An app is born

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Mike

In previous posts I’ve described my desire to do an iPhone app, and finally finding what seemed to be a worthwhile project.   All that was left was to take the idea and see how well I could translate it into an app.

I started writing code in mid-January.   Sometime in late February the name came to me — The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.    It’s Mickey Mouse’s most famous role.   The ‘Sorcerer’ obviously also ties to the game’s name, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.   And it can be shortened to The Sorcerer’s App —  “app” works as a shortened form of Apprentice or of Application, and I liked the duality of that.   Even though I was a ways off from having an app ready, I went into iTunes Connect (the software that developers use to publish to the App Store) to see if I could reserve the name.   It was not yet in use by any other app, so I grabbed it, as well as reserving thesorcerersapp.wordpress.com as a blog name where I would start writing about the app.

Work on the app progressed, and functionality seemed to be falling into some well-defined “buckets”.    There is obviously the collecting of the cards used to play the game, and early on it was decided that this would be the focus of the first version of the app.    So I put together screens that would track cards the user had and the cards still needed.   I designed the database to hold all the card information.  Trading was originally going to wait until Version 2, but ultimately I decided there needed to be something in Version 1 — not a full-blown trading system where users can electronically trade with other app users, but at least something where a user standing in line at a game portal can show a list of cards needed and cards to trade to someone and check off the cards to make a trade.

Being able to break down the app into smaller chunks felt crucial to me.   For one thing, remembering the experience of seeing other apps beat me to the app store before, I didn’t want to be working on an app for many months, only to have something else appear before I finished.    I felt it was important to get a release out there, and then build on it, rather than wait until I had an app with every feature I could think of.

As I read more and more of the blogs online, the crowd-sourcing aspect became less important, and eventually disappeared.   It may reappear in a later release (or it may not), but it seems like basic game strategy is understood well enough to encapsulate it in a relatively small set of rules that will be built into the app.   (These game play features will be introduced in Version 2 of the app).

Version 1 of the app, the digital checklist for card collectors and the trading manager for casual trading face-to-face, was completed early in March.   I recruited some beta testers to try things out, and went through a series of minor revisions.   I submitted the app to the app store.    The first submittal was rejected — not entirely unexpectedly — because it included pictures of all the cards, which are images copyrighted by Disney.    (I rationalized that the card images can be easily found on the web, so Disney appears not to have ordered them taken down — perhaps they wouldn’t object to their use in the app.   I never got to find out as Apple red-flagged that and made me pull the images out of the app.)

Original "Card Detail" screen, when card images were included

Original “Card Detail” screen, when card images were included

After pulling the images, I resubmitted the app and then on April 1st, I got notice that the app had been approved for sale.   I decided that April Fool’s day was not the day I was going to announce the release — too easy to either be taken as a joke, or simply lost in the flood of bogus announcements coming from various sources.    So I waited until April 2nd to start posting updates on Facebook, Twitter, and other sources announcing the app.

An interesting thing about this whole experience, to me, is that I kind of feel I almost missed it.  Since I abandoned my first app effort in 2009, it’s always been a goal to find another project and build an app.    It’s not something I obsessed over or thought about daily — but it is something that I came back to again and again, considering and rejecting a number of ideas that I either couldn’t come up with a good approach for, or thought were over-done, or required skills I didn’t have.   Yet for some reason it took several exposures to the SotMK game for me to make the connection — it seems very obvious in retrospect, but it did not come to me when I played the game in September, or even in January.   Only after the trip, reflecting back on it, did I make the connection.

If you have a project you’ve wanted to kick off and are just waiting to find the right inspiration — make sure you haven’t missed it!    Do a mental review of  things that have recently caught your interest for more than just a passing moment.    Is there a connection that needs to be made?

Download the app:  https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=607155560

Read the blog:  http://thesorcerersapp.wordpress.com/

Posted in iPhone Development, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, SotMK, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Walt Disney World | 1 Comment

Finding Inspiration

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Mike

In my last post, I talked about the Baseball Scorecard app that never made it to launch.   That was in 2009, and ever since then, I’ve had it in the back of my mind that doing an iPhone app was going to happen — I just needed to find the right project.

Maybe “in the back of my mind” isn’t quite right.   It was really a bucket list item for me … not something I thought about daily, but something that was more than just an idle thought.   I really did plan to act on it, but the ideas just weren’t coming.

As a long-time Disney fan, doing something Disney related certainly had an appeal, so more than once I tried to think of a Disney-related app idea.  But there are already various tour guides, line estimating guides, etc. for all the parks — I didn’t really want to do a “me, too” app, I wanted to do something new — or at least something I felt like I could do better than anyone else was doing it.    Nothing came to me,  but I continued to believe it would eventually.

During a WDW trip in September 2012 for the Tower of Terror race, I first played the game Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (which had launched in February 2012).    It’s a neat little game and one which I was sure I’d play again on future visits to the park — but somehow the synapses didn’t fire, nothing connected telling me there was an app there waiting to be written.

