The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[TP2000]

Mr. Good News here, with your Good News Report of the week!

The good news is for Disneyland's horticulture team and all the trees and plants and landscaping across the Resort, plus any other fellow gardeners and amateur landscapers out there like me.

The first weekly update of 2026 to the national drought monitor was released today, and while California has been drought free for some time, this is the first time in a couple years there's not even a single acre classified as "Abnormally Dry"!

Here's this week vs. the first week of January back in 2023, as the drought was being erased quickly through the rest of the winter of '23.

Unsurprisingly after all this autumn and early winter rain from Crescent City to San Diego, the great 20th century reservoir system in California is way above normal storage already. California could not get another drop of rain or single snowflake for the rest of the winter, and still enter the spring/summer growing season just fine with its existing reservoir storage. Incredible!

And the satellite readings on soil moisture down to a depth 40 inches below ground is OFF THE CHARTS for most of the state.

The deep root systems of all those mature trees and decades-old landscaping at Disneyland are loving this, you can be sure! And the Disneyland horticulture team will make sure that Disneyland's flower beds will put on quite a show this April for Easter vacation crowds!

Drink up, Disneyland landscaping, you've got a Spring 2026 debut to get ready for!

 

[TP2000]

Utah has been the bane of my existence for the past several years. There is SO MUCH to see! We joke that we've only seen the 1st few inches of Utah, and Moab etc... but the more you look, the more layers reveal themselves. I still haven't touched the SE corner of the state to see Monument Valley (technically AZ/Navajo), Goosenecks SP, Mexican Hat, Natural Bridges NM, a TON of ruin/petroglyph/pictograph sites, let alone Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge NM... the list goes on and on and on...

Isn't it beautiful!?! I have done the parks/locales of the SW and SE corners now, but I still need to get up to explore the area around Salt Lake City more and the mountains there.

When I moved here I imagined I'd visit Salt Lake City regularly, if only for the Nordstrom's and the "big city" shopping I like to do about twice a year. But then I realized the drive to Las Vegas was easy and fast (I swear officer, my speedometer only said I was doing 80!), and the Nordstrom and other stores at the Fashion Show mall were top tier. Still, I need to go explore Salt Lake City Metro and environs more up north.

But what about the people of Utah?! So polite, so gracious, so pleasant and happy! They're the icing on the cake for me.

And it's a very beautiful cake.

 

[mickEblu]

Some miscellaneous thoughts from my trip yesterday:

For a $104 day the crowds weren’t too bad at all. In fact walkways were less crowded than my average visit even if wait times were slightly longer. First day after a long holiday season and many kids being back in school probably helped with that. Now DCA wait times on the other hand were bad. Incredicoaster and Grizzly River Run were both closed. So of course RSR was averaging 150 minute + waits. That park really can’t afford to have any major attraction closed. Let alone two of them. It’s insane to think of the lack of value someone on a one day ticket at DCA had yesterday vs a Disneyland ticket.

Food:

They re up to some funny business with the food. The Chicken Chieftain skewers are no longer on the menu at Bengal BBQ and have been replaced by Chicken Teriyaki skewers. With brown Bengal sauce instead of the old orange sauce. It tastes like there may have been some of the old orange sauce mixed in but I'm not sure. Also the skewers have gotten smaller. Was it always just three pieces of meat per skewer? If so, those pieces have gotten noticeably smaller. Also for whatever reason, the chicken skewers weren't an option to add to my Bengal plate.

New Shrimp n Chive potstickers from Tropical hideaway are great! Especially the sauce they come with. They re $10 for 4 tiny steamed potstickers (are they potstickers if they re steamed? they re more like dumplings). So not the best value but they are tasty. Pork Lumpia are always good. Glad to see them back. Not sure why they stoped offering them for a while. But seriously that sauce is fantastic. I'm not sure what it is but I would dunk just about any dumpling or protein in it. Put it this way - I was dipping my daughter's left over pizza crust in it.

Also in the funny business dept I heard that the pot roast at Plaza Inn got replaced with meat loaf. Just a seasonal change or cheaper meat = higher margins?

I didn't get a chance to try that Bahn Mi dog at Craftsman. Having to go through security again was enough of a deterrent and I just had the feeling it's the sort of gimmicky item that wouldn't live up to expectations.

Rides:

ROTR- I don't know if we knew this but canons are back! Always a delight to see them working. My last two experiences waiting standby have been quite pleasant. The line moves at a nice pace too due to no (regular) Lightning Lane. Last night only waited 45 and the time before about 30.

