Archie

I watched American Idol for the first time ever during the most recent season. I was following the two Mormons; Brooke White and David Archuleta. Both are fantastic singers and both represented the Church very well.

Brooke has a rough, sultry voice that, in my mind, makes her unique not only among the other contestants but the entire industry. David's voice is velvety smooth like milk chocolate and he specializes in hitting the high notes.

For those that were perhaps on holiday from the planet at the time and are not aware of the results, David Archuleta wound up placing 2nd and Brooke took 5th. Two weeks ago David was the first of the contestants to release his debut album. I had pledged my support long ago and the album was automatically downloaded into iTunes because I had pre-ordered it.

Part of my commitment to DA meant I would listen to the entire 16 songs (got a few bonus tracks with the preorder) at least twice before passing judgment. It's a good thing I did. After one listen there were only a few songs that stood out - that I thought I could hear on a regular basis. After the second time through, there really is only one song that I don't particularly care for.

"Crush" is the first single from the album and was released a couple of months ago. It's catchy and reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100, but not the best of the lot. In my opinion, that honor goes to "Barriers", a satisfying R&B crowd pleaser that I hope gets plenty of attention on the radio to give it the airtime it deserves. Following closely for supremacy is a beautiful quasi-duet with Kara DioGuardi - who also co-wrote the song - called "To Be With You."

A couple of my other favorites include a made-famous-on-Idol cover of "Angels", originally recorded by Robbie Williams, and "Touch My Hand", a peppy little number that will have you singing along in the car.

Perhaps the best quality of this album is it is chock full of good music. There are no caps being busted in any one's posterior. No degrading descriptions of women. No foul language. No suggestion of impropriety. There is no reason whatsoever to hide this disc when you give somebody a lift. Unless, of course, you have a thug image to maintain in front of your homeboys.

Still waiting for something from Brooke White.

All Good Things

My apologies for the one-day lag getting this out. I'll say this about vacations - they are not relaxing. They don't reinvigorate me or make me feel ready or anxious to jump back into work and everyday life. They wear me out. It is stressful business trying to ensure that everything flows smoothly and everyone returns home safely. Hence the delay; I was merely dormant while my body repaired itself.

We needed to check out of the hotel by 11:00 AM, but we wanted to be in the park by 9:00 AM (Thursday was another "Magic Morning" early entry day for certain ticket holders) to squeeze every possible minute out of our last day. Factoring in time for breakfast, we woke up at 7:00 AM to shower, pack up and load the car. We were allowed to park at the hotel until midnight. In one final troop surge designed to fill the last remaining pages of Brooklyn's autograph book, we hit the Storyteller's Cafe in our hotel. This is another character restaurant/buffet similar to Goofy's Kitchen, but with relatively innocuous characters and therefore not nearly as expensive. Chip 'n Dale are the headliners. Others include Rosie O'Donnell's monkey from Tarzan and a bunch of bears that looked somewhat familiar; the old Country Bears maybe?

Problem was, we already had both Chip and Dale's autographs, and most of the others declined due to excessively large stuffed paws where hands would normally be. We called it quits on the signatures. When Dale stopped by he tried to help Karsten entertain himself by dumping out the little basket of jellies and syrups out onto the table in front of him. Several minutes later Brooklyn got out of her chair and started to walk away "to go spank Dale because he made a big mess." Corporal punishment works.

I'm not sure what the point is of Disneyland saying only certain types of ticket holders can enter the parks early for the Magic Morning. When we got to the main entrances at 9:15 AM, 45 minutes before the gates open to the public, there were absolutely no lines. No normal lines for 10:00 AM entry. No special lines for the Magic Morning. Everyone was already inside. Both parks were jam packed with people all day - on Thursday. Those were by far the longest lines we'd seen the entire week. The Matterhorn line wrapped all the way around the mountain just like the old days when it was one of the best rides available. At any rate, we 'hauled hawkins'* over to Splash Mountain to begin our farewell tour. We asked the girls how they wanted to spend their final day. Madison chose Splash Mountain, Brooklyn chose the 'unicorns' (AKA King Arthur Carousel). We stopped by Indiana Jones to grab FastPasses for 10:30 for My and Sean (see forthcoming entry about the power I seem to possess over rides). We noted that Pirates was only a 5 minute wait at that point. So after Sara and Madison rode Splash Mountain and Brooklyn let a very nice elderly Japanese tourist gentleman tie her shoe (the intent of which was entirely communicated through hand gestures), we switched and I went with Madison again. Disneyland gives out a family switch pass for people with small children (that can't go on the ride). The parent who waits plus one additional person can basically go straight to the front of the line.

