Well, sir, there’s nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car monorail! What’d I say? Monorail!!

OK, folks do we want buses or do we want a monorail? Well the city is gunning for an “elevated system“ to take us to their new transit hub, so our choices are “light-rail buses that would run under a guidewire, automated people-mover cars or a monorail similar to the one at Disneyland”.

I swear it’s Springfield’s only choice! Throw up your hands and raise your voice! Monorail!

Actually, truth be told, I support a people mover system. They are inexpensive to build, easy to maintain, efficient, safe and never break down. Still I’ll take a monorail too – anything to alleviate the nightmarish traffic that currently clogs the arteries of the resort district.

After years of expressing support for a high-speed rail project originating from Anaheim to Las Vegas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now favors a line that begins in Victorville.

That is bad news for Anaheim, who has been anticipating the high speed rail system in the plans of their newly approved design of the transportation hub, dubbed ARTIK, that has been in the works for years.  I know that the city of  Anaheim has lobbied aggressively for the maglev.

What gives, Mr. Reid?  I can tell that he doesn’t live here.

Because whilst I have no grudge against the expanse of sand that is Victorville, I would like to point out that often the longest and hardest part of the commute to Vegas is from Los Angeles/Orange County to Victorville.  Once you are up the Cajon, it usually gets much easier from there, depending on construction projects on the 15.  Yeah, it may be cheaper to build from Victorville, but once you’re already made it to the high desert, it seems to me you might as well keep on going. 

This is the problem with so many mass transportation projects in SoCal.  Just do the damn thing right the first time!

Today I wanted to go to Disneyland to visit some friends who are here from out of town for MouseAdventure put on by Mouseplanet.com. My wife had to work and needed the car so I thought I would try the bus. A couple weeks ago I did the sametrip and I was there in an hour, but this being a Sunday and Mother’s Day, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It turns out the trip is only an hour and a half due to a thirty minute wait between the two buses.

I used that time to get coffee, a snack, catch up on some news, and start this article on my iPhone.
Even better the 2nd of the two buses for this trip has reclining seats!

The total fare one way is $3.00, but for $4.00 one can buy a day pass and save $2.00 if doing a round trip. (I have a monthly pass)

I arrived at the bus stop at Katella and Harbor at 9:45 and was inside Disneyland at 9:58 am, just an hour and thirty-five minutes from when I left my house, and already had breakfast.
It may have taken me about 15 minutes more from my door to a Dole Whip Float, but it was surely less stressful. I was able to write this on the way. Even better I didn’t have to stress about driving, parking, or wondering which tram I would get from the parking lot.

While there have been OCTA cutbacks recently, there are still plenty of workable routes to get around Orange County.

In just 1 day, Virgin America will make its inaugural flight into Orange County’s John Wayne Airport.

Orange County has a new high-tech hookup. Join iJustine as she hosts Virgin America’s celebrity air-to-ground stream for the launch of the OC. Video stream with cameo celebrity appearances will be online at 1:15pm on 4/29 at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/virgin-america-oc-launch.

While I couldn’t convince the wife to let me be on the flight (I wanted to do live MetBlogging!!!), I’ll certainly be watching to see if anything cool happens.

However, I have a small WTF bone to pick with VA. For the Boston launch, they had a huge party on the ground with celebrities and even got Richard Branson to dress in drag! Why do we have nothing here?! Oh well. Guess I’ll do the usual and live vicariously through the interwebs.

PS- If any of you are fans of The Crystal Method like I am, VA will be hosting a live chat sesion with them in the air on May 5 at 12pm. Check their site for more details.

For those of you contemplating a nice trip without having to drive – we all know how traffic is regularly, now throw-in the summer tourist and well … you know. Since the summer travel season is at our doorstep I have a very nice alternative, the train. 

A couple of Sunday’s ago the husband and I decided to take Amtrak from Irvine to Santa Barbara for a day-trip on the Pacific Surfliner. Neither of us have taken the train (in the U.S.) nor had we been to Santa Barbara. Gasp, yes, I know. Anyhoo, it was a fantastic experience. We were able to get somewhere in Southern California, a couple of hours away, without white-knuckling it ‘cause we were so stressed from creeping along on the freeway. What’s more relaxing than watching the sunset over the Pacific? 

On the advice from friends who have made the same trip or use the train occasionally we upgraded our tickets to Business Class. Since we went on a Sunday we were told, correctly, that the return trip gets very crowded with weekenders returning home. For $14 more a ticket you are guaranteed a seat (not assigned) plus you get complimentary snacks, the paper, and a free alcoholic beverage (just show your ticket to the guy behind the counter of the cafe car). Nice! Our car was virtually empty. Granted this is before tourist season really hits, but the coach cars were packed.