When I went back in January 2013 for the half marathon, I played again, and this time I did more than just play — I talked to other players, traded cards, and started to hear that there was more complexity to the game than first meets the eye.     The reason this is not readily apparent  is because if you play on the “Easy” difficulty (as I was doing), there is really no strategy required to win — it’s just a pleasant diversion and a chance to walk around the park and watch some entertaining videos, and follow along with the story line.   But if you play on medium and hard levels — then what you do matters.     You can’t just randomly play any cards and hope to defeat the villains trying to take over the Magic Kingdom.

The game strategy has to be discovered, and it’s really something that one person is not likely to figure out on their own.   So online communities have developed, both for trading the SotMK (as the game is abbreviated) cards and for sharing strategy tips — what’s the best card combination to beat Cruella de Vil?   What cards should you absolutely avoid playing against Maleficient when she appears in dragon form?   How can you handle multiple cards at the portal without dropping your Dole Whip?

After playing in the parks during each day of my trip, I was checking on the online forums at night for better strategies to use the next day.   Yep, they had hooked me and reeled me in — I needed to beat the game.

It wasn’t until I was home from the trip that the light bulb went on.   There were too many card combinations for anyone to ever find the completely optimal strategy working alone.   What was needed was a crowdsourced solution.   And while this was happening online via blog postings and Facebook groups, the way to really kick that into high gear would be with an iPhone app.    I’d discovered the app that needed to be written.

From this idea, I was quickly beginning to mock up what such an app might look like — drawing out the various screens on index cards and pinning them to a cork board to get the flow.    It really seemed to hit the sweet spot I was looking for — here was an app with enough to it that it wasn’t trivial or worthless, but not so large and complex that it was more than a one-person job.   The app could be compartmentalized nicely, meaning that it didn’t have to be done all at once — I could easily visual several versions of the app, each adding in a few new features.    (That was a big downside to the baseball app — you couldn’t do it in pieces.   You can’t release a version 1 that only does balls and strikes, and then a version 2 that handles other batter actions, and then a version 3 that handles baserunning — until you can do it all, you don’t have anything usable).

Inspiration had finally come along; the idea was there.   Now it was just a mere matter of programming to take the idea and make it a reality.

Index cards being used to mock up application screens

Index cards being used to mock up application screens

Posted in Disney, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, SotMK, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Travel, Walt Disney World | 1 Comment

If at first you don’t succeed

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Mike

In my previous post I mentioned that I wanted to give a bit of the story of developing The Sorcerer’s Apprentice iPhone application.    But The Sorcerer’s App was not my first crack at writing an iPhone app.    Before we get to the new app, let’s turn the wayback machine to 2009.   The App Store was only about a year old  (it’s easy to forget that at the initial release, third party developers could not write applications for the iPhone).   And I had an idea for what I felt would be a great iPhone application.

The idea of the app was a baseball scoring application.   This wasn’t a new idea for me — I had originally thought of it as an application I thought would do well for the Apple Newton.   I had even drawn up some screen mock-ups of the Newton app (I still have them in a file around here somewhere).  But the Newton wasn’t a long-lived platform and was gone before I ever got a chance to make any serious attempt at developing an application for it.

But the idea didn’t die, so when the iPhone opened up for third party developers, I started thinking about it again, and then working on it.   I bought a couple of developer’s guides, and even attended an iOS developers conference in San Jose.   Soon pieces of the app were beginning to take shape … a display across the top of the screen for the line score (inning-by-inning runs scored), a lineup on the left, an area for scoring the current play on the right.

Background image for the play scoring area

Background image for the play scoring area

As it turns out, this was an incredibly complex application, and in hindsight was really too ambitious for a first project — especially for a single developer, working part time.    Things that were uninteresting, but vitally necessary — like handling the roster, lineup, substitutions, etc. — were very time consuming to get right.    The interesting part — scoring the plays — really required skills with graphics that I didn’t possess if I was to give the app the polished look I was looking for.

I worked on the app pretty steadily for a number of months.    At some point while I was doing this, another baseball scoring app showed up in the app store — but I wasn’t too discouraged, because I looked at it and decided I could do better.    Not too long after that, a second scoring app showed up — much more complete, better thought out.    Well, I thought, I may have lost the first mover advantage, but  I could catch up.    Then the newer, better app was re-branded –it became the ESPN scorecard app.    At that point it really seemed like Game Over.    If I was confident that I was going to turn out an app that was everything I envisioned, perhaps I would have continued at that point — but I was daunted by how long I’d worked on this and how much was still left to do.   I knew it would be several more months before I could possibly have anything to market, and then it might very well be second-best.

So, my first iPhone development project was shelved.   But I’d learned a lot, and I felt I would return to iPhone development when the right project came along.   I really thought that would be in a matter of months, rather than years — but in the intervening time, there has been nothing that struck me as something I wanted to do badly enough that I’d invest the hours required.    So time marched on, while millions of new apps were developed and shipped.   There had to be an idea that was still out there somewhere, waiting for me to find it.

That’s where the story will pick up in the next post.

Posted in iPhone Development, The Sorcerer's Apprentice | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A New App and a New Blog

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Mike

Yesterday my first-ever iPhone app launched in the App Store for Apple’s iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).    The link to download the app is at right and also below.

