Sunday on the Blog With Photos! I'm LATE!

Many apologies for being late and not very up-to-date with my blog postings, but especially with my Sunday on the Blog with Photos posts!  A lot has been going on at the Turley (that's Turlow-Dooley, for those unenlightened) household in the last month or so, but now things have ironed themselves out a bit and I can regain my focus on the blog, the book, the whole shebang.
So, no time to say hello-goodbye!!!

(Photo from the Alice in Wonderland walk through portion of Storybook Land in Egg Harbor County, NJ, one of the greatest storybook parks you'll ever visit.  Time got away from me there, too!)

Curiouser and Curiouser...

I'm curious: Just how many tea cup rides are there in the world? When Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" was released back in 1951, it was one of the films in the Disney arsenal which inspired many a Disneyland ride and attraction: the "Alice" dark ride (which, at that time, also included the "Upside Down" room, now long gone. Notice next time during the first half of the ride; you'll see that the track splits off at one point and a phantom track leads to nowhere),a small portion of the Storybook Land canal boat ride (you know - you board your mini seafaring vessel, drift through Monstro's open maw (which frightens the kiddies and a certain 40-something author of a vintage amusement park book) and float by the teensy structures and the tiny topiaries), and the time-honored favorite, the Mad Tea Party tea cup ride.

While Road Tripping, I've encountered a number of tea cup ride impersonators, but none with the swagger to actually summon up the source material in its welcome sign. Knoebel's comes right out and boldly announces its similarity with Disney. And I think that's just fine -- because imitation is often a most sincere form of flattery. And the tea cup ride is a swirling, spinning vessel of fun, bringing families around its central spinning hub for decades, creating millions of laughs and whoops, cementing memories (albeit often a number of queasy ones) that are shared in stories and home movies for years later.

Lewis Carroll must be sipping a cream tea somewhere, and quoting himself: "Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round." And sometimes what goes 'round and 'round helps to add to the love.

A "Very Merry Unbirthday" ANY time of the year!

Disneyland is my fantastical, fun-packed, cotton candy and caramel home away from home. Ben and I visited there during high season one year and the teeming throngs made us wonder, "Who are all these people in OUR PARK and why are they in our way?" Disneyland is filled with Turlow memories, new Turlow-Dooley memories, and even newer memories sprinkled with the laughter of various friends we've had accompany us through our Home.

Disney's rolling out the plush red carpet this weekend with the premiere of the new Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" and I'm jazzed and ready to follow that anxiety-laden rabbit down, down, down the hole -- and watch Johnny Depp's clothes change every few seconds. But I'll forever be a fan of the Disney original -- and the "Alice" ride at Disneyland is a must-ride every time we visit.

I vaguely recall when it was a little longer, when the Upside-Down Room still existed. Watch the video below and go... ask Alice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbDr2K217lc