Storybookland Canal Boats - new Rapunzel tower is nice but I think their might be too much competing audio in that area with Alice's singing right across the way. Also does anyone else think this ride would be better with no skipper? Or if at least they spoke less? Or maybe with a nice recorded narration by someone with a voice like Julie Andrews? I want to hear all the songs and music coming from the little miniatures and vignettes and all I could hear is the skipper with an extremely loud voice who almost doesn't breathe between sentences. I don't remember being annoyed by this in the past. Maybe the skipper last night was just speaking too loud and directly into the mic.

IASW Holiday - Doesn't hit the same post Christmas but was nice to ride this at the proper time of day (evening) for the first time this season.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Some miscellaneous thoughts from my trip yesterday:


Food:

They re up to some funny business with the food. The Chicken Chieftain skewers are no longer on the menu at Bengal BBQ and have been replaced by Chicken Teriyaki skewers. With brown Bengal sauce instead of the old orange sauce. It tastes like there may have been some of the old orange sauce mixed in but I'm not sure. Also the skewers have gotten smaller. Was it always just three pieces of meat per skewer? If so, those pieces have gotten noticeably smaller. Also for whatever reason, the chicken skewers weren't an option to add to my Bengal plate for whatever reason.

New Shrimp n Chive potstickers from Tropical hideaway are great! Especially the sauce they come with. They re $10 for 4 tiny steamed potstickers (are they potstickers if they re steamed? they re more like dumplings). So not the best value but they are tasty. Pork Lumpia are always good. Glad to see them back. Not sure why they stoped offering them for a while. But serially that sauce is fantastic. I'm not sure what it is but I would dunk just about any dumpling or protein in it. Put it this way - I was dipping my daughter's left over pizza crust in it.

Also I the funny business dept I heard that the pot roast at Plaza Inn got replaced with meat loaf. Just seasonal change or cheaper meat = higher margins?

I didn't get a chance to try that Bahn Mi dog at Craftsman. Having to go through security again was enough of a deterrent and I just had the feeling it's the sort of gimmicky item that wouldn't live up to expectations.

Rides:

ROTR- I don't know if we knew this but canons are back! Always a delight to see them working. My last two experiences waiting standby for ROR have been quite pleasant. The line moves at a nice pace too due to no (regular) Lightning Lane. Last night only waited 45 and the time before about 30.

Storybookland Canal Boats - new Rapunzel tower is nice but I think their might be too much competing audio in that area with Alice's singing right across the way. Also does anyone else think this ride would be better with no skipper? Or if at least they talked less. I want to hear all the songs and music coming from the little miniatures and vignettes and all I could hear is the skipper with an extremely loud voice who almost doesn't breathe between sentences. I don't remember being annoyed by this in the past. Maybe the skipper last night was just speaking too loud and directly into the mic.

IASW Holiday - Doesn't hit the same post Christmas but was nice to ride this at the proper time of day (evening) for the first time this season.

They also made changes to Ranchos menu yesterday. The burritos are premade now... And it was absolutely awful. A $2 taco bell burrito would have been better.

 

[mickEblu]

They also made changes to Ranchos menu yesterday. The burritos are premade now... And it was absolutely awful. A $2 taco bell burrito would have been better.

That is unacceptable. These types of things and my daughter being a terror yesterday make a break feel Ok.

 

[mickEblu]

Mr. Good News here, with your Good News Report of the week!

The good news is for Disneyland's horticulture team and all the trees and plants and landscaping across the Resort, plus any other fellow gardeners and amateur landscapers out there like me.

The first weekly update of 2026 to the national drought monitor was released today, and while California has been drought free for some time, this is the first time in a couple years there's not even a single acre classified as "Abnormally Dry"!

Here's this week vs. the first week of January back in 2023, as the drought was being erased quickly through the rest of the winter of '23.



View attachment 901737

Unsurprisingly after all this autumn and early winter rain from Crescent City to San Diego, the great 20th century reservoir system in California is way above normal storage already. California could not get another drop of rain or single snowflake for the rest of the winter, and still enter the spring/summer growing season just fine with its existing reservoir storage. Incredible!

View attachment 901747

And the satellite readings on soil moisture down to a depth 40 inches below ground is OFF THE CHARTS for most of the state.

View attachment 901749


The deep root systems of all those mature trees and decades-old landscaping at Disneyland are loving this, you can be sure! And the Disneyland horticulture team will make sure that Disneyland's flower beds will put on quite a show this April for Easter vacation crowds!

Drink up, Disneyland landscaping, you've got a Spring 2026 debut to get ready for!

