Long story short... I was offered a trip to Disneyland when a friend couldn't go, so another friend and I took them up on it. Like my trip to Walt Disney World in August, I'll be posting the good, the bad, and the ugly this week.

I haven't been to Disneyland since 2017. My work took me to Disney East far more often than Disney West. But I've still been to the parks many, many times.

Usually when going to The Happiest Place on Earth, I stay at the Grand Californian hotel. It was designed by the same architect that designed two of my favorite hotels, the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World, Peter Dominick. This trip's lodging was at the new Pixar Place hotel, which I had stayed at when Disney called it "Paradise Pier." It's fresh and fun and probably a better fit now that Pixar franchises are taking over California Adventure...

The lobby is quite nice. They have a big Luxo Jr. lamp on the famous Pixar Ball statue welcoming you as you walk in. When we arrived, Dug (from the Pixar movie Up) was also there to greet guests, sign autographs, and pose for photos...

Above the lobby is a beautiful chandalier with stylized icons of characters from Pixar films...

When we checked in, we got a tip sheet for the hotel which advertised a limited edition Pixar Putt mini-golf course set up in their ballroom through June 1st. At $28 per person ($33 Friday-Sunday), it ain't cheap, but five days at the parks guarantees you'll be riding the same rides multiple times each so it was nice to have something else to do...

The course has holes inspired by Pixar movies. And I'm just going to get this out of the way... the course looks incredible... but it plays for shit. This is an incredibly difficult and frustrating game that posts pars which are hilariously unrealistic. Neither of us were new to mini golf and had a very hard time of it. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for little kids trying to play it.

Take for example Hole #3, which is based on WALL-E. It's adorable and has a par of 3 strokes. You can get it in one stroke if you can manage to hug the rail on the outside edge just right and have it loop into the upper cup with EVE's plant, where it will drop down and roll into the hole...

Except there's numerous problems here. First of all, in order to have the power to get up the ramp in the first place, you have to hit the ball pretty hard. Which almost always flies it off the course because the rail you have to hug is way too short. But even if you manage to do it, getting the ball to go down the upper cup is nigh-impossible. The loop isn't angled right in the EVE loop for a consistent play but, even worse, THE PLANT SHE'S HOLDING OBSTRUCTS THE HOLE! AND IT'S METAL, SO EVEN IF YOU DO EVERYTHING JUST RIGHT IT WILL JUST BOUNCE OFF THE CUP IN A WAY THAT DOESN'T EVEN PUT YOU IN PLAY TO GET THE HOLE IN A SECOND STROKE!

Nope. You have to go up the ramp... again and again and again. And, if you're lucky you'll eventually get the ball in the region of the hole. Except odds are it will get hung up behind WALL-E, adding another two strokes to the hole. OR THREE OR FOUR STROKES BECAUSE MOST OF THE HOLES DON'T HAVE FLAT SURFACES! They're warped so you can't hit to get a specific placement to line up the next shot.

It was so incredibly frustrating to play this course that we weren't even trying by about hole 5 (of 18). We were giving each hole a couple tries until giving up and cheating our way to the hole. WHICH, AGAIN, HAS A THICK METAL POLE WELDED IN EACH CUP, AND YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BOUNCE OFF OF IT THAT EVER GET THE BALL IN THE CUP!

I think we managed to get par on a couple holes. Including The Incredibles which not only had a doable par, but looked really cool...

So, yeah... if you're looking for something to do at Disneyland, this probably isn't it. They needed to do a lot more play-testing and gear the game towards playing mini golf instead of gearing it towards just looking cool.

The Pixar Place hotel itself is pretty cool. Like all the Disney hotels around the world, I recommend it if you can afford the absurd cost. The location is perfect... across the street from California Adventure with a private entrance to the park (for Disneyland you have to go through Downtown Disney). It's also well-maintained, clean, comfortable, and beautifully-themed.

I've been a vegetarian since Earth Day 1988. Back when I first went out to eat meat-free, I had to do a lot of finagling to construct meals I could enjoy. And it was fine. Being vegetarian was my choice, and restaurants are in no way obligated to deal with that (though I usually prioritizing patronizing those restaurants that did).

Over the years restaurants have expanded their meatless options substantially. And I've been grateful. Now-a-days when I go to a restaurant, there's usually at least one dish that was designed to be vegetarian from the ground up. And it's usually delicious.

The problem has always always been that most times restaurants have a vegetarian option they are compelled to go way extra on it. You can't just get a veggie hamburger, it comes covered in mushrooms and piled high with roasted vegetables and shit I have no desire to eat on a burger. And I've never quite understood it. Just make the same burger you make for meat-eaters and substitute the veggie patty. Simple. Veggie patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles... cheese and sauce if you want it.