I have also created a new blog specifically for the app — I didn’t want to post a bunch of stuff here that would only be of interest to users of the app, so if you’re interested in the app, please follow The Sorcerer’s App blog to get the latest news about the app.

But I thought it would be appropriate to post more of a personal story here of how the idea for the app came to me, and some of the fun and challenges along the way.   So stay tuned over the coming days and I’ll share some of the backstory of creating the app.    In the meantime, if you’re a player of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, please check out the app.    If you aren’t yet a player but are planning a visit to the Magic Kingdom in the future, take a look and see if it’s something you want to include as part of your next trip to Walt Disney World.

Download the Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Posted in Disney, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, SotMK, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Travel, Walt Disney World | 1 Comment

Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Mike

As chronicled in the last couple of blog posts, I made a recent visit to Southern California to see Disneyland during the Christmas holidays and to visit the Reagan Presidential Library.    The Reagan Library is current hosting (through April 2013) an exhibition entitled Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives.

The exhibition is presented by the Disney Archives, and includes many unique items from throughout the history of the Disney organization.    Because of the venue, some of the items selected for the display highlight Disney’s connection to Reagan (his work for Disney included emceeing Disneyland’s opening day broadcast) or to the presidency in general (Hall of Presidents sculptures, for example).   But the exhibition is far broader than just a few tie-ins.   Some of the items have been displayed before (such as at similar exhibitions at the D23 Expo in 2009 and 2011), but some are being displayed to the public for the first time.

In the earlier galleries, we see items such as a movie poster from one of the Alice comedies.  (These early films combined live action and animation and were loosely based on Alice in Wonderland).   We also see a pencil sketch of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit — the animated character that Walt developed prior to Mickey Mouse.   And of course we see the early Mickey Mouse, including some of the early merchandising efforts for the character.

Poster from an Alice comedy

Poster from an Alice comedy

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pencil sketch

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pencil sketch

Early Mickey Mouse merchandise

Early Mickey Mouse merchandise

There are cels here from some of the most notable early Disney animation shorts, including Academy Award winning Silly Symphonies Flowers and Trees (the first color cartoon) and The Three Little Pigs (famous for the song “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf”).

Cel from Silly Symphony "Flowers and Trees"

Cel from Silly Symphony “Flowers and Trees”

Cel from Silly Symphony "The Three Little Pigs"

Cel from Silly Symphony “The Three Little Pigs”

While animation buffs (such as myself) are likely to be familiar with a lot of the short features highlighted here, it was the move into feature length animation that really set Disney apart from what every other studio was doing.   One of the interesting artifacts on display was a partial Snow White costume, worn by Marge Champion when doing live action reference for the animators.

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Several of the feature length animated features started in the same fashion — with a shot of a story book.   As the camera zoomed in, the story book would open, and we would dissolve into the animated scene.   Several of these storybooks (from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella) were on display, including some of the interior pages.

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Also on display was Herb Ryman’s original Disneyland sketch.   The story of this sketch is that Walt needed something to show to investors, and Herb produced this very detailed sketch over the course of a weekend as Walt described what should be in the various areas of the park.

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Another fascinating exhibit was a full-scale re-creation of Walt’s formal office — every detail just as he left it, right down to the ordering of books in the bookcases (including one that is shelved upside down, because that’s the way Walt had left it).

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After leaving this area of the exhibit, we start seeing props and costumes from some of Disney’s most well-known live action films from the early days.   This includes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Nautilus submarine model), The Absent-Minded Professor (Model T), and Mary Poppins (Julie Andrew’s costume).

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Still more costumes … we get costumes and an office set for Cruella de Vil (from the live-action 101 Dalmatians movie), Belle’s ball gown from the Broadway Production of Beauty and the Beast, several costumes from Annie Leibovitz’ Disney Dreams photo series (Tiny Fey’s Tinkerbell,  Scarlett Johansson’s Cinderella, and Rachel Weisz’ Snow White), and Whitney Houston’s fairly godmother costume from a TV production of Cinderella.

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Yes, we do have more costumes — here are 3 from Enhanted:  Giselle’s wedding dress (Amy Adams), and costumes worn by James Marsden (Edward) and Susan Sarandon (evil stepmother / wicked queen)

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We also have some props and costumes from Alice in Wonderland . . .

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. . . and also from Tron (both the original and the recent sequel)

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We have quite a bit from the Pirates of the Caribbean series:

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Last of the movie stuff:  props from Marvel movies (Iron Man 2, Captain America, and the Avengers)

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We also get to see some interesting items from the theme parks:  Malificient in dragon form (from Fantasmic!), hitch hiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion, a ride vehicle from Mr. Toad, and busts of all the presidents from the Hall of Presidents:

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This is far from everything that is on display at the exhibit, but I hope serves to give a good flavor of the kind of items that are on display.    The Reagan Library and the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit are both worthwhile, and I really enjoyed the day I spent there.

