After 31 years, I returned today to the LaBrea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum both iconic tourist destinations in the Los Angeles area.  Why do I remember it was 31 years ago so vividly?  Because the last time I went there was on a  field trip in Mrs. Sanford;s fourth grade elementary class.  At the time I didn’t appreciate the rich history and geological significance I just knew it was a day we didn’t have to go to school!

Today was typical Los Angeles weather, 80 and sunny, and perfect day for a stroll through Hancock Park which houses the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.

The La Brea Tar Pits (or Rancho La Brea Tar Pits) are a famous cluster of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed, in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Asphalt or tar (brea in Spanish) has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with water. Over many centuries, animals that came to drink the water fell in, sank in the tar, and were preserved as bones. The George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there.

This seepage has been happening for tens of thousands of years. From time to time, the asphalt would form a pool deep enough to trap animals, and the surface would be covered with layers of water, dust, and leaves. Animals would wander in to drink, become trapped, and eventually die. Predators would also enter to eat the trapped animals and become stuck.

As the bones of the dead animals sink into the asphalt, it soaks into them, turning them a dark-brown or black color. Lighter fractions of petroleum evaporate from the asphalt, leaving a more solid substance, which holds the bones. Apart from the dramatic fossils of large mammals, the asphalt also preserves very small "microfossils": wood and plant remnants, insects, dust, and even pollen grains.

Radiometric dating of preserved wood and bones has given an age of 38,000 years for the oldest known material from the La Brea seeps. They still ensnare organisms today.

The George C. Page Museum,' part of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, was built next to the tar pits in Hancock Park on Wilshire Boulevard. It tells the story of the tar pits and presents specimens from them. Visitors can walk around the park and see the tar pits. On the grounds of the park are life-sized models of prehistoric animals in or near the tar pits.  Of more than a hundred pits, only Pit 91 is still regularly excavated by researchers. The museum encloses the pit and tourists can watch as it is excavated for two months each summer. Paleontologists supervise and direct the work of volunteers.

On February 18, 2009, George C. Page Museum formally announced the 2006 discovery of 16 fossil deposits which had been removed from the ground during the construction of an underground parking garage for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art next to the tar pits. Among the finds are bones of a saber-toothed cat, six dire wolves, bison, horses, a giant ground sloth, turtles snails, clams, millipedes, fish, gophers, and an American lion.  Also discovered is a near-intact mammoth skeleton, nicknamed Zed; the only pieces missing are a rear leg, a vertebra and the top of his skull, which was shaved off by construction equipment in preparation to build the parking structure.

These fossils were packaged at the construction site and removed to the museum so that construction could continue. Over twenty large accumulations of tar and specimens were taken to be separated.
Among the prehistoric species associated with the La Brea Tar Pits are mammoths, dire wolves, short-faced bears, ground sloths, and the state fossil of California, the saber-toothed cat, Only one human has ever been found, a partial skeleton of a woman, dated at approximately 9,000 BC. who was apparently a victim of a homicide based on skull crush evidence.

The park is known for producing myriad mammal fossils dating from the last Ice Age. While mammal fossils generate significant interest, other fossils, including fossilized insects and plants, and even pollen grains, are also valued. These fossils help define a picture of what is thought to have been a cooler, moister climate in the Los Angeles basin during the glacial age. Among these fossils are microfossils. Microfossils are retrieved from a matrix of asphalt and sandy clay by washing with a solvent to remove the petroleum, then picking through the remains under a high-powered lens.

Tar pits around the world are unusual in accumulating more predators than prey. The reason for this is unknown, but one theory is that a large prey animal (say, a mastodon) would die or become stuck in a tar pit, attracting predators across long distances. This predator trap would catch predators along with their prey. Another theory is that dire wolves and their prey may have been trapped during a hunt. Since modern wolves hunt in packs, each prey animal could take several wolves with it.

To walk around the park and view the pits are free but to visit the museum is $7.

I’ve been to Santa Barbara many times over the year.  Half way between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara is Oxnard and Point Hueneme which I never stopped at.  This time I decided to venture off  on to the road less traveled and check out this midway point.