The exception has been fast-food chains.

Many times, they just get it.

At Burger King you can get an Impossible Whopper made just like a whopper, but with an Impossible meatless patty. It's amazing.

At Taco Bell you can get a Black Bean Chalupa made just like a Chalupa Supreme, but with black beans. They're great.

McDonalds had test-marketed a McVeggie burger in New York when I was there and it's long been my favorite vegetarian burger because it was just a delicious burger. That happened to be meat-free. I wish they had rolled it out nation-wide permanently.

Sometimes chains create something amazing only to drop it inexplicably.

One of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten was the "Veggie" at Earl of Sandwich. Perfect. Delicious. Perfectly delicious. Then they dropped it and gave us a Caprese sandwich as the vegetarian option. Still had all the ingredients to make a Veggie, but it wasn't on the menu. Infuriating. If I were to guess, they wanted a more expensive sandiwch so that vegetarians were paying the same amount that meat-eaters were paying. But if this was the case, just price all the sandwiches the same. I wouldn't care! I'd gladly pay the dollar extra to get what I wanted. Some locations brought the Veggie back, for which I am incredibly grateful because it's still the best sandwich going... but why not all? Disney Springs in Florida has the Veggie. Downtown Disney in California does not. What the fuck? Now, just like at Arby's, you have to pay for a meat sandwich, have them remove the meat, then pay extra to get the sandwich you want. Vegetarians have to pay more for less. But, hey... at least you can do that.

I haven't had to think much about eating out meat-free since the pandemic because I haven't done a lot of traveling. Locally I just stick to places I know and don't have to think about what to order. But this year I have a couple trips planned and know that decisions will have to be made. A part of me is excited at the idea of finding new and interesting dishes to try. The other part of me is hoping they've added a Burger King since I was last there.

Sometimes easy and tasty go hand in hand.

From 1998 through 2001, I was flying to Los Angeles fairly regularly. I had a project in "development" (AKA "development hell") and was consulting after the rights were optioned. This was a crazy period in my life, and I was trying to get the most out of my time there. I made important connections that I still have today. I did new work that was interesting and challenging. I tried standup. I got to know the city fairly well. I met great people. I had a lot of fun.

Which is why the massive fires burning down parts of city are more than a little upsetting. I look at the map and it's very worrisome. The Hollywood Hills are on fire, and the area around the Hollywood Bowl have been evacuated. The Palisades are on fire, and The Getty Villa is there. West Hollywood is endangered north of Sunset Blvd., and iconic places like The Comedy Store are there. Sunset Blvd. itself is closed. To say nothing of the many houses that have burned. It's a horrific situation, and high winds are making a bad situation worse.

Santa Monica, where I've stayed. Pasadena, where I've worked. Hollywood where I played. I could wake up in the morning and find any or all of them engulfed in flames. I have a lot of memories tied up in Northern L.A., and my anxiety is in overdrive just thinking about what's happening there and all the people who have lost their homes.

And the animals, of course.

This is Lahaina, Maui all over again for me.

I think that if I hadn't been through wildfires in my past I wouldn't react so horribly when they strike places I know.

But I have and they do.

Stay safe, everybody.

Yesterday the mountain passes were off-and-on closed due to weather or stalled due to accidents or requiring chains. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to the drive home this morning. I mean, chaining-up is no big deal. I've done that loads of time. And temporary closures are annoying, but part of the game (just make sure you've got a full tank of gas). The problem is, of course, morons driving like assholes and causing accidents. I've seen the consequences far too many times, mostly due to people in 4-wheel-drive rigs thinking they're invulnerable to ice and slush.

It's only my dumb luck that I haven't been sucked into their stupid all these years.

But when I woke up, all passes home were open. And my preferred mountain pass, which was chains-required all day yesterday, was in great shape. So the drive home was easy and, dare I say it, enjoyable...

In the end I felt fortunate that I was able to escape for a few days on my Christmas holiday.

Hopefully yours was equally good.

Wintertime driving over the mountains in my neck of the woods can be a scary prospect.

Because even though WhizDOT (aka WSDOT, the Washington State Department of Transportation) and their awesome crew of dedicated workers does an exceptional job keeping the roads cleared, heavy snows can overwhelm the system. Whiteout snow conditions married with ice, deep slush, and morons who drive like assholes is a recipe for disaster, and I've experienced more than my fair share of terrifying experiences over the years.

And yet... if you gotta go, you gotta go, and that's just the way it is.