Posted in Animation, Disney | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Reagan Presidential Library

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Mike

While I was in Southern California to visit Disneyland, I took advantage of a friend’s offer to drive out to the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The immediate rationale for the trip was to see the limited engagement exhibit, Treasures of the Walt Disney archives. But the library was so interesting in its own right that I didn’t want to just tack on a few sentences about the library to my post on the Disney exhibit; I felt that it deserved a dedicated post.

This is the first time I’ve visited any Presidential library, so comparisons aren’t possible. It was laid out much as I would have expected — the overall organization is chronological, starting with Reagan’s youth and with the final gallery containing items related to Reagan’s funeral.

The earlier exhibits — covering things like Reagan’s childhood home or high school and collegiate athletics — were well done but, as something of a political junkie, not as interesting to me as the sections starting where Reagan became Governor of California. There was some coverage of Reagan’s acting career, but it was not extensive, which suited me fine as it meant getting to the interesting stuff that much sooner.

Reagan as Governor

After covering the governorship, we then move on to the Presidential Campaign for the 1980 election.

There are a number of interactive exhibits throughout the gallery. Here I am reading one of Reagan’s speeches off the teleprompter.

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Several of the exhibits were extremely moving; one of these was the gallery covering the attempted assassination early in Reagan’s first term. Items from that day were on display, most notably the suit jacket that Reagan had worn with the bullet hole clearly visible. News footage from the day plays on TV screens along with a filmed recreation of the first few minutes after his arrival at the hospital.

Suit Jacket

Suit Jacket

From this somber gallery we then proceed to one of the signature exhibits of the library — a full size replica of the Oval Office. The office is recreated just as it was during the Reagan administration. Some of the items, such as the Resolute desk, are reproductions, while others, like the Frederic Remington sculpture, are the actual furnishings from the office.

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After the Oval Office we see more exhibits covering the Reagan White House, and then proceed into a cavernous display space for what is unquestionably the most impressive artifact of the library — Air Force One, Boeing 707 #27000. This aircraft flew all U.S presidents from Nixon through Clinton. and is beautifully presented. It is in front of a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass overlooking the scenic valley — on most days this would probably be a beautiful backdrop (frontdrop?) to the aircraft. On this particular day we were completely fogged in so the effect was, I suppose, that of flying through a cloud bank.

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You can board Air Force One and see it much as it appeared during the time it was in service. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the plane, so this shot of me standing in the doorway is as far as I can take you along.

Boarding Air Force One

Inside the space is incredibly spacious compared to any commercial airliner, but at the same time appears small and cramped compared to what we’ve seen portrayed as the interior space of the current generation Air Force One, the much larger 747s. We get to see working areas for the President and high-level staff, the communication and command center (including the nuclear code ‘football’), and seating for press and not-quite-as-high-level staff. The air circulation for the aircraft is in use (rather than just hooking it up to external environmental systems) which creates a bit of vibration and hum which helps, along with the slightly inclined attitude of the plane (2%), to create the illusion that the aircraft is in flight.

After exiting Air Force One, the rest of the exhibit space downstairs includes a Marine One helicopter and a motorcade limousine.

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After leaving this impressive space we retrace our steps back to the main museum building and continue with more exhibits. All too soon we are coming to the end of the story with two moving exhibits. First the handwritten farewell letter that Reagan wrote after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, marking the end of his life as a public figure. And then a selection of items from the President’s funeral.

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After the last exhibit has been lingered over, we head outside to make our way to the grave site. Along the way we pass a large section of the Berlin “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this” Wall. And then we make our final stop to pay respects at the grave site.

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This was a place I truly enjoyed visiting, and being of an age that I remember the events of the Reagan administration well, it was very moving to go back and revisit the highs and lows of that period in our nation’s history. Highly recommended.

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Disney Christmas: West Coast Edition

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Mike

I’ve been a regular visitor to the Walt Disney World resort during the holiday season for many years; but this year is the first time I’ve made a similarly timed trip to the Disneyland resort.    I was excited to see what would seem familiar and what would be different about experiencing Disney holidays west coast style.

In just a few days I’ll be off to WDW, so this will be a bi-coastal Disney Christmas year for me … truly a Jolly Holiday.   A follow-up posting on the East Coast version of Disney Holidays will be following soon.

Disneyland

My favorite part of the Disneyland Christmas experience was two attractions that are re-themed with holiday overlays .. the Haunted Mansion and it’s a small world.   While both of these attractions are also at the Magic Kingdom in Florida, it is only at the California park that they get a full makeover for the holiday season.

While both are well done, the Haunted Mansion holiday is to me the hands-down winner for best extreme makeover.   The Haunted Mansion is taken over by Jack Skellington and other characters from the Nightmare before Christmas.   Every scene in every room is made over — from the stretching room to the graveyard, it’s an entirely new attraction.   Calling it an overlay just doesn’t do justice to how completely the attraction is transformed for the holidays.

The few pictures below don’t begin to convey the full effect — this is something you have to experience!

Haunted Mansion Holiday
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The second attraction to get the holiday overlay treatment is it’s a small world. Here, the soundtrack now includes both the attraction theme song and Jingle Bells, alternating back and forth for the duration of the ride. (As we pass Ariel in one scene, the words changed to Jingle Shells — I wonder if there were any other variations that I missed?)

