Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,

Drink up me 'earties, yo ho."

The story of the Pirates of the Caribbean is now complete, at least on the big screen. There are quite a few plots that could become new movies but I don't think they ever will, we can only imagine in our heads.

*SPOILER ALERT**SPOILER ALERT** SPOILER ALERT**SPOLIER ALERT*

(That means stop reading if you haven't already seen the movie and dont want to know the details and how it ends).

Will Captain Jack Sparrow find the Fountain of the Youth? Will Captain "Hector" Barbossa find Captain Jack and get the portion of the map that he stole back? Do Tia Dalma and Davey Jones live happily after? And of course Elizabeth and William Turner, they are together again but not in the way many wanted them to be, especially Marsha. This Disney movie doesn't have the ultimate happy ending and I think that works well in this case. Once every ten years is better then never right? William Turner seemed to change his focus from POTC 2 to POTC 3 away from getting the girl to rescuing his father who was trapped on the Flying Dutchman and at the end he accomplished both in a way. I really liked the scenes of Jack in Davey Jones locker especially the part where they played clips from the actual ride audio, a way for the movie makers to pay tribute to the ride that started it all. The addition of Captain Teague (Keith Richards) as Jack's dad, although short in time, was awesome. Richards is exactly what you would picture Jack's dad to look like and talk like. When Jack asked how his mom was doing and his dad held up the shrunken head, I almost spit out some of my diet coke! When we were first introduced to Jack he was in a small dinghy style boat and Barbossa was piloting the Black Pearl and that is how we leave them. I like the way they ended the relationship between those two, a full circle.

After the movie completed the theater seemed to empty out pretty fast but I made Marsha sit through the credits because there had to be something at the end right? In POTC 1 it was the monkey stealing a piece of the Cortez gold and becoming a skeleton and in POTC 2 it was the dog sitting in as the chief of the tribe that Jack escaped from. So we waited and after the final credit rolled there it was, "Ten Years Later" so I am glad we stayed!

I can't wait until it is released on video, I am guessing in November/December time frame.

Kids Playing In Sandbox

Jordan, Kaylee and Calvin

It was a real nice day today, about 21 degrees celsius (70 degrees farenheit) and not a rain cloud in the sky! So after I mowed the lawn, it really needed it, Calvin and Kaylee played in the sandbox. When Jordan got home from school and finished his homework he went outside with them. I am not sure if we have ever shared a picture of our backyard, so below is two pictures I spliced together so you could see the whole backyard. The brick structure behind the swingset is our garage.

Our backyard

Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07

For my birthday the kids got me Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07.

I just finished my first season and was named the PGA Rookie of the Year. I won three events during the season, The Ric Hovac Invitational, West Coast Challenge and the final event of the year THE TOUR Championship. I was also named Player of the Month for November! Other highlights from the season include 3 Hole-In-Ones and 6 Double Eagles. If only I could do this in real life I wouldn't be in the military! The picture to the left is me, well at least the character I created in the game that shares my name. Time to start my 2008 season.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

"What would you do? What would any of you be willing to do? Would you brave the weird and haunted shores at world's end to fetch back wit' ye Jack?"

Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Barbossa, Norrington, Davey Jones and a full cast of pirates return for the final installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will be the last movie in the POTC trilogy and we can't wait to see it. The premiere was held last weekend at Disneyland with the red carpet, famous people and the large screen set up on the edge of Pirate's Lair at Tom Sawyer Island just like last year when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was released. It is opening here on Thursday, May 24 but we won't be able to go until Saturday and have already ordered our tickets online to make sure we get in. Anybody else going?

Submarine Voyage Christened

From the Associated Press comes word that the lagoon's subs are officially back in commisson.

In a photograph made available to the AP by Disney, Navy Vice Admiral John G. Morgan and Disneyland Resort President Ed Grier pour water from the East Australian current into the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage lagoon.

The move followed a ceremonial re-commissioning of the Disneyland submarine fleet in Anaheim on Monday.

When the original "Submarine Voyage" closed in Sept. 1998, the Navy officially de-commissioned the existing eight submarines.

The "Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage" is scheduled to reopen amid great fanfare, pomp and circumstance, on June 11.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

We want to wish every mother out there a "Happy Mother's Day". Have a great day!

Skyway

"Enjoy a panoramic view as your Skyway bucket quietly passes over Tomorrowland and Fantasyland on this one-way ride. You’ll see the Richfield Autopia, the Goodyear PeopleMover, the military-gray submarines of the Submarine Voyage, and the tall masts of the Pirate Ship Restaurant."

