Parks and Re-Creation

Sorry for the delay, everyone! During my usual Editorial-Release weekend, I took a trip with the rest of RoundTwoGaming to D23 (think the Disney version of Comic Con) and Disneyland, just in time to celebrate Disney’s 100th year. I’d never been to D23 before, and I hadn’t visited Disneyland proper since 2010. I figured, since it was a special outing, why not wait an extra week and recount our escapades then? A 12-year gap between visits would make for an excellent comparison, after all.

(Note, not all of the pictures included are my own. It was a pretty busy weekend, so I couldn’t snap shots of everything, but I didn’t want to leave you wall with just a wall of text. The “not mine” pics will be linked to their respective sources)

Of course, before I could get to the convention and the park, I had to jump through all the pre-trip hoops. Sure, there was washing laundry, packing essentials, and all of that, but there were some additional things added to the to-do list that were very different from my previous trips.

The main issue I had was with all the apps I had to download. Now, I try not to download too many apps on my phone, mainly because I tend to run out of space for my mobile game updates if I’m not careful. But I figured, “It’ll only be for a day or two. I can delete them later. How bad could it be?”

According to Kevin, the “face” of RoundTwo, we had to get the D23 app. Supposedly, it was so we could access the event schedule and plan our day. Not sure why we couldn’t just look it up, but whatever. No big deal.

Then came the Disneyland app. This is the one that threw me off. Kevin said we’d be using it to order fast-passes and food while we were out and about. In order to use the app, I needed to make an account. In order to make an account, I had to…input my credit card info? Really? Please excuse the decades-old dinosaur writing this, but I don’t tend to use my card for stuff like that. Heck, I don’t even use Venmo or Google Wallet. This all seemed unnecessary to me, but Kevin insisted for expediency. More on how good of an investment that was later.

Our first stop was D23. It was much larger in scale than the other conventions I’d been to before, and some of the installations were much more elaborate. We saw set pieces from classic Disney works, props and costumes from Marvel and Lucas Films, and mock-ups for future Disney park installations. Sadly, we were only there for half a day, so we could only make it to two panels: the S.E.A. and the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase.

S.E.A. stands for “Society of Explorers and Adventurers.” Apparently, it’s a secret society of fictional characters with ties to multiple Disney park attractions, including the Jungle Cruise and the Tower of Terror. You can find little references hidden throughout the related parks. I had no idea this was a thing until Kevin brought it up, but there’s an entire timeline for the different members and their exploits.

There were two things that stuck out to me about the whole S.E.A. panel. The first was how each of the society’s members, no matter what they did, had to have this quality: “Must live to tell the tale.” An odd caveat, but it creates an air of positivity within the plotlines. It is Disney, after all.

The second takeaway was something the panel’s mediator, Julie Kanagawa, brought up. Kanagawa is the author of Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl, the first chapter book for an S.E.A. series (we got a first-look at the cover for the upcoming Book 2). Near the tail end of the panel, she asked if there were any aspiring authors in the audience (technically, I’m already a published author, but because Kevin kept elbowing me, I raised my hand). In the spirit of the S.E.A. members, she gave this piece of advice for new writers:

“Be persistent. Don’t give up. The difference between an aspiring author and a published author is that the published author didn’t give up.”

If you need evidence of such, just poke around the other pages on this site. I didn’t give up on my writing, and I’m still plugging away at it, even though I’ve already hit publication. You can, too. Just keep going.

The second panel I attended was the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase. I barely got in because of the long standby line. There were a lot of new games and already-announced games with new updates. Here were some of the ones that stood out to me the most:

Disney Speedstorm

Basically, it looks like Disney’s version of MarioKart. Characters fall into different class archetypes, and each has their own personal special ability. New racers and tracks will be released in a seasonal format, which could generate both consistent buzz and FOMO (fear-of-missing-out).

TRON: Identity

Made in collaboration with Mike Bithell (game designer behind John Wick Hex and The Solitaire Conspiracy), this game takes place years after the events of the TRON movies and tv series, in an online world where Tron and Flynn are considered legends. Similar to a choose-your-own-adventure game, you play as Query, a detective program solving a mystery. It’s already on Steam, so go check it out!

Avatar Reckoning

The original Avatar movie released in 2009. This was further back than my last visit to Disneyland, but, with the announcement for the sequel, The Way of Water, new life has been breathed into it. Now, we also have Avatar Reckoning, advertised as an MMO RPG Shooter. From what I saw of the gameplay, you can customize your loadouts for both PvE and PvP game modes and level up as you go. I had been wondering what to do build videos for now that Destiny 2’s Light subclasses are fully updated, so this could work! I just need to wait for it to release on…mobile? Oh…

Finally, we have this one.