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Other than these two attractions, the area of the park most transformed for the holidays is Main Street. Garland is hung across the street along the entire length; there is of course the giant Christmas Tree in town square, and Sleeping Beauty Castle is adorned in holiday decorations. It was interesting to note that the same Castle Dream Lights treatment is done at both parks, but the presentation is quite different. At the Magic Kingdom, once dusk falls and the castle is lit, it is given the full dream lights treatment. At Disneyland, the dream lights are held back until the finale of the fireworks.

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Disney’s California Adventure

At DCA, the Buena Vista Street area provides traditional Christmas decor and entertainment — the obligatory giant tree in front of the shops, a wreath hung on the Carthay Circle Theater’s tower, and garland adorning the buildings and lamp posts.   A wandering group of bell ringers (who are also carolers) provide festive holiday entertainment.    The decorations and entertainment are well matched to the theme of 1920s and 30s Hollywood.

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Back in Cars Land, we get a far more whimsical and fanciful Christmas.    The cars have decorated their land as only cars would — with traffic cones, hubcaps, air filters, and whitewall tires for wreaths.   It’s impossible to spend time in the area without breaking into a big grin at the cleverness of the decorating.

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That’s it for this brief look at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure during the Christmas season.    A look at the Florida parks is coming soon.

 

Posted in Buena Vista Street, Cars Land, Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A First Visit to Cars Land and Buena Vista Street

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Mike

A while back I visited the Cars Land and Buena Vista Street areas of Disney’s California Adventure for the first time.

Buena Vista Street

Buena Vista Street is a nice addition to the park; it does a great job of setting the mood and transporting the visitor to a different time and place.    The area is filled with references to Disney history, such as Oswald’s gas station and the Elias and Company store.    There are no rides or attractions here; the area serves the same purpose as Main Street U.S.A in the Disneyland park — the transition from the outside world of reality to the world of imagination and possibilities.   Oh, and to sell you some souvenirs.

The centerpiece of the new Buena Vista Street area is the Carthay Circle Theater — a reproduction of the theatre where Snow White premiered in 1937.    Here, the building serves not as a theater but as a lounge (downstairs) and restaurant (upstairs).   The restaurant is the nicest of any inside a Disneyland Resort theme park (at least any open to the general public — I unfortunately haven’t had the experience of Club 33 to make a comparison).

I did have a chance to have dinner at the Carthay Circle, and found it elegant and very enjoyable.    I look forward to returning and trying more things off the menu there, and perhaps writing up a review after I’ve given it a few more visits.

Cars Land

While the Buena Vista Street area is a nice addition, it’s Cars Land that has really completely transformed the park.    No longer will guests complain that DCA was better as a parking lot.   With this expansion, DCA has finally become a worthy sibling to Disneyland — what it lacks in legacy and history it can now make up for in theming and the appeal of great ride experiences.

The thing that really stands out about Cars Land is how immersive the theming is.   The rock work is incredible and sets the mood for the entire area.  It’s impressive during the day, but at night it becomes truly breathtaking.  Every detail of Cars Land — signage, road signs, the single blinking traffic signal — helps create the illusion that you’re in Radiator Springs.   I don’t think Disney has ever done theming this well — and while I’m sure Universal’s Harry Potter gets some of the credit here, having heard John Lasseter talk about Cars Land at the 2011 D23 Expo, I know that he was the driving force behind making the theming as thorough and immersive as it is throughout the area.

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

There are three attractions in Cars Land; the first one you encounter is Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.   The ride consists of tractors pulling wagons; guests ride in the wagon.  The tractors are on turntables, similar to the teacups ride at Disneyland.   The tractors actually transition from one turntable to another, interleaving with the other tractors.  The wagons swing first to one side and then the other as the tractors change direction as the weave around the turntables.   It’s quite a fun ride and the experience is enhanced by the soundtrack — a variety of songs sung by Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) provides the music for what I suppose is a giant tractor square dance.

Luigi’s Flying Tires

The next attraction is Luigi’s Flying Tires.   I never got to experience the Flying Saucers ride at Disneyland, and always felt that I’d missed out on something special.   Now I feel like I’ve had the chance to experience something very similar — and it turns out, I guess I hadn’t missed that much.   The ride sounds much better in concept than it comes across in execution.   The ride vehicles are giant tires.  The surface is in essence a giant air hockey table, where air jets (rigged to open only when a tire passes over them) lift the tires, allowing them to float on a cushion of air and glide around the ride area.   The problem is, this ride moves so slowly that the motion is barely perceptible.   A joystick that allowed the riders to spin the vehicles was removed before the ride opened (apparently it made operating the vehicles too confusing).    Movement is controlled by leaning in the direction you want to travel.    I’ve heard there is some skill involved here, and perhaps with practice it’s possible to get the tires moving at a more rapid clip — but if true, I didn’t see anyone managing that during the time I rode or watched the ride.

