The break has begun... well, actualy it begun somewhat early. On the friday of the last day of work/semester I borded a plane with Invader Hime to Orlando to celebrate Christmas with her. This was so much fun. Here is the short. I stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort. It was amost empty there which made it rather plesant. Did MGM studios first (yes it still had the MGM on the sign) and ate at the Sci-fi dinner for the first time. This is a must see at the WDW. We then went to the Magic Kingdom (first time to watch Stitches Great Excape). Next day was Universal Orlando Resort ie Disneyland Resort Orlando. This place gets better every time I visit the resort. I even rode ET for the first time (scary idea eh?). Grenchmas is so awesome. Ate at the coolest restruant, Monster Cafe, awesome theme and great prices. Came back to San Diego, stayed one day then here I am posting here in Las Vegas on a dying battery. Till later all. 

The semester is almost over and so is the warm weather. This is not entirely true as SoCal for the most part does not have the cryogenic cold weather that other places in States have. Considering how climitized I have become to the weather here when temperatures drop below 60 F I can swear that my blood is freezing. Why am I talking about the weather when there are so many other things that I could be dissucssing, I don't know? But while on the topic of weather I am rather disgruntled with the people in charge of the winds in Anaheim this last weekend. This was Invader Hime's first time to the DLR since the 50th and wouldn't it happen, the winds were too much to see "Remember" the really cool firework display. I guess other than that I can't complain, infact this was one of the best trips to Disneyland in some time for me. (Oh BTW there is more Christmas decortations and holiday stuff at DCA, sorry Hime we missed the bulk of it)

To thoes individuals who have not seen Harry Potter and the Gobblet of Fire, don't wait, go see it, now! This is the best, abliet darkest, addition to the HP series of movies. If it is even possable in your area watch it on the big screen ie. IMAX. Hime and I saw it at the very nice and totaly sold out Irvine Specturm IMAX theater. We felt that we were almost in the film it was incrediable.

Just to let everyone know, Thanksgiving was good, good food, good family, good friends, good times. Ah, wasn't that sweet. :P

list of things that rocked this weekend at Disneyland:
New Space Mountain
the Indiana Jones Adventure
Tower of Terror
Buzz Lightyear
Sandbox (club Buzz)
ASMIO
Autotopia (yea I won)
Santa's Raindear Roundup
Invader Hime :P

It has been way too long...

I have been so busy this past month with work, school and extra.

In one month of October:
Midterms (taking and reciving)
Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt (twice)
Mickey's Halloween Spooktacular at DCA
Purchasing a new Fridge
Halloween (Yea!)

What more could a guy ask for, well more free time for one but hey who cares.
And speaking of time, due to the fact that I am currently utilizing the time that is for covering for one of my coworkers this is not going to be as complete as it could be. In the near future this sentence will not be here and there will be links to more images on my http://themeparks.demonbird.com website until then enjoy the present.


Disney does Halloween:
This year the Disneyland resort celebrated halloween for the first time in a very long time. This was a good thing.
The event was held at Disney's California Adventure park (soon to possibly be renamed) and was a second tickeded event. I can hear the screams of price gouging, well fear not the events price for passholders was $15 not an fearful amount considering that by the end of the night I had about $7 worth of candy in my bag and enjoyed much ERT on all the rides even walk on for California Screamn'

---

Well here is me for halloween more to come later...

Well I just had my birthday the other day, I have to say a great big thank you to my friends, co-workers, and students for the great birthday wishes. I want thank my family for the great gifts and for just being there for me. And last I want to thank Invader Hime for the beautiful cake and wonderful presents.
Thank you all.

Ah, the onset of Oct. that means that it is time for the Haunt. For those unfamiliar with "Knott's Scary Farm's Halloween Haunt" it is the largest Halloween party in the world and has received the Golden Ticket Award for the best Halloween event in the world. This is the 33rd year of the haunt and for myself I have been attending since the mid 80's (hint it was the only year that they tried to hang a witch).