It looks amazing, but it has no name. Even at the panel, no title was given. However, a couple of the developers did come to shed some extra light on the project. The game is set in WW2, featuring a growing-into-the-role Captain America and the Black Panther of that generation (one of T’Challa’s predecessors). For the non-super side of the cast, we have Gabriel Jones, a member of the Howling Comandos, and a Wakandan woman (I missed the name) who would later found the Wakandan spy network. The developers said they wanted to create a story-driven game that almost anyone could play. I’ll be keeping an eye out for any more news on this one.

With our con-romping done, we switched gears and headed over to Disneyland. I was fully prepared to deal with hot sun and blazing heat, but we actually didn’t have too much of that. Instead, we had 80+ degree weather, and…rain???

As I expected, many things were added since the last time I went to Disneyland and California Adventure. Some things were updated, and, of course, there were some things that hadn’t changed at all. Let’s take a look at some the more noteworthy things, shall we?

What stayed the same:

Indiana Jones

Being the Indy fan that he is, the first ride Kevin brought us to was the Indiana Jones ride. I remember when I first rode it as a kid. Although I sat in the driver’s seat, I rode with my eyes closed because it was so dark and scary (I’m better now, though). This time around, it felt like some things were missing toward the end. I didn’t even see the trademark boulder barreling towards us. That’s when it hit me: the lights were out. Stuff breaking down on that ride seems to be par for the course. At least we didn’t get stuck on the track like last time…

Pinocchio

We only stopped by this one to beat the heat for a bit, but to my surprise, nothing seemed to have been updated. The same flat boards lit by black light were the same, the sparse animatronics were still there, and the dialogue was still hard to make out. If anything, maybe the only subtle changes were the puppeteer animatronic at the beginning and the blue fairy at the end were changed, but it was hard to tell. Maybe they’ll update it now that the live action with Tom Hanks released, but I’m not holding my breath.

Pirates of the Caribbean

This ride…We have some…“history,” this ride and I.

Back during the summer before my senior year of high school, I went on a college-hopping trip with a friend and his family. We toured a couple of different campuses, then spent the remainder of the trip at Disneyland.

My friend, bless his heart, was going through a major Pirates of the Caribbean phase, so he wanted to go on that ride as much as possible. His mother, who was dealing with some ankle trouble, rented out a wheelchair at the park. This meant we could bypass both the regular line and the fast pass (lightning lane, it’s called now).

We went on that ride 8 times in the span of 2 days…

Traumatic flashbacks aside, there wasn’t too much different with the ride, although I did notice they changed the “wenches for sale” for something much more wholesome. I was especially happy that they kept Jonny Depp’s Jack Sparrow in the ride, especially after the whole lawsuit debacle. The franchise would not (and will not) be the same without him.

Jungle Cruise

If there was any ride at Disneyland that I could work at, it would be the Jungle Cruise. Why? Because I’d get paid for making puns ALL DAY.

Needless to say, I had a hard time resisting the urge to compete with the skipper. There were some new puns in the mix that I’ll have to add to my repertoire, but it was still the fun, chill ride that I remember (the fact that it was raining a bit added to the immersion).

What changed:

Soaring Over the World

Last time I was here, it was called Soaring Over California. While it was fun (and air conditioned), I was all to familiar with most of the sights, so I just enjoyed the bird’s eye view of recognizable areas.

Now, the ride covers more international features. It was certainly a breath of fresh air for the ride, but, I will admit, I started playing a guessing game during the ride. The theme was simple: spot the thing that would wipe across the screen and transition to the next location. I only guessed wrong on two of them, and that’s because they were cross fades instead of wipe transitions.

Guardians — Monsters After Dark

Back in my day, this ride was the Hollywood Tower of Terror, a drop ride I wasn’t too fond of. While I was gone, it got remodeled into the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Furthermore, since we visited during their Halloween season, the ride had a PM alternative called Monsters After Dark.

I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween (don’t really like horror in general). Sure, this wasn’t really horrifying, but it did reconfirm something for me: I HATE drop rides. I like rollercoasters, which simulate the feeling of flight, but I don’t like just the straight up drops.

Ariel’s Undersea Adventure

I include this under “What changed” instead of “What’s new” because, the last time I went to Disneyland, this attraction was still under construction. Now, I got to see what all that work went into.

The seats had an interesting clamshell design and could tilt and rotate. What was cool was that, at the very beginning, you tip backwards as you descend into the attraction, much like how scuba divers lean out of boats and into the ocean. The clamshell backing actually aided in the sound design. Speakers would be playing different things throughout the ride, but because the back of the seat was curved, it helped focus the acoustics so we could hear only one particular speaker set at a time (props to you, Disney Imagineers). Also, unlike Pinocchio, the animatronics had come a long way.

The Incredicoaster

The first rollercoaster I went on that included an upside-down element was the California Screamin’. It helped me get over some of my fear of heights and became the launch point for the bigger rollercoasters I rode later down the line.

Now, it’s been given a fresh coat of paint, featuring Pixar’s favorite super family, the Incredibles. It’s still as fun as I remember, but I did wonder for a while why they didn’t just keep it the same instead of rebranding it.

Of course, the moment I heard Violet say this during the preshow, I suddenly didn’t feel so alone in my question:

“Oh, sure. Slap our name on an old ride.”

Thanks, Vi. I’m glad somebody gets me.

Star Tours

Star Tours received a major overhaul during the time I was away. Now, instead of the same “tour” every time, there are over 50 possible destination combinations. Interestingly enough, our tour went through two consecutive Episode 1 locations, the Tatooine pod race and Naboo. That being said, it felt…shorter than I remember.

Small World

Oh, Lord, help me…

Kevin’s fun-facts about this ride aside, this ride was still mostly the same as I remember. The most notable changes were the inclusions of certain Disney characters in their respective countries. I don’t recall if the song’s language changed with the region the last time I rode it, but it was still a nice touch.

I did get a bit of a disturbing thought at the end of the ride: Did you notice how, in the final room, all the kids are wearing white and singing in the same language? Is it just me, or does this imply that they all died and went to Heaven…?

What’s new:

Cars Land

This area was added two years after my last visit, so it was interesting to see what it was all about. A definite highlight of this park zone was the Radiator Springs Racers. It started off the way I expected it to, with a gentle cruise and passing by animatronics of the Cars characters (which were very well done, by the way). Then, we sidled up next to another car with riders in it. Luigi waved a racing flag, and then ZOOM, we were off. The race at the end was much faster than I anticipated, which made for a very fun surprise.

Avenger’s Campus

This was one of my two must-see zones for this trip. Though smaller than I expected, it was cool to see all the high tech zones and MCU nods (Kevin got an awesome night shot of the Sanctum Santorum while it was raining). If the picture I posted on Instagram last week is any indication, one of my biggest highlights from this part of the park was Web Slingers. It reminded me of Tomorrowland’s Astro Blasters, only this one requires A LOT more arm movement. My team was 200 points short of making it onto the day’s Top 10 leader board because I didn’t know what I was doing during the first wave. Sorry, team…

Galaxy’s Edge

Not only was this my second must-see for the trip, Galaxy’s Edge was probably my favorite part of the whole weekend. It was designed in such a way that you cannot see or hear the other areas of the park, immersing you so much that you feel like you’re in another “space” entirely. The ambiance was fitting, the cast blended into their environment, and there’s nothing like a long time Star Wars fan seeing a life-size Millennium Falcon for the first time.

Unlike the previous parts of the “What’s new” list, I had two big highlights from Galaxy’s Edge. The first was Savi’s Workshop. I’ve always wanted to make a lightsaber with some durability, and now I could. Out of the four tracks you could choose, I picked Protection and Defense, both for what the track stood for and all the gold-accented pieces that came in that kit. The build session was fun, the cast members got into character, and I walked away with a gold lightsaber (I’ll probably repaint the silver parts to black to match my theme).

Here’s the funny part: remember how I mentioned at the beginning of this post I was forced to download the Disneyland app to expedite lines and food? Over the course of the entire trip, we did not reserve Lightning Lane passes and stood in line for every meal we bought. The only time I used it was to make a reservation at Savi’s Workshop. That’s it.

The second highlight was what nearly made me late for my lightsaber-building session: Rise of the Resistance. This was the first line that felt like we were in an actual line at Disneyland (I guess the rain drove most of the crowds away previously). After a long wait, I got on and was treated to one of the most immersive rides I’ve ever been on. There were practically three “pre-shows” of us getting briefed, captured, and then rescued before we got on the actual ride. The transitions were so absolutely seamless, I had constant double-takes and “Wait, WHAT???” moments.

Two things blew my mind on Rise of the Resistance. The first was the Rey hologram during the first pre-show. Most of the time, I can at least guess how certain effects are pulled off. However, I could not figure out how they pulled this hologram effect. There were no noticeable transparent screens that are usually used, nor was the projector in plain sight. That’s how you know they did an awesome job: where attendees still cannot figure out how they did it. The second was the fact that the ride was trackless. All the other rides I had been on, you could see the track and tell where you were going to go next. Not here. We were sliding every which way, and I could barely guess where we were going next. It was, without a doubt, a magical experience.

And there you have it: my return trip to Disneyland. If you want to see more pictures from the trip, check out the D23 ‘22 highlight reel on the RoundTwoGaming Instagram page @roundtwogaming.

Will I go to the parks again? Probably, but I’m definitely going to need to recharge my funds first (if you want to help me with that, you can always check the books I have on sale!).

See you all next month! If you’ll excuse me, I have some apps I need to delete…