Disney’s California Adventure Top 3

MouseStation 52 – DCA Top 3

(Download
show – Main podcast page – Subscribe
– Podcast
radio player)

Run time 0:25:55

Reminder: We have three separate feeds: one for MouseStation
only, one for MousePlanetWatch
only and one for both
in a single feed. This way, you can subscribe to whichever combination
you prefer.

If you’d rather pop up our podcast radio player into a separate window so
that you can continue browsing MousePlanet in this window, click
here. (NOTE: Our podcast radio requires Adobe Flash Player. You can dowload
the player here.)

Let us hear from you!

Send in your suggestions, comments or tips via our email feedback
form or via voicemail on our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278). You
can also make suggestions by replying to this post.

If you want to contribute a story for our Monday Magical Moment segment (and
possible inclusion in the Cast Place column here on MousePlanet), you can
either use our email Magical Moment story
form or the toll-free feedback line. (We love it when you use the voice
mail system, because then we can play your call on the show!)

Don’t forget that you’ve only got until September 21 to enter our Owner’s
Locker contest!

Featured Topic

In this week’s feature, Mike and Mark discuss their Top 3 attractions, dining
locations and live entertainment at Disney’s California Adventure.

This week, we continued our series of Top 3 shows (which will continue on
the first Wednesday of every month), where we discuss our picks for the Top
3 attractions, dining locations and live entertainment options at each of
the six domestic theme parks. First, though, Mark admitted that DCA probably
ranks sixth out of the six domestic parks for him. DCA ranks fifth for Mike,
ahead of the Disney-MGM Studios (soon to be Disney’s Hollywood Studios) at
Walt Disney World.

First, though, we confirmed that we have now scheduled our MouseFest meet
for the podcast. The MouseStation Hustle-tini Meet will begin at 5:30 p.m.
at Classic Concoctions in the Everything Pop food court at Disney’s Pop Century
Resort for Bluetinis to get our nerve up to get up and boogie. We’ll make
sure that we’re in the lobby before 6 p.m. so that we can do The Hustle, then
return to Classic Concoctions or elsewhere to record some more for the podcast.
For more information on the Hustle-tini or any other MousePlanet-sponsored
meet at MouseFest, check out our MouseFest
information page.

Top 3 dining locations

We started with dining. Mike’s number three choice is the Taste
Pilot’s Grill. He ranked it there solely on the basis of the interactive
kiosks. After being informed that the kiosks have been removed from the location,
Mike changed his choice to Ariel’s Grotto.
It’s one of the few character meals that he enjoys, and he has some good memories
of eating there, although he found the restaurant a little confusing to navigate.
Mark has never eaten at Ariel’s Grotto, and so didn’t rank it.

Mark’s number three is Baker’s Field Bakery.
The baked goods make for a great breakfast, just as the Main Street Bakery
at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Mike’s number two dining choice is Baker’s Field Bakery. It’s a good atmosphere
with good food.

Mark’s runner-up is Corn Dog Castle. As
he mentioned on Monday’s show, Mark loves corn dogs. There’s no place to get
them in the parks on the East Coast, so he has to enjoy them in the Disneyland
Resort parks when he goes out there.

Mike’s top choice is The Vineyard Room.
It has excellent food, good Mediterranean meals, and it’s just enjoyable.
Since Mark hasn’t eaten at any table service restaurants at DCA, this restaurant
didn’t make his top 3 either.

Mark’s favorite dining establishment is Taste Pilot’s Grill. The lack of
the kiosks doesn’t bother Mark one bit, in fact it’s a positive for him. He
enjoys the topping selection, the good burgers, and the convenient location
to Soarin’ Over California. He also has a great memory of using the airplane
designs on the top of the tables to illustrate perspective drawing to his
son.

Top 3 live entertainment options

Mark’s number three choice for live entertainment is Block
Party Bash, much to Mike’s dismay. His son had a lot of fun dancing along
with the party, and still has the squeeze ball that he caught when they shot
it off the float.

Mike’s number three is the Games on the Boardwalk.
He loves classic midway games, and it has more of a boardwalk feel than even
the Boardwalk Resort in Florida. That led Mike into a discussion of the Dole
Whip booth at the Minnesota State Fair. They did have toppings, but not sprinkles,
so he was disappointed. Anyway, Mike won a big prize at the carnival games
at the State Fair. Mark and his wife let his son play one midway game at Disneyland,
the fishing game where you’re guaranteed a prize. His son managed to snag
a fish with a big prize, though the game operator asked him if he wanted to
trade it in.