This year by far is the best year yet for Knott's. The day started the day with a whole day at the park. One of the advantages to going to Knott's in Oct on a weekend is that the park is near vacant. Saturday the longest wait that we had was 10 min for the Calico Mine Ride. We literally rode all the major rides and most of the minor rides multiple times, it was "awesome".


One of the neat things that Knott's they did this year was the solidification of a pirate theme to the Camp Snoopy area of the park for the kids to do a "Treasure Hunt". This made the entire land look so cute, in a creepy way. There were colorful spider webs and skeletons everywhere. Once the season really kicks in it will be wicked to see all the kids in there costumes running around pirates and Snoopy.


Anyway back to the Haunt itself this year there were so many mazes (12), shows (5), scare zones (5), and almost all of the major rides and attractions open everyone was so spread out and entertained lines moved quickly and happily. The longest we had to wait was no more than half an hour. As for the actual mazes I give Knott's full props for the quality of the show they put on this year.



And the winners are
top 5 mazes:
1. Feary Tails
2. 13 Axe Murder Manor
3. Lore of the Vampire
4. the Asylum
5. tie Hatchet High / Cavern of the Lost Souls
* Feary Tails and 13 had some of the best talent and set design that i have seen, the same goes for the Asylum. Lore still offers some of the best talent that the haunt has to offer however the attraction seems to get smaller each year (yes I know the layout is the same as the past two years). This is an attraction that deserves a nice larger layout like when it first opened.

top 3 scare zones:
1. tie Ghost Town Streets / the Gauntlet
2. Silver Bullet Mining Town
3. the Dark Realm
* Some things just never change GTS and the Gauntlet are unbeatable, nowhere in the world can anyone compete with the combination of fog, theming, sound fx, frightful talent and most important of all SLIDERS! As for the two runners up. SBMT suffered from theming and environment but with top notch talent trying there best (may the swamp rest in peace). The Dark Realm would of been a better maze than what it was. No body went through it, the talent just kinda paced thought it and watched the people walk by. The area had tons of good hiding spots but the talent just seemed to ignore the people waking though???

So overall this was an amazing year for the haunt at Knott's and cosidering that this was just the first week of operation there were bugs and now they have until tomorrow to work them out. Well until the 8th we will see what changes occur and improvements are made.

Ah Ha!

???

Anyways, week 3 of the semester has begun and the past two weeks have been non stop assaults.

Going back two weeks ago was the 30th annual Barrona Pow-wow. Complaint No. 1, Man it was hot out there, you would think that it would be cooler considering that the Barrona Valley is on top of a mountain. Complaint No. 2, 45+ minute waits for frybread? How? No other Pow-wow has waits like that at their food booths. Complaint No. 3, How much dust can one make? The Pow-wow is held over at the baseball field far away form the Casino surrounded by dirt. Come on now, be nice and move it near the resort where the grass is greener. On the plus side it was nice to see faces of friends who I had not seen in some time.

Thursday last week started my dance class. Yes you read that correctly D A N C E class. Actually I have been wanting to take a class in ballroom dancing for quite some time now and have to say that the class was rather fun. I must admit though that my legs were rather stiff after class, darn Foxtrot. Soon enough I'll be dancing with the best of them at the Carnation at Disneyland. :-P

Ah yes that then brings us to this last weekend. Invader Hime made a trip to the left coast here. Thank you Invader Hime, this weekend was amazing and I can't wait to see you again -BTW Saturday Night you looked Amazing-. For those of you looking for a good Thai restraunt in the Gaslamp area of Sun Diego might I recromend Royal Thai, good curry and excellent ginger. While on the topic of Gaslamp I have found the best parking in the area. Between the Omni hotel and Trophies restaurant in an excellent parking garage that has wide spaces (in comparison to SoCal standards) and is only $1 per hour and maxes out at $6 on weekdays and $7 for weekends. Who would of thought that one of the high points of the weekend would of been finding good gaslamp parking? Actually that was not the high point but it was still neat to find.