Oxnard's founder, Henry T. Oxnard, intended to name the city after a Greek word for "sugar". Finally, frustrated with trying to communicate his desires to the state bureaucrat, he gave up and named the city after his family.

The earliest inhabitants of the Oxnard areas were the Chumash Indians who lived in round, thatched houses and were known for their well constructed plank canoes and fine basket work.

After a number of Spanish explorations, Jose de Galvez, utilizing powers bestowed upon him by King Charles III, appointed Father Junipero Serra to head missions in Alta California. Mission San Buenaventura was the half-way point between the San Diego and Monterey missions and was established in 1782. Pueblo life and sprawling ranchos began to spring up around the site of the mission, and Californio families exerted their influence until the State of California was added to the Union in 1850.g the mid nineteenth century, immigrants began to pour in from the east coast and Europe.

The major industry, agriculture, produced great crops of barley and lima beans. Achille and Henry Levy opened an agricultural brokerage business in 1882, and finally a bank, which encouraged and assisted farmers. Then, in 1897, ranchers Albert Maulhardt and Johannes Borchard believed sugar beets would be a profitable crop for the area, and invited Henry Oxnard to construct a local factory to process the harvests. Oxnard and his three brothers operated the American Beet Sugar factory in Chino, California and encouraged by a pledge of 18,000 acres of sugar beets from local farmers, built a factory in the heart of the rich fields. The Southern Pacific Railroad constructed a spur right to the factory site so the processed beets could be shipped out.

A town quickly sprang up near the factory. Almost overnight businesses and residences appeared around the town square, called the "Plaza", and schools and churches emerged almost as rapidly. The City of Oxnard was incorporated in 1903, taking its name from the Oxnard brothers who had founded the sugar beet factory.

The factory attracted many Chinese, Japanese and Mexican workers to Oxnard and the sugar beet industry brought diversification to agriculture. Major crops then included beans, beets, and barley, and businesses in town consisted of general merchandise, restaurants, laundries, saloons, and banks. Oxnard built its first public library, a classically styled, Andrew Carnegie gift, on the north-west corner of the plaza in 1907. The building stands today as a county historical landmark and is the only remaining structure from the early days of the plaza.

Agriculture has remained the major industry, but Oxnard has witnessed a steady population increase beginning in the 1940's. The establishment of military bases at Port Hueneme and Point Mugu during World War II, and the rise of electronic, aerospace, and other manufacturing industries have contributed to the growth of the city and surrounding areas. Oxnard is now the largest city in Ventura County, but remains a rich agricultural region to this day.

Heritage Square features a collection of 1876-1912 houses, a church and winery replica in a picturesque Victorian garden setting. Guided tours are offered on Saturdays and by appointment to groups and schools. Special events such as concerts, weddings, and holiday events are scheduled throughout the year.
Costumed docent volunteers help make history come alive as they take students and adults on walking tours of the buildings. Tours teach about Oxnard's rich pioneer roots and about the people who were pioneers.

Students also may participate hands-on in activities from the turn-of-the-century, including dressing in period costumes. All activities help to bring a by gone era back to life

The town's centerpiece attraction is Heritage Square, a block of Victorian homes rescued from developers' bulldozers and moved to a once-vacant lot bordered by A, B, Seventh and Eighth streets. A combination of private funding and city redevelopment money turned 15 shabby buildings into stunning showpieces that house offices, shops, a wedding chapel, a reception and banquet hall and a little theater company.

Two California bungalows recently were rescued and restored on a site across Seventh Street, ``and we're hoping we can restore the old Oxnard Hotel and turn it into offices,'' said Gary Blum, site manager and the great-grandson of one of the farming families whose restored home is in the square. Blum leads 45-minute tours of the square, giving visitors a glimpse of beveled and stained-glass windows, fancy woodwork, mantelpieces and chandeliers - plus some tidbits about the people who built and lived in the farmhouse and mansions.

For example, the 1896 Queen Anne-style Petit House, which Blum restored, was so run-down that the builder's heir planned to let the fire department burn it down for firefighting practice.

Today, the old home is perhaps the finest in the square, with its gray and white paint, its turret and its fancy porch railings. Inside, Blum shares office space with an insurance company and other businesses; the basement houses the Elite Theatre Company's 48-seat theater.

