The Journal of a Disneyland Annual Passholder

Knotts Scary Farm Paradise pier (Note: Stock photo from July 20th) Most tourists usually use Disneyland as a hub and center of their vacation in SoCal as they travel to other SoCal destinations from there (unless they have a hotel in Los Angeles). As a local however, I did things a lot different this past October 4th. Since 2009, I've made the trip to Knotts for their Halloween Haunt event and usually has me going there close to 5pm for my pre scare dinner. This year, I did something that I wanted to do: Go to Knotts FROM Disneyland. http://www.rideart.org Anaheim has a transportation line for its "Resort area" called the Anaheim Resort Transportation (known as ART) and it serves as a connection to the local destinations around Anaheim and some of the neighboring cities in the county. 2 years ago, they extended a line to Buena Park which connects Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm (Line 18). Because of the nature of the line's route, it doesn't operat...

2005: The Year of New Beginnings I began my adventures as an Annual Passholder for Disneyland back on March 2005, 2 months before the 50th Anniversary celebrations at Disneyland was to start. Back then, the Premium was less than $500 and you had to take your photo for your AP card at the Annual Pass center in Disneyland after you got the pass. There was no such thing as monthly payments when I got mine, it was either you had the money or you don't buy the pass at all. I was young for my age. Being only 13 years old when my mom bought my pass, I was somewhat restricted to leaving early but being able to arrive either at park opening or an hour after it opened.In addition, I was dropped off at Downtown Disney in order to use the monorail to get in. I began having the urge to go every week, evident that I either ask if I can go or simply just get ready to go to Disneyland without asking the night before and they would allow it if the latter happened. Once it got to the 2nd half ...

Today was a huge uproar in the Disney Community as Disney announced that Malestrom, one of the 2 attractions in the World Showcase area of EPCOT will shut down next month to allow construction on a brand new ride based on Frozen. I've watched on Twitter as fans voiced their displeasure ranging from "I'm sick of Frozen" to "Doesn't belong in EPCOT." The anger was just too much that I had to make my opinion of it known on my blog so that I can think freely. To better understand how the hate is very real is to see where the new ride will be at. Firstly, its at EPCOT, a theme park based on the celebration of human achievement and innovation and something of a "Permanent Worlds Fair" with The World Showcase, an area of the park that represents Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, US, Japan, Morocco, France, UK and Canada. Each area of the showcase displayed various forms of entertainment and serves food from that particular country. The Norway...

Its been an interesting 2014 at Disneyland. Not only does it include my usual routine of Indiana Jones, World of Color and the occasional chats with my Cast Member friends, it also included an unexpected new thing to do: Watch Magical Map more than once per visit. In its first year last year, I watched the show every now and then. It wasn't until January that I began watching the show everytime I visited. When my January term started, the off-season at the Resort began and I got off early enough in the 3 days that I went to school that I went to Disneyland to have some fun till my mom got off work. Since I couldn't stay late for World of Color, Magical Map became the ideal substitute during weekday visits to the parks. The show is fun and the performers make the show alive. When I started uploading pics I took of the show on Instagram, thats when my obsession with Magical Map grew. Any performer at Map that has an Instagram found me through the hashtags I use on my picture...

No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world. Robin Williams This week, we lost one of the most brilliant and entertaining actors that Hollywood has seen in Robin Williams. His death has shocked everyone that enjoyed seeing him on the big screen whether it was granting Aladdin 3 wishes or winning a game of Jumanji. But it wasn't just the movies that people knew him from. Those that knew him from the beginning of his career knew that he had started small like most famous actors had by starring in television shows (He starred as Mork in Happy Days) and then progressing to star in several films that never did became successful but his acting got the attention of the movie industry. People born in the 90s knew him best from his many roles in family movies like the animated Disney movie "Aladdin" in which he voiced the Genie and the Steven Spielberg movie "Hook" in which he played as an adult Peter Pan. A comedian at heart, Robin would...

Sleeping Beauty Castle Today is the 59th anniversary of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, CA. It really is the legacy of one mans dream to build a place where the parents and their children can have fun together. True to his word, the park has continued to evolve and change as Walt once said: "As long as there is imagination left in the world, Disneyland will never be complete.". Early History In the 1950s, Walt would begin making plans for Disneyland which he originally intended to be in a small space across the street from his studio in Burbank, CA. But when he began to have more ideas, he knew that small piece of land would not be able to hold them. He looked at other areas that could have bigger land. He then found that big land in an Orange Grove in Anaheim. The city was in the neighboring Orange County and was an hour away from LA. Walt looked around the groves and ultimately decided to purchase the land and construction soon began in 1954 and completed in ...

Today is the birthday of one of Disneyland Resorts greatest nighttime spectaculars World of Color. This massive show combines water, fire and other amazing special effects like no other. A project so big, it took 5 years to plan, design, build and program the show. When the show was announced back in 2007, I was instantly amazed and all in for this new show. The show is nothing that Disney ever did before. Sure the shows in the past had water fountains, but nothing at the scale of World of Color. California Adventure always suffered from the lack of nighttime entertainment save for the aged Electrical Parade. The park needed a brand new show. Paradise Pier, which is the place to put on these large scale shows always had issues with fireworks. Luminaria, the first nighttime show at California Adventure was a firework based show and only lasted one season due to complaints of the smoke from the show going to the hotel guests and the nearby neighborhoods. World of Color would not have ...