Sunday Night involved a trip to Knott's to buy Haunt tickets, I'll post pictures later, followed by a stop at the Disneyland Resort. About the only thing we did was get a Dole Whip (very good) and watch Turtle Talk with Crush (also good). Turtle Talk is a rather cute show and because kids say the dardest things it can be rather unpredictable. The computing power is still impressive though.

Positive salutations to Invader Hime once more,
until later

The first week is over and the weekend is ready to begin. This has been an insane week, although I do not remember a first week that was not nearly out of control.
-ok, this was a short post because I still am half asleep-

Yesterday and today are back to school. :(
Yes the world is spinning less quickly now and the mornings just seem to get here quicker. Working in education has given me an appreciation of how early the sun starts to rise, got to get up early or the facuity lot will be full and the students will be nervous to get inside the classroom. Anyway so far the semester has gone well, less the crashing computer systems, inoperative software, disconnected CNC machines... Ok, well it could be worse, I could be in the South right now. Family of mine that is there has yet to determine just how bad the damage is but we will find out soon enough. Positive thoughts and prayers go out to those families who lost their homes and loved ones in the storm.

Look at me I'm at Bat's Day number 7!

This last Sunday was Bat's Day in the Fun Park (AKA Goth day at Disneyland). This is by far my favorite day of the year to go to Disneyland. What makes the Bat's Day event so great is that it offers two services. The first is that you get to meet some of the most friendliest, nicest, best dressed people with similar likes and dislikes as you. The second is that Bat's Day demolishes all the stereotypes that people have about "Goths". At Bat's Day it is not uncommon to see and meet entire families of goths who supprisingly to most of the Disneyland guests are not depressed antisocial criminals who sacrifice cats on the next full moon. But instead a group of people who have extremely high moral character and quite possibly have a higher respect for the Disneyland resort (and the Disney lifestyle) than your average American.


The mid-day castle meet

Bat's Day is usually spit into 3 picture meets. The first is the castle meet at around 1:45 where everyone crowds around the castle forcort and our picture is taken as one large group. The only problem with this meet is that at that time of the day the forcorut area is extremely hot this time of the year and we are all dressed in black. The second meet is the Baby Bat's photo. This photo is when all the kinder-goths and there parents gather at the Sword in the Stone ceremony in Fantisyland. The Baby Bat's photo shoot is the cutest thing you will ever see. Then the last gathering is the 8:00 pm photo at the Haunted Mansion. This is the big one where everyone gets in line for the Mansion and groups of 25 are arranged on the stairs of the Mansion where there photos are taken. This can take some time as there is usually over 1500 goths that show up for this photo. There is no accurate number of how many people show up for Bat's Day because not everyone is able to show up for all the photo meets (parents with little children who live in the area rarely make it to the Mansion photo, it's past their sleepy time) but it is and incredible number that show up through out the day.


Cheer on the Wicked Queen - This is an unofficial meet where many of the Bat's Day attendees show up for the 11:45 Snow White musical and cheer on the Wicked Queen, it is all in good fun.


Thanks Noah for such an incediable event

My Bat's Day dash

One last note more pictures that I took on Bat's Day can be found at:
themeparks.demonbird.com/dlr/batsday5/
Can't wait for next years event, it just gets bigger and better every year!

Well I did another one of those who/what are you tests. This one is what Disneyland Attraction am I. Well I knew I would be one of two attractions, the first being the Haunted Mansion and the second was correct.

I am: the Pirates of the Caribbean - I guess they saw me in my pirate shirt?

The Pirates of the Caribbean: A swashbuckling
adventure! Yo ho, a pirates life is indeed for
you, seeing as you are the classic Disney dark
ride that presents a time when New Orleans was
under attack from a band of treasure loving
bandits. You have a bit of an edge, and an
element of danger, and you can scare the
youngins, but for the most part you mean no
serious harm. You are youthful at heart,
strong and energetic, with a taste for the good
life, if not hard work. You have romantic
notions about the adventurous life on the sea
with no rules and no responsibilities except to
your ship, but you also weary and worrisome of
the fate that eventually gets all those who
those who live life on the lamb, stealing gold
for greed and burning down cities for your own
delight. You are what you are, and you're out
to enjoy the glamour of your wild days while
they last! Despite your rough surface, the
people know you have heart and they will always
come back.