Across the brick courtyard stands Heritage Square Hall, built in 1906 in the Carpenter Gothic style and restored to act as a chapel for weddings and other services and ceremonies. ``We average about a wedding a weekend during the high season,'' Blum said.

A Queen Anne home built in 1887 by David Todd Perkins, who would become president of Union Oil Co. and a state assemblyman, now houses a Christian Science Reading and offices.

The John home, a one-story bungalow with new, but antique-looking, beveled glass and an impressive porch, was one of the homes moved into Oxnard about 1900 because the demand for houses was greater than builders could supply.

Not far from Heritage Square is the town's other favorite spot for tourists - Fisherman's Village structures at the harbor were carefully crafted to look like an old East Coast seaport - complete with its own Maritime Museum. There's even a lighthouse, but it's just for looks.

The village lines the harbor's northern shore, featuring a half-dozen seafood restaurants, art galleries and shops, and visitors can stroll a cobblestone walkway that skirts the inlets where the fishing boats tie up with their catches at the end of the day while hungry gulls screech and swoop overhead.

The Maritime Museum, which houses models of ships - from man's earliest effort at sailing the seas to the men-of-war of the English Navy - also includes a gallery of sea and ship paintings, a model-building workshop and its own library.

Just south of Oxnard is Port Hueneme.  The Port of Hueneme is the only deep water port between the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of San Francisco, and the only Navy controlled harbor between San Diego Bay and Puget Sound.

The harbor is a shipping and receiving point for a wide variety of goods destined for the Los Angeles Basin and beyond, including automobiles, pineapples, and bananas. Agricultural products such as onions, strawberries, and flowers are shipped.

Hueneme', (pronounced "Y NEE MEE"), is derived from a Chumash Indian word (Wynema) meaning "half-way" or "resting place." It is believed that central California's original inhabitants the Canalinos Indians, (part of the Chumash nation), used this coastal point of land (approximately half way between today's Point Mugu and the mouth of the Santa Clara River) as a resting place as well as from which they departed on fishing expeditions. The point at Hueneme is the closest spot (11 miles) from which to cross the Santa Barbara channel between the mainland and Anacapa Island a prime Chumash fishing area.

The Oxnard plain where the port is located is home to some of the most fruitful agricultural land anywhere, growing at one time or another, lima beans, sugar beets, lemons, oranges, walnuts, and a peculiarly stubborn brand of California farmer. The farmers never liked the truck and rail rates they had to pay to get their produce to water. As they watched the loaded trucks and trains go by, bound for Los Angeles, they asked, "Why should we send our stuff down there when we've got the ocean at our front door? All we've got to do is build a harbor."

The idea for building a Port at point Hueneme was the direct result of a coastal exploration by Thomas Bard in 1867.  Bard had learned of a freak submarine valley (Hueneme Canyon over 1000 feet deep that came within 300 feet of the proposed channel and how an underground river would keep the channel free of silt. Growing frustrations experienced by Ventura County's early agricultural industry in getting its expanding grain surpluses to broader markets only tended to confirm Bard's vision of a port to serve as an entrepot for the area's vast agricultural potential.  Taking advantage of Hueneme Canyon, a 1500-foot (Bard's) wharf was constructed in 1872 to lighter goods between the coast and ships off shore.
The City of Port Hueneme (pronounced "Wy-Nee-Mee") is approximately fifty miles north of Los Angeles. In 1874 a lighthouse was established to guide shipping through the Santa Barbara Channel which runs between the California coast and the Channel Islands.

The ornate two-story Victorian was identical to the light at Point Fermin, and both lights were first lit on December 15, 1874. The light flashed white until 1889, when the signal was changed to fixed red. In 1892, the light displayed an occulting white signal. A new lens installed in 1899 displayed flashing white.
The early Point Hueneme keepers record was mediocre at best. Head Keeper Samuel Ensign and assistant keeper Korts were dismissed in 1878 for failing to maintain the station grounds (although the light was kept in good order). The first assistant keeper, Melvin Giles, was twice caught sleeping on his watch - but nevertheless was later promoted to head keeper at Pigeon Point.

