Trip Report: June 26, 2011

Dusk was upon us on a Sunday in June.  Disneyland of course was in store!

When we got to the park, we decided to enter in a unique way.  We took the Monorail at the end of Downtown Disney!  I love taking the Monorail into the park.  It’s a nice way to avoid lines of people, plus you get a great trip out of it!  I love gliding above Tomorrowland and looking at the abandoned tracks of where the People Mover once traveled.

Here Comes the Monorail!
How I wish these were in use.

Taking the Monorail was really just for fun since we decided to go to DCA after arriving to Disneyland.  We went to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and boy was it a great ride.  The first scene, when your elevator is backing up, seemed to be freshly painted.  The door looked great with its drybrush technique of Black Light paint.  Also there seemed to be a lot more Black Light paint for the starfield effect on the doors.  Of course the little LED lights were still there as well.  The rest of the ride was just as great as it always is.

TOT

After the Tower, we made our way to Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train.  It’s the funniest Disney ride I have ever been on.  It is so short and simple that it makes it hilarious!  For some reason, I really love it though.  From the dripping watermelon to the smell of animal crackers, the Chew Chew Train is very memorable.

The Chew Chew Train!
A Dripping Wet and Delicious Watermelon!

We then went to see if Goofy’s Sky School was doing a soft opening, but it wasn’t unfortunately.  It looked like there was a vehicle on the tracks that was stuck and a family was being evacuated.  That’s too bad.  I haven’t been on Goofy’s Sky School yet, but I have been reading negative reviews of the ride.  I don’t really understand why though.  What do people expect?  It’s the same exact ride as Mullhullond Madness except they put Goofy billboards up instead.  I’m sure it’s a fun little ride and I don’t think it hurts the atmosphere for Paradise Pier at all.  I think it looks nice.

Goofy's Sky School!

It was now time for Disneyland and our first stop was the Disney Gallery.  We noticed that they changed the little room that was filled with Pirates and Haunted Mansion artwork.  It now has drawings of different Disney characters which are for sale.  I was a little upset with that as I loved the artwork that was in there previously.  They also put a sign in the Mary Blair exhibit explaining what it was all about.  Unfortunately, the put the sign where all those pictures of Walt and Mary were.

Inside the Disney Gallery

After the Gallery, we were hungry so we made a stop at the Bengal Barbeque.  It was delicious.  I love the chicken skewers with the green onion!

Chicken Skewer for me!

Then came a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was pretty much the same as the last visit.  The middle guy waiting to be dunked in the well is still missing.  One odd thing that happened on this trip was that the boats were all the way backed up to the “Pooped Pirate” scene.  I had never seen it backed up that far.  I thought that the ride was going to break down and we would be evacuated.  But our boats slowly moved along through the burning city and me made our way up the waterfall.

The backed up boats helped us take this wonderful picture.

We went on The Haunted Mansion after that and as we were walking up, I could already hear the Ghost Host’s narration from outside.  I hate going in once the Ghost Host has started his dialogue, so we stayed behind and waited for the next show.  I don’t like it when the Cast Members force you inside when the narration has already started.  That’s like missing a good portion of the ride.  People don’t understand that, but if you’re a Disney nerd like me, you will get it.  The ride ended up being great.  Everything looked good and we got the tall skinny guy (Ezra) as our ghost to take home.  Also I had noticed in the last few visits that an owl had been missing on a branch in the graveyard.  For the longest time, only one owl was on the branch and I had sworn that there were supposed to be two.  Well, the second bird is back and guess what?  He has real feathers on him!  It looked kind of funny like he was molting though, especially because the other owl doesn’t have authentic looking feathers.  It’s still good to see those “love birds” are back and hooting away though.

A Big Old Mansion

We ended the night with a trip on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  It is such a fun and enjoyable ride.  Of course, I always have to give a nice wink to the Buffalo and Moose from the Country Bears.

The Rain, Rain, Rain Came Down, Down, Down.

Here are a few pictures we took while walking around the parks:

The Majestic Matterhorn
The sun pierces its way through the Matterhorn.
Roses for your loved one?
So Tasty!
GRR
Goofy's Fastpass Machines
Tower Queue
New Cars Themed Paintings in the Gallery
Painting in New Orleans
A Stretching Room
Hitchhiking Ghosts
The Columbia
The Mark Twain

Trip Report: June 12, 2011

A late afternoon trip to Disneyland was in order on June 12th.  We arrived to the Disneyland Resort around 4pm.

Our first stop was the Disney Gallery to take another look at the Mary Blair exhibit.  I really took the artwork in this time and it’s wonderful.  Blair has such a unique style.  Any animator could make drawings and storyboards, but Blair did it with her own personal touch.  She was remarkable.

Walt and Mary

Then we looked at the little museum they have set up in the lobby of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.  I really love the things they have set up in there including vintage park tickets and models of Splash Mountain and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

Ticket Books!