My and Sean weren't quite into the park yet to give them their FastPasses and take their kids, so we ducked into Pirates one last time. Pirates is located nearly halfway between Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones. They really did an excellent job of integrating the brand enhancements brought about by the movies while preserving the feel of the original attraction. The timing was perfect and we met up with My and Sean. Djeryd didn't want to do Indiana Jones again, so they snuck Erik onto it despite the two inches in height he was lacking. He loved it. We had five kids to manage for a while, so we ducked into Pirates one last time, again, because the line was still so short. Brookie was heard singing "a pirate's life for me" repeatedly throughout the remainder of the day.

After that we split up because Djeryd and Erik wanted to go to Tom Sawyer's Island (now called "Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island") and we had promised Brookie she could ride the unicorns again. We still wanted to get over to California Adventure before we were through. We coincidentally reunited with My and Sean on Main Street as we were both heading out.

In California Adventure we went straight for Turtle Talk with Crush because My and Sean had missed it the day before. The show was completely different from the one I described in an earlier entry when Madison was chosen from the audience. My thinks the voice-guy wears a bunch of sensors on his face in order to capture the facial expressions and mouth movement. I really have no idea - it could be. I totally like, do not know the answer, dude, but I'll be anxious to see the featurette someday. Sean, Sara and Djeryd rode the big roller coaster "California Screamin'". We tried to do the Monsters, Inc. ride (see forthcoming entry about the now certain power I possess over rides), then wrapped up in A Bug's Land. I sat in a nice, big shady spot with a sleeping Anna and Karsten to wait for everyone to finish up.

To get to our cars we made the 10 minute walk through Downtown Disney, the retail, dining and entertainment district between the entrances to the two parks and the old Disneyland Hotel. This fit perfectly into Djeryd's grand scheme to dip into the Lego store for one final indulgence. He picked out a Star Wars set while Erik selected an Indiana Jones-themed set. It is unknown at this point whether Lego still makes/sells rectangular and square-shaped pieces anymore.

The additional time we allowed ourselves to combat rush hour was unneeded - traffic was great. However, those minutes came in particularly useful for Sean when he discovered his wallet was missing. Evidently they don't much like for unidentifiable persons to fly on airplanes. We checked with the car rental company, the Lego store, the Rainforest Cafe where we'd eaten the night prior - no hits. The kids were terrorizing the airport while Sara tried to keep any of them from escaping (there were automatic doors on two fronts). They allowed Sean to fly, albeit with 'extra' security screening. Our plane was a bit late. They changed our gate after we'd settled in. Sean called everyone he could think of to suspend his accounts. The flight crew gave the kids wing badges and chocolate. Brooklyn drove us crazy from asking, literally every 20 seconds, if we were off the ground yet. As soon as we were finally off the ground for real, she said "time for snacks" and her motives all became clear as she lowered her little tray. 

Karsten slept almost the entire flight. Brookie slept after her snacks. Djeryd made a little place for Madison to sleep in the row ahead of us using his Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone hat. When Madison wakes up quickly she talks a lot like Wesley from Princess Bride after he swallows Miracle Max's chocolate coated pill. After we had landed and the plane was unloading, Madison woke up and told the whole plane how she "was sleeping on the airplane and Djeryd was very nice and made a bed for [her] and made a pillow for [her] head with his 'skunk hat'".

We got home at 11:30 PM. Straight to bed for everyone.

We had such a great trip with My and Sean and their family. It is so much more fun (and convenient) to go to Disneyland with another family. The benefit of the extra adults far outweighs the challenge of the extra kids. It was very cool to stay on the premises and be so close to everything. Sean found his wallet this morning inside one of their checked bags.

I will post a few Disney-related follow-up posts over the next several days to cover some miscellaneous subjects, before deciding what to do with this blog in the long-term. Thanks for reading.

