Thursday, October 27, 2005

Splash Mountain has a winter setting?

I was at the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH with three friends on a rainy Sunday autumn afternoon. It was one of those days where everything just felt right. Sure, it was raining and we didn't have rain coats or umbrellas, but we were at Disneyland AND California Adventure, and not much could disappoint us. If football players and golfers do their things in the rain, then what was stopping us?

We had a superlative time playing all day; at one point we contemplated seeing if we could break the world record for riding "The Tower of Terror" so many times in a row. We ate Churros, corn chowder, and ice cream, and we drank Mint Juleps, iced mochas, Coca-Colas, and anything else that tempted us in the moment. Our eyes teared up in the inspirational film "Golden Dreams" (narrated by the golden goddess Whoopi Goldberg,) as we saw a version of California history summed in 20 minutes that didn't overlook the sacrifices and contributions that minority groups made. It was a day of mirth and magic...until sun-down...

My friend Jay really wanted to ride Splash Mountain, but being as though we were already a little damp from the Anaheim showers, Thommy and Geoffrey were less willing to board the logs. But of course, Susan, who considers herself a "Disneyland" aficionado (Well, at least a novice Disneyland aficionado...there are some mega-dorks out there that I would someday aspire to be like, but for now we'll just say I am a Junior-Varsity Disney Dork. I don't own Marc Davis sketch books, but I have seen them. I know that the Splash Mountain characters use to be housed on the beloved America Sings attraction; and I miss the People Movers and Mission to Mars because you knew you could always get on those rides sans waiting in line even on the most crowded days at the park) insisted that the ride is on its winter setting, which means the ride is designed for passengers to experience less "splashing" than one might experience in say the warmer summer months.

"We won't get wet on Splash Moutain; its on the 'winter setting.'" I promised. I swore someone once told me that all the water rides have seasonal settings, and when it's colder out, they turn the water that sprays you as you barrel down the drop to a lower setting. On the summer setting, when you come down from the big daddy drop, there are faucets that basically spray you with water like a hose, and on the winter setting, the extra water streams are turned off...it's a good idea in theory, I swear...I insisted that since all my other Disney knowledge is correct, that we'd be fine on the ride and it wouldn't be that bad. Afterall, who would ride it on a rainy day if they knew they'd get cold and wet afterwards? Apparently, a lot of people...

I decided to survey a small sampling of people as they exited the ride, to see how wet they became. Never mind that most people's clothes were splashed with water, so asking them if they experienced some extra H20 was somewhat unncessary, I still asked. Of the five people I talked to, 3 people got wet on the ride (but I knew they were TRYING to get wet by leaning into the splashes...), 1 person was just wet from the rain, and I think the fifth person was just really sweaty from taking extended artillery practice at the shooting gallery in Adventureland just before.

So I sat in the front of our log, with Thommy, Geoffrey, and Jay beind me, and also some other strangers who are now immortalized on my blog in the blurry picture above that I pirated from the photo screen at the end of the ride. And how many times did I get splashed, or doused? Not one time, not two times, but every time we went down any sort of descension at all, the water found me!

Winter setting - bah! This was like on peak summer setting...After the big-drop, I looked like a wet puppy dog. My head was dripping with thick ride water, mascara was running down my cheeks, my jeans were three shades darker blue than before, and my tee shirt and sweat shirt were soaked through to my skin; But it was so fun! Luckily, I was wearing a velour sweatshirt that soaked up the dirty ride water like a sponge. As we trudged back to main street, I dragged my sopping shoes and the boys walked slowly next to me because they were laughing so hard. Water still dripped from my face, and my little crooked pinky fingers were turning white and frozen. But of course, we couldn't go home just yet because we had to wait for our 2nd fast pass for the new Space Mountain to become valid....

Thankfully, Space Mountain was on the indoor winter setting, and the heat in line turned up extra high, so I dried off quickly in line, and returned to a just slightly damp state for the car ride back to L.A.

So next time you're at Disneyland, about to board Splash Mountain, don't take their signs lightly - Y'may just get wet, winter, spring, summer or fall...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yay, I get so excited when I go to your blog and see new things, keep it up! We can be writing buddies again like the old days!
xoxo