Walking through Adventureland really let us know how crowded the park was that day.  An unbelievable amount of strollers were parked right in the middle of Adventureland which is already on the small side.  Fortunately, the lines weren’t too bad at the parks.  It was just a lot of traffic to get to your favorite attraction.

It's Crowded!

And with that, our first attraction was Pirates of the Caribbean.  In the scene where the Mayor is being dunked in the well, there are usually three other people tied up waiting for their turn to be dunked.  This time, the man in the middle was missing and some crates were put in his place.  He must have escaped the ropes!  You know, this is another reason of why I love Pirates.  Even when pirates are missing, you can make a story up in your mind on what happened to them.  The amount of detail put into Pirates lets your mind run.

Get Ready to Set Sail!
The guy in the middle was the one that escaped.

Then came the Haunted Mansion and guess what!  Madame Leota was floating!  It is always very exciting when she floats as more often than not, she is stationary.  During the ride, our doombuggy was stopped right in front of the hitchhiking ghosts.  It was great to get a good long look at them.  I love those guys!

The Mansion
The Hitchhiking Ghosts

Evening was now upon us and we were hungry.  We all decided we would head over to DCA and enjoy Broccoli and Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl.  The line at the Pacific Warf Cafe was huge!  Fortunately, it moved fast and it ended up being only 20 minutes.  The bread bowl was delicious.  I love the sourdough bread at the Disneyland Resort.  One day, I would like to buy a huge sack of bread bowsl and eat away!

I Dream About These!

It was now 9:00pm and World of Color was just starting.  We thought this would be an excellent time to get in line for The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure.  It was great being able to watch World of Color while in line.  The queue didn’t last too long as it was late.  It was maybe a half hour long, which was perfect as we got to see most of World of Color.  The ride was once again great and this time we spotted Mr. Limpet.  I wonder why Mr. Limpet is in the attraction.  It’s not a Disney movie…  Maybe the imagineers are just big Don Knotts fans.

Keep Singing!
Kiss the Girl

Then we headed over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  It was a fun ride.  I noticed that the spiral effect on the elevator doors as the ride begins and ends was not working.  I could see the outline of the spiral, but it was not spinning.  Other than that, everything else looked and sounded perfect.  We had a very good Bellhop load us in our elevator.  He was very effective with keeping to the 1939 Haunted Hollywood Tower Hotel theme.

The Hollywood Tower Hotel

We then headed back to Disneyland to see how long the line was for Star Tours.  At 10:00pm, it was still 100 minutes.  So we decided to pass on that galactic adventure.

Instead, we went to Storybook Land Canal Boats.  I can’t say enough about how much I love this ride.  It is so nice, relaxing, and quiet.  The detail of the miniatures is amazing.  It is even better at night as each scene is lit perfectly.  I especially love Pinocchio’s village and how the mini mountains in the background blend perfectly with the Matterhorn.

So Great at Night!

After our boat ride through Monstro the Whale, we went over to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  I was surprised to see that the fireplace scene had been updated.  The fire seemed to be projected much more clearly now and the floor is now painted to look like a brick fireplace.  The fiber optic burning embers never looked better.  That was always my favorite effect in the ride.  The rest of the ride was amazing as always.  Going to Hell is one of my favorite things to do at the Disneyland Resort!

Toad Hall
The New Fireplace

We ended our night with a ride on King Arthur’s Carousel.  It was a perfect way to close out a wonderful trip to the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland.

Ending the Night

Trip Report: May 29, 2011

Hello and welcome to the magic kingdom of Disneyland!  Robert here!  May 29th was my birthday, so naturally a trip to Disneyland was in order.

Celebrating My Birth!

Our first stop: Star Tours!  I won preview tickets for the new Star Tours so we went on it three times.  It was very fun.  I am really liking it more and more every time I go on.  When we got off, a cast member told us that when the attraction officially opens on June 3rd, all 54 sequences will open.  Now I thought it was just 54 different combinations you can get.  But this guy told us that it was in fact 54 different sequences!  I am very excited for this.  I can’t wait to see where our Star Speeder will land in the future!  Oh and he told us to look out for Hidden Mickeys and an appearance of Han Solo!

The Adventures Continue!

After visiting the planets of Tatooine and Hoth among others, we were very hungry.  So we stopped by Pizza Port where I enjoyed a salad, bread sticks, and a delicious cookie.  Pizza Port isn’t my favorite, but it’s a good quick place to grab a bite.

Then we went over to DCA since we heard rumors of soft openings for The Little Mermaid attraction.  Luckily for us, the rumors were true!  We got in line not knowing what was to come.  The queue for the Mermaid ride was a little underwhelming, but there was a nice detail on the floor.  Embedded in the concrete were different types of sea shells.  It was a nice touch.

Sea Shell in the Floor!
And Another!

