The ducks, you see...

We went to Disneyland for three days last weekend. Despite all being sick, and despite them (once again) making Space Mountain suck so hard a 4-year-old-was-disappointed (Caspian enjoyed it last year with the star effect; this year with the rock lighting he though it was lame), we had fun.

There are lots of good tales to share from this year. For example, on the last day (ever?) for Tom Sawyer Island, he spent 40 minutes in the tree-house, hanging out and making friends. (Su was sick down by the millhouse. I was at the base of the tree-house relaxing in the shade.) Last year I obsessed a bit over the sheer age of some of the rides - Su and I like to look at how worn the wood handrails are on some of the classic rides, after decades of hands rubbing the softer wood away. This year I confess I had a bit of a "how did that fit that in here?" fetish going on about the Pirates of the Caribbean (which was closed last year!). It's just huge!

(Tangent: IMHO, adding a touch of Depp doesn't suck, but it does stick out. Also IMHO, they could update the look of the rest of the pirates without compromising the feel of the ride. Su and I spent an hour or so going over the rides one by one and most could survive careful updates, as they've done with many rides over time including Haunted Mansion and as they're planning for TSI. It just needs to be done with an understanding of what is cool because it's classic and cheezy!)

One of the potential highlights of any trip to Disneyland is getting an actually humorous guide on the Jungle Cruise. No luck this year - our guides were by-the-book. So I'll share a snippet from last year's Jungle Cruise guide, during a dramatic turn of the boat:

Star Tours? What are you doing here?

This is a combat zone! It's restricted!

Ease off on your main thruster!

The ducks, you see... represent TIE Fighters.

That guy earned his whuffie.