-It has now been a month since we went on our trip, but it still seems like yesterday. Work is getting busy right now as we head into Holiday season, so updates may slow down a bit for a little while. I'll still try to use whatever free time I can to update my trip report.-

We left Pirates of the Caribbean feeling a little...well...underwhelmed. The both of us wanted to ride something that we knew we would enjoy, so we would decided that we would re-ride the three big rides that we rode on the previous night (Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and the Haunted Mansion). Since the closest of those three was Splash, we decided to ride that first. Luckily, we were smart and stopped by Big Thunder Mountain first to get a Fast Pass. (Thanks to Disneyland, we pretty much already knew the in's and out's to the Fast Pass system)

Walking around the front of Splash Mountain, and seeing it in broad daylight for the first time, the difference of the mountain was instantly apparent. The walkway that takes guest around the front of the mountain is actually at eye level with the people on the ride as they round the bend. It's also very easy to get a look at them as they pass by. At Disneyland, there is a large wall obstructing onlookers, and you are only able to view the people going down the drop. On the other side of the wall is a bit of foliage, with the thorns further in the distance.



The curve following the drop was also pretty unique, and had a small island in the middle. Several white birds walked around, and it made for a fun moment - you're on a ride with dozens of animatronic figures, but these birds were real!



Another striking difference is that WDW's version allows guests to look down at the curve that follows the drop (so you can wave down to your loved ones if you want). Disneyland only offers a very brief glimpse down, and it's a bit difficult to find this spot if you're not familiar with the park.

The entrance is also very different, probably because this is Frontierland and not Critter Country.



The one REALLY cool thing about this version of the ride is that you can sit side-by-side (unlike Disneyland's version where you sit single file). This allowed the both of us to experience the ride together for the first time, and it was such a blast!









We left the ride extremely soaked, though it actually wasn't from the drop. Some sneaky Imagineers crafted a failsafe to ensure that you get wet. As your boat passes by the log falling down the big drop, it causes a huge splash to shoot up and drench the rear section of your boat (which is normally left dry after the drop). It was almost like it happened in slow motion, as we both watched the huge burst of water rise and fall right down onto us. We looked at each other with our jaws hanging incredulously, and we both began to laugh. I can guarantee that this version gets a lot more "splash".

So now what? Oh! We have Fast Passes! And it's already time to use them? We're heading to the wildest ride in the wilderness!

(for more on Splash Mountain, stay tuned for my DL vs. WDW post)

Went to Disneyland this last Tuesday. I was able to catch a performance of "Tiana's Showboat Jubilee", which premiered at Disneyland last Friday. They still seem to be testing things out with the show, as the show coordinator stood right in front of me with headphones on and a script. There were also other high-level managers gathered around her, probably just to make sure the show is going well and to catch crowd reactions.

To my surprise, the show is a lot of fun. I'm never one for shows or parades at the park, but the energy and scale of the show brought a lot of excitement. The show is really just a way to market the upcoming movie, The Princess and the Frog. It's also the first time that I can remember that they did something so large for a movie that hasn't been released yet. Well...there WAS the fact that they built Sleeping Beauty's castle BEFORE the movie came out, but that was a long time ago.

The show starts with a large group of unsuspecting guests being picked an hour or so beforehand. These guests are escorted into the Mark Twain loading area, and giving a crash course on the show and what their roles will be. Once the Jubilee begins, Princess Tiana, the prince, a jazz wailing alligator, and a band parade from New Orleans Square making their way onto the Mark Twain. The Mark Twain pulls out of the dock, and makes a stop in front of the entrance to New Orleans Square - which is pretty much centered with where Fantasmic is performed.



Through the songs they sing, we learn that the central theme behind the story is that of "dreams". Tiana has a dream to come to someday own her own restaurant in Louisiana.





The handpicked guests come out every few songs and are given props to dance with. It makes for hilarity seeing uncoordinated children, or old men REALLY getting into the performance.




With a burst of flame, the villain appears and interrupts the show. He makes a deal too good to be true with the prince, promising him things beyond his wildest dreams.



The villain is a voodoo practitioner, and offers the prince to pick 3 cards. The prince does as he says, and each card is turned to reveal black ghosts. Too bad, the prince chose poorly, or did he...as all of the cards turn to show that he had no chance to begin with. Ghosts swarm the ship as the villain sings the coolest song of the show.



The prince wasn't turned into a frog THIS time, and the villain leaves. The performers put on one last finale. This time, the selected guests come out with tambourines and yellow robes.



The show ends with a giant burst of streamers, which left the ground covered. Disney janitors quickly appeared on the scene to pick them up, but they were too slow. Kids everywhere ran up, grabbed the streamers, and decorated themselves with it. The janitors stood off to the side and shrugged, "maybe we won't have that much to pick up."



Tiana's Showboat Jubilee left me feeling very excited to see a movie that I was slightly looking forward to. If the songs and atmosphere of the show were any indication, The Princess & the Frog might be the best animated Disney movie since The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We shall see. Bye for now Tiana!


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Around the park, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

And now, the conclusion.

The second half of the exhibit was MUCH more exciting. Now, that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the costumes in the first section, but...well, you'll see.

We turned the corner and found ourselves walking down the corridors of the Enterprise D...



...eventually making our way to the bridge!




Ha, she got mad when I said her posture is very "Deanna Troi". Just don't crash the ship!!