The actual ride was amazing.  It was so technologically advanced, colorful, and full of detail.  I loved the animatronics.  They were some of the best I have ever seen.  It was strange to see such elaborate animatronics with animated characters since we are so used to the Fantasyland dark rides with mostly static figures.  I won’t spoil the ride for those of you who haven’t been on it yet, but let me just say I highly recommend it.  People do have problems with the actual story of the ride, but I don’t mind it so much.  It’s just really neat to go through these classic Mermaid scenes.  It’s a ride that DCA really needed.  I say it’s a must for everyone.

Look At This Stuff!

California Screamin’ was up next.  It is still one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on.  It’s scary without being too intense.  The only part I’m not crazy about it going upside down.  It’s not my thing.  I always think it’s gonna give me a nose bleed!

Our Faces

We had heard rumors that the Mission Tortilla Factory was closing the next day so we made sure to visit.  I’m so upset that it’s closing.  It is one of my favorite little attractions to visit.  I made sure to get a long last look at everything from the little people in the windows to the machines making the tortillas.  I showed the cast member my birthday button and for the occasion, she gave me a free stack of tortillas to go along with my usual free sample.  That was very nice of them.  I will really miss that Tortilla Factory.

You Will Be Missed!

We then visited the Blue Sky Cellar, which was very fun for me.  The reason I really enjoyed it was because I finally got to look at the Mermaid stuff on display.  I refused to look at any models or videos of the making of the ride before I experienced it, as I wanted it all to be a surprise.  I’m so glad I did that.  The Cellar had some great Mermaid models on display along with some details of future DCA plans.  They also have the new DCA attraction posters for Mermaid, Grizzly River Run, and Goofy’s Sky School.  They really look great.  They have the feel of the classic 1960s Disneyland attraction posters.

The Blue Sky Cellar
The New Attraction Posters

Our next ride was The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  It was great once again and the blue light was back on the chalk doorway.  Other than that, everything seemed to be the same as the previous trip.

HTH AKA TOT
The Light is Back On!

It was then time for Disneyland and the greatest attraction ever created: Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was another terrific journey into the world of the pirates.  Everything seemed the same from the previous trip as well.  Looking at the new Blackbeard projection again, it seems that the effect works better than when it was Davey Jones, but the audio is just so low and hard to decipher.  I just wish that the entire effect was gone and it went back to the pitch black passageway with the echos of pirates from the past.

The Greatest!

Then came The Haunted Mansion and guess what!  The hearse is back with a fresh coat of paint!  It looked terrific and I was happy to see it back.  Madame Leota was still stationary on this trip, but everything looked incredible.  After we got off, we wanted to look at the pet cemetery behind the Mansion.  So we walked back there and took a few pictures.  I really like that the imagineers bothered to put that cemetery in when most guests will never see it.  I wish it was the old tombstones that used to be on the side of the Mansion instead of duplicates of the pet cemetery tombstones that you see out in front of the Mansion.  It is still very cool though.

The Mansion
The Hearse is Back!
The Other Pet Cemetary

Now I am not a big fan of parades, but we all decided to see the new Mickey’s Soundsational Parade.  It was OK.  The first float was neat because it had some amazing drummers including Mickey!  Not only did Mickey beat those drums with expertise, but it was the talking Mickey too.  I’m glad they used him.  But the other floats were underwhelming.  Compared to the parade from the 50th anniversary, this doesn’t do it for me.  It just didn’t have anything to be blown away about.  But for people that like parades and people that want to see their favorite Disney characters, it does the trick.

Mickey Leads the Parade!
The Princesses at Rapunzel's Tower
King Louie!

We were pretty tired by this point of the day, so we left Disneyland and decided to grab some food and drinks at the new Trader Sam’s at the Disneyland Hotel.  Let me just say that this is one of the best things to come out of Disney in recent years!  I couldn’t believe the amount of detail and homages to Adventureland attractions.  Inside there were artifacts and references to The Tiki Room, The Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, and many movies that contain jungle themes!  Also there are special effects inside that occur when you order a certain drink.  That was so exciting!  I will do a more detailed post about Trader Sam’s in the future, but for now just do yourselves a favor and experience this incredible new place!

Trader Sam's!
Inside
The Amazing Detail
There's a Volcano Outside!

We made our way home after our visit to Trader Sam’s.  It was a very nice birthday at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Trip Report: May 25, 2011

The day was upon us!  We were finally about to go on Star Tours: The Adventures Continue!  But before that, let’s get started on our entire trip.

A beautiful day at the Disneyland Resort!

We arrived at the park at about 1PM and we headed straight to the Main Street station to try to hitch a ride on the Lilly Belle but the next available time was during our Star Tours adventures so we opted to forego a jaunt around the park to explore the Mary Blair exhibit some more.  Her work really set a lot of styles in motion for the parks that not only lives on from her original designs, but transcends to new designs and attractions.  What a great innovator!

