The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[mickEblu]

Off to a hot to start at Knotts. Got here at 10:10am (10 minutes after opening and Ghostrider was already at a 120 min wait. How? Got out of line walked to Pony Express that had a posted 5 min wait time. Have been in line for 25min and it just “temporarily broke down.” I love this place. On another note Ghost Town is really great and I particularly like the area and all the trees around Calico Rapids that’s also temporarily closed. As well as Jaguar. On Spring Break. Let’s Go! Oh yea Timber Mountain log ride is closed too. But like closed closed. Not temporary.

Anyway Ghost Town is awesome. I can appreciate it much more gettin here in the morning. It’s like getting to Main Street Disneyland in the morning. Ghost Town didn’t hit the same on that hot packed August afternoon.

 

[mickEblu]

I’ve never appreciated the Space Mountain Load station Nazi CMs more. Everything crawls here.

 

[mickEblu]

Well this place has Completely won me over in the last couple hours. Wasn’t thinking I’d renew my Knotts pass but Ghost Town alone is enough to get me to renew. Just coming here to soak up the atmosphere and rides in this land 5x a year is more than worth the price. We did Pony Express, Ghostrider and Calico River Rapids. Love the general store and land in general. There’s a lot of smells here that for whatever reason bring me back to my childhood. Also love the grounds around Mrs Knotts as well as Independence Hall. Something about all this brings me back too. I think it’s all the large areas of green grass (which is becoming a thing of the past in Southern California) and how uncrowded the area is. Just got some Mrs Knotts to go and I’m eating it on this lovely outside patio at what appears to be a closed TGIF’s. Might go back in to do Sierra Sidewinder and one or two more rides.

 

[CaptinEO]

Well this place has Completely won me over in the last couple hours. Wasn’t thinking I’d renew my Knotts pass but Ghost Town alone is enough to get me to renew. Just coming here to soak up the atmosphere and rides in this land 5x a year is more than worth the price. We did Pony Express, Ghostrider and Calico River Rapids. Love the general store and land in general. There’s a lot of smells here that for whatever reason bring me back to my childhood. Also love the grounds around Mrs Knotts as well as Independence Hall. Something about all this brings me back too. I think it’s all the large areas of green grass (which is becoming a thing of the past in Southern California) and how uncrowded the area is. Just got some Mrs Knotts to go and I’m eating it on this lovely outside patio at what appears to be a closed TGIF’s. Might go back in to do Sierra Sidewinder and one or two more rides.

For some reason that TGIF is only open like 1/5th of the time.

I really liked Knotts Scary Farm but havent done a normal park experience since 2017. Glad to hear you had a good time. We visit and just go to the marketplace and knotts chicken restaraunt.

 

[NobodyElse]

I’ve never appreciated the Space Mountain Load station Nazi CMs more. Everything crawls here.

And just imagine the wait in a world where Space Mountain only ran with one or two trains.

 

[mickEblu]

And just imagine the wait in a world where Space Mountain only ran with one or two trains.

Haha I get it and that’s the issue. A lot of their rides are really low capacity AND slow loading. Seems like on almost every ride you get teased with being right by the Load station and feeling like you re 5 minutes from getting on just to wait another 20 minutes. I’m not used to that as a Disneyland guy.

 

[mickEblu]

For some reason that TGIF is only open like 1/5th of the time.

I really liked Knotts Scary Farm but havent done a normal park experience since 2017. Glad to hear you had a good time. We visit and just go to the marketplace and knotts chicken restaraunt.

Thank you. For my money Knotts Berry Farm is Ghost Town, the market place/ Mrs Knotts chicken dinner restaurant and the area surrounding Independence Hall. Unfortunately, the chicken wasn’t that great today. Very bland. Struck out with Plaza Inn recently too. Next time I’ll probably eat at the actual restaurant again. The biscuits with butter and boysenberry jam are delicious when you eat them there.

 

[mickEblu]

My Goodness. We didn’t know what we had.