Here’s my little tip: if you get on the train south of Los Angeles, going north, and want to see the ocean, which by the way, doesn’t come into view until you are north of Oxnard, sit on the right side of the train i.e. the side closest to the mountains. Yes, it sounds wrong, but after L.A. the train loops around, so if you were facing forward before L.A. now you’ll be going backwards. So, is it clear as mud?

The LA Times reports that the Laguna Niguel City Council will be holding a meeting to decide what measures they can take to ensure that this year’s 30th annual “Amtrak Mooning” event in July doesn’t become the debacle that it did last year.

It seems that last year, it ballooned from a formerly innocent event (er, as innocent as baring your assets to strangers can be) to a booze-and-sex-filled orgy on the side of the tracks. Our intrepid Jon was actually there.

It’s another example of the bad kids ruining it for everyone else, isn’t it?

I encourage Laguna Niguel to take whatever steps they deem necessary to keep the a-holes out of it. This event may be a tradition, but it isn’t a “right.” And if people can’t control themselves, there is no reason that Amtrak or the city of Laguna Niguel should have to stand for it.

Although I’m curious, has anyone actually been ON the Amtrak during this thing? Do they warn you to avoid the westerly side of the train if you don’t want to see pale, naked butts?

Photo courtesy of Caveman 92223’s flickr photostream

In an official press release, Disney execs announced that the fabled third Disneyland Resort theme park is a go! It’s been long known that Disney has been holding on to a piece of property off Harbor across from the Convention Center/Hilton main entrance. (They’ve disguised it as a parking lot for years, but it’s never actually open.)
The idea pitched? “DisneySea America”

For those not in the know, DisneySea is an amazing theme park in Japan. However, since we here in America don’t have the Tokyo Land Management Company funding 90% of Disney projects like they do in Japan, the idea is going to be a little different. They’re going with the water park idea we’ve long heard about. After all, we need more water parks right?…….. The budget has been rumored to be less than the original budget of Calif. Adv., which off the top of my head I remember to be about $500-800 million. That’s a relief! I mean, look at the quality that came from that park!!

Some of the themed rides they announced were a little surprising too. Alladin (oh yeah, the desert themed movie in a water park), Princess Cove (at least that might include Ariel), Mickey’s Water Clubhouse (original), Reef Landing (???) and Goofy’s Beach Party (apparently its a big beach on the wave pool where they host daily “Luaus”). Well…good thing they’re not doing FINDING NEMO!!! Frickin’ idiots.

The good news is they want to extend the monorail there too. They said they hope to work out a deal with the city of Anaheim to have the monorail stop at the local big-chain hotels too like it does in Florida. Between this, DCA being revamped and Jon’s other surprise, Disney doesn’t seem to be hurting for cash! Unless that’s why they keep firing my friends……bastards….
PS Thanks to Jon for letting me break this news. Usually he beats me to it.

APRIL FOOLS!!! :-D

As you should know by now, unless your residency is under a rock, President Obama will be holding his town hall appearance at 4pm today at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds.

The thing is, he lands at Long Beach Airport at 3pm, thus giving him less than an hour to get to Costa Mesa.

The best guess is that he’ll be taking the 405, but they don’t want to shut it down completely. For security reasons, they aren’t publicizing a whole lot about his route, but you can pretty much bet he isn’t going for a leisurely drive down PCH.

So, if you need to be on the 405 between 3pm and 4pm, you might want to alter your route, if possible.

Update: They pulled a nice bait-and-switch and helicoptered him in instead. Makes more sense, anyway!

I just saw an ad on TV last night that on May 9, Southwest Airlines will be starting non-stop service from John Wayne Airport to San Francisco! Really Southwest?? Really? Where did you get that idea? It couldn’t be because Virgin America starts the exact same service, from the exact same airports on April 30 could it?? Maybe? OK, I know. They have way nicer interiors, staff, food, in-flight entertainment and ASSIGNED SEATING, so surely you’re going to be much cheaper to fly. Oh no? You’re going to charge $118 round-trip compared to their $88?? Really??

Good luck with that Southwest……really.

Commuting in Orange County has taken a turn for the worse. Again. Due to a $17 million cut in the budget from our state, bus services will face major cuts in the coming months. While the figures aren’t out yet, the county is estimating approximately 130,000 hours will have been cut from December last year to June this year. The changes are said to be minor, and will alter 26 of the 80 routes in Orange County.

I have taken the bus twice since I moved to Orange County 8 years ago. Both times I felt there was far too long of a wait between buses. Now, if I’m on the wrong route, I could be waiting longer. Thanks budget crisis thing!!!

Our very own fejsez takes the bus regularly. Jeff? Any thoughts???