In my opinion, Disneyland’s Mansion has the better exterior. I much prefer the southern style Mansion which fits perfectly in its New Orleans surroundings than the New York style Mansion at Walt Disney World.
But overall, WDW has the better Mansion. Ten years ago, I would have gone with Disneyland, but thanks to some recent updates at Walt Disney World, they are the winner. At WDW, there are new audio effects, an updated sound system, new scenes, more scenes, better special effects, a new interactive queue (which I have not seen yet), and they now have new hitchhiking ghosts effects. (Which I have also not seen.) But as of December of 2010 (My last trip to WDW), the better Mansion lies in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World.
Which do you prefer?
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Here are a couple videos and pictures of WDW’s Haunted Mansion’s new queue and hitchhiking ghosts. Thanks to Inside the Magic for these great videos and Express Monorail for the incredible picture of the new hitchhiking ghosts animatronics.
I love seeing birds at the park… both live and animatronic. This, however, was a bird I had never seen before! I could just barely make it out in the shadows of the Tiki Room but where more fitting to find a strange bird than the Tiki Room exit?
What could this possibly be?
Stay tuned as we get to the bottom of this and other DLR mysteries in future posts.
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!
In May of 2005, Disneyland started its celebration for their 50th anniversary. To start the event, Disneyland had a press day where Disneyland was closed to the public. Fortunately for me, Disney decided to let a few select annual passholders attend and my Dad won tickets!
My Dad and I arrived to Disneyland early in the morning and Main St. was lined with gold carpet. Press and media were lined up and down Main St. getting ready for the day of festivities, which would soon include big time movie stars!
Once we made our way off of Main St., Disneyland was basically to ourselves. Since it was a press and media day, no one was riding rides, but they were still open. The first ride my Dad and I decided to go to was the Jungle Cruise. Since we were alone and had our own boat, the Jungle Cruise skipper let me “skip”! Boy was that thrilling!
Walking around the park was so exciting not only for the fact that we were alone, but because there were many new things to see to celebrate the anniversary. Throughout the park, rides and attractions had 50th anniversary logos on their facades. There were 50 of them in total and many of them were displayed in extremely creative ways.
Another unique thing Disney did to celebrate was to mark which attractions were there from the beginning. Each attraction which opened in July of 1955 had a bit of gold painted somewhere on it. Here is an example of the golden entrance to “Snow White’s Scary Adventures”.
After riding a few rides, my Dad and I headed back to Main St. and we saw Tim Allen preparing for the dedication of Disneyland’s newest attraction, “Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters”!
Disneyland closed that day around 5:00pm to get ready for its celebrity infested golden anniversary kick off. My Dad and I left having spent an incredible and magical day at Disneyland. The whole experience was very special to me and it is something I will never forget.
I recently went on a very strict diet and Disneyland was the one place I allowed myself to “cheat.” One of my favorite things to get at the DLR is pizza from Pizza Planet and a cookie. Actually, the chocolate-chip cookies at Disneyland ANYWHERE went with every meal I got. I suppose I’ll get into my favorite DLR snacks another time (Churros, for example, do not remind me or get me excited for Disneyland).
The BBQ Chicken Pizza Is My Vice!
What I wanted to talk about today was the discovery of the Disneyland Guten-Free Menu! We discovered this 6-page (double-sided, even!) menu when going to City Hall on Main Street to suggest they leave the park’s restaurants open later than 10pm when Disneyland Park guests will potentially be roaming the park for another 2+hours. While looking for food after 10, we continuously were pointed toward the bread-bowl stand for food and while that was a viable option for everyone else in my group, it does not fall in-line with my diet.
City Hall said they would take the suggestion into consideration and went a step further by offering up this awesome menu! One would have never thought that there would be gluten-free buns at most burger and sandwich-eateries! Who would have thunk that while your friends and family were having churros and bread-bowls, you can enjoy something else without having to have brought your own food?
And while all of the gluten-free options might not fall 100% into my diet (I cannot have corn and other strange things I’d rather not go into), it certainly is a healthier option for someone like me who LOVES Disneyland food and is also trying to “shape up” for a wedding! I’ll be reporting on some of my favorite foods from this menu in future posts but I would love to hear what your favorite healthy Disneyland snacks are! Heathy dining at Disneyland? I back it!
Last night, David and I saw the special preview for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” at Disneyland.
We were both pleasantly surprised to find out that the preview was to be held in Big Thunder Ranch. We had totally forgot about that theater area back there. It was great to see that again!