One of her great triptychs on display

We then headed over to the lockers and — what’s this?!  New lockers!  Check out the photos below:

That’s kind of cool, if you ask me!  They let you choose your own 4 digit pin!  After the lockers, we went to the Star Trader.  The new merch has just been released for the APs and I was SUPER excited to get the new older version of the Star Speeder: The Star Speeder 1000!

A great addition to my collection!

So amazing!  We then checked out the uncovered FastPass distribution droids and marveled at their detail.  Love stuff like this!

GONK Droids!

We then headed to our first attraction of the day, Pirates of the Caribbean, to check out the new Black Beard projection that has replaced Davy Jones for the summer.  Robert was right last week when he reported the ride looking better than it has in a while.  We even had a rowdy group of girls in our boat that calmed down about the time we hit the shipwreck scene (my favorite) — they must have been enthralled with the ride!

Nice wait time for Pirates...

The Black Beard projection looked GREAT!  The waterfall effect looked better than the Davy Jones version and while he has the same script, I just liked Black Beard as a character much more than Jones.  I wouldn’t mind them randomizing this section of the ride between the two villains.

If ye be brave of fool enough to face a pirates curse, proceed!

We then headed over to DCA and on the way met up with Geppetto on Main Street!  Robert couldn’t have been more excited to meet his “Papa.”

"Hi, Papa!"

DCA’s entrance looks to be wrapping up construction and I still wouldn’t at all be surprised at it’s completion by June 3rd, but don’t quote me on that!  But our real reason to head over to DCA just before our first Star Tours flights of 2011:

The Corn Dog Castle!!!

It was everything we remember it being plus they have cheese sticks!  A corn dog was way against my diet so a cheese stick would have thrown me down a spiral which I might never return so I steered clear of that. But, I can’t wait to possibly try it in the future!  On our way back to DL, we saw the cast member preview queue loading into the Little Mermaid attraction.  How lucky were those people?!  I cannot wait to ride TLM next weekend!

It was now time to check-in for our fastpasses to an intergalactic adventure aboard Star Tours!  The process was well-organized and painless.  We won’t cover any details on the ride as we don’t want to spoil anything for those of you holding out for June 3rd or a soft open (although you can find plenty of spoilers on some of our favorite Disney blogs by looking at their twitter feeds or sites here)

Star Tours: The Adventures Continue's FastPass queue

The GONK droids (recognizable from “A New Hope”) serve as your FastPass distributors and then you head across the path to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (although the signs lead you to believe you’re about to ride Star Tours: The Adventure Continues.)  The extended queue has awesome murals and music playing but the chains were not well laid out by the CMs so it was up to the APs to figure out a system best suited for navigating the queue.  Not a problem!

Cannot wait!

The inside looks pretty much the same except a SP1000 where the SP3000 once stood, a new destinations screen, and a shiny C3-PO and R2D2.  The real surprises were in the next room… but we’ll cover that in a future post!  There are plenty of nods to the old attraction as well as some other attractions, some great hidden treasures as well as an AMAZING ride!

Just enough to tease...

The first time we rode, the ride stopped abruptly in the middle of our jump to light speed, our pilot abruptly turned away from us and the screen went up — I thought we were going to get boarded by Darth Vader and some storm troopers!  However, I think some girls in the row below us pushed open the door on accident in the midst of all the excitement! (I don’t know that that’s what really happened or if that’s even possible — just an observation)  We were then transferred to another star speeder through the entrance terminal which made it almost feel like we landed on another planet and were part of a layover on Tatooine or something (how amazing would it be if that were an option?!)

After that, we finally rode it in it’s entirety. After the ride, we were all in aggreance that the ride was just “OKAY.” But after our second, third, and fourth times, it was solidified: it had a GREAT story, an amazing randomized story arc, and it was “lightyears” beyond the old version. I will always have a place in my heart for Rex and his misadventures but with how well this ride was updated, I am proud to see it go to yesterland.

After our fourth go-round, our girlfriends went over to DCA to meet up with a castmember to preview TLM.  Lucky girls!  Robert and I took the opportunity to ride on my personal favorite attraction, The Haunted Mansion.

I. Love. This. Ride.

While Madame Leota wasn’t floating, we did see some other great things.  We hung back when everyone left the stretching room and descended upon their doom-buggies.  We took some great long-exposure shots of the hallway scene, as seen below:

There are several prominent ghosts that have retired here from creepy old crypts all over the world!

We met back up with the girls after HM and thought we might go check out the new restaurants at the Disneyland Hotel but opted for an awesome dinner at Tortilla Joes!  This is one of my favorite restaurants on DD.  After dinner (and losing a pin 🙁 !) we headed home, only to look forward to returning this Sunday!

Until Sunday!

Trip Report – 5/22/11

When we entered Disneyland around 2pm, there were two ducks that seemed to be greeting guests just past the Disneyland Railroad tunnel.  They were very cute and they were greeting people is such a professional manner that several people thought they were fake!

