m writing this. Hope you enjoyed my story. Most of the really pertinent pictures are on Flickr…a video should be on YouTube shortly and I’m taking votes now for whether to post my audio files of the attractions online. Vote in the comments.

Well, thanks for sticking around so long!

Meet The Robinsons

Posted on March 30, 2007 by Bullfrog117

This film was lots of fun. It really lifted me up to see the Disney Company moving in such a positive direction. First: The film is preceded by the classic Mickey Mouse short, Boat Builders. Then there was the Walt Disney Pictures logo AND a Disney Animated Studios logo featuring Steamboat Willie! These two bits tell me good things are around the corner for Disney Animated Feature now that John Lasseter has assumed the Walt Disney figurehead in the company* (i.e. he makes a lot of creative decisions). I remember reading several articles online during the development of this picture where Lasseter stepped in and basically fixed parts of the film that weren’t working. Well let me tell you, it paid off.

This film is heartfelt, funny and features incredibly fun characters. It seemed a little predictable to me only because I’m a sci-fi geek and time travel is one of my specialties (or at least figuring out the grandpa clause and stuff like that). And it really drives home the message of always moving forward through life…never giving up.

* I feel obligated to question Lasseter’s decision to pull Chris Sanders’ off of American Dog (Chris’ conception) even though Chris was a big part behind the fantastic Mulan and the blockbuster Lilo and Stitch. But hasn’t this been a Disney precedent practically for years (firing really good story/animators and letting them get hired by other companies)? Or was that just an Eisner era thing….I don’t know anymore. And I also feel I have to question something about business and good story. There was a lot of press about how Cars (which was a great film that I really loved) wasn’t a blockbuster smash even though it did fairly well. That film was entirely John Lasseter…if everything he touches doesn’t turn to gold….does it not matter if it tells a really good story? You know what….I say yes!

Bridge to Terabithia (Movie)

Posted on March 26, 2007 by Bullfrog117

If it weren’t for Katy, I probably wouldn’t have read the book before I saw the movie. This movie is what Eragon should have been: an appropriate tribute to the spirit of the book. I guess I can thank David Patterson (son of the author and screenplay). The only thing missing was the sacred grove, and with no length issues for the movie, they should have included it. Oh well, maybe we’ll get some deleted scenes.

After I read the book, I watched the movie trailer again and got really worried. I mean, Disney kept selling it as a movie along the lines of Chronicles of Narnia, which is a completely different kind of fantasy story.
Bridge to Terabithia is about the imagination of two children, not finding a magic world hidden inside a wardrobe that’s actually a metaphor for Christianity. It’s about keeping your mind open as the world around you tries to stuff you into your parent’s life. “Get your head out of the clouds!”

I recognize the kid who played Jess Aarons, but I couldn’t identify him. The girl from Winn-Dixie played Leslie Bergk and the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) stepped in as Jess’ dad. Oh! And Zooey Deschanel as the hippie singing teacher, Ms. Edmonds. I love her voice…ever since I saw Elf and heard her sing Baby It’s Cold Outside with Leon Redbone. It’s so very pretty.

This was just a really great movie and a really great book adaptation. I’m glad I got to see it before it got pushed out of theatres.

The Atomic Gig

Posted on March 11, 2007 by Bullfrog117

To tell this story properly, you have to go back about a month to when the Atomic Teams first got word of this gig.

The first details we receive was that it was a big event and they wanted 10 five-minute numbers, but we talked them into the 6 polished numbers we could produce in a month. So the only caveat was we would have to get the bands’ charts and find music to do our routines to (we’ve kind of pigeon-holed ourselves with really great choreography set to specific music that isn’t done by a lot of live bands anymore).

Over the next month, more and more information filters in that just makes this gig appear more and more difficult. We end up practicing for the eventuality that all the routines end with extra music, so we have to social dance, feel the rhythm and find the end of the song so we know when to dip. Not too difficult, but it’s just a little worrisome. Eventually we get all the routines polished up and do 3 “practice” performances at Atomic Ballroom (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday of last week) that work out pretty nicely.