View attachment 901750

I thought this was supposed to be a dry La Niña year?

 

[TP2000]

I thought this was supposed to be a dry La Niña year?

Yes, that's what the "experts" said about La Ninx a few months ago. But Mother Nature decided to flip the script on them.

Somehow even when the media calls you an "expert", you can get it very wrong. Hell, even with the latest AI and all the satellites and supercomputers in the world, we still can't accurately predict the weather more than 10 days out. (Don't even get started on predicting what the global climate will be 20 or 40 or 100 years from now! Just stick to a 5 day weather forecast. )

I will say though, with AI now, the forecasts that go out 3 to 5 days have become increasingly accurate! These latest rain storms and Sierra blizzards in December and early January were absolutely pinpointed a few days out by the new AI forecast models.Very impressive, at least so long as you don't ask AI what the weather will be in San Jose two weeks from now; that far out is still a crap shoot. But 3 or 5 days out? It nails it now much better than a decade ago!

Good news is that all of California has at least the next 10 days of dry weather to soak it all up down to the roots, and then get ready for whatever February and March bring.

As far as La Ninx being uncharacteristically wet in November and December? The latest sea surface data now show a building El Ninx this summer and fall, for a moderate to strong El Ninx for the winter of 2026-27.

How does anyone keep up with Mother Nature?

La Niña Collapse Begins: How a Major Pacific Flip will Reshape the 2026 Weather Patterns

A powerful westerly wind burst has started the La Niña collapse. Subsurface ocean anomalies confirm the transition to El Niño for 2026, with significant impacts on the seasonal weather patterns over the United States, Canada, and Europe

www.severe-weather.eu

 

[PiratesMansion]

Also in the funny business dept I heard that the pot roast at Plaza Inn got replaced with meat loaf. Just a seasonal change or cheaper meat = higher margins?

They were already doing meatloaf for the dining packages, but in checking the current menu, it looks like they currently offer meatloaf and the pot roast in addition to the other regular entrees.

Rides:

ROTR- I don't know if we knew this but canons are back! Always a delight to see them working. My last two experiences waiting standby have been quite pleasant. The line moves at a nice pace too due to no (regular) Lightning Lane. Last night only waited 45 and the time before about 30.

I'm not sure when they were reported broken, but they were consistently working throughout Christmas/New Years weeks.

I waited through the entire ROTR queue on Christmas Day and it wasn't even 90 minutes. And honestly we were moving better before we got to the indoor rooms! If something must be on LLSP, then ROTR can stay on Single Pass forever, honestly.

Storybookland Canal Boats - new Rapunzel tower is nice but I think their might be too much competing audio in that area with Alice's singing right across the way. Also does anyone else think this ride would be better with no skipper? Or if at least they spoke less? Or maybe with a nice recorded narration by someone with a voice like Julie Andrews? I want to hear all the songs and music coming from the little miniatures and vignettes and all I could hear is the skipper with an extremely loud voice who almost doesn't breathe between sentences. I don't remember being annoyed by this in the past. Maybe the skipper last night was just speaking too loud and directly into the mic.

My main issue with the Rapunzel tower is that it's too low to the ground. It's a tower, it should be truly above us in some way. It feels like it's at best a foot above me instead. And that doesn't get to seeing it from Casey's. I know they're supposed to be miniatures, but still. It feels like the execution is just a little off. As if the team responsible recognized that all of the obvious spots to put a tower were taken, but we simply must insert Tangled into the ride somehow.

Disneyland Paris has a higher capacity Storybook Land without a guide, with all the boats continuously moving and guided by an underwater wire, with only music to accompany your viewing of the different scenes. It's more efficient, and definitely makes sense in a heavily multilingual setting, but it loses something in the charm department. I'd also call the Storybook boats disappearing into Monstro, complete with visible cast member in their position, is a quintessential Disneyland image. That said, I've never really been impressed with any Storybook CM, although I suppose it's not a ride really designed to showcase the spieling CM.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes, that's what the "experts" said about La Ninx a few months ago. But Mother Nature decided to flip the script on them.

Somehow even when the media calls you an "expert", you can get it very wrong. Hell, even with the latest AI and all the satellites and supercomputers in the world, we still can't accurately predict the weather more than 10 days out. (Don't even get started on predicting what the global climate will be 20 or 40 or 100 years from now! Just stick to a 5 day weather forecast. )

I will say though, with AI now, the forecasts that go out 3 to 5 days have become increasingly accurate! These latest rain storms and Sierra blizzards in December and early January were absolutely pinpointed a few days out by the new AI forecast models.Very impressive, at least so long as you don't ask AI what the weather will be in San Jose two weeks from now; that far out is still a crap shoot. But 3 or 5 days out? It nails it now much better than a decade ago!