The Disneyland Skyway opened on June 23, 1956 and was listed as two attractions, the Skyway to Tomorrowland and the Skyway to Fantasyland. The Skyway to Tomorrowland took riders from Fantasyland station to the Tomorrowland station and vice-versa giving riders a view of the park from above. When ticket books were in use prior to the early ’80s the ride was a “D” ticket ride. In between the two stations was a support tower located on Holiday Hill, in 1959 the Matterhorn was built upon Holiday Hill. The Matterhorn was directly in the path of the Skyway, so two large openings in each side of the mountain were created allowing it to pass right through the large mountain. In 1965 for the “Tencentennial”, the original round shaped cabins were replaced with rectangular cabins that were used until the ride closed down on November 9, 1994. For the final ride Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse made one last trip as guests watched below. The Fantasyland station is still pretty much intact to this day but the Tomorrowland station is just a memeroy and the holes in the Matterhorn were filled in almost immediately.










Next - TBA

Peoplemover

I love to read and research everything related to Disney, Disneyland, Walt Disney, etc and consider myslef an amatuer Disneyland historian, Marsha has another word for it though, she calls me a freak! I thought I would share some of my reasearch with everybody. I am gathering the history of Disneyland rides, past and present and started with the Peoplemover. So if you like Disneyland enjoy, if not you can call me a freak like Marsha does!

“We are now beginning a grand circle tour of Tomorrowland aboard the Peoplemover, the first system of its kind in the world”

The PeopleMover presented by Goodyear opened on July 2, 1967 as part of the New Tomorrowland. The ride lasted approximately 16 minutes and during your relaxing trip you could listen to commentary from the trains audio system that would give you facts and details that corresponded with the area you were cruising through. The tour started in the center of Tomorrowland and took you through Adventure Thru Inner Space / Star Tours, Star Trader, StarCade, Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress (today Innovations), Super Speed Tunnel / “The World of Tron”, over the Autopia tracks and the Submarine Voyage lagoon, through the CircleVision pre-show area (today Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters) before dropping you back off at the center of Tomorrowland. From 1967 to 1987 the cars were one of four colors; red, blue, yellow or green with white roofs and then in 1987 they were all painted white with colored stripes. In 1977, the SuperSpeed Tunnel was added to the PeopleMover. It was located in the upper level of the Carousel Building. Originally race cars were projected on the walls of the tunnel engulfing the trains but in 1982 the projections were changed to scenes from the movie Tron. The PeopleMover closed permanently on August 21, 1995 and was replaced by the Rocket Rods on May 22, 1998. The Rocket Rods did not last very long and closed in April 2001, the structures that housed the original track for the PeopleMover remain as a reminder of what once was considered the future of transportation.

There is actually a website dedicated to bringing back the Peoplemover - People for the Peoplemover, check it out.

NEXT - Skyway

Long Time, No Post

I have finally posted something, it's been over a month. See below for our trip to the London Zoo and Jordan playing soccer.

The Culley's Visit The London Zoo

On Saturday, May 5th we journeyed down to London to visit the London Zoo. Our first stop was at McDonalds, about 10 minutes from the Epping Tube station to meet The Cook's (Henry, Amanda, Cole and Gaige) and a co-worker of Henry's, Tony, Angela and their three daughters. Once we arrived at McDonald's we left for the tube station. In order to get to the London Zoo you have to take an hour tube ride and then it's about a 10 minute walk from the Camden Town tube station to the entrance of the London Zoo. It was supposed to be around 70 degrees the whole day but it didn't seem to get above 60 degrees until we were on the tube ride home, which was okay I guess since we didn't want to get too sunburnt.

Here is a little history on the London Zoo from Wikipedia. The London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London in 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually made open to the public in 1847. Today it houses a collection of more than 651 different species of animals. As well as being the first scientific zoo, ZSL London Zoo also opened the first Reptile house (1849), first public Aquarium (1853), first insect house (1881) and the first children's zoo (1938).

We arrived at about 10 AM and stayed until about 3:30 PM and got to see pretty much everything. Because of the weather a lot of the animals were in their inside living quarters and not wandering outside. Overall I thought it was a decent zoo and it was fun to get away from Ely for the day. I was able to take a few pictures, so enjoy:

Cole (facing window), Jordan and Calvin on the tube.

A tiger roaming his area.

Calvin and Jordan looking at bugs.

Calvin in the kids zoo area.

Calvin and Kaylee in the kids zoo area.

Jordan, Calvin and Kaylee posing.

Calvin laughing.

"Don't take my picture" . . . Marsha.

The Cooks.

Meerkats posing on a rock.

Meerkats fighting (playing?).

Some more Meerkats (they were easy to photograph).

Kaylee, Cole and Calvin looking in one of the Meerkats tunnels.

A few Zebras eating.

Calvin's favorite, the Giraffe.

Time to go home!

Jordan Playing Soccer

Jordan decided he wanted to sign up and play soccer this year. He is on the Cobras and they have played three games so far. They lost their first game 4-1 and then have tied the last two, 2-2 in each game. He doesn't really care about the score he just likes to play. In the last game he got to play goalie for a half and he stopped 5 or 6 shots and only allowed one score.