Walter White served at Point Hueneme from 1927 to 1948. He was witness to many changes at the site. In 1940, the Port of Hueneme was completed. In 1942, the US Navy purchased Hueneme Harbor and established the US Construction Battalion Center - "Home of the Seebees."

Keeper White also oversaw the replacement of the original lighthouse with a new concrete Art Moderne structure which began service in 1941. The old building, sans lantern room, was barged across the harbor, for use by a local yacht club. Sadly, the building was left neglected and eventually torn down.

The new 48 foot tower is still active and maintained by the Coast Guard. The light is on the grounds of the Port of Hueneme. In recent years, the Coast Guard has refurbished the building, and there are plans to make the site part of an Aquaculture center, complete with interpretive facility and Coast Guard maritime museum. A public access path along the shore to the light already exists and is being further developed.
Today, the lighthouse has been opened to the public. The Coast Guard Auxiliary offers tours of the tower. The City of Oxnard, in conjunction with the Oxnard Harbor District, have created a Lighthouse Promenade along the port fence that leads to the lighthouse.
So if your heading from Los Angeles to Santa Barba

ra and want a midway stop of something to do, Oxnard is a quaint little city with a rich heritage and history coupled with historic architecture.

Even though I grew up in Los Angeles, I’ve never really explored downtown Los Angeles.  Growing up it always seemed so congested, difficult to find parking, and frankly not much of a “scene” like in other large metropolitan cities like New York or Chicago.

I’ve been venturing downtown more lately as it does contain a treasure of art deco architecture and some fascinating history.  In addition, they’ve “cleaned up” parts of downtown and have restored many of the historical buildings.

There is an actual walking tour of downtown Los Angeles with maps and directions and plaques at points of interest.   This week I checked out three specific historical spots in the heart of downtown LA…Pershing Square, the Biltmore Hotel, and the Central Library.

For years the square was a dusty vacant parcel known as block number 15 in Ord's Survey of Los Angeles. However, in 1866, an ordinance was signed by Mayor Aguillar declaring the block "...a public square for the use and benefit of the citizens of the common." The square was designed as a formal Spanish plaza and became known as La Plaza Abaja.

By 1887 the area around the square was becoming residential, and the new residents referred to the square as Los Angeles Park. Cypress and citrus trees were planted and a white picket fence was constructed to discourage stray livestock from entering the park.

In the early 1890's, the park was renamed Central Park. It was redesigned by Fred Eaton, then a City Engineer and later Mayor. A serpentine promenade, wooden benches, new plantings, sidewalks, and a bandstand were provided.

In 1911 the park was again redesigned, this time by the noted architect John Parkinson. The design was formal and symmetrical, with European antecedents. There were classic walkways within the square, a beautiful central fountain, lush plantings, and ornamental corner balustrades. The perimeter walkways around the park, which has been an important component of the Central Park in the early 1900's were maintained by Parkinson.

In 1918, "in a fit of Armistice Day fever," Central Park's name was changed to Pershing Square, and a statue of a dough boy was added to the corner of the park.

Most of the buildings on or near the square were built in the 1920's and early 1930'sÉ.During this period the Square was widely known for its colorful orators, military posts, and newsstands. Even the public library set up shop here.

Tropical plantings were added to the park in 1928 by Frank Shearer, the Park Superintendent.
As early as 1928, there were suggestions to put a parking facility under Pershing Square. The intended purpose was to alleviate congestion downtown, and later, to revive the ailing Broadway Theater District.
In 1950-51, after two decades of pressure, the City permitted construction of an 1800-car garage under Pershing Square. The park became a roof of grass. Automobile ramps on each side cut off the park from the surrounding city, making the square into an island, difficult to approach.

Standing in the park now you can see all of the old 1920’s and 1930’s art deco buildings dwarfed by the more modern skyscrapers.

Directly across the street stand the Biltmore Hotel.  The Biltmore hotel has hosted 7 Presidents which even included John F. Kennedy’s accepting the Presidential Nominee in 1960!  The Biltmore was opened in 1923 and was the largest hotel west of Chicago!

