Watching the Air Show At Disneyland

Last night we took the whole HolyCoast family over to Disneyland. Friday nights are our favorite time to go and it's a great way to start the weekend. After slogging our way through the Friday night commute traffic, we had dinner at Pizza Port (where they have the best spaghetti I've ever had) and then the kids rode the refurbished Space Mountain.

While the kids were standing in the 1 hour line at Space Mountain, the Mrs. and I headed over to Fantasyland where we watched the new parade. Very colorful and entertaining, and a step up from the last parade we saw there. The review of the 'new' Space Mountain was not as good. According to the kids, they've changed some of the scenery and music, but the track is the same as before with no new added thrills.

As we headed back over to Tomorrowland I looked up and saw 6 helicopters in a high hover just south of where we were. They were news choppers and were just sitting up in the sky. There's a flight restriction below 3,000 feet over Disneyland, and even the newsies have to stay up high if they're going to be working in the area. There was obviously some sort of significant news story going on and Mrs. HolyCoast wondered if something had happened at California Adventure. It turns out she was right. Two trains on California Screamin', the big roller coaster, apparently tried to occupy the same space at the same time:

One train rear-ended another on the "California Screamin"' roller coaster at Disney's California Adventure theme park Friday night, slightly injuring 15 people, authorities said.

Most of the victims had minor neck and back injuries, Anaheim city spokesman John Nicoletti said. "At this point we don't have a cause," he said of the 6:30 p.m. accident.

Forty-eight people were on the ride at the time of the collision, Nicoletti said. Fifteen people, including two children, were taken to a hospital; the rest were examined at the scene and released.

Hopefully everyone will be okay. It's the first accident that I'm aware of on that ride, but not the first accident at the park this year:

In March, a 4-year-old boy broke a finger and severed the tip of his thumb while on a Disneyland ride called the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The child's fingers became pinched between the boat and the dock while passengers were unloading.

In December, four people were hurt when a float at a Disneyland parade struck four people.

We headed onto Main Street about 8:30 to try and find a good spot to watch the 9:30 fireworks show. Disney has created a completely new show for their anniversary celebration, and it's worth waiting to see. By the time the show started (it started a little late due to some concern about the winds, and was almost canceled), people were jammed shoulder-to-shoulder all the way along Main Street.

We found a great spot in the hub near the entrance to Tomorrowland, and when the show kicked off, we had a spectacular view of the whole thing. You definitely want to find a spot in that area, because at times during the show, you're surrounded by fireworks.

The old fireworks shows were shot up from an area behind Toontown, but the new show has various fireworks going off from the castle, the Matterhorn, and the area surrounding the hub. It's a long show and must cost a fortune each night to produce.

Tinkerbell slides down the wire from the Matterhorn as she always has, but they've dramatically improved the technology on that too. She now dips and climbs, and goes back and forth a couple of times during the show. The intent, according to something I had read, was to simulate the way Tinkerbell flew during the opening sequence of the Disney TV show. They did a good job of recreating that flight.

My hat's off to the park. They still do a great job of entertaining folks, and if you get a chance to see the new fireworks show, do it. As far as riding the roller coasters, you'll have to do that at your own risk.