Plus, it's pretty...

Fortunately my trip today wasn't bad at all. A little slush here and there, but otherwise bare and wet.

Alas, the forecast for my return trip is not looking quote so pretty. But we'll see.

Back when I was young, naive, and traveling the world, I spent my fair share of sleeping in stations, hostels, and on trains. It always seemed like such a waste to spend money on lodging because the more money I saved, the more I got to travel. Far better to spend my money on flights, transportation, museum fees, and food than "wasting" it on a hotel!

Then... as I entered my late 20's... I decided that globetrotting a little less so I could stay in a cheap hotel was a better way to travel. I got tired of having to carry a bike-lock to secure my backpack to my train seat or hostel bed so it wouldn't get stolen while I slept.

Then... somthing happened in my early-30's that changed everything. I started traveling regularly for work where I got to stay in nice hotels. Nothing crazy... not a room at the Ritz Carlton or anything... but nice hotels that were a big step up from the Motel 6 or Super 8 rooms I was used to.

It was very hard to stay at the Hilton for work then stay at an ultra-budget hotel for personal travel. And so I started adding vacation days to work trips so I could make my money go further and be able to afford nicer hotels. Have work in Germany? Add a cheap flight to Spain after my work is over! Far cheaper than flying to Spain on my own! Between work-work and charity-work, I was in Europe and Asia fairly often, so I got to see a lot of the world without having to foot the bill entirely by myself.

Thanks to the pandemic, my travel for work-work and charity-work abruptly came to a halt in January 2020 and never recovered. In the past five years I've taken exactly three trips requiring plane travel.

Next year I have two trips planned (so far), and that's what sent me down lodging memory lane.

But also got me to thinking...

If I were starting out traveling today, would I be sleeping in a bus station or checking into a hostel? Probably, I guess? I mean, people still do it (obviously), but it seems less safe than it was in the late 80's. Though I fully admit that this is likely more perceptual than anything else. My odds of getting assaulted in a bus station while sleeping may have been less back then, but it was never zero.

The issue that gives me pause on saying that now-a-days I would be staying in a hotel is the expense of it all.

Travel is so much more expensive than it used to be. And hotel rooms almost comically so.

If I were starting out with travel today on a starving post-college student budget, I wouldn't be able to afford to stay in a hotel. Heck, I can barely afford it now! I feel bad for young people in 2024... particularly young families... trying to afford a vacation. Just being able to afford a place to live, food to eat, and American "health" care takes all your money.

More information out of Disney today over their Walt Disney World expansion plans to counter Universal Studios unleashing Epic Universe.

As had long-been surmised, they are indeed plowing under Muppet's Courtyard in Disney's Hollywood Studios to make room for the new Monstropolis "land" based on Monsters, Inc. There was always hope that Disney would find another place for their plans and preserve the last project Jim Henson personally worked on (MuppetVision 3d) but, alas, it was not to be. Apparently Disney is looking into options to preserve the film, but the film doesn't work without the theater so I have no idea how they're going to do that.

As a consolation prize, Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster is going to transition into Muppet's Rockin' Roller Coaster which leads to an entirely new group of questions...

© Disney

Primary of which is this... you're putting The Muppets on a rather intense roller coaster? Aren't kids going to want to ride that? Won't they be shocked to discover that Kermit and Miss Piggy aren't promoting a kid-friendly attraction? Will parents even be warned that this isn't a kiddie coaster? No idea. I also question The Muppets being next to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but they had Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy next door for years, so who knows? Apparently theming has gone out the window at the Disney parks. Except to say that the new Disney Villains that replaced the Cars show isn't quite so bad a fit.

But back to Monstropolis which, admittedly, looks very cool...

© Disney

Back when speculation was running hot that Muppet's Courtyard wasn't long for this world, I was perplexed as to why they didn't come up with a new Star Wars Original Trilogy ride to sit between Star Wars: Star Tours and Galaxy's Edge (AKA "Star Wars Land")...

Map and Satellite Image © Google

I understand wanting to keep Galaxy's Edge an immersive experience, but come on... you could have a new Star Wars ride to link them together at least. Then put Monstropolis in the parking lot back there...

Map and Satellite Image © Google

It's getting increasingly disappointing how Disney doesn't seem to give a shit about their parks telling a story and being consistent in their theming. They could have bit the bullet and put Monstropolis above Toy Story Land so that the Pixar stuff was together, but no. They could have put a new Muppets attraction in the Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy building and built a new Muppets area around the re-theme of Rockin' Roller Coaster , but no. They could have saved the Disney Villains stage show for the new Disney Villains Land, but no. They could have made even a tiny effort to bridge the two Star Wars areas, but no. There's absolutely zero shits given about maintaining any illusions of immersion. It's just shoe-horn shit in anywhere you want so long as it's got Disney Intellectual Property slapped on it and who gives a fuck?

