The Sorcerer's Guide

Have you ever thought one of Disney’s darkrides looked darker than normal? Maybe things were hard to see, or they didn’t glow the right way. I’ve heard this blamed on an old paint job or lights that need replacing. The blame always seems to go to the maintenance team. But normally, the too-dark-darkride has nothing to do with maintenance. It has a lot more to do with queue design and time of day. Theme parks are not built for the slow days. The walk ways, ride capacities, queue sizes, restaurants and show offerings are designed around keeping crowds entertained and busy. So are the visuals in the rides. Imagineers expect that guests will be waiting in line for each ride. Particularly for dark rides, they build indoor queues. This keeps the crowd entertained while they wait, but it also give you a gradual transition while your eyes adjust to the lower level of light. Take the Disneyland Haunted Mansion as an example. When the queue is full, you start off in the bright sun, and make your...

The Boulder at Indiana Jones Adventures is one of the most iconic and thrilling elements of the ride. Guests on the ride are sent hurtling through a temple, chased by a giant rolling boulder that appears to be just inches behind them. But how does this impressive effect actually work? The boulder is actually a large, lightweight ball made out of fiberglass and other materials. It’s attached to a track system that is hidden from view, so guests can’t see how the boulder is propelled forward. The track is a series of curved rails that guide the boulder along its path. The boulder is mounted on a metal frame that is attached to a motorized system. The motor moves the frame forward along the track, which causes the boulder to roll forward at a speed that matches the ride vehicle. This creates the illusion that the boulder is chasing the guests. To make the effect even more convincing, the boulder is covered in a special material that creates a realistic-looking texture and helps it blend i...

Picking a hotel is hard. You want a hotel that’s close to the park, clean, and inexpensive. But around Disneyland, you have to compromise a bit. If you’ve been to Walt Disney World, you may expect that the majority of the visitors stay in Disney owned hotels. That’s not the case at Disneyland. Lots of visitors stay at nearby hotels or the rely on the parking system. Disney Hotels Disney has three “on property” hotels. These hotels are owned and run by Disney and are part of Disneyland. These are high quality hotels with the Disney name, which means they can be a pricey. The Disneyland Hotel was built in 1955 for Disneyland’s opening. The hotel has gone through several expansions and upgrades over the years. It’s located at the west side of Downtown Disney. It’s very close to one of the two monorail stops (the other stop is inside Disneyland), so you can get into the park without walking through the shopping district. The Grand Californian opened with California Adventure. It has an ent...

Genie Genie is Disney’s free service for scheduling activities and attractions at their theme parks. It allows you to select a few things you’re interested in – including rides, shows, and dining – and then recommends related attractions you may enjoy. The day of your visit, it will assign times for each attraction. Genie’s approach is to come up with a schedule that you can meet with time to spare. So, you may see it give you over an hour for an attraction that only takes half an hour. Disney’s hope is that you’ll spend the extra time shopping and dining. This is different from RideRouter , which is built around optimizing your day, and getting you to all of the attractions that you’ve selected. RideRouter will also let you create a plan up to 30 days in advance. Genie also shows estimated wait times for the day. It won’t give specific numbers, but it does give a bar graph that can give you an idea about when lines will grow or shrink. You can access Genie through the Disneyland and W...

I'm something of a late comer to Disney World attendance. My home park was Disneyland. I did go when I was little, but my memories are pretty vague. So going back as an adult has been fun, because a lot of the attractions seem new. But, I've been going back through some of the old attractions, trying to get a feeling for what I missed and how the parks have changed. Gran Fiesta Tour is an interesting one for me. I rode it, not knowing that the Three Caballeros were a relatively new addition. I thought it was a cute way to use some old characters. But I was surprised that those characters were there, because the Three Caballeros had always seemed so obscure to me. Don't get me wrong I thought the characters were great, I just didn't think anyone know who they were. Then I found out that the ride had originally been called Rio del Tiempo, I was just about cruise through Mexico. That made sense to me. It's a right showing off the country, which is something that belong...

  Everyone needs some Disneyland tips these days. It's getting harder to avoid spending all day on your phone at in the park.  Genie+ , posted wait times, mobile orders, virtual queues, show times, park tickets, dining reservations, Photo-Pass, and customer service are all handled through the  Disneyland App . It's becoming a frequent complaint from park goers. And since the Disney apps are not well optimized for battery usage either, so many guests have to take battery packs to extend life. Some of it is unavoidable, but here are some tips you can use to reduce the time you spend on your phone. Prioritize experience over recording. There are Point of View (PoV) videos of full ride throughs and shows all over YouTube. You can find a video of just about anything you'd like to see, and it'll be higher quality than you can get. Focus on enjoying the experience, not recording it. Set alarms for Genie+. People using Genie+, the service that gets you into most of the Lightnin...

Disneyland's 4th of July Celebration isn't nearly as as big as it's Christmas or Halloween campaigns. Even Easter gets more attention than the 4th of July. On the 4th of July, there will be a single, 10 minute showing of Disney's Celebrate America! - A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky  at 9:30 PM. This show focuses on the stars and stripes. The celebration also comes with new treats. Disneyland's 4th of July offerings include star-spangled caramel apples, marshmallow wand, rice crispy, and cake pop. Clarabelle's Hand-Scooped Ice Cream at California Adventure will have a limited time Sundae. A few other items are available around the park and at Downton Disney. For more details, check out the Disney Parks blog post . As always, lots of Disneyland is designed to honor America. From the turn-of-the-century Main Street with its Flag Retreat and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln  to Frontierland's Mark Twain Riverboat and New Orleans Square's Antebellum décor. ...