Okay, so I'm a Disney Nerd. As a kid our family would go to the parks usually once a year. There were a lot of good memories there. Every night we would end at Carnation Plaza where we would see the some of the greats, like the Glenn Miller Orchestra play till the end of the night. My dad taught all my sisters to swing dance to the sounds of the big bands that would inspire me to later pick up the saxaphone.
I was completely enthralled by the immersive environments, the attention to detail, and year after year I would collect the maps and study them profusely. I would realize much later how much I learned about the essentials of story from experiencing the parks. there was a logic, or what I would later come to understand as an "act structure" that would frame the experiences. The experiential quality of the attractions would set the bar for me as a story teller, and establish why I prefer live theatre over other mediums. Because immersion to me became that final element that made any story heightened. the moment when the story could reach out and grab you, or swallow you whole.
I was completely enthralled by the immersive environments, the attention to detail, and year after year I would collect the maps and study them profusely. I would realize much later how much I learned about the essentials of story from experiencing the parks. there was a logic, or what I would later come to understand as an "act structure" that would frame the experiences. The experiential quality of the attractions would set the bar for me as a story teller, and establish why I prefer live theatre over other mediums. Because immersion to me became that final element that made any story heightened. the moment when the story could reach out and grab you, or swallow you whole.
So when I was in college, I found myself as an actor often driving back and forth between LA and SD, and rather than sit in traffic I discovered it was far more efficient to wait out traffic in line for a ride or two. sometimes I'd do my college reading along the rivers of America in the peaceful back end of the Hungry Bear restaurant in Critter Country. It was handy and kind of cool to be an annual passholder. So Cal passes were still pretty cheap then, and the Fan Blog communities were just kind of coming in to existence. As time went on I found myself collecting books about imagineers, absorbing random trivia. My interest came full circle when after years of pursuing theatre, I realized how much I had retained from my child hood aspirations of being a sequential artist/animator. Much of my staging theory is still heavily based on layout principals I had studied on my own in high school reading "how to draw Comics the marvel way" and growing up looking forward to the re-release of Fantasia or as the sole holder of a lifetime pass to the festival of animation... (thats an other story)
So of course upon moving to LA, It only made sense I finally upgrade my pass from the SoCal to the Premium. I mean, I'm only about 30 minutes away... and 30 minutes is about a minimum drive time anywhere in LA anyways... I justified the cost in that I'm investing in my future career in imagineering... (oh it will happen... just wait...)
AND because I'm crazy, I made a spreadsheet that would tally and record all my visits... because I knew that by the end of the year I'd probably wonder just how many times I actually rode Peter Pan, or how many Corn Dogs I managed to devour(no I didnt keep track of that... DAMN, new line item for next year!) so here for your entertainment value are my personal Disneyland resorts Stats for the 2013-2014 year...
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50 visits to
the DL resort in 12 months
Average # of
attractions per visit - 7.7
Most Attractions in a single visit - 21 (this particular day was a DL Only Day...)
In this year had two park-hopper days where I hit 19 total... (Personal best 23 attractions in a single day)
Most CA Adventure attractions in a single day- 11
Most visits
in a single month - 6
Fewest visits in a single month - 2
Fewest visits in a single month - 2
Favorite time to visit - July (tourists leave the park earlier and fewer Annual passholders leaves the last two hours of the night empty! You can basically walk on most attractions!)
46 Visits to
Magic Kingdom
23 trips
along the Disneyland Railroad (15 of which took me through the Primeval world)
27 trips
into the Galaxy Far Far Away (no tallys as to how many times to each planet,
I'll work on that fornext year...)
20
excursions into the Temple of the Forbidden Eye
19 Times to my Laughing Place
17 times I
found a way out... (7 of which were guided by Sandy Claws)
16 of the
wildest rides in the wilderness (despite being closed 60% of the year)
16 treks up
and down the Swiss Alps (12 on the Left, 4 on the right)
13 Tales
told by dead men
Only 3 Attractions
I have not been on all year:
Gadgets
Go-Coaster, Dumbo, King Arthurs Carousel, Mainstreet Streetcars
28 visits to
CA Adventure
12 Drops
into the 5th dimension
12 Screams
9 races
(dont know how many I won, thats data for next year)
9 trips
under the sea
7 Runs down
the Grizzly river
7 soarin
over california
Have not
experienced anything else at the park more than 5 times
8
attractions I Did not experience all year
King
triton's Carousel, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, Tuck & Roll's Bumper Cars,
(5 of which I
Have Never Been on) Disney Jr.
Live on Stage, Francis' Ladybug Boogie, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Jumpin Jellyfish, Flik's
Flyers (Have Never ridden, however have always wanted a picture in the takeout
box)