What Disneyland attraction are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

This last weekend had been rather chaotic, but I made it through to today. Sunday My family and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, it had been a while since my last visit in December, a lot had changed. The changes were very pleasant. The SDWAP had added a nicely themed carousel called the Conservation Carousel. All the animals appeared to be threatened or endangered species. The ride looked awesome with it's thached roof and wooden queue walls. Also the price was very good for an upcharge attraction at $2.00. Also new to the park is the upcoming helium Balloon ride that will raise passengers above the heart of the park, just in front of Lion Camp, giving them a 360 view of the valley. Counting the carousel, balloon ride, the I-werks simulator and the Wagasa Bushline, the park is ending up with a decent collection of rides to complement there collection of highly themed animal exhibits.

No that paragraph was not a plug for the Wild Animal Park, it was just that I was so impressed with the place.

Ahh what an relaxed picture, you can see how much I liked my time there.

Moving forward in time...
Monday, Tuesday, Today!
Those 3 days have been just one long solid day as we approach the beginning of the upcoming semester. Down in Machine Tech we have all been scurrying around like a bunch of chipmunks on too much caffeine. New machines from HAAS now in place and the surrounding partitions going up the classroom has never looked better. Also there has been lots of work done in the 2 computer labs to make sure the students have the most up to date software, and that there are no conflicts between any of them. For those who don't know CAD/CAM software is some of the most difficult software to install and configure.

There is still much to do but the bulk of it is done, but there is still more to do! No rest for me until Friday.

Friday was a busy day at work for me, infact I think that today being sunday I am finaly catching up. This had been a big deal between the School and Haas to have Haas donate 2 brand new machine to the school. Unfortunatly there was timing issues that caused much stress between the movers, electrictions, and other stuff. To give you an idea the machines arrived just moments after the electrictions had just finished disconnecting the other machines that needed moved out of the way. So let see the fun!


Your eyes are not deciving you, that is an flying fork lift. To be able to move the machines around inside the shop the movers had to lift a second forklift into the shop.


Sitting in the faculity parking lot our SL 20 lathe waits its turn to be put into the classroom. 


... and the VF2 mill is also waiting it's turn to get uplifted into the shop.


Because of the slope of the parking lot, the loading ramp and dock, it took the movers a lot of time and thought to accomplish the task of getting the machines into the classroom. These two guys did an incrdiable job!


Ta Da! The SL20 in place, aint it purdy. Even thought the machines are in place now there is still a lot to do before the semester starts to make the machines useable, but that something to worry about next week, er... tomorrow? Eeek!

Apperently according to the quiz at www.betterhaunts.com I am most like April December formaly from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I really had my doubts about this until I read the discription why. I guess I am?

Eek! This summer is almost over and the next semester is just about to begin. This means two things, the first is that at work here I am having to work double hard to get things done and second all the special summer shows at the parks will be going into hiatus. Combine the two together and you end up with last night. Yesterday had been a rather stressful day at work and the first day that I was really bummed that Invader Hime had to go back. So after having an most filling tostada for dinner I headed over to the San Diego Zoo to catch two of the Night Time Zoo shows before they end on Labor Day weekend. Well when I got there it was too late to see the Fountain show, they were closing the curtain as I turned the corner. So then it turned into a leisurely trek to the bottom of the canyon to see the Jewels of the Rainforest show. Every time I see this show I realize how great it is and how special I am to have this show in my backyard. What makes this show so great to me is that no mater how bad my mood is just a few minutes into Rachel and Elizabeth preshow and I have forgot it all and have a grin from ear to ear. Now back to the stresses at work...

This is the best map of the US I have ever seen. It makes me wonder though what cars did these plates come from. What were their histories, who drove them. Was New York the plates to someones first car? Or did Kentuckey belong to a little old woman who just drove her car to and from church on Sunday? Not to be missed is that fact that Texas is so big that it takes three plates to make up the state. 