Good news is that all of California has at least the next 10 days of dry weather to soak it all up down to the roots, and then get ready for whatever February and March bring.

As far as La Ninx being uncharacteristically wet in November and December? The latest sea surface data now show a building El Ninx this summer and fall, for a moderate to strong El Ninx for the winter of 2026-27.

How does anyone keep up with Mother Nature?

La Niña Collapse Begins: How a Major Pacific Flip will Reshape the 2026 Weather Patterns

A powerful westerly wind burst has started the La Niña collapse. Subsurface ocean anomalies confirm the transition to El Niño for 2026, with significant impacts on the seasonal weather patterns over the United States, Canada, and Europe

www.severe-weather.eu

Being an expert at something doesn't mean you're always 100% correct. There is always a degree of uncertainty that goes into weather prediction because weather can be, well, unpredictable. The labels of La Nina and El Nino are often mischaracterized, because a lot more goes into whether a particular season is wetter or drier.

Here is a great article on why even a La Nina year can be wetter than "normal" -

https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/la-nina-el-nino-california-21127741.php

 

[TP2000]

Being an expert at something doesn't mean you're always 100% correct. There is always a degree of uncertainty that goes into weather prediction because weather can be, well, unpredictable. The labels of La Nina and El Nino are often mischaracterized, because a lot more goes into whether a particular season is wetter or drier.

Here is a great article on why even a La Nina year can be wetter than "normal" -

https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/la-nina-el-nino-california-21127741.php

Yes, I'm aware of all that. I've lived on the West Coast for the majority of my (shockingly) long life. I remember winters in the 1970's and early 80's when the northern Cascades got almost no snow during La Ninx years, and the ski resorts East of Seattle all went bankrupt. La Ninx is supposed to favor rain/snow for the Pacific Northwest, but sometimes it just doesn't.

Which is why it's always eye-rollingly funny whenever the media rolls out an "expert" to tell us what the future will hold.

Expert Example #485: Where are all those "experts" 15 years ago who told us we had already hit "Peak Oil" and US oil production was in permanent decline?

US Oil Production by Month:
October, 2010 = 5.6 Million barrels
October, 2025 = 13.8 Million barrels (last data month available, but it keeps going up every month!)

Is 'Peak Oil' Behind Us?

Production of conventional crude oil probably topped out for good in 2006 and will reach an “undulating plateau” between 2020 and 2035. a report from the International Energy Agency says.

archive.nytimes.com

I already jinxed the Rose Parade this year by saying here on December 20th that the forecast looked sunny and dry for the parade on January 1st...

Despite cold and rain, thousands flock to 137th Rose Parade in Pasadena

Despite the cold and rain, thousands of spectators filled the sidelines of the 137th Rose Parade route in Pasadena to celebrate the start of 2026.

www.latimes.com

So I'll be happy to jinx next winter's El Ninx by saying right here and now that the El Ninx Winter of 2026-27 promises to be a gutter-busting, blizzard-blasting, river-swollen winter, with mudslides landing in hillside hot tubs from Marin to Malibu!

There. Now next winter's El Ninx will be a bust and kick off a new drought. My apologies to Disneyland's horticulture team!

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

They are horrible now, expect one piece of rolled up ham and a cube of cheese surrounded by an inch thick batter on all sides. It’s not a proper sandwich and barely edible.

This wasn’t my experience at all. Full of ham and cheese and perfectly battered.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes, I'm aware of all that. I've lived on the West Coast for the majority of my (shockingly) long life. I remember winters in the 1970's and early 80's when the northern Cascades got almost no snow during La Ninx years, and the ski resorts East of Seattle all went bankrupt. La Ninx is supposed to favor rain/snow for the Pacific Northwest, but sometimes it just doesn't.

And I lived through all of that too through much of the same time period (even if you are older), being a Northern Californian and all, from the Bay to Sacramento and even living in the Tahoe National Forest at one point in my life. Which is why I'm saying that there is often a misunderstanding of the La Nina and El Nino cycles and what is really "normal". And that your perspective on the topic can change whether you are in Northern California or Southern California.

Which is why it's always eye-rollingly funny whenever the media rolls out an "expert" to tell us what the future will hold.

Expert Example #485: Where are all those "experts" 15 years ago who told us we had already hit "Peak Oil" and US oil production was in permanent decline?

