Hey everyone! Robert here. September 9, 2011 was a big day for us at Remain Seated Please. David got hitched! Yes, David married his beautiful bride, Suzi. After the wedding, what does a Disney fan do, but visit the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland!
We got to Disneyland around 3pm and visited one of my favorite attractions: Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. It is rare that I visit Lincoln as most of my friends find it boring. I am always fascinated with it. I am a huge fan of Lincoln and love learning everything about the man. But the real treat for me is the amazing lifelike animatronic of our 16th President. I can’t get over how wonderful his facial features are. Every syllable and breath is animated to great precision on this great audio animatronic.
After our visit with Honest Abe, we found a nice shady spot to view Mickey’s Soundsational Parade. A friend of mine just got a part in the parade as a dancer in the Little Mermaid section. While waiting for the parade to start, the Disneyland band entertained us and just by coincidence, some guests dressed in get ups right out of an old gangster movie passed by and started to dance. They were really great. They did some swing dancing, which was very fun to watch. The parade was very enjoyable and my friend Jessica did a great job. Her dance routine went perfectly! During the parade, King Louie appeared and he came right up to me and touched me! It was great, but scary at the same time! It was quite the thrill! I had a fun time watching the parade, but I wish there was a bigger climax. The final scene with Mary Poppins and the Chimney Sweeps is great, but it’s not the huge elaborate ending I would have predicted for a highly anticipated Disney parade.
Our large group then met up at Sleeping Beauty Castle to take a photo. It was a beautiful day and that made the photo look even more amazing. Take a look below:
Since we had such a large group, we thought a perfect attraction for us to visit would be Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. After getting our delicious Dole Whips, we entered the World of Enchantment and Maynard was once again our host. He did his usual wonderful introduction, full of various voices and goofy faces. He then tossed it over to Jose who took it from there. The Tiki Room looked and sounded great.
It was then time for Star Tours! It was the first time for some people in our group and everyone loved it. We went Pod Racing and entered the Death Star. In between the two scenes, a hologram of Princess Leia appeared and talked to us. It was my first time seeing her and I was amazed! I couldn’t figure out if it was a great look alike or excellent CGI. I assume it was CGI because it looked exactly like the Carrie Fisher of 35 years ago. How did they do it so well? It was really one of those great Disney moments that makes you wonder.
After Star Tours, most of the group went and had dinner at Tortilla Joe’s in Downtown Disney, but I wasn’t hungry. So I stayed behind with my uncle and we rode the Disneyland Railroad. The T-Rex vs. Stegasaurus scene is back from refurbishment and it looks wonderful. It looks like they both got a new coat of paint. The rest of the Railroad was excellent. It is one of my favorite things at Disneyland, especially at night.
We then headed over to Disney California Adventure, which has its new entrance. It was strange walking through the main gate and making an immediate right and actually entering the park near Soarin’ Over California. It’s something I will have to get used to for the next year. I noticed that the top of Carthay Circle Theatre was finished and boy does it look amazing. With Buena Vista Street under construction, you can really get close to the theatre and it’s huge! I am so excited to see it finished. It will really be a great icon for the park.
The first ride we went to was The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. Again, it was the first time for some people and it was excellent. Everyone really loved it, including myself.
After our group finished their dinner at Tortilla Joe’s, we met up again at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It was a great ride and the drops felt wonderful. I noticed that the gift shop now has Halloween decorations, which I really like. I wish that the Tower did their Halloween overlay that they did a few years ago. It was really great. I also noticed that there is a television set now in the gift shop. It was on and nothing was playing. I was really curious as to why it was there. After doing some research online, I found out that it’s part of a Disney Scavenger Hunt that they are testing. I wonder what could possibly play on the TV. It would be neat if they played old Twilight Zone episodes! One other thing I noticed in the Tower was that the typewriter under your on ride photo has a different piece of paper sticking out of it. It usually says “Get out of here Finchley”, which is a reference to a Twilight Zone episode called “A Thing About Machines”. Now the paper is ripped on top and has a poem on it. I wonder if this is also part of the scavenger hunt…
Since David and Suzi got married the day before, they celebrated by staying over night at the Grand Californian. We all went to hang out in the room after the Tower and it was wonderful. It was a nice big room and it has an excellent view of the monorail. The monorail passed right underneath the room! It was a unique sight! After relaxing and having some delicious cake, we headed back to Disneyland.
Now this is probably the first time I have ever been to Disneyland when Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion were both closed. It was tough for me. One thing that I must do every time I go to Disneyland is ride Pirates and it was so sad to see it closed. It doesn’t reopen until late November. I might go through Pirate withdrawals…
We did walk over to the Haunted Mansion which is being re-dressed for its holiday overlay. It looks as though it is nearly complete from the outside. It all looks great and I’m very excited to see what’s in store this year.
And with that, we ended our night at the Disneyland Resort. Congratulations to David and Suzi on their marriage. They are in Hawaii right now and I hope they are having a wonderful time!
Oh! One more thing… As I was walking by Astro Orbiter, I noticed that a dog was going for a ride! How amazing is that!?!?!
Also a big thank you to Daveland for their help with pictures in this report!