So then today comes. We decide to shift our rehearsal from Atomic to Disneyland. Oh! Didn’t I mention? The event took place in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel. Very swank place. So we all meet up at the hotel and find ourselves (through various connections) able to utilize the dance floor that we’ll be performing on to practice. So we work on making sure the choreography is solid and various solos as well as a cue-to-cue run so we know exactly what goes on. We do this for about 3 hours. By this time, everybody’s ready for a little break, but the band looks like they’re about to start up and we REALLY need to rehearse with the band to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. So we finagle a half-hour hiatus and rush off to grab food. We scarf our food down and rush back to the ballroom, only to find that the band is now
working with the Rat Pack group that is the main attraction of the show. That’s right, we’re only the sideshow. But whatever. So we watch the Rat Pack group work with the band. They had Frankie (didn’t look very much like him, but sounded like him), Dean (looked and sounded like him pretty good) and Sammy (who looked and sounded VERY CLOSE to the real thing….very cool) and they were absolutely hilarious to watch. Meanwhile we were waiting around (something we’d gotten used to at this point) and occasionally free dancing around to the band’s music as the Rat Pack rehearsed.

After about an hour or two of that, we decide to get all our stuff out of the ballroom and into the green room…which turns out to be the adjacent ballroom. At this point, it’s silly to consider leaving to try to do anything (we really need to work with the band) so we decide to get dressed for the event. As it turns out, we never get to practice with the
band. So now we’re really nervous about our job. Our job is to social dance at the very beginning of the event (6:40-7:00 pm) to add energy to the room as people are coming in and then to perform at the very end of the band’s set (around 10 pm).

So the first part goes off nicely and is lots of fun. Then we go backstage and wait some more. Pizza was delivered for the band and we are able to enjoy some of it. Then we wait. Suddenly the fire alarm goes off…all across the hotel. So we start packing up our stuff, but we quickly learn it’s a false alarm so we go check out the damage to the ballroom…because all the tuxedos and fancy dressed people evacuated the ballroom…in the middle of dinner. So the waiters are running around putting metal trays over the food to keep it warm and people are outside smoking (cigarettes) and it’s just hilarious. So then everybody gets back in and the show picks back up. Then we get the news that the band’s music fell down and they’re scrambling to get everything back in order (it’s an 18-piece band with like 100 songs or so…that’s a lot of sheet music to pick up and collate). The point is, it’s doubtful that they would be able to play the songs we requested for our routines….which is actually good news considering we didn’t get to rehearse with the band. So we’re waiting backstage again. At this point we start taking pictures since we’re all dressed up with no place to go. The pictures turned out really well…judge
for yourself!

So now we find out that we’re most likely not going to perform (if we are, it will only be a few numbers) and that we’ll just encourage people to social dance at the very end of the event (around 10:30 pm). So even though it’s a disappointment not to do our whole performance, we’ve gotten some great publicity out there about the Atomic Teams based just on the pre-show entertainment bit we did (which we also filmed, adding to our small but growing collection of possible reel footage). Also, having this big deadline really got our butts in gear with polishing these numbers into a highly performable form.

Then we start playing games. We start with one called Winkin’. The game requires one more boy than girls (it’s one of those flirty middle school games). The girls sit in a ring of chairs with one guy behind each chair with one guy standing behind an extra chair. This guy needs someone in his chair. So he winks at a girl and she has to get off her chair and onto his chair. Trouble is the guy standing behind her can grab her (by the shoulders only technically, although there were some very creative clothing grabs utilized) and keep her from leaving. Because if you lose your girl, you have to wink at someone else’s girl. And the game is really fun played backwards (guys sitting, girls standing), because the guys ended up being a little bit stronger than the girls, so they would end up dragging their girl across the floor.