To start off our Pirate adventure, we were entertained by live actors in the queue. They did a fine job helping you pass the time. Then came my favorite part of the whole experience. An interactive animatronic parrot greets you and has conversations with passerbys. This was the same parrot that used to be out in front of “Pirates of the Caribbean” in Florida. Imagineering decided to make him walk the plank when they added Jack Sparrow and crew in the attraction. But now he is back from the depths of Davy Jones and he looks fantastic!
Once you enter the theater, you take a seat on the ground with your 3D glasses and get ready for a rollicking adventure. Cast members dressed as Pirates introduce the preview and in no time, you are experiencing “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”.
After your preview, keep a weather eye open for Jack Sparrow!
I have been a consistent annual passholder for the past 6 years. My very first Disneyland Annual Pass was back in 1994. It cost only $99 and was not a part of any tiered system. My whole family got passes and we would go down right after school to see “Fantasmic!” at least twice a week!
Fantasmic!
Those were some amazing times. We had our passes for two years, I think. Then I only went sporadically from 1996-2001. I may have had a pass sometime in there but I can’t remember. Unfortunately, as into Disneyland as I was, I took advantage of things like the Rocket Rods which I was never able to ride, the Skyway which I never got to do “one last time.” Same with the PeopleMover! I never got to take that “last ride” which I am always sure to do now.
I remember when I went to grad-night as a junior at Hollywood High School, I was SO confused because the parking lot had completely changed and we had to walk to the park from some weird area past these huge cones (I guess we parked in the old Lion King parking area? Not 100% sure). I was very confused but excited because I had no idea what DCA was! I felt like such a “poser.”
Grad night was fun but then I started going a lot after graduation. A friend and I got passes from 2001-2002 and had a blast that whole time. I really enjoyed DCA and DL together and made the most of those days.
Fastforward to now and here I am — an adult who tries to go once a week if I can but more commonly once every couple of weeks. I have my core group of people I like to go with, we have the path that we take, we have days where we only do things we have never done before, and we have a blast!
The thing I miss the most today is that they don’t change the design as often anymore. That was always the fun thing: getting a special design when renewing and having it match the theme of that year’s DLR theme.
All of that said, one of my favorite things about the AP is that I still have that picture of myself from 2001 on my pass. I was 18 then and love that just by this little feature on my pass, I can always feel like a kid! I back it!
What are your favorite AP memories? How old is your picture? Let us know down in the comments!
We all know the Jungle Cruise. Whether you love it for the animatronic wildlife, the lush foliage, or bad puns, the Jungle Cruise is a true Disney “E-Ticket” attraction. But having a good skipper really does add something special to your journey through the world of adventure.
"They all have their trunks on!"
So I ask the readers of RemainSeatedPlease.com: What makes a good skipper? Should they stick to the script that we all know and love? What jokes work? Which fall flat?
Stay tuned for a thrilling and entertaining podcast where David and I discuss our favorite Jungle Cruise jokes! And who knows… Maybe we will even invent a new pun or two!
I’ll be honest, I was pretty worried about there being a 4th “Pirates…” movie; especially without two of the main characters. Then the first trailer came out and I was really worried because it was a teaser with what seemed to be a last-minute little thing shot with Johnny Depp announcing the new pirates film to a small audience at the Downtown Disney AMC theatre.
Then, they kept using it for each and every trailer and I got really worried because I didn’t think that little announcement was well produced or well acted. However, the trailers have been getting better and better and this looks like it could be the most fun “Pirates…” film since the first.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, TDA announced that they were going to do a big preview event similar to what they did with “TRON”. I was pretty upset and confused about the whole thing even though I remember how cool I thought the “TRON” preview was. Then I started seeing the construction photos and artist renderings for a transformed Festival Arena has gotten me all giddy!
Tron 3D Sneak Peek
I don’t care at all for the 3D aspect to the movie nor the preview event but what they have planned in the way of cast-members interacting with the show as well as pyrotechnics, etc… I think Disney has created a new way of showing movies. They have been doing it for years with films like “Captain EO”, “It’s Tough to be a Bug” and one of my favorites, “MuppetVision 3D.” But in recent years, the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood has been doing these interactive shows with the movies as they’re shown.
Same with the “TRON” preview at DCA, this new interactive storytelling is immersive and fun for the audiences and really gets the audiences pumped up for a thrill ride not only at the park that day, but in the theatre when the film is released this summer.
I suppose it’s more the technology than the film that I am excited about but there’s something about this installment that excites me. I back it!
