Disney 2022: Changes.

Next week will see Karli and I depart for our first visit to Disneyland since 2020, where our return from the park was just under the wire for the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.

It's a bit of a bold decision, given that COVID is still very much a thing - in fact, some of Karli's friends described the park as a coronavirus hot zone after a recent trip (as well as contracting the virus during their visit).

However, having both suffered through the COVID-19 experience at the start of July, and now buffered by a well-timed second booster shot, we decided that we were in good condition to renew our acquaintanceship with the happiest place on earth. Sadly, we weren't able to make reservations for a repeat visit to Oga's Cantina in Black Spire Outpost, but who knows, we may get lucky with the walk-in option.  Karli is also looking forward to the opportunity to see the park decorated for Hallowe'en - she's been a fan of the Haunted Mansion since her first childhood trip.

There have been some changes over the past couple of years.  The Rise of the Resistance ride is no longer a reservation experience, which may or may not be a good thing, and the Avengers Campus is now open on the California Adventure side of the park - complete, of course, with a Shawarma Palace. 

There have also been some procedural changes.  What used to be a free Fastpass ride reservation service has been renamed as the Lightning Lane, which is now an additional charge, a sad comment on the eternal process of squeezing a little more money out of customers. Lightning Pass reservations can also be purchased as part of the Genie+ service, which bundles a variety of options for park visitors, such as photos by the Disney photography team.

Guests to the park are now completely reliant on the Disney app to make reservations, order food, and purchase Lightning Lane passes, to the point where a portable charger battery is strongly recommended so as to avoid losing the ability to access the necessary services to make your time at the park proceed smoothly - if at all.

There's a small private joke in all of this.  I have the impression that my wife thinks she needs to convince me to go to Disneyland, which, to be fair, was somewhat the case the first time we went in 2017.  Now?  Now there's a large Star Wars area and the new Avengers Campus - if anything, I'm worried that I need to convince her.

- Sid

Gnomic Statement XX: Limbo?

Am I the only person who keeps getting these ads for Foreverspin tops?  Or is everyone I know just waiting for Arthur to start the kick, but can't say anything?

- Sid

A what now?

This morning while I was drinking my tea, I read a review of After Yang, an upcoming science fiction film staring Colin Farrell.  The Dazed review painted an intriguing picture of the film, but I was thrown off by the description of the film as "a sci-fi".  

This is my first encounter with the use of sci-fi as a singular stand-alone noun, rather than an adjective or an abstraction, and I'm not sure that I'm entirely on board with this.  

Karli and I had a lengthy discussion about the abstract versus the singular in entertainment genres, and decided that whereas terms like "drama", "comedy", and "romance" may work as both, "horror", "science fiction" and "action" still need to be adjectives.  If you feel that "sci-fi" has somehow crossed the floor in the recent past, please let us know, and please cite some examples.  (Sorry, the After Yang piece that starts this discussion doesn't count.)

This all begs the question of sci-fi versus science fiction, which has been hotly debated for most of my time as a genre fan/geek. "Science fiction" dates back to the 1920s, although some scholars say it may be in use as early as 1851, whereas the term "sci-fi" as an alternative to science fiction is attributed to uber-fan Forrest J. Ackerman, circa 1954.  

I feel that sci-fi as a synonym for science fiction is a relatively recent development - in my mind, sci-fi traditionally defines a less elevated sub-genre of science fiction: B-movies and so forth.  As an example, Star Trek is science fiction, whereas the Sharknado franchise is sci-fi - and to be honest, I'm open to debate on parts of Star Trek. 

- Sid