So I spent Father's Day with the Gaplets at Disneyland. Because -- let's admit it, guys -- we can moan and bitch about wanting to watch the games all day, or searing some meat on the grill, but what we really want to do is spend some time in Anaheim. Am I right, or am I right?
By the way, Disneyland says "hi."
So while I was sitting in a flat boat listening to
It's a Small World, I contemplated how much Disney (and theme parks generally) are about time management. Really, they're almost entirely about time management, as attested by the existence of the sprawling cottage industry dedicated to maximizing your fun/minimizing your dollars and headaches at these things.
I was reminded of this scientific discipline when I saw Disney's new
Finding Nemo Submarine ride, located, somewhat improbably, in Tomorrowland.
For the last month or two, the greater Southern California area as been saturated with a media blitz worthy of a major motion picture, all dedicated to this friggin' ride. It "launched" earlier this month.
Anticipating the deluge, I was wary of getting anywhere near it. Instead, I encouraged the boys instead to focus on Buzz Lightyear or Autopia or PleaseGodAnythingButThat. Fortunately, they were content with those options, and we didn't have to have an argument about Nemo. But I could see from afar the attention it's getting.
I remember press reports suggesting that the ride is designed to process about 3000 passengers per hour. That's a Herculean number, to be sure, but it only makes more daunting the line that assembled to ride it. At the end, the sign suggested that the wait time was 150 minutes.
No, really. 150 minutes.
The ride itself lasts 12 minutes. I honestly couldn't think of a justifiable reason for a 2.5 hour wait in the sun for a 12 minute payoff, at least not one that legitimately could be found within the confines of a children's amusement park. So we moved on.
Gattigap