We finished with an electronic version Catchphrase where you sit in a circle and every other person is your teammate and you pass around the ticking clock slash trivia machine and you have to describe the catchphrase and hope your teammates can guess what the heck they’re talking about. Lots of fun. Lots of laughs.

So now it’s time to go out and lead the social dancing….which only lasts for half and hour. But we get some of the rich big-wigs out there! So then that’s it. We head back to the green room, back up our stuff and leave. It was kind of sad to leave because the whole experience was like a musical in a bottle. You spend all this time rehearsing and
building towards this final show and then the show’s over and you just get to revel in the memories. EXCEPT IT ALL TOOK PLACE IN ONE DAY! Just crazy bunch of fun that I’ll never forget.

Going over!

Flashback 2007

Posted on March 4, 2007 by Bullfrog117

I’ve been duped! Huckstered! Flim flamed! Deceived! They told me there was a dress rehearsal on the dvd, but there’s just a dress rehearsal video with audio commentary! I assured myself that I didn’t need to film the entire performance! Damn my eyes! Well I’ll know better next year. That’s right Disney…you just try and stop me next year.

Anyways.
The show was lots of fun! I was rooting for the red team, and although it’s some form of nepotism I really enjoyed the Red Team’s show best. It was the most cogent with the clearest story line and very impressive utilization of talents. The only reason Green Team won was because they’re all from the Entertainment department…oh and their show looked really sharp and crisp (although I have been told they went so far as to lift entire choreography from … something). Before I knew they were all Entertainment, I was very impressed with their show. Afterwards I was still impressed, but felt like I shouldn’t be. I don’t know anymore.

This year’s theme was A Night At The Movies where each team was given a genre of movie as the basis for their script.

Orange Team – Comedy ala Beach Blanket Bingo
It’s West Side Story meets Gidget with the mob running around. And don’t forget the dancing nuns!
Very nicely done, cohesive story line….all around decent sketch. #3 on my list.

Red Team – Action/Adventure
Ace Palmer has a new assignment: someone has kidnapped the most important person in America. Ace suspects Erik Von Develin, owner of the hot new nightclub and long time nemesis. The only catch? he has to solve this case without blowing anything up!
As I said, my absolute favorite, but maybe that’s because I love Bruckheimer films which is the prototype (basically) for this script. #1 on my list.

Blue Team – Chick Flick
Sam likes Zach. They’re very compatible…spent lots of time in college watching sci-fi films. But Zach appears to like Megan (the office bad girl…think Glinda from Wicked). So Megan makes Sam “Popular” to make Zach like her. Of course that doesn’t work and Sam and Zach end up together. What, did you expect the bad girl to win in a romantic comedy? Unfortunately the script was much simpler than it could have been…a lot more drama could have been pumped in to make it really rock.
This sketch started out really low energy (after the opening number)…the dialogue wasn’t really peppy enough and the delivery was incredibly flat. It worked it’s way up to being a little better, but of the four sketches, I have to rate this one #4.

Green Team – Horror/Comedy
or do all horror’s have comedy inherent in them? Maybe, but not this kind of comedy.
This show was really kind of cool. It got a little thin for me near the middle when the Ghostbusters charged in, but then it picked up comedy wise in the end and I enjoyed it. The hip-hop stuff in the beginning was just freaking awesome. And the crazy cool part? The two “leads” in this skit are Bert and Mary Poppins! I’ve seen them on stage and in the Park…sooo cool. #2 on my list.

Something To Feel Guilty About and (Re)Learning Spanish

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Bullfrog117

Anybody feel bad about stepping on a bug? I’m obviously not talking to anybody who took a magnifying glass to an ant, but I recently was walking back into my house and it’s dark and all of a sudden CRUNCH! I look back and there’s a dead snail in my foot print. I always feel kind of bad when I squash snails because it’s not like they can get out of the way. And I keep seeing its remains when I leave/enter my house and keep thinking about it. What did he experience in his last moments (if he had any)? Did the shards of his shell just penetrate into his body and skewer the life out of him?

Permancer sentado por favor.
So THAT’S how it’s spelled out. I’ve always been saying “Per sentado por favor” and was just too lazy to look it up. Yay!

If you can’t pronounce that and figure out what it is, first off shame on you. It’s the Matterhorn’s Spanish at Disneyland. Remain seated please. Permancer sentado por favor.
So yeah, I just found it at the end of Al Lutz’s latest article on MiceAge.com. Yay!

Pirates of the Caribbean Returns

Posted on June 27, 2006 by Bullfrog117

So as part of my preparation for my trip to Amsterdam, I was up at 6am yesterday. Not knowing what else to do that early, I headed to Disneyland for the grand re-opening of Pirates of The Caribbean.

The Esplanade at 7:17 am.

There was a family scuttling from one letter to another doing that photo collage that EVERYBODY does.

Nicely done with the F.

The Esplanade at 7:54 am.

Nice line to get into the park.

Park opened at 8:00 dull, and people start running. Security guard says, no point, the line for pirates is already 2 hours.

The 2 hour line, stretching from the flag pole all the way down Main Street…

Through Frontierland…

and straight into the ride.

Apparently I missed the new mural in the lobby that features Jack Sparrow. Oops. The ride was lots of fun. A lot darker than I remember it…which of course makes digital photography on the fly rather difficult…if you’re an amateur like me and you’re willing to obey the rules that say no flash photography (curse the guy behind me!). But fortunately my digital camera films really well. What follows are the “best” captures from those videos.

The opening sequence got cleaned up.

The hat (kind of hard to see in this shot) looks fresher and redder.

New lightning effects behind the shipwrecked skeleton.

We’ve got some new patrons at the tavern

The drinking effect looks sharper than it has in years…new technology maybe?

The captain is now (or was he always?) a British admiral (or captain or whatever)…he’s got a red coat and a wig.

And a parrot…

Gee, that treasure chest doesn’t look familiar….

Another waterfall?

Nope…the coolest damn effect I’ve ever seen…

No longer are we warned of the cursed treasure.

“Ah ha ha ha. Tales there be a plenty in this cursed place…”

That’s all the audio I can distinguish…I hope Disney has released a new soundtrack. I forgot to check!

“Where be Captain Jack Sparrow?” cries the infamous Barbossa, captain of the…Wicked Wench? Wait, what?

Jack hides from the pirates torturing the mayor. Why? Because they’re looking for him, of course.

Jack sneaks a peek at the pooped pirate’s treasure map.

Jack enjoys his treasure trove as we escape back up the waterfall.

The only other thing to talk about is how fantastic the ride sounds. (To the best of my knowledge) they replaced all the speakers so that the digitally re-mastered music comes through so much clearer. I’m so happy I want to cry! This was definitely worth the wait.

Ever get a hankering for a Monte Cristo sandwich after the Blue Bayou has finished serving lunch? Now you can get it across the street at the Cafe Orleans for dinner. Only problem is, don’t expect to walk right in. Cafe Orleans is now a table service restaurant. Kind of a “down-scale Blue Bayou.” You can make reservations (priority seating) for later in the day, or you can try their walk-in line which they open every hour based on available seating.

On a side note I was remembering all the online chatter about what Disneyland was planning for it’s 50th anniversary. A lot of people speculated on an improvement of the “Big 5″ rides, which I think were Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room and Small World (the Big 5 obviously related to attractions directly influenced by/resulting from the ’64 World’s Fair). They have completed 3 out of 5 (Haunted Mansion’s story has evolved to focus more on the bride than on Master Gracey, Captain Jack Sparrow has arrived, and Jungle Cruise has that new finale)…interesting, no?

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Category Archives: Disney