Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Halloween at Disneyland, a SoCal Tradition

Once again, I was an invited guest to Disneyland's annual Family Media Day, celebrating Halloween. And once again, I was there.

You may recall last year, when my husband was not able to attend with me and my teen ditched me so she could hang out with her friends. I was left wandering the park alone for several hours and came to the conclusion that without peeps, Disneyland is the Loneliest Place on Earth.

Photo: Donna Schwartz Mills.

So last week, when I learned that my husband would be unable to go with me, I got wise: I invited my sister and her family to join me. 

I've invited her before, but there has always been a reason why they weren't able to make the trip down from Northern California. This year, I was in luck: they were available. And instead of going solo, I was part of a party of seven. 

What's New This Halloween

Photos: Carly Starr

All my Halloween favorites are back: Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy and the Haunted Mansion Holiday. And the Park is festooned with pumpkins and other seasonal decorations.

Star Tours has reopened as Star Tours 3D -- which had me afraid that all the Park did was clean up the ride and re-do the video in 3D. 

Photo: Carly Starr

Thankfully, I was wrong.

The Star Tours 3D experience is all new, with an updated story that reflects all SIX Star Wars films and features appearances by some of your favorite characters: Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Ewoks, Princess Leia (who tells the audience we are her only hope!)... and Jar Jar Binks. (I guess it can't ALL be good).  And yes, the droids have been cleaned up and are positively gleaming now.

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit at Disneyland

I don't know why I'm always shocked at how busy it gets the last few months of the year. Once school starts, everything is a blur -- and the next thing you know, you're ringing in another New Year.

The days seem to be flying by even faster for me this year, largely due to the fact that I've been working on assignment over at CBS Digital Los Angeles. My latest post there is a rundown of some of the region's larger Christmas Tree Lighting events. And there are more holiday posts in the works.

Including this one. On Saturday, my family and I had the privilege of attending a Disneyland-sponsored mom blogger event at the theme park, and I'm happy to report that for me, it's once again the Happiest Place on Earth (unlike how I felt the last time I visited).

That's because this time, I had the necessary paperwork to allow our dog to stay at the Disneyland Kennel Club -- which means that my husband got to stick around for the fun. Also, my 21-year-old nephew came along for the ride, so my daughter wasn't as eager to go out on her own.

Holidays at Disneyland

This weekend was the kickoff for Disneyland's holiday celebration, which has always been special to me. As a Jewish kid in Los Angeles in the 1960's, Christmas Day was kind of a lonely time. One way to combat feeling left out of all the neighbor kids' celebrations was to pack up the family and have our own good time at Disneyland.

Both of the Disney parks sparkle for the holidays, with whimsical decorations throughout. I love the oversized lights and ornaments at Bug's Land in California Adventure, the Halloween/Christmas hybrid decor at the Haunted Mansion and the vast array of wreaths, garlands and trees that festoon all the shops and rides. (Over 100 artificial trees, including the 60' beauty in Main Street and 8,000 feet of decorated garland throughout the two parks.)

We tried to pack in as much as we could on our visit: we enjoyed the Haunted Mansion's annual holiday tribute to Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and the holiday makeover at It's a Small World (where the songs include upbeat carols like Deck the Halls and Joy to the World). We watched the 100+ live performers in the Christmas Fantasy Parade. At a mom blogger dinner that evening, we sampled the wonderful holiday gingerbread beignets served this time of year Cafe Orleans.

Fireworks and "Snow"

Most exciting was this year's fireworks show. I have to confess that for most of the years I've been visiting Disneyland (averaging once per year since 1961), I rarely stopped to watch the shows. After all, those huge audiences gathering on Main Street meant that there were fewer people waiting in the line for Space Mountain. But as a Disney guest, missing the show would be rude. (Besides, the park was kind enough to set aside a reserved spot for the mom blogging families in attendance.)