When we rode, there were giant beach balls that you could bat around the area, in an attempt to create some sense that something was moving, even if it’s not you.   The beach balls disappeared only a few days after we were there … apparently some riders were getting a bit too aggressive with them.

I’ve read on other blogs that the spinning mechanisms (essentially dead weight since the joysticks were removed) are being removed, which will lighten the vehicles somewhat.   I’ll give Luigi’s another try next time I visit; maybe with practice, and lighter vehicles, there’s a fun ride here.   But my initial experience puts it a distant third to the other two attractions in the area.

Radiator Springs Racers

Now we come to the E Ticket attraction.   The basic mechanics of the Races is obviously borrowed from Test Track at EPCOT.    Test Track is a great ride … it’s always been popular, and when I first heard that the Radiator Springs Racers would have a top speed only about half what Test Track achieves, I thought the Racers would end up being the inferior ride … I expected it to be a nice, enjoyable ride, but didn’t think it would come up to the high bar set by the WDW inspiration.

Well, I was wrong.   I think what Radiator Springs Racers does is shows how critical story is to making a truly great ride.    Yes, Test Track has a story line, and it’s well done … but let’s face it, nobody rides Test Track because of the story.    And I doubt many people ride for the various story-related scenarios that you’re put through in the first half of the ride — it’s all about crashing through that barrier and getting to the high-speed outdoor segment.

With Radiator Springs racers, the slow, more story-driven part of the ride is every bit as enjoyable as the race.   Right as you start, as you wind your way through the hillsides and take in the spectacular waterfall, you realize you’re in for an amazing ride.    (This part of the ride is especially enjoyable at night).   You then ride through the town of Radiator Springs (not the one you just walked through to get here … there’s another recreation of the town inside the ride).   Many of the characters from Cars make appearances, and set up the story of the race that’s about to take place.    There are some nice effects here, although a few weren’t working properly during my visit … giving me a reason to make a return trip soon.

After getting new tires or a new paint job (depending on which fork in the road you take), you pull up to the starting line and the race begins.   Although the speed isn’t as great as Test Track, the course is more compact — with tighter turns and quick elevation changes, your need for speed will be satisfied.

Radiator Springs Racers is very popular — Fast Passes were running out within the first hour the park was open, and the standby line was regularly over two hours.   But it is without a doubt worth it.     The ride is best at night — when we were there, fast pass return times weren’t being enforced, so you could get a fast pass first thing in the morning and then ride late at night.   Unfortunately, I’ve heard this is no longer permitted, and that the return times are now being enforced.

Dining:  Flo’s V8 Cafe and the Cozy Cone Motel

There are a couple of dining options in Cars Land.   For quick service, there are the cones of the Cozy Cone motel.   For a counter service, sit down meal, there is Flo’s V8 Cafe.   Flo’s has a much nicer menu than is typical for counter service — turkey and dressing, pork loin, etc.    It can get quite crowded at peak times.

Wrap-up

I really enjoyed my first visit to the new Cars Land and Buena Vista Street areas of the DCA park.   I’m looking forward to visiting again during the holidays, experiencing all the attractions again and seeing how the these areas are decorated for the Christmas season.

Posted in Buena Vista Street, Cars Land, Disney, Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Running the Inaugural Tower of Terror 10 miler

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Mike

I’ve never been a runner, so when my friend Trish initially suggested I join her in running the inaugural Tower of Terror 10 mile run, I declined.   I’d be happy to come along and cheer, I said,  but running 10 miles was not even a remote possibility.

But despite my initial response, the idea did stick with me.   I knew I needed to be doing something for exercise.   And I’d heard good things about the Disney runs … my brother Marcus did the WDW Marathon years ago, and on various Disney discussion groups and podcasts it’s impossible to miss mention of the various runDisney events, and they always end up sounding like a lot of fun — except for the bit about actually running.

I was intrigued enough to start poking around on the internet and looking at training plans … wondering what, exactly, I’d be committing myself to if I decided to do this.   I started, as many do, by looking at the Couch-to-5k training plan.   And I decided to start with that.   This was early January, and registration for the Tower of Terror event opened February 14th.   I figured I’d start training and see how my progression went over the initial four or five weeks, and then decide whether I could do it.

Training

As a non-runner, my initial progress was disappointing.   I continued to look at other resources, and picked up Jeff Galloway‘s book on my brother’s recommendation.   There I found the idea that I didn’t need to run 10 miles — I could use a run/walk strategy.    Suddenly it seemed much more feasible — I didn’t need to run 10 miles, I just needed to run a few minutes at a time, take a walk break, then run a few more minutes.     Another friend, Bobbi, recommended the Chi Running website and book, and there I found the technical details on form and technique that would allow me to train and run without injury.

I don’t mean this to be a recap of the entire training process, so I’ll just briefly summarize.   I used Chi Running for my running methodology; I downloaded Galloway’s race-specific training plans from runDisney and decided, somewhat arrogantly, to follow the training plan for experienced runners looking to improve their time rather than the beginning runner’s plan.   I played with different run-walk intervals and eventually settled on 1 minute run, 1 minute walk.  My longest training run was 13.5 miles — shorter than what was called for in the training plan, but long enough to give me confidence about the 10 miler.   I headed to the race feeling good about my preparation.