A Quacking Welcome

The first ride on today’s trip to Disneyland was Pirates of the Caribbean.  There were a couple new things in the attraction to promote the fourth “Pirates” film.  The projection of Davy Jones is now gone and replaced with that of Blackbeard.  It’s a nice effect, but it doesn’t belong in Pirates of the Caribbean, in my opinion (Robert’s).  It’s strange to see a floating head of a live actor in this great attraction filed with some of the best audio animatronics ever created.  It also doesn’t really make sense why Blackbeard’s head is floating in a waterfall.  It made sense with Davy Jones because he lived in the water.  They also replaced Jones’ dialogue at the end of the attraction with Blackbeard’s.  I prefer Ian McShane’s voice over Bill Nighy, but again, I would prefer to have the original ending.  I would just like to hear that wonderful Blue Bayou music without any interruptions.  A problem with McShane’s voice is that it doesn’t project very well.  It is very deep and low so it is difficult to hear.  Besides those new things, the ride looked great.  Also, there was a lot of fog in the cannonball scene this time.  I love when that happens.

The Greatest Ride Ever?

Next we took a bobsled ride down the icy slopes of the majestic Matterhorn.  Even though the ride can be a bit rough on one’s body at times, I still love it.  The look of the mountain and its abominable inhabitant is pure classic Disney.  There was one part of the ride where I looked over and saw a pile of at least 5 hats that have fallen off.  That was pretty funny.

The Swiss Mountain

A friend then had fast passes for Space Mountain so that was our next stop.  Space Mountain was intense, but fun!  A roller coaster in the dark is really horrifying, but it’s so great.  It’s one of the best.

Towering Above Tomorrowland

We then visited our fine feathered friends in Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.  We sat in the back and while it was great, there were parts that were difficult to hear.  It seemed that the four main birds were loud enough, but the chorus was very soft.  I think the speakers just weren’t working in our section.  But even with the audio issue, the attraction was wonderful.  I like how 1960s it looks.  I hope it never changes and I hope that the new version coming to Walt Disney World will look as nice as this one.

Some Tiki Friends

Then came the Haunted Mansion.  Again it looked and sounded great.  Madame Leota was once again stationary.  Yesterday marked the 6th year anniversary of the death of Thurl Ravenscroft.  Thurl is the lead singing bust in the graveyard scene.  I gave an extra long look at him that trip.  He really was a great singer, actor, and voice!  He is missed.

The Haunted Mansion

After the Mansion, we went over to Indiana Jones Adventure to use our fastpasses we had for that ride.  Unfortunately, it was closed when we got there.  Indiana Jones really closes down more than any other ride in the park.  They need to get that fixed.

Since Indy was down, we decided it was time to head over to Disney California Adventure.  Our first stop: The Twlight Zone Tower of Terror.  I noticed that the lighting looked different in the boiler room.  There is usually a bright blue light on the wall where the chalk outlined door is, but it was not on this time.  Overall the boiler room just looked a bit darker than usual.  The ride was great, but we were on with some annoying teenagers that yelled and screamed through the entire run.  Why they don’t listen to the story and try to imagine themselves in this haunted hotel, I don’t know…  Even  with the annoying kids, the ride is still incredible.

The Maintenance Service Elevator

Last, but not least, we headed over to World of Color.  We wanted to see the show since it had new Little Mermaid scenes and Pirates scenes promoting the fourth film.  The show was good and the new stuff looked great, but overall, I think I prefer the original show.  The new Pirates stuff was neat, but they cut out almost the entire villain section, which I love.  Oh well…  I’m sure it will be back one day.

World of Color!
Blackbeard in WOC
WOC promoting the 4th Pirates film

After the show, we walked by the new Little Mermaid attraction and wished we were on it.  It looks amazing from the outside.  Well, only one more week and we will go under the sea with Ariel and all her friends.

Almost Open!

Trip Report: May 1, 2011

Arrival time to the Disneyland Resort: 6:00pm

After walking from the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure to the Disneyland Resort Main Entrance, we decided we would visit DCA.  While entering Hollywood Pictures Backlot, we noticed that one of the video screens of ElecTRONica had an error screen up.  It’s always embarrassing when that happens, but what can you do.  Another thing that we noticed (which was awesome) was that the entire ElecTRONica show was being controlled via an iPad!  How far technology has come!

Something Wrong Here!
Technology at its Finest.

Our first stop was at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  We had a first time rider with us and boy was she nervous.  We had to calm her down a few times in the queue, but she ended up enjoying it.  The drops felt very good and the mirror scene was working!  But the most amazing thing about our journey into the Twilight Zone was the view.  We happened to ride the attraction right at sunset and the Disneyland Resort never looked more beautiful.  It was the perfect time to ride the Tower.