Now that I've gotten a few of these fireworks spectaculars under my belt, I have a new understanding: they change - ALL THE TIME. I guess I knew that the summer show was different from the Halloween and Christmas shows. But I did not realize that they produce a new spectacular EVERY YEAR. And I thought this year's holiday extravaganza was a lot more impressive than the one we saw last year.

For one thing, there was an effort to set the stage with extravagant winter lighting of the show's focal point, Sleeping Beauty's castle. According to Disney:

The nighttime Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle light show is divided into three “acts” over the course of the evening. Each one begins at the Castle and travels the length of Main Street, U.S.A., finishing at the Town Square Christmas tree. Each act features a magical snowfall, and the final act concludes with “Believe…in Holiday Magic” fireworks.

Magical snowfall. If you are not a native of this climate, you have no idea of the delight that brings to our kids. The whole idea of snow is magical out here (I never saw real snow fall until I was 30). The stuff they spray at Disneyland appears to be really tiny soap bubbles - but it feels and looks like the real thing - and the effect truly does seem magical.

Off the Beaten Track

This Disneyland visit, we availed ourselves of some of the park's lesser-known services. The first was the Disneyland Kennel Club, which afforded us a place to keep our big Collie-Shepherd mix. It's not a free-range full-service kennel, so you wouldn't bring your pet there for a three-day stay. But it's perfectly adequate for a day trip.

We were able to enjoy the park with peace of mind that Mac was being fed and watered. All we had to do was take a break every few hours to visit with him and walk him (they have a fenced-off area with a couple of benches and even a prop "fire hydrant"). For a fee of $20, I think it's a great deal.

Mid-afternoon, my husband complained of a headache. We could not find any analgesics for sale in any of the shops, and I was afraid he would just have to wait for it to go away. Then, I remembered seeing a First Aid station tucked away at the far end of Main Street, behind the Kodak Photo shop.

We walked in and were greeted by a man whose nametag identified him as a registered nurse.

"Do you sell Tylenol?" I asked him.

"No. But I can give you some," he said. "I can also give you aspirin or ibuprofen, if you prefer."

He handed us a packet of ibuprofen - but only after we assured him that Gareth had eaten within the last 40 minutes. (Duh. We tend to spend the whole day eating when we go to Disneyland.)

Who says you can't get anything free any more? Twenty minutes later, the headache was gone and we were enjoying another ride.

DISCLOSURE: My family and I attended Disneyland and California Adventure as guests of the Disney Parks. I received no monetary compensation for this post, nor did I make any promises about the content of this post. I can't wait to go back.

Things to Do This Summer: The Getty Center

Thanks to the ongoing construction zone that is my home, we did not take my mum-in-law on as many sightseeing jaunts as we'd planned for her recent visit. But I did manage the drive down the 405 to the Getty Center.

Aside from being the best-endowed art museum in the world, the Getty offers great value for harried moms trying to figure out what to do with their bored kids this summer: For one thing, admission to the museum and grounds is ALWAYS FREE. (Note: That goes for the Center's sister facility in Malibu.)

Yes, you do have to pay $10* to park -- but you can spend that same ten bucks whether you are arriving solo or carrying a mini-van full of kids -- who will enjoy the tram ride up the hill to the museum complex. It may not be Disneyland... but it's a heckuva lot cheaper! 

The museum curators have come up with a full program of events and activities tailored for families, sure to entertain your young ones while giving them a taste for fine art. These include a "Family Room" with hands-on art activities, family tours, "art cards" which challenge your kids to solve a "mystery" as they explore the galleries and more.

This summer, the museum is scheduling "Family Art Stops" (described as "a half hour hands on gallery experience geared for families with children ages 5 and up)"  "Tuesday through Friday at 2:00 p.m.

Weekends are especially heavy with family events at the Getty, with gallery tours every Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., "Art Lab" workshops running from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Garden Concerts for Kids from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

My mother-in-law was actually kind of bored with the paintings - but she loves a good garden, and the one at the Getty was commissioned as a work of art. There's a nice, rolling lawn where the kids can let loose a little, while you can relax and enjoy the gorgeous flowers and city view.

