This Is Not a Good Sign

My friend Rainne has a Tumblr site called "This Is Not a Good Sign." I'd like to submit this Disney poster for her blog, because truly, this is not a good sign.

A little background first. Heather and I just got back from our Disneyland trip. This was our first trip since the opening of Cars Land. For the record, Heather and I love love LOVE Cars Land. More specifically, we love that it attracts all the people away from our favorite ride, Toy Story Mania, leaving the ride deserted and unloved, like an old toy. Our old toy, that we so dearly love.

If you're not already familiar with it, Toy Story Mania is a midway-like simulation dark ride where you wear 3D glasses while riding through a series of ring tossing, ball throwing, dart shooting arcades. It's great fun and guaranteed to wear out your arm. I got a blister on my finger from a particularly frenzied attack on the last round of mine carts. If you've not been on it, I'd highly recommend it for your next Disney trip.

At the entrance to Paradise Pier. No crowds!

So anyways, back to the poster. There are a series of "vintage" midway posters about the games on the ride, and this beauty is one of them. I love attention to detail Disney is so famous for. Paradise Pier is built to look and feel like a Victorian beach boardwalk, with matching posters and people dressed in period costume, and the effect is enchanting.

Perhaps in Victorian innocence, Flying Tossers should get a bye, but I do crack up every time we go past the poster again. I get it - Flying Tossers, flying saucers. It's a ring toss game themed around aliens. But I wonder if the designers ever knew what it meant, or had a laugh about all the Brits visiting California, wondering why there's a game of Flying Tossers to play with their children.