Tower at Sunset

We then made our way to Disneyland and to what did our wandering eyes appear?  The Emporium and Crystal Arcade — they’ve returned to us!  We also noticed that the eagle was missing from the banister on the corner.

source: lostworld.pair.com
Back, but without the Famous Eagle

After a short jaunt down Main Street, U.S.A., we decided to ascend Tarzan’s Treehouse.  We don’t go through that attraction often, but it was very fun.  The special effects are very exciting, especially the roaring cheetah effect.

I Dare You to Pet Him!

After playing around in the Treehouse, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was another great ride.  Everything looked great.  There didn’t seem to be any changes from last week’s trip on Pirates.

On Our Way to Adventure!

After Pirates, we decided to grab a bite to eat, but unfortunately many places were already closed.  We don’t understand why Disneyland closes their restaurants so early.  What was still open was the Stage Door Cafe.  There we had chicken breast pieces, fish, and corn dogs.  It’s a good snack, but not a healthy one…

It was then time for a visit to The Haunted Mansion.  We walked right into the foyer and our ghost host welcomed us.  Madame Leota was floating this time!  The effect really seemed great that night.  Sometimes I can see the wires that are holding her crystal ball, but not this time.  I believed she was floating around the room!  The raven at the entrance to the graveyard is still missing, however.

A Strange Old Mansion

Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye was up next.  The wait was only 5 minutes!  The ride was very fun!  I love that first Indy animatronic since they updated it.  It is so much more realistic than the previous version and it looks a lot more like Harrison Ford.  They did a good job.

The Temple

Then came The Jungle Cruise.  When we got on our boat, a couple of ducks were sleeping on the dock right next to us.  When our skipper got on his speaker, he woke them up.  They got so mad.  They started quacking away at him.  The ducks eventually gave up and went back to sleep.  It was pretty awesome.  Our skipper was very good.  He used some fresh jokes and some that I hadn’t heard in a while.  He didn’t use the “Danger” joke, which I hate, and he mentioned the gorilla reaching for bananas!  I always wonder why skippers never mention him.  My only problem with the skipper was that he sped through the scenes too quickly.  He also didn’t do my (David) least favorite joke about the back-sude of water.  I had a friend that was a skipper in the 90s.  He recently passed away but his trademark was to never do the back-side of water joke.  I’ll make a future post about that soon.  This skipper we had this past visit pointed out three ducks in the water and was talking to them and before too long, he threw in, “…Oh, and there’s some water over there.”  SO GREAT!

Cruise Down the Rivers of Adventure

We then visited Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.  It was great.  David wrote an excellent article about it.  The Tiki Room is really special.  I love everything about it, especially the atmosphere and mood of the whole place.  The Enchanted Garden is probably my favorite part.

God of Fire
Here Come the Girls!

To end our day, we strolled through Tomorrowland to see the new lights on Star Tours.  I must say, it looks really neat!  We also captured this little gem.  We then went to the temporary location of the Star Trader where we noticed a shirt with an Ewok that says “Save the Trees”.  A Cast Member then came up to us and said that an Ewok works in the shop.  We didn’t quite know what he meant until he brought out another Cast Member who was only 4 feet tall!  The lady played an Ewok in “Return of the Jedi”.  It was nice to meet her.

The New Star Tours Sign

As we exited the shop, the familiar announcement that one never wants to hear echoed through the Magic Kingdom…  “Ladies and Gentlemen.  Boys and Girls.  Disneyland has now ended its normal operating day…”

Trip Report: April 24, 2011

April 24, 2011 is a special day for us. We arrived to the Disneyland Resort with our girls to experience our first visit to Club 33!

But to start off our trip, we headed over to Disney California Adventure.  The entrance and Carthay Circle theater are really taking shape and before you know it, they will be complete!

It's starting to look like a building!

We went to our favorite attraction at DCA, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  The wait was only 13 minutes and it was an excellent ride.  The mirror scene is still not working properly though.  Once again the ghost effect turned into a blue blob instead of our individual ghost counterparts.

All the workers have left their post.

After TOT, we decided to go to Disneyland, but first stopped at Off the Page where David bought an incredible set of Mouse Ears.  They are reminiscent of an old television set complete with color bars, antenas, and static.  What makes them even better is that they are not supposed to be on sale yet!  The Cast Member sold us the display without knowing!  So cool!

New Mouse Ears!

We then walked through the gates of the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland and our first stop was The Disneyland Railroad.  Because of the Splash Mountain refurbishment, we did not see the Splash finale through the Railroad window.  It was all blacked out.  We then arrived at our destination: Mickey’s Toontown.

Arriving to the Main Street Station

Since we were all dressed up, we thought it would be neat to get a group shot with Mickey.  So we went to Mickey’s House in Toontown and waited in the queue.  It is an excellent queue that culminates in Mickey’s home theatre.  While in line, we were discussing how fun it would be to take a picture with Steamboat Willie Mickey, but we had never seen him except for in the finale of Fantastmic!  We then entered a “hot set” and who was there, but Steamboat Willie himself!  It was incredible!  It felt like meeting a real celebrity!  There is something really special about meeting the Mouse.

