Disney 2024: Games Without Frontiers.

As you get older, it's harder to really play, or at least play publicly in the way that children do. A lot of that desire gets sublimated into activities with a sort of grown-up veneer of acceptability: cosplay, paintball, tabletop and video gaming, D&D, LARPing, and all the other loopholes that allow us to say "let's pretend" as adults.

For a lot of people, Disneyland is that urge to play writ large, and for me, Galaxy's Edge is the perfect venue to fully experience that. It's a testament to the detail and consistency that Disney's creative people have put into this little alien outpost so that, when I'm there, I feel like I'm actually on another planet, even when surrounded by people in mouse ears and sweat pants. 

Part of me wants to explore Galaxy's Edge all on my own, because it would leave me free to enjoy it as if I were part of that world, to quote Ariel. As it is, Karli sometimes worries that I’m not having fun when I'm there, whereas the joke is that I couldn't be enjoying myself more.  However, being a dangerous rebel who could be in a life-or-death confrontation with storm troopers at any moment tends to make me look a bit grim - after all, we're not playing around here, this is serious stuff.

Smuggler's Run is another good example.  I tolerate the lines and waiting and so on in order to get to where I want to be, but when I sit down at the controls of the Millennium Falcon, I'm not having a simulated experience, I'm flying a starship. As such, when the controls prompt me to perform an action such as take off, go to hyperspace, or steer the ship through an asteroid field, I do it with a certitude, confidence, and gravitas that's appropriate to what I'm doing.

And, hopefully, with a certain degree of style - after all, even if you're just playing at being the Falcon's pilot, you're still playing in the big leagues.

- Sid

P.S. Welcome to the future - the boots and background alien heads in the above photo were created by the Photoshop AI. However, the AI won't accept certain prompts, so I had to do the gun belt and weapon the old-fashioned way.

Disney 2024: Ridin' dirty.

 

Maybe not the perfect ride for a rainy day on Batuu (or in Anaheim), but I like it.

- Sid

Disney 2024: Silver Lining.

For Karli's 50th birthday this year, she decided that there was no place she would rather go than Disneyland. Planning was simple - Karli has become a seasoned veteran in terms of Disney visits - and we invited Karli's best friend John and her sister Stefanie to join us.  John had never been to Disneyland, so he was eager to take advantage of our collective experience to introduce him to the park.

We had all been checking the forecasts for the weather during our upcoming visit, but it was only when I took a look at CNN the day before we left that I discovered that California was currently in the midst of the most serious storm that it had experienced for quite a long time. Record-breaking rains closed airports and caused flooding and mudslides, there had been four fatalities, and a state of emergency had been declared in Los Angeles and seven of the surrounded counties.  Even more ominously, Disneyland had experienced closures due to the emergency.  Obviously not an ideal time for travel, but it was too late to cancel, so we decided to carry on and hope for the best. 

Surprisingly, we experienced no delays as a result of the chaotic weather conditions.  Our flight left on time and landed without any problems, our Uber seamlessly delivered us to our Disney-adjacent hotel, and Disneyland was scheduled to be open over the course of our three-day passes (although rain was on the forecast for the first day and part of the second day).

Fortunately, Karli had the foresight to purchase rain ponchos for the group just in case, which turned out to be the ideal garment for the weather.

As forecast, rain was definitely the theme for our first day at the park - not quite torrential, but certainly a steady solid downpour.

The result?  Limited attendance at the park, and far shorter lines than the norm. 

We all got a bit wet - even the best rain gear will only keep you so dry over the course of a full day - and we obviously couldn't go on any outdoor rides, but we were generally comfortable, and the lack of crowds allowed us to visit favourite rides like Smuggler's Run and Indian Jones multiple times.

It was one of those rare occasions when clouds actually had a silver lining.

- Sid