There are plenty of spaces to dine outdoors. You are free to bring your own lunch and set up in the picnic area outside the tram station, or you can take advantage of healthy offerings in The Cafe. And if you feel like splurging with all that money you saved on Disneyland admissions, you can enjoy a gourmet meal in The Restaurant. (If you do choose the latter, be sure to ask the maitre'd for the kids' menu. It's not listed on the website nor displayed in the dining room, but they DO have one!)

Now that my daughter will NOT be spending all of her time at the gym, I have a feeling we'll be taking advantage of more cultural activities like the ones at the Getty. After all, the price is right...

*NOTE: ONE HOUR AFTER PUBLISHING THIS POST, I WAS FORWARDED THE FOLLOWING PRESS RELEASE FROM THE GETTY:

GETTY ANNOUNCES NEW PARKING FEES

LOS ANGELES-The J. Paul Getty Trust today announced parking rates at both the Getty Center and Getty Villa will increase to $15 effective July 1, but parking at both sites will be free for evening programs after 5pm. Admission remains free. [STILL A BARGAIN, IN MY OPINION.]

Visitors attending evening events throughout the week, including theater, music, film, lectures, and other special programs at both the Getty Center and Getty Villa, will be able to park free after 5pm.

Museum visitors also can take advantage of free parking after 5pm on Saturdays at the Getty Center, when the Museum remains open until 9pm.

The Getty Center is open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am to 5:30pm, except for Saturday, when the Museum and the Restaurant are open until 9pm. No parking reservations are necessary. Museum admission is always free.

The Getty Villa is open Thursday-Monday, 10am to 5pm. Admission is free, but advance timed tickets are required. Tickets are available at www.getty.edu or (310) 440-7300. Same day tickets are frequently available.

For an up-to-date calendar of events, and complete information on visiting the Getty Center or Getty Villa, visit www.getty.edu.

It's A Small World After All

 A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I'd spent Saturday at Disneyland. The occasion was an opportunity to preview the update of the classic ride, "It's a Small World," which reopened today after a renovation that took nearly a year.

Several folks (including writers and bloggers for family websites) were invited to check out the changes... and potentially appear in a Disney promotional video.

"We're going to have to go on the ride three or four times in a row," I warned my 12-year-old. "Are you OK with that?"

She nodded. She figured it was a small price to pay for a shot at fame and fortune on TV... and a day at the park.

"And you need to look like you're enjoying it!" I added.

"Will I be on Disney Channel?" she asked. I indicated it was possible (after all - ANYTHING is possible).

"It's a Small World" is the kind of Disneyland attraction you tend to either love or hate -- with no in-between. You can't argue with its message: that we are all family together on this earth and as such, we need to learn to understand one another and all get along. I know I got that message back in 1965, when I first saw this ride at the New York World's Fair (where it debuted the previous year -- it was transplanted to Disneyland in '66).

But by the time I was my daughter's age, I'd decided that enjoying "It's a Small World" simply wasn't cool. For one thing, there was that song: the mother of all earworms, written by the Sherman Brothers, who are masters of catchy tunes you can't get out of your head. (Listen to a number of 1960's era Disney soundtracks - like "Mary Poppins," "Jungle Book" and "Winnie the Pooh" and you'll know what I mean. If you have small children at home, you likely already do.)

And then there was my mom.

My mom LOVES "It's a Small World," and would have a fit if anyone suggested we skip it one trip. And when you're a teenager, anything your mom loves is AUTOMATICALLY uncool.

I carried those feelings well into adulthood... until I had a child of my own.

Megan was just 18 months old the first time I took her to Disneyland, on a Sunday after I'd finished a particularly grueling week at work. She was still in a stroller, and so young that she got in free... but she was also too little to get much out of any of the rides...

...except for "It's a Small World." I left her stroller outside the attraction, carried her into the little boat, and watched her eyes grow wide as we floated through the gentle ride with the happy music and doll-like figures. She was delighted by it -- and so was I. I was able to experience it with new appreciation.