Making friends with Steamboat Willie!

King Arthur’s Carousel was up next.  There was no line so we thought we would take a quick trip on the Merry-Go-Round.  A fun time was had.

A rider's POV

Then we went to Pirates of the Caribbean.  Everything was looking great and guess who’s back?  The parrot next to the guy with the hairy leg!  It’s good to see him.  In the area between the jail scene and arsenal scene, a bunch of teenagers jumped out of their boat onto the walkway.  They ran around for a while and got back in their boat.  We were so upset.  We were wondering why they didn’t stop the ride and get these guys.  But alas, justice was served.  As we exited Pirates, we saw those teens surrounded by security and having their ID’s confiscated.  Hopefully they’ll have fun in Disneyland jail!

Giving Credit

After our cruise with the Pirates, it was time for Club 33!  We will do a more thorough post about our trip to the Club, but let’s just say it was amazing.  Everything was perfect from the decor, the service, the food, the art…  It was an experience we will never forget.

Club 33!

We rode Pirates for a second time after dinner and then visited the 999 happy haunts in The Haunted Mansion.  It was a great ride, but Madame Leota was not floating again.  Also, the raven on the branch near the entrance to the graveyard was missing.  Why do these birds keep flying away?!?!

The Haunted Mansion

Since Splash Mountain is closed, no one is visiting The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  We felt bad for it, so we made our way over there.  It really is a great dark ride.  A lot of people put it down, but we enjoy it.  It may not be as great as Walt Disney World’s version, but it still is a welcomed addition to the Disneyland Resort.

Pooh's Nightmare

We then made our way over to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We sat in the back again (the best seat).  It was fast and scary.  The back is the best because  you are literally “pulled” through the ride.  If you ride in the front, it feels as though the train slows down, waiting for the rear to catch up.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Before we said our goodbyes to the Magic Kingdom, we thought we would take a quick trip through Pixie Hollow.  When we got to the area where Tinkerbell meets and greets, we noticed that the door was open to the backstage area and there was no one around.  I think someone forgot to lock the door, but it was lucky for us.

Pixie Hollow

After that, it was time to head home.  It was one of the most magical, memorable, and special visits we have ever had to Disneyland.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Once again, we saw a bird fly over Disneyland with a fish in its talons!

Trip Report: April 10, 2011

After parking in the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, we decided to walk to the parks.  While walking across Disney Way, I noticed a few weeks back that they removed the grass from near the crosswalk. There was never any hope in twarting the kids from taking a shortcut to make the light.

Shortcuts Galore!

I had also never noticed this sign letting guests know the distance from Downtown Disney to the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.

I had been telling people it was 1/4 mile for years!

We arrived to the DLR pretty early (for us: 11:30am) this past Sunday.  Crowds seemed rather light.

We decided to first go over to the Matterhorn where, unfortunately, it had just shut down for 45 minutes.

The Matterhorn

We then went on Snow White’s Scary Adventures.  I would say this is my favorite Fantasyland attraction. And with the recent enhancements, it hasn’t looked better! And that plot-hole at the end: perfection!

I'm Wishing!

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was up next.  I noticed the train-crash scene was missing some of the strobe and visual effects that can be seen in our “Star Tours 1.5” video where a miniature Starspeeder 3000 takes flight through the attraction.

Mr. Rat in Toad's Queue

Next, we took a trip down Main Street on one of their horseless carriages.  This party of 9 crammed its way into the original 5/8 scale horseless carriage and proceeded to get high-fives on our way toward the Main Street station.

This very vehicle first travelled down Main Street in May of 1956!

We then headed over to DCA and the new entryway is really taking shape!  It looks like they’re laying on the outer shell (maybe drywall?) and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was ready to go on June 3rd for the opening of “Ariel’s Undersea Adventures” — but don’t quote me on that.

Coming soon to Disney California Adventure Park!

When we entered the park, we could see the construction of the new “hub,” if you will.  I am very excited to see this park transforming so quickly!

We first rode  The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which was running perfectly and an absolute blast for the first-timers we were with!

Reactions from the Twilight Zone

We then headed over to the Mission Tortilla Factory. One person in our group was celebrating his birthday and for the occasion, the Tortilla Factory gave him a whole stack for free!

Tortilla Bag! (corn)

We then had lunch and I had my favorite Type-O Blood-Type approved salad: The Chinese Chicken Salad (which you can read more about in our Disneyland Diets post).  And since I cannot eat the bread bowl in which it comes, I got to take it home in a bag and share it with house-guests.

After lunch, we wanted to shake things up so we headed over to California Screamin’. I was upset because a kid behind us flipped off the camera and it made the posting board!  I love California Screamin’ to view progress on Goofy’s Sky School and Cars Land.  I also noticed that there was not a lot of progress where MaliBoomer once was.

What a putz that kid is!

We followed that up with a ride on Grizzly River Run, but we sat that one out.  Our friend enjoyed themselves, however.

"Grizzly River FUN"

Then it was back to Disneyland where we rode Space Mountain.  I was surprised how rickety the car felt.  It made the ride twice as scary!  Space Mountain is one of a handful of coasters where I like to ride in front and being in the first seat, but I was sure we were about to fall off the tracks.  It made the ride incredibly scary and intense.  The photo-finish was so exciting on this trip because we lived!  Not sure if I was hyper sensitive for some reason, but I could have sworn I was hearing sounds I had never heard before — and the music was abnormally loud this particular go-around.  We ended up riding Space Mountain again later in the night, but all was back to normal.  Very strange…

The Futuristic Peaks of Space Mountain!

After a trip into the deep dark void of super space, we set sail with the wildest crew that ever sacked the spanish main; Pirates of the Caribbean.  Pirates looked and sounded great, but I did notice that the parrot next to the pirate with the hairy leg is once again missing.  He had been missing for many months and he finally came back a couple weeks ago.  But he wasn’t there this trip.  Perhaps he flew away to visit his friends in the Tiki Room…  The funny thing is you can still hear him singing!

There's the little parrot that flew away...

We then entered the creaking doors of The Haunted Mansion.  We ended up doing it twice.  All of the 999 happy haunts were there to do their thing, but Madame Leota was not floating.  It’s funny…  I always thought that she would be stationary when the internal projection of her face would not be working correctly.  But this time, she was stationary and had the internal projection…  I wonder what the problem was.  We also noticed a small tear in the foyer wallpaper.  Those crazy hooligans hurting our Mansion!  Also, the lighting of the ballroom scene seemed to be a bit brighter than usual.  The ghosts entering from the outside had shadows that one usually does not see.

The Haunted Mansion

The Jungle Cruise came up next.  Of course night had fallen by this time, so it was a night cruise.  The skipper was hit and miss.  There were a few good lines in there though.  The elephant that threatens to squirt our boat was missing.  He must have found a hot date.

This is the elephant that was no where to be found!

Then it was off to dinner at a favorite: Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port!  I had just remembered as I reached for a salad that the Disneyland Celiac Menu offered a gluten-free pizza at Pizza Port.  I figured that there were no slices readily available and that we would have to order a whole pie.  Boy, was I wrong.  Out came the chef and she took my special order.  5-minutes later, out popped my very own personal pizza — Type-O approved!  We went to go eat outside where a Disney Cast Member said “How did you get here?”  We told her that we walked through the doors.  It was weird.  I guess the area was supposed to be closed, but no one locked the sliding door.  She was awfully upset and rude.

A cheese pizza just for me!
With a side-salad, of course.

Then came a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  It was great!  Big Thunder is best experienced at night and especially during the fireworks or “Fantasmic!”  We got on right as “Fantasmic!” was beginning.

BTMRR

And the final ride of the night was Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye.  We had FastPasses and made our way quickly to the front.  The queue always blows us away.  It’s one of the best queues Disney has ever done.  Unfortunately, a few things were not working correctly on the ride.  The Chamber of Destiny room wasn’t working.  The middle door was always open, so cars didn’t have an option for the other two rooms.  Then the music did not play through a lot of the ride.  I’m not sure if that’s a glitch or another ride profile since every ride is slightly different.  It’s much better with music though.

"Take heed my friends!"

After our adventure with Indy, we walked down Main Street, USA and drove carefully on our way home.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

One of the coolest parts of this visit was early in the day just before Snow White’s Scary Adventures when a hawk was flying low over the castle.  It was quite the sight and our hopes were up that it might land on one of the spires of the castle.  We soon realized that it was hunting and it dove straight into the right-side pond.  A friend and I ran up to the benches to look over the bushes just as the hawk emerged from the pond and flew right over our heads!  And in its talons, facing straight forward with an excellent view of Main St., was a rather large koi.  While that koi met an untimely death, what a way to go out: flying over Main St., USA!  I wish I had snapped a photo of that avian wonder.  Maybe next time!

ElecTRONica Meetup – A Photo Report

In October of 2010, my fiance Suzi and I went to our third meet-up: ElecTRONica.  At this point, we had already experienced GlowFest and while I wasn’t the biggest fan (or critic) of TRON, I was pretty excited to see the new one and avoided ElecTRONica as best I could until the meet-up.  And being able to experience ElecTRONica without the crowds was the icing on the cake for me.

Here’s some of the photos we took while at the meet-up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney Parks Blog’s meetups are a must for any Disneyland Resort fan!  I have attended all but one meet-up and will post photo reports for the others.  Check back soon!