By the way, I was so excited to be in there that my hand was shaking, and I had a continuous smile. So much fun, and yeah, we both felt goofy running around and pretending to press console buttons.







But it was great after so many moments of seeing the bridge on tv and thinking, "oh, what it would be like to be there." While there are subtle differences to the real set, it was close enough, and I felt like I was really there. There was also the low rumble of the ship engines, and the ambient sounds of computers in the background. The main viewscreen had a starfield projected on it as well.





Outside, there was Reman Scorpion-class fighter from Star Trek Nemesis:


Wide view of the next exhibit room. The Enterprise-D bridge is behind those walls, by the way:


More props:


A small area dedicated to Deep Space Nine/Ferengi props:


Small life-size busts of aliens such as the Borg:


and Odo:


There was also a small recreation of sickbay, featuring Lt. Commander Worf:


Ana and I finally made our way to the heart of the ship - Engineering:


There was a problem with the Warp Core, but I was having trouble trying to fix it. Oh well:


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The Exhibition was really a lot of fun. I've read comments online from people saying that it wasn't worth the money. It's only $12 with a student discount, and we spent about 2 hours in there. There's a lot to see and read, and we took our time enjoying it. We saw a small handful of other people in there as well, but they breezed right by us and didn't seem to take it all in. I would say that it's probably not for a casual fan, as there are actually a lot of props and costumes from lesser known characters. There are also some obscure props, like this framed wedding photo of Riker and Troi:


For big fans of Voyager or Enterprise, you're going to be disappointed. There was a handful of Voyager items, and almost nothing from Enterprise. The costumes were heavily either Next Generation era, or Original series. The props were focused on DS9, and the sets were all Next Generation.

If it tours again and changes, I would love to visit it again.

Since I first saw a commercial for it in early October, I have been wanting to head over to Hollywood to visit Star Trek the Exhibition. Due to the fact that we needed to save for our trip to WDW, we actually couldn't visit the exhibit. I actually had forgotten all about it until two days ago, and I was afraid that it probably already ended. To my relief, it's still there, and will continue to be until December.

a little background...
I HATED Star Trek when I was growing up. I felt that I needed to get that off my chest first and foremost. There was a kid at my Elementary School who would come to school with a communicator badge pinned to his shirt, and his parents even made him a toy phaser. He would constantly ramble on about the cast of Star Trek the Next Generation, and I thought it was all nonsense. If anything, it just left a very bad taste in my mouth.

I really didn't get it, as I was a fan of the action-filled Star Wars. Star Trek just seemed boring by comparison. Over the years however, I would catch an episode here and there. Sometimes I would fall asleep and only catch bits and pieces, and I rarely remember ever tuning in for an entire episode. I knew all of the characters names, somehow, and just slowly seemed to pick up what was going on. I think that the sheer volume of the Trek universe was something that I realized I would have to spend a LOT of time with in order to get into it. By this time, I was already knee-deep in Star Wars books, and couldn't backtrack.

It wasn't until 1996, when I went to the movie theater with my mom to watch Star Trek First Contact, that I would think Star Trek had anything 'cool' going for it. In fact, when the next film came out in 1998, we went back to the theater once again because I wanted to see that one. There were also a few instances when I would start to enjoy Star Trek. I watched an episode of Deep Space Nine titled "Who Mourns for Morn" and LOVED it. There were also a few episodes of Star Trek Voyager that I remember being glued to.

A few years ago, I decided to finally delve into Trek, beginning with The Next Generation. I had actually seen many episodes of the Original Series, but I was interested in the Borg, and the overall continuity. After a few episodes, I gave up. Ugh...the episodes were horrible. Last year, my girlfriend and I gave it another try, and started from scratch once again. After we made it past the first season, it was a breeze. The episodes got MUCH better, and we started to enjoy the characters. To my surprise, we would laugh and spend days of just watching episodes. The episodes were deep with philosophical, and sociological undertones, and there were even episodes reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.

We finished all 7 seasons - which is nearly 125 hours of Star Trek. We were also able to catch quite a few of the Original shows, and a few of the movies. Hanging in there, we are currently in season 4 of Deep Space Nine - which in all honesty is turning out to be the best series so far. Let's see if we can finish all of Voyager and Enterprise...

Now, for the Exhibition!

A booth set up to resemble Quark's bar from Deep Space Nine. There was even a dabo table, and a set of replicators.


At the bar were two interactive screens where you could answer Star Trek trivia questions, and would score you out of 10 random questions. Yeah...I'm a nerd (but my first attempt wasn't as good)


The exhibit has dozens of costumes and weapon models. Here, the Borg Queen:


and a Klingon display:


To the left, a green screen where you could get your photo taken, and it could be manipulated to appear as though you are being beamed off a transporter:


The main costume showroom:


James T. Kirk:


Zephran Cochran (played by James Cromwell in First Contact):


A few well placed monitors gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Star Trek episodes. In the background is the Robin Hood outfit Picard wears in an episode:


Khan Noonien Singh (played by the late Ricardo Montalban):


A display area featuring costumes from the newest Star Trek movie:




B4/Data:


Captain Jean Luc Picard:


On hand were also miniature metal models of all of the notable Star Trek ships. I enjoyed seeing Deep Space Nine represented:






There was also a model of the probe from the dramatic Next Generation "The Inner Light":


Until Part 2, I leave you with a bottle of Picard's finest wine (vintage 2267) from Star Trek Nemesis: