Eye Candy

Sorry this is a little late. Blogger seemed to be having some problems.

We had just left the parking lot and were heading toward the tram that goes to Disneyland when I saw them. You couldn’t miss them, really. A man and woman were dressed in all black. The man had some kind of platform shoes that looked like they were made for Frankenstein. The woman had a long black dress, a poufy looking hat and she carried a parasol.

Of course, I did a double take as they got on the tram. Well, everybody else did. too. I wondered what was up with them. I had to laugh. Times have certainly changed. In the old days, Disneyland would never have let them in. They wouldn’t even let men wearing tank top style shirts in, or hire women with pierced ears.

There wasn’t room for us on the tram, and we were too impatient to wait for the next one, so we walked to Downtown Disney and then took our secret way to get in the park without waiting in a long line. I had forgotten about the oddly dressed couple until a woman brushed past us, dressed in an elaborate black get up. She had a long dress cinched around the waist, an elaborate hat and a parasol. It was all black, and I recognized the style as being Steampunk. It was so clearly a costume, I thought she might be there for some kind of show Disneyland was putting on.

As we walked through California Adventure, I saw more people in black clothes, but there were more goth like. All black, lots of chains, bootlike shoes, dyed spikey hair and make-up.

Something definitely was going on. Ah, but there was a way to find out. All this time, I had been neglecting the power of my BlackBerry and used it merely as a phone and a way to see my emails, though was not always able to open them, but that’s another story. My BlackBerry has a browser on it which means you can go online and do a search. My son was impressed when I told him to type in Steampunk. He then added Disneyland and the date and hit enter.

That was how we found out that it was Bats Day and they’d arranged a meet up at Disneyland. I thought Bats was an acronym for something, but I think they used it to mean the creepy mammals that fly around. The event seemed to be originally aimed at goth types, but somehow Steampunkers had joined in.

For anyone who doesn’t know what Steampunk is, it refers to Victorian science fiction connected with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and the kind of futuristic machines they came up with that were powered by steam. The costumes I saw had some relation to Victorian style, but in a weird dark sort of way.

The goth people looked closer to pure punk. Anyway, the two groups of costumed people were everywhere and made a weird contrast to all the regular visitors there in their Mickey ears and pastel tee shirts. Though I did see at least one person in a goth outfit complete with huge platform shoes and white make-up and black lipstick (it was a guy) who had Goofy ears hanging down from his spikey hair style.

It turned out to be a fabulous people watching day. Particularly at eight p.m. when all the dressed up people gathered in front of the Haunted Mansion for a group photo. Unfortunately, it was too dark to take a photo with my BlackBerry, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

In the end we went on two rides. Buzz Lightyear which amounts to riding around in a little car trying to hit targets so you can save the universe. My son likes that ride a lot and said he finds it especially fun to see me shooting at something. I hit enough targets to make it to the third level and at least wasn’t rated as a space cadet, though some people might disagree. The Disneyland folks are nice enough to give you a free photo of your adventure.

Over in California Adventure we went on Soaring Over California. You are basically dangled over an I-Max screen and it gives the feeling you are flying over various spots in California like the waves in Malibu, snow covered mountains near Lake Tahoe, the Napa Valley, Yosemite falls, an aircraft carrier in San Diego, the Golden Gate bridge, etc. The first few times I went on it, I was overwhelmed by the big screen and the feeling that I was flying without a plane. But now I love it and have no problem with the big screen or the view. I was just worried my red Mickey Mouse Crocs might fall off my feet, so I stowed them under my seat.

It was a fun Mother’s Day.

Do you like to people watch?