There are so many things that I think would disappoint Walt Disney about the way his vision for Disney World have been laid to waste. He wanted the parks to keep growing and changing so they were always relevant and reflecting emerging technologies. But there's a way to do that and preserve the idea that you're escaping into other worlds and not just visiting attractions in a theme park.

Disney Parks has so badly lost their way, and these new projects will be a point of no return for the idealogy that's made them so good for so long. Sure they're going to have some killer rides... but that isn't always everything.

I didn't grow up eating "exotic" foods. Which is not a criticism... so many memories of meals I loved growing up. One of my favorites was my mom's Spanish rice. I can remember watching her make it, but I have no idea what was in it. It wasn't at all spicy (which was perfect for me at the time) but it had a deliciously tomato sauce taste that was great. I have tried dozens of recipes for "Spanish rice" over the years, but have never duplicated the taste that's burned into my brain. Maybe one day.

Once I became a vegetarian in 1986 my meal options were radically reduced. The majority of foods I ate were meat-based, and finding alternatives was a never-ending pursuit (such as using rice instead of beef in tacos). Ultimately I had a very small set of foods that I kept coming back to over and over.

But then I started traveling quite a bit.

Suddenly I was exposed to all kinds of vegetarian foods I had never eaten before. Heck, many of them I had never heard of before. One of the most important to come along? Falafel. I fell in love with it instantly, and have been eating it constantly ever since. It was an introduction to spices I'd never had, and over the years I've made my food spicier and spicier. Using more and different spices I come across. Now I've got quite a collection...

And while I bought falafel mixes to start, now I make my own spicy falafel that I love...

But because you have to soak the chickpeas overnight (canned doesn't hold together, you have to start from dried). So a lot of times I found myself craving falafel I wasn't able to make it. Which is why I now freeze the stuff in bags so I can fry it up any time...

I don't have money to spend for Black Friday this year, but I'm going to try and find a vacuum sealer so that freezer burn doesn't reduce the life of my frozen falafel because of freezer burn.

Though I do make it spicy, so a little freezer burn probably won't be noticed.

As it should be.

For two decades my work took me to Orlando. The first six years were for a side-hustle doing contract work. The remaining fourteen were doing volunteer work with an organization that I fell into while working my side-hustle.

During that time I spent a lot of time at the Walt Disney World Resort. So much time that I grew tired of goofing around in the parks, and usually only went to Epcot to eat because I loved the restaurants and they were an easy bus-ride from whatever Disney hotel I was staying at. The biggest exception being when my mom wanted to go with me for something to do, usually around Christmastime. There were other times that co-workers would convince me to brave the crowds and ride the attractions, but it was increasingly rare up to when I stopped going in 2019.

I've always loved the Disney parks, ever since my parents took a side-trip to Disneyland when I was a kid. But what I loved more then experiencing the parks was the imagineering design behind the parks. Over the years I've bought loads of books and watched all the documentaries and commentaries I could find about building Disneyland and the other resorts around the world.

For the longest time, Disney imagineers put a huge amount of thought into what they were creating. Above everything else in their work, it was the story the governed every decision they made. There was a reason for everything they did, and even the smallest details are sweated over.

Now-a-days, Disney management doesn't seem to give a shit. Story? Who cares! Just slap intellectual property on everything and call it good! Doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense that Mickey Mouse is being injected into the attraction, just fucking do it!

And here we are, losing one of the most well-storied areas of Walt Disney World: Dinoland U.S.A. in Animal Kingdom. The story of which has been well documented by the guy over at Poseidon Entertainment...

I knew about the very cool story of Dinoland U.S.A. because I bought the Animal Kingdom "Making Of" book on one of my earliest Orlando work trips. That was probably four to five months after the park opened, and the story of the land was still important...

Now, of course, the idea of "story" at the parks is fairly antiquated. Which is a shame. It sure adds a lot of depth to the park.

I guess it was good while it lasted.

Now everybody is going to have to go to Universal Studios, I guess.

I'm home again and the bullets are flying... because a very special all new all Montana Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Roadside Attractions! Whenever I travel (and especially when I am traveling through rural areas of the USA) I always consult with Roadside America to see what cool, interesting, or crazy stuff might be around. I'm especially into the oddities that get reported, but the more traditional attractions are nifty too. The South Missoula, Montana region I was in didn't have a lot of listings, but there were a few. The first being The Squashed Cat concrete sculpture which sits outside a parking garage in Missoula proper...