The Biltmore is known for once being a home to the Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was founded at a luncheon banquet in the Crystal Ballroom in May 1927, when guests like Louis B. Mayer met to discuss plans for the new organization and presenting achievement awards to colleagues in their industry. Legend has it that MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, who was in attendance, immediately grabbed a linen Biltmore napkin and sketched the design for the Oscar statue on it. In 1977 Bob Hope hosted the Academy's 50th Anniversary banquet in the same room.

During World War II, the Biltmore served as a military rest and recreation facility, with the entire second floor set up with cots for military personnel on leave.

On March 7, 1952, the well-known yogi and author Paramahansa Yogananda, while giving a speech in honor of the Indian ambassador Binay Ranjan Sen, dropped dead of a heart attack at the Biltmore Hotel. This site within the hotel is now revered by many as the place of the yogi's mahasamadhi, or conscious leave of the body.

In 1960 the Democratic National Convention appointed John F. Kennedy as the party's presidential nominee; he accepted the nomination at the Biltmore and set up his campaign headquarters in the Music Room (now the Lobby), with running mate Lyndon B. Johnson across the hall in the Emerald Room. Their press conferences in the Crystal Ballroom were heavily photographed and documented.

The Beatles paid a visit to the Presidential Suite in August 1964 during their first U.S. tour. Due to the overwhelming number of fans crowding the sidewalks in front of the hotel, the "Fab Four" were forced to access their room by landing atop the hotel in a helicopte

Another tid bit of information I learned at the Hotel was the hotel lobby is the last place the “Black Dahlia” was seen alive before she was murdered.

The "Biltmore Angel" is heavily incorporated into the design—as a symbol of the city as well as the hotel itself. With a thick steel and concrete frame, the structure takes up half a city block and rises over 11 stories.

Inside, the hotel is decorated with vivid frescoes, murals, carved marble fountains and columns, wood-beam ceilings, imported travertine stone walls, crystal chandeliers, bronze stairwells and doorways, stately columns, fine mill work and heavy drapery. Most notable are the ceilings in the main Galleria and the Crystal Ballroom, which were hand painted in 1922 by Italian artist Giovanni Smeraldi, known for his work in the Vatican and the White House. Smeraldi and his team famously painted the ballroom's colorful, seamless fresco over a period of 7 months, decorating it with figures of Greek and Roman gods, angels, cupids and other mythological creatures. It was meticulously restored in the 1980s by Smeraldi's apprentice, Anthony Heinsbergen The imported Austrian crystal chandeliers that adorn it are 12 feet in diameter.

The Rendezvous Court, once the hotel's lobby but now used primarily for afternoon tea, is decorated with a Moorish plaster ceiling painted with 24-carat gold accents, two imported Italian chandeliers dating back to 1923, and a grand Spanish-Baroque bronze doorway, whose astrological clock still keeps time today. Two figures appear on the stairwell front—on the left is the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres, while on the right is the Spanish conquistador Balboa. The current lobby at the hotel's Grand Ave. entrance still has its original travertine walls and oak paneling as well as the large artificial skylight ceiling, reflected in the custom carpet below.

Each ballroom on the Galleria level is themed either after the rooms’ original function or the hotel's overall California-heritage premise. The Emerald Room was once the hotel's main guest dining room; its decor features images of hunt and harvest, with hand-painted animals and fish on the cast-plaster ceiling beams. The Tiffany Room was formerly an open corridor used as a drop-off point for Crystal Ballroom functions. Now enclosed, the elegant space centers around exploration, with relief sculptures and panels depicting Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus, and other Spanish explorers. The split-level Gold Room, once a dining room for elite guests, features Prohibition-era hidden liquor compartments and panels along the ceiling for press photographers to take pictures of the event below. It is decorated with a gold cast-plaster ceiling, hand-oiled wood paneling, and nine mirrored windows along three sides.