 

[CaptinEO]

The silver lining is that in Tokyo, things advertised as temporary actually tend to stay that way.

This also (in concert with the rest of the TDR Explorer) article sounds like a festival offering, which they used to do quite frequently pre-covid, so there will almost certainly be clearly defined, followed-to-the-letter dates in which this festival will occur, and It's a Groot World will be confined to those dates.

I'd imagine that it'd stay temporary unless people absolutely lose their minds over the Avengers overlay-which I doubt, given the complete absence of Marvel stuff there prior to this overlay.

That said, it's explicitly being framed as a holiday overlay-and although TDL used to do IASW Holiday, it hasn't done so for over a decade IIRC. So if it is a runaway success, it could wind up coming back year over year.

That's all good to hear! I still think this is one of the worst fitting ideas ever. Violent characters from a PG13 movie in Walt Disney's World Peace ride. I hope this ill-thought idea is never brought back again.

 

[CaptinEO]

Thank you. For my money Knotts Berry Farm is Ghost Town, the market place/ Mrs Knotts chicken dinner restaurant and the area surrounding Independence Hall. Unfortunately, the chicken wasn’t that great today. Very bland. Struck out with Plaza Inn recently too. Next time I’ll probably eat at the actual restaurant again. The biscuits with butter and boysenberry jam are delicious when you eat them there.

That's too bad. A month ago I had Plaza Inn and it was actually really good. Though Knotts I've always had good luck with, that being said have never done the to-go. Now I know to avoid it. Didnt realize it was different!

 

[PiratesMansion]

@mickEblu I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Knott's. 100% ops are terrible, but the atmosphere can be incredible. I even think Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village are a bit underrated.

I'm pretty sure it's the same chicken and sides at both the restaurant and to-go counters, as they're attached to each other. Perhaps they were just having an off day. I can definitely vouch for appreciating eating all of the food in the restaurant, though. Great atmosphere there.

 

[mickEblu]

@mickEblu I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Knott's. 100% ops are terrible, but the atmosphere can be incredible. I even think Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village are a bit underrated.

I'm pretty sure it's the same chicken and sides at both the restaurant and to-go counters, as they're attached to each other. Perhaps they were just having an off day. I can definitely vouch for appreciating eating all of the food in the restaurant, though. Great atmosphere there.

I agree that Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village are a little underrated. I think two things they could do that would really help the park out is improve ops like yesterday and replace Silver Bullet with a park icon/ more family friendly ride. It borders almost every land and is right there dead center when you enter the park. What did Silver Bullet replace?

Yeah so much of food quality comes down to the luck of the draw. You could walk into the same place on the same day and have vastly different experiences. Going during peak times can help because it ensures the food hasn’t been sitting there for very long.

When it comes to the park it’s really the atmosphere of Ghost Town and the marketplace that will get me renew. There are certain parts of Knotts that make me feel like I’m in a time capsule ( in a good way) in a way Disneyland just doesn’t do. I think it’s the laid back atmosphere at the market place and how laid back some of those areas just outside the park feel. I think it comes down to the fact that I have some sort of deep rooted longing for the simpler times of my youth as well as less congestion/crowds due to living in LA my whole life

Did I mention I love this art…

The rides? I can take or leave ‘em. Outside of Ghostrider, the coasters that I’d actually ride are too short and not worth the wait. Don’t like the graying out sensation I had on Sierra Sidewinder at a couple points on the ride. Pony Express is fun but really short. Jaguar is “fine.” Grizzly River Run>>>> Calico River Rapids even though it’s definitely charming in its own right. Ghost rider was great but this might be a hot take… I think I prefer Incredicoaster. Maybe Disney thrill rides are just the right amount of thrill for me? With that said I also usually ride Incredicoaster at night and in the front row. I rode Ghostrider in the morning, Row 8 while holding a #2 (sorry TMI). Felt a little physically disturbed at certain points of the ride lol. But can’t tell if it was because of the “situation” or the ride itself.

