July 17, 1955 Disneyland opened.  A park that I firmly believe put Orange County on the map for the rest of the country.  I was lucky enough to have worked there for several years and be part of the dream of a man who was not only forward thinking, but had more imagination in his little finger than most will in their entire lives.

Yes, that's me on the left with Alice.

Thank you Walt for taking a chance and giving me a place to work play with my friends and get paid.  Without Disneyland, I would not have moved to Orange County.  I would not have most of my best friends.  I would not be a nurse.  I would not have met my wife.

Has Disneyland changed your life for the better?  Worse?  Please share!

World of Color it aint, but it looks like Knott’s is importing a lights show from some of its east coast cousins at Cedar Fair. The web site bills it as follows:

When darkness falls over Knott’s Berry Farm, Camp Snoopy will come alive with a continuous light show filled with Peanuts’ three dimensional figures, themed music, sound effects, voice-overs and colorful projections of the Peanuts’ characters. In “Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular” you will see your favorite characters in scenes that personify them – Lucy’s dream of being a Hollywood starlet, Schroeder’s musical genius, even Woodstock gets into the act as he and Snoopy go on a camping adventure.

I suppose it might be stupid, but there is a certain quaintness to Knott’s Berry Farm’s entertainment offerings. Sure they’re hokey but I can’t help but be amused and entertained by them anyway. It’s like those damn pardoned turkeys on display in Anaheim every Thanksgiving; I know they’re lame but I still want to go see them anyway. So, I’m sure before too long the Missus and I will saunter on over to the Farm to check it out.

Have any of you seen Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular? Care to tell us what we’re missing?

It’s no secret I’m Dodger Blue through and through. (I grew up just minutes from the stadium and used to have season tickets)  But as long as they’re not playing the Dodgers, I always enjoy a good Angels game.  Tonight was a very good Angels game!  It was the home opener for the 2010 season and boy did they put on a good show.  3 homers, with 2 of those being back-to-back!

Hopefully the rest of their season is as good as this.  Maybe I’ll even forgive them for making me sad in the pre-season freeway series……..Yeah, I think not.

Cleanin' up for a good time.

OK, well, actually Supercross came back 2 weeks ago for the first race of the season.  But as they have for the last several years, they will be running 3 separate weekends out of Anaheim Stadium.  This Saturday is A2 (Anaheim 2), and it is sure to be a MESSY race!  With record rainfall this last week, the dirt in the stadium will be saturated to the core, meaning the mud will be flying.  It may be terrible conditions for the riders, but it doesn’t get any better for the fans!

If you’ve never been to a Supercross race before, it is a great time.  Check out my post from last year’s Supercross event for pictures and a quick rundown of what goes on.  Tickets are still available for A2 this weekend and A3 in 3 weeks.

Doooooooo iiiiiiiiitttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!! (I know, I’m lame.)

If you find yourself at Knott’s Merry Farm this year be sure to check out the Barn in Ghost Town for a nice display featuring some familiar characters from the venerable theme park’s past…

If you don’t know who that is in the picture above, it’s a (non functioning) animatronic from the famed and long-gone legendary dark-ride Knott’s Bear-yTales. The Bear-yTales website notes the attraction took you along “various adventures of the Bear-y Family. Along the way, you’ll see Frog Forrest, the Candy Company and bakery where everyone is making boysenberry pies and preserves, the Gypsy camp, where Sara tells your fortune, and the spiders and creatures of Thunder Cave. And you can’t forget the Weird Woods, home of Crafty Coyote, or the trilling conclusion at the Country Fair.” The Boysenberry smell piped into the attraction was the best!!

Interestingly, KBT was replaced by Kingdom of the Dinosaurs in 1986. That ride (also quite good) closed in 2004 and you can find some of the former set pieces in the Timber Mountain Log Ride; such as the evil red-eyed wolves.

It’s nice to see Cedar Fair making use of old Knott’s props and historical ride pieces throughout the park. Now if only they would scale down the thrills and beef up the family entertainment. A nice new Peanuts dark-ride or even a new concept dark-ride altogether would we a welcome addition.

That’s right kids.  It’s that time of year again.  Time to put on your winter outfit (which this year may just consist of a long sleeve t-shirt) and venture out to the Orange Circle for the annual Tree Lighting and Candlelight Procession.  It takes place this Sunday December 6th.  It starts at 3:30pm and goes until about 7pm.  There are booths with hot chocolate, sweets and goodies set up for you to peruse and enjoy, but it really gets good just after dark (5:30-6ish??).  That’s when the singing starts and the story of Christmas is told.  If you have kids, this is great for them, but my wife and I love it even though we don’t have kids.

It’s because of occasions like this that I really love Old Towne Orange.  When I attend these events, I forget that I’m deep in the middle of a big Southern California city.  I feel like I’ve been transported to a small town in middle America.

When most people think of going to the laundromat, they think of 3 hours of hell that they’ll never get back from their life.  And really, how fun can sitting in a hot, loud room full of short bus rejects actually be?  (Actually I’ve always wanted to open a laundromat that had a live DJ and a bar, but I just don’t have the money to do something like that.  If you do, please open it by my house!!) Truth is, unless you use my idea, laundry will probably never be fun.  But isn’t there someplace that one can do laundry and be happy?  Well, in Orange, there is.

Look how happy that t-shirt is!

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According to this article, Newport Beach officials are considering getting rid of 66 or so fire pits along the coast from the Balboa pier to Big Carona.

I just so happen to LOVE the fire pits.

I don’t know that I’ve used the ones in Newport as often as the ones around Huntington Beach, but my memories of them stretch back to high school, where we would all gather around and, uh, innocently have a good time.

Really, we weren’t all that bad.

But the rings have always been magnets for partygoers, as there is something sort of hypnotizing about a huge flaming pile of wood blazing at sunset and beyond.

Now we use the fire pits as a family.  My son loves nothing more than to hang out, play in the sand, have a picnic, and help his dad build the fire.

I hope that Newport doesn’t ban the use of the rings, but instead beefs up enforcement. 

And let’s hope that Huntington Beach doesn’t get any bright ideas from Newport, either.

If you want some spooky spoilers, here’s a nice video of Disneyland’s Halloween Screams Fireworks!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlb_iPg1g7Q[/youtube]

This is Disney at its best people. If you haven’t gotten out to the park to see it, then you’re really missing out!

Jay Jennings, the curator over at The Knott’s Berry Farm Museum, alerted me to this video of his recent book signing event. It’s nice to see people still love the place and frankly I haven’t seen a line like that since I waited in like for chicken dinner. Mmmmmm mmmmmmm!

The video features Jay signing his book Knott’s Berry Farm: The Early Years inside the famed Chicken Dinner Restaurant on Aug 29, 2009. Nearly 300 people lined up to see the author – including Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQk3p3ZPQ4[/youtube]