The South Galleria is painted with floral friezes inspired by the decor of Pompeii, Italy, and features a vaulted ceiling, marble balustrades and heavy Roman piers. Gold-painted wrought iron gates (made famous in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo) open to a staircase leading down to the Biltmore Bowl.
Also of interest is the hotel's health club and indoor pool, which was modeled after the decks of 1920s cruiseliners such as the Queen Mary. Solid brass trim on windows, doors and railings, teakwood deck chairs and hand-laid Italian mosaic tile on the walls and in the pool are original. All designs are of a nautical theme

My final stop across the street from the Biltmore Hotel was the Central Libray! 
The Richard Riordan Central Library, originally constructed in 1926, is a downtown Los Angeles landmark. It is the third largest public library in the United States in terms of book and periodical holdings. Originally simply the Central Library, the building was renamed in honor of the longtime president of the Board of Library Commissioners and President of the University of Southern California, Rufus B. von KleinSmid. The building was subsequently renamed in 2001 after Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the original Los Angeles Central Library to mimic the architecture of ancient Egypt. The central tower is topped with a tiled mosaic pyramid with suns on either side with a hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning" at the apex. Other elements include sphinxes, snakes and celestial mosaics. It has similarities to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska also designed by Goodhue and which also featured sculpture by the architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie

It was extensively renovated and expanded in a "Modernist/Beaux Arts style" (according to the principal architect of the renovation Norman Pfeiffer) from 1988 through 1993, including an enormous, eight-story atrium dedicated to former mayor Tom Bradley. The interior of the library is decorated with various figures, statues, chandeliers, and grilles, notably a four-part mural by illustrator Dean Cornwell depicting stages of the history of California.

The building's limited access had caused a number of problems. Generally, the accessible public stacks in the reading rooms only displayed about 10-20% of the actual collections of the Central Library.
The catalyst for the renovation was the devastating arson fire of April 29, 1986. Although the building was safely evacuated, its vintage construction precluded the ventilation of heat and smoke, and limited firefighter access. Some 400,000 volumes—20 percent of the library's holdings—were destroyed, with significant water and smoke damage done to the surviving works. A second fire on September 3 of the same year destroyed the contents of the Music Department Reading Room.

The Library's renovation was completed in 1993. The Central Library reopened on October 3, 1993.  Clearly a case of a good coming out of a tragedy.

Aside from containing such a large collection of books and media, the library also houses some incredible art work and provides walking tours of the grounds.  You can also print out the self guided tour and map of the library.

I love going to Disneyland and have visited the park many times over the years. In fact, Disneyland was one of the “trips of the week” in June 2009.   But visiting the park can be a pricey adventure with parking, admission, food, and merchandise.  But a cheap alternative and with some of the ambiance of actually going to the park is Downtown Disney.

Sitting in the middle of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Downtown Disney is a shopping, dining and entertainment complex. With stores, restaurants, street performers, a twelve-screen movie theater, ESPN Zone and the House of Blues, it offers plenty to do, and it's a good place to round out your Disneyland vacation with a dash of something different.

Downtown Disney is outside the theme parks, open to the public, and there is no admission charge. If you want to eat, shop or go to the movies here, the first three hours of parking are free, and you can get two more hours free with validation from the movie theatre or any sit-down restaurant.

When I visit the Disneyland Resort, I like to go to Downtown Disney for a meal. It gives a chance to get away from the crowds for a while, and you can get better value for your dining dollars. Get your hand stamped as you leave and save your pass card for an easy return.

Downtown Disney restaurants include the Rainforest Cafe (a favorite of kids of all ages), House of Blues, Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria and Catal Restaurant. If don't want to wait for a table, but don't want to make do with a pretzel and lemonade either, try the Uva Bar.

Disney makes an effort to bring unique shops into the Downtown Disney area. Most of the items sold fall into the category of home decoration, jewelry or toys. Younger children may enjoy a visit to Build-a-Bear Workshop. Their Disney store is close to a city block long, but if you are looking for real collector's items, you'll find better choices inside the theme parks

If the two theme parks don't keep you entertained enough, you can indulge your inner jock at ESPN Zone, catch a movie at the AMC theatre (good way to rest those tired feet), or enjoy a musical performance or Jazz Brunch at House of Blues.

If you'd like to see the Disneyland fireworks while you're here but aren't going into the park, just follow the signs from Downtown Disney that mark the walking route to the Mickey and Friends parking lot. Go to the lot's top floor and you'll get a great view of both the fireworks at the castle and the ones at the Fantasmic show.

So if your local or visiting and want a flavor of Disney without the rides, lines, and prices…Downtown Disney is a good alternative for some Disney Ambiance, catching a movie, having a meal and doing some shopping.