Dapper Day at Disneyland
Whether it’s because of the excuse to dress up, to rebel against the everyday jeans and t-shirt ensemble or something more, thousands of people line up to attend Disneyland in elaborate fashion on Dapper Day.
So what is it like to walk around Disneyland during Dapper Day? Follow along with Times writer Rick Rojas:
Young men with knee-length basketball shorts hanging off their hips shuffled alongside dads in cargo shorts and socks pulled up to their shins. Moms, their hair pulled back in no-nonsense ponytails, trudged along in capri pants pushing strollers loaded down like the truck in “The Grapes of Wrath.”
Check out the full account of the pseudo-holiday here.
Photos: Christina House / For The Times
Cars Land opens at Disney’s California Adventure on June 15, and our resident theme-park expert Brady MacDonald describes it as “like stepping into a real-life version of the fictional town of Radiator Springs from the 2006 animated movie.”
The new land features three rides, two that are wonderful and one that’s less so. The surprisingly spry Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree is a classic whip ride on a spinning teacup platform that packs a wallop. The disappointing Luigi’s Flying Tires is a docile re-creation of the 1960s Flying Saucers ride in Tomorrowland. And Radiator Springs Racers combines a dark ride with a drag-race finale in one of the best attractions you’ll find at any Disney park.
Disney fans, you may want to admire Cars Land from afar (this photo gallery might help) for a while. “Disney officials are already preparing for waves of visitors to turn Cars Land into an ocean of humanity during the first few months following the grand opening,” MacDonald notes, and multiple-hour ride lines are to be expected.
Photo: The Radiator Springs Racers ride. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Southern California loves its amusement parks: Even in 1911, amusement-park rides were a big deal in the L.A. area. (This photo of a spiral ride at the Pike in Long Beach accompanied a July 23, 1911, story.) The Times reported that “upwards of $4,000,000 has been invested within a few years in various amusement devices at the beaches near Los Angeles.”
This sum covers only the roller coasters, merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels, pier attractions, houses of mirth and similar contravenes to give a thrill or produce a laugh, and does not include hotels or institutions of that sort. Of this vast sum at least one-half, or $2,000,000, has been expended within the past year.
At no point on the Pacific or Atlantic coasts has there been a parallel of such lavish outpouring of money for outdoor entertainment of the masses …
Disneyland wouldn’t open for another 40-plus years, but Southern Californians already had a taste for “outdoor entertainment of the masses.”
So cool! Brady MacDonald is taking a road trip across America’s “Coaster Belt.”
Photo: The Cyclone roller coaster at Astroland in Coney Island, N.Y. View more roller coasters at the gallery. Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
Disneyland’s new Star Tours ride is light-years better than the original, says Brady MacDonald.
Photo: The Starspeeder 1000 transport ship in a Hollywood soundstage during filming for a key sequence for the new Star Tours 2 attraction. View concept art at the gallery. Credit: Disney
Updated, 12:15 p.m. May 25: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the transport ship as a Starspeeder 3000. Thanks to noidonthaveatumblr for pointing that out!
Disneyland, California Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm, Legoland, SeaWorld and Belmont Park all have fresh or revamped attractions opening this year.
Photo: Riders will fly high on WindSeeker, shown in a rendering, at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. Credit: Knotts Berry Farm
Your L.A. Times Tumblr tender eagerly waited in line for all those roller coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain but hasn’t gone in (cough) more than a decade. Are any of you excited for these new rides?
reblogged via curator-of-curiosities:
A Hello Kitty theme park is set to open in China in 2014. It’s been dubbed the “Cutest Place On Earth.” Buy. Plane. Ticket. Now.
Be still my adolescent heart.
There are more photos in the accompanying gallery.
Photo: The Hello Kitty theme park in Japan. Credit: Sanrio Harmonyland
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