So, I'm back from California, and I'm in a state of post-trip blues, I figured I'd do a short post-mortem on my trip to those who care (or don't) while we wait for the projects to come in.
I'll just briefly list some of my thoughts about the parks that I went to over the course of the last week.
Knott's Berry Farm
.Really great park.
.I found myself sort of running out of things to do about half way through the day. I'm not sure why, as there's quite a bit there. It might have been because the lines got pretty long as the day progressed, leaving us with less to do.
.The Calico Mine Ride, and the Timber Mountain Log Ride were both absolutely incredible. The Calico Mine Ride might be my favorite attraction in the park. it's just so amazing, especially after its' refurb.
.Ghost Town Alive was also absolutely incredible. I didn't really participate much, but I saw a lot of the workings of it. It was unbelievably cool to see how the various stories wove together and very organically progressed. There was no part of the story that wasn't seen by guests. You just had to be in the right place at the right time (I saw a very brief skit in the upper level of the saloon that lead directly into a gun fight just outside.) Really incredible.
.Voyage to the Iron Reef was so much better in person, I thought. It was still slightly lackluster, but it was really really fun.
.The Mystery Lodge was a great effects show, and an amazing example of Peppers Ghost outside of the Haunted Mansion. Very EPCOT-y.
.The food in the park was great. Carne Asada Fries are absolutely incredible.
.Overall, it was a great introduction to Cedar Fair parks for me. Great park. Can't wait to go again.
Disneyland/ California Adventure
.Trader Sam's is surprisingly easy to get into here. We went at 8:30ish, and there were seats inside.
.Got evacuated off of Radiator Springs Racers. Kid jumped the track. Spent 15 minutes sitting at a 45 degree angle. Got to walk the track almost to unload. Totally worth it.
.Tiki, Monkey, and I later were evacuated from Pinocchio's Daring Journey. Pretty sure it was basically the same situation as RSR. Stopped in the middle, CM's walked us back to load. Incredibly cool seeing everything with the lights on. Unbelievable experience.
.I much prefer DLR's Jungle Cruise. It was surprisingly different from WDW's and I felt like it just worked better. Perhaps it's taken better care of?
.Indy might be my favorite ride in the park. PoTC is a very close second, mainly for sentimental reasons.
.Big Thunder was great. Hope WDW gets a similar refurb.
.As much as I prefer WDW's Space Mountain, Hyperspace Mountain was an absolutely incredible show. Seriously great ride.
.Speaking of WDW's Space Mountain, I don't understand how The Matterhorn can be so uncomfortable compared to WDW's Space Mountain. They seem to use the same vehicle, but they just don't have the legspace that Space does, which was baffling. It was great to do once, but I was disappointed that I didn't really want to do it again.
.To circle back briefly, Carsland is a marvel. Absolutely spectacular to walk down, especially at night. I liked the flat rides in the area much more than I thought I would as well. Just generally incredible.
.Though it took three tries to totally get through it, Radiator Springs Racers was an incredible experience. It's definitely superior to Test Track.
.I think the only ride that I outright didn't enjoy was ToT. It's just so much better in WDW. I'm honestly fine with them retheming it. It needs it, I think.
.Fastpasses were done totally right. They weren't given priority in queues, and only rides that absolutely needed them had them. Very good implementation, and paper Fastpasses were certainly a blast from the past.
.I love character integration in the parks. Half of the time, characters were just out, which was absolutely incredible. Ran into Goofy in Toontown. Basically no one was around him. A CM showed up about five minutes after we did. The characters were willing to interact and generally do more than just pose for a picture/ sign a book. And I finally met Oswald, which was spectacular.
.Food in DLR is ten times better than it is in WDW. There's just so much variety. We were there for three days and never once did I get a "normal" meal. I jumped from Mexican to Cajun and everything in between over the three days. The only bad meal I had was at the Cozy Cone Motel, and that was just lackluster more than anything (and the cone tasted like a stale pretzel.)
.I was also surprised that literally EVERY counter service I went to used real plates rather than plastic or styrofoam, as you see in WDW.
.It took a while to come to terms with how small Disneyland was. Not in scale, or in size, but it's just obvious that the park wasn't designed to facilitate the crowds it draws. Every main thoroughfare, with the exception of the area in front of The Rivers of America, was like walking through the alley between Peter Pan and Small World in MK. Suffice it to say we quickly found side pathways to slip through.
.I also love the convenience of DLR. Coming from WDW, it was a godsend to not have to take a bus everywhere. We stayed on property at Paradise Pier, and it was unbelievably convenient to be able to bypass everything by passing through the Grand Californian and slipping through the resort guest-only entrance to DCA, cutting through and going to Disneyland. Cut a good 20 minutes of waiting in security lines each morning.
.Disneyland and California Adventure somehow surpassed all of my very high expectations. Loved every second of it.
Universal Studios Hollywood
.Surprisingly small park, though we were still able to keep ourselves occupied all day.
.Hogsmeade was amazing.
.Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey might actually be the most well-themed, and most immersive, attraction I have ever been on. I can't say more good things.
.Despite Harry Potter being great, my heart belongs to Springfield which was the highlight of the park for me. From Moe's to Krustyburger, Springfield was just absolutely incredible. So many references scattered throughout, some even in the merchandise (I'm looking at you, wonderful Bort license plate.) I was far too excited when I ran into Gabbo in the Krustyburger dining room.
.The Flaming Moe was super cool. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.
.Duff, while not necessarily good, was everything I would want from a Duff Beer: a terrible light beer. It tasted like Bud. I was far too giddy about that.
.The Studio Tour was also great. Did it twice. Night tour was so much better than the day tour.
.I feel as though Universal does desserts and drinks better than they do entrees, which is slightly disappointing. Hopefully that can start to change.
.Overall great park. Really great to go to Universal after so long. Hopefully I can make it out to the one in Florida soon.
Overall it was a great trip. I got to hang out with our good friend Tiki, as well as Monkey, periodically at Disneyland which was great, and I got to rediscover California, which was also great considering that it's probably going to be my home in the not so distant future.
Nonetheless, I look forward to all of your projects. I haven't been able to keep up with the brainstorming threads as much as I usually do, or obvious reasons, but do know that I have been checking in as much as I could. Anyway, see you all in 53 minutes
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I've never been evacuated before, but knowing my luck it would be on Everest up that steep incline with nothing on either side of you. 