* The term 'haul hawkins' was coined on 10/09/08 during our return trip. I thought Sean had used those words and asked him to confirm, because I thought it was clever. Sean said that was not what he had said, but he liked it. We held a vote and the phrase was adopted immediately thereafter by a margin of 2-0.

Madison's Crush

We gamed the system just a bit. This time we knew where to sit and what they were looking for, thanks to the reconnasaince we ran two years ago during our previous trip to Disneyland.

There is an incredibly inovative attaction at CA called "Turtle Talk With Crush". Crush is the giant sea turtle from Finding Nemo that talks like a surfer. Kids and parents fill a dark room with stadium seating and a large carpeted area in front where the kids sit. There is a large fish tank-looking movie screen as the focal point of the room.

Crush enters the picture and refers to the audience as "the human tank". He then picks an especially cute little kid from the carpeted area on his right. We'll call her 'Madison', or as Crush dubbed her, 'Malibu Madison'.

Crush: Who's this cute little chicklette in the front with the pink flippers and the white shell.
Madison: Madison
C: Let's call you Malibu Madison. Malibu Madison, do you know how to talk like a turtle?
M: Yes.
C: Cha. You're talking to me right now, little dudette! You totally rock! I'm going to teach to how to speak turtle. Say 'totally'.
M: Totally.
C: Awesome. Okay, say 'sweet'.
M: [Suddenly bashful]
Sara: Say 'sweet'.
M: Sweet.
C: You are a natural, little dudette. Okay, now put them together.
M: Totally sweet.
C: Whoa! That was totally sweet, young human. It's like we're on the same - whoa - that was weird. We totally like, connected. Malibu Madison, where are you from?
S: Say Oregon
M: Oregon
C: Oregon. [blank stare] I do not know where that is. Is there good surfing in Oregon?
S: No
M: No
C: Whoa, that sounds [long pause] nice. Malibu Madison, who brought you here to Disneyland today? Who are you here with?
M: My mom and my daddy.
C: Is your mom the chicklette whispering to you what to say?
M: Yeah.
C: Whoa! Hey Mom, you've got a mini-grommet on your lap there. What's your name, Malibu Madison's mom?
S: Sara.
C: Surfin' Sara, how many little grommets do you have?
S: Three.
C: Oh, you're just getting started! I have 65 offspring. Surfin' Sara - do your little frys constantly ask you, like, a lot of questions, like, all the time? I mean mine are always like, and I'm like, I do not know.
S: Yes, they do. Actually, Madison has a question for you, Crush.
C: Oh, righteous! What is your question Malibu Madison?
S: Why do turtles have shells? (This really was Madison's question. We had asked her beforehand so that she would be ready with something in case she got chosen, which she did. We thought it was a very good question considering the typical "what's your favorite color" or "what do turtles eat" that kid's usually ask him. She came up with it entirely on her own.)
C: To protect us from being eaten by tiger sharks.

A brief explanation followed, then Crush solicited the audience for a few other questions. Madison was so giddy after that.

I haven't figured out how they pull this act off. They obviously have either the actual voice of Crush or a very good impersonator voicing the character. But the movement and animation and the dialog and the events that transpire are all custom to each show. It's quite impressive. We tried to get My and her kids in to see the show after the CA parade, but we missed the last showing (parade was at 5:00 PM, last showing was at 5:30 PM, CA closes at 6:00 PM - earlier than most businesses nowadays.) We'll get-er-done tomorrow for sure.




Just a couple of additions to Brookie's autograph collection today: Farmer Mickey and Minnie and the Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland. We ignored some dude from Pocahontas twice; a purple, Captain Hook-like figure. We tried but couldn't catch Mr. Incredible or the old-lady witch from Snow White.





The CA parade at 5:00 was very entertaining. I'd rather call it the Pixar Parade, though, as all of the characters and floats are from the Pixar successes of recent history: Cars, Ratatouille, Monster's, Inc., A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo and Toy Story. It was a lot more entertaining and fun for everyone than the 50th Anniversary parade at Disneyland. For everyone, that is, except Madison. She refuses to choose a favorite.



We've got a busy day ahead tomorrow. We have to pack up and check out before going into the parks at 9:00 AM. We will leave the parks by about 4:30 PM to allow enough time to get to the airport during rush hour for our flight home.