California Adventure - Tuesday evening

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PARTY!

Three thousand or so of us stood in a long line outside the conference center to board buses for the brief trip to Disney's California Adventure. Sadly, we could have walked the 1 mile in less than the 30+ minutes in line (plus the around the block drive). At least there were plenty of fellow coders to talk to. The standard "so what do you do" line when you meet people isn't quite so useful in a situation where 90% use one of 3 products (DW, FL, CF).

We arrived at the amusement park and less than eager to be there staff pointed our way through part of the park (it must take more than 3 thousand to get the whole place) to the Midway area. I think they call it the Pier. There were tables everywhere with a good size meal (clam chowder in bread bowls, pasta, salad, chicken of some kind, bbq beef) and dessert (mickey mouse shaped rice crispy treats with chocolate, creme brule, tarts, brownies, etc.). Scattered slightly farther appart were large trailers with beer taps (4-5 varieties), tables with win and soft drinks. My bus load was not the first to arrive and it was quite clear that my peers were practicing their drinking skills, recently honed at other open bar events. It was humorous to see a manager (in a suit with Disney pin) watching his cell phone intently at 11pm and when it changed to 11 he quickly shut down the beer taps. MM calls the shots and the beer was shut down within seconds at the tap I was near.

There was 1 large roller coaster, the air launched ride and a number of smaller rides available. I didn't do them all, some are not stomach friendly. People appeared to be equally spread between the rides, midway games, dancing and hanging out. I did not hear any complaints the whole evening.

Unfortunately, the pictures of Simon Horwith drunk and looking stupid didn't turn out. Here is something to tide you over until you find another blog with incriminating pictures.

There were quite a few midway games open for play, we didn't have to pay. I waited in line briefly for the first one, a ball throw into wicker baskets. Prize, a stuffed dragon/animal. 5 sets of throws later and I knew why I was an engineer/programmer and not a ball player. I tried to bribe the Disney employee and got a cold shoulder. Another game panned out (stuffed Nemo fish) but only after a 2nd failed bribe attempt. Apparently, even with no cameras visible and no charge to play the game the Disney staff still values their job and/or respect. I went back to the dragon game, intent on winning a dragon (some people had a bag of stuffed items they had won) and met a woman who is a c++ coder on the Captivate team (remember, the RoboDemo application that Macromedia bought, great app by the way!). She suggested that I put a back spin on the ball and target the rim. I listened, she had 3 dragons! Sure enough, she was right, second ball and I was good to go!

Ryan on the left! The one who APPEARS to be balding...its the flash, really...oh wait, I had the flash off...never mind! This was a pretty good size metal roller coaster with 1 loop. It was not nearly as rough on the body as most coasters I have been on.

Overall the evening was a lot of fun and my only complaint was that I would have liked to have had another hour to try out the other rides.

Thank you Macromedia for a great time!