This trip was one of the rare times David and I didn’t go together. So this trip report will be the sole opinion of yours truly, Robert.
When my girlfriend and I arrived to the park, the first thing we wanted to see was the Mary Blair tribute at the Disney Gallery. They did an excellent job putting together a fitting tribute to one of the great Disney artists. Her work is so original and colorful. I could look at it for hours. To go along with Mary Blair’s art, they also had maquettes from “it’s a small world” on display. Those were very neat to see in person.
Mary Blair Exhibit at The Disney GalleryMary Blair and WaltMary's Small WorldSmall World Maquette
Off to the side in the Gallery is a little room where it appears an artist has been at work. I really like this room and it now displays some great Haunted Mansion drawings. The room is a nice detail that only Disneyland can do. It doesn’t need to be there, but the addition of it really adds to the magic.
Mansion artwork in the Gallery
After the Gallery, we walked straight into Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I really love that show. The Lincoln animatronic looked incredible. The way his lips move is amazing. He really pronounces each word with his lips. It’s a technological marvel.
Mr. Lincoln
We then walked by Star Tours to see if they would let us on, but we had no luck. They were doing Cast Member previews and boy did that make me jealous! I want to be in there!
Almost Here!
Then came Pirates of the Caribbean. This was the first time I had been on the ride since the big premiere for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”. It looks like they adjusted the lighting and effects to make it look extra nice for the premiere. The fighting pirates shadow near the cannonball scene was looking great. Lately those shadows were fading so much that you could barely see what was going on. Now you can see every detail. There wasn’t anything else new to report, but each pirate looked great.
Pirates!
We were starting to get hungry after Pirates, so we grabbed a bite to eat at The French Market. I really like the food there. I usually get the roast beef and it’s very good. The mashed potatoes are by far the best thing on the menu!
Food Good Here
After filling our rumbly tumblies, we went to the Haunted Mansion. It was a great ride once again, but Madame Leota was back to her stationary self. The Raven sitting on the tree branch at the entrance of the graveyard is now back. Also, we got Ezra as our hitchhiking ghost in our doombuggy. I’m always very happy when that happens as he is my favorite hitchhiker.
The Haunted Mansion and a Full Moon!
We then made our way to Fantasyland where we went on a classic: Casey Jr. Circus Train. It really is a great ride and it goes faster than you expect. It is best at night too. You see all the twinkling lights from Storybook Land down below. We also sat in the caboose, which adds a little something to the thrill.
Comin' Round the Track!
We then wanted to go on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but as we got in line, it had just broke down. You should have seen the sad look on my face…
No Toad Today...
So we went over to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey. Pinocchio is my favorite Disney film and I love the ride. Keep an eye open in the Pleasure Island scene for a Hidden Mickey in the form of popcorn!
An Actor's Life For Me!
We ended our night with Snow White’s Scary Adventures which may be my favorite Fantasyland dark ride. It is so scary, especially when you ride alone. And those new special effects are really terrific!
Magic Mirror on the Wall...
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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.comBack, 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 FireHere 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…”
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!
Did you know that Disneyland Resort has its own K9 Unit?
DLR K9 UnitHow official!
These well-trained canines patrol the parks rather inconspicuously while you and your families go about your day. They are well-trained and provided to the parks by the Anaheim Police Department. Keep an eye out for them next time you visit the parks!