Well, it has all began. Technology has now got me writing a journal, something that throughout highschool and college I adopted like the plague.

I guess I will start now. Two days into the week now and I still feel the effects of the weekend. This las weekend was something that I was very much looking forward to. Invader Hime was to fly out here to San Diego on Friday to go to Knott's Berry Farm (official name is Knott's Theme Park), she had never visited what is one of my favorite places to go, on Saturday and go back home/school on Monday morning. Friday night was a blast. It had been awhile since I had actual gone out and about in downtown San Diego on a Friday Night and it had vastly improved. While on the subject of downtown San Diego, even though I work in the area I did not have the proper appreciation of how nice the area looks and feels. The upgrades to the area are fantastic, including the combination of buildings from the turn of the century adjcent to an ultra modern building of today. That night we ate at a wonderful Indian restaurant in Gaslamp very familiar to locals, the Star of India - not the boat. The food was excellent and the service was awesome. This was Invader Hime's first time eating Indian food and to my knowledge I think that she was rather impressed. After overly filling my self with curry we jaunted around the area visiting such noted locals as Horton Plaza and Seaport Village. Near the completion of the evening we were lucky enough to be located at the San Diego Pops stage right in time to view the fireworks. -Funny note: Before I got home one of the neighbors had left town and there kids were in charge. One thing led to another and what arose was an out of control party. When I got there the party was breaking up (cops were called) and all the kids were spreading. Well one of them need to use the "little boys room" so he unzipped and turned to my flower bed. At witch point I kicked his bottom out of there. Stupid Kids, what is wrong with them now days?

Saturday
The plan for Saturday was to go to Knott's well that meant no Saturday Morning Cartoons for me. So let's start the day off at the beginning with a 85-min drive from San Diego with absolutely NO traffic, not even in Capistrano. I did not even know that this was possible?

So anyway we get to the park at around 9:15 and the main lot was already full and they were directing people to the two other big lots. So we ended up at the lot behind the former Raddison, this was a big plus because it allowed us to walk by the Haunt prop storage/staging area. This was an added plus to Invader Hime because she was a frequent visitor to Hallo-weekends at Cedar Point before becoming a Scaractor at Halloween Horror Nights, so she got to see another park's Haunt in the progress.

Anyway back on topic, we get to the front ticket boots, no wait at all and bought her ticket headed for the turnstiles, no wait, head to GhostRider, and here was the first wait. GR had not opened yet and the line had not been allowed into the queue so the crowd had aligned in an very organized manner along the fence. At this point Invader Hime began to point out nice touches at the park, having had just been to Cedar Point the Saturday before so things were still fresh in her mind, and how nicer (themed and all) GR was than the Point's woodies.

Total wait time for GR - 13min, 2nd row from the front.
- Not the smoothest ride on Ghostie, but not the worst.

After GR we headed over to Silver Bullet, the theming there and the change to the lake is slowly growing on me, again another short wait. Invader Hime is a big fan of Raptor, Dragons, and Montu. I was interested to see how this one would compare for her considering how modest it is to her favorites.

Total wait time for SB - 17min, Front row.
- This ride just continues to impress me, the shock of the removal of and altering of that area of the park must be wearing off, I even got a little tunnel vision in the helix. Invader Hime really liked SB but she felt that it was not as forceful. But that is what makes it more appropriate for Knott's ie. a more relaxed family-ish looping invert.

Well after seeing one of my worst on-ride photos we headed away from SB and over to Jaguar. This was our first wait of the day. Apparently they were having problems with one of the trains and continued to cycle it empty.
Total wait time for Jaguar - 35min, second from last row (saved two cycles from last row)

Next up was Jaguar's neighbor Monte just a total classic that continued to thrill even to this day.

Total wait 3min, Front row
We both just loved Monte (to end the day we mini-marathoned the ride)

From one launch to another Xcelerator.
Total wait time - 15 - 20min 2nd from last row.
Invader Hime doesn't like TTD but Xcelerator totally thrilled her we came up with that it was a compact Millennium Force.

