good times with the town meeting. the haven gastropub on monday. then TGIFridays on tuesday followed by a late trip to Disneyland.





waiting for maureen's pictures to pop up so i can steal! ;D

random.. but i finally was able to watch the Disneyland fireworks show "Remember.. Dreams Come True" that literally everyone said was the park's very best fireworks show to date.. it showed for only ONE weekend last weekend, to have a show between the halloween and christmas fireworks. and sadly, i wasn't too impressed. i know i know, it's a very sentimental and meaningful show, but i think i was spoiled by the high-energy of the Halloween Screams fireworks show. i did like the fireworks that were launched from Main Street itself, those were quite a surprise.

but now that Christmas time has officially started at Disneyland, i'm very much looking forward to the Holiday Magic fireworks... and the castle's mini-show... and the snow on Main Street. let's go? :D

so far, i've been having a very spur of the moment Halloween weekend. and it has been nothing but great.

thursday: RA sushi for andrew's birthday. cpp to visit bMod and api scary story night. dc house. froi's house. esteban! almost ended the night horribly though. but we lucked out!

yesterday (friday): disneyland with froi, lauren, rodney, angie, greg, and erin. only there for about 4 hours but we did quite a lot. dinner at the Hat afterwards for random funnies. then froi's house. it's 1:56am. we decide to get beer. but we only have 4 minutes to do it. we manage to get everyone out of the house, into the car, drive all the way to the nearest 7-eleven, park and run inside, assembly line six 40's of Mickey's to the counter, throw all our money at the guy, and the transaction goes through with 2:00am printed on our receipt. NOTHING BUT EPIC. we play an intense game of estaban! someone (i forget who) decides it would be a great idea if we all got a pumpkin from outside and carve them for Halloween. worst/best idea ever as carving pumpkins were a first time for all of us, and they were surprisingly disgusting but turned out awesome. carving pumpkins is tiring, but i was not about to drive home after how the previous night almost ended. so i took the next available sleeping area, froi's bed. blahahah. thanks ading.

pictures:

took a ride on Space Mountain's Halloween overlay: Ghost Galaxy the other day while at Disneyland for Katie's birthday. in my opinion, awesome. the mountain itself has a projected overlay and displays an eerie light show every so often: from screaming and lightning to a matrix grid effect to something trying to break out of it. other than the outside queue, the inner queue is about the same except the loading area is a bit darker, and the screen displaying outer space is going through some whacked out error thing.

as for the ride, the beginning is almost pitch black. they turned off all lights right before you start heading up the first incline. once at the second incline you get a good glimpse of the ghost galaxy, fan-named "BOB." the ride continues just as it did before, but with Bob projections grabbing at you and chasing you. very well done. on some of the turns, the projections actually match the speed of the coaster giving the effect of a close high speed chase. the projections were very well done, and I don't feel like it takes away anything from the original ride, if anything, adds more thrill. the only thing I can point out that is negative would be that at some points, the projections are so bright that you can see the wall that it's being projected on, losing the "lost in space" feeling. but other than that, a VERY good overlay. I can definitely see Bob sticking around longer than just the Halloween season, but we'll see what Disney plans to do with it.

my advice for first time riders would be to sit on the left side, anywhere after the 3rd row, to ensure that you get to see all of the projections and effects in full.

I'd like to ride it again cuz I sat in the very front and I feel like I missed some things. I was also in pain because gigz elbowed me in the eye right when the ride started, giving me my first black eye ever in life. an update on the eye to come at a later date.