Anyway, looking forward to going back with the whole fam after the new Camp Snoopy opens up. My daughter will love the new kiddie coaster and the log ride. Still haven’t done the train or stagecoach either.

 

[mickEblu]

That's too bad. A month ago I had Plaza Inn and it was actually really good. Though Knotts I've always had good luck with, that being said have never done the to-go. Now I know to avoid it. Didnt realize it was different!

Good to hear on Plaza Inn. Time before last it was excellent for me as well but that was back in August.

I don’t know if I have enough data to make the determination that the To Go isn’t as good at Mrs Knotts but I can tell you I just saw the chicken sitting there under heat lamps(?). For how long who knows. Not sure if the process is any better when you order from the sit down side.

 

[TP2000]

The LAX People Mover (apparently WDI never copyrighted that name?) has been delayed again. Officially it's now "Late 2025", but after multiple previous delays I would bet two churros that it doesn't open until sometime in 2026 now. It was supposed to have already opened last year.

LAX's long-promised rail link, the People Mover, likely delayed until late 2025

A strained relationship between LAX and the People Mover contractor has led to project delays, according to credit agency Fitch Ratings.

www.latimes.com

When construction of the Automated People Mover at Los Angeles International Airport is finished, travelers will finally have an option to avoid the airport’s dreaded traffic loop that’s become the punchline of too many jokes.

But recently it’s only added to the chaos. And now its completion date is being pushed back, one more delay in the $30-billion overhaul of the fifth-busiest airport in the world.

The project, which was originally planned for 2023, was expected to finish in 2024 but may not be ready until late 2025, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit agency downgraded the bond rating for the project over a strained relationship between the airport and the contractor building the system.

 

[TP2000]

Meanwhile, in Florida where the Orlando airport has had multiple People Mover systems for decades and they already added a Brightline high speed rail station to their airport (never discussed for LAX), they are apparently thinking to the future in big ways. Air Taxis!

I absolutely LOVED the look on the lady newscasters face back in the studio when she heard about Air Taxis flying overhead.

 

[truecoat]

Meanwhile, in Florida where the Orlando airport has had multiple People Mover systems for decades and they already added a Brightline high speed rail station to their airport (never discussed for LAX), they are apparently thinking to the future in big ways. Air Taxis!

I absolutely LOVED the look on the lady newscasters face back in the studio when she heard about Air Taxis flying overhead.

The big difference is Orlando's people movers are located on the airport grounds and are not trying to fit into an already well-developed city. They don't change how people get to and from the airport, just how they move between terminals.

 

[mickEblu]

Add Tahitian Terrace to the list of Disneyland things I could have done but didn’t. Closed in 1992? I’m sure it was nowhere near its peak form in the 60s when it Closed but still. Always makes me a little sad to realize there was Disneyland history I could have experienced but didn’t. Things like Rocket Rods, Cascade Peak, Motorboat Cruise, Carnation Gardens, Disneyana when it was on top of Pirates and ATIS (although I was 4 when they closed.” Then there’s just the attractions we didn’t do enough like the PeopleMover, Submarine Voyage, Rocket Jets, Swiss Family Robinson, and the Skyway. Add the old Disneyland Hotel to the list too.

One day I may end up saying the same thing about Lincoln, the Main Street vehicles; the Mark Twain, Columbia, Roger Rabbit etc.

 

[TP2000]

I almost forgot... Happy Easter, gang!

Here's a wish from me to you; may you find all the best eggs, and may your hoop skirt stay out of the flower beds!

 

[PiratesMansion]

All I want is an overly enthusiastic Easter Parade that is in addition to the regular parade a la Tokyo. Alas...

 

[imagineer97]

It's Easter Sunday, and I have returned from 40 days in the Disney Forums desert! I have to say, it was a great detox, because I think I was spending far too much time on here before. Moderation is good.

Also, after a long period of reflection, I have discerned that Tiana's Bayou Adventure is still dumb.