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February 14, 2009

Has The Viaduct Collapsed Yet?

Finally, a Web site with the answers...

Latest update: Nope.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 14, 2009 9:49 AM.
Posted to Transit. Permalink for this entry.

February 7, 2009

"it's a small world" Is Finally Open

After a long refurb and a brief opening for the holidays, Disneyland's "it's a small world" has finally re-opened, including the long-vilified "America" section and the inclusion of Disney characters in their home countries:

After a yearlong renovation, it reopens Friday with a new scene that depicts the "Spirit of America," a relocated rain forest and 29 added Disney and Pixar characters inserted in the countries where their stories take place. ... the characters -- which look like children playing dress-up -- show up in the settings of their original stories: Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fly over one tower of the London Bridge, the Pinocchio marionette appears in a puppet show in Italy; Aladdin and Jasmine ride a flying carpet in the Middle East scene.

The early reviews are pretty good; the ride seems to have been given a gentle touch and a new lease on life. And the kids seem to be responding well to the "Where's Waldo?" aspect of the ride, searching for their favorite characters in all the various set pieces.

Can't wait to ride it, m'self.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 7, 2009 8:38 AM.
Posted to Disney. Permalink for this entry.

February 1, 2009

"Tear It Down, Leave It Down", Reloaded

Almost three years ago, I wrote a post called "Tear It Down, Leave It Down" that expressed my feelings on the soon-to-fall-over Seattle Viaduct.

(Based on the title of the post, I'm sure you can guess what I was advocating for.)

My feelings haven't changed in the intervening 34 months - if anything, I'm mortified that we're still bickering about what to do with the thing - but my sense of the thing got a shot in the arm this week when the always-great Seattle Transit Blog linked to an 11-minute movie about what the removal of the Embarcadero has meant to the city of San Francisco.

Elaine and I spent no small amount of time walking around in the Embarcadero's former footprint last month, and I can tell you straight-up that the idea of having a loud, ugly and dirty elevated freeway over that gorgeous, vibrant and wonderful section of town is insane.

The movie's worth a watch, if only to get excited about what Seattle's in for once our concrete monstrosity is finally removed.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 1, 2009 11:54 AM.
Posted to Transit. Permalink for this entry.

"Toy Story Land" Coming To Disneyland Paris

January was a crazy month, so I'd missed this: apparently, there's a new land coming to the Walt Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris:

This new Toy Story Land, although some keep saying it'll be open at the end of 2009 should in fact open in 2010 and of course will be part of the new attractions for next year season. The timing will be absolutely perfect as we know that the two first Toy Story movies will be released in 3D at the end of this year and early 2010, and the awaited Toy Story 3 will be released summer 2010 in Europe. So, next year will definitely be a "Toy Story" year.

Just three attractions: an "Army Men" parachute drop (incidentally, this was originally intended to replace the Maliboomer at California Adventure), a "Slinky the Dog" carousel-type ride, and an "RC Racer" thrill ride for kids.

It's a small expansion to an even-smaller park (Walt Disney Studios is, without question, the tiniest and least-built-out park in all of Disney's holdings), but I'm pleased to see that the company is investing, especially since they just opened a Tower Of Terror there.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 1, 2009 11:45 AM.
Posted to Disney. Permalink for this entry.