During the months of preparation, our running group had expanded; Trish recruited her friends Amanda and Sarah, and I recruited my brother Marcus and my ex Debbie.   So we had six runners of varying ages and abilities joining the more than 10,000 other runners ready to tackle the course the night of Saturday, September 29, 2012.

Race Night

Almost all of my training (and all of my long runs) had been morning runs, and all in relatively mild weather (I usually start running before sunrise with temperatures no higher than low 60s).   The ToT race was an evening race, starting at 10 p.m.   At race time the temperature was 80, as was the humidity.   While I’d rested most of Saturday, the previous days had been full-on Disney park days, and I was starting out with tired legs and a blister on one toe.    The heat, humidity, and initial tiredness made me realize I probably wouldn’t be doing this 10 miles as fast as I had done my training runs … and my training runs were really just trying to be fast enough to stay ahead of the “sweepers” who come along and pick up anyone who doesn’t keep the required pace of 16 minutes / mile.    During training I averaged about 13:30 minutes / mile for my longer runs.   I thought this would give me a cushion sufficient to allow for any slow-down due to heat, and also the opportunity to stop for photos along the way.

Our group of runners was spread out from Corral A to Corral D, so clearly we wouldn’t be starting together.   And given our different paces and the large field, I really didn’t expect to be seeing others during the race … so it would have to be a big reunion at the after-party.

But I was in the same Corral as Marcus, so we filed into the Corral B together to await the start.   Just after we had gotten into the corrals they started walking us out to the starting line.   There were a bunch of announcements and it seemed the time went by quickly — before long, the fireworks went off marking the start of the race for the wheelchair racers.   Just a few minutes later, the fireworks went off again and Corral A was off.   And then five minutes later, it was our turn, and the group surged forward through the parking entrance that marked the race start.

We went straight only a little ways before making a sharp turn and heading up a cloverleaf section of the interchange between World Drive and Osceola Parkway.   I’d done some practice running hills, but the ramp was tilted quite awkwardly side-to-side which I really wasn’t prepared for.   I ended up walking a lot of the ramp and then tried to get into my rhythm once we got onto the level surface of the overpass.   We headed toward the Animal Kingdom.   When I hit Mile 1, my pace was 14:00 — that was slower than almost every training mile I’d done.   But I had planned to start out slow so I didn’t worry about it.    But as it turned out, that would be my fastest mile of the night.

Course Map

A little past Mile 2, we passed the entrance plaza for the Animal Kingdom.  (I can still hear “Attention Runners:  Speed bumps ahead” repeating endlessly).   After the turn we were headed back the way we came on Osceola Parkway.   It was a chance for me to see how many people were behind me, and I was happy to see I wasn’t in last place.

The Osceola Parkway sections of the run were pretty dull, which is unfortunate since it made up the bulk of the race course.   Around mile 5 we turned off onto a narrow trail.   This was probably the best-themed area of the course, a narrow trail leading into the Wide World of Sports complex.   Spooky lighting, things hanging in trees, and music fit the theme.   But the trail was very narrow, forcing everyone down to a walk.   And the trail surface was rock and gravel — I was running in very thin-soled Vibrams so it was not a fun surface to walk or run on.

We emerged from the trail into the bright lights of practice fields at the WWoS complex.   We ran most of the way around the quarter mile track ( a much nicer running surface! ) and made our way over to Champions Stadium, where we were “cheered” on by a handful of spectators who had come to watch.   (One sign I spotted read “Worst.  Parade.  Ever.”.   We were being broadcast live onto the JumboTron but I didn’t try to spot myself, at this point (a bit more than six miles in) I was really just focusing on moving forward.

We finished mile 7 and headed back out to Osceola Parkway again, and turned back toward the studios.   At this point I’d slowed pretty much to a walk with an occasional minute or so of running thrown in every quarter mile or so.    Mile 8 went by, and then we started backtracking, running down the same tilted cloverleaf ramp that we’d covered at the start of the race.   Just before Mile 9 we entered into the Hollywood Studios near the Lights, Motors, Action attraction and ran in front of the bleacher seating for the show.   Right around here, Debbie, who had started 2 corrals (and 10 minutes) behind me, caught up with me and we did the last mile together.

From there, it was down the backstage New York street, and then a turn to come down the alley way behind the American Idol attraction.   We looped our way around the Sorcerer’s Hat, thru the archway leading to Animation, and down Pixar Place.   There we turned backstage and began making our way toward the Tower of Terror finish.

The backstage part was uninteresting and we mostly walked, but when we rounded the last turn, there was the finish line, and suddenly our legs were ready to run again.   We crossed the finish line with arms raised in victory and received our finisher’s medals from the volunteers.   Beyond this we were handed bananas, PowerAde, and a goodie box with other snacks.   Cruelly at this point we had to walk up a steep hill to get to the setup where finisher photos were being taken with the medals.