Mark’s number two choice is Disney’s Aladdin
– A Musical Spectacular. He likes the humor of the Genie, and it’s a great
spectacle with a decent story, and it’s just an all-around fun show. Mike’s
number two is also Aladdin. Mike mentioned that he hates Block Party Bash
because he was standing next to a kiosk advertising the caravan parade for
five hours before the opening of Disneyland for the 50th. Mike loves Aladdin
because he loves the music, the show style and the comedy of the genie. Mike
then told a story about the best Genie joke ever, from the day of the 50th
Anniversary press event when Disneyland was closed.

Mark’s top entertainment choice is Disney’s
Electrical Parade. (Contrary to what Mark noted on the show, though, this
is indeed the version that once ran at Disneyland. The original Walt Disney
World version never returned from Paris.) Mark loves the electrosynthemagnetic
version of Baroque Hoedown so much that the parade is almost incidental to
the Don Dorsey-arranged music. Mike asked if Mark had heard the They Might
Be Giants version of Baroque Hoedown, but if Mark has heard it, he can’t recall.
Mike agreed with Mark that the parade is the best live entertainment at Disney’s
California Adventure.

Top 3 attractions

Mike’s number three attraction is the Mission
Tortilla Factory. Mike loves tortillas, especially from Mission, and feels
that you can’t beat an attraction where you get free tortillas at the end.

Mark’s number three is weather-dependent. When it’s warm out, and it’s a
good thing to cool down, he likes Grizzly River
Run. It’s too cold to get wet, he prefers the Twilight
Zone Tower of Terror, even though it’s a poor second cousin to the
version in Florida. Other than the boiler room, the Florida version beats
the DCA version hands-down.

Mike’s number two is a tie between the Sun
Wheel and Disney Animation . The moving
cars have a lot more jostling than you might think. But he gets giddy in the
lobby area of Disney Animation.

Mark’s number two choice is California Screamin’.
Mark loves coasters, and it’s a good coaster, despite the thin theming. It’s
nice and smooth. He loves the launch, the loop, the scream tunnels, and the
soundtrack. It’s just a fun coaster.

Mike’s top attraction is California Screamin’.
He’s a sucker for a good coaster, and he feels that it’s about time that Disney
made a coaster as a coaster. He loves the theming of the other coasters, but
sometimes he just wants to ride a roller coaster.

Mark’s top pick (surprise, his son gets it from somewhere) is Soarin’
Over California. Whether it’s themed as a desert airstrip or a modern
airport, there’s just something fabulous about it. Forget Peter Pan. When
you’re on Soarin’, you are flying! It’s an exhilarating feeling. Mark and
Mike then got into a discussion of how Disney had wanted to make you feel
like you were flying with the use
of an Omnimax screen. (Though Mark misremembered, thinking that it was
Marty Sklar talking with George McGinnis. It wasn’t Sklar, it was Dick Nunis.)

So what are your Top 3?. Let us know by sending an email
or calling our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278) and let us know what
your favorites are!

Changing the Feed?

We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on the new format of shorter, more
frequent shows. Currently, we have MouseStation three times a week, with short
subjects on Mondays, featured topics on Wednesdays and listener feedback on
Fridays. We also have the MousePlanetWatch news on Thursday. We’re still currently
maintaining the series of three feeds, one for MouseStation only, one for
MousePlanetWatch only and one for both shows.

Based on listener feedback, we will be deciding whether to merge the feeds,
and return to a single feed with all shows, folding MousePlanetWatch into
the main MouseStation feed. That would still leave us with four shows per
week, but there would be only one feed. With the current listener numbers
being fairly even between MouseStation and MousePlanetWatch, it seems as if
there’s a great deal of overlap between the shows.

Please weigh in on the idea of returning to a single feed via email
or by calling our toll-free feedback line at 1-866-939-2278. Don’t forget
that we love voicemails because then we can put your voice on the show!

Wrapping up

Please take a few minutes to complete our listener
survey. It helps us learn more about you and what you like most about
this podcast.

Don’t forget to go to the iTunes podcast directory and give us a good rating!

You can get your MousePlanet (or MouseStation) swag from the MousePlanet
CafePress store and the brand-new MouseStation
CafePress store.

Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.

Thank you for listening!

Subscribe to the podcast

You can now choose from three ways to subscribe to the podcasts.

Combined (Main) Feed: The main feed will still continue to host both
the MouseStation and MousePlanetWatch shows, and you can subscribe to that
with the following links:

RSS