As the years went by, I discovered something else about "It's a Small World," and this is one of those insider secrets that is the reason people read blogs like mine, so listen closely: The attraction is on the lengthy side, and it's got great air conditioning. So if you've been at the park for hours, and your feet are getting tired and it's a REALLY HOT summer day... "It's a Small World" will allow you to rest in cool, cool comfort for a full 12 minutes (or longer!)

Other rest-your-feet attractions are the Disneyland Railroad that will take you from one land to another around the park... "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience"... and Star Tours.

But I digress. The point of this post is to tell you about the ride.

One of the first things we noticed was that the old fiberglass boats have been replaced by ones of molded plastic (think of the Little Tikes line of backyard play equipment). While I miss the old boats, these are apparently sturdier and easier to maintain. (I saw a post online where someone speculated that the new boats are also bigger to accommodate the fact that Americans on average weigh more than they did in the 1960's. Disney denies that rumor -- but it would make sense.)

The next thing we noticed was that Disney characters now appear among the ride's children of the world: Peter Pan and Tinkerbell in London, Pinocchio in Italy, Lilo and Stich in the South Pacific, etc. Disney says the ride features a total of 29 Disney and Disney Pixar characters. I don't remember seeing nearly that number -- so I suppose that will be my challenge on my next visit to the park.

It is possible that some of the characters had not been placed yet when we saw our preview, as it was obvious that park employees were still putting finishing touches on it... there were cans of paint and brushes, ladders, bubble wrap and other debris scattered in corners around the ride (which I began noticing during the second go-round).

The other huge change is the addition of the United States as one of the countries of the world. In the original version of the ride, the US was represented at the end with (in 1964 vernacular) a little cowboy and Indian. Now, there is a nicely sized representation of a cornfield (I guess they chose the Midwest), as well as a depiction of Hollywood. You can get a feel for how it looks in the video below:

I know people who don't like it when you mess with the classics. Some are complaining that the new configuration negates the original "peace on earth/let's all understand one another" message of the attraction, and accusing Disney of injecting marketing into it by the inclusion of the characters.

I really think folks should lighten up. It's a theme park. It's entertainment. Does Disney integrate the rides with all their other products and market to its guests? Yeah. That's just good business, and the company would be crazy NOT to do that. There is a reason why my parents introduced me to the classic Disney films and that I in turn did the same with my daughter.

That does not mean that I enjoy finding myself in a gift shop before I can exit every attraction, or that I'm being tempted to purchase family photographs whenever we get off a thrill ride... but I'm pretty good at saying "no." Lately, I tell my daughter that she can purchase any souvenirs with her own money, and that works like a charm.

When we'd finished the ride, one of the Disney crew asked my daughter if she wanted to appear on camera for an interview... and she came down with a sudden case of shyness. "I thought you wanted to be on Disney Channel," I coaxed. She changed her mind.

I ended up doing the interview, but I'm pretty sure they won't use it. I told them about thinking the ride was uncool when I was a kid. Somehow, I don't think that's the message they want out there.

All's Fair for Wine Tasting in Fair Play

I kid my sister for moving to a hick town near Sacramento -- although in the last decade, her Sierra foothills suburb has become a lot more upscale than the one I occupy in the San Fernando Valley.

I kid her anyway. I am, after all, a resident of Los Angeles and therefore, a sophisticate (before you protest, please note the tongue placed firmly in my cheek.)

The majority of the population of her town are conservative white people, both politically and culturally, and it's still just a tiny bastion of civilization in the middle of farmland. (Look - tongue still in cheek.)

But there are some advantages to living in the agriculture capital of California: a lot of those farms are planted with one of our state's most popular crops -- GRAPES.