Now it was noon-ish (11 something) and we were a tad hungry but mainly thirsty. So we got some rolled tacos and berry punches. The reason for this combo was that she had never ate rolled tacos nor drank Boysen Berry Punch.

Well so far so good, for some reason the crowds just seemed somewhat light and lines were short. I knew this was odd especially when from atop rides we could see full parking lots. Where were all these people you ask, well we found them in our next stop...

Camp Snoopy! The most crowded part of the park. I did not see a single attraction without at least a 30-40 peep deep line. This was the busiest I had ever seen CS. There was literally nowhere to walk, or let alone breathe! To keep our sanity and to just keep moving we did some of the more minor attractions around the park; no real order just enjoying the atmosphere more than anything. ie. Boot Hill, Hat Spin, shops, etc.

After some time of that we watched Snoopy on Ice. Random relaxing fun is the best way to describe it. Invader Hime also liked it, albeit I think it was also because she got to rest her feet.

Mystery Lodge was next. This used to be one of my favorite attractions, however it had been years since I had seen it. I don't know why I quit going because it was still great. She loved it even more than I. What was interesting is that I heard that every show that day was full. How many amusement park shows that never change can say that!

Dinnertime and my favorite Knott's restaurants was just around the corner. Ghost Town Grill. It seems that every time I go to Knott's anymore I eat at GTG. This is one of those gems that makes Knott's unique. Forget about the high tech fancy restaurants that have to have TV's hanging from the ceiling to entertain you, no thank you *cough* TGI *cough* ESPN *cough* this is theme and food.

Well, now that we felt that we got our money's worth on the food at GTG it was time to get robbed. A Knott's classic that has not been softened up or toned down. Still excellent and Invader Hime thought so too.

I'm realizing how long this is so the rest of Saturday is a quicker summary, we rode everything major and most of the flats, saw half the shows, and rerode our favorites. Crowd control was excellent and everyone was happy. Invader Hime kept pointing out how friendly everyone at the park was, not just the employees.

Of course we also rode the Timber Mountain Log ride and the Calico Mine ride. Invader Hime and I joked about the AA's version 1.0 located in these two rides. Even considering the age of these attractions they are still top notch and now classics.

Overall the trip was a 4.95/5. This is why I keep renewing my AP for this park. (because of the company it is actualy 5/5)

Sunday - Day of rest... Not!
Well I have came to the conclusion that there is a conspiracy for avaible parking. The day started off with half of Gaslamp blocked off for one reason or another limiting avaible parking. So after much searching in Gaslamp it was searching in Mission Valley (failure) then finally in Fashion Valley (success). This just took so much time out of our day. But back on focus, Breakfast was at Boduin Bakery. They have some of the best sour dough bread that you will ever eat, and even better sandwitches. With our stomachs content we browsed through the mall. The most notable stop was at the Sony Style store where we watched the AIBO dog interacting with two of the sales folk and two customers who I think were actually going to buy one. I WANT ONE OF THOSE DOGS! I have always thought that the AIBO was cool but now there are just awesome.

From the mall we went to La Jolla because Invader Hime had never seen seals and sea lions in the wild. Again we were faced with the never ending pains of parking. La Jolla is nice... but way to expensive and packed. Oh, here is a good example of excess. There is a store off of Prospect St. that carries Swarovski crystal-studded Pez dispensers, ranging from $299 for a small one to $900 for a larger size! What a total waste of resources. Any way the day was winding down so leaving LJ we went and had dinner at Mimi's Cafe. If you have never ate there do it. The food is wonderful and large. Actually everywhere we ate that weekend had large portions. Well Sunday was ended with the film Sin City.

Monday - Bye bye Invader Hime :(
Monday morning, back to work and time to send Invader Hime back home/school too. San Diego has a cute little airport. 'nugh said!

Well Invader Hime, thanks for the incredible weekend. I will never forget it!
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