The first time I stepped into California Adventure, my wife and I were visiting Los Angeles for a convention. Because of our lack of time, we were only able to split one day between California Adventure and Disneyland. That visit, I thought California Adventure was well done, it didn’t have a ton of things to do but since we had only a half day it did the job. Visiting with my family a second time several years later, I knew the park was needing something when my mother exclaimed, “Is this it?”.
California Adventure was a prime example of grand potential poorly executed. The park had some great rides, but also seemed to have wide swaths of…nothing. Well it looks like Disney is finally going to invest some real money into the park.
California Adventure is getting a $1.1-billion makeover — with Walt Disney Co. planning to spend more than it did to build the theme park just six years ago.
The struggling park, which sits in Disneyland’s shadow, was a disappointment from the start, failing to draw the crowds the company had anticipated. The idea behind the overhaul recently approved by the board of directors is to give it new attractions and a sharper identity — and make it more like Disneyland.
Disney to spend $1.1 billion to overhaul California Adventure [Orlando Sentinel]
Picture by jessiebarber
The first major chocolate show on the West Coast in two decades takes place this summer at the San Francisco International CHOCOLATE SALON on Bastille Day Weekend, July 14 and 15, 2007 at the Fort Mason Conference Center in San Francisco. Chocolate aficionados, fanatics, buyers and journalists can experience the finest in artisan, gourmet & premium chocolate in one of the world’s great culinary metropolitan areas.Salon highlights feature chocolate tasting, demonstrations, chef & author talks, wine pairings, chocolate painting, a chocolate spa and makeovers, and ongoing interviews by TasteTV’s Chocolate Television program. The Salon will also include an evening charity fund-raiser featuring a Chocolate Fashion Show.
For some reason when I saw the words “Chocolate Television”, the image of Mike Teevee getting zapped by Willy Wonka’s ray that would send chocolate by television popped into my head.
San Francisco chocolate fest [LA Times]
A new hotel near Lake Tahoe promises a mix of adventure and relaxation in the middle of the Sierra Nevadas, all with green building standards in mind. (And its dog friendly!)
The Cedar House Sport Hotel is a new hotel in Truckee, California near Lake Tahoe. The hotel has 42 room and suites and has a green roof and was built with green materials. The interior design is both sleek and contemporary and warm with steel beams, massive cedar logs, rusting corrugated steel, cedar siding, and concrete floors.
Cedar House Sport Hotel [Luxist]
As I grew older, I began to tire of those packed, loud bars me and my friends would hit up late at night. Who hasn’t had this happen to them: fight for the bartender at a bar, order drinks (which is normally way too expensive for the experience), and have to truck back to the hidden alcove where the rest of your group has gathered to enjoy the drinks? Then you have to lather, rinse and repeat.
No I’ve learned to enjoy nice quiet hotel bars, not ghost towns mind you, but places where you can sit down and truly enjoy that $15 martini that goes down way too quickly. The Ritz Carlton Laguna Nigel just opened ENO, which is described at ENO’s official website as “a luxurious alternative to traditional Southern California wine clubs and bars”.
Long after “ritzy” became a synonym for luxury, the hotel chain that inspired the word has come up with a new idea of indulgence. Wine, cheese and chocolate come together on one menu in Eno, a new 36-seat tasting bar just off the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Nigel.
Ritz-Carlton’s Eno serves up indulgence [LA Times]
After nearly 10 years and $70 million dollars in upgrades and renovations Disneyland’s Submarines is reincarnated as the “Finding Nemo: Submarine Voyage”. The submarines for us folks in Orlando, gets paved over and replaced with a Winnie the Pooh play land, whereas the Anaheim folks gets new subs and a new storyline. Oh well…
Reinvented as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the long-dormant and eagerly awaited attraction immerses riders in a 12-minute journey through a coral reef, exploding volcano and shark-infested wreck as they search for Nemo, the orange-and-white clown fish of movie fame. With the impressive animation and spotlessly reconditioned bright-yellow submersibles, park-goers might just forget that the area of the theme park containing the ride — which Walt Disney himself helped conceive — was nearly paved over.
Here’s some in ride video someone posted on Youtube - Part 1 Part 2
Disneyland subs resurface [Orlando Sentinel]
Todd English (of Olives fame) and Eva Longoria (of banging Tony Parker fame) has announced (is it really an announcement when the non-chef part of the celebrity restaurant tells Martha Stewart about it?) a Tex-Mex restaurant to be opened in Hollywood, California. I truly wish there was more to this “announcement” but that’s all we’ve got.
BREAKING: Eva Longoria and Todd English Together! [Eater LA]