Next up was the Giant Silver Slipper...

And lastly there was Cowgirl in a Beer Mug...

Roadside America never disappoints. I took a pass on the Wall of Elk Heads and the Doll Museum.

   
• Hands-Not-Free Driving! The rental car I got was a new Chevy Malibu. It had some features I really wish I had on my old piece of shit car (backup cameras, for one), some features I hated (the braking system is abhorrent, and I never felt truly in control of the car), and some features I am on the fence about. The biggest being something called "Lane Assist." There are cameras that can see the lane boundaries, and if the car thinks you are getting too close to one side or the other, it will nudge your wheel in the opposite direction. At first I was confused because I had no idea this was a feature... but it didn't take long before I understood what was going on. It's kinda cool in many respects, but when I tested it? Not so much. I let go of the wheel as I was approaching a corner with no other cars present. The car dutifully drifted back to the center of the lane. But then continued to drift until it went over the center line. The next time I tried it, the car started ping-ponging around the lane a bit. But here's the real problem... when they repair roads with tar, it's shiny for a while. When the light hits it just right, it appears white. The Lane Assist sees this as a lane border, gets all confused, then kinda freaks out. So... while this is a nifty feature in theory, I think that I'd opt to turn it off because it proved to be more annoying than anything else.

   
• WARNING! There is one more "feature" in the Chevy Malibu that I found stupid as hell. When I was testing the "Lane Asisst" I took my hands off the wheel, but was still very much ready to take over if something went wrong (and had to more than once!). But the car took my non-driving to be an indication that I wasn't paying attention and was texting on my phone or something. Because this is the message it displayed on the center console...

And it's like... I was focused on driving. UNTIL I HAD TO READ THIS MESSAGE! What the fuck? The car takes your attention away from driving to tell you to focus your attention on driving? Who thought this was a good idea? The car also offered a helpful suggestion on the main console...

Yeah, buddy. I'll get right on that.

   
• It's Big! Montana's nickname is Big Sky Country, and you see it everywhere... even when you were near mountains like I was...

BUT ZOMFG! THE CONTRAILS! LOOK AT THE CONTRAILS! THE GUBERMINT IS OUT TO KILL US AND CONTROL THE WEATHER WITH PLANES DUMPING CHEMICAL CONTRAILS! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! Or it's just frozen water vapor that is released in the exhaust when jet fuel is burned. Maybe it's just that.

   
• And speaking of the gubermint trying to kill us! I have long believed that Montana must be one of the reddest states in the country. When I looked into it, I was very wrong. They don't even crack the top ten. Don't get me wrong... they're still pretty red because they clock in at #16 on the list, but it's not the overwhelming slam-dunk I thought it was. Which explains why there are a lot of campaign posters out. And some of them are just so bizarre as to lapse into crazy territory. One that I saw that had me mentally checking out. I was leaving Target and a guy was sitting in a lawn chair after a long line of Trump posters... one of which said "STOP THE LIBS FROM KILLING MONTANA'S CHILDREN!" And I was like "Whoa! Did Biden ride through town on a horse with a shotgun and start shooting every child he sees? I must have missed that in the news." Naturally, I'm assuming that this had to do with abortion, but some of this shit is so insane that I am never 100% sure. All I do know is that most of the talking points against abortion are such outlandish lies that I can't take the arguments seriously... even though my own faith believes all life is precious and abortion isn't really on the table except in cases where other life will be lost or compromised. And yet... this IS still fucking America, so my personal beliefs don't get to dictate what other fucking people do. That comes from believing in the freedom American's have to choose their own faith. Or no faith. But I guess some people don't give a shit about liberty unless everybody believes the exact same they do, and that's also America. Unfortunately.

   
• Home Again! My initial plans were to meet up with a friend tomorrow and go snap photos in Glacier National Park. I have already been, but it was the middle of Summer when the crowds were insane. I thought it might be nice to walk around the parts of the park that are still open and play around with the camera on the iPhone 16 Pro. Alas my friend had something come up and couldn't make it, so I decided to change my flight and come home a couple days early. Boy have I turned into a homebody as I've gotten older! There was a time I would have just forged on ahead and went looking for adventure. Now I'd rather sit on the couch watching television with my cats. Especially as the weather turns colder!

   
And there you have it. My two days in Montana are over, and I probably won't be flying anywhere until next year, so I guess that's the extent of my travels in 2024. At least that's what my cats are probably hoping.