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on august 16th, i went to disneyland to celebrate Alex's 20th birthday. it was nothing less than awesome. had a first time experience on the Explorer Canoes finally, and sat front and center for Fantasmic!, and had some awesome Catch-A-Flave ice scream courtesy of his dad. had some fun with the ride pictures too:


notice the similarity?


me jowena alex britt and alex's parents on our first experience on the Explorer Canoes

saturday was bMod's car wash fundraiser. as always, it was hot.. but it was also really humid.. but we made the best of our day:





jean's dog, theodore was enjoying himself

during the car wash, neil and i made a random decision to go to disneyland when the car wash was done. we let all the team passholders in on our plan and Jean was happy to join us. i went home after cleaning up at the car wash and took a quick shower, then we were on our way to the happy place. got there and i went into the Animation Building for the first time ever. it is AMAZING in there! i highly recommend it to those who have passed it up like i did. we then took jean to the "It's Tough to Be a Bug" 4-D show. jean got scared. we then went to Catch-A-Flave for some awesome treats. i ordered (and paid for) a regular sized ice cream.. and got the biggest ice cream ever. we finished our day by crossing over to the other park to visit Anthony, who was working at the Disney Credit Card kiosk. headed back home afterwards to host a kickback at my place. good people. good music. hookah. beer pong. and drunk conversations carried the night all the way to 6AM when everyone finally left and i was able to sleep. all in all a very busy but fun day: bmod carwash, disneyland, kickback. awesome.


the disney animation building. a MUST SEE!


my monster ice cream that i only paid a regular size price for


bye.

Who's your favorite Disney character?
in reality it's Sully from Monsters, Inc., but since he's also Pixar, my Disney-only favorite character is Timon.

If you had to add your character to one ride, what would it be?
Sully would be great in the Jungle Cruise! haha!.. and Timon would randomly pop up in Space Mountain.. with a space helmet..

I'm sure Walt's rolling in his grave. Moving on. What are your top three favorite rides at Disneyland (not DCA)?
1. Space Mountain
2. Indiana Jones Adventure
3. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

And your least favorite ride?
It's a Small World.. song is overly repetitive.. the ride itself is a huge BORE even with the newly added Disney characters..

What ride do you think Walt is most ashamed of?
Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage.. not that it's a horrible ride, but because Walt was proud of his original colored submarines.. and another, while it doesn't count since it's at Disney World, the "Sounds Dangerous" show. that show is an epic mess and should be avoided at all costs.

I value your opinion. So what's your favorite land?
my favorite land is New Orleans Square. just seems like a real busy city. i like the view of Rivers of America and it's where you can watch Fantasmic.

Your favorite restaurant?
Redd Rockett's Pizza Port. but i have yet to try the Soul/Comfort Food at Plaza Inn.

Yum. And your favorite thing to order there?
The Chicken Fusilli. trivia: you CAN ask for extra alfredo sauce on the side for NO charge. me bert and neil get it all the time.

What about your favorite snack throughout the resort?
Catch-A-Flave flavor-infused ice cream at DCA. those things are like crack.

Time to get random again! Which ride's soundtrack is your favorite?
Soarin' Over California. hands down. Jerry Goldsmith totally beat Michael Giacchino in the composer battle. (sorry lauren, haha)

What's your favorite Disneyland souvenir?
i dont have any souvenirs.. but i'd like to get a vinylmation one day.

Let's do something most people rarely do and show DCA some love! What are your top three rides there?
1. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
2. Soarin' Over California
3. California Screamin'

Which new addition to DCA are you most excited about?
World of Color and Cars Land/Radiator Springs

That's enough about DCA for one survey. What extinct Disneyland attraction do you wish you could bring back from the dead?
Captain EO... but... since that's already confirmed to be coming back for Halloween, the Rocket Rods. those were actually kinda fun.

Anything that you haven't done at the parks that you've always wanted to do?
Consume an alcoholic beverage. Club 33. and ride: Mulholland's Madness, Cartoon Spin, and Monsters Inc (even though i heard it sucks)

If only. What's your favorite entertainment you've ever seen at Disneyland?
Fantasmic! despite it breaking down a lot recently.

Last but not least, (time to get deep) why do you love Disneyland?
a fun place to be where you can leave all your troubles at the gate. and with the right people it's the best in the world.

took my mom out for a day at the Disneyland Resort (DLR) for her (free) birthday! it was quite a great trip.

didn't start at DLR though, we went to my sister's to pick up her and char. then to tustin to pick up kimi. then to john wayne airport in the OC. my mom and i finally got to DLR at around 1pm.

we parked at Downtown Disney to see if we can try to leave after midnight and get away with "free" parking. trekked on over to DLR and used her birthday voucher, got her birthday pin, and upgraded her birthday ticket to a parkhopper ($25). but i must add, we had the most unenthusiastic lady at our ticket booth.