My sister's home is just a one or two hour drive to some of the best wine regions in the world: Napa and Sonoma, and we often try to squeeze a tasting trip into our holiday visits up there. So I was enthusiastic when Linda suggested it over Thanksgiving weekend, pointing out that Friday was my husband's birthday -- and that it would also be her first opportunity to engage in this little family tradition with her eldest daughter, who had turned 21 a couple of weeks ago.

But with the current state of the economy, Linda suggested we skip Napa and Sonoma this time around, as the tasting rooms there charge as much as $10 (or more!) to sample their offerings. She thought we might enjoy checking out one of the newer wine regions in the area: El Dorado County.

El Dorado County is located to the east of Sacramento and stretches out to Lake Tahoe (as do some of the adjacent state counties). It boasts some of the oldest vineyards in the state and is home to 50 wineries in two different appellations: El Dorado County and Fair Play.

Our visit was to the latter, which had been an appellation only since 2001. As it turns out, my sister has wine club memberships there ("Gives me an excuse to go every quarter to pick up my wine," she says) and there were some bottles waiting for them. 

There are around 20 boutique (mostly family-owned) wineries in Fair Play, and as we did not arrive there until after noon, I think we fared really well by hitting five of them (that's 20% of the total in just four hours!)

Our first stop was the winery at Toogood Estate. Owner Paul Toogood (yes, that's his real name) was a successful veterinarian with a passion for wine. He started building his winery by excavating a huge cave and put the entire operation inside, including the tasting room and a unique Flintstone-style dining room. You enter the winery through a corridor lined with oaken barrels of aging wine (which were merrily decorated for the holidays with cheery Christmas lights).

This is one of the wine clubs my sister belongs to, and she had arranged for our use of the dining area. As long as we were there, we uncorked one of her wine club bottles and enjoyed it with our picnic lunch.

The tasting room at Toogood was packed that day. There must have been close to a hundred people crammed next to the wine bar, all enjoying wine with names like Foreplay, Red Mutt and Who's Your Daddy? I have to hand it to them - they have a great sense of style and humor. I just wish their wine was as much fun as their winery. The ones we sampled were not "too good" -- just OK. We did not buy any bottles to take home.

The next stop was more promising. Shadow Ranch Winery is a gem, in a restored homestead built in 1888 (on one of the state's original land grants). The young owner, Sam Patterson, comes from a winemaking family. Like many vintners in the area, he has a degree in Enology and Viticulture from UC Davis (as well as a degree in business).

Sam is assisted n the tasting room by his sister (drat! I didn't get her name!). Both originally hail from Chatsworth (here in the San Fernando Valley), and we had a lively discussion about how different it is down here.

But as pleasant as it is to hang out with the Pattersons, the real joy is the taste of their wines. Sam is good at what he does. I especially liked the Shadow Ranch Zinfandel -- which is weird, because I'm not usually a big fan of Zins. Sam explained the process he uses that results in fewer tannins in the fruit.

I wish I could remember what that was; by this time I was a little snockered. I had been pretty free about using the spill bucket over at Toogood - but I didn't want to waste a drop of the wines served at Shadow Ranch.

Unfortunately, the winery's website is being overhauled so as of this post, there isn't a lot of information there. I did find an article about them at California Wine Magazine -- and you can email Sam about the Shadow Ranch wine club at wineclub@shadowranchwinery.com.

We hit three more wineries that day: Single Leaf, Oakstone and Iverson -- where we spent a long time chatting with friendly owners Mike and Melodie Iverson, the hospitable tasting room hosts. The Iverson wines were really easy to drink - and Mike was happy to pour us a sample of everything he had (including vintages that were NOT on the tasting menu - yeah, we bought a few of those).

Tasting in Fair Play reminded me of our first forays into this activity -- before it became big business. The wineries were small and the owners themselves poured the wine in the tasting rooms. We didn't have to pay for the privilege of tasting, which left us more cash we could use to buy wines to take home.

It's true that the wine in Fair Play is not as fine as the product they serve in Napa and Sonoma... but it's also a lot more affordable, and you're bringing home vintages that you can drink every day. And ultimately, that makes it a lot more fun.