After Party

After the photos, we had to make our way over to the bag check which was at the Indiana Jones Adventure.   Never has it seemed so far from Tower of Terror to Indiana Jones … with the race done, all motivation to move had left me.   But we made our way over.   I made my way down the IJ steps like a 90-year old man, retrieved my bag, and sat in the bleachers for a few minutes before making my way to the changing tents.  After changing we met up with Marcus and his wife Ginny at Toy Story Mania.  We walked up to Rock n Roller coaster, where we ran into Trish.   I really wanted to do Tower of Terror post-race, but the wait suddenly went from 20 minutes to 55 minutes while we were standing around talking, and I decided to catch it another time.    As it turns out, I ended up not getting on a ride during the after-party, just standing around and talking (we eventually ran into Amanda and Sarah also, so the entire party was accounted for and everyone had finished without injury or incident).

I was really happy to finish my first runDisney race, and I’m looking forward to the WDW half-marathon in January, where I’m hoping the heat and humidity will be friendlier and I’ll put in a performance more in line with what I’ve seen in my training.   But since it’s my first 10-miler, it’s a PR, and I’ll take it proudly.

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Posted in runDisney, Running, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Destination D: Day Two Afternoon & Evening

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Mike

Hearing Voices: A Salute to Disney Voice Artists

This is one of those you-had-to-be there sessions; hearing is everything.    It’s impossible to listen to Bill Farmer doing his most well-known Disney voice without breaking out into a big Goofy grin.

Bill Farmer

Bill Farmer does the voice of Goofy and also Pluto (and for Pluto, he not only does Pluto in English but in foreign languages as well … what range!).    He talked about auditioning and winning the role of Goofy, and gave a dramatic reading of Goofy doing Romeo.

Lisa Davis voiced Anita in 101 Dalmatians.   She had worked with Zsa-Zsa Gabor in (I’m not making this up) Queen of Outer Space, and had learned to do a pretty good Zsa-Zsa impersonation.    Walt had heard this and wanted Lisa to do the voice of Cruella De Vil, who he pictured as being Zsa-Zsa like.   During the audition, during which Walt read the Anita part to Lisa’s Cruella, Lisa felt she just wasn’t right for the character, and asked if she could try Anita.   They tried it that way, and Lisa won the part.

David Frankham did the voice of Sgt. Tibbs (the cat) in 101 Dalmatians.

Kathryn Beaumont was Alice in Alice in Wonderland, and also Wendy Darling in Peter Pan.   She shared stories of working directly with Walt.   She was cast, she says, because her voice was English enough to fit the role, but not so much so as to sound too foreign to American audiences.

Kathryn Beaumont

Chris Sanders was the director of Lilo and Stitch.   Frequently during the animation process, animators or others working on a film will do temp voice tracks to use during early cuts of the film, when animation is in storyboard or pencil test form.   Chris did the Stitch voice fully intending that it would be replaced with a real actor at some point.   Even when no better voice was found, he was very hesitant, telling his co-director that if his track wasn’t great, there would be no hard feelings about tossing it.    But he obviously nailed it.

Bruce Reitherman is the son of Disney Legend and animator Woolie Reitherman.   He did the voice of Christopher Robin in the first Winnie the Pooh featurette,  and also Mowgli in The Jungle Book.

Snow White: Still the Fairest of Them All

Since the theme of the weekend was “Celebrating 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation”, it was only fitting that a segment be devoted to the one that started it all, Disney’s first full-length animated motion picture.    Tim O’Day was again the host, joined this time by musicologist and historian Alex Rannie. and special guest Marge Champion.

Marge was the original live-action reference model for Snow White.   She’s 93 years young and can tell great stories about how certain scenes were staged for the reference (for example, ropes hanging from clotheslines were used to simulate the forest Snow White runs through).

Marge Champion

Marge Champion as Snow White

An Evening with Alan Menken

Once again, the evening was capped off by a concert.   Dick Van Dyke set the bar pretty high, but I’d have to say the performance by 8-time Oscar winner Alan Menken was even better.   Other than the opening and closing numbers, the evening progressed chronologically through Alan’s career.   Because of the sheer volume of things he’s worked on, most movies and shows were represented by just brief excerpts of songs, rather than full numbers.   I think this was a great choice so that more material could be included.

There were a number of songs featured that did not make it into the movies or shows, for whatever reason.    Songs written for Little Shop of Horrors back when they were still trying to find the right tone for the musical; songs dropped from Aladdin when the story was extensively reworked, even a song from a Roger Rabbit prequel that was never made.

The evening opened with Prince Ali, from Aladdin.   Then we heard selections from God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; Little Shop of Horrors; The Little Mermaid; Beauty and the Beast; Aladdin; Newsies; Pocohontas; Hercules; Hunchback of Notre Dame; Tangled; Enhanted, and several others.    The evening concluded with Proud of Your Boy, an Ashman-Menken collaboration that was dropped from the Aladdin film, but is being used in the upcoming Broadway production.

Alan Menken

This really ended things on a high note, and the weekend was a fantastic tribute to the long storied history of Disney Animation.

Posted in Animation, D23, Destination:D, Disney | 1 Comment