( Click Here to read the rest of the day. Caution: Long. )

we were at Disneyland for 11 hours. 3 shows took a total of about 4 hours, so that means we rode 10 rides in 6 hours. amazing! word of advice: don't be intimidated by "long" line waits, cuz it's really not that bad, and you end up just riding a couple rides cuz you keep walking around looking for a short line..

Disneyland will be raising their prices on August 2nd.

Admission Prices
Single ticket adult: $72 (from $69)
Single park child, ages 3 to 9: $62 (from $59)
(i don't have any word on how much parkhopper tickets are yet)

Annual Pass Prices
Premium AP: $429 (from $389)
Deluxe AP: $289 (from $269)
Southern California AP: $194 (from $174)
Southern California Select AP: $144 (from $134)

for a quick breakdown in the recent history of the pricehike:


glad i decided to get my AP before then. only saved me $20, but that's still $20. so if you're thinking about getting one, do it before Sunday :X talk about a rush decision.. regarding the monthly payments (at least for the Deluxe AP), it's only about 2 bucks more a month with the higher price.

[EDIT]: COSTCO STORES will still be selling the Deluxe Annual Pass at the lower rate until August 31st!! Plus, if you get the Annual Pass at Costco, you get a free $50 Disney Gift Card to use for any merchandise at the park OR to add parking to your AP. The Disney Gift card MUST be redeemed by October 31st.

Source.

blogfail. havent been posting. ah well. the week in quick pics!

so after attending michael jackson's memorial last week, i didn't notice how epic an event it was until i got home and saw all the news coverage and buzz surrounding the incredible event. but considering the epicness of last week, i still had myself quite a week this week.

last saturday, i had much troubles finding my way to vegas for all the festivities. vegasfail. but alas, it was party weekend back at home anyway! started out at neil's residence for his family and friends party. occasion? NOTHING! his family just threw a party to have a party. stocked up on lechon and massive amounts of lumpia. beer pong then ensued. neil and i remained undefeated for the entire duration of the party. we were running low on pong fluids, so kwaku and jay made a quick run. and strolled across the street with a brand new 36-pack as seen in the above picture. as neil's party started to wind down, a handful of us headed out to jasmine's housewarming all the way in riverside. more pong games ensued. as well as dramatics. but all is well as the night ended with bam and thai at denny's. highlight of the night: neil peig finally finding out his drinking limits. ha!


left to right: bert, myself, jay (neil's little but bigger and older looking brother), danny, neil
on wednesday, i met up with bert to then meet up with neil, danny, jay and jenise at disneyland. neil was taking his family and little cousin's out to their first trip to disneyland. bert, jenise, and i tagged along with the grecia's for the duration of our visit. i knew it was going to be hot. so i came in cargo shorts and any white t-shirt i had. turns out all the other guys had that same mindset. we all wore the same thing -- unplanned. since there were 12 of us in the group including neil's family, we split up in half for splash mountain and had an entire boat each. neil started splashing some water into our own boat which started an all-out fend-for-yourself splashing war on our boat. i'm surprised Disneyland didn't stop the ride and tell us to stop reaching out of the boat and grabbing water. we were completely drenched minutes after the ride had barely left the boarding area. we looked as if we jumped into a pool fully clothed. good thing i decided to put my phone and camera in jenise's purse beforehand. bert and i had to leave the festivities early since he was going out with someone later that night. but that person ended up flaking on him and we could've stayed with the fam at Disneyland. ah well.

yesterday. neil and i decided to continue our Disneyland adventures on our way to the bMod beach day. plus, it was Disneyland's 54th birthday and who would want to miss that?? we were only there for a few hours since we parked at the free downtown disney parking. but we were able to ride on Indiana Jones and Space Mountain which both had pretty long lines. Big Thunder Mtn is the only mountain i haven't been on since i got my annual pass. that needs to be on my to-do list for future visits. we attempted this time, but the ride got stuck as we were about to enter the boarding area.