US Oil Production by Month:
October, 2010 = 5.6 Million barrels
October, 2025 = 13.8 Million barrels (last data month available, but it keeps going up every month!)

Is 'Peak Oil' Behind Us?

Production of conventional crude oil probably topped out for good in 2006 and will reach an “undulating plateau” between 2020 and 2035. a report from the International Energy Agency says.

archive.nytimes.com

Well I'm not going to get into oil prediction stuff from decades ago, as much of that was politically motivated at the time (both sides) and not allowed to be discussed in the open forums. So I'll just say that the real experts will never give 100% certainty on anything. They will always leave a degree of uncertainty in any predictions they make. And much of what is said is often misunderstood and mischaracterized by many for various reasons.

I already jinxed the Rose Parade this year by saying here on December 20th that the forecast looked sunny and dry for the parade on January 1st...

Despite cold and rain, thousands flock to 137th Rose Parade in Pasadena

Despite the cold and rain, thousands of spectators filled the sidelines of the 137th Rose Parade route in Pasadena to celebrate the start of 2026.

www.latimes.com

So I'll be happy to jinx next winter's El Ninx by saying right here and now that the El Ninx Winter of 2026-27 promises to be a gutter-busting, blizzard-blasting, river-swollen winter, with mudslides landing in hillside hot tubs from Marin to Malibu!

There. Now next winter's El Ninx will be a bust and kick off a new drought. My apologies to Disneyland's horticulture team!

Or it won't and it'll be another wet year.

 

[mickEblu]

They were already doing meatloaf for the dining packages, but in checking the current menu, it looks like they currently offer meatloaf and the pot roast in addition to the other regular entrees.

I'm not sure when they were reported broken, but they were consistently working throughout Christmas/New Years weeks.

I waited through the entire ROTR queue on Christmas Day and it wasn't even 90 minutes. And honestly we were moving better before we got to the indoor rooms! If something must be on LLSP, then ROTR can stay on Single Pass forever, honestly.

My main issue with the Rapunzel tower is that it's too low to the ground. It's a tower, it should be truly above us in some way. It feels like it's at best a foot above me instead. And that doesn't get to seeing it from Casey's. I know they're supposed to be miniatures, but still. It feels like the execution is just a little off. As if the team responsible recognized that all of the obvious spots to put a tower were taken, but we simply must insert Tangled into the ride somehow.

Disneyland Paris has a higher capacity Storybook Land without a guide, with all the boats continuously moving and guided by an underwater wire, with only music to accompany your viewing of the different scenes. It's more efficient, and definitely makes sense in a heavily multilingual setting, but it loses something in the charm department. I'd also call the Storybook boats disappearing into Monstro, complete with visible cast member in their position, is a quintessential Disneyland image. That said, I've never really been impressed with any Storybook CM, although I suppose it's not a ride really designed to showcase the spieling CM.

Oh ok good to know. I saw something on social media and figured it was true considering my Bengal experience.

Unfortunately the canons weren’t working when I took my fam from out of the country in Late November but good to hear they re working more often than not these days.

Oh I didn’t know that. I think if given the choice I’d go with Paris’ approach. I’d love to take an atmospheric cruise and hear all the old school songs coming from those vignettes. Especially at night. I think a little narration with a pleasant voice at the proper volume would be nice. But point taken on the skipper and going through Monstros mouth. My one concern would be that without the skipper on board they wouldn’t let kids sit on the bow of the boat anymore.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Not related to any specific thread, but one of the changes to Imagineering:

 

[DrStarlander]

Not related to any specific thread, but one of the changes to Imagineering:

And then the flip side is the Madame Leota gift shop. Maybe the Imagineers in Shanghai should design stuff for other parks too.

 

[Disney Vault]

Not related to any specific thread, but one of the changes to Imagineering:

Where is the article all of these are coming from? I would love to read more about all of these

 

[DrStarlander]

Where is the article all of these are coming from? I would love to read more about all of these

Wall Street Journal.

 

[Rich T]

…Storybookland Canal Boats…does anyone else think this ride would be better with no skipper?…

No — not in the U.S. I’m convinced misbehaving guests would ruin it for everyone.

On that note, has anyone else here witnessed an adult guest just casually reach over, yank a handful of flowers out of a major planter and toss them on the ground… for no apparent reason? Or stomp through a flower bed so her friend could snap a shot of her making out with the Epcot Viking statue?

Two recent guest moments burned into my memory.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Where is the article all of these are coming from? I would love to read more about all of these

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/disney-cruise-rides-characters-imagineers-adventure-b5c03c1d?st=kY2SaD&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink