Disneyland - Part 2

I rode a total of eighteen rides, including the newly opened Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It'd almost be easier to list the rides that I didn't ride, rather than the ones that I did. So, I'll just discuss the rather eventful stuff here.

The Rides and More

Finding Nemo was a pain in the neck, literally. In order to see through my porthole, I had to lean out of my seat, and duck downward. This ride was clearly not designed with adults six feet and higher in mind. I even bumped my head on the roof of the submarine while boarding. The show elements were a mixed bag. Some were decent, and others were downright awful. The lagoon pieces were nice, such as the Atlantis props. However, the whole Nemo presentation, which took place in the cave, felt a bit sloppy. The fact that the characters were merely being projected onto the walls was very obvious to me, and the video quality wasn't all that great, either. I'm sure that it'll fool the five year olds, though.

One of my favorite moments took place in Tomorrowland. While taking a lunch break from the rides, a show was taking place in which young children were being trained to become Jedi. Toward the end of the training session, Darth Vader emerged from beneath the stage with two stormtroopers by his side in a particularly smokey display of effects. He proceeded to challenge the young children to a lightsaber duel. I found this to be rather ironic given the events in Revenge of the Sith. I doubt that Disney intented it to be so, though.

The day only had one real scare. While waiting in line for Space Mountain a second time, one of the ride attendants furiously yelled out, "Stop the ride!" and ran to another attendant, who initiated an emergency shutdown. The lights came on in the complex, and the attendants ran into the entry tunnel to return the trains to the station. My understanding is that two trains nearly collided somewhere in the mountain. Nobody was injured, though, and there was a lot of cheering when normal operation resumed.

Last, but surely not least, while standing in line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, I ran into an old classmate from high school. I guess it really is a small world, after all. I didn't have time to chat for long, as she had a son to attend to. I still can't get over the fact that some of my fellow classmates are already parents.