when our parking time limit was almost up, we left and headed to the beach to meet up with the rest of bMod. had some awesome libations to keep us busy as well as hotdogs and good people. randomness all over the place, and a quick bonding game to end the night around the bonfire. good times with the team. headed home and slept quite early.

went on a quick disneyland trip on monday. went with neil and met up with jowena, later met with bert, and even later met up with cesar.

long story short: we met up, tower of terror, toy story mania, mickey's fun wheel, 4th of july fireworks show, pirates, run through the kiddie rides in fantasyland.

by the way, since when did the Whinny the Pooh ride turn into a gigantron E party?



afterwards, met up with cesar andrew pat eric chloe steve and kevin for his birthday gathering at The Lost Bar at the Disneyland Hotel.. just chilled there till about 1:XXam. got home a little after 2am.. and i had to wake up in a couple hours to get to The Staples Center to attend Michael Jackson's Memorial. yes. i was selected to attend :) but that's getting an entry for itself.

guest choreographer BK stopped by bMod's practice last night to teach a workshop. to my delight, he taught his segment from my ultimate favorite set ever, Common Ground's Vegas set. sick piece. had myself a dancegasm. watch their set HERE. and watch it in high quality. if your Internet connection doesn't allow for it... why are on you even on the Internet? weirdo.


alex brittany and myself. jowena got pwn3d by tinkerbell.
finally buckled down and got myself a Disneyland Annual Pass! It's a deluxe so i have blockout dates throughout some of the year.. boo :( but still awesome at the same time. most of the blockout dates are major holidays and most saturdays.. when i probably would just complain about the huge crowds that are there. went with alex brittany and jowena this past Tuesday. even though it was a lot hotter than i'd want it to be, still had a blast in the 3 hours i was there (had to leave early for bMod practice). managed to ride the Matterhorn, then to CA Adventure to ride Mickey's Fun Wheel on the swinging gondola's *finally!* last time i went (which was only about once or twice in the last 10 years), the group i was with was too scared to ride it. toy story mania was closed, sadly. convinced jowena to ride a roller coaster with a loop for the first time ever in her life with CA Screamin. she did it! got herself a well-deserved ice cream afterwards, watched the pixar parade, then jowena and i headed to practice. alex and britt stayed a bit before heading out to visit.

bMod pool party later on today???

it seems that i forgot to blog about father's day. it went surprisingly well. after not seeing my dad in what seems like forever, i met up at my sister's place in chino hills. we headed out to best buy to look at netbooks and got him an hp mini 1030. then went to target to find him a card. fail on that. the card section was literally tore up. the only ones left were the not-so-funny-but-trying-to-be-funny ones, butt ugly ones, and ones in spanish. so we figured writing a small note on the wrapping paper for the mini would be good enough. and well enough, he loved the present.

headed out to RA Sushi at the chino hills shoppes. the happy hour there is awesome. half off appetizers and $5 large beer + sake. we only spent about $50 for all the food we got, and we were pretty incredibly full. all buzzed, we headed back to my sister's where we decided to walk a trail that leads up to a tall hill in chino hills overseeing chino hills, diamond bar, and pomona. it was quite nice (and) cold up there. headed back, played with our laptops, and finally headed our separate ways. day well spent.

---

anyways, why does it seem like the annual passholders for disneyland have died down with the disneyland visiting? i'm not gonna want to get a pass if the annual pass craze dies after a month like it seems..

i wrote my last words to bmod earlier today. but i was in a bad mood while i wrote them. hopefully it doesn't show. haha i'm sure it will, but hopefully it comes off as funny..? cuz it's similar to my humor.

is it me or does everyone AND their moms have a disneyland annual pass? i'm gonna have to get me one of those. but i have no money whatsoever. anyone feel generous and want to donate to my annual pass fund? yeah yeah? :D :D :D k fail...

i have a full day of errands tomorrow.. bah.